Massachusetts marijuana regulators have issued final licenses to operators planning to open the state's first commercial pot shops, including one in Hampshire County.
The Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday voted to issue the licenses to Cultivate Holdings in Leicester and New England Treatment Access in Northampton.
Both companies operate medical marijuana dispensaries in those locations and had earlier been granted provisional licenses by the commission to sell recreational marijuana.
Cultivate Holdings is permitted grow up to 10,000 square feet of marijuana, to manufacture marijuana products and to sell non-medical marijuana in Leicester. New England Treatment Access LLC is permitted to sell non-medical marijuana in Northampton.
It will likely be a few more weeks before either pot shop can open, as there are several procedural steps that must still occur before regulators give permission to begin operations.
Massachusetts voters legalized recreational marijuana for adults in November 2016, but nearly two years later there is still no place in the state to legally purchase the drug.
This report includes information from The Associated Press and State House News Service.