Green Lady joins suit against state for unfair cannabis regulations

(May 21, 2024) Nantucket's Green Lady Dispensary is suing the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, joining a Martha’s Vineyard dispensary, arguing rules being forced upon them are making it impossible to run their business. They say it's time for the rules to change.

“The Commission’s arbitrary, unreasonable and inconsistent policy against the transport (of marijuana) over state territorial waters and threats of enforcement impermissibly isolate island-based licenses from the Commonwealth’s cannabis industry without any rational basis and subject them to extreme financial burdens not endured by their mainland competitors,” the complaint, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, reads.

Because the commission does not allow the transport of marijuana products over state waters, and marijuana is not legal at the federal level, there is no way for the dispensary to transport product to or from the island. That means all island cannabis businesses are forced to grow and test their own.

It also means they can’t sell any of that product anywhere but their Nantucket store because they can’t ship it out, which Green Lady argues is blocking a source of revenue because they have a second location in Newton. The cost of testing is also crippling, according to the complaint, which mainland dispensaries often don’t have to deal with because they can outsource it.

State waters extend three miles from the coastline of any given part of the state, which does leave a possible, unconventional route for product to be shipped from Cape Cod to Nantucket if the commission were to lift the ban. Transport to the Vineyard would be simple if the commission were to allow it.

Green Lady is one of two Nantucket dispensaries. The other, ACK Natural, is not part of the suit.

Green Lady co-owner Nicole Campbell could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Vineyard dispensary, Island Time, argues that the enforcement of these rules is putting them out of business because the company that cultivated their product on-island, Fine Fettle, is closing down. They need to be able to buy wholesale from the mainland or else the Vineyeard could be without a dispensary entirely.

They closed temporarily this month because of the lack of product and may have to shut down permantly, “leaving the island’s medical marijuana patients and others with little option but to turn to the illicit market for relief,” according to the complaint.