Massachusetts
Marijuana prices have been taking a nosedive. What comes next? – The Boston Globe
Grocery prices are rising. Rents are up. There is one product, though, that’s actually getting cheaper: marijuana.
The price of a gram of weed — the amount in a large joint — was down to just above $4, on average, in January, the latest continuation of a years-long nose-dive that has brought prices plummeting over 70 percent since pot stores first opened in Massachusetts in 2018. In those days, a gram cost more than $14.
“I’m taking advantage definitely,” Tori Wells, a Boston customer, said of current rock-bottom prices as she left downtown dispensary Pure Oasis one recent afternoon.
While consumers are happy, low prices have launched the industry into turmoil. It’s a far cry from the visions of wealth in cannabis that laid the foundation for many entrepreneurs to enter the industry and the state’s efforts at enriching Black and Latino communities that were targeted by the war on drugs.
“Profitability is tough to reach,” said Gabriel Vieira, CEO of Zyp Run, the first cannabis delivery service to open in Greater Boston in 2023. Delivery business licenses remain exclusive to equity operators, but many have struggled to find success. Just last month, Vieira’s company had to settle a state tax debt of more than $410,000 in order to continue operating this year, he said.
Marijuana growers and manufacturers said retail businesses are increasingly stiffing them on payments as money runs thin across the industry. There are signs that lawsuits, debts, and unpaid taxes are piling up, while business closures accelerate. Last fiscal year, 13 retail stores closed after either having their licenses revoked or choosing not to renew their licenses operations — more than in all previous years of legalization combined. And of the 71 cannabis business licenses of all kinds surrendered since recreational pot sales began, almost half were given up in the most recent fiscal year.
“Every state has a bottom, and we are in it,” said Derek Ross, CEO of Nova Farms, a company with six dispensaries across Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, and New Jersey, and hundreds of cultivation acres in the Northeast. “If we didn’t have opportunities in other states, we’d be struggling to keep our head above water.”
The industry’s dismal state is the result of an oversaturated market with too many marijuana plants being grown, said Commissioner Kimberly Roy, of the Cannabis Control Commission.
The commission is considering whether to freeze new cultivation licenses, with a public hearing on the matter likely soon. It’s a measure Roy supports.
“We need to hit the brakes,” Roy said. “Quite frankly, it’s overdue.”
By the end of 2025, the industry had the capacity to grow over 4.5 million square feet of cannabis plant canopy, up from 3.65 million in 2023.
Now cultivator competition is driving “razor-thin margins,” Roy added, and becoming a pain point for the entire industry.
Andrew Kazakoff, of Fathom Cannabis, a cultivator in West Boylston, said he supports a freeze on new growers.
“We need to take a halt,” Kazakoff said, adding: “Let the industry settle, work on itself, and come to equilibrium.”
As companies jockey for business there is also a “race to the bottom” on prices in the retail market that has led to “a lot of these businesses kind of cannibalizing each other,” said Ryan Dominguez, executive director of the Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition, a trade group. He added that a freeze could be a necessary step in righting the industry.
What’s happening in Massachusetts is something that other states have experienced, said Beau Kilmer, co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.
Cannabis prices have fallen nationwide, particularly in early legalizing states such as Colorado, California, and Oregon, whose head start in infrastructure building has quickly turned to rampant oversupply. Oregon has imposed various pauses on its cannabis licensing dating back to 2018, with new license approvals of any kind currently banned.
“If you’re not going to limit the amount that’s produced, you should expect to see these price declines,” Kilmer said. Likewise, other New England states, including Connecticut and Maine, have retained higher prices than Massachusetts, the first pot stronghold on the East Coast and still its largest grower, since going legal.
The low prices mean cannabis businesses are mired in money problems, even as demand has continued to grow for their products. The number of cannabis sales that occurred last year increased by 8 percent over 2024, but revenues from those sales essentially plateaued, totaling around $1.65 billion for both 2024 and 2025.
Ross, the CEO of Nova Farms, said he cut 25 percent of his multi-state workforce in the last 18 months, as even diversified outfits have had to become “lean and mean,” to weather today’s market.
Two dozen companies, including four cultivators and 12 retailers, were in court-appointed receivership, the state’s legal alternative to bankruptcy, in January, according to commission data. More have been added since. Bankruptcy isn’t an option for cannabis companies as long as the drug remains federally illegal.
Designated as participating in “trafficking,” cannabis sellers also pay significantly more in federal taxes, often at rates of 60 to 80 percent, and are barred from making some regular deductible expenses.
Brian Keith, cofounder of Rooted In, said his Newbury Street dispensary, which opened in 2022, would be profitable if it weren’t for the heavy burden of the federal tax code, which places the most strain on retail stores.
Brian Keith, owner of Rooted In, is one of many small cannabis shops facing plummeting retail prices on cannabis and a compression that is making it difficult for local owners to stay afloat.
A future VIP social consumption private room is set up downstairs at Rooted In.
(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
He filed his taxes on time this year but didn’t have the funds, he said, and now it may take over 12 months to settle over $170,000 in outstanding debts through a payment plan with the IRS.
“We’re seeing the same number of people walking through the door, but less revenue,” Keith said.
Keith is a member of the state’s social equity program, aimed at helping communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs build wealth.
His company has raised more than a quarter million dollars from communities of color in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan to fund its initial operations, he said, but the profits he planned to bring back to those communities haven’t materialized because of the prices plummeting.
Keith’s business is one of about 100 owned by people in the state’s two equity programs — about 15 percent of all open businesses in the state. Many of these entrepreneurs are struggling to make ends meet, the Globe has reported.
The CCC has approved a framework to allow the opening of marijuana lounges, giving exclusive access to equity entrepreneurs and smaller operations, though that rollout is just getting off the ground.
Many cannabis cultivators and manufacturers are seeing an escalating issue of unpaid debts.
Kazakoff, the grower in West Boylston, said half his orders last year were not paid on time by retailers, and a few not at all. That was barely a problem before 2025, he said.
“I grapple with the fact every single month of: Do I stay in business when I’m not getting paid by dispensaries?” he said. “Or how am I going to pay my employees?”
Currently, the CCC has no authority to police these business-to-business transactions, Commissioner Roy said, though she said it’s time for them to try and address it. Cannabis reform bills pending in the State House and Senate look to reshape cannabis regulations, including by mirroring alcohol enforcement, by restricting delinquent companies to having to pay their bills as soon as they receive products and publishing their names. Both versions of the legislation would also dissolve the current five-member cannabis commission, replacing it with a smaller three-member body.
Cultivators such as Kris Foley, CEO of Berkshire Roots, have taken matters into their own hands, initiating legal action to retrieve funds he said he is owed from around a half dozen retailers.
“A lot of partners that we worked with early on, they were good payers,” but that changed suddenly, said Foley, who runs two Pittsfield cultivation facilities and a nearby dispensary, as well as another shop in East Boston. He hasn’t been paid on time for between $150,000 and $200,000 worth of product since 2024.
Nova Farms has been shorted payment for an estimated $4.5 million in product in Massachusetts in the past two years, far more than its other states, Ross said.
Steve Reilly, co-owner and head of government relations at INSA, a large cannabis operator in Massachusetts and four other states, worries that debt issues in the industry have driven away investment.
“Most of these companies are just struggling to keep the lights on and they’re doing what they can do,” he said. “But as they’re doing that, they’re dragging everybody else down.”
Bryan Hecht can be reached at bryan.hecht@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @bhechtjournalism.
Massachusetts
Winners’ circle: Tracking every 2026 spring high school championship – The Boston Globe
Championship season is upon us, and we’re tracking every title winner in Massachusetts this spring.
From the golf sectionals in late May to championship weekend June 11-14, a four-day stretch in which 31 titlists will be crowned across boys’ and girls’ lacrosse, boys and girls’ tennis, boys’ and girls’ rugby, boys’ volleyball, softball, and baseball, we’ll have you covered.
Find all the dates, brackets, seedings, matchups, and links to our postseason previews here.
Follow us on X @GlobeSchools, Instagram @BGlobeSchools, and Facebook to stay up to date.
Over at Globe.com/Schools you’ll find our daily scoreboard, nightly Takeaways, game coverage, videos, live streams, and our weekly Varsity News newsletter (sign up for free) to keep you in the know.
Division 1: Lexington girls, St. John’s Prep boys
Lexington girls graduate to two-time Division 1 track champions, St. John’s Prep sprints to boys’ title
Division 2: Billerica girls, North Andover boys
Billerica girls unphazed by move up to Division 2, going back-to-back as North Andover boys dominate
Division 3: Canton girls, Walpole boys
Canton girls cap greatest season with first Division 3 track title, Walpole boys win by thinnest margin
Division 4: Duxbury girls, Newburyport boys
Historic win for Duxbury girls, Mohoric paces Newburyport boys to Division 4 outdoor track championship
Division 5: North Reading girls, Weston boys
It’s four in a row for North Reading girls, two straight for Weston boys at Division 5 track championships
Division 6: Ayer Shirley girls, Abington boys
Ayer Shirley girls pick up where they left off, Abington boys twinning at Division 6 track championships
Day 1, Divisions 1, 2, and 5: Lexington boys and girls setting the pace at Division 1 track & field championships
Day 1, Divisions 3, 4, and 6: Canton girls make a strong run to first at Division 3 track championships
South: Walpole | With Tori Adams as its driving force, Walpole scores third straight MIAA South girls’ golf championship
North/Central/West: Hopkinton | Concord-Carlisle’s Sophie Redmond, Hopkinton rule MIAA girls’ golf championship for North/Central/West
With titles for Natick and Peabody and smiles for all, MIAA unified track championship ‘beyond inspiring’
Brendan Kurie can be reached at brendan.kurie@globe.com. Follow him on X @BrendanKurie.
Massachusetts
Meteor Lands In Cape Cod + Bus Crash Kills 5 From MA + Wind Storm Knocks Out Power To Thousands: MA Weekend
MASSACHUSETTS — Residents throughout New England were simultaneously startled as a meteor that landed in Cape Cod caused a sonic boom this past weekend.
Meanwhile, a bus driver is facing charges after five Massachusetts residents died in a crash on a highway in Virginia.
Plus, another State Trooper was caught handling a wrong-way driver situation on Route 1.
Mysterious Boom Heard Across MA Was An Exploding Meteor, Experts Say
The noises were heard around 2:11 p.m. Saturday, with people describing a sudden bang that rattled windows and even shook some homes. The American Meteor Society said that the booms heard were actually caused by a meteor about three feet wide entering the atmosphere near the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Residents as far as Ipswich and Johnston, Rhode Island, reported hearing and feeling the sensations. Meteorologist Nick Stewart shared satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, showing where the meteor entered the atmosphere and combusted while traveling at 75,000 miles per hour above the ocean.
Bus Driver Charged After MA Family Of 4, Worcester Woman Killed In VA Crash
Jing S. Dong, of Staten Island, New York, now faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the collision, which occurred around 2:35 a.m. Friday on southbound I-95 near Quantico. Among those killed were a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, all from Greenfield, Massachusetts. All were in the Acura, which police said caught fire after the collisions. Police on Saturday evening identified the fifth person killed as Priscilla R. Mafalda, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, who was riding in the Suburban struck by the bus.
In total, about 44 people were transported to area hospitals, including three with critical injuries.
State Trooper Hospitalized After Route 1 Wrong-Way Crash In Peabody
State Police said the trooper was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after police acted in coordination to protect traffic and stop the driver, who was traveling southbound on Route 1 North in Peabody. The incident occurred not far from the location on Route 1 where State Trooper Kevin Trainor was killed when his cruiser was hit head-on in a wrong-way crash in Lynnfield last month. The driver in Sunday’s crash was also hospitalized and charged with operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and driving the wrong way on a state highway.
Rapidly Expanding Grocery Chain Has Big Plans For MA
Sprouts Farmers Market is slated to launch up to 40 locations throughout the region in the coming years. Construction has begun for the first Massachusetts spot in Weymouth, which has an opening date of 2028. The Phoenix-based organic grocery chain has more than 480 stores in 25 states.
Saturday’s Meteorite Was ‘Fishy Squisher’ And NASA Knows Where To Find It In Cape Cod Bay
Data from NASA suggest fragments of the meteorite lie in waters from the middle of the bay to about 10 miles northeast of the town of Sandwich. The agency said late Saturday it picked up radar signatures of the fragments from four radar sites, and termed the strike a “fishy squisher.” The meteorite entered Earth’s atmosphere about 40 miles above the Bay State and southern New Hampshire, creating the sonic boom. Water in the bombarded portion of Cape Cod Bay is about 100 feet deep.
35K Without Power As Winter-Like Storm Pummels MA With 55+ MPH Winds
Massachusetts residents throughout the North Shore were without power on Saturday morning as a winter-like storm tore a path of tree damage, downpours, and fierce winds throughout New England. Widespread tree damage was reported across the state, with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reporting 34,228 customers without power as of 11:20 a.m. Wind speeds reached a high of 55 miles per hour. Temperatures dropped into the 40s with wind chills in the 30s as the storm arrived across the Bay State. The unsettled weather will continue through Monday and Tuesday before a warming trend takes hold later in the week.
See Also:
Cape Shoreline Named Among The Nation’s 10 Best, According To ‘Dr. Beach’
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a moderate Massachusetts Democrat, secured enough delegate support Saturday to appear on the state’s primary ballot as he challenges incumbent U.S. Sen. Ed Markey in this year’s Senate race.
Yet even though Moulton cleared a key hurdle to continue his Senate bid, it was Markey who won the party’s endorsement after winning more than 50% of the delegation’s support.
“You have a choice, you have to decide what the future looks like and what you’re going to demand,” Markey said Saturday in front of more than 4,000 delegates.
Markey won nearly 73% of the delegates’ support, while Moulton won nearly 27% of the vote. Massachusetts Democratic Party rules require statewide candidates to get at least 15% of delegate support to appear on primary ballots.
In heavily Democratic Massachusetts, the Senate primary contest is one of the most closely watched in the country as Moulton, 47, has centered his campaign on changing the status quo and demanding a generational shift in leadership.
If reelected, Markey would be 80 before his third six-year term would begin. While Markey has touted his stamina and embrace of progressive policies, questions about age have continued to swirl around Democratic candidates as they fight to take back control of Congress.
Incumbent Sen. Ed Markey is leading Rep. Seth Moulton, but if Rep. Ayanna Pressley were to enter the Democratic primary, it would change the picture, according to a new poll from Suffolk University and The Boston Globe.
In his nomination speech, Moulton argued that the Democratic Party needed more than “incremental change” and needed to start anew.
“It’s time for the generation that grew up with the internet, and will have to live for decades with AI, to lead our way through it,” Moulton said.
Moulton only addressed his opponent briefly during his nomination speech, giving a passing nod on not waiting another six years for generational change and later calling on Markey to participate in multiple debates before the September primary. Currently, the two candidates have agreed to participate in one debate later this summer.
Markey, instead, took a more critical approach by attacking Moulton’s previous comments about transgender kids and accepting corporate PAC money.
“Massachusetts deserves better than a senator who scapegoats trans kids,” Markey said to loud cheers.
In 2024, Moulton caught flak from some members of his party for saying he didn’t want his daughters playing in sports against transgender girls. Critics said Moulton echoed Trump’s talking points against allowing transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.
Moulton has since said his intent with that statement “was to point out that, as a party, we need to be willing to have difficult conversations.”
Moulton, who enlisted in the Marines after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and served four tours of duty in Iraq, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014. He briefly launched a 2020 presidential campaign, but he dropped that bid after a few months.
Markey served as a Massachusetts congressman for nearly 40 years before winning the Senate seat in 2013. He fended off a challenge in 2020 from Rep. Joe Kennedy III in the Senate primary by turning to his progressive allies to overcome a challenge from a younger rival from America’s most famous political family.
The Massachusetts primary is Sept. 1.
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