THE NEXT SCORE

Every potpreneur is looking forward, whether that means expanded markets, full legalization and/or the cultural impact pot might have. But they don’t all agree on what that dream future looks like. Some see exporting to the U.S. states where pot is legal as the next opportunity, while Stewart, whose focus now is on pot for pets, sees a world of pot accessories created around his star connection with Chong. “Every company out there that’s involved in the medical pot sector wants to roll over into the recreational market,” he says. “I have the icon of all icons when it comes to that.”

Stewart envisions the potential to become “the Starbucks or Baskin Robbins of pot,” if and when recreational marijuana is legalized. He talks about herbalizers and devices that will tell you about the potency and consistency of your pot. He talks about Tommy Chong cafes opening up, and more products for pets and even medical pot for horses. “It has to end up on the recreational side of things,” he says. ”

The opportunity is huge, Stewart says, rifling off stats that show 63% of Americans and 65% of Canadians have never touched the drug. “The potential market is massive,” he says. It is common knowledge that billions of dollars of pot is already sold every year, though the nature of those sales makes it largely unquantifiable. The issue facing entrepreneurs when they try to assess the market for marijuana — especially if it is legalized further in the U.S. and Canada — clearly isn’t its size. “It isn’t like the market is being built, there are billions in sales out there,” Wayne says. But the issue is that “the people conducting those sales aren’t typically lawful enterprises.”

Not everyone, however, is prepared to change their business model to chase the potential for legalization in Canada and elsewhere. Booth, for instance, plans to follow the course that he set when he made his initial investment. “So many deals are put in front of me every day,” he explains. “You wonder how many of them would ever work and all of them seem like a stretch to me.” He sighs and continues. “We’re not going to get into widgets and lights and pipes — that isn’t what we do,” he says. “We’re going to focus on our plan and follow that path.”

But if there’s one thing everyone involved would like to change about the industry, it’s the media’s perception, which Wayne says is far too often painted with out-of-date stereotypes. “There’s definitely a stigma,” he adds. “From a media perspective, every time there’s a medical marijuana story, there’s a picture of a guy with dirty fingernails in the back alley smoking a honking joint.”