Focus Article
5 Air Quality Mistakes That Are Costing Cannabis Growers
Cannabis cultivation is, at its core, a controlled environment business, and air quality remains one of the most consistently underestimated variables in the operation. Contaminated batches, worker health complaints, and odor violations affecting neighboring communities can all be traced back to air-handling decisions made early in facility design or overlooked during scale-up. Mandatory testing gets […]
Your Banking Problem Is a Margin Problem
Most cannabis operators have a banking problem. For many, that means limited access to financial services, forcing the business to operate largely in cash and be unable to use the standard banking rails every other industry takes for granted. The banking conversation in this industry almost always stops at access. Can the business get an […]
Why Understanding True Manufacturing Costs Is Essential for Cannabis Business Survival
The U.S. cannabis industry generated more than $30 billion in regulated sales in 2025, yet profitability has become harder to predict. According to a recent national index report by Cannabis Benchmarks, wholesale pricing remains volatile, recently fluctuating between approximately $987 and $1,007 per pound. In an environment where pricing moves faster than cost structures adapt, […]
Inconsistent Messaging Is a Compliance Risk. Full Stop.
Picture the moment a cannabis company’s compliance team gets copied on an email from a banking partner’s risk officer. The subject line says “Questions re: public materials.” Attached is a spreadsheet. On one side, language from the company’s Florida medical dispensary website. On the other, language from the California recreational site, the New Jersey acquisition […]
Move Over Flower, Pre-roll is King
Driven by innovation and convenience, pre-roll sales in 2025 not only had the strongest growth of any major category, topping $3.6 billion in sales and moving 383 million units, but supplanted flower as the most units sold for the first time in the industry’s history, according to a new report from Custom Cones USA. It’s […]
Colorado Pushes to Normalize THC Beverages in Bars as Federal Pressure Mounts
As federal policymakers move toward restricting hemp-derived cannabinoid products, a new state-level effort in Colorado is taking the opposite approach by moving to integrate low-dose THC beverages into mainstream hospitality. A coalition led by Colorado-based attorney Brian Vicente, partner at Vicente LLP, has formed the Colorado THC Beverage Coalition and introduced legislation that would allow […]
Operational Efficiency Is Driving the Next Phase of Cannabis Growth
For years, the cannabis industry operated in an environment where expansion was the primary signal of success, and investors were excited to get involved. New markets opened, and rapid growth often took priority over efficiency. Companies could move quickly and sort out the details later, trusting that scale would eventually smooth things out. That environment […]
Commercial Insurance Has Failed Cannabis. Here’s What’s Next
In 2024, Colorado state officials announced a recall affecting 172 stores across the state. Batches of flower and pre-rolled joints from one grower exceeded mold and yeast limits. The losses were immense, including for companies that thought the money they were paying each year to insurance companies for premiums would provide, only to discover that […]
Cannabis Biopharma Company Enters Fight Over CMS Hemp Pilot
A cannabis biopharma company is seeking to join the federal lawsuit challenging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) new hemp and CBD pilot program, adding a pharmaceutical voice to a government-sanctioned program allowing untested and unregulated hemp products into the marketplace. MMJ International Holdings and its subsidiaries, MMJ BioPharma Labs and MMJ BioPharma […]
Inventory Is the Biggest Cash Flow Problem in Cannabis
All roads in cannabis retail lead back to inventory. Retail cannabis operators across the country are being squeezed by razor-thin margins, declining cash flow, and a growing inability to pay vendors on time. The culprit is often not weak sales or lack of demand. It is mismanaged inventory. Inventory is the foundation on which the […]