Melissa Etheridge is among the keynote speakers recently announced for this year’s O’Cannabiz Conference & Expo in downtown Toronto.
The 55-year-old Grammy-winning rocker, an outspoken advocate for medical cannabis since using it to help deal with chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, is among many big names participating in the three-day event running April 21-23 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel where will patients, physicians, licensed producers and craft cannabis industry leaders will gather to explore the future of the budding market in Canada.
Everything from seed to sale, understanding regulations and industry standards, and best practices both medicinally and recreationally will be offered among more than 40 workshops, seminars, keynote addresses and exhibitors.
Keynote speakers confirmed to-date:
Bruce Linton: Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Canopy Growth Corporation, the largest legal producer of cannabis in Canada and the first Canadian company of its kind to go public, listing on the TSX earlier this year. (Saturday, April 22)
Chuck Underwood: Founder and Principal of The Generational Imperative Inc., a consulting firm that helps businesses better understand and market to different generations, applying his studies to the cannabis industry. (Saturday, April 22)
Melissa Etheridge: Singer/songwriter, entrepreneur, cannabis activist and owner of Etheridge Farms, a producer of newly legalized cannabis products in California. (Saturday, April 22)
Dr. Deidi Meiri: Principal Investigator, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research. Dr. Meiri’s research focuses on the antitumor effects of cannabinoids. He also collaborates with cannabis growers, clinicians, major manufacturers and distributors of medical cannabis for the purpose of revolutionizing cannabis treatment. Dr. Meiri’s lab is currently involved in eight clinical trials covering diverse aspects of cannabis treatment such as colon disease, pain prevention, cancer treatment and epilepsy. (Sunday, April 23)
Hugo Alves: Partner – Corporate/Commercial, Bennett Jones LLP, one of Canada’s leading advisors in the medical marijuana industry representing a variety of industry participants, including licensed producers, licensed producer applicants, licensed dealers, R&D labs, e-commerce platforms and seed-to-sale software developers. (Saturday, April 22)
Maya Elisabeth: CEO of Whoopi and Maya, a brand of medical cannabis products co-founded by Whoopi Goldberg and geared towards menstruating women, and Owner & Founder of Om Edibles, an all female collective that has won eight Cannabis Cups across multiple categories. (Saturday, April 22)
Tracy Ryan: CEO of CannaKids and SavingSophie.org. Since her infant daughter’s brain tumor diagnosis in June of 2013, Tracy has dedicated a huge part of her life to educating herself on the medicinal powers of marijuana in treating her own daughter’s disease, as well as all other pediatric and adult cancers with her own line of CannaKids’ Honey Gold cannabis oils. (Sunday, April 23)
O’Cannabiz boasts a line-up of 30 additional speakers confirmed to date, including Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, Medical Health Officer & CEO, Eastern Ontario Health Unit; Cam Battley, Chair of the Advocacy Committee for the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association; Autumn Karcey, President of Cultivo, Inc; Meg Owen, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Leafly and many more.