The Zoning Board of Appeals yesterday put off a vote on a permit to the first company awarded a provisional state license to sell medical marijuana in Boston until the company confers with the most vocal opponents of its downtown location.

After hearing testimony from both sides in a packed meeting yesterday, ZBA Chairwoman Christine Araujo told Patriot Care Corp., which wants to open a dispensary at 21 Milk St. near Downtown Crossing, to come back Aug. 4 after talks with the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District, whose chairman said the group opposes the location.

Getting permission to sell this stuff is not easy.

You may have a passion for the product, but getting the go-ahead to start growing and selling marijuana in Massachusetts can be a long, expensive and difficult path.

Just ask Jeffrey Roos, CEO of Mass-Medi Spa, a potential dispensary in Norwell and Nantucket. Roos and his team have spent three years and about $300,000 in their journey to open. They’re still waiting.

Washington State, Washington, D.C. and Colorado have blazed the trail for ending prohibition.

Through legal means these areas have adopted the recreational use of marijuana, freed the market for patients, opened the flood gates for entrepreneurs, and tax revenue for the states and districts. Based on research we have complied a list of states that will be vying for ending prohibition and legalization. With an election coming in 2016 all of these states on the list are going to have a measure on the ballot regarding marijuana. These are exciting times, friends. If you live in one of these states, be on the look out in November 2016 to vote for the right thing for our country. Enjoy.

1. California

Massachusetts’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened last week in Salem.

More than 50 applications from companies eager to open medical marijuana dispensaries flooded the offices of state regulators this week, two years after Massachusetts launched its ill-fated licensing process.

The submission of so many applications indicated robust interest in the state’s emerging medical marijuana industry. The state had previously licensed 15 dispensaries, with the first opening last week in Salem.

For marijuana executives who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars vying for licenses during former governor Deval Patrick’s administration, the opportunity to apply again couldn’t come soon enough.

More than 50 applications from companies eager to open medical marijuana dispensaries flooded the offices of state regulators this week, two years after Massachusetts launched its ill-fated licensing process.

The submission of so many applications indicated robust interest in the state’s emerging medical marijuana industry. The state had previously licensed 15 dispensaries, with the first opening last week in Salem.

For marijuana executives who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars vying for licenses during former governor Deval Patrick’s administration, the opportunity to apply again couldn’t come soon enough.

SALEM, Mass. —The first medical marijuana dispensary in Massachusetts opened Wednesday -- by appointment only -- nearly three years after voters overwhelmingly approved the drug's therapeutic use.

Patients lined up outside the Alternative Therapies Group's dispensary in Salem a day after state regulators signed off on its final paperwork.

Access to the dispensary in a converted factory building that houses other businesses will be restricted to patients with a state-issued marijuana registration card.

No marijuana is grown or processed at the Salem site. The company said their cultivation facility is not open to the public.

GEORGETOWN — Selectmen made it official last night, voting unanimously not to oppose the siting a medical marijuana cultivation and dispensing facility on the outskirts of town, just off Interstate 95.

Selectmen debated the establishment of the entity at 401 East Main St. (Route 133) in response to a request by Health Pharms, Inc, one of 15 medical marijuana dispensaries provisionally registered and OKed to do business in Massachusetts by the state Department of Public Health. The location is within the area outlined by Georgetown's approved medical marijuana zoning bylaw to host such facilities.

For Salem Dispensary, Mass. Issues One-Time Waiver From Marijuana Safety Tests

BOSTON Massachusetts’ first medical marijuana dispensary will be allowed to open, but for limited sales, while the state reviews safety standards.