Retail opening remains unknown as state cannabis commission continues inspections

FALL RIVER — Northeast Alternatives passed its last major hurdle to opening recreational marijuana store.

The state’s Cannabis Control Commission gave the company a provisional license to grow and process cannabis products in its site at 999 William S. Canning Blvd.

The company is poised to be the first in the city and one of the first in the state to sell marijuana and cannabis products to adults for recreational use.

When that will happen is anyone’s guess. This is new territory for everyone.

“The CCC is starting a new agency,” said Chris Harkins, the owner of Northeast Alternatives. “That is the reality.

“It is a lot of work. I think they are doing the best they can.”

He added: “But the reality is that I don’t think even they know how long this will take.”

Voters approved a referendum in 2016 to legalize marijuana for people older than 21. Prior to that, individuals needed a prescription from a doctor to legally possess marijuana and had to buy it from a licensed medical marijuana dispensary.

Northeast Alternatives opened on June 30 as the city’s first medical marijuana dispensary. It also has the capacity to grow marijuana and process it into oils, lotions, lozenges and concentrates.

Everything was inspected, tested and approved by the state Department of Public Health before the business opened as a medical marijuana dispensary.

“As far as we understand, everything tested and approved by the DPH must be tested and approved to commission standards,” he said. “We are trying to get an answer on that now.

“Obviously, we will do whatever they tell us to do.”

The CCC began issuing provisional licenses in June. It has issued 11 to date for stores and seven for cultivation and processing facilities. Northeast Alternatives is the only one in Bristol County.

Additionally, Northeast Alternatives was granted provisional licenses Thursday to grow up to 5,000 square feet of marijuana canopy and to produce marijuana products at its Fall River facility, according to the State House News Service.

The CCC is offering no predictions on how long it will take them to complete required inspections and issue licenses that allow stores to begin marijuana sales.

CCC Chairman Steven Hoffman said Thursday that the agency is working to schedule inspections for two or three provisionally licensed businesses. Hoffman said the inspections are expected to take place "over the next week, plus or minus."



He said it's possible the CCC could vote at its next meeting, Sept. 20, to issue a final license if a business passes its inspection and fulfills other requirements by then.



"The final inspection is one of the multiple number of requirements to go from provisional license — there is payment of the fee and other things — assuming those get turned around, I think the answer is it's quite possible," Hoffman said when asked about issuing a final license at the next CCC meeting.

Until then Harkins said potential customers will just have to continue to wait.

“We get dozens of people a day, calling or stopping by, asking that question,” Harkins said. “We tell them to be patient.

“We will open as soon as possible. We are very excited about opening for adult use sales. We have a lot of people waiting for that.”

Email Kevin P. O’Connor at koconnor@heraldnews.com.