Bartlett's Farm To Seek Marijuana Cultivation License

Bartlett's Farm is poised to make the island's first bid for a marijuana cultivation-only license this week.
"There's an opportunity there for us to meet a need and diversify our business and do what we like to do, which is grow," John Bartlett told the Current today.
The plan would be to build an indoor cultivation facility and greenhouse at Bartlett's and sell cannabis to the island's two dispensaries - The Green Lady and ACK Natural - but with no retail component at the farm.
The new venture would be called Ocean View Hydroponics.
The island is has already reached the limit imposed by the Select Board of two cannabis dispensaries, but the state also allows for cultivation-only licenses to grow and sell marijuana. The Select Board is set to endorse a so-called “host community agreement” on Wednesday that would set the policies and procedures for granting cultivation-only licenses.
Bartlett acknowledged that even if the farm secures approval for a cultivation license, there remains a regulatory gauntlet with numerous state and local permits necessary before construction could begin on a cultivation facility. That will likely take a year or longer, he said.
But the vision is there.
“Eventually we’re going to have a cultivation facility with a state of the art greenhouse and head house,” Bartlett said. “We have decades of experience growing stuff inside. We’re always looking for opportunities to grow things and expand and diversify what we do, so from that point of view it’s exciting.”
Bartlett said there are no agreements signed with either of the two dispensaries – both of which have their own on-site cultivation facilities – but he has been having discussions with the teams at The Green Lady and ACK Natural for several months now.
“Nothing is set in stone, but it’s a small community and I’ve had great conversations with both,” he said.

Cleantha Campbell, the director of communications for The Green Lady, said those discussions with the Bartletts had happened, and endorsed the farm's pursuit of a cultivation license as well as the potential partnership.

"We are very supportive of this project and think it is a wonderful idea," Campbell said in an e-mail to the Current. "We are looking forward to working with them! We will still be cultivating our own flower - it is award winning, high quality, craft cannabis! Since our product is in such high demand, having another cultivation partner would bring a wider variety of products to offer."

Mike Sullivan, one of the partners in ACK Natural, also said he had discussed the concept with the Bartletts.

"It would be nice to have more diversified products in the market, which would be great for the consumer," Sullivan said.

Both island dispensaries grow on-site due to the prohibition on transporting marijuana over federal waters, as cannabis is still classified as a schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act. But given the extreme cost of real estate and construction on Nantucket, both dispensaries have a smaller cultivation footprint than their counterparts on the mainland.

Bartlett's Farm would pursue what is known as a tier 1 license, that would allow for a cultivation facility of up to 5,000 square feet, far larger than the spaces currently utilized by the two island dispensaries.

Bartlett's Farm has already been growing hemp - cannabis that is cultivated for its fiber with very low levels of THC - for more than four years that is sent to a processor off-island.

"The plant is the same, it’s just the amount of THC that is different, and we’ve been successful in doing that," Bartlett said.