In the next several months, the industry is expecting to welcome two additional recreational cannabis markets, both of which have had operating medicinal cannabis programs for a number of years. Nevada is expected to launch a temporary licensing program to officially allow recreational sales starting July 1, 2017. Meanwhile, the very first medical cannabis program in the United States, California, is expected to begin recreational sales early 2018. Neither of these states will be the first to make the switch from medical to recreational, but they do have the benefit of learning from the multiple states who have already made the transition. As a business owner, this isn’t as simple as, “Hey, I have a rec license, so now I can start selling rec.” You have to consider new data points that are required for compliance, new regulations in place that require you to alter your establishment premises, then figure out how to completely redo your workflows to stay compliant with the new structure. Let’s look at the history of this process and some of the challenges licensees have faced in making the switch.
Colorado was the first state to allow both…