THE STATE CANNABIS Control Commission approved seven more provisional licenses for recreational marijuana, bringing the total to 19 retail stores, cultivation facilities, and manufacturers. But the commission still has not approved any license for a testing laboratory and, by law, nothing can be sold without the approval of a licensed lab. Shawn Collins, executive director […]
Marijuana
Posted inPolitics
Another twist for legal pot
THE STATE’S MARIJUANA oversight board wants to put a halt to communities demanding payments from legal pot businesses in excess of what’s allowed by law but the panel’s decision could move the opening of retail stores even further back. The Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday put off for two weeks a proposal by Commissioner Shaleen […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Don’t drive stoned, state ad urges
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIALS on Wednesday launched a public awareness campaign to urge drivers to find alternate transportation if they have been drinking or using marijuana. An average of 125 drunk or high drivers die on Massachusetts roads each year, said Jennifer Queally, the undersecretary for public safety and security. A […]
Posted inEconomy
State’s first pot store to open in Leicester
THE STATE’S CANNABIS Control Commission on Monday awarded its first license for a retail recreational pot store to a medical marijuana facility in Leicester, where sales will probably start sometime in September. The board unanimously approved the provisional license for Cultivate Holdings to add retail pot to the medical marijuana the company sells at the […]
Posted inUncategorized
The marijuana blame game
July 1 has come and gone and no one legally bought marijuana in Massachusetts. Plenty of people bought illegal marijuana and legally smoked it, sort of a “don’t ask/don’t tell” situation. But the date viewed by many as a launch for retail recreational sales is now looking like the end of the summer, almost two years after voters […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: The marijuana blame game
July 1 has come and gone and no one legally bought marijuana in Massachusetts. Plenty of people bought illegal marijuana and legally smoked it, sort of a “don’t ask/don’t tell” situation. But the date viewed by many as a launch for retail recreational sales is now looking like the end of the summer, almost two years after voters […]
Posted inUncategorized
Massachusetts issues first marijuana license
THE CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION marked a historic milestone Thursday with the approval of the first license for recreational pot in the state – the first ever granted east of the Mississippi River, in fact – to a cultivation facility in Milford. “We’ll go back to the office and celebrate for about five minutes,” Chairman Steven […]
Posted inUncategorized
Worcester County emerging as marijuana central
WITH THE JULY 1 TARGET DATE for legal pot sales looming, Worcester County is emerging as marijuana central in Massachusetts. According to data presented at the Cannabis Control Commission meeting on Tuesday, residents of the central Massachusetts county that stretches from the state’s northern border to the Connecticut and Rhode Island state lines have filed […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Pot board red-faced over green light
THE STATE BOARD overseeing the nascent pot industry in Massachusetts had been running smoothly in its first months of operation. But as the most critical aspect of its mission began – giving thumbs up or down to applications for marijuana sales and cultivation – the commission hit a glitch when 10 suitors for licenses were […]
Posted inEconomy
Pot board high on Worcester
THE STATE BOARD regulating the legal marijuana industry will set up permanent shop in Worcester as its headquarters with a satellite office in Boston. The five-member Cannabis Control Commission on Tuesday voted unanimously to seek a 13,000-square foot office space in the state’s second largest city and find a smaller, 5,000-square foot office in the […]