Vince Ning has a singular perspective on California's weed industry. He's the CEO and co-founder of Nabis, the state's largest pot distribution company, which interacts with every single pot retailer in the state. When Ning looks out across California's legal weed industry, he sees a market in long, drawn-out freefall.
"It's like a wave crashing in slow motion," Ning recently told SFGATE. "People thought the big crash was going to happen in 2022, and there was certainly a crash, but things continued to get worse in 2023. And we are still in 2024, and things aren't looking that much better."
The latest data confirms Ning's point of view, with signs of economic trouble nearly everywhere you look: Overall sales have been falling for the past two years. The number of legal cannabis growers and brands has decreased by more than 70% since legalization first went into effect, according to the Mercury News. A recent report found that pot companies owe the state more than $730 million in back taxes, money that California likely will never see as most of those companies have already folded.
Furthermore, very few new farms are opening, even in places like Humboldt County, the original capital of cannabis cultivation in California. Overall employment in the legal industry is also falling. Even the sacred mantra of California's cannabis market — that it's the largest legal market for weed in the world — is at risk, as Michigan now sells more cannabis products per month than California.
Read more at sfgate.com