1st pot shops in eastern US get OK to open in Massachusetts

Recreational marijuana is currently sold in the western states of Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, California and Nevada (Shutterstock)

BOSTON — Two marijuana stores in Massachusetts were given the green light to begin selling to recreational customers next week, making them the first commercial pot shops in the eastern United States.

The Cannabis Control Commission said Friday that New England Treatment Access, in Northampton, and Cultivate Holdings, of Leicester, were authorized to open in three calendar days.

The Northampton store quickly announced it would open at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Cultivate said it would open the same day at 10 a.m.

The announcement ends a long wait for commercial sales to begin in Massachusetts. The state’s voters legalized the use of recreational marijuana by adults 21 and older in 2016, but it’s taken more than two years for state legislators and regulators to reach the point where the first stores can finally open.

The target date for retail sales had been July 1.

The “commence operations” notice from regulators requires the stores to wait three days before opening so they can co-ordinate with local officials and law enforcement. The openings are expected to draw big crowds, based on the experiences of other legal U.S. states and Canada when they first launched recreational sales.

“This signal to open retail marijuana establishments marks a major milestone for voters who approved legal, adult-use cannabis in our state,” said Steven Hoffman, chairman of the cannabis panel, in a statement. “To get here, licensees underwent thorough background checks, passed multiple inspections and had their products tested, all to ensure public health and safety as this new industry gets up and running.”

Legal marijuana advocates, who had complained about the slow pace of regulatory approvals in the state, cheered the news Friday.

“We can rightfully squawk about state delays and problematic local opposition, but the fact remains that we’re the first state east of the Mississippi to offer legal, tested cannabis to adult consumers in safe retail settings,” said Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the group that led the ballot question to legalize recreational pot.

Borghesani called it a “historic distinction” for Massachusetts.

Recreational marijuana is currently sold in the western states of Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, California and Nevada. Maine voters also approved a legalization question in 2016, but stores in that state are not expected to open until next year at the earliest.

The stores authorized to open next week in Massachusetts currently operate as medical marijuana dispensaries and have pledged to continue serving registered patients.

New England Treatment Access “looks forward to providing legal marijuana to our customers, but we want our patients to know that we will never waver from our commitment to them and their needs,” said Norton Albaraez, a spokesman for the company.

The store has a separate area for medical marijuana patients, and they will not have to wait in the same lines with recreational customers to enter the facility.

The company has already had ongoing discussions with local officials about traffic, parking and other public safety issues when the store opens, Albaraez said.