CCC has 19 recreational pot applications; more than 150 in the works
Photo | WBJ File
With just over a month to go, the CCC is working to approve more than 170 adult-use marijuana applications.
Nineteen businesses have submitted an application for a marijuana license and more than 150 more applications are in the works with 38 days until the Cannabis Control Commission can issue the first Massachusetts pot license.
CCC Executive Director Shawn Collins told the commission Tuesday that 19 of the 55 businesses that had been approved for priority review have filed at least one phase of the license application with the commission. He said the applications aren't necessarily complete and the CCC has not necessarily received payments from the applicants.
The businesses approved for the expedited application review have been allowed to submit their license applications ahead of May 1, when the CCC will begin accepting applications for cultivators, craft marijuana cooperatives, microbusinesses, transporters and independent testing labs.
Marijuana retailers and product manufacturers will be able to apply for licenses beginning June 1, the CCC has said. The CCC cannot issue a license until June 1 and expects legal sales to begin July 1.
Those applicants that are not seeking or are not eligible for priority review have since last week been able to begin filling out the CCC license application, but are not yet able to formally file it with the commission.
Collins said Tuesday that 155 other businesses have begun working on a license application.
The CCC on Tuesday approved another 47 businesses -- 31 registered marijuana dispensary companies and 16 applicants who qualified for the commission's economic empowerment program -- for priority review. Tuesday's approvals bring the total number of applicants approved for expedited review to 77 RMDs and 25 economic empowerment applicants.
The commission, for the first time, voted to deny priority review status to an applicant. Collins said CCC staff has "not been able to verify or confirm" the RMD applicant's status with the Department of Public Health. He said the applicant "is not known to the department." The application was denied, but Collins noted that denial of priority review does not prevent the applicant from seeking a business license.
Collins said the CCC had, as of Tuesday morning, reviewed at least 62 percent of 812 applications for priority review. "This is our top priority as a commission staff," he said.
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