Marijuana Business Magazine - April 2018

NCIA board. “The vast majority of the board continues to support the mission of NCIA and the direction we’re taking this organization,” Smith said. Smith also dismissed Kampia’s criti- cism, saying at the time that NCIA’s “growth is not dependent on any one individual’s presence on or departure from our board of directors.” Smith said he tries to handle criticism in a way that best serves his members. “I do tend to compartmentalize the feedback and find the threads of truth that may exist so that I can work on improvements as needed,” Smith added. “While I can’t please everyone, I do acknowledge opinions and do my best to respond by continuously improving. That is much easier when the criticism lodged is done so in a constructive and rational manner.” Fresh Direction? As part of building NCIA into a more mature organization, there are signs Smith is taking steps to move it in a new direction. Smith and NCIA have been criti- cized for not working well with state cannabis associations. Relations between the two sides have been highlighted by finger-pointing and legal threats from NCIA. Smith admits he could have done things differently and is taking steps to right the situation. To improve ties, Smith has decided to build a formal alliance with state and local cannabis associations. In particular, NCIA is launching the Allied Associa- tions Program to create a unified front for the cannabis industry. Smith sees it as a more formal way to keep the state and local groups communicating with each other as well as with NCIA. He also said state and local orga- nizations can learn from NCIA how to manage members and structure committees. “These associations blew up to the point where I didn’t even know some of them existed,” Smith said of the state groups. “We had to create some kind of formal program to maintain those relationships so we can be stron- ger and smarter.” That potentially could go a long way toward improving ties with state groups. Although 30 states have some type of legal cannabis laws on the books, NCIA has only two official state affiliates, California and Ohio. Smith attributes that to the difficulty of building a nonprofit trade association, particularly in emerging states where the opportu- nity for revenue from membership dues is limited. “You can’t get investment capital from nothing,” he said. Over the years, a few state associa- tions with ties to NCIA found out what it was like to get on Smith’s bad side. The Nevada and Illinois cannabis indus- try associations were disbanded shortly after becoming affiliates. In 2015, the Nevada association was an NCIA affiliate, but Smith deter- mined the state organization wasn’t meeting the standards of the affiliate agreement. For example, Smith said the group didn’t have a working website several months into the relationship. Smith said that while his association was growing, a “tidal wave” of state- and local-level organizations began trying to affiliate with NCIA by using elements of its logo or name. Smith took legal action in several cases, further strain- ing relations between NCIA and the smaller groups. He estimates NCIA’s legal counsel sent out about a half- dozen cease-and-desist letters. “What killed us was that NCIA threatened to sue us. We got into a disagreement,” recalled Joe Brezny, a cannabis consultant with Parallax Strategies in Las Vegas and former director of the Nevada Can- nabis Industry Association. “I just don’t think threatening to sue peo- ple is a way to grow your business.” Mending Fences Looking back, Smith acknowledges he could have been less combative with the state groups. “I handled it a bit more aggressively than I would if it were today,” Smith said. “It infuriated me to see organizations popping up in other states using my logo that never had permission.” His ire arose out of loyalty to NCIA and the time and effort he spent building it. “While I had every right to protect our intellectual property and the integrity of the organization,” Smith said, “I could have done a better job at shifting that enthusiasm and energy of those small Aaron Smith says he tries to handle criticism in a way that best serves his members, noting "I tend to compartmentalize the feedback." Joe Brezny is a cannabis consultant with Parallax Strategies and former director of the Nevada Cannabis Industry Association. 56 • Marijuana Business Magazine • April 2018