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Cannabis Market Matures Despite Uneasy Footing

What follows includes some sweeping generalizations that don’t apply universally.

Matt Reynolds1

But if you squint your eyes enough to blur the notable exceptions, and take the market in aggregate, what swims into view can only be described as quickly increasing sophistication in cannabis packaging.

The first wave of states to decriminalize or outright legalize recreational cannabis, namely the contiguous Pacific states plus Nevada and Colorado, haven’t transitioned the marijuana plant into your typical, CPG-style, branded commodity without their share of setbacks. Previously existing (read black) markets persist, and over-licensing flooded the market with product and drove prices down. Save perhaps for Nevada, today those markets are drum-tight after the initial vacuum and rush to hang out a shingle. They remain extremely fragmented even within each state, characterized by a wide array of small brands with a few employees—each specializing in vape, edibles, pre-rolls, or flower, and each clinging to a narrow patch of market share. As it stands, there’s little foot-in-the-door share to be earned by newer cannabis brand interlopers, at least not until federal laws level the playing field.

That first wave entered the recently legalized recreational marketplace well-versed in the plant’s cultivation, genetics, processing, and other elements at the start of the supply chain. But since there hadn’t been an open and legal marketplace for the product before, elements just a little downstream—packaging materials, packaging automation, marketing, logistics, and regulation—were ill-defined and in flux. Again, this is a generalization, but the first brands were often helmed by career changers or enthusiasts looking to turn their knowledge base, background, or hobby into a career.

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