Over the past few months, California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) has been issuing annual licenses to industry operators throughout the supply chain. This means a couple of things: 

Everybody knows 420 is the biggest day of the year in cannabis, right? Wrong. This year, Hall of Flowers, the nation’s largest brand expo, blew it out of the water. So how did the holiest of high holidays take a back seat to the brand event people are calling the Cannes of Cannabis? We’ll let the numbers do the talking.

Back in January of last year, California’s cannabis industry braced themselves as METRC’s 6-month emergency regulations took effect. Then, as July 1st neared, and the introductory window came to a close, the industry held their breath in anticipation of the state’s track and trace system (CCTT) coming online in full force. But instead of awarding operators with their permanent annual licenses as expected, the state decided to issue blanket extensions to all temporary license holders instead — and did this repeatedly until the end of 2018.