As more states adopt regulated marijuana programs, executives at licensed cannabis brands are seeking innovative ways to reach new markets.

Brand licensing, revenue-sharing, profit-sharing and franchising all are ways to circumvent restrictions on interstate commerce, said Avis Bulbulyan, CEO of California-based cannabis consulting firm Siva.

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“It’s all really licensing, it’s just how you go about it,” Bulbulyan told MJBizDaily.

“There are 50 different ways to split the fees.”

Under licensing arrangements, which tend to be rigid, licensees typically pay for the right to use – not own – a brand’s product or intellectual property.

Licensing often includes an upfront fee, and the licensee assumes most of the financial risk because they must pay the brand regardless of revenue performance.

However, some brands are

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2024 will go down as one of the quietest years for marijuana market launches.

The debut of Ohio’s adult-use retail market on Aug. 6 is the lone standout, in contrast to perennial market expansion that’s been a bedrock of the industry for more than a decade.

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Last year, by comparison, three states in the Northeast and Midwest launched recreational marijuana sales, while two in the Deep South began medical cannabis sales.

This year, Ohio became the 21st U.S. state to establish adult-use sales, following Maryland’s launch in July 2023 and Missouri’s debut in February 2023.

The gap of nearly one year between recreational market launches is believed to be the industry’s longest drought since the first wave of regulated, adult-use consumer access began in 2014.

“Insufficient funding for

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Members of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) voted to reduce most marijuana business license fees by 25% during a Thursday meeting.

With annual license fees ranging from $30,000 to $40,000, the regulatory agency will lose revenue totaling $147,500, AMCC spokesperson Brittany Peters told 1819 News.

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“It’s just a one-time reduction,” Peters said.

“They’ll return to the fee schedule that was adopted by the commission in 2022 after that.”

Several Alabama medical marijuana cultivators that won licenses in December 2023 asked for the fee reduction, arguing that operations are stalled by ongoing legal arguments about the licensing process.

Oral arguments are set for Jan. 13 in one medical marijuana-related lawsuit.

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“It costs a lot

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