We'd like to take a beat to thank you for joining us in 2023. After nearly a decade of publishing Cannabis Business Times, we're still thrilled to deliver high-quality industry journalism to you each day. This has not been the easiest year in the business, but we've been eager to supply you with the information you'll need to navigate each new chapter.
As we head into the end of the year, we wanted to revisit some of the pieces you all seemed to enjoy the most.
Now, bear in mind, many of these articles are somewhat tied to their particular moment in 2023, but many of them contain timeless nuggets of wisdom for your business.
10. 5 Cannabis Laws to Watch This Year
We started this year much in the same way we’re ending it: by speculating on the fate of banking reform in Congress. SAFE Banking has become SAFER Banking in the interim, but not much has changed. We’ve seen some incremental support coming along in the U.S. Senate, boding well for future passage, but "boding well" is a far cry from getting the job done. Our guest contributors featured a few other state-by-state legalization prospects, though it’s always a gamble trying to spotlight any one initiative. Pennsylvania and North Carolina, namely, did not get over the finish line this year.
9. Meet the 2023 Best Cannabis Companies to Work For
We love running our annual Best Cannabis Companies To Work For campaign; each year delivers a suite of exciting cannabis businesses to forefront of the discussion about employee compensation, career growth, and work-life balance in this industry. It’s an enlightening read. It’s also typically one of our most widely read issues of the year, and 2023 is no different. Atop the leaderboard, according to employee feedback compiled by the Best Companies Group, The Grove in Nevada provided some helpful lessons for how to run a holistic and nurturing business for all.
8. Arizona Cannabis Testing Lab Accused of Tampering With COAs; Owner Calls it Sabotage
There’s nothing like a good testing lab scandal, and this one had it all: corporate intrigue, Aspergillus content, product recalls. You’ll want to read the full story to learn what happened in Arizona this summer, but the bottom line is that regulatory oversight in this industry is as tight as can be. Labeling errors, whether intentional or not, are serious business.
7. California Cannabis Operators in Peril as American Dream Turns to Nightmare
We return to California frequently in our reporting sojourns, not only because it’s the largest legal cannabis market in the world but also because it’s riddled with challenges and bureaucratic obstacle courses. For anyone trying to make it in California, “good luck” is the prevailing message from the state. And yet many businesses are thriving in spite of the headwinds, or rather leaning into them and building unique businesses capable of withstanding the most difficult market conditions. In June, Associate Editor Tony Lange featured John Casali of Huckleberry Hill Farms as an anchor for an in-depth look at the broader business landscape. Things move fast in the cannabis space, especially in California, but Lange’s reporting provides a firm foothold in this uncertain moment.
6. SAFE Banking Backed by At Least 9 GOP Senators; Bill Lies Largely in Democrats’ Court
This past year was filled with federal legislation intrigue, though nothing of import has truly come to pass. Chief among Congressional hopefuls is the SAFE Banking Act. With some measure of Republican support needed to surmount a possible filibuster on this issue (and plenty of others, naturally), Associate Editor Tony Lange pinned down nearly a dozen senators to gauge the likelihood of their support for banking reform. He found nine, and in doing so found a compelling way to tell the story of SAFE Banking’s incremental progress through the halls of Congress.
5. UPDATE: US House Democrats Introduce Bill to Federally Legalize Cannabis
Another mainstay of the federal legislation circuit is the MORE Act, which resurfaced this year and earned approval in the U.S. House. In addition to ending the federal prohibition of cannabis, the bill proposed expungements for those with cannabis offenses and impose a federal tax on cannabis to fund programs for those adversely affected by the drug war. House members voted, 220-204, almost entirely along party lines, to pass the bill. Was the vote a preview to something... more? Any real progress on federal reforms remains unproven.
4. Planet 13 to Open Dispensary in Illinois
Planet 13 continues to transfix the cannabis consumer audience, and news of a Chicagoland dispensary earned a spot as one of our most-read articles published in 2023. All the SuperStore amenities of the business’s Las Vegas location (you know the one that everyone visits during Cannabis Conference?) were promised. Better yet: While this article was published in February, the Waukegan, Ill., Planet 13 is now open.
3. Michigan's Plummeting Cannabis Prices: A Closer Look
Perhaps no single market trend captured the attention of our audience this year more intensely than price compression. The topic came up in nearly every conversation, every interview, every hushed whisper about the future of the industry. Even now, you can’t share a bagel with someone without hearing about plummeting prices in whatever state(s) they’re supplying. We looked at Michigan, a fine example of this problem, and found some helpful tips for navigating this retail freefall.
2. It’s the Summer of 2023, and Cannabis Remains Federally Illegal. What’s Happening?
We took a beat this summer to provide a helpful update from contributor Julie Werner-Simon, who was keen to explain just what in the world was happening with cannabis legalization across the U.S. It’s never an easy story to tell, but Werner-Simon offered thoughtful, clear-cut rundown of where this matter stood at that particular point in time. Long story short: Cannabis is still illegal in the U.S., almost brazenly so, in 2023! Can you believe that? She got into great detail in this piece, and, with the exception of Ohio’s November roller-coaster ride, most of this piece remains as fresh and updated as possible six months later.
1. 13 States That Could Legalize Cannabis in 2023
We run a version of this feature at the start of each year, teeing up a list of states that may flip to medical legalization or adult-use legalization over the next 12 months. (We’ll be back with a new iteration soon!) No major surprise: This piece was our most read of 2023. I’d say we were a bit off in our rankings, perhaps overeager in some instances, but I’ll take that. Kentucky and Ohio got in, and more than a few states shot down their prospects (like Oklahoma). As ever, cannabis reform is a mixed bag. We don’t envision that basic fact changing in 2024, but we’ll be back it with a new slate of predictions. Want to share your thoughts? Drop a line anytime this holiday season.
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