Review and assessment, more than a year overdue, includes data on licensing, market saturation, sales, and more stretching back seven years
Today’s public meeting of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission was centered on data, namely a newly completed Review and Assessment of the Massachusetts Adult and Medical Use Cannabis Industries. With some exceptions, the report covers the time period “from inception and implementation of adult-use retailers in November 2018 through April 2024.”
Compiled by the CCC’s research team with input from offices across the agency, the update was presented by Chief of Research Dr. Julie Johnson. It was supposed to be submitted to the Massachusetts legislature in December 2023, and is more than a year overdue. There will also be a subsequent Q&A published by March 25—based on anonymous questions posed by commissioners—but the document presented at today’s meeting is final and will be filed to state lawmakers.
Please note: While we encourage people to peruse the report on their own, we did not include any information from the “Testing Overview” section, since the data offered is extremely limited—covering only April 12, 2023 through Dec. 31, 2023—and, from our perspective, not reported in a way that is helpful to stakeholders, patients, or consumers. Similarly, the report marks another failed opportunity for the agency to simply state the number of people who work in the industry. Instead, it only lists the racial and gender breakdowns of employees, as we noted in our summary below.
Locations
“As of April 30, 2024, Worcester County has the greatest number of licensees that have commenced operations (138), followed by Middlesex County (104). Nantucket County and Dukes County have the fewest establishments (6 and 4 respectively).”
Licensing
“From April 24, 2018, when the Commission received the state’s first ME application, through April 30, 2024, the Commission has approved 650 MEs to commence operations. The most common are Marijuana Retailers (356), Marijuana Cultivators (127), and Marijuana Product Manufacturers (110), which altogether comprise 91.2% of all licenses that have commenced operations.”
Production
“From January 1 through April 30, 2024, an average of 28,797 cannabis plants were legally produced, or were currently in production, per month, in Massachusetts. This total represents all plants (excluding immature plants) that have been through flowering, vegetation, harvesting, and additionally includes plants that were destroyed. Of these, 72% (20,860) had been harvested, and 21% (6,000) had been destroyed.”
Market Saturation
With “market saturation estimated as the number of retailers per 100,000 residents,” there’s an “average of 5.1 cannabis retailers per 100,000 residents, with large variability across regions.” “Saturation of all cannabis retailers was highest in the western counties of Berkshire (18.9) and Hampshire (16.6) and was lowest in Norfolk (1.4) and Middlesex (3.7).” “Medical retailer density was highest in Nantucket (6.9) and Hampshire (6.8) counties, and lowest in Hampden and Norfolk (0.7) counties.”
Adult-Use Sales
“Sales from November 20, 2018, through April 30, 2024, totaled $6,063,229,651.92, including a total of $524,478,611.31 in 2024. Year-over-year sales increased most from 2018 to 2019 (537%), and least from 2022-2023 (5%), with a slight uptick again from 2023-2024 (7%).”
Adult-Use Products
“Buds accounted for the largest portion (42.2%), followed by Vape cartridges (18.4%), Pre-rolls (15.0%), Infused edibles and beverages (14.7%), and Concentrates (7.6%).”
Adult-Use Price per Gram
“The price per gram of cannabis flower, calculated as a monthly average, fell from $14.09 in November 2018 to $5.36 in April 2024, a 62% decrease. The price per ounce of cannabis flower similarly fell from $401.50 in 2018 to $153.73 in 2024, also a 62% decrease.”
Medical-Use Market Sales
“Sales from November 5, 2018, to April 30, 2024, in the Medical Use of Marijuana Program amounted to $1,268,347,919.30 in total sales. Year-over-year sales increased from 2018-2021, then decreased for the first time from 2021-2022 (-13%), with the trajectory continuing to 2023-2024 (-16%).”
Patients
“There were nearly 100,000 patients registered with the Commonwealth’s Medical Use of Marijuana Program as of July 2023. The largest age group was patients 36-45 years old; less than 6% of patients were under age 21 or over age 75. … Mental and behavioral disorders comprised 53% of all diagnoses and were more than twice as prevalent among the youngest patients than among the oldest.”
Agent Diversity
“As of 2023, agent registrations were predominantly White across all positions (70%), but especially at the Senior-level (77%). The industry at large was also majority male (63%), especially at the Senior-level (74%). However, there does appear to be increased diversity in the industry over time, with higher representation of female and BIPOC agents among new registrations in 2023 than in previous years, both in General and Senior-level positions.”
