Strong demand for a product doesn’t guarantee business success, especially in the unique cannabis industry.
While general retail struggles with economic headwinds, rising labor and rent costs, and shifting consumer behavior, the marijuana landscape faces additional, distinct challenges.
The demand is there. The First Citizens February 2026 State of the Cannabis Industry report notes that although macro-level changes such as inflation and policy will shape markets moving forward, “consumer demand for both hemp and marijuana products remain[s] strong throughout the U.S.”
Yet, despite this demand, the U.S. cannabis industry recently recorded its first revenue decline after a decade of growth. According to the report, 2024 sales reached $30.1 billion, but 2025 revenues dipped to an estimated $28.6 to $29.6 billion.
Importantly, unit volumes remained stable. The culprit was deflationary pricing pressures, which drove down the average price per good. Consequently, one-third of operators saw 2025 revenue drops, triggering cost-cutting measures and layoffs.
On top of these widespread economic hurdles, cannabis operators must navigate constant regulatory shifts at both national and regional levels.
Illustrating these compounding pressures, one medical and recreational marijuana company has suddenly shut down all three of its locations.
Atlantic Medicinal Partners (AMP) abruptly closes all locations amid lawsuits
Medical and recreational cannabis company Atlantic Medicinal Partners (AMP) has suddenly shut down all three of its locations, reported Hemp Gazette, citing Worcester Business Journal.
AMP closed three locations, including its Fitchburg dispensary and cultivation facility, amid two lawsuits seeking a combined $6.11 million in damages related to alleged unpaid debt and loan obligations.
Lawsuits against Atlantic Medicinal Partners:
- The landlord lawsuit: The owner of the property where AMP grew and sold its products says the company owes $112,000 in unpaid rent and more than $64,800 in water and sewer bills to the City of Fitchburg. The landlord is suing for $3.54 million, claiming the company’s bosses misrepresented the company’s financial stability. The judge ordered AMP to post a $300,000 bond specifically for its unpaid taxes and water bills in Fitchburg.
- The investor lawsuit: On May 6, 2026, Victoria Waters sued AMP in Middlesex Superior Court to enforce a $2.57 million arbitration award granted to her in April 2026. The dispute stems from a $1 million, five-year loan Waters gave AMP in 2019. The loan carried a 15% annual compounding interest rate and matured in March 2024. The lawsuit alleges that AMP defaulted by failing to repay both the principal and the accumulated interest.
Source: Hemp Gazette
The 11th largest cannabis company in central Massachusetts
Atlantic Medicinal Partners, a vertically integrated cannabis company, was founded by the company’s CEO Steve Perkins, COO Jeff Perkins, and business partner Frank Cieri in September 2020, when they opened the Fitchburg, Mass., facility.
The first location, which replaced a Lego manufacturing facility, was used for both cultivation and dispensary sales. AMP later expanded its retail footprint by opening stores in Salem and Brockton, Mass., all of which are now closed.
“Their true ‘seed to sale’ model helps them stand out from neighboring dispensaries. Much of the cannabis flower and other products featured are cultivated and processed entirely in house,” reads the facility’s description on Dispensary Genie.
At AMP’s Fitchburg dispensary, cannabis consumers could buy:
- Flower
- Buds
- Pre-rolled joints
- Pre-packed chillum pipes from notable Massachusetts growers including Ace Weidman’s, Nature’s Heritage, Revolutionary Clinics, and In Good Health
- Hash formulas such as distillate, RSO (Rick Simpson Oil), and shatter
- Edibles, including chocolate and gummies
Source: Dispensary Genie
As of the second quarter of 2025, AMP was the 11th largest cannabis company in central Massachusetts, according to data provided by the Worcester Business Journal Research Department. In that quarter, the company had about 50 employees.
AMP’s closure and debt troubles underscore the financial pressures seen by other operators in the space.
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What Atlantic Medicinal Partners closure means for cannabis industry, consumers
The AMP closure, though sudden, is not the only case within the cannabis industry in central Massachusetts. Hemp Gazette notes that several other marijuana companies in the region have either ceased operations or entered receivership due to financial struggles.
As of April 16, 2026, 31 cannabis licenses were under receivership, according to the Cannabis Control Commission, confirming broader industry pressures. Due to the decades of stigma, cannabis companies’ every move is viewed under a magnifying glass, and any misstep can impact the entire industry.
Economists warn that because illicit networks operate without compliance overhead, they can easily weather macro-deflationary pressures by dropping prices to outcompete struggling legal entities, according to the article Weeding out the dealers? The economics of cannabis legalization, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organizations.
Moreover, a direct impact on consumers shouldn’t be underestimated. In the absence of legal dispensaries that sell controlled and tested products nearby, a number of cannabis consumers turn to illegal sources and sell products that have not been tested for safety and potency. This puts consumers at greater risk of ending up with a dangerous product that may cause adverse health effects.
A comprehensive study conducted by researchers at Arizona State University directly analyzed the dangerous, unregulated nature of the black market. Published in Environmental Health Perspectives, the researchers examined illicit cannabis samples seized by law enforcement and uncovered alarming levels of dangerous toxins and biological agents that are strictly barred from the legal market.
“The contaminants in illicit cannabis represent a public health risk that needs to be addressed,” the lead researcher and ASU Assistant Professor Maxwell Leung said.
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