Sira Naturals, Inc. could get the first marijuana business license in Massachusetts.
The five-member Cannabis Control Commission, the agency charged with overseeing the state’s legal marijuana industry, is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to give the company a tier 3 cultivation license.
Massachusetts voters broadly legalized recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and over through a ballot question in November 2016. Medical marijuana was approved by voters in 2012.
A tier 3 cultivation license means they can grow between 10,001 and 20,000 square feet of marijuana. A licensed cultivator can cultivate, process and package marijuana, and transfer and deliver marijuana products to marijuana establishments, but not to consumers.
Sira Naturals operates a medical marijuana cultivation facility in Milford. The company has applied for two licenses: Cultivation and manufacturing.
The space they have in Milford spans 30,000 square feet, and 10,000 square feet are already in use growing medical marijuana, according to Sira Naturals CEO Michael Dundas.
Sira has not yet applied for a retail recreational license, though the company has medical marijuana dispensaries in Cambridge, Somerville and Needham.
The company is waiting for those communities to create zoning for recreational marijuana, and in the meantime, they’re open to selling their product on a “case by case basis” wholesale to companies that receive a retail marijuana license, Dundas told MassLive.
The Cannabis Control Commission’s Thursday meeting, set for 2 p.m. at 50 Milk Street in downtown Boston, does not include votes on any retail licenses.
Retail pot shops are widely expected to open in July 2018, though the exact date, and how many will actually be open, remains unclear, since the process involves cities and towns signing off.
While the July 1 date has been frequently mentioned in media reports, “the July 1 date has always been somewhat of an artificial, aspirational benchmark date,” Dundas said.
“It’s still going to take several more weeks and perhaps months before we see this industry up and on its feet,” he said.
