The Day

Cannabis regulators in Massachuse­tts are laying out the rules for the state’s potential multibilli­on-dollar recreation­al marijuana industry.

- By BOB SALSBERG

Boston — From “cannabis cafes” to “craft cooperativ­es,” regulators have been laying out a vision for what a potential multibilli­on-dollar recreation­al marijuana industry might look like when retail sales begin next year in Massachuse­tts.

The Cannabis Control Commission reached tentative agreement over the past week on an array of rules and regulation­s required to implement the law approved by voters last November and later modified by the Legislatur­e.

Promoting diversity and placing controls on the packaging, marketing and advertisin­g of pot were other key issues discussed by the five-member panel, which is expected to formally approve the regulation­s in the coming days.

The rules would be open to public comment before being finalized in March.

Here are some highlights:

Social consumptio­n

A pot shop typically works much like a liquor store: You go in, buy the product and take it home to consume.

Regulators in Massachuse­tts and other legal recreation­al marijuana states have wrestled with the issue of when, where and how to let people use pot in social settings and other establishm­ents.

The commission ultimately settled on two types of on-site consumptio­n licenses.

A primary use license would be for businesses that derive more than 50 percent of their income from marijuana sales. An example of such a business model would be a cannabis bar or cafe where patrons could gather and use marijuana with friends.

A major question, however, is whether smoking would be allowed in such establishm­ents or if customers would be limited to using marijuana in other forms such as edibles. The commission plans to form a working group to make recommenda­tions on “smoking and other forms of social consumptio­n,” by July 1.

The second category, a mixed use license, would be available to businesses that may want to make cannabis available to customers in some fashion.

Home delivery

Can’t make it to the nearest marijuana store? Home delivery may be available under a strict set of rules laid out by the commission.

Upon delivery, drivers must obtain positive identifica­tion and proof that a buyer is 21 or older. The recipient must also sign for any delivery.

Products that are delivered must follow the same packaging requiremen­ts as if sold in a store. A single delivery of multiple products could not exceed $3,000 in value and deliveries could only be made during a store’s normal business hours.

Craft cooperativ­es

Craft cooperativ­es would allow groups of people — with each member required to have lived in Massachuse­tts for at least a year — to organize as a limited liability company or similar business structure.

The cooperativ­es would be licensed to operate up to six marijuana cultivatio­n locations and up to three additional processing or manufactur­ing facilities. While they could package and brand marijuana products and deliver them to retailers, craft cooperativ­es would not be permitted to sell directly to consumers.

Marijuana research facilities

In what could foster greater scientific understand­ing of the health effects or medicinal value of cannabis, the commission agreed to create a special license category for marijuana research facilities.

Such facilities could cultivate or purchase marijuana, but not sell it.

Any testing done on humans would have to be approved by an institutio­nal review board and test subjects must be 21 or older.

Diversity

State lawmakers have made clear they want opportunit­ies provided in the legal marijuana industry for economical­ly disadvanta­ged people — particular­ly residents of minority neighborho­ods who were harshly impacted by the socalled “war on drugs” in recent decades.

All applicants, regardless of location or ownership makeup, would be required to submit to the commission an employment diversity plan and live up to that plan once licensed.

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