In this episode, our panel of cannabis consultants and cannabis lawyers discuss the licensing opportunities in the cannabis industry for 2023, with a focus on the states of Florida, New York, Missouri, and New Jersey. The cannabis industry is expected to expand to 16 million adult consumers, increasing the number of licensing opportunities.

Florida is the US’s largest and most lucrative medical only cannabis market with Brightfield Group expecting 25% growth in 2022 to $1.7 billion.

Florida is the US’s largest and most lucrative medical only cannabis market with over $1 billion in medical cannabis sales in the first half of 2022. With only 22 businesses licensed to legally operate in Florida, cannabis licenses in the state are considered extremely valuable and have sold for well over $50 million. So the industry has been buzzing with excitement over yesterday’s announcement by the Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU) that the long-awaited new licensing round will begin shortly!

Alabama’s legalization of medical cannabis in May - coupled with Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi expanding their programs this year - presents a second southeastern opportunity to cannabis companies that were shut out of Florida by that state’s decision to license only a handful of vertically integrated, seed-to-sale operators. At first glance, the four-state opportunity looks like it could be even bigger than Florida since their combined population is 23.6 million versus Florida’s 22 million.