Deal headlines are back dominating cannabis trade press this year. In July, Vireo Growth scooped up another batch of distressed dispensaries out of The Cannabist Company’s bankruptcy proceeding — its tenth-plus deal since late 2024. In August, Curaleaf Holdings took the unusual step of launching an unsolicited tender offer for Canadian licensed producer Aurora Cannabis, putting a public number on what had been a private courtship.

Taken together, the deals have revived a question the industry hasn’t asked in earnest for several years: is cannabis M&A back?

Michael Schwamm and Tracy Gallegos, partners at Duane Morris LLP and co-leaders of the firm’s Cannabis Industry Group, put a finer point on why that thesis exists at all. Cannabis M&A, they argue via email, has historically been held back by three things: “access to capital, valuation uncertainty, and the impact of 280E on profitability.” Rescheduling, in their read, touches all three at once. Relief from 280E “could significantly improve after-tax earnings,” and since buyers are ultimately underwriting future cash flow, better cash flow tends to pull valuation expectations up with it. Stronger balance sheets should also widen borrowing capacity, giving operators “more flexibility to pursue acquisitions and strategic growth initiatives.” And beyond the numbers, they see rescheduling chipping away at years of institutional hesitancy — making it easier for “lenders, investors and other institutional capital providers” who have historically avoided the sector to get comfortable participating, even though, as they’re careful to note, “it is not federal legalization.”

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