Mass. cannabis data portal back online following three-month outage, showing marijuana prices at all-time low
Photo | Eric Casey
Cannabis products on display at Wonderland Cannabis in Millbury
The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission’s open data portal is now back online following an outage which began during the summer, as newly updated figures from the state regulatory agency show a dip in total sales figures and the price of cannabis.
The portal, included as part of the agency’s website, offers the general public a glimpse of sales figures and other statistics about the state’s cannabis industry, but had not been updated since the first week of July.
The portal was brought back online Monday, following a Friday press inquiry from WBJ asking about the outage. The agency pointed the blame at a personnel change at a third-party vendor, which it said has required its own staff to manually download, clean, and process data sets from Metrc, the agency’s seed-to-sale tracking platform.
The CCC said the problems are limited to the ability to extract and analyze data for the open data platform and staff have experienced no technical difficulties when using the platform to monitor for compliance from licensed cannabis businesses. The agency said it is working with Microsoft to attempt to resolve the outstanding issues behind the outage.
With the portal now up-to-date, CCC stats show $133.2 million in recreational cannabis sales in September, down 10% from the $148 million seen in August. September saw $14 million in medical cannabis sales, the lowest monthly total dating back until at least the beginning of 2020.
The average monthly cost of one ounce of recreational cannabis sat at just under $138 in September, the lowest total since legal sales began in 2018.
Moving forward, commission staff will continue to manually upload data to the portal as the CCC works to find a resolution to the issue.
The agency also hinted at new features for the portal in coming days. CCC indicated it will expand the type of data available to the public, but it did not offer a more precise timeline or what those features will entail.
CCC is hosting a Tuesday morning meeting at its headquarters in Worcester’s Union Station, as commissioners are expected to consider proposed changes to a rule requiring cannabis delivery vehicles to have two workers on board when carrying cannabis, among other proposed changes.
An update on the hiring process for the agency’s new executive director is expected during the meeting, as the field of potential candidates has been narrowed down to three.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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