June 25, 2018 Comments (0) Views: 2957 Innovation, June 2018

Where San Diego’s Marijuana Market is Going

San Diego has established itself as a global hub of cannabis-related innovation

Thanks to its resident tech, biotech, and business communities—as well as a bit of civic leadership—San Diego has quietly established itself as a global hub of cannabis-related innovation over the past two decades. America’s Finest City birthed the first cannabis company to go public, the preeminent academic cannabis research institute, and a pharmaceutical drug the FDA is likely to approve, among other feathers in its cap. It’s estimated that California’s pot market will be worth $7 billion in annual revenue, plus $1 billion in taxes, by 2020, and there’s no doubt San Diego will play a significant role.

Cannabis on Campus

UC San Diego is home to the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, launched in 2000 to investigate the plant’s therapeutic potential. CMCR conducted the first studies on smoked cannabis in over two decades and has risen to become a national leader for research on using cannabis to treat neuropathic pain and spasticity.

Weed Certified

Hemp Technologies Global, the largest maker of hemp construction materials in North America, is headquartered in Vista. The company’s nontoxic products are biodegradable, reusable, and resistant to fire, pests, and microorganisms.

Seed Round

In 2016, Solana Beach cannabis technology business accelerator Canopy San Diego initiated 16-week boot camps for ancillary startups. Among the companies selected for acceleration was Lodestone Data Technologies, a maker of seed-to-sale cannabis tracking software.

“There’s a whole revolution going on when it comes to health, wellness, and tech, not just the consumer aspect of getting high. In the biosciences, San Diego has been a regional leader for years.”

—Dallin Young, executive director, Association of Cannabis Professionals

Black Market to Stock Market

San Diego–based CBD supplier Medical Marijuana, Inc. went public in 2009, the first American cannabis company to do so. Last year, its subsidiary company HempMeds became the first to distribute nationally in the U.S., and then the first ever to export CBD oil supplements to Mexico and Brazil.

Homegrown

San Diego became one of the most pot-friendly places in the state last September when the city council voted to regulate cultivation, distribution, and retail in preparation for adult-use legalization.

Gaining Approval

Carlsbad’s Greenwich Biosciences, a subsidiary of London-based GW Pharmaceuticals, conducted clinical trials for Epiodiolex, a cannabis-based drug for child-onset epilepsy. An FDA committee voted to approve the drug last month.