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Are you someone who has been wanting to get involved with the cannabis industry, but have numerous questions on how to get started? You're in the right place, our team of experts are here to answer your questions!
How do I get started with obtaining a medical or recreational cannabis license?
1. Real estate is the first and sometimes most important function of launching a successful cannabis company. Securing property that is suited for your business and complies with varying state and local regulations is a critical and often competitive first step that we can help with via our Location Assistance service.
2. Business planning must be completed early in the process to ensure you have the team of personnel, brand, corporate structure, funding and operational fundamentals in place to comply with state and local licensing requirements.
3. State and local license application processes can run in parallel or in order, depending on the jurisdiction. We project-manage your license applications from end-to-end and ensure that all requirements and deadlines are met. We facilitate and guide all of the moving pieces of an application, including background checks, operating procedures, site and security plans, safety and compliance.
4. Management plan and staffing. The key members of your team must be aligned, with clear roles and responsibilities, and have the ability to meet licensing requirements and pass background checks. We help you understand what are the critical components of your management team and help you build it. We also create full staffing plans to ensure you can recruit, hire and train the right personnel for the right roles in your operation.
5. The licensing process doesn’t truly conclude until you have a Certificate of Occupancy and are ready to begin operations. There is a long way to go to even reach that starting line; we help you design and build your facility to ensure successful operations, whether that be retail, cultivation, manufacturing or testing.
How does each state determine how many licenses are in each category?
States often perform some sort of market analysis to understand what supply and demand of cannabis will look like within their proposed regulatory frameworks. However, the decisions are not always data-driven and politics always play a role. Ultimately, state policies vary widely about whether or not to restrict/limit the number of licenses and how much control they give to their local jurisdictions to do the same. We will help you navigate the licensing landscape no matter where your businesses are located.
What are some of the biggest errors or troubles people face when seeking a cannabis license?
1. Not securing real estate that both complies with state and local regulations but also is affordable and suitable for operational success.
2. Not establishing a functioning management team that understands the regulations and how to comply with them.
3. Not securing and managing funding, overlooking important corporate structure and legal issues, and failing to develop written procedures that actually apply to how the business will operate.
4. Not establishing a comprehensive design-build plan for the facility that addresses the critical functions of the operation.
How do people know when they need help from another party in obtaining a medical or recreational cannabis license?
The licensing process can sometimes feel like a deconstruction of your business plan. You have to organize and coordinate various operations such as real estate, financing, leadership and personnel, branding and marketing, budgeting and forecasting, design and construction, safety, security, operating procedures and training, not to mention legal and compliance!
If you are having trouble managing the moving pieces and keeping them on track, our team of experts at PGC here to help make the process flow seamlessly.
For more than a decade, our team has been moving the emerging industry forward by providing expertise in cannabis business operations, licensing and compliance.