Maryland regulators received over 1,700 applications during a 30-day window from those seeking to receive a social equity marijuana business license.
Maryland legalized marijuana earlier this year, with sales beginning July 1. Up until now, only outlets that were already serving medical marijuana patients are authorized to sell recreational marijuana, but that’s expected to change soon as the state begins the licensing process for new marijuana retail outlets and the growers and processors that will supply them.
The Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA) opened a 30-day window from November 12 to December 12 seeking applicants for social equity cannabis business licenses (the first batch of marijuana licenses are going to “social equity” applicants who have been harmed by the war on drugs). MCA received 1,708 completed applications.
MCA must now pick 179 of these 1,708 to receive licenses, split as follows:
- Standard Dispensary: 716 applicants – 75 licenses available
- Micro Dispensary: 264 applicants – 8 licenses available
- Standard Grower: 217 applicants – 16 licenses available
- Micro Grower: 286 applicants – 24 licenses available
- Standard Processor: 115 applicants – 32 licenses available
- Micro Processor: 110 applicants – 24 licenses available
“The large volume of applications submitted prior to yesterday’s deadline demonstrates the significant interest in the cannabis industry in Maryland,” said Maryland Cannabis Administration Acting Director Will Tilburg. It is also a testament to the comprehensive outreach and education efforts made by the Administration and our partners at the Office of Social Equity to potential social equity applicants.”
Montgomery County (104), Prince George’s County (99), Baltimore County (83), Baltimore City (72) and Anne Arundel County (71) were the jurisdictions that received the largest number of standard dispensary applications, comprising more than half of statewide total.
A total of 1,441 applicants, or 84% of all submissions, self-reported that they were minority- and women-owned businesses. Of these, a total of 870 applicants self-reported they were black-owned businesses, Asian owners self-reported 268 submissions, and Hispanic or Latino owners self-reported 56 submissions.
Next Steps
The Maryland Cannabis Administration may award up to 179 licenses in this application round, and is now tasked with reviewing each application to determine whether it meets the minimum requirements for licensing. Any application that meets the minimum requirements will be placed into a lottery based on region or county, depending on the type of license. As part of the review process the Administration will verify any claims regarding social equity ownership and control made in the application. The Administration is working quickly to conduct a comprehensive review of each application and will provide an update to applicants in the coming weeks. All applicants will be notified of the status of their application upon completion of the review of all applications.
