Please be aware that cannabis and related laws vary. Programming in this track is designed to inform attendees about this fast-changing industry, and does not promote the use or sale of illegal drugs.

“What Are You Smoking?” host and cannabis columnist Will Hyde will be joined by representatives of the cannabis industry in Massachusetts, California, and Canada to discuss how the patchwork system of state laws is shaping the cannabis industry -- and not for the better. As cannabis gets legalized on a state-by-state basis, legislative quirks are impacting the kinds of products available to consumers and patients, and making it hard for successful companies to grow, hamstringing competition. Meanwhile, Canada is demonstrating that even federal legalization of cannabis doesn’t always mean predictable standards from province to province. We’ll look at what legislators can do to make things more seamless for the industry and how companies are working around current obstacles.

Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.