Old Pal Returns to Maryland Dispensaries in SunMed Growers Licensing Deal

SunMed Growers and Old Pal are bringing the Old Pal brand back to Maryland dispensary shelves under a licensing, manufacturing and distribution partnership announced August 14, 2026. The deal puts the California-founded brand’s flower and pre-roll line back into a market it exited after the state’s medical-only era, this time with adult-use reach.

Under the arrangement, announced from SunMed’s Warwick headquarters, Old Pal products will be cultivated and produced at SunMed’s Dutch-style greenhouse in Cecil County and distributed to retailers across the state. The Maryland lineup covers whole flower, 2 Pack Pre-Rolls and the original “Ready to Roll” ground cannabis kit, each in sun-grown Indica, Sativa and Hybrid strains.

“Old Pal was built on the idea that quality cannabis should be accessible and approachable. SunMed shares that philosophy, and their commitment to growing exceptional flower makes them the right partner to bring Old Pal back to Maryland and meet the demand from our pals across the state,” said Old Pal Co-Founder and CEO Rusty Wilenkin in the announcement.

SunMed President Jake Van Wingerden framed the deal around production fit: “This partnership works because Old Pal’s promise aligns with how we approach our products: with care and responsibility. Our greenhouse and production capabilities bring the expertise and scale needed to serve Maryland consumers while staying true to what Old Pal represents.”

How the Licensing Deal Works

The deal follows the brand-licensing model cannabis companies use to cross state lines. Because cannabis cannot legally cross state borders, a national brand like Old Pal cannot simply ship product into Maryland. Instead, it licenses its name, product formats and strain specifications to a licensed in-state operator, which grows, manufactures and distributes the products inside the state under its own license.

Here, SunMed is that operator on all three counts. The company is a locally owned Maryland cultivator and processor built on three generations of family greenhouse farming, and its Cecil County facility is one of the only Maryland cultivation sites using full-spectrum sunlight, pairing natural light with climate control rather than running a fully indoor grow. Old Pal brings the brand equity: founded in California in 2018, it built its identity on affordable, shareable cannabis sold in simple Indica, Sativa and Hybrid varieties.

For Old Pal, Maryland becomes the sixteenth state where the brand operates, according to its website.

What the Maryland Relaunch Sells

SunMed’s Old Pal brand page shows the retail formats Maryland consumers will see. The Ready to Roll kit packs 14 grams of pre-ground cannabis with Zig-Zag hemp rolling papers and crutches in a resealable pouch. The whole-flower offering comes as a full ounce, positioned for value buyers, and the 2 Pack Pre-Rolls tube holds two 0.5-gram joints rolled from whole flower. A 14 Pack of 0.5-gram pre-rolls rounds out the sun-grown lineup.

Old Pal’s Path Back to a Bigger Maryland Market

The relaunch is a return, not an entry. Old Pal operated in Maryland during the state’s medical-only period and, per the announcement, built a following there before the market changed shape around it. The state voters approved in November 2022 opened adult-use sales on July 1, 2023, converting existing medical licensees into dual-use operators and widening the customer base for every brand on the shelf.

Maryland’s retail landscape has kept shifting since that conversion. MyCannabis has tracked the state’s slow rollout of social equity dispensaries and the licensing rules around them, the supply side those stores draw from. A cultivation-backed brand relaunch like this one adds wholesale volume into that pipeline: every Old Pal SKU SunMed produces is product Maryland dispensaries can order through the state’s licensed distribution channel.

The companies did not attach a shelf date to the announcement, but the partnership’s structure means the rollout turns on SunMed’s production schedule rather than any new licensing — SunMed already holds the Maryland cultivation and processing licenses the products will move under, and its existing wholesale relationships cover the state’s dispensary network.