City Gives Thumbs Up to 2 More Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

WORCESTER, MA—Two more medical marijuana dispensaries will open in Worcester, after City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. announced he has provided letters of non-opposition to Mission Massachusetts, Inc. and Medicinal Alternatives, Inc.

Mission Massachusetts will locate a retail and cultivation facility at 640 Lincoln St. and the facility will employ approximately 50 people. Medicinal Alternatives will locate a retail and packaging facility at 1191 Millbury St., employing approximately 30 people.

Mission Massachusetts and Medicinal Alternative are the third and fourth Registered Marijuana Dispensary retail facilities provided with a letter of non-opposition, said the city in an announcement. As part of these agreements, the City has agreed to approve no more than four Registered Marijuana Dispensary retail facilities.
The City Manager also provided a letter of non-opposition to Good Chemistry of Massachusetts, Inc, to locate a cultivation-only facility at 40 Pullman St., with no retail operation. Between the previously agreed upon retail facility at 9 Harrison St. and the cultivation facility, Good Chemistry will employ approximately 50 people.

As a condition of receiving the letter, Mission Massachusetts and Medicinal Alternatives have signed community host agreements equivalent to those previously signed by Good Chemistry and Prime Wellness, continued the announcement.

The agreement will pay the City $100,000, plus 1.5 percent of gross sales revenue during the first year of operation. In the second year, they will pay $150,000, plus 2 percent of gross sales revenue. They will pay $200,000, plus 2.5 percent of gross sales revenue in the third year and all subsequent years of operation in the City.

Every organization will also contribute a minimum of $10,000 annually to public charities or causes of its choosing benefiting the neighborhood.

By 2019, the four entities operating dispensaries in the City of Worcester will supply approximately 140 jobs, a minimum of $800,000 in annual payments plus a percentage of gross sales, and a minimum of $50k annually to site neighborhoods.