An exterior view of the OG Collective in Cathedral City, California.
This story was originally published in the November 2017 issue of Marijuana Venture, on sale now.
Patrick McMahon
Co-founder
The OG Collective
Cathedral City, CA
California was the first state in the great United States of America to legalize, in one way or another, the use of cannabis for medical reasons. That was all the way back in 1996 — a whole lifetime ago for some of the younger entrepreneurs in the industry. Today there are 30 states that allow the use of cannabis by state law. We have certainly come a long way in two decades.
As we stand at the cusp of adult use being implemented into the California market, we realize that cannabis in the United States of America is on the verge of reaching the summit. California will be a game changer. California is the pinnacle of the industry, the industry leader and the industry standard. It is our opinion that projections of $6 billion in revenues will be doubled or tripled in the first year or two.
As a cannabis entrepreneur in California, we at the OG Collective feel a certain responsibility for representing the industry as a whole.
We will be setting standards in the industry for quality, variety, advertising, business practices and, certainly, the overall direction of cannabis in the United States.
It’s hard to project where cannabis will be five or 10 years from now. Will dispensaries still be required to sell the product to the general public? Will cannabis or cannabis products be sold in traditional retail outlets like convenience stores and grocery stores? Will they come out with testing for DUI stops that pertain to cannabis? How will those restrict the industry? Will they figure out methods for properly dosing edible products? Will vape pens become the standard for consuming cannabis? Is CBD going to be taken over by Big Pharma?
And what happens when the federal government allows the banking industry to support cannabis? Does Wall Street jump in and buy out all the “small players” and startups?
The next 12 to 18 months are going to change everything: Adult use in California, cannabis tourism into the Golden State and massive amounts of revenue and taxes.