The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) recently released a report of its latest recreational cannabis sales data. In June, the state collected $132.8 million in recreational cannabis sales (the highest per-month amount for the year of 2023 so far), and $19 million in medical cannabis sales. Since the state’s adult-use cannabis sales began in November 2018, it has collected a total of $4.74 billion in adult-use sales.
According to a graph dictating the popularity of specific cannabis products, flower is the most common type by a wide margin with over $2.9 billion in sales since 2018. This is followed by vaping products ($857 million), edibles ($685 million), pre-rolls ($622 million), and concentrates ($367 million).
The report also includes plant cultivation activity, updated as of July 7 but only reflects plant data up to April 2023. A total of 3,400 plants have been harvested up until that point, with 983 plants destroyed (although reasons for this were not listed).
The state is still working out how to regulate both cannabis consumption, as well as other substances such as psilocybin. While the state’s 2016 ballot question that legalized cannabis set the foundation for licensed cannabis cafes, regulators have yet to agree on how to move forward with consumption lounges. In May, Massachusetts regulators vetoed a pilot program that would have tested social cannabis cafes in 12 communities.
However, some cities such as Salem, Massachusetts became the sixth city in the state to end arrests for possession of psilocybin. Advocacy groups such as Bay Staters for Natural Medicine are working to push this change in other towns including Somerville, Cambridge, Northampton, Easthampton, and Amherst. Separately, a Massachusetts-based Temescal Wellness also recently made waves for being one of the first cannabis businesses to make April 20 a paid holiday for its employees.
Massachusetts’ record high sales reflect growing demand for cannabis in the eastern U.S. alongside other states that are also seeing success or launching their own legal cannabis industries. Its southern neighbor of Connecticut has also seen record sales, collecting more than $23 million during the month of May. In June, Connecticut also officially launched legal home cultivation, allowing adults to grow up to six plants at home under state law.
Maryland’s legal cannabis industry recently began on July 1, and collected more than $20 million during its first week. Vermont recently reported high sales in February with $6.4 million.
Maine recreational cannabis sales began in 2020, but in January the state announced that it has collected $158.9 million in 2022, which is nearly twice the amount that was collected in 2021. However, more recent reports show that more than 1,300 caregivers have left the state’s medical cannabis program since recreational legalization began.
New Hampshire legislators recently rejected a cannabis legalization bill (which caused one representative to switch from Republican to Independent), but the state did recently extend medical cannabis access to outsiders including both U.S. citizens as well as Canadians. Rhode Island is also slowly but surely making its way into the future by officially switching from paper applications to digital for medical cannabis. Not to mention how New York is moving quickly to open up new cannabis dispensaries amidst an oversupply of cannabis flower.
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