Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are at the risk of running low on cannabis this summer, amid a furious debate over whether marijuana can be shipped over the Atlantic Ocean.
In a last-ditch effort to keep the pot flowing, two dispensaries — Island Time in Vineyard Haven and Green Lady on Nantucket — sued the Cannabis Control Commission Tuesday, alleging that the state regulatory body’s restrictions on shipping cannabis on boat or plane across state waters jeopardize their businesses.
The issue came to a head this month, after Island Time closed its doors on May 14, citing low stock, and Fine Fettle — the Vineyard’s lone cannabis growing facility and only source of new supply — announced plans to shutter by September.
Shops are being “starved to death” by the “Commission’s arbitrary, unreasonable, and inconsistent policy against transporting marijuana and marijuana products over any state’s territorial waters,” a memo filed alongside the complaint in Suffolk County Superior Court reads.
The battle has thrown the state into a scramble to figure out how to keep the supply of cannabis stable for year-round recreational users, 500-some medical patients, and an onslaught of visitors soon to arrive to the two destination islands. [Read More @ The Boston Globe]