Looking Forward
AUGUST 2023
AUGUST 2023With consumption lounges opening across the country and summer in full swing, Marijuana Venture takes a look at canna-tourism, including the market sector’s current performance and its future potential, as well as an inside look at a cannabis retailer that found a niche as a cruise ship destination. The August issue will also include insights from lawyers, best practices from cannabis professionals and coverage on the latest trends hitting the industry.
SEPTEMBER 2023
SEPTEMBER 2023As fall begins, Marijuana Venture will feature an in-depth discussion on all-things harvest including a curated selection of harvest-related products, manpower solutions and new trimming technology. The September issue will feature a cover story on how one company is using its biomedical pedigree to better the cannabis industry, as well as an exclusive inside look at an award-winning Colorado producer that is stepping out of the shadows.
Advertising deadline: July 17
OCTOBER 2023
OCTOBER 2023October brings Marijuana Venture’s annual Women to Watch issue, highlighting some of the talented women leading the cannabis industry into the future. Send your nominations of women making a difference in cannabis to editor@MarijuanaVenture.com. The October issue will also include a cover feature on the importance of retail design featuring one of the preeminent cannabis design firms in the industry.
Advertising deadline: August 16
Looking Back
July 2017
The July 2017 cover of Marijuana Venture teased “Full Speed Ahead in California,” though some would argue that in hindsight it headed directly into a brick wall. The teaser was for an exclusive interview with Lori Ajax, the former head of the Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation, now the Bureau of Cannabis Control, who was busy racing to piece the state’s legal framework together and open the application window before the January 1, 2018, deadline.
Ajax told Marijuana Venture she believed in keeping regulations fluid and adaptable, stating: “I think even after they’re finalized this year, we are going to be constantly making changes to them. There’s going to be things in our regulations that have unintended consequences. I’ve always felt as a state, we need to react to those things quickly.”
July 2018
Despite the July 2018 issue of Marijuana Venture being chock full of the usual business practices, legal columns and feature articles covering new developments in markets across North America, the issue also featured a sobering article by former grower/business owner Cary Falk about losing millions in the industry. Falk’s article, “The Cold, Hard Truth,” encapsulated his optimistic, and erroneously planned, venture into Washington’s cannabis industry as a producer. Falk made a business plan based on assumptions about the number of licenses the state was going to issue and the estimated price his cannabis could sell for (a vastly overstated $2,000 per pound) and sank more than $8 million into the business. Falk’s post-mortem article on his business included a number of admitted missteps, but also listed out what he would have done differently if given the chance, including a much more conservative business plan and prioritizing relationships with retail buyers.
July 2019
Among the many talented, young professionals featured in the 4th annual 40 Under 40 feature, Marijuana Venture interviewed Hope Wiseman, the CEO of Mary & Main in Maryland who was the youngest Black woman in the country to own and operate a licensed cannabis retail. Wiseman was 25 when she opened the doors of her Capitol Heights, Maryland, cannabis store on Labor Day 2018. When asked about the doubts she faced in her move into the cannabis industry Wiseman told Marijuana Venture: “The thing they didn’t know was that I understood I couldn’t pull it off alone. I know what my strengths are, and I know what my weaknesses are. I also know that you need people with experience; wisdom is something that cannot be bought.”
Five years after opening her retail store, Wiseman is among the most experienced operators in the state and will be welcoming recreational customers on July 1, 2023.