PARIS COLEMAN DIDN’T even know how to pronounce Leicester, and most assuredly had never visited the aging mill city in the northern Blackstone River Valley. But the 26-year-old New England […]
Medical marijuana
Posted inThe Back Story
‘Big Marijuana’ is actually a thing
DURING THE 2016 CAMPAIGN, and since the passage of the law legalizing the sale and adult use of marijuana in Massachusetts, opponents of legal pot have continually pointed to the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pot labs get green light
STATE REGULATORS GAVE the final okay for two cannabis testing labs to begin analyzing recreational marijuana, one of the last remaining steps before retail stores can open – more than […]
Posted inUncategorized
AG: Towns can’t ban medical pot
IN A STARTLING TURNAROUND, Attorney General Maura Healey has reversed her office’s decision that allowed communities to ban medical marijuana dispensaries after opening the door earlier this summer for cities […]
Posted inEconomy
State’s first pot store to open in Leicester
THE STATE’S CANNABIS Control Commission on Monday awarded its first license for a retail recreational pot store to a medical marijuana facility in Leicester, where sales will probably start sometime […]
Posted inUncategorized
Massachusetts issues first marijuana license
THE CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION marked a historic milestone Thursday with the approval of the first license for recreational pot in the state – the first ever granted east of the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Pot board red-faced over green light
THE STATE BOARD overseeing the nascent pot industry in Massachusetts had been running smoothly in its first months of operation. But as the most critical aspect of its mission began […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Pot board mandates medical set-aside
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOPING TO ASSUAGE fears that medical marijuana patients could find their medicine in short supply when dispensaries begin selling to the newly-legal retail market, state pot […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pot board retreats on sweeping regs
THE COMMISSION OVERSEEING the nascent pot industry bowed to pressure from top elected leaders and put off approving home delivery and so-called “social consumption” cafes but voted to give minorities […]
Posted inEconomy
Debit card payer pulls plug on pot dispensaries
THE HARDLINE STANCE from the top federal prosecutor in the state about pot enforcement has caused a company that processes debit transactions for medical marijuana dispensaries to stop accepting the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Sessions turns back pot clock
ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS has thrown the emerging legal marijuana industry into turmoil by rescinding an Obama-era memorandum that ordered the Justice Department to ignore enforcing federal drug laws in […]
Posted inPolitics
Amazon vs. marijuana
WHEN A CHICOPEE woman won the record-setting Powerball jackpot in August, lost in the cacophony were the two $1 million winning tickets sold in Dorchester and Watertown. Despite the disappointment […]
Posted inPolitics
Islanders want their pot, too
THE “LISTENING TOUR” by the board charged with regulating the state’s emerging marijuana industry landed on Martha’s Vineyard Tuesday, where the two members heard pleas from pro-pot advocates to help […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers reach pot compromise
FIRE UP THE SMOKING lamp. House and Senate negotiators finally reached a compromise on amending the voter-approved law legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts, agreeing to levy a tax of up to […]
Posted inPolitics
Cusack denies retaliation over Lottery move
THE HOUSE CHAIR of the Legislature’s marijuana committee denied that his ire at State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg over a potential Lottery headquarters move out of his hometown was connected to […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
House guts voter-approved pot law
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE will unveil a measure Wednesday that completely overhauls the voter-approved referendum legalizing recreational marijuana while also moving oversight of medical marijuana under the same regulatory umbrella. About […]
Posted inEconomy
Holyoke’s mayor isn’t afraid of pot
Photographs by Mark Morelli OUTSIDE HOLYOKE CITY HALL is a stone fountain that once gurgled with water, offering a more wholesome substitute for alcohol to “a thirsty humanity,” as the […]
Posted inEconomy
Banking on the pot industry
AT LEAST ONE Massachusetts bank is offering services to the nascent legal marijuana industry in the state despite uncertainty over federal drug and banking regulations that still classify all pot […]
Posted inPolitics
Pot opponents mislead on costs, local aid threat
LT. GOV. KARYN POLITO suggested earlier this week that passage of the ballot question legalizing recreational marijuana could lead to a reduction in local aid to pay for regulating the new […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Politics, State House News Service
Pot campaign bashed for appeal
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A FUNDRAISING APPEAL from the marijuana legalization campaign has drawn the ire of health care professionals and parents of children who died from opioid addiction after […]
Posted inBallot Questions, Criminal Justice, State House News Service
Pot supporters say ballot question about fairness
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AS PROPONENTS GATHERED outside the State House Wednesday to urge support for marijuana legalization and condemn arguments against it as rooted in fear, opponents of a […]
Posted inBallot Questions, Politics
Medical pot dispensaries can cash in with ballot question
THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY in Massachusetts, which has been struggling to get off the ground, could hit the jackpot if voters this fall approve a ballot question legalizing the commercial […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Lawmakers not sold on pot
MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS OPPOSED to legalizing marijuana brought in an array of law enforcement officials as well as a buffet of kid-enticing pot products to try to scare the state straight before […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion, Politics
Medical marijuana: What’s taking so long?
WHEN LISA COLE puts her 6-year old-daughter Maddie to bed at night she worries that she might die. So far she has survived epilepsy, but her cognitive development is severely delayed […]