BRIAN HOLLER / THE ARCHIVE
Cannabis Business & Markets
Reporting, observations, and practical ideas from business, cannabis, media, culture, and the places they meet.
Cheech & Chong’s Modern Cannabis Portfolio Proves the Name Is Marketing—the Label Is the Chemistry
Cheech & Chong’s current portfolio spans hemp-derived THC gummies, drinks, flower and vapes, but the useful consumer lesson is simpler: strain names and effect labels are branding. Potency,…
Athletes and Cannabis: Testing Reform Is Not the Same as Business Freedom
Professional sports increasingly separate cannabis testing, health policy, endorsements and investment rights. For athletes, normalization in one category does not automatically create freedom in the others.
THC Drinks Are a Billion-Dollar Distribution Fight With a November 12 Federal Deadline
Federal law is set to narrow the hemp definition on November 12, threatening much of today’s hemp-derived THC beverage market while alcohol producers and distributors fight over what…
Dispensaries Can Lift Nearby Commerce. The Illinois Data Shows Who Benefits—and Who Doesn’t.
An Illinois working paper links recreational dispensary openings to more nearby customers, transactions and revenue. The spillovers are real in the study—but uneven by business type, ownership and…
Cronos’ 54% Margin Is the Headline. The Cost Structure Is the Story.
Cronos’ Q2 2026 margin was exceptional. The more durable question is whether GrowCo throughput, genetics, fixed-cost absorption and disciplined capital allocation can survive ordinary weather and lower cannabis…
Cannabis Prices Will Keep Falling. Build the Business for That Market.
Cannabis price compression is a predictable feature of maturing legal markets. The operator response is not hoping prices recover—it is building unit economics that still work after scarcity…
What Happens to Your Marketing When One Channel Goes Quiet?
Stress-test marketing continuity by removing your strongest channel, checking the destination and handoffs, testing an alternate route and protecting the assets needed to keep operating.
What Cannabis Can Teach Every Business About Operating Under Constraints
Operating under constraints means putting regulation, capital, distribution and other real limits inside the strategy—then building economics, systems and optionality around them.
Vireo Went From 15% to 8.5% and That Is the Whole Story
Vireo’s refinancing from roughly 15% debt to 8.5% shows how dramatically the cost of capital can change cannabis economics. The operator lesson is not the headline rate—it is…
Bedrocan Is Bankrupt and the Dutch Medical Monopoly Is Over
Bedrocan’s bankruptcy ended a long-running Dutch medical cannabis monopoly and exposed a broader lesson about protected markets: exclusivity can create stability, but it can also concentrate operational risk…
The Price War Is Really a Licensing War
Cannabis price compression is not just a demand story. Licensing structure, supply access and market design help determine where the price floor lands—and who can survive when it…
Rescheduling Is a Starting Gun, Not a Finish Line
Cannabis rescheduling matters less as a ceremonial finish line than as a change in the risk model institutional capital uses. Financing, compliance and implementation determine whether policy becomes…
Beard Bros and British Cannabis Join Forces Across Three Markets
Partnerships can expand a company into new markets without rebuilding every capability from scratch, combining local access, existing infrastructure and complementary strengths while reducing expansion risk.
Tilray Hit Record Revenue While Its Cannabis Business Shrank
Tilray’s record company revenue came with a weaker cannabis business, a reminder that diversification can grow the top line while the original operating engine shrinks.
Hoodie’s LA County Market Spotlight: Flat at the Top, Hungry Below
LA County cannabis data shows a mature market where total size can hide radically different operator realities. Brian Holler on flat category growth, store-level performance and why market…
Dispensaries Should Not Have to Become Logistics Companies. Drop Is Betting on It
When should a retailer build a capability versus partner for it? Keep work that creates customer advantage; outsource complexity that adds cost without strategic differentiation.
Curaleaf Just Raised Its Aurora Bid 25 Percent to $5 a Share. Here Is the Operator Playbook
Curaleaf’s higher Aurora bid is less interesting as deal theater than as an operator lesson in acquisition discipline: price, financing, strategic fit and integration determine whether buying growth…
The Vendor Test Every Cannabis Operator Should Run Before Signing
Evaluate the vendor relationship you will actually receive: define the job first, test adaptability, meet the delivery team, inspect handoffs and exit terms, and score operating fit instead…
Are Florida Medical Cannabis Operators Looking to Exit the $2 Billion Market?
Florida’s falling medical-cannabis license values show why headline market size and license economics are different things. Capital intensity, vertical integration and operating reality can erase scarcity value faster…
Why (and How) Dispensary Owners Should Join Their Staff on the Floor
Retail leaders need frontline proximity. Time on the dispensary floor adds context to the numbers, surfaces recurring friction and helps leadership understand the work without micromanaging it.
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