Central Mass. pot firms planning for four-month vaping ban

PHOTO/BRAD KANE The cannabis dispensary Good Chemistry on Harrison Street in Worcester

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By Zachary Comeau

Despite some public criticism from industry leaders against Gov. Charlie Baker’s ban on all vaping products, Central Massachusetts cannabis firms are complying and adapting to keep other products stocked.

Baker’s four-month ban on vaping sales, announced Tuesday, comes as 61 cases of vaping-related illnesses have been reported to the state Department of Public Health. Five of those cases -- three confirmed and two probable -- have been referred to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nationwide, 530 cases of lung injury associated with vaping have been reported to the CDC as of Sept. 17.

However, cannabis advocates like David O’Brien, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association listing several Central Massachusetts companies as members, said the issue is being conflated.

“Anyone in the legal cannabis vaping world is playing by the rules and regulations in Massachusetts,” O’Brien said. “To tell people to withhold product off the shelf because of tobacco vaping or illicit market cannabis vaping being lumped in with the newly legal cannabis products in Massachusetts is shortsighted.”

O’Brien, like other companies have publicly stated, said he hopes for a quick resolution from Baker, the Cannabis Control Commission and state Department of Public Health to give the market a clean bill of health.

Concentrates, which include vape cartridges, make up about 20% of the state's cannabis revenue, according to a September weekly report from the CCC.

With a fifth of the state's cannabis revenue gone for four months, O’Brien said some companies have begun talking about reducing staff, although no Worcester-area companies have said they will lay off production workers.

With legal, safe vape cartridges not available, those consumers could turn to products on the black market, which is exactly where cannabis experts say the vaping-related illnesses are coming from.

“The larger impact is that as a newly legal industry, it has a chilling effect on what is already perceived as a challenging industry to get your arms around while building a business, finding banking services and securing investors,” he said.

Temescal Wellness, a cannabis retailer with a recreational shop in Hudson and Pittsfield and a production facility in Worcester, said in a statement the company will increase the availability of alternative products, including flower, pre-rolled joints, concentrates and edibles.

“Our staff is ready to answer any questions our guests may have as they look to try new products or accessories,” the company said in a statement.

Temescal assured its customers it doesn’t use cutting agents like Vitamin E Acetate or propylene glycol -- two substances linked to vaping illnesses around the country -- to manufacture its cartridge products.

Those substances are largely found on the black market, Temescal Wellness said.

Photo/Courtesy

Cannabis plants growing at Worcester's Temescal Wellness cultivation facility.

“While we recognize that there is limited research available on vaping, to our knowledge much of the issue has been overwhelmingly in relation to illicit vape cartridges,” the company said.

Kris Krane, President of 4Front Ventures, which operates the Mission Massachusetts medical marijuana dispensary in Worcester, said in an interview earlier this week legal operators typically only use natural substances from the cannabis plant.

“There’s been a big move over the last few years of companies moving away from using any kind of cutting agent in oils and using more of the actual natural extracted oil,” he said Tuesday, before Baker announced the ban.

Good Chemistry, which operates a recreational and medical store on Harrison Street in Worcester, said in a statement it doesn’t manufacture vaping products.

The company, like most cannabis firms in the state through the early stages of the adult-use industry, said its focus is cannabis flower and providing safe, effective products for both medical and adult-use customers.

“We take any health risk seriously, and we are fully complying with the state’s order,” the company said.

At least publicly cannabis firms like Good Chemistry and Temescal Wellness have not overtly criticized the state’s action.

Cultivate, one of the state’s first two recreational dispensaries in Leicester, said the company respects Baker’s decision and looks forward to offering safe, tested and regulated medicine and products.