About a week after opening, sales are going strong at the first two businesses in Massachusetts allowed to sell recreational marijuana.
The two stores sold more than $2.2 million worth of cannabis products during the first five days they were open for business, according to figures released Tuesday by the Cannabis Control Commission.
Lawmakers across the Northeast watched closely this week as adult-use sales kicked off in Massachusetts. Judging from their reactions, it seems Massachusetts won’t be alone for long.
Multistate marijuana firm iAnthus Capital agreed to acquire the U.S. assets of Toronto-based cannabis company MPX Bioceutical Corp. in an all-stock deal valued at 835 million Canadian dollars ($640 million), the second mega-acquisition in the American MJ industry in less than a week.
The acquisition positions New York-based iAnthus as one the largest U.S. cannabis operators and expands the firm’s footprint to 10 states, nearly doubling its reach.
Around the nation and in New York, talk has turned from “if” to “when” and “how” marijuana may be made legal for recreational use. Even if Republicans manage to keep control of the state Senate, there are likely to be enough among them who understand why it is so important for New York to avoid the usual Albany impasse — stubbornly refusing to bring this issue to a vote — and give it the thorough examination it deserves.
As of September 2018, marijuana use is legal in some capacity in 29 states. This has opened the door for thousands of new enterprises in this industry, from dispensaries to manufacturers of marijuana production equipment to business and legal consultants with an expertise in this field. So, there are lots of companies to invest in.
As Massachusetts moves to open the East Coast’s first adult-use cannabis dispensaries, a new ruling from Bay State Attorney General Maura Healey will guarantee that medical marijuana patients can access their medicine locally, no matter how much individual towns might oppose legal weed.
With Massachusetts' adult-use cannabis regulations freshly in effect, and legal sales expected to start in a matter of weeks, the state must now grapple with how to ensure that legal pot benefits its population as a whole, and not just already well-to-do residents. Social equity programs are on the rise throughout states with legal marijuana, aiming to help individuals and entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds and communities of color — widely victimized by the War on Drugs — find opportunities for professional success in the cannabis industry.
Remember when Jeff Sessions tried to turn the tide against cannabis legalization? Even within his own Justice Department, the bumbling effort by the US attorney general appears to have fallen flat.
On Tuesday, the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts—the latest state to launch a regulated retail cannabis market, though stores have yet to open—signaled that he plans to let the state’s legalization rollout move forward.
A medical marijuana dispensary in Leiscester, Massachusetts, has become the first licensed recreational cannabis retailer east of the Mississippi.
There’s a new green monster in town: Legal recreational marijuana sales are about to hit the East Coast for the first time -- a possible tipping point for the surging, multi-billion dollar weed industry.