CBD OIL

Section 3 of the SAFE Banking Act is not only important to cannabis businesses, but also to everyone who might do business with a cannabis-related company, Perlmutter said. That section would protect ancillary businesses, like real estate owners, accountants, electricians and vendors, by clarifying the proceeds from legitimate cannabis businesses are not unlawful under federal laws, he said.

“This proceeds section is the key provision allowing all cannabis-related businesses and their service providers, and landlords, to access the banking system without fear of reprisal,” Perlmutter said.

While Perlmutter has led the charge for cannabis banking reform for eight years, his fellow SAFE Banking Act sponsors in this Congress include Reps. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, whose legislation attracted the support of more than 170 co-sponsors when floor debate took place on April 19.

Stivers said he’s sponsoring the bill because it promotes common sense and safety, but also because it safeguards the assets of companies that merely provide products and services to cannabis businesses.

“I’m an unlikely person to support this bill, because I’m opposed to recreational marijuana,” he said. “But I came to this because a company that’s just outside my district [in the Columbus area] that sells nutrients now finds themselves in the situation where 25 percent of their profits come from selling to legal marijuana businesses, and they’re being threatened—a Fortune 500 company—with losing their bank accounts. We can’t let that happen.”

Piggybacking on those comments, Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, said, “Regardless of where you stand on the legality of cannabis, I think we can all agree it shouldn’t be that hard to sell a bag of dirt.”

But Joyce’s comments were more geared toward states’ rights.

“The vast majority of states, including my own, have enacted laws that to varying degrees permit their residents to use cannabis,” he said. “However, the federal government has not only infringed on the inherit right of these states to implement those laws, but also stifled medical research, diverted law enforcement resources needed elsewhere and hindered legitimate businesses—businesses that provide vital services to cancer patients, veterans and those seeking opioid alternatives for pain management.”

Because of the federal interference in the space, cannabis companies are not afforded the same access to financial services as every other state-legal business in the U.S., Joyce said.

While SAFE Banking picked up 15 additional Republican votes compared to its previous standalone vote in 2019, the party remained split. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., was the main voice in opposition to the legislation during floor debate on Monday. He focused much of his dissent on the fact that cannabis remains illegal at the federal level.

“By enacting this legislation, we’re effectively knee-capping law enforcement and legalizing money laundering. These are concerns that I have that still remain,” he said. “By effectively legalizing money laundering, we’re inserting a new level of risk into our financial system. We’re preventing our legal entities from doing their jobs. We’re encouraging bad actors and placing our financial institutions at risk. Rather than dealing with the issues of cannabis and the question of its federal legalization, we’re dealing with a component of the challenge, which is the banking of it.”

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., rebutted and said he believes cash-only enterprises present an invitation for money laundering without SAFE Banking in place. With the cannabis industry approaching $20 billion of revenue a year, those enterprises also remain sitting ducks for violent crimes, he said.

Stivers said SAFE Banking encourages safety because money that’s in a bank account can be frozen and can be tracked. The bill also expands suspicious activity reports (SARs)—a compliance step financial institutions servicing cannabis-businesses must take to help ensure they’re performing their due diligence on clients to help the FinCEN prevent money laundering, he said.

“The final thing is, this bill includes provisions to stop Operation Choke Point that Republicans couldn’t even get passed when we had the presidency, the Senate and the House,” Stivers said. “And we got that negotiated into this bill. It helps in a big way to make sure that there’s not an Operation Choke Point in the future, so nobody can choke off legal businesses from their bank accounts and from access to the payment system. That’s a big deal.”

Operation Choke Point was a 2013 initiative where the U.S. Department of Justice targeted banks that service a broad range of what it considered questionable financial ventures, including online payday lenders, firearm dealers and other companies believed to be at high risk for fraud and money laundering, according to the Wall Street Journal. The operation ended in 2017, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation settled multiple lawsuits by promising to Congress additional training for its examiners.

Perlmutter said SAFE Banking attracted about 50 endorsements from various national associations, such as the American Bankers Association and the National Association of State Treasurers, among other bankers, credit unions, insurance agencies, cannabis industry stakeholders, real estate owners and law enforcement agencies, not to mention 21 governors.

“They know this is a public safety matter,” he said. “We really need to address it. We have been working on it for some time. We need to get this to the Senate. They need to take whatever tack they want to take, but we’ve got to make our communities safer, these businesses safer.”

Gilberto “Berner” Milam Jr. has created an empire. 

After starting his (legal) cannabis career in the early 2000s as a Bay Area budtender, the rapper/entrepreneur noticed a lack of branding in the nascent industry. With little more than a strong vision, a love for the plant and an inhuman work ethic—he’s confessed to sleeping just four or five hours a night—Berner parlayed one powerful strain into Cookies, a global lifestyle brand with more than 20 dispensaries across the U.S. and Israel, a clothing line and a new digital content platform called Couch Locked Network (CLN).

CLN will launch on 4/20 with an inaugural comedy show, “Couch Locked.” The event touts a who’s-who of famous weed connoisseurs, from Bob Saget to Donnell Rawlings. The hybrid event consists of a live show with limited tickets on an outdoor terrace at a hotel in San Francisco. Viewers not attending in person can tune in via PPV livestream on Veeps.com. 

Berner spoke to Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary about how the hybrid comedy show came about, increasing Black and brown ownership in the cannabis industry, and what it would take for him to sell Cookies.

Raj Chander: Give us some background on the genesis of “Couch Locked.” How did it come together? Who was involved?

Wikimedia

Berner: I actually designed the logo about five years ago, I’ve been sitting on it for a while. I’ve always wanted to get into the comedy space. … Obviously, smoking bud, you know, it’s just part of what comes with it. You relax. But with COVID being COVID and not wanting to miss another 4/20 event, I thought it was the perfect time to bring a livestream, in-person, limited-ticket comedy show to the table. I wanted to laugh, man, and I feel like the world needed a laugh. We want to bring smiles to people’s faces. … This felt like a good time to implement something I’ve been sitting on.

RC: So, it sounds like you’ve had this idea for a while, even before all the COVID stuff happened, and you were just waiting for the right opportunity?

B: Yeah, I had to level up a little bit, man. I had to get the other businesses going, get the businesses to where I could take on another challenge. Because it’s actually a big challenge to jump into a new space like this and try to sell pay-per-view tickets to a live comedy event. But I think it’s going to be well received, and it’s much needed for sure.

RC: That’s interesting, because to me there’s been such a flood of virtual pop-ups, Zoom things, etc. It’s cool to hear you want to approach it a certain way and be thoughtful about it instead of just rushing into the virtual event space like a lot of others.

 

B: Well, yeah, if you think about it, I don’t want to watch someone rap. No disrespect to anyone doing streams like that, but for the last year, everyone’s been doing these virtual concerts. Man, you go to a concert to feel the music, to feel the vibe, to feel the energy. So, I was like “OK, what could we do that would be some type of a normal thing?” and I know that when I get high and watch comedy specials, it’s amazing. To see a live comedy special, bring you into that crowd and that atmosphere, people smoking bud while watching the show—that’s some futuristic ass shit.

RC: It seems pretty unique both in terms of the types of people you have and also the format –

B: There’s a lot of diversity in the comedians we have too. Some OGs, some new cats. I mean, we got fucking Bob Saget. It’s amazing. I grew up on “Full House,” dude! I know he’s a dirty birdie when he starts doing his comedy, and you don’t picture Danny Tanner talking like that. San Francisco live? Danny Tanner? Bob Saget? It was a no-brainer, I was like “Get that motherfucker over there!” Hopefully I can get him some weed and get him blazed, man.

RC: What’s been the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make during COVID?

B: I think just working from a distance: having to create and vibe over Zoom or through virtual networking. That shit sucks. I’m an in-person kind of guy, so just being away from that for a year, … not being at some of the store openings was really tough for me. If you go watch some of the old YouTube blogs, I’ll be at the store and I’ll be there from beginning to end. I personally shake everyone’s hand in the line. I don’t care if it’s 8 a.m. til 6 p.m.. So not being there for some of our store openings was really tough, but I think we just adapt and change. In any business, in any situation, you have to learn how to adapt and change and make it work. If not, you’ll be left in the dust.

RC: In light of the police killing of George Floyd last year and now more recently Daunte Wright, there’s been a lot of discussion about equity in the industry: Black and brown ownership, and these big corporations coming in and buying out minority license-holders. How do you think the industry can solve these problems?

B: Well as far as Cookies goes, if anyone wants to have a conversation about working with or trying to acquire us, they should know that this is something I plan on giving to my daughter one day. If they even want to have those kinds of conversations they have to sit down with us, smoke a joint, get high, and see if they’re even the right kind of person. I mean, this vision has been built for a long time. Money’s not gonna move the needle. It’s gotta be something that would complement everything I’ve worked toward.

RC: So you’d be open to that kind of acquisition deal, if the situation was right?

B: Possibly. I mean, look, at the end of the day I want to enjoy my life too. I’ve been working since I was 13. I’ve never stopped working since I was 13. As I go harder and harder as an entrepreneur, I want to enjoy my kids and enjoy my time. You only live one time. But it’d have to be the right situation. They’d have to have pure intentions, they’d have to understand the vision. It’s not gonna be possible, because people in the game now are looking for the money. It’s not about the money—we provide an experience. That’s why I said someone would have to sit down and smoke a joint with us. These big money guys, they don’t even smoke weed. And if they do, they ain’t smoking the shit I grow! That ends a lot of conversations right there too, they’ll be real quiet. Their pitch won’t be so straightforward, might have to sidetrack these motherfuckers a little bit (laughs).

But, I mean, here’s my goal man, keep Black and brown businesses empowered in the cannabis space, keep traditional operators in the game, keep people’s intentions pure and understand that this plant and this business is here for a whole other reason. Yeah. There’s a lot of money behind it, but the shit really unifies people and brings people together. It’s much needed. I don’t care about “recreational” or whatever, this shit is a medicine. 

RC: What specifically do you think would be involved in what you mentioned—keeping Black and brown operators in the game—is it the government? Something in the industry, or on the consumer side?

B: It’s a big gumbo of everything. The law that New York passed, some of the tax money coming in will go toward social equity applicants. That was huge, because people being awarded licenses with no money is like being given a key to a house with no house. It doesn’t make sense. So shout out to New York for taking that first step, but I definitely encourage other states that legalize—if you’re gonna take a 30% tax off weed, at least half of that should be dedicated to equity and empowerment programs.

I think another part of it is on operators like myself. We’re building something out called the Cookies University. We’ll have a facility that does everything from A to Z. From cultivation to breeding to operations to manufacturing, dispensary, lounge, nursery, POS system training, everything. We want to empower minorities—all minorities, Asian, Black, Latino, whatever—to come learn the game hands-on from us and get that knowledge, bro. We have houses being built on the facility, and so we can empower and share that knowledge with people and give them a chance to either land a position with us at Cookies or another company.

So it goes from the government giving money out, to people like myself empowering people. We opened up the first Black-owned social equity dispensary in San Francisco (Berner’s on Haight), gave one of the fairest deals ever—that is now a blueprint for what deals should look like in the Bay Area—and make sure it’s not just like a “Let us use your license, we’ll pay you” type of situation. Nah, I trained my partner personally. I hired the staff with him. I’ve known the guy—Shawn Richards—since I was 19 years old. So, besides the money, besides the opportunity, sharing knowledge so he can go and empower other people in his network, open up other stores and build a brand. That shit to me is the most important part.

Gilberto “Berner” Milam Jr. has created an empire. 

After starting his (legal) cannabis career in the early 2000s as a Bay Area budtender, the rapper/entrepreneur noticed a lack of branding in the nascent industry. With little more than a strong vision, a love for the plant and an inhuman work ethic—he’s confessed to sleeping just four or five hours a night—Berner parlayed one powerful strain into Cookies, a global lifestyle brand with more than 20 dispensaries across the U.S. and Israel, a clothing line and a new digital content platform called Couch Locked Network (CLN).

CLN will launch on 4/20 with an inaugural comedy show, “Couch Locked.” The event touts a who’s-who of famous weed connoisseurs, from Bob Saget to Donnell Rawlings. The hybrid event consists of a live show with limited tickets on an outdoor terrace at a hotel in San Francisco. Viewers not attending in person can tune in via PPV livestream on Veeps.com. 

Berner spoke to Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary about how the hybrid comedy show came about, increasing Black and brown ownership in the cannabis industry, and what it would take for him to sell Cookies.

Raj Chander: Give us some background on the genesis of “Couch Locked.” How did it come together? Who was involved?

Wikimedia

Berner: I actually designed the logo about five years ago, I’ve been sitting on it for a while. I’ve always wanted to get into the comedy space. … Obviously, smoking bud, you know, it’s just part of what comes with it. You relax. But with COVID being COVID and not wanting to miss another 4/20 event, I thought it was the perfect time to bring a livestream, in-person, limited-ticket comedy show to the table. I wanted to laugh, man, and I feel like the world needed a laugh. We want to bring smiles to people’s faces. … This felt like a good time to implement something I’ve been sitting on.

RC: So, it sounds like you’ve had this idea for a while, even before all the COVID stuff happened, and you were just waiting for the right opportunity?

B: Yeah, I had to level up a little bit, man. I had to get the other businesses going, get the businesses to where I could take on another challenge. Because it’s actually a big challenge to jump into a new space like this and try to sell pay-per-view tickets to a live comedy event. But I think it’s going to be well received, and it’s much needed for sure.

RC: That’s interesting, because to me there’s been such a flood of virtual pop-ups, Zoom things, etc. It’s cool to hear you want to approach it a certain way and be thoughtful about it instead of just rushing into the virtual event space like a lot of others.

 

B: Well, yeah, if you think about it, I don’t want to watch someone rap. No disrespect to anyone doing streams like that, but for the last year, everyone’s been doing these virtual concerts. Man, you go to a concert to feel the music, to feel the vibe, to feel the energy. So, I was like “OK, what could we do that would be some type of a normal thing?” and I know that when I get high and watch comedy specials, it’s amazing. To see a live comedy special, bring you into that crowd and that atmosphere, people smoking bud while watching the show—that’s some futuristic ass shit.

RC: It seems pretty unique both in terms of the types of people you have and also the format –

B: There’s a lot of diversity in the comedians we have too. Some OGs, some new cats. I mean, we got fucking Bob Saget. It’s amazing. I grew up on “Full House,” dude! I know he’s a dirty birdie when he starts doing his comedy, and you don’t picture Danny Tanner talking like that. San Francisco live? Danny Tanner? Bob Saget? It was a no-brainer, I was like “Get that motherfucker over there!” Hopefully I can get him some weed and get him blazed, man.

RC: What’s been the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make during COVID?

B: I think just working from a distance: having to create and vibe over Zoom or through virtual networking. That shit sucks. I’m an in-person kind of guy, so just being away from that for a year, … not being at some of the store openings was really tough for me. If you go watch some of the old YouTube blogs, I’ll be at the store and I’ll be there from beginning to end. I personally shake everyone’s hand in the line. I don’t care if it’s 8 a.m. til 6 p.m.. So not being there for some of our store openings was really tough, but I think we just adapt and change. In any business, in any situation, you have to learn how to adapt and change and make it work. If not, you’ll be left in the dust.

RC: In light of the police killing of George Floyd last year and now more recently Daunte Wright, there’s been a lot of discussion about equity in the industry: Black and brown ownership, and these big corporations coming in and buying out minority license-holders. How do you think the industry can solve these problems?

B: Well as far as Cookies goes, if anyone wants to have a conversation about working with or trying to acquire us, they should know that this is something I plan on giving to my daughter one day. If they even want to have those kinds of conversations they have to sit down with us, smoke a joint, get high, and see if they’re even the right kind of person. I mean, this vision has been built for a long time. Money’s not gonna move the needle. It’s gotta be something that would complement everything I’ve worked toward.

RC: So you’d be open to that kind of acquisition deal, if the situation was right?

B: Possibly. I mean, look, at the end of the day I want to enjoy my life too. I’ve been working since I was 13. I’ve never stopped working since I was 13. As I go harder and harder as an entrepreneur, I want to enjoy my kids and enjoy my time. You only live one time. But it’d have to be the right situation. They’d have to have pure intentions, they’d have to understand the vision. It’s not gonna be possible, because people in the game now are looking for the money. It’s not about the money—we provide an experience. That’s why I said someone would have to sit down and smoke a joint with us. These big money guys, they don’t even smoke weed. And if they do, they ain’t smoking the shit I grow! That ends a lot of conversations right there too, they’ll be real quiet. Their pitch won’t be so straightforward, might have to sidetrack these motherfuckers a little bit (laughs).

But, I mean, here’s my goal man, keep Black and brown businesses empowered in the cannabis space, keep traditional operators in the game, keep people’s intentions pure and understand that this plant and this business is here for a whole other reason. Yeah. There’s a lot of money behind it, but the shit really unifies people and brings people together. It’s much needed. I don’t care about “recreational” or whatever, this shit is a medicine. 

RC: What specifically do you think would be involved in what you mentioned—keeping Black and brown operators in the game—is it the government? Something in the industry, or on the consumer side?

B: It’s a big gumbo of everything. The law that New York passed, some of the tax money coming in will go toward social equity applicants. That was huge, because people being awarded licenses with no money is like being given a key to a house with no house. It doesn’t make sense. So shout out to New York for taking that first step, but I definitely encourage other states that legalize—if you’re gonna take a 30% tax off weed, at least half of that should be dedicated to equity and empowerment programs.

I think another part of it is on operators like myself. We’re building something out called the Cookies University. We’ll have a facility that does everything from A to Z. From cultivation to breeding to operations to manufacturing, dispensary, lounge, nursery, POS system training, everything. We want to empower minorities—all minorities, Asian, Black, Latino, whatever—to come learn the game hands-on from us and get that knowledge, bro. We have houses being built on the facility, and so we can empower and share that knowledge with people and give them a chance to either land a position with us at Cookies or another company.

So it goes from the government giving money out, to people like myself empowering people. We opened up the first Black-owned social equity dispensary in San Francisco (Berner’s on Haight), gave one of the fairest deals ever—that is now a blueprint for what deals should look like in the Bay Area—and make sure it’s not just like a “Let us use your license, we’ll pay you” type of situation. Nah, I trained my partner personally. I hired the staff with him. I’ve known the guy—Shawn Richards—since I was 19 years old. So, besides the money, besides the opportunity, sharing knowledge so he can go and empower other people in his network, open up other stores and build a brand. That shit to me is the most important part.

Gilberto “Berner” Milam Jr. has created an empire. 

After starting his (legal) cannabis career in the early 2000s as a Bay Area budtender, the rapper/entrepreneur noticed a lack of branding in the nascent industry. With little more than a strong vision, a love for the plant and an inhuman work ethic—he’s confessed to sleeping just four or five hours a night—Berner parlayed one powerful strain into Cookies, a global lifestyle brand with more than 20 dispensaries across the U.S. and Israel, a clothing line and a new digital content platform called Couch Locked Network (CLN).

CLN will launch on 4/20 with an inaugural comedy show, “Couch Locked.” The event touts a who’s-who of famous weed connoisseurs, from Bob Saget to Donnell Rawlings. The hybrid event consists of a live show with limited tickets on an outdoor terrace at a hotel in San Francisco. Viewers not attending in person can tune in via PPV livestream on Veeps.com. 

Berner spoke to Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary about how the hybrid comedy show came about, increasing Black and brown ownership in the cannabis industry, and what it would take for him to sell Cookies.

Raj Chander: Give us some background on the genesis of “Couch Locked.” How did it come together? Who was involved?

Wikimedia

Berner: I actually designed the logo about five years ago, I’ve been sitting on it for a while. I’ve always wanted to get into the comedy space. … Obviously, smoking bud, you know, it’s just part of what comes with it. You relax. But with COVID being COVID and not wanting to miss another 4/20 event, I thought it was the perfect time to bring a livestream, in-person, limited-ticket comedy show to the table. I wanted to laugh, man, and I feel like the world needed a laugh. We want to bring smiles to people’s faces. … This felt like a good time to implement something I’ve been sitting on.

RC: So, it sounds like you’ve had this idea for a while, even before all the COVID stuff happened, and you were just waiting for the right opportunity?

B: Yeah, I had to level up a little bit, man. I had to get the other businesses going, get the businesses to where I could take on another challenge. Because it’s actually a big challenge to jump into a new space like this and try to sell pay-per-view tickets to a live comedy event. But I think it’s going to be well received, and it’s much needed for sure.

RC: That’s interesting, because to me there’s been such a flood of virtual pop-ups, Zoom things, etc. It’s cool to hear you want to approach it a certain way and be thoughtful about it instead of just rushing into the virtual event space like a lot of others.

 

B: Well, yeah, if you think about it, I don’t want to watch someone rap. No disrespect to anyone doing streams like that, but for the last year, everyone’s been doing these virtual concerts. Man, you go to a concert to feel the music, to feel the vibe, to feel the energy. So, I was like “OK, what could we do that would be some type of a normal thing?” and I know that when I get high and watch comedy specials, it’s amazing. To see a live comedy special, bring you into that crowd and that atmosphere, people smoking bud while watching the show—that’s some futuristic ass shit.

RC: It seems pretty unique both in terms of the types of people you have and also the format –

B: There’s a lot of diversity in the comedians we have too. Some OGs, some new cats. I mean, we got fucking Bob Saget. It’s amazing. I grew up on “Full House,” dude! I know he’s a dirty birdie when he starts doing his comedy, and you don’t picture Danny Tanner talking like that. San Francisco live? Danny Tanner? Bob Saget? It was a no-brainer, I was like “Get that motherfucker over there!” Hopefully I can get him some weed and get him blazed, man.

RC: What’s been the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make during COVID?

B: I think just working from a distance: having to create and vibe over Zoom or through virtual networking. That shit sucks. I’m an in-person kind of guy, so just being away from that for a year, … not being at some of the store openings was really tough for me. If you go watch some of the old YouTube blogs, I’ll be at the store and I’ll be there from beginning to end. I personally shake everyone’s hand in the line. I don’t care if it’s 8 a.m. til 6 p.m.. So not being there for some of our store openings was really tough, but I think we just adapt and change. In any business, in any situation, you have to learn how to adapt and change and make it work. If not, you’ll be left in the dust.

RC: In light of the police killing of George Floyd last year and now more recently Daunte Wright, there’s been a lot of discussion about equity in the industry: Black and brown ownership, and these big corporations coming in and buying out minority license-holders. How do you think the industry can solve these problems?

B: Well as far as Cookies goes, if anyone wants to have a conversation about working with or trying to acquire us, they should know that this is something I plan on giving to my daughter one day. If they even want to have those kinds of conversations they have to sit down with us, smoke a joint, get high, and see if they’re even the right kind of person. I mean, this vision has been built for a long time. Money’s not gonna move the needle. It’s gotta be something that would complement everything I’ve worked toward.

RC: So you’d be open to that kind of acquisition deal, if the situation was right?

B: Possibly. I mean, look, at the end of the day I want to enjoy my life too. I’ve been working since I was 13. I’ve never stopped working since I was 13. As I go harder and harder as an entrepreneur, I want to enjoy my kids and enjoy my time. You only live one time. But it’d have to be the right situation. They’d have to have pure intentions, they’d have to understand the vision. It’s not gonna be possible, because people in the game now are looking for the money. It’s not about the money—we provide an experience. That’s why I said someone would have to sit down and smoke a joint with us. These big money guys, they don’t even smoke weed. And if they do, they ain’t smoking the shit I grow! That ends a lot of conversations right there too, they’ll be real quiet. Their pitch won’t be so straightforward, might have to sidetrack these motherfuckers a little bit (laughs).

But, I mean, here’s my goal man, keep Black and brown businesses empowered in the cannabis space, keep traditional operators in the game, keep people’s intentions pure and understand that this plant and this business is here for a whole other reason. Yeah. There’s a lot of money behind it, but the shit really unifies people and brings people together. It’s much needed. I don’t care about “recreational” or whatever, this shit is a medicine. 

RC: What specifically do you think would be involved in what you mentioned—keeping Black and brown operators in the game—is it the government? Something in the industry, or on the consumer side?

B: It’s a big gumbo of everything. The law that New York passed, some of the tax money coming in will go toward social equity applicants. That was huge, because people being awarded licenses with no money is like being given a key to a house with no house. It doesn’t make sense. So shout out to New York for taking that first step, but I definitely encourage other states that legalize—if you’re gonna take a 30% tax off weed, at least half of that should be dedicated to equity and empowerment programs.

I think another part of it is on operators like myself. We’re building something out called the Cookies University. We’ll have a facility that does everything from A to Z. From cultivation to breeding to operations to manufacturing, dispensary, lounge, nursery, POS system training, everything. We want to empower minorities—all minorities, Asian, Black, Latino, whatever—to come learn the game hands-on from us and get that knowledge, bro. We have houses being built on the facility, and so we can empower and share that knowledge with people and give them a chance to either land a position with us at Cookies or another company.

So it goes from the government giving money out, to people like myself empowering people. We opened up the first Black-owned social equity dispensary in San Francisco (Berner’s on Haight), gave one of the fairest deals ever—that is now a blueprint for what deals should look like in the Bay Area—and make sure it’s not just like a “Let us use your license, we’ll pay you” type of situation. Nah, I trained my partner personally. I hired the staff with him. I’ve known the guy—Shawn Richards—since I was 19 years old. So, besides the money, besides the opportunity, sharing knowledge so he can go and empower other people in his network, open up other stores and build a brand. That shit to me is the most important part.

Multi-state, vertically integrated cannabis operator Parallel—run by the former CEO and namesake of the Wrigley Company William “Beau” Wrigley Jr.—made headlines earlier this year after announcing the company would combine with special purpose acquisition company Ceres Acquisition Corp. in a $1.9-billion deal expected to close this summer. The merger would allow Parallel’s team to make a public offering while continuing to grow the business through mergers and acquisitions.

Wrigley outlines the benefits of the deal, Parallel’s market expansion strategy, the company’s clinical research partnership with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, as well as why he believes there’s still “a ways to go” before cannabis can become a true consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.

Editor’s note: A condensed version of this article originally appeared in April 2021 issue of Cannabis Business Times. It has been updated to include details from the company’s Windy City Cannabis acquisition in Illinois, as well as the recent termination of Kim Napoli, Parallel’s former senior director of corporate social responsibility. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Cassie Neiden Tomaselli: What enticed you to participate in this industry, and how do you see cannabis evolving as a consumer packaged good (CPG)?

Beau Wrigley: What got me into it was health and wellness. When I really started to understand cannabis—going back a couple years—I realized that it really has the potential to truly improve people’s quality of life. And obviously I’ve been successful and fortunate to run a couple different businesses. But when you can have a business that brings that to people, potentially all over the world, it’s a pretty high calling. And it’s pretty great to be involved with the foundational aspects of an industry that’s new.

On the CPG side, it’s interesting. Obviously, that’s my background; I spent many years in CPG. There are parallels, pun intended, to CPG with this, but I think it’s going to be a while before this really looks like a CPG business. You’ve got a highly regulated environment, and I think a lot of people get overly optimistic about legislative changes that are going to change things dramatically in the near future. I think it’s a little further out. Things like being able to sell outside of regulated stores is a big issue, and that doesn’t necessarily match up with your traditional CPG. A retail environment and what you do with a retail environment does match up with CPG, but you’ve got regulations on packaging and you can’t ship products across state borders. And then every state has a different regulatory environment, so you don’t have any consistency for mass marketing. So, there’s still a ways to go from a CPG standpoint.

CNT: While the industry is continuing to advance, what ways can Parallel enter the mainstream, drawing on the experience that you have with the legacy Wrigley brands?

BW: I think what we bring to the party is legitimacy because, frankly, my name and reputation for quality, consistency, efficacy, doing the right thing in terms of building companies, taking care of employees, developing great cultures. Our intent is to create a gold standard in this industry. We’re not necessarily trying to be the biggest, but our intent is trying to be best from a compliance standpoint. So I think we can set the table in that regard, and then that will give people more confidence in the industry as a whole. Then the way we approach it in our retail stores is very much one of education, and that’s just a matter of time—to educate people on these amazing benefits of cannabis.

CNT: Parallel’s expansion strategy seems to be that you go very deep into the states that you’re in (Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas), instead of rapidly moving into multiple states. How do you think your focus will help the Parallel company over the long term?

BW: I feel strongly about this: Businesses are more successful when they’re focused. Now, you need to be focusing on the right things, and that’s what sometimes trips other businesses up. And I love our footprint. We are in high population markets with a relatively limited number of licenses on a comparable basis. We’re always looking at different markets, and we have applications in for licenses in a couple different states. But to go out and really add to that footprint, [whereas] we could do so much with our existing footprint—it’s like, why would you open up another front? I think it will serve us in terms of the depth of our customer base and the ability to build a strong business and be more competitive longer-term.

CNT: Parallel recently acquired Windy City Cannabis, which will give the company a significant presence in Illinois’ medical and adult-use market. What made Windy City specifically most attractive to Parallel as a point of entry to the state?

BW: I would say several things. One, it has four stores up and running and a viable ongoing business, so it’s not starting from scratch. Two, they have two more stores, which will be opening shortly, so it will be a total of six against the cap in Illinois currently of 10. So it’s a significant store count for us with significant revenue that is anticipated to flow through those stores very quickly. Three, I like where the stores are because they’re dispersed throughout the state in places where, in many cases, there’s less competition. I think sometimes that’s overlooked. [Being] in the middle of the city can be good, and there can be volume and traffic there, but there also can be a lot of competition from that. It gives us a foothold continue to expand our business and expand our brand. [And] we were able to acquire this company, pending approval [from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation], at the right price.

CNT: Could you share more details about the Ceres business combination announcement? How does this set you up for your upcoming public offering?

BW: We’re very pleased with the relationship with the Ceres folks. They’re knowledgeable about cannabis, which is really great. And they do bring a network and a certain expertise in media and entertainment, which is highly relevant, not from a licensing standpoint necessarily, but more from the challenge that I think every company, whether it’s CPG or otherwise, faces today which is: How do you reach your consumers? And in our case, we have multi-generational consumers who are 21 to 80 [years old], and it’s all about really unlocking the code to how do you do that.

And I think they can be very helpful for the company in that overall relationship. Obviously the transaction will put more cash in the piggy bank, so to speak, so it allows us to keep investing in a whole host of meaningful initiatives that we have as a company. And the timing is right now because people are beginning to take a harder look at the fundamentals on what makes a good company in this business. In the early days it was, “If it’s a weed stock, I want in. I want to say I own a piece of that.” But now people are starting to say, “OK, wait a minute, there are differences between these companies.” There’s differences in the boards of the companies, there’s differences in the footprint. Another difference for us, for example, is our intense focus on R&D and innovation, and we invest a lot in that. There are a lot of other companies that aren’t really doing that to the same degree.

CNT: The Boston Globe and MassLive reported that Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility Kim Napoli was recently terminated as a result of a breach in Parallel’s conflict-of-interest policy—because Napoli’s husband, Jonathan, had acquired a license to sell cannabis in the state of Massachusetts. Can you confirm these reports?

BW: Yes, this is 100% a significant conflict of interest. We have had a clear and strict policy, and that policy is that you cannot be employed by us and be in a competing business. It’s not about an individual, it’s not about social equity. If someone was working at your donut shop and opened a donut shop next door, or frankly, anywhere—and you had intellectual property, you had plans, products, would you want them in your donut shop when they’re going to be in competition with you? It’s a policy that protects the company and it also protects our associates.

I have great respect for Kim, she’s done a lot for the company. We promoted her within the organization when we purchased [New England Treatment Centers (NETA)].

Editor’s note: Cannabis Business Times/Cannabis Dispensary reached out to Kim Napoli regarding her termination from Parallel. Napoli declined to comment on the record.

CNT: There are reports of some fallout from the decision. How are you communicating this decision to your social equity partners as well as your employees and your other stakeholders?

BW: It’s a tricky one, it’s a fair [question]. I am not aware of significant fallout. I think that’s sensationalized media. We have had conversations with anyone who wants to raise it. We have had general communications within our organization and others. We also believe in, to the degree possible, respecting people’s privacy within the company, so we’ve tried to navigate that territory as carefully as possible.

CNT: Is there a plan now to fill the position of senior director of corporate responsibility?

BW: Absolutely, there’s a plan to backfill to continue to add to all of our efforts across the entire company in every market we function in. I am a huge, huge supporter [of corporate social responsibility]. That’s why we have all the policies in place that we do, and all the benefit programs. And we’re taking action. It’s not about writing a check. It’s not about saying things. It’s about doing things.

CNT: What are some of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives that the company is taking?

BW: We kind of have a three-pronged approach. We have an external approach to it with our partners out there, and that can be Cannaclusive, or CultivatED, or Minority Cannabis Business [Association]. We have an internal aspect, where we have Employee Resource Groups: we have Black Empowerment Network; we have a Pride group [Pride at Parallel]; we’re launching shortly a women’s initiative throughout the company [Women Impact Network]; we have Parallel Cares, where we match donations that people want to direct in certain ways. And we have an employee relief fund, so if someone needs help at a critical time, we’re there as a company to stand by. So we have a lot going on, and it’s very deep and thorough. I think people are going to start looking into companies like ours and saying, “Wow, OK, they really get it and they’re really doing the right thing in spades.” That’s what differentiates us as a company.

CNT: Why do you believe it’s so important for the cannabis industry in particular to take on these initiatives like you’ve just outlined?

BW: It’s important for two reasons. One: it’s a young, newly developing industry; it’s always good to start with the right kind of foundation—and not do something and try to convert later. And I think it’s important again to set the example because there are a lot of people who haven’t run companies who are in the cannabis business, so I think it’s important for them to start thinking about these things. And then there’s social history with regards to cannabis, [such as] incarceration of people for past offenses during different times. All of this is not saying we can go back and change history; we can’t, but we can do things right going forward. But doing things right going forward is in a holistic approach, not just trying to solve for one thing, [for example,] expungement. Great idea, but let’s be holistic and make sure we develop a workforce that’s inclusive. 

CNT: Can you talk a little about the partnership with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine for clinical studies on sickle cell disease, and why you’re focusing there?

BW: We’re excited about our relationship there because something the industry has lacked for many, many years is legitimate research to prove out many of the things that people already know and feel. Even though it’s anecdotal, it’s improving their quality of life, so it will be nice to substantiate some of that over time. Sickle cell is the tip of the iceberg, we’ve got lots of things we want to do with [the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine] over time. It’s a good place to start, primarily because [sickle cell disease is] something that afflicts a disproportionately high number of African Americans. And African Americans have been disadvantaged by the whole cannabis industry, and that’s something that has to be acknowledged. Maybe we can come back and really help that particular population with one of the first initiatives. But there will be other studies addressing different [ailments] as well. 

CNT: What about your in-house R&D? Are there any other products or delivery methods that you’re particularly excited about?

BW: I would say beverage is very exciting. And we have in-house technology on beverage, which I think is very good, [that] allows us to basically emulsify cannabinoids in liquids—some with mild taste effects and others that are actually tasteless. So we feel that in the coming months here we’ll be able to launch some products and differentiative in a very good way in that category.

CNT: What about running a vertically integrated cannabis company keeps you up at a night?

BW: What keeps me up at night I would say is regulatory uncertainty. The number of regulatory bodies, and in some cases, their propensity to change the rules. It’s very difficult to run any business when the rules are changing all the time and when you’re really highly restricted. It’s an education process, but unfortunately in many cases, it takes quite a while to educate regulators on benefits of doing things certain ways. It’s not the industry trying to take advantage, it’s just, [they’ve] got to understand: the beliefs of the 1960s don’t hold muster anymore, and we must move into the next century here. And as such, we need to think about the economic benefits and the employment benefits, and work more hand-in-hand with the industry. I would say the other thing that keeps me up at night is the possibility that maybe a less sophisticated operator will cut corners and do something that could be detrimental to the industry that we’re trying to create the gold standard for in terms of compliance, relationships and the like.

CNT: What helps you sleep at night then?

BW: I have a very supportive family, which is No. 1, and that’s pretty awesome. And it’s just experience dealing with these sort of things. I’ve seen a lot in my years and career and so don’t tend to get too flustered by things, and [I] know what we can’t control and how we are going to find our way through it. Every day in this business you wake up and the landscape has changed to a certain degree, so you just have to look at it and say, “OK gosh, I thought we were going to go here, but we’re going to have to maneuver a little because now there’s a mountain in the way.” It really comes down to your attitude and approach and your experience I think, so I sleep pretty well.

For several years, commercial cultivation has been a trial-and-error process for growers as they navigate the most efficient way to care for plants throughout the different life cycle stages.

During each stage, plants must have specific plant essential nutrient ratios to develop, grow or produce at its best. If a plant has too much or too little of one of the 14 essential plant nutrients, it will not complete its life cycle stages correctly, says Ian Bateman, who works in professional technical services at Hawthorne Gardening Company Horticulture Division.

“When you think of the plant body, it’s like a skyscraper you’re trying to build,” Bateman says. “All the nutrients are pieces of equipment, machinery or structural components that help make that building. So, if you have one missing piece out of the equation, you can’t finish your building, and that’s how I would think about plant nutrients. If a grower has just one out of the 14 nutrients, that isn’t sufficient to sustain the growth level they want, then, the growth is slowed down by that nutrient.”

Knowing what to feed a plant when it needs it will help save time, money, and most importantly, the plant. Additionally, understanding essential plant nutrients and maintaining proper ratios can help with crop steering, Bateman says.

Cultivators use crop steering to direct the plant to grow in the way they want by altering the environment, how often plants are irrigated and other inputs. Growers can steer the plant’s growth and habit by adjusting nutrients, as well, another important component of crop steering, Bateman says.

In order to use nutrients to steer crops, Bateman suggests these key considerations.

Timing is Key

Different nutrients contribute to different aspects of plant growth and development. For example, nitrogen and iron help plants develop strong leaves to capture light, Bateman says.

Nitrogen and iron are most useful when the plant is in the vegetative stage, when it grows larger, and when stems and leaves are developing, Bateman says. Growers can use these key nutrients to help boost growth and ensure the plant is ready for flowering.

“The opposite is also true when it comes to getting the plant to fruit or to flower,” Bateman says. “We want to taper back those vegetative signals to the plant and start bringing in some nutrients that encourage the plant to focus on flower production.

To steer the plants to flower, elements such as potassium, phosphorus, sulfur and calcium become more important during that cycle. By changing the levels of these individual nutrients, a grower can start to tailor the plants growth in a way that is beneficial to them, Bateman says.

Why More Nutrients is Not Always Better

It’s essential to have all of the nutrients in the right proportion for the plant. Growers must navigate a fine line of having the optimum amount of all 14 nutrients to get the plant to grow as optimally as possible, while avoiding too much or too little of each nutrient, Bateman says.

“The plant pulls up the nutrients and water continuously, and if the plant has too much of one nutrient, the plant doesn’t have anywhere to put it,” Bateman says. “It can’t store it past a certain threshold, get rid of it or use it, so it starts to become toxic in the plant body. If you’ve heard someone say, ‘I burned my plants.’ or ‘They’re curling over,’ this is when one or more nutrients have been overapplied and accumulated to toxic levels and the plant starts to become sick and grow slower.”

One example is iron, Bateman says. “Iron’s primary role in the plant is it’s involvement in the synthesis of chlorophyll. You can think of nitrogen, magnesium, and carbon as the fundamental structural components of chlorophyll, and iron comes in and helps build it.”

During the plant’s vegetative stage, growers should provide the plants with a significant amount of iron to build chlorophyll. Then during the flowering cycle, cultivators will want to reduce the rates of iron fertilization as the plant is not focused on leaf development anymore and it may not be able to store any more iron, which can cause the plant to burn or show signs of iron toxicity, Bateman says.

“There are other nutrients like boron and manganese that are also involved in various stages of plant metabolism,” Bateman says. “Generally speaking, when a plant gets to the flowering stage, the grower will want to start ramping these nutrients down because they are already built up in the plant. So that’s why some nutrients in excess can hurt the plants.”

Tailoring Nutrients to Plant Growth Stage: What it Means and How it Works

In the hydroponics industry, it’s common for growers to have a different set of fertilizers for the plant’s vegetative and flower stages, Bateman says.

“The flower fertilizers are lower in nitrogen, broadly speaking, and have higher levels of phosphorus, potassium and calcium,” Bateman says. “The vegetative set of fertilizers tend to have higher iron, nitrogen that help the plant grow leaves, stems and roots.”

The goal is to give plants exactly what they need during their different life cycle stages. Bateman suggests different products growers can use to help crop steer plants by tailoring nutrients to the plant’s development.

For example, Botanicare Pure Blend Pro plant food blends are formulated for specific stages during the crop’s lifecycle; Grow includes essential nutrients needed during the vegetative stage, while Bloom gives plants what they need during the flowering stage, Bateman says.   

“With those two bottles of fertilizer, a grower will already be 80% there; however, there are limitations to changing those two bottles because there are 14 essential plant nutrients,” Bateman says. “The Pure Blend Pro supplies quite a few of those nutrients, but how does a grower adjust individual nutrients to give the plant exactly what it wants no more, no less when every one of those nutrients is just in two bottles?”

It can be challenging to increase or reduce specific nutrients, but that’s where nutrient supplements come in, Bateman says.

Botanicare Hydroplex, for example, provides a boost of primarily phosphorus and potassium to help maximize flower size.

“A grower can combine the Hydroplex with the Pure Blend Pro to ramp up the phosphorus and potassium while still keeping the nitrogen low and iron in check to ensure they are still giving the plant exactly what it wants when it needs it,” Bateman says. “Hydroplex is a great example where a grower can add a little extra horsepower in bloom by giving the plant just what it needs to tailor the precise amount of phosphorus and potassium.”

The nutritional needs of crops are not constant, as they shift over time in terms of overall concentration and composition, which means growers should apply different proportions and quantities of all 14 plant essential nutrients to best support the needs of their crops as they develop, Bateman says.

“Nutrients, supplements are all tools in the toolbox, which should be deployed strategically,” Bateman says. “Don’t bring tweezers to a job-site and don’t bring a sledgehammer to perform open heart surgery. Be strategic. Strive to give your crops what they want, when they want it, no more, no less.”