Regulators Flag “Monumental Day” for Social Cannabis Use

As envisioned in 2016 law, CCC rules lay out framework for cannabis use at events and in social settings

JULY 30, 2025…..Cannabis regulators are hoping to hear from “as many people as possible” now that they have approved draft regulations that open the door to legal marijuana use at events and in social settings across the state.

The Cannabis Control Commission voted late Tuesday afternoon to approve the regulations they spent multiple days combing through since they were first introduced in December. Commissioners authorized staffers to file the regulations with the secretary of state’s office, a step that is expected by Friday and that will kick off a required public comment process. 

The idea behind on-site social consumption is to allow adults to purchase a marijuana product and use it in the same location, much like purchasing alcohol at a bar or a cigar at a cigar bar. Allowing on-site consumption would provide legal locations for marijuana consumption to tourists staying in hotels and renters who are prohibited from smoking in their apartments. Officials have also said the sites could also give parents a place to smoke or consume marijuana without ever bringing it around their children.

The new framework calls for three social consumption license types: a “supplemental” license for existing marijuana establishments like retail stores and cultivation facilities that want to offer their customers the ability to consume products purchased on-site, a “hospitality” license category that would allow for on-site consumption at new or existing non-cannabis businesses like yoga studios or theaters, and an “event organizer” license category that would allow for temporary on-site consumption at events like rallies and festivals. The regulations will retain a requirement that establishments have a transportation plan in the event consumers are not safe to drive home as well as rules around employee protection.

For the first five years, the licenses will only be available to applicants who qualify for the CCC’s social equity or economic empowerment programs, microbusinesses and craft marijuana cooperatives.

“This is a monumental day for the Massachusetts adult-use cannabis industry and is the culmination of years of hard work shaping these new licenses with input from stakeholders across the state,” CCC Acting Chair Bruce Stebbins said. “We look forward to the final steps in this process, including the upcoming public comment opportunities. We want to hear from as many people as possible to make the Massachusetts social consumption model a leader in the nation.”

Commissioner Ava Callender Concepcion said the regulations represent “a meaningful step forward in fulfilling our mission to create a more equitable cannabis industry that encourages full participation by people harmed by marijuana prohibition and enforcement.”

Establishments where people could use marijuana socially were contemplated in the 2016 ballot law that legalized non-medical marijuana, and the CCC planned to include social consumption sites in its initial 2018 launch of the legal industry before it bowed to pressure from Beacon Hill to focus on the retail rollout first.

The vote came at the end of two full-day work meetings, during which the three commissioners and staffers from various departments went through parts of the regulations with a fine tooth comb to make sure each sentence and section was the way they intended.

“During the last few months, commissioners have been going line-by-line through the social consumption regulations to ensure we are expanding the cannabis industry in a sustainable, safe way. Public safety was an integral part of the deliberative process, and we’ve built in initial safeguards aimed to help prevent over-consumption,” Commissioner Kimberly Roy said.

The CCC said it will “in the coming weeks” accept written public comments and host a public hearing to enable people to weigh in. Details of the process and deadlines will be announced at the CCC’s public meeting on Aug. 14, the agency said. 

After reviewing comments, the CCC is expected to reconvene to vote on final regulations this fall.

The CCC said commissioners made a series of changes to December’s proposal in recent months, mainly to the event organizer license type: event organizer licensees will be required to secure local permits from an event’s host community before seeking CCC approval of an event plan, municipalities will have the same measure of control over cannabis events as they do over similar events under the umbrella of the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, and event sales will be limited to no more than 24 single days in a calendar year and no more than five consecutive days of sales at any temporary event.

The regulatory overhaul also includes the elimination of the requirement that marijuana business employees maintain a separate CCC-approved badge for each company they work for. Now, if an employee works for more than one licensee, they will only need to maintain one badge. 

The new set of rules will also newly allow marijuana establishments to sell pre-packaged, shelf-stable and cannabis-free food and drink items, the CCC said.