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Marijuana Industry Sees Green In Florida
May 16, 2016
There wasn’t a tie-dyed shirt to be found last week at a gathering in Central Florida where the buzz was all about the business of pot.
More than 3,000 people from across the nation and seven other countries swapped information about grow lights, soil nutrients and safes — to stash money and products — at the marijuana industry’s premiere trade show. And the choice of Florida for the event was no accident.
“We’re here in Florida, because at all of our national events that we’ve hosted, we’ve had very strong attendance out of Florida. We are confident that when, and it’s not going to be an if, when Florida legalizes marijuana on a medical or a recreational level, the Florida market is going to be absolutely huge,” said Marijuana Business Daily CEO Cassandra Farrington, whose publication organized the three-day convention at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center.
For the second time in two years, Floridians in November will have a chance to legalize medical marijuana for a variety of debilitating illnesses. A similar measure narrowly failed in 2014 to capture the 60 percent support required to pass constitutional amendments.
“(Florida) is going to be a bellwether state, not only in the Southeast, but across the country, for marijuana legalization,” Farrington said. “As such, the business opportunities here are accordingly very, very large.”
While Florida’s emerging market — projected to be home to the second-largest population of marijuana consumers, if the measure passes — was a draw for some of the convention attendees, for others the event was just an opportunity to network and scope out the latest equipment and merchandise in what some experts estimate is a $4 billion-a-year industry.
Wandering through the convention exposition floor, visitors could stop by the “Bud Bar,” which specializes in displays for marijuana dispensaries.
A few feet away, several men in white lab coats embroidered with a pot plant handed out green Mardi Gras-style necklaces festooned with flashing marijuana leaves.
A sign above a piece of machinery declared “Trimming sucks. The Twister T2 doesn’t.”
During an introduction to one of Tuesday’s speeches, Marijuana Business Daily Publisher George Jage begged the audience’s pardon before encouraging attendees to network, which “helps us all reach a little higher.”
And while the parties and after-parties were reminiscent of any other convention or trade show, the hosts, vendors and attendees were all mindful that the product that is the focus of this week’s event is different. While Florida is one of 24 states that have legalized some sort of marijuana, cannabis is still outlawed under federal law.
“The use, distribution or sale of any products containing THC is strictly prohibited at the event, in the exhibit hall, conference sessions or any other function space where the event is conducted,” the convention show guide warned. “Any individual who possesses, transports, or consumes any THC-based products is solely responsible for his/her compliance with local and state regulations.”
Florida legalized non-euphoric cannabis for patients with severe muscle spasms or cancer two years ago, but the products aren’t available yet. This year, lawmakers approved full-strength cannabis for terminally ill patients. But the November ballot’s Amendment 2, largely bankrolled by Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan, would vastly expand medical marijuana for patients with a broad array of diseases. Morgan addressed the convention Tuesday.
“Your market is huge and the demographics are so perfect for cannabis,” said Sara Batterby, president and CEO of Hifi Farms in Hillsborough, Ore., who left her Silicon Valley job as a venture capitalist to start up a grow operation.
Baby boomers and seniors who may have experimented with pot “back in the day” might be more amenable to using cannabis as a treatment for ailments as they age, backers of ballot initiatives like Amendment 2 believe.
Adam Bierman, CEO of MedMen, hosted a fundraiser Tuesday night in the hotel’s presidential suite for United for Care, a political committee backing Amendment 2.
November — when 20 states will have marijuana-related measures on the ballot — will be a “watershed moment for the industry and policy in general,” Bierman, whose California-based management company operates in four states and Canada, said in an interview Wednesday.
“From a political standpoint, it becomes harder and harder to be against,” Bierman said.
A poll released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University showed that Floridians agree with Bierman.
The poll found that 80 percent of voters support the proposed constitutional amendment, which would allow medical marijuana for patients with a wide range of conditions, such as cancer, AIDS, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.
Dixie Elixirs CEO Tripp Keber, called by some the “Gordon Gecko of the marijuana industry,” refers to his products as “a new wellness platform” superior to prescription pain pills or alcohol.
The industry creates jobs, helps sick people and puts money into state coffers, said Keber a developer from Alabama who launched his Colorado-based company six years ago and is now operating in six states.
Keber’s company will join forces with one of the six nurseries licensed to grow medical marijuana in Florida, he told The News Service of Florida this week.
“The fact of the matter is that the money is real,” Keber said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Comments
11 Responses to “Marijuana Industry Sees Green In Florida”
I’m for it, I have had chronic pain for 18 years now. For years I have been able with my Doctor to manage my pain with pain meds. Well I have had 4 back surgeries, multiple physical therapy appt., and have been at one time or another been on every pain pill, patch, tens unit, that there is. But now the meds don’t help like they use to. I can’t try Marijuana due to I’m get pain medication through my doctor rt now. If it showed up in my blood tests they couldn’t prescribe the meds I’m on rt now. I ask all the people to put yourself in my shoes. I don’t know if Marijuana wound work for me but dont you think I should have the right under a doctor care and he believes it will help me with my pain I should be able to use it. Please educate yourself on Marijuana. People just thinks it bad bad bad are not doing themselves or other any favors. I did think for years the Marijuana was bad even though I have chronic pain at the time, but I started learning more about it and change my mind. Please VOTE YES to allow medical Marijuana for chronic pain and other illnesses that are not currently covered under Florida’s medical marijuana law.
We don’t need it keep it out of Florida and Alabama. People say they need when they don’t. They just want it to get high. Keep it away.
It does not matter what the business be, from finance to pot farming, if there is potential large profits, you will find people such as Bierman and Keiber.
We do not want marijuana in Florida. There are enough drunk drivers on the road. Also it does not create a healthy enviroment for families. Had to leave a city park up in Colorado because people were getting high smoking at the next picnic table. Lord help us if we vote this dreaded drug in…
Dang matchbox, sounds serious.
How is it for brown eye syndrome ?
A shame we keep having to vote this down.
Yes it’s about time.
Legalize It! its the best thing since Fire was found!
$15,000,000,000 (BILLION) is wasted on the arrest and incarceration of simple cannabis consumers every year here in the United States. $31,000,000,000 (BILLION) is lost in potential tax revenues and that’s a very conservative estimate. A total of $46,000,000,000 (BILLION) lost due to prohibitionist cannabis laws that make no logical sense whatsoever and destroy lives daily. This does not include the estimated $150,000,000,000 (BILLION) dollars from cannabis sales that will be taken away from drug cartels and gangs, and placed into the hands of legitimate responsible business.
US CDC Figures on numbers of deaths per year in the USA:
* Prescription Drugs: 237,485 + 5000 traffic fatalities
* Tobacco: 390,323
* Alcohol: 88,013 + 16,000 traffic fatalities
* Cocaine: 4,906
* Heroin: 3,365
* Aspirin: 466
* Acetaminophen (Tylenol): 179
* Marijuana: 0, none, not a single fatal overdose in all medical history and almost no traffic problems
So, which is safer? End the LIES and LEGALIZE NOW!!!
Please legalize marijuana…it’s needed now…had to smoke one already for nausea
It’s real!?! Dang it, & I was gonna use my Monopoly money!
So what do voters matter ? Floridians also voted overwhelmingly to keep the last bit of God in the constitution by defining marriage as one man and one woman. However, it mattered not what the people wanted or voted for. I suppose what the people want will win in this issue as it will further bring the morals, values, and character of people down. Oh, that and there’s BIG $$$ involved.