Massachusetts Adult-Use Cannabis Guidelines & the Latest in Legislature

Since Massachusetts legalized cannabis for adult use in 2016, the state has implemented a comprehensive set of regulations to govern the industry. Whether you are a consumer, dispensary owner, or cultivator, it is essential to understand the guidelines that have been put in place to ensure compliance with state laws.

This keeps you out of trouble and allows you to enjoy your cannabis experience without worry. In this blog, we will cover the Massachusetts adult-use cannabis guidelines as well as the latest developments in Massachusetts cannabis legislation.

 

Massachusetts Adult-Use Cannabis Guidelines

  • Overview of Regulations for Adult-Use Cannabis in Massachusetts:

The Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) is the regulatory body responsible for overseeing the adult-use cannabis industry in Massachusetts.

Under the CCC’s guidelines, cannabis is defined as the plant of the genus Cannabis and any part of the plant, including the seeds, resin, and derivatives. This includes all products made from the plant, such as edibles, concentrates, and topicals.

  • Licensing Requirements for Dispensaries, Cultivators, & Manufacturers:

To operate in the adult-use cannabis industry in Massachusetts, all businesses must obtain a license from the CCC. This includes dispensaries, cultivators, manufacturers, and testing laboratories.

The licensing process involves a thorough background check, a review of financial records, and an inspection of the facility to ensure compliance with state regulations.

  • Limits on Possession & Purchase of Cannabis Products:

In Massachusetts, adults over the age of 21 are allowed to possess up to one ounce of cannabis in public and up to 10 ounces at home. Adults can also grow up to six plants per person, with a maximum of 12 plants per household.

When it comes to purchasing cannabis products, consumers are limited to purchasing no more than one ounce of cannabis flower or its equivalent in other cannabis products per transaction. Transporting cannabis out of state is illegal, even if the destination state has legalized cannabis.

  • Limits on Consumption of Cannabis Products:

Even though adult-use cannabis is legal, it doesn’t mean you can consume it anywhere at any time. It is illegal to consume cannabis in public spaces in Massachusetts. This includes parks, sidewalks, streets, and other areas that are accessible to the general public.

Employers in Massachusetts can restrict employees from using cannabis, even if they are using it for medicinal purposes. Similarly, landlords can restrict the use of cannabis on their property, even if it is for medicinal purposes.

Most importantly, it is illegal (and very dangerous!) to drive while under the influence of cannabis in Massachusetts. The state has established a limit of 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood for drivers.

  • Packaging & Labeling Requirements:

All cannabis products sold in Massachusetts must be labeled and packaged according to CCC guidelines. The packaging must be child-resistant and include information such as the strain name, dosage information, and warnings about potential health risks associated with cannabis use.

Additionally, the packaging must not contain any misleading or false information that may misinform or mislead consumers.

  • Testing & Safety Regulations

The CCC requires all cannabis products sold in Massachusetts to undergo rigorous testing to ensure safety and quality. Testing includes analysis for the presence of contaminants, such as mold, pesticides, and heavy metals, as well as for potency and consistency.

Cannabis products that fail testing are not allowed to be sold to consumers.

 

Latest Developments in Massachusetts Cannabis Legislation

Since legalizing adult-use cannabis, Massachusetts has been at the forefront of cannabis reform in the United States. The state’s cannabis industry has grown rapidly over the past few years, generating jobs and revenue for the state.

However, Massachusetts lawmakers are continuously evaluating and adjusting the laws and regulations governing the industry. 

 

Review of Recent Cannabis-Related Bills in Massachusetts Legislature:

Over the past few years, Massachusetts lawmakers have introduced several cannabis-related bills aimed at expanding and refining the state’s cannabis laws. Some of the most significant bills include:

  1. S. 2650 – An Act Relative to Medical Cannabis Home Delivery: This bill would allow medical cannabis patients in Massachusetts to have their medication delivered to their homes.
  2. S. 1121 – An Act Relative to Equity in the Cannabis Industry: This bill would establish a cannabis equity program to provide resources and support to individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs.
  3. H. 3675 – An Act to Improve the Quality of Health Care and Reduce Costs Through Increased Access to Home-Based Primary Care: This bill would allow healthcare providers to recommend medical cannabis to patients in certain circumstances.

 

Updates on the Progress of Bills & their Potential Impacts on the Cannabis Industry:

As of April 2023, S. 2650 and S. 1121 are still being considered by the Massachusetts legislature. S. 2650 has been referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health, while S. 1121 has been referred to the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy.

If passed, S. 2650 would provide medical cannabis patients in Massachusetts with greater access to their medication, particularly those who are unable to travel to a dispensary. This could have a significant impact on the cannabis industry by increasing demand for home delivery services and possibly leading to the expansion of the cannabis delivery sector.

  1. 1121, on the other hand, could have a significant impact on the social equity aspect of the cannabis industry in Massachusetts. If passed, the bill would establish a cannabis equity program that would provide resources and support to individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs.

This could help to ensure that the benefits of the cannabis industry are spread more equitably throughout the state.

 

Potential Future Changes in Massachusetts Cannabis Laws & Regulations

It is likely that Massachusetts lawmakers will continue to introduce and evaluate cannabis-related bills in the coming years. One potential area of focus is social equity, with lawmakers likely to continue to explore ways to address the impact of the War on Drugs on communities of color.

Additionally, lawmakers may continue to refine the state’s regulations around cannabis testing, packaging, and labeling to ensure the safety and quality of cannabis products sold in the state.

 

Root & Bloom: Keeping You Updated on All Things Cannabis in Massachusetts!

Overall, the laws and guidelines related to adult-use cannabis are always changing, and it’s important to stand up to date to avoid breaking the law.

These regulations cover licensing requirements, limits on possession, purchase, and consumption of cannabis products, packaging and labeling requirements, as well as testing and safety regulations.

The cannabis industry has grown rapidly in Massachusetts over the past few years, generating jobs and revenue for the state, and it is likely that lawmakers will continue to introduce and evaluate cannabis-related bills in the coming years.

Want to stay up-to-date on the latest cannabis education & news? Make sure to keep up with Root & Bloom’s blog and follow us on Instagram.

 

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© 2024 Root & Bloom • All Rights Reserved • Website by PufCreativ
© 2024 Root & Bloom • All Rights Reserved
Website by PufCreativ

Peter Sison

VP, Sales

Peter Sison has spent much of his career in education, from Merrimack College to The College Board, and there is one thing he is excellent at spotting: potential.  As a director of recruitment and enrollment, Peter believed in making higher education accessible to all students, helping them to realize their dreams.   As our sales manager, that means he’s not only interested in selling our products, but also supporting our clients and customers.  Peter builds the comprehensive partnerships essential for distributing our gorgeous flower and extracts, and his mission is to get Root & Bloom on a shelf near you.

Peter Deacon

Director of Facilities

We’ve brought Nature Herself indoors in our facility, and you can imagine that would require a lot of upkeep.  Peter Deacon is tasked with keeping our utopian microcosm in top notch shape, from the misters to the ventilation to the lights to the extraction equipment.  Our commitment to sustainability and low impact on our community means we built our facility to spec and to scale, and Peter knows it all back to front, bringing more than a decade of experience of lead tech and maintenance management experience.  With an impeccably maintained facility, Peter makes sure we grow impeccable plants. 

Brad Kutcher

Founder

With decades of experience building companies, Brad is a steady and seasoned businessman with deep roots in the community.  Brad is the president of his own general contracting and development firm (BradKu) with over thirty years in business.  He works extensively in residential and commercial development and specializes in large, multi-faceted projects; he has successfully developed commercial projects such as national pharmacy chains, local banks, healthcare offices, and commercial office space build-outs.  Brad’s revenues in 2018 topped $5.4 million and he employs and manages over 100 workers and subcontractors on a weekly basis.

With a reputation for going beyond cookie-cutter basics and being dedicated to his craft, Brads business acumen, sense of fairness, and quality of work has led him to successful partnerships with local communities and municipal boards, who all know that when Brad makes a promise, he keeps it.  His steadfast integrity is the backbone for Root & Bloom, allowing our innovation and creativity to flourish.

George Haseltine

Founder

George is a natural-born entrepreneur and disruptor looking to expand the cannabis industry, and he has been dreaming about opening Root & Bloom for a long time.  Fascinated by the power and potential of cannabis since childhood, George was ready to go when cannabis legalized and cultivation and production hit the mainstream. 

Having founded two residential construction and development companies that have yielded over $100 million in revenue, and always staying at the forefront of technology and innovation, George was able to use his knowledge and experience to have a hand in building our facility from the ground up. And George doesn’t only build companies, he builds- and retains- teams of smart, motivated, successful employees.

Cannabis cultivations and manufacturing is on the brink of leaping from old-fashioned farming to state-of-the-art production.  With his finger on the pulse of technology, and with a passion for sustainability and innovation, Root & Bloom is poised to capitalize on this unique moment with George at the helm.

Jennifer Kealy

Compliance

In the honeymoon after legalization, cannabis regulations have been changing constantly.  From expanding their reach to becoming more minute and specific, here in Massachusetts keeping track of compliance regulations is a full-time job.  Good thing we have Jennifer Kealy, who stays so on top of legislation that regulators call her for advice.  Compliance doesn’t just mean licensing, Jennifer makes sure that our equipment and products are up to code, every day.  Strict regulations means strict oversight, but it also means constant improvement through data analysis and collaboration between teams. Having served as the vice president of operations at Mindful and going on to helm her own consulting firm, Jennifer has truly found her place in the cannabis world and has earned respect in the industry. With her holistic approach to our multi-faceted business, she makes it all look easy. 

Raysa Mateo

Human Resources

Whatever our team has going on, they can rest easy knowing they have Raysa in their corner!  She brings an exceptional history as a senior human resources generalist in the food industry, and has been integral in establishing our inclusive and equitable workplace culture.   From settling in new hires to being an advocate, Raysa takes care of our team so that they can focus on their cannabis artistry.  We want our headquarters to be the best place to work, a place where we celebrate each other’s skills and aspirations; Raysa makes that happen.

William Windham

VP of Cultivation

William’s expertise spans all facets of cultivation, but for all his large-scale experience at Mindful in Colorado, he stays plant-focused, making sure they each get personal attention.  At Mindful, William tended 80,000 square feet of canopy, harvesting 3,700 plants every week; that’s a LOT of nurturing, and it results in extraordinary flower.  But his mastery doesn’t end with the harvest; William has been developing a data-driven process for drying and curing, and focuses on trichome production, development, and preservation. Trichomes are what hold the delicious terpenes and soothing cannabinoids, and can get lost in the preservation process; by focusing on containing their goodness, William maximizes the capabilities of our cannabis.  We asked William what his absolute ideal growing facility would have and look like, and then we went ahead and built it to coax him out here to New England.  You’ll love the difference his trichome treatment makes in our products!

Spencer Sovik

Cultivation Manager

You may know Spencer by reputation from his work in the legacy and underground markets, but it when he became the head of cultivation at Bask in 2014 that he really became known in his field. He took Biodiesel, the hybrid strain highly-prized amongst cannabis connoisseurs, and made it even more dependable: he grew it with a THC level of 27.6% over the course of two years, with a variance of 3.7%. That is the level of knowledge and precision we get to enjoy with Spencer around. He tends to his plants with as much love as cutting-edge research, infusing his propagation methods with knowledge of genetics, cannabis tissue culture, and phenotype selection. He’s got curiosity, drive, initiative and experience. 

We snapped Spencer up and gave him the freedom to be our plant-whisperer as only he can be.  Spencer hand-selects our species and strains for terpenes, cannabinoids, and exquisite sensory experience; and he knows how to bring out their best.  If you know him, you’re excited we’ve got him. If you don’t know him yet, try his flower and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without him.

Angelo Pietrosanti

Extraction/Manufacturing

Angelo is an award-winning cannabis extractor and product manufacturer with a background in biotech. He had our ear when designing and installing our state-of-the-art labs, and with his nearly a decade of lab management experience he’s ready to take the abundance of our raw plants right down to their most basic components and oils. Crafting products that deliver consistent experiences is his specialty, and it all comes down to his fine-tuned process. With a history of upgrading labs for compliance and building and leading round-the-clock teams, Angelo’s approach is based in creativity and building a community and culture. 

Justin Hunt

Manufacturing Manager

Justin started his career in cannabis in an entry level position with both feet on the ground, but it wasn’t long before rocketed to the top of the class. In a small growing facility, he quickly tripled their yield and stood out with his imaginative products. Rising through the ranks to production manager, he led teams to first place in 2020 in The Rooster THC Classic and received other accolades for his products. Justin’s knowledge of cannabis extraction and processing is encyclopedic and always growing. From solventless extractions to inhalable concentrates to edibles, Justin knows just the right way to bring out the potential in our plants. You’ll be delighted with what he puts on the menu, stay tuned!

Katie Bell

Financial Controller

Katie is an obvious choice to take care of our finances: as an avid thrift-store treasure-seeker, she lives and breathes frugality, creativity and sustainability.  But don’t be fooled by the steez, Katie has 15 years of hardcore accounting experience under her belt, and her put-together nature also applies to managing our money, keeping those growlights on, and generating revenue for more.  Growth-oriented and a veteran of both start-ups and established corporations, Katie brings the creativity and savvy we need to navigate the market and our aspirations as we revolutionize the cannabis industry.

Kyle Teixeira

Chief Operating Officer

We didn’t just hire Kyle because he’s had an outstanding career at Cedars Foods and Nestlé and therefore knows snacks.  We love him because he was able to manage over 700 people across three different facilities, taking it upon himself to ensure that everyone knew they were a valued member of the team, because good business thrives in good relationships.  Supervision at that level takes extraordinary management skills and heart, which is exactly what we need to take our concepts and ideas and bring them to market as products and experiences tailored just for you.  Under his leadership in his previous position, 6 operations he commissioned resulted in 900,000 saleable units every single week, so he’s ready to take on our own aspirations here at Root & Bloom. He’s an expert in food-grade manufacturing techniques and regulations and is ready to oversee our state-of-the-art production lines.  Kyle’s not just the guy that looks after day-to-day operations and maximizes our operational functions, he’s the guy that makes sure everyone at the table gets heard.   He’s constantly looking for new ways we can improve our production and our business, but Kyle believes the key strategy is in managing our teammates; he always brings out our best.

Zoë Cohen

VP, Marketing/Communications

Zoë is passionate about making the magic of cannabis accessible to everyone – and ensuring that opportunities in the industry are open to all. Cannabis is an industry that is still taking shape, and Zoë is taking the lead by building change into the very culture of Root & Bloom, taking it upon herself to obliterate the notion that cannabis production will always be a “boys’ club.”  With vision and dexterity, Zoë is using her 20 years of experience helping innovators and disruptors find their voices and their markets to stamp our own brands and identity with a singular vibe. 

With her background in non-profits and education, Root & Bloom’s place in the community is particularly important to her. Cannabis should never be intimidating, and when it comes to bringing our products to the masses, Zoë is all about the goods, not the hype.

Corey Smigelski

President

Our industry depends on nature, which can never be completely controlled; with so many moving parts and variables, you need someone in leadership with a cool, level head, like a pilot.  Corey is our guy.  His track record includes not only over a decade in executive leadership, but also making time to give back to his community as a volunteer.  He cares, and not just about the bottom line.   

With a passion for product development, Corey’s expertise includes strategic financial leadership, cultivating outstanding sales and marketing teams, and driving business growth.  He comes to us after being a general manager and partner in Goddard Inc, where they specialize in the design of medical equipment and industrial robots, giving him a keen eye for our lab equipment, its function in testing and production, and the future of cannabis and biotech.  Corey is an innovator and entrepreneur who sees endless potential in cannabis and was ready to get involved on the ground floor.  

In his decade with Goddard, Corey’s guidance facilitated their growth from $1.8 million to $8 million; you can’t do that without building strong relationships and trust with your team, your clients, and your community.  He’s also an actual pilot. A real one, with the attention to detail and accuracy that comes with that title. With our very own facility built to scale, Corey is just the one to guide our growth as a company, setting the standard for excellence.

Tom Regan

CEO

Tom understands where we’re coming from, where we’re headed, and what we’ve got to do to get there. While his specialty is helping businesses create lasting ties with their communities and consumers while achieving their growth objectives, it’s his generosity with his own knowledge and experience that truly makes him an outstanding leader. He’s innovative; he’s grounded; of course he is; he’s a New Englander.

Coming from a career in tech startups and Cisco Systems, and with a passion for building teams and growing companies, Tom was excited to learn cannabis inside and out. You might think the architect of billion-dollar deals might not be interested in things like extraction techniques or beneficial bugs, but Tom is committed to balancing the corporate world with a deep appreciation of the craft. 

A pioneer in his field, Tom took Mindful in Colorado from growing and extracting to distributing and retailing. It is a testament to his knowledge and passion for the industry that he became a consultant for aspiring growers, and after selling Mindful to a large national cannabis company, we were honored to have him join Root & Bloom.

Devoted to his team, Tom celebrates their knowledge of cultivation, nutrition, organic practices and data analysis and is always eager to dispel myths about his industry. If there can be a corporate CEO with a startup spirit, that’s Tom Regan. His strategic vision will position us for success, but it’s his passion for the industry, process and people that will put our stamp on the market as the purveyor of the finest cannabis products available.