Trust us. You’ve never had a more exciting email than the one saying your company is (finally) approved for a cannabis license. But getting there takes lots of work to navigate the labyrinth of laws, regulations and permits required from state and local agencies.

To be granted a license to operate a cannabis operation, you have to prove to the State that your business, your owners and managers, and your facility meet more than 300 separate standards for health, safety, security and transparency.

Are you ready to apply? See the checklist of required documentation and plans you need to complete your state application.

While the State may grant a license to applicants who are still developing some parts of their plan, licensees may not open a State-licensed facility without having all local permits, training and procedures in place. 

The most common cause of delay in licensing involves an applicant failing to obtain a local or state permit from agencies outside of the Cannabis Control Division, such as the State Engineer, Environment Department, Construction Industries Division, Fire Marshal and city zoning.

You need a customized license plan to build your application and operator’s manual for your plan to get you from seed-to-sale.

Our process and model policies and permit applications have been used by legacy medical cannabis companies and new adult-use applicants to license more than 150 facilities statewide.

Learn more about licensing with our FAQs and How-To Guide here.

You have a license. Now, how do you keep it?

When you spend all day just running your business, paperwork is always the last priority. But in the cannabis business, you don’t have that luxury.

Compliance comes with the territory in regulated businesses. When you applied for your license you promised the state (and locals) that you would implement certain standards and provide them unlimited access to your business to prove it. Compliance is your way of showing that you are following the rules — and weeding out the bad operators who undercut standards, damage the industry, and unfairly impact your ability to compete on a level playing field.

Our team members have worked as regulators and rulemakers writing the laws and rules you have to follow. 

At Weeds, we help startup and legacy operators with: Mock Inspections to prepare for state inspections, Designing training programs to meet regulatory standards, Creating compliance plans to respond to notice of violations to keep your license. 

Learn more about our Compliance services here.

Weeds. began as a collaboration of legacy medical cannabis operators and regulators tasked with building a new regulatory scheme for New Mexico’s State cannabis program. 

Our founders were appointed by the governor to chair and staff her New Mexico Marijuana Legalization Work Group, a task force of more than 20 regulators, legislators, patients and operators who studied regulation in every state and drafted a roadmap to a new regulation structure and best practices for State-level cannabis regulation.

That roadmap, including months of public hearings and data-driven analysis of market conditions and economic opportunity, became the framework for New Mexico’s new hybrid medical and adult-use licensing and compliance system. 

Today, we help medical and adult-use entrepreneurs navigate the ever changing rules of licensing and compliance and support state and local regulators looking to create regulations to ensure a safe and prosperous industry.

Learn more about our Public Policy work here.

The team behind Weeds was born from the Governor’s Marijuana Legalization Working Group which outlined a roadmap to transition from a medical-only to adult-use program. 

After legalization was signed into law, we saw an opportunity to help the state’s legacy medical LNPPs and new entrepreneurs prepare through licensing and compliance programs.

To date, we have helped to license more than 200 facilities around the state and assisted large and startup companies evaluate opportunities, respond to violations and citations, and build training and compliance programs to meet everchanging state and local rules.

Learn more about our services in the Services menu tab above.

In the Summer of 2023, Weeds was selected by the Texas Department of Public Safety to serve as the Subject Matter Expert (SME) to the agency and working group for changes to, including potential expansion of, the State’s low-THC medical cannabis program, the Compassionate Use Program (CUP).

Our work includes: 

• Review and report on current dispensing volumes and expected future growth including: CUP dispensing organization capacities, CUP product dispensed per specific time period(s), & CUP patient participation
• Assist with establishing data collection sources and methods to allow DPS to make data-driven policy decisions.
• Assist with establishing appropriate distinctions between active and inactive patients, physicians, and prescriptions
• Identify and recommend best practices for testing, and standardized packaging and labeling of CUP products
• Analyze and advise on the CUP licensing process, with emphasis on DPS requirements and evaluation criteria to include: Review of application process, Suggestions on evaluation criteria and scoring weights
• Provide a written report of advisory recommendations

Learn more from TX DPS by visiting the CUP Working Group and CUP program websites.