AG Says Towns Must Allow Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

If someone wants to run a medical marijuana dispensary in Medfield, they can, said the Attorney General's office on Wednesday.

The Attorney General's ruling, as written by Assistant Attorney General Margaret J. Hurley, ruled that towns cannot prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries from individual towns, however, they can regulate (through zoning) the areas in which a dispensary can be located. 

In an interview on National Public Radio on Wednesday, AG reps said that, if one town was allowed to prohibit dispensaries then all towns could prohibit them, and that goes against the intent of the new law which was a move to make it easier for people to obtain marijuana if it is medically necessary. 

While this issue was making its way through the AG's office, Medfield was busy creating a local by-law that restricts medical marijuana dispensaries to the Industrial-Extensive zone which essentially runs along Route 27, north of West Street, west toward Millis, and east toward Mill Street and Ice House Road bordering on Copperwood Road (see attached map).

Town meeting will vote on the bylaw to "amend the zoning bylaws to regulate medical marijuana clinics" at its April 29 annual town meeting. 

"I think we're probably on the right track allowing such a use by special permit in an industrial zone," said Medfield Town Administrator Michael Sullivan in response to the ruling. 

He noted the Attorney General's office overturned Wakefield's bylaw banning dispensaries anywhere in town, but also approved Burlington's moratorium on medical marijuana treatment centers through mid-2014. 

"The Wakefield decision threw out the total ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, so it's good we didn't go with that solution," Sullivan said. "And they did approve a limited moratorium, but that's only a temporary delay and not a final solution."

Selectman Osler "Pete" Peterson, a lawyer and an outspoken opponent of legalizing medical marijuana, said he was not surprised by the decision. 

"I was not surprised by the AG's ruling, as in my mind, despite differing legal underpinnings, I had analogized the marijuana zoning to the adult entertainment zoning issues, which also cannot be prohibited, just reasonably regulated," Peterson said.

Any proposed adult entertainment business in Medfield would be limited to the Adult Entertainment Overlay District which covers a very limited area.