It’s only a matter of time before cannabis is fully legalized.
Honestly, it’s unfortunate that it has taken this long—and even more unfortunate how many people have been put through the ringer for buying, selling, or using cannabis in the past however-many years. I’ll never forget the first time I saw a billboard for legal cannabis in Los Angeles, and my first thought was how many people have been put in jail for something that is now quickly becoming the next “hot product.”
However, there are a few reasons why it’s no longer an “if” conversation, but a “when” conversation.
1. Funding cannabis companies has already crossed the tipping point.
Already in 2019, cannabis companies have raised more than $3.3 billion in venture funding—outpacing what was raised in 2018.
When you have this level of venture funding pouring into an emerging industry, that’s a very big signal of approval. That means it’s more than just a few forward-thinking angel investors betting on a dystopian future. Now there are VC firms, PE firms, and major retailers all backing the future of cannabis. According to Fortune, for example, Walgreens is set to sell cannabis products in more than 1,500 stores.
These are all signs of where the world is headed.
2. The digital age has made the distribution for cannabis products exponentially easier.
Companies like Eaze, here in California, have realized the massive opportunity for cannabis delivery—and use a similar model as some of today’s hottest delivery startups like Postmates or UberEats, offering $20 off your first order.
However, in order to understand how a company like Eaze is able to raise $60M+ at a $300M+ valuation, it’s important to look at why “delivery” in this space is such a crucial part of mainstream adoption.
First of all, our society has always measured “progress” largely by “convenience.” The simple progression of wanting what you want, when you want it, has dictated the direction of some of the most influential companies of the past few decades—with today’s most obvious (and successful) example being Amazon. Applying this same logic to cannabis adoption is a no-brainer.
But second, and potentially more importantly (at least for the time being, while cannabis slowly works its way through the red tape of the legal system), cannabis delivery is a way of scaling without requiring each and every customer to go out and purchase cannabis in-person. A big argument in cannabis adoption has always been “driving under the influence,” no different than alcohol, and so companies like Eaze are racing to be the solution that doesn’t require a customer to leave his or her home (or office, or friend’s apartment, etc.).
3. The world has become more and more open-minded.
The way the world thinks and communicates today about some of society’s most longest standing issues is very, very different than how things were a decade, or even two decades ago.
Never before in history have we talked so openly about topics like same-sex marriage, mental health, race, women’s rights, white male bias, substance abuse, child molestation, etc. And although it might seem odd to put “cannabis” beside those sorts of topics, you have to remember how long cannabis was deemed just as dangerous as heroin or opiates. The mental shift that cannabis is actually a fairly harmless, and even medically proven to help bring relief to certain types of patients, is a recent one. 10 years ago, it was a very small group of people who believed, or even talked about cannabis being legalized for medical use—no different, you could say, as the people who decided to buy Bitcoin when it was a mere $4.72.
The question is no longer, “Do you agree with the legalization of cannabis?”
It’s only a matter of time before it is 100% legalized, all across the United States (and most likely, other big parts of the world).
