Members of the Mississippi Cannabis Trade Association are discussing how the state can improve business opportunities and make it easier for patients to receive treatments. Limitations in product testing have delayed the launch of medical marijuana sales. Melvin Robinson, Executive Director of the MCTA, says once that is resolved, businesses can ramp up their production lines. But he says marketing may be the next bottleneck.
“If you are a cultivation company, you actually can’t have pictures or images of your products,” says Robinson. “So if a company says ‘Hey i’m going to start a social media page,’ which is also one of the only ways you can advertise, well that hurts Mississippi businesses because people who may not know exactly what they’re looking for they can’t see what they’re going to buy.”
Among the business leaders who attended the organization’s Capitol Day on Friday is Attorney Clare Millette, partner with the law firm Cosmich Simmons & Brown. She says it’s important for businesses to be engaged during the early years of a new industry to help shape its future.
“Because there is no precedent. It’s a lot of mental gymnastics of thinking of everything that you can and trying to be as protective of your clients as you can be. Because there is no road before us, and so we’re coming up with it right now.”
Business owners also met with leaders in the banking field, which is subject to different standards in the cannabis industry because it is a federally regulated product. Tyler Beuerlein with Safe Harbor Financial says his company has specialized in this niche market to ensure cannabis companies can have federally insured banking.
“There are a series of compliance concerns that have to be taken into consideration, there’s a lot of risk for institutions serving it, but we’ve been able to perfect that over the years as we bank this industry nation wide.”
Lawmakers intentionally created the state’s medical marijuana program in a way that would allow for future adjustments to regulation and developments in the industry.
