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The 96-year-old co-founder of this Massachusetts cannabis dispensary wanted to give people jobs and ‘a better way of life’
Updated 6:04 AM;
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Everyone at the Western Front cannabis dispensary in Chelsea looks up to Marvin Gilmore.
Not many would guess that a 96-year-old who has never used cannabis would want to build a dispensary. But for Gilmore, breaking into the cannabis industry was just another way to create opportunities for communities of color. As he put it, a way to find people who needed jobs and a better way of life.
“You take them off the street and give them something to do. Very important,” Gilmore said in a phone interview from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, where he was recovering from a recent surgery. “There’s not many opportunities or ideas for us and so this came about when cannabis went mainstream, so we took it and we ran with it.”