This is Duartte’s posting from Linked-In on 20 December 2025.
Looking back at 2025, my most valuable business lesson wasn’t at a conference or in a boardroom meeting. It was a three-state deep dive into the American cannabis industry.
What I saw should be required reading for Europe as our “baby steps” toward legalization turn into real momentum.
Detroit, Michigan – Innovation in Cultivation
Detroit caught me off guard. Gritty, ghetto-vibe, activist, and quietly impressive.
The city has poured serious capital into indoor cultivation, and the sophistication and awards shows. Two things stood out:
– Aggressive use of under-canopy lighting to maximize yield per square meter:
– Hydrocarbon extraction producing some of the cleanest, tasty, efficient and most potent concentrates I’ve seen anywhere
Phoenix, Arizona – Where Scale Doesn’t Kill Quality
Cowboys, rodeos, and massive pickup trucks.
In Willcox, our good friend Tony hosted us at a facility that completely reset my expectations.
Think massive tomato greenhouses, retrofitted for cannabis. The scale was mind-blowing, but the real achievement was precision at volume. Tight processes, relentless testing, and consistent quality across enormous production runs. This is industrial cannabis done right.
California – The Global Benchmark
And then there’s California. A €4.5+ billion market that still defines global trends.
Walking into LA dispensaries feels like stepping five years into the future: product diversity, world-class branding, seamless retail experiences, and a normalized cannabis culture Europe hasn’t even begun to approach.
The Hard Lessons Europe Can’t Ignore
Oversupply kills markets.
Michigan’s adult use launch crushed prices. Oregon saw flower selling below cost of production. This isn’t “the market working”: it’s poor policy.
Price dropping bankrupts companies.
When supply outpaces demand, even the best operators suffer. Europe must balance local production with smart import protections.
Fragmentation destroys scalability.
Every U.S. state is its own silo: different rules, no interstate commerce, duplicated infrastructure. Scaling from California to New York means starting from zero…again!
Here’s the irony:
The U.S., now trapped in saturated markets, is looking to Europe as the next big thing.
Being early is exciting. Getting it right is what matters.
Europe has something the U.S. didn’t: a clear view of what works, what fails, and what destroys value.
The decisions we made in the next few years will define this industry for decades.
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