GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday fended off questions about his decision to declare recreational marijuana businesses non-essential by saying he’s focused on the expected surge in COVID-19 cases and the effort to save thousands of lives. Baker is facing pushback from the recreational marijuana industry for his decision to declare it nonessential while deeming package […]
Marijuana
Posted inOpinion
Baker’s reasoning on marijuana is incomprehensible
I AM TRYING, like everyone else affected by Gov. Charlie Baker’s shutdown of adult-use cannabis sales, to understand his reasoning. As a cannabis grower with two dispensaries and 90 employees, I can’t. Baker cited long lines at dispensaries and out-of-staters coming into Massachusetts; both are easily fixed. Broadcasting that out-of-state sales will not be allowed […]
Posted inEconomy
Marijuana consumers flock to medical market
MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS CAN no longer walk into recreational marijuana shops, which have been ordered closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to get weed. Instead, former recreational consumers are flocking to the medical marijuana market. “We’ve had a tremendous influx of patient appointments over the past week since they’ve […]
Posted inThe Download
Should state finance marijuana businesses?
As fantastical as the idea sounds, a bill that would establish a state-backed loan fund to help marijuana businesses was reported favorably out of a legislative policy committee this week. Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Boston Democrat and advocate for minority communities who chairs the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, said the fund could be “a […]
Posted inUncategorized
Should state finance marijuana businesses?
AS FANTASTICAL as the idea sounds, a bill that would establish a state-backed loan fund to help marijuana businesses was reported favorably out of a legislative policy committee this week. Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Boston Democrat and advocate for minority communities who chairs the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, said the fund could be “a […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
House revises marijuana law
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE MARIJUANA REGULATORS would be empowered to “review, regulate, and enforce” the legally-required contracts between marijuana businesses and their host communities under legislation adopted by the House on Wednesday evening. Taking significant legislative action on marijuana for the first time since the Legislature rewrote the 2016 legalization ballot law in the […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
House jumps back into pot policy
It’s been five months since House Speaker Robert DeLeo said he was unaware of any legislation filed by the Cannabis Control Commission seeking to change state laws around agreements between marijuana companies and their host communities. A month before that, a legislative committee (with DeLeo-appointed co-chair Rep. David Rogers) held a public hearing on a bill that […]
Posted inThe Download
House jumps back into pot policy
It’s been five months since House Speaker Robert DeLeo said he was unaware of any legislation filed by the Cannabis Control Commission seeking to change state laws around agreements between marijuana companies and their host communities. A month before that, a legislative committee (with DeLeo-appointed co-chair Rep. David Rogers) held a public hearing on a bill that […]
Posted inUncategorized
Bill would help vets get medical pot
AMID NEW RESEARCH on how veterans are using cannabis to treat pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, a Republican representative from Bellingham is pushing legislation that would make it easier for vets to access medical marijuana. The bill, H.4274, sponsored by Republican Rep. Michael Soter, would let someone buy medical marijuana based on paperwork from the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Priority-status pot entrepreneurs feeling frustrated
MARCUS WILLIAMS is a black man who grew up and is raising his family in Dorchester. He is passionate about the genetics of cannabis and wants to grow, manufacture, and sell on the legal market. In other words, Williams is the type of entrepreneur that the state’s marijuana law seeks to entice into the legal […]