Jeoffrey Mendez held out some cash and pointed to a flavored energy drink made with hemp.
"I'll take a mango," he told a man who was also selling artisan chocolates and coffee Saturday at ComfyTree's Cannabis Academy, Expo and Career Fair. Mendez, a 32-year-old software developer, took a sip and nodded approvingly before moving to the next table.
Mendez doesn't have a business idea yet. But wandering through the conference at the Holiday Inn near the L'enfant Plaza Metro, the D.C. native wanted to figure out a way he could make some money off the legalization of marijuana in the District. Possession and use of small amounts of marijuana by adults in the District became legal as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
"I'm just here to be a sponge. I want to learn about as much as I can about the 'Green Rush,'" Mendez said.
Stereotypes collided at the ComfyTree conference. Men in the entrepreneur's uniform of pressed button down shirts, fitted jeans and cups of Starbucks weaved past men wearing baseball caps, oversized sweatshirts and sagging pants. Women in polyester business attire sat next to women wearing natural fiber clothing.
There were companies specializing in horticulture and companies specializing in investments. Some tables had smoking accoutrements. Others were staffed by consultants. One business handed out swag of a lighter featuring his company's name and baggies of oregano, meant to look like marijuana.
All ultimately had the same desire as Mendez: To figure out a way to make some money.
Marijuana is fueling fast-growing market opportunity elsewhere. Colorado's marijuana industry generated $66.2 million in medical and retail sales last year, resulting in $7.74 million in tax revenue. The U.S. market for legal cannabis grew 74 percent in 2014 to $2.7 billion, according to a study from The ArcView Group, an Oakland, California-based cannabis industry investment and research firm.
National and local news outlets descended, seeing the perfect chance to localize a national debate. Local proponents, including Councilman David Grosso, I-At Large, took the opportunity to make a few cracks about Congress and explain why marijuana legalization is really about D.C. statehood rights.
One of the owners of a smoke shop in College Park asked Grosso for guidance during the councilman's presentation. His business is very careful to only market products toward tobacco uses, he said, and actually has a store policy of asking patrons who mention marijuana to immediately leave. But if he was to open a location in the District, how would would the rules change?
Grosso didn't know. But Karen Lake and Justin Knorton found the man — who did not want to comment for this post — after the presentation. They were passing out business cards, offering their legal and marketing services geared specifically for marijuana-related enterprises.
Knorton recommended the smoke shop err on the side of being careful. "There's a lot gray areas in terms of the law," Knorton said.
But businesses like theirs hope this emerging market will mean a lot of potential green in their pockets.