A Latino Working in the Legal Marijuana Industry (The Flu Edition)

Sorry I missed last week. I was sick with the flu. It was fairly horrible and knocked me out for about eight days. The only person I know who didn’t get sick was the person who had a flu shot.

Time down like that always makes one reflect at least during the lucid awake moments. What is the meaning of life? Have my lungs ever hurt this much before? Where is that book I started reading 10 years ago? Why the hell am I working in the Cannabis business? You know how it is.

The day before I got sick, we had Japanese executives visit the farm. They were head engineers from one of the world’s top electronics companies looking at our growing system. Marijuana is super illegal in Japan so this was interesting. They were there to tour the farm and see how they could engineer products or improve products they already make to serve the needs of the cannabis industry. They didn’t speak English but their company based across a vast ocean saw the potential in this industry and took the time out of their schedule to visit us.

I know I have said it before but the amount of money that will be made before prices eventually stabilize is considerable. Big companies and big money are paying attention.

You know who I don’t see? Of all the people, businesses and organizations that I have run across in over a month, I have hardly seen one Latino. I have run across several articles written by Latinos but as far as I can tell not one Latino is holding a business license or actually poised to benefit from this rapidly growing and changing industry. All the ancillary businesses from consultants to law firms seem to be Latino-less both here in Washington and Colorado. I have seen some Latinos at retailers as security or budtenders but even then they are few.

I could be totally wrong but this is my impression and I am not sure why. I think one of the main reasons is that the barrier to entry can be quite high. If you don’t have access to capital then you can’t even enter the game. In certain states, the fees states are charging are sky high. It takes money to make money.

Lastly, I want to leave you with this video of three non-Latina Grandmother smoking weed for the first time. Guess what? They did it in Washington and had a difficult time finding Abuelas who had never smoked before. It has already been viewed over 15 million times.

At least that viral video lead to this.

Have a great rest of the week.

***

You can follow Chris on Twitter @chrisrudicruz.