Washington, D.C., Alaska, and Oregon recently voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use, joining Colorado and Washington State. With pot legalization a hot topic and more and more states actually considering its benefits, Palm Beach Vapors is seeing a business opportunity unfold.
The Tulsa-based e-cigarette company is looking to market a production method for cannabis oil, allowing the product to be consumed using a standard e-cigarette. Palm Beach Vapors is planning on patenting the method but has already finalized licensing deals in Colorado and California for what is known as the M-System.
Palm Beach Vapors clarifies that while it supports recreational pot use, it will not be buying, selling, or shipping marijuana. Instead, it will be licensing the additive and patented preparation method that will be used in creating a vegetable glycerin base. Cannabis oil will be added to this glycerin base, evenly distributing the oil and ensuring it stays that way to adhere to labeling standards, much like how nicotine is labeled in e-cigarettes.
Marijuana is still illegal in Oklahoma. However, Chip Paul, Palm Beach Vapors co-founder and chief executive, is confident in the projection that the cannabis market will be growing as more states agree to legalize pot use. In fact, Drug Policy Alliance executive director Ethan Nadelmann said that advocates are pushing for initiatives to legalize recreational marijuana use in time for the 2016 elections in Nevada, Massachusetts, Maine, Arizona, and California.
A similar initiative was launched in Oklahoma but it was ended in August after organizers, of which Paul is a part of, failed to gather the required signatures numbering over 155,000 of registered voters in the state.
Had the initiative been approved, it will pave the way for marijuana to be classified as herbal drug in Oklahoma, entrusting the responsibility of regulating its use to the state's Department of Health. At the same time, doctors would also be allowed to prescribe marijuana for various medical conditions. Cannabis is used medicinally for treating pain and alleviating symptoms like vomiting and nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Paul is planning on launching another petition to legalize marijuana in Oklahoma in August 2015.
E-cigarettes heat liquid nicotine to turn it into inhalable mist. Marijuana oil will go through the same process. This concerns the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
Should Palm Beach Vapors be awarded the patent and marijuana legalization follows the desired trend, the company forecasts that the M-System will represent up to 40 percent of its revenue by 2018.
