Massachusetts set to expand cannabis delivery, medical marijuana

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The state is finally becoming more flexible with its cannabis market

Last Friday, lawmakers from Massachusetts moved forward with multiple steps that are intended to liberalize the state’s cannabis rules a bit more thanks to a recent vote. With this move, the state approved the expansion of delivery services for cannabis businesses and permits for small nonprofit medical marijuana cultivation taking place in private homes, as well as the ability for severely ill patients from other states to get a state-issued medical marijuana permit to undergo treatment. All those changes were already approved by the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC).

After the reform to the legislation, dozens of licensed marijuana facilities are getting ready to open for business in the fast-growing recreational market. These new regulations follow a barrage of criticism from entrepreneurs and advocates who expressed their displeasure over the over-regulated marijuana market in the state during a recent public comment period.
This situation led the general cannabis market to suffer from high prices and poor availability, and it also has affected, in an unfair way, people of color whose communities have been hit hard by the war on drugs in the sense that they find multiple issues to apply for and receive licenses that were first envisioned for this group by the state law.

“The changes made today [represent] progress for the disenfranchised, particularly people of color, medical cannabis patients, and people with disabilities,” CCC Commissioner Shaleen Title said after the meeting. “Our decisions were in line with the positive data and subsiding stigma that have come after nearly four years of legal, regulated cannabis.” One of these changes approved in a unanimous commission vote benefits the delivery companies that now can buy marijuana products from growers and processors, store them in a warehouse, and deliver it to customers without the need for an upfront store.