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> “Our long-term vision is if a patient walks into any pharmacy in any country in the world that has legalized cannabis that patient should be able to obtain a

> “Our long-term vision is if a patient walks into any pharmacy in any country in the world that has legalized cannabis that patient should be able to obtain a Tilray product. That’s our global goal,” Kennedy said in an interview this week from New York. Hopefully this doesn't signal the beginning of cannabis consolation. It's possible that the market will follow the model of the beer market, where a few large companies have bought out numerous microbrewers.

jeffreyrogers 8y ago
Anecdotally microbrewers seem to be doing fine. The city I moved from (pop. ~200,000) had ~10 microbrewers. The city I currently live in (few hundred thousand people as well) also has several. If small companies can't compete it'll be because they can't deal with the regulation or the business gets commodified and they can't compete on price since they don't have economies of scale, but the later doesn't seem likely to me.
- benbreen 8y ago
  It's a reasonable analogy, but I gather that the regulatory demands are currently much higher for small cannabis producers. A close relative of mine is a small-scale producer and the restrictions, price drop, and delays from the legalization process have been making it hard for them to stay in business. Hopefully it gets worked out soon because I'd love for the ecosystem to end up looking like microbreweries, but I fear that it'll end up being more like other agribusinesses.
- nightski 8y ago
  As someone who really enjoys beer, isn't part of the reason for that because of the incredible variety of styles and flavors that can be achieved with beer? It's such a versatile medium with a large range of quality differences. But as someone also who has never smoked pot or been that interested in it - is it anything like that at all? Or is the experience pretty generic (other than the obvious quality differences)?
  - benbreen 8y ago
    My subjective opinion is that cannabis is far more variable in terms of both effects and smell/taste than any alcoholic beverage. Partly because the psychoactive effects come from 100s of discrete compounds rather than just one source (ethanol), but also because there are a ton of aromatics and terpenes in the plant which depend upon dozens of variables -- not just the strain but the ways that you grow, harvest, dry, and consume it. And on top of that, it's being intensively bred and modified at the moment. Intensive genetic modification hasn't happened yet, but I fully expect to see cannabis strains that glow in the dark or contain nicotine (or taste like craft beer) in the years to come.
  - canhascodez 8y ago
    Cannabis flower is similar to beer in the sense that you discuss, but there are also oils, hash, and edibles. Vaporizer oil is offered in a wide variety of artificial flavors, and strains vary considerably in natural flavor, from the putrid to the delicate. There isn't a "standard" varietal or strain, and the plants can be grown to encourage a wide variety of qualities. An indoor grow operation might prefer "sea of green" techniques, with plants trimmed and trained to grow many small colas, like a field of lollipops. The same plant placed outdoors might become a 3m tall tree. I think that if we extrapolate current conditions in the States which have legalized recreational sale, the cannabis market would closely resemble the beer market. However, legalization has also generally lowered prices, and it may be that we have not seen the end of that trend. Some have suggested that cannabis should naturally be only a few dollars per pound. However, I don't think that prices are ever likely to reach that point, and the question for the public I think is whether that disparity should result in high profits or high tax revenues.
  - code_duck 8y ago
    It’s a botanical product that has a range of tastes and flavors that span almost the entire range of culinary herbs, in a somewhat unexpected way. Quality of end product is very dependent upon quality of cultivation and genetics, and that’s why in Denver, prices range from $4 to $25 a gram. Same for concentrates - the flavor and effect of the water hash and live rosin is far more delicate (for $90 a gram) compared to the base waxes and shatter that costs dramatically less, about $15 a gram. It’s like the difference between Highland Park, Dewars and $10 crap scotch but also the difference between Kahlua, Tanqueray and Limoncello - and also the quality and brand variances within a style. The dozens of varieties of herb and extract you see at the store do all separately exist for good reasons. The expensive extracts are clearly a more delicate product than the cheap ones, and among a certain brand there maybe be several very distinct (natural, botanical) flavors available. I tend to keep a variety on hand - a lemony sativa extract like Super Lemon Haze or Jack Herer, a skunky/gassy hybrid like Sour Diesel, a bright Sativa like Columbian or Panamanian, and a heavy indica like Grape Skunk or whatever smells good (strain names can be standard or per-store) in addition to something with CBD and maybe CBN (medicinal cannabinoids). Selection for me is very flavor dependent, but also for the effects, which vary widely within a range and are harder to predict by aroma and appearance.
code_duck 8y ago
There will be cannabis companies operating at every level and style you see in the craft beer, alcohol and coffee markets. Like beer, for example, it will range from market crap sold at Walmart or CVS to mass market fake quality products (like the major brewer owned/fabricated craft beers) to quality big local brands to neighborhood growers to handmade boutique specialty products for gourmets and wealthy people. Of course, like everything else, the people with big money now will mainly be the ones making big money there because they have the money to invest and control everything else. But there’s vast opportunity for people in it now and everyone else on the way up.
usrusr 8y ago
The beer market seems incredibly diverse when you compare is to the other big legal drug, nicotine. Cannabis might end up like Tabac.

jeffreyrogers 8y ago

Anecdotally microbrewers seem to be doing fine. The city I moved from (pop. ~200,000) had ~10 microbrewers. The city I currently live in (few hundred thousand people as well) also has several. If small companies can't compete it'll be because they can't deal with the regulation or the business gets commodified and they can't compete on price since they don't have economies of scale, but the later doesn't seem likely to me.

benbreen 8y ago
It's a reasonable analogy, but I gather that the regulatory demands are currently much higher for small cannabis producers. A close relative of mine is a small-scale producer and the restrictions, price drop, and delays from the legalization process have been making it hard for them to stay in business. Hopefully it gets worked out soon because I'd love for the ecosystem to end up looking like microbreweries, but I fear that it'll end up being more like other agribusinesses.
nightski 8y ago
As someone who really enjoys beer, isn't part of the reason for that because of the incredible variety of styles and flavors that can be achieved with beer? It's such a versatile medium with a large range of quality differences. But as someone also who has never smoked pot or been that interested in it - is it anything like that at all? Or is the experience pretty generic (other than the obvious quality differences)?
- benbreen 8y ago
  My subjective opinion is that cannabis is far more variable in terms of both effects and smell/taste than any alcoholic beverage. Partly because the psychoactive effects come from 100s of discrete compounds rather than just one source (ethanol), but also because there are a ton of aromatics and terpenes in the plant which depend upon dozens of variables -- not just the strain but the ways that you grow, harvest, dry, and consume it. And on top of that, it's being intensively bred and modified at the moment. Intensive genetic modification hasn't happened yet, but I fully expect to see cannabis strains that glow in the dark or contain nicotine (or taste like craft beer) in the years to come.
- canhascodez 8y ago
  Cannabis flower is similar to beer in the sense that you discuss, but there are also oils, hash, and edibles. Vaporizer oil is offered in a wide variety of artificial flavors, and strains vary considerably in natural flavor, from the putrid to the delicate. There isn't a "standard" varietal or strain, and the plants can be grown to encourage a wide variety of qualities. An indoor grow operation might prefer "sea of green" techniques, with plants trimmed and trained to grow many small colas, like a field of lollipops. The same plant placed outdoors might become a 3m tall tree. I think that if we extrapolate current conditions in the States which have legalized recreational sale, the cannabis market would closely resemble the beer market. However, legalization has also generally lowered prices, and it may be that we have not seen the end of that trend. Some have suggested that cannabis should naturally be only a few dollars per pound. However, I don't think that prices are ever likely to reach that point, and the question for the public I think is whether that disparity should result in high profits or high tax revenues.
- code_duck 8y ago
  It’s a botanical product that has a range of tastes and flavors that span almost the entire range of culinary herbs, in a somewhat unexpected way. Quality of end product is very dependent upon quality of cultivation and genetics, and that’s why in Denver, prices range from $4 to $25 a gram. Same for concentrates - the flavor and effect of the water hash and live rosin is far more delicate (for $90 a gram) compared to the base waxes and shatter that costs dramatically less, about $15 a gram. It’s like the difference between Highland Park, Dewars and $10 crap scotch but also the difference between Kahlua, Tanqueray and Limoncello - and also the quality and brand variances within a style. The dozens of varieties of herb and extract you see at the store do all separately exist for good reasons. The expensive extracts are clearly a more delicate product than the cheap ones, and among a certain brand there maybe be several very distinct (natural, botanical) flavors available. I tend to keep a variety on hand - a lemony sativa extract like Super Lemon Haze or Jack Herer, a skunky/gassy hybrid like Sour Diesel, a bright Sativa like Columbian or Panamanian, and a heavy indica like Grape Skunk or whatever smells good (strain names can be standard or per-store) in addition to something with CBD and maybe CBN (medicinal cannabinoids). Selection for me is very flavor dependent, but also for the effects, which vary widely within a range and are harder to predict by aroma and appearance.

code_duck 8y ago

There will be cannabis companies operating at every level and style you see in the craft beer, alcohol and coffee markets. Like beer, for example, it will range from market crap sold at Walmart or CVS to mass market fake quality products (like the major brewer owned/fabricated craft beers) to quality big local brands to neighborhood growers to handmade boutique specialty products for gourmets and wealthy people. Of course, like everything else, the people with big money now will mainly be the ones making big money there because they have the money to invest and control everything else. But there’s vast opportunity for people in it now and everyone else on the way up.

usrusr 8y ago

The beer market seems incredibly diverse when you compare is to the other big legal drug, nicotine. Cannabis might end up like Tabac.