Cannabis Is Going Global. The Hard Part Is Getting Product Across the Border.

The Next Cannabis Growth Market May Be Overseas

For years, international cannabis was often treated as a future opportunity. The numbers increasingly suggest it is becoming a present-day business.

Australia imported more than 81 metric tonnes of cannabis in 2025, up nearly 70% from the previous year, while Canopy Growth is expanding beyond flower with pastilles, all-in-one vapes, cannabinoid oils, softgels and new flower products. The strategy provides a glimpse at what competition in a maturing international medical market could look like: not simply shipping more cannabis, but adapting product portfolios to how patients actually consume it.

Europe presents a different challenge. Organigram’s Max Schwartz told IgniteIt that cannabis flower that passes testing in Canada can return different results after weeks of moving through an international supply chain. That reality has influenced the company’s genetics, microbial mitigation, and its pursuit of EU-GMP certification at Moncton. In other words, growing compliant cannabis is only part of the job; keeping it compliant until it reaches the customer is becoming a competitive capability of its own.

Meanwhile, Britain Is Moving

The UK is producing two very different signals for investors. Medical cannabis prescriptions surged 165% to 1.77 million items in 2025, while products above 22% THC accounted for 75% of items that year and 85% so far in 2026. Revised NHS data also put January 2026 at 150,828 items.

At the same time, Britain’s Food Standards Agency is preparing to recommend the country’s first market authorizations for CBD foods, potentially moving roughly 3,000 products connected to the initial applications toward full regulatory compliance after years of uncertainty. But regulatory developments in the EU could eventually complicate Britain’s emerging framework again.

The opportunity is becoming easier to see. The advantage may belong to companies that can navigate the regulatory infrastructure required to reach it.

Cresco Pays $50 Million for Nine Pennsylvania Dispensaries

Cresco Labs completed its acquisition of nine operational Pennsylvania dispensaries for $50 million, expanding through existing assets rather than building from scratch. Cresco expects the deal to be immediately accretive to revenue, margins and cash flow, making it an interesting test of whether cannabis M&A’s distressed-asset era can deliver better returns than the industry’s earlier pursuit of transformational deals.

Cannabis Companies Face 15% Loans as Hemp Businesses Warn of Closures

New federal data show cannabis businesses continue to face expensive banking services and loan rates exceeding 15%, while a separate hemp-industry survey found 68.1% of respondents expect to close under forthcoming federal restrictions. Together, the findings show how federal policy continues to determine the cost — and sometimes availability — of capital across both industries.

Aurora Says the Assets Explain the Bid. Curaleaf Says the Price Is Fair.

Aurora CEO Miguel Martin says it’s clear why Curaleaf wants the company — pointing to Aurora’s EU-GMP production network and access to European medical markets — but maintains that the $4-per-share price and deal structure are inadequate. Curaleaf, meanwhile, is defending the offer’s 45% headline premium and argues Aurora shareholders would retain upside through ownership in the combined company.

Colorado is approaching $19 billion in lifetime cannabis sales. Revenue has fallen from its 2021 peak of $2.24 billion to approximately $1.32 billion in 2025. Still, that maturity is precisely what makes the state interesting: Colorado is showing operators elsewhere what competition looks like after the easy growth disappears.

And some companies are still finding ways to grow. Colorado operator EDUN increased vape sales 519% cumulatively since 2022, building around regenerative cultivation, living soil and solventless extraction rather than trying to win a race to the bottom on price.

That’s exactly the conversation we’re bringing to Market Spotlight: Colorado 2026 on September 18 at the Westin Denver Downtown. One day, 65+ speakers, 300+ attendees, and the operators, investors and executives who have learned firsthand what it takes to compete in one of America’s most mature cannabis markets.