SOUTH DEERFIELD — As part of a public campaign to garner local support for bringing a marijuana business to town, Arizona cannabis company Harvest Inc. brought a seminar on medical marijuana to the Polish Club Thursday night.
The company plans on opening a retail medical marijuana shop on Deerfield Road as early as this year, plus a cultivation center with the assistance of some local farmers, Harvest’s Director of Real Estate and Business Development Joseph Kachuroi said. He has previously said his business could employ 50 to 100 people.
Before Harvest can come to Deerfield, Kachuroi said the town needs to approve a proposed bylaw at its annual Town Meeting, April 30.
At one point while drafting the warrant, there was going to be a chance for residents to outright ban marijuana from town. There still is a lengthy bylaw that, if approved by a two-thirds vote, will regulate where retail shops and cultivation can go.
Traveling with Kachuroi was Harvest’s medical director, William Troutt, who gave the main presentation Tuesday night.
“This is my first introduction to Deerfield and it’s a wonderful community and I hope to be more involved with it in the future,” Troutt said to the audience. “We’ll see how it plays out.”
Troutt went through a PowerPoint titled “Medical cannabis therapeutic potential.” It started with a history of cannabis, saying it was the main cash crop of the country until the 1930s. He said cannabis was a material used to create the first pair of Levi’s jeans, a draft of the Constitution and the sails of boats that came to the Americas.
Troutt explained the medical history of cannabis to a full house at the Polish Club, with about 40 people in attendance — including Selectman Henry “Kip” Komosa, who backed amendments to both call for a prohibition on marijuana and for the suggested bylaws — along with a couple of people who came in and out with beers from the bar.
When discussing the benefits, Troutt said people may use cannabis to control or relieve seizures and a woman in the audience said it really worked for her. Someone across the room replied, “Amen!” which received applause.
Troutt ran through several slides from various medical and professional journals that talked about the benefits of cannabis. He said the research often hinged on petri and animal research because of the limited literature on humans.
He talked about cannabis in terms of toxicity, saying no one has ever overdosed from it. He said he does not strongly recommend edibles because of the high amounts of sugar in them and, instead, recommends vaporizers or tinctures.
Some people asked him for recommendations and if he could prescribe personal treatment, which he said no, because of all the work he has to do for Harvest. If the business did come to Deerfield, it will be able to continue to educate people, Troutt suggested.
“I love your little town,” he concluded.