With the legalization of marijuana for both medicine and recreation in Canada, the US is not far behind from following the same trend. It may take a while but many of the states are taking the right steps to do the same and leading the way in Massachusetts.
Marijuana and Massachusetts
“Massachusetts approved medical marijuana as part of a ballot question in the 2012 general election and there are currently over 55,000 active patients which are a drop in the bucket as to what is to come when recreational sales are allowed. It is also likely that current medical dispensaries will get into the recreational-use business where there will be two retail areas, one medical, one recreational. The only difference in the product will be the price of the taxes paid to the government.”
In Peabody, MA (north of Boston) one company is seeking a medical license, Phytotherapy Inc. The main person applying for the license is Alexander Athanas, a young entrepreneur who has a brief history in real estate since graduating from college in 2012. On June 26, 2017, Athanas incorporated Phytotherapy in Massachusetts and listed himself as President.
“The following month he applied to MDPH to request a Certificate of Registration to operate a Registered Marijuana Dispensary (RMD). He stated in the application that he had at least $500,000 on deposit at Citizens Bank in New Hampshire, a requisite amount needed to demonstrate that the company would be properly capitalized. The following month, MDPH responded that Phytotherapy’s application was insufficient in that it did not specify the type of banking account that contained the $500,000, a few days later it was specified that it was a “checking account.”
Athanas is listed as being the sole provider of funding to capitalize Phytotherapy, so he would be subject to the background check that MDPH is conducting. Athanas’s father is Spiros Athanas who pled guilty in January to charges associated with a massive illegal gambling operation that spanned decades.
