{"id":1683,"date":"2021-10-10T12:30:47","date_gmt":"2021-10-10T12:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMicWh0dHBzOi8vd2VzdGZhaXJvbmxpbmUuY29tLzE0MTAwOS9saWdodGluZy11cC1uZXctY2FuYWFuLWVudHJlcHJlbmV1ci1hZGRpbmctZS10YWlsLXRvLWNhbm5hYmlzLXJlc2VhcmNoLXdlYnNpdGUv0gEA"},"modified":"2021-10-10T12:30:47","modified_gmt":"2021-10-10T12:30:47","slug":"lighting-up-new-canaan-entrepreneur-adding-e-tail-to-cannabis-research-website-westfair-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=1683","title":{"rendered":"Lighting up: New Canaan entrepreneur adding e-tail to cannabis research website – Westfair Online"},"content":{"rendered":"
Harry DeMott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re going from being Wikipedia to being Amazon.\u201d<\/p>\n

So says Harry DeMott, a New Canaan resident and entrepreneur whose company Proper expects to segue from being a research-based firm on what is available in the marketplace to being a full-on e-commerce site.<\/p>\n

Launched in 2017 as aproperhigh.com, the site thus far has focused on \u201cbeing the single best place to research branded cannabis products, whether it\u2019s something you smoke, transdermal patches, gummies, etc.,\u201d DeMott said. \u201cWe have more information about branded products than anyone else, so we can deliver trusted data about THC percentage, etc. so consumers can make the most informed decision on what should work best for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

One example: Pride Rainbow cannabis-infused gummies, whose \u201crainbow sherbet\u201d flavor is ranked 153rd out of 338 edibles specifically designed to set a \u201crelaxed mood.\u201d The review says potency is medium, and that it\u2019s good for a mood boost, going to a show, and treating aches and pains. It is available only in California.<\/p>\n

More detailed reports, product specs, and user reviews are also available.<\/p>\n

This month the business will pivot to \u201cbeing for research and discovery and to buy,\u201d DeMott said. The idea is to provide customers with a \u201cbudtender\u201d that can direct the cannabis connoisseur not only in the right direction to find what they\u2019re looking for, but also how to acquire it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a sommelier in a restaurant,\u201d he said. \u201cSomeone may come in saying there are six great wines he\u2019d like to try, but none of them are in the restaurant\u2019s cellar. So he\u2019ll try to get them to try something that most closely resembles what they\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only boundary, DeMott said, is one\u2019s geographic location. While 19 states and the District of Columbia have fully legalized recreational marijuana \u2014 and a number of others have decriminalized it and\/or appear on their way to legalizing it \u2014 several others still consider it a misdemeanor or, for repeat offenders, a felony. Penalties in those jurisdictions can still be severe.<\/p>\n

And it is still considered illegal at the federal level, meaning that just because it\u2019s legal in Connecticut does not mean you can freely travel by car or airplane to Texas, where it is not, without facing potential criminal charges. The same holds true for traveling between weed-friendly states \u2014 Connecticut and Massachusetts, for example \u2014 as interstate highways are under federal jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

With those caveats in mind, however, Proper is well-positioned to benefit brands and consumers alike, DeMott said. The company can show competitive prices in a given area to help optimize the transaction.<\/p>\n

As is often the case with Amazon, Proper does not sell direct to consumers, but rather points them in the direction of the appropriate brands. Proper then gets a percentage of the resulting deal.<\/p>\n

Serial entrepreneur<\/b><\/p>\n

A serial entrepreneur \u2014 in addition to being executive chairman and CEO of Proper, he has founded and served in the c-suite of a number of investment management firms \u2014 DeMott said he entered the cannabis\/CBD business from a securities analyst perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m one of those guys who never even tried it until I was 50,\u201d he said. \u201cI looked at it as an industry that has all the hallmarks of exciting growth, if you could find the right \u2018in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That led to the research-and-data end, before the legalization of recreational weed began to gain seemingly unstoppable momentum.<\/p>\n

As for how big Connecticut\u2019s cannabis market could be \u2014 some estimates have put it at $250 million in sales during its first year and over $725 million by the end of 2025 \u2014 DeMott noted that Colorado, which legalized it in 2012, racked up $187 million in sales in January alone.<\/p>\n

Being surrounded by Massachusetts, which legalized it in 2016, and New York, which like Connecticut expects to see retail sales begin in earnest next year, will probably have an adverse effect on this state\u2019s sales, he said; he opined that \u201cit could turn into a billion-dollar market ultimately\u201d but added that that \u201cis years away.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also questions the opinion shared by Gov. Ned Lamont and many pro-legalization lawmakers that legalizing recreational marijuana will in effect wipe out the black market.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor people who haven\u2019t been trying it, yes,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if they wind up taxing the hell out of it, that will make it too expensive for consumers, who will go to the black market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longtime users, he added, \u201calready feel comfortable there \u2014 they have longstanding relationships, trust who they\u2019re getting it from, they\u2019re happy with the product and it costs a third of legalized weed. That\u2019s why I hope they keep taxes low, and illegal enforcement high.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the law is currently written, the retail sale of recreational marijuana in Connecticut includes the state\u2019s usual 6.35% sales tax, a 3% sales tax for the municipality in which the sale occurs, and a tax based on THC content that will cost roughly 10 to 15% of the sale price.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn total,\u201d according to the state government\u2019s website, \u201cthe tax rate is expected to be approximately 20% of the retail price of cannabis, in line with the tax rates in Massachusetts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harry DeMott \u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re going from being Wikipedia to being Amazon.\u201d So says Harry DeMott, a New Canaan resident and entrepreneur whose company Proper expects to segue from being a research-based firm on what is available in the marketplace to being a full-on e-commerce site. Launched in 2017 as aproperhigh.com, the site thus far has focused on \u201cbeing the single best place to research branded cannabis products, whether it\u2019s something you smoke, transdermal patches, gummies, etc.,\u201d DeMott said. \u201cWe have more information about branded products than anyone else, so we can deliver trusted data about THC percentage, etc. so… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/lighting-up-new-canaan-entrepreneur-adding-e-tail-to-cannabis-research-website-westfair-online.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}