Pubdate: Fri, 07 Feb 2014
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2014 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/625HdBMl
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: William M. Welch

A SMOKIN' POT INDUSTRY AWARDS ITS 'OSCARS'

LOS ANGELES - The marijuana industry, its outlook soaring with
legalization in two states and changing attitudes nationally, is
showing off the latest products and celebrating its good fortune at a
trade exhibition this weekend.

The Los Angeles Cannabis Cup, an annual event sponsored by High Times,
the magazine of stoner culture and business, is expected to see record
attendance of more than 10,000 people Saturday and Sunday.

That's twice any past turnout, managing editor and event coordinator
Jen Bernstein says.

Voter approval of marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington
state, a growing list of states permitting marijuana for medical uses,
polls showing for the first time that a majority of Americans support
legalization, and President Obama's recent remark that pot is no worse
than alcohol, all have created a buzz for marijuana consumers and an
industry that was already on a roll.

"There's been a huge surge in interest," says Bernstein, who notes her
magazine's recent issue was its biggest in 40 years of publishing.
"It's a huge growth industry right now."

The show awards prizes, the Cannabis Cup, to strains of marijuana
rated best by judges, with separate categories for sativa, indica and
hybrid strains of the plant, as well as hashish and other forms of
marijuana concentrates. Awards also go to the best new
marijuana-related products, like glass bongs, pipes, vaporizers and
accessories.

"You could think of it as the Grammys or Oscars for the cannabis
industry," says Seibo Shen, a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur and CEO
of VapeXhale. Its first product, a vaporizer selling for $450, won the
best product award in 2013 when it was still a preproduction prototype.

California became the first state to allow marijuana for medical
reasons in 1996, and in less than two decades has been joined by 19
others, but its leadership in the pot culture has been overtaken by
legalization of recreational marijuana use in Colorado and Washington,
where new marijuana businesses have blossomed. Alaska is expected to
vote on a similar proposal this summer, and a full legalization
initiative is likely to face California voters in 2016, if not this
year.

Marijuana can be consumed at the event only by holders of a doctor's
written recommendation, Bernstein says.  
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