Maryland’s medical marijuana program has stirred much interest in the industry, said Taylor West, deputy director at the National Cannabis Industry Association.

Not only are there few medical marijuana programs on the East Coast, she said, but Maryland’s approach to treating a broad range of conditions and awarding a fair number of licenses makes it an attractive place to invest.

“This is a brand-new market where there really isn’t an established set of businesses there,” West said. “So getting in at the ground floor, treating patients and building a reputation has a lot of value.”

The event is aimed at “anyone who is, or will be responsible for implementing marijuana policies and regulations at the local and state levels,” according to its website.

That pointed aim at policy makers is what excites some in the marijuana industry.

“The approach is a really fascinating one,” said Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association. “The city is saying, ‘We have now two years of experience under our belts, dealing with the various regulatory challenges.’ And given that this is extending into other states and cities, there are a lot of opportunities to share knowledge. I personally believe that the more of that kind of information sharing people are able to do, the better off we’re going to be.”

Issue 2 passed; Issue 3 got crushed, with 65 percent of voters against it.

And it’s that side controversy that legalization advocates—including the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) and the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)—are pointing to in their comments on the failure of Issue 3.

“The people of Ohio have understandably rejected a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform that failed to garner broad support from advocates or industry leaders,” NCIA Executive Director Aaron Smith said in a statement. “This debate has shown that there is a strong base of support for legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana. Now the foundation has been laid for a potential 2016 effort that would put forward a more common-sense initiative and have a major impact on the presidential conversation in the process.”

Nevada will vote on recreational use next November. Similar measures are expected to qualify for ballots in Arizona, California, Maine and Massachusetts, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

National Cannabis Industry Association Executive Director Aaron Smith said a foundation has been laid for a 2016 effort that would “put forward a more common-sense initiative and have a major impact on the presidential conversation in the process.”

“The people of Ohio have understandably rejected a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform that failed to garner broad support from advocates or industry leaders,” added Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, a national trade group. “Now the foundation has been laid for a potential 2016 effort that would put forward a more common-sense initiative.”
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The industry itself acknowledges that it has a problem with class and color. “There are a host of reasons why the industry is not as racially diverse as it could be,” Taylor West of the National Cannabis Industry Association, told MSNBC. There are huge licensing fees, legal fees and taxes. Every legal weed state also has laws preventing people with a past drug conviction from working in the field.

It’s almost as if the existing models for legalization are designed, consciously or not, to exclude the little folks who might hope to start a pot business or work in a pot shop. Ohio’s initiative would have added to this unsavory impression. That’s why its failure may actually help the movement succeed.

“When you look at 2016, you are seeing the potential for another watershed year for the industry,” said Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association in Denver, Colo.

She said the last “watershed year” was the presidential election year of 2012, when Colorado and Washington legalized recreational cannabis. It has since been legalized in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C.

Ohio voted Tuesday against legalizing recreational and medical marijuana via an amendment to the state’s constitution, shooting down a proposal to grant a small number of wealthy investors sole permission to operate commercial marijuana farms.

“The people of Ohio have understandably rejected a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform that failed to garner broad support from advocates or industry leaders,” National Cannabis Industry Association executive director Aaron Smith said in a statement after Tuesday’s vote. “This debate has shown that there is a strong base of support for legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana. Now the foundation has been laid for a potential 2016 effort that would put forward a more common-sense initiative and have a major impact on the presidential conversation in the process.”

Added Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, also via a press release: “The people of Ohio have understandably rejected a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform that failed to garner broad support from advocates or industry leaders. This debate has shown that there is a strong base of support for legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana. Now the foundation has been laid for a potential 2016 effort that would put forward a more common-sense initiative and have a major impact on the presidential conversation in the process.”

Political experts are saying that a provision of the bill—known as Issue 3—is the main cause for the marijuana reform not passing.

“The people of Ohio have understandably rejected a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform that failed to garner broad support from advocates or industry leaders,” National Cannabis Industry Association executive director Aaron Smith said in a statement after Tuesday’s vote.

Aaron Smith, director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, called the measure “a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform.”

One reason national reform groups were so hesitant to back the measure, and so quick to denounce it, is that the measure seemed to confirm legalization opponents’ worst fears about the rise of “Big Marijuana” — an heir to the tobacco industry of old, focused on maximizing profits at the expense of public health. Playing right into this fear, the initiative’s backers sent a marijuana-themed superhero mascot named “Buddy” — reminiscent to many of Joe Camel — on a tour of Ohio college campuses.

“The people of Ohio have understandably rejected a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform that failed to garner broad support from advocates or industry leaders,” said one of those advocacy groups, The National Cannabis Industry Association. “This debate has shown that there is a strong base of support for legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana.”

Pro-marijuana groups, including the National Cannabis Industry Association, say they’re not too troubled by Ohio’s rejection of the “deeply flawed” measure, CNN reports. Advocates say they will push for another legalization measure, and state lawmakers who had previously been opposed to medical marijuana say the debate has changed their minds.

Within minutes of the issue’s announced failure, the National Cannabis Industry Association put out a statement.

“The people of Ohio have understandably rejected a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform that failed to garner broad support from advocates or industry leaders,” said executive director Aaron Smith.

The cannabis industry opposed ResponsibleOhio’s plan because marijuana would only be grown at 10 designated sites owned by their wealthy campaign backers.

While it is too soon to know how many of those businesses will survive long-term, the new crop is remaining in good standing at rates above the state average for this year and last.

Colorado’s pot industry hasn’t hit its ceiling, but at some point it will reach a saturation point, said Taylor West, deputy director at the National Cannabis Industry Association.

“I do think people who are looking for something of an early-mover advantage are looking in other states,” she said. “Colorado is not a finished market, but it is certainly a more mature market.”

And any national debate in Colorado is likely to include a marijuana discussion after the state in 2012 became the first to legalize cannabis. The National Cannabis Industry Association is inviting out-of-state reporters to visit a dispensary and speak with marijuana leaders.

“The upcoming debate will focus on jobs and the economy,” said Taylor West, deputy director of NCIA. “Yet these (marijuana) businesses … still find themselves forced to operate without bank accounts and subject to crippling federal tax rates that can be double or triple those of any other business.”

“Coming to the GOP Debate? Meet cannabis industry leaders and go behind the scenes at a local marijuana retail store,” advises the National Cannabis Industry Association which has organized an afternoon tour and meet-and-greet at a local dispensary which sells legal recreational and medicinal pot with such names as Permafrost, Trainwreck and Chunk Diesel.

“The upcoming debate will focus on jobs and the economy. Colorado’s legal, regulated cannabis businesses are on track to ring up more than $1 billion in sales in 2015 alone,” the association reasons, noting that 15,000 and 20,000 people are employed by the cannabis industry in the state.

With the media circus unpacking in Colorado for the big night, the National Cannabis Industry Association is hosting a tour and meet-and-greet at Terrapin Care Station, a retail cannabis dispensary. The group recently scaled up its lobbying, spending $112,500 last quarter and hiring Heather Podesta + Partners and Jochum Shore & Trossevin.

Long-besieged supporters of legal marijuana welcome the change. “My theory is that Republicans are looking for a ‘safe landing zone’ on the issue of legalization, and states’ rights is it,” says Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association in Denver. “Nothing is certain, but I’m cautiously optimistic about where this is heading.”

West adds that Republicans are trying to straddle a tricky divide. They don’t want to alienate the older voters who make up the Republican base and generally oppose marijuana. But neither do they want to come across as the scolding authoritarians of old, because they’re desperate to improve their popularity with millennials, a group that strongly favors legalization.

With a number of states — including Massachusetts — on track to put the issue of marijuana legalization on the ballot next year, the burgeoning industry is starting to flex its political muscle.

“The issue is front and center in a way that it hasn’t been before in a presidential election,” said Taylor West, deputy director of marijuana business trade group the National Cannabis Industry Association.

The National Cannabis Industry Association is not pleased with the decision. The credit union can’t open without the Fed’s blessing, which would allow it access to the U.S. banking system and the ability to conduct electronic transactions.

Related: Rand Paul backs effort to bring banking to legal marijuana businesses

“When the Fed stonewalls a solution crafted with the cooperation of state officials and designed to meet the Treasury Department’s own guidelines, it’s clear this conflict has gone too far,” said Taylor West, deputy director of the Denver-based National Cannabis Industry Association.

The tradeshow floor at the 2015 Cannabis Business Summit & Expo in Denver, Colo., would have felt like a familiar parallel universe to most greenhouse growers: structures, lighting, climate control, irrigation, etc. And indeed many cannabis “cultivators” now emerging from the underground have designs on a greenhouse environment: It affords the controllability and optimal growing conditions that the open fields and warehouses to which they’re accustomed simply don’t have.

Up for grabs for both factions is a market for medical and “adult use” marijuana projected to quadruple to nearly $11 billion by 2019. But for traditional growers smacking their lips at the prospect of simply outgrowing the competition, the current byzantine legal climate might give pause.
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Many horticultural growers might start cultivating cannabis tomorrow if they could secure a license, the equivalent of a “golden ticket.” But these are hard to come by, and the number and criteria vary greatly by state, according to Taylor West, NCIA deputy director.
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Make no mistake, the national mood is swinging in favor of Cannabis. Adult use is likely to be passed in California in 2016, and medical use in Florida.

“Some very big states are coming online,” West said. “This creates a sense of inevitability for the country, at least for the states that have the potential to go in the direction of cannabis legalization.”

This last week I attended a reception for Oregon members of the National Cannabis Industry Association. The event took place at one of my favorite venues, the Kennedy School McMenamins location in Portland, Oregon.
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When I first checked in I finally met someone that I have admired on social media for awhile now, Bethany Moore. I have followed her on Twitter and I’m friends with her on Facebook, and I always like the thought provoking, witty, and/or humorous things that she posts.
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It gave me an opportunity to talk with Aaron Smith, the head of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA). We had talked a lot via e-mail over the years, but had never actually met in person. When it comes to national lobbying on behalf of the cannabis industry, NCIA has done a tremendous job in the almost five years the organization has been around. Cannabis activism is a multi-faceted endeavor, and having an organization that represents the industry to federal politicians in a strong way like NCIA does is very important to reform efforts.
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It was fairly surreal to meet Earl Blumenauer. I’ve covered him on this blog for almost six years now, and followed his political pursuits even before that. I know there are lots of people out there that claim to be Earl’s biggest fan, but I’m fairly certain that I’m actually his biggest fan. So when he joined our conversation, I was a bit star struck. I had so many questions that I wanted to ask him, and a bunch of witty comments up my sleeve that I planned on unleashing at the perfect times.

Instead I just stood there and hung on every word that Earl had to say.

Brooklyn native Bernie Sanders and former New York senator Hillary Clinton both voiced support for marijuana law reform during the Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, New York State is readying implementation of its medical marijuana law, which continues to be criticized for its restrictiveness. New York’s Compassionate Care Act is among the most conservative medical marijuana laws among the states that have legalized it, and it may even be a bit behind the progressive values of mainstream national Democratic candidates, which is something of a shocker.

“Despite differing specifics on marijuana policy, nearly every presidential candidate — Democrat and Republican — has now offered support for the continuation of state policy reforms,” says Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association. “Given that the 2016 election is likely to result in several new states with legal medical or adult-use marijuana programs, that’s a critical piece of progress.”

During his debate remarks, Sanders quickly turned the conversation to a preferred theme, decrying the number of people jailed for non-violent offenses in this country — after which Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, was given the opportunity to follow his legalization lead.

She didn’t take it. Instead, Clinton essentially repeated her previous position on marijuana legalization, saying we should wait to see how the process is working in Colorado and other states before making wider ranging decisions.

Nonetheless, cannabis-policy reformers were cheered by the latest developments.
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Adds Aaron Smith, executive director of the Denver-based National Cannabis Industry Association: “Despite differing specifics on marijuana policy, nearly every presidential candidate — Democrat and Republican — has now offered support for the continuation of state policy reforms. Given that the 2016 election is likely to result in several new states with legal medical or adult-use marijuana programs, that’s a critical piece of progress.”

A widely recognized benefit of marijuana legalization is the ability to regulate an industry that has previously thrived on the black market. But current financing standards are keeping legal businesses in the complicated, and expensive, practice of all-cash operations — from not being able to accept credit cards to figuring out how to store and keep track of their money and handling payroll.
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In an address to the National Cannabis Industry Association’s Cannabis Business Summit in New York in September, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, identified this risk as one of the primary impediments to patient access to medical marijuana.

All-cash businesses present their own obvious risks. Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association in Denver, said operating with huge amounts of cash generates a major safety issue.

Business owners “have to either keep that cash on site or transport it somewhere to store it, and both of those things make employees sitting ducks for the possibility of some type of violent crime,” West said.

“There have been some burglaries at dispensaries and cultivation sites, but there hasn’t been any mass wave of crime. No one who’s been working in those situations has been killed or serious injured,” she said. “We worry that it’s going to take something like that to get people to pay attention to how dangerous the situation really is.”

It’s time for the federal government to unleash marijuana laws in the United States.

That was the overall message U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sent to members of the National Cannabis Industry Association earlier this week in New York City.

In a keynote speech addressing the subject of conflicting state and federal policies governing medicinal marijuana, the Democratic lawmaker told the group that her mission was to pass a nationwide reform that would essentially legalize medical marijuana across the nation. She said the CARERS Act—which was introduced to Congress in March but has yet to receive enough Republican support to get a hearing—could lay the groundwork for crucial changes in the way the U.S. government controls marijuana.

Gillibrand pointed out that despite nearly half the states having legalized marijuana for medicinal use, the illegality of the substance at the federal level has prevented any of these programs from reaching their potential.

A statewide conference on how to grow marijuana successfully and legally will hit an area hotel this weekend.

The Michigan Cannabis Business Development Conference will be held at the Holiday Inn Gateway Centre on Saturday, Sept. 26, for “attorneys, product manufacturers, entrepreneurs and dreamers,” according to a statement.
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“This is about businesses who can talk about concepts without having to trade cannabis to do it,” said organizer Rick Thompson.

Bethany Moore of the National Cannabis Industry Association will lead a “networking with business outside Michigan’s borders” panel and there also will be other speakers.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand spoke Monday at the National Cannabis Industry Association’s fall business summit in Manhattan, pressing the case for her legislation that would change federal marijuana laws.

The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect State Act would amend the federal controlled substance law to allow states to set their own policy and reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, meaning the federal government would acknowledge it has a medical use.

“Across the country, states are catching up to science,” Gillibrand told an enthusiastic audience.