Of the five years Sam Kanter has owned Dinner at Mary’s, a cannabis-infused catering service, she has spent half that time looking for a venue in Somerville that could meet the state’s social marijuana consumption establishment regulations. She visualizes a space where she could serve gourmet meals complemented with optional THC infused-olive oil dosed to a guest’s liking. It could educate consumers and provide them with community.
She believes she’s found the perfect spot. But the Cannabis Control Commission, overseer of Massachusetts’ marijuana industry, has been slow to develop guidelines for such social consumption sites and hasn’t provided a timeline for when it will. Her business cannot grow, she says.
Social consumption, places where marijuana can be consumed on-site, was legalized by voters with recreational marijuana in 2016. The agency approved a pilot program in 2019 to let several communities, including Somerville, host marijuana establishments with a few caveats, then scrapped it in 2023 after a 2022 law mandated the commission create statutes for any social consumption establishments to operate in.
“It frankly makes it completely impossible to be a lucrative business,” Kanter said. “These regulations still aren’t here, and the status of the CCC is making me feel like they’re never going to be here.”
Frustrated, Kanter approached Somerville city councilor at large Willie Burnley Jr.. He agreed to sponsor a resolution at a July council meeting calling for the CCC to work with Somerville’s Licensing Commission to begin issuing permits for social consumption establishments. The failure of the state agency to provide these guidelines has cost the city and other communities in commercial tax and tourism and created “legal precarity” for business owners seeking to provide these services, the resolution says.
Among the councilors who were present, the resolution passed unanimously.
State-level problems
The vote was sign of a larger appetite in Somerville for social consumption businesses. But months of controversy across the CCC have delayed progress. Chair Shannon O’Brien was suspended under unknown circumstances in September. A state official requested lawmakers appoint a receiver at the “rudderless” agency in June. In the past week, commission licensing director Kyle Potvin and director of testing James Kocis have left their jobs, adding to a slate of high-profile vacancies; and acting director Ava Callender Concepcion is taking medical leave for one month, and it is unclear who will fill in. (Commissioner Kimberly Roy will be acting chair for at least the next two weeks.)
“I don’t want us to be in a situation where we suddenly have to start over from scratch because the leadership of the Cannabis Control Commission failed to do what they were supposed to do or act accordingly,” Burnley said in an interview. “What is important is that this industry is regulated, and that the will of the voters, which was made clear in 2016 by statewide referendum, is actually lived up to.”
A spokesperson for the commission said the agency is open to collaborate with municipal partners and will make clear social consumption regulations, as well as opportunities for input from the public – soon.
The spokesperson did not have a timeline, citing it as a policy decision to be discussed at a future meeting.
Under current social consumption establishment regulations, some categories of ownership would be prioritized to get licensing, the agency said. Those are economic empowerment applicants, social equity program participants, microbusinesses and craft marijuana cooperatives.
On-site education
As weed sales in Massachusetts increase, cannabis business owners such as Sareena Halani, a co-owner of Herbwell Cannabis in Cambridge, are beside those calling for clear social consumption directives. She believes these sites would help destigmatize the industry, and that having a structured setting in which customers can buy and use under the same roof would help normalize marijuana use, she said.
“At the retail location I can tell you every single thing I know about this product, but I may not be able to show you right after you leave my store – you’re on your own for your journey,” she said. “It doesn’t really help us break that stigma when it’s all good when you’re in the store but it’s hush-hush the second you leave.”
She and her brother, Herbwell co-owner Arish Halani, have discussed applying for a social consumption establishment license when guidelines are available, but are exercising caution as the CCC wades into “complicated” territory. She believes these sites have the potential to be vital community hubs that educate consumers safely while bolstering local economies, but worries about what specific policy will look like.
“I think it would be extremely lucrative, to be honest. But we don’t really know what the structure is, what it would actually look like, what the framework would be,” she said. “Maybe we will be able to do it. Maybe we won’t.”
Feature image by Justin Aikin via Unsplash.
This post was updated Aug. 19, 2024, to correct two instances of a misspelling of Sam Kanter’s name.
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