On Election Day 2016, three more U.S. states passed recreational cannabis laws, and another four passed laws permitting its medical use, bringing the total to 29 states (plus DC) that allow for some form of legal use of marijuana. An entirely new economy is sprouting up around the legal hemp and marijuana industries—one that provides investors and entrepreneurs with many potentially lucrative business opportunities. But it is a so-called “gray market” —  one that faces federal government opposition — and some warn that the industry should use caution; heed health and morality warnings; and allow itself to be regulated into slower, safer, more controlled growth.

Our guests for the evening will be:

• Ed Woodford and Brian Liston, MIT Sloan MBA graduates and co-founders of Seed CX
• Kevin Sabet, President & CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM)
• Joseph Wright, former Director, Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program

Seed is an electronic trading facility regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Seed CX’s goal is to use derivative tools to cultivate financial security in emerging agricultural markets that have unique production risks. Seed CX operates in areas where there have been recent regulatory shifts, which present the potential to innovate in new or obscure markets.

SAM is an alliance of organizations and individuals dedicated to a health-first approach to marijuana policy. They are a bipartisan advocacy group that seeks a commonsense, third-way approach to marijuana policy that is based on reputable science and sound principles of public health and safety.