????打入加拿大市場是查班在美國之外的一個可行選擇，尤其是在加拿大的不列顛哥倫比亞省，病患管理已經越來越寬松。不過，盡管Creative Edge Nutrition這樣的公司不能在美國合法種植或出售醫用大麻，卻并不意味著他們沒有做好準備，等待法律出現變更。CEN Biotech也在密歇根設立了子公司，而查班正在為美國的生產工廠物色地址。他說：“一旦我們發現聯邦法律有所變更，就會著手建立工廠，所以一切都（已經準備就緒）。”

????迄今為止，醫用大麻的使用已經獲得了20個州和哥倫比亞特區的許可。不過盡管在科羅拉多州和華盛頓州已經有了蓬勃發展的大麻零售產業，還是有將近一半允許種植大麻的州還沒有大麻零售市場——至少現在還沒有。

????各大公司的行動都十分謹慎。嚴格按照法律來說，即便在允許使用醫用大麻的州，聯邦政府也可以突襲生產點，收繳大麻。科恩有過切身的體會。成立TRiQ之前，他在加利福尼亞州的門多西諾郡開設了一家公司Northstone Organics Collective，公司在遵守這個州法律的前提下種植大麻，提供給這個集體的1,700名員工。直到2011年9月，聯邦探員突然手持鐐銬和步槍出現在他們面前，摧毀和沒收了全部99株大麻。

????科恩的新企業并不依托于大麻種植，而是利用技術，幫助種植者處理碰到的難題——從解決錯誤烘干手段導致的技術瓶頸，到防止貨架上的大麻被霉菌污染，確保大麻常年保持新鮮。

????業內的其他公司也在尋找合適的工廠地址，從而讓行業變得合法化和系統化。位于加利福尼亞州卡森市，制作和銷售園藝產品、同時重點經營大麻的公司Growlife Inc.的執行副總裁兼主管羅伯?亨特最近提出了一項名為“天賦計劃”（Gift Program）的倡議。他們將以此資助大規模的種植和技術研發活動。這家公司購買了CEN Biotech 公司25%的股權，同時也在研究銷售技術：將店鋪開進藥房，從而實現數字化管理，保證與病患交易的安全性。

????不過，鑒于大麻在合法市場仍屬于相對新鮮的事物，還有它在聯邦黑市上的地位，就不同品種的大麻對人體的生理影響，幾乎沒有開展過大規模的研究。亨特說：“想想距今一百年前我們對醫學的了解吧。我們對大麻仍然存在許多困惑。許多藥房的老板真誠希望能更多地看到與基因作圖相關的分析資料。”

????眼下，這個行業仍在不斷發展進步。亨特說：“我們不妨看看在接下來的兩三年里，技術上會發生什么變化。隨著法律的修改，市場限制的寬松，會看到越來越多的聰明人進入這個圈子。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：嚴匡正

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????For Chaaban breaking into the Canadian market was a viable alternative to the U.S., particularly as patient accessibility grows more lax in British Columbia. But while companies like Creative Edge Nutrition can't legally grow or sell medical marijuana in the U.S., that doesn't mean they aren't preparing for the law to change. CEN Biotech also has a subsidiary in Michigan, and Chaaban is scouting locations for a U.S. manufacturing facility. "We've set it up to have the infrastructure in place for when we do see a change in federal law, so that everything is [ready]," he says.

????To date, medical marijuana use is allowed in 20 states and the District of Columbia. But while Colorado and Washington already having burgeoning retail industries, in nearly half the states where cannabis can legally be prescribed, there is no retail market -- not yet at least.

????Businesses are acting cautiously. Technically, the federal government can raid and confiscate marijuana even in states where the drug has been legalized for medicinal purposes. Cohen knows this firsthand. Before founding TRiQ, he ran Northstone Organics Collective in Medocino County, Cal., which in compliance with state laws, grew marijuana that supplied the collective's 1,700 members until October 2011, when federal agents unexpectedly showed up with chainsaws and rifles, destroying and confiscating all 99 plants.

????Cohen's newest undertaking lies not in growing, but in helping to address some of the challenges growers face -- from bottlenecks caused by inadequate drying methods to keeping marijuana fresh on the shelf year-round to preventing mold contamination -- using technology.

????Others in the industry have been working at putting an infrastructure in place to legitimize and systematize the industry. Rob Hunt, executive vice president and director of Growlife Inc., (PHOT) a publicly traded company in Carson, Cal. that makes and markets horticulture with a focus in cannabis, recently announced an initiative called the Gift Program, in which they will fund large-scale growth operations and technology. The company has bought a 25% stake in CEN Biotech and is also working on a distribution technology that would place kiosks into dispensaries in order to digitize and secure patient transactions.

????But given marijuana's still relative newness to the legal marketplace and its federal black-market status, there's virtually no large-scale research being done on the actual physiological effects various strains of cannabis have on the body. "Picture going back a hundred years before we knew what we know about medicine now," Hunt says. "There's a lot of that still with cannabis. Most dispensary owners are really wishing they had better access to the analytical information associated with genetic mapping."

????Still, progress is being made. "Watch what happens with technology in the next two to three years," Hunt says. "As legislation changes and as the marketplace becomes less restrictive, you will see smarter and smarter people enter the space."

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