The Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office projected in 2022 that cannabis would likely become a roughly $86 million industry by June 2024. As the fiscal year closed in June, according to Cannabis Control Board Chair James Pepper, the retail market had already reached $128 million.
On the ground, some vendors feel crowded. Since the first three legal recreational cannabis retailers opened on October 1, 2022, the number of dispensaries statewide has grown to 77, according to the control board. As the market increases, officials are weighing how to guide the industry toward a sustainable, equitable future.
Part of the reason for the quicker-than-anticipated growth is that, in reality, the industry isn't new, said Pepper. There was, he explained, "a vibrant market pre-legalization," the scale of which was difficult to measure.
License requests for legal cultivation and retail have poured in. "People do want to participate above-board," said Pepper, to be able to deposit profits, pay mortgages, and take advantage of the new economy.
Among them is Meredith Mann, owner of Magic Mann in Essex, who found her way into the broader industry through a CBD bakery and café. She was initially stymied by a provision of state law that allows towns to decide whether to allow cannabis retail within their limits.
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