Maximum Yield Cannabis USA February/March 2018 | Page 60

learn
Ancillary industry businesses that
don’t require licenses to operate, such
as retail hydro/gardening shops, are
also expanding across state lines. For
example, Grow Generation, a boutique
retailer, started in 2013 with a four-store
acquisition in Colorado. It will become
the first brand to be in both regional US
markets with 15 stores located through-
out Colorado, California, Nevada,
Washington, and Rhode Island, making
it the first national chain of retail stores
in the country. The company’s board
of directors consists of established
professionals from the legal, business,
finance, and cannabis industries. All 75
employees have a working knowledge of
the cannabis industry from seed to sale.
“Having a balanced and knowledgeable
staff of experts from different sectors of
the industry and being able to embrace
and respect both the business and
grower side of the cannabis industry are
some of the things that things that we
feel will only help us continue to grow as
we expand,” says CEO Darren Lampert.
Much larger growth and expansion is
occurring outside of the US market, es-
pecially in Canada. Back in November,
Marijuana Business Daily compared the
top publicly traded marijuana company
market caps from Canada and the US.
Canadian companies Canopy Growth
Corporation came in at $2.9 billion and
Aurora Cannabis at just under
$2.5 billion, while US companies Terra
Tech and Kush Bottles, both non-plant
touching companies, fell just below
$500 million. Canada has been operat-
ing under a completely different system.
Not only did it legalize medical mari-
juana back in 2001, but it has cultivated
medical marijuana through federally
licensed production facilities since 2014.
Dr. Miles Light, founding partner of
the Marijuana Policy Group (MGP),
60
grow. heal. learn. enjoy.
an independent entity dedicated to new
market policy and analysis within the
legal medical and recreational mari-
juana markets, discussed how federal
legality plays a huge role in the growth
and success of the Canadian market.
“It changes the landscape dramatically
in terms of size of the investment and
size of the entity that is likely to succeed
in Canada. For example, because you
have this Canadian Venture Exchange
(CDNX) and the Toronto Stock Exchange
(TSE), you have entities that can now
raise funds on those exchanges unlike
most US-based entities. Canadian
entities like Canopy and Aurora have
raised enough funds and been able to
scale and dominate markets.” Light fur-
ther shared his