The Green Rush is coming. Voters in the November 8 election made it clear that the long standing marijuana laws are crumbling. With seven states now legalizing recreational marijuana and 28 others, including Florida, allowing doctors to prescribe medical marijuana, the legal cannabis industry is expected to boom.
Enter ComfyTree, a team of entrepreneurs, PH.Ds and business professionals who want to help people get in on the ground floor with all the new opportunities the legal marijuana business will offer.
The team and their invited speakers will hold a
ComfyTree Canna Conference at the Cuban Club in Tampa the weekend of Nov. 18-20, where attendees will learn about myriad aspects of the marijuana industry, including medical applications and benefits, growing, cultivation, products and dispensing, as well as the various entrepreneurial possibilities of this budding industry.
George Allen, Co-Founder of ComfyTree, says that the goal is to inspire people who are looking for career change, to demonstrate how entrepreneurs can get into the industry and to find investors who want to diversify their portfolio.
The organization also has a special interest in getting minorities and women involved.
“Our goal is to get people the ground-level education so that the average individual can capitalize on such a major movement,” says Allen. “Often times when new business creation is developed only the rich capitalize on these types of industries, so we want to try to train the average individual- women, minorities- and give them all of the intellect so that when it comes time to submit applications and start these businesses they are already well-informed so they can submit merit-based applications to be able to secure a medical marijuana license.”
The time is ripe
With Florida passing Amendment 2 to legalize medical marijuana last Tuesday, Allen says the conference in Tampa will be focusing specifically on the medical marijuana treatment centers and how to create a business model.
“The way that Tampa is set up and organized is focused on innovation, development and job creation, we felt like Tampa would be a unique market to start to train entrepreneurs on how they can legally get into the medical marijuana business,” says Allen.
He also says that there are more opportunities than most people realize. This industry will need things like consulting firms, waste removal companies, processing businesses in which marijuana is turned into edibles, tinctures or concentrates. There will be a need for marketing, advertising, branding, interior design and architects who specialize in dispensaries and cultivation centers, as well as electrical and mechanical engineers for those structures.
“We really want these entrepreneurs and these individuals who are looking for new careers, we really want to train them in a way where they feel motivated and inspired to take advantage of the marijuana industry. That’s what our passion is really rooted in,” says Allen.
Passion for compassion
Tampa resident Angela Ardolino, Host of
Parenting with Angela and advocate for medical cannabis, will be one of the speakers at the ComfyTree Canna Conference.
Ardolino became passionate about cannabis as medicine after learning about families’ medical struggles when as the publisher of her magazine, Parenting Tampa Bay, she wrote stories about those involved with
United for Care, the organization that spear-headed getting Amendment 2 on the Florida ballot.
“The more and more I interviewed these families and heard their stories, the more I became pissed off,” says Ardolino. “I think it’s inhumane to keep this medicine that’s already been proven to work away from families, especially kids who are needing it. There are kids who are having 300 seizures a day, and with a simple drop under their tongue, they can have a normal life.”
Ardolino sold her magazine to get into the medical marijuana industry, and is now partnered with
Avid Growing Systems. Together they are launching
CannaCure to cultivate and process the purest medical marijuana with the least environmental impact.
Ardolino says even though this is a new industry, many can use the skill set they already have.
“It’s taking what you’ve learned in other industries and getting into this brand new industry where you can be a pioneer,” she says.
WHAT: ComfyTree Canna Conference
WHERE: The Cuban Club, 2010 N Avenida Republica De Cuba, Tampa, FL 33605
WHEN: Nov. 18-22
More Info: Click here.
Support for this story was provided by ComfyTree. Comments? Contact 83 Degrees.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.