PARIS COLEMAN DIDN’T even know how to pronounce Leicester, and most assuredly had never visited the aging mill city in the northern Blackstone River Valley. But the 26-year-old New England Patriots employee came here from his Mattapan home for two reasons. “Weed,” he said. “Weed and history. I need to find some real haze [a […]
Medical marijuana
Posted inThe Back Story
‘Big Marijuana’ is actually a thing
DURING THE 2016 CAMPAIGN, and since the passage of the law legalizing the sale and adult use of marijuana in Massachusetts, opponents of legal pot have continually pointed to the potential for wealthy investors to cash in on the billion-dollar industry and nudge smaller entrepreneurs to the side. They have labeled such corporate backers “Big […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pot labs get green light
STATE REGULATORS GAVE the final okay for two cannabis testing labs to begin analyzing recreational marijuana, one of the last remaining steps before retail stores can open – more than two years after voters legalized the sale of pot. The Cannabis Control Commission on Wednesday authorized MCR Labs of Framingham and CDX Analytics of Salem […]
Posted inUncategorized
AG: Towns can’t ban medical pot
IN A STARTLING TURNAROUND, Attorney General Maura Healey has reversed her office’s decision that allowed communities to ban medical marijuana dispensaries after opening the door earlier this summer for cities and towns to block the dispensaries from coming to their communities. “The Attorney General’s Office is committed to ensuring that the marijuana legalization law is […]
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
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 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 inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Pot board mandates medical set-aside
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOPING TO ASSUAGE fears that medical marijuana patients could find their medicine in short supply when dispensaries begin selling to the newly-legal retail market, state pot regulators on Tuesday agreed to a policy that will require dispensaries to hold some marijuana aside for medical patients. Registered medical dispensaries that wish to […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pot board retreats on sweeping regs
THE COMMISSION OVERSEEING the nascent pot industry bowed to pressure from top elected leaders and put off approving home delivery and so-called “social consumption” cafes but voted to give minorities the preference for those permits when they become available. In the first of three days of hearings at the State House to finalize regulations, the […]
Posted inEconomy
Debit card payer pulls plug on pot dispensaries
THE HARDLINE STANCE from the top federal prosecutor in the state about pot enforcement has caused a company that processes debit transactions for medical marijuana dispensaries to stop accepting the bank cards and forced the shops to revert to cash-only, adding a layer of hardship to patients. Westborough-based Merchant Services Consulting Group (MSCG), which processes […]