Florida’s pot industry suffered a major loss in November. But they won’t easily be dethroned.

TALLAHASSEE: Florida is gearing up for a wave of new medical marijuana companies. Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration has finally issued 25 long-awaited licenses. This is a big deal for the industry.

However, the landscape has changed a lot. The market for growing and selling marijuana has become pretty competitive. With a backlog of licenses just sitting around, new companies have a tough road ahead.

For the established players, this is a bit of a relief. They just lost a big battle with DeSantis over legalizing recreational marijuana. If they had won, they could have jumped into a potential $6.1 billion market.

Michael Minardi, who has been in the legalization game for a while, says it’s going to be hard for newcomers to make a mark. Prices are already high, and if people can find better deals on the black market, they might just go that route.

DeSantis had a tough fight with the Amendment 3 campaign, which was mainly funded by Trulieve, the biggest medical marijuana company in the state. He warned voters that the measure was backed by a “cartel” of wealthy companies looking to monopolize the market.

The Amendment 3 campaign shot back, saying that if DeSantis wanted to break up this “cartel,” he should start issuing more licenses. But it wasn’t until after the amendment failed that the Office of Medical Marijuana Use began to issue new licenses.

These 25 new licenses were long overdue. They were supposed to be handed out gradually as the number of medical marijuana patients grew, which is now nearly 892,000. Instead, they just sat there due to ongoing legal issues.

Out of the new licenses, three were set aside for black farmers involved in a landmark discrimination lawsuit against the federal government. The other 22 licenses attracted a lot of interest, with 74 applicants, including accounting firms and hemp companies.

Even though more licenses are coming, the new companies will still face a lot of challenges. The existing companies are growing every day, and the costs to start up are sky-high.

Former state Senator Jeff Brandes, who has pushed for looser regulations, says the current setup benefits the older companies. They’ve been raking in most of the $2 billion in revenue.

Brandes believes the tight regulations are a big part of the problem. New companies have to be self-sufficient, meaning they need to grow their own marijuana, make products, and sell them in their own stores. This setup makes it hard for newcomers.

Starting a new marijuana company can cost around $15 million just to get going, plus another $30 million in operating costs for the first couple of years. It’s a big investment.

And it’s not just the costs. The number of investors has dropped, making it even harder to raise money. Kobrin, a lawyer who helps companies get licenses, says the capital markets are pretty dry right now.

Still, the new licenses could be worth the wait. They don’t have limits on how much marijuana a company can grow or how many stores they can open.

Since the election, there’s been a surge of about 10,000 new medical marijuana patients. Doctor’s offices are packed with people looking for recommendations.

One of the new license holders is Randy Rembert, a farmer from Alachua County. He’s excited to jump into the market. He’s seen how outside companies have spent a ton on unnecessary stuff, and he’s taking a more measured approach.

Rembert believes that if you don’t have a farmer’s mindset, you might struggle. He’s confident he can compete, even with big players like Trulieve opening new stores.

Looking ahead, there’s still hope for the marijuana industry. Amendment 3 almost passed, missing the 60 percent threshold by a hair. Back in 2016, a whopping 71 percent of voters supported legalizing medical marijuana.

John Morgan, known as Florida’s “Pot Daddy,” thinks it’ll be tough for new companies to get started. He predicts the medical marijuana scene might end up looking like the retail pharmaceutical industry, with just a few companies dominating the market. But he believes the licenses will always be in demand.

“They would be gobbled up in a minute,” Morgan said. “There’s never a shortage of fools to chase fool’s gold.”