Worcester Business Journal

14 Worcester Business Journal | June 12, 2023 | wbjournal.com Worcester. When legalization began, the most significant suppliers in the market were large companies that didn't just grow the crop but also packaged and sold it. "Vertically-integrated companies, back in the day, were just making profit hand over fist because they were the only game in town," Bowman said. "Two to three years ago, independent retailers would struggle to get product, to be honest with you. It was in the interest of multistate op- erators and other vertically-inte- grated companies to just sell to each other." But, over the past couple of years, the number of growers, and the amount of supply on the market, has risen dramatically. is is clear in price information collected by the state's Cannabis Control Commission. e average cost of a gram of cannabis flower hovered fairly consistently between $14 and $15 from 2018 until May 2021. Aer that, it began falling dramatically, hitting $11.03 in May 2022 and then plum- meting to $6.05 in April 2023. e low prices present a challenge to growers, but Bowman said they're a boon to com- panies like his. "Now the tables have kind of turned, so that we're sitting here and we have people from all over the state that want to talk to us to get their product on our shelves," he said. The burden on smaller players Still, cannabis is not an easy industry for small operators to enter. at's an issue that's very much on the mind of CCC Chair Shannon O'Brien. "Because it's so heavily regulated, it's incredibly expensive to get into the game," O'Brien said. One of the CCC's central missions is promoting equity. e commission offers special support for entrepreneurs and communities disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs, as well as enterprises owned by people of color, women, and veterans. O'Brien said even these efforts can face headwinds due to heavy regulation. For example, the commission offers an exclusive option for equity applicants to start cannabis delivery services, but it hasn't been the success she had hoped. "e significant regulatory burden that we place on this license class has made it almost impossible to become profitable," she said. One issue is a rule saying there must be two company agents in a delivery ve- hicle at all times, something O'Brien said F O C U S B U S I N E S S O F C A N N A B I S Cannabis comes of age Five years in, questions about overregulation and equity remain as regulators eye new issues, such as cannabis cafes and scientific research Shannon O'Brien, chair of the Cannabis Control Commission BY LIVIA GERSHON Special to WBJ W hen the first rec- reational cannabis dispensaries in Mas- sachusetts opened in November 2018, their parking lots assumed a festive air as people lined up, sometimes for hours, to get the newly legal product. Nearly five years later, legal cannabis has become an unremarkable part of the state economy. It has far surpassed cranberries as the state's top crop, and it reached nearly $1.5 billion in sales in 2022. Today, can- nabis businesses and the state and local leaders who regulate them are figuring out what normal is going to look like for an industry still unlike any other. Among the newest players in Central Massachusetts is Cannabis of Worcester, a dispensary opened on Millbrook Street in mid-April. e independently-owned operation took shape aer one major multistate cannabis operator, Trulieve Cannabis, bought rival Harvest Health & Recreation. Because Truelieve already owned three Massachusetts dispensa- ries, the maximum allowed by the state, Harvest's plan to open the Worcester location fell through. e change in plans echoes a shi to- ward smaller operators been happening across the industry, said Steve Bowman, chief operating officer at Cannabis of (Above and below) Cannabis of Worcester opened on Millbrook Street after a multi- state operator decided not to open Harvest Health & Recreation in the city. PHOTOS | COURTESY OF CANNABIS OF WORCESTER

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