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In this episode of the Ganjapreneur Podcast, host TG Branfalt is joined by LJ Dawson, the Editor-in-Chief of The Outlaw Report, a Washington, DC-based cannabis news outlet covering the dynamic cannabis landscape in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region. LJ shares her journey from criminal justice reporting to leading an independent cannabis-focused publication, offering unique insights into the intersection of cannabis policy, business, and social justice in one of the most politically charged regions in the country. LJ discusses the complex challenges of reporting on cannabis in a region where local, state, and federal laws often clash, creating a complicated and ever-evolving market. She also delves into the ongoing efforts to expand DC’s medical cannabis market amidst competition from unlicensed operators, and the broader implications of cannabis enforcement across the DMV. For anyone interested in cannabis policy, journalism, or the intricacies of the DMV cannabis market (regulated and otherwise), this episode provides a nuanced inside look at the current state of the industry. Find this episode in your favorite podcast app, or listen via the player below! Scroll down for the transcript. Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · LJ Dawson: Reporting on the Evolution of Cannabis Policy in the DMV 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 Branfalt. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of entrepreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today I am delighted to be joined by LJ Dawson. She’s the editor in chief of the Washington DC based cannabis news outlet, The Outlaw Report, which focuses on cannabis news and policy in the DC, Virginia, and Maryland region. How are we doing this morning, LJ? LJ Dawson: I’m good, TG. Thanks so much for having me on today. TG Branfalt: We have a lot to talk about. There’s a lot of recent happenings in the area that you cover, but before we get to that, tell me about yourself and how you ended up editor at the Outlaw Report. LJ Dawson: Well, I always joke I’m the least weed smoking cannabis reporter ever. I actually have a background in criminal justice reporting. I had my own criminal justice news outlet. I’ve freelanced reporting on the justice space and protests actually across the country. And I landed in DC right before January 6th, so it was a fun time to show up. I actually came here first in 2019 and did some political reporting. But yeah, I was here in DC and I reported on cannabis in Montana and Colorado a little bit. I’m originally from Colorado. We legalized weed when I was still in high school, if that gives you a little age. Dated myself a little bit there. But yeah, I reported on cannabis. I was always interested in the industry, and then the Outlaw Report reached out to me while I was still freelancing and trying to survive as all of us journalists are in this economy, which is not kind to anyone, especially not US reporters. And so I ended up at the Outlaw Report almost a year and a half ago, and it’s been a really exciting journey since then. TG Branfalt: So if you’re not the cannabis reporter smokes the least amount of cannabis, what drew you to reporting on cannabis? Even as far going back as Colorado and Montana, LJ Dawson: Cannabis is a fascinating intersection of alternative communities and thought processes. It’s always a great group of people to talk to. I think everyone who does drugs is always more interesting than people that don’t do drugs, obviously. But in all seriousness, cannabis is a really great intersection of criminal justice, business, the economy, legislation, politics, corruption. I mean, every single beat that you can think of is a microcosm in the cannabis beat, and it’s always something going on, something interesting. And cannabis has been criminalized, obviously for a very long time. It was very interwoven into the war on drugs, which obviously came down harder on black and brown people. And I had a history of reporting on injustice, and so I always wanted to cover cannabis in that way. And then also, I definitely believe that plants are the best way to heal ourselves, even if I don’t imbibe in smoking the good herb all the time, or regularly, as some of my good friends do. I definitely respect and believe in the scientific backing that it is a medicine for a lot of people, whether it’s mental health or actual chronic illnesses, et cetera. And so, yeah, I think it’s a great space to look into stuff to report on. So that’s what drew me to it. TG Branfalt: So one of the things obviously being in DC that you’re going to have to sort of focus on is the sort of nitty gritty, the legislation, that sort of policy stuff. So explain the current laws in DC as it relates to cannabis, because they’re different than any place else in the country. LJ Dawson: Glad you asked TG. So we are the only district in the whole United States. We are not a state, which means that we do not have state rights. So we are actually not

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

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

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

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

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

This episode of The Ganjapreneur Podcast features Tara Rosenblum, an investigative reporter for News 12, who has recently released a compelling documentary titled “Cannabis Contest.” The documentary offers an in-depth look at the social equity aspects of cannabis licensing in New York City, showcasing the challenges and triumphs of hopeful licensees within the evolving legal landscape — including another previous guest on the show, Jeremy Rivera. With nearly two decades of investigative reporting experience in the New York City market, Tara explores the community dynamics and the critical issues affecting residents and aspiring entrepreneurs. This episode dives into the complexities of cannabis policy, personal journeys of license applicants, and the broader societal implications as cannabis goes from underground economy to regulated business. To listen to the full episode, use the player below or stream via your favorite podcast app! (Scroll down for the full transcript.) Listen to the episode: Transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was auto-generated and may contain errors. Commercial (00:03): The Ganjapreneur Podcast is made possible by over 500 cannabis industry service providers in Ganjapreneur 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 (00:49): 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 Tara Rosenblum. She’s an investigative reporter for News 12. Rosenblum’s recent documentary Cannabis Contest was released last month and focuses on social equity cannabis licensees in New York City. How are you doing this afternoon, Tara? Tara Rosenblum (01:17): Hey, TG. I am excited to be with you. Thanks for having me. TG Branfalt (01:20): I am delighted to have you. I watched the series that you released. We’ll talk about that in a minute. Before we get to that though, tell me a little bit about you, your background, your career, and how your investigative work set the stage for this documentary. Tara Rosenblum (01:35): Sure. So I am a longtime news veteran of the New York City market. I’m now approaching my 20 year anniversary at News 12. Congratulations wise, when you’re having fun, right. But yeah, I got my start working at some of the national networks and I was behind the scenes, and then I wanted to be on camera myself and do some of my own reporting and did that steady parade through small markets throughout the country and then found my way to New York, worked at a couple of stations in New York and then wound up at News 12, 20 years ago. And since then, I’ve worn a lot of hats. I’ve produced, written, reported, I do a lot of politics hosting. I was an anchor for a majority of my time. And about five years ago I became a full-time investigative reporter. And I feel like that’s my sweet spot of journalism. I really, really get a lot of satisfaction out of being a full-time investigator. TG Branfalt (02:34): Well, and as a media studies professor, one of the things that I know and I’ve studied is that people tend to trust their local news anchors and local news outlets far more than they do national outlets. With that said, why did you choose to do this documentary and focus on this segment of your community? Tara Rosenblum (02:58): I think what has made my team, I think a majority of our success in recent years can be attributed to the fact that my team and I, we know the pulse of the Tri-state. We know what people are talking about. We know what they care about. We know what they think about, we know what has deep impact in their lives. And so my intuition kicked in when I heard about this story, and it felt like every time I went to the supermarket, people were coming up and talking to me about this whole cannabis legalization thing and what’s it going to look like in my neighborhood and what’s it going to mean for my downtown and is it coming here? And when you start to hear about that weekly, daily, we knew that this was a topic that needed to be covered in a more comprehensive way than just splashing out the headlines. And I decided to go for it and really go a couple layers beneath the surface here. And how do we do that? Well, let’s tell it through the lens of people who are going through the process. TG Branfalt (04:00): And that’s what I found really interesting about the series was that you focused a lot on New York state policy. You told the stories of the individuals who were being affected, at least a couple of them out of hundreds, and you didn’t editorialize, which I think is very important as we’re in the nascency of this industry. And we’ll talk about that too in a couple of minutes. But how did you identify the people to include in this documentary? Tara Rosenblum (04:30): And I think you touched on something really important, and I hope we circle back to that, is that whole editorializing of news in general and how we avoided that with this project, but how we found the applicant. So that was the biggest challenge. So I decided that I wanted to take on this project. As far as we know, we are the only news outlet that

The Ganjapreneur Podcast is back! In this episode, host TG Branfalt welcomes Jeremy Rivera, co-founder and CEO of Terp Bros, a dispensary in Astoria, Queens. Rivera, a beneficiary of New York’s Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program, shares his journey from the legacy market and facing multiple cannabis convictions to launching his own licensed cannabis business. He goes into detail about the nuances of the CAURD program, the competitive landscape of New York’s cannabis market, and the distinctive approach Terp Bros has taken to distinguish itself amid a sea of dispensaries. He also provides first-hand insight into the entrepreneurial spirit driving New York’s developing legal cannabis industry and the ongoing efforts to rectify past injustices. Listen to the full episode below, or scroll down for the transcript! Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Jeremy Rivera: From the Legacy Market to a Licensed Dispensary in New York Read the transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was generated automatically and may contain typos. Commercial (00:03): The Ganjapreneur Podcast is made possible by over 500 cannabis industry service providers in Ganjapreneur’s 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 (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 entrepreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today I am delighted to be joined by Jeremy Rivera is the co-founder and CEO of Terp Bros in Astoria, Queens, New York. Rivera is a conditional adult use retail dispensary or CAURD license holder and Terp Bros’ mission is to serve as a locale for the unique and memorable learning and experiences. Hey Jeremy, how are you doing this morning, man? Jeremy Rivera (01:27): Not too bad, bud. What’s going on? TG Branfalt (01:29): Dude, I’m real excited. You’re my first guest back. I’m happy to be talking with somebody in New York. The last time that I did this podcast, New York had gone legal, but we didn’t have the rollout of the market yet, so we have a lot to talk about. Before we get into all of that though, man, tell me about yourself. Tell me about your background, just your history with cannabis and how you ended up in the CAURD program, Jeremy Rivera (01:56): The program. Alright. Well, I’m one of the owners of Tur Bros. Cannabis Dispensary and Astoria in New York. Obviously because of New York’s parameters to get a license, some justice involved. I spent a lot of my teenage years as a gang member, Crip Street gang. Between 19 and 30. I spent most of those years in and out of prison. I have three state bids and a juvenile bid that I did when I was 30 2018. I came home, I had made a decision that I didn’t really want to continue living the life of wasting away in and out of prison. So I got into construction. I tried to maximize the space there and I got into construction safety. I became an authorized ocean instructor, a New York City Department of Buildings compliance officer and a nationally certified construction health and safety technician, all of which I was denied for and I had to appeal. (02:52): I actually set precedent for people with convictions to be able to get these licenses. And I was doing that from about, well, 2018 when I got home, I started my own business also and I was doing that up until about 2021, 2022 when the CAURD program was released. And I didn’t really know much about the CAURD program only because I had no real intention of getting back into selling drugs. And some of my background with cannabis is just like everybody else who was on the streets. You had some homies out in California, Oklahoma, Oregon, they’d send you 10 packs, 15 packs, and you’d distribute them throughout New York and with whatever your circle was. So I was dibbling dabbling in cannabis and even in prison, one of the big smokers is weed. You got somebody to bring you up the bag, you’re smoking a joint in the yard, it becomes a thing. So that’s really my experience just to go back and tell you what my experience in cannabis is. But again, in 2022 when the CAURD program was coming out, my best friend actually came to my house and he’s like, yo homie, I was just watching the news. We’re going to get a weed dispensary. And I genuinely thought he was crazy, bro. I am like, there are no way that New York out of every state in the country is going to give convicted felons. People have been convicted of crimes, nonviolent drug crimes. I mean TG Branfalt (04:17): We have history of Rockefeller drug laws Jeremy Rivera (04:19): Of course with the early nineties into the mid and the two thousands with stop and frisk all the way into the two thousands. And as early as the Rockefeller in the nineties, there’s no way New York State was going to allow such a thing to happen. But as I dove a little more into it and started researching it, they had two main criteria. You had to be convicted of a cannabis conviction, a cannabis crime, and you had to have a small business positive for two years. And I have three state felonies in a juvenile conviction. Each one of my state

Brian Applegarth is the founder of Applegarth Strategies, an agency that operates at the intersection of cannabis and travel. He’s also the head of the Cannabis Travel Association, leads the Cannabis and Task Force for the California Travel Association and Destinations International, serves as an industry consultant, and holds a certification as a Ganjier cannabis sommelier—a man of many talents and extensive expertise. In this episode, host TG Branfalt connects with Applegarth to explore the evolving landscape of cannabis tourism, delve into the unique challenges and opportunities within the industry, and revisit how the landscape has transformed since Brian’s last visit to the show. Listen to the podcast below, or scroll down for the full transcript! Listen to the podcast: Ganjapreneur · Brian Applegarth: How Cannabis Tourism is Evolving With Legalization Full transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors. Commercial: The Ganjapreneur Podcast is made possible by over 500 cannabis industry service providers in Ganjapreneur’s 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 Brian Applegarth. He is the founder of Applegarth Strategies and Agency specializing in the intersection of cannabis and travel. He’s also the founder of the Cannabis Travel Association and leader of the Cannabis and Task Force for the California Travel Association and Destinations International, an industry consultant and a certified ganji cannabis sommelier guy with a lot of titles, a lot of experience. Brian, how are we doing? Brian Applegarth: Doing great, TG. Thanks for having me on. TG Branfalt: Real excited, man. I mean, you were one of the earlier guests on the podcast, probably back in 2020, 2021, so a lot has changed since then. But before we get into that and how that’s affected the cannabis tourism industry, tell me about, remind listeners about you and what you do. Brian Applegarth: Yeah, I mean, essentially I’m a cannabis travel and tourism subject matter expert starting with data. So my work revolves around the cannabis travel audience in the United States, which as of last year accounted for about 72 million Americans. And I work with destinations. A lot of times I’m working with the travel economy, so typically destination marketing organizations will bring me in to help develop strategies that can really cater to this cannabis travel audience that exists today. So yeah, I’m pretty much just passionate about cannabis tourism and travel and moving that conversation forward. TG Branfalt: In the couple of years since we’ve last talked, what is new in cannabis tourism? I know different states have gone online and each have sort of different laws and have include any provisions making tourism easier. What’s been going on? Brian Applegarth: Yeah, well, I mean, I believe we’re at an inflection point of really the coming alive of the cannabis travel economy or the experience economy. And I really do look at cannabis travel and tourism as its own industry. For example, the travel industry in California is about 140 billion industry. The cannabis industry of California today is about a 6 billion industry. So as cannabis experiences start taking off in this new kind of legal landscape, what does that mean for the tourism and travel economy and how is cannabis integrating into that visitor ecosystem from marketing to hotels, to airports, to rental car companies and beyond? So really where we sit today are cannabis lounges. I prefer actually cannabis consumption spaces, I believe is more accurate. We do have, of course we have lounges. Many times people think in terms of smoking and inhalation, but the truth of the matter is it’s rapidly evolving with cannabis consumption spaces, including beverage bars, infused culinary dining. There’s a cannabis spa that exists in California today. There’s different cannabis retreats, wellness retreats. There’s of course cannabis events, which are a really important part of travel. So it’s really expanding in a very innovative way. And the exciting part is you’re seeing this come alive in these more mature adult use recreational legal destinations, and you’re seeing buy-in from both the travel industry and now you’re getting in the cannabis industry. Some more sophisticated brands, shops, lounges and beyond that are really starting to buy into that tourism economy and understand the difference between a resident spend versus a visitor spend and why that matters. TG Branfalt: Well, there’s a couple of things that I’ve noticed here in New York. One, they do allow for sort of social use spaces, but haven’t rolled out any regulations or anything like that experiencing. Is that something that a lot of states and cannabis companies are experiencing these late roll-outs? Brian Applegarth: Yeah, I think people are finding their footing. I think depending on the destination and just depending on the landscape from a local state level, there’s this kind of patchwork, which we’re all familiar with in the cannabis space. I kind of call it the wet county dry county model and what that looks like for cannabis. I live in California, so here I would guess that we not guess, we have approximately, I’d say between 60 and 80 cannabis consumption spaces now in the state of California. And again, that runs the gamut from a cannabis spas to lounges, indoor places, outdoor places,

In this episode of the Ganjapreneur podcast, host TG Branfalt connects with the multi-talented Ngaio Bealum. Ngaio is a true cannabis renaissance man—comedian, musician, writer, actor, and activist—known for his work as a host of numerous events and shows, including the International Cannabis Business Conference, and the Emerald Cup. In this engaging conversation, Ngaio shares his journey from performer to cannabis advocate, discussing how his background in activism and entertainment has shaped his approach to cannabis education and advocacy, what role entertainment plays in educating the public about cannabis, and more. Listen to the episode below or in your favorite podcast app, or scroll down for the full transcript! Listen to the episode: Ganjapreneur · Ngaio Bealum: Building Cannabis Community with Comedy and Activism Full transcript: Editor’s note: this transcript was auto-generated and may contain typos/errors. TG Branfalt (00:09): 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 real excited to be joined by Ngaio Bealum. He’s a comedian, musician, writer, actor, activist, previous host of the Cannabis Planet and host of the International Cannabis Business Conference and Emerald Cup. How are you doing this morning, my good man? Ngaio Bealum (00:37): I’m awake, which is the first step. We wouldn’t, it’s first step to most days last night. Yeah. Yeah. Wake up every day is a good day if you’re awake and relatively free. TG Branfalt (00:50): Relatively free is– Ngaio Bealum (00:51): Relatively way to describe it. We all have minor hangups and problems constraining our true freedom, but we’re doing our best. TG Branfalt (00:58): So before we get into your role as basically a cannabis renaissance man, tell me about yourself. Give me a little bit of background on how you ended up the entertainer, the host, the sort of human being you’ve become. Ngaio Bealum (01:17): I’m an Aquarius, six foot three. I like long walks from the beach. Any kind of good music, I don’t know, man. I was a comedian and a street performer and I started smoking weed and really looking into why weed wasn’t legal and it seemed like bullshit to me, and I come from a long line of activists. So we just started activating and you have to offer what skills you have, and it turns out I’m pretty funny and I’m good at handling crowds and disseminating information. And so it just worked out like that. So I posted, I host the Oregon Hemp Fest and the Arizona Growers Cup and the Missouri Growers Cup and the old Seattle Hemp Fest and a bunch of different things. I’ve done some High Times Cups, I do the Emerald Cup every year. I do the International Cannabis Business Conference series. We do Berlin, we do Barcelona, we’ve done Zurich and Vancouver. It’s just really nice. TG Branfalt (02:14): So first off, what role do you think that entertainers or people in that sphere should have in activism, specifically in cannabis? Ngaio Bealum (02:26): I mean, I think every entertainer should be way more, not every, but a lot of entertainers should be more active activists than they are now. I mean, I think that’s just part of the thing you do. You know what I mean? And so for me it’s just kind of a no brainer. And entertainment and education kind of go head in hand if listen to old Ks one albums, the whole ed, if you think of Rocks edu, if you think of even things like, so we were supposed to be entertainment every day and we’re supposed to learn every day, so why not combine the two? TG Branfalt (03:08): And a lot of the standup that I’ve seen, it’s very smart, and I think all good standup. I mean, you look at George Carlin Ngaio Bealum (03:15): Like standup in general, or my standup in particular? TG Branfalt (03:17): Your standup in particular Ngaio Bealum (03:19): Did a lot of me standup. I seen, I was like, I’ve seen some pretty dumb standup, which is also great. TG Branfalt (03:25): But I think Ngaio Bealum (03:26): That I like stupid standup as well. TG Branfalt (03:28): The stuff that I really enjoy is the sort of smartest side. Like I said, Carlin, I really enjoy what came first for you. Obviously you probably used cannabis before you were an entertainer, but how’d you work that into your routine? Ngaio Bealum (03:46): You talk about what you know, right? That’s what they always tell writers. Talk about what you know. So I have two albums. One is called Weed and Sex, and the other is called Weeder and Sexier, which means, of course, weediest and Sexiest will be probably coming out sometime this year. Next TG Branfalt (04:03): What comes after Weediest and Sexiest? Ngaio Bealum (04:06): Lemme just get high and look at it. No, so I mean, that’s just how it is. I wanted to spread the word of cannabis legalization and activism and give people good information about cannabis in a fun and entertaining manner. And it just happened to work out like that. It’s interesting because when I first started 30 years ago, everybody was like, oh, well, we already have teaching ch, we don’t really need another pot comic. All he does is talking about pot, which is not true. But now that 30 years later, cannabis is legal in some form between the six different states, and we Why, and Germany just decriminalized now they’re like, oh, we need more pot comics, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So you could have listened to me 30 years ago, I’m not bitter, TG Branfalt (05:03): But 30 years ago, I mean more than 30 years ago, we had Cheech and Chong, right? In my sort of lifetime, the big movies were Friday. And