Massachusetts has reached another marijuana milestone, with officials announcing that the state has surpassed $9 billion in adult-use cannabis purchases since the market launched in 2018.
According to the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), Massachusetts recreational marijuana sales hit the $9 billion mark as of February 4. The update also notes that the state saw $1.65 billion in cannabis purchases in 2025 alone, and sales this year have already reached $151 million—with a “notable increase of sales preceding the region’s large snowstorm” in late January.
“Every billion-dollar cannabis sales milestone is a reminder that this new sector supports thousands of jobs and transitions thousands of customers from the unregulated market,” Shannon O’Brien, chair of the CCC, said in a press release. “Each purchase is an investment in a legal, local business offering safely tested products to adult consumers to help fund any number of state operations and services.”
CCC Executive Director Travis Ahern added that sales achievements like this “demonstrate the significant impact of a highly regulated industry that is still less than a decade old.”
“The entire Commonwealth stands to benefit because cannabis tax revenue supports vital programs and services, from the [Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority] to the Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund and substance abuse treatment programs,” Ahern said.
Broken down by product type, cannabis flower has continued to be the most popular option for adult consumers, accounting for $13.9 million in the past week from February 9-15. That was followed by vape products ($7.8 million) and pre-rolls ($4.2 million).
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Also, since 2019, licensed medical cannabis dispensaries have grossed about $1.57 billion in sales.
Combined medical and adult-use marijuana sales first surpassed $7 billion back in March 2024.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts officials recently rejected a challenge to a ballot initiative that seeks to significantly roll back the state’s marijuana legalization law by repealing regulated sales.
Weeks after cannabis activists filed a complaint with the State Ballot Law Commission under the Secretary of State’s office—alleging that petitioners with the anti-cannabis campaign used misleading tactics to convince voters to support its ballot placement—the body last month overruled the objection.
This represents a setback for advocates and industry stakeholders who have flagged numerous accounts of alleged misconduct by petitioners working on behalf of the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts.
It also comes as new polling shows nearly half of those who signed the marijuana sales repeal petition feel misled, with many claiming that the measure was pitched to them as a proposal to address unrelated issues such as public education and expanded housing.
For what it’s worth, the anti-marijuana coalition has denied any wrongdoing in the signature collection process and waved off the survey results.
Relatedly, the head of Massachusetts’s marijuana regulatory agency recently suggested that the measure to effectively recriminalize recreational cannabis sales could imperil tax revenue that’s being used to support substance misuse treatment efforts and other public programs.
Whether the cannabis measures make the cut is yet to be seen. Voters approved legalization at the ballot in 2016, with sales launching two years later. And the past decade has seen the market evolve and expand.
Massachusetts lawmakers also recently assembled a bicameral conference committee to reach a deal on a bill that would double the legal marijuana possession limit for adults and revise the regulatory framework for the state’s adult-use cannabis market.
Last month, state regulators also finalized rules for marijuana social consumption lounges.
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CCC recently launched an online platform aimed at helping people find jobs, workplace training and networking opportunities in the state’s legal cannabis industry.
State lawmakers have also been considering setting tighter restrictions on intoxicating hemp-derived products and a plan to allow individual entities to control a larger number of cannabis establishments.
Also in Massachusetts, legislators who were working on a state budget butted heads with CCC officials, who’ve said they can’t make critical technology improvements without more money from the legislature.
Massachusetts lawmakers additionally approved a bill to establish a pilot program for the regulated therapeutic use of psychedelics. And two committees have separately held hearings to discuss additional psilocybin-related measures.
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