Brookline's NETA One Step Closer To Selling Recreational Pot

BROOKLINE, MA — The Boston area is closing in on its first recreational pot shop.

The MA Cannabis Control Commission approved the final license for adult-use retail sales for NETA's Brookline dispensary. That means NETA, which was one of the first two such companies to sell recreational pot in Massachusetts, can begin operations after getting the official certificate from the commission.

"We now look forward to working with the CCC in the coming days to obtain a Commence Operations Certificate. When that process is complete, we will be pleased to announce an opening date for adult-use sales in Brookline," said Amanda Rositano of New England Treatment Access in an emailed statement to Patch.

NETA received a final license Thursday from state regulators, as first reported by The Boston Globe. If all goes to plan, the store could open in the coming days. It already has the Green Light from the local town authorities and an opening day plan, as Patch previously reported.

At a February meeting with the town's Select Board, NETA representatives promised to spread the word that anyone who planned to show up on opening day should take public transportation.

The intersection at Rt. 9 and Washington Street is a notoriously clogged area and town officials worried the lack of parking would be an issue.

NETA's Northampton location opened in November to throngs of people eager to make the first legal recreational purchases in the state.

The Brookline location, which would be in the same place it sells medical marijuana on the corner of Route 9 and Washington Street, will be by far the closest recreational marijuana store to Boston. The closest right now is Alternative Therapy Group in Salem, but it indefinitely suspended recreational sales in February after discovering "corrupted" data in a state inventory. And a shop is planned for near TD Garden, but is still in the process of being built.

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Ten recreational marijuana stores are already in operation. Several other communities are racing to open such pot shops, but it's a rigorous process that at times runs into local opposition despite being legalized in Massachusetts in a 2016 vote. It remains illegal on a federal level.

NETA representatives told Brookline Select Board members it does not plan to hold appointment-only sales like ATG did in Salem, but that folks could order online in advance.

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