State Approves License for Portsmouth Medical Marijuana Dispensary

Portsmouth's Greenleaf Compassionate Care in Portsmouth will start selling medical marijuana on Saturday, after receiving its registration certificate from the state on Wednesday.

Greenleaf will be the second dispensary in the state to start selling medical marijuana to its East Bay patients. On April 19, the Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center, located at 1 Corliss St., in Providence, got its registration certificate and opened for business, reports the Providence Journal.

Aquidneck Island-based Dr. Seth Bock, who owns and operates the Newport Acupuncture and Wellness Spa located in Middletown, is the man behind Greenleaf Compassionate Care and has been working toward selling medical marijuana since Jan. 2011.

Taking up about a fifth of the space as the Thomas C. Slater Compassionate Center, Bock said he plans to serve about 200 patients - in comparison to the competition's 850. Located at 1637 West Main Road, Greenleaf has been open from 2 - 6 p.m. daily, but now with the go-ahead to start hawking his medicine, Bock is relying on product from some of the state's licensed caregivers - or medical marijuana growers - to get started.

A third dispensary, Summit Medical Compassion Center in Warwick, is currenty applying for the final registration certificate allowed under state law.