Ten years after voters legalized recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, the adult-use cannabis industry has topped $10 billion in gross sales, a milestone that comes as the industry faces myriad changes and challenges.
Voters approved the ballot measure regulating adult-use marijuana in November 2016, and the state’s first two retail stores opened around two years later. Leading up to the 2016 election, opponents including Gov. Maura Healey, who was attorney general at the time raised public health and safety concerns with legalizing recreational marijuana.
Adult-use retailers, which include marijuana retail stores, delivery operators and some microbusinesses, reached the $10 billion mark on Saturday, Sept. 5, according to Cannabis Control Commission data.
“So I’d say it’s a mixed bag. I don’t know if we necessarily want more people using intoxicating substances, whether they’re cannabis or alcohol or whatever,” Cannabis Control Commissioner Anthony Wilson said in an interview with the News Service on Tuesday. “On the other hand, we’ve created a market that’s creating jobs, that’s providing a revenue to the state, and more importantly, feeding families, and is not having some of the negative, scary social impacts that people were worried about ten years ago.”
The adult-use cannabis market “reliably generates” more than $1.5 billion in gross sales each year, said CCC Executive Director Travis Ahern. “As the industry enters its next phase with new license types and operators, we look forward to continuing our mission of overseeing a safe, equitable cannabis market for Massachusetts consumers and patients,” Ahern said in a statement.
The milestone comes as the industry stands at a crossroads, ten years after the 2016 vote that established the legal adult-use market in Massachusetts.
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