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Former Massachusetts Rep. William Delahunt Friday received the lion's share of 20 medical marijuana licenses awarded by the state Department of Public Health.Delahunt, CEO of Medical Marijuana of Massachusetts, was notified his nonprofit received three licenses in Taunton, Plymouth and Mashpee.See where marijuana dispensaries were approvedTwo other applicants received two licenses each. The remaining applicants received one."This was done on the merits. It was scored," said Delahunt. "The individual who actually made the decision, I've never met the woman."Delahunt said he could absolutely deny his decades of political leverage in Massachusetts as a congressman, district attorney and state legislator had anything to do with his bounty."I can categorically deny that. It's just so silly to even suggest that," he said."The selection committee worked with the information they had at hand. They focused on the geographic needs, the majority of the community support and the quality and strength of the proposal," said Karen van Unen, director of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Medical Marijuana Program.Watch reportTwo outlets were approved in Boston, and others would be in Mashpee, Dennis, Taunton, Fairhaven, Salem, Haverhill, Holyoke, Northampton, Lowell, Ayer, Newton, Cambridge, Brookline, Quincy, Plymouth, Brockton, Milford and Worcester.Van Unen also addressed criticism from medical institutions that questioned the efficacy of marijuana over existing prescription drugs used to ease pain and suffering during chemotherapy and other medical treatments. She said their mission was to implement the voter mandate to set up medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state.But Dr. Ronald Dunlap, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, said national trends show medical dispensaries are just a prelude to legalizing marijuana."In other states, 50 percent of the marijuana has ended up in the hands of others to whom it was not prescribed,” Dunlap said.Even Walpole Deputy Chief John Carmichael, who served on the DPH selection committee, agrees it would be difficult to guarantee 100 percent of the crops grown for these legal dispensaries will only go to patients."They put all the safe guards in there to insure that we're going to limit diversion the best that we can." said Carmichael. "(But) no, you can't guarantee it won't be diverted. I'm sure it will happen."But Delahunt insisted this is not a backdoor attempt to legalize marijuana down the road."In no way is it. The public knew what they were voting for," he said.The law, approved in November 2012, permits a maximum of 35 dispensaries in Massachusetts and requires that all 14 of the state's counties have at least one. But four counties — Berkshire, Franklin, Dukes and Nantucket — were not included in the first round of approvals.