Regulators vow to monitor the impact of extending exclusivity for equity applicants through 2029
Last month, Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission members voted to extend the current delivery license exclusivity period for three more years while delivery businesses continue to work toward becoming profitable.
“It’s 36 months, but we have the ability to extend it to four years,” CCC Chair Shannon O’Brien said at the commission’s March 4 meeting. “If we do our job monitoring this on a regular basis, I would also hope that after two years, we take a look at this. … The [Social Equity Trust] fund is there now, and the two-driver rule has been changed.”
This week, the change was made official. Per the CCC: “effective March 27, the Secretary of the Commonwealth has promulgated the … new adult- and medical-use regulations that incorporate reforms to the delivery exclusivity period. The “bulletin succeeds a previous bulletin the Commission issued relative to Jan. 2 regulatory reforms applicable to shelf-stable food items, wasting, badging, reporting requirements, social consumption, and other new policies.”
The specific promulgated language reads: “Effective March 27, the Commission has amended [Mass General Laws] to extend the exclusivity period for all Delivery licenses to April 1, 2029. The Marijuana Delivery Operator, Marijuana Courier, and Microbusiness with Delivery Endorsement business models will continue to be available only to applications from businesses controlled by and with majority ownership comprised of Social Equity Program Participants or Certified Economic Empowerment Priority Applicants for a minimum of three more years. Please note that in accordance with [Mass General Laws], the Commission may vote to extend exclusivity for an additional period in its discretion.”
The current Massachusetts cannabis delivery landscape
As Zack Huffman recently reported for Talking Joints Memo, as of Feb. 12, there were 18 delivery operators, nine couriers, and one microbusiness with a delivery endorsement operating in Massachusetts. Additionally, there are 22 delivery operators and 15 couriers with provisional licenses representing the pipeline of potential new licensees in the category.
Delivery licenses are reserved exclusively for Social Equity and Economic Empowerment applicants, for what had been set as three years following the commence operation orders of the first delivery business, which took place April 1, 2022. Originally, that period was set for three years with an option for an additional year.
During that designated period, most delivery businesses struggled to build a profitable enterprise, in part because the state required two drivers per vehicle, and deliveries were prohibited in towns that voted to ban cannabis establishments. Since then, the two driver rule has been repealed, but businesses are still limited to where they can bring products.
“I have heard feedback from some people that are concerned that while some people are still working on becoming established and profitable, there are other people that are looking to sell and there may be some limitations to that,” Chair O’Brien said in March.
