Many industries have places where professionals, both young and old, can hobnob and break bread. Weed is no different.
And since San Diego crafted a system for adult-use marijuana businesses, there’s been a wave of private clubs offering to connect investors and entrepreneurs who might not know one another but whose interests are the same. They want a piece of the new and limited regulatory system.
“It’s really in the beginning stages, but there’s a lot of fight over who gets what and how can I claim my ticket,” said Sumeet Harish, a marketing executive with the startup Culinary Cannaseur Club. “You need a lot of money and a lot of connections.”
On this episode of the Voice of San Diego Potcast, Harish gave me and Kinsee Morlan a sense of the high-end parties that the company hosts. Spoiler: There’s Michelin-quality food and “a level two som.” You know, short for sommelier.
In the same way that a credit card company or an airline might celebrate its best vendors, players in the marijuana industry can gather in a physical place and trade cards and talk about their collective challenges — like flying in the face of federal opposition. But it’s more than a special event. Members can communicate offline and online.
“Eventually we’ll be able to communicate just like any kind of network, like LinkedIn,” Harish said.
Also on the show, Morlan and I stopped to appreciate more confusion over Cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive compound with medical benefits that’s manufactured in oil, vape and edible forms (we went over a bit about the science, or lack thereof, in a previous episode).
Turns out that while similar-looking CBD products may be regulated by different agencies, only one may require a license because it derives from marijuana and not industrial hemp. I thought that was a needlessly complex way of governing, but Morlan set me straight: Hemp and marijuana come from the same species, but they’re distinct plants.
Tell us if you disagree or if I’ve missed something.