1st retail pot shop on Cape Cod opens in Provincetown

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. (AP) — Cape Cod has its first legal pot shop.

Curaleaf opened a recreational marijuana store in Provincetown on Wednesday.

Curaleaf opened a recreational marijuana store in Provincetown on Wednesday after town officials granted the Wakefield-based company local approval.

The store is located along the famous resort town’s bustling downtown of shops, restaurants and bars. The company says it expects to employ about 30 people.

There are currently more than 30 retail marijuana shops open in Massachusetts, which legalized recreational use of the drug in 2016.

The first shops in the state didn’t open until 2018, and Cape Cod communities have been reluctant to allow the shops to open there.

One dispensary for medical marijuana patients operates in the region, but most towns specifically ban retail marijuana sales. Provincetown, at the tip of the Cape, is one of just six on the peninsula to allow it.

Curaleaf is one of the nation’s biggest marijuana companies, with roughly 50 dispensaries in 12 states.

Follow AP’s complete marijuana coverage: https://apnews.com/Marijuana.