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In this compilation episode of Highly Enlightened, host Jon Purow hits the road—capturing quick, insightful interviews with leading voices across the cannabis industry. Recorded at MJ Unpacked Missouri 2024, the WomenGrow Leadership Summit 2025, and the Benzinga New Jersey Cannabis Market Spotlight, this lineup showcases the perspectives of founders and experts from all corners of the industry. Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Highly Enlightened: One Hitters, Volume 2 – Interviews From the Event Circuit Episode sponsored by eBottles This episode of Highly Enlightened is made possible by eBottles. If you’re in the cannabis business, you know that quality packaging isn’t just important—it’s essential. That’s where eBottles comes in. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling up, eBottles offers proprietary top-of-the-line packaging products built for cannabis. eBottles is a market leader for a good reason: they are experts in the field. Six patents, five warehouse locations around the country, a network of exceptional distributors. Get eBottles and Grow Boldly. Featured Guests (in order of appearance): 1. Jordan Mackenzie Whittaker The Weedaker Group 2. Mitch Pfeifer Director of Community Relations, Active 3. Sheila Fey Marketing Director, Elevated Roots 4. Ian Powell Founder, Loud Minds TV 5. Paul Vancea Kosmik Brands

When cannabis fails a microbial test, the consequences can be costly—lost product, damaged reputations, and in some cases, a total recall. But what if the entire process could be de-risked? In this episode, Jeff Adams, founder and managing director of XR Pure, and national sales manager Joseph Bancheri join TG Branfalt for a conversation about how their x-ray-based decontamination tech is offering a clean, consistent solution for cultivators. With deep roots in x-ray engineering and cannabis sales respectively, they make a compelling case for proactive remediation as a standard step in cannabis operations. Listen to the episode below or wherever you get your podcasts, or scroll down for the transcript! Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Jeff Adams & Joseph Bancheri: Decontaminating Cannabis with X-Ray Technology Read the transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors. TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and this is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalized cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by Jeff Adams, founder and managing director, and Joseph Bancheri, national sales manager for Las Vegas, Nevada based XR Pure, which recently launched the XR 16, capable of eliminating mold, mildew, bacteria, and other harmful pathogens on cannabis flower. How you doing this morning guys? Jeff Adams: Doing great, TG. Thanks for having us. Appreciate it. Joseph Bancheri: Doing well, thank you. TG Branfalt: It’s really going to be an interesting episode. This is a technology that I am not that familiar with, which doesn’t happen that frequently anymore. But before we get into the tech, tell me about yourselves, your background, and how you ended up working in the cannabis space. Jeff Adams: If it’s okay, I’ll go first. This is Jeff. I came into this from the technology side. I’ve been working at an x-ray component manufacturing company for the last 20 years, so I spent a lot of my career in X-ray and over time we do many different applications and we found out that there is an application for sterilization of cannabis. And as I dug into that, I found that basically we believe that we could build a better mousetrap than what was already out there. Our technology was very applicable to what was needed in that space. And so I got busy figuring out what is it going to take, would the machine look like? And that culminated in XR Pure. TG Branfalt: How about you, Joe? Joseph Bancheri: Yeah, myself, I’ve been a cannabis advocate for over 20 years. I started in the legal industry with technology background as well with environmental controls. Then I moved over to the THC side. I was a natural brand manager for a cannabis brand and also sold and then moved to other brands here in Nevada. I was a wholesale director at a facility here in Vegas, and we had a big problem with our remediation unit, and I met Jeff at MJ biz when they, they’re checking everything out and I said, Hey dude, come check this thing out and make something better, and when you do let me know and I’ll be on board and here. TG Branfalt: So tell me about the science behind this tech. What were the previous applications and what are the applications in the cannabis industry? Jeff Adams: Sure, I’ll take that one. X-ray has been used for sterilization for a long time. This is not a new idea. It is a little bit of a new application in cannabis, but since the forties and fifties, x-ray has been used for sterilization, food sterilization, medical device sterilization, many other kinds of things. And so that part of it is not new. The cool part with cannabis is that x-rays kind of uniquely qualified or applicable to decontaminating cannabis. And when I say that by killing microbes on cannabis without affecting the integrity of the flower without affecting the potency, terpene profiles, all of those things, which makes it a great way to do this versus maybe some other kinds of techniques that could be used to do it, it is the one that really preserves the integrity of the plant, let’s say it that way. Okay. TG Branfalt: Joe, you had mentioned that you were facing a remediation issue. How did you sort of decide that x-ray might be the best way for you to handle that issue? Joseph Bancheri: Well, at my facility, we were using the X-ray unit. It just happened to be down a lot. When it was down, I couldn’t sell weed and I was not a happy guy. And obviously the owners aren’t happy either because they’re losing money, but there are other technologies as well that I feel actually harm the plant, like ozone, rf, those will change the actual, the terpene profile, the look of the plant. I want the end user to get the best possible plant in the cleanest possible form. So that’s why x-ray, how it kind of looks to me is the plant’s been harvested, the plant’s no longer alive, the microbials are alive, their DNA’s alive living on this plant, and these little x-rays are so tiny, they break up that DNA kill the microbials. So this way, when you put in a jar, nothing’s growing. We’ve got a 10,000 CFU limit here in Nevada for microbials. If you pass with 8,000, 9,000, you throw that in a jar, put it on a shelf, on a dispensary, it’s growing. So by the time the end user gets it, who knows what the accountants. So that’s why I think this should be pretty much standard for everyone going forward. TG Branfalt: And what is the success rate for remediation? Jeff Adams: The success rate is really good. X-ray is very effective. It’s a process that does take some time. It’s not like it just zaps it and instantly everything’s

In this episode of The Ganjapreneur Podcast, host TG Branfalt speaks with Laura Trujillo and Amanda Terpstra, co-founders of BestBuds, a woman- and Hispanic-owned dispensary based in Woodbury, New Jersey. Lifelong friends turned business partners, Laura and Amanda share their remarkable story of bootstrapping a licensed cannabis retail business from the ground up—navigating community pushback, lawsuits, zoning battles, and a grueling fundraising process along the way. Together, they break down how their complementary skills, entrepreneurial drive, and deep community engagement helped them overcome early resistance in a small-town setting. The conversation touches on fundraising challenges for women and minority founders, the changing product landscape in New Jersey, and why staffing and personality fit are critical to cannabis retail success. It’s an inspiring and highly practical look at what it really takes to open—and sustain—a dispensary in today’s regulated environment. Listen below or scroll down for the full transcript! Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Laura Trujillo & Amanda Terpstra: From College Teammates to Cannabis Trailblazers Read the transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was auto-generated and may contain errors. Commercial: The Ganjapreneur Podcast is made possible by over 500 cannabis industry service providers in Ganjapreneurs Cannabis Business Index. At some point, every plant touching brand experiences the stigma that many industries still have to toward cannabis going strong. Since 2015, our business index is the most comprehensive and frequently visited directory for cannabis friendly services on the internet, saving you the time and hassle of sifting through uninformed and unwelcoming providers with categories for everything from business financing to extraction equipment to interior designers and public relations. You’ll find every kind of specialist and business service you could ever need. Check out the business index today at ganjapreneur.com/businesses. TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host, TG Brand Fault, and this is the ganjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalized cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and industry stakeholders. Today I am joined by Laura Trujillo, COO, and Amanda Terpstra, CEO, their co-founders of BestBuds, a woman and Hispanic owned dispensary based in Woodbury, New Jersey. How are you doing this afternoon? Laura Trujillo: Great. Doing great. How are you doing? TG Branfalt: I’m doing doing just fine, just fine. Excited to hear about your story. It’s really, really interesting. You guys have a history together and then have brought that to the cannabis space. So why don’t you tell me about your background and how you ended up in the cannabis space? Laura Trujillo: I think I’ll start. I’m Laura Trujillo, the COO and co-founder of BestBuds. I think our story goes back to college. Me and Amanda met playing college soccer where our bond was initially formed, running suicides on the soccer field and just dying on that sideline. But through life, through college, we’ve remained best buds, so we really are in fact best buds. We just don’t have it for a name, and it was my grandiose idea to come to her after going over to the West coast for corporate work functions. I would try to go to as many dispensaries as possible on the west coast, knowing that eventually it was going to come over to the East coast. And being a cannabis consumer myself for many years, for PTSD, I always would just like to see how the cannabis industry was helping within the community and how it impacted. Of course, west Coast and Colorado was probably one of my first stops, and so they were also doing a lot of breweries as well. So wherever there was a brewery, there was a dispensary. So on family vacations, my husband would go to the brewery, I’d go to the dispensary. It is a win-win for everyone. Then I be in my best butt. Amanda, I knocked on her door and one day, and I know she was kind of trying to figure out her what’s the next challenge to be, and I was kind of tired of corporate America and traveling between Jersey and West Coast and I said to her, let’s open a dispensary, man. I came knocking on our door and she looked at me like I was crazy and told me to get out of here, but then I was like, Hey man, let’s go to this Canna Gather event in New Jersey. Probably one of the first events, it was right when they decriminalized can cannabis and Trenton, so it would be like a $50 fine. And from that moment on, I think we saw the vision and the potential and the networking and just being able to bring something different to the community in Woodbury that will also help Woodbury grow. As a small town in New Jersey, we are a small business and we really want to grow our community around us through the power of cannabis being women. And Hispanic owned is also another niche that we have in the market as well. There’s not very many of us out there that have actually opened, but we’ve been through the rigors, we’ve been through the lobbying, the ordinances in New Jersey, fundraised ourselves. You’ll find that me and Amanda are often called peanut butter and jelly. I am all things creative design. I designed the logo I came up with, the name was on top of getting that trademarked early on. So we are registered, which is really important and she’s all things, I call her my legal and my HR and my business, but I wanted to give Amanda a test to introduce herself in her words. Amanda Terpstra: Hey everyone, thanks for having us here today. I’m Amanda and CEO of BestBuds. Yes, I’m all things business. My background comes from a family of entrepreneurs, which is actually how we got located in Woodbury. My grandmother was actually an owner of her own business. She did have a male partner. A lot of people don’t realize that it wasn’t

Kevin Brooks, former CEO of Cookies Management and Connected Cannabis, identified plant health as a key vulnerability in the cannabis supply chain based on his experience leading vertically integrated cannabis operations in California. This insight led him to establish Conception Nurseries, a Sacramento-based company that provides commercial-scale tissue culture services to the cannabis industry. In addition to maintaining a large catalog of cultivar clones, Conception offers remediation, cold storage, and exclusive production services. Brooks brings prior leadership experience and successful exits from the regulated tech sector to his role at Conception. Listen or read the transcript below, and find more episodes of Highly Enlightened on Buzzsprout! Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Highly Enlightened: Kevin Brooks, CEO at Conception Nurseries Episode sponsored by eBottles: This episode of Highly Enlightened is made possible by eBottles. If you’re in the cannabis business, you know that quality packaging isn’t just important—it’s essential. That’s where eBottles comes in. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling up, eBottles offers proprietary top-of-the-line packaging products built for cannabis. eBottles is a market leader for a good reason: they are experts in the field. Six patents, five warehouse locations around the country, a network of exceptional distributors. Get eBottles and Grow Boldly. Read the transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors. Jon Purow: Welcome to the Highly Enlightened Podcast, syndicated by Ganjapreneur. I’m your host, Jon Purow. So on this podcast we interview cannabis luminaries and I also cover Golden Nugget stories, which are stories that are not getting as much attention as they think they should. So tune in, join us, and as always, stay grassy. My buds. Alright, now with that, I have the pleasure of introducing Kevin Brooks, the CEO of conception nurseries. Kevin, I’m very, very excited to have you here so we could really kind of geek out about this stuff, but I just want, first, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come join me for this joint endeavor, pun always intended. Kevin Brooks: My pleasure. Yep, my pleasure. Thanks for having me. Glad to be here. Jon Purow: Yeah, yeah. So I like to talk a little bit, I mean, there are a few people who went directly into cannabis outside of the guests that I asked that question to the other day that made me look foolish. But there are a few people who started out in cannabis and I appreciate something we’re going to discuss with respect to your company, a comic book geek, and the origin stories were always called issue number zero. So my question to you, Kevin Brooks, is what from your issue, number zero, your origin story pre cannabis do you believe has been most useful in the cannabis industry? Kevin Brooks: Oh gosh, it’s a big question. Look, I think Jon Purow: The second question is what’s the meaning of life? So we just thought we’d start you easy. Okay. Kevin Brooks: Start easy. Yeah, A couple of softballs. Yeah. Look, I graduated college in 2002. We’re talking about right in the heart of the dot bomb. I’m in Silicon Valley. I get thrown into my first kind of recruiter sales job, and it was a fucking disaster, like recruiting software engineers during the dot bomb meltdown when layoffs were going left and I had buddies of mine that were answering the phone and making a ton of money. Then I get into the workforce and it was tough and it was really, really tough. And I think the one thing that I took away from my time in Silicon Valley, both in recruiting and then getting involved with my own company is really just resilience and grit. This is a really, really tough industry. Oftentimes, we’re working with both hands behind of our back. We’ve got unique regulatory challenges, we’ve got capital constraints, we’ve got interstate commerce challenges across the board. Imagine being a blueberry, launching a blueberry company and not being able to ship your product across state lines or get a bank account or receive funding. It’s just being able to pivot and read the tea leaves and just white knuckle it through tough times. Jon Purow: So I mean, to a certain extent I think that you’re kind of is that you can’t take no for an answer, right? Because in this industry you constantly face setbacks. Well, my prayer to the wifi gods might not have been answered. I am going to try the Scientology video chat. God von next. Maybe I’ll have more luck with that guy. Tom Cruise thinks so. Anyways, apologies for that. So basically the idea is that you don’t take no for an answer, right? Because I feel like even in this industry, no can be temporary. So here’s my follow up question. So we know that you face a setback, you’re not giving up first, you don’t succeed choke again. So if that’s the case with you, Kevin, then what skillset sets do you think that you and your team bring to the table in addressing issues like that that are most handy and help you get to the next step and grow as a company? Kevin Brooks: Yeah, I think it’s a much bigger answer, and I think the way that we kind of think about this business is it’s absolutely critical to have legacy cannabis folks who understand the culture, understand and are empathetic to growers’ challenges. But at the same time having smart business individuals who understand supply chain and operational consolidation and financial consolidation and being able to bridge those two, I guess two different philosophies. You look at some of the publicly traded companies that try to compete in the non-limited license states like California that are just getting their teeth kicked in. I mean, they’re just seen as very disingenuine. They don’t understand their consumer base. And then you have some of the private companies like

In this compilation episode of Highly Enlightened, host Jon Purow hits the road—capturing quick, insightful interviews with leading voices across the cannabis industry. Filmed at MJ Unpacked Missouri 2024, the WomenGrow Leadership Summit 2025, and the Benzinga New Jersey Cannabis Market Spotlight, this lineup showcases perspectives from founders, marketers, security experts, and more. These “One Hitters” may be short, but they pack a punch—perfect for a snapshot of where cannabis is going next. Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Highly Enlightened: One-Hitter Interviews from MJ Unpacked Missouri, WomenGrow Leadership Summit, and Benzinga New Jersey Featured Guests (in order of appearance): 1. Precious Osagie-Erise Founder, Precious Cannabis Co. 📍 Filmed at WomenGrow Leadership Summit 2025 2. Corey Bix Director of Business Development, Silverstar Protection Group 📍 Filmed at MJ Unpacked Missouri 2024 3. Tawnie Scarborough Principal, Fox Foot Inc. 📍 Filmed at WomenGrow Leadership Summit 2025 4. Amna Shamim Director of Content Marketing, The Cannabis Community 📍 Filmed at WomenGrow Leadership Summit 2025 5. Tor Hamer CEO, Green Nexus 📍 Filmed at WomenGrow Leadership Summit 2025 6. Ben Burstein Corporate Development Manager, LeafLink 📍 Filmed at Benzinga New Jersey Cannabis Market Spotlight 7. Sarah Trent Founder & CEO, Valley Wellness NJ 📍 Filmed at Benzinga New Jersey Cannabis Market Spotlight 8. David Zelinger Partner, Canis Major Partners 📍 Filmed at Benzinga New Jersey Cannabis Market Spotlight 9. Bran Noonan CEO, OGeez! 📍 Filmed at Benzinga New Jersey Cannabis Market Spotlight

When it comes to moving federal cannabis policy forward, progress requires coordination, persistence, and strategic advocacy. In this episode of The Ganjapreneur Podcast, Edward Conklin, Executive Director of the U.S. Cannabis Council, and Saphira Galoob, Executive Director of the National Cannabis Roundtable — join host TG Branfalt to discuss the historic merger of their organizations into the U.S. Cannabis Roundtable. This conversation dives into what commercial entities are doing to lobby Congress for meaningful reform, including the uphill battle to pass safe banking legislation, the real implications of cannabis rescheduling to Schedule III, and the importance of building trust with lawmakers. Galoob and Conklin also share insider perspectives on why some legislation stalls, how policy change actually happens in D.C., and what entrepreneurs can do to get involved at the local and national levels. Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts, or scroll down for the full transcript! Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Saphira Galoob & Ed Conklin: Merging Power to Move Cannabis Policy Read the full transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors. TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and this is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalized cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by Edward Conklin. He’s the executive director of the US Cannabis Council and Saphira Galoob, executive Director of the National Cannabis Roundtable. The USC and NCR announced plans to combine their organizations to create the US Cannabis Roundtable. How are we doing this afternoon, folks? We’re great. Ed Conklin: Excellent. Thanks for having us. Saphira Galoob: Thanks for having us on. Tim. TG Branfalt: Really excited to talk shop and in this case, public policy. As most of my listeners know, I’m a bit of a public policy nerd, and so these are some of my favorite conversations to have. But before we get into that, Edward and Sphera, thank you for being here. Tell me about yourself and how you ended up in this part of the cannabis industry. Saphira Galoob: Ed, I’ll let you go first. Ed Conklin: Ladies first, Saphira Galoob: Please. Well, if you insist, so Tim, I’ve been doing this work specifically focused on federal advocacy work in the cannabis space since November 7th, 2017. And when I came into the space federally, it was the year I remember it because I’m from Oklahoma and it was the year that Oklahoma legalized. And that year, seven states actually came online and I remember doing an analysis, there were two lobbyists at the time in the federal walking the halls of Congress. And I assessed that there were at that point 113 Republican congressional offices that now had legal cannabis in their state. And so before I even started my business, I just started making meetings with these offices and visited 83 offices and five of those Republican offices had ever even heard that cannabis was an issue. So given the trajectory of states passing legalization movements and the number of congressional offices that now had constituents who live in states with legal cannabis and the fact that there were two lobbyists on Capitol Hill, I knew there was an opportunity to be had. And so I launched my career at that point. TG Branfalt: How did you first get those meetings? It is not really every day that someone just walks in. Saphira Galoob: Well, I am a lawyer and a lobbyist by career. I had a 25 year career in DC and had done a pretty decent amount of lobbying in other areas, and so I knew the drill. So a lot of times when you’re starting a new business, and I’m an entrepreneur at heart, I haven’t had a job working for anybody since 2006. So you just basically start as if you’re already successful and you make a meeting, you make a meeting request. These offices, particularly in an issue that is a bit unknown, they’ll take a meeting even if it’s 15 minute phone meeting. So it is more accessible than people understand, but it requires more work than people appreciate. TG Branfalt: So how about you, ed? How did you end up in the cannabis space? Ed Conklin: A good question. I used to work for McDonald’s. I worked for a clown, so in the hamburger side and did government relations there for 20 some plus years and retired and actually got a phone call from Joe Ardi at CAF and asked me to come over work for him, and I decided to start that route there. So I was used to lobbying state, federal, international at the time period, but just like sfia when my first trip to dc It’s interesting, and she is absolutely right how she approached it and she was fearless at the time, I got to tell you. So was fearless on this stuff. I started fumbling around in DC with some friends and lobbyists going to these meetings, and a lot of these offices wouldn’t even take your meeting when you talked about cannabis. I mean, there was a long time ago when they’re like, thanks, but no thanks. Prefer not to meet on this until it’s normalized or whatever word you want to use there. But now compared to leap four today, you can go in every office and Sophia is absolutely right. We did a lot of meetings, a lot of discussions, and a lot of talks. So started off small and grew into where we’re at today. So it’s a wonderful industry, some great people to work with, some great entrepreneurs and couldn’t have more fun. TG Branfalt: Can one or both of you describe to me sort of the difference now, the actual difference now than when you first started lobbying these lawmakers on the cannabis issue? Saphira Galoob: We probably have similar stories. I’ll start and let Ed fill

Ricky Williams won a Heisman Trophy at Texas and rushed for over 10,000 yards in 11 NFL seasons.  He is now the President and Co-Founder of Highsman, a lifestyle brand that Ricky personally curates, from the cannabis to the accessories.  Ricky launched Highsman to provide communities of sports fans and herb enthusiasts everywhere with a platform to own their relationship with cannabis and its ability to unlock true, personal greatness. In this episode of Highly Enlightened, syndicated by Ganjapreneur, host Jon Purow speaks with Ricky about the principles that have guided his journey — from challenging the stigma around cannabis as an athlete to becoming a founder and advocate within the cannabis industry. Ricky shares hard-earned wisdom on leadership, the deeper meaning of cannabis, the spiritual and practical lessons from his career, and how staying true to his values shaped his personal and professional evolution. This episode is a thoughtful, philosophical conversation that touches on resilience, the power of perspective, and why Ricky believes cannabis is more than just a product — it’s a tool for personal and societal transformation. Listen to the episode below or wherever you get your podcasts — you can find more episodes of Highly Enlightened on Buzzsprout. Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Highly Enlightened: Ricky Williams, Founder at Highsman Episode sponsored by eBottles This episode of Highly Enlightened is made possible by eBottles. If you’re in the cannabis business, you know that quality packaging isn’t just important—it’s essential. That’s where eBottles comes in. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling up, eBottles offers proprietary top-of-the-line packaging products built for cannabis. eBottles is a market leader for a good reason: they are experts in the field. Six patents, five warehouse locations around the country, a network of exceptional distributors. Get eBottles and Grow Boldly. Read the transcript: Jon Purow: Hey there. Welcome to another Canna-Convo episode of my Highly Enlightened podcast. Very excited to have a specific guest today. The podcast is syndicated by Ganjapreneur, and as always, I’m your host, Jon Purow. Now, before we get an awesome interview, I want to note that any opinions I express on my own are not those in my brand new law firm. Herbal Laws LLC, though judging by the name, you could probably guess they probably wouldn’t be that offended before we start. As I always like to do quick prayer to the video chat, gods may, our wifi connections be sturdy, all dogs and children remain quiet and my Amazon Prime another time. Amen. Now I have the pleasure of introducing the one and only Ricky Williams. I forgot. I apologize, Ricky, because one thing I did not neglected to before we started was to clarify what title you wanted to be introduced by. But you know what? I think this is the best first question to start with is how would you introduce yourself in a, how do you try and boil down Ricky Williams to a title? Ricky Williams: I don’t. I don’t. Jon Purow: Okay, then that’s it. Let’s not give you a title. Let’s pull. Yeah, perfect. Look, you’re someone obviously who, some people are familiar with your experience prior to the cannabis industry, but this is such a new industry that we’re all bringing something from the past into it, and we find something useful in ways that we don’t expect. So what do you think in terms of your life experience that you brought to the cannabis industry has been the most kind of helpful to you and why? Ricky Williams: I think getting in trouble and having the opportunity to take a public stand for my cannabis consumption. I think by far, I think because inspiration there, and I think people, if they weren’t around or paying attention to the story in real time with YouTube and the internet, they can track down the story. And young people, old people that have had similar experiences, I can tell they all get a sense of inspiration and that’s extremely helpful in this industry right now. Jon Purow: Well, this is what I mean. I think that’s why I was so happy to finally meet you, because I think that you are legitimately a hero in this industry. And to recap, Ricky is being modest and everything, but to recap, really what we’re talking about here is Ricky, during what was on track, we could still say potentially a hall of fame career. You were using marijuana to treat your social anxiety disorder. You were testing positive, and it was called there are repercussions for you. And you took a stand, essentially in favor of the plant and the medicine for you. And so one question that I find fascinating about this is we’re still so nascent in terms of the medical research about this, right? Everyone I know who has, there’s so many people in this industry who are ADHD and use the plant because it’s effectively medicine. And at some point what I realized was it’s not a function of whether or not there’s a link there that it can treat it as medicine. It’s that we just haven’t discovered it yet. So when you were taking your stand, this was 20 years ago, there was no backup. There was no doctor saying, oh no, he’s pursuing something. That’s an actual treatment. It was just you knowing your truth. Right. So I’m curious to know your decision making, how you took that stand, right? And what helped for yourself that this is something you had to take the stand for. Ricky Williams: Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the word hero, and I don’t take that lightly. As a professional football player, I was trying to be a hero. And even in football, the heroes are made in those vitals, those situations where it can go one way or the other where everything is on the line. And did your training prepare you to make the right decision

In this episode of Highly Enlightened, host Jon Purow connects with Bryan Gerber, the founder and CEO of HARA Supply, a supplier of custom preroll cones and packaging. HARA Supply spans 15 facilities with over 4,000 personnel based in India, along with HQ office and warehouse located in Las Vegas, NV. They currently produce over a billion pre-rolled cones per year for some of the cannabis industry’s largest entities. Gerber is also the founder and CEO of HARA Brands, a four-time inc. 5000 company, which includes: Hemper, the largest subscription business in the cannabis industry with more than 1 million boxes sold, as well as Hemper Tech and Goody Glass, providing high quality smoking accessories and related products. Listen to the episode below or wherever you get your podcasts — you can find more episodes of Highly Enlightened on Buzzsprout. Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Highly Enlightened: Bryan Gerber, CEO at Hara Supply Episode sponsored by eBottles This episode of Highly Enlightened is made possible by eBottles. If you’re in the cannabis business, you know that quality packaging isn’t just important—it’s essential. That’s where eBottles comes in. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling up, eBottles offers proprietary top-of-the-line packaging products built for cannabis. eBottles is a market leader for a good reason: they are experts in the field. Six patents, five warehouse locations around the country, a network of exceptional distributors. Get eBottles and Grow Boldly. Read the Transcript: Note: this transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors. Jon Purow: Welcome to an interview episode of Highly Enlightened, I’m your host, John Purow. Now, before we get to a very, very exciting interview, I want to note that any views I express are my own now as I always like to do, and most of the time it’s successful. I want to do a quick prayer to the video chat. Gods may. Our wifi connections be sturdy. All dogs and children, they’re around remain quiet and may Amazon Prime another time. Amen. Now I have the pleasure of introducing Brian Gerber, the CEO of HARA Supply, a major player here in the industry. And I just want to first say thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to join me for this joint endeavor, pun intended. Bryan Gerber: Thanks for having me on, John. I appreciate it. Looking forward to chatting about the industry today. Jon Purow: Yes. And for those unfamiliar, I do just want to note that Harris Supply is the largest manufacturer of cannabis cones and combustibles in the world. And you produce a hundred million plus cones monthly, which means that you produce over a billion per year. Which leads me to my first always incredibly serious question. Do you enjoy being able to say that you sell 1 billion items per year? Because that is an amazingly large round number. Is there any enjoyment that you get in being able to say it, and do you do it with accents or impersonations? Bryan Gerber: I reserve the doctor evil impersonation for my closest confidants, but no, it is pretty cool to say that we produce over a billion cones a year and products alike. I think a lot of people don’t realize the scale of millions, two billions and what type of infrastructure and setup that really entails. Jon Purow: Got it. So look, all of us came from somewhere before the cannabis industry being the age that it is. So I’m curious to know, out of all the experiences that you went through, skills that you built up prior to the cannabis industry, which did you think has been most instrumental or useful in your leadership role at Harris Supply? Bryan Gerber: So I’m one of the fortunate ones that never had a career before this industry. I graduated to university and then went straight into the startup world. But I can tell you persistence and tenacity. Jon Purow: Yes. As a parent of girls, I read all my self-improvement articles. They always say that if there’s going to be a determination of success and or happiness, persistence, stick to itness is what you want to roll with so much, right. If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Or if at first you don’t succeed, get high again. Right. There’s got to be some pop pun option that we could come to, so. Got it. So you are one of the lucky few that was born straight into this industry professionally and we’re able to kind of succeed with it. So now being a leader and in the lofty perch, the pop perch that you’ve reached, what advice would you give to other leaders in the cannabis industry? What tips would you put out there? Bryan Gerber: Yeah, so in terms of startup world culture, I think the bootstrapping and cash management is a major topic and something that I think a lot of startups that I invest in or do angel investing in, I just preach all day. Cash is king. Focus on managing the cash, lower the burn as fast as possible and try to get to cashflow positive. I think that’s definitely one of the biggest ones because it’s necessary to keep alive and keep the lights on. And I think a lot of people in our industry thought that it was going to kind of be big tech where we can raise unlimited funds and keep going and burn this guy to rob Paul, to pay Peter to pay Sally to that type of thing. So I think that’s definitely a big thing. And I think a lot of other things that I say revolve around finding revenue streams. Go figure it out. I think a lot of new industries, there’s a lot of rocks that go unturned, and I say turnover every rock because you never know what pot of gold might be under that. And I think for us

Insurance is a crucial yet often overlooked pillar of the cannabis and psychedelic industries. As businesses navigate complex regulations, raise capital, and manage risk, securing proper coverage can make the difference between success and failure. In this episode of the Ganjapreneur Podcast, Joe Ziolkowski, CEO and founder of Relm Insurance, shares insights on the unique challenges cannabis and psychedelic companies face in the insurance market. With a background in alternative risk transfer and a focus on emerging industries, Joe has built Relm into a forward-thinking insurance provider willing to cover businesses that traditional insurers avoid. From the impact of federal policy changes to the role of radical transparency in securing investment, this conversation sheds light on a side of the industry few talk about—but all businesses need to understand. Listen to the episode below, or scroll down for the full transcript! Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Joseph Ziolkowski: Navigating Insurance, Regulation & Risk in Cannabis Read the transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors. TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and this is the ganjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalized cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by Joe Ziolkowski. He’s the CEO and founder of Relm Insurance, which offers insurance for the cannabis and psychedelic industries. How are we doing this afternoon, Joe? Joe Ziolkowski: Awesome, TG, thanks so much for having me. Great to be here. TG Branfalt: I’m real stoked to get into what you do because I think it’s a very underlooked sort of portion of both the cannabis and emergent psychedelic industries. But before we get to that, man, tell me about yourself. How’d you end up serving the cannabis and psychedelic industries? How’d you get involved in insurance? Tell me the story, man. Joe Ziolkowski: Yeah, I mean, I’ll give you the quick and dirty version of it. Ultimately, I’ve been in the insurance industry for about 15 years, and fortunately I came into the insurance industry through, in hindsight, a specialized niche of the global insurance industry. I came into the insurance industry focusing on the alternative risk transfer side of the business. So without going too far into the details, the traditional insurance industry is massive. It’s global. It accounts for trillions of dollars of capital sitting on balance sheets of some of the biggest companies in the world. It accounts for trillions of dollars of premium that are paid by companies in 180 plus different countries. And the traditional insurance market encompasses a lot of traditional companies doing traditional things that yield traditional types of risks. But there are a portfolio of exposures and products that are very non-standard, and a lot of the companies that are looking for solutions or conclusions that just aren’t possible to achieve through the traditional insurance marketplace will turn to what’s called the alternative risk transfer sector, or this alternative aspect of the insurance and reinsurance industry where bespoke products are developed, capacity is created with, let’s say third party investor, capital insurance infrastructure and reinsurance infrastructure is set up to solve very specific and tailored problems. And if you look at the Fortune 1000, 90% of those companies are accessing products and solutions through the alternative insurance and reinsurance marketplace. And so that’s where I came into the insurance industry really in what I think is probably the most stimulating entry point to an industry that’s considered so boring and opaque by so many others. And I spent eight years just going through solution after solution and product development initiative after product development initiative, really getting I think a unique and super interesting perspective on how this industry works. TG Branfalt: So what drew you to it initially? Joe Ziolkowski: Yeah, I mean, I had a finance background and I was working for a real estate development company that needed an alternative solution to some of the bonding performance and payment bonding that they were required to secure for some of the projects they were working on. And I got exposure to the execution of this type of solution where they were essentially self-insuring, right, utilizing insurance infrastructure that they owned and controlled to finance those risks in a way that enabled them to keep a portion of the risk on their own kind of affiliated balance sheet and then access reinsurance on a wholesale basis. So the idea ultimately is instead of paying premium to an insurance company that you have no control over, no affiliation with, and you continue to do that year after year after year without filing any claims, that third party insurance company gets to keep the premium and all of the retained profits. In the alternative sense. You could use some of your own insurance or reinsurance infrastructure to retain some of those profits and investment income that would otherwise be kept by some insurance company you don’t own or control. And so I got exposure to that and realized how prevalent this type of solution is for a very specific set of companies doing some of the most sophisticated things in the world and then found myself in the insurance business. TG Branfalt: So this is obviously a, could we call it non-traditional sort of insurance? Absolutely. So how is this sort of a non-traditional model ensuring non-traditional businesses such as cannabis and psychedelics? Joe Ziolkowski: Well, so I think when you look at the types of risks or the types of companies that approach these non-standard solutions, they are companies in some instances, they’re companies doing new things. If you think about the way that the insurance industry works, it is a backwards looking industry by design. It takes a whole bunch of historical data about a particular type of loss, and it models that data millions of times to effectively predict the future. It’s taking all those historical loss incidences and forecasting the

In this episode of Highly Enlightened, host Jon Purow interviews Jonathan Black, a seasoned business attorney and entrepreneur with expertise across real estate, entertainment, tech, retail, cannabis, and law, currently serving as the CEO of Cheech and Chong’s Global Holdings. After earning his degree at the University of San Diego and completing law school, Jonathan founded Weston Law Group PC. Over the years, he has also worked on securing government contracts, managed a real estate fund with over $200 million in assets, and produced two Hollywood films. In 2019, he became the COO of MediaJel, a cannabis Adtech company, and, through multiple successful exits, continues to hold ownership and board positions in various ventures. Jonathan resides in the Bay Area with his wife and three children. Listen to the episode below or wherever you get your podcasts — you can find more episodes of Highly Enlightened on Buzzsprout. Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Highly Enlightened: Jonathan Black, CEO of Cheech and Chong’s Global Episode sponsored by eBottles This episode of Highly Enlightened is made possible by eBottles. If you’re in the cannabis business, you know that quality packaging isn’t just important—it’s essential. That’s where eBottles comes in. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling up, eBottles offers proprietary top-of-the-line packaging products built for cannabis. eBottles is a market leader for a good reason: they are experts in the field. Six patents, five warehouse locations around the country, a network of exceptional distributors. Get eBottles and Grow Boldly. Read the transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors. Jon Purow: Welcome to a Highly Informed Interview episode. I’m your host, Jon Purow. Now, before we get to an awesome interview, I just want to note that any opinions I express are my own. As always, I have to do my quick prayer to the video chat. Gods may. Our wifi connections be sturdy. All dogs and my children remain quiet and may Amazon Prime another time. Amen. Alright, now I have the pleasure of introducing Jonathan Black, the CEO and Director of Cheech and Chong’s Global Holdings Company. How are you doing today, sir? I want to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to join me for this joint endeavor. Pun is intended. Jonathan Black: I love it, Jon. I love it. Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here and chatting with you. Jon Purow: Yeah, no, so look, I always start off with just the hard hitting question, right? So it gets easier after this, so out of exactly, just like I’m just going to crush you right at the beginning, just so it seems easier after that. So how much of your success, how much do you think what you’ve been able to accomplish in life is owed to the fact that you have the best first name in the history of humanity? Not that I’m biased. Jonathan Black: All of it. All of it. All of it. Isn a part of it. Jon Purow: Okay, perfect. That’s the right answer, right? It only gets easier from here. Jonathan Black: It’s a great name, man. I love the name Jonathan, and obviously you have the same similar love and passion for the name that I do. So Jon Purow: Does anyone call you Johnny, is the question? Jonathan Black: No. When I was younger, some of my uncles would call me John. John. I don’t know where that came from. There’s been other nicknames I’ve had that are probably not verbally appropriate to express on your podcast growing up playing sports because I definitely was tenacious in what I was trying to accomplish. Jon Purow: You’re going to have to tell me that one after, right? Jonathan Black: Absolutely. Jon Purow: It just lends to so many nicknames. I mean, since I now am saddled with the nickname Broke Back, John, since I literally broke my back jumping in Jamaica, I just think it lends itself to nicknames there, but that’s great. So I’m glad to hear that This’s worked out so well for you. So look outside of Brian Gerber from Harris Supply. Basically everyone that I’ve spoken to on the podcast came from somewhere and was working somewhere before coming into the industry. So I’m curious, out of all the experiences, indoor skills outside of being named Jonathan that you brought from your prior work history and everything into the cannabis industry, what do you think was the most helpful and why? Jonathan Black: Yeah, that is a really good question. I have a very diverse background and experiences. My attitude in trying to find out what I wanted to do was learning by the things I didn’t want to do, engaging in things I didn’t want to do. I was with publicly traded companies. I owned my own businesses myself. And so ultimately, I think the best experience that I had was really in some of the ownership of small businesses, growing businesses, even selling businesses. I always had great partners. That was kind of the key to success. And here at Brandon Harshberger, the president of Chichen Chang Global Holdings is a fantastic partner. So a lot of the things that I learned was if you want to grow, how do you trust in people? And this was throughout these companies experiences from standard Pacific Homes all the way to owning several different businesses myself. It became something I learned in order to grow, you’ve got to have a way of dividing up what each person is good at, putting them in their best position, trusting the people that you have with you to do their job. And so what I took from that was obviously branding and what a company should look like and what things should feel like and what a consumer experiences when they’re making that snap judgment on a product. They might be on their phone