Co-founder and chief growth officer Martin Lane reflects on a year in which the industry faced its fair share of ups and downs and the future direction of travel became less clear for some.
Each year when I come to write the Cannabiz birthday column, I land on the central theme for the piece quite quickly and, from there, it more or less writes itself.
Cannabiz is one: keeping the lights on
Cannabiz is two: predicting a bright future
Cannabiz is three: tantrums and tiaras
Cannabiz is four: what’s the point?
But this year, I’m stuck.
That was my fifth attempt at an introduction, by the way, and I’m no nearer to knowing how, or what to write over the next 700 words or so.
I contemplated asking ChatGPT for guidance, but I’m not even sure what prompts to put in. Plus our editor Steve Jones would kill me if I used artificial intelligence to replace a task usually performed by a grizzled old hack.
So why the lack of direction? I think it’s because I’m genuinely unsure whether we’re on the verge of feast or famine.
I was at the Cannabis Europa conference in London last month and took part in an interactive session organised by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the New Zealand Medicinal Cannabis Council in which the talk was all about our markets being among the fastest-growing in the world.
There was no shortage of people in the room keen to learn how they can expand into the region and share in its success.
But it doesn’t always feel like that from the inside does it?
At the risk of talking the industry down, we seem to have spent most of the last 12 months writing about company failures, regulator crackdowns and media reports of alleged wrongdoing by bad actors more interested in profits than patients.
And yet, place all that against the success of Phytoca, sold to Chinese investor Y Cannabis Holdings in a deal worth up to A$62 million, surging patient numbers, promising research results, and European powerhouse Curaleaf entering the market and you get a very different picture.
So plenty of reasons for optimism, but there have been weeks where we’ve struggled to find positive stories among the doom and gloom.
And as a media company whose business model depends on the robust financial health of the sector, that can be confronting.
Yes, stories about company failures do wonders for the newsletter open rate in the short term. But in the long term, the more firms that fail, the less chance we have of building a viable publishing business.
Given Labor’s success in this year’s federal election, meaningful adult-use reform in Australia feels unlikely for at least the next parliament. Ditto New Zealand after its lurch to the right in 2023.
Amid all the uncertainty, it seems clear that the success or failure of the medical market will determine the future of legal cannabis use on both sides of the Tasman. It’s in everyone’s commercial interests to do whatever we can to support it.
“We love writing about the sector – it’s fascinating, inspiring, sometimes infuriating, but never dull.”
That means lobbying governments and regulators, investing in research, telling patient stories, and challenging misinformation in the mainstream press.
It also means getting our own house in order so we don’t give medical bodies, politicians and news outlets with an axe to grind the opportunity to do so at our expense.
As a news service, our first duty is to our readers, so we will continue to provide you with the information you need to grow your business and make progress in your career. And not all of those stories will be positive.
But we also recognise we have a role to play in how others perceive the industry, so please do send us your good news when you have it.
We love writing about the sector – it’s fascinating, inspiring, sometimes infuriating, but never dull. And, crucially, the people working in it are generally doing so for the right reasons.
It’s our ongoing privilege to support your work.
That said, we need your help too. If you haven’t already done so, please do sign up for our Cannabiz Premium membership, giving you unlimited access to all stories in our weekly newsletter and archive, breaking news alerts, market intelligence reports and sector analysis.
And, if you’re a company, our new Elite tier means you can keep your entire team informed with multiple Premium memberships and you’ll also get free tickets to the Cannabiz Awards.
Sorry to end on a blatant plug, but in a world where the future direction of travel is unclear, one thing is certain – we all need each other more than ever.