There were big expectations for the cannabis-infused food and beverage space leading up to the start of last year. Venture capital investment was increasing, seasoned executives were jumping into the trendy space and established players pledged to launch products. 

But 2020 was not the breakout year for cannabis that some had anticipated. 

Even without full federal legalization, the country's cannabis market was valued at over $13 billion in 2019 and, according to stats compiled by New Frontier Data, expected to reach $30 billion by 2025.

As five more states legalize it, consumer spending is only going to go up and e-commerce continues to drive innovation throughout this budding industry. 

While cannabis itself isn't legally sold online, a vast range of paraphernalia is readily available. This includes bongs, dab rigs, vaporizers, pipes, rolling papers, grinders and growing supplies. 

With all that competition, getting your brand to stand out can be daunting nor is it made any easier with restrictions on paid ads for the industry. Not easy, but not impossible either... 

Did you know that we’re supposed to get 5 to 9 servings of fruit and vegetables every day? This equates to roughly two cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables. Although this is the recommended amount of fruit and veggies we should eat according to the USDA (United States Dietary Association), most of the American population doesn’t come close to meeting these guidelines.

Blue Dream, Purple Haze, Girl Scout Cookies, Red Headed Stranger, Acapulco Gold, Fruity Pebbles or Pineapple Express… all classic strain names and all of them meaningless.

“Strain names are absolutely misleading with considerable variation in the same cannabinoid content among different specimens of the same strain. You can get the same color and the same smell, but actually levels of the THC and CBD and some of the other compounds could be quite different,” says Robin Marles, Ph.D., chair of the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) Botanical Dietary Supplements and Herbal Medicines Expert Committee.

Move over, Miller -- it’s CBD time.

Molson Coors Beverage Co., the beer maker better known for popular brands like Coors and Miller High Life, has a new candidate for a big-time brand. But the drink, known as Veryvell, contains CBD instead of alcohol.

Pete Marino, president of the emerging growth division for Molson Coors, said in a phone interview that the company seeks to create a new mega-brand within three years. Veryvell is one of the non-alcoholic candidates from the division, which has already produced La Colombe coffee drinks and ZOA Energy drinks.

As the cannabis industry expands into the rest of the U.S. market, traditional manufacturers and other businesses are getting involved. For manufacturers, there is an opening for logistical, quality, and production help. Whether it’s in healthcare or packaging, outside industry is now applying traditional business methods to cannabis to further legitimize its place in the contemporary market.

Recently, Cannabis & Tech Today sat down with Roger Throckmorton, Chief Brand Officer at International Plastics in Greenville, SC, to discuss better packaging options for the cannabis industry and why the “barrier bag” is key.

This year, 49% of B2B marketers are replacing live events with webinars in response to the pandemic, according to data analytics company Statista.

It’s not a pivot that’s been easy to do.

Most event planners are focused on customer experience, lining up all-star speakers, and hosting in the best possible location for their demographics.

If one had to choose between attending a conference in Burlington, Vermont or Las Vegas, Nevada, most would be inclined to choose Las Vegas because of it’s relatively centralized geographic location, affordable air fares, and abundance of after-hour activities.

The year 2020 was a dud in many, many ways due to the pandemic. However, it was a record year for the emerging cannabis industry. Cannabis entrepreneurs around the globe sold a record amount of cannabis and cannabis-infused products.

Unfortunately, no countries legalized cannabis for adult use in 2020, but a number of countries either allowed medical cannabis industries to launch or expand. Many cannabis industry projections from years ago focused on the year 2020 and virtually every one of those projections proved to be too conservative.

So what does 2021 have in store for the emerging cannabis industry? Ultimately, only time will tell. Below are some things to consider.

The global cannabis industry has grown massively since its birth. Cannabis processing is currently being done in large factories.

The FRITSCH team in the lab. Photo courtesy of FRITSCH Inc.

Unfortunately, even with the progress made, machinery for processing is often made without consideration for the specific materials being processed.

At the moment, the consensus on processing cannabis is that it requires heavy machinery.

Clearly, for millions, a brief glance in the rear-view mirror for 2020 is best left as just that…a glance. It had been, for more than nine, long months, one of the most challenging years in recorded history. The COVID-19 pandemic, it’s path of destruction in lost lives, displaced workers and students, along with a myriad of bankrupt industries has continued to wreak havoc across the globe.

But along the way, enterprising individuals and forward-thinking companies found a way to help people cope with and actual profit from the economic downturn wrought by the novel coronavirus. And as is in all doom and gloom scenarios, there is usually a light at the end of the tunnel, and this case a safe and effective vaccine that will hopefully eradicate the virus once and for all.