Did anyone here go to last night's meeting about Garden Remedies marijuana dispensary?

[ron_newman]

Did any of you go to this meeting? If you did, can you share your notes and impressions here? Thanks.

Comments

[jlauspitz.livejournal.com]

Thalia Tringo posted a thorough report on the Chandler Street list. It is worth reading. Unfortunately, when I tried to paste it here I learned that it runs double the character cap for Live Journal. Lee

[ron_newman]

Please paste it here, as multiple comments if necessary.

Thalia Tringo's report on the marijuana mtg-- part I

[jlauspitz.livejournal.com]

My takeaways from the weed meeting tonight
Thalia Tringo <thalia@thaliatringorealestate.com>: Feb 09 01:52AM -0500

Hi all,

Tonight was the second public meeting for Garden Remedies (GR), the
applicant for a marijuana dispensary on the former Family Dollar space, at
the Baptist church on College Ave. at 6:30 pm. I don't know how other
people there felt, but I thought I'd share my impressions.

To clarify my position, I don't object to medical marijuana dispensaries in
general. My concerns are (a) the unsuitability of the location in Davis
Sq; (b) safety - some or all of the transactions are cash and customers
enter with cash and leave with boutique drugs - def a target for muggers;
(c) probable later conversion of the facility to a recreational weed store;
(d) the fact that there may be two weed places across from each other in
Davis Sq. as well as one in E. Somerville and one in Union Sq. - in
addition to other locations in Cambridge, nearby. Is the demand for medical
weed really that high?

First, the group of attendees was much smaller than the last meeting.
Second, the applicant seemed better prepared than last time. Third, I'm
still not enthusiastic about it. Here are my takeaways:

*Location: * I still haven't heard a compelling reason that they need to be
in Davis Sq., in a street-level retail site, other than that the City
approved two locations in Davis Sq. and they'd like one of them. When
pressed, they acknowledged that patients with med marijuana prescriptions
can have the weed legally delivered to them at their homes. Since that is
true, I still don't understand why a store is needed. It would be more
economical for the company and more private and convenient for the patient
to choose medications via phone/Skype/FaceTime/etc. consultations with
trained staff and then have it delivered.

There's no parking to accommodate the 100-150 customers they anticipate
coming through 7 days a week during their 9 am-9 pm business hours. (Their
commercial broker assured me they determined there was "plenty of parking"
and there was a traffic study. I disagreed about the parking, and another
person wisely noted that whatever parking study they had did not include
the impact of 2 weed stores and a new grocery store on that block.)

*Competition:* The Garden Remedies team were unfazed when asked about a
competing location directly across the street. They thought it would
attract more people to look at the choices at both locations. So, they see
Davis as a point of destination for medical marijuana.

[part II to come]

Thalia Tringo's report on the marijuana mtg-- part I

[jlauspitz.livejournal.com]

[continued from part I]

I asked about Inhale MD nearby on Mass. Ave in North Cambridge. They said
Inhale MD writes prescriptions for medical marijuana but does not dispense
the drug. My sense is that most people can get a prescription from this
doctor and then stroll over to Davis to buy their weed. I say this based
on the Inhale MD website: https://inhalemd.com. If you take a look, here
are some of the diseases/symptoms for which this doctor can prescribe
medical marijuana:
Cancer
ALS
Multiple Sclerosis
Parkinsons
Back
Arthritis
Headaches
Joint Pain
Neuropathy
Sexual Dysfunction
Anxiety
Depression
PTSD
Couples Therapy
Sexual Enhancement
Apetite (sic - misspelled on site)
Insomnia
Mindfulness
Athletic Enhancement

Uh, doesn't this list seem to cover a majority of people? Sure seems like
just about anyone could get a prescription. I certainly think people with
chronic pain, terrible illness, or bad effects from chemo should be able to
get a prescription. But, seriously - mindfulness? Couples therapy?
Athletic enhancement? That seems like a stretch. If it weren't so
expensive, it'd be interesting to see how many of us could make an
appointment and get a prescription.

*Medical v. Recreational:* I did not hear any assurances that this
facility, or any other, would never convert from medical to recreational
use. They talked about how the medical application is the only one
available and how the recreational is "far off" and a whole different
thing, but I didn't hear anyone state that is could never happen. That
makes me think it probably will happen. And if prescriptions are easy to
get, it won't be that different from a recreational weed shop.

One person asked whether there were any certifications necessary for the
staff (like pharmacist training) and GR said no. They'd do their own
training but they could conceivably hire a high school grad with no
specific degree or training. So the staff could be similar to other retail
store staff. Since what they are emphasizing is their ability to help
people find the best medication to help them, I found this a little
disconcerting. Again, this is more in line with recreational retail than
medical use staffing.

[continued in part III]

Thalia Tringo's report on the marijuana mtg-- part III

[jlauspitz.livejournal.com]

[continued from part II]

*Is it an All-Cash Business?: * GR said the have been able to use debit
cards through their relationship with Century Bank. They are doing this in
Newton. I have checked with the AG's office several times and have not
received a definitive response about accepting non-cash payment. But I am
somewhat relieved if this is true. Still, people leaving with drugs will
be targets.

*Doing the Math:* I tried to run some rough, conservative numbers, based
on the information I have, which is limited:

- The GR space is 5,044 sq.ft. (this does* not *include the parts they
will sublet)
- GR rent is $50 per sq ft, triple net (triple net or NNN means that, on
top of the base rent, the tenant pays for real estate taxes, building
insurance, maintenance, and utilities. It depends on the property, but that
amount is considerable here.)
- This makes the base rent $252,200/year, or $21K/month - about $700/day
- I estimate that the NNN costs add $300/day
- That makes the daily space overhead cost about $1,000/day before
utilities
- They plan to have 20 employees, working different shifts over 7
12-hour days. I estimate their average labor costs to be about $2,000/day
(including FT security guard and remember there will be several employees
on at the same time and payroll costs/benefits add about 25%)
- Ergo, I arrived at a conservative pre-utilities base cost of $3,000/day
- GR estimates 100-150 customers/day. I can't find their estimated
average sale from the last meeting, but I think it was $125 (Ulysses - do
you have this in your notes?). That means average daily sales of $15,625+.


*Political Donations: *I have been looking up the names of all the
partners involved in each of the weed applicant entities. None of the GR
principals had made any donations to local politicians, according to data
available from MA Office of Campaign and Political Finance (
https://www.ocpf.us). It's possible there are people affiliated with them
that donated, but I have not come across any other names. Interestingly,
the applicants for the space across the street donated heavily to local
pols. More on that in a future email.

*Positive Points: * Although I don't support the location, there are
several good things I could say about the applicant. For one their first
location is in Newton, which is where all the principals live. So they were
willing to do it in their own town first. Secondly, I do think they have a
sincere desire to help people cope with debilitating illness, although it
may not be their only motivation. Third, they did add a full-time security
person to their plan. Fourth, their space will be fully ADA compliant.

That's all I can think of right now.

--

Thalia@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com

[wintahill.livejournal.com]

Thank you for following up with more details from the meeting. I am normally unable to attend these things in person because of my work schedule.

There was some very good insights in that write up, but I do not agree with some of the concerns raised. I think people should look more closely at existing medical dispensaries in the state, if they are worried about muggings of patients or if there is really enough demand to support such a business.

I am in favor of a dispensary in Davis Sq as well as having additional locations in other areas of the city. I do agree that two dispensaries directly across the street from each other may be excessive though.

[bettyw.livejournal.com]

To clarify one of Thalia's comments: while it is true that with the requisite fee and some proof of a medical condition InhaleMD will certify someone's eligibility for MMJ, it is NOT true that it is a "prescription" which can then be immediately taken to a dispensary. The next steps are:

- they file their certification with the state agency
- the state sends the patient an email with a login code
- the patient logs in and fills out a multi-page form, including uploads of MA residence proof and a current head shot, and submits
- 2-3 weeks later if they did everything right they get an email approving their permiit and a link to a temporary printable permit card to use until their physical permit (very like a drivers license) arrives.
- to enter a dispensary they need to present both their MMJ permit and the form of ID they used to get it.