Pubdate: Tue, 15 Jul 2014
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2014 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Authors: Kay Lazar and Shelley Murphy

HIGH MARKS FOR MARIJUANA APPLICANTS, BUT NO LICENSES

Applicants Say Changes State Suggested Led Nowhere

One of the companies received the second-highest score among the
dozens that applied for Massachusetts' first medical marijuana
dispensary licenses. Another tied for fourth-highest.

In all, five companies awarded some of the highest marks during
licensing evaluations were skipped over in January because one of
their executives didn't pass a background check. But they were told by
regulators that if they removed the person, the company would still be
in the running, according to interviews with the firms' officials and
documents obtained by the Globe.

The five applicants followed state regulators' directions and dropped
the executives, but were then rejected for licenses in late June
without explanation.

Executives from the five deferred companies said in interviews with
the Globe that the state Department of Public Health misled them and
that its rejection of their applications underscores a lack of
transparency and fairness in the high-stakes selection process. They
said that the department, which licenses marijuana dispensaries, has
not returned their e-mails and calls since the June decision.

"If the department were to offer us a reason, or even engage in a
meaningful dialogue with us on what went wrong with our application,
we are all ears," said Andrea Nuciforo Jr., general counsel and
treasurer of Kind Medical Inc., a deferred company that had proposed a
dispensary in Easthampton.

"What the law does not allow is for the department to score an
applicant very high, ask them to make a minor tweak, and walk them
down the primrose path for five months," Nuciforo said.

He and representatives of the other deferred companies said the state
appeared to treat them differently than some applicants that were
selected after removing executives with checkered pasts, including one
consultant who was arrested last December for allegedly exposing
himself in public.

Asked about the companies' complaints, a spokesman for the health
department declined to make the director of the medical marijuana
program available for an interview, or to answer questions, and
instead issued a statement.

"The Department's initial background check process uncovered certain
suitability issues with these applicants, and they were notified that
the Department had exercised its discretion to not proceed with their
applications," it stated.

"While these applicants may have submitted additional information
after being notified that they had not been selected, the Department
did not change its decision."

But that's not exactly what the companies were told in a Jan. 31
letter from Karen van Unen, executive director of the marijuana
program. She wrote that their applications "will not be selected at
this time," then added, "Your application is deferred from proceeding
further in the review process pending resolution of a matter
discovered on a background check involving an individual identified in
your application."

In addition to Kind Medical, the companies receiving this letter were:
Mass Organic Therapy Inc. in Plymouth, Baystate Medical
Enterprises/Beacon Wellness Center in Franklin, JM Farm's Patient
Group in Deerfield, and BeWell Organic Medicine Inc. in Lawrence.

The deferred companies' executives said they also received private
assurances from state health officials that their applications were
still in the running, and they were encouraged not to speak to the
news media about their status.

Rina Cametti, president of Baystate Medical Enterprises/Beacon
Wellness Center, said that during a February meeting with the health
department's lawyer, Kay Doyle, Cametti noted that she had been
getting calls from reporters asking why the company had not been
selected for a provisional license, though it had received the
fourth-highest score.

"I said I had not spoken to the media," Cametti said, describing that
meeting with Doyle. "She thanked me for that and said we appreciate
you being discreet, and it speaks volumes about your
professionalism."

Background checks on the deferred applicants by a consultant for the
health department turned up a range of concerns regarding an executive
or board member, including motor vehicle violations, an assault,
problems with child support payments, and an incorrectly filled
prescription by a pharmacist a decade ago.

Other companies that won initial approval in January were later
allowed to remove executives or key consultants from their teams
before being awarded provisional licenses in June. Among those are
three companies whose managers included Diane or John Czarkowski, a
husband-and-wife team forced to shut down their Colorado medical
marijuana facility for numerous violations. Also licensed was a
company tapped for a Brockton medical marijuana dispensary, even
though its compliance officer was arrested in December for allegedly
exposing himself to a woman.

On Dec. 14, the month before In Good Health won preliminary approval
from the state, Douglas Noble, the company's then-director of
compliance and regulatory affairs, was arrested by Scituate police and
charged with two counts of open and gross lewdness after a woman
working alone at a dry cleaner complained that he twice exposed
himself to her, according to court documents.

Boston attorney Philip A. Tracy Jr., who represents Noble, said: "He
claims it's a total misunderstanding or mistake. He had loose-fitting
clothes on . . . he's not guilty, and we intend to pursue it." He said
Noble, 60, had no prior criminal record.

Noble, a South Shore businessman, has faced numerous civil claims,
including a lawsuit by creditors for hundreds of thousands of dollars
in debts run up by health facilities he co-owned.

David Ball, a spokesman for In Good Health, said the company notified
state health officials in March that Noble was no longer associated
with the firm. A copy of a letter that Ball said was sent to state
health officials notes that company officials met with state
regulators on March 17, and that Noble resigned the next day.

Ball said that Noble resigned because he was "dealing with a number of
personal and professional issues," and that regulators never raised
questions about Noble's December arrest, nor his problems with
creditors, which were highlighted in a February Globe story.

Noble resigned four days after regulators sent applicants notices
stating that anyone "who will have any involvement" with the firms
would be subject to expanded background checks.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt