LEGAL WEED VENDORS: KEEP OFF OUR GRASS!
Don’t want illegal sellers to make this ‘whole party stop’
Regulated pot industry reps in Boston for a major convention are pushing back on the illegal “gray market,” insisting unregulated weed can’t be trusted — and bad actors could jeopardize the entire national legalization experiment.
“It’s only going to take someone messing up in a bad way to make this whole party stop,” said Brooke Butler, head of business development for Simplifya, a company that helps prospective pot shops get and stay in compliance with laws.
The Herald questioned pot purveyors at the Seed to Sale Show at the Hynes Convention Center on Tuesday, a day after Boston police busted two men on charges of selling pot out of a smoke shop in Southie — where locals had feared exactly that would happen. King Smoke Shop owner Tanveer Shah, 61, of Bellingham and store clerk Saqib Imran, 38, of Brockton are both charged with possession with intent to distribute after an undercover officer bought weed from the shop Monday, police said.
Bay State police chiefs have warned of the “gray market” — where illegal dealers take advantage of relaxed possession and cultivation laws amid a booming and lucrative but highly regulated Green Rush of expanding legalization.
Butler said “it’s a balance” for states between having laws that are too restrictive
to new shops, and rules that fail to keep weed freelancers in line.
“We’re still in the growing pains,” Butler said. She said people are still working out how they feel about marijuana, so it’s a tenuous time for the industry. She said she’s in favor of regulations and states taking their time.
“There’s a lot of people in this industry who are very anti-establishment,” said Kathryn Reynolds of Vertical Air Solutions. “They don’t want to get licensed, and they stay in the gray market. It’s an issue.”
Reynolds, whose company sells fans and other equipment used in pot production, runs approved grow facilities in her native California, where licenses are loose and many people operate without them.
“We need there to be licenses,” she said, though she said people shouldn’t normally be sent to jail for selling anymore. “Otherwise it’s going to be all black market again.”
Linda Katz of Temescal Wellness, which opens its second recreational pot shop in Massachusetts today in Hudson, said, “Some of the monetary costs do make things difficult” for smallbusiness owners trying to break through. But the regulations are necessary because “it keeps everyone on the same playing field.”
Dan Kuipers, director of sales for BioTherm, which sells plant heating systems and who was giving out red “Make Plants Great Again” hats, said quality and safety are concerns.
“You want to make sure what people are spending money for is actually safe and what they’re buying,” Kuipers said.
Kuipers said he grows 10 marijuana plants at his home in Michigan, which recently legalized recreational pot. He said people shouldn’t worry about home grows — but that people like him with plants in their basement shouldn’t be allowed to sell to people, either.