[B]ENNINGTON — Members of the town’s Development Review Board asked few questions, and deliberated only briefly, before approving southwestern Vermont’s first medical marijuana dispensary at its regular meeting on Tuesday.
No members of the public attended the meeting. There was a brief deliberative session before the vote, which took only a few minutes, and PhytoScience Institute LLC, was granted a change of use permit to open a medical cannabis dispensary in a small commercial center at 120 Depot St. The vacant space was the former home of a local branch of the Vermont Registry of Motor Vehicles.
PhytoScience Institute, which is based in Waterbury, will renovate the space with an eye toward opening by March 1, said real estate agent Paul Carroccio, of TPW Real Estate, who represented PhytoScience at the meeting.
The state requires a final inspection before issuing a sales license.
Carroccio told the board the dispensary would be operated much like a medical office. Five to eight patients would be seen per day, by appointment, each appointing lasting 10 to 15 minutes.
In addition, the company has plans for an 800-square-foot retail space in the front, Carroccio said, where creams, gels and other non-regulated hemp-related products will be sold.
The rear of the space will be a secured area for patients who have obtained a medical marijuana card from the state Department of Health. Cards are issued for the relief of symptoms of a variety of illnesses and medical conditions, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, pain and nausea. Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and PTSD were added as qualifying conditions last year.
PhytoScience Institute will grow the marijuana at its cultivation facility in Montpelier, Carroccio said. PhytoScience also operates a research laboratory for the development and quality control testing of medical marijuana.
PhytoScience also has secured a license for a second dispensary, which the company intends to open in St. Albans once the Bennington site is operating.
This is the fifth license the state has granted since medical marijuana was signed into Vermont law in 2004. Bennington has been regarded as an underserved area by the state program, which has granted permits for dispensaries in Montpelier, Brattleboro, Brandon and Burlington.
