According to data released by the state Cannabis Control Commission the two lone licensed dispensaries in Massachusetts racked up over $2.2 million in sales since they opened two days before Thanksgiving, on Nov. 20, 2018.
A total of 56,380 marijuana products were purchased during the initial five-day period, which included buds, tinctures, THC-infused candies and other products, according to the commission’s report.
The biggest day of sales, of course, was on Black Friday, when cannabis customers spent a total of $480,000.
State coffers will see 17 percent of the money taken in by the only two retail shops currently functioning – Cultivate in Leicester and NETA in Northampton – in the form of regular state sales and percent excise tax.
Imagine if more shops had opened around the state?
The commission released the five days’ worth of data, based on sales at the two shops, neither of which are in the greater Boston area, where more than half the state’s population resides.
Boston Mayor, Marty Walsh, told Boston Magazine he expects the first licensed recreational marijuana shop to open in the city in early 2019.
As the first recreational weed shops to open east of the Mississippi, Massachusetts has a chance to raked in the dough once they get their recreational weed program up and running and allow the industry to flourish.
Massachusetts regulators have issued final licenses for shops in three other locations – Salem, Wareham, and Easthampton – where retailers are expected to open soon.
Voters in Massachusetts legalized recreational pot in 2016.
Recreational cannabis has also been legalized in Vermont and Washington, D.C. but their jurisdictions still have no framework for legal sales. Retail sales of cannabis are expected to begin in Maine next year.
