The Higher Origins California Cannabis License Search is a tool that allows you to look up any Cannabis license, current or expired, in California.
The Search page includes a dashboard that by default shows current statistics for the latest state data, a map of active retailers, recently issued and inactive licenses, and an explainer of the data sources.
How to search:
Enter your query in the search bar and press [Search]. You can search by:
Exact license number
Business name (not case-sensive)
Owner name
Email
Phone number
To filter your results:
Click the button with three lines to the right of the search bar to filter your results. When you pick a filter it will pop up in a black box. To remove a filter, click the [X] button on it.
Region: Select specific counties
Status: Select specific license statuses
Category: Select specific license categories or business types
Type: Select the license type
Sub-Type: Select the license sub-type
Issued After: Filter for licenses issued after this date
Issued Before: Filter for licenses issued before this date
Expires After: Filter for licenses that expired after this date
Expires Before: Filter for licenses that expired before this date
Active During After: Filter for licenses that were active on or after this date
Active During Before: Filter for licenses that were active on or before this date
Designation: Filter between licenses that are adult-use (recreational only) and medical
Term: Filter between licenses that are Annual or Provisional
Business Structure: Select the business structure type of the license holder
Show Associated Licenses: Checking this box will show licenses from the same owner/operator
Once satisfied with your filters, click "Apply Filters".
Summarize Search Results
On any list of search results or even on the main search page, you can click [Summarize] to generate a variety of charts based on the data. These charts are organized into four tabs: Overview, Geography, License Types, and Operators. All charts and tables can be moused over to inspect individual elements.
Exploring a License
In the search results, clicking on the license name of the result will take you to that licenses specific page. A variety of information is displayed, along with an automatically generated description text.
Below, associated licenses are listed. The default view is List, but you can switch between views by clicking the [Graph], [List], or [Map] buttons.
Graph View: This displays an animated network diagram that links this license with associated licenses and owners. You can click and drag the nodes around to better view the relationships. The [Hide/Show Legend] button on the upper right hides and shows the legend, and the [Fullscreen] and [Exit] buttons will enter and exit fullscreen mode. You can zoom in and out using the mouse wheel on a computer, or pinch/spread on a mobile touchscreen. Mouse over a node for a license to see more information about it. Click on any license node to go to that licenses page, or click on an owner node to view search results of all licenses associated with that owner.
Map View: This displays the location of the license on a map of California. NOTE: Only active retail locations are shown on the map. For other kinds of licenses, the map is blank.
Glossary:
If you are unsure what any of the license types or terminology means, please refer to our glossary page, which can be reached via the [Glossary] button at the bottom of the page.
FAQ's
Why did you make this page?
The DCC has a license search page here but it is inconvenient for quick lookup and only provides data in table format, which is hard to search quickly and easily. While that's fine for nerds (like us) who are fine with downloading big spreadsheets and querying them, we thought we would make this more accessible version for everyone who just wants to know more about the license number they see on the sticker of their 8th jar.
Do you own this data?
Nope. This is all public data, it's owned by all California taxpayers, which is why this search is free. We don't control it, we just present it to you in a better format.
My license information is on here and I don't like it, will you remove it?
No. This is public information directly from a government source. We have no legal burden to censor public information.
Is this data accurate?
As accurate as the State's ability to record and report it. Since the DCC is notably unwilling to answer questions about its data gathering and management methods, even through Public Records Act requests, we can only show you what they release, and hope that they did their due diligence in reporting.
I'm searching for a license because I have a complaint about their conduct, the safety of their product, or something else that I think they've done wrong, can you help?
The best option is to report them to the State here. Since the State can be slow to respond and may not consider your issue worthy of action, we also recommend contacting them directly to see if they can fix it, holding them accountable on social media, or contacting your local business authorities who may have influence.
I was looking to contact a business for outreach/collections/communications, and when I Googled them this search result page came up, will you help me do that?
No. The only way we will help facilitate outside contact with a cannabis business is if they are a user in good standing of our platform and if the outsider has inquiries specifically regarding business conducted through Higher Origins. A page exists in our Search for EVERY license ever issued by the State of California. Think of us like Wikipedia. If you wanted to get in touch with George Clooney, would you email Wikipedia and ask them to contact him for you, just based on the fact that they have a page about him?