Rhode Island

Pot shop applicants await final OK for Massachusetts sales

FILE - In this April 21, 2018, file photo a bud tender displays a jar of cannabis at the High Times 420 SoCal Cannabis Cup in San Bernardino, Calif. When it comes to the taxman, California's legal pot market is getting a sluggish start. Marijuana cultivation and excise tax collections hit $48 million between April and June, state officials announced Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018, a jump from the prior three months but well below the windfall envisioned by the state. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

BOSTON — Massachusetts regulators are preparing to green-light several more recreational marijuana retailers, but there's still no word on when the first pot shops in the eastern U.S. will open for business.

The Cannabis Control Commission has votes scheduled Thursday on provisional retail licenses for Alternative Therapies Group, Temescal Wellness of Massachusetts and Late Spring Inc.

Alternative Therapies earlier secured provisional licenses to sell marijuana in Amesbury and Salem, and also hopes to open a store in Salisbury.

Temescal is applying for licenses in Hudson and Pittsfield. Late Spring is eyeing a store in Ayer.

In Massachusetts, where voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2016, commercial sales were originally targeted to begin July 1. But while nearly a dozen provisional licenses have been approved so far, final licenses have yet to be issued.