About the Data
The Cannabis Factbook is one reference with two doors: 50-state compiled profiles you can browse, and a searchable engine of individually cited, source-typed records. This page is the trust anchor for both. It states what the data is, what it is not, how it is sourced across states, and how corrections are handled when a figure turns out to be wrong.
How we handle being wrong
Every figure here is labeled by where it came from. The classification is not asserted as flawless. It is measured. A reference this size will contain some mislabeled and some superseded figures; the honest question is not whether errors exist but how often, and whether you can catch them yourself. Anyone who claims a database this size is perfectly labeled is either not counting or not being straight with you.
The design answers that directly. Every figure shows its source — the document it came from, the page, the reporting period — so the label is something you can check rather than something you have to trust. Nothing here depends on having been right the first time. It depends on every figure showing its source, so you never have to take the label on faith.
When we find a mislabel, we fix it in the open. A figure found to be wrong is corrected against its primary source and the change is logged, not quietly overwritten. The same standard runs through the compiled state profiles: where a state publishes no clean figure, the gap is marked as a gap rather than filled with a guess, and numbers are never recomputed onto a false common basis to look more comparable than they are. An error that is caught and corrected is the system working as designed.
For the full detail on how each figure is labeled by source type — and how that labeling is sampled and checked — see the engine's methodology note: How the data is classified →
How the data is sourced across states
The compiled state profiles draw on state regulatory agencies, legislative records, federal agencies, established policy organizations, and verified reporting. Every figure links to its original source, and every gap is marked as a gap. States report on different calendars, segments, and scales: a fiscal-year total is not silently compared against a calendar-year one, an adult-use figure is not merged with a combined medical-plus-adult-use figure, and a figure reported in millions is shown in its own unit, not placed beside a full-dollar figure as if identical. Where a state does not publish a clean primary figure, the profile says so rather than estimating across the seam. The completeness here is of cited records, not of the market — some states simply report less, and the profile shows that honestly.
Disclaimer
- These are data points, not accusations. The facts here are public-record measurements compiled from government and official sources. They are not findings of fact, and they are not allegations that any company, person, or license holder did anything wrong.
- Independent, and not endorsed by anyone. Cannabis Wise Guys is independent. No government agency has reviewed, approved, endorsed, or sponsored this compilation. The underlying records are public; the compilation, structuring, and citations are CWG's.
- We report the source's number — we do not vouch for it. CWG compiled, structured, and cited third-party public records. It did not produce, audit, or independently validate the underlying measurements. When a record says a regulator reported a figure, that means the regulator reported it — not that CWG has verified the regulator's number is correct.
- Do not rely on this for any decision. Provided on an "as is" basis for general reference. Do not rely on it as the basis for any investment, business, legal, regulatory, or purchasing decision.
- Current as of the source. Each fact reflects its cited source as of the date it was extracted. Sources may issue later corrections. If you spot an error — or a source that has been superseded — report it: corrections form.
Found something wrong? It gets fixed in the open. Report it →