Massachusetts to get country's biggest legal grow

Posted on December 29th, 2016 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , , .

MassachusettsDenver-based AmeriCann is planning to develop what will be the United States' largest medical marijuana facility in Freetown, Mass. At one million square feet, the Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center is planned for a tract in the Bristol County town formerly slated for a brewery by the Boston Beer Co. Boston Business Journal reports that AmeriCann bought the property this fall for $4.475 million. AmeriCann CEO Tim Keogh said the facility will be "the place in the northeast US for the creation of a wide variety of exciting new advanced products for medical cannabis patients."

The first phase of the project will include a 130,000-square-foot cultivation and processing area and a separate 30,000-square-foot research and development building, Keogh told the Boston Business Journal. Local contractor Campanelli Construction hopes to break ground in March and wrap up by October 2017. Total costs for the first phase could reach $25 million, Keogh said. Coastal Compassion company hopes to have cannabis in production in greenhouses at the site by fall 2017. AmeriCann is also said to be exploring opportunities for development of medical marijuana facilities in California, Pennsylvania and Florida.

The development is part of a growing trend of Colorado canna-businesses setting up shop in Massachusetts, where a legalization initiative was approved by voters in November. As Quartz notes, the Freetown facility will overtake that currently under construction by GFarmaLabs in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., until now the largest in the country. Desert Hot Springs, in Riverside County, declared itself insolvent in 2014 and is now experiencing a real estate boom thanks to the cannabis industry. The three-greenhouse GFarmaLabs facility is to cover 100,000 square feet.

Cross-post to High Times

Image from GreenwhichMeanTime

 

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Massachusetts pot shops delayed

Global Ganja Report's picture Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker signed Senate Bill No. 2524 on Dec. 30, which will delay part of the voter-approved cannabis legalization initiative by six months. The licensing of cannabis shops was set to begin on Jan. 1, 2018, but SB 2524 moves that date to July 1, 2018. The legislature says the delay is necessary to conduct further surveys regarding patterns of use, incidents of impaired driving and hospitalization, and the economic impact of legalization. Although the bill delays the retail, "pot shop" aspect of the initiative, other provisions including cultivation, possession and use, became legal on Dec. 15. (Jurist, Dec. 31)
Comment by Global Ganja Report on Jan 12th, 2017 at 3:30 pm

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