exciting and quality products to the shelf.”
Over the weekend, I met Dmitri Boudovitch, CEO of Folium Labs. He was there to exhibit an innovative health product designed for cannabis consumers called Livli Proactive Care. It’s produced and packaged at a facility in Windsor, Ontario that’s FDA approved, licensed by Health Canada, and holds cGMP certification. Livli is designed to enhance the cannabis user’s experience by targeting the very aspects of a cannabis high that can sometimes bring users down. Dimitri explained to me what makes Livli work. “It is different from other products on the market because it contains all regular vitamins people normally take, for example, Vitamin B, but also a number of herbs intended for cannabis consumers. It aims to optimize cannabis experience by enabling users to stay focused and energized, and to perform at their peak.” Livli’s beneficial effects are designed to mitigate potential cannabis after-effects that some consumers experience.
When I asked Dmitri about his expo experience, he said, “Lift is a great platform to introduce our product to the industry and consumers. Livli is a novel product and it is paramount for us to participate in events of this kind to get as much exposure as possible. We made significant inroads into brick and mortar distribution and at Lift we acquired a number of additional leads interested in carrying our product.”
Then I asked Dmitri, as I’ve asked everyone else at Lift, what he thinks about Legalization 2.0. Dmitri predicts we’ll see, “A proliferation of cannabis-based wellness products and their adoption by diverse demographic segments including seniors. The shortage of supplies will turn into commoditization of cannabis and price reduction. Increased competition among retailers and brands. Trustworthy brands and great consumer experience at the retail level will be areas where money will be made.”
During one of the panels, titled Cannabis Investing 2.0: Advanced tips and strategies for 2019, the speakers took turns drawing lines that intersect between political conditions, finance, infrastructure, research and development, and consumer products. Rosy Mondin, Chief Executive Officer of Quadron Cannatech, spoke eloquently on non-partisan support for legalization in the U.S. She specifically cautioned us to, "Pay attention to politics [and] keep your pulse on what is going on because it can change in a second." The cannabis industry on both sides of the border is full of companies that operate with start-up mentality despite their high valuations. Companies must be informed and agile, able to be responsive to the whims of their respective regional politicians. This is not a level playing field and, as Rosy cautioned, things can change quickly. Important elections are coming up in Canada and then the U.S., the impacts of which we can only approximate considering the unpredictability of U.S. politics. We’ve already seen how politics trump plans and stifle opportunity. Even with all the fanfare from the new classes of cannabis coming out here in Canada at the end of 2019, political will for change has to be corralled in order to move the whole industry forward.
Lift Expo 2019 had all the bells and whistles. I met Lift employees who brought their parents to the event. In fact, I saw more seniors at this event than any other cannabis event not specifically geared to older folks. It was encouraging to see an even industry mix of corporate finance and grassroots. There’s even more mixing happening between the two, consuming cannabis outside together as well as working in the industry together. Lift is helping to get us to the next plateaux in cannabis history. This is just the beginning of Legalization 2.0. There will be a 3.0 and a 4.0 and so on, but we can already see version 1.0 fading away to make way for the fresh, innovative ideas that will keep the Canadian cannabis industry on the leading edge.
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