Marijuana industry fraught with challenges, panelists say
Photo | Grant Welker
A Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce event Wednesday featured a panel moderated by Kathleen Jordan, the CEO of Seven Hills Foundation, left. The panelists were, from left, Shawn Collins, the executive director of the Cannabis Control Commission; Jonathan Havens, a cannabis lawyer at the Maryland law firm Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr; David O'Brien, the president and CEO of the Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association; Dr. Zach Dyer, a clinical and population health researcher at UMass Medical School; and Norman Birenbaum, an implementation director at the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation.
The legal cannabis field — which a year ago this month opened its first retail stores in Massachusetts — remains challenging for operators, with legal hurdles, high taxes, banking restrictions, zoning limitations and a long permitting process, industry panelists said Wednesday in Worcester.
The rollout of the cannabis market in Massachusetts, the first on the East Coast, has been slow, with 30 or so retail shops open a year after the first two opened their doors. A complicated industry, including its illegality in the eyes of the federal government, has forced a slow pace and limited how many have entered the field, panelists said at an event at Mechanics Hall hosted by the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“The complexities continue to challenge us at the Cannabis Control Commission,” said Shawn Collins, the executive director of the state’s permitting body for the industry, which has been under criticism for its slower pace in issuing approvals for shops to open.
Panelists forecasted growth in the industry but said it remains unpredictable, citing regulatory restrictions such as Gov. Charlie Baker’s four-month ban in September on vaping products following a spate of vaping-related illnesses. Three Massachusetts residences have since died from those illnesses.
“I like to say it’s like a startup, but a startup on steroids,” said Jonathan Havens, a cannabis industry attorney for the Maryland firm Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr, describing an industry with a high failure rate and challenging barriers to entry.
Other panelists cited a need for more public education on the health effects of cannabis, as well as medical research to better understand the potential benefits or harms. Cannabis is not as simple as regulating other industries.
“It’s very nuanced with aspects of it that are very different from alcohol,” said Norman Birenbaum, the implementation director for Rhode Island’s cannabis legalization process.
Cannabis includes more than 100 different chemicals among its various strains, and it’s often far more powerful than the marijuana older adults may have smoked decades ago, said Zach Dyer, a clinical and population health researcher in Worcester at UMass Medical School and an adjunct professor at Clark University teaching cannabis health.
Panelists repeatedly cited challenges in the industry, from a permitting process spanning up to a year to local agreements with host communities, the latter of which is being investigated by U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling for potential illegality. Funding can be difficult to obtain, taxes high, and banking services scarce, they said.
Still, David O’Brien, the president and CEO of the Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association, predicted an eventual 200 or so retail shops in Massachusetts, up from roughly 30 today.
“The sky has not fallen,” O’Brien said of the shops already opened.
The event was co-sponsored by Clark University, which has an online certificate program in regulatory affairs for cannabis control. The program is aimed at helping those in the field and public officials better understand regulations, health and public safety implications and other aspects.
Clark will be waiving tuition costs for those working for state or municipal governments, said John LaBrie, the dean of Clark’s School of Professional Studies. The program will start in January and will apply to those who already have an undergraduate degree.
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