This issue is highlighting cannabis businesses. There’s a variety of different types of businesses to get involved with, so we’ve assembled our top list of seven canna-business sub-categories. For a list of who we think are the top businesses in each category check out our annual Best of Edibles List Awards. Enjoy, and mind your business.
1.Retail – Storefront Dispensary or Delivery Service:
In a Medical cannabis dispensary, patients receive cannabis medication as allowed per the patient’s doctor’s recommendation. In recreational shops, any adult 21+ can enter to purchase cannabis. A cannabis delivery service allows consumers to place orders online or by phone and a driver will legally deliver marijuana direct to your door.
2. Manufacturing:
Cannabis product manufacturing can mean many things and is a very important and creative business.. Making and baking edibles and drinks, producing extracts and concentrates, vape cartridges, topicals, pre-rolls, bath bombs, suppositories and more. It all falls under manufacturing and without it we’d literally have no products to consume.
3. Distribution:
Distribution is a sometimes overlooked aspect of the industry but it’s also a vital one. Without distribution there’d be no way to get the cannabis products from the manufacturers to the dispensaries. Distribution centers require special licenses, transportation and insurance. Having a diverse menu and competitive pricing is a key factor.
4. Plant Cultivation:
Cultivation is what many people think of first when they think of the cannabis industry. Growing good flower is perhaps the most important factor in the cannabiz food chain. There’s indoor, outdoor, light deprivation and greenhouse to choose from and each had their advantages. Organic, pesticide free plants from good seeds are the new standard.
5. Technology:
The modern marijuana world uses a lot of technology. Lights used for indoor growing, concentrate extraction machines, terpene reintroduction and distillation equipment, complex watering systems, pre-roll production machines, vape cartridge filling and capping devices, plus anything and everything you can think of for a large kitchen.
6. Ancillary:
Ancillary is defined as: providing necessary support to the primary activities of an industry. So that’s pipes, bongs, vaporizers, batteries, roach clips, wraps, papers and all other smoking devices, as well as clothing, jewelry, artwork and packaging. This category also includes media, software, events, security, accounting, payment processing, and your lobbyists and attorneys too.
7. CBD:
CBD, or cannabidiol, is the second most popular cannabinoid after THC. It’s non-psychoactive but is responsible for much of the medicinal qualities of medical marijuana. CBD can be derived from hemp and is mostly legal in every state, so almost anything that can be made with THC can also be made using CBD, so many things are possible.
- Patrick Ian Moore