State regulators say they’re moving as fast as they can to approve licenses for businesses seeking to sell legal recreational marijuana. But some applicants are frustrated by the pace and head start being enjoyed by corporations that have expanded their medical cannabis businesses.
To date, 308 conditional licenses for new recreational marijuana businesses have been granted: 130 cultivators, 68 manufacturers and 110 retailers. That’s around one-third of the total who are seeking such licenses, with around 350 others waiting for initial priority reviews or final scoring and others told they need to cure shortcomings in their application.
Conditional licenses allow the companies to secure locations, municipal approvals and more – but not open their doors for business. For that, they will need to convert to an annual license, a more complicated approval process that involves a deeper dive into a company’s finances and an on-site inspection.