PharmaCann to Shut Down its Denver Cannabis Grow Facility

DENVER – Chicago-based PharmaCann Inc., one of the largest privately held and vertically integrated Cannabis companies in the United States, has notified Colorado officials that it will permanently [?] close its major cultivation site in north Denver, eliminating 132 positions.

The facility ranks among the state’s biggest grow operations. In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter filed Friday with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, the company’s chief manufacturing operations officer, Nathan Fete, wrote: “The entire facility will close on May 20. The action is expected to be permanent.”

The decision comes roughly six months after PharmaCann sold its 17 Colorado dispensary assets, including the LivWell brand, to Minneapolis-based Vireo Growth Inc. in a $49 million all-stock deal announced in December 2025. That transaction focused on retail leases, licenses and inventory; the cultivation site was not part of the sale.

Colorado’s wholesale Cannabis flower prices have fallen sharply, from a high of $1,721 per pound in 2021 to $648 per pound by December of last year. The number of licensed recreational growers in the state dropped to 488 by December, nearly half the total from three years earlier. The industry has seen steady consolidation as operators seek lower-cost models.

PharmaCann, which entered Colorado through its 2022 acquisition of LivWell Enlightened Health, has faced lease-payment issues in the past and now appears to be exiting the state’s market. Similar cost pressures prompted the company to announce the shutdown of an Illinois cultivation site late last year.

Vireo, which will operate 41 dispensaries in Colorado once the deal closes, has emphasized an asset-light approach that relies more on purchased wholesale product than on owning grow facilities.

Zooming out, this closure fits a clear pattern in the U.S. Cannabis: even the biggest MSOs are trimming production footprints where economics no longer support them. Wholesale oversupply continues to squeeze margins across mature recreational states, forcing companies to choose between vertical integration and leaner retail focus.
Colorado’s experience offers a cautionary signal for other markets still scaling up.