CANNAINVESTOR Magazine October / November 2016 | Page 30

With a planned nation wide network of clinics and producers (owned by MJN) in other provinces, risk associated with how each Province will manage the distribution system is somewhat mitigated. AGS’s 1st Place Cannabis Cup prize winning grow lights suited to small rooms appears ideal for the legal grow your own market. AGS announced on September 30 that it was acquiring “a strong vertical farming cannabis portfolio”. The prepared Retail Investor may already have read a recent report titled “Vertical Farming Market by Functional Device (Lighting, Hydroponic Component, Climate Control, and Sensors), Growth Mechanism (Aeroponics, Hydroponics, and Others) and By Geography – Global Forecast to 2020” that estimates the vertical farming market to reach almost $4 billion by 2020. MJN and AGS are referenced because they are real companies that you can research. Using hypothetical companies adds no value. Canadian examples are useful too because Canada is a world leader in legal cannabis with many companies that also trade on the OTC and the strong American dollar discounts the effective share price. The Canadian dollar often moves with the price of oil and other natural resources … prices that many believe will recover allowing another potential source for gains as the value of the Canadian dollar also appreciates.

The astute investor looking to invest in Canada in order to diversify will also realize that the Canadian Federal Government has made it clear that dispensaries are illegal and this was reiterated on September 22 by Health Canada (FDA equivalency for this discussion). Investing (in stock or even in franchises) of such businesses can be avoided just by some routine due diligence. Being able to identify the likely losers so easily did not exist in the dot.com era.

Looking to invest in state of the art Grow lights in the USA instead? Look no further than Heliospectra AB (OCTB: HLSPY; FIRSTNORTH: HELIO). Heliospectra was spotlighted in the last issue of CANNAINVESTOR MAGAZINE and you are encouraged to familiarize yourself with that coverage. Recent news releases include a “Fortune 500 global agtech leader standardizing on Heliospectra technology”. Other recent News Releases highlight large orders. Heliospectra’s patented technology are considered the “most technologically advanced grow lights available”. To the astute investor, whether in the USA or in Canada, the best technology in a growing market may be worth considering.

There are indeed several companies who rely on dot.com such as MassRoots (OTC: MSRT). You may have never heard of Namaste Technologies Inc (CSE:N; OTC:NXTTF) but may before long. On September 15, Namaste entered into an agreement to acquire URT1 Ltd. On completion of that acquisition, Namaste will form the world’s largest e-commerce B2C Vaporizer company.

For added comfort that the cannabis industry is real and legitimate, Microsoft recently announced that it is entering this industry through partnering with Kind Financial. With respect to Microsoft entering the legal cannabis industry, USA today on June 17th stated: “as watershed industry moments go, this one could be defining”. Scott’s Miracle Grow is investing as much as $500 million dollars in marijuana hydroponics nutrients, equipment, and hydroponics retailing industries. All of this comfort is not a substitute for due diligence.

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