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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom