BOEHNER, WELD BACK POT
Former top Republicans join push to legalize weed
Former Republican powerhouses John Boehner and Bill Weld are joining a national pot company — that owns three medical marijuana licenses in Massachusetts — as part of their effort to legalize weed nationally.
“The effect of marijuana being a schedule class 1 narcotic in Washington is a seriously flawed idea,” Weld said. “Descheduling is the most constructive step that could be taken.”
Weld and Boehner said yesterday they joined the board of advisers for Acreage Holdings, the parent company of Prime Wellness Centers Inc., which has three medical marijuana licenses in Massachusetts. Acreage Holdings also operates dispensaries in states around the country.
Boehner, former U.S. House speaker from Ohio, said in a joint statement with Weld the time has come for changes at the federal level. Weld, governor of Massachusetts from 1991-97, ran for vice president on the Libertarian ticket in 2016.
“We both believe the time has come for serious consideration of a shift in federal marijuana policy,” the statement said.
Prime Wellness Centers is one of 20 companies granted priority certification for a recreational license by the Cannabis Control Commission earlier this week. The company has licenses from the Department of Public Health to operate medical dispensaries in Worcester, Shrewsbury and Leominster.
The cannabis commission came under fire for the vote after it approved the companies without sharing the list. The CCC released the organizations Tuesday, and will vote to approve more companies next week. Priority certification is granted to companies that had been licensed by DPH and gives their recreational license a leg up.
Many of the companies that were granted priority status said they would seek to add recreational sales to their planned medical dispensary.
“Right now our recreational plans are to open in the two towns where we have existing agreements for medical,” said Stephen Perkins, of Atlantic Medicinal Partners.
The company has medicinal licenses in Fitchburg and Wellfleet, but additional approvals would be necessary to begin recreational sales.
Dr. Henry Crowley, chief executive officer of CannaTech, said the business’s goal is to continue its mission to be a medical marijuana provider — but that he does have his eye on the recreational market. One thing that remains unclear, he said, is how a medical marijuana facility will be configured so that it can also sell recreational pot.
“It’s cowboy land right now, and I am not sure anyone knows exactly what (the Department of Public Health) is going to end up with,” Crowley said. “I would anticipate that there will be one storefront and that there will be some sort of segregation once you get through the door.”
A spokeswoman for Green Thumb Industrial, which also received a first priority certification, said the company plans to have a single storefront with separate areas to serve medical marijuana patients and recreational pot customers.
Shelley Stormo, executive director of Pharmacannis Massachusetts Inc., said in an email that “we are delighted to have been selected by the Commission as one of the first Priority Certifications for the rollout of adult use in Massachusetts.”
She added that the company will submit its full application for adult use on April 17 and that the plan is for the company’s Wareham dispensary site to serve people seeking both medical and recreational marijuana.
‘We both believe the time has come for serious consideration of a shift in federal marijuana policy.’ — JOHN BOEHNER and BILL WELD former top Republicans, in a joint statement