Mass. cannabis outlook for 2019
Last month, in a statement to the Boston Herald, Massachusetts CCC Chairman Steven Hoffman said, “My hope is to continue building a best practice agency that we can be proud of. I think we’re in a rhythm where … four to eight retail stores will open every month.” Hoffman also pointed out that the CCC is working diligently toward licensing other business types including cultivators, product manufacturers, and labs.

Massachusetts has set no limit on the number of recreational marijuana shops in the state. According to the MJBiz Daily, CCC had received a total of 224 complete applications as of Dec. 16. So far, according to the report, 13 businesses have been awarded licenses, including five retailers, two cultivators, two testing laboratories and two product manufacturers, were awarded licenses. And those numbers are ramping up quickly.

According to experts, Massachusetts is projected to hand out more than 50 licenses this year including retailers, growers, processors, and labs. Unlike medical dispensaries in the state, recreational shops are not required to be vertically integrated. The trick will be to get the licenses into the right hands in order to strike the perfect balance between production capacity of Massachusetts’ licensed cultivators and consumer demand at the counter. The CCC says it is “putting a real emphasis on cultivation because we’re going to need the product to meet demand.”

Annual recreational retail sales are expected to total $1.3 billion-$1.6 billion in a few years, according to Marijuana Business Daily estimates.