The Marijuana Business Association will be in Vancouver on Thursday, Sept. 18 for a special free Meetup event at the Vancouver Community Library.

The meeting will be at the 901 C Street location from 6-8 p.m. and is sponsored by Viridian Sciences, a Vancouver marijuana industry software company.

Looks like a good event for local biz folks to check out and meet others in the industry in Southwest Washington.

“The reason that MJBA does these things is to empower the local community,” said Dave Rheins, CEO and co-founder of the organization. “So we put together these Meetups to share information, make introductions and really learn who is doing what in the area.”

There will be a few vendor tables and speakers on hand to talk about the industry sector here and the issues it faces. Local companies can also sign up to talk to the group by emailing Morgan@mjba.net.

So far MJBA has scheduled a business presentation and a political presentation from Bob Dingethal, who is running for Congress against Jaime Herrera Beutler this fall, for the event.

There will also have open networking time and a chance to meet Mike Davis, who will be the group’s independent representative for the region. (Davis, who lives in Brush Prairie, can be reached at 360-624-4115).

“He came to us from doing other association and business groups,” Rheins said. “He’s here to help be a local facilitator and lend business support to the community.”

So far, MJBA has about 300 members across the state, with a handful in Southwest Washington, including Viridian Sciences, Rheins said.

Membership in the group is $250 a year per business.

Rheins will be at the meeting as will others from the organization. I’m planning on attending as well.

Who else is coming?

Cheers,
-SueVo (sue.vorenberg@columbian.com)