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Marijuana is weighed and packaged for sale at the Northwest Patient Resource Center medical marijuana dispensary in Seattle in this AP file photo. Closer to home, a Northampton forum on medical marijuana dispensaries is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, at JFK Middle School, 100 Bridge Road, and will air live on WHMP radio and Northampton Community Television.

(ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO)

NORTHAMPTON — With the state's incoming governor expected to take a hardline stance against legalizing recreational marijuana, a panel of local experts is poised to discuss the other side of the coin in a forum dubbed

"Medical Marijuana: What's the Prescription," scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 19, at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton.

The forum, which runs from 6-8 p.m., is hosted by WHMP Radio, the Daily Hampshire Gazette and Northampton Community Television and will be aired live on WHMP and NCTV. It will be repeated Thursday morning at 8 a.m. on WHMP.

The forum will be moderated by WHMP's Bob Flaherty, with questions from Denise Vozella and Bill Newman of WHMP and Laurie Loisel and Kristin Palpini of the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

Medical marijuana became legal in Massachusetts on Jan. 1, 2013, although dispensaries have yet to open in the commonwealth – including facilities planned for Northampton and Greenfield.

The forum was organized to sort out the various legal and medical issues related to the law, which eliminated criminal and civil penalties for possession and use of a 60-day supply of marijuana for patients with state-issued registration cards.

The cards are issued upon the recommendation of a physician for people with cancer, glaucoma, and other medical conditions for which marijuana use has proved to be medically beneficial.

Forum participants include:

Dr.

Michael Cutler

Paul M. McNeil

and

Meanwhile, Governor-elect Charlie Baker has pledged to "vigorously oppose" the legalization of recreational marijuana, even as he plans to move forward with the implementation of medical marijuana in Massachusetts.

Charlie Baker has vowed to vigorously oppose any efforts to legalize pot for recreational use, but he supports using the drug for medicinal purposes.

Supporters of legalized marijuana have already started laying the foundation for a 2016 ballot question to legalize recreational pot in the Bay State. "I'm going to oppose that and I'm going to oppose that vigorously ... with a lot of help from a lot of other people in the addiction community," Baker told MassLive / The Republican in a Nov. 10 interview in Boston.

Baker said many people dealing with addiction believe marijuana use is a "significant first step" toward addiction to other drugs. "There's a ton of research out there at this point that says, especially for young people, it's just plain bad," he said.

Commonwealth voters have already approved separate statewide ballot measures to legalize medical marijuana and to decriminalize possession of small amounts of the drug, which advocates say poses less of a health risk than alcohol or cigarettes – both potentially addictive substances that have long been legal and regulated by the government.

Baker, despite his opposition to recreational pot use, has indicated his willingness to move forward with plans for opening medical marijuana facilities in the state. "I think waiting is a bad idea. There are clearly people who are looking for Massachusetts to get its act together and move forward on this," he said.

Republican reporter Shira Schoenberg contributed to this report.