Question 8: Impact Beyond Massachusetts Dispensaries

Beyond Dispensaries: How Question 8 Could Affect Massachusetts Small Businesses, Creators and Vendors

A cannabis business buys much more than cannabis.

It needs a website, bookkeeping, packaging, building maintenance, security systems and professional advice. It may also hire photographers, video producers, designers, printers and marketing agencies.

Those services connect the cannabis industry to businesses that never grow, manufacture, transport or sell cannabis themselves.

That is why Massachusetts Question 8 has an economic reach beyond dispensaries.

If approved, the proposal would end the licensed adult-use cannabis market beginning January 1, 2028. The businesses serving that market could lose customers, contracts or a portion of their revenue. The size of that effect would depend on each company’s reliance on adult-use cannabis clients.

About this article: Zahara Cannabis is a Massachusetts adult-use cannabis retailer and opposes Question 8. This article explains the proposal and its potential effects.

What Are Ancillary Cannabis Businesses?

An ancillary business supplies goods or services to an industry without necessarily producing or selling its main product.

Boston’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion describes cannabis-related businesses of this kind as “non-plant touching.” Its examples include marketing, design, accounting, legal services, technology, security, construction trades, real estate and printing.

These businesses often do not need a cannabis license for their supporting work. Other professional licenses, business requirements or rules may still apply.

See the City of Boston’s guide to non-plant-touching cannabis businesses.

How a Change in Cannabis Sales Can Reach Other Businesses

Consider a hypothetical dispensary that hires a local agency to maintain its website, a photographer to create content and a printer to produce materials.

If that dispensary closes or reduces its budget, those vendors may lose recurring work.

The same pattern can apply to a cultivation facility’s maintenance contractors or a manufacturer’s packaging suppliers.

This is an example of how spending can move between businesses. It is not a forecast that every cannabis company would close or every vendor contract would end.

The risk depends on factors such as the client’s ability to transition, the vendor’s contract terms and whether either business can replace lost revenue.

Packaging Suppliers and Designers Could Lose Orders

Cannabis packaging involves more than choosing a container.

Massachusetts regulations establish packaging and labeling requirements, including child-resistant features and restrictions on designs that appeal to minors. Requirements vary by product and packaging type.

Meeting those rules can involve packaging suppliers, label printers, graphic designers and compliance specialists. The requirements are set out in the Commission’s adult-use regulations, particularly 935 CMR 500.105.

A supplier with recurring orders from adult-use manufacturers could face fewer orders if those customers stop production or serve a smaller market.

Some suppliers could continue serving medical cannabis businesses or customers in other industries. Others might need to replace a substantial part of their business.

Marketing Agencies and Creators Could Lose Recurring Work

Cannabis businesses hire agencies and independent creators for services such as:

Website design and maintenance.
Search engine optimization.
Photography and video production.
Email marketing.
Graphic and packaging design.
Public relations and event communications.

This work supports both day-to-day operations and longer projects.

An agency might manage a dispensary’s website each month. A photographer might handle regular product shoots. A freelance designer might work with several cannabis brands.

If those clients lose their adult-use sales channel, they could reduce spending, cancel projects or end contracts.

For a company serving many industries, that might affect a small share of revenue. For a freelancer or agency that depends heavily on cannabis accounts, the effect could be much larger.

Cannabis communications also operate under specialized advertising restrictions. Experience with those rules can be a valuable part of a vendor’s services.

Security and Technology Providers Could Be Affected

Licensed cannabis businesses use security and inventory systems to meet operational and regulatory requirements.

That can create work for camera installers, alarm companies, IT providers, software vendors and technical support teams.

Massachusetts regulations include requirements involving security and seed-to-sale tracking. Those systems support oversight of cannabis as it moves through licensed production and distribution.

If an adult-use client closes, its service contracts may end. If it changes the size or type of its operation, it may need fewer services.

Medical operators would continue needing technology and security support. Vendors might also replace lost cannabis work with clients in other industries. Neither outcome is automatic.

Landlords, Contractors and Maintenance Companies Have a Stake

Cannabis businesses occupy retail stores, industrial buildings and other commercial properties.

Those locations create demand for construction, electrical work, ventilation, repairs, cleaning and property management.

A closed or downsized operation can affect that work. A landlord may need to find another tenant. A maintenance company may lose a recurring account. Planned renovations or equipment upgrades may be postponed.

The City of Boston includes real estate, property management, architects, engineers, electricians and HVAC providers among the businesses connected to the cannabis industry.

The effect on a particular property or contractor would depend on the local market, lease terms and the availability of replacement clients.

Testing Laboratories Are a Separate Category

Testing laboratories are also exposed to changes in cannabis production, but they should not be grouped with ordinary unlicensed service vendors.

Independent cannabis testing laboratories are licensed and regulated.

They are part of the regulated cannabis system, and the proposal expressly preserves a role for licensed testing within the medical program. See the testing provisions in the full Question 8 initiative.

Ending adult-use production would remove a source of testing demand. Medical testing would continue, so it would be inaccurate to say all cannabis laboratory work would disappear.

Keeping that distinction clear helps explain the different effects on licensed cannabis companies and outside vendors.

What Can We Say About the Size of the Indirect Impact?

The regulated adult-use market is substantial. Massachusetts recorded more than $1.65 billion in adult-use sales in 2025, according to the Cannabis Control Commission.

However, retail sales are not the same as spending on outside vendors.

The sources reviewed for this article do not establish a reliable statewide total for ancillary jobs or vendor revenue that would be lost if Question 8 passed. Assigning an exact number would require a separate economic analysis.

It would also be misleading to assume every dollar currently spent on cannabis would disappear from the Massachusetts economy. Some spending could shift to other goods or services.

For individual vendors, though, replacing lost revenue could take time and require new clients, new skills or a change in business direction.

Not Every Vendor Would Close

A marketing agency can serve other industries. A printer can produce other materials. A contractor can work on other buildings.

Medical cannabis would also continue, preserving some demand for supporting services.

The more accurate concern is that businesses dependent on adult-use cannabis clients could lose a meaningful part of their customer base. Some would adapt with limited disruption. Others could face reduced income, staffing changes or closure.

These are potential outcomes, not guaranteed results.