The US cannabis industry is becoming saturated too quickly across the country
Falling prices in the marijuana industry have marijuana growers calling for a moratorium on licensing in mature jurisdictions. As time goes on, there are more and more calls among the cannabis growing community to stop licensing new cultivation businesses. This is usually the case where recreational cannabis is well established, but with headwinds, growers would like to have less competition.
Regulators and legislators in those states are being called upon by marijuana growers to help them in their ongoing financial struggle. As is well known, there is an overproduction of flower and this, coupled with low prices on the wholesale market, is enough of an obstacle for established growers to overcome on a daily basis.
Many of them claim that overproduction prevents them from surviving as marijuana growers. Others claim that artificial controls, such as licensing moratoriums, stifle competition and prevent the market from taking its natural course.
“We cultivate and certainly want to see the free market do its work,” said John McLeod, co-founder and head of markets at Cloud Cannabis Co, a vertically integrated cannabis company based in Tory, Michigan. “We think that people putting out the best product will be able to be successful. But we also don’t want to see people fail.”
In early 2022, Oregon greenlighted a bill requiring regulators to stop issuing commercial marijuana licenses to applicants who have submitted applications once the year began. This has served as an example for states like Michigan and Colorado, where pressure is building to enact a moratorium that would prevent their own regulators from continuing to approve new cultivation licenses.