After years of permitting and regulatory hurdles, Islanders will soon be able to purchase medical marijuana, tinctures, concentrates, and edibles in a cozy shop environment.
Fine Fettle Dispensaries, which purchased the majority of contracts and physical assets from Geoff Rose, CEO of Patient Centric of Martha’s Vineyard, in a landmark deal in March, is planning a soft opening this Friday, July 23.
Jay Deyette, general manager of the Fine Fettle dispensary, located at 510 State Road in West Tisbury, said the location will first be opening for medical cardholders only.
This means those who wish to partake in the soft opening will need to be a registered medical marijuana patient with the commonwealth, and must present their license at the time of admittance.
Deyette said the adult-use operation of the dual-function facility (both adult-use and medical) won’t begin until sometime in August.
Upon opening, the dispensary will serve medical patients Monday through Saturday, from 9 am to 7 pm. Deyette stressed that there are no walk-ins allowed, and appointments are required for anyone looking to purchase marijuana. Registration for time slots will open the day prior to opening, and will be available throughout the day on Friday. Folks will be able to head to the Fine Fettle website, place their order, and select a time slot.
“Your order won’t be processed unless you actually select a time, so that’s important to note,” Deyette said.
Because they’re having a soft opening, Deyette said, they won’t be offering their full product line right out of the gate, although there will be a variety of options to choose from.
They will start by offering flower and prerolled joints, with marijuana edibles most likely about two weeks down the road, although Deyette said that may be a conservative estimate.
As early as November, Fine Fettle will also be offering marijuana concentrates for vape pens.
For customers who are interested in getting a medical card, they will need to start by applying on the state website, although Deyette added that Terry Kriedman is the only doctor on Martha’s Vineyard who is licensed to issue medical marijuana cards. Dr. Kriedman will be at the Fine Fettle facility on Friday to explain the process to individuals who are unsure of how to get a card, or how to use one to purchase marijuana.
Prospective patients can also apply and meet with a doctor via telephone or telemedicine. “It’s a super-exciting development, and it has been a long process, with the state especially. But that’s a good thing, because it means that the entire process is highly regulated,” Deyette said. He stressed how broad the medical application of cannabis is, and how much potential it has to help people.
“We are so proud to get this out and help people — that’s what Fine Fettle is all about. There is such a wide use for cannabis, and the technology has come so far in just the past couple of years,” Deyette said.
Under the current license agreement held by Fine Fettle, the dispensary can serve up to 24 people per hour.
Even though Fine Fettle is an off-Island company, Deyette said all the people who work in the dispensary and cultivation center are longtime Islanders, or washashores (like Deyette).
He added that the company is close-knit, community-oriented, and family-owned and -operated.
“We are all team players, and we really are just so excited to finally bring this amazing opportunity to the Vineyard community, and help as many people as we can,” Deyette said.
On top of the soon-to-open medical facility (later to expand to adult use, as well), Geoff Rose is looking to open his adult-use dispensary sometime in early to mid-August.
He congratulated Fine Fettle on its imminent soft opening, and said he is pleased that after so much time spent planning and working through regulatory barriers, a marijuana institution is opening on Martha’s Vineyard.
Just recently Rose, who was the owner of Patient Centric, was granted an adult-use recreational license by the Cannabis Control Commission for what he’s now calling Island Time, and has officially received a certificate of operation.
Now, Island Time, located on 15 Mechanic St. in Vineyard Haven, has requested a post-final license inspection, and Rose said he expects to hear from an inspector shortly to schedule one final appointment before the facility is good to go. “It’s possible that we could open sometime the week of August 2, but more likely we will open the week of August 9,” Rose said.
Rose said Island Time is all staffed up, and is actively training its budtenders and other dispensary staff.
The adult-use Island Time will be purchasing all its products from Fine Fettle, and is required by special permit to be by appointment only.
Upon opening, Rose said he will offer only adult-use recreational products, although he hasn’t ruled out eventually acquiring a separate permit for the medical-use option. “I am seeing lots of pent-up demand, excitement, and sometimes a bit of ‘I can’t really believe it’s going to happen,’’’ Rose said. “With 100,000-plus people coming here every week, I think those appointments are going to fill up pretty quickly.”
Wonder what hurdle one needs to jump in order to get a medical marujuana card. ”I am feeling a little down””. For the doctor to be there at the opening is simply code for anyone wanting one can get one. Doesnt matter anyway since the full Adult gate will open a month later and we will have everyone prancing around like the walking dead. Thus harms MV even more.
How down does one need to be to crack open a beer? Why should the Devil’s Lettuce be any different?
Andy– I wonder why you think someone should need to jump through a hurdle to ingest something into their bodies ? It’s totally voluntary you know. Of course I won’t be surprised if fox talking heads start telling us that the gov. is going to force it on us, and secretly put it into cereal. You would believe them—Such is the insanity of conspiracy theories and pathological lying.
“prancing about” — that’s rich…
Youi know Andy, I have seen people so drunk on the lord that they throw their hands up and “speak in tongues” — that is , they have a psychotic event and throw themselves on the floor and roll around, often injuring themselves. Sometimes they die because they think some passage in an ancient book will protect them from poisonous snake bites.
And you are worried about people “prancing around”?
Pick your drug– you can be high on your god, I can be high on my sacred plant.
You frown on pot shops– I frown on churches..
And who do you think is more “dependent” on their “drug” ?
I’m not talking about opioids or alcohol or nicotine.
Not remotely as much as the life threatening harm created for our entire MV community by CHOOSING to ignore the Covid19 Pandemic vaccination — which protects EVERYONE — and FREE to for ALL who should be supporting the effort to protect our entire community.
The Covid19 Delta Variant is now surging throughout the USA — arriving on Martha’s Vineyard any minute now.
THAT is a REAL THREAT for EVERYONE here.
The delta variant is already here. Read the lead story at the top of the main page.
Well said, Jesse Chase!
ISLAND CULTURE, MARTHAS VINEYARD GROWN.
Martha’s Vineyard also called (NOPEE) by our forefathers is an ideal place for this new industry in our time.
The vineyard has always been a place of marijuana cultivation and smoking! Just ask around my friends. It is a part of our heritage.
Martha’s Vineyard is a very very spiritual place according to the many various Wampanoag nations who inhabit this land. The sagas speak of special energy radiating from the vineyard and of course who can forget the smells of the vineyard as you come’ round the chop from vineyard sound with the wind and the smells of the vineyard hit you with wonderful fragrances roses, island sweet grass and fresh salt air.
Hopefully we can all love and let live. We should all be grateful for what we have been given and enjoy and help those we can in our own neighborhoods !
The heyday of marijuana cultivation and enjoyment is on its way I believe. Martha’s Vineyard law enforcement does not need to waste their time and resources on the eradication of HARMLESS medicine called MARIJUANA. Sure it’s not for all but it’s sure safer than alcohoLL!!!
What a GREAT addition to the island!
Not harmless for more people than you imagine. Some people suffer psychosis while under the influence.
That’s what we in the business might call a pre-existing condition.
Untrue. There are cases of psychosis in perfectly stable and healthy people. Stop making excuses. Young adults and teens are especially vulnerable.
The most damning criticism of your notion is this: cannabis use has gone up dramatically over the past 50 years, while diagnoses of schizophrenia have not. Probably what’s going on is that people who are predisposed toward mental illness are more inclined to try the Devil’s Lettuce than a normative population, but even that is not well established in the scientific literature.
All of this is besides the point: a few unlucky people with poorly-established side effects is not a good enough reason to oppress a larger population. Cannabis is fun and medically useful. Tens of millions of people use it. Areas that legalize it have fewer impaired driving deaths and less racialized arrest numbers. Most of all, it is already cheaply available on MV, in abundance. It is laughable to me that anybody would pretend otherwise. Stop making people skulk around in the shadows if they happen to prefer chuffing nugs to chugging beers.
Would it be off-topic to mention the ongoing nationwide (entirely legal) opioid crisis that has killed hundreds of thousands?
Very much on topic, Robert, especially here on the island.
Robert– I don’t think the opioid crisis is “entirely legal “
Production of prescription pain meds is legal. How they are procurred is another matter, but their prescribed use can often lead to serious addiction as I’m sure you are aware..
Robert-yes, I am aware — I have lost 4 close friends to opioids in my life. None of them did so with “legal” substances. The great majority of guns in America were legally manufactured, but that is not to say all guns are “entirely legal”.
This is one of the most stark reasons cannabis should be completely legalized. Most opioid addicts start with a prescription painkiller, then either cannot afford more or get another prescription. Fentanyl, heroin, and other scary drugs ruin bodies, lives, and communities. But people want pain management, and always will. Cannabinoids are effective for this purpose. They are not meaningfully addictive. And they do not turn peoples’ bodies into nightmares the way these pharmaceutical chemicals do. We should let people get the help they need instead of shaming and arresting them.
Marijuana– “it won’t kill you unless a bail of it falls on you”– Willie Nelson
I loathe weed and the culture surrounding it, but I think anyone on MV who wants to partake has already been doing so for ages. Nearly everyone I know smokes. I doubt we will notice much of a change due to this development.
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