BOSTON (WWLP)—The state’s Cannabis Control commission is scheduled to have an open meeting Tuesday morning in Boston. This comes two weeks after the commission held their first public meeting.
“They have a tremendous challenge ahead of them-there’s no question,” State Senator Jim Welch, (D) West Springfield said. “It’s a new industry, a new commission, new people working on a subject that is relatively new to most people.”
Commission chairman and interim executive director Steven Hoffman said the commission will need to get fully staffed as soon as possible. The agenda calls for discussion of hiring an executive director as well as a plan for statewide public listening sessions. Commissioners are each working on completing a portion of about 50 tasks, assigned by Hoffman, to develop a work plan for getting the industry up and running.
The commission has several upcoming deadlines to meet before pot shops can open. The legislature moved the date for licensing from January 1 to July 1, 2018.
“My understanding is that it is an expectation, but not explicitly part of the law that retail establishments open July 1st of 2018. And that’s our intent at this point,” Hoffman told 22News.
Under the law, the commission must set regulations, guidelines and protocol for issuing licenses by mid-March.
The meeting will take place at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow morning in Boston and is open for the public to attend.