By Brooke Gilbert, NCIA director of education & events

The National Cannabis Industry Association’s first annual Cannabis Business Summit took place on June 24th and 25th in Denver at the Colorado Convention Center, serving as a monument to the current success of the legal adult-use and medical cannabis industry. Bringing together more than 1,100 representatives from all aspects of the cannabis industry, the Cannabis Business Summit looked like any other business conference from the outside. With an array of keynote speeches and educational panels, in addition to an exposition hall showcasing advances in the industry, attendees came to share knowledge, to network, to find opportunities, and to contribute to the rapid growth of the cannabis industry.

The exposition hall featured over 50 member sponsors. Products and services, such as automated trimming machines, cannabis oil extraction machines, accounting solutions, insurance companies, software producers, consulting services, and cannabis-infused products showed the diverse community of businesses that currently make up the cannabis industry. This hands-on display of advances within the industry complimented the educational component nicely, not only showcasing cutting edge products and services, but also offering the opportunity to talk one-on-one with those behind each company. It was impossible to walk through the exposition hall without hearing new solutions to challenges as well as new business partnerships being forged.

In addition to the exposition hall, the Cannabis Business Summit featured nearly 100 speakers who shared their experience and expertise on a wide range of topics spread across five different educational tracks. The featured educational tracks included CannaBusiness 101, Advanced CannaBusiness, Ancillary Services and Products, Cannabis Policy and Reform, and Emerging Topics & Roundtable Discussions. General sessions and keynote speeches rounded out the educational side of the summit and featured leading thought-leaders and industry pioneers.

A powerful start to the two days, the opening keynote featured Troy Dayton of the ArcView Group. Dayton’s moving speech touched on how entrepreneurship and the push for social justice reform concerning cannabis prohibition have worked hand-in-hand to create the landscape for this now burgeoning industry. Following the opening keynote, the first general session, “Colorado & Washington: Successes and Challenges from the Frontier of Post-Prohibition America,” featured heavy-hitters in the movement, including Brian Vicente of Vicente Sederberg, John Davis of Northwest Patient Resource Center, Hon. Roger Goodman of Washington State Legislature, Andrew Freedman, Director of Marijuana Coordination Office of the Governor, and Elliott Klug of Pink House Blooms. The panel offered an honest discussion on the progress of the reform movement, what has been going right, the challenges the industry is facing now, and the future of the legal cannabis industry. The opening keynote speech and panel were filmed in their entirety by C-SPAN and can be viewed here.

Though the obvious subject of the conference revolved around the business aspect of the developing legal cannabis industry, two themes permeated throughout the two days. The first was the recognition of those who came before and helped pave the way politically to allow this industry to blossom. In attendance was NCIA’s special guest Charles Lynch, who in 2007 had his state-licensed medical marijuana dispensary raided in California and was subsequently sent to federal prison. A number of times throughout the Summit, speakers emphasized the incongruity of nearly 1,200 industry professionals coming together for cannabis business opportunities while many around the country sit in jail and continue to be persecuted under unjust prohibitionary policies. “We have to acknowledge those who came before us,” said Aaron Smith, executive director of NCIA, during his keynote speech. “Before we were an industry, we were a movement, and we are still a social movement. The growth of this new industry will drive the final nail in the coffin of marijuana prohibition, so that no one is put in a cage for using a beneficial, extremely therapeutic herbal product ever again.”

The second through-running theme was that, with two states opening up legal, adult-use markets, and more states poised in the coming years to also implement adult-use or medical programs, the cannabis industry must continue to put forward the best practices and image possible. In the keynote panel “Getting the Message: Effective and Responsible Marketing Strategies for Cannabis Businesses,” Taylor West, deputy director of NCIA stated, ”This is a cultural movement in the midst of an enormous wave, and we have the opportunity to define an idea on the rise, to be responsible, and to do the education around that,” West said.

“We are building an industry from scratch, and we have to take this opportunity to make this an industry that’s not like every other industry. Responsible branding is important. Don’t screw it up for everybody. We don’t have a rock-solid foundation, and we’re still very vulnerable from a public opinion and policy stand-point. Don’t market to children and don’t market like children,” she said. These points stressed the importance of needing to be both strategic and responsible in the promotion of cannabis businesses, as the industry works under tight scrutiny to continue moving forward.

The outstanding success of the first Cannabis Business Summit shows that as an industry we can move – and are moving – in a responsible, legitimate, and innovative direction. NCIA is honored to have brought together this community with such an incredible turnout of movers and shakers, all contributing to creating an industry we can be proud of. We invite you to join us at one of our many educational & networking events scheduled during the remainder of the year in California, Massachusetts, New York, Nevada, Illinois, Florida, and Colorado. We here at NCIA are proud of the direction this industry is moving, and we sincerely thank all of those who are doing their part to advance an industry based in responsible business practices. Thank you once again to the many generous sponsors and speakers who helped make this such a success, and we’ll see you at the next NCIA event!