NCIA’s Medicine of Cannabis Policy Paper

Learn more about NCIA’s Medicine of Cannabis policy paper with Paloma Lehfeldt, Paul Muchowski, Vireo Health/Defined Research.

As one of the only physician-founded, physician-led medical cannabis companies in the world, Vireo Health collaborates with research organizations to better understand medical cannabis, its applications, and its safety. These partnerships help to reinforce and improve the scientific underpinning of the beneficial effects of cannabis and its ability to treat a range of medical conditions.

Today we’re here to talk about the Medicine of Cannabis paper. We start by talking about what our guest’s goals were for this paper, and more about the other authors including doctors of medicine, as well as veterinarians. We also go back into the past and talk about the history of cannabis being used as medicine. We dive into pre-prohibition, the war on drugs, and much more.

Movement in Congress In Cannabis Policy Reform

Tune in to this episode to learn more about Movement in Congress In Cannabis Policy Reform with Michael Correia and Michelle Rutter Friberg today on NCIA’s Cannabis Industry Voice. Host Bethany Moore checks in with NCIA’s D.C. team about the most recent movement in Congress in cannabis policy reform.

NCIA’s Director of Government Relations, Michael Correia, and Deputy Director of Government relations, Michelle Rutter Friberg, check in with the show to discuss the reintroduction of the SAFE Banking Act in the 117th Congress, plus the reintroduction of the MORE Act. Michael and Michelle offer insight into the balance of bipartisan support for these bills, as well as the nuances of what those bills contain, and what changes may have been made in these newer versions.

Bethany also reflects on the 7 to 8 years that Michael and Michelle have been working on Capitol Hill as NCIA’s full-time lobbying team, representing the legal, regulated cannabis industry in the halls of Congress, and how their day-to-day lobbying work is slowly returning to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic impacted how they conducted their efforts with Congressional staff.

Weediatrics with Erin O’Hearn

Medical Cannabis Access and Insurance with Anne M. Davis, Esq.

Tune in to learn more about Medical Cannabis Access and Insurance with Anne M. Davis, Esq. of Bennabis Health. Anne has been practicing law for 20 years. For the past 12 years, she has been recognized as one of the state’s leading experts in marijuana law and policy. In that role, Davis has presented workshops and seminars nationally about marijuana law reform. Since her diagnosis with MS, she has dedicated her skills and experience to create programs and expand access for medical marijuana patients. As part of that mission, she is a Patient Advocate for Bennabis Health, the first health care company in the nation covering medical marijuana. As a community leader, Anne serves as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) working with foster children; she teaches CCD at her local church and has served as a Girl Scout leader for 11 years. Anne was recognized as a “Woman of Distinction” by the Girl Scouts at their annual Gala in 2020. Working with children, keeping them safe, and giving them the best opportunities possible are some of her top priorities. We review a bit more about her background in cannabis and her personal story.

Anne published a blog with us recently about her journey with MS. Although federal legalization isn’t quite here yet, there are many cannabis patients all across the country whether in medical-only states or full-on adult use. They are replacing certain pharmaceuticals with cannabis products for their well-being. Unfortunately, health insurance isn’t quite there yet. We discuss the progress being made on that from, and how cannabis patients are getting their needs met as a benefit, especially when it is needed for medical reasons and it can become very expensive without insurance.

The Cannabis Business with Author Charlie Alovisetti

Tune in to this episode to learn more about the Cannabis Business with Author Charlie Alovisetti today on NCIA’s Cannabis Industry Voice. Charlie is a partner at Vicente Sederberg and chair of the firm’s Corporate Department. He is recognized by Chambers & Partners as one of the top cannabis lawyers in the United States and is the co-author of The Cannabis Business: Understanding Law, Finance, and Governance in America’s Newest Industry (Routledge, 2020).

Prior to joining VS, Charlie worked as an associate in the New York offices of Latham & Watkins and Goodwin, where he represented public companies and private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in a range of corporate transactions. For companies trying to raise money for their businesses, either startup or bigger expansions, with this federal confusion, we talk about how that impacts the process of raising money in a technically illegal industry. We dive into if there is risk in putting yourself out there that you’re in this industry trying to raise money.

So while we say “states are legalizing” but depending on how that law is written, it might be full-on adult-use like we enjoy in Colorado or California, or medical-only like Florida, and then there’s the unique case of Oklahoma. Maybe just decriminalizing for consumption but not allowing an actual industry, which is confusing. So we talk about how can we start to make sense when legalizing state by state is NOT a cookie-cutter process. As the largely illicit cannabis market transitions to the legal, regulated industry, the “canna-curious” and experienced industry participants alike are experiencing the harsh truth: Making a fortune in the legal cannabis industry is a challenge made even more difficult by a complex patchwork of state and federal laws.

The Cannabis Business clears the confusion around topics such as the distinction between hemp and cannabis and why it matters for consumers and regulators, why CBD isn’t completely legal in the U.S., why and how states differ in their licensing processes, and how to deal with structuring is impacted by state regulations. Written by attorneys from the nation’s leading cannabis law and policy firm, this comprehensive primer on all things cannabis law is a must-have for anyone seeking to understand the major practical legal issues facing the cannabis industry in the U.S.

Building New Foundations in the Cannabis Industry – Part 2

Tune in to this episode of Building New Foundations in the Cannabis Industry – Part 2 with Elise Serbaroli, Debra Borchardt, and Christine De La Rosa. Today we’re going to talk about an important new white paper series called Building New Foundations in the Cannabis Industry: Creating Gender Parity through Ownership, Leadership, Boards, Pay Equality, Branding, and Capital, but first, let’s talk more about our guests.

Elise Serbaroli leads Global Business Development at Strimo – she brings global experience in software and multinational food operations to the cannabis space. Elise is a member of the NCIA’s State Regulatory Committee, focused on Technology, Compliance, Regulatory Forces, and Informing Local Governments.

Debra Borchardt is the Co-founder and CEO of the cannabis financial news website Green Market Report. She left Wall Street to earn her Master’s Degree in Business and Economic Reporting from New York University, and embarked on a career as a financial journalist, including as a senior producer and reporter at TheStreet.com. Debra is also a Co-Founder of the women’s cannabis executives networking group, Industry Power Women and serves on the board of the cannabis newswire, Axiswire.

Christine De La Rosa is the co-founder and CEO of The People’s Dispensary, and spent 20 years as a system and database architect in tech before coming to cannabis. Christine has her own story and experiences of cannabis as a life-saving wellness medicine, which inspired her to open Benefit Health Collective in 2016, along with her co-founders, to help those who most need access to cannabis. Christine is on NCIA’s DEIC Committee.

Building New Foundations in the Cannabis Industry – Part 1

Tune in to this episode to learn more about Building New Foundations in the Cannabis Industry Part 1 with Elise Serbaroli, Kelly Perez, and Christine De La Rosa. Today we’re going to talk about an important new white paper series called Building New Foundations in the Cannabis Industry: Creating Gender Parity through Ownership, Leadership, Boards, Pay Equality, Branding, and Capital, with some of the co-authors.

Elise Serbaroli leads Global Business Development at Strimo – she brings global experience in software and multinational food operations to the cannabis space. Elise is a member of the NCIA’s State Regulatory Committee, focused on Technology, Compliance, Regulatory Forces, and Informing Local Governments.

Kelly Perez is the President and co-founder of Cannabis Doing Good, the co-Executive Director of the Cannabis Impact Fund, and the CEO/co-founder of KIND Colorado. Kelly was the Human Services Policy Adviser to Colorado Governor, now U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, and led the creation of the Office of Marijuana Coordination in the first legal, adult-use, cannabis market in the world. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social work.

Christine De La Rosa is the co-founder and CEO of The People’s Dispensary, and spent 20 years as a system and database architect in tech before coming to cannabis. Christine has her own story and experiences of cannabis as a life-saving wellness medicine, which inspired her to open Benefit Health Collective in 2016, along with her co-founders, to help those who most need access to cannabis. Christine is on NCIA’s DEIC Committee.

Taxes And Cannabis with Jacques Santucci

Tune in to this episode to learn more about taxes and cannabis with Jacques Santucci of Nucleus One.

Jacques is the President of Nucleus One Consulting, which provides business management consulting specializing in the cannabis industry. Working as a cannabis entrepreneur for over 10 years, Jacques founded the firm on the premise of sharing his experience and proven best practices, helping cannabis businesses succeed at the intersection of finance, operations, and strategy. His focus is on setting up corporate strategy and structure, operations and administration of the business, designing and overseeing construction of facilities and systems as well as creating strong relationships with financing partners and major vendors, with a cross-functional approach to innovation and performance. As the industry is evolving, he has spearheaded cannabis companies in several states including Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Hawaii amongst others. He is a sought-after speaker on the topics of the impact of 280E, the primary business management basics for the recreational market, and the evolution of the New England market.

We start by diving into some of the challenges you might not expect to face when you’re designing or updating your cannabis facility, that would be… taxes. We haven’t talked about 280E in awhile here on the show because the SAFE Banking Act has been stealing the show, but we circle back on this tax provision that is still very much impacting our industry even in the facilities design stage of the process. Since Jacques is working across various states, and each state has its own licensing process, some are medical only, some are adult-use only, some are both. We talk about and compare some of those differences from state to state from Jacques’s perspective

#10YearsofNCIA with Ryan Douglas And Nina Simosko

Tune in to this look-back episode as we wrap up the year 2020 and reflect on #10YearsofNCIA.

Ryan Douglas And Nina Simosko Join us today to help celebrate 10 years of NCIA.

The Hurdles For A Cannabis Startup with Ryan Douglas of Ryan Douglas Cultivation. As Master Grower from 2013 to 2016, he directed cultivation for Tweed Inc., Canada’s largest licensed producer of medical cannabis and the flagship subsidiary of Canopy Growth Corporation. As one of the company’s first employees, he helped drive the organization’s early success by designing the production facility, selecting the genetics, and hiring and training staff to produce 70,000 plants and process 6 tons of dry cannabis annually. His work at Tweed has been featured in Vice, New York Times, Bloomberg News, and on National Public Radio. The cannabis industry in its current form is relatively new and fresh and still quite entrepreneurial. A lot of “start-ups” being formed and launched, especially with every year, new states legalizing medical or adult-use cannabis. There’s a lot of people listening to this show right now who might be launching cannabis businesses in their states soon. We discuss what advice Ryan has as someone who has worked directly with start-ups in the cannabis space. Also, some common challenges or hurdles that start-up operators might not think about.

The Future Of Cannabis As An Essential Business with Nina Simosko. Nina serves as Chief Revenue Officer for Akerna, a global regulatory compliance technology company in the cannabis space. Akerna’s companies and investments also include MJ Freeway, Ample Organics, Last Call Analytics, Leaf Data Systems, solo sciences, and ZolTrain. Nina brings more than 20 years of technology industry experience to her role. We talk about current events, and the good news during all this is that cannabis businesses have been deemed “essential”. But there are some differences in how we’re operating. There’s delivery and curbside pickup etc so we walk through that customer-to-sale process now and how it’s different. Looking even further into the future here, we ask if she is anticipating any further changes than what we’ve already seen. As well as How will dispensaries reach their customers and what will be new and different in how we’re operating in this new normal. Nina is extremely well suited to her current role with Akerna. She oversees all of the company’s revenue generation streams, builds strategies to drive revenue growth, and plays a pivotal role in aligning revenue generation processes across the entire organization.

#10YearsofNCIA with Autumn Shelton and Andy Poticha

Tune in to this look-back episode as we wrap up the year 2020 and reflect on #10YearsofNCIA.

Autumn Shelton and Andy Poticha join us for another episode celebrating 10 years of NCIA!

Shifts In Cannabis Stigma During COVID-19 Autumn Shelton, Chief Financial Officer of Autumn Brands. Autumn is a partner as well as CFO of Autumn Brands, a 50 percent woman-owned cannabis business located in sunny coastal Carpinteria, Santa Barbara County, California. In her position as CFO, Autumn is a strategic decision-maker for the family farm, which started in Holland more than 100 years ago. Along with overseeing the company’s financials, she is in charge of legal compliance on the local and state levels. Autumn champions the health and wellness benefits of cannabis and is committed to cultivation free of pesticides and other harmful chemicals. We start by talking about current affairs, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world. The silver lining is that cannabis was deemed essential in most states where it was legal during massive shutdowns. This implies that the public, and governments, see the value of cannabis. We talk about what shifts in the stigma have happened against cannabis since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Having gone through this process and now Autumn is rockin’ and rollin’ and in business, we talk about the advice Autumn has for individuals who are starting this process. As well as Any obstacles Autumn has come across that she can advise others on especially If you’re a woman business owner.

Cannabis Facilities In COVID-19 with Andy Poticha. Andy is a Principal at Cannabis Facility Construction, a national, full-service cannabis facility design-build industry leader. Since 2015, the company has renovated more than 30 cultivation facilities, processing centers, and dispensary projects in nine states across the country. Andy has been on the show once before about a year ago, so we’ve heard a bit about him and his background already and how you got into the cannabis industry. So today we focus on what’s been happening in the last year since he was on the show. We’re only halfway into the year 2020 and already the landscape of the cannabis industry has shifted in many ways. The most important of which to us is that cannabis was deemed an “ESSENTIAL” business during the coronavirus shutdowns. We dive into how cannabis companies can continue to expand facilities during COVID, and what they can expect from their contractors as it relates to compliance with social distancing rules and keeping on track for deadlines, etc. The reality of it is the show must go on. So we talk about what’s happening in Andy’s world, and HOW it’s happening.

#10YearsofNCIA with Debby Goldsberry and Bryan Passman

Tune in to this look-back episode as we wrap up the year 2020 and reflect on #10YearsofNCIA.

Tune in to this throwback episode Debby Goldsberry And Bryan Passman join us for our 10 Years Of NCIA episode series talking about Community And Cannabis and talent acquisition.

Debby Goldsberry, CEO of Magnolia Wellness, has nearly 30 years of experience as a leader in the medical and adult-use marijuana industry. Magnolia Wellness, an award-winning dispensary in Oakland, CA, and also co-founded the Berkeley Patients Group (BPG) medical cannabis collective in 1999, directing its growth for over 10 years, from 1999 – 2010. Goldsberry is the author of Starting and Running a Marijuana Business (Idiot’s Guide), a well-known industry guide, and was also a top-rated mentor at Gateway Incubator in Oakland, CA, and is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed. She is a former board member at California NORML and the Marijuana Policy Project and is a Professor Emeritus at Oaksterdam University. We brought Debby on the show, partially, because her dispensary is one of several stories we heard about being impacted by civil unrest and protests. We wanted to check-in and see how everyone is doing and what they have been doing to recover as well as deal with damage to her dispensary. Typically Oakland is a very competitive sport for dispensaries, even though hers has been around a very long time. Adult-use means lots of new spots have popped up in the neighborhood that was also impacted by property damage in recent months. Outside of what she’s doing with her specific business, she’s also very involved in the community in general. We talk about what she and her team are doing as far as conversations with the city and law enforcement.

Bryan Passman is the founder of the cannabis industry talent acquisition firm Hunter Esquire and has more than 18 years of experience in executive search and recruitment. Founded in 2017, the experienced team is dedicated to providing a full-service, white-glove approach to every one of our clients. We are happy that “Cannabis Is Essential” during these tough times and we’re hopefully coming out of the tight restrictions here slowly and safely. We talk about if Bryan is seeing impacts from COVID-19 on the hiring world as some companies perhaps had to scale down to save their budgets. Looking at the pace of how quickly our industry has moved in just the last few years as laws change so rapidly and licenses roll out, companies have been established, grown, and scaled up so incredibly fast on time. With that sort of growth, it means they perhaps had to hire handfuls or dozens of people in a short amount of time. Bryan explains how one carefully hires a team so rapidly while still getting the right people.

#10YearsofNCIA with Rhiannon Anderson and David Hua

Tune in to this look-back episode as we wrap up the year 2020 and reflect on #10YearsofNCIA.

Rhiannon Anderson and David Hua join us today to help celebrate 10 years of NCIA!

The future of tradeshow marketing with Rhiannon Anderson, Chief Marketing Officer at Steelhead Productions. Rhiannon has served as the CMO and Co-Owner at Steelhead Productions, who specialize in custom rental exhibits for some of the most exciting brands in the country and has been awarded Exhibitor Magazine’s Top 40 Providers in the event industry. Rhiannon oversees all of Steelhead’s business development, as well as internal and external communications. In that role, she has guided the company through the greatest recession of our time and gone on to help grow the business by over 630%, while becoming one of Inc. 5000’s Fastest-Growing Companies in America. Rhiannon’s company’s role in the cannabis industry is helping cannabis brands in an exhibitor setting like at trade shows. We’ve all seen the gigantic expo floor at NCIA’s national conferences, but social distancing means that’s going to look different whenever those restrictions relax. We talk about the future of tradeshow marketing and event marketing, as well as what Rhiannon is seeing or predicting when it comes to this subject.

Cannabis Jobs During Covid-19 with Meadow CEO and Co-Founder, David Hua. Meadow is a software company built from the ground up for California cannabis, and Y-Combinator’s first start-up to operate in the cannabis space. Meadow’s all-in-one platform allows dispensaries to sell products, manage menus and inventory, reward customers, dispatch delivery and pick-up orders, and create exceptional in-store experiences for customers. Meadow has been Headquartered in San Francisco since 2014. Hua has also collaborated with California’s cannabis community and California regulators to draft, implement, and provide stakeholder feedback of medical and Adult-Use regulations. Hua sits on the boards of the California Cannabis Industry Association, the Cannabis Distribution Association, as well as the NCIA Retail Committee. The cannabis industry in California has had some ups and downs in the transition to adult-use laws from Prop 64, and the COVID-19 crisis is no exception. In Colorado, as in California, they almost had legal cannabis shut down alongside bars and restaurants. The announcement was reversed in about 3 hours after everyone rushed the dispensaries. We talk to David about what it looked like in California and how they as cannabis software providers reacted. Cannabis is essential but federally illegal, so they didn’t initially get access to SBA COVID-19 financial relief. Perlmutter and Blumenauer introduced a bill specifically to include cannabis. We did get SAFE Banking Language in the 2nd coronavirus relief package approved out of the House of Reps, even tho some of the senates complained about seeing the word ‘cannabis’ in the bill. David explains his thoughts on this reaction even tho the industry has been an unbelievable job creator.

NCIA’s Social Equity Scholarship Program

Tune in to this episode to learn more about NCIA’s Social Equity Scholarship Program with Tahir Johnson, NCIA Membership Manager, DEI Manager. We start by talking about the committee itself. NCIA has 13 different industry sector committees like Marketing and Advertising, Cultivation, and so on, and we have an active Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee as well. We dive into who is serving on the committee and what are they focused on right now.

The Social Equity Scholarship Program is another aspect of our overall DEI Program, and we’ve already given over 100 annual NCIA memberships to equity operators in various states. Tahir has had several of our scholarship recipients on his podcast, The Cannabis Diversity Report, so if you’re interested, that’s a great place to go hear their stories.

He is responsible for driving membership and expanding the organization’s presence on the East Coast. Prior to joining NCIA, Tahir spent most of his career in Wealth Management and had clients that included corporate executives, entertainers, business owners, and other high-net-worth individuals. He began his career with Morgan Stanley where he served on the Diversity Council. Passionate about cannabis he left his career as a financial advisor and began working as a patient counselor and social media director at a local dispensary. Having started several ancillary businesses, along with his experience as part of a team that has applied for cultivation and processing licenses, he has a unique insight into the needs and challenges of business owners in the industry. Tahir was born in Trenton, NJ, and has resided in the Washington, D.C. area since attending Howard University, where he majored in Marketing.

The 2020 Election And Cannabis

Tune in to this episode to hear more about the 2020 election and cannabis with NCIA’s Director of Public Policy, Andrew Kline, and NCIA’s CEO and Co-founder, Aaron Smith. The NCIA team has had just a few days to digest and process the results of the 2020 U.S. election, including five new states who passed cannabis reform laws for medical or adult-use which is really exciting for our movement and industry.

We think it’s safe to say that we are clear on who the next President and Vice President will be on January 20th, 2021. While we didn’t see any real federal action one way or another relating to cannabis these last four years, we talk about what we can gather about the impact of a Biden-Harris White House administration might be on cannabis policy reform. As far as good news goes, we’re obviously super excited about five new states voting to pass medical or adult-use marijuana laws last week. Cannabis was a big winner yet again this year in South Dakota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, and Arizona, so we discuss with Aaron and Andrew what this means for our industry going forward.