POT DISPENSARY CAN OPEN NEAR PORTLAND 'SCHOOL'

The Deliverance Center Program Doesn't Rule Out The Preferred Portland
Site, State Officials Say.

PORTLAND - State officials have told the Northeast Patients Group that
it can open Portland's first medical marijuana dispensary at the
group's preferred location, near the corner of Congress and St. John
streets.

Whether the state-licensed nonprofit group will ultimately operate
there remains to be seen.

The former Key Bank building at 959 Congress St. was called into
question as a site for a dispensary because of its proximity to the
Deliverance Center, which operates a church and a small private
school. State law says no dispensary can be within 500 feet of a school.

Catherine Cobb, director of licensing for the Department of Health and
Human Services, said she spoke with representatives of the Department
of Education and reviewed the statutes that define schools in Maine.
Cobb determined that the program run by the Deliverance Center, which
is not registered with the state, does not formally qualify as a school.

"We felt confident enough in our review of the statute and our
conversations with the Department of Education to give Northeast
Patients Group the go-ahead," Cobb said Tuesday.

Last month, the Northeast Patients Group was awarded a license by the
state to be among the first operators of medical marijuana
dispensaries in Maine. The group plans to set up dispensaries in
Portland and three other communities this fall.

Rebecca DeKeuster, chief executive officer of the Northeast Patients
Group, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

She has estimated that the dispensary in Portland will have 267
patients by the end of 2011. Based on what has occurred in other
states that allow medical marijuana use, 1 percent of Maine's 1.3
million residents will become medical marijuana patients, DeKeuster
has said.