Commission ready to give go-ahead to shops in Salem, Easthampton
State marijuana regulators approved final licenses for two more pot shops yesterday, though the businesses still need one more approval before they can open, as Cannabis Control Commission Chairman Steven Hoffman said the pace of new stores opening will begin to accelerate.
“I think you’re going to see every couple of weeks, a couple of new stores and not just stores, but cultivation sites and manufacturing facilities,” Hoffman said.
Yesterday, the commission approved final retail licenses for Alternative Therapies Group in Salem and INSA Inc. in Easthampton. The commission also approved three provisional retail licenses, for businesses in Worcester, Gardner and Fitchburg. Another retail store, Pharmacannis Massachusetts in Wareham already had a final license, and is waiting for its approval to begin operations.
Hoffman said the commission will allow more stores to open when they are ready to start serving customers and comply with state regulations.
“We have now three final retail licenses that have been issued on top of the two that opened today,” he said. “They’ve got to get their inventory (online) and they’ve got to let us come out and do a physical inventory inspection. Those three stores will be open as quickly as that happens. That’s at the control of the licensees.”
The approvals and openings come more than a year after the commission’s cre- ation from scratch.
“This is obviously a major milestone for the commission and more importantly for the state. It’s something we’ve been working, as a commission, extraordinarily hard on,” Hoffman said at the beginning of yesterday’s meeting. “I’m very proud of where we’ve gotten. It’s only two stores, but it represents, I think, a formidable accomplishment.”
The agency is expected to consider whether and how to allow cannabis delivery, as well as permitting for social clubs that allow marijuana use. Beginning in January, the CCC is responsible for the state’s medical marijuana regulations.
“Now is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but perhaps the end of the beginning,” Hoffman said, quoting Winston Churchill.