Boston Globe

As the Omicron variant surges, Massachusetts cannabis companies are facing significant shortages of foreign-made packaging and construction materials that are essential to their operations, including vaporizer batteries and cartridges, childproof containers, and the steel beams and air conditioning equipment used to build indoor cultivation facilities.

When Massachusetts voters passed Question 4 in 2016, the state became an oasis of legal marijuana on the East Coast, surrounded by neighbors that prohibited the drug entirely or only allowed its medical use. Today, total pot sales are approaching $1.5 billion.