Cannabis Business Office

The Cannabis Business Office (CBO) creates new economic development opportunities, local job creation, and community growth for the diverse population across Colorado. Under the leadership of Governor Polis, we strive to expand economic prosperity within historically economically distressed areas throughout the state.

The office offers technical assistance and access to capital that is otherwise unavailable at the federal level. While businesses that work with hemp and CBD have access to these resources, these resources are substantially limited for businesses that work directly with THC or support businesses that work directly with THC. Technical assistance will include webinars, training modules, personalized one-on-one consulting, and other support. Access to capital will be offered in the form of loans and grants for qualified applicants.

The Cannabis Business Office was created from Senate Bill 21-111 and funded by the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund. The office works to create new economic development opportunities, local job creation and community growth for the diverse population of Colorado.

Social equity as a priority

The office will prioritize programming for social equity licensees. To be eligible for a social equity license, applicants must qualify one of the following:

• resided for at least 15 years between 1980 and 2010 in a census tract designated by OEDIT as an Opportunity Zone or designated as a "Disproportionate Impacted Area"
• applicant or applicant's parent, legal guardian, sibling, spouse, child, or minor in their guardianship was arrested for a marijuana offense, convicted of a marijuana offense, or was subject to civil asset forfeiture related to a marijuana investigation
• household income in a year prior to application did not exceed 50% of the state median income as measured by the number of people who reside in the applicant's household

For more information about social equity licenses, please read the eligibility requirements.

Cannabis Business Programs and Funding

CannaBusiness Foundations Technical Assistance
For newer businesses, the CBO offers a CannaBusiness Foundations track that focuses on business plan and overall business development topics.

CannaBusiness Growth Technical Assistance
For more mature businesses and those that have already completed the CannaBusiness Foundations program, the CBO offers a CannaBusiness Growth track. This track provides educational content centered on vertical-specific operational best practices.

Cannabis Business Grant
The office provides access to funding opportunities in the form of grants, to be used to support seed capital, ongoing business expenses, innovation, and job creation.

Resources for Cannabis Businesses
Two critical needs that cannabis entrepreneurs face include cannabis banking options and pro bono legal resources.

Access to Experts
Qualifying subject matter experts will provide services in compliance, marketing, and financial consulting at low or no cost to Social Equity Licensee cannabis businesses.

Cannabis Business Loan
High dollar loans for growth-oriented, social equity owned cannabis businesses will provide access to capital for seed funding, ongoing business expenses, improvement projects, and more to support business expansion and improve operations.