Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Oregon Pot Conference Expands To Germany

An Ashland businessman is organizing a national cannabis conference in Germany this Spring.

Alex Rogers is the CEO of medical marijuana clinics in Ashland and Eugene. He also started the ‘Oregon Marijuana Business Conference’ a few years ago.

After expanding the conference to San Francisco, Canada and Hawaii, he now expects about 1,000 attendees in Berlin this April.

“The West Coast knows the best cannabis and the world knows it," said Rogers.

"And when exports are allowed then it has the potential to be a world-dominating brand, as long as the people work hard to market them.”

Germany currently imports pot from the Netherlands and Canada, where it’s grown largely indoors.

Rogers says about a half-dozen Oregon firms will make the trip, pitching everything from testing labs to branding skills.

Germany’s new medical marijuana laws are expected to be codified a couple of weeks before the conference opens.

<p>Germany currently imports pot from the Netherlands and Canada, where it&rsquo;s grown largely indoors.</p>

John Rosman

/

Germany currently imports pot from the Netherlands and Canada, where it’s grown largely indoors.

Copyright 2017 Oregon Public Broadcasting

Kristian Foden-Vencil is a veteran journalist/producer working for Oregon Public Broadcasting. He started as a cub reporter for newspapers in London, England in 1988. Then in 1991 he moved to Oregon and started freelancing. His work has appeared in publications as varied as The Oregonian, the BBC, the Salem Statesman Journal, Willamette Week, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, NPR and the Voice of America. Kristian has won awards from the Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists and the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors. He was embedded with the Oregon National Guard in Iraq in 2004 and now specializes in business, law, health and politics.