It is highly probable that this category will emerge on the national stage. Successful companies looking to get into the cannabis space must ensure a secure supply chain, prepare to embrace sure-to-be-established product labeling guidelines and establish an educational initiative that informs consumers.

If other consumer brands are not already investigating and/or investing in this space, it is going to happen soon and in a very big way.

Under the current administration, it is highly unlikely marijuana will be decriminalized. However, in some ways it doesn’t matter. Despite what the Supreme Court said in Gonzales v. Raich (2005), the federal government has no authority to regulate marijuana within state boundaries. As such, more and more states will nullify and ignore federal law — as they are entitled to do under the Tenth Amendment.

Yes, it will be made legal. But as per the American way, it will be a matter of which lobby wins. There are a number of contradictions if not hypocrisy. Why is tobacco legal everywhere? Why is alcohol legal? How about opioids? Each one is federally legal because of influence on government decision-makers. Tobacco was historically pictured as a sophisticated, high society habit and even recommended by doctors. Alcohol was historically (and still) pictured as a way to joy, fun, friends, love. Opioids, supposedly, are under the control of doctors who, of course, can do no wrong. Drugs are beautifully pictured in magazines and on TV as solving all one’s ills. Cartoon illustrations show how they cure our body’s problems and you can’t argue with the evidence provided by animation. We’re even told to tell our doctors about them in case they need our diagnostic help. So cannabis? That comes from the “everything-goes” hippy culture aka potheads. Smoke filled rooms. Cheech and Chong movies. What medical cannabis producers need to broadcast is that “It’s not… Read more »

Regardless of the current administration, more and more cities and states are either legalizing marijuana or decriminalizing. This means money is flowing into the industry and we should expect to see more companies in the consumer industry flocking here given high growth potential (as it is no surprise that growth in many CPG companies has stagnated or is in the low single digits).

From talking to people around the industry it sounds like nothing is going to change until we get the next generation of politicians into power. Legalizing marijuana at the national level is pretty much turning the Federal drug policy on its head. The amount of work needed to successfully revamp the system to include marijuana as a legal drug almost seems impossible but if the right people are elected and if they have the support of their constituents then maybe in the next five to 10 years it could happen.

The way shoppers react to a brand’s support of controversial issues today will limit which manufacturers can get involved in this industry and if they do they better have a great PR department that’s ready to get to work.

I’ve been visiting Colorado for business at least five times a year since before cannabis was legalized there and can report that the pot industry there is developing in the same trajectory as the craft beer and whiskey businesses. Smaller producers and a limited number of retail outlets at first, but then pretty rapid growth of both. Now that at least some of the dispensaries are accepting credit cards, I expect there to be some consolidation on both the supply and retail side. Further, I can see some sort of channelization of retailers — co-ops, chains, independents — going forward.

As to the questions at hand, more than half of the states will have legalized recreational use of pot in five years, but I doubt it will be the law of the land until around 2027. And yes, mainstream CPG companies will move aggressively into the production, distribution and marketing of cannabis, led by the tobacco and, as evidenced by this story, the alcohol industries.

As long as Jeff Sessions is AG and we have a Republican congress, it is unlikely that marijuana will become legal on a Federal level. Too many of the “base” still believe it’s a gateway drug.

What is seriously needed is some kind of quality control around the pesticides that are used on the plants, and dosage consistency in edibles. I’m not sure that “big business” is going to solve the former, though it will likely work on the latter.

Personally, this is one thing I prefer to see generally remain artisanal.

Soon as they figger out a way to tax it, the folks in Washington will probably legalize it. While the momentum is building, I suspect forces in the Federal government will likely insist on years of health studies before changing the law. Anything inhaled is automatically suspect, for good reason. This will favor big pharma and consumer goods companies, of course, because they have the capital needed to fund the research. Artisanal producers will be left behind in the smoke. Fascinating that a large brewing company like Constellation brands would make this kind of speculative investment, just from a product development perspective. Did you know that hops – Humulusthe plant most commonly used to add the bitter flavor to beer – and Cannabis are actually closely related plants in the family Cannabaceae? Imagine a bottle of beer “flavored” with weed. How popular would that product be? So as I see it, the battle lines being drawn here are not only between political views of recreational drug use. They are also between folks who have an… Read more »