Inside The Top Cannabis Business Conference In America: High Expectations For Reform, The Future Of Banking And Taxes

This is an excerpt from Todd Harrison's Cannabis Confidential newsletter, published on April 17. Click here to get Cannabis Confidential delivered to your inbox daily.

I’ve been working with the Benzinga Cannabis team for the last few years to help layer experiences atop their biannual cannabis conferences, which have emerged from the once-littered canna landscape as the last must-attend industry event standing.

Gatherings like this have long been a part of my DNA. Back in the Minyanville days, we had a robust digital community that navigated financial markets in real-time and we hosted Minyans in the Mountains and Festivus events to bring those pixels to life.

In October 2021, we took the same model and applied it to the cannabis industry. It was a fairly simple recipe:

1. Identify your silos: for canna, those were operators, investors, bankers, analysts.

2. Seed each silo with critical mass; thought-leaders + decision-makers.

3. Use that critical mass as the genesis for growth and create scarcity value.

4. Fill (don’t overfill) silos with quality > quantity with a strict ‘no asshole’ policy.

5. At the event, lift the lids off the silos and watch the entourage effect go nuts.

Benzinga is a different animal, of course. With over 2000 attendees in Florida, Patrick Lane told me that this was the highest attendance ever for a BZ Canna show, which was somewhat surprising given the price degradation and prolonged bear market.

I arrived at The Diplomat Sunday night as I wanted to avoid TSA during trading hours, particularly given the proximity to the 4/20 holiday, where observers are curious if an announcement on/ near that day is so cringe that it just might happen.

Monday April 15th

There was no news, of course, just another volatile session and a late-day kick-save, so I jockeyed bw trading, writing, meetings—including QT with Big Brady Cobb, who kindly handed me some Sunburn flower to sample—before a quick shower and dinner with a local buddy/ 40-year friend/ investor who I hadn’t seen in ages.

As I turned on some tunes and began to shave, I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated that my shaving cream wouldn’t lather, and as I rubbed harder, my mind began to think about what the average expiration date on shaving cream might be, and then I realized—I wasn’t using shaving cream, I was using aftershave.

I had two epiphanies at that moment: 1. It’s prolly not a good idea to enjoy cannabis prior to putting a razor against your neck and 2. Holy fuck Sunburn cannabis 🔥

After dinner, where I spent most of it openly wondering how a guy like Paul could get a gal like Kira—I’ll tell ya, it almost bends the laws of physics—I met up with another pal of 35 years (also an investor) and ventured toward the pure madness in the lobby.

Thankfully, we didn’t get far because holding court at the first table was Dan Ahrens, Noah Hamman and Mackenzie Peterson, along with the Jungle Java who traveled for 24 hours without sleep to get from parts unknown to sunny south Florida.

We’re big Jane fans around here and the fact that she was able to jump through so many last-minute hoops—expired passport, coverage for kids, her ride to the airport falling through—to finally meet her many virtual friends was in a word, awesome.

Tuesday, April 16th

I awoke at the crack of dawn, watched a killer sunrise, downloaded the overnight news and headed down to the main conference area to fuel up on some coffee and explore the minions of Cannaland. I’ve long said the products and the people are the best pot perks and I was reminded of that as more and more friendly faces began to emerge.

The first panel I attended featured Dan Ahrens of MSOS, David Goubert of AYR and Aaron Miles at Verano, among others, discuss the cannabis landscape. I didn’t hear anything new or different but as there were alotta first-timers at the event, it was a solid, comprehensive overview of the opportunity set and risk factors.

I was looking forward to the next panel as I’ve always appreciated the sincere efforts of Ed Perlmutter to move SAFE Banking. Sen. Cory Gardner is another canna champ, and I was curious to hear their perspectives given the many moving parts in D.C.

I put my phone down, almost willing myself not to look at or think about the crimson screens on my Bloomberg app, which were all the more perplexing given the news over the last week—flow that includes a potential package and due-date for SAFER.

It wouldn’t take long for me to pick my phone up bc the Perl dropped a few pearls a few minutes into the session:

"we are on the cusp and we will get [SAFER banking] done… we tried the ordinary course of legislation, now plan is to attach SAFER to the must-pass FAA bill (by May 10) packaged with a stable-coin bill.”

“Rep. McGovern, the ranking member Rules Committee, told us just days ago, "thank you for telling me the plan and I look forward to working the plan"

Rep. Steve Daines also told me, "we will get this done."

While there was additional nuance there, we already knew that this latest shot on goal was in motion. What we don’t yet know is whether it will prove successful or if it’ll be yet another footnote in Chuck Schumer’s canna epitaph, as so many suspect.

But that’s not the part that caught my attention; it was this quick pivot, which was amplified by a full-beat pause before the words, “or soon.”

“The DEA will help with 280E and so forth, and hopefully we'll see a decision this week,…or soon.".

While I know that nobody knows, this was the second government official to reference that date (Cory Booker) so I bit my lip and fired it off as an X-post.

J-Dubs was next up on the main stage, where he spoke about the motivations behind the Boies lawsuit and the need for the cannabis industry to fight for it’s rights by all means necessary. Not all heroes wear capes but some evidently wear soft flannel.

I broke for an outdoor lunch meeting before catching BoJo’s afternoon keynote—he mentioned that the uptake in Germany since legalization has exceeded their internal expectations—and then, after one more sit-down, I slipped away to focus on the close.

One of my favorite parts of the Benzinga events is the Executive Dinner we co-host w Benzinga on behalf of the Mission [Green] Alliance, which is the ongoing initiative by the U.S. cannabis industry to support Weldon Angelos’ efforts on the frontlines.

We’ve hosted a few of these gatherings at the Benzinga Chicago event but this was the first one we held in Florida. Insofar as we kept the same recipe—thought-leaders and decision-makers who’ve walked the walk to effect positive federal change + great food + groovy music—there really wasn’t much left to do except fill the room.

I’ll leave most of what was said in the room in the room but there was most definitely a moment toward the end of the night, after Brady and I indulged in what has quickly become my favorite strain—Blue Zushi—when Brady turned to JW and I, and said:

“I had an epiphany walking in and looking at the leadership in this room—these are some tough motherfuckers! To go through what we just went through the last five-plus years and to not only be here, but to have more fire in our bellies than ever…these are some tough motherfuckers.”

Truer words...

🙏 Benzinga, GrowGen, Verano, Pharmacann, TerrAscend, Curaleaf, Cresco, Sunburn, Village Farms, Mattio, Rubicon, 4Front, AYR Wellness, Advisor Shares, Curio Wellness, Weedmaps, Vangst, Akerman LLP, Speedwell Partners, AGP and the rest of ya.

Chatter Box

We heard a few juicy rumors in Florida, from “a top-five money center bank hired a large canna law firm to expedite guidance on banking,” to “we’re told the DOJ sent their report to the WH to “there’s infighting and dissention in the ranks and nothing is imminent.”

My takeaway? Nobody fucking knows, so take everything with a shaker of salt.

If you’d like to help Mission [Green] change federal cannabis policies, please click here.

All photos in article by Todd Harrison. Lead image: Quentin Dupree for Benzinga.

CB1 has positions in / advises some of the companies mentioned and nothing contained herein should be considered advice.

This article is from an external unpaid contributor. It does not represent Benzinga's reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.