What's it going to take for cannabis to become a legitimate commodity, listed on commodity exchanges alongside corn, coffee, and copper? It's only a matter of time before it happens, but just how much time will depend on lawmakers and industry leaders finding consensus.
Cannabis lawyer Robert Hoban believes that the industry needs to standardize and professionalize more before it will be taken seriously and thrive on exchanges, stating:
Certainty, transparency, and consistency are essential for industrial hemp or commercial marijuana to make the transition to commoditization.
[Y]ou must have standardization. While there are many efforts at standardizing hemp and marijuana crops, like ASTM International and FOCUS, there are currently no existing universal standards. This is critical because a commodity requires that such a basic good used in commerce is interchangeable with other goods of the same type. Furthermore, commodities are most often traded on exchanges and presumed to meet specified minimum standards.
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