Arlington’s medical-marijuana dispensary has stopped selling certain products containing cannabidiol, or CBD, after the state Department of Public Health issued a cease-and-desist order last week.
BostonGlobe.com reported Saturday, Dec. 15, that Apothca, which operates dispensaries in Arlington and Lynn, cut off sales of CBD products.
Valerio Romano, an attorney for Apothca, told the Globe that the products were sourced from legally grown hemp and tested for purity by laboratories in Massachusetts, but he said the company had stopped selling them.
CBD is a minimally psychoactive compound that can be derived from marijuana or hemp. Read more about it here >> CBD, used to treat seizure disorders and other ailments, is widely available in pill and gummy form at health stores. BostonGlobe.com reported that because licensed medical dispensaries can sell products only from the state-regulated supply chain, state regulators ordered Apothca to stop selling CBD supplements it had obtained elsewhere.
“It’s a valuable, quality medicine that patients rely on,” BostonGlobe.com quoted Romano. “There’s really an issue of inconsistent enforcement by [DPH].”
CBD’s legal status is murky; derivatives of marijuana are technically illegal under federal law, but enforcement against CBD has been minimal, since it is relatively harmless and because hemp can be legally cultivated in some states under federal research programs, BostonGlobe.com reported.
Hemp is a variety of the cannabis plant that contains little THC, the main psychoactive compound responsible for pot’s distinctive “high,” and was historically used in rope-making and other industries.
The website reported that Triple M, a medical-marijuana operator with dispensaries in Mashpee and Plymouth, has been ordered to close by state health regulators for using pesticides on plants on its Plymouth cultivation facility.
Dec. 5, 2018: Special Town Meeting supports 3 recreational-marijuana stores
Oct. 26, 2018: Water St. medical-marijuana dispensary opens
This news summary was published Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018.
