The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission on Monday approved regulations for non-medical cannabis home delivery, including rules allowing social-equity applicants first crack at the licenses for three years, Statehouse News Service reports. However, current retail licensees contend that the regulations run afoul of the legalization law which, they say, only allows retailers to deliver to customers.
Aaron Goines, an activist and advisor to the Massachusetts Cannabis Association for Delivery who has been involved in shaping the delivery rules, told Statehouse News that, contrary to the retailers’ assertions, “that’s just not how the regulations are written.”
“Essentially, they want to own 100 percent of it or 80 percent or have as much control or influence over it as possible,” he said in the report.
In the letter to regulators on behalf of licensees, Howard Cooper, an attorney with Todd & Weld LLP, said that retail operators “will have no choice but to challenge the Commission’s Proposed Regulations in court if adopted.”
Under the rules, delivery companies would be allowed to buy products from wholesalers to resell to customers. Those so-called “warehouse” licenses are expected to begin being issued next year.
The draft regulations were approved by the CCC last month. The agency previously approved regulations for ‘courier’ delivery permits which allow drivers to pick up orders from a dispensary and deliver them to a customer for a fee. However, the state has yet to issue any final licenses to the 37 companies that have received courier certification.
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