Cannacurio #106: Annual Summary 2024

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2024, like every cannabis year before it, was unique. The last 12 months have seen a presidential election, several state referendums and the slow-moving re-planning process. Meanwhile, regulators continued their hard work launching new programs and issuing licenses, renewals, violations and recalls.

• In 2024, 6,799 new licenses were issued for all activities, up from 5,132 in 2023.
• There were 39,755 active cannabis licenses, an increase of 38,917 + 2.1%
• Michigan, New York and Oklahoma each issued more than 1,000 licenses in 2024

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Cultivation, manufacturing and store licenses accounted for 91% of new licenses issued in 2024. Over the years, it is instructive to track the relationship of these licenses to one another.

• Cultivation licenses accounted for 54% of new licenses in 2024, up from 46% in 2023.
• Branches accounted for 30% of new licenses, up from 36%;
• The share of new production licenses was 15%, a slight decrease from 18% in 2023.

Given the moratoriums, oversupply and price pressure, the growth of cultivation licenses is fascinating.

Here's the state-by-state leaderboard for 2024, with Michigan taking the crown and narrowly edging out New York. This table contains all licensed activities:

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78% of Michigan's licenses were for cultivation, 14.6% were for business, and just 6% were for production licenses. New York had a different composition, 17%, 40% and 17%, respectively. New York also issued 334 licenses for activities that did not involve cultivation, storage or manufacturing.

Although cannabis licenses are issued at the state level and no cannabis is allowed to cross state lines, it is still interesting to take a look at the regions.

Cannabiz Media divides the US into the following regions: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and West. In the chart below we see a decline in the West and Southeast, which we would attribute to the slowdown in mature markets; and limited licensing structures. The Midwest and Northeast were driven by Michigan and New York, while Oklahoma's relicensing fueled growth in the Southwest.

Because most states create programs and issue licenses, the spikes are like tier functions, issuing many licenses at once or in batches. Then they enter a kind of stasis. There are outliers like Oklahoma that grew quickly and continued to decline almost as quickly. Here are the states in each region:

While there are many types of licenses in the cannabis ecosystem, cultivation, manufacturing and storage make up about 90% of the licenses issued by states – and they are generally licensed in all jurisdictions. In the next section, we'll look at the big three and how they fared in 2024.

Cultivation

The seed-to-sale value chain begins with the plants in the ground, and many observers and analysts are tracking this license to gauge how the supply and price of cannabis will evolve. There were more new licenses in 2024 than in 2023, but 63% of those new licenses came only from Michigan and Oklahoma. The number of 3,369 new licenses is well below the peak of 9,010 in 2021.

Key points of cultivation

• 3,369 new cultivation licenses were issued in 2024, up from 2,253 in 2023
• Michigan led the nation with 1,079 new licenses and Oklahoma was close behind with 1,039
• The number of cultivation companies fell from 14,185 to 12,444

Here is the 2024 cultivation leaderboard:

Manufacturing

Manufacturing licenses continued to be the least volatile activity in terms of new licensing. In 2024, we recorded 945 new licenses, with New York, New Mexico and Michigan leading the way.

Important points in production

• There were 945 new manufacturing licenses issued in 2024, a 27% increase over the 744 in 2023
• New York led the way with 264 (28%), while Michigan was second with 166 (17.6%).
• The number of production facilities remained relatively unchanged at 5,655, compared to 5,629 the previous year

Pharmacy/Retail

The number of stores or doors remains an important metric for cannabis. The chart below shows growth in both deals and licenses over the last twelve months. The proliferation of smoke, vape and hemp retailers continues to have an impact as there are many more outlets than ever before. This applies in addition to the Altmarkt.

Key findings

• New York accounted for 533 (28%) of the new licenses issued, a significant increase from 19 in 2023
• Michigan was second with 202 fewer than 243 last year, and New Jersey was third with 174 fewer than 224 last year
• The top four states issued 57% of new licenses issued, down from 60% last year.
• At the end of 2024, there were 12,349 stores with 13,016 licenses.

The ratio of licenses to facilities is slowly shrinking. At the beginning of 2023, there were approximately 108 licenses per 100 establishments. By the end of 2024, that number had dropped to 105 licenses per 100 facilities. We believe this is largely due to administrative changes in states such as Nevada and New Mexico, which do not require operators to have separate licenses for medical and adult use.

Compliance

Cannabiz Media has been tracking violations and recalls since our founding. Some states diligently enforce the complex rules and regulations they create, and we have normalized and categorized over 10,000 violations and 345 recalls.

Key Points: Violations and Recalls

• Not all states share this information
• The largest markets, Michigan and California, lead the way in violations
• California has been active in disseminating recalls to the public in 2024

author

Ed Keating is co-founder of Cannabiz Media and oversees the company's data research and government relations. Throughout his career, he has worked with and advised information companies in the compliance area. Ed has led product, marketing and sales while overseeing complex, multi-country product lines in securities, corporate, UCC, security, environmental and human resources.

At Cannabiz Media, Ed enjoys the challenge of working with regulators around the world as he and his team collect corporate, financial and licensing information to track the people, products and companies in the cannabis economy.

Ed graduated from Hamilton College and received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Northwestern University

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Cannacurio is a weekly column from Cannabiz Media featuring insights from the most comprehensive cannabis market intelligence platform. Check out Cannacurio posts and podcasts for the latest updates and information.