In the article: "Profit will have to wait until state licenses are issued"
"Every step of the supply chain will, by 2018, be overseen by a new Sacramento office called the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation"
"BMMR will issue state licenses to commercial cannabis businesses"
"by 2018" means not later than 2018.
CA will not hold the process up, holding all licenses in abeyance until 1 Jan 2018, then awarding all licences at one time. Instead CA will get the process sorted out, and award licences spread out over time, with a deadline to complete the process by 1 Jan 2018.
1 Jan 2018 is the deadline to complete the entire process, not the begin date of the process.