Benzinga Cannabis Hour Recap: NJ, Arizona Markets Are Exciting, But Tightly Regulated — And Expensive

As expected, the Election Day results were top of mind on this week's edition of the Benzinga Cannabis Hour. 

After cannabis ballot initiatives passed in five states — New Jersey, Montana, South Dakota, Mississippi and Arizona — Benzinga's Patrick Lane and Elliot Lane asked C3 Industries co-founder and CEO Ankur Rungta if he had any advice to cannabis players looking at those new markets where the framework might not totally be in place.

"The two biggest markets that everyone's talking about this week are New Jersey and Arizona," Rungta said, highlighting how competitive the licensing market will be. There will be few licenses in New Jersey, and they will cost companies "huge amounts of money."

Arizona is headed in that direction as well, he added. 

"The expectation in those states is they're not going to open it up widely," Rungta said.

Michigan and Oregon, where C3 operates, required "a different skill set," he explained. To those competitors looking at the Garden State and the Copper State, it would be wise to prepare for a struggle in applying and securing a license.

"You'll probably have to acquire one to enter that market and you're talking pretty big dollars," Rungta said, citing Harvest Health & Recreation Inc.'s HRVSF license acquisition in Arizona from earlier this week. 

Ayr Strategies AYRSF  also did a deal in Arizona, fellow co-founder Vishal Rungta pointed out.

If C3 were to explore there, it would have to be the right "acquisition opportunity."

Other guests on this week's episode included Greenlane Holdings vice president Eric Hammond and TILT Holdings TLLTF president Gary Santo. See the video below.

The Benzinga Cannabis Hour is produced every week and brings together top executives, entrepreneurs, and experts from all corners of the cannabis industry. Each show features three or more guests from a broad spectrum of expertise in cannabis.

To tune in, stream the episode below; click subscribe on the official Benzinga YouTube channel; or visit BZCannabisHour.com.

Cannabis Hour is also published on most major podcasting platforms, including Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Pocket Casts, and more.