The Importance Of Advocacy (A Love Letter To NCIA)

MJ Platform is a founding member of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA).  We currently contribute as a sustaining member to NCIA, and we also sponsor many events yearly in addition to having the honor of being asked to speak at NCIA educational conferences.  As the president of MJ Platform, I have personally served on the board of NCIA for 5 years running.

And I do mean SERVE.  As the pioneer in “Cannatech” and the inventor of seed to sale tracking, we have a responsibility to offer our knowledge and time to the industry’s advancement.  As a company, we participate in NCIA conferences and events to promote our business and products.  However, we contribute as sustaining members, and I serve on the board to give back to the industry which has given us so much.  I give my time to attend board meetings, serve on committees in which I believe I can add unique value, and I have attended our Annual Lobby Days in DC for 6 years in a row.

Whenever I’m in DC for other work reasons, I let NCIA know in case they want to arrange any meetings while I’m there.  We give to NCIA for the same reasons we support other cannabis organizations like the CannAbility Foundation.  MJ Platform has partnered with CannAbility to raise awareness on the laws that keep medical patients – children and parents – from having full, safe access to cannabis. We believe in our collective power to support the organizations that help our industry positively impact the world.

This past Spring, I brought my 10 year old daughter to NCIA Lobby Days.  She was the first child to ever attend.  My parents supported my efforts and her getting to explore our nation’s capitol by coming to DC for a few days and sight-seeing with her after lobby days and while I worked the Spring MJ Business Conference.  My daughter is in remission from a demyelinating illness with similarities to MS.  Although cannabis has not been a part of her care plan to date, she and I both want safe, regulated access to cannabis available to whomever benefit from it.  She says that despite all the amazing sight-seeing she did with my parents—Smithsonian, memorials, Mt. Vernon, etc., that lobby days was her favorite part.  She has asked me if she can attend with me again this year, saying, “I just like seeing our government and talking to them about things we think they need to change.”

There is power in numbers and in joining together to lobby for our shared interests.  It can benefits every single cannabis company to fix banking and end 280e tax treatment for cannabis businesses which is NCIA’s primary mission at this time.  This is a time of change in our industry and particularly in the non-profit, advocacy organization landscape.  If you are a cannabis company of any size whatsoever, and you are not a member of our national trade association, I implore you to join.

As a tiny, barely year old, not profitable, software company in 2011, our NCIA monthly dues were incredibly challenging, but utterly worth the money.  Now, more than ever, we need to commit to our industry and to each other in order to rise to the next level of professionalism in our advocacy work.  I am aware of the recent intent to create competing organizations to NCIA and other divisive actions, but the last thing we can afford right now is to fracture and dilute our message and national presence.

We need to get crystal clear about what we want to accomplish together as an industry and who we want to be.  MJ Platform is first and foremost a business solutions company.  As such, our offerings MUST deliver more value (either in savings or additional revenue to the bottom line) than they cost.  This is our mission as a business—put simply, to provide more value.  I believe this should be our mission as an industry as well, to provide more value to this country and to the people who enjoy cannabis or rely on its therapeutic benefits than we cost.  Together, we can build a better industry, not just another one.

To learn more about NCIA, visit their website: https://thecannabisindustry.org/ 

 

Jessica Billingsley is the co-founder and CEO of MJ Platform Business Solutions. In June 2019, she became the CEO of the first cannabis industry company to be listed on the NASDAQ.

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