Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | January 23, 2023 | wbjournal.com BY KEVIN KOCZWARA WBJ Staff Writer M ore than four years have passed since the first legal cannabis dispensaries opened in Massachusetts, and in the 52 months since the first dispensaries opened, 270 have opened their doors with another 200 in various stages of the licensing process. A new dispensary here. Another grow facility there. Now Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey have legalized pot. Everyone is getting in on the act. No one wants to be le behind. Competition is rising. e first pot shop in the state closed in Northampton in December while prices have hit a historic lows. Since the first dispensaries opened in November 2018, total adult-use sales are nearing $4 billion across the Massa- chusetts. Prices in November reached $228.88 per ounce, their lowest point since April 2020, when the economic fallout from the initial stages of the COVID pandemic hit prices everywhere. November's price was a 39% decrease over the previous year. At the same time, more plants are be- ing harvested than ever across the state, peaking at 2.7 million in November. e state is awash in cannabis with 117 cultivators in the state and another 249 in the licensing pipeline. Despite these falling prices and increasing competition, marijuana business officials across the state, and particularly in Central Massachusetts, still see the cannabis market as primed for opportunity, with operators having to be smarter about the way they operate their marijuana businesses. "More product and more dispensa- ries means more options," said Ulysses Youngblood, president of Worcester dispensary Major Bloom. "e market is correcting itself." Youngblood isn't worried about the price drop. Major Bloom is designed to cater to people in a lower-income neighbor- hood, and he has built his business to be cost-effective. Still new to people e market is mainly correcting itself now because there's a glut of product and not enough stores to sell it, said David O'Brien, president and CEO of the trade group Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association. He still sees the possibility of growth. "People are still making money," O'Brien said. "But they're tightening belts." PHOTO | MATT WRIGHT Prices falling, competition rising Business owners in the still-young Mass. cannabis industry are facing new headwinds Ulysses Youngblood (right), president and co-founder of Worcester dispensary Major Bloom, pictured with co-founder and former CEO Laury Lucien, sees the price drop across the cannabis industry as a benefit to his customers. Marc (left) and Ellen Rosenfeld, two of the three siblings who own the marijuana business CommCan, operate three locations across the state. PHOTO | COURTESY OF COMMCAN

• Cover