Massachusetts’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened last week in Salem.

More than 50 applications from companies eager to open medical marijuana dispensaries flooded the offices of state regulators this week, two years after Massachusetts launched its ill-fated licensing process.

The submission of so many applications indicated robust interest in the state’s emerging medical marijuana industry. The state had previously licensed 15 dispensaries, with the first opening last week in Salem.

For marijuana executives who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars vying for licenses during former governor Deval Patrick’s administration, the opportunity to apply again couldn’t come soon enough.

Concerns about political favoritism, conflicts of interest, companies with questionable financial structures, and executives with questionable pasts mired the process last time around. As a result, more than two dozen lawsuits were filed, and patients were left without any dispensaries until last week.

Regulators from the administration of Governor Charlie Baker...