After nearly three years, dozens of meetings with town officials and a lawsuit, NETA opened the registered dispensary Feb. 6.

The controversial medical marijuana dispensary opened at the corner of Washington Street and Route 9 in the old Brookline Bank building Feb. 6, with little fanfare.

With a parking attendant and a Brookline police officer standing by, patients with appointments began trickling into the building over the past two weeks, buzzing at the front door of the old bank and showing their federally issued photo ID before being allowed into the building at the edge of Brookline Village.

“I think a lot of the worst fears, while well intentioned from the neighbors, simply have not come to pass.” said Norton Arbelaez, a standards and practices consultant for New England Treatment Access (NETA). “We haven’t had any issues in terms of traffic or public safety. We do have a police detail. We have a parking attendant. I’ve been keeping an eye on the parking lot and it has not filled up yet.”

The Brookline dispensary is housed in the renovated former Brookline Savings Bank building designed by the Swiss-American architect Franz Joseph Untersee. NETA kept its iconic features – the large dome with blue accent paint around the skylights, arch windows with mahogany frames and balcony overlooking a stone floor.

“It’s one of the most beautiful dispensaries in the U.S. and possibly even the world,” said Arbelaez who rattles off the history of the building, which dates to the 1800s.

After a patient enters the building, they sign in at the front desk, get a visitor badge and are then escorted to the main room – filling out paper work if they’re a first time visitor - then move to stand in line. On a recent visit, there were never more than three people on line in the hour after the business opened.

Gene Wackrow, a 62-year-old Somerville resident and business owner, visited the dispensary Tuesday. Wackrow said he uses medical marijuana to help him with his knee injuries, including a left knee replacement. His doctor recommended using medical marijuana for the pain without addiction problems. Wackrow spent $111, but he said it would last him months.

Registered medical marijuana patients can purchase a maximum of 10 ounces every 60 days.

“But most patients only buy an ounce or two,” said Amanda Rositano, who is NETA’s director of operations.

“This is another product to help people in pain,” said Wackrow. “Instead of taking Oxycodone or Percocet or something that you’re going to get addicted to - those are the people you have to watch out for. This is a safer deal.”

Lisa Fournier, 41, a hair stylist, suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome, leaving her with no feeling in part of her hand. According to Fournier, medical marijuana helped her keep working.

“It helps with the pain,” she said.

She said the Brookline dispensary was one of the nicest she’s been to.

NETA uses the bank's old vault for storage and products are on display in glass cases around the main room. Music plays as artistic photos of flowers show on a flat screen television. A live feed from NETA’s cultivation facility in Franklin streams on another television near black leather couches where new patients fill out forms as a couple dozen of the nearly 40 on site look on.

Patients must be certified and registered with the state Department of Public Health to receive an identification card for the Medical Use of Marijuana Program before they are permitted to purchase marijuana at any dispensary, according to NETA.

According to Arbelaez, opening in Brookline took nearly three years of planning and some 40 meetings with town officials. In Northhampton, the company attended about four meeting, said Arbelaez.

As part of its agreement with Brookline, NETA will make regular donations to the Brookline Community Foundation. So far, the company has donated $25,000 and representatives said the organization is planning on being involved in other community activities.

“We are grateful to the Town of Brookline and its leadership for welcoming us and working collaboratively on comprehensive local regulations that ensure safe access for patients while balancing the needs and desires of the neighborhood,” Arnon Vered, executive director of New England Treatment Access, said in a statement. “We are proud to become part of the Brookline Village business and civic community.”

Three local businesses that cater to children are attempting to sue the Brookline Zoning Board of Appeals because it signed off on the dispensary, something Arbelaez called frivolous.

[Editor's note: This article has been changed to reflect the correct location of the building.]