Pot commission can’t yet regulate smoking lounge
The new Worcester lounge where paid members can smoke marijuana is outside the purview of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission since the state agency has yet to promulgate formal regulations, the board’s chairman said yesterday.
Commission chairman Steven Hoffman told the Herald it’s premature to say whether the regulations — which are scheduled to be finalized in March — would address private clubs.
“We’re going to allow for certain marijuana establishments,” Hoffman said. “Until we have final regulations, I can’t tell you what kind of licensed establishments we will have.”
He added, “The only enforcement power we have is for businesses licensed by the commission. We have not even started accepting license applications, and so therefore there are no licensed businesses yet. This is an unlicensed business, and therefore it is a law enforcement issue, and it is not relevant to the commission.”
The Summit Lounge opened Friday as a private club where members can bring and smoke their own marijuana but won’t allow marijuana sales.
Its opening prompted Worcester city officials to ask the commission to quickly close what they say is a loophole in the state’s new marijuana laws and commission’s draft regulations for the marketing, sale and use of recreational marijuana that allow private clubs to operate legally and not under the commission’s oversight.
The commission, which started work last September, is tasked with setting up the licensing, regulatory and technological framework for the state’s new recreational marijuana industry. Legal recreational marijuana sales are set to begin July 1.
Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh have asked the commission to focus on getting licensed marijuana dispensaries open in time and to consider businesses such as home delivery services and pot cafes at a later date. The Massachusetts District Attorneys Association on Friday warned the commission in a letter that social consumption businesses in Massachusetts “greatly increase the risks to public safety.”
In a statement yesterday, a spokesman for Baker said his administration “recognizes that many business interests are eager to fast-track marijuana enterprises in venues like movie theaters, yoga studios, private clubs and delivery services, but believes the safest and most responsible implementation of this new law begins with the establishment of regulated retail sales.”