State regulators in 2019 created a pilot program to provide for a limited number of licensed, on-site cannabis consumption facilities -- a decision that the Governor publicly supported. Later in the year, the Baker administration pushed through a temporary ban on the retail sale of THC vaping products. That ban was lifted in December after regulators enacted new rules providing for the testing and inspection of vapor products.
“I still think that the first thing we need to do -- we’ve had conversations with both Republicans and Democrats in Washington about this -- is to take the cash to the extent that we can out of the system and have this treated the same way other industries deal with financial transactions.” (Link) 2019
“I think the issues around … social consumption sites, and all that comes with [them], are really hard and are really complicated. I think doing it on a pilot basis would make a lot of sense.” (Link) 2019
Federal officials could be sowing "confusion" with moves against marijuana in states that legalized the controversial substance for recreational and medical use, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday. (1/8/18) http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/01/massachusetts_gov_charlie_bake_16.html
The remarks came a day after US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an opponent of legal marijuana, rescinded a memo first issued under President Obama that allowed a new industry built around the controversial substance to grow in some states. (1/5/18)
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/01/massachusetts_gov_charlie_bake_16.html
Upon signing the long-awaited compromise marijuana bill into law, Gov. Charlie Baker said: "I don't support this," Baker said to reporters in his ceremonial office at the State House. "I worry terribly about what the consequences over time will be."
"But look, the people voted this," he added. "And I think it's really important that we put a program in place that delivered a workable, safe, productive recreational marijuana market for them here in Massachusetts." (7/28/17)
http://www.masslive.com/news/boston/index.ssf/2017/07/governor_baker_signs_massachus.html
Although Gov. Baker previously opposed legalization efforts in Massachusetts, in 2019 he publicly called upon Congress to amend federal law so that banks could provide financial services to state-licensed cannabis operators.