News

Inside the Milford facility set for the first cannabis license in Massachusetts

MILFORD, Mass. — With ten days until the expected start of adult-use cannabis sales, the Cannabis Control Commission is set to vote on the first business license.

Sira Naturals, a cultivation facility in Milford, is set to be discussed for the first license on Thursday.

The space where Sira Naturals grows their product in Milford is home to tens of thousands of cannabis plants.

It's not open to the public as they only grow the plant there.

MORE: CCC to consider Milford company for first cannabis license Thursday

CEO Mike Dundas told Boston 25 as Thursday, they're expected to get the first legal marijuana cultivation license in the state since voters approved legalization in 2016.

“The cultivation license is different from a product manufacturing license, which is different again from a retail license,” he explained. “Presumably it seems logical to first issue cultivation licenses, and that's what we are up for.”

Sira Naturals has been around for more than five years and aside from the Milford facility, they also have retail medical marijuana businesses in Needham, Somerville and Cambridge.

RELATED: The Exit Drug: Can cannabis help solve the opioid crisis?

“We were the first to open the limit of three dispensaries, so we are one of the larger medical dispensaries in the Commonwealth,” Dundas said.

If they get the license, it would only allow them to sell to recreational retailers who will in turn sell the products in their stores. But as of right now, no one has been granted a recreational retail license yet.

“I think we are going to see a small handful of these licenses handed out in July and then a handful in the subsequent months that follow,” said Dundas.

The target date for recreational marijuana retail stores is July 1, but Dundas says despite the fact that it passed on the ballot a year and a half ago, most in the industry didn't expect stores to be opening that early.

The commission meets Thursday for the vote at 2 p.m.

“We're looking to invent a brand-new industry here in Massachusetts and it takes time to get it right,” Dundas said.

Including Sira Naturals, 28 other businesses have applied for a total of 53 licenses from the Cannabis Commission. The agency says they're still in the process of reviewing them all and will vote once those reviews are complete.

MORE: Incubating the green rush: Milford lab opens doors to cannabis entrepreneurs