The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) yesterday rescinded its interim policy prohibiting a business or individual from owning multiple cannabis producer licenses. Now, a business and its principals can own up to three cannabis production licenses, which is up from just one license.

Though the LCB’s own rules (WAC 314-55-075) state that “any entity and/or principals within any entity are limited to no more than three marijuana producer licenses,” as of 2014, it restricted cannabis producers to no more than one producer license. Our Washington State cannabis lawyers never liked that restriction as we thought it encouraged illegal grows and bad behavior. See Washington LCB Producer License Roll-Back May Encourage Black Market Growers

To be clear, this shift in LCB policy towards producer licenses does not mean the LCB will be accepting new producer applications or expanding canopy space for existing producers; the LCB will not issue producer licenses to any new applicants nor will its policies on canopy space change. What this announcement does mean though — and this is a big deal — is that anyone who already holds a Washington State producer’s license will now be free to expand its cannabis production capabilities and canopy by purchasing other licensed producer businesses (up to two more). We know there is a massive pent-up demand for such purchases and sales because hardly a week goes by without one of our Washington State cannabis producer clients telling us of their desire to expand their production operations (mostly to better achieve economies of scale), and we also get frequent calls from companies (and clients) wanting to sell their production operations.

What we predict will happen in the market is a massive consolidation of smaller and/or struggling cultivators who will sell their businesses to larger-scale producers that are well organized and well capitalized. For years we have suspected this market consolidation of cannabis producers would occur in Washington and we see it likely to happen in other states as well.

If you are contemplating buying or selling a Washington cannabis production business/license you should be sure to check out the following: