This year, California made some critical changes to its cultivation policies. If you have a cannabis cultivation license in California or are interested in seeking one, then you’ll want to keep reading to learn precisely what these changes are and how they may affect your cultivation plans.
The Exact Changes
On October 24, 2019, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA, which is the state’s version of the FDA) made changes to the labeling rules for all state cannabis cultivation license in California, both annual and provisional. There is now an online licensing system enhancement that permanently changes the prefix of all state licenses. Before the change, licenses were issued with either CAL (Cannabis Adult-Use License), CML (Cannabis Medicinal License), PAL (Provisional Adult-Use License), or PML (Provisional Medicinal License) as their prefixes. Now, however, all licenses will be issued with the prefix CCL.
How to Adjust to the Changes
If you held a license before the change, you should have received an email on the 24th of October from the CDFA’s Cannabis Cultivation Licensing Division. The mail will have contained a new license number as well as a copy of a new license certificate. You must print and display this new certificate at your licensed premises. The California Cannabis Track-and-Trace (CCTT)–Metric System will have the new cultivation license numbers, and manifests generated before the change are still valid.
Purpose of the Changes
On July 1, 2019, a new bill became law that extended the issuance of provisional cultivation licenses until January 1, 2022. It also authorized the CDFA to renew previously issued provisional licenses for those licensees actively pursuing annual licensing. Ultimately, the CDFA will be moving completely towards annual licenses, and these new changes will help accommodate this transition.
