PORTLAND — A medical marijuana dispensary that’s planned near Longfellow Square won’t offer all the amenities that its website has promoted – and that the state has questioned.
Rebecca DeKeuster, executive director of Wellness Connection of Maine, said Thursday that the dispensary at 685 Congress St. will not have a “welcoming vapor lounge,” a feature that appeared on the website in mid-December along with services including acupuncture clinics and individual counseling.
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DeKeuster removed the reference to the vapor lounge on Thursday, after speaking with a state regulator earlier in the day.
Maine’s rules do not allow people to smoke marijuana or inhale vapors at the state-licensed dispensaries.
“It was a poor choice of words,” said DeKeuster, referring to the vapor lounge.
However, she said, her staff must be able to show clients how to use a vaporization delivery unit – in which marijuana’s active compounds are boiled off into vapor. Inhaling vapors helps patients avoid the irritating and carcinogenic effects of smoking.
Wellness Connection of Maine is sticking to its plan to offer on-site massage and acupuncture, provided those services comply with city and state regulations, DeKeuster said.
There also will be a “welcoming community center” where patients can network with other patients while knitting or reading about medical marijuana. Free tea and coffee will be provided, DeKeuster said, as will referrals to off-site support groups and counseling.
The plan for the dispensary, which is still being reviewed by Portland’s Planning Department, raised concerns last week when state regulators learned that it included the vapor lounge and other features that would make it a place where medical marijuana patients could gather to socialize, not just get their medicine.
John Thiele, program manager for the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Program, said at the time that creating a social setting for the dispensation of marijuana is unhealthy because it promotes more marijuana use than is medically necessary.
On Thursday, Thiele said he spoke with DeKeuster about her plan for Portland and came away with a sense that the dispensary will likely satisfy state standards.
Thiele said the facility cannot have a vapor lounge because the state does not want impaired patients to be driving.
“A diabetic doesn’t go into a pharmacy to pick up insulin and give yourself an injection while you are there,” he said.
DeKeuster said the late-January opening date that was reported by several media outlets has been revised because of the scope of the renovation work needed to convert the 6,500-square-foot space behind the Local 188 restaurant.
A February opening date is more realistic, she said.
Wellness Connection of Maine will not be allowed to open the dispensary until it has been inspected by Thiele and issued a certificate of registration.
Thiele said he will inspect to make sure the facility has required features such as security cameras, tamper-proof safety doors and adequate parking.
He said he is uncertain about whether acupuncture could be allowed on site. He said none of the other four dispensaries operating in Maine offers on-site acupuncture or a coffee-and-tea bar.
“My main concern is that this facility does not become a hangout,” he said.
DeKeuster said that is not her organization’s mission.
“Our belief is that wellness has many different facets to it,” she said. “If we’re able to (provide all the services that are being promoted), we hope to become a model for the rest of the state.”
“We will continue to serve our individual patients with wellness programs tailored to their specific needs with the goal of improving their quality of life,” said Paul Sevigny, a member of Wellness Connection of Maine’s board of directors. “Our hope is that people will immediately recognize the relationship between our new name and our mission.”
Wellness Connection of Maine, formerly known as Northeast Patients Group, operates dispensaries in Thomaston and Hallowell, and plans to open a fourth dispensary in Brewer.
For more information about the dispensaries go to: www.mainewellness.org.
Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com
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