Opportunities and Risks in Legal Marijuana Investment Highlight Day Two at the Expo

The original marijuana business conference: Stephen DeAngelo’s name badge, as seen on TV’s “Weed Wars”.

When I hosted the first serious business conference on legal marijuana-related business investment in San Francisco in 2011, the nascent legal marijuana sector was still emerging from the black market. “Movement” types – those dedicated to political reform of marijuana laws – dominated the business, and the “suits” – entrepreneurs and investors focused on the business opportunities of legalized marijuana – were an ascendant but distinct minority. The idea of a legitimate business conference being conducted on the subject of marijuana was so novel at the time that it was featured on the TV documentary series “Weed Wars”, starring California medical marijuana pioneer Stephen DeAngelo of Harborside Health Center.

Fast-forward five years, and you’d be excused for thinking you were in another century. While little has changed at the federal level regarding marijuana’s legal status, the movement toward full legalization at the state level has been swift and dramatic. And with prohibition repeal at the state level being one of the few issues garnering bipartisan support, there is every reason to believe the trend will only accelerate in the next few years, regardless of the outcome of the national election.

Robert C. Clarke

We have been featuring discussion panels on investment in legal marijuana companies, and investor presentations by marijuana company executives, at every Expo since our first event in 2014. This year, we’ve devoted a full afternoon to marijuana-related programming, and the quality of the companies, executives and advisors scheduled to speak and discuss the opportunities for investment in this truly seminal moment in the birth of a brand-new national industry, the likes of which can only be compared to such secular economic events as the end of alcohol prohibition and the introduction of the personal computer.

The afternoon of the second day of the Growth Capital Expo’s general session is devoted to Opportunities and Risks in Legal Marijuana Investment. In three separate panels entrepreneurs, researchers and legal advisers working in the U.S. legal cannabis environment will discuss recent advances in cannabis therapeutics and in the analysis consumer, medical, and market data in the medical and recreational marijuana markets.

The marijuana opportunities program will kick off with a keynote address from legendary cannabis researcher and breeder Robert Connell Clarke, who will trace the development of the marijuana “business” from its underground days to its current quasi-legal state, and offer his thoughts on where its headed in the future.

Clarke is one of a handful of people responsible for establishing the foundation for virtually all of the commercial drug cannabis strains on the market today. More recently, he led the development of the first strain commissioned by a pharmaceutical company – GW Pharmaceuticals – to create a prescription medicine approved by UK, Canadian and US drug regulators. Clarke’s latest project is mapping the genomes of marijuana and hemp strains collected from around the world to reveal the plant’s evolutionary family tree, and identify the genetic markers that will lead to the next generation of drug, fiber and seed strains.

Clarke will be followed by a panel of drug researchers and biotech executives active in the development of cannabis-derived compounds for medical use, including recent breakthroughs in the development and application of cannabinoid-based drugs to treat neurological ailments and as opioid substitutes in pain management. Seth Yakatan of Kalytera Therapeutics; Dr. Mowgli Holmes of Phylos Bioscience, Dr. Lui Franciosi of Veritas Pharma, and Dr. Mark Rosenfield of ISA Scientific will share their insights into the state of research into these therapies and provide a glimpse into what the near future will bring.

The marijuana opportunities program shifts gears from the medical to the recreational market with the next panel. “Phat Data: Information Technology Applications for the Legal Cannabis Market” will explore the broad spectrum of opportunities to apply the tools of big data collection and analytics to manage, certify, evaluate, price and predict future market activity and trends in this rapidly developing consumer market. Joining the discussion will be four executives of companies dedicated to providing market data tools critical to the development of the consumer market, including Giadha DeCarcer of New Frontier Holdings; Daniel Yazbeck of MyDx; Steve Albarran with Confident Cannabis; and Steve Janjic of Amercanex.

The final panel of the day will temper the enthusiasm of the earlier discussions with a reality-check on the conflicting and ever-changing state of marijuana laws at the state and federal levels. To address the current state of affairs, the impact of the evolving state regulatory regimes governing medical and recreational use, and the future of the market’s federal status near and long term, will be Marc Ross of Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference; Brian Vicente of Vicente Sederberg; and Amanda Ostrowitz of CannaRegs.

Special rates are available for emerging growth company officers and directors, and accredited investors who wish to attend. Single-day passes are also available for those who wish to only attend the marijuana opportunities program.

-Brett Goetschius