When Selina Christian was diagnosed with cancer, she was given three months to live.
It was that experience – and the medicinal marijuana she used to ease her pain – that motivated her and her husband to open Mary Jane Makes Your Heart Sing, the Springfield store shut down by the city Wednesday for distributing samples of cannabis after charging entrance fees.
"The idea behind it started with my wife’s stage four cancer," Charles Christian Jr. said Friday following a press conference at the shop’s Page Boulvard storefront. "At that point, we had decided why not try marijuana, to at least to help with the pain."
"I’m fighting cancer every day," Selina Christian said in an interview.
The store was shut down Wednesday after police served a cease and desist order. The city’s law office and city police said the store’s business model – charging a cover fee to get in and then giving "gifts" of marijuana as customers headed out the door – violated the ongoing prohibition against unlicensed retail marijuana sales.
But Christian maintains the shop’s business model is legal, and said that he was motivated to provide access to the drug for people who may not be able to afford the cost of obtaining a medical marijuana card.
"Obviously I’m not a doctor so I can’t tell you medically how it helped, but my wife is alive," Christian said. "That’s what matters."
Asked how many customers the shop had during its weeks of operation, Charles Christian Jr. said he expected "thousands" of people would be disappointed by the closure but did not give an exact figure. He declined to state where his business acquired the marijuana it gave out.
Massachusetts voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana in November, and since December 15 the personal possession and gifting of up to an ounce of cannabis is legal.
But sales of the drug are still illegal and punishable by up to two and a half years in prison. And Gov. Charlie Baker signed a law in December pushing back the licensing process for marijuana shops by six months to mid-2018.
Selina Christian criticized the delays in implementing legal sales after voters approved the referendum.
"Once the people have spoken and voted, it should be six months in my opinion for people to receive the procedures and policies as to how to operationalize that legislation," Christian said. "Outside of that I think we’re not listening to the people."
City, state and law enforcement officials have not shared the couple’s view.
Springfield City Council President Orlando Ramos and Councilor Michael Fenton called for the store’s closure Wednesday morning, describing it as "clearly an illegal operation." Baker described the store’s operations as "troubling," and as a consequence of the legal "no man’s land" the state finds itself in four months after voters approved legalization.
And on Wednesday, after serving the cease and desist order, Springfield Police Sgt. John Delaney said Mary Jane Makes Your Heart Sing was violating the law.
"He can no longer do business like he’s doing right now — taking a cover at the door, leaving with a gift of marijuana," Delaney said. "It’s not legal in the state to do that. He’s not a licensed distributor of marijuana. That’s yet to come."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Owners Of Springfield Store That Gave Out Marijuana Motivated By Cancer Diagnosis
Author: Dan Glaun
Contact: 413-731-1036
Photo Credit: Shaina Mishkin
Website: MassLive
