Benzinga Cannabis Conference Returns Just When the Industry Needed It Most
Last week, the cannabis industry’s decision-makers descended on downtown Chicago for the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference. The bi-annual event is hosted and produced by the prominent financial media outlet, and brought together more than 2000 founders, C-suite, and executive leaders with the aim of fostering more meaningful connections among those charting the course for cannabis in the U.S. and around the world. The conference’s timing couldn’t have been better. Persistent capital restraints and regulatory inaction have left the industry reeling with little abatement in sight, and the mood everywhere has been pessimistic. While Benzinga had considerably more sellers than buyers and few answers beyond continuing to wait for the Senate to change its tune on banking , the opportunity to smile and laugh, and do some preemptive wheeling and dealing felt as cathartic as it was productive. “This is the place where deals get started, get finalized, or actually close,” said Patrick La...