Great post and Calkin comments include :
Robert Calkin, founder and CEO of the institute, said his organization is helping people prepare as if there’s a booming industry heading to Florida.
“We’re traveling around the country doing business seminars,” Calkin said Thursday. “We’re showing people how to get into the marijuana industry. How do they fit in. What’s the fastest way for them to figure out a business plan and start getting prepared for the eventuality for it being semi-legal or completely legal.”
The class already has 20 registrants at $299 per entry and Calkin said the seminar can take up to another 40 participants who can pay at the door or register online at cannabiscareerinstitute.com.
The Jacksonville event is one of several planned for Florida and several other sites across the country over the next few weeks. Calkin himself will be conducting a seminar in Denver on Saturday where medicinal and recreational marijuana is already legal.
Calkin acknowledged his organization is operating as if the Florida vote is academic and the legalization of medicinal marijuana here is a sure thing, even though the vote won’t take place until the Nov. 4 general election.
Multiple public opinion polls show at least 80 percent of Florida voters across party lines support the legalization of pot for prescription drug use.
“I have high confidence that it is going to pass in November and I have confidence that the whole country is going to be semi-legal or completely legal by 2020,” Calkin said.
Richard J. Cebula, finance and economics professor at Jacksonville University, said the mere presence of the marijuana seminar this weekend is a statement that its economic impact should be considered.
“I believe there is no question there will be a cottage industry surrounding this phenomena. I have no doubt it will be diverse. I’m not certain how large it will be,” Cebula said.
Despite the polls and the increased preparation for the business aspects of legalized medicinal marijuana, some — including many business leaders — refuse to embrace the pot industry in Florida.
Daniel Davis, president of Jax Chamber, said in a Times-Union article in February that he couldn’t foresee any substantial economic impact of legalized medicinal marijuana. “In my opinion, it’s going to be very low [impact],” Davis said. But that was shortly after the Florida Supreme Court gave approval for the medicinal marijuana initiative to appear on this year’s ballot.
A Chamber spokesman said Davis was unavailable for comment Thursday.
The Times-Union also sent an email request for an interview with Carlos Gil, founder of the Jacksonville Business Exchange, a relatively new commerce networking group with more than 3,000 members. Gil did not respond. The exchange was specifically formed to help smaller businesses develop.
Calkin said it’s not unusual for mainstream business leaders to deny or ignore the potential commerce that could come from the legal marijuana industry.
“One of the things that people don’t realize about this industry is that you don’t have to grow or sell marijuana to be in the marijuana industry,” Calkin said. “It’s creating a ripple effect through every other industry — advertising, marketing, plumbing, accounting, insurance — you name it. …”
If Florida approves the measure, it will follow the precedent of 20 other states along with the District of Columbia. Two other states, Colorado and Washington, made adult recreational use of marijuana legal.
The National Cannabis Industry Association cites a recent study by Arcview Market Research that concluded the national market for legalized medicinal and adult-use pot generated about $1.44 billion in industry value in 2013. The projected market for 2014 is $2.34 billion.
California, where medicinal marijuana was legalized 17 years ago, was the biggest weed industry value-generating state with a $980 million market in 2013, according to the study.
Calkin said any business leaders not accepting the economic impact of the marijuana industry are in denial.
“If they look at the data coming in… it’s going to become inevitable and anyone who keeps trying to deny it is going to be called some kind of alarmist,” Calkin said.
Cebula said while legalized medical marijuana can seem alluring as a business venture, it won’t eliminate all criminal activity surrounding the drug.
“The problem may not be the failure to create business opportunities and jobs. … The problem may be that there could be a secondary industry, namely resale,” Cebula said. “I believe it will reduce criminal activity associated with marijuana. Will it eliminate it? No, it’s creating a system of illegal resales. There is still a shadow industry going on here.”
Ultimately, there are going to be multiple business opportunities that arise, Calkin said.
“Well I think that’s what a lot of the people coming to the class realize once they get there,” he said.
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