Starting a cannabis company in Pennsylvania? We’ve put together a state-specific guide covering everything from available license types to fees, requirements, and what you should include in a Pennsylvania cannabis business plan. Jump to a section by clicking below, or go straight to our sample cannabis business plan.
Since Senate bill 3 passed in 2016, Pennsylvania adults can possess a 30-day supply of cannabis if they have a recommendation from a doctor who has registered with Pennsylvania and taken a required course. However, it’s illegal to sell marijuana flower or edibles, or to grow marijuana at home. This could be changing in the future, though, since there have been product shortages, and smokable flower could become legal. About 528,000 patients have registered for medical marijuana use in Pennsylvania, and total sales from medical dispensaries in the state could reach $900 million in 2018.
Pennsylvania issues licenses for two broad categories of medical cannabis businesses: dispensaries and grower/processors.
Dispensary: This is a retail storefront where patients can purchase marijuana. In Pennsylvania, you can open three storefronts with a dispensary license. Dispensary business license holders have to track their cannabis every step of the way, from buying it from a grower/processor to selling it to the consumer--including ID verification.
Grower/processor: These businesses grow cannabis plants indoors, then process and/or create products such as creams or gels and sell them to dispensaries. Pennsylvania growers/processors have to use a seed-to-sale cannabis tracking system, as well as keep a daily inventory log. They also have to get their medical marijuana tested by an independent lab.
Independent labs have to be approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Health but not licensed. (Here’s the application to become an approved cannabis testing lab.)
If you don’t want to grow or sell cannabis in Pennsylvania, there are plenty of other ways to be part of the booming cannabis industry. You can create a marijuana app, payment processing service, advertising agency, consulting firm, pest management product, accounting firm, automated plant watering system, security service, packaging labeling service, or legal firm--and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
Pennsylvania communities can’t block licensed dispensaries or grow operations, but that doesn’t mean all local governments look on it favorably--or that you can ignore zoning laws. Check your city and county regulations.
Application fees: Dispensaries must pay a $5,000 application fee. It’s $10,000 for growers/processors.
License fees: A new license for a grower/processor is a steep $200,000 ($10,000 to renew). It’s $30,000 per new dispensary location ($5,000 to renew).
Tracking: Dispensaries and growers/processors have to use an electronic system to track your inventory daily, and state officials have to be able to access it. You also have to track security, surveillance, record-keeping, delivery and transport, sales, purchasing, processing, and more.
Medical presence: A doctor or pharmacist has to be on dispensary premises during operating hours.
Criminal record check: Medical marijuana business owners, financial backers, employees, and volunteers all have to get fingerprinted and undergo a criminal history record check to see if you’ve been convicted of anything related to selling or possessing illegal drugs.
Financial requirements: If you’re applying for a grower/processor license, you have to have at least $2 million, and at least $500,000 of that has to be in a bank. If you’re applying for a dispensary license, you only have to have $150,000, all of which must be in the bank. (See section 606 here.)
A business plan is not required to get a medical marijuana business license in Pennsylvania, but it will certainly make the process easier. Your application already has to include a description of responsibilities and business activities, how you’ll track plant waste, and how you’ll recall defective marijuana. Plus, you have to convince reviewers you can maintain systems for security, surveillance, tracking, and record-keeping. Much of that naturally overlaps with a business plan--and if you plan on raising funding from investors, you definitely need a business plan.
Google your city or municipality name and “cannabis regulations” or “marijuana laws.” (Here’s some info for Pittsburgh.) If your city or municipality’s website doesn’t have information about cannabis, contact your city clerk, city manager, or town hall.
Confused or overwhelmed yet? That’s normal. With such a highly regulated industry, and one with different rules in every state, starting a cannabis company can be very complex. Get help with your cannabis business plan from Masterplans, the industry leaders. We’ve worked with hundreds of cannabis entrepreneurs like yourself to create investor-ready documents and presentations so you can not only meet regulations but get the funding you need. Click below for your free, confidential consultation: