“This listening session is our chance to stand up for patients and demand better. If you rely on medical cannabis, if you refuse to let patients be ignored any longer, now is the time to speak out.”
As we noted in a recent survey of the Massachusetts cannabis landscape, the situation is grim for Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers and those who rely on them. Since the start of the program nearly a decade ago, 61 MTC licenses have expired, and the situation is expected to worsen, since there were zero new applicants in 2024.
According to CCC data, while Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers statewide had nearly $20 million in sales in January 2023, by December 2024 that number dropped to $14.5 million, the lowest since December 2019.
As Jeremiah MacKinnon of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance suggested while addressing Massachusetts legislators at a hearing of the Joint Committee on Cannabis last October, the CCC has overseen the decimation of the medical program in plain sight. In recent months, however, commissioners have recognized and shared those concerns during meetings, and this week the agency announced an upcoming listening session on the medical program on Feb. 27.
MacKinnon told Talking Joints Memo in a statement: “We appreciate the commission taking this step to engage with the medical marijuana community. For years, patients have raised concerns about affordability, access, and policies that unnecessarily limit their ability to get the medicine they need. We hope this listening session leads to meaningful action that strengthens and protects the medical marijuana program and the patients it serves.”
People will be able to submit written comments to the agency, or can testify virtually or in person at the Worcester CCC office on Feb. 27.
“If you’re a patient struggling to find a medical dispensary, paying unnecessary taxes for your medicine, or worried about the future of the medical program, this is the time to speak out,” MacKinnon continued. “The commission needs to hear directly from you.”
