Marijuana home delivery services launch in Massachusetts – Cannabis Business Executive

At least two companies began operations this week.

BOSTON (AP) — Home-delivered marijuana has arrived in Massachusetts.

At least two companies announced this week they have launched operations. Lantern, a sister company of the popular alcohol delivery service Drizly, says it’s now serving the Boston area. Your Green Package, meanwhile, says its driver teams have hit the road in the greater Northampton area in the western end of the state.

The companies are among the first to benefit from the creation of new state licenses for recreational marijuana delivery companies. The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission said Friday that 11 companies have so far been licensed for deliveries, and three of them are now operating.

Marijuana advocates have for years called on the state to allow for marijuana delivery businesses, which are already permitted in some form in many of the 19 states that have legalized recreational cannabis, including California.

Aaron Goines, president of the advocacy group Massachusetts Cannabis Association for Delivery, has said the new licenses are critical to making the local cannabis industry more equitable. He and others have argued the financial investment and regulatory approvals needed to open a traditional brick-and-mortar retail operation are sometimes too great for minority entrepreneurs to overcome. [Read More @ Boston.com]