Cannabis regulators begin final inspections
Photo | Matt Wright
Marijuana plants growing at Sira Naturals' Milford facility.
Marijuana regulators have completed at least one final inspection of a retail marijuana shop and more are scheduled, inching the Cannabis Control Commission closer to launching an industry it had hoped to get up and running almost three months ago.
The commission had issued 30 provisional licenses for marijuana businesses ahead of Thursday's meeting, including 11 retail stores, but none of the businesses can open to customers until the CCC inspects the property, certifies the business is in compliance with the law and state regulations, and then votes to issue a final license.
CCC Chairman Steven Hoffman said Thursday that the agency's inspectors had completed their check of a business that holds at least two provisional licenses, including one for retail. He said another inspection was planned for Thursday and that inspectors were working to schedule several more.
"We're getting there. There's no question about it. But again, the final inspection is to see if there are any issues and if there are issues we're going to have to have those issues dealt with and then we'll have to go out and re-inspect," Hoffman said.
Hoffman said he did not know how the one completed inspection went, but he suggested that the CCC could vote at its next meeting, Oct. 4, to issue a final license to at least one business.
"If it went well, we can bring it on our agenda for two weeks from now," he said. "I'm not going to commit to that but it's certainly, I think, a distinct possibility."
The commission heard Thursday from Executive Director Shawn Collins, who detailed the steps that must be taken by licensees and the CCC before any marijuana business can launch its operations.
Collins said that once a business has received a provisional license and has paid its license fee, it can request a CCC inspection. Once the inspection is complete, the CCC's staff will work up a recommendation for the commission, including information gleaned from the on-site inspection.
When the CCC votes to issue a final license, it may impose certain conditions on the business, Collins said, like ensuring that all employees are registered with the CCC and that the business's inventory is properly logged in the CCC's seed-to-sale tracking system. Once the conditions are met, the CCC will issue a "commence full operations" notice to allow the business to open.
The CCC had hoped to launch the retail marijuana industry in Massachusetts by July 1 but did not meet that target. Since then, Hoffman has said only that consumers will be able to legally buy marijuana in "late summer/early fall."
Commissioner Shaleen Title said Thursday she is making it a priority to update the public on what the CCC is doing to get stores open and what steps remain before retail sales begin. She said she hears from the public often that the greatest concern is the date the first store could open.
"It's not that we have that date and are refusing to give it, as you can see from this presentation there are many steps where they're out of our control," Title said. "But what we can do is make a commitment for the steps that are under our control, for how long they will take, and we can also commit at each opportunity we have to share where we are in the process."
The CCC approved eight more provisional licenses on Thursday afternoon -- four for retail, two for cultivation and two for product manufacturing.
Alternative Therapies Group, Inc., was approved to operate a retail shop in Salisbury, Late Spring Inc. D/B/A Gage Cannabis Company was approved for a retail store in Ayer, and the commission approved applications from Temescal Wellness of Massachusetts, Inc. to open retail shops in Hudson and Pittsfield.
BCWC Inc., formerly known as Bristol County Wellness Center, Inc., was approved to grow between 5,001 and 10,000 square feet of marijuana and to manufacture marijuana-infused products in Attleboro. Central Ave Compassionate Care, Inc., was granted a provisional license to grow up to 5,000 square feet of marijuana and manufacture marijuana products in Ayer.
Thursday's commission votes bring the total number of retail stores given provisional approval by the CCC to 15. They are expected to be located in Leicester, Amesbury, Brookline, Northampton, Wareham, Plymouth, Easthampton, Salem, Fall River, Lowell, Greenfield, Salisbury, Ayer, Hudson and Pittsfield.
The commission has issued provisional licenses for nine cultivation facilities, which combined will be allowed to grow up to 240,000 square feet of marijuana canopy at a time. Those growing facilities are to be located in Leicester, Amesbury, Franklin, Plymouth, Easthampton, Lowell, Fall River, Attleboro and Ayer.
As of Thursday, the CCC had another 105 applications pending before it. Collins said Thursday that there are 26 applications awaiting CCC review, 44 that have been deemed incomplete and returned to the applicant to provide additional information and 35 for which the CCC is waiting to hear back from either its background check vendor or the host community.
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