The growth of the cannabis industry needs to continue

Jan. 31, 2023 | G. Michael Dobbs
mdobbs@thereminder.com

If you’re of a certain age, you remember the commonwealth’s “blue laws.” These were vestiges of Puritan tradition, the most visible one involving how businesses had to be closed on Sunday and holidays. A few businesses – drug stores and gas stations – were allowed to be open.

I remember as a kid being fascinated and annoyed that certain businesses were allowed to open but most were closed on a Sunday. This law, I must add, ignored the individual viewpoints and rights of business owners as it was religion-based.

Massachusetts was not the only state with blue laws, but it seemed to be the New England state that was most vehement about it. When my dad was stationed at Westover Air Force Base in 1957, he and my mom were shocked they couldn’t go to a grocery store on a Sunday like they had at his previous assignment at Walker Air Force Base in New Mexico.

The Bay State has come a long way in eliminating laws that established some sort of odd base for a twisted morality. The same Puritans who would expel people from their community for having questions about their faith – therefore spurring the development of Rhode Island – could never have handled a state lottery, casinos, sports betting, bars and restaurants serving liquor, the rise of craft breweries and, of course, cannabis.

All of those developments would set their narrow and hypocritical world view aflame. To be fair, the Puritans could not have accepted anyone or anything which did not adhere to their theocracy.

I mention all of this as an introduction to what the Cannabis Control Commission has on its website. There are many statistics concerning the sale of cannabis, both recreational and medical, but what I found interesting was this point: from Jan. 1, 2022, to Dec. 18, 2022, there was $1.42 billion in adult use (recreational) cannabis sales in the commonwealth.

I’ll let that sink in for a moment: $1.42 billion.

Let’s look at just one recent week. In Dec. 12 to 18, 2022, $28.6 million in sales were conducted, with $11.195 million being spent on flower; $6.056 million on vape products; and $4.393 million for raw pre-rolled cigarettes. Holy smokes! Indeed!

Those sales are then taxed. The state sales tax is 6.25 percent, the state excise tax is 10.75 percent and the local option tax for municipalities is up to 3 percent.

This is a new and previously untapped stream of revenue for both the state and for cities and towns.

Now, I’m very aware that many people in Massachusetts did not want recreational cannabis sales. Cannabis sales were allowed in those communities that support the referendum question in 2016.

I’m also aware the law that established the framework for cannabis sales included a provision that required a Host Community Agreement that would allow cities and towns to add their own set of conditions to any dispensary that wanted to do business in their towns.

I also know that although we have had legal recreational sales since 2018, there has not been an uptick in crime as some thought would happen and although some people view cannabis as a “gateway drug” to heroin, cocaine and other addictive substances, there has not been an apparent correlation here between the use of recreational cannabis to other drugs.

Cannabis, just like alcohol, is something for adults to use of their own free will. No one is holding a gun to your head to take a drink or a hit of THC. There would appear to be fewer negative effects to using cannabis than alcohol and several dispensaries, such as 6 Bricks in Springfield, stress the health benefits of cannabis.

While having that economic engine that cannabis has created is great, one should note that the boom certainly could go bust just a little bit. Connecticut opened its first recreational dispensary and New York will have them as well.

Right now, the General Court should be looking to establish steps that would strengthen the Massachusetts cannabis industry, in light of competition from neighboring states. Our dispensaries need to advertise in order to compete. Right now, advertising is tightly regulated. The same regulations governing the alcohol industry should govern cannabis.

The Legislature should also determine how smoking lounges should work. We have an excellent model in The Summit Lounge in Worcester, a private membership-driven club where cannabis is not sold but can be used. I think this would be a sensible in-between step to allowing the consumption of cannabis where it is sold – just like a bar.

Lastly, the states that allow the legal sales of cannabis should be petitioning the federal government to legalize it.

Now I know there are some modern-day Puritans reading this column who will be outraged, but I have a suggestion: take a gummy or two and relax. It will be better choice than a beer or a shot.

G. Michael Dobbs has worked for Reminder Publishing for 22 years of his nearly 50-year-career in the Western Mass. media scene, and previously served as the executive editor. He has spent his time with the publisher covering local politics, interesting people and events.The opinions expressed within the article are that of the author’s and do not represent the opinions and beliefs of the paper.

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