Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Oils and extracts, vaporizers, grow lights and joint rollers filled a marijuana convention in Chicago on Wednesday - without a puff of pot in the air or a single leaf of the drug yet sold legally in Illinois.
More than 2,000 people attended the Marijuana Business Conference & Expo, hoping to cash in on a business that is forecast by one industry-backed market research group to grow to $11 billion in annual sales nationwide by 2019, with the prospect of legalization in several more states.
Yet the vast majority of entrepreneurs will have no shot at growing or selling pot legally, said Adam Bierman, managing partner of MedMen, a consulting firm. Since he opened his first "pot shop" for $13,000 in California, he said, the industry has increasingly become controlled by "titans" who have six figures or more to invest.
And as more states - including Illinois, with its fledgling medical pot program - limit and closely regulate who can grow and sell the drug, many seeking a foothold in the business are focused finding their own niches.
To that end, the expo featured 162 exhibitors hawking ancillary products like child-resistant and odor-masking containers, climate control systems, cash counting machines and safes.
Illinois, which many analysts said is the most "hyper-regulated" of the 23 states that have legalized medicinal pot, has requirements like fingerprinting and backgrounds checks for patients, and so far only 2,300 have been approved. And delays in implementation mean it will likely be this fall - more than two years after the medical pot law was passed - before the product will be available.
"There's a lot of picks and shovels for the gold rush, but nobody's making money from the gold" in Illinois, said Dan Linn, of the Illinois Cannabis Industry Association.
Still, investors are looking to pour big money into pot, conference speakers said, to get their foot in the door for the hoped-for, long-range payoff: legalization. Many attendees said they saw recreational use as inevitable in many states, as lawmakers see growing public support and the potential for a large new tax revenue source.
That optimistic outlook attracted many investment groups to the convention, which included a "pitch slam," similar to "Shark Tank" on ABC, in which entrepreneurs went on stage to deliver five-minute business proposals in search of investors. One company sought $500,000, another $5 million.
Others built their pitches on the hottest trend in the industry: the switch from smoking pot to eating or vaporizing it. Much of the pot sold recently in other states is in the form of edibles, oils and other alternatives.
Electronic vaporizers were popular exhibits. Like e-cigarettes, they vaporize oil in a cartridge, and so are discreet, without the appearance, smell or smoke of typical marijuana.
The conference also reflected another industry trend of product testing. Laboratories offered testing services that tell growers the potency and composition of their crop.
One hand-held device, MyDX, offered portable testing for consumers, promising to reveal the strength of the pot but also, eventually, to detect the presence of pesticides.
Another device rolled dozens of joints simultaneously. As one salesman put it, "Nobody rolls their own joints anymore."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Full Article: Marijuana expo draws 'gold rush' to Illinois, without the gold - Chicago Tribune
Author: Robert McCoppi
Contact: rmccoppin@tribpub.com
Photo Credit: Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune
Website: Chicago Tribune: Chicago breaking news, sports, business, entertainment, weather and traffic - Chicago Tribune
More than 2,000 people attended the Marijuana Business Conference & Expo, hoping to cash in on a business that is forecast by one industry-backed market research group to grow to $11 billion in annual sales nationwide by 2019, with the prospect of legalization in several more states.
Yet the vast majority of entrepreneurs will have no shot at growing or selling pot legally, said Adam Bierman, managing partner of MedMen, a consulting firm. Since he opened his first "pot shop" for $13,000 in California, he said, the industry has increasingly become controlled by "titans" who have six figures or more to invest.
And as more states - including Illinois, with its fledgling medical pot program - limit and closely regulate who can grow and sell the drug, many seeking a foothold in the business are focused finding their own niches.
To that end, the expo featured 162 exhibitors hawking ancillary products like child-resistant and odor-masking containers, climate control systems, cash counting machines and safes.
Illinois, which many analysts said is the most "hyper-regulated" of the 23 states that have legalized medicinal pot, has requirements like fingerprinting and backgrounds checks for patients, and so far only 2,300 have been approved. And delays in implementation mean it will likely be this fall - more than two years after the medical pot law was passed - before the product will be available.
"There's a lot of picks and shovels for the gold rush, but nobody's making money from the gold" in Illinois, said Dan Linn, of the Illinois Cannabis Industry Association.
Still, investors are looking to pour big money into pot, conference speakers said, to get their foot in the door for the hoped-for, long-range payoff: legalization. Many attendees said they saw recreational use as inevitable in many states, as lawmakers see growing public support and the potential for a large new tax revenue source.
That optimistic outlook attracted many investment groups to the convention, which included a "pitch slam," similar to "Shark Tank" on ABC, in which entrepreneurs went on stage to deliver five-minute business proposals in search of investors. One company sought $500,000, another $5 million.
Others built their pitches on the hottest trend in the industry: the switch from smoking pot to eating or vaporizing it. Much of the pot sold recently in other states is in the form of edibles, oils and other alternatives.
Electronic vaporizers were popular exhibits. Like e-cigarettes, they vaporize oil in a cartridge, and so are discreet, without the appearance, smell or smoke of typical marijuana.
The conference also reflected another industry trend of product testing. Laboratories offered testing services that tell growers the potency and composition of their crop.
One hand-held device, MyDX, offered portable testing for consumers, promising to reveal the strength of the pot but also, eventually, to detect the presence of pesticides.
Another device rolled dozens of joints simultaneously. As one salesman put it, "Nobody rolls their own joints anymore."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Full Article: Marijuana expo draws 'gold rush' to Illinois, without the gold - Chicago Tribune
Author: Robert McCoppi
Contact: rmccoppin@tribpub.com
Photo Credit: Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune
Website: Chicago Tribune: Chicago breaking news, sports, business, entertainment, weather and traffic - Chicago Tribune
