The nation’s fourth-largest adult-use cannabis market continued to grow in 2023, but only slightly.
Massachusetts’ licensed dispensaries reported more than $1.79 billion in combined adult-use and medical cannabis sales in 2023, representing a meager 1.8% increase from the $1.76 billion in 2022 sales, according to the state’s Cannabis Control Commission (CCC).
Nearly $1.57 billion, or 87% of sales, came from the state’s adult-use market last year as medical sales continued to dwindle during the program’s fifth full year of serving adults 21 and older. Medical sales peaked at $312 million in 2021 but dipped 28% to $225.6 million in 2023.
Notably, Massachusetts rang in the new year with a record $140 million in adult-use sales in December 2023.
For the year in full, Massachusetts’ cannabis sales were bested only by California’s estimated $4.4 billion in adult-use sales, Michigan’s nearly $3 billion in adult-use sales and Illinois’ $1.63 billion in adult-use sales, according to various state agencies.
Since Massachusetts first launched adult-use sales in November 2018, recreational patrons have purchased roughly $5.6 billion of cannabis while medical patients have spent more than $1.2 billion for a combined $6.8 billion in a little more than five years, according to the CCC.
While the Bay State’s cannabis sales continued to grow during a turbulent 2023 for the industry, they did so while the average price per ounce for adult-use flower sank to an all-time low of $172, down 40% from the $289 average price per ounce in 2022, according to the CCC.
Among some of the nation’s more mature adult-use markets, Massachusetts’ average price for flower remained more toward the higher end for 2023.
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Still king, flower sales account for roughly 42% of the adult-use retail market in Massachusetts, while vapes (19%), prerolls (15.5%), edibles (12%), concentrates (5%), infused prerolls (2%), shake/trim (2%) and beverages (1%) make up the other leading product categories, according to CCC.
As of December, there were 319 active adult-use dispensaries in the commonwealth, or roughly 4.6 per 100,000 residents.
Massachusetts imposes a 10.75% cannabis excise tax on adult-use sales, in addition to a 6.25% state sales tax and up to a 3% local tax option for cities and towns.
