How legal cannabis retailing is evolving with strategy and technology
Cannabis retailers are adopting the same business practices and solutions that help propel other, more established retail verticals.
Although cannabis remains legal under U.S. federal law, currently 40 states and the District of Columbia have state and local medical marijuana programs, and 24 states allow at least some recreational marijuana sale and consumption. CBD is legal to some degree in every state and the District of Columbia.
Even at the federal level, President Donald Trump recently directed the U.S. attorney general to expedite completion of the process of rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III of the Controlled Substance Act, which allows for greater research that could lead to the lifting of federal restrictions.
Meanwhile, cannabis retailing has been legal in many jurisdictions for years; long enough for the industry to have already begun maturing with the application of business strategy and technology. Here are three ways legal cannabis retailers are moving their industry forward:
Licensing
Part of the growth of legal cannabis retailing has been the increase in the use licensing models that let independent operators participate in larger cannabis chains. One example is the licensing strategy used by Dr. Greenthumb, the cannabis retailer founded by legendary Cypress Hill frontman B. Real.
More recently, Cheech and Chong’s Cannabis Company, established by marijuana-friendly comedians Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, has been deploying the cannabis POS and retail operations platform Flowhub to expand the value of its reverse licensing model, which partners with independently-owned dispensaries to bring its brand, retail design, technology, and national marketing into local stores while allowing operators to retain ownership and autonomy.
Flowhub provides POS functionality and an operational backbone to independent dispensary operators while providing Cheech & Chong centralized access to aggregate data across stores. The API-based solution also integrates with the retailer’s existing Headset real-time analytical engine and provides a unified platform for sales, inventory, compliance reporting, and customer engagement.
Shipping
The evolution of cannabis retail from its “legacy” roots in cash transactions to legitimate commerce has created the need for safe, legal shipping options. The parent company of fruit gifting brand Edible Arrangements has been offering Edibles.com, an e-commerce site offering shoppers ages 21 and up premium low-dose, THC-infused hemp products, with direct shipping in all legal U.S. states, since fall 2025.
[READ MORE: Edible Arrangements parent goes national with THC wellness platform]
According to Edible Brands, it services more than 65% of the U.S. through direct shipping to all legal states, which it supports via independent fulfillment operations. Depending on their location, the site automatically selects the fastest fulfillment route — whether national shipping or same-day delivery.
In another sign of the emergence of cannabis as a mainstream retail vertical, Brez, a "premium functional beverage" brand whose products are infused with THC (the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis) and CBD, makes its items available to eligible consumers in more than 30 states via online DoorDash delivery.
Brand partnerships
Finally, the growth of both brands and retailers in the cannabis space has opened the door for a variety of collaborative promotional and sales efforts. In summer 2025 rapper Method Man of the pioneering group Wu-Tang Clan kicked off an exclusive collaboration between his Tical cannabis brand and Amsterdam-based Zamnesia, a digital retailer of cannabis-related items and mind-enhancing products operating in Europe and the U.S.
The partnership, which featured the tagline “We Bring the Buzz,” focused the spotlight on eight premium Tical cannabis seeds that were only available for purchase through Zamnesia.
The joint (no pun intended) promotional campaign leveraged both Method Man's official channels and Zamnesia's global network and featured exclusive collector's packaging as well as a drop release format. Not that different from any other branding collaboration between a music celebrity and a retailer, such as Taylor Swift and Target, except that selling the featured product carried a prison sentence in the not-too-distant past.
