Marijuana Business Magazine February 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | February 2019 6 From the CEO | Cassandra Farrington I n my years following and serving the cannabis industry, one thing that continues to impress me is the undisputed role of technology in the rapid acceleration of business activity in this space. After all, the cannabis sector is the first major industry outside the tech sphere to come online since the dot-com boom. The industry has benefited significantly from the products and services we have all seamlessly adopted into our everyday lives and take for granted—from instant global communication to mobile computing and web access to the lower business costs driven by these advances. All of these and more have been seminal to the industry’s rapid rate of development. And now, the cannabis industry is returning the favor to tech innovators. Across the hall of the MJBizCon exhibit floor last November, this trend was exceptionally clear: Innovative technologies are finding fertile ground in cannabis, rapidly responding to the unique attributes of the plants and business environment we operate in—everything from the toughness of hemp stalks to the exact precision needed for extracted plant materials to touch-of-a-button oversight and controls on what remains today a Schedule 1 drug. In this issue of Marijuana Business Magazine, we’re pleased to present 10 of the most innovative technologies available today to cannabis entrepreneurs. Whether you’re an investor, an innovator yourself, a plant specialist, or play some other role in the industry, we hope the profiles of these technologies inspire new thoughts and approaches, fresh ideas that you can bring to bear in your own business activities. It all makes for an interesting case study, one that business academics and economists will likely parse for years into the future, picking out the important lessons for future generations to continue to build on. I doubt there will ever be an opportunity for such an intersection again. The businesses we’re building today actually belonged back in economic eras of old: the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution. It’s only due to legal prohibition that cannabis remains an underdeveloped, nascent industry. It is difficult to imagine another non-tech-based industry waiting to be discovered in today’s information age. Which, ultimately, is another great reminder to all of us working in this area of just how fortunate we are to be in the middle of such a historic time. I hope you’re enjoying the ride as much as I am! Technology Fueling Cannabis, and Cannabis Fueling Tech Cassandra Farrington President & CEO, MJBizDaily