Owner: Shannon Goddard — Loyal9 LLC Status: Active · Community Editable
This registry provides a unified, structured view of the US cannabis and hemp licensing landscape. By consolidating fragmented state-level portals and USDA data, it supports compliance research and market analysis necessitated by evolving federal agricultural policies.
The dataset is published with a DOI for academic citation. The community edit system allows anyone with a GitHub account to improve the data — every edit is logged in an immutable ledger.
| Page | Description |
|---|---|
| Directory | Searchable, sortable table — 29,633 records |
| Edit Ledger | Every community edit, fully transparent |
| How to Contribute | Step-by-step guide for editors |
us-cannabis-license-directory/
├── aws-setup/ # AWS infrastructure templates & docs
│ ├── aws-setup.md # Architecture, deploy steps, cost breakdown
│ ├── trust-policy.json # IAM trust policy
│ ├── lambda-policy.json # IAM permissions (sanitized)
│ └── lambda/ # Lambda function source code
│ ├── submit_edit.py # POST /edit — write to DynamoDB
│ ├── get_ledger.py # GET /ledger — read from DynamoDB
│ └── github_oauth.py # POST /auth/github — OAuth exchange
├── pipeline/
│ ├── 01_usda_active_states/ # USDA hemp licensee data (3,371 active)
│ ├── 02_state_license_retail_list/ # 25 state cannabis license portals
│ ├── 03_seed_suppliers/ # Seedfinder.eu breeder directory
│ ├── 04_human_in_the_loop/ # Manual review, dedup, cross-reference
│ ├── 05_seed_breeders/ # Breeder master + CA registered seed sellers
│ └── pdf-to-csv.html # In-browser PDF-to-CSV converter
├── assets/img/ # Badge images
├── index.html # Directory UI — search, sort, edit
├── ledger.html # Edit ledger UI
├── contributing.html # How to contribute guide
├── us-cannabis-license-directory.csv # Community dataset — 29,633 records, 38 columns
├── raw.csv # Published DOI dataset — 13,128 records, 21 columns
├── raw.json # Same DOI dataset in JSON format
├── CONTRIBUTING.md # Contribution guidelines
├── SOURCE.md # Data dictionary, methodology, citation
├── LICENSE # MIT License
└── README.md # This file
📥 Download raw.csv · 📥 Download raw.json
The frozen, citable dataset. 13,128 records across 35 US states. 21 columns.
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Dispensary | 5,678 |
| Cultivator | 5,001 |
| Other | 3,049 |
| Breeder | 145 |
| Bank | 18 |
Top states: CA (7,743), CO (1,390), MI (857), NY (801), OR (468)
See SOURCE.md for full column reference, methodology, and known limitations.
📥 Download us-cannabis-license-directory.csv
The living dataset. 29,633 records. 38 columns (20 original + 18 community-editable). This is the file the live directory reads from.
Community columns include: Business_Category, Product_Focus, Is_Medical, Is_Adult_Use, Payment_Methods, Ownership_Type, Hours_of_Operation, Instagram_URL, Google_Place_ID, and more.
Anyone with a GitHub account can edit records directly in the browser.
- Login with GitHub — OAuth, read-only profile access
- Click a cell — one cell at a time
- Submit — edit is logged to AWS DynamoDB with your username, timestamp, and the change
- Ledger — every edit is visible in the Edit Ledger
See CONTRIBUTING.md or the How to Contribute page for the full guide.
Browser → API Gateway (HTTP) → Lambda (Python) → DynamoDB
| Service | Purpose | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| API Gateway | 3 routes: /edit, /ledger, /auth/github | $0.00/month |
| Lambda | 3 functions: submit, ledger, OAuth | $0.00/month |
| DynamoDB | Immutable edit ledger | $0.00/month |
Full infrastructure docs: aws-setup/aws-setup.md
Use the data immediately via the CSV/JSON files, or explore the live directory.
git clone https://github.com/Shannon-Goddard/us-cannabis-license-directory.gitEach pipeline/ subdirectory contains specific scripts for data fetching and cleaning.
- Last Full Sync: April 2026
- Update Frequency: The DOI dataset (
raw.csv) will not be updated. The community dataset (us-cannabis-license-directory.csv) is updated by contributors. - Verification: Verified records are cross-referenced via
04_human_in_the_loop.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19800772
Goddard, S., & Amazon Q. (2026). CI Seed Registry: US Cannabis & Hemp License Directory (Version 1.0) [Data set]. Loyal9 LLC. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19800772
This project is licensed under the MIT License.
© 2026 Shannon Goddard | Loyal9 LLC
Shannon Goddard — Research, data collection, legal analysis, manual verification, and the vision that turned a fragmented regulatory landscape into a single open dataset.
Amazon Q (AWS AI Assistant) — Pipeline architecture, data processing, AWS infrastructure (DynamoDB, Lambda, API Gateway), frontend development, community edit system, and documentation.
Breeder directory sourced from seedfinder.eu.
This project was inspired by Seedfinder.eu’s ambitious attempt to catalog 2,059+ cannabis breeders and seed banks. I originally hoped to use their list as a starting point.
Reality check: I manually visited every single link. 71.6% were broken, spam, malicious, parked domains, 404s, or redirects to low-quality/scam sites. All links clicked live on YouTube
Full transparency report: Download seedfindereu.xlsx
(Columns: breeder_links, url_is_good)
Dear Seedfinder.eu team,
Thank you for the idea and for maintaining a public directory — it sparked this entire effort. However, the current state of the links significantly undermines its usefulness. I’m releasing this audit in the hope it helps you clean up the data for the community.
Happy to share more details or collaborate. You can buy me a beer — cheers 🍻
— Shannon
(ps: yes, I really did manually click all 2,059 links)
Built with grit in Riverside, CA. Chaos Preferred. Integrity Required.