Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1133074
6 Worcester Business Journal | June 24, 2019 | wbjournal.com On the fly Ignite your employees' interest with a modern plan design. Learn more: Get "Does your re rement plan address these 6 essen al elements?" hhconsultants.com/ignite PHOTOS/RON BOULEY BY ZACHARY COMEAU Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer A ccording to marijuana reg- ulators, executives and ad- vocates, Worcester County is quickly becoming the cannabis capital of Massa- chusetts, despite the state struggling with a painfully slow rollout and laws possibly needing to be changed. "We're building a rocketship as we're in orbit," said Beth Waterfall, executive director of Elevate Northeast, a New England marijuana advocacy organi- zation, at Worcester Business Journal's Business of Cannabis event on June 11 at the DCU Center in Worcester. According to the Massachusetts Can- nabis Control Commission, Worcester County continues to lead the way with marijuana business applications. As of June 7, the county had 110 completed applications. e nest closest was Berk- shire County with 43. A very deliberate pace Despite the undeniable energy and enthusiasm for the fledgling industry providing jobs and tax revenue, evi- denced by $163 million in sales between 19 stores since November, almost every aspect of the cannabis industry's rollout in Massachusetts is behind other recre- ational states, while supply and demand are keeping prices prohibitively high. In states with established adult-use markets, Massachusetts is behind nearly every other state in per capita sales through the first six months of that state's legal industry with about $18. Nevada leads the way with $64. at state, unlike Massachusetts, simply allowed medical marijuana operators in good standing to enter into the adult-use market on July 1, 2017, less than seven months aer that state voted to legalize the use and sale of cannabis products. "We hadn't even passed a law to amend the law that voters passed the previous November," said Kris Krane, co-founder and president of 4Front Ven- tures, a multi-state cannabis operator doing business in Massachusetts -- with cultivation and retail operations in Worcester -- as Mission Massachusetts. e cannabis industry in Massachu- setts, Krane said, has been typified by slow rollouts, beginning in 2013 with the first medical marijuana application process aer voters approved a ballot question in 2012. With energy and opportunity, the state's marijuana businesses and regulators are adapting to an industry slowly being built as interest grows • Sales (since November 18, 2018): $163 million • Pending applications (all required material submitted): 275 • Final licenses: 66 • Active marijuana workers: 4,094 • Disadvantaged business enterprises: 12% The Massachusetts recreational marijuana industry, at a glance Source: Cannabis Control Commission Beth Waterfall, executive director of trade group Elevate Northeast, said the marijuana industry has a lot of potential to grow in Massachusetts.