Search Results for "massachusetts"

Large, trimmed cannabis nugs lie on their side on a wooden surface.

Colorado Legislature Approves Cannabis ‘Tasting Rooms’ Bill; Moves to Gov.

5/04/2018

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Colorado’s legislature has passed a social-use measure that would allow individuals to consume small amounts of cannabis – either by edibles or vaping – on site, the Denver Post reports. If signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper, Colorado would become the first state to allow social cannabis use.

The bill limits consumption to current recreational cannabis retailers and does not allow sharing or outside cannabis to be used on-location. Rep. Jovan Melton said the legislation would help address the issue of tourists and others consuming cannabis in public spaces. The bill prohibits food beyond single-serve edibles, smoking, alcohol, employee consumption, and free samples.

“I think this moves the ball forward in allowing the industry to do some sort of consumption … but does it in a way that I would say is pretty conservative. It’s actually pretty limited.” – Melton to the Post

The Marijuana Enforcement Division has opposed all previous social-use legislation. MED Director Jim Burack called this approach “incremental” and “responsible.” The American Cancer Society Action Network opposes the measure – because of the vaping provisions – and plan to submit a formal veto request to the governor.

Voters in Denver approved a social-use initiative in 2016. City officials approved the first social-use license in February. Some Colorado cities have created “private club” exemptions which allow for on-site use.

Officials in Alaska and Massachusetts are considering social-use proposals. Alaska officials have indicated they would consider the reforms next month, while Massachusetts regulators plan to consider rules in November but, so far, neither have codified plans. Maine lawmakers removed social-use language from the state’s adult-use implementation bill. California allows social-use with city approval. Nevada does not allow public use but the definition of “public spaces” does not include retail shops. Neither Oregon nor Washington allow on-site consumption.

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Blue police lights on top of a white cruiser.

Chittenden County, Vermont State Attorney Considering Expunging Low-Level Cannabis Crimes

5/04/2018

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Chittenden County, Vermont Attorney Sarah George is pursuing a plan to erase convictions for low-level cannabis crimes, according to a NECN report. George, the head prosecutor for the state’s most populous county, said she believes officials are actually “behind in this discussion.”

“Any time that someone has a conviction on their record of something that is now legal, it should be expunged.” – George to NECN

George suggested that prosecutors in states that have legalized cannabis should be more open to erasing charges for what is now legal. Several states – with legalized cannabis, medical cannabis programs, and even some without broad reforms – have moved to expunge low level cannabis charges:

  • An Illinois House Committee approved a measure last month to erase low-level convictions for cannabis and paraphernalia possession.
  • The Virginia Senate, in February, passed a bill that would expunge charges for first-time cannabis offenders for $150.
  • Officials in San Francisco, Sonoma County, and Alameda County, California have taken proactive approaches to the criminal reforms included in Prop. 64, which legalized cannabis for adults in the state. Those officials have moved to make the expungement process easier and expand the scope of the reforms. The state legislature is considering a bill that would force courts to expunge all records of those convicted of possession of up to 28.6 grams of cannabis and 8 grams of concentrates.
  • Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a broad expungement bill; recreational cannabis sales are set to begin in the state July 1.
  • Alaska’s House passed a bill last month to restrict public access to some criminal records for simple cannabis possession. That measure is currently in a Senate committee.
  • Officials from Seattle and Pierce County, Washington have moved to expunge cannabis conviction records; although the legislature has failed to act on a bill to for statewide reforms for two years.
  • Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper last year pardoned 14 individuals charged with cannabis possession and in February announced he was considering 40 more.
  • In 2016, Missouri – which does not have legal cannabis access for adults and only a limited medical cannabis program – approved legislation to expunge the majority of the state’s low-level cannabis convictions.
  • Oregon approved its own expungement bill in 2015.

George does not have a timeline for the reforms but was clear that she would only expunge misdemeanors and not more serious felonies.

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Ryan Smith: Creating a B2B Wholesale Cannabis Marketplace

4/26/2018

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Ryan Smith is the CEO and co-founder of LeafLink, a business-to-business digital marketplace for cannabis retailers, producers, and processors to trade wholesale cannabis products.

Ryan recently joined our podcast host TG Branfalt for an interview about LeafLink’s founding, the success they have found so far, and the difficulties and goals that still lie ahead. He also shares his thoughts about the state of the industry (including which states he is eyeing for future expansion), which professional qualities he looks for when hiring for Leaflink, and more!

You can listen to the interview via the player below or scroll further down to read a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode.

Listen to the interview:

Read the transcript:

TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host TG Branfalt and you are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by Ryan Smith, he’s the CEO and co-founder of LeafLink, which provides a wholesale management platform for the cannabis industry.

In 2016 Smith was included in the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. So he doesn’t really need my introduction. But how you doing this afternoon Ryan?

Ryan Smith: Great, thanks TG for having me and Leaflink on the podcast today.

TG Branfalt: I’m really excited in the way that we have a lot to cover. Before we get into the nuts and bolts man tell me about yourself. What’s your background? How did you end up in the cannabis space?

Ryan Smith: I grew up in New York City. In Manhattan and always on the east coast, so I’m just going east coast and started an investor relationship management platform for real estate companies back in college as an undergrad. We exited that to a public company in 2014. And then I’ve always been selling stuff on eBay in my free time. So my parents had a joke that if things would go missing in the house they’re probably in Ryan’s PayPal account.

So I always loved marketplace technology and there’s a really unique opportunity to empower companies in the cannabis industry because it’s so new, it’s defining itself everyday. That if we can build tech in from the very beginning like what does that mean for industry? It’s gonna be and it’s getting to be as big as it is. So that’s when Zack, my co-founder Zack and I connected and began just doing research and hearing what people needed to help grow their businesses.

That’s what gave birth to Leaflink.

TG Branfalt: So why don’t you describe to the listeners what Leaflink is. What sets it apart tech wise from other competitors?

Ryan Smith: So Leaflink is a wholesale B to B marketplace. We have tools that support those business to business transactions and then we enable and empower companies to buy the products they normally buy faster. And then also find new ones because as you know there’s a new company every morning and night in this industry and to keep track of those and their prices and admission is difficult.

So Leaflink is, there’s really two differences. The first is our team. So we brought together a mixture of people that have incredible cannabis experience, have been working in retail locations. Have worked for distributors, have worked for brands. And then we’ve also married those skillsets with people that would never be in the cannabis industry if they weren’t at Leaflink. Incredible engineers with great experience working at companies like Yelp or other tech leaders that you’d recognize.

So those skillsets together is a clear advantage. The second is our community. So we have over 2000 retailers and almost 500 brands now that are active on the platform everyday in six states. And so what we are doing, we’ve always said in the very beginning our focus is to create a new standard in this industry. Define it from the beginning and how people not only communicate with each other but also transact wholesale with each other. So that entire acceptance product fit community that we built we think is the second clear differentiator that makes us powerful and in a good position to continue to grow. Which we still have a lot of growth to do.

TG Branfalt: So you mentioned people first. What do you look for in bringing in this talent? So you’d necessarily find people who weren’t active in this space. What qualities do you look for in people that you bring in?

Ryan Smith: Execution, professionalism I think are two of the biggest ones. We’ve seen … you know everyone says in this industry one year is like seven years, the same things happen, just move so quickly. And if you even look at articles of tech companies two or three years ago, some of which are not even around anymore. There’s this whole branding and cultural story around, “Oh you know this is a tech company for marijuana. People get high there at work and they have a dab room.”

And for us and Zack and I have always thought that this industry deserves just as great software, just as incredible and skilled people working on their teams. And they deserve that same standard from us so from the very beginning we want to bring in people that if you have industry experience, amazing, but we do see this second step, this new level of maturity the whole industry’s entering and we want to do everything we can to further that because that’s how this industry goes as mainstream and becomes commercialized and just everywhere.

There just aren’t enough people that have cannabis experience to fill all the positions and so bringing in talented skilled people to further that goal is to me always been super focused on and think for ourselves. As a tech company looking for incredibly professional and skilled people that execute get stuff done. Facing the cannabis industry.

TG Branfalt: Do people that you might approach, do they ever give you the side eye because you’re in the cannabis industry? Is that stigma still persistent?

Ryan Smith: I almost laugh, because I would laugh at someone if they have that. But what we’ve seen so much more now, we’ve gone through three rounds of funding, is there is such a deep interest in companies that, either they’re institutional capital looking for opportunities or they’re just … some of the people we have one of our first angel investors was a teacher at a Catholic school.

One of friends and family, wrote a small check but albeit a check, and there’s this openness that we’re seeing now that that look doesn’t happen really as much as we think anymore. And part of what we were just talking about before, and the things that you’re seeing, some of the people that you’ve been having this podcast before, that next level of professionalism is coming to this space and it’s becoming as it should be treated as though it’s any other. With the same everything that people take for granted in other industries.

So it doesn’t happen as often as it does and if it does happen it’s clearly not a good person for us to be speaking with because they have a clearly antiquated way of seeing reality.

TG Branfalt: So you’d mentioned successful fundraising round. What has led to that success, especially in this era of uncertainty given federal policy?

Ryan Smith: Startups are always risky. They’re whatever, 80% of them fail. When you think about startups in this industry, that’s a startup itself, it’s even crazier. And I think a lot of people in this space aren’t used to it and they’re looking at deals that are … to name half a dozen companies that get a lot of press, seem really exciting, seemingly say the right things. But then the truth shakes out, who is getting stuff done, who’s moving forward, who’s achieving their goals, surpassing their goals and who’s just talking a lot.

And what we’ve built at Leaflink and what we’re always gonna continue to push ourselves to build is a company that does deliver and does complete the things that we saw and promise to our clients, the community, to our investors who our team that we’re gonna do. And then it really goes a long way. So if you can create at some level … and by the way there’s a ton of risk and we are still a startup and have a lot to do. But when you begin to mitigate some of that risk by doing what you said you were gonna do six months ago and maybe even doing a better job with it you begin to build that trust with people.

And that’s really what we’ve done and at a very high level.

TG Branfalt: So you said earlier operating in six states. And as you said this industry’s moving at a breakneck pace. We see everyday another potential medical program. You see states like where I’m at in Vermont and these gray markets that start to emerge. Which obviously isn’t a market that you would operate in because there’s really no infrastructure. But how do you identify which markets to enter and which ones not to enter?

Ryan Smith: So you’re right that Vermont is not a market for us right now. There is not gonna be as far as we know any retail locations or commercialized brands with CPGI out there, and packaged consumer goods that are gonna be selling. But what we do think … but that’s positive, it’s still positive right, it’s the right direction, it’s positive momentum for people that have become more familiar and see how the industry’s growing. See the potential that’s there.

And then maybe two or three years in a row, it advances and matures in a way that will become interesting to us, for us at Leaflink though the markets that make the most sense and the first market that we launched in … usually maybe something similar to the Colorado regulatory design. So usually states start with vertical integration, you have to own the land where it’s grown. The factory where it’s made, the store where it’s sold.

And then more licenses are given out, people begin to be allowed to specialize. Who’s an amazing retailer, who’s a rock star brand, who can do an incredible job with logistics? And then people begin to specialize in just that thing. And those are markets that, the ones that are not vertically integrated. So for us it doesn’t really matter if it’s medical or recreational, what matters more that there’s a free market with a licensing structure that let’s companies do one thing very well.

And then they can all connect to the community on Leaflink and do deals with each other. But those are the ones that we target the most. And the States that we’re live in right now are, first it was Colorado, then Washington, then Oregon, California and Nevada and Arizona. So Arizona being an example that’s medical but companies are allowed to specialize, it’s not vertically integrated and it’s been a great tip for us there so far.

TG Branfalt: And you’d mentioned brands, and man, I can’t tell you how many emails I get of brands. Then a few weeks later they’re gone. So how do you identify the brands that you guys are gonna offer?

Ryan Smith: We’ve been trying, and this is something we can definitely and are always trying to improve. The qualifying participants and members of Leaflink’s community is challenging. Because in certain states it could be let’s say if the state only has 70 retail locations, if they’re in 50 that’s amazing, they have great market penetration, they’re clearly a company that’s doing business, they’re fit. But then in some other states if you have only 25 or 30 dispensaries or retailers in your sales book you’re just getting started.

And so we see a lot companies come out really loud, they wanna get on Leaflink, they think that they’re gonna put their stuff up on our platform. They may not have a sales team, they may not even have a finished product or an advertising strategy or really any clients and they expect that magically, it’s cannabis, everyone’s making so much money and we’re gonna do a bunch of sales and here we go, eight figures of revenue. And then it doesn’t happen.

And then they kind of teeter out. And so it’s, we’re trying to be as objective as we can when we qualify leads and prospect. But it’s tough and there’s a level of subjectivity to just talking to the other side of the marketplace, which retailers are excited about certain brands, which purchasing managers want to buy and sample certain items. It’s tough and it’s changing quickly.

TG Branfalt: So what trends are you seeing? I’ve seen a lot about the plummet of flower sales while concentrates are taking over the market. I’ve heard the same thing about edibles that flowers dying and that whole thing. What trends are you seeing in terms of product? Is this flower dying narrative accurate?

Ryan Smith: Of course not. It is, I’d say it is as a business that anyone can access. But of course it’s not as the key raw ingredient. There will always be a market for flower but the people that have the ability to grow it … so let’s say two or three years ago you and I could get together and have a 15, 20000 sq ft. facility grow loose flower and sell it and that would be a good business. But what we’re seeing is that that’s becoming increasingly more difficult as the price continues to drop, even in Oregon right now. It’s just rock bottom prices.

And so what we think is gonna happen and we’re seeing more of this is there’s gonna be massive operations at scale, high volume production facilities that will be able to make money but only because they’re moving such a high amount of product at a very tight margin, kind of like a paper company. That will still be in business but what we’re seeing, the reason why concentrates are exploding is because people that were previously growing flower can’t make real money on flower so they turn to a concentrate, brand it, put it in a package.
And then there’s usually a higher margin on that. And our bet at Leaflink and what we’ve seen happen, what we see happening all of these states as they mature is that the edibles packaged branded goods are clearly the future. There’s just all of these new companies that are starting in the space need a mission, need a brand, need something that a buyer and a consumer can relate to and can understand.

And it’s hard for most demographics to understand the differences between all the different strains. But it’s easier to understand a cream that I’ve seen before that looks like it’s made from veno or something similar. And buy that, have that connection. So I think brands are the future, flower will always have its place. But raw flower will continue to drop in pricing as we’re seeing in every single market now.

TG Branfalt: That’s really really interesting stuff man. I want to talk to you a bit more about what we’re seeing on a federal level. But before we do that we gotta take a break, this is Ganjapreneur.com Podcast I’m TJ Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey there welcome back, this is the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I’m your host TG Branfalt here with Ryan Smith CEO and co-founder of Leaflink. Super super smart guy, really really stoked to have you on the show, man.

So in a December 2016 Marijuna Business Daily article you said that you were in the wait and see camp regarding Trump’s cannabis policy. On the campaign trail he had said that it was a state’s rights decision. Now he’s saying that all drug dealers should be murdered. That was more than a year before the Cole Memo was rescinded by Jeff Sessions. How do you feel now more than a year later about this administration as it relates to cannabis policy?

Are you still in that wait and see camp?

Ryan Smith: A lot of feelings for sure about what’s happening in DC but I think we are still in a wait and see. If you look at what’s changed, no new laws have been enacted at a federal level. No new laws have changed. There’s been a press conference and the rescinding of the Cole Memo which wasn’t a law either. And it was really just a guidance from the federal agency to each of the state district attorneys to give them guidance.

And the response that we’ve seen I think even since that announcement was made by Sessions is the federal government is beginning to force people to make a decision. So immediately after Jeff Sessions had that Cole rescinding action that he did, Vermont and New Hampshire come online. And then if you’re gonna force people to make a decision on legalization we know the vast majority of people regardless of party, regardless of demographic, regardless of territory are in favor of legalizing marijuana. And that’s just in the way we continue to move. So I think there hasn’t been any federal changes for us to react to really and if there are then we will think hard about those.

We want to be compliant, we spend a ton of time at Leaflink understanding and with lawyers to have a good comprehension of what is developing compliance wise, regulatory wise in each state. And we’ll do the same once there is something to follow and guidelines to go through by the federal government.

It just seems like there is so much changing so quickly. And until there’s a real announcement or a real enforcement action not much for us to really do right now other than keep the pace and continue the momentum that we have in building our company. And the 30 people that we have on staff that work so hard everyday to make Leaflink real.

TG Branfalt: So what do you think then would happen if they were to start cracking down? You operate in six states so you have a really good look at a large portion of this market. What ramifications would that have on the ground literally to stakeholders now?

Ryan Smith: Fear. I think that would be to me the MO behind any kind of enforcement action from the federal level. It’s just not … we’re a technology company, we don’t touch the product, we don’t touch the money. We’re just a software provider for the industry. But if something like that happened it would definitely spook some investors, but then you have other people that are running companies too, brands that are in multiple states that are employing hundreds of people, retail locations that have patients that rely on them every single day.

People that are really … this is a part of their life, they’re super passionate about it, it’s more than just a living. And I don’t think that’s gonna change. So the lives will change of anyone that the enforcement acts against of course, but for the whole market, to take something down that’s this large and growing faster than almost any other industry, really hard to do. I think fear would be the number one thing. Maybe would dry up capital coming into the space from more institutional traditionally minded investors. But the long term I think the die’s already been cast on the potential here. And just general societal acceptance.

TG Branfalt: We can hope at this point, but sometimes I have no idea what’s going on in DC most of the time, sometimes. So looking into your crystal ball, we got Maine, that’s pretty close, there might be some setbacks because of what page and some of the lawmakers there who really want to push it back. Massachusetts is still set on that July 1st date. We could be looking at social use in Alaska.

So there’s changes happening within the market that already exists and some policy changes that are the result of 2016 referendum. In your opinion looking through a crystal ball which states do you think might be next to turn green?

Ryan Smith: So I can say which ones we’re most excited about that fit for Leaflink. I think Michigan and New Jersey this year are really exciting. Very populous states, obviously not quite the size of California which is what everyone is regularly talking about. I’m actually calling from LA this week. Those two states are most interesting to me because what has, if you look at a map, the whole west coast is in line.

They’re legalized, challenges of course but industry booming. You look at the west coast, that’s what that was for. On the east coast, there are states that have legalized, there are really not super active market or they’re in this weird in between, putting their foot in the water. I think as soon as Massachusetts starts opening up some doors, New Jersey particularly being right next to New York.

Cuomo and New York already put together a commission to give him a report on the effect of legalizing marijuana because they know all of these super populous border states to New Jersey to Michigan, Michigan being in the middle, New Jersey being obviously in the east coast, it will create this domino effect I think. So those are the ones that we’re most excited about because when you have people in New York going to Hoboken to buy marijuana, New York state’s gonna say this is ridiculous, we should have the same accessibility for patients and buyers here.

And then that state turns. Some of the states that we’re looking at too, obviously Pennsylvania, Illinois, Alaska you mentioned. And Ohio. There’s a few other states that we’re looking at but our goal at Leaflink is to open up … we’re in six states now so to be in 15 by the end of the year. Some of them are very much Q3 Q4, but the Michigan and Pennsylvania really seem to be before the summer activity for us to launch there. So we’re keeping our eye on those.

TG Branfalt: I covered the New York state legislature for several years before I started writing about cannabis. One of the things I’ve always said is Cuomo won’t let this happen on his watch for a lot of different reasons. So as somebody else from New York did you get that same feeling before he put together that commission? Do you think that he will actually allow this to happen? As a centrist democrat?

Ryan Smith: All of these elected officials … so Cuomo was so incredibly against it. His father being Rockefeller drug New York days, there’s that obviously trickles down. And then all these elected officials are realizing even though Cuomo is so against legalization and even medical usage several years ago, it’s clearly a losing position. And every election it seems like this issue’s gonna be coming up more and more and they are not blind to that. The midterm election I think it’s gonna be a huge issue.

People are gonna talk about it all the time, same with the current governor of New Jersey promised first hundred days. I don’t know if that’s gonna happen but it was a point to discuss and now will continue to build up steam. So I would have said two years ago Cuomo probably wants to run for president or some other more senior office. So this issue is not a done deal and if there’s a majority of people that are in support of it, and now that’s beginning to happen, it would be ill advised for him not to at least explore it.

So him having a commission is perfect. He could say I set the things in motion for us to look at it as a state. Maybe won’t, nothing significant will happen in New York while he’s in office but he could always go back and say but I began it. These things take time. But he could also I never changed anything, I didn’t make anything open up.

So he’s playing both sides but even that’s a positive momentum. Before he wasn’t trying to play both sides. It was just against us.

TG Branfalt: It’s really frustrating as somebody who went to school in Albany and very liberal part of the state knowing that the rural part of the state is just hemorrhaging money, there’s no jobs. This is something that, that farmland, that’s how you use that farmland. Even a proper hemp program for that matter. So it’s really interesting for me to watch in my home state, or my ex-home state I guess, inch towards it but knowing what I know about Cuomo and having covered him for so long.

I want to talk to you about your personal success but before we do that we gotta take a break, this is Ganjapreneur.com Podcast I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey welcome back to the ganjapreneur.com podcast I’m your host TG Branfalt here with Ryan Smith, CEO and co founder of Leaflink. So what, man, do you credit your personal success to, such as being named to Forbes as one of the 30 Under 30 in the emerging tech space. That’s super cool man. What do you credit that to?

Ryan Smith: I forget to say execution again. I have trouble with the question of being, crediting success because that implies that we have some success. In my mind we’re just getting started and haven’t really accomplished all that much yet. There’s way more in front of us than behind. So I appreciate the compliment and everything but I don’t feel that successful. I have way more to do before I can sit back and get comfy that way.

TG Branfalt: But when Forbes reaches out to you and tells you this what’s going through your mind? Did you think maybe at that point like you’re closer to making it?

Ryan Smith: The first thing that crossed my mind is, “Great I can now be in a group of other people that are thinking similarly or trying to do challenging and exciting things and seeing what happens from those relationships.” It is cool to be in those lists because there’s not very many, aside from taking your company public or having some great acquisition, awards for entrepreneurs. So it’s definitely an honor to be on it and I’m very excited about it. I was excited too for Leaflink and the company to be on, the first cannabis firm, cannabis facing firm to be on that list, it’s huge for mainstreaming, just to have everyone thinks about this industry.

So we’re happy about it and obviously honored to be on that list and the fast company list we were on last week. But still so much more ahead of us.

TG Branfalt: So what advice do you have for entrepreneurs looking to enter this space? From a tech perspective especially?

Ryan Smith: Meet more people. So everyone knows that the industry is … everyone knows it’s a hot industry, that it’s real, that it’s growing very quickly. But to go to states where it’s legal, to spend time with the incredible entrepreneurs there that are building these amazing companies and realize that there are serious challenges that are presented to all business owners but particularly in this space there are so many opportunities to serve them with great technology, with great services, with great solutions.

And so if you want to get into this space I do again work … what Zack and I did we flew out to Colorado, we emailed a bunch of people and whoever agreed to meet with us, we sat down with them and then built a relationship and we were helping people pack boxes and going on sales calls just to get what they do and understand the industry. So really if you want to know more, dive in and meet more people really. In person meet more people.

TG Branfalt: How nerve-wracking is that man? I don’t go to conferences, I’m a very very private person. So how nerve-wracking is it being a startup and reaching out to people cold calling them to get your opinion on what you’re selling? What goes through your head?

Ryan Smith: Two things. First is if I keep my promise or my intention behind meeting them, their life should be a little bit better from the solution that we’ve created. And the second is you gotta rev yourself up. So sometimes I’ll go into a meeting, my first thought before sitting down is, “This is gonna be an awesome get together, we’re gonna learn a bunch of things.” And the other side of this meeting … you can either go in being nervous or you can say, “You know what? The other side of this meeting is gonna one day say they had a meeting with Leaflink when we were two people or we were three people.” And there was like, “Naw, no way.”

And whether or not that’s the case you need to rev yourself up. So that’s just one of the tricks that I do. I know our team does. We want to help people but you also need to be excited to put yourself out there because it’s the only way you get things done.

TG Branfalt: This has been really a super cool conversation man. I’m really stoked that you could take the time out to join me on the show. Where can people find out more about you, where can they find out more about Leaflink?

Ryan Smith: Yeah thank you by the way TG for having us. Always love Ganjapreneur and glad we could chat about all these things. If you want to find out more about Leaflink you can visit us at Leaflink.com. If you’re a retail dispensary we’d love to have you on the community with the 2000 others that are really active in the six states that we’re currently live in, much more to come. And if you’re a brand, same thing, go to Leaflink.com, if you’re looking for work, we’re out hiring actively after our most recent raise.

So send resumes to jobs@Leaflink.com. Otherwise happy to walk you guys through any kind of demo if you send an email to sales@Leaflink.com and set it up there.

TG Branfalt: Again man, thank you so much. It’s really nice to chat with you. Pick your brain a whole lot. A fellow New Yorker too, I don’t get too many of those on this show. Congratulations. You’re a humble guy obviously, but congratulations on all your personal success this far as well as success of Leaflink man, this is super cool stuff.

Ryan Smith: Thank you for … appreciate all those kind words. Happy to chat more another time.

TG Branfalt: Looking forward to it man. You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website you will find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by True Media House, I’ve been your host TG Branfalt.

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Sen. Corey Gardner Believes Trump ‘Will Be True to his Word’ on Cannabis Policy

4/26/2018

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In an interview with Yahoo News, Colorado Sen. Corey Gardner said he believes President Donald Trump “will be true to his word” that the Department of Justice’s rescission of the Cole Memo would not impact state-approved cannabis programs.

Gardner, a Republican, had been preventing Justice Department nominees from being confirmed due to the threats to the legal cannabis industry by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He said he planned to introduce “a federalism bill” that would allow states to move forward with legalization plans despite federal statutes without the fear of crackdown. He suggested the measure could be introduced “later this week” or “a couple weeks from now.”

“It opts the state out of the marijuana provisions of deferral law, of Schedule I. While this doesn’t change Schedule I at all, it simply says if the state wants to do this, it no longer violates the law. So if Oklahoma wishes to maintain a prohibition on marijuana, then it would be illegal under state and local law in Oklahoma. But as far as Colorado goes, there would no longer be an illegal activity.” – Gardner to Yahoo News

Gardner indicated that he was working with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on the legislation, including Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who represents Massachusetts – where recreational cannabis sales are expected to commence this summer.

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sits at a table of speakers at a community event.

New York Gov: Legal Cannabis is ‘Going to be Here Anyway’

4/16/2018

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo seems to have softened his anti-legalization position, remarking during a stop in Brooklyn that “the situation has changed dramatically” on legal cannabis, asking “do you not legalize it when it is legal 10 miles from both sides of your border?”

“You have states that have legalized it now…. It is no longer a question of legal or illegal. It’s legal in Massachusetts. It may be legal in New Jersey. Which means for all intents and purposes it’s going to be here anyway.” – Cuomo via the New York Post

Cuomo’s comments come on the heels of his Democratic challenger Cynthia Nixon outlining her legalization position in a Facebook video. Nixon, the former “Sex and the City” actor, took a social justice approach to the issue, calling the war on drugs “racist” while supporting a tax-and-regulate cannabis market in the state.

“In 2018, in a blue state like New York marijuana shouldn’t even be an issue. If there was more political courage coming out of Albany we would have done this already. The simple truth is: for white people the use of marijuana has effectively been legal for a long time. Isn’t it time we legalize it for everyone else?” – Nixon in the video

During a stop in Long Island, Cuomo responded to Nixon by pointing to his support for a recreational cannabis feasibility study.

“Let’s get the facts and make a decision based on the facts. We now have states that have legalized marijuana, let’s look at the facts and see what happened there.” – Cuomo via the Post

Nixon isn’t the only candidate supporting legalization. Republican candidate Joel Giambra, the former Erie County executive, has said he supports legalization and would advocate for using the revenues for infrastructure funding. Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins has long supported broad cannabis legalization.

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Alaska House Passes Bill Restricting Public Access to Some Cannabis Possession Criminal Records

4/16/2018

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Alaska’s House of Representatives has passed a bill that would restrict public access to some criminal records for simple cannabis possession, according to a KTVA report. The measure is intended to make it easier for those with possession convictions to get employed.

Who would benefit? Individuals 21 or older at the time of the offense who were convicted of possessing 1 ounce of cannabis or less, according to the bill text.

State Rep. Harriet Drummond, the Democratic sponsor of the bill, called the measure “a reasonable approach to allow Alaskans to get jobs currently unavailable to them because they did something that Alaskans have voted repeatedly they believe should be entirely legal.”

“This bill does not benefit drug dealers. Rather, it helps mothers and fathers clear their names from past mistakes, allows many of our friends and neighbors to apply for jobs they didn’t think they could ever get, and strengthens communities by providing new opportunities for those who continue to be held back by something that is no longer against the rules.” – Drummond to KTVA

At least three states that have legalized cannabis have moved to expunge small-time possession offenses from criminal records. The reforms were included in California’s voter-approved legalization bill, and lawmakers have introduced a measure that would automatically expunge simple possession convictions. Oregon lawmakers passed a similar measure in 2015, while the Massachusetts legislature is considering its own bill to expunge some convictions.

The Alaskan bill will move next to the Senate.

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Nighttime photograph of the Boston Gardens.

Boston Regulators Approve Cannabis Zoning Rules

4/13/2018

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The Boston, Massachusetts Zoning Commission has approved regulations that will allow retail cannabis businesses to operate in any of the city’s business districts, the Boston Globe reports. The rules neither allow cannabis businesses from opening within a half-mile from one another, nor within 500 feet from kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools.

City officials have said business owners could seek an exception to the half-mile rule through the Zoning Board of Appeals and estimated there could be as many as 56 cannabis dispensaries dispersed throughout Beantown.

Some advocates argue the half-mile buffer zone will create geographic monopolies. Ethan Vogt, head of Home Grown Boston, suggested the buffer would stymie competition.

Prime real estate is already off limits due to current operators who are also seeking recreational licenses. For example, the Patriot Care dispensary on Milk Street would implement a buffer zone in much of downtown, the waterfront, Chinatown, the North End and parts of Beacon Hill.

Laury Lucien, a black entrepreneur and attorney, said the buffer zone favors white-owned businesses already entrenched in the city.

The regulations were created by the administration of Mayor Martin Walsh, who did not support the recreational cannabis ballot initiative.

Legal cannabis sales are expected to begin in Massachusetts July 1.

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Acreage Holdings Adds Two Former Lawmakers to Board of Directors

4/11/2018

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Acreage Holdings, a New York City-based cannabis corporation which operates in 11 states, has added former Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld to its board of advisors.

Acreage founder and CEO Kevin Murphy said the addition of the duo to the board “will lead to even greater access for patients by changing the conversation overnight.”

“These men have shaped the political course of our country for decades and now they will help shape the course of this nascent but ascendant industry.” – Murphy in a press release

Both Boehner and Weld, who also served as the vice presidential candidate on the 2016 Libertarian ticket with former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, have also committed to join the company’s board of directors once it has been formed and other directors have been appointed.

In a joint statement, Boehner and Weld said that they “believe the time has come for serious consideration of a shift of federal marijuana policy” citing states’ rights and veteran access.

“While the Tenth Amendment has allowed much to occur at the state level, there are still many negative implications of the Federal policy to schedule cannabis as a Class 1 drug: most notably the lack of research, the ambiguity around financial services and the refusal of the VA to offer it as an alternative to the harmful opioids that are ravishing our communities.” – Boehner and Weld in a joint statement.

Where did they stand as policymakers? In 2006, Boehner, a Republican, was rated a -30 by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, indicating a “hard-on-drugs” stance. In 1999, he voted against a bill to implement a voter-approved medical cannabis law in Washington, D.C.

As Massachusetts governor, Weld supported medical cannabis access. As a vice presidential candidate, Weld said he would vote for the legalization initiative in his home state.

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A man uses a lighter and glass pipe to smoke some cannabis.

Alaska Cannabis Regulators Table Social-Use Action Until June

4/09/2018

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Alaska’s Alcohol and Marijuana Control Board have tabled action on regulations to allow social cannabis use under the state program until the board once again has a full panel of members, the Associated Press reports. The board is down one member after the resignation of member Travis Welch last month. The board expects to revisit the proposal in June after they find a replacement for Welch.

The board has been mulling plans since 2016. Last August, the board released a draft for on-site consumption which would allow licensed retailers to sell up to 1 gram of flower and edibles with 10 milligrams of THC or less for consumption on premises. Under the proposal, customers would not be allowed to bring their own cannabis, alcohol would not be allowed to be sold, and retailers would pay $1,000 for a new, or renewal, on-site consumption endorsement.

So far, only Denver, Colorado and some California cities will allow social use. In February, Denver regulators issued its first social-use license to The Coffee Joint, which will allow patrons 21-and-older to bring their own vaporizers and/or infused edibles to consume at the shop; smoking is not allowed. Last week, West Hollywood regulators announced they would license 16 cannabis consumption licenses which would allow customers to smoke, vape, or eat infused foods and beverages.

Ballot initiatives in Massachusetts and Maine included social-use language; however, regulators in both states rejected social-use language in their draft rules.

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Connecticut House Committee Advances Rec. Cannabis Bill

4/06/2018

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The Connecticut House Appropriations Committee has narrowly advanced a recreational cannabis bill, moving it to the floor which could consider the measure before the end of this year’s legislative session. The measure passed the committee 27-24.

The measure would require the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, in consultation with the Chief State’s Attorney and the Commissioners of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Consumer Protection and Revenue Services, to develop a plan to legalize and regulate the retail sale of cannabis in the state.

The bill would require the agencies to submit the legalization plan, along with a substance abuse treatment, prevention, and education plan to the General Assembly by Oct. 1.

Becky Dansky, legislative counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the voter “reiterates what most Connecticut resident already know: it is time to make marijuana legal for adults.”

“The discussions that have taken place in the legislature this year have provided more than enough information to effectively move forward with legalization. Connecticut should stop punishing adults for using a substance that is safer than alcohol, and it has an opportunity to regulate marijuana before it starts losing tax revenue to other states in the region that have already started this process.” – Dansky in a press release

Are the dominoes falling in New England? Maine and Massachusetts voters approved recreational regimes in 2016, and the Vermont Legislature passed its own legalization measure earlier this year. The Rhode Island House approved the first reading of its own legalization measure last month but have not held additional readings. Late last month New Hampshire lawmakers punted the legalization bill for interim study, which effectively killed the bill for further consideration this year.

An October 2017 Sacred Heart University poll found 71 percent support for legalization in Connecticut.

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Report: New York Democratic Gubernatorial Challenger Cynthia Nixon Supports Rec. Cannabis

4/04/2018

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Cynthia Nixon, the actor who announced in March she will challenge New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, told attendees at a private fundraiser last week that she supports legalizing cannabis for adult use, the New York Times reports. According to Isabel Gillies, a writer and former actress who hosted the fundraiser for the Democratic challenger, said Nixon would “legalize marijuana and put a tax on it” if elected.

Dan Davenport, an editor and writer who also attended the event said that she was “very exuberant” about legalizing cannabis as a revenue generator.

Cuomo, a Democrat, has long opposed cannabis legalization for recreational use. Previously, Cuomo called cannabis a “gateway drug” and said he was “unconvinced on recreational marijuana.”

In January, Cuomo called on lawmakers to approve funding for a recreational cannabis feasibility study. Robert Mujica, the governor’s budget director, cited legalization in Massachusetts and Vermont as the impetus for the study.

A Republican gubernatorial hopeful also supports legalization. Former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra indicated he would support legalization as a way to address the state’s infrastructure problems.

Nixon has been a longtime education advocate in New York and legalization. In Colorado, taxes and fees from legal cannabis sales are partly used for education funding. According to a 2017 report from VS Strategies, 51.3 percent of the $506.1 million raised from the industry at the time was used for K-12 education, including $117.9 million for school construction projects, and $5.7 million for the Public School Fund. In Nevada, the state had collected $6.5 million from cannabis industry licensing and application fees as of Sept. 2017, which, after administrative costs, is used for public education funding.

Her campaign has not commented on the report.

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Derek Cloutier: Veterans, PTSD, and Medical Cannabis

3/29/2018

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Derek Cloutier is the president and co-founder of the New England Veterans Alliance, a non-profit organization that helps veterans reduce their dependency on pharmaceuticals and advocates on behalf of veterans for improved access to medical cannabis therapies.

In the following interview, Derek joins our host TG Branfalt to talk about the experience of veterans in the U.S., his own story of turning to medical cannabis as a treatment for PTSD, how the New England Veteran’s Alliance — which started as just a local group of veterans — has expanded to a community encompassing all of New England, and more!

Listen to the interview below, or scroll down read along with a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

TG Branfalt: Hey there. I’m your host TG Branfalt and you are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and industry stakeholders. Today, I’m really stoked to be joined by Derek Cloutier. He’s the President and Co-Founder of the New England Veteran’s Alliance, a veteran’s organization committed to assisting vets to improve their quality of life through more natural options in order to reduce the dependency on pharmaceuticals currently used to treat the myriad of issues that veterans face. How you doing this afternoon, Derek?

Derek Cloutier: I’m doing great. Thanks for having me.

TG Branfalt: Like I said, man, I’m stoked. I had an opportunity to meet you at the capital, get to know you a little bit, we went back and forth a few times trying to schedule this, so I’m really glad that we could finally get our lives together.

Derek Cloutier: It’s good to be here.

TG Branfalt: First, tell me about yourself, man. Tell me how you ended up in this advocacy role and about the decision to start the organization.

Derek Cloutier: Basically, I started out about 10 years ago I got back from Iraq and ended up going through getting a job. I worked at the Department of Corrections, which moving in towards the opposite side of where I am nowadays. It really wasn’t the job for me per se, or somebody with PTSD. Even just getting back I got it fairly soon and so I started having family issues, going out drinking, getting crazy, getting into fights.

I started going to the VA. I started taking all the medication that they suggested and, without question, when you’re in the military you don’t question the people that are suggesting things that are gonna improve your life or allegedly improve your life. You don’t really take into effect the side effects and other issues that come with it. I ended up drinking a lot at times and mixing SSRIs and other pills, anti-anxiety pills, and depression medication with alcohol, and ended up going down a rough road, and ended up in a 30 day rehab.

Once down there, I ended up really figuring out some things. I got home and started doing a lot of veterans outreach and talking to other guys just about what they’ve been dealing with. I actually did start another group prior that was on the same basis of what we do with the social activities and whatnot at NEVA, but it was more based around drinking, and partying, and just having a good time. It really wasn’t a wellness thing, it wasn’t really enriching anybody’s life by being out, getting drunk, and partying, and going doing pub crawls and stuff.

It led me down a road that I had issues. I started talking to a doctor and starting dealing with things like that. Then a friend suggested I try cannabis because I was having such hard times sleeping. I slept like a baby that night and ever since then it was like something that I’ve just learned more progressively from myself. I’m kind of picky on what I’m smoking or what I’m consuming, so I ended up … People noticed I had better stuff and from time to time I would just link up, and meet vets, and just give them a little of what I got, and they’d give me something what they got maybe, and we’d just make it work out.

Once it became legal in Mass. for medical, we all ended up getting our medical cards together, and we went to this one doctor, and it turned out where he was very helpful. He was actually a vet and we started bringing vets in there about five at a time or something just to talk to him about stuff and get them comfortable with it, because there was that stigma still associated with it around here that if you’re using cannabis you smell like cannabis, somebody’s gonna harass you, somebody’s gonna speak negatively about it.

We just kind of brought them to the doctor ourselves and just the doctor went through the ringer of telling them what was going on, and basically how it can help them, the different types there are, and different strains available, and just even the different ways of using it. Topicals, and either vaporizing, or combusting, or whatever it was. They just got so much more comfortable with it that they started coming out, they started not isolating themselves in their houses, and I ended up making this logo of ours, and started talking to other doctors, dispensary owners, therapists. Just people to see if they would support veterans and cannabis in general.

It was overwhelmingly suggested that we should start it. At the time, I had another friend and he was just egging it on, “We should do it. We should do it.” We actually sat on it for almost a year before rolling it out and trying to do our first event. About two years ago, yeah about two years ago, we had our first monthly meeting/get together, New England Veteran’s Alliance. We had vets from from all over New England. Up to three, four hours away from Maine, Vermont, everywhere, because it was the only thing that they could really come to.

Now, two years later we’re now progressing and having events every month in the same spot. We have people coming from as far as upstate New York, down in New Jersey, we have people coming … It’s just awesome. It was just something that there wasn’t really much advocacy for it and there wasn’t really many people talking out about it or anything, so we ended up started going to state Houses speaking about PTSD, for instance. In Rhode Island, we testified down there. We testified in Maine. We testified in New Hampshire. We testified in Vermont.

We’ve been all over the state just trying to be a voice for our veterans and just explaining to people that we can be productive members of society, and we can medicate, and still function. That stigma isn’t there that we’re just lazy, sitting around, and don’t wanna do anything. That was the main reasoning for starting it and getting it going was just to get guys out of their houses and link them to a better option that pharmaceuticals, or opiates, or anything like that. Then it just snowballed from there and we’ve had so much support. It’s been really amazing.

It’s basically through word of mouth. Veterans talking to other veterans. Now it’s a community organization that veterans help each other. You have guys throughout New England that are growing now and we just basically advocate and talk to them, consult them about how they can possibly grow for themselves, be self sustainable. They end up growing this product that’s amazing. We get help from people like Roots Organics that support us with nutrients and soil for these guys.

Once they get it going, they’re so proud of it and the result at the end they wanna share it. They wanna give it to somebody else and the best way that they’re able to do that is share it with another veteran and or consult with another vet. Be like, “Hey, this is what’s working for me, it might work for you. This is a great strain that I started out with.” It’s just been an evolution and a building process.

I was never a business person. I was an infantry guy in the Marine Corps, so it was something that I never really thought that I’d be doing, running an organization or anything like that. I think that I keep it fairly simple in a lot of aspects and I feel like being an entrepreneur, or ganjapreneur, or coming out into starting something new and where it’s evolving, now we’re looking into possible licenses for Massachusetts for co-ops to get some veteran programs going and some self-sustainable farming programs possibly. Looking for property, looking for investors, and sponsors and just going about it strategically in the way we wanna go and how we can best help veterans from now.

TG Branfalt: Sometimes, it sounds like what you do chooses you and it’s an incredible story. Congratulations on your success thus far. I wanna ask you something, I’ve heard a lot that it’s not just the consuming of the cannabis that’s helpful and you had mentioned growing. How much of the therapy do you and the people that you talk to derive from the act of actually growing the plant?

Derek Cloutier: The growing part is what, pretty much, centers us and just keeps us focused on one thing, keeping it alive. Then having an end result product that you can consume. Then it’s a full circle effect where you’re healing yourself by something that you grew and kept alive versus being a veteran, you kind of are told the opposite of that, being in war you’re around destruction, death, and all this other crazy stuff. It’s just, now, being able to, we call it, cultivation therapy. I believe in it 100%.

The veterans that we have growing as well, it keeps them busy. It gives you a reason to get up in the morning, go look at your plants, and make sure they’re doing good, check their differences. You’ve gotta feed them, you’ve gotta keep them alive, what’s working, what’s not working for them, and then just the learning process of it. It keeps the mind going, it keeps you busy. A lot of these guys, it’s a full benefit for them. It’s very therapeutic.

TG Branfalt: You said that you started, you’re in Massachusetts now, and you started in Massachusetts. Now your reach is all the way into upstate New York, which is obviously not New England. What types of events do you do and how many active chapters do you have right now?

Derek Cloutier: Right now we basically have point of contacts in all six states in New England. We’ve been as far as the west coast. We’ve been out to High Times Cannabis Cup. We spoke on the Veteran’s Panel out there in Vegas last year. We’ve done other speaking opportunities throughout New England. Our membership-wise, we started out doing a member type organization and we were going for … This is part of the learning process that we are learning as we go. We were going for a veteran’s organization specifically.

The VFWs, American Legions, they’re non-profit that are post driven organizations that have memberships and we were kind of going about it that way, but now as we’re evolving, part of the problem was that we don’t get paid for what we do and everything we do, we do on our time, and when we can. It makes it kind of hard for us, in general, to do things being a disabled vet. I felt the obligation that was a little overwhelming at times where I had to be everywhere. My financial situation with the VA and them going after benefits, had a problem.

It’s been something that we did away with the membership side where we were charging for a membership and it was a very minimal fee. That was to get your certain deals, perks, genetics. Most grow stores and places offered you significant deals and discounts. It’s something that we just got away from and stopped taking members on until we re-develop our programs. The chapter side of things, we want it to be more of a community based organization.

We haven’t really gone in the chapter direction yet, per se, but it’s evolving each state maybe possibly could have the potential to have its own farm or facility that holds events, and gatherings and get togethers. Basically, we wanna be kind of like the X games of alternative therapies, but funded by cannabis in a way that we’ve grown. We have veterans learning, getting certified, and then possibly getting them into a career down the road.

We’ve been building slowly from there and right now we’re up on Vermont. We have some folks up there looking to get going and they’re putting more events on. Some of the events that we do are comedy shows, fishing trips, boating. We’ve gone out on boats on Newport Harbor in Rhode Island. We’ve done camp outs, we’ve done beach days, we’ve done yoga, we’ve done a lot of different alternative therapies that not a lot of people would maybe think that helpful, but it’s been pretty amazing, and it’s getting veterans out of their houses, and giving them something to look forward to.

TG Branfalt: Yoga’s admittedly probably healthier for you than pub crawls.

Derek Cloutier: It definitely is. I was actually just looking up more information on yoga. We have one of our guys is a yoga instructor actually.

TG Branfalt: That’s cool. There’s a lot going on with cannabis and yoga. I don’t wanna get off topic, I wanna talk to you more about the cannabis culture for veterans, talk about some of these VA issues that you alluded to earlier, but before we do that, we’ve gotta take a break. This is Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host TG Branfalt, here with Derek Cloutier. He’s the President and Co-Founder of NEVA, the New England Veteran’s Alliance.

Before the break, we were talking about the culture. What I wanna ask you is, anecdotally, what conditions has your organization found to be helpful for medical cannabis use? We know the PTSD, you’ve mentioned that a couple of times, but what other conditions might a non-vet consider could be used?

Derek Cloutier: PTSD is one of the primary reasons for a lot of us to be using it, but anything from chronic pain to you have people with epileptic seizures. You have people with TBI issues, traumatic brain injury, that can be helpful with that, but mostly pain, PTSD. Also, addiction issues. It’s a pretty good tool to use getting off of opiates and we’ve had a lot of success using RSO, which is Rick Simpson Oil, to get veterans off of opiates and give them either access to caregivers that have it or help them grow it so that they can produce it for themselves.

TG Branfalt: How much of a problem has that become? Opiate use among vets?

Derek Cloutier: It’s a huge problem nowadays. That’s a pill for everything. It creates issues and it creates other problems where it stems off of that and leads to other suicidal tendencies. Addiction in itself is a problem. I think veterans nowadays, like I said earlier, you come home from the military or you get out, and you go to the VA, you assume that they’re gonna give you the best possible advice that they can give you, they don’t technically really treat it per symptom. They treat it more like, “Here, try this and let’s see if this works out for you.”

I feel like that’s part of the bigger problem. If they had other therapeutic options in letting people realize who they are, get them more comfortable with themselves, and get them linked with other veterans that understand what they’re going through, they probably wouldn’t have to take these pills, they probably wouldn’t have to … You know what I mean? They would reach out to other options like, obviously, medical cannabis.

Opiates and cannabis, cannabis is proven, in my life, just from what I’ve seen from other veterans that have come off of opiates and the stories that I have heard from them, I haven’t personally had any issues with that or have any experience with it, but I only focused mostly on PTSD stuff. We have guys that they use oil every single day and it helps them every single day. They’re not using opiates, they’re not in bed wanting to die, they’re just living now versus before they couldn’t do much.

TG Branfalt: When you first start talking to older vets, maybe especially, or maybe some more conservative veterans, do you get a lot of pushback about your position and your programs?

Derek Cloutier: Push back, not really. They’re more interested and curious on how we do it and the legalities of it. A lot of people are worried about the legality of a lot of things. That’s another problem with us being an organization that’s spread out throughout New England in a way. We don’t transact over state lines, that’s illegal, and you have so many different laws in each state that are different and catered differently for each state that it makes it harder.

The older generations, the easiest way to go about it with them has been get them comfortable with topicals, get them comfortable with maybe like a capsule form. They are still stigmatized by the smell and just smoking it or anything like that. We wanna get them more on a regiment that they can be consistent with.

TG Branfalt: You had mentioned earlier that you actually got a medical cannabis card and other vets have gotten a medical cannabis card. Does getting that card automatically create any issues for you with the VA?

Derek Cloutier: With the VA? No, it has nothing to do with the VA. The VA really doesn’t … In legal states, they’re allowed to speak about it and talk about it. My doctor actually is willing to work with me in a sense that he’ll collaborate medication if I needed it that’ll work with cannabis because it’ll obviously affect me one way versus the other medication could affect you the other way. They’re very open to it.

Most of my doctors are fairly curious about it and they wanna know more and more about it. They just are very interested in learning the facts about it and how it’s helping us. People in other non-legal states have had pushback from cannabis or using cannabis, but the biggest thing right now that the VA can do, or affect, or have an effect on, is the effect that you’re taking pharmaceuticals such as pain meds like opiates, Percocets, benzos, things like that, they can actually, if you test positive for cannabinoids, then they’ll give you an ultimatum.

Well, actually, if you test positive, they don’t give you an ultimatum. You either use cannabis or you don’t, and that’s a horrible thing because a lot of guys just don’t have access to cannabis like some of us do. Sometimes they use it when they can and sometimes they don’t have it, so they do have to fall back on those other pain meds, which really sucks sometimes. We just try to link guys and get them associated with people that can get them further on finding what they need or either get them to grow for themselves.

TG Branfalt: Cannabis, medical cannabis specifically, has gained a lot of support from veteran’s associations such as the American Legion. They released a resolution, it issued a resolution, supporting medical cannabis. Has this changed the conversation in your experience now that you have these national groups, entrenched groups, supporting medical cannabis for vets?

Derek Cloutier: Makes it a little bit easier to point people in the direction of cannabis because then you can say, use for reference, “Look at, the American Legion has over 3 million veterans that they represent and they’re pro-cannabis.” It does make it a lot easier to segue into the conversation. I just wonder what they’re actually doing to educate their members, you know what I mean? Like if they’re providing them with any material or anything to suggest that they could potentially get off any pharmaceuticals and live a healthier life with cannabis? I wonder if they have a department for anything like that.

TG Branfalt: Is that a partnership you would be interested in getting?

Derek Cloutier: I would be interested in collaborating and doing anything with anybody that furthers the care of a veteran or makes their life more enriched. I put our cards at the VA and they allow us to put them there. Even my doctors, they suggest people, if they can’t talk to the doctor because the doctor doesn’t understand what they’re really going through or talking about, they suggest, “Maybe you should reach out to these guys.” My doctors do that. Other members of ours have their doctors doing that, but I don’t think it’s a consistent basis throughout the country either.

TG Branfalt: Well, you’re fortunate to be in Massachusetts. New England in general, every state’s at least decriminalized.

Derek Cloutier: Yeah, true.

TG Branfalt: I wanna talk to you a bit more about legalization and how what you’re seeing in Massachusetts has affected vets. Before we do that, we’ve gotta take a break. This is ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m TG Branfalt.

At Ganjapreneur, we have heard from dozens of cannabis business owners who have encountered the issue of cannabias, which is when a mainstream business, whether a landlord, bank or some other provider of vital business services refuses to do business with them simply because of their association with cannabis. We have even heard stories of businesses being unable to provide health and life insurance for their employees because the insurance providers were too afraid to work with them.

We believe that this fear is totally unreasonable and that cannabis business owners deserve access to the same services and resources that other businesses are afforded, that they should be able to hire consultation to help them follow the letter of the law in their business endeavors, and that they should be able to provide employee benefits without needing to compromise on the quality of coverage they can offer. This is why we created the Ganjapreneur.com business service directory. A resource for cannabis professionals to find and connect with service providers who are cannabis friendly and who are actively seeking cannabis industry clients.

If you are considering hiring a business consultant, lawyer, accountant, web designer, or any other ancillary service for business, go to Ganjapreneur.com/businesses to browse hundreds of agencies, firms and organizations who support cannabis legalization and who want to help you grow your business. With so many options to choose from in each service category, you will be able to browse company profiles and do research on multiple companies in advance so you can find the provider who is the best fit for your particular need.

Our business service directory is intended to be useful and well-maintained resource, which is why we individually vet each listing that is submitted. If you are a business service provider who wants to work with cannabis clients, you may be a good fit for our service directory. Go to Ganjapreneur.com/businesses to create your profile and start connecting with cannabis entrepreneurs today.

TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host TG Branfalt here with Derek Cloutier. He’s the President and Co-Founder of the New England Veteran’s Alliance. As I said before the break, you and I, we’re fortunate. We live in states, legal cannabis. You’re a little more fortunate than I do. You guys are actually gonna get an industry in the coming months. How does broad legalization affect vets? When most people think about legalization, one of the first things comes to mind is, “Oh, how much money are we gonna get in taxes?”

But they don’t think about some of these social justice issues, which I think that this is. Honestly, if we’re talking about people who should be held in some pretty high regard, at the very least, can’t access medical cannabis because the VA, because of access issues. What does legalization do for veterans?

Derek Cloutier: I think the biggest thing that it’s done so far in this area is that it’s allowed people that comfortability to come out the closet, per se, and say, “Hey, I use cannabis.” Then, first of all, they feel more comfortable talking about it and everybody doesn’t feel like they’re gonna get arrested just for mentioning the word. You can go into a smoke shop now and talk about it. It’s just normalizing it and being able to understand that you’re normal too because you smoke cannabis. You’re not crazy, and lazy, you know what I mean? That’s been the best part.

Then, obviously, the second best part would be the ease of access. Access is still an issue from time to time for some guys, but you can go right to a dispensary and grab what you need. It might be a little pricey, but it is there and that is the option that you get versus other people in their states. Then you have all these other veterans that are starting their own businesses and coming up. Normally, they’d be either isolating themselves and playing video games. I don’t know what they would do, but they are starting businesses. They see hope. They see the future. They’re moving towards these new goals in life and it’s given them purpose.

Legalization, obviously, the financial side of it where people will see money. To us, we don’t really focus on the financial side of it, but the benefit is that the money will be coming into the state, it will be providing for other programs and if somebody thinks there’s a potential for a new program that they could design that could benefit their community, maybe they could bring it up to their local legislation and easily go about it where they can say, “Hey, this money is coming in,” and they have money allotted for certain things. Maybe they can start new programs.

TG Branfalt: Maybe lots of money to the local VA.

Derek Cloutier: Yeah, I don’t know. That would be great. Or they could just give it to me and I’ll put it into veterans programs the right way.

TG Branfalt: What do you got coming up, man? You were telling me that you’ve got something coming up in May?

Derek Cloutier: Yeah. There’s a big DC rally going on Memorial Day weekend. We’re shooting for May 26th, looking at shooting for a permit. I’m filling out the applications for Lafayette Park. It’s right in front of the White House, right in between the White House and the VA. Veterans for Safe Access. It’s labeled on Facebook Veterans RALLY 2018 – Washington DC. There’s a planning group on there. You can get on there and get involved.

It’s basically we’re shooting to get some speakers and either do a march or a stand-in; however it is, a demonstration to bring attention to the fact that we have veterans killing themselves every day that are on pharmaceuticals that are taking their lives or becoming addicts and the ease of access for it would be a hell of a lot better if they legalized it or descheduled it in general. That we want to more access to it. We know the benefits of it and we say it every day, “How you gonna tell a guy with no legs that he should be on opiates versus using cannabis when he’s telling you to your face that this is happening?”

We’re looking to hopefully jump behind a bill or one of the bills that are up right now. I’m not sure what they specifically are, because I’m still learning about the federal side of it, but we’re planning a huge rally, a demonstration, in DC. We just wanna gain more support from the veterans that are in the area that wanna come out and show their support for it. I think if you can’t stand behind your veterans, who can you stand behind?

TG Branfalt: Well said. What’s your advice for veterans, or even family members of veterans, who are interested in looking into medical cannabis for PTSD or even just the cultivation therapy side of it?

Derek Cloutier: Reach out to your local organizations. There are tons of organizations out there that are focused towards cannabis education and learning more about it. You could reach out to us, we’ll try and point you in the right direction. You can go on our website, NEVAUSA.org. We’re actually redesigning that and I’ll have some educational information up there.

There are so many options out there. YouTube in general is huge for a lot of these guys, just to learn how to grow or even learning about your natural endocannabinoid system. The information is out there. People just need to take the initiative, step outside their comfort zone, and just make it work for them.

TG Branfalt: You have been very helpful to me when we first met, I had mentioned that I have a family member who’s dealing with some PTSD issues and you guys gave me the number to somebody close enough to him. It was right there. That’s just one instance of the remarkable work that you guys do, man. I really appreciate you telling your story.

Derek Cloutier: The outreach side of thing is huge. We will go to any veteran’s house. If somebody calls, we’ll pretty much get up, and make it a point to try and get there, and just talk to them, be one-on-one, and figure out something that works for them. We’re not saying that it’s gonna heal them, we’re not gonna say that it’s gonna help them 100%, but it’s what’s helped some of us and it’s how we know how to go about it. We’re subject matter experts because it’s helped us.

We’ll go to the veteran. We kind of run them through the process of how they can help themselves. We have guys with terminal brain cancer that we can help with medicine, that we have been helping. We have people that had 28 seizures a day and now they’re down to none. There’s huge medical benefits to it and it’s just really reaching out to the people in your community, talking about and I’m getting a little off subject.

TG Branfalt: Again, man, I wanna thank you so much. NEVAUSA.org is how you can find the New England Veteran’s Alliance and May 26th, Memorial Day, they’ll be doing the DC rally. Thank you so much, again, Derek for your time today.

Derek Cloutier: I really appreciate you having me.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes of the ganjapreneur.com podcast in the podcasts section of the ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes store. On the ganjapreneur.com website you will find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

End

A blue moon beer poured into a chilled mug and served with an orange slice.

Blue Moon Developer Planning THC-Infused, Non-Alcoholic, Beer

3/29/2018

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A 32-year veteran of MillerCoors – and the developer of Blue Moon Belgian Wheat – is launching a THC-infused, non-alcoholic beer in Colorado this fall, USA Today reports. Keith Villa is partnering with Colorado-based ebbu and the team plans to develop three kinds of THC-infused beer: a light beer, a wheat beer, and a stout.

“This is really about brewing great beers that beer drinkers love. You’d just swap out an alcoholic beer for one of our beers.” – Villa to USA Today

The products will be first available in Colorado, but the company hopes to expand the brews into other legal states next year. Jon Cooper, President of ebbu, indicated that the company has been fine-tuning their extraction formulas for several years and have the technology to hone in on specific feelings, like euphoria or relaxation.

“We’ve really been able to dial in on those sensations that can deliver a consistent experience for the users.” – Cooper to USA Today

Several brewers – from California to Vermont – have infused beer with CBD but this would be the first beer relying on THC as the intoxicant. Regulators in Massachusetts have barred a local brewer from moving forward with its own CBD-infused beer, arguing that the cannabinoid is a Schedule I drug and the infusion would violate the Food & Drug Administration’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

End

A worker in a dispensary holds out a large tub of cannabis nugs.

Rhode Island Dispensary Owners Oppose Adding MMJ Operator Licenses

3/29/2018

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A Rhode Island dispensary spokesman seemed to offer the state help bridging its $5 million budget gap, so long as officials don’t add more operator licenses to the state medical cannabis program, the Providence Journal reports; however, he later clarified his comments, explaining that the dispensary was not offering money in exchange for limiting competition.

“We’re very sensitive to the state and its challenges. And if there is a way to find the $5 million that you need to plug the budget hole that you need for the coming fiscal year, we’d like to be part of the solution.” — Chris Reilly, spokesman for Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center, to the House Finance Committee, via the Journal

Regulators are considering increasing the number of dispensary licenses from three to 15, which they anticipate would raise $5 million.

Reilly suggested that if the state moves forward with adding the licenses the sustainability of their business would be threatened. He also said that legalization in Massachusetts “is a market force that’s going to strain [the Rhode Island] program considerably.”

Seth Bock, CEO of Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center, said in the report that expanding the number of licenses “would almost ensure that one, maybe two, dispensaries would go out of business.” He added that for every dollar the dispensary makes, 44 cents goes to surcharges and taxes.

“We’ve built an infrastructure around a volume of patients which for us, if eliminated, would mean we couldn’t operate.” — Bock, to the committee, via the Journal

Regulators have not yet finalized the plan, but it does have the support of Gov. Gina Raimondo.

End

Cannabis Industry Events

Learn about the industry and make new business connections at these cannabis events and conferences! Browse upcoming events below.

June 11, 2019

COLORADO CANNABIS CAUCUS
Location: Boulder, Colorado
NCIA’s Cannabis Caucus series is an exclusive opportunity for NCIA members and their guests to connect with each other, learn about regional issues from influential guest speakers and get the latest news about NCIA’s federal policy work.

GET TICKETS

June 18, 2019

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CANNABIS CAUCUS
Location: Oakland, California
NCIA’s Cannabis Caucus series is an exclusive opportunity for NCIA members and their guests to connect with each other, learn about regional issues from influential guest speakers and get the latest news about NCIA’s federal policy work.

GET TICKETS

June 20, 2019

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CANNABIS CAUCUS
Location: San Diego, California
NCIA’s Cannabis Caucus series is an exclusive opportunity for NCIA members and their guests to connect with each other, learn about regional issues from influential guest speakers and get the latest news about NCIA’s federal policy work.

GET TICKETS

June 25, 2019

MIDWEST CANNABIS CAUCUS
Location: Columbus, Ohio
NCIA’s Cannabis Caucus series is an exclusive opportunity for NCIA members and their guests to connect with each other, learn about regional issues from influential guest speakers and get the latest news about NCIA’s federal policy work.

GET TICKETS

June 27, 2019

NORTHEAST CANNABIS CAUCUS
Location: New York, New York
NCIA’s Cannabis Caucus series is an exclusive opportunity for NCIA members and their guests to connect with each other, learn about regional issues from influential guest speakers and get the latest news about NCIA’s federal policy work.

GET TICKETS

July 11, 2019

THE CANNABIS ALLIANCE GENERAL MONTHLY MEETING
Location: Seattle, Washington
The Cannabis Alliance holds their open General Monthly Meeting every second Thursday of the month from 12pm – 2pm. Meetings cover updates on regulations as well what’s going on legislatively. We will also be talking about very specific committees and ways you can get involved on the issues that matter to you.

GET TICKETS

July 14, 2019

BELLINGHAM BUDFEST
Location: Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham Budfest is a Whatcom County lifestyle festival that celebrates all that Whatcom county has to offer including our blossoming cannabis culture. We invite you to experience this one of a kind festival. This region is home to numerous successful companies from an array of industries and we want to showcase the special creative nature of this community, including cannabis.

GET TICKETS

July 22-24, 2019

NCIA’s CANNABIS BUSINESS SUMMIT & EXPO
Location: San Jose, California
The nation’s most influential, award-winning cannabis conference & trade show, hosted by the industry’s only national trade association, returns to San Jose to celebrate six years of bringing together the industry’s best and brightest minds.

GET TICKETS

August 8, 2019

THE CANNABIS ALLIANCE GENERAL MONTHLY MEETING
Location: Seattle, Washington
The Cannabis Alliance holds their open General Monthly Meeting every second Thursday of the month from 12pm – 2pm. Meetings cover updates on regulations as well what’s going on legislatively. We will also be talking about very specific committees and ways you can get involved on the issues that matter to you.

GET TICKETS

October 8-9, 2019

NCIA’s CALIFORNIA CANNABIS BUSINESS CONFERENCE
Location: Springfield, Massachusetts
The only industry association trade show preparing California cannabis businesses for success in the largest adult-use market in the world, the California Cannabis Business Conference unifies the Golden State and brings together seasoned industry leaders to convene on best business practices and operations.

GET TICKETS

December 11-13, 2019

MJBIZCON 2019
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
MJBizCon 2019 will be taking place on December 11-13, 2019 in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Convention Center..

GET TICKETS

Skyline view of downtown San Francisco.

Social Cannabis Use Lounge Opens in San Francisco

3/16/2018

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A cannabis smoking lounge has opened in San Francisco, California, the Associated Press reports, and the Barbary Coast lounge is the first of its kind in the state. Nicole Elliot, the city’s cannabis “czar” indicated that more shops will be licensed once city health officials finalize the regulations.

Other California cities are also considering allowing these lounges: According to the report, West Hollywood has plans to approve eight, Alameda will permit two, Oakland and South Lake Tahoe will allow one. Sacramento and Los Angeles are still considering regulations but have not announced any plans.

Social use provisions are still not popular among cannabis regulators. Colorado does not allow social-use; however, Denver voters passed a ballot initiative to allow on-site cannabis consumption and last month the first license of its kind in the city was awarded to the Coffee Joint.

Alaskan regulators, in theory, support social use; however, there hasn’t been much movement on the issue since last August. Those draft rules would allow licensed cannabis retailers to obtain an on-site consumption endorsement and allow use in a designated area.

Massachusetts regulators voted 4-1 last month against allowing social-use; while lawmakers in Maine tasked with implementing the voter-approved law voted 10-4 to remove all references to social-use licensing from the proposed regulations.

Neither Oregon, Washington, nor Nevada allow social cannabis use.     

End

A man wearing a blue shirt holds a silver iPhone in front of him.

UMass Psychology Professor Designs Mobile App to Remove Subjectivity from Cannabis Impairment Testing

3/15/2018

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Psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston Michael Milburn has developed a mobile application that tests response time as a means to measure impairment which, he contends, would be a more accurate tool than either saliva tests or drug recognition experts to determine whether a driver is impaired by cannabis or other drugs.

The app, called DRUID – an acronym for Driving Under the Influence of Drugs – uses a series of tasks to measure impairment: reacting to different shapes, multi-tasking tests, and one familiar to anyone who has been tested for impairment on the side of a road – standing on one leg, while your device measures how stable you are.

Throughout Milburn’s 40-year career he’s specialized in research methods, measurements, and statistics and he explained that he created the app “to try to eliminate an argument that opponents of legalization were consistently using” – that there is no way to accurately measure cannabis impairment.

“The big advance that DRUID does is it measures actual impairment, so law enforcement doesn’t have to rely on what is a subjective test – the standard field sobriety test that research shows doesn’t reliably identify impairment from cannabis or drug tests which don’t measure impairment at all,” Milburn said in an interview with Ganjapreneur. “The drug-testing industry is very powerful and that’s ruined lives and cost people their jobs when they might have used a substance over the weekend but they report to work perfectly sober.”

Photo credit: Chase Elliott Clark

Although Millburn said his intent for the app was not “to bust people who are stoned” rather to “prevent people who are impaired from getting in the car,” he has pitched the app to “a few” law enforcement agencies, and the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Board. A Massachusetts Regional Police Academy trial found no false positives with the app, Milburn said, adding that whatever rules policymakers set for cannabis-impaired driving, the levels for impairment must be “just the same for the level of .08 [percent blood-alcohol content] impairment of alcohol.”

“Otherwise it’s discriminatory against users of cannabis,” he asserted. “Policymakers now are saying ‘if you use cannabis don’t do anything for at least six hours.’ Which sort of assumes that people use cannabis, are intoxicated, and that level stays the same for hours, which is just not true; it goes up and down.”

In one study conducted last July by the Regional Municipal Police Academy in Randolph, Massachusetts, 20 volunteers used DRUID to test for alcohol impairment and the app proved useful in these tests – able to confirm impairment as the group reached a BAC of .08 percent. Data derived from app users found that the DRUID scores from the community were significantly higher than the baseline when they were under the influence of cannabis – supporting the police academy findings. The study found that just three people out of the 90 in unimpaired condition would have been considered “impaired” by DRUID but raising the impairment cutoff to the same as alcohol found no false positives.

“What we are doing is collecting a couple hundred different data points and integrating them statistically into a single impairment score that is … really reliable and essentially maps the process of the chemicals through the brain,” Milburn explained. “It starts, there aren’t any, then it goes up and reaches a peak and goes down as the body processes the THC and various psychoactives.”

Milburn explains that in addition to its use as a tool for testing impairment, the app also serves as an entertainment device and one that can help cannabis consumers determine whether the strain they are smoking this week is more potent than the one they consumed last week.

“DRUID gives people a tool to measure things, previously, you could never measure outside of a [Drug Enforcement Agency]-approved, Schedule I, barbed-wire, lab,” Millburn said. “Now you have it in the palm of your hand.”

In a home experiment, Milburn tested what’s known as the Mango Hypothesis – that eating a mango before getting stoned actually gets you higher. His test, using a Volcano vaporizer and mangoes of varying ripeness, found a non-result and busted the lore.

Milburn said that “way beyond” the fun and potential law enforcement utility of DRUID, it could be used by the private sector to accurately determine whether an employee is impaired on the job and could be used by physicians in concussion assessment but ultimately, his hope is to make law enforcement “more precise.”

End

Tim Fair: Launching Vermont’s First Cannabis Law Firm

3/14/2018

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Tim Fair is a Vermont-based cannabis consultant and the owner/founder of Vermont Cannabis Solutions, the state’s first cannabis law practice.

In this episode of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, Tim joins our podcast host TG Branfalt in his Vermont studio for a conversation about the landmark cannabis reform law passed earlier this year by Vermont’s legislature, the differences between legalization and decriminalization, the state’s vibrant hemp and CBD industry, and what the industry might look like when a tax-and-regulate system is eventually put in place.

Listen to the interview through the player below, or scroll further down to read a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode!

Listen to the interview:

Read the transcript:

TG Branfalt: Hey there. I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and you’re listening to The Ganjapreneur.com Podcast where we try to bring you actionable information, and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today I’m actually joined in studio by Tim Fair. He’s the owner of Vermont’s first cannabis law practice, Vermont Cannabis Solutions.

Just before we get started, we’ve got to know that nothing that Mr. Fair says should be considered legal advice. Don’t say “Well, Tim Fair said on The Ganjapreneur Podcast that this was totally cool,” because that’s not going to hold up in court. How are you doing this afternoon, man?

Tim Fair: Thank you, TG.

TG Branfalt: Tell me about yourself, man. How’d you end up in the cannabis space?

Tim Fair: At a very early age, I realized that I liked cannabis. As a teenager growing up, seeing all the messages, all of the propaganda, the DARE, all of the anti-drug propaganda we were fed, I started seeing a disconnect. What I was experiencing and what I was hearing were two different stories.

As I got older, I started realizing that everything that we were taught wasn’t necessarily true, and in that line of reasoning, I went ahead and tried to start a chapter of NORML in my very first community college, Long Island Nassau Community College, when I was 17.

Didn’t work out so well, but ever since that point, I’ve always been focused on drug policy reform. Specifically cannabis reform.

TG Branfalt: How long have you been working with cannabis cases from a criminal level?

Tim Fair: I graduated law school in 2012. Lucky enough to pass my bar on the first attempt. Got my first legal job as an attorney in 2013, but didn’t really start learning cannabis law until the last two years. I would say around 2016 I started pretty indepthly studying the subject, and I’ve taken my first cannabis clients about six months ago.

TG Branfalt: So what’s been your experience as an attorney defending cannabis cases in Vermont? I guess what I want to ask you is, did you know racial disparities in these arrests, and how did prosecutors approach such cases?

Tim Fair: A little bit of background before I can fully answer that. We have a unique system here in Vermont. We have 14 counties and each county has its own elected state’s attorney. So, when we’re talking about racial disparities, you have to talk about it in terms of county, as opposed to state, because some counties much better with the issue. Other counties, horrible with it.

Another exacerbating factor has been the surge in opiates, cocaine, crack cocaine, that come in from out of state. That has created a sense of, I don’t want to say racism amongst law enforcement, but definitely focuses their attention on brown and black people.

TG Branfalt: How do prosecutors approach these cases? There’s decriminalization, we just passed legalization, which hasn’t taken effect yet, but are prosecutors still aggressive, even with decriminalization?

Tim Fair: You have to talk about individual prosecutors, individual state’s attorneys. For example, in Chittenden County, where Burlington is located, the state’s attorney’s office does not pursue cannabis cases. They’ve got bigger, better things to do. There is an understanding that in the spectrum of illegal activities, cannabis use is pretty low as you get.

However, I’ve had a client in Essex County, Vermont, who was charged with a felony offense for 2.1 ounces. In Bennington County, for example, the state’s attorney has come out publicly with her opinion that cannabis is a dangerous drug, it’s a gateway drug, and the only way to deal with it is strict law enforcement.

TG Branfalt: Law enforcement, when legalization happened, one of the things that we saw was the police chief’s association, or whatever it actually is, they were talking about what they wanted to see in the legalization law, and one of the things that they’ve really been pushing for, and I think this goes back even a little before legalization was rolling out this oral swab test to test for cannabis impairment, or intoxication.

So first, what are the baseline problems, if there are any, which we’re going to assume that there are, with this oral swab test?

Tim Fair: A baseline problems, the entire thing is a problem. The entire concept of having to worry about drugged driving and accurate tests is ridiculous. It’s just an issue that is used by prohibitionists to stoke fear, to get the average citizen against legalization.

I’ll try to keep this short, but when I talk about drugged driving, I need to talk about DUI. DUI is an example of a pre-crime. What I mean by that is you’re taking two legal activities, drinking alcohol, and driving a car, putting them together, and making it a crime. Not because anyone has been injured or anyone’s been hurt, but because we as a society have accepted the fact that the risk, the risk that is created by operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol is so high that we are going to make it a crime because of what might happen, because you might be involved in an accident, because you might cause injury to yourself or others.

That risk is so greatly elevated, we have made it a crime. Now, let’s look at cannabis use. Because we have become so used to the idea of DUI and testing for alcohol, and legal limits, humans like patterns. They like things to make sense. So, therefore, there is this inherent belief that cannabis use will result in the exact same thing as alcohol use, when behind the wheel of the car. It’s not true. It’s simply not true.

The most recent National Highway Safety Administration study that I’ve seen has shown I believe a 5% increase in the likelihood of a serious auto accident with moderate cannabis use. That’s very subjective, what’s moderate cannabis use? But the point being that the human functions that cannabis impairs are very different from the functions that alcohol impairs.

Number one being the understanding of self. When somebody’s intoxicated on alcohol, they think they can drive real well. “I can drive, I can make it there. I’m the best driver in the world.” When somebody’s consuming cannabis, they don’t think they can drive well. They don’t think they can walk well. They say, “You know what? I’m going to sit right here on this couch for a little bit.”

The functioning that is affected by cannabis use is not the same as alcohol. We don’t need to make a new pre-crime. we don’t need to be able to test people to see if they’re impaired. If they’re impaired, they will drive outside of the law, they will commit violations, they will swerve, they will drive under the speed limit, they will run a stop sign. Law enforcement can observe that, pull them over, and arrest them.

Put them through the DRE, or Drug Recognition Expert protocol, and prosecute them. End of story. We don’t have such a high level of risk to warrant or necessitate some sort of test to establish impairment when there are no signs of impairment.

TG Branfalt: One of the things that they talk about in the literature that we saw when we were out at capital during the debate, are these per se intoxication standards. Can you explain what those per se intoxication standards mean and do they differ from the current alcohol laws?

Tim Fair: So they’re designed to mimic the current alcohol laws. We like legal limits. Above this, guilty. Below this, innocent. That’s not actually how it works, but that’s how most people accept it to work, and they like that consistency. It’s a very comforting idea to have, if you have over five nanograms of THC metabolized in your system, you’re above a per se limit. Doesn’t work. It doesn’t work, because cannabis is not alcohol.

People metabolize drugs differently, they metabolize cannabis differently, metabolites can stay in the human body in different levels for different amounts of time. It’s a fat soluble compound, therefore it can stay in the fat cells much longer than alcohol, and the presence of metabolites, the presence of whatever they’re testing for, does not correlate to impairment on any level.

One person with five nanograms could be at a very, very different functional state than somebody else with the exact same amount.

TG Branfalt: I want to talk to you more about Vermont policy, specifically this idea that we talked about when we first met, this decriminalization versus legalization premise. Before we do that, we’ve got to take a break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey welcome back. This is the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I’m your host, TG Branfalt, here with Tim Fair. He’s the owner of Vermont’s first cannabis law practice, Vermont Cannabis Solutions, and a guy I really like talking to since I’ve got to Vermont. When we first met, we were in the capital, it was during legalization law and we got talking about decriminalization versus legalization.

Vermont’s legalization law has been criticized by some as being a more broad decriminalization rather than legalization because there is no tax and regulate provisions under the laws passed, and signed by Governor Scott. They make this argument, despite Vermont actually decriminalizing cannabis possession five years ago.

For those people who make that argument, who criticize this law as not being full legalization, which I mean, we could talk about the nuances of full legalization, but let’s not do that. How does this legalization differ from decriminalization?

Tim Fair: You’re certainly right about it not being full legalization. Any sort of regulation is not full legalization. This is a step. Honestly, it’s more of a psychological step. As far as practicality, how this is going to impact your average citizen’s life, not much. Those who choose to consume cannabis do so now. Those who choose not to consume cannabis don’t.

What this is going to do is act as a psychological milestone for the industry as a whole. It’s going to serve to help kill the stigma. Normalization, getting the people who still believe the propaganda that this is a dangerous drug an opportunity to see that no, in fact, it’s not.

How it’s actually going to play out as far as legality, that’s a great question. After legalization, will the smell of cannabis still be sufficient for law enforcement to apply for a warrant to search your vehicle, to search your home? With the reasoning being, “Well, maybe it’s over the legal amount, and therefore might be a crime.”

With decriminalization, the legislature specifically stated that decriminalization did not change the fact that cannabis was contraband. Even though it was no longer a criminal offense, it was a civil violation, and still provided probable cause for law enforcement to then apply for a warrant to search your vehicle, to search your person, to search your home.

That I’m hoping will change. We’ve seen a lot more positive signs from the judiciary in Massachusetts. They’ve taken a much more liberal approach to it than the Vermont Supreme Court, but as far as actually practical changes, not a lot. It’s a step, though, and it’s an important step, because we wouldn’t be getting to tax and reg without it, and that’s where we’re eventually heading.

TG Branfalt: In Vermont, now we’re entering a whole new era, come July 1st. But we already have a small hemp industry, very CBD focused. In your role as a cannabis consultant, this is a smaller industry than other states, and we’re not talking about tax and reg right now. What does a cannabis consultant in Vermont do? What do you do working within this industry, and looking forward, are you already looking forward to tax and reg?

Tim Fair: A couple of questions rolled in there. No doubt. I’ll say that for the last year, majority of what I’ve been doing is learning and lobbying. Learning about much about the industry as I possibly can, learning about the areas of law in cannabis law that I have not practiced for the last five years, getting myself up to speed, and spending a lot of time in Montpelier, working with a lot of really, really good people and advocates, moving this agenda forward.

Trying to talk to legislators, trying to dissuade some of the apprehensions, to maybe dispel some of the myths. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last year. Right now, we are an interesting place. Vermont is unbelievably supportive of the hemp industry. The legislature went as far as to put a signing statement into the statute, reaffirming their support for the hemp industry.

I’m trying to think of the exact number. I don’t know if it’s 14 or 17 states that allow hemp growing at this point, and Vermont by far is the least regulated. $25 a year, you fill out a one page form, you get your card, and you can grow hemp, which is fantastic. We’re an agricultural economy here in Vermont, and this is the beginning of what I believe to be the rejuvenation of that economy.

TG Branfalt: When you’re talking to people right now who are in the hemp industry, are there a lot of questions right now, even several months before legalization takes effect, and possibly years before tax and reg, are people already trying to figure out what that industry could look like?

And the other thing is this. Do you think that it’s going to be more representative, it’s going to be similar to the hemp industry that we have here, which is primarily small farmers?

Tim Fair: That’s a great question. I think we have to wait and see. Regulations for Vermont’s taxed and regulated system are going to be coming out this year. There’s definitely a very, very strong desire to keep this as local as possible, to keep things on the Vermont scale, and one of the things about the cannabis industry right now is that it is extremely state specific.

So, it would be very difficult for somebody from out of state to come into Vermont, let’s say a large scale operation out of Colorado. They may know the Colorado regulations very well, they may know how to function and run their business under the Colorado regulations, they won’t know anything about Vermont. They won’t know anything about the Vermont regulations, so that factor helps keep it local.

I’m hoping that we are going to maintain accessibility for the average Vermonter. That’s what Vermont Cannabis Solutions is about. We’re not taking out of state clients, we’re working with Vermont small business and entrepreneurs who want to get involved in this industry. Whether the legislature will help that or hinder it, we have yet to see.

TG Branfalt: Speaking of the legislature, I mean, it’s the first in the nation to pass legalization via the legislature. It was cool to be here when that happened, but how long … You’ve spent a lot more time in Montpelier than I have. How long do you think the legislature’s going to let this gray market exist? I mean, we both hear things about donations and these things that are already happening in Massachusetts, and Massachusetts, to their credit, is allowing it to go on pretty much in the open. How long do you think that’s going to jive with the legislature, just watching the money fall out of their pockets?

Tim Fair: There’s two ways they can go. The gifting cannabis economy, we see it in D.C., we see it in Maine, we’re seeing it develop in Massachusetts. This is a function of going halfway. Legalization without a taxed and regulated system. I was having an email exchange with a former professor of mine at Vermont Law School the other day, and when you look at the statutes in Vermont, gifting is allowed. Gifting is allowed.

The statutes specifically state that it is illegal to sell quantities of cannabis under one ounce, but when you talk about distribution, it’s only addressed in quantities above one ounce. There’s noticeably lack of any mention of prohibition of distribution under an ounce. Meaning, you can give away up to an ounce perfectly legally. What does that lead to? That leads to the $100 Snickers bar that comes with a free quarter ounce, or in D.C., the juice bars that serve $50 glasses of orange juice with a free eighth.

It’s runarounds, it’s loopholes. It’s entrepreneurs looking at the system and figuring out how they can move forward with the framework as it is. I believe this is not going to last long. The two options the legislature has is A, they can go back and try to reconvene and pass a bill to close the loophole, which will take a whole session, or they can establish tax and regulation.

This year we will most likely be seeing Canada come online with it’s recreational program. We’ll be seeing Massachusetts come online, Maine hopefully after LePage gets out. People will be actually seeing functioning, well-functioning cannabis systems and once they’re seeing it with their own eyes, once they’re seeing all the gloom and doom predictions of the prohibitionists are not coming true, the sky is not falling, six year olds aren’t running around with joints, what they will see is a good functioning systems that are generating significant tax revenue. I think when people see that, tax and reg is inevitable.

TG Branfalt: I mean, it’s coming. I mean, briefly, I just want to talk to you very briefly, just before we started recording, we were looking at that lawsuit that’s happening on a federal level. I mean, at some point, right, the crest has got to come? I mean, New England is basically decriminalized throughout. All of Vermont’s borders, save for New Hampshire, right? No, New York, sorry, my bad. But I mean, New York, you look at New York, what have they got? Pennsylvania, that’s it. Jersey’s on its way. I just want to, just point out what we’re looking at from our perspective in Vermont, you know?

Tim Fair: Jersey is the East Coast key. Once Jersey goes, New York will go, and once New York goes, then we’ve got the East Coast. For me, it was California legalizing recreational. That was the point for me where I fully believed that the toothpaste can’t be put back in the tube. The genie ain’t getting back in the bottle, no matter what we see from the federal government. Once California estimated 6-7 billion dollar a year industry-

TG Branfalt: Which the whole industry did nine billion last year I think is the number.

Tim Fair: Yeah, with a B. That to me was the point of no return. But the federal government goes kicking and screaming. It’s very difficult to get anything done under the best of circumstances in Washington, and where we find ourselves now, I’ll just say are not the best of circumstances. That’s why another kind of benefit of the state specific nature of this industry that has allowed the states to really take it and run with it on their own.

Yes, inevitability. That’s a great word. The industry is inevitable. How long it’s going to take, how long we have the prohibitionists kicking and screaming. That’s impossible to tell right now.

TG Branfalt: So I want to get your advice for current operators and other people within Vermont’s market. Before we do that, we’ve got to take a last break. This is Ganjapreneur.com Podcast with TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I’m your host, TG Branfalt, here with Tim Fair, owner of Vermont’s first cannabis law practice, Vermont Cannabis Solutions, and kindred spirit, especially when it comes to the sole federal government issue. So, I wanted to ask you, your advice for current operators in Vermont. That’s what you focus on, that’s where we are. Do you think that those who are focused on hemp right now have a slight headstart as we inch towards tax and reg?

Tim Fair: Absolutely. I mean, there’s no question about it. They’re getting the experience in the industry, they’re getting the experience, whether it’s growing the crop, whether it’s extracting whether it’s selling. Whatever people are doing, they’re getting that experience now. As far as non-hemp cannabis, higher THC level cannabis, that’s limited really right now to our medical dispensaries.

The average entrepreneur’s not having that opportunity, so the people right now who are in the hemp and CBD, yeah, they’re getting a headstart. The question is are they all going to want to transition into cannabis? Some yes, some no. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t steps that can be taken right now for those who want to get into the legal cannabis market. Whether it’s recreational or medicinal.

TG Branfalt: Earlier you said that you think it’s going to be harder for out of state people to enter the Vermont market. If people wanted to start looking at that market now, what would advice be for those who are or might be interested in entering Vermont’s market when it starts to become established?

Tim Fair: You mean people from out of state who might want to come in?

TG Branfalt: Yeah, yeah.

Tim Fair: Learn the Vermont way. Learn Vermont.

TG Branfalt: It’s tough. I mean, neither one of us are from Vermont.

Tim Fair: No, no, absolutely. Growing up in New York City, it blew my mind here. But Vermont is a lot more about who you are. It’s about face to face connections. It’s about knowing people. In order to succeed in the Vermont market, especially at this point in time, who you know, the impression you’ve made on people, the reputation that you have within the cannabis community here in the state, that is going to carry a lot more weight than what you’ve done somewhere else, or how much money you may have.

It really comes down to knowing each other, and if somebody from out of state had a real serious interest in coming into Vermont, come to Vermont. Come to some events. Come to some lobbying events. Meet people in the community. We’re a small state, we’re a relatively small community, and it’s very accepting.

The thing people don’t want to do is just simply come in and try to buy their way into the industry. That’s just not really going to work here in Vermont.

TG Branfalt: You’ve had your own interesting path to sit in this chair, talking about cannabis, lawyer. What’s your advice for other entrepreneurs who are seeking to enter the cannabis space? Just people who may not be in this industry now.

Tim Fair: Know why you want to get into the industry. If the answer is, “Because I think I’m going to make a bunch of money,” pick another industry. Know why you want to get into it. Once you’ve figured out why you want to get into it, my next piece of advice is learn the industry. It’s not simply about hanging around and getting stoned all day, and growing some pot.

This is a growing industry. When you factor in the CBD, industrial hemp, all of the uses, the sitting around, getting stoned, a piece of the pie. But there’s a lot more to the industry than that. The nuances of the industry, what has happened over the last five years in Colorado and California, in Oregon, in Washington, in Alaska. These are lessons that can be learned. These are real lessons. Some of them will be applicable to Vermont, some of them will not.

But by studying the industry, by seeing the problems and how they’ve been dealt with, it’s going to be the best way to have a realistic expectation of one’s experience here in Vermont in the industry.

TG Branfalt: I mean, this has been really cool, man. Like, I’m stoked to have you on the show. I mean, when we met in Montpelier, we both looked at each other like, “All right, I got you. I got you.” Where can people find out more about what you’re doing with the Vermont Cannabis Solutions, find out more about you? Plug it up, man.

Tim Fair: I’m not real good at self-promotion or plugs. I’ll say the website, www.VermontCannabisSolutions.com, is my first attempt at a website, so take it easy on me. But it’s got a lot of contact information, talks a lot about what we’re trying to do here in Vermont. Other than that, tfair@bwvlaw.com. Shoot me an email, happy to chat with anyone, anytime.

TG Branfalt: Dude, I really, again, I appreciate it, and I’m sure we’ll be sitting in these chairs chatting in a few months when legalization’s getting close, man. I appreciate it again.

Tim Fair: I certainly hope so, TG. I appreciate it, my man.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com, and in the Apple iTunes Store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website, you will find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily, along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

End

Emma Chasen: Educating the World About Cannabis Science

3/08/2018

by

Emma Chasen is the Director of Education for Sativa Science Club, an organization that encourages industry-wide quality standards. She also, in 2016, received the Willamette Week‘s Portland, Oregon Best Budtender award.

In this Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode, Emma joined our host TG Branfalt for a conversation about the creation process behind her educational courses for individuals seeking careers in the cannabis space and why she thinks the cannabis industry should move away from the indica/sativa binary of categorizing cannabis cultivars. The interview also covers how she became a budtender for Farma (a Portland, Oregon-based dispensary that emphasizes a scientific definition and understanding of cannabis), her rise through the ranks of the cannabis space to eventually become the dispensary’s general manager, and what advice she would offer to somebody who is working in — or interested in — the retail side of the cannabis industry.

Tune in to the interview via the player below, or scroll down to read a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode!

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

TG Branfalt: Hey there. I’m your host TG Branfalt. You’re listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and industry stakeholders. Today I’m delighted to be joined by Emma Chasen. She is a cannabis science educator and consultant for the Sativa Science Club. She’s had a really interesting path to the cannabis space. She began it sort of at Brown University and in 2016, in her role at Farma she was named Portland, Oregon’s Best Budtender, but I’m going to let her tell that story myself — how are you doing this afternoon Emma?

Emma Chasen: I’m doing great TG. Thanks so much for having me.

TG Branfalt: Absolutely thrilled. I briefly sort of gave away a little bit about your background, but why don’t you tell us the story, how did you end up Portland, Oregon’s Best Budtender?

Emma Chasen: Sure. It was definitely a bit of a windy road. I did graduate from Brown University in 2014 with a specialized degree, biology degree. Part of what makes Brown so cool and wonderful is that they really let you do whatever you want. I was able to devise my own track within the biology program to really study medicinal plant research and ethnobotany. So, the way in which indigenous peoples have used medicinal plants over centuries and centuries. I came out of Brown not really sure about what I wanted to do. I was considering going the naturopathic route. So, becoming a naturopathic doctor, but I definitely did not want to jump into another five years of schooling. So, I took a job at Brown University Oncology Research Group where I was helping to coordinate Clinical Oncology trials nationwide and I naively thought that that was going to be my point of impact.

Because this was 2014, 2015. So, the cannabis movement was just starting to gain traction. Of course, it had been growing out here for a while, but out on the East Coast it’s a different story, different culture. I was excited that there was a little bit of momentum, especially in Rhode Island medical marijuana had passed. So, I thought, “Okay, maybe we can do some cannabis trials. That would be awesome and super cool.” Lo and behold, there was actually a brilliant professor from Brown who did propose a cannabis trial to my supervisor at the time and she did not even give him the time of day. She just laughed him out of the office and that was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back for me in terms of just being done with that job.

I saw how much the cancer industry … how much money the cancer industry makes for one and just how much it profits off of people being sick. I was really disillusioned with that and came out of that job, moved back home to New York for the summer, because I’m from New York and just like, you know what, I need a new adventure in my life and so I packed up my car and drove across the country to Portland, Oregon, not even knowing if I wanted to get into the cannabis space, just knowing that there was more opportunity out here for the holistic medicine industry and jobs, but it was perfect timing, really synchronistic in that cannabis was just becoming legal for adult use. So anybody 21+ could start buying cannabis in October of 2015 and I got to Portland September of 2015.

So, everybody in the cannabis industry was hiring to prepare for this and I also, very luckily, found my way to Farma, which is a very popular dispensary in Portland that takes a more scientific to cannabis and at first I was like, “You know what, I don’t want to work in retail weed. I want to work in research or science or something else.” But I took the job because I needed the job, I needed money, and I ended up falling in love with it. I fell in love with the plant. I fell in love with learning about the plant and learning about all the different science of cannabis, behind cannabis, and I also loved connecting with consumers and really helping them reframe their relationship with cannabis as medicine, and helping them to kind of take control of their own health and wellness journey and regain some agency with this awesome medicinal plant. And so I stayed there, I stayed in Farma in total for about two years, but I budtended for about four to five months and then I was named, of course, Portland’s Best Budtender by the Willamette Week readers poll in 2016, which was awesome, and then quickly after that became Farma’s general manager.

TG Branfalt: What about Sativa Science Club? Explain to the listeners what that is.

Emma Chasen: Yeah, sure. Sativa Science Club is a really collaborative effort to support the cannabis industry at large and a lot of the way in which we believe that we can support the industry is through education. I linked up with Sativa Science Club founder, Mary J. Poppins, in June 2017 and we just found that we had a lot of similarities in terms of our goals and hopes and visions for supporting the cannabis industry. I had stepped down from my position as GM at Farma in April of 2017 to really start to cultivate and develop a comprehensive training curriculum for industry professionals, because there just was not any kind of training on cannabis science or empathetic client care, patient care as I call it. So, the ability to really take this science, this foundational information on cannabis and distill it in a way that is accessible and meaningful to consumers in a high-traffic retail environment, it takes a little bit of finesse.

I got to work as Farma’s director of education in April of 2017, after I stepped down as their GM, to really develop a training program and then linked up with Mary of Sativa Science Club in June. Found out we had a lot of similarities and we started working together to kind of workshop classes throughout the summer and then in September of 2017 I ended up officially transitioning out of Farma and working with Sativa Science Club to develop what we call now the Core Science Certification Program. So, it is a comprehensive training program that takes you through cannabis botany, cannabis compounds, the endocannabinoid receptor system, consumption methods, as well as empathetic or compassionate client care. This curriculum was reviewed by a board of scientists so that we can make sure that all the information is good and airtight.

I mean, we don’t know a lot about cannabis right now. We have a little bit of information, but even that little bit of information has been enough to create this training program and I do believe that it’s enough to elevate the industry from the conversations that are so commonly being had now.

TG Branfalt: That’s really cool stuff. At Farma, correct me if I’m wrong about this, but you guys rejected the indica/sativa binary, instead focusing on chemotypes to determine effect. Would you please explain what that means?

Emma Chasen: Absolutely. At Farma, that was really the place where I got my foundational understanding of cannabis and what Farma does, which is really pretty radical when you look at the way in which other dispensaries talk about cannabis flowers. They reject this indica/sativa binary. In cannabis, we commonly associate cannabis indica with being super sleepy and “in-da-couch” and cannabis sativa as really energizing and kind of hyperactive. However, that dichotomy is incorrect for a couple of reasons. One, cannabis indica and cannabis sativa only describe the way in which plants will grow.

So, when these species were first classified by philosophers and scientists in the 1700s, they never smoked these plants, they never consumed these plants and then wrote down in their notes like, “Oh, cannabis indica, super sedative.” All they did was outline like, “Oh, cannabis indica grows short and bushy, has dense compact flowers, whereas canvas sativa grows tall and skinny, has loose flowers.” Even at the creation of these terms there is no account that they were ever associated with effect to begin with. However, if they were at some point associated with consistent experience, it still would not matter now because everything on the current cannabis market is genetically a hybrid. Everything has been crossed and prolifically bred so many times that all current cannabis cultivars are a combination of indica and sativa genetics.

It doesn’t make sense to look up online or look up on Leafly and go, “Oh, Grape Ape. They say that that’s cannabis indica. You’ll definitely get a super sedative effect from that strain every single time.” We don’t have that consistency in the supply chain yet and also, if you think about it, it just makes more sense to look at the actual chemical compounds found inside of a plant’s matrix to determine what effect or what experience it will induce and that’s because we are actually physically consuming those compounds. We’re not consuming indica or sativa, that’s kind of like amorphous term that doesn’t really tell us much about the way in which it’s going to affect us. We’re consuming the compounds that will then alter our physiology and create a specific experience.

So, when we say we reject the indica/sativa binary and instead look at the cannabis chemotype to determine effect, the cannabis chemotype is those chemical compounds found inside the plant’s matrix that actually alter our physiology to determine or create a certain experience. At Farma we never classified our cannabis and they still don’t base on the indica/sativa binary. Instead, we looked at every single cultivars lab results, cannabinoid potency as well as terpene potency to better project an experience or effect.

TG Branfalt: In a lot of my conversations I’ve been having, especially recently and this I’ve sort of noticed in the last year with business owners and growers, is there seems to be this movement towards terpene content versus strain names when it comes to marketing, when it comes to how they discuss that with their clients. Would you like to see an industry wide shift toward marketing cannabis flowers differently?

Emma Chasen: I would. I would definitely like to see this removal of the indica/sativa binary as this thing that we hold onto so tightly to tell us an experience. I think that, especially moving forward and as the legal cannabis industry evolves, consumers are going to demand predictability and consistency in their medicine. If we continue to just look at the indica/sativa binary or strain names to help us determine effect, then we will not be delivering that consistency to our consumers. To me, that’s inexcusable because then you’re potentially losing consumers and there is still a lot of negative stigma out there about cannabis and we can’t really afford to lose consumers at this point.

We need to create a different kind of approach. I do think that strain names, they’re a great marketing tool. I think that they’re an easy way to entice consumers to try something out. However, we need to be expanding the conversation and looking at the terpene content as well as the cannabinoid content, as well as the genetics, to better determine or predict an experience for the consumers, so that they can have that greater or higher level of consistency and predictability in their medicine.

TG Branfalt: I want to dig a bit deeper into sort of this education process that you do and sort of your experience with that, but before we do that we’ve got to take a break. This is Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host TG Branfalt, here with Emma Chasen, cannabis science educator and consultant for the Sativa Science Club. In your opinion, somebody who educates people on the cannabis plant, what do you think is the biggest gap in the cannabis knowledge base of consumers?

Emma Chasen: I think that it is this indica/sativa question. A lot of novice consumers who are looking to try out cannabis or explore cannabis look to popular blogs on the internet, look to sites like Leafly to help them kind of uncover the language needed to speak about cannabis. So, they find a lot of indica and sativa, cannabis indica makes you sleepy, cannabis sativa makes you energized. So, that’s still one of the biggest gaps in education that I see and dispensaries in the legal industry proliferate this idea and that definitely doesn’t help either. There’s also, as the CBD market continues to rise a huge gap in understanding the difference between hemp derived CBD and cannabis derived CBD. I can explain a little bit about that quick rundown.

TG Branfalt: Absolutely.

Emma Chasen: Hemp derived CBD and cannabis derived CBD, they are the same molecules. If you pulled out CBD from hemp and you pulled out CBD from cannabis they would look exactly the same. They are exactly the same. However, hemp took a very different breeding pathway than the cannabis plant or the “drug cultivar cannabis”. Hemp is actually a subspecies of cannabis sativa. However, it was never bred prolifically like the drug cultivar cannabis for its secondary compounds. Secondary compounds are the compounds like cannabinoids and terpenes that actually have or hold the medicinal qualities of cannabis.

Instead, hemp was bred for its primary compounds or its fibers and proteins. It was bred to clean up soil. It was bred to eventually be made into a textile or paper, food, and these are all breeding techniques specifically for primary compounds. So, you don’t really get this high level of secondary compounds. Whereas cannabis, or the drug cultivar cannabis, was bred only for its secondary compounds and it was bred illegally for a very long time for its cannabinoid potency, for its terpene potency, and this created quite a diverse range of secondary compounds. Cannabis’ real medicinal efficacy lies in this diverse range of secondary compounds and this is a theory called the entourage effect, that all of these secondary compounds are working together to create the most medicinal experience possible.

When we talk about hemp derived CBD tinctures or products, it can still be medically efficacious, it can still work because again, that CBD molecule is the same whether it’s in hemp or this cannabis drug cultivar. However, it does not have that full range of secondary compounds behind it to support the way in which CBD interacts with our physiology. You may find that your hemp derived CBD tincture doesn’t work as well as something that’s a cannabis derived CBD tincture. Also, you need to watch out for companies who are just looking to capitalize on the CBD movement. There are a lot of the elixirs that are sold online, that are sold on Amazon that really highlight, oh, CBD tincture, but then you read the fine print and it’s just hemp seed oil.

There are a lot of companies who are, unfortunately and really awfully, trying to pull one over on the consumer market and profitize on the CBD movement. So, just be careful. If you are looking to source hemp CBD, you can find reputable companies, you can find companies who are testing for both pesticides and potency and you can find something that is really clean and effective, you just have to do your research. Don’t just click on any CBD tincture that you find. Make sure that you read the fine print. The wonderful thing about hemp CBD is that it is legal. It is federally legal. So, it is accessible in all 50 states. It is accessible nationwide. So, if you do find that maybe you could benefit from CBD medicine. If you’re looking to try it out, but you’re not currently in a legal cannabis state, then you can source hemp CBD product, just make sure you do your research.

TG Branfalt: The other question I have for you is the … you said earlier that we don’t know much about the cannabis plant, we really only had 50 years of research on this plant. I mean, this might be a loaded question here, but what do you think is the biggest gap in sort of this knowledge base? What are we missing, do you think, that would help us maybe connect some dots or paint the picture a little clearer?

Emma Chasen: Sure. We’re missing a large portion of those secondary compounds in cannabis’ plant matrix. So, in my previous answer, when I described how cannabis’ real efficacy lies in that full range of secondary compounds, we only know a very small fraction of what those compounds actually are and what they do. Right now we really only know that there are cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids, but we don’t even really know how the flavonoids interacts with the cannabinoids and terpenes and there have been predicted or hypothesized to be hundreds and hundreds of compounds in the cannabis matrix and we only know three classes of them, the cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids. Again, we only really know what two of those, the cannabinoids and terpenes, actually do and how they work, and still, with those two classes, we don’t quite fully understand how they’re interacting with our physiology. We need a lot more research to uncover the rest of the secondary compounds in the cannabis matrix so that we can better understand how cannabis can be used as medicine.

TG Branfalt: Who do you think should be leading the way in this research? Right now a lot of private entities and legal states are working to map the genome or do other research like that. There’s a higher education programs that are working primarily with hemp. There’s a good one in New York. There’s a great one in Vermont. State governments are issuing reports, but not really doing research. The federal government has no interest, but who do you think should be leading the research efforts?

Emma Chasen: I think that higher education is always a great way to conduct and fund research. However, higher education gets tricky. If it’s federally funded, then they don’t really want to touch cannabis. The state doesn’t really give much money to support research efforts on cannabis, so that leaves you with private entities, which can gain funding from a variety of different investors to do this kind of research and with that I’m slightly conflicted on whether I like the fact that private entities are leading research. I do think that there are many private entities such as Phylos Bioscience here in Portland, that is a cannabis genomics company that is trying to synthesize the entire cannabis genome, but they also have this nonprofit that’s part of their organization called the Open Cannabis Project that looks to publish this information in open source so that nobody can patent the cannabis genome.

I think that that is really important, this discussion of patents that’s coming out of private entities doing research will definitely impact the way that the industry can move forward and I am not a big fan of patents or patenting cannabis. I think that that is an awful road to go down. The federal government already has a couple of patents out on cannabis and that will just make sure that only a very few number of really rich people are allowed to grow certain cultivars or certain cannabis genetics and that is not the way that I want to see this industry move forward. I want to make sure that everybody has access and the ability to grow this plant and that not a couple of rich people own it. Private entities, I think that they’re good for now. I think that moving forward, as the legalization movement gains more traction and it spreads, I think that higher education would also be the be a great place to conduct much of the research.

TG Branfalt: I’ve got to, I really have got to agree with you that, especially … as the conversation on a federal level here, do we deschedule it, do we reschedule it and I warn people quite frequently if it’s rescheduled, it’s going to put cannabis in the hands of pharmaceutical companies and people who can get FDA approval. I just think it’s worth noting that the deschedule versus reschedule conversation and I want to talk about some more Oregon-centric issues and topics and about your work at Farma. Before we do that we got to take a break. This is Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m TG Branfalt.

At Ganjapreneur we have heard from dozens of cannabis business owners, who have encountered the issue of cannabias, which is when a mainstream business, whether a landlord bank or some other provider of vital business services refuses to do business with them simply because of their association with cannabis. We have even heard stories of businesses being unable to provide health and life insurance for their employees because the insurance providers were too afraid to work with them.

We believe that this fear is totally unreasonable and that cannabis business owners deserve access to the same services and resources that other businesses are afforded, that they should be able to hire consultation to help them follow the letter of the law in their business endeavors and that they should be able to provide employee benefits without needing to compromise on the quality of coverage they can offer. This is why we created the Ganjapreneur.com business service directory, a resource for cannabis professionals to find and connect with service providers, who are cannabis friendly and who are actively seeking cannabis industry clients.

If you are considering hiring a business consultant, lawyer, accountant, web designer or any other ancillary service for your business go to Ganjapreneur.com/businesses to browse hundreds of agencies firms and organizations who support cannabis legalization and who want to help you grow your business. With so many options to choose from in each service category, you will be able to browse company profiles and do research on multiple companies in advance so you can find the provider who is the best fit for your particular need. Our business service directory is intended to be a useful and well-maintained resource, which is why we individually vet each listing that is submitted. If you are a business service provider who wants to work with cannabis clients, you may be a good fit for our service directory. Go to Ganjapreneur.com/business to create your profile and start connecting with cannabis entrepreneurs today.

TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to Ganjaprenuer.com podcast. I’m your host TG Branfalt here with Emma Chasen, cannabis science educator and consultant for Sativa Science Club, super smart. How do you think, if at all, your approach to cannabis led to your Best Budtender win in 2016?

Emma Chasen: I think that one, having a foundational understanding of how the cannabis plant interacts with human physiology really does help budtenders and it definitely helped me make better predictions for how that cannabis cultivar will make somebody feel and that is really important. When you’re working with a customer, if you give them a prediction and that prediction turns out right, then they’re more likely to come back to you and get medicine from you. There are also, of course, are other things that I would always include in the conversation such as dosing guidelines. So, telling people how to specifically use this product, maybe start at night if you’re a novice just in case you experience some drowsy effects you could sleep it off. Start with a very, very low dose or a micro dose and then wait a few minutes, wait 10 minutes to see how that product makes you feel before consuming more so that way you can ensure that you won’t have such an uncomfortable experience if it doesn’t work for you.

I also definitely prize myself, I guess, on my ability to take really scientific jargon-heavy concepts and distill them down in a way that a lay person can understand. So, being able to explain these kinds of scientific concepts in a way that is accessible and not alienating, because I think that a lot of times when people do try to educate, it creates this like distancing or othering of the other person on the other side of the conversation because they don’t know it or they feel like you’re patronizing them or whatever it may be. So, I always tried and I always did meet people where they were at and if they weren’t looking for the education, then I wasn’t about to give it to them.

A lot of people ask me all the time like, “Well, what happens if you do get a customer who comes in and is like, ‘I want your heaviest cannabis indica.’ What do you say to that?” My response is there are ways to very slyly insert some education in that conversation and so if somebody comes in and says, “I want a heavy cannabis indica.” I’m not going to correct them, that is like customer service 101, the customer’s always right. I then follow up with what a question, “Okay, what kind of experience are you looking for? Do you want something that’s more sedative?” Usually they’ll say, “Yeah, I want something to just put me out, again, heavy indica.” And maybe then I’d pull out a cultivar for them to smell and talk about how it has a high concentration of THC and a high concentration of a terpene called myrcene and myrcene is found abundantly in hops.

So, think when you drink a few beers and you get drowsy. Well, that’s what this call cultivar is going to do to you. Never in that conversation did I say, “You’re wrong. Indica is wrong.” You can’t say that. Never did I also say, “Oh yeah, I’m going to get you a cannabis indica, a heavy indica.” I kind of did my own sly insertion of education and they took home something that hopefully will give them the experience that they want and maybe that planted a tiny seed so that the next time they come into the dispensary they’ll ask for something that’s high in myrcene instead of an indica. I think that that approach made me really successful as a budtender. It’s this combination of being able to explain cannabis science to people or introduce them to cannabis science in a way that is not othering or alienating and then also combining that with a really high level of customer service, which includes active listening, which includes eye contact, open body language, like a high degree of excitement.

A lot of people who come into a dispensary are really, really excited to be there and so the budtender has to match that excitement, otherwise it’s going to be a little bit of a disappointment for the customer. So, really all those things combined. That high level customer service casual professionalism, plus this foundational understanding of cannabis science and being able to articulate it in a way that makes sense to people.

TG Branfalt: In my sort of daily news writing and conversations with industry owners, a lot of people say that Oregon’s program is one of the more interesting in terms of the employment there, you have to get a permit as an employee, and the program was recently criticized by the US Oregon District Attorney Billy J. Williams, saying that it has a massive overproduction problem among other things. Talking a lot about diversion. As somebody who’s been in the industry, what changes, if any, would you like to see in Oregon’s adult-use regime and is William’s criticisms worthwhile?

Emma Chasen: Well, I think that Oregon, out of the legal recreational states thus far, actually does have one of the better programs. The legislature is, I think, a lot better than the approach that Colorado and Washington took in that the craft industry really thrives in Oregon, specifically Portland, and we’ve seen that with craft coffee, craft wine, craft food and so why not craft cannabis? It is true that there is a strong foothold of this craft movement here. I’m part something called the Craft Cannabis Alliance here in Oregon, that really seeks to make sure that small, home-grown Oregon owned companies really make it in this industry, because it is tough.

To comment on this massive overproduction problem that we’re seeing in Oregon, it’s true. We are seeing a massive overproduction problem. This past fall market and flooded with products, specifically cannabis flour and nobody was buying it. That drove the prices down in an insane amount. I mean, I heard of pounds being sold for $200, which is awful. I mean, you cannot make money off of that. However, this is not a problem specific to Oregon. We’ve seen this problem happen in Colorado. We’ve seen it happen in Washington. I’m sure it will happen in California, where the state does not put a moratorium or a cap on licenses. It’s free market. It’s capitalism. Anybody can go out for a license. However, at this point there are only about 14% of the population in Oregon that consume cannabis and that number is not growing.

You bring on more licenses, you bring on more businesses that have more product and yet your consumer base isn’t growing. So, it’s inevitable that some of those companies are going to drop out or turn to black market, which a lot of them are. There are two solutions, a few solutions I see to this problem. One, the state could put a cap on licenses and say, “You know what? There are only allowed this many licenses in the state.” However, a lot of people do not jive with that idea because capitalism, free market, we want to let everybody have a chance, which I totally get. The next thing would be, okay, as the East Coast starts to legalize, as Vermont, as New Jersey, as Maine, Massachusetts legalize, you can’t really grow great cannabis naturally out there. You have to grow it in a warehouse, which, of course, is not very sustainable and costs a lot more money and is not good for the environment.

Then the solution becomes, “Well, if we have all this product out in Oregon, that is arguably the best cannabis product that you are going to get. This is the place that has been growing cannabis forever. It’s the place that has been supplying the East Coast black market forever, so why not regulate that? Why not allow Oregon companies to ship product out to East Coast legal States and have that flower be sold in their dispensary instead of popping up all these warehouses that are just generating “botox weed”, as I call it. So, that would be a larger solution. However, of course, then you need to get the feds involved because you’re crossing state lines. It’s not something that’s going to happen right away, but it’s something that long term could potentially really help the Oregon market, but I think that for right now it’s really making sure that these craft companies do survive because they are the heart of the Oregon market and that in this shakeout not having just like a few highly capitalized companies kind of win out.

TG Branfalt: Are you, with the recent changes in federal policy, the revocation of the Cole Memo, are there any fears of crackdown among operators in Oregon?

Emma Chasen: I think it was a big scare when Sessions rescinded the Cole Memo. People definitely freaked out a little bit. However, as long as the state’s attorney general is cool with it, as long as they are not going to come after the program, then it’s going to be okay, and they’re not going to come after the program unless people are not remaining in compliance. So, unless people are selling to black market prolifically and the whole kind of market and industry just bottoms out, which again, it is definitely a risk right now with this kind of market shakeout that’s happening. However, I don’t think that the state’s attorney generals are going to go after companies and just shut the industry down.

I mean, it’s making a ton of money for the state, millions of dollars in tax revenue are coming in. There are now a ton of jobs that are being created due to this industry. There are people who are not dying of opioid overdoses. I mean, we’ve seen in every single sector how this industry can benefit the states and so, unless we have an industry wide problem of everybody turning to black market activity, then I don’t think that there is really going to be a major shutdown.

TG Branfalt: Usually I end these interviews by asking what advice would you have for entrepreneurs, but really, I think what I want to know from you is, what advice do you have for people interested in working on the retail side, working in the customer service aspect of the cannabis space?

Emma Chasen: I’d say, “Do your research. Learn.” You can now take our program at SativaScienceClub.com. You could take the core science certification program from anywhere in the world because we do have it set up for online students as well. So, make sure that you learn about cannabis, make sure that you learn how to talk about it and then do your research and really target the dispensaries that you align with, and then take whatever position you can get there. This is the main thing I say to everybody looking to get into the cannabis industry, just get your foot in the door.

I mean, when I got to Portland I didn’t want to be a budtender working for $12 an hour. That was not something that I wanted to do, but I did it and then I worked my ass off to find my niche and made connections and networked until I eventually got where I wanted to be. So, do your research, learn as much as you can about cannabis and about how to talk to people about it and then go out and just take a position that you can, meet people, connect and continue climbing your way.

TG Branfalt: I really want to thank you for being on the show. This has been really, really cool. You have a fountain of knowledge. You know a lot more than I do, that is for sure. Where can people find out more about you more and more about the Sativa Science Club, other projects that you might have going on.

Emma Chasen: Sure. You can find Sativa Science Club at SativaScienceClub.com and you can find out all about the training and workshops that you can take through there. You can also find me and the work that I do at EmmaChasen.com. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook. So, my socials. On Instagram I’m echasen. Facebook, Emma Chasen. Same with Sativa Science Club. You can find them all over social media, Instagram, Facebook and the like.

TG Branfalt: Again, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show. It’s really been delightful and I definitely look forward to talking to you again for sure.

Emma Chasen: Yes, thank you so much for having me on. It’s been my pleasure. So fun.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website you’ll find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily, along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjaprenuer.com App in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trip Media House. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

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Denver Regulators Approve First Social-Use Business License

2/27/2018

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While lawmakers in Massachusetts are blocking the state’s voter-approved plans for social cannabis use, regulators in Denver, Colorado have finally moved forward on the successful 2016 voter initiative that enables certain businesses — such as bars, restaurants, cafes and yoga studios — to seek licenses allowing the use of cannabis in their establishment. On Monday, officials awarded the city’s first social-use cannabis license to The Coffee Joint, according to a Denver Post report.

Soon, The Coffee Joint patrons who are at least 21-years-old will be allowed to bring their own vaporizers and/or infused edibles to consume in the shop (though store owners will not allow smoking anywhere on the premises). The business is not licensed to sell or dispense cannabis products, though it is located next door to a licensed dispensary named 1136 Yuma which shares the same co-owners.

Rita Tsalyuk, who co-owns The Coffee Shop and 1136 Yuma with Kirill Merkulov (Tsalyuk’s husband also co-owns the dispensary), said that they plan to charge a $5 entrance fee but will not make the coffee shop into a members-only destination.

“Tons of people already came in. We’re offering free coffee and sneak previews [of the shop].” — Rita Tsalyuk, co-owner of The Coffee Shop and 1136 Yuma, to the Denver Post

According to the report, several other companies in Denver may also be receiving a social-use cannabis license soon, including a cannabis-inspired wellness spa.

This appears to be the first case of a non-cannabis related company receiving a license to allow cannabis use in the U.S. — social clubs have appeared previously in California, Oregon, and Alaska but were either operating without a license or were located inside of an already-licensed dispensary.

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Several cows graze in a Vermont pasture on an Autumn afternoon.

Vermont’s Cannabis Market Will Be Gray and We’re OK With That

2/26/2018

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We’re not expecting the Wild West in Vermont – think pre-legalization California with its semi-legal dispensaries and quasi-legal delivery services – but, as you might expect, we are expecting the law’s “loopholes” to be exploited by savvy industry enthusiasts.

Coming from a New York native (more or less), Vermont has been a green beacon for a decade – and not just for its lush Green Mountains. Growing up, we puffed on a lot of Vermont-grown cannabis; it wasn’t a secret that the state’s growers cultivated some of the best product you could get your hands on. The tiny state was our California – it had decriminalized cannabis possession before anyone in New England — yet, somehow, Vermont managed to fall behind Massachusetts and Maine with legalization and the new law does not create a taxed-and-regulated industry.

Come July 1, however, it will set in motion a thriving gray market.

What is a gray market?

On July 1, Vermonters can grow two mature and four immature plants-per-household – but we can’t sell it and we can’t publicly consume. The state’s licensed dispensaries will still only be allowed to sell cannabis to registered patients but a “gifting” culture is certain to emerge, as we’re seeing in Massachusetts and Maine as they move toward their own legalization dates. Gifting is nothing new. In California, shortly after the legalization vote, I gave a “donation” for a vape pen and cartridges after finding an ad on Craigslist. In Michigan, I acquired a “temporary” medical cannabis card to attend – and make purchases at – the 2016 Michigan cannabis cup.

An amateur cannabis grower’s seedling, bathed in the purple light of an LED-based grow closet. Photo credit: Cannabis Pictures

Kris Smith*, a Vermont native who owns an industrial hemp-related business in Vermont, temporarily moved to Maine following the legalization vote, hoping to cash in on the Green Rush. (*His name has been changed so he could speak openly about his experiences without fear of reprisal in either Maine or Vermont).

In Maine, Smith explained, a Craigslist culture emerged quickly where, for a donation, you could purchase flower, concentrates, vape pens, and infused-edibles.

“But another thing that immediately happened is people were growing more,” he explained. “People were like, ‘Well now I can grow my six rec and six medical and boom I have a fat basement grow with 12 plants in it growing at any time.’ That’s a money-maker.”

When voters passed the recreational cannabis initiative, Smith explained, there was nothing in the law that prevented people from doubling up on their plant counts and people started growing plants for people who didn’t even live with them or even smoke, such as relatives.

“Gifting was instantly a thing,” he said. “I’ve seen stuff as blatant as a delivery service with ‘donations.’ We’d find people through social media and you’d say ‘I’m a medical patient’ and you’d never show a card or anything. That’s not even allowed under the medical program but once rec was voted on it started happening all the time.”

While there were no “blatant” social-use clubs in Maine that Smith knew about, he said that, after hours, some bars would allow people to come in and consume cannabis on-site on an outdoor patio. However, he explained that because Maine is such a small market compared to other states such as California and Colorado – and the state’s “wide-open” medical cannabis program – that people didn’t necessarily need these gimmicks to operate in the state’s gray market. He said he was unaware of anyone who was arrested for gifting.

What does this mean, legally, come July 1 in Vermont?

Tim Fair, president of Vermont Cannabis Solutions and a lawyer specializing in cannabis law, explained that “as the law is written right now, it is not gray – it is black and white, clear letter law – it is legal to gift anything under 1 ounce to another adult 21-and-older.”

“The best example is the $100 Snickers bar,” he said. “You call up the delivery service, they deliver you a $100 Snickers bar and you get a free quarter-ounce of cannabis. As the law is written, that would be legal because the purchase you are making is for another object.”

The only way to close this loophole, Fair said, is by a legislative act. And if the Legislature is going to try and reign in the gray market, they would likely just pass tax-and-regulate legislation.

The personal stash harvested from a medical cannabis patient’s homegrown marijuana plant. Photo credit: Cannabis Pictures

Fair said that while the law allows for two mature and four immature plants, the policy makes it ripe for individuals to skirt the law and grow six mature plants at a time because there is no enforcement mechanism for law enforcement to ensure the plants meet those standards. Police would need probable cause to enter a citizen’s home and the only real way they could get such permission is if they were invited in, they were called to the residence for an unrelated crime, or someone were to tell them more than two mature plants were being cultivated at the residence – and even if law enforcement were to discover a six-plant grow, it would be hard for them to determine, in some cases, whether a plant is mature or immature.

Fair said that the new law has the potential to create a lot more legal questions that would need to be addressed, most likely, by the state Supreme Court; such as, whether the smell of cannabis emitting from someone’s home is probable cause.

“It’s legal – but, if you have quantities higher than the law allows, it could be a felony, right? As far as telling people what they can or can’t do is going to be a nightmare because we just don’t know yet,” he said. “We just don’t know what the courts are going to do.

At least one organization is planning a July 1 legalization party, which could raise the social-use question on the day the law takes effect. However, the party is being held on private property, which makes it near impossible that law enforcement could crack down on the event, so long as there are no cannabis sales or consumption by minors.

However, in a hypothetical, Fair said the proprietors of the property could be held liable if someone driving from that party gets into an accident – because they were allowing cannabis consumption at the party; but legally, Fair said, he believes the courts would have to hold cannabis to the same standard as alcohol in cases like this.

Neither Fair nor Smith expects local businesses to operate as “cannabis speakeasies,” as their livelihoods would most certainly be at risk.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Look, as a New York transplant to Vermont, I can tell you that Vermont has always been viewed as the Northeast’s most liberal state when it comes to cannabis. I can tell you that I see people consuming cannabis in public parks. I can tell you that I puff on my vape pen while walking down Burlington’s Church Street and have consumed cannabis on statehouse property in Montpelier.

There is currently a bill to create a taxed-and-regulated industry in the Legislature, but lawmakers simply have no appetite to take up any more cannabis-related legislation this session – which was enough of a fight.

The legalization measure allows a gray market to exist and most advocates and stakeholders are happy with being able to operate without expensive and onerous licensing – it’s sorta the Vermont way.

At the end of the day, this might be the best form of legalization as other emerging state-sponsored markets, such as Maine and Massachusetts, are in limbo due to pushback from lawmakers and fear of federal interference. To some, this might seem like broad decriminalization rather than legalization, but now Vermonters can grow their own – or, if they can’t, they can buy an overpriced candy bar and possess up to an ounce without fear of penalty.

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Stacey Mulvey: Cannabis, Yoga, and Community Building

2/22/2018

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Stacey Mulvey is the founder of Marijuasana, a company that has her traveling between major cities around the country — from Anchorage, Alaska to Boston, Massachusetts and everywhere in between — to teach cannabis- and hemp CBD-infused yoga classes.

In this episode of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, Stacey joins our host TG Branfalt to talk about the intersection of cannabis and mindful movement exercise, what a typical cannabis yoga class looks like and how they help bring people together to reinforce the cannabis community, and the legality of social cannabis use in places where the plant has been legalized. They also discuss the educational side of these classes, how cannabis and CBD can help one achieve a more internal perspective while exercising, and more!

Listen to the interview via the player below or scroll further down to read a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode.

Listen to the interview:

Read the transcript:

TG: Hey there. I’m your host, TG Branfalt and you are listening to the ganjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of Ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by Stacey Mulvey, she’s the founder of Marijuasana? Which offers hemp and cannabis-infused yoga classes in Denver, Colorado, Washington D.C., Boston, Massachusetts, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Anchorage, Alaska, and the fabulous Las Vegas. How are you doing this morning, Stacey?

Stacey Mulvey: I’m doing well, TG. And it’s actually it’s Marijuasana, but you’re not the only person-

TG Branfalt: Ah, I knew I’d botch it.

Stacey Mulvey: Yeah, you’re not the only person that has that issue, so I’m happy to correct.

TG Branfalt: So, aside from me botching the name of your company, tell me about yourself. First of all, how’d you end up founding this company, and what’s your background with yoga?

Stacey Mulvey: I have a background in teaching movement through Pilates and yoga for the past five years. I actually came to teaching mindful movements after working in IT for a long time, and just working in various corporate jobs and realizing that I hated … First of all I hated my job, but realizing I wasn’t being … that I really needed to pay more attention to my body. And then once I was, I was a lot happier and more … just a healthier human in general. And at a certain point decided like, “You know what? I’m tired of buying into the notion that in order to be happy and successful you have to just throw your life away in this mindless corporate job, and do what you don’t like just so you can earn money. And I said, “Okay, I’m gonna be a teacher of this practice that I’ve discovered that’s really benefiting me.”

I went into training to be a Pilates teacher, and it was amazing, and that just kind of set me off on this path of taking trainings in Pilates, and yoga, pole dance, and other mindful movements. And realizing that this was really my passion, and I felt like it was my calling. The whole time prior to my teacher training during my career, if you will, as an IT professional I had always been a cannabis consumer. It was just like part of my identity almost, but of course it was a hidden identity. It was like my true identity that my friends knew, but it wasn’t something that I put out in the world, if you will. It was just like, “Oh, I just do this in the shadows when I’m off of work with the people that really know me, know that I really enjoy cannabis.” Being in Colorado as cannabis legalized there, and starting to work within the cannabis industry simultaneously …

As a Pilates teacher, you’re really your own boss. You know, you’re working for yourself, you’re getting your own clients, you’re working at different studios. My jobs most of the time were part-time in different locations. It was like, “Okay, work out at this studio Tuesdays and Thursdays. And then I work at this other studio Mondays and Thursdays.” And then in the meantime I was doing social media and marketing for a couple companies within the cannabis industry, and it became after while … You know I couldn’t say exactly when it hit, but it was like, “This is something that I should just start to do as a business. I should start to combine these two things and start putting it out there.”

It’s kind of scary at first because there’s the professional reputation that you have, you’re sort of putting on the line as like, “Hey, I have this reputation that I’ve built up as a teacher, and here’s my credibility, and here’s my resume, if you will. And what I’m gonna do is also add to the end of this resume, like at the end of my name, cannabis entrepreneur, Ganjapreneur.” Just stepping out and doing that, it took a little bit of kicking around in my brain, and kind of kicking around with like, “Okay, am I really ready to do this?” And like kind of put this idea out there. But once I did I was really happy that I did, and it really seemed to … It was really well received, I’ll just say that.

TG Branfalt: When’d you decide to use cannabis and hemp in your yoga classes? And if you could describe to me kind of what you started with and what you’re using now?

Stacey Mulvey: Sure. As far as the classes, I mean when I decided to use them in my classes it was once I started as … Once I started Marijuasana, when I said, “Okay, not only will I just do it in my own practice,” because that’s really where it started was me, myself, realizing in my own practice that cannabis and hemp made a huge difference in my experience when I did Pilates and yoga. Because my identity as a teacher, as someone who wants to teach others how to improve their experience in their own body, for a long time I had that knowledge, if you will, that, “Okay. I know that this will make a difference because it makes a difference for me, and I would love to impart this to other people.” I never did it within the professional space because it just wasn’t appropriate. It wasn’t acceptable to say like, “Hey, you know what you should really do is start maybe looking into some CBD oil, or hell you know, just start getting high before you come into this lesson because it would really make a difference, you know?” You just don’t do that.

It was really about a year and a half ago that I started becoming more confident in revealing to my clients that I was in the cannabis industry. It was always kind of in hushed tones, like, “Okay this is my other job. I work in the cannabis industry.” And the ones that were like, “Oh.” You know? It’s like this little kind of flag that you’re like sort of waving. Like your freak flag a little bit. Like, “Hey, I’m into this.” And then they would say, “Hey, oh yeah.” We’d start to share some sort of conversation like, “Oh yeah my husband and I went to a dispensary.” Then we’d feel more inclined to start speaking with each other, and start being more open.

Once that started, I started realizing okay a lot of my clients are in this space and would probably be receptive to something like this, and I’m gonna start teaching classes. It was really important to me that CBD be the focus of what I taught, and that I brought out into the world because everybody has access to CBD, whether or not they realize that it’s legal right now. Everybody has access to it, but not everybody has legal access to cannabis containing THC. I didn’t want to neglect people in other states, or in other markets, that felt like, “Well, that’s not really for me then if you guys are just gonna get high and do yoga. I can’t do that in Nebraska.”

I wanted to focus on CBD because it … Besides the legality of it, it really is a crucial cannabinoid for everybody. For humanity, for wellness. For me it’s about more than just getting high, and I don’t mean just getting high. I don’t mean to degrade that, but including phytocannabinoids in our daily consumption is extremely important to me because I feel like our bodies have been basically starved due to prohibition. We’ve been kept away from a really essential part of our nutrition in phytocannabinoids. Hemp provides CBD and the whole gamut of cannabinoids besides THC, and it was really important to me that people became aware of that, and that my company brought awareness to that.

TG Branfalt: How do you use the CBD in those classes? Do you use a tincture? Do you use a rub?

Stacey Mulvey: We use an oil. We use an oil that we just ingest prior to doing yoga, and then I also serve tea, hemp seed tea. The CBD that you’re getting from the tea is pretty minimal. You’re not getting like a dose of CBD, but it’s another method for … Well, it serves two purposes, that you’re receiving CBD in whatever form, it’s a minimal dose, or a trace amount. And then it also serves as a social lubricant, if you will, that we get to … We’re taking tea, there’s a tea bar, we’re drinking tea together, we’re starting to get to know each other a little bit. It breaks the ice, and it’s a chance for some education to take place. People can ask questions and we can get checked in and settled.

Most yoga classes you get checked in at a front desk and then you go into your studio, you set up your mat, and then everybody sits there looking straight ahead at themselves in the mirror until the teacher comes in and starts to teach the class. With Marijuasana and the tea bar, and the chance to have it be a little more informal, there’s this opportunity for people to get to know each other or feel at least a little more like it’s a community. Even if they’re at that first part not very inclined to speak to each other, they feel inclined to speak to me a little bit and then it takes down the barriers of like, “This is really weird. What’s this class gonna be like? We’re just gonna get high and then we’re gonna do what? How is this gonna go down?”

But yeah, at the beginning of class we’ll drink some tea, take some oil, and then at that point, too, that’s when I start letting people know like, “Hey, if you brought cannabis you’re welcome to start consuming. I have some that I’ll share with you, or if anybody wants to share you’re welcome to.” That’s when everybody starts to consume whatever they choose to. There are some people that do not actually consume cannabis that gets you high. They’ll just take the oil and the tea and that’s it.

TG Branfalt: This sounds like a lot of fun.

Stacey Mulvey: It is so much fun. It really is. It really is, and that’s something I’m poking at, but I haven’t explicitly said yet. But what is really fun about it besides the physical activity is the community aspect. And that’s really important to me that the people do feel like they’re coming together in community because we don’t have that opportunity as cannabis consumers. We don’t have this venue where we can get together and be like, “Hey, I smoke weed, too, and here’s what I use it for.” Some people are just like, “I just do it for fun.” But the vast majority of people that I talk to that come to class have a reason beyond the fun recreational aspect. They do it for some level of pain that they’re experiencing. Whether it’s emotional or physical, or they found some way that it helps them in their life in a wellness aspect, and so they consume cannabis.

Which is usually what brings them out to a yoga class as well, the wellness aspect, but it’s like, “Okay, now that we’re here we can get to know each other and realize that we really are a community, and that there’s not one specific type of person that’s in this class.” We’re very different, there’s a lot of diversity, and we can get to know each other. I’m the only one that’s usually not the local, but it’s like, “Look around the room and realize that all these people live here. You guys are all part of the same city, and you’re all cannabis consumers. Did you know that?” I’ve seen friendships begin from my classes where people start to talk and realize like, “We should be friends,” or, “We should network.” I love to see that because that’s really important to me, the community aspects.

TG Branfalt: I want to dig in with you about some of the social use aspect of yoga and cannabis, but before we do that I gotta take a break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host, TG Branfalt, here with Stacey Mulvey, found of Marijuasana? Did I get that right?

Stacey Mulvey: Marijuasana. Yeah.

TG Branfalt: Marijuasana. I have it written down phonetically three different ways apparently. And she goes around the country and utilizes cannabis and hemp in yoga classes. Before the break you were talking about how in addition to the physical wellness, there’s also the opportunity for people who attend your classes to meet each other, network, and get to know each other. Whenever I write about social use policy, the Denver … There’s a lot of talk about it happening in Maine, and Massachusetts, and Alaska … Yoga classes are really always mentioned as potential social use licensees. They talk about having cannabis clubs, but ultimately you always get yoga studios would be able to get these licenses. Why do you think this is? Why do you think they specifically talk about yoga classes?

Stacey Mulvey: Yeah, I find that really interesting, too, that that gets brought up as an example. I don’t … Part of me thinks it might be because they know that the yoga classes are happening, and so they’re sort of primed for that. That they’re like, “Oh, yeah. Yoga studios.” But also I think it’s because it’s a great model of a business where people do gather that is not necessarily a bar. It’s not a movie theater, or … Any other type of communal space that I’m trying to think of, it’s a way … It’s a business where people do gather and partake in an activity where cannabis works really well.

Obviously I believe that it’s beyond just the community aspect where it’s like, “Oh, yeah.” It fits really well on top of that, the social use license. The yoga itself, and the activity that you’re partaking in when you’re going to yoga, it works so well with cannabis. Like I’ve said, it’s like the chocolate and peanut butter of wellness. It’s just cannabis and yoga really do work together because it’s this mind-body experience that you’re moving your body in this mindful way, and cannabis is just meant to be with yoga.

TG Branfalt: What states, you do this in Colorado, and D.C., and Massachusetts, and Oregon, and Alaska, Nevada, what states are you seeing the most interest in your classes? And who’s coming? What age groups?

Stacey Mulvey: By far I’ve seen the most interest in Massachusetts. Something about the Boston community, they took to it immediately. It was like this complete resonance in Boston. What’s so cool is there’s not one specific type of person, and I love that. I’ve seen all age groups, I’ve seen all colors of people, so people of color. White, Black, Brown, what have you, also students. I’ve seen career professionals, I’ve seen … I don’t know. Not just a specific career either, all types of people end up showing up. It’s beautiful to see, like I was saying before, that’s when people start to get to know each other. It’s not a thing where we’re gonna hang out after the class, it’s pretty brief, but it does make a difference for people to see that it’s like, “Hey, I saw someone who wasn’t exactly like me in this class and we were together. We went through this experience together, and we gained the same benefit. We had the same idea about cannabis and yoga, and yet we’re different people.”

That might be, too, why you see that in connection with social use. It might just be this unconscious thing that people are realizing. Everybody can do yoga, and it’s this emerging sector in the wellness industry. Yoga’s been around for a long time, but it’s just getting bigger and bigger, and they’re realizing cannabis fits really well onto that. It’s something that brings people together and everybody tends to go for it. It’s an experience that really can foster a lot of community, and an education, and it does feed into wellness. Which is something that cannabis, I feel like there’s this wave that’s happening already, but there’s still a lot of momentum behind it for cannabis to transition from being something that, “Yeah, we’re legislating it and we’re considering it as a substance that people use to …”

They’re altering their consciousness, but they’re not thinking of it as altering their consciousness. They’re thinking of it as getting mindless almost. I’ve gotten that criticism from somebody before where they were like, “Yoga’s not about being mindless.” Because they think of cannabis as like drinking a six pack of beer or something. It’s like, “You’re just using it to kill your brain cells.” Anyone who would say that obviously doesn’t … They probably don’t use cannabis. Or they did once and they had a bad experience. But there’s this wave with cannabis where it really is about wellness, and it’s about altering consciousness, but not in a suppressing way, in this very expansive way.

I think the more that we start to speak to that as a cannabis industry, and … We’re stuck in a spot where we do have to say, “It’s just as, in quotes, harmful as alcohol. It’s not more harmful.” We have to bring that out into the world, and use that to legalize it, but it’s not that it’s harmful, it’s that it’s actually very beneficial. That’s the second piece, that it’s like we can’t use that as our argument as far as legalization, but once the legalization is there, I think we really do need to start speaking to it as it actually is good for you. It’s not that it’s harmful, it can be very, very good for you, and promote health, and promote wellness.

TG Branfalt: I’ve also interviewed a couple of … the founder of the 420 games on this show, and talked to quite a few people about the role that cannabis could play in a workout regimen. Either in the cooling down process as a tool to help the body heal. In your experience as somebody who’s worked in this health and wellness industry for a long time, what might be some other wellness sectors that could draw on cannabis as a tool? Holistically or as a, I don’t want to say performance enhancer, but as something to help with physical activity workouts? That sort of thing.

Stacey Mulvey: I’ve started to think of it … Yes, there’s the physiological aspects, and is it Jim McAlpine? The-

TG Branfalt: Yes. Yep.

Stacey Mulvey: Yeah, so Jim … There are a couple of other experts in the field that really do speak to the physiological aspects, that it helps with recovery, it helps with endurance and that type of thing, and all of that is true. My interest comes from the mind-body aspect because I’m the woo-woo chick of Pilates and yoga where I really do see it from a secular point of view. But at the same time I’m like, “No, the mind-body experience, that’s my spirituality.” I’m not trying to put anything higher on it other than being in touch with your own body, and your experience within your own body is one of the most propound experiences you can have in your own consciousness. That aside-

TG Branfalt: It’s interesting to me that you’ve got a guy like Ricky Williams who is a big-time NFL football player who uses both yoga and cannabis, post-football career, as a wellness tool. To your point, there’s gotta be a connection there.

Stacey Mulvey: There really is. Your somatic experience, and that’s the type of movement that I like to focus on is what it feels like within your own body. A lot of exercise is taught from the vantage point of … almost like from this external vantage. What does it look like from the outside? Are your legs in the right spot? Are you mirroring whatever you’re being told to do with your body? You’re seeing yourself from the outside. The somatic experience is what you feel within your own structure. What is your experience as you move? What does it feel like as you’re moving your hips, or when you’re positioning your body in such a way? Then when you’re moving into this other position, it’s taking that reference point from being external to internal. There’s an intrinsic value with that. It’s extremely moving for an individual to experience. Once you get into it and you start to experience it from the inside versus the outside, it becomes almost addictive. It becomes its own motivator. It’s like, “I want to keep experiencing that.”

Cannabis helps you switch from that external viewpoint to your internal viewpoint, I believe, and in my own experience I feel like I’ve been able to facilitate other people getting that experience. An athlete like Ricky Williams, I don’t know I haven’t spoken to him, but I would bet if we did speak to him about that and say, “Hey, what was it like when you were doing football?” When you were a professional athlete did cannabis help you be able to transition from like, “Hey, this is me doing stuff and I’m doing stuff from the outside.” Did you notice that you were able to internalize what you were doing with your own body once you started incorporating cannabis and really contemplating what you were actually doing with your own body? That you inhabit that body and like oh my God isn’t that crazy?

It’s this whole philosophical thing, but to answer your question you were saying what other aspects of wellness could cannabis facilitate? Because I see it as a mind-body experience, and mind-body tool, I feel like beyond the physical health there’s also a lot of aspects of holistic health that cannabis could help in terms of community wellness. Things like creative pursuits. Things like painting and creative writing, those are other events that I put on that aren’t necessarily related to yoga, but I see the correlation because, again, it’s cannabis working with helping you make different associations. Different associations with parts of your body when you’re moving your body, but also different associations in a creative way. Being able to open yourself up to painting and to writing.

I feel like any sort of therapeutic endeavor, like art therapy or group therapy. I’m not a therapist, so I don’t know how that would work in terms of administering cannabis to a group, but just getting people together and actually talking. I’ve conducted these writing classes that weirdly enough it turns into a group therapy session because people are … they just start to want to talk. People want to start to open up and connect with each other, and connect with themselves. There’s that with group therapy, and maybe work with the elderly, and work with social groups that I feel like cannabis could really help.

TG Branfalt: I want to talk to you a bit deeper about education, but before we do that we’ve got to take a break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host TG Branfalt here with Stacey Mulvey, founder of Marijuasana?

Stacey Mulvey: Yay. You did it.

TG Branfalt: I did it. Which offers hemp and cannabis infused yoga classes throughout the country. Even Alaska, which I haven’t talked to a lot of people who actually have gone there yet. What I want to talk to you about now is how much education is involved in your business? And do you tend to interact with many skeptics who come to these classes?

Stacey Mulvey: I’ll answer the second part first. No, not a lot of skeptics come to my classes. If they’re skeptical, they tend to just not come. The skeptics that I’ve encountered usually are on social media, and there’s usually some little comment somewhere, either on Twitter or in a post somewhere. There aren’t a lot of skeptics that actually confront me. I sort of wish that there were, in a way. I would really love to speak with them, in a healthy adult way, just because there’s so much that I would like to say and to answer. Also, their skepticism is valid. Everybody’s viewpoint is valid, and whether or not I agree with it, it would be nice to see like, “Well, why do you think that? Why are you skeptical?” Because that’s out there.

But as far as education in the class, I try to keep it light because people are there to move their bodies. The last thing you want to do is hear somebody talk at you for an extended period of time. I try to sprinkle as we’re moving, like, “Hey, this is why you’ll feel better after class because cannabis increases your circulation, and what we’re doing, the activity that we’re doing is feeding blood to various tissues in your body that may not be receiving great circulation. The fact that you’re getting more circulation, it’ll increase the soreness, but the cannabis will help alleviate that.” That type of thing.

I try to layer it into the class as far as education. People do receive a bit, and then my hope is that if they get curious with that, if they’re like, “Hey, I didn’t know that. Whatever she was talking about.” That it’ll prompt some curiosity, or they’ll want to either ask me more, or maybe they’ll investigate on their own. But it is important to me that I’m bringing some sort of education to every class because it is, like I’ve said many times already, it is about more … To me, it’s about more than just, “We’re just gonna get high and do yoga.” Yeah, that is awesome, and that’s what I do a lot, but I’d like to elevate it past that, past that mindset. It’s like, yeah just getting high and doing yoga, it is quite a bit actually. There’s a lot to that that we should start bringing our awareness to.

TG Branfalt: Finally, what advice would you have for other entrepreneurs? Maybe not necessarily entrepreneurs looking to enter the cannabis space, but maybe those listening who might be considering more on the wellness side? You have a very interesting business model, and you travel around a lot meeting people who might end up considering doing something similar to what you’re doing. What’s your advice for entrepreneurs?

Stacey Mulvey: That’s a good question. I like how you segmented it to those interested in the wellness aspect. The advice I would have for them is to arm yourself with information. Get as much information as you can about the science … Yeah I guess just about the science with cannabis, and also in movement. Or whatever wellness activity you’re doing. I say movement because that’s my focus, but never stop learning and arming yourself with information on the importance of both of those, and what those are even. Something that I’ve noticed with other movement teachers, especially in yoga, and this might get me in trouble, but often with yoga teachers they take a brief teacher training program and then that’s almost it.

I’ve been in yoga classes where I can tell that they’re understanding of anatomy and movement is lacking because they only went so far in memorizing a sequence of yoga poses and then they were done. Keep educating yourself, keep getting training, keep finding more information, doing your own research, doing your own work. Because we really need to have a unified front on the factual basis of the wellness aspect of cannabis. That it’s not just a frufruey thing that we’re making up. Jeff Sessions was saying that it’s over-hyped, the medicinal properties of cannabis were over-hyped. I think that’s an exact quote, and it’s not. It’s like, Jeff, if you’re listening, it is not over-hyped. It is absolutely true, and unfortunately-

TG Branfalt: If Jeff Sessions is listening to this, the world is literally coming to its end.

Stacey Mulvey: Well, someone write him a letter. I’ll write him a letter and say, “This is what I said to you, damn it.” But yeah it’s not over-hyped, and it needs to be more than just like … Unfortunately, anecdotal and firsthand experience isn’t good enough for those that are gonna be skeptical, so we need to continually provide them with information beyond the research that they won’t allow to happen, and keep doing our own research, and keep making our own case that cannabis is an integral part of wellness. That is an integral part of cannabis, it’s not just the recreational like, “Let’s get fucked up” side. That would be my advice.

TG Branfalt: Finally, where can people keep track of you? Keep track of your classes? Get to know more about the Marijuasana, Mari-wa-sana …

Stacey Mulvey: On my website, marijuasana.com, and just to speak really quick if you don’t mind, TG. The marijuana and asana are where the name come from. Marijuana, obviously, we know what marijuana is. Asana is the Sanskrit word for “pose” in yoga, and so all yoga poses end with asana. That’s where the name for my company came from is marijuana and asana, and I just put the two words together. It’s Marijuasana. That’s M-A-R-I-J-U-A-S-A-N-A.com. That handle works through all the social media channels, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Marijuasana. If you go to my website or social media, I’ve got the list of events that I’ve got coming up, and I’ve got some coming up in Portland. Also in Oakland in February, and then I’m gonna be back in Boston in March.

TG Branfalt: Well, this has been super lovely conversation. You’ve been super patient with me botching your company name several times. I really appreciate it-

Stacey Mulvey: No, my pleasure.

TG Branfalt: My impediment does not allow me to say that word, apparently. And-

Stacey Mulvey: You’re not the only one.

TG Branfalt: Makes me feel better. Congratulations on your success thus far, and traveling as much as you do, and bringing this practice, and bringing these two things together to people who can really benefit from what you do.

Stacey Mulvey: Thank you.

TG Branfalt: Thanks for your time. It’s been really lovely.

Stacey Mulvey: Thank you so much. Yeah, it’s been great to talk to you, and thank you so much for the opportunity.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes of the ganjapreneur.com podcast in the podcast section of ganjapreneur.com, and in the Apple iTunes store. On the ganjapreneur.com website you’ll find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

End

Terry Rozier, an NBA player for Boston, jumps up for a 2-point layup.

NBA Players Union Boss Says MMJ Access Being Explored for Players

2/20/2018

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In an interview with SB Nation, National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Michele Roberts said the players union is “exploring” medical exemptions for NBA players to use medical cannabis but said that federal law is currently standing in the way.

“It is a banned substance in our league right now. If we do go down that road, we have to protect our players from — my words — a crazed attorney general who says he will prosecute violations of the law involving marijuana and he doesn’t care what individual states say. In other words, I don’t want my guys being arrested at airports in possession of a cannabinoid by some fed. It’s against the law. So, we’ll see.” – Roberts to SB Nation

In an August interview with the Players’ Tribune, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he doesn’t “see the need [right now] for any changes” in the league’s cannabis policies.

“… As you know, our players are constantly traveling, and it might be a bit of a trap to say we’re going to legalize it in these states, but no, it’s illegal in other states. And then players get in a position where they’re traveling with marijuana, and we’re obviously getting into trouble.” – Silver to the Players’ Tribune

Last October in an interview on UNINTERRUPTED, former commissioner David Stern said he “personally” thought cannabis should be removed from the league’s banned substance list.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in December 2016 that he had tried medical cannabis to treat his chronic back pain, and while he said it didn’t work for him, he supported allowing players to access medical cannabis and that it was “only a matter of time” before professional sports leagues embraced medical cannabis.

The NBA is home to eight teams in states with legal adult cannabis use; including the Washington Wizards from Washington, D.C., four teams from California, one each from Colorado, Massachusetts, and Oregon.

End

Grimacing Jeff Sessions sitting next to FBI director Christopher Wray.

Sessions Calls Out Senator for Blocking DoJ Nominee Votes During Meeting with Sheriffs’ Association

2/13/2018

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During remarks at the National Sheriffs’ Association meeting in Washington, D.C. yesterday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the department was “trying to confirm a number of important component heads” but was being blocked by “one senator’s concerns over unrelated issues by reversing federal law on marijuana.”

That “one Senator” is Republican Colorado Sen. Corey Gardner, who has been preventing Justice Department nominees from receiving a full floor vote.

“As Attorney General, I don’t have the authority to say that something is legal if it’s not legal. We need our nominees confirmed – safety and security are important – and those of us who are gathered here know that protecting the safety and security of the American people is the mission that we share.” – Sessions remarks during Feb. 12 National Sheriffs Association meeting

According to a Denver 7 report, Gardner met with Sessions on Jan. 10 about his decision to rescind the Cole Memo, saying that the “meeting kind of went as I expected it to.”

“I shared my states’ rights position with Attorney General Sessions, and he shared his concern about the Cole Memorandum and why he rescinded it, and he also reiterated that the US attorneys will be in the position to make these determinations.” – Gardner to Denver 7

Since Sessions’ pulling of Cole Memo protections, some Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys have muddied the waters.

Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling released a memo last month saying he cannot “provide assurances that certain categories of participants in the state-level marijuana trade will be immune from federal prosecution.”

Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney Davis Freed said his office “has no intention of disrupting Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program or related financial transactions.”

Pennsylvania State Attorney Josh Shapiro said he would uphold Pennsylvania’s “very popular” medical cannabis law.

Oregon’s U.S. Attorney Billy Williams and other law enforcement officials met with industry stakeholders last week to discuss the issues with the state’s recreational cannabis system – namely overproduction and diversion – but according to a National Law Review report, “none of the U.S. Attorneys in attendance expressed an interest in cracking down on the industry as a whole.”

(H/t Leafly)

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