Equitable Opportunities Now alerts members to bills that would significantly loosen Massachusetts cannabis ownership restrictions
Last year, we reported that industry lobbyists for mostly larger marijuana businesses were pushing for an increase in the number of retail licenses that one owner can have. They made their case in major media outlets, all while working to slide language into bills that would, per one iteration, increase the current cap of three licenses by four.
The group Equitable Opportunities Now (Mass EON), which advocates for Social Equity applicants, bird-dogged the cap increase lunge and united dozens of operators against proposed changes. In raising awareness, the coalition wrote to lawmakers: “Enabling the most profitable businesses to acquire more market share at the expense of equity businesses will make Massachusetts a less attractive market to investors and operators looking to expand from other states and could cause a race to the bottom on the value of equity licenses as has happened in other states that have loosened their ownership restrictions.”
Mass EON stayed on high alert after the aforementioned bill proposals died in the last legislative session, and is now warning that the pressure is back on. As organizers wrote to members in an email: “Well-funded multistate operators (MSOs) and their lobbyists filed eight bills to seize greater control of Massachusetts’ cannabis industry.”
The group notes that “MSOs gave away their game by coming out asking to triple their market share from 3 stores to 9 in their very first proposal last year. … Now they have eight bills with a range of options for undermining competition, including: full control of 9 licenses; full control of 6 licenses plus 35% control of 4 more licenses; full control of 6 licenses; 35% control of 4 more licenses.”
To combat what they see as a threat that will “undermine fairness and competition,” Mass EON has its own legislative agenda, “developed in response to urgent concerns from cannabis social equity business leaders and advocates, informed through surveys and focus group discussion, and [that] builds on the bold leadership of our legislative allies, including numerous bills that were reported favorably last session.”
The group noted: “According to an MSO-funded study, the 14 largest companies already operate nearly 10% of the 350 Massachusetts dispensaries. If some of these bills passed, they could control up to one-third of the entire industry by taking over equity businesses.”
In response, Mass EON is asking state lawmakers to “pass a legislative agenda that uplifts all businesses instead of helping the most profitable become even more profitable.” The current rules and regulations, its policy team argues, “protect competition, quality, and equity, ensuring we avoid corporate monopolies and the cheap, low-quality cannabis and poor working conditions that they bring.” While “loosening ownership limits now would … destabilize the industry,” “devalue equity licenses,” and “decimate the Commonwealth’s efforts to encourage full participation in the industry by those harmed by the war on drugs.”
“No matter how much market share they get, it will never be enough,” Mass EON told its members. “They will keep coming back for more unless legislators send a clear message that they support competition and equity.”
