“No M.B.A. program could have prepared me for this experience”
~ Ravi Respeto, manager of the Farmacy, an upscale dispensary that offers Strawberry Haze, Hawaiian Skunk and other strains of Cannabis…
Americans spend around $25 billion a year on marijuana, according to the Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron. Little wonder then that hedge fund investors and financial service firms are starting to call around to smoke out opportunities in the weed industry. According to the executive director of NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), Allen St. Pierre:
“We’re past the days when people call here to ask if marijuana will give men breasts,”
“Now, the calls are from angel investors, or REITs — people who are looking for ways to invest or offer their services.”
The interest has been growing like the proverbial weed since President Obama announced that federal law enforcement officials wouldn’t trouble users and suppliers as long as they complied with state law.
But it’s not all easy going.
NYT: One of the odder experiments in the recent history of American capitalism is unfolding here in the Rockies: the country’s first attempt at fully regulating, licensing and taxing a for-profit marijuana trade. In California, medical marijuana dispensary owners work in nonprofit collectives, but the cannabis pioneers of Colorado are free to pocket as much as they can — as long as they stay within the rules.
The catch is that there are a ton of rules, and more are coming in the next few months.
Cue, much confusion.
