Business & Strategy

The transferred assets include 24 dispensaries in Colorado, 21 dispensaries in New Mexico, and one manufacturing facility in each state.

As cannabis retailers expand, employee turnover can reveal where leadership systems need more support. A human-resources expert explores how stronger onboarding, clearer expectations, better management training, and more consistent HR processes can improve retention. Framing retention as an operational issue instead of a hiring challenge gives operators something they can address directly, helping teams build healthier workplaces, reduce compliance risk, and scale more sustainably.

When Sam and Joe Hachey secured one of Alaska’s first adult-use cultivation licenses in 2016, they had a bare warehouse, a tiny budget, and a refusal to slow down. Nine years later, Tanana Herb Company has transformed into a 48,000-square-foot powerhouse in Fairbanks. From navigating white-out blizzards to "playing chicken" with local moose, the Hachey brothers built their success the hard way: with their own hands and zero outside investors.

Women have always been part of the cannabis industry, but their influence is becoming harder to ignore as the business matures. From cultivation and compliance to operations and the executive suite, more women are stepping into pivotal roles and bringing leadership grounded in competence, collaboration, and long-term thinking. In a sector shaped by regulation, rapid change, and high stakes, those qualities are not soft skills. They are strategic advantages.

As the cannabis industry faces regulatory delays, capital constraints, and renewed political resistance, the Most Influential Executives of Cannabis Awards is expanding nationwide in 2026. What began as a local recognition program now aims to spotlight the executives whose grit, leadership, and staying power are helping professionalize the industry and strengthen its legitimacy.

Many cannabis businesses are running on tactics — a social campaign here, a marketing calendar there — and calling it strategy. There’s a meaningful difference, and closing that gap is where growth becomes intentional rather than accidental. The starting point isn’t a bigger budget or a better agency. It’s a clearer picture of your customer: who they are, how they make decisions, and where they’re actually being influenced.

Schedule III could reduce the tax drag that has warped cannabis operating models for years, but it won’t be a universal win. The real advantage will go to operators who treat post-280E relief as a catalyst: moving faster, tightening inventory and receivables, stress-testing pricing and production, and getting books “deal-ready” before M&A velocity spikes. In the gap between improved economics and slower-moving capital markets, preparedness becomes market power.

Only about 39 percent of cannabis workers participate in workplace retirement plans — about 18 points below the U.S. rate — and even auto-enrollment isn’t fixing the gap. A new cannabis-only report analyzing 140 plans across 420+ entities found opt-out rates near one in three among automatically enrolled employees, despite sophisticated plan design and meaningful employer contributions. The problem is less about plan features and more about worker realities.

CHICAGO and VANCOUVER, Canada -- Green Thumb Industries Inc. increased its existing syndicated credit facility led by Valley National Bank by $50 million, bringing the...

AI and search engines now prioritize authority over keyword rank. Learn how cannabis brands can gain lasting visibility through editorial validation, third-party trust, and strategic content placement beyond traditional SEO.