BOARD APPROVES SECOND PERMIT FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA
DISPENSARY

WILTON - The Planning Board on Thursday unanimously approved a second
permit to use the Dexter building on Routes 2 and 4 as a medical
marijuana dispensary.

Timothy and Jennifer Smale of Vienna applied for the permit in order
to open Remedy Compassion Center.

Last month, Lucas Sirois and Chad Crandall received a permit for the
building for their dispensary business named Ahead Care.

Whether either will use the building for that purpose will be
determined by the state and announced on July 9. Only one facility
will be licensed within eight zones across the state.

Believing this part of Maine is an underserved area, Tim Smale told
the board the couple would like to operate a cannabis facility in this
part of the state in order to serve more patients. He said they find
the site a "perfect location, a fortress providing safety for patients
and the community."

The site is off the road away from neighbors and schools and near the
hospital and doctors, the Smales wrote in materials distributed at the
meeting.

After several years in the business world, the couple want to operate
a safe facility where the focus is on the patient and not on the
product or profit, he said.

Smale, 51, told the board he has suffered from migraines since age 22
and found other drugs didn't work. A few years ago, a doctor suggested
the use of medical marijuana.

"It saved my life. I would be disabled without it," he
said.

The couple left Maine last year to work and learn about medical
marijuana dispensaries in California and then returned. They submitted
their application last Friday for the Wilton site.

The Smales "prefer to refer to marijuana by its botanical name,
'Cannabis,' because we believe there is a big difference," according
to a sheet they distributed.

They intend to use the lower floor of the building for cultivation and
the top floor for the dispensary. The building will have high
security, he said. The couple will also offer foods made with the
product. As a nonprofit operation, they intend to use a major portion
of any revenues to help lower income patients.

Board Chairman Michael Sherrod questioned whether the board could
approve two use permits for the same space and same purpose. The board
members said they could because only one of the two parties would be
given the state license to run the dispensary. These two applications
are among six submitted in the zone covering Franklin, Oxford and
Androscoggin counties.

The board agreed that they should request the same conditions be met
by the Smales as were given to Sirois and Crandall regarding all state
licensing and permitting as required for a business.