We’ll be back soon with our analysis of the Mass regs shortly (read the latest update from the CCC here, including all about their "secret shopper" program), but for now here is a look into your crystal bowl…
weed
OUT OF COMMISSION: FOR RECREATIONAL CANNABIS IN MASS, IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS
"We don’t want the people who were locked up in the first place to be locked out of opportunities in this space."
‘DON’T ALLOW THE INFLUENCE OF A SELECT FEW TO ELIMINATE OPPORTUNITY FOR EVERYONE ELSE’
Mass cannabis advocates call out governor, lawmakers for targeting small biz opps
CANNABIZ CORNER: THEORY WELLNESS
"We are trying to be a less corporate, more approachable dispensary that participates in and shapes the latest trends in the cannabis world."
“WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!”
Moral panic hamstrings promising North Andover cannabis farm deal
Last fall, I wrote about the history of Osgood Landing—a large industrial facility in North Andover—as part of a column (“An Andover North Andover Deal?”) slamming a hasty bid to win the Amazon HQ2 contract put together by that town in partnership with nearby Haverhill, Lawrence, and Methuen. For decades, it had been a huge Western Electric manufacturing plant and AT&T research center, the storied Merrimack Valley Works—heavily unionized and employing over 12,000 area residents at its height. After the AT&T breakup in 1984, it began its downward slide. First under Western Electric successor corporation Lucent, then under French multinational Alcatel-Lucent—which killed the facility off completely by 2008. Blowing a hole thousands of jobs wide in the fortunes of a region that had already fallen far from its heyday as an industrial powerhouse between the 19th century and WWII.
A small company called Ozzy Properties bought the complex from Lucent in 2003 for a bargain-basement price at the time of its merger with Alcatel, and over the years has only managed to fill about 40 percent of its 1.8 million square feet with a grab bag of companies that together provide about 1,000 jobs and pay North Andover about a third of the $1 million in taxes a year on average that it used to get when Lucent owned the site, according to a 2017 North Andover Citizen article.
Well before town leaders decided to court Amazon to set up shop in part at Osgood Landing, its owner, Ozzy Properties’ Dr. Jeff Goldstein, had been floating a proposal to turn the unused 1.1 million-square-foot portion of the facility into one of the world’s largest indoor cannabis-growing farms.
After reviewing all the problems I thought that Amazon would be likely to bring to the area should the Merrimack Valley bid for HQ2 have prevailed (which we now know it did not), I closed my “Amazon North Andover” column by reminding the people of Haverhill, Lawrence, Methuen, and North Andover to remember the advice recently proffered by their own regional planners:
[T]he 2013
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PATIENTS VS. PROFITS: MEDICAL CANNABIS CONSUMERS CONCERNED ABOUT RECREATIONAL ROLLOUT
We aren’t talking about the Gap running out of size 4 skinny jeans for a week. We are talking about medicine that allows people to function and sometimes even to live.
FEVER DREAMS AT THE CCC
With hearings coming up, here’s where the proposed Mass regulations fall short
STATE WIRE: BILL SEEKS TO PROTECT MARIJUANA USERS IN MASS
A bill has been introduced in the legislature to keep those who follow the Bay State's law on marijuana use from being turned over to federal authorities.
CANNABIZ CORNER: CLIMATE RESOURCES GROUP (CRG)
Massachusetts has a real opportunity to lead in sustainable cannabis cultivation, but the question is: how many poorly designed grow ops will come and go before Massachusetts cannabis cultivation facilities are as environmentally responsible as they can be?
IS THERE MOLDY CANNABIS IN MASS?
Experienced and educated cannabis consumers are concerned about mold in their medicine. They talk about it at conferences and online, and report negative experiences to vendors, hoping for corrections.