Report: 99% of California cannabis growers are still unlicensed
CalGrowers estimates that only around 700 of the state's 68,000 farmers have obtained state licenses so far
Monday, February 19, 2018
The backers of Prop. 64, the 2016 Adult Use of Marijuana Act, sold California voters on the promise that small and medium businesses would be the engine powering the state’s $7 billion legal cannabis market. So far, that’s not happening. According to a report, An Emerging Crisis: Barriers to Entry in California Cannabis, by the California Growers Association, a small-farmers advocacy group, fewer than 1% of California’s estimated 68,150 cannabis growers have secured state licenses to continue their businesses legally. The CalGrowers report estimates that 80% to 90% of growers who did business with the state’s legal storefront dispensaries prior to January 1 – when new licensing requirements went into effect – “are being pushed to the black market.”
