While manufacturing will continue to dominate headlines, the entire industry will reshape in 2021.
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The cannabis boom dominated many manufacturing headlines in 2020, as the state’s burgeoning adult-use marijuana industry finally started to meaningfully get off the ground – this in spite of being temporarily locked down when the industry was deemed non-essential in March. But while there’s no denying cannabis news was a big ticket item, manufacturers, more broadly, faced a year of adjustments, which will impact how the industry goes forward into 2021.
Turning to onshoring
The coronavirus pandemic caught virtually the entire economy off-guard, including manufacturers, the economy’s de-facto backbone. With shortages of all kinds, from personal protective equipment to basic medical and household supplies, American manufacturing’s long habit of offshoring to cut costs came to a head. Those who hadn’t fled the country for greener financial pastures were able to step up and help aid pandemic response much more quickly than those who straddle either the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. Central Massachusetts companies who have taken note of this will increase their efforts in the coming years so they, like American consumers, aren’t left to dry in the event of another national disaster.
Marijuana price war
Recreational marijuana prices in Massachusetts were quickly criticized as exorbitantly high relative to other legal states. But two years ago, when only two recreational dispensaries operated in the state, a miniature and temporary monopoly allowed shops to charge as much as they wanted. But now, new marijuana dispensaries are verging on a dime a dozen. Shops are going to have to lure customers in somehow, and pricing seems ripe for the picking. This is going to force large, multi-state operators to duke it out with mom-and-pop shops, the next logical step in an already tense relationship.
Eradicating host community agreements
The state’s Supreme Judicial Court has taken up a Salem-based marijuana lawsuit with the potential to upend, or even eradicate, the current host community agreement process in Massachusetts. The issue at hand asks in large part whether HCAs, which must be obtained before the Cannabis Control Commission awards a license, undermine the regulatory body, and by extension, the recreational cannabis law’s dictum that equity be a priority when regulating and monitoring the nascent industry. In other words, who is keeping that first gate? In an industry dominated by deep – and white – pockets, there’s going to be a reckoning between would-be small business owners and the local officials standing between them and the market.
