Beginning on Thursday, regulators will review Massachusetts cannabis cultivators seeking license renewals to determine whether to relegate licenses to a lower tier.
If the Cannabis Control Commission determines that a licensee has sold less than 70% of what was produced during a review period, then the commission may reduce the licensee’s maximum canopy to a lower tier, according to a CCC memo, which also makes a reference to possible license expansions.
If the commission reduces a licensee’s maximum canopy, the licensee may not grow beyond the reduced cap without first obtaining approval by submitting a tier expansion request, the Investigations and Enforcement Division memo states.
The change, effective Jan. 1, applies to marijuana cultivators and medical marijuana treatment centers. For indoor cultivators, the review will cover the period six months preceding the renewal application. The review period for outdoor cultivators will encompass the harvest season prior to the renewal application.
At a January 2025 meeting, one commission member said the state has more than 4 million square feet of canopy and had heard feedback that oversupply was causing some “price compression.”
As part of the review, regulators will examine whether cannabis plants and inventory suffered a catastrophic event during the licensing period; transfer, sales and excise tax payment history; sales contracts; and existing inventory and inventory history, the memo says.