Steep Hill’s Cultivation Science Program Helps Growers Prep for California Regulations

4/17/2018

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Steep Hill is consistently lauded as a top-tier cannabis testing lab — recently, however, the company launched a state-of-the-art Cultivation Science Program to help producers and processors reach and maintain regulatory compliance in the evolving cannabis landscape. Through this program, Steep Hill goes above and beyond the normal duties of a cannabis lab, establishing truly unique partnerships with growers and other cannabis entrepreneurs as a full-service, legal- and science-minded consultancy.

Steep Hill’s Cultivation Science Program functions as a partnership between the lab and a cannabis company. Lab representatives visit the partnering company’s grow or manufacturing site and make recommendations to keep operations smooth, responsible, and compliant.

The Cultivation Science Program is a “program in which we work with growers, distributors, producers, and manufacturers to provide a full-service level of quality assurance testing, consultation, and analysis,” Tony Daniel, Steep Hill’s Chief Revenue Officer, told Ganjapreneur. “The goal is to work with our customers to ensure that when they get to the regulated testing stage, their flower or product has the best chance to pass.”

To achieve that goal, Steep Hill specialists cover a long checklist, including pesticide testing throughout a harvest cycle, soil testing, air testing, checking for an OSHA-compliant facility, verifying and certifying that a company’s manufacturing equipment is not passing along any microbial contaminants, and more.

“The Cultivation Science Department bridges the gap between regulators and cultivators,” said Lydia Abernethy, Steep Hill’s Director of Cultivation Science. “Many important details must be
considered to successfully produce safe and effective cannabis products in a state-regulated market. Our purpose as longtime advocates is to provide growers and manufacturers with guidance and support.”

Steep Hill performs on-site visits as a third-party consultant, working alongside cannabis companies to navigate laboratory testing and comply with state laws. Some often-overlooked topics that Abernethy and her team address include record keeping and establishing standard operating procedures for producers or processors, she told Ganjapreneur, “But anything that can affect plant health or product safety is of interest to us.”

Finally, while the program focuses on California — the location of Steep Hill’s flagship laboratory — the Cultivation Science Program is technically applicable to any state-legal cannabis market. Steep Hill operates cannabis testing labs in Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, Washington DC, New Mexico, Oregon, and California, but, according to Daniel, has worked in an advisory role in other states.

“In a new or growing market, we can come in at the very beginning of an operational build out,” he said. “We make a protocol so that you are golden from the minute your first product comes out.”

To learn more about Steep Hill’s Cultivation Science Program, you can contact the company via their online contact page or by email at info@steephill.com.

 

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Maine Gov. Plans to Veto Rec. Cannabis Implementation Bill

4/17/2018

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Maine Gov. Paul LePage plans to veto the legislature-approved recreational cannabis implementation bill, the Portland Press Herald reports. However, the measure passed both the House and Senate with a veto-proof majority, so unless lawmakers change their vote LePage’s veto won’t force the Legislature to, again, rewrite the bill.

LePage opposes two regulatory structures. According to his press secretary, Julie Rabinowitz, the governor wants to see the medical and recreational programs merged. Under the law approved by lawmakers, recreational cannabis products would be taxed 20 percent, while medical cannabis would be taxed 5.5 percent, with an 8 percent tax on medical cannabis edibles. Maine Rep. Teresa Pierce, the chair of the implementation committee, said that those tax structures were recommended by Maine Revenue Services, who report directly to the Republican governor.

“We worked very hard to create a bill that addressed the governor’s concerns, as well as those of our colleagues. Our bill has received strong support in both houses. I hope the governor will reconsider, but if he vetoes it, I’d hope that we can still count on their votes.” – Pierce to the Press Herald

If LePage vetoes the measure, it would be the second time. LePage vetoed the first implementation package last November citing the conflict of legalization with federal law, its compatibility issues with the state’s medical cannabis program, regulatory concerns, and the timeliness the regime would be rolled out.

If lawmakers can override the veto, the first retail licenses are set to be awarded in spring 2019.

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Pennsylvania Health Secretary Will Allow Flower Under MMJ Expansion

4/17/2018

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Pennsylvania’s health secretary will approve of the medical cannabis program changes recommended by the state Medical Marijuana Advisory Board, including allowing flower sales and expanding the qualifying conditions list. Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said the flower products will be available this summer but said the products would be sold “in a form that can be vaporized, not smoked.”

What else was included in the recommendations: Allowing physicians to opt out of the publicly published list; eliminating the requirements for some patients to pay for cannabis registration cards more than once per year; and requiring that pediatric patients are certified by a pediatrician or pediatric specialist.

“Requiring children to see a pediatrician to participate in the program is an important recommendation, but we are going to delay implementation for at least a year to allow more pediatricians and pediatric specialists to join the program.” — Levine in a press release

The qualifying condition list now includes: cancer remission therapy, opioid-addiction therapy, neurodegenerative and spastic movement disorders, according to an Associated Press report.

More than 30,000 patients have registered with the state program, and more than 10,000 have received their identification cards. Nearly 1,000 physicians are signed up to recommend medical cannabis in the state.

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Oklahoma Senate Passes Hemp Bill, Moves to Governor

4/17/2018

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Oklahoma’s Senate has passed a hemp legalization bill by a huge 39-1 margin, according to a KOKO5 report. The bi-partisan measure unanimously passed the House last month.

Rep. Mickey Dollens, a Democrat, said hemp has the potential to be the state’s “next $1 billion industry.” Dollens, along with his colleague Republican Rep. Jon Echols, estimate the industry could generate about $300 million annually and create hundreds of jobs.

“The potential provided in this bill is limitless. In the long term, industrial hemp could become a source of steady, recurring revenue for Oklahoma. Once we analyze results from this pilot program, our state can be on track to commercialize the product and strengthen our economic portfolio.” — Dollens, last month, in a KOKH report

If signed by Gov. Mary Fallin, the program will be overseen by the state Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, allowing farmers and institutes of higher education to partner with one another to cultivate certified hemp seed – for plants containing 0.3 percent THC – for research and development purposes. The measure includes creating a fund using fees paid by program participants for the Agriculture agency to register growers, test products, and inspect cultivation sites; however, the legislation does not outline what those fees are.

If Fallin approves the measure, Oklahoma will become the 35th state to legalize hemp cultivation.

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A truck out in the massive Yukon wilderness.

Yukon Signs First Rec. Cannabis Supplier

4/17/2018

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Canadian cannabis producer Tilray affiliate High Park Company has signed an agreement with the Yukon Liquor Corporation to produce and distribute cannabis products in the territory. It’s the first company to come to terms to serve the region. According to a CBC report, Yukon will receive a 50 kilogram shipment once the federal reforms take effect and officials have the option of purchasing another 350 kilograms in the first year.

“Our goal is to deliver on the high expectations that Canadians have of us by cultivating and distributing a portfolio of world-class adult-use products that will lead the market in quality, excellence and craftsmanship.” – Adine Fabiani-Carter, High Park chief marketing officer, in a press release

Fabiani-Carter told the CBC that the company would first ship flower and oils.

“We will be selling everything we are allowed to under the regulations that are coming out by Health Canada. What you would think of cannabis in its most standard forms – so, the bud of the cannabis flower, whether it’s in a dry flower form or put into a pre-roll.” – Fabiani-Carter to the CBC

Although the date for legalization has shifted since it was announced last year, lawmakers expect the reforms will take effect 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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Oregon Regulators Suspend Issuing of Hemp Growing Certificates While Rules are Developed

4/16/2018

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The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has temporarily suspended issuing hemp cultivation certificates to Oregon Department of Agriculture-registered growers until the agency completes the rulemaking process.

“The temporary suspension is because HB 4089 requires the OLCC to create and implement new rules for regulating hemp. All applications received prior to today have been processed; if the application met the criteria, the OLCC issued a hemp certificate. Any future application received by the OLCC will be returned to the sender until the new rules are in place.” – the OLCC in a press release

Existing hemp certificate holders can still transfer specific hemp items to OLCC processors that hold a hemp endorsement. Under the hemp reform bill, which took effect Apr. 13, the OLCC must develop rules for registered hemp cultivators and handlers to transfer hemp, hemp commodities, and hemp products to processors, retailers, and wholesalers licensed by the OLCC. All registrants must register for a Cannabis Tracking System Account.

The bill was unanimously passed by the Legislature last month: it includes testing requirements and bars unlicensed individuals from producing, processing, or storing homemade industrial hemp extracts, such as CBD. The measure also sets a $2,500 fine for violating the law. Funds derived from fines, licensing and fees will be transferred to the Industrial Hemp Fund.

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Trump Strikes Deal with Colorado Senator to Respect State Cannabis Reforms

4/13/2018

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In a deal with Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R), President Donald Trump has agreed to support federalism-based legislation to protect states who have chosen to reform their cannabis laws, Sen. Gardner announced on Friday. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the agreement between the senator and the president during the daily press briefing.

The deal comes following hints of a potential cannabis crackdown from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who in January rescinded Obama-era protections for state-legal cannabis companies and instructed prosecutors to use their own discretion in determining whether or not to pursue traffickers of federally prohibited substances.

Following Sessions’ recission, Sen. Gardner said that, in an effort to protect Colorado‘s voter-approved cannabis industry, he would block all Department of Justice nominees until the issue was resolved or the Cole Memo was reinstated.

During the 2016 presidential election, then-candidate Trump said that he would support states’ rights to reform their cannabis laws.

“Late Wednesday, I received a commitment from the President that the Department of Justice’s rescission of the Cole memo will not impact Colorado’s legal marijuana industry. Furthermore, President Trump has assured me that he will support a federalism-based legislative solution to fix this states’ rights issue once and for all. Because of these commitments, I have informed the Administration that I will be lifting my remaining holds on Department of Justice nominees.” — Sen. Cory Gardner, in a statement

In response to Sen. Gardner’s announcement, Mason Tvert — a co-director of Colorado’s successful Amendment 64 legalization campaign — praised the deal in a statement released on Friday.

“We are grateful to Sen. Gardner for standing up for the people of Colorado, as well as to President Trump for respecting states’ rights to adopt their own cannabis policies. …This is one more step toward ending the irrational policy of marijuana prohibition, not only in Colorado, but throughout the country.” — Mason Tvert, VP of Communications at VS Strategies

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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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The Maine State Capitol Building in Augusta, Maine.

Maine Senate Passes Adult-Use Cannabis Bill with Veto-Proof Majority

4/13/2018

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Maine’s Senate has passed the bill to implement the voter-approved recreational cannabis laws 24-10, making it veto-proof from Gov. Paul LePage, the Portland Press Herald reports. A final legislative review of the measure is still required before it heads to LePage but barring any issues the first recreational licenses will be issued in spring of 2019. The measure was approved by the House earlier this week.

The measure increases the sales tax rate from 10 percent to 20 percent, earmarking 6 percent of the taxes to fund enforcement. The bill also eliminates social use, deliveries, drive-thru windows, and cuts home grow plant counts from six to three. Lawmakers also eliminated the cap on cultivation licenses but will give the first licenses to residents who filed a Maine tax return for at least four years. Analysts suggest that the recreational market will generate about $23 million a year in tax revenues.

Mainers already have the right to possess and grow their own cannabis and a gray market has emerged in which cannabis is given away for a donation equivalent to the cost of the cannabis. Other gray market models include cannabis being given to someone who pays for another item or service unrelated to cannabis.

LePage has 10 days from the time the bill makes it to his desk to sign it into law, veto it (which would likely be overridden by the Legislature), or allow it to take effect without his approval.

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A homegrown, backyard cannabis plant a few weeks before harvest.

Judge Rules Florida MMJ Patient Can Home-Grow; Stay Ordered as State Appeals

4/13/2018

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A Florida judge has ruled that strip club owner Joe Redner, a stage 4 lung cancer survivor, can legally grow his own cannabis “solely for the purpose of his emulsifying the biomass he needs for the juicing protocol recommended by his physician,” the Tampa Bay Times reports. The Florida Department of Health immediately filed an appeal.

Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers also found “that the Florida Department of Health has been, and continues to be non-compliant with the Florida constitutional requirements” approved by voters in 2016. Although the judge’s ruling only applies to Redner, it could open the door for other medical cannabis patients to sue the state to allow them to grow their own medicine.

“With this order, (patients) can go to their doctor now, and as long as they have a good enough reason to need to possess a plant, be it because they can’t afford the medicine at the dispensaries, as long as they have a recommendation anyone should be allowed to grow. The cat is out of the bag. There’s no way to stop this now.” – Redner to the Times

However, the state’s appeal will prevent Redner from cultivating cannabis right away. His attorney, Luke Lirot, said he will try to lift that stay during the appeals process, which could take years.

Jay Wolfson, a professor at Stetson University College of Law and the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida, told the Times that he expects this case will ultimately land in the state supreme court.

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A freshly trimmed cannabis nug lying on its side on a wooden table.

Aurora Cannabis German Subsidiary Ships MMJ to Italy; First Non-Government Supplier to Italian Market

4/13/2018

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Aurora Cannabis has shipped medical cannabis to the Italian government, becoming the first non-government supplier to the Italian market. The products were shipped from the Canadian company’s wholly-owned German subsidiary Pedanios GmbH. The products will be distributed through Italian pharmacies.

In January, Aurora and Pedanios won a public tender to supply the Italian government with 100 kilograms of medical cannabis through the Ministry of Defense, who oversees the nation’s medical cannabis program.

“The Italian government has entrusted Aurora as the only direct, foreign non-government supplier to the Department of Defense in response to its first ever public tender to help support the growing demand on its strictly-regulated medical cannabis program. We take this responsibility very seriously, and will be supporting the growing number of patients in the Italian system with high-quality products, as well as educational support initiatives for both the general public and physicians.” – Aurora CEO Terry Booth in a press release

Only Italians suffering from severe conditions can access the program. These conditions include chronic pain; spasms associated with pain, such as those suffering from spinal cord lesions or multiple sclerosis; patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and HIV therapies; drug-resistant glaucoma; and Tourette’s syndrome. Additionally, medical cannabis use is permitted in cases that require appetite stimulation, such as cachexia and anorexia, according to the Italian Health Ministry’s guide to medical cannabis dispensing.

Previously, medical cannabis cultivation in Italy was the responsibility of the Italian army. Those products were between 5 percent and 8 percent THC and 7 percent to 12 percent CBD.

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Former House Speaker John Boehner has recently joined up with a cannabis corporation in New York.

John Boehner: ‘My Thinking on Cannabis has Evolved’

4/12/2018

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It feels strange to type “former Republican House Speaker John Boehner joins board of cannabis company” – but here we are.

Boehner’s history with cannabis

During his 24 years in Congress, first as a Representative for Ohio’s 8th District and later as Speaker, Boehner was no friend to the legalization cause.

In 1999, two years before he would lead the lower chamber, he voted against a bill to implement a voter-approved medical cannabis program in Washington, D.C. In 2004, Boehner was given a 0 percent score by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, indicating an “anti-legalization stance.” Two years later, he was ranked a -30 by the advocacy organization – indicating a “hard-on-drugs” stance. A -30 is the lowest score a lawmaker could receive.

Despite his prohibitionist history, Acreage Holdings, a New York City-based cannabis company, announced yesterday that Boehner had joined their board of directors. Bill Weld, the former governor and Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee in the 2016 election, also joined the board, but Boehner caught all the headlines.

In a joint statement, Weld and Boehner note that 94 percent of Americans are “currently in favor of some type of [cannabis] access” which they say is due to “increased awareness of marijuana’s many medical applications.” The statement invoked the failure of Veterans Affairs to consider cannabis “as an alternative to harmful opioids” and the Tenth Amendment – states’ rights – that has allowed 46 states to implement some form of legalization (including very restricted, CBD-only programs).

Boehner is just three years removed from his speakership but in a 4:00am tweet said he was joining the board because his “thinking on cannabis has evolved.”

“I’m convinced de-scheduling the drug is needed so we can do research, help our veterans, and reverse the opioid epidemic ravaging our communities,” he said in the tweet. Although, you have to wonder whether or not the fact that his daughter married a Jamaican man who was arrested in 2006 for possessing 4 grams of cannabis in Florida played a role in his evolution on this issue.

Cannabis industry reactions

Despite his organization twice giving Boehner the lowest legalization grade possible, NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri issued a statement indicating the group is willing to let bygones be bygones, saying that Boehner’s “evolution of marijuana legalization mirrors that both of the American public in general and Republicans specifically.”

Altieri cites a 2017 Gallup poll which found, for the first time ever, a majority of Republicans supported legalization (albeit just barely at 51 percent). In 2015, a Pew Research Center poll found 63 percent of millennial Republicans supported broad legalization. Earlier this year, a Fox News poll found 59 percent support for legalization, which made it more popular than President Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Paul Ryan, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the Republican tax overhaul, and the proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall.

“Regardless of motive, former Speaker Boehner is still held in high regard by a large percentage of the GOP membership and voter base. We look forward to his voice joining the growing chorus calling for an end to cannabis criminalization,” Altieri said in the statement. “Anything that expedites the ability for patients to access this safe and reliable treatment alternative, and that facilitates an end to the practice of arresting otherwise law abiding citizens for the possession of a plant should be welcomed with open arms.”

In an interview with Bloomberg, Boehner pinpointed the moment he changed his mind about cannabis – seeing how it helped a friend deal with back pain. Moreover, Boehner said prohibition has “literally filled up our jails with people who are nonviolent and frankly do not belong there.”

“When you look at the number of people in our state and federal penitentiaries, who are there for possession of small amounts of cannabis, you begin to really scratch your head,” he said. In the interview, Boehner admitted that he “almost chuckled to himself” when Attorney General Jeff Sessions revoked the Cole Memo, which provided state-approved cannabis programs protection from federal interference.

Michael Correia, Director of Government Relations for the National Cannabis Industry Association said that while Boehner addition to Acreage’s board is “not a tipping point” that will push other GOP lawmakers and their constituents into the legalization camp, it is “an important first step” and that “it’s important to see the evolution of some former members of Congress.” Although Correia – whose handle is ThePotLobbyist on Twitter – said the addition of such a high profile former politician to a cannabis company board doesn’t surprise him.

“Now he’s free to tell you what he’s thinking and embrace some of these positions,” Correia said in an interview with Ganjapreneur. “I think as Speaker of the House he was the leader of his part and oversaw and spoke on behalf of a lot of different voices and what he could say as the Speaker would be possibly different than what he can say as a private sector individual.”

Correia suggested that some Republicans – especially the more federalist and libertarian-leaning – are coming to embrace cannabis reform because they believe in states’ rights.

“People who believe in federalism believe this should be a state issue,” he said. “And [Boehner joining the board] has been talked about a lot in D.C. It will get the media asking members of Congress, ‘If Boehner is doing this, what are your thoughts?’ And just raising the visibility on this issue is really important.”

Boehner’s new role

As a member of the board, Boehner will provide advice to Acreage “in terms of how they work with state and federal governments, how they work with local governments and advice on states that look promising.”

Boehner is far from the first U.S. politician to join the cannabis space – but he’s definitely the highest profile. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson – the top of the Libertarian ticket that featured Weld – once served as CEO and president for Cannabis Sativa Inc., which owns dispensaries and invests in the cannabis space. When Johnson left the company, he was replaced by former Democratic Senator from Alaska Mike Gravel. The New Jersey Cannabusiness Association is led by former Republican state Rep. Scott Rudder.

So, perhaps the tides are turning. Maybe Boehner can get the ear of some of his former colleagues and urge them to support one of the two bills in Congress that would effectively end cannabis prohibition. Or maybe it’s a publicity-type stunt by Acreage and a cash grab by Boehner – but here we are.

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Kristina “Kay” Garcia: Fostering Cannabis Industry Leaders with Women Grow

4/12/2018

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Kristina “Kay” Garcia is the CEO of Women Grow, an international organization created in 2014 to be a catalyst for women to influence and succeed in the cannabis industry.

In this Ganjapreneur.com podcast interview, Kay joined our host TG Branfalt to discuss her role at Women Grow and to weigh in on the state of the cannabis industry. Kay shares what she brought to Women Grow when she joined the team in 2015, including lessons she learned from a wide spread of professional experience that ranges from the corporate atmospheres of New York and London to humble farm work, raising cattle and chickens. She also discusses the organization’s growth and accomplishments since she took the helm, offers insight into the industry’s future and the difficulties ahead, and much, much more!

You can tune into 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 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 Kay Garcia, she’s the CEO of Women Grow, an organization which aims to connect, educate, empower and inspire female cannabusiness owners in an expanding industry. How you doing this afternoon Kay?

Kay Garcia: Really well, thank you.

TG Branfalt: I’m really happy to have you on the show. We’ve been trying to book this for a while. The summit was in the way, and we’ll get into all that, but before we do, I wanna talk about you. What’s your background? How’d you end up in the cannabis space?

Kay Garcia: It’s a strange story. I guess it’s not that strange, but I’ve kinda been all over the place. I went to Rutgers University to be a veterinarian, decided that wasn’t gonna be a … I couldn’t commit to the money, I couldn’t commit to the amount of schooling and then I was like “Oh, let’s try environmental law instead.” And that was also not where I ended up. I started working for Apple Computer, and this was right before they started the retail arm of their business and so I joined Apple, I was the photo girl, I helped them set up a lot of the new stores on the east coast, became really involved in logistics and operations and stayed with Apple for about, I think it was about eight years.

Then I moved to New York City, and that is actually where I met Jazmin Hupp, one of the co-founders of Women Grow, she hired me to work with her technology retailer in Manhattan and I was creating websites and eCommerce channels and working in customer support and setting up new different streams of revenue for that company and while I was living in Manhattan, I got really, really involved in the startup scene.

It was super attractive, hack-a-thons, all that kind of stuff, and I started working for a startup called Movie Pass, worked there for about a year and I think that … I had experiences at Apple and throughout my career, but it was really at Movie Pass where I learned a lot about culture and how the culture of a company and the tone that you set as a founder really can impact the experience of your employees and everything else that you touch. Movie Pass was not a really positive environment, and we were in the Aol Ventures office and me being one of literally maybe three or four women in the entire office was challenging, but it was watching certain behaviors be accepted and sometimes encouraged that was really upsetting, and I left Movie Pass after about a year to go work on a cattle farm raising cows and chickens and sheep and did that for a while, then came back to the corporate life to work for SAWater companies in project management and IT and ran their North American retail operations for a while.

Had a little bit of a nervous breakdown, couldn’t deal with a lot of the politics and craziness and moved to London, a sight unseen, I’d never been before and was like “This just sounds like a good idea, I can speak the language at least, so let’s do that.” And ended up across the pond and SAWater asked me if I would stay on as a consultant out of the London office and I was like “Sure, I need the cash.” Stayed there as long as border patrol would let me and then I had to come back to the states and that’s where I ran into Jazmin again and she’s like “Hey, I’m really doing something interesting, it’s weed and women.”

And I was like “Okay, I have experience with one of those things.” And I joined Women Grow, and it was June of 2015. I was the director of operations, focusing on looking at what was going on here and getting involved and setting up some infrastructure and logistics and realizing that “Hey, maybe I should try some weed at this point in time.”

Then he was just my boyfriend, who’s now my husband, but Ronnie, he obtained some very stinky stuff and I was like “This is gross.” And I had my first joint in July of 2015 and it was a very amusing experience where it was like “Is this high? Is this what people are talking about? Is this a real experience?” And he’s “Yes.” And I was like “Oh, I get it now.” And that’s how I came to Women Grow.

TG Branfalt: That’s a really, really interesting path. We get a lot of people who are from real estate and that sort of thing, but to come from SAWater or Apple, that’s a really incredible sort of story. Describe what Women Grow does and the mission of the organization.

Kay Garcia: Women Grow was founded in 2014 by Jane West and Jazmin Hupp and the mission of Women Grow is to educate, empower, connect and inspire the next generation of cannabis leaders. That’s our official tagline. I think the involvement of women in a brand new and burgeoning industry is really critical. You’ve got all sorts of other industries where women are a part of them for sure, but not to the degree with which they are currently and which they should be in the future involved in the cannabis space. I think Women Grow, we’re really young still, we’re about four years old, but we’re trying really hard to serve a couple different audiences. We wanna be the safe space for people that are interested in learning about the plant and about the industry that revolves around it.

We also want to provide resources to people that are in the space already who are looking to grow their businesses or take on new challenges. I envision a circle, right? So you’ve got newbies entering the space that have never operated a business before and they’re learning and they’re becoming more educated, they’re forming these new connections and then they sort of graduate, right? And they have this business of their own and they’ve got all of these grand ideas and then now they are taking that experience and they’re educating the people that are coming behind them, and Women Grow is kind of that space for those people to interact with each other, and we have our signature networking events that are on the first Thursday of every month. We operate throughout the US and in Toronto, Canada right now.

And people go to these events, they get to connect with people that have similar ideas and also totally different ideas, which is great, then they get to partake in a little bit of education, usually we have a speaker or some panelists that talk and then we wrap that up with a little bit more networking and we have infinite stories that we have to do a better job of collecting and distributing about how, “Oh, I met my partner at a Women Grow meeting. Oh, I hired three people at this event. Oh, I came up with this brilliant idea and now I found my accountant and my attorney at a Women Grow meeting.” We really seek to be that space for everyone to kinda come and connect.

TG Branfalt: It sounds like so far you guys are experiencing successes you may not have anticipated with people meeting their partners there and things like that. That’s super cool. I know that you can’t really speak to how the organization has changed since it’s inception in 2014, but can you sorta describe to me what changes you have noticed within the organization and even within the cannabis industry in your experience since you joined Women Grow in 2015?

Kay Garcia: Absolutely. I that when I came, we had … We were somewhere right around high 20s, low 30s as far as our reach, Women Grow into different cities, and we kinda blew up in 2015. I personally was helping to lead the charge of opening more markets, thinking that that was the best thing to do. So by the end of 2015, we were operating in about 45 different cities simultaneously, which was fantastic. And it sounds great right? And then you’re like “Hang on a second though, we don’t have a plan for growth, we don’t have a plan for any type of structure, what’s the longevity here? You just keep adding more people into this pipeline but what kind of value are we actually providing them?” So then 2016 was really an opportunity to take stock at what our core mission was and to go back to that.

We have a membership program now that we didn’t have in the beginning, I think we have less markets operating at a given time right now, but they’re more stable and they’re consistent. I think it’s a lot more valuable to have a market leader. I look at our New York market ’cause that’s pretty close to me, and Tanya’s hosting an event, not only signature networking events every month, but then she holds extra events and high teas and she does some stuff with merchandise, and so there’s more value to the community around her because she’s more present in it and back when we had 45 markets, it sounded great on paper, but we weren’t having events consistently in each of those markets, so I know that’s something that we’ve definitely changed and I think there’s always a lot of talk about diversity and inclusion across all industries, but I think in the cannabis space, it’s especially important just given the war on drugs and disenfranchisement of black and brown people and now you’ve got a lot of times rich white men and women that are being lauded for their efforts in the cannabis space, meanwhile that path was trailblazed by somebody else who might be sitting in the jail cell right now for having a dime bag on them.

I think as an organization, we’ve really focused on looking at the markets and making sure that we have representation from all different communities in our markets. We have had issues in the past where there might be a market that’s in a community that has mostly black and brown people and it’s only ever white women at this event and that doesn’t really represent the community well and I don’t think that represents our mission well if we’re not speaking to the entire community and who is most present in it.

But I think at our leadership summit, just this past, I guess a couple weeks ago now, walking into the room and seeing a multitude of faces that some people are clearly … That we’ve had Asian people, we had black people, we had brown people, we have white people and everybody was together and everybody was focused on connecting with each other and focusing on this mission instead of focusing on just the color of someone’s skin.

TG Branfalt: With your diverse background in industry and now you’re obviously recognizing some of the issues that are in the cannabis industry, which you’ve really processed a lot in a few short years. Was there any sort of trepidation for you entering a space that carries this stigma?

Kay Garcia: At my core I’m a problem solver, and that’s basically all I ever want to do is solve problems, and within this space, there are a lot of problems that need to be solved. But the organization is new, obviously, this is my first time as a CEO and everybody’s gotta have it sometime, right? But I’ve been leaning on the people that support me and support our mission and so Gia Morón who she came to Women Grow in January of 2017, she came onboard to do a lot of media relations.

I made her director of communications officially as an employee last year and then at our summit, we announced her as an executive vice president role, but Gia doesn’t look like me and Gia doesn’t have the same background as me so she has different perspectives on things and I really value that and I’ve talked to her. It’s funny ’cause her and my husband, they talk about I’m their wife of both of them, right? I’d be laying in bed, it’s like 10 o’clock at night and I’m talking to Gia on the phone and Ronnie’s just like “Okay.”

But it’s that sharing of ideas and listening to someone else’s perspective on things and kind of opening your mind. I’m a big fan of saying strong opinions loosely held. I will feel very strongly about something, but I also need to listen just as strongly because maybe I’m not thinking about something and I think in the cannabis space, it’s touchy, right? It’s race relations, and that’s a very, very difficult topic and what I really value about Gia’s perspective is as a black Latina, she has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I just didn’t even know existed. And they could be as silly as I didn’t know that there was a black people birthday song, that I love it, and she told me about it and it’s a riot, but then there’s also things like “Hey Gia, how can we make a difference?” It’s more than just about signature networking meetings, and it’s making sure that we have our presentation in our markets and Gia was a huge force in that in helping me understand what kind of qualities we need to look for and she’s really been a mentor for me throughout this whole process.

TG Branfalt: I wanna talk to you, you’d mentioned leadership summit, I wanna talk to you more about that. Before we do that, we gotta take a break, this is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey there, welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m your host TG Branfalt here with Kay Garcia, CEO of Women Grow, totally fabulous. You said earlier you were talking about your leadership summit happened a couple of weeks ago. Describe to me what happens at that event, how was the interest compared to some of your previous summits and was there concern about federal policy changes by the attendees? Sort of give me the rundown on the feeling of this summit.

Kay Garcia: Yeah, even just leading into summit, there was a lot of back and forth going on, it’s like “Oh, what’s Session’s gonna do.” And “Oh, the Cole Memo.” And all of these different policy changes, and I think in the end, people definitely got a little scared. We had some people that were on the fence about sponsoring because they weren’t sure if they wanted to put their names out there and make a … Not that they didn’t have a target on their back already, but make it bigger. But I think in the end, a summit is a unique experience unlike any of the other cannabis conferences out there. Cannabis aside, I’ve been to a lot of different types of conferences, and it’s very different, and so the format that we typically follow is people start coming in on Wednesday, we do some special extra content for our market leaders so that they get to thinking we basically never see each other face to face.

This is the one time a year that not only does Women Grow headquarters, or the few employees that we have get to see each other, but this is the only time that the market leaders actually get together in a room at one time, and so this year we did some stuff on cannabis and sexuality, which was really exciting, got really great feedback about that and then Wednesday night, we typically have a party for our speakers and our sponsors and everybody just kind of get together and Thursday, we kick off the lightning talks, and these are consistently amazing. Think about Ted Talks, that kind of style, and you’ve got women up on stage, and men this year, sharing stories of success, of failure and how to get through both of those equally, and there’s always tears in the audience, every single year, and it’s really great stories.

Michelle Dumay was telling her story about her child and of course waterworks everywhere and people were just like “This is amazing.” And “Her kid’s alive thanks to cannabis.” And she’s a divorced Muslim woman, and she’s talking about her experience just in life, not even just in cannabis and yeah, so that’s Thursday, and then Friday, we have panels and workshops, and this year we added something called experiences, so people can get a little more hands on, we had a joint rolling class with Jane West.

TG Branfalt: Oh, cool.

Kay Garcia: Yeah. Willy’s reserve came and they debuted Annie Nelson’s new line of chocolate, and so we had a massive line for some hot chocolate there and also, what we do a little differently with our sponsors too, and we want people … We don’t want it to just be walk past a sponsor and forget about that, we wanna show our sponsors that we care about them, so we just put them right in the middle of everything and one of our sponsors is a CBD spa type of experience. She set that up in one of the presidential suites.

TG Branfalt: Cool.

Kay Garcia: And she had massages and foot baths and creams and all sorts of goodies both infused and not available for people to take part in, but its focused on health, it’s focused on wellness, it’s, again, going back to that mission of connection and making sure that people are connecting with each other and sharing their experiences.

TG Branfalt: And during that summit, you guys announced a Women Grow TV channel on Twitch. This is something I’ve noticed. There’s Burn TV, there’s a lot of these companies that are using the internet such as Twitch, to launch these media platforms. Tell me, what’s gonna be on the channel? What’s already on the channel and what other content might you guys be considering as it matures?

Kay Garcia: All of it. We have had a bit of difficulty being … We’re a networking organization, but everybody that’s not in the cannabis space only focuses on the cannabis part of our business, we have a leaf in our logo, so we’ve had difficulty with a lot of other platforms either taking our content off or not letting us have access to our content and so we were talking about where are we gonna have a home for all of our previous summit talks and other things that we wanted to start posting, we’ve been doing some educational webinars on investment with some of our cornerstone partners and it’s like where are we gonna kind of have all this stuff live? And my husband, he’s into video games and just started thinking about Twitch and how they’ve been kind of entering into stuff outside of video games and we could be right up there with Julia Child and Bob Ross, why not?

And so we developed a partnership with Loot Interactive and Tim Sabience of, some people might know him of Howard Stern fame, and we’ve been working on putting more content up there and focusing on really getting a lot of either our signature networking events or I’m actually … Right now I’m in the process of uploading some of our lightning talks from this year’s summit onto our channel. But we’re really looking to do a lot of different things and if you’re, and it doesn’t have to be focused only on women, it can be men too, but we wanna make sure that our members and people that have always been supportive of Women Grow, that they’re getting some light shined on them as well, and so we’re gonna be starting to do member interviews, talking about different regional updates.

I live in New Jersey, there’s a lot going on, and I’m sure people wanna know what that is, so making sure that we can give maybe weekly updates across all the different regions that Women grow represents and let people know what’s happening. Talk about different products there that are available, really anything. I know that the loot guys, they were like “Oh, there’s the cannabutter guys that are on Twitch too.” And we can get them and I was like “Yeah, but it’s a whole bunch of dudes.”

So I wanna give my channel to … If there’s supportive men out there, sure, why not? Let’s get some ladies up and put the camera on them and let them shine.

TG Branfalt: So you’re telling me that just because you talk about cannabis and have a leaf in your logo, you have been denied the ability to push content on certain mediums?

Kay Garcia: Yeah, we were told it’s cannabis focused and I was like “It’s education.” We’re talking about molecules and things like that. First of all, not that many people are interested in that kind of depth, but the people that are, we’re not saying “Hey, go to this street corner at two o’clock and I’ll sell you a blunt.” We’re talking about, “This is how you write a business plan.” And because of … We’ve had trouble, I had to fight to get a bank account. Yeah, and finally I walked into a bank, a bank that was having some PR troubles of their own and I was like “Listen, you need a women owned business on your roster.” And they were like “Okay, you’re right.” It was like “Okay, cool.” But that was after walking into six other branches across New Jersey and nobody wants to even give us a time of day. And it’s silly. It’s a problem.

TG Branfalt: Was that something that you were expecting? Coming from the non-cannabis industry? Were you thinking “Oh, this is just sort of a networking organization.” Were you prepared to be turned down by platforms and banks?

Kay Garcia: No, not at all. Coming from tech and having to raise money as a women, that was bad enough. That’s super challenging for a lot of reasons, and I was expecting that fight. I was not expecting that because I had a leaf in my logo that I was gonna have to come up with all sorts of creative arguments, and essentially, Tim, I literally just had to go through a special corporate review process for life insurance because as an employee of Women Grow, it’s a cannabis company. And I’m like “Wait a second, you mean that because I work out of my home doing office and clerical work, I’m subject to a special review process?” It’s that kind of stuff that people don’t necessarily think about but it still happens.

TG Branfalt: That’s absolutely unbelievable.

Kay Garcia: Yeah.

TG Branfalt: I’ve never heard that in my life about the insurance, and I mean, I work from home and I write about cannabis, but no one’s giving me life insurance anyway.

Kay Garcia: Well, and that’s a thing, right? People will talk about “I’m gonna get in the cannabis business.” Do you really know what that means? Because it’s things like this that you don’t necessarily think about, and so maybe that’s an opportunity, right? I’m an ancillary business. Or I want to get into this space, what can I do? I’m an insurance broker, what do people care about that?

Well, people care about that quite a lot. If you can be in charge of underwriting policies for people that are in roles like I am, I’m literally sitting in an office at home typing on a computer all day, what’s so terrible about that? It’s the same thing that the company across the street does but it doesn’t matter, it’s because I have a leaf in the logo, and now people look at me with extra scrutiny and at times I’m warranted. The industry has a need for help with that kind of stuff, life insurance, business insurance. Business insurance is incredibly difficult and when you do that, it’s often super expensive because people associate added risk with what you’re doing. Meanwhile, if I was throwing parties with wine and beer flowing, people wouldn’t look at that with a second glance.

TG Branfalt: I’m really happy you shared that because that’s not an issue that I don’t think a lot of people recognize. Something just as simple as life insurance. I wanna talk to you more about some of the issues concerning females in the cannabis space and the representation there. Before we do that, we gotta take a break, this is Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m your host TG Branfalt here with Kay Garcia, CEO of Women Grow. The first thing I wanted to really discuss in this last part is the rate of female executives in the cannabis space is about 27% according to a 2017 Marijuana Business Daily report. The rate of women in executive positions in US businesses as a whole is about 23%. It’s not an insignificant difference, but it is, it’s an almost 5% difference there. What do you attribute that to as somebody who is a woman who works in the industry who talks to these women all the time?

Kay Garcia: Mm-hmm (affirmative), yeah. The numbers, they’re good, they could be better, if you look at the trend from 2015, and you could argue on some of the data collection on 2015 numbers, but overall, the rate of women is actually declining as opposed to increasing. I think women are a little tricky, right? Women look at potential investments differently than men do, they look at business plans and take risks differently than men do. I think men tend to be more hesitant, and that’s primarily because they’re looking at all of the different options. Let’s see, here’s all the things I need … Here’s 50 things that can go wrong, here’s two things that can go right.

But I think that’s a good attitude to have and I would like more women to get involved so that we can have better practices overall in the industry and all that, but when you look at the space as a whole, you’ve got skin creams and topicals, and that’s a really good way for women to get involved because that’s primarily a female product and women are using something, they probably know best how to make it or how to market it. When you look at cultivation and growing, I feel like that’s more predominantly male, although there are a lot of women that have been involved in growing since forever, but getting them to come out of, essentially, the closet and say “Come down out of Humboldt County and out of Mendecino and be part of this burgeoning industry.” That’s really challenging for lots of reasons.

But what’s happening in the cannabis space right now is you’re starting to see people with money that have not been in cannabis before get very curious and get very interested, and I know several women personally who have had fantastic businesses that they started and made extremely successful and then through a series of events, have either been bought out or pushed out of those same businesses by men with more money and that’s unfortunate, and I think that’s contributed to the decline of women in leadership roles.

I think it takes a lot of money to get started in cannabis and it is certainly not an easy job. It takes long nights, lots of sweat, and probably a lot of tears too. But it is something that we need more women in the space to make that a little bit easier for all of us.

TG Branfalt: What sectors are you seeing women in the cannabis industry most active? Is it that skin cream? Is it edibles?

Kay Garcia: Marketing, lots of marketing. You think of … Go back ten years, I mean go back two years, or go back even to last year, and you look at marketing for cannabis and it’s a lot of that “broy” type of stuff, I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s naked chicks with weed strategically placed on their bodies …

TG Branfalt: Rap albums.

Kay Garcia: Like graffiti fonts and stuff like that, and that’s not necessarily appealing to … Not even all men care for that too, let alone women. When I started working for Apple and I go back to that tech space, the approach that we took to retail stores was completely different. I remember when I was a little kid, going to a computer store with my mom to buy a Gateway 2000 and the guy looked at my mom like she didn’t know anything. She had done all her research, she knew more about the computer than he did, but she didn’t get that respect because she was a women talking about tech, and the changes that Apple retail made, that retail store design were really revolutionary and you can walk into dispensaries now.

I think the clinic in Colorado‘s a really good example. It has a very clean feel, you’ve got people behind the counter that know what they’re talking about and they’re very friendly and a lot of people that are walking to dispensaries are new to this whole space and they don’t know the difference between CBD and THC or how this topical is better for this type of pain and this strain is better for this type of headache or whatever.

So you’re dealing with a huge gap of knowledge and you need to have people that have that softer touch, and a lot of times that’s a woman. Whether she’s the one that’s providing that knowledge or educating the staff on how to provide that type of support, working on design of retail stores or product design, marketing to women who are huge consumers of cannabis, and there’s some studies that show that women’s consumption has skyrocketed compared to men’s and again, it’s not just smoking the plant, right? You could be vaping, you could be using it as a topical, you could be using a transdermal patch, there’s all different ways of consumption, and I think women being, as they always have been, the caretakers of the household, they’re making those choices not just for themselves, but also for the family, and so whether it’s an adult use situation or a medical use situation, women are getting involved and women need to be targeted and marketed to.

TG Branfalt: In which sectors are you seeing the most under representation of women?

Kay Garcia: Investment. And I think that’s not just cannabis, right? That’s across everything, but the VCs that have the funds, how many of them are women? Not many, but I think that’s changing. I just was at a conference up at Yale last week and I was on a panel with Gene Sullivan, Emily Paxia, and they’re both reputable in the cannabis space and they’re working hard to get more women businesses funded. I think you’ve also got within cultivation. I look at New Jersey and you go to any of the treatment centers here, or any of the grows that are in those treatment centers, you’re looking and you’re not seeing a lot of women necessarily in that trimming capacity or in the cultivation capacity. I think there’s a lot of women that have a green thumb and that they just need to be told that it’s okay to focus on this plant as opposed to growing some basil in your back yard.

But I think cultivation we can definitely see more women, I think we can definitely see more women in funding rounds and just overall, if you have an idea, just take the chance and go for it.

TG Branfalt: What advice do you have for entrepreneurs, be it male or female, looking to enter the space, you have a breath of experience in other industries, you have a very niche preview in the cannabis space, so what’s your advice for entrepreneurs?

Kay Garcia: Be prepared. People look at the cannabis space and they get googly eyed with how much money that they think they can get. It doesn’t happen over night and it does not come by easily. However you wanna get involved, I think the better way is to go through an ancillary route and come in as a marketer or an accountant or provide legal services, provide logistics support and fulfillment tracks and things that don’t necessarily touch the plant will be easier for you to get funding for, for investment, for just opening up a bank account, as I mentioned, and it’s easier for you to get involved that way.

If you do wanna get involved with touching the plant, that’s also an avenue for you, but be prepared to spend a lot of money. It takes a lot of money to make a lot of money and you can expect that investment to not provide you a return for a good couple of years minimum, probably a lot longer than that.

But I would say being prepared is key, and over the past few years, I’ve been out to Colorado and California and Arizona and Nevada and I’ve looked at all of these different states and every state has their own type of rules and regulations and then you go up to Canada where they truly treat cannabis as medicine and they have their own challenges up there, but I remember being, I think it was back in 2016, we had a bunch of Canadian folks come down and they were touring dispensaries in Colorado and granted, a lot’s changed since then, but back then, they were horrified at how people were allowed to touch the plant with their bare hand and people were like “Sniff this.” Or “Touch this.” Because for a lot of people, cannabis is medicine and you need to treat it that way and be very clean and organized and so we’ve seen regulations change drastically just in the past few years.

Now, if we, and I mean all of us, but especially women who tend to be a little bit less risk taking, if you can prepare yourself and prepare your business and instill practices today that reflect the most stringent regulations on the planet, not just in your state, but if you can take Canadian regulations or wherever they’re very strict, imagine what that will look like for you being successful two, three, five years down the line when more regulations coming down, whether it’s state or federal.

You’ll have already been operating that way. You’ll already be prepared and then so the other people that have to spend a lot of extra money and extra time and may go out of business because they didn’t have that preparedness, now you’re the only girl in the game and now you can get more money and you can have a more successful business, so be prepared like a boy scout.

TG Branfalt: Or a girl scout.

Kay Garcia: There you go.

TG Branfalt: Where can people find out more about Women Grow, the summit, the Twitch channel? Give us the run down.

Kay Garcia: Yeah. Sure, so WomenGrow.com is our website, you can find out how to, if you’re interested in starting a market, there’s an application there, if you’re interested in finding your local market, there’s a list of signature networking events so you can see when the next one is, but you’re actually, again, first Thursdays. So we’ll be coming out with one soon. You can also sign up for our newsletter, and that’s really the best way to keep in touch with all things Women Grow. We make all of our announcements through our newsletter, we also have our Twitter and Instagram handles, which are both @WomenGrow, but sign up for that newsletter, get involved, start making some connections, join our Facebook group, come to the next year’s leadership summit and come to, I guess in a couple weeks, the next signature networking event in your area.

TG Branfalt: Okay, this has been a really, really great conversation. I’m delighted that we’re able to find the time, especially after the summit, to touch base. Thank you so much for your insight. Really a pleasure to have you on the show.

Kay Garcia: Thanks Tim, it’s been a really great time.

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.

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Democratic Gubernatorial Hopeful Cynthia Nixon Takes Social Justice Approach to Legalization in Facebook Video

4/12/2018

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Cynthia Nixon, the former “Sex and the City” actress challenging New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, elaborated on her cannabis legalization position in a Facebook video on Wednesday, taking a social justice approach to the reforms.

“There are a lot of good reasons to legalize marijuana but, for me, it comes down to this: We have to stop putting people of color in jail for something that white people do with impunity. Eighty percent of the New Yorkers who are arrested for marijuana are black or Latino, despite the fact that whites and people of color use marijuana at roughly the same rates.” – Nixon in an Apr. 11 Facebook video

In the video, Nixon calls the war on drugs “racist” and says that “regulating and taxing marijuana would generate hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue … and create important agricultural opportunities” for 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

Nixon, a Democrat, announced last month she would challenge the incumbent, Democrat, governor. Earlier this month, several people who attended a private fundraiser told the New York Times that Nixon supported legalizing recreational cannabis use.

Cuomo, a former New York attorney general, has long opposed cannabis reform; although in January he called on lawmakers to approve funding for a recreational cannabis feasibility study.

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Cannabis Museum Opening in Las Vegas in July

4/12/2018

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A cannabis-centric museum is opening July 1 in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, which will feature a 360-degree theatre and a 22-foot glass bong – the world’s largest – handblown by Jerome Baker Designs in Seattle, Washington over the Apr. 20 weekend. Tickets to Cannabition, which will open at Neonopolis, start at just $4.20.

“Cannabition is an immersive cannabis museum celebrating the cannabis lifestyle through a series of non-consumption, multi-sensory art installations telling the story of the plant from seed to harvest.” – Cannabition, frequently asked questions

Products containing THC will not be available and patrons cannot consume cannabis on-site. Nevada does not allow social cannabis use and the museum is not a dispensary; however, the FAQ claims that the “world’s largest selection of CBD products” will be available.

 “At some point, cannabis will impact your life. … The Cannabis subculture has always been about more than the effects of the actual plant. From its significant global medical uses to current recreational application, it has always revolved connection. The plant becomes a bonding tool that units our peaceful and grounded community. Truly a great equalizer; usage, on any level, begets an obligation to partake in further social interaction.” – Cannabition, in a Apr. 1 Facebook note.

Attendees must be 21-years-old to enter the museum.

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Texas Health Department Considering Crackdown on CBD-infused Foods

4/12/2018

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The Texas Department of State Health Services has proposed an inspection protocol that would likely lead to a crackdown on CBD-infused foods in the state. Lara Anton, spokeswoman for the agency, told the Dallas Observer that any foods with “a statement on the label, in the ingredient statement, or any other material indicating that the products contains phytocannabinoids, CBD or THC,” would be subject to confiscation during an agency inspection.

The protocol draft – which is not yet a rule – would not apply to products containing “trace levels of CBD or THC” such as hemp seed and hemp seed oil.

“Industrial hemp, by definition, should have less than 0.3 [percent] of THC on a dry weight basis. The Department has been unable to find research that suggests trace amounts of naturally occurring CBD and THC in hemp product poses a risk to public health.” – DSHS Proposed Inspection Protocol – Hemp and Hemp By-Products

In a letter to the department, the attorney for the Texas Cannabis Industry Association, Richard Y. Cheng, argues that the agency “has not provided any evidence of adverse health effects of having CBD in food or other products processed by the human body.” Cheng contends that if the department is “concerned about misbranding, the Protocol does not clearly identify that concern” and that it’s “unclear whether DSHS is concerned about the issue of misbranding or adulterated products.”

“Applicable substances include, pesticide chemicals, new animal drug, product of a diseased animal or items held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth. The substances at issue are CBD and THC derived from hemp products. These are merely natural compounds found in non-psychoactive industrial hemp, a Cannabis plant. It is blatantly clear the legislative intent behind the definition of adulterated products (e.g. foods) was to prevent dangerous substances that could cause adverse health effects or to create negative medical outcomes.” – Cheng, in an Apr. 6 letter to DSHS

The department is accepting public comments on the proposal until Apr. 16.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Richard Y. Cheng as Dykema Cox Smith, which is actually the name of the law firm where Mr. Cheng works.

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MedMen Proposes Reverse Takeover of Canadian Media Company to Access Stock Market

4/12/2018

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U.S. cannabis company MedMen has announced a proposed reverse takeover of OutdoorPartner Media, which would enable Medmen — a Los Angeles, California-based company — to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

MedMen is vertically integrated in three states, including Nevada, New York, and California, where it operates seven licensed retail dispensaries. The deal is worth $6 million.

“This is an important milestone in the evolution of MedMen and the increasingly global cannabis industry. A major U.S. cannabis company is set to be publicly traded on a bona fide stock exchange.” – MedMen CEO Adam Bierman to Business Insider

In connection with the deal, OutdoorPartner Media will change its name “to a name requested by MedMen,” remain in the province of British Columbia, replace all directors and officers with MedMen nominees, “create a new class of non-participating super voting shares” which would be issued to security holders of MedMen, and “extinguish currently existing indebtedness or covert such indebtedness into equity,” according to a press release.

The transaction requires approval from the CSE. Outdoor Partner media is not a publicly traded company in the U.S., meaning MedMen would likely have to trade in the over-the-counter market.

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Review: Sunnabis Full-Sun Cannabis Products

4/11/2018

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Many cannabis companies are excited to make the transition from the medical market to the full-blown adult use market but few of them are in as good of a position to do so as Sunnabis. Founder Wendy Kornberg is rightly focused on product quality and assembling a great team and her efforts have been heavily rewarded already. Sunnabis topicals, flowers and other health support products made from cannabis are simply crushing the Cup scene in California.

You would be hard-pressed to attend a competition alongside Sunnabis where they walk away empty-handed. Their accolades are piling up fast:

  • 2016 Emerald Cup: 9th place for Mango OG Flower
  • 2016 Emerald Cup: 16th place for XJ-13 Flower
  • 2016 Humboldt Cup (outdoor Sativa): 3rd place for XJ-13 Flower
  • 2017 So Cal High Times (topical): 3rd place for Miracle Mending Salve 
  • 2017 Nor Cal High Times (best medically infused product): 1st place for Bliss Army Preroll
  • 2017 Nor Cal High Times (topical): 9th place for Miracle Mending Salve
  • 2017 Hempcon Cannagames (topical): 1st place for Miracle Mending Salve
  • 2017 Hempcon Cannagames (best new product): 2nd place for F* Cancer Sunscreen and Face Oil
  • 2017 Hempcon Cannagames (best infused product): 3rd place Bliss Army Preroll
  • 2017 Emerald Cup (most innovative product): 1st place for Festival Throat Spray
  • 2017 Emerald Cup (topical): 9th place for F* Cancer Face Oil
  • 2017 Hempcon Finals (best new product): 1st place for Festival Throat Spray
  • 2017 Hempcon Finals (topical): 3rd place for Miracle Muscle Salve
  • 2018 Hempcon Cup (topical): 1st place for F* Cancer Face Oil

Kornberg believes the cornerstone of her team’s efforts is, of course, the flower. Sunnabis grows full-term in the ground under sunshine as well as a cycle of open-air light-dep hoop houses in the early season. Because they grow their own flowers for their topicals and other health solutions, Sunnabis has far more control than product manufacturers who buy a wholesale market flower or oil produced by others as production inputs.

As a master formulator, Wendy Kornberg is demanding with their curing process. Her whole-plant product terpene profiles are native to the flowers Sunnabis grows, so the curing must be right to ensure their award-winning quality.

“We are very particular with the curing process. All our flowers are cured by Doug Cook and he is extremely focused on getting the humidity and temp in the perfect range so we lose as few terps as possible,” said Kornberg. “Because we grow with living soils and use natural inputs sourced from our own farm as much as possible, our flower really imbues the terroir of our farm. I also firmly believe that the conversation we need to be having with consumers is much less about THC levels and indica vs sativa, and much more about what smells good to them and what speaks to their body.”

Because the Sunnabis team are personally invested in serving patients and others seeking symptom relief, they are very customer focused and individual in their product advice. “I think that the informed consumer is not only a better customer, but also makes for a better world,” Kornberg said. It is this sort of individualized approach to medicine that has made Sunnabis so wildly popular with patients in Northern California. Now, with adult-use legal, Californians throughout the state will be able to obtain these products.

Topicals

Take, for example, the Sunnabis F* Cancer Sunscreen and Face Oil. This product goes on light so it won’t clog pores and soaks in easily. The proprietary oil blend infused with cannabis consists of a careful mix of argan, baobab, black raspberry, MCT, meadowfoam and evening primrose oils intended to both provide relief and also function at the perfect viscosity. The facial oil is packed with whole-plant cannabinoids and a consistent, powerful terpene profile all directly sourced from their sungrown plants. Kornberg extends the healing power of the plant with the addition of vitamin C and essential oils of frankincense, geranium, and lavender. Nearly everything is organic, too.

We provided the oil for review to a friend with an auto-immune disorder leaving her with an array of blemishes, some caused by steroid treatments. We figured she would be a serious challenge for the Sunnabis F* Cancer Face Oil. Her experience was incredible. In the first week, the redness and enflamed dryness resolved and over a two month period both the auto-immune blemishes and the steroid-related blemishes have resolved. The patient-reviewer was thrilled.

This oil for the face will likely have a desirable effect for anyone struggling with a dermatological issue above the neck requiring cannabis from psoriasis and eczema to sunburn and cancer.

Selling people on muscle relief from cannabis is pretty easy nowadays. Just about everyone knows someone who relies on cannabis for sore muscles, joints or arthritic pain. What makes the Sunnabis Miracle Muscle Salve different is that it works so reliably. There are a lot of muscle topicals on the market, but way too many of them are formulated incorrectly. Some don’t have a carrier to take the cannabinoids through the dermis. Some are infused into a base that is gross or greasy. And some go way overboard with added single terpenes so the product smells more like a dollar store candle than aromatherapy. The Sunnabis version is in a base of coconut oil and beeswax and includes a very effective proprietary blend of rue, plantain, comfrey, lavender, vitamin E, and essential oils of eucalyptus, peppermint, clove, helichrysum, and wintergreen. Again, most everything is organic.

The salve goes on thick at first but quickly softens from body warmth and immediately begins to soak in. Everyone on the review team was surprised as to how fast it soaked in leaving little residue or oil. Those involved with the review who were suffering from muscle pain found some amount of relief within the first 30 minutes but, as they continued to apply the salve throughout the day, gained much more significant results. It is true, as with all cannabis topicals, that repeat applications throughout the day are essential for long-term relief.

The Sunnabis Mending Skin Salve is designed for problems with the skin. This rare product is a blend of three cannabis strains and seventeen essential oils all designed to rebalance the skin and activate the endocannabinoid system. Effective against eczema, psoriasis and skin rashes, we found this product to be an elegant and effective solution to a wide range of discomforts on the skin.

We also trialed the Sunnabis Bath Milk and Body Conditioner. Group consensus was that we don’t exactly get the bath soak product category in cannabis yet. We love the smell of this product and the baths were fabulous and left our skin feeling incredible — and we know we have cannabinoid receptors in our skin. But, that said, we all felt like cannabinoids were going to waste in the bathwater and it seemed like a loss when they went down the drain. We love the scent and touch of this product so much that we all agreed we’d rather have it as a leave-on, after bath topical instead of something that was diluted in the bath and then put down the drain. No doubt, this is a great bath milk, but it seemed like a waste of good cannabinoids and aromatherapy.

It is worthwhile to mention that as Sunnabis scales up production, they are not converting to CO2 or another solvent-based extraction method that would be more efficient but would volatilize all the monoterpenes, making the product less than whole plant. Instead of that path, Sunnabis is pursuing ice water extraction and ethanol which truly preserve the full range of the plant’s constituents.

Rosin Dabbing Oil

It’s unfortunate that the Sunnabis rosin for dabbing is all the way down here at the bottom because it is exceptional and worthy of being at the top as well. “Stefan Johnson is the Sunnabis Rosin Artist and an integral part of the larger vision of our company,” said Kornberg.

I had the opportunity to chat with Stefan at length at Emerald Cup 2017. I’ve never heard an extractor go on quite like he had about the “story” or “fables” told by his oils. Stefan approaches making oil more like a vintner blends wine. Stefan understands the limits to using any one plant and instead sculpts the aroma and cannabinoid content with several extractions creating a blend that is greater than the sum of its parts. In his perspective, a well-crafted rosin oil should offer a sense of place and meaning and create sort of linear expression of itself. Like a fable.

Sunnabis single strain rosin is masterfully crafted and the samples we enjoyed were some of the best we have ever had, but it is the Sunnabis custom blends that we will all continue to yearn for now that we know they exist.

There is no doubt that Sunnabis is amongst the top players in the country as far as patient-centered product development. As their package design and customer brand experience scale, we expect to someday see Sunnabis become an industry leader in premium cannabis body care.

Currently represented by both Sonoma Pacific Distribution and Oakland Distribution, ask at your local shop for Sunnabis products.

You can learn more about Sunnabis via their company website, or by engaging them via Facebook or Instagram.

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A field of CBD-rich cannabis plants at a farm outside of Portland, Oregon.

Montana’s New Voter-Approved MMJ Rules Are Now In Effect

4/11/2018

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Montana’s new medical cannabis rules took effect yesterday, requiring providers to test, label, and track plants from seed to sale, the Associated Press reports. The new rules were approved by voters in 2016 after lawmakers passed laws effectively gutting the state’s medical cannabis program.

Some rules have not been finalized. The Department of Health and Human Services is still tweaking some rules, including rolling back the 50-square-foot maximum per-patient on canopy size, claiming it is too much. The department plans to announce their proposed limit on Friday, but it wouldn’t take effect until at least May. The agency has granted a 20-day grace period from pesticide testing to give providers more time to comply with the new rules. The seed-to-sale tracking system will be rolled out gradually and providers won’t have to use the system until their renewal is due or Dec. 31, whichever comes first.

Not everyone is required to test right away. Providers with less than 10 patients are not required to test their products until 2020. The state currently has 577 total registered providers.

New fees and licenses include: Cannabis industry employee permits; annual provider licensing fees between $1,000 and $5,000 depending on patients counts; and providers must pay a 4 percent tax on gross sales.

The new regime also allows registered cardholders to consume cannabis at dispensaries; however, Kate Cholewa, spokeswoman for the Montana Cannabis Industry Association told the AP that providers have not yet considered opening lounges or other social-use spaces.

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Maine House Passes Cannabis Implementation Bill; Senate Could Vote Today

4/11/2018

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Maine’s House has passed a bill that would see the state’s first recreational cannabis licenses issued in spring 2019, the Portland Press Herald reports. The measure passed 112-34, which gives it a vote-cushion from a potential veto by Republican Gov. Paul LePage.

What’s in the bill: Recreational retailers would be allowed to purchase product from former medical growers in order to ensure shelves are stocked on day one. Municipalities would be allowed to prohibit recreational businesses, but they would not get any of the tax revenues by doing so. Social use is not included in the measure, which also cuts home-grow limits from six to three plants.

What’s next: The bill moves to the Senate, who could take up the measure today. Supporters don’t expect the Senate to be an issue – they passed a more liberal version of the bill with a veto-proof majority last year. If passed by the Senate, it would move to the desk of LePage who would have 10 days to sign it, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature – which would avoid a legislative showdown that the early returns show he would likely lose.

Maine citizens voted to legalize cannabis in 2016.

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A woman holds up a small, green nug of cannabis between two fingers.

NORML Launches Website to Send FDA Public Comments Regarding Cannabis Rescheduling

4/11/2018

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The Food and Drug Administration is asking for public comment on the international scheduling of cannabis following a request from the World Health Organization.

“The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is requesting interested persons to submit comments concerning abuse potential, actual abuse, medical usefulness, trafficking, and impact of scheduling changes on availability for medical use of five drug substances. These comments will be considered in preparing a response from the United States to the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the abuse liability and diversion of these drugs. WHO will use this information to consider whether to recommend that certain international restrictions be placed on these drugs. This notice requesting comments is required by the Controlled Substances Act (the CSA).” – Apr. 4 FDA document

In conjunction with the request, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws has launched a website to help citizens submit those comments. The organization seeks to submit 6,400 total comments and, as of this morning, have sent 5,914. Individuals using the NORML site can send a form letter which supports the reclassification.

“Cannabis clearly does not share the ‘high’ abuse potential associated with other Schedule I substances like heroin, or even other legal substances like alcohol, tobacco, or prescription opiates. According to a comprehensive review by the United States National Academy of Sciences, cannabis’ dependence liability is similar to that of caffeine (7 percent) or anxiolytics (9 percent), and is far lower than the dependence liability associated with other substances like alcohol (15 percent) and tobacco (32 percent).” – NORML form letter sent to FDA

The agency is accepting the public comments until Apr. 23.

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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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