Massachusetts Recreational Cannabis Sales Top $9 Billion, Snowstorm Weekend Outpaces 4/20

Massachusetts’ legal marijuana industry has crossed $9 billion in recreational sales since stores first opened in late 2018, according to a press release issued today by the Cannabis Control Commission. The Commission says licensed Marijuana Establishments passed the $9 billion mark earlier this month. That figure covers all adult-use transactions dating back to November 2018, when the first two marijuana retailers launched sales. Adult-use stores, delivery operators and microbusinesses generated $1.65 billion in 2025 alone, with the most recent billion-dollar increment reached last June.

Early 2026 numbers show the market continuing to move at a strong pace. Through February 4, adult-use Marijuana Establishments had already logged $151 million in sales. Regulators say a sizable spike came ahead of a major snowstorm on January 25 and 26, as consumers stocked up before hunkering down.

On the Friday before the storm, retailers took in $7.1 million, followed by $6.9 million on Saturday. By comparison, the state’s 4/20 marijuana holiday generated $4.8 million in sales in 2025. The pre-storm Friday alone outperformed the 4/20 totals from 2021 and 2022 and fell only about $100,000 short of 2023’s 4/20 sales.

Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien framed the milestone as another sign that legalization is shifting people away from the illicit market while supporting jobs and state-funded services. “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,” O’Brien said in a statement. “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.”

Executive Director Travis Ahern said the latest figures underscore how quickly the regulated industry has become a meaningful revenue generator for Massachusetts. “Sales milestones like this one demonstrate the significant impact of a highly regulated industry that is still less than a decade old,” Ahern said. He noted that the entire Commonwealth benefits because marijuana tax revenue helps fund the MBTA, the Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund and substance abuse treatment programs.

Adult-use marijuana purchases are subject to a 6.25% state sales tax and a 10.75% state excise tax, and cities and towns may tack on a local option tax, giving municipalities a direct stake in the market’s success. The Cannabis Control Commission does not collect or allocate that revenue, but the state Department of Revenue reports that marijuana sales and excise taxes brought in roughly $280 million in fiscal year 2025.

Massachusetts’ medical marijuana system continues to play a substantial role as well. Since 2019, when the Commission took over the Medical Use of Marijuana Program from the Department of Public Health, registered Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers have reported $1.57 billion in untaxed sales to patients. Medical purchases are not taxed in Massachusetts, reflecting their different legal status compared to adult-use transactions.

Regulators say the latest milestone, driven in part by something as ordinary as a New England snowstorm, is another sign that legal marijuana has become a normalized part of economic life in the Commonwealth—one that now represents several billion dollars in regulated sales and hundreds of millions in annual tax revenue.