Tomorrow is April 20, the best day of the year for stoners and distributors alike. It will be Massachusetts’ first 4/20 since recreational marijuana was legally available for purchase, and according to The Boston Globe, sales are expected to at least double.
The industry is still young, however, and the celebration comes amidst an onslaught of criticism. Other than the obvious opposition — of those against legalization altogether — dispensaries have faced backlash for skirting the law and lacking diversity since the first recreational stores opened back in November.
Smaller business owners are finding it more difficult to obtain licenses and open dispensaries with the same capacity as large companies. Distributors that have out-of-state ties are dominating the industry, the Globe’s spotlight team found, which sits in direct contrast with the goal of making legalization in Massachusetts a way to promote local business.
Under current regulations, a single company can have up to three licensed medical marijuana stores and three recreational stores. The Cannabis Control Commission is looking into weed companies such as Curaleaf, Spotlight found, which owns another marijuana company but claims to have no say over how they are run.
The state should have taken more care to prevent this corporate commandeering of the marijuana industry. What’s more, the lack of licensed dispensaries in the state leaves the door wide open for under-the-table deals, which continue to be the majority of marijuana sales in the state.
After legalization was passed in 2016, the state and local governments implemented a program to boost small business prospects in the industry, which was designed to give participants a head start in obtaining their licenses to sell.
It’s called The Economic Empowerment Priority Review Program, and according to the Globe, it was set up by the state’s Cannabis Control Commission to close the gap between new businesses and previously established medical distributors.
But of the 123 people who applied in the short and poorly advertised application period for the program, according to the Globe, only five have applied for licenses and none have opened a business.
Rather than expand the legal industry, the state has been quick to target illegal operations, hoping to encourage consumers to take a legal route. By placing their primary focus on this crackdown instead of making opening a legal recreational marijuana business easier, they’re undermining the business prospects of the people who are the least privileged.
Two Beacon Hill legislators from Worcester proposed a bill earlier this month to create a task force aimed at taking down unlicensed sellers that avoid taxes and state regulation. According to the Globe, as of March, the state had only received about 10 percent of the taxes it had expected to bring in by the end of June this year.
More regulations may be necessary to keep large companies from using loopholes, so long as the industry does not become over-regulated and harmful to all sellers — big or small.
The legalization of marijuana is tricky by nature, but Massachusetts’ industry is still young. There is time to promote smaller businesses before corporate chains can overshadow them, which will hopefully lead to a larger portion of sales in legal distributions.
The cannabis business is still finding its footing in the United States, and Massachusetts should become an example for other states to demonstrate how regulated legalization is possible and beneficial.
Victoria is studying Economics and International Relations in the College of Arts and Sciences in the Class of 2022. Aside from The Daily Free Press, they're involved in WTBU Radio and Greek life on campus and are a Dean’s Ambassador in the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. When Victoria's not writing or editing, they're listening to podcasts and trying new coffee. Find them on twitter at @victoriagbond
We need to let Massachusetts farmers sell from their farmstands to undercut the far cheaper local dealers. The current corruption is caused by high prices and will put many more people in jail for avoiding the ridiculously high taxes. We have many thousands of acres which could be growing a tremendous crop.