THE CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION said on Tuesday that the agency is aiming to release final social consumption regulations by October of this year – later than the “mid-2025” goal that the agency had previously indicated.

The commission plans to vote on a version of the social consumption regulations in July before sending them to the Secretary of State to create an official record. Then, the agency will take public comment and hold a public hearing. The testimony will be incorporated into another draft by late August or early September, at which point the regulations would be resubmitted to the secretary and become enforceable in October.

“I obviously appreciate that we’re a little behind … the schedule that we laid out last December, but I still think we’re making great progress,” Acting Chair Bruce Stebbins told CommonWealth Beacon following the public meeting. “It’s a process [that] include[s] all of the commissioners and all of the staff input as we get further closer to the end.”

The framework in the new social consumption regulation – which was first unveiled in December 2024 – is currently set to create three proposed types of licenses. A new “supplemental” license will allow existing marijuana businesses to add a social consumption area — such as a “tasting room” — where customers can consume cannabis purchased on-site. A “hospitality” license will permit on-site cannabis consumption at both new and existing non-cannabis businesses, including lounges, yoga studios, cafes, and theaters. Finally, an “event organizer” license will enable cannabis consumption at events like festivals, provided they last no longer than five days.

The commission is still working to update the details of the regulations before it votes on them in July.

Stebbins said that even after the regulations are finalized, there will be more steps in implementing social consumption. Communities across the state will have to “opt-in” to allow social consumption, and the commission will have to approve licenses before people in Massachusetts will be able to walk into an establishment, buy a weed gummy or cannabis drink, and consume it at the location. 

Social consumption – the ability to consume cannabis products in designated public spaces – has been legal in the state since the ballot question legalizing marijuana was approved by voters in 2016, but the commission has been slow to roll out regulations to create the framework to support it.

The commission’s last major changes to the regulations – which removed the two-driver requirement for cannabis delivery – took a long time to come to fruition. Even after the commission voted to make a long-awaited change to the two-driver rule, it took nearly a year for the agency to publish the final regulations. There has been frustration in the cannabis industry around how slow the commission has been to update its regulations and write new ones to support social consumption.

The commission has been enmeshed in controversy ever since Treasurer Deborah Goldberg suspended Shannon O’Brien from her position as chair of the commission for allegedly making racially insensitive comments. There have been allegations of bullying at the agency, and the commission has failed to collect over $500,000 in licensing fees. Last June, the Inspector General called the commission a “rudderless ship” and urged lawmakers to put it under a receivership.

Currently, the five-member commission is down to three and is at risk of being deadlocked because three commissioners must all agree for the commission to take any action. The House passed a cannabis reform bill on June 4 that would restructure the commission to a three-member body appointed solely by the governor as a way of addressing some of the leadership issues. It is unclear if the Senate will take up the cannabis legislation. 

“There’s general excitement from the community and the stakeholders that have wanted [social consumption], and I think we’re getting to a point where we’re going to have regulations that will prioritize public health and safety and at the same time will [bring] exciting, new opportunities for potential licensees,” said Stebbins.