Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | November 27, 2023 | wbjournal.com BY ERIC CASEY WBJ Staff Writer N ov. 20 marked the five-year anniversary of the first recreational cannabis sale in Massachusetts. While the first five years saw more than $5 billion in sales and hundreds of businesses opening, uncertainty awaits ahead for the next five years. Companies will now have to attempt to navigate a highly competitive market, the emergence of new license types, and continued efforts to attempt to create pathways into the industry by individuals who have been harmed by the War on Drugs. Fears of failure In August 2020, when dispensaries and cultivations were seemingly popping up everywhere, Jason Reposa had a different idea. Legalization ballot initiative supporters campaigned on a message of regulating marijuana like alcohol, but Reposa took things one step further and created a product that looked remarkably like booze. He did this by starting Good Feels, a Medway-based company manufacturing drinks and beverage enhancers, tincture- like products allowing consumers to infuse any drink or dish. Drinks made up less than 1% of total product sales by price between November 2022 and November 2023, according to Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission data, but that still equates to $14.7 million of sales, which are expected to grow. While business is solid for Good Feels, Reposa is worried others might be heading toward closure. Discussions of which companies are failing to pay their vendors is commonplace, and the list seems to be growing by the day, he said. "Someone came to me and said 'My daughter is the inventory person at this company. ey are about to go under. ey can barely pay payroll. Don't sell to them because you'll never see that money,'" he said. "We've taken that [information], and it's proved itself out." While no one can be sure of specifics, Reposa foresees a situation where the rate of failing businesses increases. "ere will probably be a dozen businesses over a period of a month or two where all of a sudden, like dominoes, they fall," he said. Aer Reposa decided to not pursue a second location for Good Feels, he posted online to see if anyone was interested in buying the license associated with the property. Instead of a flood of offers, he's received messages from other business owners seeing if he Five years aer recreational legalization, cannabis faces multiple battles in the next five years had leads on buyers for their licenses. "is guy I just spoke to was very exhausted," Reposa said, "He was just Hazy future PHOTOS | EDD COTE The number of Mass. cannabis dispensaries Source: Cannabis Control Commission 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Nov. 2018 Nov. 2019 Nov. 2020 Nov. 2021 Nov. 2022 Nov. 2022 327 2 28 89 176 327 Melissa Kenton, events and outreach manager at Framingham's MCR Labs, shows patrons at the 2023 Harvest Cup in Worcester what cannabis flower looks like under a microscope.

• Cover