Westport zoning board Oks marijuana dispensary plan

<p>A vote Thursday night approved the allowance of two medical marijuana dispensaries to open in Westport. The medical marijuana dispensaries have been given the green light to open within a very specific area along Post Road.</p>

News 12 Staff

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Jun 2, 2017, 11:41 PM

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Updated 2,758 days ago

A vote Thursday night approved the allowance of two medical marijuana dispensaries to open in Westport.

The medical marijuana dispensaries have been given the green light to open within a very specific area along Post Road.

There are 56 commercial addresses that fit the bill because they are 1,000 feet from protected areas such as houses of worship, school, day cares, parks and public buildings.

The dispensaries will have shelves stocked full of products containing marijuana for people battling painful conditions like late-stage cancer.

News 12 asked Westport Planning and Zoning Commissioner Chip Stephens if he is worried marijuana sold at the dispensaries will get into the wrong hands. Stephens answered, "Absolutely not."

"Not only do the people who need marijuana have to have a license, the people who dispense it have to have a license and unlike any other drug when they get it home they have to have a place to lock it up," says Stephens.

Stephens says he doesn't expect the doors to a dispensary to open in Westport for at least a year.

He says anyone who applies to open a dispensary, will have to go through a lengthy approval process.

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