Why The Weed Industry Needs More Diversity

As the marijuana industry continues to grow, growers and retailers are looking for ways to become a more diverse community and business. The marijuana industry is especially inclusive in regards of age, but is somewhat lacking with regards to women and people of color. But, with the introduction of professional networking groups like Minority Cannabis and Women Grow, that is on the road to change.

Women In the Marijuana Industry
A recent survey from the Cannabis Consumers Coalition has stated that a number of women consuming marijuana is now roughly equal to that of men. Jane West, cannabis entrepreneur and founder of the group Women Grow believes women should be flooding the marijuana industry.

“First, I want every woman to know that there’s a place for you in this industry, and there will never be a better time to find it,” West says. “The legal cannabis industry doesn’t have the entrenched patriarchal power structures that dominate most of professional life, and the sector is growing fast, so jump in and find a way to apply your skill set. Create your vision, and think big.”

People of Color in the Marijuana Industry
A recent investigation from Buzzfeed found that of the 3,600 storefront marijuana dispensaries, only around 1% are black-owned companies. Many believe this to be a direct result of the increased likelihood of marijuana-related arrests in the black community. According to a 2013 report from the American Civil Liberties Union, marijuana use is roughly equal amongst black and white individuals, though black individuals are 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession. While over half the United States have some form of legalized marijuana, some of these states bar people who have been convicted of drug crimes from owning, working, or investing in legal marijuana businesses.

While issues like diversity and decriminalization are controversial topics for the marijuana industry, more people of color are speaking out through conventions, panels, and the media to make sure their voices are heard.

Marvin Washington, New York Jets defensive lineman and cannabis investor thinks minorities have an historic chance to turn around the industry, and the perception of people of color within the industry, around. “We have the opportunity to do this right and make sure the people that suffered when cannabis was in the black market . . . have the opportunity to participate in the upswing,” he said.

Why Diversity Matters
The inherent value of bringing new cultures and perspectives to an industry is only a small reason diversity in the legal marijuana industry is important. Removing the negative social stigma of marijuana, as well as easing some of the legal barriers that inhibit marijuana dispensary expansion, will bring more jobs and more economic growth, especially in minority communities. Danielle Schumacher at THC Staffing Group, a business dedicated to helping diversify the legal marijuana industry agrees.

“Diversity is far more than just a moral issue,” Schumacher noted. “In the 21st century, it’s a business and economic necessity.”

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on November 8, 2017.

How Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Can Increase Home Values

It’s no secret that medical and recreational marijuana have a striking amount consumer benefits, but here’s a surprising benefit you might not be aware of — increased home values! A recent study published in the academic journal Real Estate Economics concluded that homes within 0.1 miles of Denver’s 103 marijuana dispensaries saw increased home valuations by up to 8.4%. Based on average housing prices in those areas, the value was estimated to be $27,000 for a typical, single-family home.

Conducted by researchers from the University of Wisconsin, the University of Georgia, and California State University, these claims are based on real estate appreciation since January 1, 2014, when recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado.

What This Means For State Governments

Researchers and politicians from states that have enacted or are looking to pass marijuana legalization bills are now looking to factual, statistical evidence from cities like Denver on the benefits of having a local dispensary. For example, local San Francisco lawmakers have been making great strides to keep marijuana retailers in already zoned locations, despite the plea of the city’s Chamber of Commerce to do just the opposite.

Moussa Diop, a leading researcher of the study states, “The presence of retail marijuana establishments clearly had a short-term positive impact on nearby properties in Denver. This suggests that in addition to the sales and business taxes generated from the retail marijuana industry, municipalities may experience an increase in property taxes.”

Others suggest that it’s not only the prospect of growing and legally using marijuana that is causing the increased demand for housing but the job prospects associated in those legalized states.

“The legalization affects both the demand and the supply in the residential housing market,” says economics professor Cheng Cheng, an author on the study. “Areas where it’s legal are “going to attract more home buyers, including marijuana users as well as entrepreneurs and job seekers.”

What This Means for Politicians

Many of our current lawmakers (and some real estate investors with serious cash) have feigned concern over whether marijuana dispensaries will damage local property values. But, with these long-term, factual based statistics proving just the opposite, politicians and lobbyists alike have the opportunity to spin what constituents are already asking for into a positive for them — “I’m pushing for legalization because it’s good for my community.”

If you live close to a legal dispensary and have seen first hand the increase of your home valuation, we’d love to hear from you!

Originally posted at www.medicalmarijuana.com on October 25, 2017.

The Top 3 Latest Online Smoking Shop Trends

Online smoking shops started mushrooming in the past ten years on account of the growing smoking products and accessories demand in the market. This paved the way for the introduction of innovative smoking paraphernalia to the public that made smoking even more trendy, stylish, and interesting, just like the ones that can be seen at LuxeProductsUSA. Hence, despite discouragements from authorities the market just continued growing. Along with this growth and the stiff competition among different online smoking shops, various marketing strategies have emerged that have paved the way for some noticeable trends to surface. These trends are becoming prevalent among top online smoking shops for their effectiveness in driving sales up.

Here are some of the most interesting trends in today’s online smoking shops:

1. Online Visibility and Reach
Successful online smoking shops use the internet not only as a platform for selling but also as a tool for marketing. Like most online businesses, online smoking shops are starting to intensify cross- platform online promotions and visibility in various channels, with more focus on social media sites. While this is not actually surprising considering the nature of the shops being an online store, many out there do not maximize the potential due to either lack of technical online marketing knowledge, or the lack of people to handle the task.

2. Shops are Becoming Transparent
With the growing interest and demand for smoking products and accessories, as well as the increasing public acceptance of these shops as legitimate stores, they are now becoming open, honest, and transparent. Gone are the days of secrecy in fear of persecution. Today’s online smoking shops are a real business with the right certifications and permits to operate. That being said, shops also need to up the game by offering as many products available as possible and in greatly improving customer service.

3. Focus on Customer Service and Retention
With online shops offering somehow the same products and accessories, customer service and retention strategies serve as the tie breaker. Today’s online shops employ people that are technically adept when it comes to any product and accessories related to smoking. This is aside from common requirements in customer service like increased response time, the familiarity of product specifications, and providing customers with options that fit their needs and preferences. Aside from these, online smoking shops are also using various strategies to retain customers including the gathering of loyal customer’s online information, engaging with them in social media, and even the use of apps specifically created for that purpose.

As the online smoking market continues to grow and improved over time due to innovative products and significant changes in customer behavior, as well as the continuing popularity of online shopping, it is expected to see a more profound evolution on how online smoking shops conducts business sales and marketing. This professionalized shift also helps the industry gain a more desirable reputation while ensuring quality and excellence is maintained in products, accessories, and more importantly, customer service.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on October 19, 2017.

Where DOES the Money Go?: How to Deal with Money in the Marijuana Industry

Imagine you’re running a small, local, grocery store. You have your customers, your employees, your suppliers, etc. Now, at the end of the day you balance your till, lock the doors behind you, and quite literally hide your earnings under your mattress. Sounds crazy right? This is the reality that marijuana dispensary owners face every day. Because banks are federally regulated and marijuana remains illegal under federal law, banks are weary of working with marijuana-related businesses. It’s estimated that 70% of dispensary owners do not have a bank account, leading all of them to run a completely cash business. So, exactly how do you run a business without a bank?

The Guidelines and the Worries
During 2014, the Obama administration issued guidelines allowing banks to serve legal, marijuana-related businesses. But, even with these guidelines in place, banks are choosing not to take the risk or front the money to be in compliance. Rob Rowe, Vice President and Associate Chief Counsel of Regulatory Compliance for the American Bankers Association says, “…banking a marijuana business is risky.”

Why Do Marijuana-Related Businesses Need Access To Banks?
Creating a brick-and-mortar startup has it’s roadblocks, even in the most favorable conditions. So, imagine starting a company with no business loans, no line of credit, no payroll system? That’s right, it’s all cash. And cash is not easy and, surprisingly, not cheap. On top of paying employees, vendors, and bills in cash, retaining highly-skilled bookkeepers and accountants, you still need a physical area to KEEP your cash.

With the having a cash-based business comes another problem — robberies. Dave Ross, Resident of MMJ America, runs eight successful stores that can sometimes bring in “hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash” a month. The risk of robbery with Dave and other marijuana business owners is a real issue. The Denver PD have logged over 200 burglaries at marijuana businesses. So, the question is, do you use your resources to hire security when that money can go toward improving your product?

Where Do The Taxes Go?
Though obtaining a bank account is a next to impossible task, states are more than willing to reap the tax benefits of legal marijuana sales. So, where does the money go? Then answer is, well, it’s complicated. For simplification purposes, let’s take a look at Colorado. In 2016, marijuana sales reached $1.3 Billion with $19.8 Million in tax revenue.

An easy breakdown for the most-talked about funds:

• $40MIL goes to the BEST (Building Excellent Schools Today fund), going towards renovating and replacing public schools
• Around $18 million went to the Department of Public Health and Environment to fund various programs, including $6.7 million to substance abuse prevention grants
• $3MIL to the Department of Agriculture
• $1MIL to the Attorney General’s office
• $8.4MIL to the Department of Education for various programs, half of which going to Early Literacy Competitive Grant Program
• $216,944 to the Governor’s Office, most of which funded the Office of Marijuana Coordination

Are you a legal marijuana business owner having banking issues. We’d love to get your take on the marijuana banking crisis.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on September 15, 2017.

Branding Medical vs. Recreational Marijuana

As more states are voting to legalize recreational marijuana, growers embarking on new businesses are looking into how to brand their products. Some are confused on where to begin. If you’re lucky enough to be in one of the legalized states and are thinking of opening a dispensary yourself, we have some branding tips to get you started.

The Medical Side of Branding

For those that treat medical marijuana as part of their overall wellness, the branding and advertising of such strains are just as important as those who are using recreationally. Medical marijuana patients are looking for labeled, specific information. What symptoms does this strain help treat? What are the side effects? For many, this is as clinical as picking up any other prescription, so why not treat it as such.

Advertising and branding should focus more on the results and medicinal aspects of the strain. By law, medical dispensaries have a strict code regarding language. Staying away from terms like ‘bong’ and ‘pot’ help to destigmatize the drug, as well as make well-deserving patients feel less intimidated.

The Recreational Side of Branding

While the image of recreational marijuana is beginning to turn favorable, the imagery of marijuana can sometimes give way to the old stoner stereotype. The question is, in today’s world of advertising, how do you make a marijuana ad as appealing and modern as a liquor ad?

Think about what your consumer base might look like. For some, this will be their first experience with marijuana. Without the overhead of the medical community, language and imagery can be more lax and whimsical, but you should still focus on informing the consumer on how’s and why’s of your particular strains. Turn your knowledge and expertise into a learning experience. Customers new to marijuana, and even those with some experience will appreciate your forward thinking approach, turning new customers into returning customers.

Watch The Laws Carefully

The first thing to think about are your local laws. For example, the state of Colorado has banned all edibles resembling animals, or fun shapes. While those types of edibles may be less intimidating for new consumers, your business is not worth the risk. Consult local businesses and trusted local law enforcement for a review of the do’s and don’t of your area. As always, document everything!

Are you a legal supplier, medical or recreational? What have you found most helpful when it comes to marketing your product. We’d love to hear from you!

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on August 30, 2017.

Cannabis Skincare: Just a Fad, or Here to Stay?

Every year it seems there’s a new lineup of skincare products promising to do wonders for your skin. They claim to be clinically-tested miracle solutions for various skin issues ranging from acne to eczema and even wrinkles, but they are rarely live up to the hype. So, it’s natural to be skeptical about cannabinoid products and their usefulness in improving your skin.

Marijuana topicals comprise a wide range of balms, lotions, salves, creams, and oils that have been infused with cannabis. When absorbed through the skin, they can provide targeted relief for various forms of pain and inflammation. For those concerned about any psychoactive effects or “high” often associated with marijuana, it’s important to note that although topicals contain cannabinoid elements, they are non-psychoactive.

There’s still plenty of debate around the efficacy of these products, and results may vary depending on the individual user. So, Do Cannabis Skin Care Products work? Logically, one would expect that they would. Biologically speaking, your body has something called an endocannabinoid system (ECS) when is a group of endogenous cannabinoid receptors in your brain and throughout your nervous system. This system is involved a number of physiological processes and can help regulate things like your appetite, mood, and even your level of physical pain. In other words, your ECS helps maintain homeostasis throughout your body.

Cannabis-based skincare products may be limited in their efficacy due in part to the fact that it mostly affects anatomical structures within 1 centimeter of your skin. Deeper issues such in your muscular or skeletal system may be too “deep” to be actively relieved by a topical cream or balm.

However, your skin itself is an organ—the largest organ in your body, actually. And your skin performs a lot of functions that may not readily occur to most people. Your skin cells have the ability to synthesize vitamin D, it protects your internal organs, and can help regulate body temperature. So keeping your skin healthy is key to an overall healthy body.

The antioxidants and anti-inflammatories in cannabis topicals can help combat dry skin and rashes which can lead to other long term skin problems such as persistent wrinkles. In addition, these products are often combined with other scientifically proven analgesic compounds such as menthol, capsaicin, or camphor.

So are cannabis skincare products the latest “fountain of youth” we’ve all been searching for? Well, they say that beauty is only skin deep, so if you’re trying to improve the look and feel of your skin, it might be worth a shot. Will it stick around for a while? The odds seem good, and we’ve already become accustomed to seeing hemp oil used in various shampoos, lotions, and other body care products. So it’s not difficult to envision a future in which we are all stocking up on cannabis topicals to improve our epidermis. Whether or not it will work for you in treating a pesky skin issue, you may just have to try it out for yourself, and as always, consult a physician for serious skin issues.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on August 4, 2017.

What are Marijuana Stocks and Why are People Investing in Them?

Investing in your future is always a smart idea. Many people choose to invest their hard earned money in to the stock market. The idea is that buy investing in the stock market, you should be able to sell off property or land to others at a higher price than you would normally pay, or have it put in your family members’ names’ so that they are not without after your passing. While discussing this can seem crass, it is actually a way that people can ensure they their loved ones will be cared for appropriately. This article will discuss buying marijuana stocks and why people are choosing to invest in this controversial substance.

Many pharmaceutical companies that currently manufacture medical marijuana have been selling stocks to consumers. The consumers who have chosen to purchase the stocks are those who believe that marijuana will be legalized and they are in hopes of making a great amount of money on the return on their initial investment. Many have jumped on the bandwagon but these stocks are thought by experts to fail. However, there are some bigger name brands that are expected to do well.

Scotts Miracle-Gro is a big-name company that has been jumping into the marijuana stock business. Believe it or not, they have been creating various products for cannabis growers such as pesticides. Should marijuana be legalized, Scotts’ stocks are most likely going to soar. Other companies who are considered “safer” to invest in are those who manufacture pharmaceuticals.

When it comes to investing in any stock, there are certain fundamentals that you should follow in order to be successful. When you purchase stock, you are in essence purchasing an aspect of a company. If you choose to invest in the company and buy their stock, you want to make sure that the business is functioning well and has a bright future ahead of them. If you are unsure if a company is solid, you should avoid purchasing their stock unless you don’t mind taking a risk.

It is unknown whether or not cannabis will be legalized to the point of being able to use it recreationally in the form of cigarettes or other ways. Right now the federal government is determining the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. At this point in time it appears that marijuana is going to be a schedule 1 substance for a period of time which can create disadvantages such as no tax deductions for corporations.

If you want to invest in marijuana and are not interested in taking a huge risk, then it is best to invest in the medical marijuana industry as this is less likely to have trouble with government laws. If you have money to spend on investments, it just might be wise to put your money into other stocks that have less risk. Then again, the risk is part of the fun when getting a big return on your investment.

Originally posted at www.medicalmarijuana.com on June 22, 2017.

Can Medical Marijuana Kill Tumors?

Yes, this title isn’t just a hypothetical. Earlier this week scientists discovered a link between medical marijuana and the elimination of cancerous tumors.

Reported at MensHealth.com (in addition to many other outlets), these scientists found that using medical marijuana in conjunction with chemotherapy drugs actually INCREASED the effectiveness of those drugs.

According to research coming out of the University of London, THC and CBD both increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs. However, it turns out this only happens when the chemicals are ingested, not when they are smoked. Smoking, it seems, nullifies most of the benefits that these chemicals give you.

Why? Because ingesting these chemicals allows a much more concentrated dose to hit you, like swallowing a pill, rather than the slow diffusion of it through your lungs.

Now keep in mind, this is only one scientist’s research, and it will have to be backed up by further experiments in order to actually go forward and be useful. But still, it’s an exciting development for something that continues to surprise us with the sheer amount of uses it has for helping sick people in need.

We’ll be sure to keep following up on any more information that comes out of this.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on June 15, 2017.

Is Your Grandma Growing Pot?

The New York Times ran one heck of a story this week covering the growing trend of grandparents getting into the medical marijuana industry.

How so? Well, it turns out (and likely to no surprise of people who work in the industry) medical marijuana tends to be very popular with seniors as a way of managing pain while cutting down on the amount of pills they have to take to manage their daily life. In fact, many of the elderly people interviewed for this story discussing how they had no idea how many people they knew were also using medical marijuana.

This can actually be a barrier for many senior citizens when it comes to adapting medical marijuana. If they’ve never used it before, they can still feel a great stigma attached to the drug that many younger people today simply don’t feel.

However, the article discusses that one of the main reasons older folks, particularly older women, are getting into actually growing pot is because it’s one of the few businesses without a bias against the elderly. If you grow great pot, people will buy it, regardless of the age of the person selling it, whereas most jobs tend to avoid hiring older workers to fill out their payrolls.

This shows a rarely talked about upside to the new industry. The fact is, when implemented properly, medical marijuana truly is an equal opportunity business across age, race, and gender. In letting the elderly take control of their own pain relief, as well as their own income and livelihoods, medical marijuana is benefitting them more than many pundits believed it would.

We highly recommend that you read the full article, as there’s no way we could do it justice in a short blog post. If you’ve been interested in getting deeper into the industry, hopefully this article convinces you to take the next step, no matter what your age is.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on May 29, 2017.

Medical Marijuana and Organ Transplants

Could smoking medical marijuana take you off an organ transplant list? Yes.

Over the past few years, people who used medical marijuana and signed themselves up to be 
organ donors have found themselves removed from the lists. Even worse, people who were 
waiting on organs ALSO found themselves removed from the transplant list, due to the “added 
health risk” of medical marijuana. CNN has a larger article about it, and we wanted to discuss it 
here.

This has led to a bill in Maine that, if approved, would not allow hospitals to remove people 
from an organ transplant list solely based on medical marijuana use.

Obviously, we think this is a great initiative. Can you think of any other medical prescription 
which, if taken, disqualifies you from receiving an organ from an organ donor? The fact that 
medical marijuana was singled out for this is insane, and the fact that people weren’t told that 
this would happen to them is almost worse.

Several other bills are going out in other states, such as Delaware, each aiming to combat this 
unfair categorization. They are raising issues around who gets to determine whether or not people 
are allowed transplants, and particularly, why different states have their own criteria for this. In 
several instances, if these patients opted to get surgery in a different state, they wouldn’t have 
been taken off the transplant list.

We don’t have a solution to this problem (except for the obvious of supporting these bills) but we 
just wanted to bring to your attention some of the insidious ways people who use medical 
marijuana are still discriminated against.

Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on April 1, 2017.

Bacteria in Medical Marijuana?

With medical marijuana’s growing legalization, more and more tests are being done on it to figure out just what properties it has. This week, the University of California came out with an odd warning. When studying people with weakened immune systems, they discovered that they are at a greater risk of infection of fungi and bacteria found in medical marijuana.

How was this discovered? Well the head doctor of the study had been working with patients with depleted immune systems. While examining them, he noticed that those who had been prescribed medical marijuana to treat some of their pain relief often wound up with fungal infections.

The cause? The marijuana itself. Because it’s a natural product, it can contain bacteria and fungi that a user might not know about, and because it’s only just growing in legalization, the methods to weed it out (no pun intended) might not be sophisticated enough. And that’s most likely the case, seeing as how the doctor tested samples from 20 different dispensaries and found they all had fungi or bacteria.

Does this mean you should reconsider medical marijuana? No. In people with healthy immune systems, these are basically harmless. But for people undergoing immune weakening treatments such as chemotherapy, or anything that requires immunosuppressants, medical marijuana may not be the best treatment for their pain systems.

So bottom line, as with any medication, ask your doctor about potential side-effects before starting medical marijuana, and possibly investigate other options if you have a weakened immune system.

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Originally published at www.medicalmarijuana.com on February 11, 2017.