Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Julie Jacobson (pictured here, left, at a Local Government Advisory Commission meeting in June 2018) is the MMA’s designee on the Cannabis Advisory Board. She raised a number of issues and made recommendations from the municipal perspective. While she voted to allow for social consumption establishments, she emphasized that they should only be allowed in communities that have opted in.
The Cannabis Advisory Board voted, 9-4, on Feb. 14 to recommend that the Cannabis Control Commission support delivery-only licenses for adult-use marijuana products in Massachusetts.
The board discussed and voted on 12 different recommendations on the topic of delivery licensing.
A good portion of the discussion focused on security procedures that would be required for a delivery-only license. The board recommends that the CCC implement security protocols similar to those governing the medical marijuana delivery program, including standards for delivery vehicles and the transport of cash.
The board also recommends that the CCC mandate that consumers go through a pre-verification process before receiving marijuana home deliveries. Law enforcement representatives were particularly supportive of this recommendation in order to ensure the safety of third-party transporters.
In alignment with the CCC’s mandate to ensure that people from communities that have been disproportionately harmed by marijuana law enforcement are included in the new legal marijuana industry, the board recommended that delivery-only licenses be available only to equity applicants and small companies for the first five years.
The Cannabis Advisory Board includes municipal officials, law enforcement officials, activists, marijuana business owners, and public health representatives.