Massachusetts Regulators Allow Cannabis to be Transported to Islands

Massachusetts cannabis regulators last week issued an administrative order allowing cannabis to be transported from the mainland to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket islands, the Associated Press reports. The decision comes following a lawsuit by Martha’s Vineyard dispensary Island Time which argued that the ban on transporting cannabis from the mainland to the island is arbitrary and puts an undue burden on dispensaries on the island, who must rely on cannabis grown only on the island.

State regulators had taken the position that transporting cannabis by either boat or plane risked violating federal law and banned the transport of cannabis to the Massachusetts islands. The order says that any cannabis transported from the mainland to the islands must remain entirely in state territorial waters, meaning cannabis cannot be transported via the ferry and must be transported on alternative, approved boats.

Island Time owner Geoff Rose told the AP that he was still working out the details, but he expected he’d be able to reopen sometime this week. Rose also indicated plans to drop the lawsuit.

Ava Callender Concepcion, the acting Cannabis Control Commission chair, told the AP the commission reached out to federal authorities and did not receive any pushback to the plan.