As various forms of legalized marijuana use spreads across the country, firm tests the limits with fund that will invest along the entire marijuana supply and distribution chain

As marijuana becomes legalized in various parts of the country, investors and asset managers are grappling with the best way to make some money off the trend.

The latest, and perhaps most aggressive, effort is a new private-equity fund from Salveo Capital that will invest along the entire marijuana supply-and-distribution chain, including the businesses that physically handle the product.

The Tories say pot must stay illegal. They're also laying groundwork for legalization.

On marijuana, Conservatives are 'traveling both sides of the fence.' Photo: Cannabis Culture, Creative Commons licensed.

Situated amid the beautiful and history-laden streets of Florence there’s a secure pharmaceutical facility where medical marijuana is being grown by an organization one wouldn’t typically associate with either farming or cannabis: The Italian Army.

“To the best of my knowledge, it is the only situation in which the ministry of defence of a European country is tasked with such production,” says Marco Perduca, a former senator in Italy and the current United Nations representative for the Nonviolent Radical Party.

The Army is busy growing its first marijuana crop as part of a government effort to provide an affordable and safe supply of medical cannabinoids for use in the country. The plan was announced in September and the operation is now up and running.

The critical components of establishing a successful cannabis business may seem obvious at first:
•  Research industry-specific best-practices in cultivation.
•  Secure adequate funding.
•  Plan facility construction or adaptation.
•  Build a quality management team.
•  Seek counsel from legal and accounting experts.
•  Launch a progressive marketing campaign.

Yet what can an emerging company do to separate itself from the pack? In laying the groundwork for legitimate cannabis enterprise in Alaska, the founders of Greatland Ganja, LLC, have selected tactics aimed at appealing to evolving local attitudes toward recreational marijuana. By choosing to connect and work collaboratively, we create a more robust network of allies and assets.

For the president of a food and animal testing lab, the marijuana industry is starting to look like a good investment.

Seth Wong and JJ Slatkin are putting $1.7 million into a new marijuana testing lab called TEQ Analytical Labs.

Wong, 34, is the president of Industrial Laboratories, where he’s worked since 2003. His family owns a majority of the 70-year-old Denver-based food and drug testing lab.

“We’re sitting here, watching the industry, and we realize that we’ve got these competitive advantages,” Wong said. “We have experience testing drugs, and we understand how to test raw materials like plants.”

On May 6, 2015, Colorado legislators approved a measure that will ease restrictions on out-of-state investment in marijuana businesses.

The legalization of marijuana in some States of the US has reopened also in Europe the debate about a potential similar move in the Member States of the European Union. Besides the ethical considerations that the issue of drugs inevitably brings to the fore, there is a number of economic aspects that should also inform this debate.

A 10 (or 60) billion Euros market

Right up there with most cannabis colleges and almost all publicly traded marijuana companies, I am always cautioning my clients about marijuana franchising. Do not be wooed by glitzy pitches of your becoming the new owner of the next “McDonald’s of marijuana.”

Even though marijuana sales are legal to one degree or another in two dozen states, the business remains primarily a cash-based one where a buyer has to visit a physical location to make a purchase and the seller has no place to put the cash because most banks will not accept it.

The country’s biggest banks like JPMorgan and Wells Fargo will not accept deposits from businesses involved in the marijuana business, saying that because marijuana sales remain in violation of federal law they will not take the chance. Smaller banks have tried to serve marijuana businesses, but have run up against high reporting requirements and regulatory expenses.

Multiple stories over the weekend spoke of the challenges facing states in the wake of recreational marijuana legalization in both Colorado and Washington.

The New York Times printed a story on the rise of edibles. Sure, before Colorado’s legalization for recreational use, you had the random story of pot brownies. Funny? Definitely, but it also had unintended consequences.

Today, commercialism has taken hold of the industry. Why sell just the buds when you can sell the entire plant? Extract the THC and infuse the butter in a variety of products.