Demonstrators protest lobbyist’s work against legalizing pot

BOSTON — As a medical marijuana dispensary opened its doors in Lowell Tuesday morning, demonstrators who support a move to make sales of the drug legal for recreational use gathered nearby to call on the company that owns the shop to break ties with a lobbyist opposing their campaign.

Patriot Care, the company that operates the dispensary and plans to open others in Boston and Greenfield, contends that the issues of medical and recreational marijuana use are separate, according to Greg Czarnowski, a spokesman, who called the demonstration "odd."