ASHLAND — If the packed meeting room Thursday at the refined Ashland Springs Hotel is any gauge, interest in Oregon’s medical marijuana industry is, pardon the pun, high.

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Business Conference, the brainchild of Ashland businessman Alex Rogers, opened Thursday morning with a keynote address by Troy Dayton, the man behind The ArcView Group, a San Francisco-based business that, for a fee, pairs marijuana entrepreneurs with deep-pocketed investors.

The sold-out two-day event in Ashland is one of two conferences this week that focus on the business of marijuana – the latest sign that the state’s once-underground industry has moved into the mainstream. Beginning in March, the Oregon Health Authority will register medical marijuana retail outlets, the first effort to regulate an already thriving trade.

Read more: Medical marijuana in Oregon: Ashland conference draws packed house | The Oregonian