Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | October 28, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 69 35th Anniversary WBJ $6.33B in recreational cannabis sales Some companies have bet that consumers will move away from products requiring inhalation due to health concerns, but products consumed via smoking or vaporization still make up more than 80 percent of sales nearly six years into legalization. Product Type Sales % of sales Details Buds (cannabis flower) $2,669,101,416 42.15% The traditional green leafy buds from the marijuana plant, commonly smoked in pipes and joints Vape products $1,169,944,243 18.47% Oils and liquids sold in cartridges and pods that can be attached to battery-powered devices to produce a vapor that is inhaled Pre-rolls $885,621,308 13.98% Ground cannabis flower wrapped with smokable paper, also known as joints Edibles $877,127,921 13.85% Cannabis infused foods and snacks like brownies and gummies Concentrate $472,307,792 7.46% A broad term referring to all products that have been extracted from the plant, generally consumed by smoking or vaporization, including hash, waxes, and oils Shake/trim $102,661,651 1.62% The budget-friendly trimmings and scraps left over from harvesting and processing cannabis flower, can be smoked or used to make homemade edibles Infused pre-rolls $73,587,742 1.16% Pre-rolled joints with concentrates added for an extra kick Beverages/liquids $45,866,533 0.72% Some have predicted cannabis-infused drinks are the future of the industry, but they remain a small percentage of dispensary sales Other $36,616,572 0.58% Other product types, including tinctures, ointments, seeds, cuttings of immature plants, and even suppositories TOTAL $6,332,835,178 - - Source: Cannabis Control Commission website, sales from Nov. 15, 2018, to June 30, 2024 In prior decades, Bertold's high-profile arrest would have resulted in a scarlet letter haunting him into the present. Luckily for Bertold, attitudes toward cannabis have changed a lot since WBJ's founding, when Pew Research Center polling showed national support for legalization hovering at a paltry 17 percent. It was 1990 when a group of Boston- area activists founded the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, commonly referred to as MassCann, a state affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "It's very difficult when you take on a cause, especially when you're just a social activist," said Bill Downing, a stalwart of the state's cannabis scene stretching 1992 by saying he "didn't inhale" to Barack Obama's candid 2008 admission in his youth he inhaled frequently, because as he put it, "that was the point." In Massachusetts, prohibition started going up in smoke the very year of Obama's admission, when voters decriminalized the substance, eliminating the potential for small-time users to end up behind bars. In 2012, voters again took action on cannabis, this time legalizing marijuana for medical use. e law allowed for dispensaries, but thanks to state bureaucracy and fears of action from the federal government the market was slow to develop. ose who The state's social equity efforts helped Bertold and Mauriello cultivate a legal marijuana business out in the open – on their sprawling Hubbardston farm. "It's nice to be able to bring that knowledge and that history and not have to hide it, and to be able to have this amazing company that people love and respect." – Boey Bertold, owner of Paper Crane Cannabis, who was once jailed for transporting marijuana back decades and one of the founders of MassCann. "You have no career associated with the work you're doing. It's all just basically hobby work." Activists began a campaign starting in the mid-1990s to place nonbinding questions on ballots in Senate and House districts across the state, asking voters if their legislator should support reforming marijuana laws. anks in part to efforts from advocacy groups, public perception shied, as the nation went from Bill Clinton skirting questions about his own marijuana use in Boey Bertold and his wife, Lisa Mauriello, founded Paper Crane Cannabis in 2019. Continued on next page PHOTOS | ALL COURTESY PAPER CRANE CANNABIS

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