Nantucket to get first pot shop before summer ends

Nantucket's first adult-use marijuana shop could open its doors to islanders and vacationers before the summer tourist season begins to wind down.

The Cannabis Control Commission on Wednesday gave The Green Lady Dispensary the green light to begin selling marijuana and marijuana products to adults as early as Sunday at 11 Amelia Drive, just behind the Nantucket Police Department.

The store, which told the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror in July that it would be ready to open by Aug. 8, advertises that it "hand-picks the best genetics available while developing new Nantucket original strains that can't be found elsewhere," such as Moby Dick, Perfect Storm and Black Dog Kush.

The Green Lady is the 23rd Massachusetts retailer to be given the go-ahead to begin selling marijuana for non-medical purposes and the first on Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard.

Before stores on the islands could be approved, the CCC had to figure out how to accommodate Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket -- islands that can only be reached by passing through air or water that is federally regulated -- without running afoul of federal marijuana prohibition.

The CCC wrote into its regulations that stores on the islands "are not required to utilize Independent Testing Laboratories until such time as a laboratory is located on the island ... or the establishment can transport marijuana product to the mainland."

Until then, stores on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket are to "test marijuana products in a manner that is not unreasonable impracticable but also adequately protects the public health in the opinion of the Commission," per CCC regulations.