Psychedelic And Cannabis Industry Insiders Offer A 2020 Retrospective – Forbes

We survived 2020.

What lessons have the cannabis, hemp, and psychedelic plant medicine industries gleamed from this chaotic lap around the sun? Against the odds, the progress made has been undeniable.

In 2020, we secured the bag.

Cannabis was deemed essential, a hard-fought turning point for the nascent industry from which there is no turning back. Legalization came as close on the federal level as it ever has with the passage of the MORE Act through Congress (even though it has not been brought to the Senate floor). Colorado also surpassed the $1 billion mark for cannabis tax revenue since legalization in 2014. Five states progressed their laws, voting for medical or adult-use cannabis legalization in some form, in the 2020 election.

Whether we feel nostalgia for this years trials or not, it was monumental. I spoke with 8 industry heavyweights who look back on their year and offer advice to other entrepreneurs in the space about pivots made and optimism for the future.

Tech had its moment, according to Vic Patil, Chief Technology Officer at Backbone. Weve been seeing savvy operators in the cannabis and hemp space increasingly using technology to scale out their processes, automate their data collection and regulatory compliance, and enable market segmentation strategies for building brand awareness, says Patil, CTO of the software company focused on supply chain management for the cannabis and hemp industries. Cloud-based solutions are giving our customers the insight into their process to quickly expand new operations, coordinate with upstream or downstream partners, and deploy embedded systems to drive their large-scale extraction.

For me, 2020 will always stand out as the year that cannabis businesses were declared essential businesses in Colorado and most other states in which cannabis is legal, says Danny Murr-Sloat, Founder of AlpinStash, a family-owned craft cannabis and hemp grower based in Lafayette, Colorado. Murr-Sloat says the essential designation has, made the juxtaposition of legal regulated cannabis states and those who are still experiencing prohibition so much starker.

The way that my wife and I support our family would land us in prison in three out of the four states that border Colorado. Yet here we are, being allowed and encouraged to operate during the pandemic. Our state, and the public, have officially recognized the benefits cannabis has to offer, not just in general, but especially in a time of such widespread and intense social and existential stress, says Murr-Sloat, who has operated his mountain grow facility with his partner Kristin Murr-Sloat since its 2014 founding. I know many people who have relied on cannabis to help them cope with what is turning out to be the most stressful time most of us have been through. I think that we will look back and see 2020 as the year in which cannabis really gained the recognition and acceptance that it deserves.

Danny Murr-Sloat, co-founder of AlphinStash, looks back on the roller-coaster ride that was 2020 for ... [+] the cannabis industry.

This past year I learned a lot about resilience, says Marie Montmarquet, Co-Founder of MD Numbers, Inc. Founded in 2015, MD Numbers is a rare vertically-integrated cannabis company born in Redwood City, California. Montmarquet began the company first with the customer supply chain link, as a delivery service. Unexpectedly, many cannabis companies have been revived by the current COVID economic strife. Seeing different industries crash, while cannabis has been able to become an essential business category was such a necessary blessing for our industry and customers during this trying time. We have the chance to thrive.

The hemp industry has faced immense challenges in 2020, says Morris Beegle, Co-Founder & President of WAFBA (We Are For Better Alternatives), a brand umbrella that houses the largest hemp-centric conferences and expositions in the world, including NoCo Hemp Expo, as well as digital media platform Let's Talk Hemp. From the pandemic turning the world upside down to the oversupply of hemp-derived CBD biomass, crude oil, isolate and distillate, and the ongoing uncertainty in FDA and USDA regulations pertaining to the industry. And...the DEA still refuses to get out of hemp industry business when it no longer falls under their jurisdiction. That said, the industry has a strong and positive future ahead of it because hemp is resilient and so are those driving the bus.

Allen Hackett, left, and Marie Montmarquet, right, are the co-founders of MD Numbers.

When I think of this industry and all that has been placed upon us in 2020, I see resilience and promise for better days! Angela White, Equity for Industry Program Manager at Success Centers, is optimistic as she muses on the massive strides the cannabis industry has made regarding equity in 2020, finally opening its eyes to include social justice at the forefront of the legalization movement. The cannabis community has been so supportive of the work I'm doing at Success Centers with the equity community in this space during these uncertain times, she says.

White says the cannabis community reaching out to help has been one of the brighter moments of the year. Those that have stepped up to the plate to work with Success Centers in its equity mission include Aster Farms, MD Numbers, The Apothecarium SF, Meadow, Caliva, Eaze, and Cookies California, says White. Ive received an outpour of requests asking how can we help? from companies reaching out. Success Centers has also seen a handful of its equity participants launch their businesses amid the 2020 chaos: Reese Benton of Posh Green Retail, the first Black female sole proprietor in the state, to Cindy De La Vega of Stiiizy Union Square, the first Latina cannabis dispensary owner in San Francisco, Authentic 415 CEO Karim Mayfield will be launching this month, and Damien Posey of High Purpose in 2021. Equity brands, including SF Roots, Gift of Dosia, Cannabis on Fire and others, are now on the shelves of many dispensaries. Calexo and Simply Extracts are taking off, as well, says White.

Co-founders of equity initiative Success Centers: Liz Jackson-Simpson, left, and Angela White, ... [+] right.

This little plant... She's my greatest guide, says Brooke Burgstahler, comedian and cannabis reporter and Founder of Budding Mind, a content platform for creators in the space. Cannabis has held me down this year. While many of my friends experienced job loss in 2020, I was fortunate enough to land the job of my weed dreams just one month before the lockdown.

My work kept me focused, sane, informed, and hopeful, says Burgstahler. All day I read, write, and talk about cannabis an industry and a plant that has been somewhat immune to the woes of the times, if not stronger from them. When cannabis was deemed essential by our state governments, it meant our industry would survive this storm, and when a wave of new canna-curious consumers went looking for ways to stay sane at home, our industry was able to thrive throughout this storm."

Brooke Burgstahler, founder of Budding Mind and cannabis industry creative, looks back on the ... [+] lessons of 2020.

"As I look back on this eventful and enlightening 2020, a main point that comes to mind is the show must go on, says Cait Curley, an entrepreneur, artist, and cannabis activist. The circumstances of this year have taught us invaluable lessons about human nature, persistence and rapid adjusting. It was a great period to reflect on ourselves individually and a species as a whole. I think a lot of people took the opportunity to use tools like cannabis and psychedelics to expand their consciousness and reduce anxiety. Involvement and experiences like that are helping these heightened tools move forward in acceptance and understanding."

2020 has been a wild ride for Lady Jays and the cannabis industry. Coming from a space that was once illegaland is still illegal in many statesto becoming an essential business during the COVID 19 shut down, we were lucky to have a business that was able to stay open and continue producing, says Jade Daniels, Founder of cannabis clothing line Ladies of Paradise and the chic CBD hemp preroll brand Lady Jays.

There were losses, Daniels says, of the community and in-person connections made in years past. We did miss trade shows and events and other forms of ways to stay connected with our customers, says Daniels. We looked to social media and Zoom calls to stay connected (like the rest of the world!) and are really hoping for 2021 to be a big breath of fresh air for us all.

Jade Daniels, co-founder of Ladies of Paradise and Lady Jays, speaks to the changes seen in her ... [+] industries in 2020.

Investors set their sights on an exciting new frontier in 2020: psychedelic medicine. Amid the great pause of 2020, it seems the psychedelics industry is moving faster than ever, says Shelby Hartman, Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder of DoubleBlind Magazine, a publication that covers psychedelics and plant medicine and the effect of drug decriminalization on worldwide health. Hundreds of millions of dollars in capital have poured into psychedelic drug development, and every day, at DoubleBlind, it feels we're contacted by an investor interested in getting into the space.

Alongside this movement, we've also seen promising progress of the grassroots initiatives to decriminalize natural psychedelics, from mushrooms to ayahuasca, says Hartman. Ann Arbor recently became the third city to decriminalize psychedelics through city council, and there are three initiatives pertaining to psychedelic reform on the ballot this November. All of the momentum is exciting, but it's also a good time for those of us who care deeply about psychedelics to take a step back and reflect on what we want the psychedelic industry to look like. How can we ensure that it reflects the values of unity and compassion that have long been central to the psychedelic community?

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Psychedelic And Cannabis Industry Insiders Offer A 2020 Retrospective - Forbes