Let’s look at Massachusetts and how new marijuana regulations may be establishing a trend in areas across the country. Recreational cannabis is legal in many states and municipalities. How one access recreational marijuana may vary depending on what state or even city you are in at the moment.
Massachusetts has the Cannabis Control Commission (the CCC). The Cannabis Control Commission has been working in the recent past to establish rules for the home delivery of cannabis. I assumed this proposal was about medical marijuana. Wrong! Let’s look at it closer.
According to masslive.com, the CCC “The CCC adopted draft delivery regulations Thursday that would create two distinct delivery. License types: A “Limited Delivery License” that would allow an operator to charge a fee to make deliveries from CCC-licensed retailers and dispensaries. Also “Wholesale Delivery License” that would let an operator buy marijuana wholesale from cultivators, manufacturers, and stores it in a warehouse. This in fact is opening the door for basically an Uber Eats for recreational marijuana. Not only that it would also provide what could be seen as an Amazon wholesale delivery service as well. “
CCC representatives say “What we’ve done in addition to creating those two license types is also to establish new fees and fee structures, to require warehousing for wholesale delivery licensees, to authorize white labeling for wholesale delivery licensees”… “We’re defining specific operational requirements that will be in addition to the general operational requirements, and we are amending existing relevant regulations to incorporate the license types and the activities that they can undertake,” Commissioner Britte McBride, who led the regulation writing process, indicated as reported by masslive.com. The change is not in being able to deliver recreational cannabis. The change is the ability to deliver whole-sale quantities.
Masslive.com goes on to explain the dynamics concerning these new licenses. “Wholesale delivery licensees would also be allowed to white-label products or have their suppliers white label the products for them. White labeling is when a product is rebranded and in this case would likely mean the delivery service would put its own logo, label and more on the marijuana it delivers rather than leaving the marijuana branded with the logo of the company that grew or processed it. Vaporizer devices could not be white-labeled, the CCC decided, and all white-labeled products would still be required to be included in the CCC’s product database”. Entities may move into selling recreational marijuana by simply purchasing wholesale cannabis and simply rebrand it with your own bag or sticker.
The benefits for this new program are obviously potential revenue from taxing the license and revenue from the growing cannabis industry. Last week we looked at a recent Washington Post article discussing the overwhelming majority of cannabis arrests in DC have been of African-Americans since weed became legal. Is the national trend becoming free up all hindrances to commercial and recreational cannabis sales for citizens above a certain income level or who live in “preferred’ sections of town? It is becoming easier and easier to transport large quantities of cannabis for business while citizens are still being arrested for “legal” possession of cannabis.
