Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 24, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 7 Communities should keep their cannabis business bans While medical marijuana dispensaries are legal throughout Massachusetts, the same cannot be said for recreational-use dispensaries. A number of Central Massachusetts cities and towns currently have bans for recreational-use businesses, including Acton, Hopkinton, Lancaster, Milford, and Northborough. For communities without bans, they can collect a 3% excise tax, along with host community fees. In 2024, both Worcester and Blackstone collected more than $1 million in cannabis excise taxes, while Millville, Winchendon, and Hopedale all increased their tax collections significantly because of the cannabis tax. When polled online, the plurality of WBJ readers said towns and cit- ies should be able to decide for themselves if they want to ban cannabis businesses. Should Central Mass. cities and towns lift their bans on cannabis businesses? Yes, cannabis businesses would boost the local economy. 20% Yes, safety and traffic concerns about cannabis businesses were overblown. 17% No, communities should be able to choose whether to allow recreational dispensaries. 41% No, recreational marijuana should have never been legalized in the first place. 22% Cannabis tax revenue's importance to municipal budgets Excise taxes from adult-use marijuana sales have become important parts of municipal revenue for a handful of Central Massachusetts communities. Blackstone Fitchburg Gardner Hopedale Shrewsbury Winchendon Worcester 41.7% 9.9% 6.9% 17.5% 2.2% 20.6% 6.7% Source: Worcester Regional Research Bureau via state tax data feet of the Rhode Island border. e Town of Blackstone government brought in $1.06 million in cannabis excise tax revenue in fiscal 2024, a signif- icant part of its overall $33 million mu- nicipal budget. Blackstone was second only to Worcester for cannabis excise tax collections among Worcester County communities. Sharing a border with New Hamp- shire, the Town of Winchendon government and its population of just over 10,000 brought in $338,527 in fiscal 2024 from its two dispensaries, a 51.8% increase from 2023. is suggests the town's two dispen- saries, Bud Barn and Toy Town Health Care, brought in about $11.29 million in sales during fiscal 2024, equalling about $1,089 per resident. As a community with limited business opportunities, which relies heavily on state funds to fund its $35-million mu- nicipal budget, the cannabis industry has been a benefit to the Town's coffers, said McKinney, the town manager. "at's a significant amount of money that helps, because like a lot of towns, we're going to need an override," McKin- ney said of the cannabis revenue, saying it's playing a role in combatting increas- ing municipal expenses like health care. When the 2016 ballot initiative legal- izing recreational marijuana was being debated and later as dispensaries were proposed in specific communities, one of the arguments against them were po- tential negative impacts on the commu- nity. Yet, from McKinney's perspective, hosting two dispensaries has mostly been smooth sailing for the town. Aware of some of the industry's struggles, he's not taking the additional revenue for granted. For this fiscal year, he projected around $140,000 in canna- bis revenue. "I wouldn't want to bank on $300,000 plus a year and bake it [into the budget], because then if the industry continues to consolidate, or prices continue to drop, or one of [the stores] closes, I don't want to count on that," McKinney said. For prospective consumers, either north or south of the border, McKinney's sales pitch is simple. "If they're looking to buy marijuana, they should come to Winchendon," he said. Worcester cannabis tax revenues falling Considering its large population and 13 active recreational dispensaries, per- haps it shouldn't be a surprise Worcester leads the county in terms of overall local cannabis tax revenue. However, Worcester's dispensaries have seen the revenue they are bringing in decline over time, as more retailers have opened in nearby communities and the health of the industry has been called into question; e City of Worcester collected in $1.69 million through local cannabis excise taxes in fiscal 2024, down 11.9% from a peak of $1.91 million two years prior. e city has already seen one canna- bis retailer shut its doors for good, as Florida-based cannabis giant Tru- lieve closed its dispensary adjacent to George's Coney Island Hot Dogs at 142 Southbridge St. in the summer of 2023. Since then, no new recreational dispensaries have opened in the city. Corner Emporium, a retailer with a site at 40 Jackson St., is planning to launch sometime in 2025 aer a four-year effort to open its doors. Even with a potential new dispensa- ry, it's possible Worcester's cannabis tax revenue will face further decline. Alex Mazin, president and CEO of Bud's Goods, a brand of dispen- saries with a location at 64 West Boylston St. in Worcester with additional stores in Abington and Water- town, said the industry is facing a wrath of closures if conditions don't improve. He cited a combina- tion of strict regulations and lackluster enforce- ment from the state's embattled Cannabis Control Commission, creating an environ- ment where some businesses are choosing to prioritize profits over compliance in an effort to keep their lights on. Compounding the problem is an industry norm of allowing other busi- nesses to buy products on credit, a habit which has allowed some operators to simply avoid paying their bills, causing a knock-on effect as some businesses wait to be paid so they themselves can pay other businesses they owe money to. All of this has created an environ- ment where the most ethical businesses are oen the ones who suffer the most, Mazin said. "Most operators are really trying their best, and that's what's upsetting," he said. "People who follow the rules can't compete." Kevin Hume, an employee at Winchendon-based Bud Barn, staffs the retail counter of the dispensary's storefront. Toy Town Health Care opened in early 2023 and is one of two cannabis retailers in Winchendon. W Fiscal 2024 cannabis revenue as % of total excise tax collected

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