“I’m kind of wearing two hats today,” said Fulbright, a Realtor and property manager. He said he was also learning how local governments can better plan and regulate local cannabis facilities. “The people voted for this, and we just have to do our due diligence to make sure it’s done the right way.”

Fulbright and his brother, a licensed medical marijuana caregiver in Portland, Ore., since 2013, had been talking about forming a medical marijuana business for years. Their father was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and had to undergo more than 100 chemotherapy treatments.

“Watching him go through that was frustrating knowing that there was something out there that could help,” he said. “I was on the phone with my brother the night of the election and I told him, ‘It’s going to happen this time. If (medical marijuana) helps and doesn’t harm, I don’t see why we can’t do it.’”

Access to the hall of exhibitions costs $199; full access to the conference, $399. Most of the attendees were business people from Missouri or other states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana.