Marijuana and money are a magic combination at Vancouver conference

VANCOUVER – It’s not the usual Vancouver gathering of pot enthusiasts — in fact there isn’t even a whiff of marijuana smoke at the Greenrush Financial Conference covering the budding business of ganja.

The Vancouver conference features speakers from the government to the banking industry and it is billed as Canada’s first medical marijuana, industrial hemp and alternative medicine investment conference.

Conference spokesman Jay Oness (OH-ness) says organizers saw a void and decided to fill it by bringing dozens of exhibitors and investors together into one place.

Oness says growing public acceptance and the federal government’s regulation of the medical marijuana industry is enticing investors.

Exhibitor Brian O’Dea (day), with BC Chronic, a company that runs licensed medical grow operations, says the injection of money has made the biggest change, as he noted there were no hippies in the convention crowd.

O’Dea says many investors are looking to get in at the germination stage of what could be a flourishing investment, especially if the industry is eventually legalized.