New businesses opening as Correia trial ends
6 min read
FALL RIVER – Jay says he’s buying a good quality pot in Fall River not to cause a stir but to help him fall asleep.
“I have terrible insomnia and it helps me a lot,” said the 38-year-old Warwick resident, who refused to reveal his last name.
Jay says he’s not entitled to a medical cannabis card in Rhode Island – which is why he spends up to $ 200 every two months at the Northeast Alternatives pharmacy on William S. Canning Boulevard on Route 24 near the Tiverton Line.
More:State Stalls Northeast Alternatives potting license, citing links to investigate Jasiel Correia
“I have no choice but to come here,” Jay said on a weekday afternoon as he held a small customer bag that contained both smokable weed and cannabis wax, a concentrated form of cannabis oil.
Northeast Alternatives is one of three adult marijuana dispensaries operating in Fall River. It was also the first to open for medical marijuana sales in 2018 and recreational product sales in 2019.
More:Northeast Alternatives plans to open its second pot shop in Swansea
Another three groups of investors, including a former Fall River mayor, plan to open pharmacies before the end of 2021. All three projects also have plans to include growing or growing marijuana crops.
Jay said online prices are more or less comparable for companies selling recreational marijuana. But he says he might be willing to do comparative shopping for different strains of cannabis.
“I would look into it,” he said.
Local application process for more control
According to Alan Rumsey, counsel for Fall River Corporation, the valuation of marijuana retail applications at the local level will change from now on.
Former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia is currently on trial in Boston on charges of extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from potential retail store owners in exchange for mayoral letters of approval to operate in the city.
More:Coogan appoints business consultants, special assistants
Rumsey said applicants will need so-called non-opposition letters from Mayor Paul Coogan in addition to agreements with the host community.
“It’s a requirement,” he said of the executive-level letter.
Rumsey says, however, that “a major review” is underway to establish “a formal application process” that will include the establishment of a cannabis licensing and enforcement commission and “major revisions” to host community agreements.
“It is unlikely that more marijuana establishments will be allowed in the city until this review process is completed,” he said.
Rumsey said it was too early to say who could be appointed to the new commission. He said this will “essentially be a licensing enforcement commission”.
“We need a formal process, but we’re just not there yet,” he said.
Rumsey said the previous policy of requiring a $ 50,000 deposit as part of the host community agreement has been discontinued. He said his office recently returned a check for this amount to one applicant and will not cash a similar check from anyone else.
The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a bill in February to empower the Cannabis Control Commission to oversee the host community’s arrangements.
More:The AG’s ruling reflects changes to Westport Marihuana’s Articles of Association
Former management consultant Joseph Macy said during his testimony at the Correia federal trial that he had written 14 letters on behalf of Correia and 14 agreements with the host community.
Rumsey said he wasn’t sure how many marijuana facility applications were pending. However, he estimated that there are at least between five and ten.
Former Mayor Will Flanagan has plans
Will Flanagan was Mayor of Fall River when state voters approved medical marijuana legalization.
Flanagan, a criminal defense attorney who served as assistant district attorney earlier in his career, said he and his two partners expect their marijuana dispensary to open in late summer or early fall.
He says their store will be called Cosmopolitan Dispensary and will occupy the entire first floor of the former Salter College building at 82 Hartwell Street.
Salter College, a private trade school, closed all Massachusetts schools after the Attorney General fined a total of $ 5.5 million between 2014 and 2019 for misleading enrollment practices.
Flanagan said the only remaining tenant was in the three-story building Canna Care Docs – which occupies part of the second floor and has been providing medical marijuana information and advice to people who may be eligible for medical marijuana treatment for years.
Flanagan said he and his partners had a lease with the owner.
He said they are investing $ 400,000 in what he calls a “complete upgrade” of their space and an additional $ 750,000 in equipment, supplies and inventory.
Flanagan said a partner has experience operating pharmacies in Colorado. The other, he said, was involved in a pharmacy that had just opened in Brockton called the Brockton Green Heart Marijuana Dispensary.
Flanagan says they also intend to include marijuana cultivation in order for their business model to be “vertically integrated”.
He says that ideally they can eventually occupy all three floors of the Hartwell Street building.
According to Flanagan, between 15 and 20 people will be hired and up to 50 could work there if the upper floors are cultivated.
Flanagan said he and his partners had a valid agreement with the host community and a non-objection letter from former Mayor Correia, as well as a provisional license from the state cannabis control commission.
He said they hired Fall River’s William Starck Architects to redesign the interior.
Final state approval, Flanagan said, will come from the cannabis commission’s architectural plan review committee.
“It’s a very, very thorough inspection,” he said.
Flanagan says he doesn’t smoke or use marijuana, but believes it will help people with certain medical problems when he visited a friend in Colorado who works in the industry.
“I am a former prosecutor and have prosecuted cannabis cases. But I’ve seen firsthand how it helps sick people, especially children with seizure disorders, ”he said. “It opened my eyes and really changed my attitudes and opinions.”
The other two marijuana companies currently operating in the city include Sunnyside Cannabis, originally known as Hope Heal Health, and Nature’s Medicines, formerly known as Xiphias Wellness.
Sunnyside, which grows and sells, is located in a former mill building at 1 West Street in the city’s North End. Nature’s Medicines, which only dispenses marijuana, is located in the former Ukrainian club at 482 Globe St.
Flanagan and his group might be faced with a somewhat crowded field.
A pharmacy called Health For Life was scheduled to open in a brand new building at 160 Hartwell Street behind Applebee’s Restaurant and Walgreens in 2020 but has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
More:Health For Life’s marijuana dispensary plans to sell “within the year”.
The company also constructed a now active 50,000-square-foot annex on 1100 Innovation Way in the city’s BioPark, next to the Amazon distribution and warehouse facility off Route 24.
It’s not clear if the Health For Life pharmacy will open in 2021. Attempts to contact the owner have so far been unsuccessful.
However, Flanagan said he was not concerned that there was another pharmacy in his immediate vicinity.
More:“Legalized Blackmail”: How Correia’s Case Shows Corruption Opportunities in the MA Pot Industry
“I think it’s actually an advantage to have them that close,” he said.
“Marijuana dispensaries are like a magnet,” Flanagan said. “It’s no different than a CVS near a Walgreens or a McDonald’s near a Burger King. It gives consumers a choice.”
He also said that marijuana entrepreneurs tend to be mutually supportive and even state law allows them to “transfer” or sell products among themselves if one of the companies runs out of a certain strain or variety.
The last marijuana project in town currently heading for final government approval is Aura Cannabis LLC, which bought the former BK’s Beacon Tavern building at 320 Airport Road last year.
Westport attorney Brian Corey, who also has legal cannabis clients in other communities including Westport, is representing Aura Cannabis LLC.
Corey said he expects the Aura Group to obtain a preliminary government license to grow and sell marijuana in the Airport Road building within “the next few months.”
Lucrative business
Chris Mirmirani of North Providence had just bought his monthly supply of recreational marijuana from the Northeast Alternatives pharmacy.
“I’m not surprised,” Mirmirani, 38, said when told that up to six pharmacies could be open in Fall River by the end of the year.
“Imagine how much money you are making here. It’s a booming business, ”he said.
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