The ramp up to California’s fully regulated market is moving up the gearbox, out of 2nd gear into 3rd. City by city and county by county the issues are being hashed out and although some communities are deciding production facilities and dispensaries aren’t for them it does look like the majority will somehow integrate the sector into their local economies.
Banking solutions in cannabis industry have been a major bugbear, evidenced recently by tremors being felt as far away as Uruguay with local banks saying they won’t deal with government sanctioned dispensaries because US financial institutions in turn fear prosecution under both US & international regulations. Now we’re seeing a swathe of crypto currency solutions although we see success far more likely from an organization like Colorado founded institution Alliance Financial Network , a FinCEN registered financial institution and their network designed to operate with highly regulated industries.
In the legal sector we see more Am Law 200 firms creating regulated cannabis practices. The next six months will be very interesting for state based boutiques. Will they be acquired by the bigger firms or will the bigger practices just help themselves to the best and the brightest? The multi state boutiques have already been through the process incorporating many solo practitioners in 2017. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Am Law 200 activity over the next quarter and especially so in California.
Internationally there’s lots of talk of regulated medical cannabis markets capped with the usual growing pains of supply & demand issues, political blowback & the process of educating the medical profession that cannabis based medicines may in fact be a positive addition to their arsenal of pharmaceutical tools.
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Sean Hocking
Editor