As they prepare to roll out their latest attempt at putting a framework around allowing people to use marijuana in public social settings later this week, regulators on the Cannabis Control Commission said Monday they are confident that a 2022 law and the conversations they've had with businesses, other regulators, municipalities and law enforcement will put them in a position to succeed.
Establishments, where people could use marijuana socially, were contemplated in the 2016 ballot law that legalized non-medical marijuana, and the CCC planned to include social consumption sites in its initial 2018 launch of the legal industry before it bowed to pressure from Beacon Hill to focus on the retail rollout first.
The CCC last year discarded a regulatory framework from 2019 that called for rolling out cannabis cafes and other social consumption sites with a 12-municipality pilot program, and a working group has been trying to craft a new approach since. That group plans to present its proposal to the CCC and the public at its meeting on Thursday.
"We've been telling people, you know, social consumption is happening now. I mean, people are hosting private events —you bring your own. We obviously feel this is a great way for more successful business opportunities for our social equity applicants, our economic empowerment participants, microbusinesses and our craft marijuana cooperatives," Acting CCC Chair Bruce Stebbins said Monday.
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