Pubdate: Sat, 23 May 2015
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2015 Guardian News and Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Rupert Neate

FROM CANNABIS COOKIES TO WEED JUICE - US LEGAL CHANGES OFFER PROSPECT 
OF 'GREEN RUSH'

Cannabis Entrepreneurs Confident That More US States Will Relax Laws

Four years ago, Cassandra Farrington couldn't find a venue in the US 
that would host her plan for a conference on the business of 
marijuana. Last week, she hired the Hilton Chicago, one of the city's 
most famous hotels and one that has accommodated every US president 
since it opened in 1927.

"When we first started looking for venues, people ran screaming in 
the other direction when we said 'hey, we want to have this marijuana 
business conference'. They were like 'no way, get out of here.'" 
Farrington eventually staged the inaugural conference at a masonic 
lodge in downtown Denver because it was the only place that would have her.

Last week, however, was altogether different, with 2,103 attendees 
eating lunch from tables with white cloths at the 2015 Marijuana 
Business Conference & Expo. "Being here [in the Hilton Chicago] is 
mind boggling," said Farrington, the co-founder and chief executive 
of Marijuana Business Media, which organised the three-day 
conference. "It just shows how far the industry has come. I don't 
think you can come to this event and then think this isn't a real 
industry." Legalised in 23 states and the District of Columbia for 
medical use and Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and DC for 
recreational use, is big business.

Independent analysts have valued the legal industry at $3bn 
(UKP1.9bn), rising to $10bn including ancillary trades and services. 
Farrington puts the industry's workforce at 60,000.

"You have to keep in mind that this not a new market or a new 
product, there is an existing consumer base who have been purchasing 
this in the shadows and in shame for decades," George Jage, president 
of Marijuana Business Media, said. "It's really difficult to pin down 
an estimate of the black market, but calling it $50bn would be a 
reasonable estimate."

Farrington reckons it is only a matter of time before the end of 
marijuana prohibition across the US no matter who wins the 2016 
presidential election. "But, everyone in this room would cheer for 
[US Senator and Republican nomination hopeful] Rand Paul," she said. 
"He has been very vocal and supportive of the libertarian aspect. The 
founding principle of libertarianism is to allow people their 
personal freedoms."

But for now, Farrington says, the industry is concentrating on making 
cannabis more of a "mainstream and sellable product". Leading that 
charge are companies making marijuana-laced chocolate and sodas 
infused with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)  the active ingredient that 
produces the "high".

Farrington said it was difficult to market cannabis to someone who 
was reluctant to smoke a joint. "But say 'hey here have a little 
chocolate, and have a good time tonight'. It's a much easier sell," she said.

The science of weed, she says, has advanced so much in recent years, 
that she could imagine "light beer-type strains" being marketed. 
"Even if you're not looking for recreational purposes, there are the 
wellness benefits: the cannabinoid-only that gives you the relaxation 
without the high. All of that is really becoming possible."

Cannabis chocolates and drinks make up a heavy presence across three 
exhibition halls in the basement of the Hilton taken over by the 
conference, which will next be held in Las Vegas.

One of the biggest is the Venice Cookie Company (VCC), the largest 
manufacturer and distributor of cannabis brands on the West Coast. 
Dan Zuckerman, VCC's representative at the show, is showing off 
products from cookies and chocolates to tea, vapes, olive oil and 
coconut butter. Most popular, he says, are its 4.20 chocolate bars 
made of fair trade cacao and up to 180mg of THC, which sell for $20 a 
bar. His favourite is Cannabis Quencher fruit juice, below. "It will 
get you pretty high," he said. "It's the equivalent of 6-7 joints, 
it's best to share."

VCC was exploring expansion to Colorado, Illinois, Nevada and Arizona 
before the end of the year, but the company's ambitions were being 
hampered by federal law that prevents cannabis and cannabis products 
being transported across state lines even if it is legal on both 
sides of the border. "It means we need to grow it, and produce it and 
package it all inside each state. It's quite a logistical challenge," 
Zuckerman said.

While VCC and Colorado-based Dixie are the biggest players in 
cannabis food and drink, most people at the conference reckon big 
business will move into the sector. "Pharma, tobacco, alcohol, they 
are all eyeing this industry," Farrington said. "They may well be 
walking these halls, but absolutely surreptitiously. This is a 
schedule 1 drug. They cannot be seen to be associated with it."

A couple of stalls down from VCC, Jair Velleman is declaring a "green 
rush" to anyone who'll listen. He has flown from The Netherlands to 
sell indoor horticultural lights.

"It's like the gold rush but, this time, the money is in plants," he 
said. "I'm selling lights - the shovels of this trade. And, in the 
real gold rush, who made the most money? The people who dug gold or 
those who sold the shovels?

"Our biggest customers were people growing cut flowers, but weed has 
become really big business in the last few years and is now our 
biggest market," he said.

Jason Schofield Ralph-Smith, of Autopot, a British hydroponics 
company, said he was only following the money. "There is so much 
money to be made out of cannabis," he said. "And it will just get 
bigger and bigger as more US states legalise."

Ralph-Smith said he imagined about 60% of the watering systems he 
sold were used for the cultivation of cannabis, but he stressed: "I 
don't know what they're growing. I don't ask, it could be tomatoes."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom