PRESS RELEASE

Washington, DC – April 30, 2019 – The cannabis industry has mass appeal and political clout as it walks the corridors of power, and can now call on a newly formed integrated communications agency to help gain market share, while also navigating the regulatory environment that is taking shape.

Veteran public relations entrepreneur Doug Poretz is announcing High Growth Communications, an agency with a full suite of communications services exclusively to create new brand leaders in the fast-growing cannabis industry. Please see more about High Growth Communications in a video here.

High Growth Communications provides services for all segments of the cannabis industry, including cultivators, retailers, cannabidiol (CBD) producers and all the affiliated industry participants such as lighting, packaging, and professional services firms, as well as trade associations.

Poretz is well-known in Washington, D.C., as the co-founder of Qorvis Communications, which was one of the nation’s largest and fastest growing independently owned PR firms when he was engaged with the firm.  Now, High Growth Communications will focus exclusively on the medical and recreational cannabis industry, which generated revenues of more than $12 billion in 2018, and has tremendous growth potential going forward, and increasing political clout as a result.

Poretz formed High Growth Communications as the political trade winds are shifting for the growing industry:

• To “inform the regulatory path forward,” related to consumer products derived from CBD, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a public hearing May 31. That will allow stakeholders to share their views on “the safety of such products.”

• The U.S. House Financial Services Committee, on a 45-15 bipartisan vote, approved legislation that will allow marijuana businesses access to banks without fear of prosecution. 

• President Donald Trump signed the Farm Bill into law last year that would legalize hemp – a sister plant to marijuana that does not contain THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis.

• On the state level, ten states have legalized recreational use, and 23 others approve the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

• Nearly every candidate in a very large field vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination has embraced some form of marijuana legalization, signaling that cannabis products are not only increasingly normalizing, but are big business.

“The cannabis industry of today bears some resemblance to the high-tech industry in its infancy; lots of entrepreneurial companies flooding the market with new innovations, and a dearth of experience in communicating their businesses to investors, regulators and potential partners,” Poretz said.

“With the industry under the watchful eye of the Congress and the FDA, in addition to the marketing campaigns needed to build brands, cannabis businesses will need experienced Washington communicators to help navigate both its business challenges as well as the regulatory and legislative hurdles that might ensue,” Poretz added.

The High Growth Communications team members Poretz assembled have decades of experience in brand building; strategic messaging; public and social media relations; investor relations; both traditional and digital advertising; grass roots; survey research; and public affairs. The new agency is poised to help mature and nascent marijuana entities alike with their overall communications strategies.

Poretz was named by Washington Life magazine as one of the eight “Titans of PR.”  The magazine noted that he morphed the one-person investor relations firm he founded into what became one of the nation’s most highly respected communications firm —  all in one of the most competitive U.S, markets for communications, Washington, D.C.

Poretz is also known for coordinating the investor relations campaign used to engineer an acquisition that created the largest homebuilding company in the country, when NVHomes purchased Ryan Homes. His repositioning of Planning Research Corp from “the world’s largest professional services firm” into a large-scale systems integrator resulted in the stock tripling in a 16-month period.  In all, he has worked as part of the senior executive teams of three NYSE companies and on a retained basis for scores of other organizations.

About High Growth Communications

High Growth Communications (HGC) is a fully-integrated communications agency focused on all segments of the cannabis industry. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the agency’s services include public relations, investor relations, advertising, grass roots, public affairs, social media, digital and web services, research and other related areas of expertise. HGC boasts a team of highly credentialed professionals working with cannabis-based companies seeking leadership positions.  For more information, go to www.highgrowth.agency