Pubdate: Mon, 28 Mar 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Dan Adams

LEGAL MARIJUANA COULD BE A $1.1 BILLION INDUSTRY IN MASS. BY 2020

A Report Says the State May Become a "Canna-Tourism" Hub.

If Massachusetts voters approve an expected ballot measure this fall 
legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, the state could become 
home to a $1.1 billion cannabis industry by 2020, according to a report.

The research, released last week by the marijuana data and investment 
firms ArcView Market Research and New Frontier , predicts the advent 
of legal marijuana would make Massachusetts a thriving hub of 
"canna-tourism" in the Northeast, depending on whether neighboring 
states also legalize marijuana.

Researchers projected that revenues from the sale of recreational 
marijuana - "adult-use" marijuana, in the parlance of proponents - 
would top $300 million in 2018, likely to be the first full year the 
business would be legal. Revenues would then nearly triple to more 
than $900 million in 2020, the firms said, which combined with the 
expected continued growth of medical marijuana sales would put the 
state's total marijuana market at $1.17 billion.

The projection is speculative, but not outside the realm of 
possibility: Sales of recreational marijuana in Colorado topped $996 
million last year, netting the state about $135 million in taxes and 
fees, according to the Denver Post's Cannabist publication.

The ArcView/New Frontier projections include only direct sales of 
marijuana, not potential ancillary economic benefits, which 
proponents of legalization argue will be substantial. View Story

Leader of marijuana study comes out against legalization push

For the past year, state Senator Jason Lewis has maintained strict 
neutrality as he studied legalization. Now, he's speaking out.

Besides tourism, they say, a legitimized marijuana industry would 
open the door to companies that offer accessories and equipment to 
consumers, such as vaporizers. There's also money to be made by firms 
that provide marketing, consulting, logistics, grow lights, 
transportation, and other services to marijuana retail and 
cultivation operations.

Such businesses are already sprouting up in Massachusetts. Earlier 
this month, more than 100 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, 
advocates, and others gathered for a cannabis industry meet-up held 
at Microsoft's NERD Center in Cambridge. Few among the diverse crowd 
fit the stereotypical stoner profile; instead, venture capitalists in 
suits grilled a parade of local startups on their business models. 
The products on offer included a cellphone case that makes it easier 
to roll joints on the go, a vaporizer hailed as the marijuana 
equivalent of a Keurig machine, and software that securely tracks 
marijuana shipments.

Meanwhile, the medical marijuana business in Massachusetts grew 
dramatically in 2015, a year that saw the state's first licensed 
dispensary open in June after a controversial start-and-stop 
licensure process managed by the state's Department of Public Health. 
(Six dispensaries are now operating.) As of February, 26,137 patients 
are certified to buy medical marijuana in Massachusetts, according to 
Department of Public Health statistics, up from about 10,000 a year ago.

ArcView and New Frontier estimated the size of the Massachusetts 
medical marijuana market in 2015 at $7.9 million, but said they 
expect it to expand to $78.7 million this year. The firms project 
that the legalization of recreational marijuana would dampen growth 
in medical market, however, with total medical marijuana revenues 
reaching just above $240 million in 2020.

If it is certified for inclusion on the ballot this summer and 
approved by voters in November, the law proposed by the Campaign to 
Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Massachusetts would make it legal 
by January 2018 for anyone over 21 to buy and consume limited amounts 
of marijuana from dedicated retail shops.

It would also enact a series of regulations on consumers, stores, 
cultivation and testing facilities, and manufacturers of edible 
products, to be enforced by a three-person Cannabis Control 
Commission under the state Treasurer's office.

The work of the new agency - which would be advised by a 15-member 
committee of medical marijuana patients, cultivators, attorneys, and 
law enforcement experts, among others - would be funded by fees on 
shops and a 3.75 percent excise tax on retail marijuana sales on top 
of the state's existing 6.25 percent sales tax. Municipalities could 
enact an additional 2 percent tax on marijuana and keep the proceeds.

Critics of the proposal, including a prominent state lawmaker, 
Senator Jason M. Lewis, who traveled to Colorado to observe the 
effects of legalization there, worry it will increase youth access to 
the drug, make it difficult for police to identify impaired drivers, 
and create complications because marijuana remains illegal federally. 
Proponents counter that these and other potential problems with 
marijuana are better mitigated through regulation than prohibition.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom