Reads For The Weed-Kend: Franchising, Canada And Snoop Dogg, Damian Marley's Cannabis Prison Venture

As the marijuana business gains legitimacy, ideas are popping up like weed(s) and flourishing. From partnerships and drone delivery to franchising and prison ventures, cannabis innovators are flying high.

Below is just a quick look at some interesting developments in the marijuana industry from late this week.

Damian Marley’s Prison Venture

Bob Marley’s youngest son, Damian Marley, was recently portrayed in "The Guardian," explaining his idea of transforming a “decaying California prison into a medical marijuana manufacturing plant,” revitalizing a depressed rural town in the process.

“It’s a statement [...] to grow herb in a place that used to contain prisoners locked up for herb,” he said, challenging outdated views on marijuana and incarceration.

Related Link: Marijuana Arrests Declining, But Still High: Who's Working On A Solution?

It should be noted that the prison in question, located in Coalinga, California, is empty and no longer operational. The project would also include Ocean Grown Extracts, a cannabis concentrates company that would work alongside Marley, as it does already.

“This is symbolic and a big middle finger to the drug war and to a broken system that hasn’t worked for a long time now,” Marley’s manager Dan Dalton concluded.

The Franchise Pot

Franchise Expo West, the franchising event held annually in Denver, came with a surprise this year: cannabis related franchises. While dispensaries are still not in the lineup, other businesses are.

For instance, among this year’s exhibitors, we can count Sun Valley Certification Clinic, a medical marijuana card clinic based off Arizona, with four branch offices so far.

Related Link: Out With The Old, In With The New: State Agencies Seem To Prefer Marijuana Over Opioids

“Now that states are going rec, people are done with the little doctor in a box, that it is a joke,” co-owner Dustin Klein explained. “It’s about making patients feel comfortable and not that they’re in some type of seedy, back alley office,” his wife and business co-owner Andrea Klein added.

“Those folks don’t have the same regulatory hurdles [than those handling the plant],” Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association expounded. “They don’t have to have all the same licenses or approvals from the state.”

Also included in the expo was Hops & Haze, “a vape shop-brewpub hybrid,” Denver Post author Emilie Rusch wrote. “Right now, their locations only allow vaping of the e-cigarette variety, but Kwaterski said they are positioned for future law changes allowing social cannabis consumption in regular businesses or private clubs.”

The Celeb-Boost

Canopy Growth Corp CGC TWMJF’s subsidiary Tweed Inc. recently announced it was launching a suite of products in partnership with legendary rapper-turned-businessman Snoop Dogg. The firm is set to roll out three strains of weed by the end of the month, and anticipation is building — and driving the stock up with it.

Shares traded as high as c$5.85 on Thursday after news that the Leafs by Snoops product would become available in Canada. While the stock gave up all of the gains toward the end of the session, to close at c$4.98, below the opening price, the move caught the eyes of speculators and potential investors.

But, the company needs more than Snoop’s endorsement to get it stock price up, it needs “real or potential future earnings and revenue growth,” a Fool Canada article explicated.

However, the piece went on, how much revenue the partnership generates is not central to the stock’s performance. What is important is the message it sends. “Canopy Growth is the leading marijuana producer in this country. It’s serious about its business and has the wherewithal to bring partnerships like the one with Snoop Dogg to fruition.”

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Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no interest in any of the securities or entities mentioned above.