Alternative Therapies Group, the first medical marijuana dispensary to be awarded licensure by the state, hopes to open its doors sometime in the spring of 2015.

The Department of Public Health handed down the license on Wednesday, December 31, to ATG which will be located in Salem, Mass. with a cultivation facility in Amesbury, Mass.

According to a note posted on ATG’s website, the dispensary “will begin cultivating cannabis immediately and hope to be in a position to start dispensary operations by Spring 2015.”

MassDPH confirmed with BostInno that a timeline for ATG to open its doors is contingent on their own growth practices and subsequent inspections. But after conferring with the other 14 potential dispensaries, MassDPH estimates “it will take 2-4 months after certification to open their doors.”

Inspections will include a review of dispensaries’ floor plans, security, and cultivation operations to ensure product safety and quality; security, storage and transportation standards; and responsiveness to patient needs.

“I am very pleased that ATG has received the first Certificate of Registration in the Commonwealth,” said Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll. She continued,

From the outset the team at ATG has been forthright and professional. They went out of their way to meet with neighbors, officials, and others in Salem, to introduce themselves and explain what they will be doing. We have had a robust public conversation around medical marijuana in Salem – starting with the ballot question, which was overwhelmingly approved here, and all the way through last year’s City Council debate, Board of Appeals hearing, and neighborhood group meetings. Salem has long been a progressive, forward-thinking, and open-minded community and we look forward to ATG starting operation and providing yet another critical medical choice to patients for the entire North Shore.