Page 6 - BusinessWest April 27, 2026

“We don’t have a lot of information on the public health effects,
on what it does to people who smoke marijuana, in the same way
that we have information on people who use alcohol or people who
use nicotine. And at the same time, it just makes everyday life a
little bit more difficult,” she told a legislative hearing in March, add-
ing that the ballot question is being driven by “parents, teachers,
employers, public health professionals, and doc-
tors who have seen the effects of legalized mari-
juana in a way that is not positive.”
According to the Coalition for a Healthy Mas-
sachusetts, “the Cannabis Control Commission
has been a disaster. The state-run organization
has faced significant problems for years, includ-
ing widespread mismanagement, a toxic inter-
nal culture, financial oversight, and regulatory
non-compliance.
“A recent state audit found regulatory non-com-
pliance created public safety issues, such as the
sale of contaminated products to persist and put
consumers at risk,” it added. “There were products
that had previously passed testing but were later
found to contain unacceptable levels of contami-
nants that can cause severe health issues, includ-
ing serious lung infection. Stopping recreational
sales would protect consumer health and safety by
eliminating the ongoing risks from untested and
mislabeled products in the recreational for-profit market.”
Jessica Troe, deputy director of Research and Policy Analysis
for the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, spoke before the
recent legislative panel as well, touting the economic benefits of
legal cannabis — specifically, a statistic that about $2 billion has
flowed into state and local coffers between 2018, when adult-use
dispensaries opened, and 2025.
Those funds come from fees, fines, licenses, and permits, as well
as a state excise tax, local sales taxes and environmental impact
taxes, and other sources, much of it earmarked at the state level
to public health and social equity program spending, and locally to
whatever cities and towns prioritize.
“This typically goes into the general fund for cities and towns,
and that goes to local spending to support various local services
and programs,” she noted, later noting that some of these revenue
streams have leveled off somewhat.
“The cannabis industry in Massachusetts, as in
the rest of the country, continues to evolve
and mature, and revenue for the state and cit-
ies and towns has started to plateau slightly.
But there is potential for future increases in
revenue and more opportunities to advance
social equity via the cannabis industry with
JESSICA TROE
the rollout of social consumption and canna-
bis cafés coming to the Commonwealth.”
“The cannabis industry in Massachusetts, as in the rest of the
country, continues to evolve and mature, and revenue for the state
and cities and towns has started to plateau slightly,” Troe said. “But
there is potential for future increases in revenue and more oppor-
tunities to advance social equity via the cannabis industry with the
rollout of social consumption and cannabis cafés coming to the
Commonwealth.”
By social equity, of course, Troe refers to the effort to use canna-
bis regulations and revenue benefits to help communities that were
disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs. To illustrate those
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6 << FEATURE >>
APRIL 27, 2026
Business W est