Cannacurio #59: Pharmacy and Retailer Leaderboard June 2022

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Periodically, this blog reviews the number of new licenses across the value chain. For this post we will assess what has happened to pharmacies and retailers.

According to the Cannabiz Media License Database, states added 1,066 licenses in the first five months of 2022. Four states have issued 100 or more licenses, with Oklahoma leading the way.

Important Findings

• Oklahoma accounted for 331 (31%) of the newly issued licenses.
• New Mexico, a more recent leaderboard entrant, finished second with 218.
• Michigan finished third with 126 while California fell to fourth with 122.
• Colorado, Washington and Oregon combined for just 66 licenses.

What about pending licenses?

Pending licenses are rare. Most states do not share information about them – the same goes for applied ones. However, there are some regulatory bodies that provide this information.

Here are some of the states with ongoing licenses. Some have been held up due to lawsuits, others are working through the process set up by a legislature or regulator:

Conclusion

Finally, we would like to review the number of existing deals that we are tracking. As it has for years, Oklahoma leads the country in the number of stores. Even with a license moratorium starting August 1, I think the Sooner State will stay on top for quite a while — unless they hit an extinction event thanks to expanded compliance requirements and renewal fees.

Other states will come online with new or expanded programs and we will report on them in future updates:

• Alabama aims to accept applications for medical marijuana approvals by the fall. [mjbizdaily.com]
• Connecticut Regulators received 8,360 equity applications and 7,246 general applications for six licenses.
• That Illinois The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation released a timeline and next steps for 185 recipients of conditional adult use pharmacy licenses. [idfpr.illinois.gov]
• The new regulations for adult use in Rhode Island allow up to 33 retail facilities and existing medical pharmacies to have first priority for recreational licenses, which may result in sales by the end of this year. [marijuanaandthelaw.com]

author

Ed Keating is co-founder of Cannabiz Media and oversees the company’s data research and government relations efforts. He has spent his career working with and advising information companies on compliance issues. Ed has led product, marketing and sales while overseeing complex, multi-jurisdictional product lines in the securities, corporate, UCC, security, environmental and human resources markets.

Cannabiz Media customers can stay up to date on these and other new licenses through our newsletter, notification and reporting modules. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive these weekly reports in your inbox. Or you can schedule a demo to learn more about how to access the Cannabiz media license database yourself to dig deeper into this data.

‍Cannacurio is a Cannabiz Media column featuring insights from the most comprehensive licensing data platform. Check out Cannacurio’s posts and podcasts for the latest updates and information.