More information on starting cannabis businesses will be coming soon from the Department of Consumer Protection, which will be responsible for licensing the new businesses. Given the anticipated volume of applications, the department will conduct periodic lotteries to determine which applications to consider first. These lotteries are expected to continue for at least the first few years of the market. Half of the licenses will be reserved for social equity applicants, which are businesses that are 65 percent owned and controlled by individuals who lived for 5 of the last 10 years, or 9 of their first 18 years of life, in a disproportionately impacted area and have had an average household income of less than 300 percent of the state’s median household income over the last three years.
You may find more information about licensing costs, and the lottery process in other articles.