Medical Cannabis Industry

Right now, Cannabis is federally recognized as an illegal substance. It is listed as a Schedule I substance which means that it has no medicinal value to humans. Although there are a few states & hundreds of people within the public that do recognize Cannabis as medicine Cannabis remains for the most part, an illegal substance. Yet & still, reports about how much revenue can be generated from the legalization of Cannabis sprout up seemly faster than the plant itself. The implications of a Medical Cannabis Industry are discussed by a multitude of people from various backgrounds, however the establishment of the industry, structure, stakeholders, & economic implications needs to be addressed so that the depth of the industry can emerge; revealing just how many people can be positively affected by Medical Cannabis regardless to if they themselves smoke the herb or not. This post briefly addresses the Medical Cannabis industry structure, industry stakeholders, and economic implications industry wide.

Structure of an Industry

Based on the structure in California, where you have individual cultivators & cooperative or co-op cultivators, the Medical Cannabis Industry should have 3 tiers or classes of cultivators; individual, co-op, & corporate cultivators. Each cultivator may produce Medical Cannabis but none can present their product to the public for consumption. This only is meant to be a potential outline of the industry for discussion.

Individual Cultivators

Individual cultivators would cultivate for “personal” use of Medical Cannabis. These do-it-yourselfers may in some cases take an alternative approach to their health like growing their own food, or maintaining a certain diet. As such, the people in this group would have the privilege to cultivate “outdoors” &/or “inside,” as long as they have a state, county, or city license/permit to do so. In this way, patients have a little more control of their health, & the civic agencies have a new revenue source.

 

Cooperative (Co-op) Cultivators

Co-op Cultivators would be responsible for cultivating, harvesting, dying/curing & having Medical Cannabis tested for their registered members, & then for Medical Cannabis retail facilities. People who for whatever reason could not or did not want to cultivate their own Medical Cannabis could register with a co-op. By signing over their cultivator rights to the co-op & ppaying a fee (i.e. monetary, voluntary, in-kind donations), members could then expect within a certain time frame & a certain amount of Medical Cannabis for their “personal” consumption. Co-ops would probably operate best under a not-for-profit/501c3 legal status. Co-ops could also cultivate for & transport to members & retail facilities but are limited to things like a geographical cap, weight restrictions, & other regulations.

Corporate Cultivators

Corporate Cultivators would cultivate for retail facilities (i.e. pharmacy, dispensary, etc.), for other manufactures of products utilizing Medical Cannabis as an ingredient, or for research purposes. Corporate Cultivators would be responsible cultivating, harvesting, dying/curing & having Medical Cannabis tested. Corporate Cultivators would not be limited to the same geographical cap that co-ops would. However, the logistics of distribution & retail would not be carried out by corporate cultivators but by brokers.

 

Distribution & Retail

Brokering Medical Cannabis, & maintaining logistical lines (communication, transporting, etc.) between corporate & some co-op brands would be the responsibility of “cannabrokers.” This allows Medical Cannabis retail facilities to focus on their clients/customers, & the cultivators to focus on product development. The facilities, pharmacies, dispensaries, centers would accommodate clients/customer according to need, some even allowing clients/customers to self-medicate on-site. Retail facilities could sell over-the-counter medicine (like headache, or heartburn meditation), or other complementary/alternative resources (like dietary supplements & functional foods) as well as provide information about health/medicine & a place to build peer relationships or discuss health-related issues in a friendly environment.

Retail facilities would have the responsibility of meeting the needs of customers/clients. Helping to define the market, retail facilities would establish industry best practices, collect feedback from customers, & engage in the research & development of new products/services, while distributing new information to stakeholders.

 

 

Stakeholders

There are various stakeholders within the Medical Cannabis Industry. The Medical Cannabis Industry benefits not only the Health Care Industry, but also would have an impact on;

 

 

• Accommodation & Food Service Industries- As health/nutrition is encouraged, specific diets for people with specific needs will emerge

• Agriculture Industry- As cannabis is a natural resource, the strain on other resources (natural or otherwise) would decrease

• Construction Industry- Cultivators, retail facilities etc. all have to be reconstructed or constructed from the ground-up

• Educational Services-As new information is formed into knowledge, people/professionals need to be educated in homes, learning institutions, & professional settings

• Information Industry- As data is turned into information, dissemination of the information to the people will need to happen

• Manufacturing Industry- Potential for new products is great & as they are researched/developed manufacturing of these products can begin

• Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services- When cannabis is legalized, bio-science in general becomes sexy, bringing in money for research projects

• Public Administration- The benefit here is in the new sources of revenue to operate the administration through taxes, permits, fees, etc.

• Retail Trade- New products, new services, new markets

• Real Estate Rental & Leasing- Most everything, from cultivating to customer service, & even spin-off ventures operate inside a building

• Transportation- “In-Door Cultivation” means that cannabis is produced/consumed all year, as such transport should happen all year

• Wholesale Trade- In this industry, wholesale trade would boom; from cultivation products (i.e. hydroponics industry) to finished product