With the U.S. House of Representatives passing an amendment last week restricting the DEA from targeting and raiding medical marijuana operations in states where medical marijuana has been made legal (Steve Benen, Rachel Maddow Show, House votes to restrict DEA marijuana raids, June 30, 2014, MSNBC), entrepreneurs are starting to realize that the cannabis industry has finally started.
For the first time in history, Americans seem to be prepared to dive into this new industry with gusto. Gallup Polls showing 58% of the U.S. population surveyed were reported (Art Swift, Gallup Politics, For First Time, Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana, October 22, 2013, Gallup.com) as supporting the actual legalization of marijuana in America. This seems to signify, on numbers alone, that the people across the nation are ready to embrace cannabis not only as a medicinal product, but also for recreational use. Business minded people are paving the way to make marijuana and cannabis products the newest and latest trending industry with creative and legal planning.
Entrepreneurs and politicians alike have been watching how Colorado’s state sales and tax revenues (Colorado The Official State Web Portal, Colorado Marijuana Tax Data, 2014-March, colorado.gov) have been playing out. As the Colorado government posts information monthly, with over 18 million dollars in reported revenue on their website, both politicians and entrepreneurs are choosing to expand their horizons by creating new ways to get into the marijuana business sector.During the last few decades, only those who were considered drug dealers, were able to network or learn much about the industry. Those people were often jailed or ridiculed by society and placed within a stereotypical mold that consisted of tie-dyed “stoner” innuendos and even humorous movies like Cheech and Chong’s “Up In Smoke” (Movie, IMDB database, director Lou Adler, writers Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin, Released September 15, 1978, USA) or comedy skits. However, in today’s world, attorneys, brokers, insurance companies, product distribution companies, agriculture businesses, doctors and educational facilities are becoming the leaders who are making headway. Many of the business representatives in the cannabis industry often have college degrees, dress in business attire and make significant amounts of money by providing medical marijuana, cannabis products or hemp products in states where it has been legislated – or by some involvement in the cannabis business world that facilitates the industry as a whole.
This June, in Las Vegas, the International Cannabis Association will be putting on an Exposition that will not be like other conventional marijuana trade shows. The ICA was founded on the principle of helping interested people explore the idea of getting into the cannabis industry. The Mission goals are to establish a foundation network to help entrepreneurs actually get started by providing significant information, while helping to provide a framework for those people to grow and expand their own businesses by effectively learning, networking and communicating with other business professionals.
You can learn more about the conference here
Ryan Hurley can be contacted at rhurley@roselawgroup.com
