The Massachusetts Department of Public Health this week announced it will change the way it licenses medical marijuana dispensaries. The move follows a long and controversial process to open dispensaries since voters legalized medical pot in 2012. None are open yet. Boston Globe health reporter Kay Lazar says the old licensing process required dispensary applicants to compete against each other.
To hear an interview with Boston Globe reporter Kay Lazar, click on the audio player above.
Massachusetts public health officials announced Wednesday that the state will change how it licenses medical marijuana dispensaries.
Until now, dispensaries were approved through a long application process that was fraught with controversy and delays. Officials from the state Department of Public Health say the new system will be more streamlined, and similar to the process for licensing pharmacies. The change is welcome news to Julia Germaine, who had proposed a dispensary in Pittsfield that failed to win a license. Germaine says her organization will regroup and try again under the new system.
“I think what we will put together will be even better and even stronger, and will incorporate all of those lessons learned from the first round,” Germaine says.
Currently no medical marijuana dispensaries are open in the state, though fifteen have licenses. Massachusetts voters legalized medicinal pot in a 2012 ballot referendum.
Massachusetts public health officials are drawing down the number of hospitals that will treat patients who test positive for Ebola.
The state has enlisted six hospitals to treat any Ebola patients if a case shows up in Massachusetts. They include Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. The other five are all in Boston. Previously all hospitals were expected to be prepared to treat an Ebola case. That drew criticism from the state’s nurses’ union, which said its members have not received sufficient training or adequate protective equipment.
Public Health Commissioner Cheryl Bartlett says while all hospitals have been training nurses for Ebola, “by creating this coordinated, collaborative system, we reduce the number of people that have to have that level of intensive training to care for an Ebola patient.”
Unlike some other states in the region, Massachusetts is not looking to quarantine health care workers returning from West African countries hit hard by the Ebola virus.
The head of the New England Farm Workers Council is satisfied with the state’s decision on an audit which had alleged the organization misused $700,000 of state funds.
The Council won’t have to pay back any money to the state, according to CEO, Heriberto Flores. The audit also questioned the make up of the organization’s board of directors. Flores says more people outside the agency have been brought on. The audit also said Flores’ salary, calculated at $900,000 over three years, exceeded state limits. Flores says his salary is actually $290,000 a year, and comes from private funds. He says it’s justified. The council provides job training and other services to low-income residents.
According to the state, the audit was a key reason that a separate company also headed by Flores was denied a license in June for a Holyoke medical marijuana dispensary. Flores says he is “in discussions” with the Department of Public Health about that decision.
“Once mature people sit down and discuss the whole thing, and look at it in a more clear and objective way, everything will be solved,” says Flores.
Flores added his work at the Farm Worker’s Council would have no bearing on his dispensary.
A DPH spokesperson says the June decision was the agency’s final action on the medical marijuana license.
Health officials say a case of an unusual respiratory virus has been confirmed in an 8-year-old southeastern Massachusetts girl. State Department of Public Health Commissioner Cheryl Bartlett says the girl has a history of asthma. She was hospitalized and has recovered. The Enterovirus D68 has been confirmed in 27 states since mid-August, including Connecticut. So Bartlett says its presence in Massachusetts is not unexpected.
“For most children this virus is relatively mild, but for children with asthma and other respiratory illnesses, it can be more serious,” Bartlett says. “Parents should contact their pediatrician if their child is experiencing respiratory illness.”
State officials say the federal Centers for Disease Control are testing more respiratory virus samples from Massachusetts, and they expect to see more cases of the D68 strain in the state. The virus can cause mild to severe illness, with the worst cases needing life support for breathing difficulties. The strain is not new, but it’s rarely seen.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Massachusetts’ Commissioner of Public Health Cheryl Bartlett was in the western part of the state Friday to address opiate addiction. She says opening a detox facility in Franklin County will likely be among her recommendations to Governor Deval Patrick next week to discuss how to use $20 million he designated in March to fight opiate addiction. Right now Franklin County has no long-term detox facility, and Bartlett says changing that will likely be a priority, but gave no more specifics.
“The recommendations will be really more broad-based, so if we were to say we think there needs to be a detox treatment, that’s what we would say and then we would do more research based on how the governor prioritizes things,” says Bartlett.
Bartlett’s comments came after a meeting with more than 30 community leaders in Greenfield. The group of politicians, health officials, law enforcement, and others discussed a wide range of issues related to rising numbers of opiate addictions and overdoses in the rural county. The commissioner held a similar discussion in Springfield.