In Massachusetts, the ban on medical cannabis vape products may be lifted next week. That’s the ruling from a state judge, at least, who ordered Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration to relent a bit on its intention to ban vapes amid a wave of lung illnesses in the U.S.
The ban on nicotine and adult-use cannabis vape products would remain in place.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Douglas H. Wilkins, who’s been pushing back on the ban for a few weeks now, cited the “irreparable harm” that a ban might cause patients in the medical cannabis market, according to the Boston Globe’s reporting. The state’s Cannabis Control Commission will have its say on this latest order Nov. 28.
Last week, Baker’s administration decided to go forward with the emergency regulation process for the vape ban. This means that public hearings will be conducted sometime before the end of the year, allowing the public and cannabis business stakeholders to provide input on the ban. Across the industry, vape bans like the ones enacted in Massachusetts, Washington and Oregon have come under varying degrees of fire for not adequately responding to the illicit-market source of much of the problematic product behind the rash of illnesses.
