Marijuana Business Magazine February 2019

February 2019 | mjbizdaily.com 35 It’s yet to be seen if the system— Metrc, the same software program used by Colorado marijuana regula- tors, among others—will prove to be useful and bug-free, or if just getting thousands of companies to use the program will present big hurdles. Supply Chain Shakeout As annual licensing progresses, there’s also likely to be a good num- ber of companies that won’t make the cut, even though they obtained temporary licenses, operated in 2018 and even got products to market. There are any number of potentially fatal pitfalls: problems complying with environmental regulations, zon- ing or premises issues that cause an application to fail. One thing I’ve heard consistently is that there will be winners and losers in the licensing arena, with some surviving and some falling by the wayside. It’s a question of numbers and how much market share will be won by those who survive. More Markets Opening On a positive business note, one of the developments expected in 2019 is the opening of new, fully legal mar- kets in California. The biggest and most obvious is Los Angeles, which is expected to open its third round of cannabis licensing in the spring. That will allow members of the general public to apply for business permits for the first time (the first two rounds were reserved for existing companies that proved they had been operating for years). The change could mean hundreds of new license opportunities in that city alone. And there will probably be others, scattered across the state, where the market is expanding and allowing more companies to enter the cannabis sector. One thing time has shown in more mature marijuana markets: Municipal and county officials tend to relax their anti-MJ attitudes over time as they realize the sky hasn’t fallen with legalization. And that realization often morphs into the desire for more tax revenue, which, in turn, leads to more business licensing opportunities. All of this adds up to one clear mes- sage: more big changes for California in 2019. Whether they’re for good or ill has yet to be seen, but change is coming, while stability may be a few years away. John Schroyer is a senior reporter at Marijuana Business Daily based in Sacramento, California. Reach him at johns@mjbizdaily.com . Cannabis Business Brokers Experts in all aspects of buying and selling marijuana businesses Cannabis-Business-Brokers.com CA License #02064427 Tel Karen : 949-280-3092