Running out of marijuana, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket get approval to ship it to the islands

MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) — Cannabis regulators in Massachusetts on Thursday issued an administrative order that will allow pot to be transported to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket islands for the first time.

The order came as Martha’s Vineyard was about to run out of pot, with one dispensary temporarily closing in May and the other saying it would close by September.

One of the dispensaries, Island Time, had filed a lawsuit against the commission. The other dispensary, Fine Fettle, was the sole grower of pot on the island and had provided all the pot for sale. But Fine Fettle said the small grow operation was no longer economically feasible and was closing it down.

Although Massachusetts voters opted to legalize marijuana more than seven years ago, the state commission had previously not allowed transportation of pot to the islands. It had taken the position that transporting pot across the ocean — whether by boat or plane — risked running afoul of federal laws.

There are more than 230 registered medical users and thousands more recreational ones on Martha’s Vineyard.

The tension between conflicting state and federal regulations has played out across the country as states have legalized pot. California law, for example, expressly allows cannabis to be transported to stores on Catalina Island, while Hawaii last year dealt with its own difficulties transporting medical marijuana between islands by amending a law to allow it.

Federal authorities have also been shifting their position. The Justice Department last month moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, though still not a legal one for recreational use.