New England Treatment Access will soon be a part of the Surterra family
Surterra Wellness wanted to get its hands on New England Treatment Access (NETA), as well as the marijuana dispensaries it operates in the Massachusetts cities of Northampton and Brookline, so it started to put its plan into action. After discussing the possibility with NETA and reaching an amicable solution, the acquisition went public and Surterra approached the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (MCCC) to receive its approval. The commission has signed off on the deal, and there are only a few more steps before the merger is complete.
Surterra first announced the possible acquisition this past May, without going into detail on the financial ramifications. The sale received some initial blowback from entities who believe that the marijuana industry in Massachusetts is becoming too consolidated and that the larger conglomerates are going to squeeze out the smaller entrepreneurs.
Those concerns aren’t shared by the MCCC. It unanimously supported the acquisition and made sure to investigate both entities thoroughly before giving its approval. MCCC Chairman Steven J. Hoffman explains, “You can never say with 100% certainty we uncovered everything. But I know we were diligent, we took our time with this,” he said. “I take the affidavit seriously. I think people understand If they said something in an affidavit that caused us to approve a transaction and It turns out to have been misleading they’re going to lose their license. So I have confidence in the affidavit, confidence in the process, we did a very diligent job here.”
NETA’s director of operational compliance, Amanda Rositano, states, “One hundred percent compliance is NETA’s number one priority. In addition to taking care of our patients, we take compliance very very seriously, we have very detailed compliance programs and we are very confident we won’t have any of the issues we had to disclose on the Surterra application. Honestly, it’s business as usual here in Massachusetts, the same leadership that’s going to be operating, same operations, not much is going to look different right here in Mass.”