Cannabis: investors are knocking at the doors

Photo By Annabelle Blais
Matei Olaru, ceo of the company Lift, which organises the congress Lift Cannabis Expo which is in its 4 edition.

Annabelle Blais

Friday, 12 January, 2018 20:59

UPDATE
Friday, 12 January, 2018 21:04

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VANCOUVER | The industry of cannabis is changing at breakneck speed. The image of the smoking of pot in a little hippie does visibly over the road. At the annual conference Lift on the cannabis that takes place in Vancouver, you can meet lawyers, accountants and bankers in suits and ties.

Throughout the weekend, The Journal will attend the Lift cannabis Expo, the largest gathering of people in the industry and consumers, in the country.

This year, a whole day was devoted to conferences for the business world with topics of a more serious such as : what are the best practices to ensure the quality of the products, how to invest in the cannabis, in what ways do the various provincial laws will affect your business.

“This is a day where we put people in relationship in a professional context,” says Matei Olaru, the young CEO of the company Lift, which organizes the event.

Long queue

The lectures yesterday were also full for several days. As early as 7 o’clock in the morning, a long queue of several metres wound through the corridors of the Vancouver Convention Centre for access to the single conference room.

“I am mainly here to look for new customers “, explained the Newspaper, one of the panelists, Everett Knight. The young portfolio manager for the firm Matco Financial has been greeted like a rock star at the output of the seminar Invest in the cannabis 101.

However, the cannabis is still a product of controversy, and the industry will not be entitled to a large margin of error. “The quality of the products will be critical to win the trust of consumers,” said Dr Shane Morris, vice-president, quality control, scientific affairs for Hydropothecary, a producer located in Gatineau.

“This industry is already stigmatized and some people will consume cannabis for the first time. We cannot afford contamination problems, as there has been with the romaine lettuce “, he insists.

“It is our responsibility to break the received ideas, and the congress will be “, thinks Mr. Olaru.