Pubdate: Sat, 23 Nov 2013
Source: Middletown Press, The (CT)
Copyright: 2013 The Middletown Press
Contact:  http://www.middletownpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/586
Author: Evan Lips

TOWN GIVES GO-AHEAD TO OPEN MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

BRANFORD - Pending the state's final blessing, one of five medical 
marijuana dispensaries approved to operate in Connecticut could be 
based in town.

Town Planner Jose Giner confirmed Friday that the Planning and Zoning 
Commission unanimously approved an exemption to allow Fairfield-based 
Bluepoint Apothecary to open a medical marijuana dispensary at 469 
East Main St., the same building that houses Planet Fitness and 
located within the space once occupied by the former Daydream Spa.

The application was approved under the condition there are "no retail 
sales of marijuana pipes on the premises," according to decision language.

It will be managed by Bluepoint Apothecary, but the landowner isl 
isted as MIEKA Enterprises LLC. The name attached to MIEKA, according 
to the site plan application, is East Haven resident Gerald Mastrangelo.

In a letter received by the Planning and Zoning Commission Oct, 15, 
Bluepoint Apothecary manager Nicholas Tamborrino stated he intends to 
run the business "similar to a medical office setting."

"It will be handled just as a controlled medication is processed 
today," he added. "I want to emphasize that the current process 
Connecticut will be implementing is not the same process that other 
states like Colorado or California are utilizing."

The state received 21 dispensary license applications as of last 
Friday's filing deadline. The Department of Consumer Protection has 
said it anticipates granting between three to five dispensary 
licenses by early 2014.

Connecticut's medical marijuana bill, passed in June 2012, is one of 
the most stringent out of all the states that have approved such laws.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom