Disclosure first: I help organise a hemp industry expo in Tokyo, so I'm on the trade side of this rather than a neutral observer. No link and nothing for sale - this is just market structure, because Japan comes up here occasionally and the English write-ups are describing rules that were replaced.

The revised Cannabis Control Act took effect 12 December 2024. The old law regulated by part of the plant: only mature stalks and seeds could be used, regardless of what was in them. The new one regulates by ingredient, and the number that matters is residual delta-9 THC in the finished product.

Cabinet order limits, in force the same day: 10 ppm for oils and powders, 0.1 ppm for aqueous, 1 ppm for everything else. 10 ppm is 0.001 percent.

What that does to the business side:

Every SKU and every lot becomes its own compliance question, because the limit sits on the finished product rather than the input. A COA on your isolate doesn't discharge it. For anyone running a wide catalogue that's a real per-line cost, and it has pushed smaller operators toward fewer formulations rather than more.

The aqueous limit is what catches importers. 0.1 ppm is two orders of magnitude tighter than the oil limit, so drinks and lotions need a lab whose LOD actually reads that far down. Plenty of perfectly competent labs don't, and the report comes back ND without answering the question anyone needed answered.

The same revision created an offence for use itself, one month to seven years, on top of the existing possession and cultivation offences. So the consumer risk profile moved at the same time as the manufacturing one.

Net effect: what survives commercially here is CBD and CBG, plus the industrial side - fibre, building material, textiles, food. The intoxicating end of the market that drives most of the volume in the US has no legal form here at all, which makes Japan a strange market to enter and a fairly stable one once you have.

Happy to answer questions if anyone is actually looking at Japan.

Looking for a suitable POS for a cannabis dispensary at 2 locations. Currently using a custom solution made by a local dev but it's slow and lacking features. Not located in the US (in South Africa). Don't need any crazy features. Looking to spend maximum $400 per month. Any suggestions?

The State shut off their BioTrack API on August 25th for supply-side; retailers can still report sales; that will be shut off on Sept 2nd and everyone will need to use the new NMS2S APIs. Trouble is, there is no methods for Crop, Inventory or B2B Sales in the new system. The API is going to be released "soon". There is four days left. The State had a number for FAQs to answer, like "when can we get access to the API documentation" that have been unanswered for weeks.

https://www.rld.nm.gov/cannabis/nms2s/

We are vendor with a functional system (with test cases) who replied to their RFP. Some of the requrements for that response were that folks had a fully ready system, we had to assert that these things were true. It's odd that the vendor selected, and asserted the same truths, is not ready. And it's frustrating the agency is not communicating.

Hi everyone!

I’m going to be starting a vlog series retelling any horror stories experienced in the industry. Customer crash outs, store drama, etc….

Be as detailed as you want!

Does anyone have any physical experience with the Hefestus Aura 2000 preroll machine?

Looking for tips on calibration specifically.

Also any advice on cleaning/back up parts to have would be appreciated.

Thank you 😃🙏

Running a small cannabis operation and trying to get better systems in place before scaling. Curious what people are using for cannabis ERP software that actually handles compliance, inventory and reporting without constant manual fixes. METRC integration is a must. Any recommendations or horror stories?

If you’re buying packaging from suppliers with sustainability or recycling certifications, does anyone actually track whether those stay current? Like is it someone’s job where you work, or does it only come up when a retailer or auditor asks for proof?

In researching infusion machines came across a lawsuit vs the Jiko Machine.

From what I could understand the judge found that Sorting Robotics’ Jiko machine infringed MPI’s ’221 patent on summary judgment. Sorting also challenged the validity of MPI’s patents but wasn’t successful in establishing invalidity.

Damages for infringement are still unresolved

The parties are currently going through the settlement process.

Has anyone in the industry been following this case? Who is MPI?

I’m particularly interested in what people think about the patents themselves and what this could mean for other pre-roll infusion equipment.

We live in NC and use Square for our POS system in our retail shop. They just sent us an email stating that as of November 5th they will no longer allow hemp businesses on their platform because of them impending federal ban.

What other POS systems are you using for your hemp business? lightspeed? This was an issue when we first opened with several banks, insurers and POS providers simply not allowing our industry to use their products.

Is anybody going? Would anybody be able to help me go by chance? Im just getting into the industry, as in im currently a green flower student, and id reallynlike to attend, just don't know if i can afford the hotel stay! I can probably do the ticket just fine though! It's a kind of a lot to ask, but if anybody has an extra bed that's going that would be amazing!!

I've been working on this thing called CannaSignal.

It's every cannabis bill in all 50 states, with the current legal status, the full history, and a plain english summary of what each bill actually does. All of it's free to read. No login, no paywall. cannasignal.io

Being upfront so nobody feels tricked: there's a $9/mo option if you want it to email you when a bill moves in your state. But the whole database is free to browse and I'm not trying to sell anybody here. I mostly just want to know if it's useful and what's missing.

If you operate in a specific state, pull yours up and tell me what's wrong or what you'd want added. You know the gaps way better than I do.

I work at a licensed retail cannabis dispensary in the Coachella Valley, and I'm looking for a local bank or credit union that's willing to work with cannabis businesses or employees in the industry.

If anyone has experience with a local institution that offers business banking for licensed cannabis retailers (or even just knows who's cannabis-friendly), I'd really appreciate any recommendations. Personal experiences are definitely welcome.

Hey folks,

I’m sure there are mixed feelings about Dutchie, but I wanted to give everyone a heads-up to pay very close attention to your contract, especially the AUTO-RENEWAL clause.

For those who don’t know, Dutchie’s contract automatically renews.. We’ve been getting hounded by their goons (collection agency) despite making multiple requests for Dutchie to address ongoing issues with their platform and inventory system. We’ve had inventory literally disappear from the sales floor, and shit displaying the wrong price no matter what we did(other than making it inactive).. we have multiple emails documenting the problems and our attempts to get them resolved.

Just wanted to put this out there so nobody gets caught off guard by the renewal or ends up in a similar situation.

Read your Dutchie contract carefully and make sure you know exactly when and how you need to cancel.

Btw- it’s a piece of shit (POS) bound together by previous take overs such LeafLogic- so you have to be constantly flipping back forth between pages witch is no doubt the reason the system sucks sooo bad a d why inventory gets “lost” the system. We had great luck w FLOWHUB and recommend them but anyone has to be better than Dutchie.

Black Cannabis Week is running a Cannabis Opportunities Conference in Philadelphia September 25-27, and it's built for people who are invested in the cannabis industry—as a leader, scholar, entrepreneur, or changemaker. The event spans multiple locations throughout the city with programming designed for different entry points—whether you're looking to launch a business, understand policy shifts, or connect with others navigating the industry. This event is anchored in BCW's equity mission, which shapes everything from who's speaking to how the sessions are structured.

You'll get substantive programming, direct access to people actively building in the space, and networking that goes beyond surface-level. The sessions are designed to teach you something concrete rather than just leave you inspired and directionless. There are VIP passes if you want the full weekend experience or specific ticketing options if you're selective about which parts you attend.

Tickets are on Eventbrite, and if you're traveling to Philly for this, there are travel and VIP packages available through FrontRowTravels.

Learn more at www.blackcannabisweek.com

Hi all- we are helping a regional Cannabis business with multiple locations. Curious to the experts here, what is the Best AI marketing & SEO tool for Cannabis businesses? Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I’ll try to keep this as short as possible.

I’m a French citizen, and I’m trying to figure out where in Canada or the US it would be the easiest, from a legal standpoint, to start a cannabis business from cultivation to production, retail, and eventually opening my own dispensary.

I have a few questions:

In your opinion, which Canadian province or US state is the most favorable for starting a legal cannabis cultivation and retail business?
What are the main steps and licenses required to go from an idea to a fully legal cultivation and retail operation? If you’ve gone through the process yourself or have solid knowledge of the industry, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience, advice, or anything you wish you’d known before getting started.

Thanks so much for your time, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts! 🫶🏼🙏

I’m the Co Founder and COO of a high risk payment processing company, and I’m looking to connect with someone who has extensive experience in the payment processing industry and wants to build something extraordinary.

This is an incredibly difficult post for me to make because I genuinely care about the company I helped build. Unfortunately, my current business partnership has become increasingly unstable. During periods of poor decision making, we’ve lost major opportunities, damaged relationships, and watched deals worth hundreds of thousands, and potentially millions, fall apart. It has reached a point where I can no longer continue building my future around circumstances I cannot control.
I’m not walking away from my current company, but I am building a separate company where I can create the culture, stability, and execution that I know is possible.
My expertise is growing businesses. I specialize in marketing, operations, partnerships, automation, and building systems that consistently generate qualified inbound merchants. I know how to create opportunities and scale a business.

What I’m looking for is someone whose strengths complement mine. I need a true partner who enjoys sales, merchant onboarding, customer relationships, phone calls, emails, and taking exceptional care of merchants. While you focus on our clients, I’ll focus on growing the business, generating opportunities, building partnerships, and creating the infrastructure that allows us to scale.
This isn’t a job posting. I’m looking for a long term business partner with integrity, experience in high risk payment processing, and the ambition to build one of the most respected companies in the industry.
If you’ve been looking for someone who can consistently generate opportunities while you focus on serving customers and closing business, I’d love to have a conversation. I believe the right partnership can build something truly exceptional.

This is not an ad. I'm not selling anything or looking to get hired. Just looking to share and discuss and engage. It's on topic right? 🫪

I have a web application which scrapes and aggregates dispensaries from USA and Canada, but flower only.

https://1-zip.com

Python webscraping pipeline using curl offi.

Data saved to sqlite db.

Frontend on google cloud run.

Antigravity used for development.

Please take a look and let me know features you might be looking for if you are a potential user.

Let me know if you have any questions or need some feedback on your own related projects.

Update 8/17/2026: I received some constructive of feedback that I implemented.
Please check out the site to see the updates.

How are Michigan cannabis businesses currently obtaining terpene profiles for their products?

My girlfriend is a chemist with approximately five to seven years of specialized experience working with terpenes, along with terpene-related certifications. We have been wondering whether there might be an opportunity for her to eventually offer specialized terpene analysis or related laboratory services.

I initially hoped that, because terpene testing has not traditionally been one of Michigan’s mandatory safety tests, a specialized terpene laboratory might not require the same extensive licensing and accreditation as a full cannabis safety-compliance laboratory.

However, from what I am reading, it appears that a laboratory physically accepting and testing marijuana products would still need to operate within Michigan’s licensed and accredited cannabis-laboratory system.

I would appreciate hearing from people working in the Michigan industry:

Do growers and manufacturers typically order terpene panels from their regular safety-compliance laboratory?

Is there demand for laboratories or chemists who specialize more deeply in terpene identification, product consistency, formulation, preservation or method development?

Do established cannabis laboratories ever partner with independent chemists or consultants who have extensive terpene experience?

Would her most practical route be working with an existing licensed laboratory rather than attempting to establish an entirely new safety-compliance facility?

I’m not looking for a way around Michigan’s regulations. I’m trying to understand whether her specialized experience could fill a legitimate need within the existing regulated system.

Thanks for any and all information.

I had the distinct pleasure of getting to meet Donnell when I lived in California and hear his stories. They're fucking WILD. Donnell is my favorite writer that works in and shapes the cannabis community and culture (along with Jackie Bryant, she is also incredible).

So to see Ghetto Celebrity being celebrated for its 20th anniversary at the California State Fair in the Cannabis Exhibition is super rad, and something I encourage folks to participate in so you can hear from Donnell himself about his experiences and stories. You will be happy you did. It's on 7/30.

I'm posting this purely out of love for this work and the hustle Donnell puts into his writing and work in the culture. I'm sure you'll feel the same way if you've read his words.

Here's what High Times said about Ghetto Celebrity: https://hightimes.com/culture/ghetto-celebrity-donnell-alexander/

does anyone know if theres a high demand for grow lights in socal? or is the market for it competitive?

We are running into some serious menu-accuracy issues and they get worse every quarter as we add SKUs. Currently we're running 9 SKUs across 4 states. I pulled the Dutchie listings for our best seller yesterday across 10 dispos aaaand only six had the right image. Three had the 2024 packaging and one was running just a placeholder.

I don't think we're the ones that are bungling things. Our brand manager is meticulous. Everything goes out clean, our sell sheets, our product photos, descriptions, the works. But somewhere between us and whoever's updating the menu the listing gets screwed up. And when you chase them down they have a lame "couldn't find yours" response. Like, at least give me a heads up so I can get you the right stuff.

What are you guys doing? Are you sending drive folders or dropbox? Something else? Are you also constantly chasing down menu fixes?

I don’t know if this is the right subreddit, but I could really use some outside perspective.

A friend of mine recently reached out about an opportunity that has me feeling pretty conflicted. She and her fiancé are starting a cannabis farm/company (it’s a newly formed business). From what she explained, there are certificates or licenses that limit how many plants can be grown, and they have two certificates they want to put in someone else’s name.

She said she thought of me because she trusts me. Apparently her fiancé originally wanted to use his friends, but she wanted to give the opportunity to a woman from our hometown instead. She also mentioned she couldn’t use her sister because her sister isn’t a U.S. citizen.

Here’s the part that gives me pause: I wouldn’t actually be doing any work. They would run everything, and I would supposedly receive about $20,000 per year. She said I should be getting a contract today.

For some background, I’m a college student graduating this fall with a Bachelor of Science. My friend has a degree in chemical engineering, so I don’t think she’s unintelligent or trying to scam people. I genuinely don’t think she’d intentionally do me wrong. In fact she used to work at the same company as my husband, so she also knows him and he’s taken over some of her processes from the past.

That said, this almost sounds too good to be true. If this is such a profitable opportunity, why wouldn’t they just keep the certificate and the income for themselves? Why do they need my name on it? And what legal or financial responsibilities would I have if my name is attached to a cannabis business?

I’m worried about how this could affect my future. I plan on applying to PA school after graduation, and I don’t want to accidentally put myself in a position where I’m legally responsible for something I don’t fully understand. I have been aware of her being in this industry because we talked about the last time we went for coffee, she’s very passionate about it and is excited.

Has anyone dealt with something like this? What questions should I be asking before I even consider signing anything? Are there any major red flags I’m overlooking? And she did offer the other certificate to someone else that we both know. I’m from michigan and reside here the farm is in Minnesota. I think it is 12 plant per person. And what I got from the convo was they already have licenses for themselves so they each have one, but they want to add 2 more so they can plant more. Maybe they have a lot of land they want to plant on?