(MA) Most suburban communities welcome medical marijuana dispensaries

Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch sent a letter of support to the state endorsing the application of Ermont, a medical marijuana dispensary that plans to open there later this summer.

Dr. Dori Zaleznik, commissioner of Newton’s Health & Human Services Department, testified at city meetings that she was strongly supportive of medical marijuana.

In Salem, Mayor Kim Driscoll wrote in a letter to the state she had “no qualms” about Alterative Therapies Group joining the city’s business community, adding that the company had offered to donate $50,000 a year for traffic mitigation and health and wellness programs.

Less than a decade ago, anybody could have been arrested for possessing a marijuana cigarette in Massachusetts. But since 2008, when voters overwhelmingly approved the drug’s decriminalization, the conversation about marijuana has radically shifted from law enforcement’s view that pot is a gateway drug to voters creating new public policies for it.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/north/2014/02/06/most-suburban-communities-welcome-medical-marijuana-dispensaries/WmqVnOebl1zCCMM5scVn1I/story.html