First Retail Cannabis Shops Approved in Massachusetts

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]C[/dropcap]annabis regulators have issued final licenses to operators planning to open the state’s first recreational cannabis shops, but the opening dates remain uncertain.

The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission voted 4-0 to issue licenses to Cultivate Holdings in Leicester and New England Treatment Access in Northampton, Massachusetts. Both companies operate medical cannabis dispensaries and both were previously awarded provisional licenses to sell recreational cannabis.

“I think we’re weeks away,” said Steven Hoffman, chairman of the commission, who noted that there were still regulatory steps and final inspections that needed to be passed before the stores receive permission to sell to the public. “I think it’s a big milestone, but you know it’s going to be an even bigger one when the stores actually open,” he said.

In addition to passing a final inspection, the shops must also wait until a testing laboratory is granted a final license from the commission because all cannabis products must be tested for purity and potency before sale.

Retail cannabis shops must receive waivers from health officials exempting them from medical cannabis rules, such as a regulation only allowing registered patients to enter the dispensary. Shops also need permission from the Department of Public Health to transfer products from the medical cannabis system to the adult-use recreational system, which requires operators to attach ID tags to all cannabis plants and electronically track all products, from seed to sale.

Massachusetts voters legalized recreational cannabis consumption in November 2016, but there still isn’t any place in the state to legally purchase cannabis. Similar recreational cannabis laws in California and Nevada that were approved at the same time took effect in 2017 and 2018, respectively. A backer for the Massachusetts initiative said the state had missed out on as much as $16 million in related taxes by failing to get the retail system off the ground as expected.