BOSTON–The uncertainty surrounding services to this state’s recreational marijuana industry—as well as the industry itself—has only grown following a ruling allowing Massachusetts’ cities and towns to delay allowing pot-related businesses to open.
As CUToday.info reported earlier here, stores licensed to sell recreational marijuana are now preparing to open, but it will be a cash business, meaning the Bay State will be facing the same issues around security and crime that other states have also experienced and continue to experience.
The Boston Globe reported that not a single financial institution in the state has indicated it will provide financial services to the cannabis businesses that are set to open following earlier voter approval.
Now, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has ruled that local officials can unilaterally prohibit cannabis companies for another year without polling their respective residents, the Globe reported.
The extension of an earlier temporary moratorium on pot shops and other marijuana businesses through June 2019 represents a reversal by Healey, as her office had previously said local freezes extending beyond Dec. 31 of this year were “longer than is reasonably necessary” and “could be viewed as unconstitutional,” according to the Globe.
But in an updated opinion, Healey has said she now believes municipalities deserve additional time to establish zoning rules for marijuana-related businesses.
According to the Globe, more than 200 of the Bay State’s 351 municipalities currently have bans or temporary moratoriums in place.