Panel: Brace for abrupt shifts in the industry

PBN SUMMIT | THE BUSINESS OF CANNABIS

Panel: Brace for abrupt shifts in the industry

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

IN the cannabis market, nothing is simple, says Seth Bock, founder and CEO of Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center Inc. in Portsmouth. The legalization of recreational sales in Rhode Island isn’t going to change that.

“I think most people that have succeeded in this industry … have learned how to adapt to often very big changes in the market that happen fairly abruptly,” Bock said.

But the often-chaotic nature of the sector also leaves Bock confident that the state’s cannabis industry has the preparation and resilience to meet the demands that will come with the rollout of recreational cannabis sales in December.

Bock spoke on a four-person panel at Providence Business News’ 2022 Business of Cannabis Summit held at the Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick on Sept. 15. The panel discussion, one of two that took place at the summit, focused on the challenges and opportunities awaiting Rhode Island as it dives into the industry that neighboring Massachusetts has already had five years to refine and Connecticut entered a year ago.

Rhode Island’s later entry into the recreational cannabis market means that redirecting customers’ attention to the Ocean State could be an uphill battle, said Dr. Jonathan Martin, co-founder of PureVita Labs LLC in West Warwick.

“It’s going to take a lot of work from the cultivators in Rhode Island to develop a brand, get the people back here and keep people in,” Martin said.

Another complication in developing a brand is that due to the new legality of cannabis, many restrictions remain on where and how distributors can advertise, said Spencer Blier, CEO and founder of Mammoth Inc. cultivation and extraction facility in Warwick.

For years, Blier said, his own cultivation company couldn’t even advertise on its own packaging and had to rely on social media as its primary form of marketing. The still-controversial nature of cannabis can also place extra difficulties on staffing and recruiting, Blier said.

But with medical and recreational cannabis now legal in Rhode Island, more are embracing the industry. That includes Johnson & Wales University, which launched a cannabis entrepreneurship bachelor’s degree program in 2021.

PUT TO THE TEST: Dr. Jonathan Martin, center, co-founder of PureVita Labs LLC, talks during a panel discussion at Providence Business News’ 2022 Business of Cannabis Summit on Sept. 15. PureVita offers regulatory testing for marijuana cultivators. Also on the panel are, from left, Seth Bock, founder and CEO of Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center Inc.; and Michael Budziszek, a professor of biological sciences at Johnson & Wales University. Below is panelist Spencer Blier, CEO and founder at Mammoth Inc..

PBN PHOTOS/MIKE SKORSKI

“We need innovative education here to really wars,” he said. make this a credible marketplace,” said Michael But while Rhode Island is late to the game Budziszek, a professor of biological sciences at compared with its neighbors in legalizing recreJWU. ational cannabis sales, the Ocean State is “light

The university’s program is “half science years ahead of a lot of other markets” in including degree, half business,” Budziszek said. Courses on-site laboratories, Martin said. teach students how to grow, extract and handle This in-state development can give Rhode the industry side of the can- Island a leg up as the tradinabis market. tional dichotomy of indica Around 30 to 40 students are enrolled in each of the program’s classes so far. ‘It’s going to take strains of cannabis versus sativa strains becomes “an tiquated,” Martin said. As recreational cannabis becomes more widespread, a lot of work ... Most products are hybrid now, he added, and Bock said that sellers need to prepare for the likelihood that they’ll have to in Rhode Island to new formulations require extra work to develop labels – similar to food lower the prices of their products. develop a brand.’ nutrition labels – that help customers understand

While dispensaries cur- the effects of the particurently can sell at relatively DR. JONATHAN MARTIN, lar cannabis strain that high prices, especially compared with unregulated PureVita Labs LLC co-founder they’re purchasing, such as whether a product is products, that too will come energizing or sedating. to an end, said Bock. He “We need this ability for believes prices “are going to go way down, eventu- people to rely on those labels and [know] they’re ally.” accurate, know what they’re purchasing and that While that’s welcome news for customers, this is something that they’re comfortable with,” sellers will need to adapt to reduced revenue per Martin said. sale. The accuracy of the information presented to

Though Rhode Island’s small size lends itself customers ultimately comes down to the sampling well to innovation and connections within the process, and with in-state sampling capabilities, industry, the state isn’t isolated, Bock said. With Rhode Island can lead the way in this developcannabis becoming well-established elsewhere in ment, Martin said. New England, the “cannabis bubble ... has started “Everything, in my opinion, falls back on the to burst a bit due to market saturation, pricing science of cannabis,” Martin said. n