Boston's 1st Pot Shop Opens Monday, More Than 3 Years After Legalization Vote

Boston's first pot shop will soon open its doors, after the Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday authorized Pure Oasis to commence operations.

Pure Oasis, located on Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester, will open for business on Monday at 11 a.m., according to the company's co-founders Kobie Evans and Kevin Hart.

“On behalf of the entire team at Pure Oasis, we are excited to reach this important moment where we will open our doors as the first retail cannabis business in Boston and as the first economic empowerment candidate in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," Evans and Hart said in a statement.

The opening marks a major milestone in the state's recreational cannabis industry. The business is the first in the state to benefit from economic empowerment status, which speeds up the license review process for businesses that are owned by, employ or benefit people in communities disproportionately criminalized for marijuana.

State regulators are required by law to ensure that groups disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs are part of the new legal industry. But many economic empowerment applicants have been frustrated with the licensing process and are struggling to get through it.

Boston's first pot shop comes more than three years after voters in the state approved a ballot question legalizing recreational marijuana. Evans and Hart began making plans to open their dispensary when that vote passed in 2016. The pair was granted a final license from state regulaors last month, marking the end of a "long road" for the company.

"We're happy to be in Grove Hall," Hart previously told WBUR. "We have deep roots in the neighborhood so we can celebrate that. And we're excited to be Boston's first."