Policy Matters: Golden State Green – Regulating California’s Cannabis Industry
Join us for the fourth episode of our enlightening #IndustryEssentials webinar series, “Policy Matters,” where we delve deep into the regulatory and policy dynamics shaping the cannabis industry. In this episode, we are honored to host Nicole Elliott, Director of the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), for an exclusive discussion on the evolution and trajectory of cannabis regulation in California.
Nicole Elliot brings a wealth of experience and insight as she shares her personal journey as a cannabis regulator, her priorities within the California market, and the most notable accomplishments and milestones achieved by the DCC in 2023. Gain valuable insights into the Department’s upcoming priorities for the year and get a sneak peek into the topics Nicole will cover at the upcoming NCIA California Stakeholder Summit hosted in Sacramento, CA on Thursday, February 22nd from 2:30PM PT- 5:30PM PT.
Stay tuned for more updates, mark your calendars and register now for the fourth episode of Policy Matters!
Learning Objectives:
Our previous episodes have offered a diverse array of insights into the evolving cannabis landscape.
As we approach our upcoming episode, we aim to synthesize these regional insights, providing a holistic understanding of the ever-evolving regulatory landscape across different states. Join us as we connect with industry leaders and regulators to navigate the complexities of cannabis policy together.
Equity Member Spotlight: Modesto Cannabis Collective
NCIA’s editorial department continues the Member Spotlight series by highlighting our Social Equity Scholarship Recipients as part of our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program. Participants are gaining first-hand access to regulators in key markets to get insight on the industry, tips for raising capital, and advice on how to access and utilize data to ensure success in their businesses, along with all the other benefits available to NCIA members.
Tell us a bit about you, your background, and why you launched your company.
My name is Deanna Garcia with Modesto Cannabis Collective. I was born and raised in the city of Sacramento. I am a mother of five amazing humans and a loving wife. I started growing cannabis in my garage for my personal use as a patient. In 1996, I found cannabis to help me with the arthritis symptoms and pains I was experiencing. During this time I joined as many cannabis groups as possible such as NORML, Americans For Safe Access, and different collectives around Sacramento and Oakland to educate myself.
20 years later, in 2016, the city of Sacramento allowed me to register as a cannabis cultivator. I purchased a warehouse in the city of Sacramento where I would give tours to government officials and staff to help form the legislation and regulations currently being used today. I later sold my indoor grow to help fund and start Riverbank Cannabis Collective, Dixon Wellness, Modesto Cannabis Collective, Napa Cannabis Collective, Chuck’s Wellness, Tracy Cannabis Collective, Khemia Cannabis Dispensary, Khemia Manufacturing, Yolo Family Farms, and Woodland Roots Farm, along with my best friend and business partner Kimberly Cargile (NCIA Board Member). We have been tremendously blessed by God to win so many cannabis licenses across the Central Valley of California.
What unique value does your company offer to the cannabis industry?
Our companies are unique in that our board’s ownership all comes from an incubator program at A Therapeutic Alternative, a retail store in the city of Sacramento. All of the CEOs started as staff members of A Therapeutic Alternative, some working in the very first dispensaries in California prior to that. As trailblazers, we believe in locking arms and rising together making staff into owners sharing and creating generational wealth. So far we have been successful and able to help over 25 people become owners of cannabis companies and we are not finished.
What is your goal for the greater good of cannabis?
My goal is to help as many people as I can, that have been in the legacy cannabis industry become licensed cannabis business owners before it is out of reach forever. I want to keep spreading education on cannabis and its healing powers. I also seek to help bring safe access to every part of California, by attending one Board of Supervisors and or City Council meeting at a time to educate the officials and citizens.
What kind of challenges do you face in the industry and what solutions would you like to see?
For owners and operators that have been in the legacy cannabis industry and are now becoming owners of newly regulated cannabis businesses, the challenge they face is the cost. The capital is just not there to start up, or for upgrading to the new regulations. The banks will not work with the industry and we can not go to the small business administration. The cost is so much more money to become a licensed regulated cannabis business and the obstacles are extreme. We are now going up against billion-dollar companies for licenses in cities and counties across California. Before you know it, all of the California cannabis industry will be taken over by huge corporations and billionaires. We are just trying to help the ones still hanging on. I am working on the Diversity Inclusion Social Equity team with the California Cannabis Industry Association and with the city of Modesto to help form more social equity in the state. I would love to see a state equity program to include the people of every city and county. The same guideline, the same application. One state-funded and run equity program.
Why did you join NCIA? What’s the best or most important part about being a member through the Social Equity Scholarship Program?
I joined the National Cannabis Industry Association to help build reasonable responsible regulations across the United States. I enjoy the supportive community through the weekly calls with other Diversity Equity Inclusion members and appreciate the opportunity to access NCIA’s full member benefits. The best part is the overall support of NCIA’s DEI program in order to help begin to alleviate the injustices from the war on drugs by those most impacted. And of course to free a loving, caring, and healing plant from over-burdensome regulations and corporate greed.
Video: Member Spotlight – A Therapeutic Alternative
Based in Sacramento, California, this month we meet Kimberly Cargile, director of the medical cannabis dispensary A Therapeutic Alternative, focused on holistic healing and patient support. Learn more about how her dispensary has integrated and become a part of the local community. They also offer additional holistic services such as yoga, massage therapy, sound therapy, meditation, and more.
Member Spotlight: A Therapeutic Alternative
For April’s Member Spotlight, we spoke with Kimberly Cargile, CEO of A Therapeutic Alternative, based in Sacramento, California. Kimberly and her team have a deep commitment to patient education and being active in shaping the future of medical cannabis.
Cannabis Industry Sector:
Medical Cannabis Providers
NCIA Member Since:
2013
How do you uniquely serve the cannabis industry?
A Therapeutic Alternative’s patient-centered dispensary provides a variety of alternative healing therapies and lab-tested medicinal cannabis products to patients. Our patients have access to a range of complementary services, including yoga, Reiki, sound therapy, meditation, cranial sacral therapy, support groups, massage therapy, and acupressure. A Therapeutic Alternative is unique among dispensaries in California because we offer a holistic approach to treatment. We want to see patients heal, and we are dedicated to providing patients with natural therapies to use on their individual journeys. Lab testing medical cannabis is not required in California; however, we test all products with a third-party lab to ensure quality control. Products are tested for contaminants such as mold, mildew, bugs, pesticides, and solvents prior to being provided at A Therapeutic Alternative. We also test for the products’ cannabinoid percentages. This is very helpful to patients when they decide which strain to use. Because each cannabinoid produces differing pharmacological effects on the body, a product’s cannabinoid profile is extremely important.
Why should patients looking for medical cannabis services go to A Therapeutic Alternative?
A Therapeutic Alternative offers yoga, massage, Reiki, acupressure, and more.
A Therapeutic Alternative is a City of Sacramento permitted and regulated dispensary located in the medical district of Midtown. We are close to three major hospitals, the cancer center, doctors’ offices, and laboratories. We offer patients with immediate and long-term needs access to high quality service and products. Our outstanding service is due to the fact that we have hired a knowledgeable, experienced, and educated team. Together our team provides patients with support through diagnosis and treatment. A Therapeutic Alternative supplies a large variety of strains with varying cannabinoid profiles to cover a wide range of symptoms. We provide dried herbs, tinctures, topicals, edibles, capsules, concentrates, clones, and seeds. Our staff spends the time necessary with each patient to tailor a treatment plan for each individual.
Can you give us some insight into the medical cannabis community in Sacramento, where it’s been and where it’s headed?
It has taken a long time to make progress in Sacramento; however, the progress is great in respect to the rest of the state. The City of Sacramento’s staff, local patients, and advocates worked together to create a local ordinance regulating medical cannabis dispensaries. That process took about two years, starting in 2008 and finishing with a City Council vote in 2010. This allowed all 30 dispensaries to stay open and continue to operate through a stringent permitting process. A Therapeutic Alternative was the 5th dispensary in Sacramento to receive our final permit, a process that took nearly five years. There is a long road behind us and a long road ahead of us as we face state regulation legislation and adult-use or recreational use legalization initiatives in the next few years. Because we are operating in the capital of California, A Therapeutic Alternative has had a unique chance to have an impact on state legislation. We have given many tours to entities including state representatives, the Police Chiefs Association, California League of Cities and Counties, and the Board of Equalization. It is our goal to use our place in the capital to spread education about our industry’s and our patients’ needs.
Why did you join the team at A Therapeutic Alternative?
Kimberly Cargile, CEO of A Therapeutic Alternative
I have been working in the medical cannabis industry in California since 2003. When I graduated from Humboldt State University in 2006, I moved to Sacramento and took on my first job as the general manager at one of California’s first dispensaries, Capitol Wellness Collective. In 2007, I had an opportunity to work behind the camera interviewing medical cannabis patients for a documentary about the need for dispensaries. During that special time I spent with those patients, I realized that I had a responsibility to stand up and speak up for those who were too sick or too scared to do so for themselves. So, I decided to start volunteering for Americans for Safe Access and began organizing patients for City Council meetings, County Board of Supervisor meetings, Planning Commission meetings, State Senate and Assembly meetings, protests, and signature drives. In 2009, A Therapeutic Alternative opened up close to my house, and I joined the collective. Shortly thereafter I took on a consulting position to help the founders learn the ins and outs of managing a medical cannabis dispensary. I also started a yoga program at A Therapeutic Alternative for cancer patients, which I still teach to this day. In 2012, the founders asked me to join the board and take on a more active role in the dispensary. I am currently the CEO of A Therapeutic Alternative and enjoy my position managing the daily operations. Whenever I get stressed out or frustrated by the office work and politics, I go downstairs and spend time helping the patients. Talking with patients helps me to remember why I am doing it all and makes me thankful that I have the courage to help them access safe medical cannabis.
Why did you join NCIA?
When Aaron Smith told me he was going to fulfill the needs of our emerging industry by providing us with the National Cannabis Industry Association, I was thrilled. As we make progress throughout the nation, we need communication and education on multiple levels. We need it within our industry, between businesses, in order to set high standards and best operating practices. We also need it outside our industry with government, in order to make good laws protecting cannabis businesses and patients. The National Cannabis Industry Association does just that.
NCIA’s editorial department continues the Member Spotlight series by highlighting our 
My name is Deanna Garcia with 
For owners and operators that have been in the legacy cannabis industry and are now becoming owners of newly regulated cannabis businesses, the challenge they face is the cost. The capital is just not there to start up, or for upgrading to the new regulations. The banks will not work with the industry and we can not go to the small business administration. The cost is so much more money to become a licensed regulated cannabis business and the obstacles are extreme. We are now going up against billion-dollar companies for licenses in cities and counties across California. Before you know it, all of the California cannabis industry will be taken over by huge corporations and billionaires. We are just trying to help the ones still hanging on. I am working on the Diversity Inclusion Social Equity team with the California Cannabis Industry Association and with the city of Modesto to help form more social equity in the state. I would love to see a state equity program to include the people of every city and county. The same guideline, the same application. One state-funded and run equity program.
