A small circle of physicians - 13, to be precise - has provided the vast preponderance of approvals needed by Massachusetts patients to gain access to medical marijuana, state records show, a pattern that underscores the continued growing pains of a new industry.

These doctors certified nearly three-quarters of the 31,818 patients who had received permission to use medical marijuana by early June.

The concentration of approvals in the hands of so few physicians is a story of both opportunity and fear. For the baker's dozen of doctors, medical marijuana certifications provide a robust stream of patients, who typically pay $200 out of pocket for an initial office visit.

[continues 1174 words]

Organizers of a referendum campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts accused Walpole's police chief on Thursday of veering into political advocacy by speaking at a campaign event organized by opponents of the November ballot measure.

Chief John Carmichael, who has been an outspoken advocate about the dangers of substance abuse, participated in the June 23 event in Framingham to detail what he said were public safety concerns about the dangers of edible products derived from marijuana.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol said it filed a complaint to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance arguing that Carmichael should not have come to the event in uniform during work hours, and should not have used his departmental car to get there.

[continues 358 words]

WEST BOYLSTON - Antwan Stevenson has been behind bars, time and again, for a total of more than five years since adolescence. The 24-year-old has run with a violent Dorchester gang, several friends have been killed, and his father was shot dead in January.

"I have to change," he said, sitting on a bunk in a 9-by-11-foot cell.

Finally, this father of three thinks he has found a way: an intense six-month program at the Worcester County House of Correction in which inmates confront the reasons they abused drugs or alcohol and the bitter consequences that followed.

[continues 930 words]

BOSTON (AP) - A group seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts says it has collected more than 25,000 signatures as a final step toward securing a spot on the November ballot.

Sponsors of ballot initiatives face a Wednesday deadline to submit at least 10,792 signatures of registered voters to city and town clerks around the state. Backers typically try to gather far more than that number to protect against duplicated signatures or ones that may be disallowed for other reasons.

[continues 58 words]

IPSWICH - Come November, Massachusetts could become the fifth state to legalize recreational marijuana. But a growing group of opponents - - including some of the highest elected state officials - intend to make sure that doesn't happen.

The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act likely will go before voters this fall - proponents are gathering the 10,792 additional signatures needed to get it on the ballot - and if passed, it would legalize the commercial sale, taxation, recreational use and growing of marijuana in the state.

[continues 1703 words]

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy visited what some locals call "the worst intersection in Boston" on Friday as part of his effort to talk to prescribers nationwide about how they can address the country's rising opioid crisis.

The Boston stop on Murthy's "Turn the Tide Rx" tour brought him to the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program on Albany Street, at the heart of "Methadone Mile," so nicknamed for the cluster of homeless shelters and drug addiction programs there that draw people battling substance abuse from across the city. Accompanied by the program's top officials and state Health Commissioner Monica Bharel, Murthy toured the facility and met with patients who shared their stories of stigmatization and recovery.

[continues 507 words]

I'm a retired corrections officer and substance abuse counselor, and I'm tired of hearing the same reasons as to why we shouldn't legalize marijuana that we've been hearing for the past 40 years. Massachusetts has a special opportunity to improve public safety and limit marijuana access to the young and at-risk. Marijuana is not harmless, and given my background in substance abuse counseling, I am firmly against any kind of substance abuse.

However, marijuana prohibition and its consequences on individuals, families, and communities are far worse than using the drug.

[continues 385 words]

Marijuana may soon be coming to your neighborhood. You may smell its aroma wafting over from the deck next door or from a backyard party down the block. Why, it's even possible that a cannabis cafe could open on Main Street.

A question proposed for the fall ballot would make marijuana a legal recreational drug and regulate it like alcohol. Although that initiative petition faces a long-shot legal challenge and needs a second round of certified signatures, Massachusetts citizens will likely get to vote on the question in November.

[continues 560 words]

State Supreme Court Mulls Marijuana Bill

The state's highest court is mulling whether the proposal to legalize marijuana for recreational use should go up in smoke after a group of concerned voters said the language of the ballot measure is too vague to be constitutional - and opens the door to all kinds of hyper-potent pot products.

"The voters were significantly misled when they were told that this was going to legalize marijuana," said John Scheft, an attorney representing the voters. "It's going to do much more, and wouldn't a fundamental question of any voter be: What are you asking me to legalize?"

[continues 368 words]

Six New England governors called on health care professionals Tuesday to work with government officials to combat the opioid epidemic and control prescriptions, describing a grim reality of addiction across the region they govern.

"There is not an issue more pressing I know for all of us at this table," said Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, addressing an audience at Harvard Medical School. "We are losing good people to the opioid crisis that is sweeping across America, and we need your help."

[continues 542 words]

GLOUCESTER - A Boston-based company is seeking to open a dispensary in Gloucester's Cape Ann Industrial Park on Kondelin Road, the second company to try to carve out a niche serving medical marijuana patients from across Cape Ann.

Company spokesman Frank Perullo confirmed Friday that Mayflower Medicinals has an agreement in place to lease some 2,000 square feet in a part of the industrial building at 8 Kondelin Road for a medical marijuana dispensary.

The building, which houses Glass Tech Boat Service and includes 15,800 square feet of commercial and industrial space overall, is owned by a corporation called New Kondelin Road LLC, according to records in the city assessors' office.

[continues 711 words]

Gloucester has taken a step toward joining the list of Massachusetts communities to host a medical marijuana facility.

Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken's office agreed not to oppose plans by Happy Valley Ventures of Newton to open a medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation facility at the Blackburn Industrial Park. Department of Public Health regulations require a letter of support or nonopposition as part of the state application process.

"Our community is in a unique position to offer meaningful medical solutions to those in critical need, while potentially helping to expand new economic avenues," Theken said. "Any agreement with the city of Gloucester must ensure legal, safe, and secure use of medical marijuana for approved patients, but any opportunity to help provide relief to our elderly, our veterans, our sick and dying, will always be heard."

[continues 290 words]

The state has pulled the license of Dr. Tyrone S. Cushing, accusing him of recommending medical marijuana in 2013 for a visibly pregnant woman with a history of substance abuse.

Cushing, who worked at CannaMed, a medical marijuana consultant service in Framingham, is the second doctor in recent days to have his license summarily suspended for improperly certifying patients as eligible to receive medical marijuana.

In its summary suspension order Thursday, the Board of Registration in Medicine described Cushing as the state's "third-highest provider of medical marijuana certificates," having issued 4,649 certificates as of May 20 while working only two days a week. Cushing acknowledged he did not conduct any physical examination or obtain vital signs of any patients, and may have certified many pregnant women, according to the order.

[continues 363 words]

A top retailers group, worried about worker productivity declining and plumes of pot smoke deterring customers from Main Street businesses, came out Wednesday against a ballot question that would legalize marijuana.

Jon B. Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, had earlier said he and his members were torn on the controversial issue and likely to stay neutral.

But he said Wednesday, after learning more about the potential drawbacks of the proposed referendum - from the proliferation of marijuana-infused edibles like brownies, to its generous limits on the home growing of pot - his group decided, on balance, it would be best if the ballot push is defeated.

[continues 528 words]

Governor Charlie Baker and the legislative leadership should be applauded for moving aggressively to address the opioid crisis. This epidemic is not new, but has now reached our most privileged communities. For the less privileged minority communities, it has long paved a road of destruction, incarceration, and death.

Our war on drugs over the past 30 years has created a largely forgotten population of citizens in their own drug crisis: those returning from prisons and jails.

The shortage of treatment resources in the community perpetuates a revolving door of release, relapse, and recidivism. Although there may be good substance-abuse treatment programs inside prisons and jails, there is a serious lack of support once inmates return to the community. An institutionalized population steps into a maze of underfunded and fragmented services.

[continues 552 words]

Massachusetts regulators are pledging to crack down on medical marijuana dispensaries after several shops placed low-income patients on waiting lists for discounted products - creating delays that run afoul of state law.

A Globe review found that the delays were often months long, effectively denying those low-income patients the discounts state regulations require for anyone with a verified financial hardship, with no cap on the number.

The dispensaries had contended their financial hardship programs were full.

The state Department of Public Health said it will now scrutinize dispensary hardship programs as part of the agency's regular inspections to make sure they comply with state regulations.

[continues 888 words]

There's growing recognition among public officials that substance abuse is a health problem that won't be solved by police or prisons. "We can't arrest our way out of the problem" is almost a cliche at this point, years into our regional opioid crisis. You wouldn't know it from reading "Opioid crisis hits too close to home for Salem couple" (Page A1, May 25). In detailing the fears of its protagonists - - condo owners in Salem - the article makes it sound like the only reasonable approach is to pay more police to put more people in cages.

[continues 118 words]

A veteran Lawrence police officer was arrested late Thursday on charges that he used his power as a police officer to take cocaine from a drug dealer for personal use, then threatened the dealer with arrest if he notified authorities.

John R. Desantis Jr., 44, of Methuen, was charged with unlawfully obtaining property by extortion under color of official right, and threatened force and fear. He did not enter a plea during a Friday court appearance, but his lawyer says he denies the allegations. Desantis is being held until a hearing Tuesday.

[continues 352 words]

WAKEFIELD -- The state board that oversees physicians on Thursday temporarily suspended the licenses of two doctors, one physician for improperly prescribing medical marijuana on "multiple occasions" and a second for making opiates available to a patient who later died of an overdose.

The Board of Registration in Medicine unanimously voted to suspend the licenses of Dr. John C. Nadolny, 57, and Dr. Fred J. Thaler, 60, after about two hours of closed-door hearings at the panel's Wakefield headquarters.

Neither doctor could be reached for comment afterward. They will appear for hearings within days before the Division of Administrative Law Appeals to determine the length of their suspensions, which are effective immediately.

[continues 421 words]

Federal securities regulators in Boston filed civil fraud charges Thursday against a company and four individuals allegedly involved in a scheme to steal from investors in a purported medical marijuana venture.

According to a complaint filed in federal court in Boston, Christopher R. Esposito, 49, of Topsfield, raised more than $550,000 from investors in 2011 and 2012 in his Lionshare Ventures. He allegedly used the majority of the funds for unauthorized personal expenses, such as groceries and pet care, and then spent $75,000 to secretly take control of Cannabiz Mobile Inc. without disclosing that to investors.

[continues 279 words]