The Final Piece of the Cannabis Puzzle

There is a key moment in the life cycle of every world-changing, paradigm-shifting trend… a moment where a fad, fluke, flash-in-the-pan, or whatever else we choose to call momentary patterns becomes something profound and timeless.

It happened for personal computing in the early 1980s, as the machines went from novelty toys to ubiquitous tools.

Forty years before that, it happened for television.

And 30 years before that, it happened for automobiles.

Throughout recorded history, the list goes on and on.

Today, this process happens faster and more often than ever before.

In the realm of consumer technology, it seems that every few weeks we’re offered the latest, greatest new device or app and convinced, at least momentarily, that it will change our lives.

Very few new products actually make that transition from initial hype to permanent factor in the market.

When it comes to one of the biggest trends to arise in the last few years, however, “new” doesn’t really describe the product at the heart of it all.

Shedding a Century of Stigma

Since the domino line of states began softening the laws on one of humanity’s oldest cash crops, cannabis prohibition reform has been a hot topic for business and politicians alike.

To date, there are four states, as well as the District of Columbia, that have legalized the plant completely — for both medical and recreational consumption.

Twenty more states have legalized cannabis for medical use only.

All of the legislation responsible for these sweeping changes has taken place in the last 20 years, with California being the first to pass its Proposition 215 back in 1996.

Most of those who followed California’s lead only did so in the last decade, with nine states passing decriminalization laws in the last five years alone.

To most, this was enough to qualify the story of cannabis decriminalization as a bona fide one-way trip toward universal adoption.

And the fact that the cannabis industry in all of its forms (medical, recreational, industrial) has now gone through one confirmed bubble back in 2014, a subsequent decline, and now into a resurgence supports this fact even further.

However, the true tipping point arguably didn’t come until very recently.

And that’s the tipping point where the concept of marijuana legalization is no longer a partisan issue or even an issue of religious ideology.

Unlikely Allies: No Longer a Crime; No Longer a Sin

Just last weekend, the Republican Party of Texas convened in Dallas for its state convention to give delegates an opportunity to express their position on various political issues.

With support from 78% of delegates, the following was adopted as the official position of the Texas GOP on the question of cannabis prohibition:

We call upon the Texas Legislature to improve the 2015 Compassionate Use Act to allow doctors to determine the appropriate use of cannabis to prescribed patients.

A tad underwhelming for residents of Colorado, Alaska, Washington, or Oregon, where marijuana is legal to buy and consume openly, but a major step forward for a state that’s grown to be the symbol of modern conservative values.

Even bigger, though, is that the religious community itself has started to embrace this schedule-1 “narcotic,” with church leaders voicing their opinions publicly in support of decreased regulation.

Clergy for Compassion, a group made up of more than 60 religious leaders from across the state of Pennsylvania — which adopted its first decriminalization statute earlier this year — went so far as to rally at the state capitol to support medical marijuana legislation.

Dubbed the “Pastors for Pot,” this group of reverends, rabbis, pastors, sisters, deacons, and church elders have unified under the common belief that nobody should have to break the law in order to ease their suffering.

Here’s the group’s official statement on the matter:

We cannot remain silent while people in pain and anguish are deprived of a viable, safe, and responsible remedy. While we may practice different faiths and come from different communities, we share the same commitment to improving the broader community through the practice of humanity, healing, mercy, and compassion.

To date, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, the Union for Reformed Judaism, the Progressive National Baptists Convention, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Church of Christ have all joined ranks in support of pro-cannabis policy.

A far cry from the once-universal attitude that cannabis intoxication meant instant possession by evil spirits, with psychotic, blasphemous, lascivious sinning to Satan’s delight resulting shortly thereafter.

As these groups, whose voices opposing any leniency towards marijuana at all have always been the strongest, gradually fall in line, federal prohibition, which remains in force, has clearly entered its twilight years. 

Taking It to the Next Level

In those states where cannabis is now completely legal, the evolution of the market is already taking the product and its users to a whole new level in terms of commercialization.

The term “weed sommelier” is now gaining popularity, as cannabis appears to be following in the footsteps of wine and craft beer in the state of Oregon.

And where there are connoisseurs, there is an increasingly competitive field of increasingly sophisticated producers.

Outdoor cannabis cultivators treat their plants and the flowers they produce with the same scientific, nurturing hands that winemakers apply to their fruit, while indoor botanists have taken to creating growing environments rivaling operating-room sterility and air purity.

Here is a quote from a recent article in The Potlander, a Portland-based cannabis blog:

Some strains will help certain people focus and cause others to feel anxious; your individual body chemistry determines how you’re affected. Dispensaries rely on the limited binary of mellow indica/uplifting sativa when categorizing strains on their shelves, but they should shift their explanations toward terpene concentrations when educating new customers. Terpenes give marijuana its aroma and subtle effects, like anti-inflammation and stress relief. People with a deeper understanding of terpenes will become the sommeliers of cannabis, sensing the floral hint of linalool and calming relaxation from myrcene.

What was once contraband is now bordering on a luxury product, complete with intensive research and development and a growing following that numbers in the millions.

It’s precisely this sort of shift in general attitude that constitutes the ultimate tipping point in the saga of cannabis prohibition.

Add to that the fact that there are currently over 25,000 product applications for the use of industrial hemp, and the path for this plant, substance, and material is clear as day.

In terms of new markets, few are as fertile or as certain as cannabis.

And predictably, investors are working overtime to find the latest and greatest ways to ride this certainty into profits.

Making those decisions at a time when the trend has given rise to dozens of companies and hundreds of consumer products hasn’t been nearly as straightforward.

For that, you need to know the industry from the inside and know what’s coming tomorrow as opposed to what’s already trending today.

Fortune favors the bold,

Alex Koyfman

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