The Growth of Marijuana Licenses in California – 1st Quarter 2018: Infographic & eBook

Guest post by Ed Keating, Co-Founder and Chief Data Officer at Cannabiz Media

As expected, the launch of California’s adult-use marijuana program has brought significantly increased demand in marijuana products among consumers, and to meet that demand, regulators are working to approve temporary licenses across the supply chain. The infographic at the end of this article shows the growth of marijuana licenses in California during the first quarter of 2018 based on data from the Cannabiz Media License Database.

Since January 17, 2018, the number of temporary marijuana licenses granted in California grew by over 322% from 1,272 licenses on January 17, 2018 to 5,369 licenses on March 31, 2018. The growth rate during the same period broken down by type of license is below:

Cultivation licenses: 782% growth rate (from 349 to 3,077 licenses)

782% growth rate (from 349 to 3,077 licenses) Distributor licenses: 248% growth rate (from 176 to 613 licenses)

248% growth rate (from 176 to 613 licenses) Delivery licenses: 219% growth rate (from 52 to 166 licenses)

219% growth rate (from 52 to 166 licenses) Manufacturing licenses: 126% growth rate (from 302 to 682 licenses)

126% growth rate (from 302 to 682 licenses) Retail licenses: 126% growth rate (from 137 to 309 licenses)

126% growth rate (from 137 to 309 licenses) Microbusiness licenses: 126% growth rate (from 57 to 129 licenses)

126% growth rate (from 57 to 129 licenses) Dispensary licenses: 99% growth rate (from 184 to 366 licenses)

99% growth rate (from 184 to 366 licenses) Testing licenses: 80% growth rate (from 15 to 27 licenses)

California has been issuing an average of 65 licenses per day in 2018, and if this pace continues, there could be more than 20,000 marijuana licenses in the state by the end of the year.

The California Marijuana License Footprint

California has quickly established its dominant position in the U.S. cannabis industry and shows no signs of slowing down in the near future. Already, 43% of active cultivation licenses in the country are in California as are 25% of manufacturing licenses and 24% of retail/dispensing/delivery licenses.

Hot beds of activity are happening in several California counties. For example, more than one in every two cultivation licenses (55%) are located in just three of the state’s 58 counties: Santa Barbara (22%), Humboldt (20%), and Mendocino (14%).

Similarly, nearly one in every two retail/dispensary/delivery licenses (49%) are located in just three counties: Los Angeles (28%), Alameda (11%), and San Francisco (10%), and nearly one in every two manufacturing licenses (48%) are located in three counties: Alameda (19%), Los Angeles (15%), and Riverside (10%).

See all of the data in the infographic and more in Cannabiz Media’s FREE ebook, Marijuana Licenses in California. Download it now!

About the author:

Ed Keating is a co-founder of Cannabiz Media and oversees our data research and government relations efforts. He has spent his whole career working with and advising information companies in the compliance space. Ed has overseen complex multijurisdictional product lines in the securities, corporate, UCC, safety, environmental and human resource markets and focuses on workflow products. Ed has spent the last twenty five years in the information industry. During that time he has worked for both startup and established information companies where he has led marketing, product management and sales organizations. These companies include Wolters Kluwer/Commerce Clearing House, CT Corporation, EDGAR Online and Business & Legal Reports.

At Cannabiz Media, Ed enjoys the challenge of working with regulators across the country as he and his team gather corporate, financial, and license information to track the people, products and businesses in the cannabis economy. Ed graduated from Hamilton College and received his MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. He has been active with the Software & Information Industry Association for his whole career and managed the Content Division for six years.

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