Massachusetts legalized marijuana way back in 2016, but you wouldn’t be able to tell if you spend most of your time on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. There was one medical dispensary (which just recently closed) and one recreational dispensary on the land, but other than that it’s entirely free of weed.
The reason for this is that to get to the island from Cape Cod, you’re crossing federally designated waterways, and where anything is federal, marijuana is illegal. Thus, almost ten years of bureaucratic headaches for the dispensaries on the island.
However, the owner of the one recreational dispensary on the island sued the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission because of the absurdity of this law. The owner, Geoff Rose, can only sell marijuana that he grows on the island.
“For more than 11 years, my efforts have centered on providing safe and responsible cannabis to local residents and visitors alike. I’m hoping that the court will mandate the commission take immediate action to allow us to transport the product from the mainland,” Rose told the Vineyard Gazette.
What made matters worse was that Rose was getting all his marijuana from the medical dispensary, the sole cultivator on the island. And once that closed down, he was left with nothing.
This all came to a head when earlier this month, Rose had to temporarily close down his dispensary because he was unable to get any product to sell. His plan is to open back up once options are available, but as of now, he’s out of luck. The litigation with the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) is ongoing and unclear when an answer will come.
Hopefully this will get resolved soon. There are medicinal patients on the island who are out of options entirely, which is akin to them being without medication unless they travel a far distance to the mainland.
Read the original article at High Times.
