Facing an exodus of its members, the Commonwealth Dispensary Association is withdrawing its lawsuit against recently approved recreational marijuana delivery rules in Massachusetts.
The license which would effectively allow standalone marijuana delivery businesses with their own warehouses was part of the CCC’s ongoing, if fledgling, efforts to increase the number of local and minority-owned operators in the industry. The CCC also decided to make the delivery license, as well as a courier-style license, available only to applicants in their social equity programs for a minimum of three years meaning that almost all of the state’s existing dispensaries would be locked out from the delivery game until at least 2024.
Mass. plaintiffs drop suit over marijuana delivery rules
Colin A. Young
BOSTON Stung by an exodus of members since it filed suit to block new cannabis industry rules permitting home delivery, the business group that represents most of the state s brick-and-mortar marijuana shops announced Monday morning that it is dropping the legal challenge.
The Commonwealth Dispensary Association and its attorneys from Foley Hoag argued in a suit that the new delivery-only license types created by the Cannabis Control Commission violated the state s marijuana law, which they said gives the retailers the right to deliver cannabis under their existing licenses. Simply, the CCC overstepped its authority and disregarded state law, radically upending the established rules that hundreds of small businesses and their host communities operated in accordance with since 2016, the CDA said in a statement when it filed its suit earlier this month.
NETA, Garden Remedies end membership with Commonwealth Dispensary Association days after group files lawsuit over cannabis delivery regulations
Updated Mar 03, 2021;
Two Massachusetts dispensaries have announced they are ending membership with the Commonwealth Dispensary Association, a decision that comes days after the CDA filed a lawsuit that has been viewed by some as an “attack on equity” in the state’s cannabis industry.
Garden Remedies announced its decision on Saturday morning. NETA made its decision to leave the CDA on Friday. Both cited a commitment to supporting equity in Massachusetts, as the state prepares to start home delivery of cannabis, an opportunity that will only be available to equity applicants for three years.