Primary Sources
These are the most authoritative data sources available — direct from entities with legal authority to collect the data.
State Regulatory Agencies
Every state with a cannabis program publishes some combination of licensing data, tax revenue, sales figures, and enforcement actions. Quality and timeliness vary dramatically by state:
- Best: Colorado (DOR monthly reports), Illinois (IDFPR/DOR monthly reports with in-state/out-of-state split), Washington (LCB monthly data)
- Good: Oregon, Michigan, Nevada, Massachusetts, Arizona
- Limited: California (aggregated, delayed), New York (limited reporting during rollout), Florida (quarterly)
Federal Agencies
- DEA — scheduling status, enforcement data, rescheduling proceedings
- FDA — Epidiolex approval data, adverse event reports, enforcement actions on CBD claims
- IRS — 280E guidance, tax collection data
- Census Bureau — population, demographics, economic data for market sizing
- BLS — employment data, wage data, CPI
Public Company Filings
SEC filings (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K) and Canadian securities filings from publicly traded cannabis companies. These provide audited financial data including revenue, margins, store counts, geographic breakdowns, and management discussion of market conditions.
Key companies we track: Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries, Trulieve, Verano, TerrAscend, Columbia Care, Cresco Labs, Tilray, Canopy Growth.
Secondary Sources
Industry Research Firms
- Whitney Economics — operator profitability surveys, macroeconomic forecasts, market sizing (cited for 27.3% profitability figure, 90%+ forecast accuracy track record)
- Cannabis Benchmarks — wholesale pricing data, free weekly national spot index, state-level pricing subscriptions
- MJBiz Factbook — annual industry overview with state-by-state data
- BDSA — POS retail sales data from thousands of dispensaries (we reference their publicly released data and analysis, not their subscription platform)
- Headset — POS retail data with category and product-level detail (publicly released data only)
- Cannabiz Media — licensing database for license counts and contact information
Academic Research
- Penn State University cannabis tourism studies (Denver hotel revenue impact)
- Bayesian causal inference studies on hotel revenue
- NASEM (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine) health effects reports
- Published economic impact analyses in peer-reviewed journals
Tourism & Economic Development
- Destinations International Cannabis & Hemp Task Force
- State and local tourism board data (where available)
- Visit Oakland Cannabis Trail tracking data
- Visit Modesto CannaPass program data
What We Do Not Use
- Anonymous surveys with undisclosed methodology — cannabis industry press releases frequently cite surveys without disclosing sample size, methodology, or funding source
- Generic market research report projections — broad national/global market reports with projections that often lack transparent methodology
- Social media speculation — we monitor social signals for cultural trend detection but do not treat social media posts as data
Source Limitations
We are transparent about what cannabis data cannot tell you:
- No state publishes cannabis business failure rates or survival statistics
- Illicit market sizing is inherently estimated, not measured
- Private company financials are not publicly available and must be estimated
- Tourism economic impact data for cannabis is nearly nonexistent at the city level
- Consumer preference surveys vary widely in methodology and are often industry-funded
Where we use estimated or modeled data rather than directly observed data, we say so.