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March 7, 2019

Garden Remedies plans spring opening for Marlborough marijuana shop

a retail store Photo/Grant Welker Garden Remedies is one of the members of the new Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition. Pictured here is Garden Remedies' Marlborough dispensary.

Garden Remedies, a Fitchburg marijuana grower selling under the state’s medicinal marijuana law, is now readying to open its doors to any adults looking to get high.

Garden Remedies is working toward opening a recreational cannabis shop in Marlborough this spring.

Tara Hopper, Garden Remedies’ general counsel, said the company is anticipating an inspection from the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission by the end of March, with an opening following in a month or so. It already has provisional state approval.

Garden Remedies didn’t expect to open a recreational-use shop, but the state’s review process has given a faster-track for approvals for applicants looking to open those kinds of stores, Hopper said. That’s compelled Garden Remedies to shift from a medical focus for its stores in Melrose and Newton.

The same mindset for the company remains in place for the Marlborough store, Hopper said.

"We're hoping to help people consume responsibly,” she said. “We want to make sure that's projected within our message."

The 3,100-square-foot Marlborough shop will open in a shopping plaza at 416 Boston Post Road, on a stretch of Route 20 east of downtown. Garden Remedies’ roughly 18,000-square-foot growing facility on Airport Road in Fitchburg is already permitted for the state’s medicinal-use industry but requires a separate one for recreational use.

The company has a provisional state approval for recreational use at its Newton location.

Garden Remedies was founded in 2013 by Karen Munkacy, a physician, anesthesiologist and a pain management specialist — and a breast cancer survivor. She said she was spurred to start the company after seeing cancer patients turning to medicinal marijuana to relieve pain or increase appetite.

The company has gotten a warm response from Marlborough, Hopper said. The city’s residents voted to approve the recreational marijuana law in 2016, 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent.

"The City of Marlborough was so helpful and interested in getting new revenue for the city,” Hopper said.

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