The Washington DC cannabis scene is heating up, with medical pot dispensaries and marijuana growers gearing up to start serving MMJ patients.
To help the DC medical marijuana industry get off on the right foot, a local law office is hosting a first-of-its-kind meeting in DC that will bring together individuals who submitted applications to run medical marijuana centers and cultivation operations.
The Washington DC Medical Marijuana Symposium, organized by local attorney Jason Klein, will be held on Thursday at the Hyatt Regency – Capitol Hill. Sponsors of the event include the National Cannabis Industry Association, weGrow, the Medical Cannabis Law Group and Tweed Rolling Papers. Klein expects 40 to 50 attendees – representing at least 22 of the 29 businesses that submitted applications to operate a dispensary or grow operation – to attend the invite-only event.
The goal is to help create a united business community and clear up confusion about the District’s cannabis laws and regulations. Klein told Medical Marijuana Business Daily that he wants to “start a conversation about how to provide cannabis to sick patients while operating a responsible, legal and compassionate business committed to the long-term welfare of the people of the District of Columbia.”
He added that another key focus is to “begin building industry knowledge and best practices to ensure that the medical marijuana program is sustainable and effective for many years to come.”
Unifying the industry is particularly important. In most states, the medical marijuana industry is highly fragmented, and there’s no real sense of community. Groups created to support cannabis companies didn’t really start popping up until after the businesses existed, and uniting the industry after it started has proved difficult.
Klein wants to avoid that fate by getting a jump-start on the situation.
“Speaking to applicants (for licenses), I noticed that everybody was operating in a vacuum and was reinventing the wheel with each application,” Klein said. ” There was no communication or cooperation and no effective way of building industry knowledge. Most applicants had never even met any other applicant. So the idea simply was that we need to all get in a room together and meet each other. The substance of the event naturally followed as the most common and pressing issues facing hopeful applicants at this stage in the planning process.”
Speakers include Klein, who will talk about compliance and regulatory issues; Steve Cromwell of Cromwell and Associates, who will discuss IRS strategies and best practices; Kobie Flowers of the Flowers Law Firm, who will talk about how MMJ business owners can protect themselves from federal prosecution; and Margarita Dilone of Crystal Insurance Agency, who will discuss insurance coverage.
As this is a closed event, only people who were invited can attend. Those who received an invitation but have not yet reserved a space should call 202-568-6554.
