CommonWealth Magazine | Cannabis regulators kicking the tires on social consumption sites

TITO JACKSON hopes to someday turn his marijuana dispensary, Apex Noire, into a place where guests can listen to poetry and music while enjoying cannabis-infused foods and other products on his facility’s roof deck.

But for now Jackson’s dream is just that – a dream. “We are in a regulatory environment that is the equivalent of alcohol becoming legal, but not allowing bars,” said the former Boston city councilor.

Social consumption sites, public places where people can consume marijuana, have been a coming attraction in Massachusetts since the ballot question legalizing marijuana became law in 2016. Initially, licenses for social consumption sites were going to be rolled out in no more than 12 municipalities through a pilot program. Regulators chose to scrap that policy after passage of a 2022 law, Chapter 180 , which empowers the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) to create regulations and licensing for social consumption sites in any municipality that opts in.

Read the full story: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/marijuana/cannabis-regulators-kicking-the-tires-on-social-consumption-sites/