The Massachusetts House unanimously passed a wide-ranging cannabis bill on June 4 that would allow a single business to own double the number of dispensaries currently allowed by law. But the cannabis industry remains deeply divided on the policy change.
In 2017, the legislature capped the number of retail cannabis stores owned by a single entity at three. The intention was to keep bigger companies – particularly those that operate in multiple states – from buying up large swaths of the state's cannabis market and make it harder for smaller companies or single owners to compete.
The new cannabis bill would raise the cap to six, allowing cannabis operators to purchase an additional license each year until they hit the cap. It would also allow a single entity to own up 35 percent equity in an unlimited number of cannabis businesses (up from 10 percent) before the ownership stake counts towards the cap.
Increasing the cap has been pitched as a way to create more opportunities for bigger companies to buy struggling cannabis stores and thereby provide an exit ramp for failing cannabis businesses that want to sell. But there has been opposition to this change from business owners, non-profit leaders, and even a current commissioner on the Cannabis Control Commission who warn that raising the cap presents a dire threat to locally-owned and social-equity operated businesses.
Read more at Commonwealth Beacon