Sensi: Cannabis Trade Show Brings Tens of Thousands to Vegas

Leland Rucker, senior editor at Sensi magazine, recently returned from a huge marijuana business convention in Las Vegas.

“Somebody said it was three miles, somebody else said it was five miles to walk the show. Don’t know for sure, but it took me three hours to stroll the endless aisles of tables and booths one time.”

Rucker says that with all of the talk about the current administration and attorney general shutting down the cannabis business, after attending the MJBizcon trade show in Las Vegas just before Thanksgiving, he’s even less sure that’s gonna happen.

“More than 17,000 attendees came each of the three days, paying more than $500 each to past more than 700 exhibitors offering hardware, software, packaging, tools and advice to enhance sales and security, improve compliancy, cultivate more plants, purchase the right real estate and scale your business, among many other things. There were more companies with canna in their names than I thought possible, and a Virtual Reality booth. The panels were crowded with people taking notes and asking.”

With more and more states legalizing some form of cannabis, the industry has seen enormous growth in recent years, but Rucker says that while that level of growth won’t last forever, it’s there, bringing thousands to Las Vegas, all looking for an entrance into the cannabis industry. “By this November some of these companies won’t have made it, but there will be more to take their places.”

The economic juggernaut that is the cannabis industry will be difficult to stop. There are an estimated 30,000 Coloradans working in the industry and it is unlikely that the federal government can tell all these businesses in Colorado and the businesses attending the recent Las Vegas convention to cease and desist operations.  “It’s going to be really hard to stop the train now.”

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