Vancouver marijuana conference seeks to capitalize on 'green rush'

Investors interested in the fledgling legal marijuana industry gatheredin Vancouver Wednesday to discuss ways of capitalizing on the so-called "green rush" in the wake of new federal rules banning home-grown medical marijuana.

The conference is being organized by Vancouver-based Next Gen Metals which is expanding its investments from mining to marijuana according to its president Harry Barr.

Barr says Next Gen intends on becoming a major player in the new, legal industry and claims metals and marijuana are a natural fit.

"It is a brand-new industry. It's just about as exciting as a number of discoveries made over the years," said Barr.

"It's a green rush. It's like a gold rush. It's like a silver rush. It's like a platinum rush, It's like a base metals rush, and we've done all of them."

Investors gather

The Green Rush Financial Conference brought together investors todiscuss the financial opportunities in what Barr sees as a multi-billion dollar opportunity in medical marijuana.

He says his company plans to provide venture capital to the legal marijuana industry.

In fact, his company is already seeing profits. Its shares went from five cents to more than 70 cents a share after the company sent out numerous news releases about its plans over the last few months.

However, the B.C. Securities Commission is warning investors, in general,to be careful whenever a new venture prompts any kind of a rush. It says investors need to know that many of themwill fail.