Author name: dev

In this episode of Highly Enlightened, Jon Purow is joined by Socrates Rosenfeld, the Co-Founder and CEO of Jane Technologies. A U.S. Army veteran and former Apache helicopter commander, he turned to cannabis to help re-acclimate to civilian life after leaving active duty in 2011. Frustrated by the lack of legal access in Massachusetts and the unreliable black market, he co-founded Jane Technologies with his brother Abraham to create a trusted e-commerce solution for cannabis retailers. Since its 2017 launch, Jane has become a leading digital provider in the industry, powering over 2,500 dispensaries and brands across 39 U.S. states and Canada with e-commerce, market analytics, payments, and point-of-sale technologies. Under Socrates’ leadership, Jane has earned recognition from Forbes’ The Cannabis 42.0 (2023), Inc. Power Partner (2023), and Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 (2022), while also being featured at major industry events like SXSW and MJBizCon. Before founding Jane, Socrates was an associate at McKinsey & Company, and he holds a degree from the United States Military Academy as well as an MBA in entrepreneurship from MIT. 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: Socrates Rosenfeld, CEO + Co-Founder, Jane Technologies Inc. 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 auto-generated and may contain errors. Jon Purow: Welcome to an interview episode of Highly Enlightened, I’m your host, Jon Purow. Now, before we get to a really exciting interview, I want to note that any opinions I express are my own. Now, before we start, I always do my quick prayer to the video chat. Gods may our wifi connections be sturdy. May all dogs and children remain quiet and may Amazon Prime another time. Now I have the pleasure of introducing Socrates Rosenfeld, the CEO of Jane Technologies. Socrates, thank you for taking the time out. I’m going to call you Soc from here on out, given me thanks for taking the time to join me on this. Oh, my pleasure, John. Socrates Rosenfeld: I’m looking forward to this one. So it’s a pleasure to be on, man. Thanks for having me. Jon Purow: Oh, really? All right. Yeah, some of these, the questions in the pre-discussion. Got you. Ready for what an incredibly serious attorney and person I am. So I assume that’s where that’s coming from. Now, this Socrates Rosenfeld: World’s too crowded with too many serious attorneys, man, so I appreciate you showing a little bit of humanity. It’s Jon Purow: Good. Yes, exactly. I always used to say when I went to law school, that was the modified Ferris Bueller quote is right. Most of the people there, you shove a lump of coal up there. You know what, two weeks later you got a diamond. Yeah, that was the law school vibe. So I fit in perfectly and that’s why my wife and I found each other amidst all those tightly wound people. Socrates Rosenfeld: Beautiful. Jon Purow: Alright, so soak, without going out into too much detail into your personal history, though, it is such a badass one when we’re talking about you flew an Apache helicopter in the military, then you decided to go full Tony Stark and went to MIT. Right. And we’re studying computer engineering there, if I am correct. Right. Socrates Rosenfeld: Actually, the business, I have to correct it because there are a lot of MIT grads and current students right now being like, that dude is definitely not course six, which is computer science. They say they named the course. So I was course 15, which was business, which no offense to anybody who’s course 15, it’s probably the easiest subject at MIT though it wasn’t easy for me. But yeah, I snuck in, man. Jon Purow: Okay, got it. You got in on the athletic scholarship, as I like to say about Brown, right? Yeah, that’s how I snuck in and blackmail. People just forget about blackmail and how useful, like you got to think Agatha Christie was onto something. So you have this ridiculously cool backstory that I’m hoping to kind of just wear off of me by osmosis, but let’s put it this way. So of all the experience and skills that you brought from your prior experience flying helicopters and everything and everything else into the cannabis industry, what do you think was the most helpful in terms of forming your view of it or in any other fashion? Socrates Rosenfeld: A view of cannabis or view? Just, Jon Purow: Yeah, just what ended up being a formative thing for how you are in the industry that you brought in from somewhere else. Right. From your issue number zero origin story, as a comic book geek, what do you think was the most helpful coming to the cannabis industry within an arrow in your quiver Socrates Rosenfeld: Experiencing cannabis? For myself, not taking anybody’s word for it, not listening to police officer doing his best in the DARE program or my coach or the commander at West Point or my parents. But really to experience it for myself and then to make my own decision from there, which I had never done in my life, John, or I should say rarely had done. I’d always listened to the truth as it was told to me, and I just accepted it on face value and I was

In this episode of The Ganjapreneur Podcast, host TG Branfalt is joined by Regina Smith, founder and co-owner of The Plant, a licensed dispensary in Yonkers, New York. Regina shares her journey from a background in retail and baking to navigating the challenges of the cannabis industry. She discusses the complex social equity licensing process in New York, how The Plant is building trust and community in a competitive market, and the importance of education and customer service in the evolving cannabis landscape. Regina also touches on the role of legal dispensaries in the community, and how creative partnerships with local businesses are key to success. Tune in below to hear her inspiring story and insights on the future of cannabis retail, or scroll down for the full transcript! Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Regina Smith: Lessons from New York’s Emerging Cannabis Industry Read the transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript is auto-generated 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 a fellow New Yorker. She is Regina Smith, founder and co-owner of the Yonkers based the Plant dispensary. How are you doing this afternoon, Regina? Regina Jackson: I’m doing amazing. TG Branfalt: That’s good to hear. Amazing. Amazing is not something I get very often. So before we get into your role as a founder and co-owner of the plant, tell me about yourself. Tell me about your background and how you ended up in the cannabis space. Regina Jackson: Well, my background, I grew up in a military family. I’ve lived all over the US and overseas. I got into the cannabis industry because of my husband. He is one of those people that have been in the legacy markets, I guess you could say. He was arrested for cannabis when he was 19. Spent about nine months in prison for it. He’s definitely a fan of the plant and everything that I’ve learned about cannabis is because of him. TG Branfalt: So tell me a little bit about how getting arrested for cannabis in New York. I mean, it was decriminalized for a long time. How did that affect his life in your life with him? Regina Jackson: Well, that was when he was 19 and he actually got arrested in California. But I always tell him that doesn’t define you. He’s completely turned his life around. He’s a business owner. We’re actually business partners and all the businesses that we do. And for him to make that such a life change, it amazes me the person that he is today. I don’t think people thought he would where he’s today. TG Branfalt: And so New York, so obviously he’s one of these social equity licensees and a lot of people I think have a lot of misconceptions about this program and the processes and sort of what it all entails. So can you tell listeners about that licensing process? How long did it take from start to finish and what were regulators looking for? Regina Jackson: I would be lying to you if I didn’t say it was emotionally and financially draining. But we had such a passion for what we wanted to do. We had to stay persistent. We found out about being able to own and operate a dispensary back in 2018. It was just an idea. So when 2021 came around and cannabis became legal, we were like, let’s do this. So we got in touch with a very good friend who happened to be a cannabis lawyer, and he guided us through the process for a grueling three years. But you know what? It was a great process. We learned a lot, met a lot of great people, and I’m just happy to be where we are today. TG Branfalt: So tell me about operating in New York City. I mean, it’s a very competitive market. What are you doing to set yourself apart and make yourself a destination in such a again, competitive region? Regina Jackson: Right. So we’re in Yonkers, New York. I would say it’s about 10 minutes outside of New York City, and we do have a lot of dispensaries popping up right next to us. But I think what sets us apart from everybody else’s is just that we are in Yonkers, New York and we are Yonkers natives. My husband is born and raised in Yonkers and we have a community. We want to build a sense of community in our area. And a lot of other towns have opted out right next to us. We have Scarsdale, we have harsdale, and we have another business that’s about three minutes up the block, a cupcake shop. And we just wanted to touch everyone. And we also want people to know that we are a trusted legal brand. So we’re not here to just be on top of the world. We want everybody to feel like they’re tangible. Our employees know what they’re talking about, they’re educated. And I think that’s what separates us from the rest of the pact because the people that we have working for us, they know what they’re talking about and their fans of the plan and it’s a great store. TG Branfalt: So obviously one of the things that have been pock, we should say the early New York market was unlicensed dispensaries. How have these dispensaries affected your business and what steps do you think the state should take in curbing illegal operators? Regina Jackson: For me, I try not to think about unlicensed shops. I feel like I’m a competitive to myself and I try to make myself better each and every day. What can I do to my business to set myself apart from everybody else? And what can make me better?

Ganjapreneur is pleased to introduce our first syndicated episode of Highly Enlightened, hosted by Jon Purow. With this show, Jon interviews cannabis business leaders and investors to shed light on what it takes to survive and thrive in the tumultuous cannabis industry. You can find more episodes of Highly Enlightened on Buzzsprout. In this episode, Jon welcomes the multi-talented Tiffany Chin, head of cannabis for Snoop Dogg. Tiffany Chin has 13 years of experience in the entertainment space, working with world famous talent including Snoop Dogg, Eddie Murphy, and Martha Stewart. She has helped artists and talent traverse out of their traditional lane(s) of fame by way of strategic branding partnerships, including brands such as Adidas, AirBnB, Reddit, Tanqueray, Netflix and HBO. In working closely with Snoop Dogg, Chin co-founded Casa Verde Capital in 2014, as well as Leafs By Snoop (LBS) in 2015, the first widely available celebrity cannabis brand and Snoop Dogg’s first venture into the branded cannabis space. Chin guest lectures at UCLA for MBA marketing classes, and has consulted with many cannabis agencies and brands – and most recently debuted the Death Row Records Cannabis line in California in 2023. In 2024, Chin launched two cannabis shops alongside Snoop Dogg named S.W.E.D. – which stands for Smoke Weed Every Day (one in Inglewood, and a coffeeshop in Amsterdam). She received her business degree at the Wharton School of Business from the University of Pennsylvania. Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Highly Enlightened: Tiffany Chin, Head of Cannabis for Snoop Dogg 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 full transcript: Jon Purow: Welcome to an interview episode of Highly Informed I’m your host, Jon Purow. Now, before we get to an interview, I’m particularly excited for, I want to note that any opinions I express or my own now as I always like to do, but has been less successful recently, I like to do a quick prayer to the video chat. Gods may. Our wifi connections be sturdy. All dogs and children like my 13-year-old upstairs remain quiet and may Amazon Prime another time. Amen. Now, with that, I have the pleasure of introducing Tiffany Chin, AKA Snoop Dogg’s head of cannabis. I mean, what titles do you like to roll with outside of the best possible title in the history of the universe? In terms of being Snoop Dogg’s, head of Cannabis, which I’m not jealous of whatsoever, Tiffany Chin: That’s definitely been an issue in the last two or three years. People call me CEO of Death Row Records Cannabis or Head of Cannabis and Hemp for Snoop Dogg or Head of Cannabis Ventures. I think it doesn’t really matter to me, I just work with him and manage this portion of his business for him. I lean into more like Head of Cannabis and Hemp for Snoop. Yeah. Jon Purow: Okay. So whatever it is, hey, head of cannabis and hemp there. I just want to thank you for taking the time out of your very busy schedule, trying to figure out what your title is to join me for this joint endeavor, so I appreciate that very much. Tiffany Chin: Of course, Jon. Anytime. Jon Purow: Okay. So as usual, I’m going to get started immediately with a hardball question that’s extremely serious. This is my serious face for the people who are watching rather than listening. Now, do you consider it kind of a shame that you can’t use the inevitable brand death row records in other countries for cannabis because they might think that it refers to killing murderers rather than ridiculously good classic hip hop? Tiffany Chin: It’s interesting because we’ve done quite a few studies around the recognition and understanding of what Death Row records is versus what death row is versus even shorter what death is. Obviously everyone knows what that is, but the United States very much on its own island when it comes to putting people on death row, capital punishment, all those things. As well as on the other side of the coin, doing really cool things with marketing with the word death for certain products. My favorite example would be Liquid Death, right? It’s just a water product, but when it comes to any illusions to death or harm or anything with a vice product, it is often looked down upon, I would say. Have you seen any products like that in the alcohol space? Probably not. I know that my personal and other individual’s opinions or thoughts are that this is just a brand, not so much a reference to prisoners or murderers or anyone on death row. It still conveys that notoriety even from the nineties and when we had a little bit more of that contention between the coasts, between the gangs, between certain hip hop artists. What Snoop has tried to do with the brand is actually revitalize it and notarize it in terms of making it not notorious as opposed to what it used to be. So bringing the light, the love, the transparency, and the group and the team back together. I think something he likes to say a lot is all Coast love as opposed to necessarily West Coast, east Coast. He’s a fan of everybody. He’s an everyday man and it’s not so much about Death Row, but we do have to work with the countries who are allowing us to sell product and bring product that Snoop would smoke to them. And a lot

In this episode of the Ganjapreneur podcast, host TG Branfalt is joined by Brandon Wyatt, Esq. and Todd Hughes, co-founders of BCB Mastermind, an executive training program designed to propel minority-owned cannabis and hemp businesses to new heights. In this episode, they discuss the critical barriers that entrepreneurs face in the cannabis space, from access to capital and regulatory challenges to the overlooked potential of industrial hemp. With backgrounds in law, engineering, and advocacy, Brandon and Todd bring a holistic approach to business strategy, emphasizing community-driven solutions, policy reform, and the power of sustainable innovation. Tune in below for a deep dive into the intersections of social equity, business leadership, and the future of hemp beyond consumption. Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Todd Hughes & Brandon Wyatt: Accelerating Minority-Owned Cannabis Businesses with BCB Mastermind Read the full 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 Branfalt, and this is 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 Brandon Wyatt, Esquire. and Todd Hughes, co-founders of BCB Mastermind, an Elite Executive Training program designed to propel minority owned cannabis and hemp businesses to new heights. How you doing this afternoon, fellas? Brandon Wyatt: What’s up? How you Hey, TG Branfalt: Hey, hey. So I’m real excited to have you guys on. I’ve read a lot about what you do and it’s really compelling stuff. I’ll just start with that. But first tell me about yourselves. How did you end up in the cannabis space? Todd Hughes: I guess I’ll start. Background is mechanical engineering, went to Howard University. This is Todd Hughes here. Everyone a pleasure to be on. First and foremost, thank you for allowing us to be on the call. TG Branfalt: It’s my pleasure. My pleasure guys. Todd Hughes: This means a lot to us. I’ve been doing a lot of work and it feels good to be recognized, but I’m Todd Hughes, background mechanical engineering and working in the federal government for a long time and a lot of friends of mine thought, Hey, I was the definition of success because I had a good paying job that’s pretty secure. But then they asked me for help and it was pretty difficult for us to do so. And so one challenge came about, a friend got kicked out of school for less than an ounce of cannabis, and I called the only savant I knew at the time, and it was still one of the only major level savant, Brandon L. White, Esquire, to help me come up with a solution. And I think the work speaks for itself now. Numbers of events, conferences, music festivals, and now businesses in the cannabis space that we’ve been able to be a part of or lead has led to us starting this mastermind and getting things done. But I’ll let Brandon talk about his flows and how he got to the space because it’s much different and much more dynamic. Brandon Wyatt: Oh man, Brandon, who is that guy? That’s me. I’m Brandon Wyatt. As far they say at the end, because I did a lot of school, I guess to start, I’m a functional person even though I have a formal title. I think there’s a big difference in this world between function and form. And that’s what I saw about cannabis being able to solve a functional problem and human rights, not just civil rights related to the arrest rates, not just medical disability rights related to the patient causes, but human rights even as we look at our environment for what the hemp plant can do in the manufacturing paralysis that it possessed. And as Todd mentioned, I don’t consider myself in a savant, but one of the things we educate on is thinking deeply is hard work. And to really take the time to dissect a problem from all angles, you might need a couple of lawyers or a couple of engineers, a couple of great hosts that run wonderful grounds renewal podcasts they’ve been waiting to get on for years and years and years and did the functional work to do it and work with students to do that. So Brandon, I’m a disabled combat veteran. I’m a Howard Law graduate. I’m a kid from North Carolina that fell in love with a plant in his community. Pretty simple. TG Branfalt: I mean, those are really unique backgrounds for anyone who’s really in this space. Can you tell me a little bit more, Todd, about what you learned from the sort of electrical engineering aspect of your life and you brought into this industry? Todd Hughes: Yeah, mechanical engineering, mechanical, it’s more about program project management and figuring out processes to get work done and moving teams of individuals that are working on complex, maybe highly regulated industries and making sure we stay in compliance and move forward. So those skills are definitely transferable. And I’m not a cannabis expert by any means or any stretches, but I also try to leverage organization, project management and making sure we stay on track to deliver. So that’s what is transferable for sure. TG Branfalt:

In this episode of the Ganjapreneur Podcast, host TG Branfalt is joined by Josh Wurzer, co-founder of SC Labs, one of the longest-running cannabis testing laboratories in the industry. In this episode, they explore the evolution of cannabis testing, from measuring cannabinoids and terpenes to detecting contaminants like pesticides and mold. Josh shares insights into regulatory challenges, lab fraud, the importance of terpene profiles, and how the industry can better educate consumers to prioritize quality over THC percentages. It’s an enlightening look at the critical role labs play in ensuring cannabis safety and integrity. Listen to the full episode below, or scroll down for the full transcript! Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Josh Wurzer: The Realities of Cannabis Testing and Industry Integrity Read the transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors. TG Branfalt (00:52): 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 am joined by Josh Wurzer, the co-founder of Multi-State operator SC Labs. How are you doing this afternoon, Josh? Josh Wurzer (01:13): Excellent. How are you doing? TG Branfalt (01:15): Cool, man. Cool. I’m excited to get to what we have to talk to. There’s a lot of stuff in the testing space that I’m hoping you can shine some light on, but before we get to that, tell me about yourself and how you ended up in the cannabis space. Josh Wurzer (01:30): Alright, well, so I’ve been in the cannabis space, I guess one way or another since I was in high school. But I always had a love for the plant. I always kind of in one way or another have either added as a part-time job or made a little bit of a living out of cannabis. Went to school though to be a chemist, left school, moved out to California from Wisconsin originally and had a little bit of a grow always on the side that back then it was in the medical marijuana industry. This would be like 2005. But I was working normal jobs, worked in the pharmaceutical industry doing small molecule synthesis for drug discovery. Then worked for Samsung for a long time doing electronic materials, research and development, sort of developing the materials that computer chips and different electronic materials are made out of. And then was one day thinking about maybe what else is out there, just kind of browsing through job postings. (02:30): Back then it was Craigslist that people looked for new jobs on in the Bay Area was Bay Area, California, and was reading through a job posting that was for a laboratory director at an analytical law. Looked like a normal job. And then the very end said, must be comfortable working with medical marijuana. Now that was, at that time there was no, certainly no regulated testing industry. Everything was medical, there’s no legal states and there certainly weren’t any cannabis laboratories out there, nothing like there is today. So I just saw that posting. It just piqued my interest just because I kind of always had this interest in cannabis on the side. And so stayed up late that night filling out my resume just so I could get an interview. I wanted to see what they were up to. I had images in my mind like the movie Half Baked, what are these guys doing? (03:19): So stayed up late that night, filled up, updated my cv, sent it in, and then went to work the next day and didn’t think too much of it without very much sleep. I think it was up till two in the morning updating my CV and then got a call first thing the next morning, Hey, can you come in for an interview? So went up to Oakland on my lunch break, I was working in San Jose at the time, shout up to Oakland on my lunch break. And what it was is it was the very first testing lab in the country or the world I guess, that focused on medical marijuana. They were just about to open up. It was a couple entrepreneurs and then Steve DeAngelo from Harbor Side (03:51): Had gotten together and said, Hey, we need a testing lab. We want to be able to quantify the cannabinoids in the products. We’re selling on the shelves. We think this is a good idea. We’re going to open a testing lab. They kind of set everything up and they were about to open up. And the one science person, they had sort of walked out and they didn’t have a science person, they didn’t have a lab director, so they needed someone with a chemistry background to actually run the lab side of things. And so they’re kind of in a pickle and offered me and gave me the interview. I was into cannabis, I was a scientist, so I think I checked all the boxes and they were in need. So they offered me the job kind of right there. And I didn’t have much time to think about it. (04:34): I was kind of thinking about looking for something new in my current job. So I said, I’ll take the job. I never really thought this would be a career. I thought, okay, I’ll do this. Then I’ll start looking for a real job. Of course, I’ll never put this on my resume because I’ll never be able to get a real job if they found out I was working in cannabis. And so now I was the first lab director that was Steep Hill Labs, that was basically the first lab that tested marijuana, medical marijuana, and did that for about a year. And then over the course of that year thought, Hey, this is a great idea, but I think this

Alaska was one of the very first U.S. states to legalize cannabis after voters there embraced the reforms in 2014; the market was also the very first to get state-wide regulations for social cannabis use, although some towns have passed stricter local regulations than others. But while Alaska’s cannabis market is one of the oldest in the country, its immense size and inherent isolation make doing cannabis business more complicated than many other state-legal markets. In the latest episode of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast, Chris joins our host TG Branfalt to discuss the early days of Alaska’s cannabis marketplace, Chris’ transition from working in cultivation to the retail side of the industry, and strategies he implemented at The Tree House for improving foot traffic and the overall cannabis retail experience. The interview also covers unique Alaskan cannabis industry experiences, like flying on commercial airlines while carrying tens of thousands of dollars worth of cannabis products — because sometimes that’s the only option — and the benefits of getting to know your customer base on a more personal level. You can listen to the interview through the media player below or through your favorite podcasts app, or keep scrolling down to find a full transcript. Listen to the podcast: Ganjapreneur · Chris Ray: Navigating Change In Alaska’s Cannabis Industry Read the transcript: Commercial: This episode of the Ganjapreneur podcast is made possible by AROYA, a comprehensive cannabis production platform for commercial growers. If you are a commercial cannabis grower, you can use AROYA to level your production workflow. Featuring a combination of precision instruments and powerful software that help you intelligently cultivate, dry and process cannabis, the AROYA cannabis production platform is your ticket to greater yields and consistent quality. Request a quote today online at aroya.io, that’s A-R-O-Y-A.io. Cara Wietstock: Hi. I’m Cara Wietstock, culture editor at Ganjapreneur and host of our YouTube show, Fresh Cut. The best way to understand cannabis business is to speak directly to those who work within it and Fresh Cut was created to shine recognition on the people who fill these roles. In this interview series, we focus on those with their hands and the dirt, both literally and figuratively, from cultivators to bud tenders, educators to advocates, activists to lobbyists, we aim to illuminate the workers who keep this industry thriving. Enjoy one on one conversations with me and guests by watching along on the Ganjapreneur YouTube channel and follow our social channels to keep up with the latest episodes. Have a great day. TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host TG Branfalt and thank you for listening to the ganjapreneur.com podcast, where we try to bring new, actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today, I have finally completed my near five-year mission to get somebody from Alaska on this show. I’m delighted to be joined by Chris Ray. He’s the general manager of Anchorage, Alaska’s Tree House. Chris has worked in the state’s cannabis industry since August of 2016. How you doing man? Chris Ray: Good. How are you? TG Branfalt: I’m very, very well. Like I said, it’s great to have somebody representing Alaska finally on the show. I have a lot of questions that I think a lot of people have been sort of asking me about so I finally get to have answers for them. But before we get into that, man, tell me about out yourself, your background, and how you ended up in the cannabis space. Chris Ray: Yeah, before we hopped on here, like I was telling you, I started doing the retail thing after I went to college. I went to University of Idaho for a year, tried to figure out what I wanted to do with life. Realized a four year school wasn’t really for me so I kind of bounced around between Washington, Hawaii and then I ended up in Missouri. Just started working retail down there for a few years then I got a call from one of my old basketball coaches from back in my high school days and he said that he was starting a cannabis retail in Fairbanks and he wanted my help. And so August of 2016 rolled around, I moved up there, helped him out in the cultivation and then helped him out in the retail. Got that going October, 2016 and then I was with them until about April of 2017. And then I went over and joined Grass Station 49 in Fairbanks. They started off with just one location. We expanded to two more in Fairbanks, so three total within the first two and a half years. And then we opened a store in Nome shortly after that. And then once we opened up that store in Nome, I got a call from a buddy of mine here in Anchorage who was starting up a retail and he had already had a cultivation going. He’s big in the local hiphop scene, which really kind of gained my interest and my attention. And then that’s when I came down here and started working for the Tree House. And so we just opened up in July of last year, so 2020. Haven’t been open for a year yet. Just been kind working through the kinks and trying to get everything going. That’s kind and where we’re standing now. TG Branfalt: You say that you started in sort of the cultivation, retail and now you’re helping sort of build a store as a general manager. What were some of the challenges for you when you were making that transition? Chris Ray: I think the biggest challenge is it’s never been done before, the cannabis retail. Essentially everything that you’re doing and learning, it comes with taking some L’s here and there. Some learning lessons. I think the hardest part though for me, is trying to find like the right people to fit in. Because I think everyone who smokes and

As cannabis becomes more and more ubiquitous in social circles and even in public spaces, it’s important for new cannabis products to collectively drive the industry’s innovation and acceptance by more mainstream audiences. MyHi is especially in tune with that fact as a company and has dedicated a significant portion of its launch and brand identity to centering the conversation about social and convenient cannabis use. In this episode of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast, our host TG Branfalt connects with MyHi’s founder and CEO TJ Stouder to discuss the inspiration behind MyHi’s patented stir STIKs, the benefits of being able to add its fast-acting and nano emulsified THC powder to any beverage, and how the product is changing perceptions of social cannabis use and the role cannabis should play in social drinking circles. The pair also discuss emerging cannabis markets and trends from around the country, strategies for building a brand in the whirlwind cannabis industry, tips for entrepreneurs who are considering their own cannabis venture, and more! Listen to the full interview below. You can also scroll further down to find a transcript of the interview. Listen to the podcast: Ganjapreneur · TJ Stouder: Reimagining Cannabis Consumption with MyHi Read the transcript: Commercial: This episode of the Ganjapreneur Podcast is made possible by AROYA, a comprehensive cannabis production platform for commercial growers. If you are a commercial cannabis grower, you can use AROYA to level up your production workflow, featuring a combination of precision instruments and powerful software that help you intelligently cultivate, dry, and process cannabis. The AROYA cannabis production platform is your ticket to greater yields and consistent quality. Request a quote today online at aroya.io. That’s A-R-O-Y-A.io. Cara Wietstock: Hi, I’m Cara Wietstock, culture editor at Ganjapreneur and host of our YouTube show, Fresh Cut. The best way to understand cannabis business is to speak directly to those who work within it, and Fresh Cut was created to shine recognition on the people who fill these roles. In this interview series, we focus on those with their hands in the dirt, both literally and figuratively, from cultivators to budtenders, educators to advocates, activists to lobbyists. We aim to illuminate the workers who keep this industry thriving. Enjoy one-on-one conversations with me and guests by watching along on the Ganjapreneur YouTube channel, and follow our social channels to keep up with the latest episodes. Have a great day. TG Branfalt: Hey, there, I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and thank you for 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 TJ Stouder, he’s the founder and CEO of MyHi, a line of water-soluble calorie- and sugar-free THC powder stir STIKs. This is a product that I’m really excited about as somebody who doesn’t really consume much alcohol and have used many different products to try to bridge that non-drinker gap with my drinking friends. I’m really excited to have TJ on the show to let me know more about himself and this product. How you doing this afternoon, man? TJ Stouder: Very well, TG, TJ, thanks for having me. This is going to be fun. TG Branfalt: Hey, and I’m screwing it up already. TJ Stouder: That’s great. TG Branfalt: I’m really stoked to have you on the show, as I said at the top and as we were talking about before, I don’t really drink that much, so to have a product that is water-soluble, it can be mixed with most anything. But before we get into all that, man, let me know about yourself. You have a really interesting background. TJ Stouder: Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. In a nutshell, I was a kid born in Indiana that was a cannabis consumer for most of my life. I like to call it the home of the stigma to put it simply. Not a good place to be a cannabis consumer. Left Indiana, grew up professionally at Procter & Gamble working on a myriad of big brands and kind of around the world on different budgets, brands and marketing of building consumer products. I learned one big insight throughout that entire experience, which brand consumer connections go a lot deeper than a point of sale purchase. I like to use the example of throughout quarantine we still wash our clothes with Tide because it’s part of who we are, not how we wash our clothes. That’s how P&G thought about building a brand and really how, let’s call it, I grew up thinking about brands. Left P&G on a mission to find something closer to home, a product or something that would work closer for me. As I said, long-term cannabis consumer, didn’t think that was the answer, believe it or not, despite the green rush and everybody going that way. I ran into some close family issues that needed CBD and/or any form of cannabis that they could get into and saw light basically in my mom’s eyes that she needed a root, like a brand, like what I just discussed, to open up that world of cannabis to her. It’s, as I said, the home of the stigma. It runs very deep and people are afraid of this plant. That nice branding, that approachability, the product design for your life has really become crucial to people discovering this plant and really what I dedicated myself to and all of my skills, and now I’m in cannabis for the last three years. Super excited to be here. TG Branfalt: You talked about your time at Proctor & Gamble, can you tell me a little bit about moving from the more corporate culture at a multinational company to the cannabis space and what some of your challenges were? TJ Stouder: Definitely. It was a fun journey. I’ll say it’s not as far as it would seem apart. The biggest challenge is really … it’s been built bottoms

With nearly one million medical cannabis caregivers licensed in the state, Michigan is an often undersung hub of cannabis culture, cultivation, and industry expertise. In an interview covering entrepreneurship and the Michigan marketplace, our podcast host TG Branfalt recently connected with Joseph Ori, a career lawyer and entrepreneur who co-founded Michigan’s Six Labs. In the following episode, Joseph discusses his pivot to the cannabis space, the company’s scientific approach to cannabis cultivation, and the advantages of working with a versatile team. The interview also covers Six Labs’ brand-building process, their prioritization of experience-focused cannabis products, and more. Check out the full podcast episode below! You can also scroll further down to find a full transcript of the interview. Listen to the podcast: Ganjapreneur · Joseph Ori: Building a Network of Cannabis Brands In Michigan Read the transcript: Commercial: This episode of The Ganjapreneur Podcast is made possible by AROYA, a comprehensive cannabis production platform for commercial growers. If you are a commercial cannabis grower, you can use AROYA to level up your production workflow. Featuring a combination of precision instruments and powerful software that help you intelligently cultivate dry and process cannabis, the AROYA cannabis production platform is your ticket to greater yields and consistent quality. Request a quote today online at aroya.io. That’s A-R-O-Y-A.io. Cara Wietstock: Hi, I’m Cara Wietstock, Culture Editor at Ganjapreneur and host of our YouTube show. Fresh Cut. The best way to understand cannabis business is to speak directly to those who work within it, and Fresh Cut was created to shine recognition on the people who fill these roles. In this interview series, we focus on those with their hands and the dirt, both literally and figuratively, from cultivators to budtenders, educators to advocates, activists to lobbyists. We aim to illuminate the workers who keep this industry thriving. Enjoy one-on-one conversations with me and guests by watching along on the Ganjapreneur YouTube channel and follow our social channels to keep up with the latest episodes. Have a great day. TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and thank you for listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast, where we try to bring you actionable information in normalized cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today, I am joined by Joseph Ori. He’s the co-founder, General Counsel, and Government Relations for Six Labs, one of Michigan‘s largest craft cannabis cultivators with a complete focus on quality and precision and a passion for advanced research development and technology. How you doing this afternoon, Joseph? A pleasure to have you. Joseph Ori: I’m doing great, TG. Thank you for having me. Really appreciate it. TG Branfalt: As a lot of our listeners know, I actually spent a year in Detroit. I love the city. I was there when they legalized cannabis, but was not there when they actually started sales. I did go to a Cannabis Cup there, which is a story for another day that has been posted to the website, but before we discuss Six Labs and craft cannabis, which is really exciting, tell me about yourself, man. You obviously wear many hats for Six Labs, so tell me about what you do there and your background. How’d you end up in the cannabis space? Joseph Ori: Well, the cannabis space sort of called out to me, I think, but I have a background. I played sports competitively my whole life, and most of it was spent playing football toward the latter part of my teens, and then I ended up playing college football and I actually ended up with two back surgeries while in college. Back in the ’90s, they were giving out Percocet and Oxycontin like it was candy and we, obviously, didn’t know any of effects of those substances and the addictive quality. I was one of the lucky ones because I didn’t react well to them and I was in an extreme amount of pain all of the time. I mean, I’m talking back since I was… I don’t want to date myself, but since I was 20. I stumbled upon cannabis in college and, you know… Whereas, most people were using it just recreationally to have some fun. I started to notice that it was mediating my pain. Whereas, you drink alcohol and I’d feel like shit the next day. I mean, I was completely dehydrated. My back would kill me even more. I’d worry it was cannabis. It wasn’t, so I became sort of self-medicating myself over the years. Then, as this industry grew and they started to actually acknowledge that there were medicinal qualities and sort of at the same time the parabola was going downward for opioids and all of the negative exposure that they rightly received, I said, “I’m a believer in this.” The opportunity presented itself to… You know, I’ve been an investor in cannabis separately before Six Labs, and so an opportunity presented itself that Six Labs, I’m sorry, that Michigan was opening up to a new set of rules and they were going to open up larger cultivators and go recreational legal, and my partners and I saw an opportunity. We bought some land out there and we got it approved locally. We raised tons of money and got this thing off the ground. We’re all in our… The challenge we had was… I tell people this a lot is that we’re all in our 40s, so we’re seasoned businessmen, and one of the things that comes with that is that you know what you’re doing, how to run a business, and by that point in time in your life you know some people who’ve got some wealth. We were able to raise money and we were able to put together this company relatively easy in the sense that we all had a role. The challenge was that once it started to take off, we all had to leave our careers. My main bread-winning background was that I’m a

From transitioning out of a self-described “boring” career in finance, to heading one of the East Coast’s biggest multistate operators to eventually moving to California to focus on team- and brand-building for Lowell Farms, few people have experience in the cannabis industry like George Allen. In the latest Ganjapreneur.com Podcast interview, George and our host TG Branfalt discuss George’s exit from a Wall Street finance career to join the cannabis industry, his time as the President of Acreage Holdings (during which he approached the former Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner about endorsing the cannabis legalization movement), as well as the eventual transition from working for an MSO to joining up with the California-focused Lowell Farms. The interview also covers advice for building a strong team in the cannabis space, the differences between medical and recreational cannabis markets, the importance of being passionate about the industry, and more! Listen to the podcast interview below or through your favorite podcast listening platform, or scroll further down to find a full transcript of the episode. Listen to the podcast: Ganjapreneur · George Allen: The Importance of Team-Building In Cannabis Business Read the transcript: Commercial: This episode of The Ganjapreneur Podcast is made possible by AROYA, a comprehensive cannabis production platform for commercial growers. If you are a commercial cannabis grower, you can use AROYA to level up your production workflow. Featuring a combination of precision instruments and powerful software that help you intelligently cultivate, dry, and process cannabis, the AROYA cannabis production platform is your ticket to greater yields and consistent quality. Request a quote today online at aroya.io. That’s A-R-O-Y-A.io. Cara Wietstock: Hi, I’m Cara Wietstock, culture editor at Ganjapreneur and host of our YouTube show, Fresh Cut. The best way to understand cannabis business is to speak directly to those who work within it. Fresh Cut was created to shine recognition on the people who fill these roles. In this interview series, we focus on those with their hands in the dirt, both literally and figuratively. From cultivators to bud tenders, educators to advocates, activists to lobbyists, we aim to illuminate the workers who keep this industry thriving. Enjoy one-on-one conversations with me and guests by watching along on the Ganjareneur YouTube channel and follow our social channels to keep up with the latest episodes. Have a great day. TG Branfalt: Hey, there, I’m your host TG Branfalt. And thank you for listening to 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 George Allen, he’s the chairman of the board for Lowell Farms, founder of cannabis industry investment firm, Geronimo Capital LLC, and former president for Acreage Holdings. Allen has been involved in multiple financing rounds, dozens of acquisitions, executive recruiting, and an initial public offering. How are you doing this afternoon, George? George Allen: Hey, great. Thanks so much. I’m really grateful for the opportunity to talk to you today and really have enjoyed your podcast. So thanks for having me. TG Branfalt: Thank you so much. You have done a lot in this industry, man. I’ve had a lot of guests on this show. I’ve been doing it since 2015. Somebody with your sort of breadth of knowledge, I’m really delighted to have you on. Before we get into sort of all these little things or big things that you have done, what is your background, man? George Allen: I got to say it’s a little bit of a crime of fashion I got involved. I got involved in the industry after a pretty boring career in finance on Wall Street. I spent a lot of time, started out in finance and then moved into private equity. I did some fun stuff in software. I did a software roll up in a public company. And then more recently before getting into the industry, I ran a family office for a group of high network individuals in New York. And that’s when I first started getting exposed to cannabis because the family offices were the only investor group that was looking seriously at cannabis back only as short four, five years ago. And that’s when I started getting into it. I really saw the scale of the opportunity and how much blue sky there was. That’s what drew me in. And from there I was hooked. TG Branfalt: So you described your life sort of before cannabis as boring and in finance. What are some of the biggest differences sort of culturally that you had to sort of deal with moving from something as boring as finance as you put it to the cannabis space? George Allen: Well, I got to say the biggest challenge you’ve got in cannabis, there’s really two that I point to, but first is there’s no precedent for how to do things in cannabis right and how to do the med scale because it’s such a young industry. I don’t know that you’ve got a lot of precedent for that in other businesses where there’s a big industry that happens overnight but it has no analogs to it. And I think that’s the first challenge. The second challenge that is just crazy is you just only have to walk 2 or 3 feet in this business before you find another stumbling block that is imposed by the federal policy in this business. That’s just super strange working with banks and trying to figure all that out, as well as employees and employment practices. There are a whole bunch of service providers that are available to most businesses that cannabis can’t avail themselves to. It’s a workable problem, but it takes clock cycles for sure. TG Branfalt: Tell me about sort of the learning curve, right? I mean, you talked about these stumbling blocks. Maybe can you tell me about a specific instance sort of early on in your career that you had to

For decades, cannabis research in the U.S. was hindered by steep federal requirements, foot-dragging enforcement agencies, and an archaic rule limiting the source of research-grade cannabis to just one cultivator in Mississippi. But thanks to a lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) by Dr. Sue Sisley MD, a doctor who spent years trying to get federal approval for her study that sought to investigate the therapeutic effects of cannabis for veterans with PTSD, the path for real cannabis research has never been more clear. Shane Pennington was the attorney who worked pro bono with Dr. Sisley to see that lawsuit to fruition. In this podcast interview, our host TG Branfalt returns to discuss those developments with Shane as well as other significant rulings. Shane also discusses his background before joining the cannabis cause, his current work with Vicente Sederberg LLP, his advice for lawyers or law students who are interested in cannabis, and more. You can listen to the full interview via the player below, or keep scrolling down to find a full transcript. Listen to the podcast: Ganjapreneur · Shane Pennington: Suing the DEA to Unlock Cannabis Research Read the transcript: Kevin Lance Murray: This episode of the Ganjapreneur Podcast is brought to you by The Sesh, a new podcast from the Outlaw Report, the essential news source for cannabis politics, business, and culture in the Mid-Atlantic region. I’m Kevin Lance Murray, host of The Sesh, and you can listen to all our episodes on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or by visiting the outlawreport.com/podcast. TG Branfalt: Hey, there. I’m your host TG Branfalt and thank you for 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. It’s been a long time since I’ve hosted an episode of the podcast, but recently I had the opportunity to interview Shane Pennington, the lead council for New York-based Vicente Sederberg LLP, which is a cannabis-focused legal practice, about a letter that he had written to the DEA that sort of sparked this controversy about seeds. But before we get into that, how you doing, Shane? Shane Pennington: Doing great. Thanks for having me. TG Branfalt: It’s a pleasure. Like I said, we had spoken about the seeds issue a couple of weeks ago, and we started sort of jawing about your history and how you got into the space. And I was really fascinated by that. And so I was like, “Let me host another podcast and get this on record.” So let’s start with you, man. What is your background? Shane Pennington: Yeah, so I graduated law school in 2010 and went very kind of square route for several years, that I clerked for several federal judges, had a above top secret clearance with the federal government where I was doing FISA, which is like Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act stuff in DC, and then went and joined a Supreme Court practice of a big law firm in Houston, where I’m originally from. And after several years of doing Supreme Court cases for companies like Halliburton and Valero and that kind of thing, I decided… I got offered this pro bono gig to help a scientist named Dr. Sue Sisley try to get her application to grow cannabis for research out of a delay hold at DEA. So it was kind of just stuck and DEA wasn’t getting back to her. And I knew nothing about cannabis policy, I knew nothing about the Controlled Substances Act, I had zero background. I mean, my dad’s a Methodist minister. I grew up very straight laced. And there was no judgment, I’m actually kind of a libertarian politically. So I had no judgment, but just my life, it had just had never been an issue for me. But since what Dr. Sisley was doing was for vets, she was trying to research cannabis for veterans suffering from treatment resistant PTSD and chronic pain, I thought, “Well, I’ll try to help her,” and dug into it and ended up beating the DEA in a series of lawsuits from 2019 to 2021. And now she has a license to grow her own cannabis and her studies are going forward. And in the process of doing all of that, I became obsessed with… I mean, learned all about it, realized how meaningful the work was and so I was like, “Man, these cases for Valero and Halliburton just aren’t as interesting or as meaningful. I mean, to me.” And so I left the big firm and came and joined Vicente Sederberg and now do impact litigation for cannabis reform full-time. TG Branfalt: So you say you had no experience in cannabis, what in your background did you draw from most to sort of enter this space or get really acquainted with it? Shane Pennington: That’s a great question. So turns out cannabis law, and this is kind of nerdy, but I mean, it’s not really its own thing. People think of it as cannabis law, but it’s not. It’s actually administrative law because administrative law is the law of agencies, it’s how agencies regulate people. So your car is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, the food you eat is the USDA, the Department of Agriculture and so forth, your taxes are by the Internal Revenue Service, which is a federal agency, right? And so I specialized in suing those federal agencies on behalf of regulated parties, like Halliburton often has to deal with the EPA and the SEC and all of this. And even pharmaceutical companies, I would help them as well with FDA and FTC and all these different agencies. That’s what I specialize in, it’s a very nerdy, very nuanced, very complex area of law. And it turns out that cannabis is governed by federal agencies, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, Alcohol Tobacco Firearms, Customs Border Protection, which is Homeland Security. So you just