The town council will hold public hearings Monday night on proposals that would restrict where dispensaries could open and impose strict licensing requirements for legal pot purveyors, covering everything from who can enter a dispensary to requiring facilities to have security cameras. WEYMOUTH - Town officials are looking to clamp down on the rules for medical marijuana dispensaries before any look to open up shop in Weymouth. The town council will hold public hearings Monday night on proposals that would restrict where dispensaries could open and impose strict licensing requirements for legal pot purveyors, covering everything from who can enter a dispensary to requiring facilities to have security cameras. [continues 289 words]
QUINCY - One was an 18-year-old dumped in a snowbank near Quincy Medical Center in the midst of a heroin overdose. Another was brought to the Quincy police station near death by a family member. They are just two of the more than 180 people who have been saved thanks to a program to train and equip all Quincy police and Weymouth firefighters with the overdose-reversing drug Narcan, according to the two departments. "These numbers are phenomenal," said Detective Lt. Patrick Glynn, who heads the Quincy police drug unit. "That officer represents an option of life." [continues 280 words]
Police and prosecutors on the South Shore are praising a ruling by the state's highest court that affirms their ability to charge someone with intent to distribute marijuana even if they're caught with a small amount of the drug. The Supreme Judicial Court on Monday released a ruling overturning a lower court's decision that a Great Barrington man could not be charged with intent to distribute marijuana because he had less than an ounce of the drug and there was no sale or transaction. Passage of a 2008 ballot question made possession of an ounce or less of marijuana a non-criminal offense subject to a $100 fine in Massachusetts. But the high court's ruling said that referendum did not affect laws or penalties for suspects caught with any amount of marijuana and evidence that they intended to distribute it, even if the distribution doesn't involve a sale. "It appears that the court has upheld a separate and distinct crime of intent to distribute," Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said of the ruling. "It'll help settle some cases we have on the books and send a strong message to people who are distributing." Police say it's not hard to tell the difference between a stash meant for personal use and one meant to by divvied up among buyers. [continues 293 words]
