How Does The Cannabis Industry Work? - Chris Walsh | Modern Wisdom Podcast 333

It is a stupid situation where you've got 38 state legalizing medical, and then we have 17 with recreational, and you have all these businesses and billions of dollars being generated, but it's federally illegal. It's the dumbest situation I've ever seen-

(laughs)

... that we, we can't do anything about it. I mean, it's so, it's so ridiculous.

(wind blows) Chris Walsh, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me on. Excited to talk cannabis.

(laughs) What is someone with an MBA doing working in the cannabis industry?

(laughs) Well, I was finishing it, uh, when I got involved back in 2011, and definitely got a lot of questions about what the hell I was doing. Um, I was, I was finishing my MBA and was... had a background in journalism, so I was a business reporter and editor at newspapers in the US and in South Korea. Uh, so what is a person with an MBA doing? You're seeing more and more of people like me come in. But it's, uh, it's a massive business opportunity, and it's, it's in the US, it's in Canada, it's in Europe, it's in South America. It's all over the world now. So, uh, I, I'm in it because first and foremost, it was a fascinating industry that I wanted to be part of. I don't come from the cannabis culture, but from a business perspective, uh, I thought there was, uh, a lot to like here and to helping develop a new industry. And, uh, also, you know, cannabis helps people in a lot of ways. So, it's not like we're making, you know, cups or whatever, you know. Like, we're, we're doing something, we're making a product, we're helping an industry that relies on a product that's actually helping people, and that's important to me personally too. So, uh, a lot of unique aspects about cannabis that lured me into it.

What makes the cannabis ind- industry so interesting?

Well, I would say that the rapid speed at which cannabis has gained support all over the place, uh, you know, this was something even when we started, uh, that was really taboo still. And so, this... again, we started in 2011, and even then, it was like, "What is my aunt who's a nun on the East Coast gonna say?" And, "What is my dad, a serious political journalist, gonna say?" Um, and so, you know, what we've seen is that the rapid acceptance of this industry has, has, has been phenomenal, um, way faster than I thought. So, there's just excitement around it. People are embracing it, they're accepting it. It's an industry that has come out of the darkness very quickly. It's existed for a long time, right? But not in a legal fashion. And, uh, and people are interested in it. It's, it's, it's fun, it's cool. And, you know, there's not a lot of industries that offer this level of excitement and opportunity. The people in it are different. There's great people. There's, um, not, uh... there, there's... in some cases, there's not a lot of business sophistication, which is changing. But what... you have this industry crop up, especially here in the US, where, you know, the average everyday person could get involved. Um, and that is changing, you know. But at em- initially, the regulations were really low, the cost to enter was low, and so you had kind of this American dream-type industry where you didn't have to, you know, have 15 years of experience or have started three other companies or have a million dollars in, in funding to get involved. So, a lot o- these are some of the aspects about it. And, um, and just the massive... you know, when you bring this up at a party that you're into, that you're at, um, no one, even over the le- 10 years I've been in it, most people are not like, "Oh, I can't believe you're doing that," or they don't like kind of turn up their nose and walk away. If anything, they're interested. Even if they don't support it, they're just interested. So, for all these reasons, I think it's, it's a really fun, exciting industry. It's challenging though. It's really hard. It's harder than anything I've ever done.