Voting has opened to the public to choose which panel topics will be discussed at next year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, with about 100 panels related to cannabis and psychedelics available to be voted on.
There are 61 proposed tracks under the cannabis category and 32 proposed tracks under the psychedelics category. Voting is set to end August 21 with the panels taking place at South by Southwest 2023. After the votes are submitted and the panels are reviewed by event staff and an advisory board, the selections will likely be announced at the end of the year. Voters can vote for panels at both SXSW 2023 and the separate but related SXSW EDU 2023 using the SXSW PanelPicker tool.
Some of the cannabis topics available to vote on include a political discussion regarding the legalization of cannabis, the environmental impacts of the cannabis industry as a whole, the need for industry standardization and how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can help the cannabis industry, a discussion about diversity in the cannabis industry moderated by Kema Ogden, the first Black woman to own a cannabis dispensary in Nevada and a discussion with former NFL player Ricky Williams and others about how athletes and other celebrities have influenced cannabis in the mainstream.
Options for panel discussions about psychedelics include the challenges in obtaining licensing to grow psilocybin mushrooms for research purposes, the ethical implications of psychedelic-based drug development and patenting as well as the debate over marketing natural versus synthetic psychedelics, the role of psychedelics in healthcare, how to build an equitable psychedelics medicines system and ways psychedelics ca help treat conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder.
Nine panels discussing cannabis and seven discussing psychedelics were held at SXSW 2022 in an effort to further destigmatize and educate. Panelists for the cannabis discussions included Vivien Azer, managing director senior research analyst beverages, tobacco & cannabis at Cowen, David Culver, VP international government relations at Canopy Growth Corp., John Kagia, chief knowledge officer at New Frontier Data, Darren Weiss, chief operating officer and general counsel at Verano Holdings Corp., where topics such as the increasing popularity of cannabis hospitality and how to make the cannabis industry more sustainable were discussed. Cannabis hospitality and tourism has been a hot topic as the cannabis industry begins to look for ways to capitalize on the social aspects of cannabis consumption.
“You can’t do a cannabis pairing dinner unless people know how to taste cannabis,” said Rachel Burkons of Altered Plates, a hospitality consulting group based in Los Angeles. “Cannabis is a miraculously communal thing when you’re given the opportunity to experience it in a social way. Consumers need to know how they can expect to feel, especially now with so many different forms, each with a different effect, different onset, different duration. The endocannabinoid system responsible for processing these compounds is so highly individuated.”
As the key sponsor for the Cannabis Industry Evolution summit at the SXSW 2022, Weedmaps led a number of panels and discussions surrounding a variety of cannabis industry topics, such as cannabis drug testing policies, new technological innovations in the cannabis industry and combating the cannabis censorship crisis, among other topics. Weedmaps had previously tackled the cannabis censorship issue with its own digital commercial during the Super Bowl that addressed the current regulations and restrictions imposed on cannabis brands attempting to advertise and market their products.
The SXSW 2023 PanelPicker features over 3,300 potential discussion topics for people to choose from spanning a range of industries and subjects in addition to cannabis and psychedelics, such as climate change, tech industry, sports, 2050, games and entertainment, among others.
