Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2015 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 MILK STREET MEDICAL MARIJUANA FACILITY DESERVES CITY APPROVAL THE BUSINESS Improvement District in Downtown Crossing has done amazing work to revitalize the area, but the group's campaign against a proposed medical marijuana dispensary in the neighborhood is misguided. Memories of the old Combat Zone seem to haunt the dispensary's opponents, but a small, highly secure medical marijuana facility poses no threat to the neighborhood's comeback. It deserves the city's approval. Patriot Care Corp., which has also won medical marijuana licenses in Greenfield and Lowell, wants to operate a small facility at 21 Milk Street. It will have no conspicuous signage, and will be open only to patients who have a medical marijuana card issued by the state. A voter referendum in 2012 authorized the cards, and the dispensaries. However one feels about the policy - this page editorialized against it - medical marijuana is now the law of the Commonwealth, and the downtown dispensary would meet the goals of a referendum that 63 percent of the state supported. In its defense, the company cites its dispensary in Washington, D.C.; crime in the area has actually dropped faster than the citywide average. The company has also offered to pay for police details in the initial period after it opens. It has also promised that it will only sell medical marijuana, and will not convert the Milk Street storefront to a retail outlet if recreational marijuana is eventually legalized. The business district has an understandable sensitivity to "adult" industries. The strip clubs in the area once gave it a seedy reputation, and it has taken years of diligent effort to shake off that past. But while Patriot Care offers facts to support its claims, the opponents offer only fears about a speculative increase in drug sales or use. Yet a highly regulated, low-visibility clinic that's only open during business hours has nothing in common with the blight of yesteryear. Indeed, the dispensary is much more likely to do good than harm. It will fill real estate that's been empty for 10 years, and create jobs. Patriot Care has also offered free office space to neighborhood groups. And while it's hard to predict its impact on the already-thriving illegal marijuana industry in Downtown Crossing, it seems plausible that a licensed medical marijuana facility will divert business from street dealers. Finally, the needs of patients also deserve consideration. The Downtown Crossing location would offer public transportation access to medical marijuana; it makes sense for at least one of the state's dispensaries to be accessible to those unable to drive. It would be in keeping with the intent of a law that Massachusetts voters - including, overwhelmingly, the precincts in Downtown Crossing - approved to ensure access to medical marijuana to all residents who need it. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom