Grand Opening: Somerville Medical Marijuana Shop

SOMERVILLE, MA – Somerville's first registered medical marijuana dispensary held its grand opening Friday morning. Sage Naturals is located at 240 Elm St., a 5,000-square-foot retail space underneath bfresh market in Davis Square. This is the non-profit's second area dispensary, behind a location on Mass. Ave. in Cambridge.

"Our goal at Sage Naturals is to help people feel better by producing the best possible natural medical cannabis for the patients of Somerville and surrounding communities," Michael Dundas, CEO of Sage Naturals, said in a statement. "Voters of Somerville overwhelmingly supported medical marijuana in the 2012 statewide ballot initiative and we are pleased to finally fulfill this unmet need."

Dundas was appointed to the state's Cannabis Advisory Board in July. The 25-member group reports to the Cannabis Control Commission, Massachusetts' regulatory body on medical marijuana.

Sage Naturals is open seven days a week from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. and offers naturally cultivated cannabis flowers, oils, extracts and edibles for patients with a valid Massachusetts Medical Use of Marijuana card. Its products are sold in air-tight, child-resistant packaging and are supplied by Sage Naturals' production facility, which grows over 60 strains of marijuana.

Some strains produced by Sage Naturals substitute THC for various levels and ratios of CBD, which maintains the medical benefits of marijuana without the psychoactive properties associated with THC, according to a company press release. The company also creates its own line of edibles.

To celebrate its opening, Sage Naturals donated $1,500 each to the Somerville Homeless Coalition and the Community Action Agency of Somerville.

Sage Naturals is currently preparing to open a third dispensary in Needham.

Photo by Alex Newman (Patch Staff)