Massachusetts is likely to experience a surge of stoned drivers and an increase in youth marijuana use and risk “significant” black-market pot sales if cannabis regulators carry out their plan to license a wide variety of unique marijuana sellers, such as movie theaters and delivery services, the state’s top public safety official warned Monday.
In a letter to the independent Cannabis Control Commission, Secretary of Public Safety and Security Daniel Bennett also cautioned that the agency’s draft regulations would allow “an applicant with a criminal history of cocaine or heroin trafficking” to work as a pot shop clerk, delivery driver, or cannabis farm employee.
The comments were the third scolding dished out to the cannabis commission by Governor Charlie Baker’s administration in a week — a sign of a growing tussle over the ambitions for and sweep of the recreational pot market that’s set to debut in July.
Baker and other political leaders, many of whom opposed the ballot question to legalize marijuana, now say the commission must slow down and focus on getting the basics right.
credit:bostonglobe.com
