Focus Article
The Fight Against New York’s METRC Monopoly Heats Up
There is a growing fear among New York cannabis operators that the lawsuit challenging Metrc’s Retail ID program will “kill track and trace” and return the state to the chaos of inversion and inventory failures experienced last year. That fear is understandable. It is also wrong. Retail ID is not track-and-trace. Retail ID is a […]
Why Most Cannabis COGS Would Fail an Audit — and How Operators Can Fix It
For cannabis operators, the cost of goods sold (COGS) is far more than an accounting line item. It’s the most critical financial number in the entire business. Under IRC Section 280E, most ordinary business deductions are disallowed, making COGS the primary mechanism for reducing taxable income. At the same time, COGS drives pricing decisions, product […]
Building a Cannabis Banking Eco-System with Terry Mendez
The cannabis industry is still operating within a cobbled-together financial system—one defined by workarounds, instability, and uncertainty. Most major banks remain unwilling to work with cannabis businesses due to the risk and compliance burdens associated with serving a federally illegal industry. In 2014, former Safe Harbor Financial CEO Sundie Seefried helped establish one of the […]
While Everyone Waits for 280E Relief, Smart Cannabis CEOs Are Creating Their Own
For years, cannabis executives have built their financial strategies around a single hope: that Section 280E would vanish with federal reform. But hope has quietly drained billions from balance sheets. Every year, operators “wait it out”; they forfeit the one thing they can’t afford to lose, cash flow. It’s an understandable reflex. No one likes […]
This Company Wants Your Dirty Grow Air Filters
It is not uncommon for industries outside cannabis to adapt their technologies to address challenges unique to this maturing sector. American Air Filter International (AFF) is one such company, bringing decades of experience in air filtration for critical environments such as pharmaceutical clean rooms, food manufacturing facilities, hospitals, and even jet fuel applications. According to […]
How Tissue Culture Is Advancing Cannabis Genetics and Global Expansion
Not every genetic is suited for every growing environment, production model, or end market. For cultivators, the challenge is not finding new genetics but identifying which breeders align with their goals and whether those genetics are clean, stable, and commercially viable. As demand grows for consistency, disease resistance, and scalability, shortcuts in breeding and cloning […]
2026 Trends in Cannabis Labeling
As the cannabis industry continues to mature, labeling will continue to shape the way for product identification and consumer safety. Looking ahead to 2026, cannabis businesses face growing pressure to improve accuracy, strengthen compliance, streamline production, and build trust with both regulators and consumers. The most successful organizations will modernize their labeling workflows by focusing […]
$1.3 Billion/Month Later: What Cannabis Banking Has Really Taught Us
A decade ago, most banks wouldn’t touch a cannabis business. Whenever banking access came up, the discussion stopped almost immediately. People said it was too risky, too unclear, or that the timing just wasn’t right. Today, Green Check has over 180 financial institutions across the U.S. that actively serve more than 17,000 licensed operators. Together, […]
What Cannabis Branding Gets Right and Why Every Industry Should Follow Suit
81% of consumers need to trust a brand before they’ll even consider buying from it. But what happens when your industry is built on a shaky foundation—one full of stigma, skepticism, or confusion? That’s cannabis. And yet, some of the sharpest, most strategic brand-building I’ve seen is happening here… because it has to. There’s no […]
Trump Reschedules Cannabis!
The moment many in the cannabis industry have been waiting for has finally arrived. Operators, investors, and advocates are cautiously celebrating President Trump’s executive order directing the Department of Justice to finalize the rescheduling of cannabis to Schedule III, an action many hope is a stepping stone toward full federal descheduling. Full descheduling would free […]