Pot dispensary prepping to open in Orange: Silver Therapeutics waiting for state’s OK

By DOMENIC POLI, The Greenfield Recorder

Published on 6/29/2020 4:30:52 PM

ORANGE — It was a bit of a buzzkill not being allowed to open Silver Therapeutics on Friday as anticipated, but CEO Josh Silver is still enthusiastic about setting up shop in this “cool little town.”

Silver formed his company after reading in 2016 that Massachusetts voters opted to legalize recreational adult use of marijuana, plus the growing and selling of pot and related products. He and partners Josh Ferranto and Brendan McKee opened a Williamstown location in April 2019 and are waiting on the go-ahead from state Cannabis Control Commission to open the 1,640-square-foot recreational dispensary at 5 South Main St. in Orange.

“We’re really excited about it and just can’t wait to get it open,” Silver said.

The company got a certificate of occupancy in the fall.

He said Silver Therapeutics purchases marijuana from wholesale partners. He said the Orange facility has about 15 employees, but he is trying to get that number closer to 20. Eleanor Dockstader will manage the dispensary.

Silver explained he did not know exactly what he wanted to do with the company when he founded it. He only knew he wanted to be involved with cannabis and he set out to find some like-minded people. He said he “started to take big swings at getting licenses and real estate” in 2018 and found the spot in Williamstown, which he said is the nearest Massachusetts town to his home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Silver said Ferranto is from Portland, Maine, and McKee lives in Quincy. According to the company’s website, Ferranto is the company’s chief operating officer and has been a licensed medical marijuana cultivator in Maine for the past seven years while McKee, the chief financial officer, has held positions at Merrill Lynch, Brown Brothers Harriman and BMW.

Silver, who became accustomed to building municipal relationships in his career as a zoning attorney, said he reached out to numerous communities and learned Orange would be receptive to his plans to open a dispensary.

Read the full story on The Greenfield Recorder.