Cannacurio #102: 2024 Q3 Licensing Round-Up

Key Findings

• 2,211 new licenses were issued in Q3 2024, up from 2,026 in Q2 2024
• 27 states added 535 retail/dispensary licenses – up from 456 in Q2
• 19 states added 1,215 cultivation licenses – up from 1,183 in Q2
• 19 states issued 268 manufacturing licenses – up from 2249 in Q2
• Total Active licenses are down just 1.4% from the beginning of the year

Overview

The graph below tracks licenses and facilities over the last twelve months.

Not surprisingly, licenses and facilities move roughly in parallel because in many states a license equals a facility. Both curves have continued to flatten out in 2024.

Overall

Q3 was the biggest quarter this year for licenses. Overall, 9% more new licenses were issued in Q3 over Q2. Stores were up 17% QoQ, with Cultivation +2.7% and Manufacturing +7.6%.

While comparing the three main licenses activities, Q2 and Q3 were similar in total number and the distribution of licenses. Cultivation licenses moved from 63% to 60% while stores increased from 24% to 27%. Manufacturing was a steady 13% across the 2^nd and 3^rd quarter.

Activities

Here’s a recap of three of the major license types in the value chain.

Stores

• 535 new store licenses were issued in Q3 compared to 456 in Q2
• 5 states accounted for 73% of these licenses: New York, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey and Puerto Rico.
• During the 3^rd Quarter Oklahoma shed 118 dispensary licenses

Here are the top 5 states that issued store licenses in the quarter:

Cultivation

• 19 states added 1,215 cultivation licenses – up from 1,183 in Q2
• Oklahoma issued 527 in the quarter though sources have suggested these may be renewals
• 5 states accounted for 88% of the new licenses

Here are the top 5 states that issued cultivation licenses in the quarter:

Manufacturing

• 19 states issued 268 manufacturing licenses – up from 249 in Q2
• New York issued 72 new licenses, with Ohio at 55 and Michigan with 24
• Oklahoma shed 60 manufacturing licenses in Q3, about half of the 117 it lost in Q2

Here are the top 5 states that issued manufacturing licenses in the quarter:

Conclusion

Despite the three-year bear market, the industry soldiers on. States continue to issue licenses in key activities: Cultivation, Manufacturing and Stores. There has been a very gentle decline in overall licenses since the beginning of the year. This is largely due to Oklahoma’s license reductions. Hot spots like Michigan, New York and Ohio are garnering attention. Delaware and Kentucky have also entered the fray and will soon be adding to the new license inventory

On the horizon we have the legalization vote in Florida and elsewhere – not to mention the rescheduling process that coincides with this year’s MJBiz Conference.  I’m looking forward to writing the Q4 2024 Updates in 90 days – it could be a whole different industry by then!

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Author

Ed Keating is a 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 in the compliance space. Ed has managed product, marketing, and sales while overseeing complex multi-jurisdictional product lines in the securities, corporate, UCC, safety, environmental, and human resource markets.  

At Cannabiz Media, Ed enjoys the challenge of working with regulators across the globe as he and his team gather corporate, financial, and license information to track the people, products, and businesses in the cannabis economy.  

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

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