Six Massachusetts patients with probable — but not confirmed — cases of vaping-related lung illnesses reported using regulated products from state-licensed marijuana companies, state health officials revealed Thursday night. The patients represent a small fraction of the 90 probable and confirmed cases of vaping-related lung illnesses flagged so far by the state Department of Public […]
Massachusetts
Massachusetts regulators quarantine medical vape products as ban expires
The state’s Cannabis Control Commission has quarantined medical marijuana vaping products as the state agency said it will seek to test the substances. The commission had indicated last week that it could order retail shops and dispensaries to quarantine products if Gov. Charlie Baker’s ban on medical marijuana vapes expired this week. On Tuesday the […]
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, […]
Banking Evolution
The cannabis industry is evolving rapidly and so should your perception of banking. I recently attended the Second Annual State of the Cannabis Industry Conference, in Massachusetts. The event was organized by the cannabis law practice of Burns & Levinson and by Viridian Capital Advisors, a financial advisory firm dedicated to the cannabis industry, with […]
How High Are Recreational Marijuana Taxes in Your State?
As public opinion increasingly favors the legalization of recreational marijuana, a growing number of states must determine how to tax legal sales of cannabis. To date, nine states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington) and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana, but only eight of these jurisdictions have legal markets. […]
Massachusetts Begins Erecting Marijuana Regulatory Structure
BOSTON — The panel that will study and make recommendations on regulating marijuana in Massachusetts — the first piece of a growing regulatory structure — is on track to be finalized by the end of the week when the governor names the final five members. Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and Attorney General Maura Healey both made […]
Five States Will Vote to Legalize Marijuana This Fall
Recreational marijuana users can now legally light up a joint in states representing about 5 percent of the U.S. population. By the time Americans wake up on November 9, that percentage could be swelling to more than one-quarter. Measures to legalize and regulate the sale of cannabis are on the ballot in California, Arizona, Massachusetts, […]
Marijuana Polls Show Support for Legalization in States Voting This Fall
Marijuana advocates are heading into the final weeks of the 2016 campaign with the wind at their backs as the latest polling shows legalization measures currently favored by voters in all five states where they’re on the ballot. This is something of a reversal from just a month ago, when the most recent polling had […]
Recreational Marijuana Supporters Flock to Boston Common for Annual Freedom Rally
As Massachusetts voters prepare to decide in November whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use, thousands of people who support use of the drug filled Boston Common on Saturday for an annual gathering featuring music, food, and plenty of smoking. Volunteers who support the ballot initiative fanned out across the park to register voters while […]
Massachusetts Wants to Make It Easier for Patiants to Obtain Medical Marijuana
State regulators moved Wednesday toward making it significantly easier for patients to gain access to medical marijuana, proposing an overhaul of a program hobbled by missteps when it dawned three years ago. The rules would allow nurse practitioners to certify patients for marijuana use, similar to the way such nurses already write prescriptions for other […]
One Massachusetts View on Cannabis: “I’m not Sure … We Want to Become Colorado”
Everyone attuned to state politics has heard the same cry for months: The ballot question legalizing marijuana is nearly certain to pass. The politicians leading a fight against it are wasting their breath. Not so fast. A new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll shows that voters are almost evenly divided on the question, with those polled […]
Boston’s Marijuana Delivery Services That Were Expected to Fade Away Keep on Rolling
One delivery service offers gluten-free marijuana brownies. Another promises a free marijuana-laced lollipop with each order. A third touts trained “caregivers” and delivery until 4 a.m. These marijuana delivery services — the objects of an unsuccessful crackdown by Massachusetts health officials two years ago — were expected to fade away once the first state-sanctioned medical […]
Massachusetts Governor Helping Raise Funds to Block Marijuana Legalization
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is helping to raise money for a campaign against marijuana legalization. Baker’s political committee blasted out an email to supporters on Thursday, featuring the governor asking them to support the ballot committee called the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, formed to oppose the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. […]
Could Legal Marijuana Be a Billion Dollar Industry in Massachusetts?
If Massachusetts voters approve an expected ballot measure this fall legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, the state could become home to a $1.1 billion cannabis industry by 2020, according to a report. The research, released last week by the marijuana data and investment firms ArcView Market Research and New Frontier , predicts the advent […]
Hemp Industry Could Explode in Massachusetts If Ballot Measure Passes
A measure on track for the November statewide ballot would open the doors of the Massachusetts marketplace to legal use of recreational marijuana. But a small section in the proposed ballot measure promoted by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol would also regulate the cultivation, process, distribution and sale of hemp. Hemp is differentiated […]
Massachusetts Lawmakers Are Wary of Legal Marijuana
A scathing Senate report to be released Tuesday says that if residents legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts this fall, the state should promptly temper their vote by outlawing home cultivation, imposing a significant tax on the drug, and prohibiting some marijuana-infused edible products. The report by a special Senate committee does not take an official […]
Growing Pains Plague Medical Marijuana Industry in Massachusetts
One medical marijuana dispensary keeps running out of cannabis, forcing clients to drive hours to find another open shop. Another has battled mold in its crop. And patients seeking to shop at one of the state’s four dispensaries report difficulties with the state’s online registration system. More than three years after Massachusetts voters approved marijuana […]
Massachusetts Senators in Colorado to Study Marijuana Legalization
DENVER — Eight state senators are flying into Colorado this week for a primer on life in a state that has already legalized marijuana, in case Massachusetts voters follow suit this November and lawmakers have to decide quickly how to respond. They’re poised to see a cultivation facility, tour a marijuana dispensary, and pepper top […]
