August 2018

Ready to get more out of your processing equipment? Contact us today www.kannamill.com | info@hammermills.com | 1-800-447-4634 Speed up your pre-roll processing and increase extraction yields with KannaMill thrived between 1996 and New Year’s Day 2018, is now contracting because most of the operators haven’t been provided a viable way to enter the legal industry. A Los Angeles-based consultant was theorizing that only 30%-40% of the state’s licensed businesses are fully up and running. (Most of those are likely on the supply-chain side as opposed to retail.) It’s not even clear as I write this, six months into the newly regulated California market, how a lot of these problems will ultimately be resolved and whether the Golden State will become the gold standard for regu- lated marijuana markets. That’s what the space was supposed to be – and what those in the industry wanted it to be. The companies that are probably doing the best are ancillary ones that don’t have to deal with unclear regu- latory protocols, figure out proper tax payments and supply chains, or wonder just how strictly the state may enforce its rules. For those looking to translate this situation into business opportunities, I’d suggest a few options: • Find an existing, licensed com- pany to partner with or invest in. • Try to purchase one of the exist- ing licensed companies, but make sure to do your due diligence to ensure the business meets all local and state regulations. (The market for licensed retail shops in Los Angeles is quite hot right now, for instance.) • Explore options other than grow- ing and selling. Take a look at distribution instead of retail – or testing labs instead of commer- cial-scale cultivation operations. Those thinking creatively may still have a chance to set that gold stand- ard. But it’s going to be easier said than done. ◆ John Schroyer is a senior reporter at Marijuana Business Daily who’s based in Sacramento, California. Reach him at johns@mjbizdaily.com .