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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The state's Cannabis Control Commission could have voted Thursday to uphold the portion of Gov. Charlie Baker's vape ban that applies to marijuana vaping products—but instead, they're waiting for more facts and evidence to come in.
A Superior Court judge ruled last week that the vape ban causes irreparable harm to medical marijuana patients. As a result of the ruling, the pot portion of the ban could be lifted next Tuesday.
View Mass DPH's Weekly Vape Illness Data Here
Baker's administration is appealing that ruling, requesting a temporary stay.
Ban On Pot Vapes To End, Unless Cannabis Control Commission Gets Involved
In the meantime, the Cannabis Control Commission is considering ways to get around that judge's ruling if the administration's stay falls through.
The commission's Executive Director, Shawn Collins, said he's considering a quarantine on all oil-based vape cartridges.
"If the stay were to be lifted, I would have every intention of deploying any tool that we have to ensure that product that may not be safe for consumers or for patients does not reach the marketplace and does not reach any patient or consumer," Collins said. "That includes, and I think at this point it is leaning toward, the potential for a quarantine."
A quarantine would let the commission investigate whether oil-based cartridges are safe for the public.
A decision could come before Tuesday.
Gov. Baker instituted the four-month ban on the sale of vapor products in Massachusetts back in September, citing a nationwide epidemic of sickness among the vaping community.
On Wednesday, Massachusetts recorded its third vaping-related death; the Department of Public Health said that morning that a total of 21 confirmed and 47 probable cases of vaping-related lung illnesses had been recorded in the Commonwealth.
WBZ NewsRadio's James Rojas (@JamesRojasWBZ) reports
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