????馬修?科恩希望他新創(chuàng)立的TRiQ公司能夠成為大麻產(chǎn)業(yè)的豐田（Toyota）。TRiQ這家位于加利福尼亞州尤凱亞的公司成立于2013年。盡管它還有很長的一段路要走，但卻已經(jīng)開始同業(yè)外的軟件公司和制造公司合作，試圖改良大麻的生產(chǎn)方式?？贫髡f：“豐田是我們的偶像。他們選擇汽車生產(chǎn)系統(tǒng)并最終改造它們的方式與我們在大麻產(chǎn)業(yè)希望做到的事情類似。”

????與此同時，在美國北部的底特律城外，醫(yī)藥公司RXNB的首席執(zhí)行官和創(chuàng)始人山姆?阿拉維已經(jīng)成功研發(fā)了獨家的氣候技術(shù)，可以在精密控制的無菌生產(chǎn)環(huán)境中準確再現(xiàn)50種不同大麻的生長環(huán)境。阿拉維具有藥理學背景，擁有32項大麻相關(guān)技術(shù)的專利。他說：“人們都在關(guān)注大麻合法化問題。但是，這個領(lǐng)域二次革新的重點在于預見性和責任制的問題?！?/p>

????根據(jù)專門研究大麻產(chǎn)業(yè)的投資集團ArcView Group的數(shù)據(jù)，美國合法的大麻市場價值預計將在2014年增長64%，達到23.4億美元。ArcView預測，五年后，這個數(shù)值會達到102億美元。意識到大麻市場的巨大發(fā)展?jié)摿?，大大小小的公司開始爭先恐后地為自己的創(chuàng)意申請專利。不過，在聯(lián)邦政府（諷刺的是，聯(lián)邦政府自己也有大麻相關(guān)的保健專利）將大麻分類改為一類藥物之前，許多投資者和企業(yè)都不愿冒險進入這個市場。

????但是，隨著大麻產(chǎn)業(yè)在越來越多的州合法化，業(yè)內(nèi)的技術(shù)開始飛速發(fā)展。從生產(chǎn)設(shè)備到大麻蒸餾器，再到利用提取物四氫大麻酚制造的產(chǎn)品，處處可見創(chuàng)新的影子。賈斯汀?哈特菲爾德是大麻醫(yī)用網(wǎng)站W(wǎng)eedmaps.com的首席執(zhí)行官，也是專注于大麻產(chǎn)業(yè)的私募股權(quán)集團Emerald Ocean Capital的創(chuàng)始人。他表示，大麻的生產(chǎn)和軟件領(lǐng)域依然存在巨大的市場等待發(fā)掘。

????各公司意識到需要合理地改進生產(chǎn)過程后，就開始試圖找到盡可能可控和高效的方式來種植、收獲和加工大麻。TRiQ有一項專利技術(shù)，可以用特殊方式烘干大麻，從而殺死一些可能威脅到免疫缺陷病人的特殊霉菌。他們與一家開發(fā)醫(yī)藥學管理程序的軟件公司、 一家擁有近紅外檢測技術(shù)的生產(chǎn)商和一批來自荷蘭的溫室工程師合作，著手打造完全機械化的大型溫室。科恩說：“我們的目標就是把一切都融入一個完整的系統(tǒng)設(shè)計中。”

????大麻種植市場中涌現(xiàn)的大部分技術(shù)都涉及發(fā)光二極管（LED）的照明功能，這給種植者在室內(nèi)種植時提供了更加持久和細致的光源。阿拉維目前研究的技術(shù)專利著眼于在細胞層面尋找縮短特定植株生長周期的方法，這樣就可能使一季一開花的大麻不斷開花，從而提升每株大麻的產(chǎn)量。

????阿拉維將RXNB的技術(shù)授權(quán)給了CEN Biotech，它是底特律市外的公開上市公司Creative Edge Nutrition的分公司。這家公司斥資1,200美元，在加拿大的安大略湖興建了生產(chǎn)工廠，同時計劃今年在加拿大種植、銷售130萬磅醫(yī)用大麻。Creative Edge Nutrition是一家在美國銷售營養(yǎng)補品和能量飲料的公司，公司首席執(zhí)行官比爾?查班說：“一切完全由電腦控制，不需要哪個扎著馬尾辮、穿著牛仔褲的家伙在周圍巡視。”

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????Matthew Cohen wants his startup TRiQ to be the Toyota of marijuana manufacturing. The company, which opened its doors in Ukiah, Cal. in 2013, has a long way to go. But already, TRiQ is partnering with software and manufacturing companies outside the cannabis industry in an attempt to revamp the way marijuana is being produced. "Toyota is one of our idols," Cohen says. "How they took car manufacturing systems and totally reinvented it -- that's similar to what we are trying to do for cannabis now."

????Meanwhile, up north, just outside of Detroit, Sam Alawieh, CEO and founder of the pharmaceutical company RXNB, has developed closed-door climate bay technology to replicate the exact environment of 50 different strains of marijuana in a controlled and sterile manufacturing environment. Alawieh, whose background is in pharmacology, has 32 patents pending on marijuana-related technologies. "People have been focused on access," he says. "But the second-wave evolution is about predictability and accountability."

????The legal marijuana market in the U.S. is expected to grow 64% in 2014 to $2.34 billion, according to ArcView Group, a cannabis industry-focused investment group. In five years, ArcView estimates that figure will reach $10.2 billion. Recognizing marijuana's growing market potential, companies big and small are scrambling to get ideas patented. But until the federal government -- which ironically has its own health patent on marijuana -- changes its classification from a Schedule 1 drug, many investors and businesses are loath to risk involvement in the market.

????Still, technology is exploding in the marijuana industry as a growing number of states move toward legalization, with innovations ranging from production equipment to vaporizers to products created with THC extracts. In the areas of manufacturing and software, there's a tremendous market to be tapped, says Justin Hartfield, CEO of Weedmaps.com and founder of the private equity group Emerald Ocean Capital, which focuses on the cannabis industry.

????Realizing the need to streamline and improve the production process, companies are trying to figure out how to grow, harvest, and process marijuana in the most efficient, controlled, and effective way possible. TRiQ has a patent out on a technology to dry marijuana in a way that kills specific molds dangerous to immune-deficient patients. They've partnered with a software company that develops pharmaceutical management programs, a manufacturer making Near-Infrared testing technology, and greenhouse engineers from Holland creating large-scale greenhouses that are entirely mechanized. "It's all part of our vision to get everything into a whole system design," says Cohen.

????Much of the technology happening in the growth market involves LED lighting, which offers growers a more sustainable sophisticated lighting source to grow indoors. Among the technology Alawieh is working on are patents that look at how to enrich the growth cycle of specific strains at the cellular level, with the potential to create crops that bloom continuously, rather than seasonally, yielding more marijuana per plant.

????Alawieh has licensed RXNB's technology to CEN Biotech, an offshoot of the publicly traded company Creative Edge Nutrition, based just outside of Detroit. The company broke ground on a $12 million manufacturing facility in Ontario, Canada and plans to grow and sell 1.3 million pounds of medical marijuana this year in the Canadian market. "Everything will be completely computer-automated," says Bill Chaaban, CEO of Creative Edge Nutrition, which has made its bread and butter selling nutritional supplements and energy drinks in the U.S. "You're not going to have a guy walking around with a ponytail and jeans."

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