Cannabis in Five Years?

What is the cannabis industry going to look like in five years? Let’s hope that the federal government has the wherewithal to federally legalize the plant. When that happens, then what?

Based on everything I am reading, it is not only our country that has been slowly leaning into this new industry. Brazil is leaning in, and I can’t imagine what chaos that will bring. The Brazilian government’s laws are a world unto themselves. Watch the Edge of Democracy; it sums it all up.

Then, of course, we have other areas of South America changing to legalization. Canada embraced the plant long before any other country; Europe is on the verge, and Asia will take some time. Will the US be able to buy products from other countries and distribute them in our dispensaries, as we do with wine and liquor?

Federal legalization will most certainly toss every state that has already legalized the sale of the plant into a tailspin. Doesn’t the federal government overrule state laws? What kind of nonsense are the conservative and misguided liberals going to stick in the bill? Each elected official will want to save their state and, of course, save their donors’ money, funneling it into their pockets to stay in office. Will it just be a cave to lobbyists?

There is plenty wrong with the cannabis industry, but we do not have the cash that other industries have, so our involvement and discussions with the elected officials are mostly coming from the MSO (multi-state operators). They are far from profitable, but they are fighting for change to get there. The rest of us are sitting on the sidelines.

Is everyone in the business now just too early to the game? Not one state has gotten it right, and I do hope federal legalization is coming, but that opens up a whole other can of worms and guardrails.

What comes next?