Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, is facing a unique problem: it may soon run out of marijuana.
The island’s only other cannabis dispensary is expected to sell all its remaining supplies by September, affecting more than 230 registered medical users and thousands of recreational users.
The issue stems from the island’s location and conflicting state and federal laws. Although Massachusetts legalized marijuana over seven years ago, the state’s Cannabis Control Commission believes that transporting pot across the ocean, whether by boat or plane, could violate federal laws. This is despite arguments that there are routes to Martha’s Vineyard that stay entirely within state territorial waters.
Geoff Rose, the owner of the island’s only remaining dispensary, has filed a lawsuit against the commission, which now says that finding a solution to the island’s pot problem is a top priority. Three of the five commissioners visited Martha’s Vineyard on Thursday to hear directly from affected residents.
Similar tensions between state and federal regulations have played out across the country as states have legalized pot. California law, for example, allows cannabis to be transported to stores on Catalina Island, while Hawaii amended a law last year to allow the transportation of medical marijuana between islands.
For several years, sellers on Martha’s Vineyard and the nearby island of Nantucket thought they had a solution by growing and testing their own pot, eliminating the need to import any from across the water. However, Fine Fettle, a Connecticut-based company that had been the sole commercial grower on Martha’s Vineyard and also runs the island’s other dispensary, decided to stop growing pot on the island and will close its store when its existing supplies run out.
Taking the ferry to buy pot on the mainland can be expensive and time-consuming for island residents, as there is no dispensary in Woods Hole, where the ferry lands.
They either need to take an Uber from there or bring over a car, and vehicle space is in high demand during the summer.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.