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CanXpo 2022 Offered Professional Networking and Diversity in the Cannabis Space

CanXpo 2022 Offered Professional Networking and Diversity in the Cannabis Space

Source: CanXpo | August 30, 2022

Thank you all for joining us at the 2022 Hampton Cannabis Expo!

We had another incredible season in East Hampton with many returning and new partners, fantastic speakers, and unique activations that made this year’s event a standout. Attendees and exhibitors alike have been praising CanXpo’s focus on professional networking, attention to diversity in the cannabis space, and range of experiences offered to those who came through our doors.

Smile! Were you caught on CanXpo Camera? Check out our photo gallery from the event for pictures of speakers, exhibitors and attendees.

Just as we can’t talk about the program without thanking our beautiful venue The Clubhouse, located in East Hampton, we can’t discuss the impact of the event without praising Chenae Bullock of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, who kicked things off with a traditional land acknowledgement. As the Managing Director of Little Beach Harvest, the Shinnecock’s first cannabis wellness company, Chenae is a community leader helping pioneer Indigenous rights within the growing industry. Her ceremony served as a powerful opener to CanXpo, and an emotional reminder to all that we need to remember the original inhabitants of this region as we build a new legacy, symbolized when Chenae handed the sacred plant offering to our founder Gary Bierfriend from the stage.

The land acknowledgment also honored the Shinnecock’s union with TILT Holdings in developing Little Beach Harvest, which will be a first-of-its-kind cannabis-based economic generator for the Indigenous community and Long Island. Everyone who witnessed Chenae’s masterful ceremony named it as the most emotional moment of the entire event.

New York’s Cannabis Control Board Chair Tremaine Wright delivered a dynamic keynote address and breaking news about the state’s regulated market. We were privileged to have Chair Wright not only as our breakout speaker, but also a dedicated public official who gives her all toward understanding the communities she’s serving. As many of you know, the portals for the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses just opened, portending a great future for New York’s businesses. This was a subject of intense interest, prompting lengthy discussions. Chair Wright stayed at CanXpo throughout the entire day, answering questions and engaging with attendees, exhibitors and sponsors. From her thoughts on opportunities in hemp to the possibilities of a truly inclusive industry, her passion cannot be denied.

Our sponsors went above and beyond in their commitment to making CanXpo unforgettable this season. An immense thank you to our Gold Sponsors Advanced Flower Capital, GreenWave Advisors, TILT Holdings (in partnership with the Shinnecock Indian Nation and Little Beach Harvest), The Arcview Group and InterInsurance for your enthusiastic support. Special shout-outs to Leonard M. Tannenbaum, founder and CEO of Advanced Flower Capital, and Gary Santo, CEO of TILT Holdings, for helping create spectacular educational and inspirational experiences.

“The Hampton expo was a great insight into the New York and New Jersey markets,” said Len Tannenbaum, Founder and CEO of Advanced Flower Capital (AFCgamma.com), “[in] which New Jersey is already exciting and New York, as the second largest market, is the one to watch.”

Major kudos go to our talented emcee Cedric Haynes, Associate Vice President of Government Relations at Weedmaps, who kept everything flowing with the proper soul and energy. We deeply appreciated the welcome presence of the Weedmaps team around the entire event.

In case you missed it, here are the highlights of our speaker lineup and program:

  • A Fireside Chat on Lending and the Cannabis Landscape took place between Leonard M. Tannenbaum of Advanced Flower Capital, and Matt Karnes of GreenWave Advisors. As the nation gets closer to passing the SAFE Banking Act, how will that impact cannabis businesses? Will creditors be encouraged to do business with our industry? Time will tell. AFCgamma.com is the top institutional lender for collateralized lending to the strongest operators.
  • The Insurance panel sponsored by InterInsurance saw Jodi Green, Esq. of Miller Nash Law, John Fleming of Triton Claims Management and Frank Galvin, CEO of White Eagle Holdings Inc. explain how cannabis businesses can benefit from insurance. From building insurance for facilities to health insurance plans for developing workforces, this is a whole area of ancillary service to cannabis that is rapidly opening as the industry matures and challenges evolve.
  • Investment guru Jeff Finkle, CEO of The Arcview Group, emceed the Investment panel, a chat with Howard Goodwin, co-founder of Intrinsic Capital Partners, and Jack Mascone, Head of Capital Markets at Seaport Global. These pioneers brought their decades of experience in finance to the table in this once-in-a-lifetime gathering, exploring the recent and sometimes volatile trends of investment into the cannabis industry.
  • Gary Santo of TILT Holdings and Chenae Bullock reunited for a Fireside Chat onstage with Her Highness co-founder Laura Eisman, and Women Grow’s Tristate Market Leader Tanya Osbourne. The quartet had an engaging conversation on women and minority leadership in the industry, and how to support emerging entrepreneurs in social equity categories.
  • At the Mergers, Acquisitions and Debt panel, our experts analyzed the results of a year that’s seen more expansive and expensive mergers in the industry than ever before. David Feldman, Esq., co-founder and CEO of Skip Intro Advisors; Neal Kaufman, Managing Director of Kaufman McGowan PLLC; and Joe Camberato, CEO of National Business Capital, discussed their predictions for the next phase of the cannabis space as more states go legal. It also highlighted the recent trend towards industry consolidation and debt given the diminished growth equity available.
  • Matt Karnes also stayed around for the Accounting panel, joining John Pelliterri of Grassi Advisors CPA, Elena Mervine of CohnReznick, and Jill Scher of Marcum CPA. These expert accountants examined the new opportunities and challenges facing CPAs as the cannabis landscape gets more complex.
  • The Advocacy and Government Relations panel, emceed by industry icon Jeanne M. Sullivan of Arcview Ventures, brought new dimensions to the questions of legacy operators, social equity, and equal representation in the legal transition. Scheril Murray Powell, Chief Investment Officer of the JustUs Foundation; Lou Magazzu, Esq., Founding Principal of The Law Offices of Louis N. Magazzu, Esq.; and Matt Leonardo, Esq., Principal of Hinman Straub, each shared their expertise in working to expand pathways for legacy and marginalized communities in the tristate area.
  • Courtney Barnes of Skip Intro Advisors delivered CanXpo’s inaugural psychedelics presentation to wild acclaim. A lead drafter of the nation’s first voter-initiated psilocybin policy reform ordinance, Courtney has unparalleled experience drafting local psychedelics legislation and policy reform measures. This historic talk drew enormous interest, which can only continue to grow.

Scheril Murray Powell represented the JustUs Foundation as CanXpo’s charitable organization partner. Founded by cannabis industry pioneer Steve DeAngelo, the nonprofit is dedicated to ensuring and facilitating the entry of legacy cannabis entrepreneurs into the legal market.

We were also pleased to have Ryan Verneuille, host of the nationally-syndicated radio program The Ryan Show and FOX Sports What’s Going On, present throughout the day to provide running commentary and follow-up interviews with the numerous industry leaders.

Music reigned all during the program. The sweet sounds of SALTY, the electronic tropical group featuring Lee Kalt and DJ Xandra K, gave old favorites new twists. Long Island native Mark MK, known for his collaborations with Snoop Dogg and Jim Jones, brought the fascinating rhythm. And opera singer Massimiliano Cims raised the roof with gorgeous tones designed to call everyone’s attention to the stage.

Inside the Clubhouse everyone’s culinary palate was delighted to the utmost with an infused gourmet buffet from CannaMoji Edibles, Chef For Higher, Desired Desserts LLC / Mrs. Incredible Edible, Ethereal Eats By Lee, I Can’t Believe It’s Pot Butter, Long Island Dankery, Mary Bud Chocolates, and Refined Infusions. Marijinara Pizza, Good Fucking Wine, Viaquavit and Ghost Tequila capped off the evening. Nothing cannabis enthusiasts love more than a good meal!

Again, we absolutely could not have made any of this possible without our generous sponsors. Our thanks to these terrific partners.

And our final thanks? To YOU! Your presence and passion for the cannabis industry make CanXpo what it is. Please tell us how we can continue to make each season bigger, better, and special for you.

Keep an eye out for recap articles from our partners and stay tuned for updates on our next CanXpo in Palm Beach, coming Spring 2023! Until then, wishing you the best of success in these green and golden fields. Happy harvest!

Cannabis Control Board Chair Says New York’s First Adult-Use Stores Will Open by December

Cannabis Control Board Chair Says New York’s First Adult-Use Stores Will Open by December

Source: CelebStoner | By Steve Bloom | Aug. 22, 2022

Tremaine Wright gets around. If you’ve attended cannabis events in New York over the past year you probably have seen the chair person of the state’s Cannabis Control Board speak. She headed the lineup at the Hampton Cannabis Expo in East Hampton on August 20.

Close to celebrating her first anniversary with the agency, Wright looked back at the year and made some bold predictions for the future. She said retail licenses will start being accepted on August 25 and predicted legal retail sales will begin on the state by the end of 2022.

“When you bring in the New Year, I want you to bring it in with New York cannabis,” she said to applause.

The former state Assembly person and owner of a coffee shop in Brooklyn, Wright laid out her vision for a fair and eqiutable cannabis industry in New York State. Below are excerpts from her talk.

RELATED: New York State Legalizes Marijuana

The Process

We’re working on the minutiae at this point… We want to see this industry blossom and bloom in New York State. Think about it – we’ve only been at this for 11 mionths… And so much has happened since then… Everybody said get it done fast, but we were hesitant and not sure if we were approaching it the right way. New York has had the benefit of watching and learning from other states. The Office of Cannabis Management and the Cannabis Control Board have been making strides. We’re trying to get dispensaries open in New York State by the end of the year.

“There are so many different ways to define the harm that the cannabis prohibition did to our state.”

Medical Update

We’ve expanded access to the state’s medical program. We’re offering flower, we’ve lowered the cost for access and we’ve enabled practitoners to make decisions on which patients should be using medical marijuana products.

Hemp Update

We officially launched our cannabis hemp program. We’ve already issued about 3,500 CBD retail licenses. It’s $250 for a license. It is a registration, not even a license. I expect the number to grow exponentially. Go online to get your CBD registration. We need to see that part of the industry flourish.

We’re using this to restore our farmers across this state. These farmers are committed and dedicated to growing a trememdous product. I had a chance to smell the flowers recently and they were smelling good. They’re using sustainable practices. They’re commited to creating jobs in their communities…. Over 200 of our farmers, mostly family businesses, have licenses to grow cannabis in this state. Their harvest is coming in. They’re producing the products that are going to our newly licensed processors. On August 15, we issued the first 15 processing licenses to existing hemp processors – so they can help us get the raw materials into a form that’s ready to go onto the shelves for our conditional retail dispenary licensees. That’s coming down the pipeline. We expect them to do everything from edibles to tinctures and vape cartridges as well as a host of other products we know consumers will be looking for.

“We don’t want to see the predatory actions we’ve seen in some other places.”

Equity and Inclusion Update

We’re happy to learn from the mistakes – better yet, attempts – by other states to shape our program. That’s why we ended up with a 50% benchmark for all types of licenses. Social equity applicants are women, minorities, service disabled veterans and also applicants who come from communities that have been disproportionately harmed by the enforcement of marijuana prohibition….

This is a moment of opportunity. There are no limits on the number of licenses. The only limitation is your ingenuity and your creativity. Get your ideas together. We need you to come forth with your ideas in the request for the license so that you can help us grow this industry. That is going to get us to our 50%. You don’t have to have an equity partner to get your license. You have to have a good idea. You’ve got to have the will to make that idea come to fruition. That’s what we want to see in New York State. We don’t want to see the predatory actions we’ve seen in some other places. We don’t want people to think they have to bring somebody along. You have to come together and creeate an industry in New York State that’s going to wow the rest of the nation. We need you to set the example. Everybody is watching New York State. Everybody wants to see what we’re going to produce next.

Communities have been harmed. You can define the harm in health care, investment, crime and arrests. There are so many different ways to define the harm that the cannabis prohibition did to our state. We’e taking our steps and those of you in this room are helping us build an economic engine. That’s going to be part of the repair. Those revenue dollars will be reinvested through our advisory committee and through our community reinverstment plan, so that they can support inititiatives across the state in terms of education and research as well as community-led events and projects.

“When you bring in the New Year, I want everybody to bring it in with a little New York cannabis.”

The Hampton Cannabis Expo took place at The Clubhouse in East Hampton, NY. (Photo by Sam C. Long for Honeysuckle)

 

 

The Application Window

We’re opening the applications for our retail dispensaries on August 25. Thias is going to link the supply chain together so that we actiually have cannabis operations in New York State before the end of the year. Our retail license fees will be supported by the $200 million loan fund that Gov. Hochul introduced in her budget plan and passed in this year’s budget. That’s going to support hopefully 150-200 retail operations across this state. The first ones to open will be licensees who come from the community, people that have been convicted for marijuana offenses during the prohibition. These are also people who have operated successful businesses and have already committed themselves to community. These are people who come with a skill set to operate successful businesses and are going to be model citizens and model businesses for everyone else in the pipeline. These folks are going to help us get cannabis off the ground. So, when you bring in the New Year, I want everybody to bring it in with a little New York cannabis. That’s what we’re aiming for.

“We want to see this industy blossom annd bloom in New York State.”

In Summary…

We have a lot to do. We’ll be rolling out regulations throughout the rest of this year. We hope to have the complete package before the end of this year, so that when we open up in 2023 we’re ready to go straight to applications and opening businesses. We don’t want people to be discouraged, we want you to stay connected with us.

Go on our website – cannabis.ny.gov – and take a look at our proposed regulations. You are the practitioners, entrepreneurs and innovators. You can see the things that we miss. You have the insight to know how these things are going to operate and we need to hear from you. Your comments are important. They’re incorporated, they are necessary. We definitely want an industry that’s going to be thriving and I want all of you to be a part of it. We also want you to help us shape it. The last thing we want is to be making changes in year two or three. We want to get it right out the gate. We think we’re on the right track. We need you to help us stay the course.

Hundreds Expected at Annual Hampton Cannabis Expo

Hundreds Expected at Annual Hampton Cannabis Expo

Source: Newsday | By Sarina Trangle | Aug. 19, 2022

The annual Hampton Cannabis Expo is expected to draw a crowd this weekend, in part because Long Islanders can see a state-sanctioned path for getting the recreational industry off the ground by 2023.

Now in its fifth year, the Hampton Cannabis Expo will draw entrepreneurs and investors interested in the marijuana industry, said Neil Kaufman, whose Hauppauge law firm handles corporate cannabis transactions across the nation and is one of the event’s sponsors.

The expo attracted more than 600 people last year, but organizers are planning for a bigger crowd now that COVID-19 is less of a health threat for big gatherings and the state has started rolling out a framework for licensing recreational marijuana firms, Kaufman said.

“We’re expecting attendance to be through the roof. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were over 1,000 people there,” Kaufman said. “This is an ideal time and place to gather together a huge portion of the industry — and people that hope to be in the industry — to try to accelerate the development of the cannabis industry in New York State, and on Long Island in particular.”

Regulators have granted 10 “conditional” or temporary cultivation licenses to farmers based on Long Island, according to the Office of Cannabis Management, which creates policies for medical and recreational marijuana.

So far, 15 firms across the state have been granted conditional processing licenses that will allow them to transform the crop into edibles, tinctures and other products, OCM said. The office will soon issue credentials to firms that pick up samples of cannabis for testing and for labs that analyze products created for recreational consumers, OCM said.

Next Thursday, Aug. 25, the state plans to open applications for conditional retail licenses online, at https://www.businessexpress.ny.gov. The first batch of recreational credentials will be reserved for New York business owners who were charged with a cannabis-related offense, or who had relatives charged with such an offense. Nonprofits focused on workforce development may also be eligible.

The East Hampton expo event will run from 1 to 8 p.m. this Saturday and include panels on lending, accounting, insurance and investment. Tremaine Wright, chair of the state board that approves cannabis policy, will give the keynote address, said Gary Bierfriend, a lawyer and businessman who runs the expo. The Shinnecock Nation will discuss plans for its forthcoming dispensary, Little Beach Harvest, in Southampton.

Cannabis Expo Returns to East Hampton NY with Record Sponsorship

Cannabis Expo Returns to East Hampton NY with Record Sponsorship

Source: CanXpo | July. 13, 2022

The 5th annual Hampton Cannabis Expo. Advocacy, legalization, investing, exhibitors, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, panels, live music, and after-party.

East Hampton, NY (Newsworthy.ai) Wednesday Jul 13, 2022 @ 12:45 PM Central —

The 5th annual Cannabis Expo (CanXpo) returns to East Hampton, NY on Saturday, August 20th, 2022, and features an impressive line-up of speakers focusing on the themes of social equity, legalization, banking, accounting, insurance, M&A, and investing.

Designed for investors and industry professionals, Cannabis Expo highlights how active and progressive the Northeast is becoming toward the cannabis industry. Chairwoman Tremaine S. Wright from the NYS OCB will be a keynote presenter. Topics will evolve from legalization through investment and current critical business growth issues.

The recreational use of cannabis was legalized by the New York legislature in March 2021. As the state gets ready for the implementation of commercial availability, many interested industry observers and investors will find this year’s Cannabis Expo of particular interest.

According to Matt Karnes, Founder of NYC-based cannabis research and advisory firm GreenWave Advisors, the New York market is estimated to reach about $5 Billion at maturity, the second largest in the country behind California ($7 Billion). Total sales in 2021reached approximately $25 Billion and are expected to hit ~$30 Billion this year.

“CanXpo is curated to connect people & opportunity, the purpose of which is to deliver a superhighway of business opportunity while building a more positive opinion of the industry” across the wider public community,” says Gary Bierfriend, President of CanXpo. “The audience and sponsors attracted to these events are among the most active and visible thought leaders in the industry.”

Event details are as follows:

Venue — The Clubhouse, East Hampton New York
Tickets — Must be purchased online in advance only of the event.
Registration — Saturday, August 20, 1 pm
Expo — Saturday, August 20, 2022, 1:00 – 8:00 pm
VIP After Party — Saturday, August 20, 2022, 8:30 – 11:00 pm

Prior to Saturday’s Cannabis Expo, an Investor “pitch night” will take place on the evening of Friday, August 19th, 2022, and a special Psychedelic Sunday event takes place on Sunday, August 20th, 2022.

JustUs Foundation is the charitable cause for the 2022 Hampton Cannabis Expo, and at 3:45 pm on Saturday, the Shinnecock Nati on (Little Beach Harvest) will perform a Land Acknowledgment.

Full conference details can be found on the Hampton Cannabis Expo website, along with information on the weekend’s events, and information on becoming an exhibitor or a sponsor at the Expo.

This year’s event is sponsored by returning Gold Sponsors, GreenWave Advisors, and The Arcview Group.

New Gold Sponsors include
Advanced Flower Capital (Ticker: AFCG), Tilt Holdings (Ticker: TLLTF), Little Beach Harvest, Shinnecock Nation, and InterInsurance.

New Silver Sponsors include
WeedMaps (Ticker: MAPS) and National Business Capital. AYR Wellness (Ticker: AYRWF) sponsors the Swag Bag and AFCG sponsors the Lanyards.

Plus, many returning sponsors including Kaufman McGowan Law, Long Island Capital Alliance, SkipIntro
Advisors, Conor Green, along with new sponsors such as Grassi CPA’s, CohnReznick, and many more.

Hampton Cannabis Expo 2021 Advocacy, Legalization, Investment Opportunities

Hampton Cannabis Expo 2021 Advocacy, Legalization, Investment Opportunities

Source: CanXpo | Sep. 3, 2021

New York – On Sunday, August 29, 2021, the Hampton Cannabis Expo was held at The Club House, East Hampton, New York with an impressive industry speaker line-up focusing on the three themes of advocacy, legalization and investing in cannabis in New York State and nationally.

The 2021 Speakers line-up included the following prominent industry leaders:

700+ Professionals, Keynote Speakers, Exhibitors, & Investors

Approximately 700 professionals attended along with keynote speakers, exhibitors, investors and Cannabis influencers. This year’s Expo included talks by 17 presenters. The Expo ran for almost 10 hours followed by an afterparty on The Clubhouse lawn in East Hampton. The Archview Group and Greenwave Advisors were Gold Sponsors while helping to drive record attendance. Here’s a link to a favorable mention from Hamptons’ local – Dan’s Papers.

Gary Bierfriend | Cannabis Expo 2021 Advocacy

Image source: CanXpo. Event Founder Gary Biefriend

Background to the Hampton Cannabis Expo

The Hampton Cannabis Expo is an annual trade show which began in 2018 and provides an opportunity for key players in the emerging cannabis industry to showcase their products and services including investment opportunities. The Expo is designed to educate potential investors and industry professionals.

The 2021 Hampton Expo highlighted how active and progressive the Northeast, is becoming towards the marijuana industry, along with the health and wellness benefits.

New York is certainly going to be a new critical epicenter of this industry moving forward. Evidencing how mainstream cannabis is becoming in the wider community, even Neiman Marcus had a stall where they promoted various brands at the Expo. Attendees paid $200 to attend the event, which included food, drink and entertainment.

Neiman Marcus | Cannabis Expo 2021 Advocacy

Image Source: Dan’s Papers. The Neiman Marcus booth at this year’s Expo

Three dozen Exhibitors displayed products and services ranging products and services.

The event, running over ten hours, included panels with prominent players in the national and NYS cannabis industry. Discussion focused upon social equity issues, New York licensing requirements, cannabis investment vehicles and national branding.

Panellists considered issues ranging from a brief overview of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) to barriers to entry including the complexities produced around interstate commerce and legalization and regulatory issues.  It was noted that the CAOA has no likelihood of passing but that the effect of this bill means that there is now national discussions around federal legalization. It was also expressed disappointment that marijuana products are to be regulated by the liquor authority which they felt undermined the therapeutic benefits that all cannabis products have to offer.

There was also discussion about the SAFE Banking Act and how this may lower the cost of capital making it easier to achieve some of the goals outlined in the proposed CAOA legislation.

Overall, there was a positive tone despite acknowledgments that some of the legislation in NYS may ultimately not pass. There was also discussion around where legalization wasn’t accompanied by regulation and how this would affect product quality in different markets.

The Expo was an awesome opportunity for industry players to brainstorm the key challenges and opportunities in this exciting, emerging marketplace. This year’s Expo proved that cannabis is here to stay and the market is expected to continue to grow with enthusiasm in the coming years.

The cannabis industry has three elements: the recreational market, the medical market and potential hybridization as Big Pharma enters the market – potentially to make headache tablets which might include a cannabinoid. Successful disruptors in this market will be those most able to monetize those opportunities as they appear.

Takeaway: If you are considering applying for a New York license – don’t wait. Get started now, line up your financing, write your business plan and get started. Build a diverse team.

Announcement for Hampton Cannabis Expo 2022

The Hampton Cannabis Expo 2022 will be held again on Saturday, August 20th from 2pm to 8pm, with a VIP After Party starting at 8:30pm.

For more information, please visit www.HamptonCannabisExpo.comand contact info@HamptonCannabisExpo.com

About Us

Hampton Cannabis Expo – “Connecting People & Opportunity in the Cannabis Industry”

Helping cannabis entrepreneurs and investors network with one another and bring the health and wellness benefits of cannabis into the 21st century.

We also proudly supported Last Prisoner Project which is a non-profit designed to bring restorative justice to the cannabis industry.

Keynote Speakers

ADVOCACY – Jason Wild, Eddie Armstrong & Barré Hamp (moderated by Jeanne Sullivan)

  • Jason Wild teamed up with Chris Webber (NBA All-Star and founder of Webber Wellness) – to launch a $100 million cannabis impact fund. (Webber Wellness is a health and wellness company that explores Cannabis and CBD as alternative solutions to manage pain relief and support recovery).
  • Jason Wild: Cookies U built a campus in California where they train people wanting to enter the cannabis industry. Cookies U has housing and includes daycare for people with kids. Cookies University is training people on the cultivation and manufacturing side as well as the retail side. Cookies is the top American cannabis brand.
  • Moderator (Sullivan): “See what’s important, part of the whole social equity is the advocacy that is needed and the sponsorship”. Advocacy is about delivering knowledge, resources and ideas.”
  • Barré Hamp – I’m an enrolled tribal citizen of the Shinnecock Indian Nation from East Hampton to Brookhaven townline – one of the original 13 tribes on Long Island, and we’re a sovereign nation. Looking for economic development: our tribe doesn’t benefit from the tax base – we are basically self-sufficient. My specialty is Tribal Economic Development. I got into cannabis in 2014 as a business venture to help native people, learning the business in the Emerald Triangle in Northern California. We set up the operation 6 years ago and within the next six to eight months – we’re going to be opening a world class dispensary wellness center in New York State – which is the second largest cannabis community after California. We passed a medical cannabis ordinance under tribal law – mirroring the New York State Compassionate Care Act of 2014. New York recently passed adult use. Started out with a $20 million business partner which made it easier.
  • Moderator (Sullivan) – Talk us through the Conor Green-Tilt. 
  • Barré Hamp: I was introduced through a Native American attorney from a Native American attorney firm to two investors from the company Conor Green – we had a white paper about cannabis for tribes. They were looking to go upstate New York actually, to pursue cannabis with either the Shinnecock Nation or the St. Regis Mohawks, which are our sister tribe in the northern territory.
  • Conor Green asked me if I was native – I said I was with the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton. They agreed and I bought Conor Green to Shinnecock Indian Nation who vetted Conor Green’s Economic Development Committee and our Council of Trustees (which is the Nation’s leadership board). I’m a partner with Conor Green.
  • Conor Green had already vetted eight companies but they loved our proposal. We won the bid and they told my Nation how to do this to avoid the pitfalls of the DOJ and any action being taken, any of the raids that had happened in an Indian country prior”.
  • Our Nation did a deal with Tilt Holdings to be our operator. They’re bringing IP and training and a 5,000 square dispensary on Mounthawk Highway in Southampton. We’re going to have a wellness center that’s 2,500 square feet. We will be looking for strategic partners for Little Beach Harvest and to get minorities into this business.
  • Moderator: This is the first tribal cannabis operation in New York States.
  • Moderator welcomes Eddie Armstrong, Cannabis Capital Group – thought-leader and player. 
  • Eddie Armstrong: I’m a former state unelected official – with a family background in medicine. We own an outfit of gastroenterology centers in the south – we were one of the first families to get a license to grow cannabis in the south. We opened a consulting firm in Chicago – like the Cookies Incubator – to assist people of color, women, veterans – to grant them opportunities. We help with applications. We have partnerships with Arcview Consulting and Arcview Group (Jason Malcolm, David Abernathy, Jeffery Finkle). We focused on it from a pharmaceutical, therapeutic and medical approach.
  • Moderator (Sullivan): Special programs for social equity applicants? What about fees?
  • Eddie Armstrong: We were one of the first African American families to do that in the segregated south. And that was really special to us so we moved into Chicago and now we have a license for medical research in Georgia. 
  • Eddie Armstrong: The economic impact from one of the most profitable states in the cannabis industry right now happens to be the state of Arkansas because it’s a controlled, very highly regulated market. You need to think beyond cultivation and retail. There are many unique opportunities in the ancillary business space and via our equity crowdfunding platform. We have about 30 companies and a great sense of investment tracks.

FIRESIDE CHAT | Matt Hawkins (moderated by Jeff Finkle)

  • Moderator (Sullivan) – introducing my business partner, Jeff Finkle – creator of Arcview Ventures (which is one of the three Arcview entities: Arview Consulting, Arcview Ventures). Jeff joined by Matt Hawkins (Managing Partner of Entourage Effect Capital).
  • Jeff Finkle (Moderator): How did your career begin and how did you get into cannabis?
  • Matt Hawkins: We just started raising money for our first fund – which was a 2015 vintage.
  • Jeff Finkle: Your fund was enormously successful returning around a 3X MOIC (multiple on invested capital). I notice you’re raising funds with a $150 million target. What is the strategy for the new vehicle?
  • Matt Hawkins: Fund one was a seed venture capital angel investing entity. Fund Two became more Series A. Fund Three is now later stage companies. We have reduced risk and we are about to enter at a time where there’s going to be some sort of federal legalization – this will bring in more capital. Now we are looking for opportunities to scale in as many sectors as we can and advance some type of legalization.
  • Jeff Finkle (Moderator): Even in 2019 the industry was in a state of distress – public markets were in the middle of the vape crisis, capital markets had dried up and there were government breaches around public operators. This has since been corrected. 
  • Matt Hawkins: COVID was a blessing in disguise for the industry. Being an essential business in every state except Massachusetts in the beginning, then Massachusetts was deemed later was a big big win. The vape crisis was driven by the illicit market and people didn’t want to buy product on the street during COVID – they wanted kerbside parking and pickup from a dispensary. 
  • Jeff Finkle: You and your partners have had great success as a team – why have you stood out?
  • Matt Hawkins: We all come from private equity backgrounds or operating backgrounds – and we back excellent management teams.
  • Jeff Finkle: Let’s talk about the Harbourside Story? In 2015 – you were known as Cresto Capital Partners, you invested in a cultivation licensing with the retail assets of Harbourside. In 2017 the company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE). In the fall of 2020, EEC was part of a descent in shareholder action, which led to a new board slating you to be elected as Chairman, and then last month, you became the interim CEO. Why is this a great example of what investors have to do to protect their investments, and in doing so, to protect their LP’s capital?
  • Matt Hawkins: We used the powers that CSE had in place to lead a dissenting shareholder movement – a proxy fight if we needed to. We didn’t. We are a few weeks away making an important announcement on how Harbourside is transforming. We are an undervalued stock of $70-$80 million.
  • Jeff Finkle: My final question: 38 States have now implemented a cannabis program, right? That is 74% of all states, 18 of which, as you know, have adult led programs. The industry has grown 46% in 2020 – can you comment on that?
  • Matt Hawkins: The industry grew the percentage to 46% and this is increasing exponentially but we can only take it so far with the amount of capital available to us. Our third fund is raising $150 million (we have raised $50 million). It’s a huge industry that needs an infusion of capital, and the only way that can happen is to have something changing at the federal level to where the NASDAQ New York Stock Exchange can be.

LEGALIZATION | David Feldman, Jeff Schultz (moderated by Neil Kaufman)

  • Neil Kauffman (Managing Partner of Kaufman McGowan) – one of the leading corporate cannabis law firms in America. Formerly Chairman of LI Capital Lines (also in attendance) who helped local companies raise growth capital. Neil is also Audit Committee Chairman of a couple of mutual funds.
  • Jeff Schultz: I’m Jeff Schultz –  partner for Feuerstein Kulick which is a New York City based law firm with 25 attorneys and 98% of our clients are cannabis industry operators, investors, or otherwise stakeholders. I’m a Corporate and Securities Attorney and I focus also on regular state, regular cannabis regulatory issues. I’m a member of the New York State Bar Association, Cannabis Law Committee, and the New York City Cannabis Industry Association. And I have a small operating business in Massachusetts, we only have one retail location.
  • David Feldman: I’m CEO and Co-founder of Skip Insure Advisors which is a cannabis business consulting firm focused on finance and M&A, branding and marketing, and technology. I’m also a law partner at Heller PC, where I do M&A and venture capital, take companies public, worked a lot in the cannabis industry since 2013, and written four books on finance and entrepreneurship.
  • David Feldman: In 2017, former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo was opposed to cannabis saying it was a gateway drug to more serious drugs. Between 2019-20, the Cuomo legislature couldn’t agree on drug legalization policy. But finally on March 31, 2020 New York passed the new Adult Use Legalization Bill which means you can possess up to three ounces of marijuana legally anywhere in New York State. You can consume marijuana anywhere where cigarette smoking is allowed. The bill created the Office of Cannabis Management to be overseen by a Cannabis Control Board. The NY Governor and the legislature appoints members of the board. The Office of Cannabis Management will write regulations and issue licenses. They will regulate adult use, medical and hemp, which was previously overseen by the Health and Agriculture departments.
  • David Feldman: Starting 18 months after the first dispensary – you can grow (at home) up to six mature and and six immature plants. There are opt-out provisions for towns and cities. (explain this or links). People think that most of Long Island will opt out. There is a provision saying that if a town or city opts out, the voters can vote to overrule that decision to opt out. They are allowed to opt out for retail and consumption lounges, not for cultivation and manufacturing – they have to opt out by December 31st. Tax is based on the level of THC. Licensing fees to be determined in the future. Two year licenses to be granted include: adult use cultivator, processor, coop, distributor, dispensary, microbusiness, delivery and nursery with a limit on how many licenses you can own (three retail licenses only). No vertical integration permitted. You cannot own both a retail and consumption lounge. Only existing medical marijuana licenses are allowed to remain vertical.
  • Advertising and branding to be regulated by the CCB Cannabis Control Board. Social equity provisions will be included in the regulations. 
  • Takeaway: If you are considering applying for a New York license – don’t wait. Get started now, line up your financing, write your business plan and get started. Build a diverse team.
  • Discussion about public comment on draft legislation. (Note: New Jersey passed immediate interim rules subject to future comment and change). 
  • The Bill – the MRCA. 
  • New York is going to be a new critical epicenter of the industry moving forward.
  • Neil Kaufman: The New York statute is very intelligently designed, with some fundamental flaws. The THC tax – integrated regulatory structure for recreational, medical and hemp.
  • Brief overview of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) – discussion draft from Schumer, Wyden and Booker, the Section 304. Public comment ended on September 1. Five key pillars to the Schumer Bill:
    • Federally deschedules Cannabis – must be done within 60 days, and everyone has to be 21. 
    • It expunges prior convictions for nonviolent marijuana offenses allowing those under a current sentence to petition for resentencing. 
    • Allows states to opt out and choose not to allow legal adult use without preventing interstate commerce via trucks shipping adult use product to go from one legal state to another. And it removes collateral consequences like immigration related penalties for people who have been criminalized over the plant, as well as national security.
    • Taxes are very high, they start at 10%, they go up to 25%. 
    • An alphabet soup of agencies tasked with regulating cannabis: from the DEA to the FDA, the ATF, the TTB, the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
  • Vapes will not be allowed to add natural or artificial flavors. Hemp will still be treated as an exception to cannabis. Several things remain unresolved – including some international treaty issues; ways to regulate synthetic THC is unresolved. And they have to decide if premarket review of products will be necessary.
  • The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) – has no likelihood of passing though. They don’t have 60 votes but the effect of the bill has meant that there is now national conversation about federal legalization. Discussion about how President Biden only wants decriminalization not legalization – so the bill won’t pass.
  • Disappointments: marijuana to be regulated by the liquor authority – when marijuana is medicine (which liquor is not).
  • The concept of decriminalizing cannabis and not regulating it, is crazy as no quality control on products being sold. Times Square is a farmer’s market for drugs – many are crappy brands.
  • Section 304 bans vertical integration.
  • Neil Kaufman: Let’s consider the SAFE Banking Act (An Act to protections for depository institutions that provide financial services to cannabis-related legitimate businesses and service providers for such businesses, and for other purposes) – we’d all love to see NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange listing cannabis stocks with institutional capital coming into the marketplace.
  • Jeff Schultz: The SAFE Banking Act will lower the cost on capital making it easier to achieve some of the goals in the CAOA.
  • David Feldman: one thing that hasn’t really been discussed is something that over 30 countries have already done, and that is, let’s federally legalize medical marijuana – it won’t stand in the way of adult use eventually becoming legal and that is something we should be considering.

FIRESIDE CHAT | Jennifer Drake (Moderated by Matt Karnes)

  • Matt Karnes (GreenWave Advisors): Tell us about your branding – about Origin Extracts (the Massachusetts product).
  • Jennifer Drake: It’s one of our key national brands. The key to branding starts with the plant and the overall quality of the product. “As a business, we’re uniquely committed to being the largest high-quality producer of flower at scale, across the country”.
  • Matt Karnes: How do you ensure consistency of product?
  • Jennifer Drake: We collect the best cultivators in the US across our footprint of eight states – with excellent cultivation talent in each state to push the quality of the flower that we grow. The investment we make in our team is incredibly important. Being a top-tier premier MSO is all about the plan. In California, the illicit market and the fragmented nature of regulation in California is challenging. Also operations in Florida. We are presently in 8 states and want to continue expanding.
  • Matt Karnes: Raises concerns about interstate commerce – some states will be unserved. Where will you deploy your capital?
  • Jennifer Drake: There is variability from state to state. When federal prohibition ends – great opportunities – we can invest in M&A, capital projects with excellent returns. We can build brands. We can even repurchase our own stock – which may be the best return for capital at present. The product Levia – tastes like a La Croix – it’s not sweet. It’s zero calories, extremely refreshing, fast onset and within 15 minutes, you know how you’re gonna feel. It’s perfect for people who are not that familiar with cannabis, who might be a little bit shy and are very comfortable with the beverage form factor. We’re super excited about it and we really think it is for the cannabis consumer of tomorrow.
  • Matt Karnes: What happens when you convert a person using medical marijuana to its recreational use?
  • Jennifer Drake: Just because someone doesn’t buy marijuana with their medical card, doesn’t mean they aren’t using it for wellness purposes. Many people are using cannabis for the same reason as they did when it was medical only: pain relief, sleep aid and anxiety. Our new corporate branding will reflect the intersection between wellness and wonder.
  • Matt Karnes: What do you find most attractive in M&A?
  • Jennifer Drake: We like to have lots of tools in our toolkit. We are open to either buying up or legging into an vertical integration trade in Illinois starting with dispensaries and adding cultivation or doing it the opposite way in Ohio, or cobbling all them together in Nevada to create vertical integration, or just buying a company that is vertically integrated like we did in Massachusetts and what we did in New Jersey and what we did in Pennsylvania. People are key to this business. Getting the right people on your team is key.
  • Matt Karnes: They are offering cannabis cultivation classes in universities now.
  • Jennifer Drake: I’m super excited by that – and to partner with those educational institutions. We’ve worked with Cornell in the past and with New Jersey.
  • Matt Karnes: How do you successfully manage the expectations around margin expansion or margin compression?
  • Jennifer Drake: The most important thing for investors to remember is where the industry is going long term. No industry grows at 100% consistently at a CPG-like margin structure. You’ve got tech-like growth with CPG-like margins. It’s an incredible opportunity. So I think that’s the first point. And I think the second point is, you really just have to make sure that you, as an operator and as an investor, you just don’t get caught up too much in the noise. You have to look and make sure that people are really doing their job as premier operators, best in class. And I think when you build transparency and you build trust and you’re a best-in-class operator, and you can have that long-term view and just be transparent about what changes quarter on quarter, this is not — You don’t get 100% revenue growth with 30% EBITDA margins without having a little bit of volatility. This is not CPG going to 2% to 5%. And you don’t want it to be. You want it to go to 100%.

Investment Panelists

  • Emily Paxhia: I’m co-founder and Managing Partner of Poseidon Partners. We’ve been investing in the cannabis industry since January 2014. Poseidon has three private investment funds that invest entirely in the cannabis industry. And we have the first one, which I would characterize as an opportunity fund since it was so very early, it does have some public exposure, so we’re pretty active on that. The second fund is a series A or later stage fund. It’s closed, it’s allocated, it’s doing its thing. And then the third fund is a seed to post-seed stage fund, so it’s focused on a little bit earlier stage. And then we have some cool things coming out this fall.
  • John Pinto (SOJE Capital). I run SOJE Capital and we manage three different portfolios: Hinsdale (my family office) – investing across asset classes, strategies as well as direct deals. We manage SOJE Fund which is a public equities hedge fund or portfolio and private deals. Portfolios are MSOs (multi-state operators) – on the public side. On the private side we look for technology brands and media. I’m looking forward to legalization.
  • David Traylor (Golden Eagle Partners) – an investment banking firm. I have two undergrad degrees in Science. Got into leading biotech companies’ operational roles for 15 years. Inventor on three US patents, two in bioprocessing. And then got into doing investment banking in 2005. Rolled over into doing cannabis investment banking in 2013. The Chief Business Officer at Surna. I’m also an athlete ambassador for Athletes For CARE. And I am now chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council for Athletes For CARE.
  • Emily Paxhia: As investors who’ve invested across the entire ecosystem really, in US, Canada, Latin American, and Western Europe, we see how our operators struggle in certain areas. One of our first companies is in agriculture technology using sensory technologies as well as artificial intelligence where you can start to understand if something’s going sideways on your crop faster than you can. We have MIT scientists on the team as well as business people who come out of Accenture with different business consulting backgrounds.
  • Matt Karnes: John Pinto and I spoke about the added cost of prohibition – one of the components is the cost of capital – particularly debt – for interest charges which are non-deductible with no tax write off.
  • John Pinto: Two ways to look at this: in the public markets versus the private markets or in debt capital versus equity capital. People who are running public capital are seeing a drawdown in cannabis stocks (from the February 10 peaks). Yet business is growing strongly with solid fundamentals. Over the past year the cost of debt capital has reduced (from around 13% to around 9%) while equity capital has become more expensive. So the cost of debt has dropped by a third and the cost of equity has risen by 13% to 15%. The issue that creditors have called “non-plant touching” – so if you lend money to the cannabis industry you can then list yourself on the stock exchange – doesn’t apply to equity capital. When we build models, we rely on repeatable margin structures which are in lockstep nationally and can help you scale within each state.
  • Matt Karnes: As an investor what do you think about interstate commerce?
  • Emily Paxhia: When people ask whether interstate commerce will impair the cannabis industry, my response is that interstate commerce is poorly implemented. You have to consider the regulatory frameworks in place. Proposition 64 passed in California in 2016 – and two years later we opened our doors. We are still struggling to get that market on its feet because of the challenges around taxation, infrastructure and licensing. Even if the law goes federal we don’t have the right infrastructure in place and it could cripple the industry. We invest a lot of resources into understanding the politics and understanding the regulatory frameworks.
  • John Pinto: I share similar concerns to Emily. Consider how long it takes to open a store in Brookline or Naperville or get anything done in DC. From an operator perspective, it’ll end up better for the small to medium sized enterprises. The SAFE Bill was poorly marketed – it’s a small business bill. The MSOs that we invest in can easily get credit agreements but the smaller players struggle. For social equity to really work, SAFE has to be passed – and it will allow the smaller player to get insurance, develop a commercial banking relationship and eventually get growth capital.
  • David Traylor: In relation to legalization, when it happens – the politicians will mess it up. January 2019 – Example of largest hemp producer in Oklahoma – Okies Skokies – their truck driver runs a red light, gets pulled over – police consider it a big drug bust. Then realize that the product is legal industrial hemp.
  • Matt Karnes: What about the international market? What’s your takeaway from Davos and what appeals to European investors?
  • David Traylor: The bigger problem is determining whether the investors are genuine – our main job is to match good capital with good companies.
  • Matt Karnes: When you’re investing in MSOs, what is the most important metric that you look for when you’re evaluating an investment?
  • John Pinto: First and foremost: quality – is the organization geared and interested in continuous improvement. The industry is constantly changing. Over the last three years, we used to model our cultivation yields at 45 grams a square foot and now we’re modeling at 65 grams a square foot – so over three years we’ve improved. In relation to technology: are producers choosing the right vendors? Are producers retaining staff – what’s turnover like? What producers can execute the best in terms of location, positioning and organizational structure to manage cultivation across 18 different states.
  • Matt Karnes: Emily, can you talk about exits that you’ve had?
  • Emily Paxhia: We’ve been around for a while and have had a few exits. This industry is extraordinarily hard – it’s hard to operate, hard to invest. Timelines are elastic when capital is flowing into the sector and when it’s dried up. We had a cultivation technology company which was acquired into a company which later went public. That was a nice exit for us. Going public in cannabis doesn’t mean you will have a ton of liquidity – because of the way the markets trade.
  • Mina Mishrikey (on behalf of Mitch Baruchowitz – Managing Partner at Merida Capital) – we just launched our fourth fund in five years. We have about $600m of assets under management. We also have a SPAC similar to Mark’s fund, Tuatara. And we invest in all parts of the cannabis ecosystem. Our first fund was not plant-touching but every fund since is touching the plant as well as investing in ancillary companies.
  • Mitch Baruchowitz: talking about the recent SPAC announced with Leafly. We had our Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) listed on the NASDAQ and Canadian Neo Stock Exchange in November 2019 – to give us some optionality in terms of investing in the company that touches the plant versus doesn’t. If you invest in a federally illegal business – a plant-touching business in the United States — then the US exchanges won’t permit you to list on those exchanges. If we were to invest in a plant-touching company in the US, we would have had to have delisted it all from the NASDAQ. Leafly is a perfect portal to create that great connection over time – with 10 million monthly active users on the website (which is the number one website in the industry).
  • Matt Karnes: Mark – where’s Tuatara in the process with SPAC?
  • Mark Zittman: We launched the SPAC six months ago and negotiated a two-year timeline. We’re a NASDAQ SPAC and the first SPAC that JP Morgan has done in the cannabis space. Because we’re a NASDAQ listed SPAC in the US, we can only look at ancillary companies – non-plant touching companies in the US, as well as other international jurisdictions where it’s legal outside of the United States. We are currently evaluating a couple of companies.
  • Matt Karnes: John – why do you think it’s important for investors to get exposure to the cannabis market via a public company?
  • John Pinto: When it comes to private cannabis companies versus public, generally VCs (venture capital) are looking to exit on an IPO or go public transaction. Public equity returns have a totally different return profile than that. Currently, we’re in a market environment where valuations can increase quickly. The ratification and retail traders that have come into the market this year have driven valuations to generally pretty absurd levels in certain markets. And then the last important reason right now is just that the valuations on the US plant-touching side of things have come down to levels that they’re actually trading at discounts to a lot of plant-touching assets in the private markets. So the capital markets are, for the most part, shut for plant-touching assets to go public.
  • Mark Zittman: We’ve seen a couple of cycles in the cannabis market. The first big catalyst was CSE allowing cannabis companies to be listed in Canada – leading to a bull run in 2017. Many companies went to Canada to get listed.
  • John Ramsay: Measure 8 on the hedge fund site – we take a full-spectrum approach to investing and trading in the sector. But over time as the market evolves and new regulatory changes, many business models in the public markets won’t survive. There will be opportunities to find companies worth investing in.
  • Matt Karnes: Final question: what’s your view of how the industry will look after federal legalization is introduced?
  • John Ramsey: There’s a trend with brands having a closer connection with consumers even though most can’t advertise on traditional social media (like Facebook, Google etc). Eventually SEO will play a larger part in the industry. You will see an older demographic entering the space. Another growth area will be the female consumer. Also potentially the market for synthetic cannabinoids (which Mark’s fund is invested into). Big Pharma may also seek to make a CBD drink with botanical-sourced ingredients.
  • Mark Zittman: You will see the same model: state-level dispensaries, more education, greater brand recognition over the next decade – greater consumer education. You may see Amazon-type delivery services with drones for consumers to purchase their cannabis. 
  • Mina Mishrikey: This industry is going to look very similar to the traditional consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries. Interstate commerce will affect the current business models. The margins you are seeing in states like Florida where there are licenses servicing the whole state which are vertically integrated. Under the interstate commerce model there’s lots of operators and you will see a lot of margin compression. You have to be able to build national brands at scale and one which can sustain margins in the long run. A potential disruptor will be the biosynthesis and production of cannabinoids at scale in the lab. But large scale CPG industries is where the business is heading.
  • Matt Karnes: The industry has three elements: the recreational market, the medical market which will be redefined when Big Pharma enters the market, then there’s health and wellness.
  • John Ramsey: The medical opportunity is big. There are pharma development pitches all the time and potential for health insurance reimbursement. In ten years we could see headache tablets which include a cannabinoid. We need to think about how to monetize
Cannabis EXPO Returns After Recreational Cannabis NY Legalized

Cannabis EXPO Returns After Recreational Cannabis NY Legalized

Source: 27East | Aug. 9, 2021

With the recent legalization of recreational cannabis in New York State, the cannabis industry is expected to grow quickly, bringing about new opportunities for investors to get involved and reap its economic benefits.

Which is why this year’s Hampton Cannabis Expo truly couldn’t come at a better time, event organizer Gary Bierfriend said. The annual event, which first began in 2018, serves as the perfect opportunity to discuss the growing cannabis industry, and allow investors and the general public to gain a better understanding of the regulated cannabis market, he said.

Hampton Cannabis Expo 2019The event, which will be held at The Clubhouse in East Hampton on August 22, will include a panel full of the cannabis industry’s most prominent thought leaders to discuss topics like social equity, New York licensing requirements, cannabis investment vehicles, and national branding.

“We have some of the most highly recognized names in New York and nationally in their respective industries, we have four top law firms involved, half a dozen of the top investment vehicles and big national public brands like Ayr Wellness, whose Co-COO Jennifer Drake will be speaking at our event,” Mr. Bierfriend said.

Shinnecock Nation Cannabis Dispensary

Also among this year’s speakers is Chenae Bullock, managing director of “Little Beach Harvest,” a new cannabis dispensary and wellness lounge being established by the Shinnecock Nation that is set to open in early 2022.

The panel will last about two and a half hours, with dinner services before and after the panels, and an “after party” following the event. In its fourth year, the event will be the biggest one yet as Mr. Bierfriend expects a much higher turnout than in previous years.

Diversified Cannabis Industry Attendance Expected

“The attendance is expected to more than double from the previous event as a combination of both the return to live events, and the recent legalization of recreational cannabis here in New York,” he said.

As for who is expected to attend the event, business professionals, investors, and anyone who is involved in the cannabis industry or looking to get involved is welcome to join, Mr. Bierfriend said.

“When the program first started four years ago, it was an event for investors, but now we’ve expanded to include regulators, brands service providers, financial professionals — so it’s an industry event and not just an investor event,” he said.

Though this is the Hampton Cannabis Expo’s fourth annual event, it is the first since recreational cannabis was legalized in New York this past March. Mr. Bierfriend expects this year’s event to tackle new topics of discussion and provide even more opportunities for people to become familiar with the growing cannabis industry.

Medical & Recreational NY Cannabis Laws

“Several years ago, people were much more focused on the medical attributes of cannabis, but now with the recreational use being legalized and prohibition ending, a lot of the attention is now being grabbed by the recreational brands,” he said.

“With the recent legalization of recreational use cannabis in New York, this year’s event provides a timely and informative backdrop as the industry readies to enter the Tri-State area,” GreenWave Advisors founder Matt Karnes said. “According to GreenWave Advisors, U.S. cannabis retail sales could ultimately reach over $80 Billion with at least $5 Billion from New York State.”

Since New York lawmakers are working on launching its legalization, Mr. Bierfriend said the “focus of interest” specifically on the East End makes the Expo location the perfect choice.

“I’m hoping to connect as many people as I can with opportunities in the cannabis industry,” he said. “It’s a great thriving industry that is growing exponentially and I want to be the central point of information where everyone gathers to connect, collaborate, and do business together.”