By Ramone Tarnaski

The Cannabis Control Commission has set new rules for the cannabis industry that would come into force in about a month, and it has closed a gap in the long-discussed rules and agreed on a framework to create two types of dispensary licenses. On Thursday, the CCC passed a draft delivery rule that would provide for a "limited supply license" that would allow operators to charge fees not only for deliveries to CCCC - licensed retailers and dispensaries - but also a wholesale license that would allow them to buy and store marijuana from growers and manufacturers. Those licensees would increase sales and serve as a new way for people to buy recreational marijuana.

When the last round of the regulatory overhaul began earlier this year, the proposed rules required delivery services to be limited to a courier role and marijuana and marijuana products to be delivered by CCC - licensed same-day retailers. But during a public hearing, several potential cannabis suppliers told commissioners that the delivery framework would not work as originally written. McBride said the limited supply license does not represent any license included in the regulations.

Last month, commissioners voted to allow suppliers to source the marijuana products they offer from CCC - licensed growers and wholesale producers - a change that regulators saw as key to fairness in the newly legalized industry. Operators holding wholesale licenses would have to maintain a secure warehouse that complied with existing requirements. The warehouse must also have a cargo hold in Sally's port, where delivery vehicles can be loaded and unloaded safely.

A wholesale licensee could also label products with white labels and have suppliers label products with white labels. Vaporizers and appliances could not be white-labeled, and delivery services would have to apply to deliver the marijuana and leave it to the company that grows and processes it. Wholesalers and licensed manufacturers would also be included in the CCC's product database as "white-labeled" products, but these white labeled products would not have to be "fully labeled" when renamed, the CCCC ruled.

The CCC has agreed to waive fees for licensees with limited supply licenses for the first three years of their licenses and to cut them by half in the second year. The reason we did this is that the whole purpose of the limited supply license is really to create a way to include a lower entry barrier, so with this exception, we really want to promote that low barrier and create opportunities through that license, "McBride said. The delivery rules will be defined in two phases with a three-year application and licensing period. Each of these licenses will incur a $1,000 fee for certifying an applicant's business participation, and $2,500 for each year thereafter, up to $3,300 for a total of five years.

Home delivery of marijuana has long been allowed under the state's medical-marijuana program, but advocates have pushed for a levy - just a license, arguing that it would help create a level playing field for delivery services in the recreational market since the barrier to entry is usually much less burdensome than a retail license.

The CCC will soon begin a public comment period on the draft levy rules, which were adopted on Thursday by the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, the state regulator for the recreational marijuana market.

When the draft regulations were first submitted in July, significant comments were received during the public comment period on the delivery, and Chairman Steven Hoffman said he expected the Commission to take this feedback into account. The CCC is expected to vote on its comprehensive package of rewritten rules on October 29. However, the amendments voted on today need to be considered and considered in the light of additional public comments and specific amendments, "said Hoffman. There are no changes to the delivery rules, but we will consider them.