With the goal of awarding additional provisional licenses in October, the Department of Public Health will begin accepting applications from five approved medical marijuana companies to open a dispensary in one of the seven counties that does not have an approved dispensary, the State House News Service reported.
Officials with the Medical Use of Marijuana Program on Wednesday morning offered a briefing for approved entities on the new application process. After DPH approved 11 dispensaries for provisional licenses last month, seven counties were left without an approved dispensary — Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin, Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket and Suffolk. Five medical marijuana license applicants were not selected in the first round, but were invited by DPH to reapply in one of the open counties. Each applicant has been invited to apply for a license in up to two new locations, though the proposed dispensaries must be located in different open counties. Marijuana cultivation centers, which are sometimes separate from the dispensary, do not have to be located in an open county. Applications are due on August 29, though they can be submitted as early as August 1.