In September 2019, the City of Cambridge enacted a local
ordinance that effectively created a two-year moratorium on new
cannabis retailers unless the retailers were certified
Economic Empowerment applicants. The ordinance prompted a lawsuit
filed by Revolution Clinics, which owns an existing medical
cannabis dispensary in Cambridge, in October 2019. Under the
ordinance, Revolution Clinics would not have been allowed to obtain
a local business permit to sell adult-use cannabis until September
2021. The Company argued that the Cambridge ordinance violated
state marijuana laws.
On Friday, a Superior Court judge enjoined the City from
enforcing the two-year exclusivity period for Economic Empowerment
Applicants to receive business licenses from the City – at
least as applied to existing medical marijuana operators in the
City (the scope of the Order is not perfectly clear to us).
Associate Justice Kathleen M. McCarthy's declared that the
ordinance conflicts "with the
