September 30, 2026
On September 11, the Florida Department of Health issued final orders granting 22 new medical marijuana treatment center licenses. That nearly doubles the number of companies allowed to grow, process, and sell cannabis in the state, from 27 to 49, according to CRB Monitor. The winners are the same 22 applicants the department picked in November 2024. It chose them over an administrative law judge who had recommended rescoring the applications.
The Florida MMTC licenses of 2026 end a licensing round that opened in April 2023 and spent most of the following three years in litigation. They also start a one-year clock for 22 companies that have a license, $5 million on the line, and no facilities yet.
More than 70 applicants competed in the April 2023 round. When the department announced its tentative winners in November 2024, applicants that missed the cut challenged the scoring. After a months-long evidentiary hearing, Administrative Law Judge Mary Li Creasy issued a 133-page recommended order on May 11, 2026, recommending that the applications be rescored. Vicente LLP's summary described it as score adjustments for eight applicants, some of which could have moved into the top 22.
A recommended order is a recommendation. The department reviewed it and declined to rescore, keeping its original list. MJBizDaily's headline put it plainly: Florida granted the licenses "despite judge's call to rescore." Whether any passed-over applicant takes the final order to an appeals court is the next thing to watch.
The Office of Medical Marijuana Use added the companies as license numbers MMTC-2026-0029 through MMTC-2026-0050, per The Marijuana Herald. Some of the names match established operators in other states. The 22 are A Good Decision, Alamanda Farms, East Coast Packers, FG Operating Florida, Florida Sports Consultants, Gates Housing Group, Global Investment Group, Green Point Research, Healing Greene FL, KCOF, King Palms, O'Donnell Landscapes, Pioneer Growers of Florida, Pure Beauty Farms, RAAB, Star Buds Florida, Statewide Property Holdings FL, STIIIZY Florida, Sunfest Herbs, The Flower Shop FL, Theory Wellness of Florida, and Wachovia Holdings.
STIIIZY is best known in California, Theory Wellness in Massachusetts, and Star Buds in Colorado. CRB Monitor reports that Global Investment Group, operating as Infinite Wellness, finished sixth and is acquiring a cultivation farm in Ruskin.
The license is only the first step. Each new MMTC had to post $5 million in financial assurance within 10 business days, which put the deadline at September 25. From there, each must request authorization to cultivate within 180 days, to process within 270 days, and to dispense within 365 days. The licenses run for two years.
That schedule means the 22 companies are buying now. Each one needs a grow, a processing facility, and retail locations, built mostly from scratch, in a state where one company has to run all three.
The new licensees are entering a market that is already consolidated. Florida had 779 approved dispensing locations when the licenses issued. Trulieve runs 170 of them. The top four operators, Trulieve, MÜV, Curaleaf, and Ayr, control 398, or about 51 percent. Florida had 941,271 registered patients as of September 11, and CRB Monitor estimates 2025 sales at $2 billion. Adult use isn't coming soon: the 2024 ballot measure got 54 percent against a 60 percent threshold, and the 2026 effort failed to collect enough signatures.
The consolidation is still going on. Vireo Growth, which is buying FLUENT and Planet 13, has told investors its Florida footprint will be "just over 100 stores" after those deals close, in an August investor call transcript filed with the SEC. So Florida is getting 22 new entrants at the same time its large operators are merging into bigger ones.
The count may also keep growing. Florida law adds four licenses for every 100,000 patients beyond a statutory threshold. With nearly 950,000 patients, Suncoast NORML argues the state may already owe more licenses than it just issued.
Build-out vendors have 22 new customers with deadlines. Cultivation authorization has to be requested within 180 days, so lighting, HVAC, irrigation, and construction decisions for these companies are being made this fall. A company that has already posted $5 million to keep its license has every reason to move quickly.
In Florida, the buyer is the license holder, not the store. Vertical integration means procurement for packaging, POS, security, and product inputs usually runs through the MMTC's central team. Getting a new licensee as a customer means reaching that team, often before any storefront exists.
Account counts will move in both directions. New licensees will add dispensaries over the next year while mergers fold existing chains together. A list of Florida store locations tells you little unless you also know which license holder controls each store.
How many MMTC licenses does Florida have now? 49 vertically integrated licenses: 27 existing and 22 issued on September 11, 2026.
Why did Florida issue licenses despite the judge's recommendation? An administrative law judge's recommended order is not binding on the agency. The Department of Health reviewed Judge Mary Li Creasy's May 11 recommendation to rescore and kept its original 22 winners.
When will the new Florida licensees open dispensaries? Each has 365 days from licensing, or until about September 2027, to request dispensing authorization. Actual openings depend on when the state grants each authorization.
Can the new licensees sell to adult-use customers? No. Florida is a medical-only market. The 2024 adult-use ballot measure got 54 percent of the vote, short of the required 60 percent.
Twenty-two new Florida operators are buying for their build-outs while the existing chains keep merging. See verified, owner-level dispensary contacts in California, Michigan, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Colorado, refreshed weekly. Free preview at holdenleads.com.
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