33 States — and Counting
December 2021 update:
State number 33 is South Dakota. While the state’s cannabis program has faced challenges, opportunities do exist for entrepreneurs to build businesses in this state that was the first to pass medical marijuana and adult-use at the same time.
October 2021 update:
And, speaking of the South, we’re moving right along with the new programs there. Alabama makes 32 states where we have worked with clients in starting or expanding their cannabis businesses. Where will we go next?
March 2021 update:
With the expansion of the cannabis industry into the Deep South, we’re delighted to now be working with clients in Mississippi, our #31 state for helping build the industry.
State #1, Client #1, License #1
We started cannabis consulting work almost by accident, when industry friends who knew our track record of cannabis licensing and business success introduced us to a group of five guys from Westport, Connecticut. This was late 2012 and Connecticut was the first state to have a truly competitive medical marijuana license application process. And — there were only four licenses up for grabs.
We worked with this group for a year and picked up an additional client in Massachusetts in the meantime.
Then, on the last Monday of January 2014, we received notification from the state of Connecticut that we had won one of the four licenses — CT License #1.
Building the Industry Begins
On Friday of that SAME WEEK, we received notification from the state of Massachusetts that our clients there had won 3 of the initial 20 vertically integrated licenses. That is how Canna Advisors was born — and how our work across the US and beyond got started.
Since then, our scope of work has now grown to include working with cannabis businesses in 30 states, plus Canada, Europe, Guam, and Puerto Rico. And, Client #1 sold their business for $80 million.
Working Around the Country — and Beyond
Our story began in Boulder, Colorado, a hotbed of innovation and free-spirited ambition. We helped the state of Colorado and its cannabis entrepreneurs create and manage the groundbreaking legislation, and as the legal cannabis movement expanded, so did we. State by state, country by country, Canna Advisors has helped drive policy and consulted emerging businesses across the world.
Our most recent work in Georgia brought our state tally to 30 and our work in Portugal and Macedonia added Europe to our map.
With the five states that passed ballot initiatives in November 2020 and the other states with imminent legislative action to start medical marijuana or adult-use programs, we look forward to coloring in more states on the map and helping more cannabis entrepreneurs enter the market as we continue to build the Next Great American Industry.
Stay tuned and see which state gets colored in next! Will it be yours?