With Massachusetts voters potentially facing a November ballot initiative to roll back the state’s recreational marijuana law, a new report from officials finds legalization is achieving one of its primary goals: disrupting illicit cannabis sales as adults transition to the regulated market.
The report from the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), released on Friday, found that, among adults who reported past-year marijuana use, an overwhelming 84 percent said they obtained their cannabis from a licensed source.
“Consumers of legal age are overwhelmingly turning away from unregulated sources as the state’s adult-use marijuana industry reaches its eighth year in operation,” a CCC press release about the report says.
With more than $9 billion in gross sales since the adult-use market launched in 2018, that data point signals that illicit sales are taking a major hit—a policy impact advocates worked to drive home as they built support for legalization.
The analysis—which also looked at usage trends, self-reported health benefits, public opinion on legalization and more—involved interviews with 11,635 Massachusetts residents aged 16-65. (State law prohibits recreational cannabis sales for those under 21, but CCC included younger people in the survey to understand trends within that cohort, t0o.)
“This new research shows that Massachusetts
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