Cannabis Is Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

This month marks the 50th anniversary of principal photography for the movie Jaws on Martha’s Vineyard. With decades of Carcharodon cultural reference swimming around my subconscious it should not be surprising that Jaws was the first thing I thought when the Boston Globe ran an article on May 21, explaining the possible cannabis shortage on our Massachusetts islands .

“Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies”

Last week I mentioned the impact federal rescheduling would have on interstate and international transport of marijuana (in the comments). This week we’re talking the impediments of inter-island transport within the same state. On Tuesday, Island Time on Martha’s Vineyard and Green Lady on Nantucket sued the Commonwealth’s Cannabis Control Commission , asserting that regulatory restrictions on shipping cannabis by boat or plane across state waters will jeopardize their businesses. Without access to stock outside that grown and tested on the islands, supply cannot meet the expected summer demand, let alone the strict regulatory framework.

“Did you notify the Coast Guard about this?”

While federal law prohibits the transport of cannabis through US waters, it is possible to get to the Vineyard and Nantucket within Massachusetts waters (albeit not by commercial ferry for Nantucket, if you compare the Boston Globe’s map with this ferry map showing the paths to that island).

The Coast Guard reiterated to the Globe that “the transportation of a significant amount of a controlled substance, regardless of its form, is illegal” in US waters, and current ambiguity in Massachusetts law means island dispensaries operate in isolation. They must deal with the problem on their own.

TANGENT: It seems unreasonable that a local police chief has to solve the problem of a man-eating shark without any state or federal resources, but then again in October of 1975, President Gerald Ford gave a speech denying federal aid to relieve New York City from bankruptcy, immortalized in the Daily News headline, “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD .” So we cannot judge a past time with current perspective. Anyway, where was I…

“Not like going down the pond chasin' bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow you whole”

One of my favorite lines in the movie, coming from one of my favorite characters of all time (that’s me, above, dressed as Quint for Halloween 2018). Legal cannabis is an unforgiving business. Federal rescheduling will alleviate many of the banking and payments problems the industry navigates but regulation and taxation prevent the Wild West opportunities many entrepreneurs thought they were entering.

The common parlance of “analytics” in any other vertical involves improving the marketing, sales, delivery, or use of a product by the systematic analysis of gathered data or statistics. But analytics in cannabis is short-hand for analytical testing services, a requirement for ensuring safe and reliable product to the consumer, both recreational and medicinal.

Nantucket’s Green Lady has a second location in Newton, but because of the shipping regulations cannot share stock between stores, nor even send Nantucket-grown cannabis to the mainland for testing. Quoting the Globe: “Without an independent testing facility on the island... [Green Lady] has to test and treat her marijuana in-house, often an expensive endeavor.”

“Now, if the people can’t swim here, they’ll be glad to swim at the beaches of Cape Cod, the Hamptons, Long Island”

There are a growing number of dispensaries in Cape Cod, the Hamptons, and Long Island; none of these deal with the idiosyncrasies presented to the Vineyard and Nantucket. But there is one state that has recently accomplished inter-island transport across US waters.

In October 2023, Big Island Grown was the first Hawaiian cannabis company to participate in inter-island commerce, bringing their product from the Big Island to Kauai . Last June Hawaiian lawmakers approved legislation allowing state-licensed companies to sell wholesale marijuana to cannabis businesses , including those located on other islands separated by US waters. It is relevant to note that SB2248 passed because Hawaiian legislature found “restricting the interisland transportation of cannabis by patients for their personal medical use is contrary to the intent of Hawaii laws that authorize qualifying patients to use medical cannabis.”

“I’m only trying to say that Amity is a summer town. We need summer dollars.”

Poor Larry Vaughn, mayor of Amity Island. Trying to balance the long-term problem of local economic recession against the near-term problem of local shark attack. News outlets report at least 17 cannabis retailers and producers either lost or returned their licenses to operate in Massachusetts in 2023. Low wholesale cannabis prices are attributed to this decline. According to state data, the average cost of an eighth of marijuana in Massachusetts was $45 in 2021, and dropped to $20 by the end of 2023. Cannabis shopping by out-of-state residents also declined in Massachusetts over this time as adjacent states (Connecticut, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont) continued their own paths to legalizing cannabis. This is perhaps one economic factor not affecting the Massachusetts islands as it does the mainland.

“Love to prove that, wouldn't ya? Get your name into the National Geographic ”

While I’d be honored to feature in NatGeo (or get a like from MJBiz for that matter), I’ll gladly offer these words to the LinkedIn forum. Regardless of the anticipated 200,000 visitors to Massachusetts islands these summer months, or the year-round residential recreational users, it is incumbent on the Cannabis Control Commission to look towards Hawaii’s SB2248 as a roadmap for these island dispensaries and their estimated 500 medical patients on the Vineyard and Nantucket. To quote Matt Hooper:

“I think that I am familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you on the ass!”