A day of 'fun' and 'education:' Cultivate in Leicester prepares to open for retail sales in Massachusetts on Tuesday
Updated ; Posted
Hundreds of plants were growing, weed-infused gummies were being made, and medical patients were lining up to purchase products.
But tomorrow will be different, a historic day for Cultivate Holdings LLC and for Massachusetts.
In the final hours before Cultivate in Leicester opens up for retail sales of marijuana, company President Sam Barber gave a tour of the facility to members of the Cannabis Control Commission.
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, Cultivate will be one of two marijuana shops opening up for the first retail sales.
Commissioners Britte McBride and Jennifer Flanagan walked with Barber through Cultivate on Monday afternoon, asking questions about how traffic will be handled along Route 9 and how IDs will be checked as customers enter the facility.
"Tomorrow's going to be a very fun day but it's also going to be full
of education," Barber said to the commissioners and media members who
joined the tour of Cultivate.
McBride asked Barber if Cultivate employees would be asking customers whether or not this was the first time they had used marijuana.
"We're assuming everybody has never tried and trying to take that approach," Barber said. "I think even people that have used cannabis in the past may not be using it in the form that we're selling it."
Cultivate was Worcester County's first medical marijuana dispensary and opened on Dec. 1, 2017. Tuesday morning, it will make history along with New England Treatment Access (NETA) LLC in Northampton with the first retail sales of weed.
Cultivate says there will be a 1 once flower and/or 5-gram concentrate limit per transaction.
Flanagan said the commission has spent a lot of time thinking about education, especially for parents, teachers and school nurses.
"Things are going to look very different tomorrow," she said. "There are going products on the street that they may not even be aware of."
At Cultivate, Barber showed the commissioners some of the marijuana-infused gummies sold there, which all have a THC label.
Flanagan said she was a big fan of the fact that the packaging on the gummies lets users know the product takes 60 to 90 minutes for the full effect to set in.
Massachusetts voters in 2016 approved a ballot question broadly legalizing recreational marijuana. While recreational sales were anticipated to begin in July, that opening was delayed for months.
Lines are expected to begin at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Customers are asked to park at Everlast Nursery at 1894 Main St. and take courtesy shuttle buses to Cultivate.
The first customer at Cultivate will be Iraq War veteran and medical marijuana advocate Stephen Mandile, who is expected to buy a quarter-ounce of pot and edibles.
Recreational customers are asked to park at Everlast Nursery at 1894
Main St. in Leicester and take a free shuttle to Cultivate as onsite
parking is reserved for patients with active medical state registration
and those needing handicap access.
Customers must be 21 to purchase marijuana. You don't have to be a Massachusetts resident, but you must have a government-issued ID, like a driver's license, ID card or passport.
State law indicates that a person can possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana outside of his or her primary residence and no more than 5 grams of marijuana concentrate. Separately, state law allows people to gift up to 1 ounce to another person.
Consuming marijuana or marijuana products in public is still prohibited under state law.
But tomorrow will be different, a historic day for Cultivate Holdings LLC and for Massachusetts.
In the final hours before Cultivate in Leicester opens up for retail sales of marijuana, company President Sam Barber gave a tour of the facility to members of the Cannabis Control Commission.
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, Cultivate will be one of two marijuana shops opening up for the first retail sales.
Commissioners Britte McBride and Jennifer Flanagan walked with Barber through Cultivate on Monday afternoon, asking questions about how traffic will be handled along Route 9 and how IDs will be checked as customers enter the facility.
McBride asked Barber if Cultivate employees would be asking customers whether or not this was the first time they had used marijuana.
"We're assuming everybody has never tried and trying to take that approach," Barber said. "I think even people that have used cannabis in the past may not be using it in the form that we're selling it."
Cultivate was Worcester County's first medical marijuana dispensary and opened on Dec. 1, 2017. Tuesday morning, it will make history along with New England Treatment Access (NETA) LLC in Northampton with the first retail sales of weed.
Cultivate says there will be a 1 once flower and/or 5-gram concentrate limit per transaction.
Flanagan said the commission has spent a lot of time thinking about education, especially for parents, teachers and school nurses.
"Things are going to look very different tomorrow," she said. "There are going products on the street that they may not even be aware of."
At Cultivate, Barber showed the commissioners some of the marijuana-infused gummies sold there, which all have a THC label.
Flanagan said she was a big fan of the fact that the packaging on the gummies lets users know the product takes 60 to 90 minutes for the full effect to set in.
Massachusetts voters in 2016 approved a ballot question broadly legalizing recreational marijuana. While recreational sales were anticipated to begin in July, that opening was delayed for months.
Lines are expected to begin at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Customers are asked to park at Everlast Nursery at 1894 Main St. and take courtesy shuttle buses to Cultivate.
The first customer at Cultivate will be Iraq War veteran and medical marijuana advocate Stephen Mandile, who is expected to buy a quarter-ounce of pot and edibles.
Customers must be 21 to purchase marijuana. You don't have to be a Massachusetts resident, but you must have a government-issued ID, like a driver's license, ID card or passport.
State law indicates that a person can possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana outside of his or her primary residence and no more than 5 grams of marijuana concentrate. Separately, state law allows people to gift up to 1 ounce to another person.
Consuming marijuana or marijuana products in public is still prohibited under state law.
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