EPISODE #104 US Cannabis Legislation and Regulation in 2021 with Dr. Stuart Titus, CEO of Medical Marijuana Inc. - Show Notes

This week we’re joined by Dr. Stuart Titus, CEO of Medical Marijuana Inc. - developers and retailers of cannabis-derived products, and the first-ever publicly traded cannabis company in the USA.

In this episode, we explore some of the current legislation and regulations governing the cannabis industry in the USA, including the SAFE Banking Act and FDA regulation.

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About Dr. Stuart Titus

Dr. Stuart Titus is a veteran of the financial services and medical healthcare industries with over thirty years of combined experience in each discipline. In the investment banking industry, Dr. Titus worked with well-regarded firms including A.G. Becker, Prudential-Bache Securities, and Credit Suisse-First Boston. After leaving Wall Street, Dr. Titus opened and operated his private physiotherapy practice specialising in microcurrent and stem cell therapeutic treatments.

Now, Dr. Titus, a 10-year pioneer of the cannabis industry, is the Chief Executive Officer of the first-ever publicly traded cannabis company in the United States, Medical Marijuana, Inc. Dr. Titus has been involved in all aspects of the medical marijuana and industrial hemp industries as he also oversees a robust portfolio of subsidiary and investment companies. Through his leadership, Medical Marijuana, Inc. became the first company to deliver cannabis brands across U.S. state lines and international borders, making hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) available across 50 states and in dozens of countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and many European nations.

Dr. Titus is a graduate of Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., where he majored in Economics and minored in Business Administration. He earned his Ph.D. degree from the Open International University, which is a World Health Organisation (WHO)-chartered affiliate. He holds a Fellowship with the American Academy of Pain Management and clinical association with the American Association of Integrative Medicine. 

Episode Summary

• Dr. Titus became involved with Medical Marijuana Inc. as an investor, and later took a more active role in the business - becoming the leader of the Scientific Advisory Board, and then President and CEO.
• As a physician, Dr. Titus would see hundreds of professional athletes who were successfully using cannabis to reduce inflammation, as a sleep aid, and control pain. 
• He became interested in its medical use, and so started learning more about it. After attending an international symposium about Cannabis, he realised how much therapeutic value it had.
• After realising that he wanted to be a part of the legal cannabis movement, he gave up his 20-year career as a doctor and moved to California to get stuck in.
• Coming from a medical background, there were many new legalities and federal legislations for Dr. Titus to navigate including banking, logistics, labeling, and merchant processing.
• In the USA, there are many tax regulations imposed by the internal revenue service on cannabis businesses for example they cannot deduct business expenses from revenue as regular businesses do.
• Dr. Titus believes that if regulations were lifted across the world and black markets were replaced with legal markets - the cannabis business would increase GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
• Medical Marijuana Inc. operates across 50 states, selling and marketing hemp and CBD products through brands including Kannaway?, HempMeds?, and Dixie Botanicals?. 
• They also operate across Mexico, and in 2017 brought legal CBD to the country for the treatment of epilepsy in children.
• In 2014, the company started importing CBD products into Brazil which were prescribed on a case-by-case basis to patients in need. 
• CBD has proved so popular in Brazil, that products are currently subsidised by the Brazilian government.
• In 2017, the company started to market and sell within Europe, including countries such as Russia, and Kazakhstan, and expanded into Japan in 2019.
• Banking has been a real challenge for cannabis brands in the USA, due to its federal prohibition. 
• Despite the rapid growth of the cannabis industry in the USA, it is still a Schedule 1 controlled substance. Because of this, there are many regulations and legislations cannabis businesses need to comply with, in addition to those which standard companies adhere to.
• The SAFE Banking Act has forced transactions to be made in cash which creates challenges around paying federal taxes and safety issues reimbursing staff. It also makes it difficult for cannabis companies to secure loans, inhibiting their business growth. 
• The 280E tax code imposed by the IRS on cannabis businesses does not allow for the deductions of business expenses from taxable income which decreases the profitability of cannabis companies.
• The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, also known as the MORE Act, is a proposed piece of U.S. federal legislation that would deschedule cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and enact various criminal and social justice reforms related to cannabis. 
• The passing of the act will open up research opportunities, decriminalise those convicted of drug offences, and help the industry to grow by allowing cannabis products to move across state lines.
• The FDA have not approved any THC-based cannabis products as they still remain illegal at a federal level, however, they have permitted the use of cannabis-based medicines Epidiolex, Marinol, and Syndros for therapeutic use.
• Many cannabis businesses are hoping for the new governmental administration in the United States to allow the federal legalisation of cannabis in the next couple of years.
• Dr. Titus is optimistic about the economic impact that legislation will have in the USA and the rest of the world. 

Quotables

• ‘My eyes were opened when all of a sudden I was introduced to the world of CBD’ 02:40
• ‘We can see CBD and the non-psychoactive arena taking a larger and larger piece of the overall cannabis pie every year 19:00
• ‘Cannabis means votes’ 29:19

Resources

Follow Medical Marijuana Inc. on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjna_inc

Follow Medical Marijuana Inc. on LinkedIn: https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/medical-marijuana-inc-/

Read about the FDA’s regulation of cannabis-derived products: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/public-health-focus/fda-regulation-cannabis-and-cannabis-derived-products-including-cannabidiol-cbd#approved

About Me

I'm Anuj Desai - a commercial advisor, lawyer and founder of Canverse - a commercial and legal consultancy helping founders, entrepreneurs and businesses navigate the emerging cannabis industry.

Please follow The Cannabis Conversation to keep up to date with news and insights from the industry, and get in touch at [email protected] to discuss how I can help your business move forward in the cannabis sector!

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