With the Island’s supply of legal marijuana dwindling, state regulators broke more than a decade of precedent to allow dispensaries on the Vineyard to ship in mainland cannabis products.
State cannabis regulators came to the Island Thursday to hear from local cannabis producers, retailers, and medical and recreational consumers who say that a ban on the transport of cannabis by ferry will put the Island’s legal cannabis sellers out of business.
A lawsuit between the Island Time dispensary and the state Cannabis Control Commission has been paused just days before the commission plans to visit Oak Bluffs to talk about marijuana access issues on the Vineyard.
Island Time, the Vineyard Haven dispensary owned by Geoff Rose, filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging the Cannabis Control Commission’s ban on transporting marijuana from the mainland to the Island is arbitrary and puts an undue burden on Island-based dispensaries.
The Cannabis Control Commission said last week it plans to hold a meeting on the Vineyard to talk about transportation issues and regulations that make it difficult to get medical and recreational marijuana to Islanders.
Fine Fettle, the Vineyard's only legally-permitted cannabis producer, has stopped growing marijuana on the Island and will close its West Tisbury dispensary later this year.
Consumers over the age of 21 can now legally purchase and use marijuana grown on the Vineyard, following the start Monday morning of adult-use sales at Fine Fettle Dispensary in West Tisbury.
The Vineyard’s first cannabis dispensary quietly began doing business over the weekend. Open since Friday at 510 State Road in West Tisbury, Fine Fettle Dispensary is presently serving medical marijuana patients by appointment.
