With the marijuana industry on the rise, many growers are looking to take the next step and open their own dispensaries. And why not? Breaking ground in a newly legal industry can be exciting and potentially lucrative.
However, while right now there may seem to be a flood of opportunities pouring down, five years from now the medical marijuana industry is probably going to look very different from what it does today.
We’ve all heard the statistics. Most new businesses fail within their first year. In some areas dispensaries seem to be popping up like Starbucks on every corner, and many of these will likely go belly up leaving their once hopeful owners broke and disappointed.
But thousands more will succeed, building sustainable incomes, ingratiating themselves into their communities, hosting fundraisers and holding bake sales.
How can you be sure yours will be one of the thriving businesses?
Get Ready For Regulation
The first and foremost step in moving from grower to dispensary is licensing. You should be prepared — or prepared to pay a lawyer — to wade through a mountain of documents and forms, in some places 1,000 pages or more.
These sometimes bizarre regulations can be a major obstacle in opening a legal dispensary.Every state (http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-medical-marijuana-laws.aspx) has its own regulations. And so does every county, city and township. Are you too close to a school or park? Is your signage the correct size and not too obtrusive? Or does it need to be made even more obvious? Are there neighborhood fees or restrictions you need to be aware of? What sorts of edibles will you sell? And does the color of your gummies comply with code?
Once you do get through the paperwork, there’s still no guarantee the community will welcome you with open arms. Some neighborhoods are glad to see the arrival of legal marijuana, while others are busy passing anti-tolerance measures. Be prepared to deal with local hearings, similar to a new bar opening.
There’s No Business Like Grow Business
One thing the new marijuana laws will do is to introduce healthy competition into the marketplace, so if you want to go from grower to dispensary, now is the time to build a strong foundation for future success. A southern California realtor that works with growers and dispensaries says city officials are looking for people with strong business backgrounds who are able to handle large multimillion-dollar corporations.
So educate yourself. You don’t have to get an MBA, but you do need to be willing to put some time into learning about the ins and outs of running a business such as writing a business plan, creating a marketing strategy, maintaining a budget and all the other basics that go into starting and growing a business. Public relations may be especially important because, in many cases, you will also need to win over community support. As marijuana moves into the mainstream, there are bound to be changes in the industry. Make sure you have your bases covered.
Be Prepared to Partner
In some cases, simply having an extensive background in growing isn’t enough. You’ll need to provide bank statements and have a certain amount of cash behind the operation. This had lead to a number of “shotgun marriages” in the industry, where growers and financiers must team up to form a dispensary that can look good on paper. Some growers hire private investigators to learn everything they can about a potential partner. Others will look to build a larger team, meaning that no one person has total control over business decisions.
Know Thyself
If growing is where your skills are, don’t presume to know the business-side of the dispensary game. With all of the records and documentation required, you may wind up diverting too much energy away from the backbone of your business: your cultivation facility. Finding talented office managers and records controllers means keeping your focus where it needs to be. It can be difficult to delegate that much control to another person in your company, but it will pay dividends and reduce the stress on you. And your plants.
As unlikely as it might sound, lawmakers in New York are discussing strategies to legalize and regulate a recreational marijuana market as early as next year.
State Sen. Liz Kreuger (D) plans to reintroduce the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act during the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January.
The plan was confirmed by Brad Usher, Krueger’s chief of staff, who reported:
“We’re definitely introducing the bill next session. We’ve received a variety of feedback since we first introduced it last December and we’re working on amending it, so we’re looking to see what we can learn from Colorado and Washington when we reintroduce it.”
The bill would introduce a system of retail marijuana dispensaries monitored by the State Liquor Authority, and would instate an excise tax on all marijuana sales. Additionally, adults aged 21 and older would be allowed to legally possess up to two ounces of cannabis and grow up to six plants in their own home.
The bill is very similar to the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act introduced in 2013, which also aimed to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana, but that bill died in committee. The reintroduction for 2015 includes adjustments to how the excise tax would be structured and more clearly defines who would be allowed to work in the state’s marijuana industry.
Unlike Colorado and Washington, however, New York is not a referendum state and therefore requires strictly legislative action to make changes to the law. “In some ways, not having a referendum makes it harder,” Usher explained. “With referendum, you only need 50.1 percent support to win, but getting a bill through to law will probably require broader support to address the risk-averse character of some elected officials.”
A simple majority vote among legislators would be enough to legalize marijuana in New York. Therefore, in order to realize legalized pot in New York anytime soon, the state’s lawmakers are going to have to bear witness to the political and economic success of recreational markets in Colorado and Washington. Additionally, if the legalization initiatives in Oregon, Alaska, and Washington D.C. pass this November, more hesitant lawmakers may be inspired to further explore the possibilities of retail cannabis.
As things currently stand, however, New York City has averaged between 30,000 and 50,000 marijuana arrests per year since 2010, while 87% of individuals arrested for marijuana between 2002 and 2012 were black or Latino. Earlier this year, New York passed a restrictive medical marijuana bill to become the 23rd state to allow cannabis for medical purposes, but it is still strictly illegal to smoke the drug.
So far, so good. That’s the general consensus from cannabis activists on Colorado’s pioneering venture into legal recreational sales, but a number of challenges loom for medical marijuana patients and the burgeoning retail industry.
With all eyes on this national litmus test for legal adult access that began in January, several areas of concern including the recreational market’s effect on medical users and quality control issues have drawn the attention of advocacy bulwarks.
“It would appear that overall the legalization of retail cannabis for the general public has been a success in almost every measurable way,” said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. “It seems like an extremely successful launch and it really is helping other states, and for that matter countries, understand how they too can end cannabis prohibition and begin a tax-and-control policy.”
Morgan Fox of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project agreed, adding “Colorado is proving that marijuana can be regulated like any other legal substance, and that doing so is far better than punishing adults for using a substance safer than alcohol and allowing the market to be controlled by criminals.”
The medical marijuana community is especially watching Colorado closely to gauge possible negatives for patients in a two-tiered distribution system.
“What makes an adult-use law either beneficial, neutral or detrimental to patients has yet to really become crystal clear,” said Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access.
He noted three main areas of concern for medical users – “quality, consistency and safety” – as new recreational markets impact overall cannabis production in a particular area.
Regarding quality, strains that are appealing to the recreational market may not suit patients partial to “strains that have a positive therapeutic effect” but lack the psychotropic high desired by recreational users, according to Hermes.
“There are also consistency issues,” he continued. “Patients want to make sure that if they find a strain that works for them, they can continue to obtain it on a regular basis.”
Hermes also surmised that recreational users may care less than medical patients “that a product is free of adulterants or contaminants,” leading to health and safety concerns.
With projections to the tune of $1 billion in revenue by the end of the year, optimism is a prevailing sentiment throughout the Colorado cannabis industry.
“I’m sure when other states see that it’s a consistent thing, maybe a year or two, they’re going to jump on the bandwagon,” said Sasha Saghbazarian from the Caregivers for Life dispensary in Denver. “Judging based on how many people drive from other states just to come to Colorado to get legal weed, soon they’ll realize ‘wow, we could do this in our state and keep the profit for ourselves.'”
Fox from the Marijuana Policy Project also noted the precedent being set right now in Colorado as the wave of U.S. states that enact legalization measures continues to gain momentum.
“Businesses, regulators and consumers are learning from this process and are already making huge improvements in the ways marijuana is processed, packaged, sold and consumed,” he said. “As other states reform their marijuana laws, they will be able to learn from what Colorado is going through now. This type of development and refinement just isn’t possible in the illicit market.”
Ron Gold bends down and peers into the glass display case, which holds containers of product labeled “Purple Trainwreck” and “Strawberry Diesel.” He sniffs a small flat square of hashish. He marvels at the vast growing room, and the astounding variety of delivery systems that includes anything from lollipops to tortilla chips. Gold isn’t… Marijuana
For anyone who prides themselves on their knowledge of marijuana subcultures and slang terms, there is now an “open source” outlet to share this knowledge with the public. Ganjapreneur, a website dedicated to entrepreneurs and investors in the cannabis industry, has recently announced a marijuana slang dictionary that is open to the public.
The website publishes news articles and editorials intended to keep “ganjapreneurs,” or anyone who is pursuing a career in the newly-legal cannabis industry, informed about the state of the industry as a whole. The site offers original content as well as curated headlines via other websites that directly relate to the business of cannabis itself.
With the launch of the Marijuana Slang Dictionary, Ganjapreneur marks its first foray into user-generated content by inviting the public to submit their favorite slang terms and phrases for inclusion. Entries to date include “420,” “cheeba,” “bongwater,” and numerous others. Users may search the dictionary for a specific term, or browse by category. The slang dictionary currently includes categories such as “stoner phrases,” “paraphernalia,” and “units of measurement” to categorize its growing collection of slang terms and cannabis-related phrases that are commonplace in the industry.
A representative for the website explained that the dictionary is intended to be both informational and entertaining. “If you read through some of the example usages for the different terms, you can see that the writers had a lot of fun with the whole thing. You might see the word ‘dude’ about a hundred times in there. Maybe more,” he said. “We absolutely encourage anyone who is submitting a term to get creative with their definition. This is supposed to be fun, so by all means, smoke a bowl before you make your contribution.”
Ganjapreneur launched earlier this summer with a large volume of original news articles and a few interviews with prominent cannabis industry pioneers. Ganjapreneur encourages business owners who have an interesting story or compelling product to reach out to be interviewed, and also offers advertising and promotions via their website.
Marijuana has evolved from a disputed product to an open industry in a few years in the United States. The country has watched it grow from an experiment in California to local business in neighborhoods all over the states. In a short time, it has become a proud and accepted industry. This year Oregon is looking at an estimated $17 million to $40 million dollars in new tax revenue. Last year, Colorado saw $11.5 million dollars in the state coffers from marijuana. Now cannabis entrepreneurs are moving forward to enrich their cities and communities by giving back.
Stores like the Berkeley Patients Group and Earth’s Healing are providing free and low-cost marijuana to patients who can’t afford their product. The Berkeley city council has mandated that indigent patients be given this product for diseases like glaucoma and epilepsy. The Berkeley Patients Group didn’t need an ordinance, and had been giving cannabis away for years before it passed. But that ordinance assures that other dispensaries also engage in the same altruism that they do. Earth’s Healing also donates to schools, funerals, and other charities in its community.
Other organizations make political donations. The Marijuana Industry Group held a pot fundraiser to support their candidate Representative Ed Perlmutter of Colorado. He accepted the donation and spoke at the gathering of 50 marijuana business owners. Perlmutter spoke about the need for dispensaries to have access to banking options, an issue near and dear to the heart of the industry.
Some organizations are donating a portion of sales to worthy causes similar to major retail chains. Shaun Gindi of Lakewood Colorado runs two dispensaries and introduced “Joints For Japan” during the Japanese tsunami disaster. He took the revenue from a special hand-rolled product and donated 100 percent of it to the Red Cross to help affected Japanese citizens.
Finally in Brownsville, Oregon a dispensary owned by Gail and Randy Simpson will donate floor space to a resource center for citizens while it awaits licensing. Educating patients can decrease the amount of time it takes per transaction while providing a valuable community service. It also gives staff members a chance to interact with patients and show their training.
Cannabis entrepreneurs across the country are enriching their communities with charity and social responsibility. This industry has changed how we think of cannabis forever, now it is changing the world.
Jeremy Carr has written for Yahoo! Finance, Made Man, E-how and the Times and Democrat newspaper. He is also the author of two science fiction series including Vampire Spider Women, and the Milky Way Worlds Wars.
New Approach Oregon, the political powers behind Oregon’s Measure 91 (a bid to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana for adults aged 21 and older), intends to purchase massive amounts of ad space in preparation for November’s ballot.
In fact, according to ORESTAR, the Oregon Secretary of State’s electronic campaign finance tracking system, New Approach Oregon’s $2.23 million filing is the second largest transaction spent on a political campaign’s advertising efforts in the state.
Interestingly, New Approach Oregon currently only has about $300,000 to its name — that’s about $2 million short of the necessary amount to pay for all of the requested air time. Campaign spokesman Peter Zuckerman has announced that he is confident in the campaign’s ability to fundraise the remaining money. Additionally, the support of many rich out-of-state campaign backers — such as travel-guru Rick Steves and sex industry heavy-hitter Phil Harvey — are undoubtedly bolstering the campaign’s confidence in its fundraising department.
The deal will go through Media Analysis, a firm based out of Portland that buys television ad space for political campaigns.
In Colorado, there will soon be a limit to the amount of product recreational marijuana growers can legally produce. New rules dictate that commercial growers will have to prove that 85% of their product is being purchased before they can increase their number of plants. The goal is to limit the availability of excess pot without starving the market and turning consumers back to black market weed.
These changes are largely sparked by law enforcement complaints in neighboring states. In fact, since the advent of retail marijuana at the beginning of this year, legally-grown cannabis from Colorado has cropped up in 40 different states, law enforcement officials report. “We can’t ignore the marijuana,” explained Sheriff Cody Beeson of Cheyenne County, Kansas. “It’s just hard to justify pulling resources … to put them on the highway to just strictly find marijuana coming from Colorado.”
The issue of out-of-state marijuana trafficking was heavily debated during Colorado’s initial legalization efforts, and has continually been a cornerstone for many arguments against legal marijuana in general. “The trends are what us in law enforcement had expected would happen,” confirmed DEA Chief Michele Leonhart during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in April.
However, while Colorado’s recreational marijuana is indeed crossing state borders and could potentially cause law enforcement problems elsewhere, it’s important to remember what legalization accomplished: not only are less U.S. citizens being arrested for nonviolent and harmless crimes, but the legal weed market is generating millions of dollars in taxes for public schools and other important state programs in its state of origin. The industry produced a wealth of new jobs, and — beyond the complaints of out-of-state trafficking — Colorado’s legalization experiment has been incredibly successful across the board thus far.
The production cap, however, has pitted some members of the industry against each other: a debate between industry veterans and people who are trying to get involved with the legal weed market has some tensions running high. Colorado’s marijuana market is opening to new entrepreneurs in October, but some have criticized the current market for favoring large-scale, pre-established grow ops over smaller, independent operations.
Adding fuel to the flames is a recent proposal to allow indoor warehouses to grow twice as many plants as outdoor greenhouses. Under Colorado’s original medical marijuana regulations, cannabis was grown in energy-intensive warehouses only — but now greenhouses and even some outdoor grows (depending on local zoning issues) are allowed. Some argue that the industry should encourage production that uses less energy.
Ultimately, however, the decision will fall to Barbara Brohl, head of Colorado’s Department of Revenue, the office charged with regulating marijuana production. There is currently no deadline set for a decision to be made.
Tweed, the first company to enter Canada’s federally-regulated medical marijuana market, is now looking to hire experienced trimmers for their massive grow op in Ontario, according to this recent tweet.
The growing facility itself, located in Smiths Falls, earned media attention several months ago for reportedly being the largest structure ever dedicated to growing legal marijuana. Now a massive grow op, the building was originally a Hershey’s chocolate factory.
So if you’re in the area — or looking to relocate for the chance to enter Canada’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry — it’s probably worth your while to polish up that resume and send it in.
What follows is a list of qualities highlighted by Tweed’s Master Grower, Ryan Douglas — these are very important considerations when applying for a job at any grow op:
1. Attention to detail. My growers are constantly watching over the plants for any sign of imperfection, so having a keen eye is a huge asset when it comes to keeping plants healthy and safe.
2. Timeliness. It’s more than just showing up for the start of your shift. Knowing when to water a plant and making it happen on time can mean the difference between a room full of mediocre plants and a room full of amazing plants.
3. Cleanliness. My growers keep their sections meticulous with daily mopping, sweeping and washing. If you have a track record of keeping your workplace clean, make sure to highlight that skill on your resume.
4. Honesty. Working with a product like marijuana means having employees that I can trust. Passing a criminal background check is only part of the process. Work references that verify your honesty at previous jobs can help put a manager like myself at ease.
5. Organization. With 30 varieties and 50,000 plants at full capacity, it’s critical that my growers keep impeccable records.
6. Hustle. The Tweed grow-op is a fast paced, 160,000 square foot plant production environment. If you’re not exhausted at the end of the work day, something’s wrong. A proven track record of hard work can speak volumes when I am considering the next addition to my team.
Competition for the positions will likely be steep, so remember that Tweed’s grow op has an entire football field’s worth of marijuana cultivation to trim, and that’ll probably require a small army of experienced trimmers.
Matt Brown is the co-founder of My 420 Tours, based in Denver, CO. He was directly involved in the movement in Colorado that led to the passage of Amendment 64, which made the state one of the first places in the world to legalize and regulate the production, processing, retailing, and consumption of cannabis for recreational purposes.
Matt was recently interviewed by our friend Mitch Shenassa on the record, and over the course of several hours Matt revealed much never-before-publicized information about how Amendment 64 came to pass, along with a wealth of knowledge about his own history and how he got involved in the MMJ industry. This is only the first segment of what turned out to be an awesome interview: stay tuned for more in the near future! Listen using the media player below, or scroll down to read the transcription:
Matt Brown Interview, Part 1:
Click here for the next segment of the Matt Brown interview!
Transcript:
Ganjapreneur: So how did you get– I mean, what did you do before you came to cannabis?
Matt Brown: I was… Back in the day–
Ganjapreneur: I feel like you have some professional background beyond just growing pot.
Matt Brown: Yeah. My degree was in finance, and I started off at Bloomberg in New York.
Ganjapreneur: Okay.
Matt Brown: I did a few different things there, I had launched their Islamic Banking platform, I like invented it, which was awesome.
Ganjapreneur: So what did you have- what role did you have in that? Like what did you–
Matt Brown: I– There was nothing for Islamic-specific investors, which required al– I mean it was basically a sin industry filter, you can’t have anything too much interest.
Ganjapreneur: Ah.
Matt Brown: Not more than 10% of the company’s interest, obviously–
Ganjapreneur: It’s almost like an ethical investment fund, yeah?
Matt Brown: Yeah, it’s very similar to Catholic investments, and a lot of other, like, you know, socially responsible investment packages.
Ganjapreneur: And there are green investments, and yeah, it’s a socially responsible investment package.
Matt Brown: And so I was there at Bloomberg, and the Bloomberg terminal is, I mean it’s like Google with financial stuff from twenty years ago, still the most relevant pertinent, whatever.
Ganjapreneur: Yeah.
Matt Brown: Every piece of financial data about every equity, debt, you name it in the world. And I was on a team- I was doing all the university recruiting that year. I was supposed to be going to London to get energy and shipping analyst, where they like track every freighter ship in the world, which is awesome.
Ganjapreneur: Right. And they’re like, all this coal is going here, all this steel is going here, this much is gonna be there next month, so, and then you can start speculating commodities off that?
Matt Brown: Yep, you could arbitrage back the light sweep spread between North Atlantic crude and West Texas Intermediate with the number of days it’ll take to ship there, and to cross, and–
Ganjapreneur: I gotcha
Matt Brown: It was crazy shit. But it would have taken a visa, because I didn’t have my Canada citizenship at the time, they changed the law in 2009 and I got it.
So I was there in New York, the woman who was supposed to be transferring me to London waiting for the visa stuff asked me to transfer to university recruiting, so I did all of the class of 2005 Bloomberg University recruiting nation-wide.
Ganjapreneur: That’s pretty cool. So is that like traveling around, meeting prospectives? Or just sitting in the office and looking at applications?
Matt Brown: Both. I mean I had- I think I averaged like 150 interviews a week.
Ganjapreneur: Wow. That’s twenty– Well, thirty a day if you’re not working weekends.
Matt Brown: We’d do these interview events, which helped with some of it, so we do a really– You basically come in and do like a three minute interview with four people–
Ganjapreneur: Right.
Matt Brown: You know, sort of group setting, everything’s open, you got a feel for what you wanted, bring in twenty or so callbacks. But I worked with the CEO, you know, nobody took over for Michael Bloomberg when he went to became mayor. And, ah…
Ganjapreneur: Nobody took over for him?
Matt Brown: Well Max Fen– Or, Lex Fenwik was the CEO’s name. When Mike Bloomberg left and became mayor, Lex took over as CEO.
Ganjapreneur: Okay.
Matt Brown: Nobody in the company there has an office. It’s like a trading floor environment for all–
Ganjapreneur: It’s just an open room type thing? That’s wild, that must be a huge room.
Matt Brown: Oh, it was. And we were on the same floors as the sales, and Bloomberg TV. So like I shared, I mean, kitchens, huge kitchens with like free food, all over any of the Bloomberg offices. Anyway. So like, there’s an afternoon CNN anchor now, who started out at Bloomberg TV – I actually trained her for a day in one of the departments. But you would just like hang out, and like Dave Chappelle came in because the Charlie Rose show was filmed there.
Ganjapreneur: Right, so then you’d just be in the office, and you’d just see everyone.
Matt Brown: Just come through, ’cause he was like, coming into do the Charlie Rose show. Which is awesome.
Ganjapreneur: It was totally open, so yeah.
Matt Brown: So I worked with and I sat facing the CEO. We were like 10 feet apart and there was nobody in between us. ‘Cause I worked with Laurie who reported directly to him, I just had this crazy direct reporting relationship. So I got the idea, I realized there was just a bunch of fund screeners and stuff we needed. I Photoshopped it all up, and I figured out like what the fund screeners would be to get the programmers. I pitched it at like six o’clock on a Tuesday night, or whatever, and…
Ganjapreneur: So you just walked up the CEO of the company from your mid-level position?
Matt Brown: I was friends– Oh, I was as low as it comes at this point. But I was friends with the- his assistant, her name was Sumi. So I talked to Sumi, I was like, can I get five minutes with Lex? I’ve got an idea I wanna pitch. It was pretty fun.
Ganjapreneur: Okay.
Matt Brown: And so I came up and pitched it–
Ganjapreneur: Was that not terrifying to do?
Matt Brown: No, not at all.
Ganjapreneur: Okay, you were ready, you knew it was a good idea?
Matt Brown: I love, yeah. Just something– I’m a debater. I like slipped into that debate zone of like game time and treated him like anybody else that I was telling my idea to. Three minutes in, he green lit it– I couldn’t get more than five minutes standing next to him just showing the stuff, he said it’s fucking brilliant – his exact words. The head of Asia Pacific called, sales called, this guy named Alex Bruce, and he was like, Alex, as soon as I hang up with you gotta call this kid Matt Brown back, he’s here in the New York office. Like, they were a really connected office, he was based in Tokyo. Sure enough, ten minutes later he’s calling, the next morning I’m talking to head of London media sales. We had a prototype live in like two days, and that has sold over half a billion dollars’ worth of terminal revenue, just that feature, since–
Ganjapreneur: I can see that immediately. How long ago was it?
Matt Brown: 2005. Four or five.
Ganjapreneur: Almost ten years. About ten years.
Matt Brown: We sold a– These terminals cost – assuming you need more than one – sixteen hundred and fifty dollars a month on a two year minimum contract. Most banks would pick up like a hundred or more. So I kinda got my start there, it was a cool flat company item, I went to Accenture. ‘Cause I didn’t get transferred to London, I found out my boss was lying to me, and had never put in my visa application. So I went to Accenture, spent two and a half, three years there as a corporate strategy consultant. Cardinal Health was one of my big clients, they were the Fortune 19 company that supplied– You could literally pick up a phone and say, hi I’m building a hospital. They’ll go, oh great, we’ll send a person. And they will put an employee there and will deliver every single thing in there from the biggest x-ray machine to the q-tips.
Ganjapreneur: You just need a building, pretty much, and they’ll turn it into a hospital?
Matt Brown: Yeah. They supply everything to every type of medical provider in the world. I got to reorganize there. This is actually where a lot of my early dispensary consulting came from, was– I reorganized the sales team for independent pharmacy sales. I created a spreadsheet that took industry metrics– So these sales reps, who aren’t particularly business people, will go talk to mom and pop pharmacies, who are also not particularly business people, get a couple really simple metrics, and immediately tell that pharmacy how they compare to their peers, and it was a big way to start selling a lot of the automated systems and ordering through backend. But I got a really good feel for how these– You know, not Walgreens, but like real, small businesses work.
Ganjapreneur: And that’s I think, really, at that level, pretty analogous to at least the old school dispensary, if not the modern rec one.
Matt Brown: Yeah. I mean for the, you know, the 2009– So, I had that, I left Accenture to be—I had a tech startup. We failed to get our second round of funding in August 2008 and everything fell apart. And I did this small business consulting wherever I could to at least stay afloat for a year. And then—2009—
Ganjapreneur: Hey, where’d you go to school before all this, I didn’t ask before?
Matt Brown: Boston University.
Ganjapreneur: Boston U, okay.
Matt Brown: Magna cum Laude, school of finance class of 2004. So I was here- I’ve been a patient since 2007, I have Crohn’s disease.
Ganjapreneur: When did you move out here?
Matt Brown: August 2006.
Ganjapreneur: Okay, so shortly after you got out here, pretty much, you became a patient.
Matt Brown: Within the first year, and I didn’t know we had a medical marijuana law when I moved here.
Ganjapreneur: And back then there wasn’t much about it, no.
Matt Brown: No, it was, you know, when I got– It was Doctor Glazier, I don’t know if you know her. She was the only doctor in the state that was taking patients. I was– I’ve got my card actually, it’s out in the RV. My first one, card number like 5228, I think. Back when they used to be just sequentially ordered.
Ganjapreneur: Right, right, right.
Matt Brown: And I had a stack of paperwork this thick, and it was 250 bucks for the doctor visit. But I got it, I started growing them for myself, for the first two years I grew by myself at home. I loved giving tours of my grow room to my friends and stuff who’d come out, and my roommates would have friends come visit. ‘Cause I had all the signs up, I had the law on the wall, and it really became the foundation for My420 tours, before I’d take them in the room, I’d point at it and I’d start chuckling, say, I have Crohn’s, you know that. I– Colorado’s a cool place, it’s a lot better than Massachusetts where most of them work from. They let me grow pot as long as I follow the rules. These are the rules, they’re pretty simple. It’s not really that bad when you think about it. And that everything you get to see in this room, I get to do legally, and I don’t have to worry that I might go to jail, and even more, if you try to steal from me, I can call the cops, and they will arrest you and give me my weed back. We’d all chuckle, and I’d take them in the room.
It was a tiny little room–one light. I did breeding. I had like, eventually, half my basement for my own breeding stuff.
Ganjapreneur: And this was what, 2006? 2007?
Matt Brown: Seven? Eight? Nine? Spring 2009 I started doing a little bit of consulting, I just had a bunch of friends who were growing.
Ganjapreneur: So before that it was strictly, like, personal, you weren’t in the industry, per se, you were a grower?
Matt Brown: Yeah. I sold weed one time as a grower, and it was when I was all done and shutting down my room to like one of the Russian dispensaries, it was like February 2009.
Ganjapreneur: When you could still backpack it in?
Matt Brown: Yeah, exactly, and they’d buy whatever shit I’d come in with. But I grew for myself, I had like, eight different strains for myself.
Ganjapreneur: And your friends were growing? Out here?
Matt Brown: A lot of friends were growing. And they wanted me to tell them- teach them what the law was, how to get the card, who to talk to, just that basics. And then what they quickly realized was, they needed to be a business. And, I mean, I incorporated my first business when I was sixteen.
Ganjapreneur: Yeah.
Matt Brown: I helped my buddy when I was eighteen do a hostile takeover of his dad’s construction company and put all the equity in his name a year before his dad ended up dying, like I know business, it’s the geeky thing I do. And so there was a ton of these growers, who wanted somebody to teach them the basics. Even for a while I would book appointments at Warren’s office.
Ganjapreneur: That’s funny.
Matt Brown: Like I’d book a four hour block, and then just take client after client, and have them each take an hour, and they would pay, and I would just sit there and listen. That’s how we met. And then he moved in with me when I started consulting, and we shared an office.
Ganjapreneur: Who’s that? Oh, Warren Edson.
Matt Brown: Warren Edson, yeah.
This is only the first segment of our interview with Matt Brown! Click here for the next segment of the interview. Questions for Matt? Get in touch via My 420 Tours or leave a comment below:
It should come as no surprise that the multi-billion dollar companies behind our society’s most popular and deadly painkillers are suspected to have been lobbying for decades to keep cannabis outlawed. It’s easy, from a selfishly-economic viewpoint, to understand why they would do this: if everyone had the option to self-medicate with an easy-to-grow plant (it’s literally a weed) — especially one with so many medicinal applications — people would stop spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month to maintain their current painkiller prescriptions.
With marijuana law reform an increasingly popular topic among Americans, opponents of legalization have been scrambling to find their footing amid the influx of marijuana advocacy. Today, there remains yet a small group of anti-marijuana academics who are commonly sourced in opposition to legalization, and — new records suggest — this final bastion of academic resistance indeed sits comfortably on the painkiller industry’s payroll.
Dr. Herbert Kleber of Colombia University is one such leading academic voice against marijuana. He’s often quoted by both prohibitionists and public media in general, his argument being that legalizing marijuana could lead to widespread addiction and other public health issues. However, as VICE recently reported:
… what’s left unsaid is that Kleber has served as a paid consultant to leading prescription drug companies, including Purdue Pharma (the maker of OxyContin), Reckitt Benckiser (the producer of a painkiller called Nurofen), and Alkermes (the producer of a powerful new opioid called Zohydro).
Another academic, Dr. A. Eden Evins, is an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Evins is on the board of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), an anti-marijuana special interest group. She has often publicly spoken out against efforts to legalize marijuana, telling the NY Times last year, “When people can go to a ‘clinic’ or ‘cafe’ and buy pot, that creates the perception that it’s safe.” Unsurprisingly, after her participation in a commentary on marijuana hosted by the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, the publication’s administrators disclosed that as of 2012 she was working for a number of painkiller drug companies. One such company, Pfizer, currently has plans to introduce Remoxy, a direct competitor to OxyContin, to the painkiller marketplace.
Dr. Mark L. Kraus, who runs a private practice and serves as board member to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, has also publicly outspoken against marijuana. And, sure enough: one year before going on testimony in 2012 against Connecticut’s medical marijuana bill, he was serving on the scientific advisory panel for Big Pharma companies such as Pfizer and Reckitt Benkiser.
And it’s not just choice medical academics in their pocket, but entire political campaigns as well. In a recent Ganjapreneur article, we covered how the Colorado government’s most recent and notorious anti-marijuana campaign was “funded by a $2 million grant from the state attorney general’s office, though much of that money can itself be sourced back to legal settlements with various pharmaceutical companies.”
Painkiller overdoses claim 16,000 lives per year in the U.S. — more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined, and the most of any country in the world. Meanwhile, there are still zero reported marijuana overdoses in all time. Yet painkiller drug companies, when faced with the pending legalization of what’s considered by many to be a miracle plant for its myriad medicinal uses, are simply lobbying harder than ever for prohibition.
There’s a million different review sites out there, but how many have your businesses name on them? You’ve just Googled your dispensary and all of a sudden you’re seeing profiles that you’ve never created with incorrect or outdated information on them. It’s a challenge for any ganjapreneur to keep up with, let alone master. Between Leafly, WeedMaps, THCFinder, and even mainstream sites like Yelp, there’s a steady stream of reviews coming in about your shop. Follow my steps below and you’ll be ahead of 90% of your competition.
Claim Your Profiles
Most places will go ahead and set up a page for your dispensary before you even know it. Often, they’ll pull information from your site; other times they’ll pull from each other. This means you’ve lost control over the flow of information. Take it back by claiming the profile. On most pages, you’ll see something that says “Is this your business?” or “Claim this listing.” It’s usually helpful to be by the business phone, as some do PIN verification with a quick call, but having an e-mail address registered to your domain (yourname@yoururl.com) is another easy way to prove you’re responsible for the account. This is also a huge reason to revoke e-mail access for employees that are no longer with your company. If a site that doesn’t know you from the hundreds of other dispensaries listed receives an email from John Doe-sntworkhere, they might turn over access.
Post Stunning Pictures
Once you’ve successfully claimed a profile, you can go to work. You’ve spent a good chunk of change creating a space that is welcoming to your clientele, be it patients or recreational users, so show it off. Having good shots of exactly what your shop looks like gives people an immediate first impression when viewing you online. You can also look to save money when it comes to product photos. There are a number of great photographers available to shoot those high-end nug close-ups, but in my experience people prefer seeing what your actual buds look like. These “action shots” of your buds in jars or on scales are more authentic, as anyone can pick out the best of their harvest and trim it perfectly. Try showing great looking product in everyday circumstances.
The Menu Must Be Right
Customer frustration over menu discrepancies will tank you from the opening moments with a first-timer. Some people make long drives to get their favorite strain and severe disappointment sets in when they see you’re sold out. Communication between your budtenders and desk staff is paramount so that the moment something is off the shelf, they’re on it. There’s nothing more refreshing than visiting a WeedMaps menu and seeing it was updated in the last half hour. I’d always instruct desk staff to make minor changes, adding a word here or there to a description, so our menu looked fresh for everyone who visited our profile. Patients noticed.
Take Advantage of Specials
Most sites will let you post their version of a status update, a key way to communicate with potential customers. Simply adding that you’ve received a new strain that day or Budtender X is working can bump you to the top of the recent activity log. There are customers who spend most of their day surfing these sites and are looking for dispensaries that interact. A bonus is the ability to offer specials on your page (usually a reflection of your first time or referral deal works) to reach bargain shoppers. Again, the key is staying active.
Respond to Reviews
This is, by far, the best piece of advice I can give you. Respond to negative reviews. Have someone in your company who can take the emotion out of the situation and has strong empathy skills. While some negative reviews (“YOU GUYS SUCK!”) warrant less communication on your part, people who leave a detailed account of a bad experience are expecting you to reach out. All of the major sites give you the ability to post an official response. Understand that not everyone who was unhappy is out to get something free and think about them more as your eyes and ears when you can’t be in the shop. If someone thought the service was rude, a manager should be able to tell you when they were in and who the employee was. They didn’t like a certain strain you offered? Maybe there’s an issue in your cultivation facility. No matter what, do not get into a shouting match on the internet with someone.
Respond to Positive Reviews
The happy campers deserve your time just as much as the next person. They’re also usually much easier to respond to. When others visit your page, seeing interaction between a company and customers that’s positive is a great sign and encourages them to leave their own. Again, this is a great place for you to comb for information as well. I would make sure to sift through the reviews and let employees know when they received a shout out online. It’s an easy and free way to boost morale.
Have a question about how to maximize your online profiles? Talk to me in the comments below.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter confirmed Monday that he will sign the city’s bill to decriminalize cannabis possession. Similar to other decriminalization bills passed in other major cities, this bill reduces the penalty for possession of small quantities of marijuana to a mere $25 civil fine. With this development, Philadelphia is set to become the largest city in the nation to decriminalize marijuana.
The bill was originally proposed by City Councilman Jim Kenney in May. Originally opposed to the bill, Mayor Nutter’s caveat for signing the bill was the addition of a $100 fine for smoking in public — however, this fine can be waived following several hours of public service.
Under current law, marijuana possession is punishable with at least a $200 fine, a course on drug abuse, and a criminal record. Kenney explains precisely how the new amendment improves on the outdated system:
“We’ve gotten to a place where it is out of the criminal realm. There’s no more handcuffs, no more bookings, no more criminal record… We have so many young people that we are putting in the prison pipeline, and the poverty pipeline, because a criminal record is a debilitating thing.”
The bill is expected to save the Philadelphia Police Department approximately $4 million per year. Additionally, it will prevent an annual 4,000 innocent people from being arrested for something as harmless as marijuana.
Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) announced on Saturday that he believes marijuana legalization is an issue to be decided individually at the state level. The Senator’s claim came during a debate with election rival Greg Orman, in which Roberts was asked for his official opinion on marijuana legalization.
“That’s not a federal issue,” Roberts said. “That’s a state issue. If you want to get a Rocky Mountain high, go west. That should be for the Kansas legislature and the governor to decide, not federally.”
Mr. Orman, an independent candidate, also weighed in on the issue. While he also avoided expressing any real opinion one way or the other, he did note that the federal government’s war on drugs may have ultimately been misled, and that in time federal policies may be adjusted appropriately:
“You know, we’ve had a federal policy in this country since the Nixon administration that doesn’t seem to be working. We’ve spent over $1 trillion on it. With that said, as the senator has mentioned, we do have states that have started to work with different policies as it relates to legalization. I think it would be prudent for us to take a step back and watch what happens in those states before we determine how we want to change federal policy.”
Tom Angell of the Marijuana Majority, a popular group supporting marijuana reform, commented on the development: “When a Republican senator from Kansas tells a the feds to let states legalize marijuana in the middle of a tight race for reelection, its pretty clear that they days when politicians thought they needed to be as ‘tough’ on drugs as possible in order to get elected are over.”
Medical cannabis dispensaries come in all shapes and sizes. Here are some examples of dispensaries that have set a high bar for industry designers, each appealing to a different niche and personality.
1. The Gallery
No frills decor can be done right with the proper curator. Finding local artists who want to hang their works in your dispensary can create a buzz with your customers and while also supporting the community you’re in. Finding an artist that’s “420 friendly” can also help bring in business when they let people know you’re showing their work. The potential clientele you attract is educated and will spend more time in your business, always good for buying. You don’t have to sell a ton of art, either. Just don’t buy it. Some of the worst decisions I’ve seen were spending money that could have gone to improving furnishings on pieces that didn’t move or didn’t fit the space. iVita
2. The Showroom
The hottest trend in dispensaries right now is the open air style of shops like Frosted Leaf and Euflora. Display jars are situated on tables in the center of the room instead of in glass cases like many first movers. Raw product isn’t accessible by simply opening the lid, however, as small holes in the top let customers smell but not touch. This allows many people access to a dispensary at once and reduces the number of staff that need to be on hand to open jars and explain strains. Orders are usually placed via tablet, touch screens, or by dry-erase boards and given to a cashier who rings them up. Initial costs are high and service may decrease, but many rave about the atmosphere.
Frosted Leaf
3. The Spa
For medical marijuana facilities, presenting a calming, health oriented space can do a lot to put patients at ease that may not be familiar with therapeutic cannabis. Often times they’re not looking for a loud, in-your-face place that has bongs sitting everywhere they can fit. Bright, clean whites and blues project wellness and can lead to a perception of a luxury product that is worth paying more for. It’s also a great way to reach women who can be turned off by more dorm-esque atmospheres. Wood flooring, indoor plants (that aren’t marijuana), and water features are musts.
Native Roots
4. The East
One of the best examples I can think of is Lodo Wellness Center, who hired Andrews Construction and Consulting to do a total revamp of their basement-level dispensary. From most of the pictures, it looks more like a reading area (or possible opium den) than any form of dispensary. Low-sitting chairs, oriental rugs, and ornamental statues give the place a comfortable feel that many appreciated while waiting for long lines. While I’ve never seen many people just hanging out down there, this can be a great idea if you’re looking to hold patient education sessions, have a staff meeting, or just need a sofa to crash on after a long day at the dispensary. A little Zen never hurts when dealing with the stress of marijuana businesses.
Lodo Wellness Center
5. The Bank
File ‘em in, get ‘em out. Having multiple points where you can execute sales allows you to decrease wait times while still giving individual attention to orders. Denver Relief has a terminal at each end for conducting transactions, while using the middle areas to educate patients on products. As soon as they’ve made their selections they can slide down and pay. Dividers also provide a little privacy while people talk instead of an open environment where sound tends to travel. Still, with more people comes more noise, so look into sound dampening panels if your space tends to be on the louder side already.
Denver Relief
6. The Everything
Have trouble self-editing? Why bother! Just carry a little bit of everything. A majority of shops I’ve seen fall into this category, with a hodgepodge of different art, products, and aesthetics all mashed together. While it can project a messy outward appearance, most younger guys are just happy you’ve got glass cleaner and novelty t-shirts. The further you deviate from one of the established motifs listed above, the more you’ll notice you fall into this category. If you notice this happening, look back to your mission statement, core ideals, and make a decision. Pivoting isn’t always bad, but you don’t do yourself any favors by not committing in either direction.
Lacontes Clone Bar
So, which type of dispensary would you prefer to frequent? Someplace peaceful and relaxing, techy and modern, or a place with a funky personality and some kitsch? Share your thoughts in the comment area below:
As you’ve probably heard, the state of Oregon will be host this November to a vote on the legalization and regulation of recreational marijuana. What you might not know about, however, is the scandal that has developed in recent weeks surrounding a politically-driven “educational tour,” to be hosted by the opposition of Oregon’s legalization initiative, in the weeks prior to the election.
The politically-driven tour, though its organizers claim it would be purely educational in nature, would be paid for in part out of the taxpayers’ pockets, which is a big no-no in our legal system. “Federal taxpayer dollars should not be used to influence an election,” explains Peter Zuckerman, spokesman for Oregon’s marijuana legalization campaign. “Calling this an educational campaign is ridiculous.”
The tour was set to kick off at the start of October with a summit in Madras and then, over the next week, would visit the following major cities: Bend, Salem, Clackamas, Tigard, Corvallis, Eugene, Roseburg, Grants Pass, Ontario, Lagrande, Hood River, and Astoria. The tour would feature Clatsop County’s District Attorney Josh Marquis, the self-appointed spokesman for Oregon’s legalization-opposition movement, and anti-legalization pundit Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug adviser who actively opposes marijuana’s legalization
Oregon news publication Willamette Week broke the scandal about the “educational tour’s” financing:
The education tour is funded through a federal Drug-Free Communities Support Program grant, administered through the same office for which Sabet worked. It’s not clear yet how much taxpayer money will be spent on the tour. Planners say each county will foot the bill separately. The Jefferson County portion of the tour, for example, will run about $15,000 for a two-day conference, half of which will be dedicated specifically to marijuana.
Following this development, the Oregonian has since reported that BestCare Treatment Practices, one organization sponsoring the tour, allegedly cancelled the initial Madras summit, admitting that “from an outside perspective… it could look like a conflict.” Marijuana advocates have expressed gratitude over this admission, but are still calling for the entire tour to be cancelled or at least postponed until after the election.
Most recently, however, the scandal sparked Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer to write a letter to Washington D.C., requesting an official investigation into the potential use of public funds for political purposes. Rep. Blumenauer is regularly championed as a proponent for marijuana legalization and other progressive issues in Oregon, and offers a compelling case for investigation.
Chuck Rifici — former CEO of Canada’s Tweed, Inc. — stepped down from his position last week on August 27, though Rifici has stated he will remain on the company’s board and will help find a replacement CEO.
For Rifici, stock investments in the company have paid off handsomely, leaving him with a stockpile of company shares currently worth about 20 million Canadian dollars (18 million USD). He bought many of the shares when they were priced at less than half of what they’re worth today.
Tweed initially opened up for public trading in April, and was the first marijuana cultivation company to do so under Canada’s new federally-regulated MMJ market. Since then several other companies have also entered the public trading scene. Since its initial public offering, Tweed’s worth has fluctuated between $20 and $100 million.
Health Canada reports that the number of Canadian citizens using medicinal marijuana continues to grow, and is expected to grow tenfold over the next decade. By 2024, the market could be worth $1.3 billion, the department says.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy is expected to release a progressive report entitled Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies that Work on Tuesday, September 9.
The report will be released at a press conference in New York City, where Commissioners speaking include Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, former Colombian President César Gaviria, former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss, and Richard Branson. Following the conference, the Commissioners will be meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson to discuss the report.
The report demonstrates the Commissioners’ evolved outlook on drug prohibition: that the war on drugs is destructive and a failure, and a new approach is necessary. The Commission is currently the most distinguished group of world leaders ever to call for a new approach to global drug policies.
In 2011, the group released an initial report that advanced the global conversation about drug prohibition, its effects on society, and alternatives to the international crackdown. As a result, the Commission paved the way for world leaders to openly discuss drug policy reform.
The cannabis industry holds lucrative opportunities for business-minded folk who are willing to risk their reputation (and potentially much more, given marijuana’s federal classification as an illegal and dangerous substance) on the expectation that the industry will only continue its upward growth.
Four years ago, Derek Peterson was a vice president at Morgan Stanley, where he managed a $100 million fund. He was fired after business associates took note of his side project, which closely involved the marijuana industry. Today, as CEO of Terra Tech, a company specializing in marijuana grow op supplies, and owner of The Blüm, a medical marijuana dispensary in Northern California, Peterson can happily say that things have worked out.
“I didn’t always feel great about the products I was putting out into the market, but now I do,” he told Business Insider in a recent interview. “I happen to be selling something that is federally illegal, but oddly enough, I feel way better about what I’m selling than I did before.”
Following his firing, Peterson’s decision to found GrowOp Technology, which later became Terra Tech, was due to the entrepreneurial environment he saw developing in the cannabis industry. He was also inspired by a friend who owned a dispensary that had been earning an annual $18 million, he said. Today, Terra Tech has about 40 employees and has already earned $7 million this year.
However, not all formerly corporate professionals who are now part of the cannabis industry are here because they lost their day jobs. Katherine Smith, who was once the director of social media at Petco, quit her job and joined the industry to help people get better access to marijuana for medicinal purposes. She is now the chief marketing officer at Weedmaps, a popular dispensary-review website.
Smith explains that, despite many friends warning that such a move might permanently sully her resume, she was compelled to follow her heart.
When she was nine, Smith’s mother suffered an injury that left her with chronic back pain. Her mother was prescribed medical marijuana six years ago, and Smith reports that, “It really changed her quality of life. When I really started looking into medicinal marijuana and what it can do for people with epilepsy and other problems, it’s such an amazing opportunity to help push things along.”
“Also, recreationally, I think it’s awesome.”
Al Olson, another professional who quit a respectable post to join the ranks of ganjapreneurs, left his senior editor job with NBC News to become head editor at Marijuana.com. The website is owned by venture capital firm Ghost Group, who also owns Weedmaps. Reportedly, Olson had been following the industry for several years, waiting for such an opportunity to arise.
Olson’s goal is to grow Marijuana.com with in depth content covering the cannabis industry in these unique early years of the recreational market: “It’s a dream come true,” he said. “I’m trying to use the principles we used at NBC News to really bring some rigor and discipline into this journalism that we’re trying to do. I don’t want to take a side. I just want to go with where the story takes me.”
Olson has long been a fan of marijuana, having first gotten into it as a freshman in highschool. He turned away from the smoking habit during his 20s and 30s; later, however, he discovered that eating edibles helped his sleeping patterns. In fact, Ganjapreneur has exclusive video footage of Olson himself making Washington State’s first marijuana edibles purchase at Top Shelf Cannabis in Bellingham last month.
Perhaps the most high-profile ganjapreneur on this list is former Governor of New Mexico and the 2012 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson. As governor, Johnson argued heavily for cannabis legalization; as a businessman, Johnson is showing exactly how straight-faced serious those arguments were.
More than just a politician, Johnson was named CEO of Cannabis Sativa, Inc., a Nevada-based MMJ company with plans to begin operating on a national scale someday. He and the company have both publicly announced that Johnson’s salary as CEO will be $1 per year. Of course, he will also be receiving an equity share in the company’s stock for his work. At the time of Johnson’s hiring (mid June), Cannabis Sativa was worth about $2 million at $4 per share; Johnson received just over 500,000 shares to receive a 3.4% ownership in the company. Since then, share prices raised to $8.10 per share by late July — some argue that Johnson’s involvement with the company alone helped raise stock prices.
The former governor got into cannabis as a teenager. “I just found it to be such a better alternative than alcohol,” he explained. In high school, Johnson was a competitive athlete; today, at age 61, he boasts that he’s still quite athletic and continues to use cannabis products (though he prefers not to smoke).
Overall, Johnson’s business plan is generic: “You mix the CBD lozenge with THC and all of a sudden, man, you’ve got direct competition to all of the prescription painkillers,” he explains. His contract with Cannabis Sativa holds him to his post as CEO until May 31, 2015, at which time the company can extend his contract on a yearly basis. This cut off, however, would conveniently be just in time to make preparations for the 2016 presidential election, which begs the question: does Johnson have his eyes on the White House?
He has not confirmed or denied any intentions for future presidential candidacy, but one final statement did reveal exactly in what direction he believes we are headed: “I really firmly believe that in 10 years most of the states will legalize pot.”
Everyone wants to go “viral” in the new media landscape, but it’s the single hardest thing to achieve. A business needs the right set of circumstances, message, and uniqueness that stands out in an often crowded marketplace. How do you get media to pick up a story you’ve created? Here are six examples of strategies that, for better or worse, made headlines:
The Jaw Dropper
In the early days of medical marijuana, very few people knew what “cannabis caviar” was. Buds that were soaked in hash oil, then rolled in kief, were a novelty that fetched a high price due to the various forms of plant used. When The Releaf Center started selling their caviar for $60 a gram, it probably didn’t seem like a huge deal. Most expensive extracts (hash called wax, shatter, or budder) regularly fetch that price. But when the Denver Westword extrapolated the price out to the ounce, suddenly it fetched a $1,400 price tag. The article soon had 300 comments in one of their biggest cannabis stories in the history of their blog. It was one of the easiest viral stories I’ve ever helped work on. Sometimes, you can get everyone’s attention by creating a new category: in this case, super-expensive cannabis.
The Celebrity Strain
Our stars are very human, and as humans they enjoy consuming cannabis. There’s always someone getting busted for a lack of discretion while they toke. Since growers and dispensaries can name a strain whatever they’d like, many have taken advantage with their own custom celeb-named pot. From Charlie Sheen to Obama OG, coming up with a hot name at the right time and getting the word out can score you some great free press. It’s also a great conversation piece for budtenders when talking to patients and only takes a little awareness of who’s in the news.
The First
Also known as the “YouTube comment” strategy, being the first at anything will garner attention. Most blogs and papers are dying to fill content, so give them an excuse to cover your brand new thing. Forming an industry group is an old staple, but even coming up with something like a cannabis farmer’s market will net you press. Being a first mover in the world of weed often secures you a following solely because people lack other alternatives. You also become the go-to source when people need quotes from industry stakeholders on a variety of topics.
The Cringeworthy
When I think about examples of what to avoid doing as a dispensary, I usually show people the trailer for “The Dispensary” which shows, among other things, a budtender receiving presumed sexual favors for marijuana. It’s awful. It’s everything the industry shouldn’t be. And, between the three videos, it has almost 35,000 views. While I wouldn’t advocate going nearly as far as they do, sometimes you can walk the line of good taste to get eyeballs on your company. This is a strategy you should avoid if working in the medical marijuana side of things, but the old adage remains: sex sells.
The Losing Battle
Sometimes, a loss is really a win. When the Colorado dispensary chain The Clinic started a charity raffle of a $4,200 ounce (see The Jaw Dropper), state officials quickly jumped in and declared it illegal. What was the hold-up? All Colorado “lotteries” must be sanctioned. By running with the premise and having a noble cause (see NOT The Cringeworthy), they managed to get the story picked up in a variety of publications. The cost to them? A warning from the state. Similarly, we ran a “March Reefer Madness” sweet 16 bracket at The Releaf Center. A cease and desist letter came a few weeks in, but not before the press picked it up locally. Look for opportunities where the downside is extremely limited versus the exposure you receive.
The Advocate
Supporting a specific patient is one of the best ways to help bring national attention to a problem. The Stanley Brothers are perhaps the best example, with a special strain of high CBD cannabis called “Charlotte’s Web” named for a young girl who fights intractable epilepsy. While some may question their motives, the Stanley’s have created one of the most recognizable strains of marijuana in the U.S. and given hope to a number of parents. Finding someone in your community worth fighting for will always help provide visibility to your business.
The International Cannabis Business Conference will be held September 13-14 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, OR.
According to the conference’s official website,
The International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC) delivers learning sessions of educational seminars and provides a platform for networking and discussions on current cannabis industry issues, with expert speakers on topics ranging from dispensary operations to investment opportunities. This is an educational and networking “must do” for anyone interested or involved in the cannabis industry.
Speakers at the conference will include leading expert on marijuana cultivation Ed Rosenthal, Oregon’s own U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer and Senator Floyd Prozanski, and popular blogger and advocate for marijuana law reform Andrew Sullivan.
Additionally, industry experts from Colorado and Washington will be discussing their own professional experiences through the transition from medical to recreational marijuana. Hopeful ganjapreneurs in Oregon can expect to learn how to properly prepare for legalization.
“We’re positioned to be a leader in the industry,” Sen. Prozanski said. “It’s pretty straightforward. The Cascadia region from north California to British Columbia is pretty renowned for the product.”
Event organizer Alex Rogers, CEO of Ashland Alternative Health and Northwest Alternative Health, said in a press release, “Attendees will learn about details and changes in the new Oregon dispensary laws and explore business opportunities in the ancillary fields surrounding the global cannabis industry.”
Oregon will be voting on the issue of recreational marijuana this November. Industry experts remain hopeful that the election will see Oregon become the third state to fully legalize and regulate the drug.
The Santa Fe City Council voted five to four in favor of reclassifying the possession of less than one ounce (28 grams) of cannabis as a misdemeanor on Wednesday, making the New Mexico state capital the latest U.S. city to decriminalize marijuana.
The city council originally expected to send the issue to voters in November after marijuana activists delivered thousands of petition signatures earlier this week and a five-member county commission subsequently approved the ballot measure. Instead, city lawmakers opted to put the issue to a council vote and adjust the law outright. The new regulation will take effect in 30 days.
Under current law, criminal penalties for marijuana possession range from a $50-$100 fine and up to 15 days in jail. Under the decriminalization statute, penalties for marijuana possession will call for a civil citation of a currently undetermined amount.
Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzalez, despite his approval of the law’s adjustment, cast a dissenting vote on Wednesday. “I have been in favor of decriminalization all along,” he said, “I just wanted this to be on the November ballot in order for citizens to make the decision.”
Gonzalez was not alone in his desire to see the issue go to the voters. Emily Kaltenbach, the New Mexico director of drug-law reform group Drug Policy Alliance, worked closely with activists to obtain 11,000 signatures to put the issue on the ballot. Additionally, through internal polling, Kaltenbach had estimated that some 70% of Santa Fe citizens supported decriminalization. And though their hard work was in a sense subverted by the city council’s decisive action, “It still is an historic win for us all,” she said.
Historically, New Mexico was the first state to pass legislation recognizing the medical value of cannabis with the 1978 Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act. It was not until 2007, however, that the state House and Senate passed the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, which gave approved patients the right to begin medicating with marijuana.
Santa Fe now follows in the footsteps of Washington D.C., who decriminalized possession of less than one ounce of cannabis earlier this year, and is expected to vote on the issue of straight-out legalization this November. Also in November, the states of Alaska and Oregon will be voting on legalization, while, in both Florida and Guam, voters will be addressing the creation of their own respective medical marijuana markets.
Colorado and Washington State have been enjoying their own experiments with regulated recreational marijuana this year, which were founded in successful voter initiatives from 2012.
Texas prosecutors have dropped first degree felony drug charges against a Texas teen who was arrested last year for making and selling black market pot brownies. Jacob Lavoro, 19, had been facing a potential life sentence for his brownie production — which in turn sparked controversy around the nation — until prosecutors dropped the first degree charges.
Lavoro now faces second-degree felony drug possession, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years imprisonment, as well as an additional possession charge carrying a penalty of up to 2 years in state jail. Lavaro’s attorney announced that he and his client’s family are thankful the harshest penalties have been dropped.
Lavaro had been charged with possession of more than a pound and a half of drugs with the intent for distribution — what Texas law had failed to acknowledge, however, was that the weight of the brownies and the weight of the marijuana infused inside the brownies were two entirely different things to be considered.
Lavaro’s unique case sparked the circulation of a petition nationwide, which called for prosecutors to reduce the charges. The petition was submitted to the District Attorney’s Office earlier this month with more than 243,000 signatures.
Payteller, a Florida-based company who recently unveiled a line of self-service kiosk machines designed for businesses in the recreational and medical marijuana industries, announced on Wednesday that it has secured a $25 million investment.
The investor company, ISS Management LLC, agreed to an equity investment for large sum — exactly how much equity ISS will receive, however, was not disclosed.
The company’s new line of kiosk machines will provide the following services, all of which are specifically tailored to fit the unique specifications of the cannabis industry: “customer registration and authentication, cash collection and management, and (integration) with a number of point of sale systems and devices for end-to-end cash management that will meet or exceed all federal and state banking requirements.”
Payteller was founded in 2012 and its kiosks have served several different industries since its inception. CEO Jeff Foster said that Payteller plans on using the $25 million to continue expanding its service. “With the best kiosk in the market and sufficient capital on hand, we are now marshaling our resources to steer Payteller through this next growth phase and satisfy ever-growing market demand,” Foster said.
