Sira Naturals announced Friday that is becoming the first marijuana company in Massachusetts to have unionized employees. Workers at Sira Naturals will join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1445. The agreement will cover 115 employees. Company management worked with UFCW and the employees to allow them to join the union, according to […]
Massachusetts
Recreational marijuana sales in Massachusetts generated $400M in sales in first year
In its first year of recreational cannabis sales, the state generated $61 million in total taxes on nearly $400 million in marijuana sales, according to figures released Wednesday by state agencies. But state officials say the work to build the industry is just getting started. The figures from the Department of Revenue and the Cannabis […]
A year after first two recreational marijuana shops opened in Massachusetts, a mostly warm buzz
A year after the first recreational marijuana shops opened in Massachusetts, cannabis product sales have generated nearly $3.5 million in combined taxes and fees and a generally warm buzz for the first two towns to allow it. The revenue represents the first full year’s worth of the collected 3% local sales tax and the negotiated […]
First vaping-related death reported in Mass.
Massachusetts health officials on Monday revealed that a woman in her 60s from Hampshire County was the state’s first known vaping-related death, the latest victim in a nationwide outbreak of potentially fatal lung ailments apparently caused by the smoking products. An initial report indicated the woman vaped nicotine, according to the Department of Public Health, […]
Massachusetts is going ahead with marijuana delivery. Here’s how it will work.
Massachusetts residents may soon be able to order marijuana to their front door. Last week, the state’s Cannabis Control Commission approved new rules that pave the way for companies to deliver recreational marijuana directly to customers. The regulations, which were adopted Tuesday, created a new type of license for marijuana delivery companies. Delivery has already […]
Annual fee eliminated for Massachusetts medical marijuana patients
Massachusetts medical marijuana patients will no longer have to a pay a $50 annual fee for a patient registration card. The fee will be eliminated under new rules governing medical marijuana approved unanimously Tuesday by the Cannabis Control Commission. The rules will become officials as soon as they are promulgated by the Secretary of State. […]
UK advised by Massachusetts Commissioner to recruit former drug dealers if marijuana is legalised
Former drug dealers should be recruited and trained to produce safe, legal cannabis if the UK decides to legalise marijuana, the head of an American programme overseeing the sale of the narcotic has urged. The Commissioner in charge of legal cannabis sales in Massachusetts has said Britain should follow her state’s example of recruiting ex-drug dealers and […]
Marijuana company Curaleaf fined $250,000 for not asking permission for change of ownership
The Cannabis Control Commission fined Wakefield-based marijuana company Curaleaf $250,000 for failing to disclose a change of ownership and ask permission from state regulators before completing the transaction. The agreement, signed Thursday by the commission and Curaleaf, reads, “In assessing this fine against Respondent, the Commission acknowledges that Respondent’s violation was the result of Respondent’s […]
Medical marijuana patients in Massachusetts say product variety dwindling as stores begin selling to recreational customers
Dan Scotland lives in northeastern Massachusetts and uses medical marijuana to treat insomnia, anxiety and sleep issues. He used to go regularly to Patriot Care in Lowell — but then the medical dispensary began selling to the recreational market. “When they went adult use, their stock pretty much dwindled,” said Scotland, who also runs a […]
Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission approves first sale of a marijuana company
The Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday approved the state’s first acquisition of a marijuana company. The commission approved the sale of Sira Naturals to Cannabis Strategies Acquisition Corp. Sira Naturals owns three medical marijuana dispensaries, in Cambridge, Somerville and Needham. It has secured licenses to cultivate, manufacture and transport marijuana for the recreational market. Cannabis […]
Home delivery of marijuana could start in Massachusetts this year
Home delivery of recreational marijuana could debut in Massachusetts later this year, after regulators reached agreement on a program that would increase consumer access to cannabis while also giving a leg up to entrepreneurs affected by the war on drugs. The state Cannabis Control Commission voted 4-1 at a meeting Friday in favor of a […]
Marijuana is legal in Massachusetts, but your boss doesn’t have to allow it — yet
Using marijuana is legal in Massachusetts — but that doesn’t mean your boss has to allow it. Business advocates say company policies about marijuana use are currently all over the map. But a bill sponsored by Sen. Jason Lewis, D-Winchester, would change that. Lewis’ bill, S.978, would forbid employers from penalizing or discriminating against an employee […]
Mass. marijuana industry is mostly corporate and white. Inside one Boston battle to change that
Second in a series As dozens of black residents packed the Mildred Avenue Community Center one night in January, it looked like an ordinary — if conspicuously well-attended — neighborhood forum. Except there was nothing ordinary about it. In attendance were three businessmen, each vying for the right to open a store in the heart […]
1st Massachusetts farmers moving toward approval to grow marijuana outdoors
So far, all the marijuana sold in Massachusetts’ legal market has been grown indoors. But that could change. The Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday approved the first two provisional licenses for companies that plan to grow marijuana outdoors in the Berkshires. The licenses went to Theory Wellness and BCWC, both medical marijuana companies that are […]
You can’t own more than 3 pot shops, but these companies are testing the limit — and bragging about it
First in a series. Robert Leidy, scion of a wealthy Palm Beach family, struck a serious pose that night before officials in the small town of Athol. In a dark suit and tie, he fixed his gaze on a careful script. There was no mention of the deep-pocketed investors backing him or the fishing yacht […]
Massachusetts marijuana advisory board says state should allow cannabis cafes
The advisory board to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission is backing the creation of cannabis cafes and pot-consumption events, voting unanimously for the state to develop regulations around the licenses. The vote is a promising step forward for advocates who have pressed for the state to begin licensing places where people can consume marijuana on-site, […]
1st legal marijuana stores are open in Massachusetts, but industry is far from mature
After years of preparation and debate, legal marijuana is now a reality in Massachusetts. Any adult can walk into a store, pay cash and walk out with a joint, which they can smoke, legally, in their home. But the roll-out of the first marijuana stores is only the beginning. In the coming year, marijuana entrepreneurs […]
Massachusetts marijuana: Sales hit $23.8 million in first two months of open retail pot shops
In the first two months of recreational marijuana sales in Massachusetts, pot shops took in nearly $24 million in sales, according to data released by state regulators. The Cannabis Control Commission, the state’s marijuana regulatory agency, released the figures this week. Massachusetts opened the first retail pot shops east of the Mississippi in late November. […]
