Pubdate: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 Source: Boston Herald (MA) Copyright: 2014 The Boston Herald, Inc Contact: http://news.bostonherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53 Note: Prints only very short LTEs. Authors: Priyanka Dayal Mccluskey and Laurel J. Sweet WALSH: TAKE 2ND LOOK AT POT SHOP Mayor Martin J. Walsh will ask state health officials to reconsider the medical marijuana shop they provisionally approved for Roxbury, following Herald reports that a convicted pot dealer from California will serve as its "adviser." "I'm going to ask the state to go back and revisit the application," Walsh told the Herald yesterday. "I have some concerns. This is a change for people with the dispensaries coming to Boston and Massachusetts. We need to make sure the applications are thoroughly vetted and it's done right." The Herald reported last week that Stephen R. DeAngelo, who pleaded guilty in 2001 to a charge of marijuana possession with intent to distribute, will advise Green Heart Holistic Health & Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s proposed dispensary in Roxbury, a project headed by his brother Andrew DeAngelo. Stephen DeAngelo was also listed in corporate filings as the company's president and a member of the board of directors until the day before the firm applied for a state weed-dealing license. State regulations say managers, employees and volunteers of pot dispensaries cannot have criminal felony convictions. Stephen DeAngelo was not subject to a background check because he wasn't listed as an operator of the business. But a Herald review yesterday found that his medical pot operation in Oakland, Calif. - Patients Mutual Assistance Corp., doing business as Harborside Health Center - is listed in a Massachusetts Department of Public Health filing as providing 100 percent of the funding for the Roxbury dispensary. Stephen DeAngelo is executive director of Harborside Health Center, which is providing the almost $902,000 in "initial capital" for the Roxbury project, according to the filing. DPH required the names and addresses of the "CEO/ ED and board officers" of any entities spending more than 5 percent on a Massachusetts dispensary, and all major investors were subject to background checks by the state - but Stephen DeAngelo's name was not listed on that portion of the application. Scott Hawkins, a consultant for Green Heart, said no one was available to respond to the Herald's questions last night. Last month DPH granted provisional licenses to 20 dispensaries, including Green Heart and another pot shop in the Back Bay, but the dispensaries still need approval from local zoning and public health officials, and final sign-off from DPH. "The Department of Public Health will be meeting with Green Heart Holistic Health & Pharmaceuticals and all provisionally approved registered marijuana dispensaries in the next several weeks to review their operational plans and determine the veracity of statements they have made in the application process," spokesman David Kibbe said in a statement last night. "The applicant meetings are an important part of DPH's long-standing process. No decisions on dispensaries are final. The ballot question approved by voters does not allow anyone with a felony drug conviction to work or volunteer at a dispensary in Massachusetts." Following reports that some winning applicants submitted erroneous or incomplete information to DPH, the agency has decided to ask all 20 to sign statements of "attestation" that their applications were truthful - even though their original filings were legally binding. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom