Massachusetts Cannabis News

The Holyoke Community College Cannabis Education Center in Massachusetts is offering student scholarships for its core cannabis training program, which runs March 20-21.

New social equity legislation in Massachusetts includes language establishing cannabis business loans, loan forgiveness, and more.

Following the departure of multiple member dispensaries, the Massachusetts Commonwealth Dispensary Association has dropped its lawsuit protesting the state’s social equity provisions for adult-use cannabis delivery licenses.

The Massachusetts Commonwealth Dispensary Association is suing state regulators over a plan to only issue cannabis delivery licenses to social equity applicants for the first three years. Advocates, meanwhile, have lauded the provisions.

The former chief of staff for Fall River, Massachusetts Mayor Jasiel Correia — who was arrested and accused of extorting local cannabis businesses — has pleaded guilty to extortion, bribery, and making false statements in the licensing corruption probe.

Under new adult-use cannabis regulations in Massachusetts, social equity applicants will be given the first crack at delivery licenses for three years.

Massachusetts has officially surpassed $1 billion in adult-use cannabis sales, resulting in about $200 million in taxes for the state.

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that the majority of workers at a cannabis cultivation/processing facility are considered “agriculture laborers” under federal law — in some states, such as Massachusetts, this opens up cannabis workers to unionizing under state law.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court has ruled that employees who use medical cannabis to treat a work-related injury cannot rely on workers comp insurance to cover it.

Massachusetts cannabis regulators have approved new regulations expanding home delivery options for the industry.

The retirement of Dr. Eric Ruby in Massachusetts is creating uncertainty in the state; Dr. Ruby is the primary physician for 54 pediatric patients enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program.

Dispensary workers at Sira Naturals in Massachusetts became the first in the state to unionize after workers there ratified a Collective Bargaining Agreement with UFCW, Local 1445.

The majority of Massachusetts’ cannabis-derived tax revenue, $53.8 million out of $78.8 million, was allocated to the state’s Division of Alcoholism Administration.

Cannabis workers at Cultivate Holdings, a vertically integrated cannabis company in Massachusetts, have voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1445.

Massachusetts regulators have eased restrictions on more than 600,000 cannabis vape products that were quarantined last November amid a national trend of vape-related lung injuries.

With the legalization and regulation of cannabis, numerous states have attempted to address the lasting harms of the drug war by creating social equity grants for entrepreneurs from impacted communities. In Massachusetts, a bill is being considered that would offer loans instead.

Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commissioner Shaleen Title says she is starting to feel “embarrassed” by inequities in the state’s cannabis industry.

Massachusetts regulators have issued $800k in fines to three companies for improper pesticide use and other regulatory infractions.

Cannabis workers at Mayflower Medicinals in Holliston, Massachusetts have voted to unionize citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, management inconsistencies, and a lack of adequate healthcare coverage.

Massachusetts, the only state to shut down its adult-use cannabis industry under its coronavirus response measures, has resumed adult-use sales.

Phase one of Massachusetts’ economic reopening plan, which would allow adult-use cannabis dispensaries to open, could commence next week.

Massachusetts cannabis regulators are expected to open the application period for adult-use delivery services later this month.

The USDA last week approved hemp production plans for Massachusetts and five separate Native American tribes.

Cannabis activists in Massachusetts are spreading a petition that calls for repealing a recent change to the state’s cannabis laws that set the ownership threshold for social equity applicants at just 10 percent.