MJ Industry is a booming boomer business
By Robyn Griggs Lawrence
Published: July 15, 2014 5:00 a.m. ET
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Cause meets commerce at Cannabis Business Summit
Hippies keep being right,” said Troy Dayton, CEO of Arcview Group, a marijuana investor network, market research and insurance firm, in his opening remarks, as many in the audience nodded in agreement. “They were right about renewable energy. They were right about organic food. And they’re right about cannabis.”
Dayton said most investors in his network are boomers who’ve raised their kids, made some money and want to put some of their portfolio into something they believe will make a difference in the world.
A solid example would be his father, 62-year-old Gary Dayton, who’s along for the ride as his son capitalizes on the cannabis revolution. Manning the booth while Troy moderated panels and schmoozed, Gary looked out at the crowd and commented, “This is not a bunch of potheads. These are people who are interested in freedom and making money.”
‘The time is now’
For many at the conference, the cannabis industry presents new opportunity to parlay well-honed skills. Carole Richter, of CRichter-HR Consulting, courted medical dispensary and retail pot shop owners while playing up her 25 years of experience in business, operations and human resources management.
Peter Stoyt, who has been developing and selling commercial greenhouses for decades, showed off solutions for cannabis growers at the Envirotech Greenhouse Solutions booth.
Meg Collins, executive director of the Cannabis Business Alliance, said establishing the organization was a natural, given her long experience in government affairs.
Ecologist James McMahon established his company, Elevate 420, when he discovered that the water filters he was selling to traditional horticulturalists also work well for growing cannabis. McMahon smoked his first joint on the steps of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris while singing “We Shall Overcome” with other civil rights activists in 1968. Like many boomers, he gave up marijuana after having children. But he feels safe getting into the industry now that pot is legal in many states.
“We boomers went from smoking pot on campus, which was pretty well tolerated, to having careers and having to be more secretive,” McMahon said. “But I don’t give a s*** anymore. Why wouldn’t I participate in this joyful, gleeful, celebratory industry? We’re the ones who are making this happen.”
“The time is now,” said Lacey Williams, an M.B.A. and proud soccer mom who explained that medical marijuana helped her survive cancer treatments. As the cannabis industry legalizes and professionalizes, Williams said she, too, feels completely comfortable getting into the business.
Williams and fellow cancer survivor Tamara Stoltz, an attorney, are developing hash oil from cannabis plants that are high in marijuana’s non-psychoactive cannabinoid CBD. They hope to open a medical marijuana dispensary for women and the elderly in Denver. The two women want to make sure everyone who needs it can get access to a substance that they believe helped save their lives.
A legitimate industry
Legitimacy, it seems, is what many boomers have been waiting for — and many believe it has arrived.
Wanda James, a 50-year-old former corporate vice president and military officer who now runs a restaurant and a cannabis cooking school in Denver and was instrumental in getting Colorado’s amendment to legalize marijuana passed, said this new legitimacy is spurring boomers to get in on the action.
“I’ve been getting high for 30 years with doctors, lawyers, businessmen, college professors and even a high-ranking federal politician,” she said. “But boomers are in some ways a lot like teenagers—they don’t always want to admit that they’ve been doing something that could get them into trouble.”
James said she curates and cultivates her marijuana strain collection just as she has maintained collections of fine wines and rums. She can suggest the best marijuana strains for cooking and those that could help with muscle pain or anxiety — and many former tokers are taking note. “People’s eyes light up when they realize this isn’t about getting high in their dorm room or going to a Bob Marley concert in 1979,” she said.
Other entrepreneurs at the summit:
Human resources consultant Carole Richter talks up her decades of business experience from her booth at the Cannabis Business Summit.Cancer survivors Tamara Stoltz and Lacey Williams hope to open a medical marijuana dispensary focusing on women and the elderly.Ecologist James McMahon has found a new market for his water-filtration system within the cannabis industry.Janet Matula, who ran a medical marijuana cooperative, is helping her brother as he investigates marijuana’s efficacy in treating pancreatic and brain cancer.With serious biotech company backing, Timothy Matula is live-cell testing marijuana’s non-psychoactive component cannabidiol (CBD) for treating pancreatic and brain cancer.
