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Pioneering Cannabis Advocate Steve Fox Has Died

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At the end of March, New York state lawmakers approved the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, making it the 17th state in the U.S. to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older. The bill establishes a new regulatory body, the Office of Cannabis Management, to oversee the new adult-use program, in addition to the existing medical and hemp markets. Other provisions are detailed in the bill; however, much of the regulatory framework has yet to be decided, leaving the 10 existing medical cannabis companies operating in the state in limbo. Cannabis Business Times spoke with Hillary Peckham, chief operating officer of Etain, an independent, women- and family-owned medical cannabis operator with a cultivation facility and four dispensaries in New York, to get her take on the bill and how the company plans to transition into the adult-use market.

Michelle Simakis: What aspects of New York’s adult-use cannabis bill that have been outlined so far do you like?

Hillary Peckham: I think it’s really incredible they have passed legislation with an initiative for diverse business ownership. That’s something we really support, especially trying to foster small business social equity licenses and MWBEs [minority- or women-owned business enterprises]. (Editor’s Note: The bill indicates the state’s social and economic equity program will include a goal to allocate 50% of licenses to a minority- or women-owned business, distressed farmers or service-disabled veterans.) As a woman-owned business, we’re very supportive of that effort.

MS: What are your concerns about the bill?

HP: Things we are looking out for, which we won’t know more until regulation, would be ensuring that there’s a commitment to the medical program’s success after legalization starts, because most states you see the medical program decline or basically go away. And to make sure the support for [MWBE] businesses isn’t just to give them a license, but that there’s ongoing support and commitment to fostering growth for those companies that extends beyond just the initial licensing. There [are] proposed startup loans. I think that will be really important because cannabis businesses are very capital intensive, and it’s really hard to find capital without traditional financing. Additionally, in other industries New York set goals for purchasing from MWBEs for state contracts, and something similar to that to make sure there’s ongoing commitment to support and purchase from suppliers or retailers in those special category licenses I think will be great.

MS: As it’s written now, medical cannabis companies can remain vertically operated and add up to four stores, in addition to the four medical dispensaries you already have. Do you plan to transition into the market, and what would be the first step?

HP: We are still waiting on details on what that’s going to look like. We can add four more stores. Two need to be in underserved areas, and there’s no definition for that. So we’re still trying to figure out what that means and where we can site. If they can make medical changes soon, that will be really great, because we’ve been waiting years now for some modernization to the program, and I think that it will be really great for patients to get access sooner and for expanded product capacity. We’re still committed to the medical program.

Hillary Peckham, COO, at Etain’s cultivation facility. Etain is a vertically integrated, medical cannabis company in New York’s medical program but plans to transition to the adult-use market. Photo courtesy of Etain

MS: As of April 13, there are more than 147,600 registered patients in New York’s medical cannabis program. In previous interviews, you’ve noted the importance of expanding qualifying conditions in the medical cannabis market to improve access, which this bill includes.

HP: Honesty I think what they’ve done is really fabulous. If the doctor thinks you will benefit with medical cannabis, then you can get access to it. So instead of having a legislated list right now, it will be much more open. It’s really critical, and it’s something we’ve been looking forward to now for years. It treats [cannabis] much more like a regular drug.

I think we’ll see a holistic change to medical program.

RELATED: New York-Based Etain Continues to Innovate Despite Limitations of Medical Program

MS: As an already established medical cannabis company in the state, what would you like to see as you transition and as the adult-use program launches?

HP: I think making the medical changes as soon as possible will really have a positive impact on the program and start to expand it, which will help drive scaling, etc., and by getting more patients in the medical program and giving more access. Right now, the thing that we are really just anxious about but can’t really comment on is regulation, or how this is going to work. There are still a lot of unanswered questions that I think have left everybody in limbo. There’s so much that needs to be figured out in the next steps that I don’t know what the path is going to be.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions that I think have left everybody in limbo. There’s so much that needs to be figured out in the next steps that I don’t know what the path is going to be.

MS: Do you have a proposed timeline or an idea of when you’ll learn more?

HP: Not yet, but we are scheduled and starting to have some conversations to try and figure that out. In the bill there are some effective dates of certain milestones, [for example,] home grow is effective for medical patients six months from the passage of the bill, so I would assume that is in line with when they are going to start making some changes to the medical program at a minimum. But there is a big administrative task to start up a new Office of Cannabis Management. So that is a huge hurdle that will just take time.

MS:  What are your thoughts on the fact the bill creates a new regulating body, shifting responsibility of managing both the medical and the new adult-use program to the future Office of Cannabis Management governed by a cannabis control board?

HP: You’ve got medical, adult-use and hemp all under one regulating body, which I think is a great idea because all three of those impact each other. Treating them holistically will hopefully streamline regulations and at least people will be conscious of changes they make. Because the hemp market and access to CBD did have an impact on the medical market and the products that you can sell, so it’s important to have a regulating body that’s aware of the impact it’s going to have.

MS:  What is the first step you are taking to adjust your business (both cultivation and retail) to cater to an adult-use market and most likely increased demand?

HP: Right now, one of the biggest changes to the medical market that will be relevant in adult use is that we [will be able to] sell whole flower. So, being able to [sell whole flower], which is the most requested product we’ve had since the beginning of the program, I think will be a really important change. From an operations standpoint, on the backend, [we need] to build out additional cultivation square footage and invest in more equipment for different product forms because in adult-use, there will be more allowable forms like edibles and things like that that we don’t currently have in medical program. The first step is [offering] whole flower because that’s the really important one for patients, and the rest is just scaling the business to get ready.

The first step is [offering] whole flower because that’s the really important one for patients, and the rest is just scaling the business to get ready.

MS:  What changes in cultivation will you have to make to prepare to offer whole flower?

HP: We do have ground flower now. Part of that is to make sure it’s metered. When you have a tablespoon of ground flower that you’re then going to vaporize, there’s a certain dosage that’s associated with that, but it has to be ground to less than 5 mm, which is a very small particle size. A lot of times it can be confusing for patients or it’s not what they are familiar with using, so being able to have full flower will be a really good step.

We’ve been ready for this kind of change, and our process will need to change because curing will come into play whereas mostly the medical program has been focused on sterilization and making sure that it’s pharmaceutical grade before it goes out to the patient. So there will be some changes in process, but I think it will not be a huge impact.

Etain’s newly rebranded packaging Photo courtesy of Etain

MS:  What challenges do you anticipate in the transition?

HP: It’s our intention to stay women-owned and scale the business, and just figuring out how to do both. Because scaling takes access to capital, and we are trying to figure out our next steps in how to accomplish that, so that’s just something that’s on my mind. Are we able to reach the scale that we need or want right now with the resources we have? And then it’s just waiting for the regulations.

MS:  What are the key opportunities for Etain?

HP: Having an existing footprint and just being able to leverage all the expertise we’ve had now for over five or six years, I think will be a really positive thing for us in this next stage. We know how to make a consistent, high quality product that our patients really like, and now we’re able to offer that and use that experience to a broader audience.

MS:  You’ve noted in past conversations that the innovative consumption methods you offer were important to Etain to improve access to medical cannabis, but there were also many limitations in the medical market. How will you change/expand your offerings with more options in the adult-use market?

HP: I’m really excited about offering some of our existing products in an adult-use setting, with more applications. Like our water-soluble powder … I think that will be really popular because you can cook with it, you could put it in drinks, like cannabis cocktails. My sister [Keeley Peckham, chief horticultural officer], in addition to being in charge of horticulture, is an avid baker, and so she’s very excited about the opportunities with some edibles. We’re starting to reach out to some companies in New York City to try and gain some expertise, especially being in New York with so much culinary expertise. So it’s exciting to be able to think about that and start to plan for it, but we haven’t made any concrete decisions at this point.

MS:  As only one of 10 cannabis companies operating in the state now, among multistate operators like MedMen and Curaleaf, how are you positioning your business to get ready for increased competition?

HP: We just initiated and launched a total rebrand of the company. So establishing new packaging and making sure we have messaging, and a better way of communicating who we are already to people. We reformulated all of our products and the packaging and just started launching that March 1, when we got it all in stores. We opened our flagship Manhattan store in August, so we’ve started to establish more of a footprint and branded materials. We are already starting to account for the fact that there will be increased competition. We also have a lot of experience that we can leverage that will be helpful moving forward. The new marketing materials also communicate our founding story and why we are doing this.

 

Uber CEO Says Company Would ‘Absolutely’ Consider Cannabis Delivery

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When companies raise capital and grow, the No. 1 thing they do is hire.

Vangst, a Denver-based recruiting platform that connects cannabis job seekers with employers, is now better positioned to service that demand after launching its Executive Talent service March 29, with Jennifer Bedford as the vice president.

According to CEO Karson Humiston, who founded Vangst in 2015, more than 210,000 people are directly employed by the U.S. cannabis industry—a Leafly report estimated that number to be even higher, at 321,000—with a 75% growth in employment over the last two years. The new Executive Talent service will help companies secure administrative-level talent as they continue to build out and grow their leadership teams, she said.

“Before hiring [Bedford] at Vangst, we engaged her for our VP of revenue search. It was hands down the best experience I’ve ever had with an executive recruiter,” said Humiston, who turned around and reverse-recruited Bedford to join her team.

Before taking on the vice president of Executive Talent position at Vangst, Bedford was a veteran recruiter at Signal Partners, an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles, where she executed executive searches in the legal and compliant cannabis market. And before that, she serviced the consumer-facing tech sector. Overall, she is a 20-year veteran headhunter.

Vangst’s recruiting services include staffing cannabis companies with positions like marketing managers, budtenders and social media coordinators. But, until now, it did not have an executive talent offering—Bedford’s specialty.

“What CEO Karson Humiston has built is pretty much a top-tier staffing marketplace within cannabis, you know, a ZipRecruiter or an Indeed of the cannabis space,” Bedford said. “That’s exactly what we are building is a staffing recruiting talent marketplace within the most explosive growth consumer product sector in North America. It’s going to be super fun.

“We can elevate our game now for Vangst to be able to service the cannabis investors and to be able to service cannabis CEOs who want to build out their leadership teams that populate across the U.S.”

Here, Bedford shares more about how she became an executive recruiter in the cannabis space, tricks of the trade, how she connected with Humiston, where cannabis executives come from, how companies make their hires, how cannabis-sector recruitment stands out, what new states coming on board means for leadership teams and more.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity.

 

Tony Lange: How did you first get into your line of work?

Photo by Sarah Waters

Jennifer Bedford joins Vangst from Signal Partners. 

Jennifer Bedford: I cut my teeth at Korn/Ferry International—an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles—which is a really great place to learn the business. Executive search is not for the meek. There’s an art and a science to it. And I got to start with the best people in the business.

My Korn/Ferry days were all about technology. And what I learned the most from cutting my teeth was just knowing how to do this work. Getting top-level executives to get on the phone with you, there’s an art to that. So, I learned early on how to find whom I’m looking for and how to get them to talk to me.

TL: What are some of the tricks of the trade you learned early on in terms of executing leadership-level searches?

JB: The business that I’m in is a hybrid between sales and buying. I always say to people first I’m in sales because I’m trying to get “Tony” to talk to me. I like Tony’s background a lot. Tony looks like he’s a really good fit for that VP of marketing role that I have. I’m looking at Tony and I’m like, “Oh, I like him a lot.” So now I’ve got to get you to talk to me. I’m going to use my emails. If I can find any way to get you to talk to me, I’m going to do that. That’s what I learned at Korn/Ferry, is the relentlessness.

Then when I get to you, I’m going to give you the shortest amount of sell that I can so that you’ll talk to me. “My client is Apple.” Now Tony’s excited about listening to me because, boy, would he love to work for Apple. Once the sell part is accomplished, then I flip to being a buyer, which is now, “How good is Tony?” That is how executive search works. And what did I learn at Korn/Ferry? I learned how to do that.

TL: What else shaped your career path toward the cannabis sector?

JB: After Korn/Ferry, I pivoted into consumer technology, sort of grew up growing Silicon Valley technology companies, building out those leadership benches. And then I showed up at Signal Partners, my recent executive search firm that’s built to service investor-backed and owned operations here in Los Angeles—they’re a national leader as far as associating themselves with the investor side of the house. So, I was introduced to clients through the venture capital firm, or through the private equity firm, and that was Signal Partners’ sweet spot.

When cannabis clients started tapping on my shoulder and I started doing cannabis-related tech searches out of the gate, and started building cannabis technology companies and marketplaces, I went to my partners and said, “You guys, I should just call it our cannabis practice. Can I just put that stick in the sand and call it what it is?” And the answer was absolutely. We created a tech stack that was like a Porsche. To be really good in this business, you’ve got to have a killer tech stack, because if you hire me to do your chief marketing officer search, I want to know within 48 hours who are the best marketing leaders in that lane, and how can I go after them, and how can I find them. That’s what the back of the house looks like when I get an assignment like that.

TL: What year was that when you launched the cannabis practice at Signal Partners?

JB: I would say my phone started heating up with cannabis calls in late 2017, early 2018. And because my network is investors, I’ve spent years building my network of chief executives, executive-level operators, executives in supply chain and executives in technology. So, when those calls started, it was very easy for me to pivot. It was like just another consumer product lane. “Oh, I just did a kombucha search last year. Now I can do this hemp CBD beverage company, no problem.” [CBD is] the fastest growing consumer product category in the world. The same kind of executives want to get into it.

TL: Where are executives who want to join the cannabis space coming from?

JB: Well, the answers are pharma, supply chain, distribution—it’s consumer product boxed categories, technology, etc. So, my job is to sort through all of that talent and find the premier-level talent that is a trusted, vetted-out executive.

TL: Do leadership-level hires often have to relocate?

JB: That’s not a big thing right now with some states still shut down and a lot of people working remote. I don’t think you need to focus too much on that. Companies are making hires based on talent, which is, “Has she done this? Is she a rock star? How do we back-channel her?” I’ll use the edibles category, for example, “Oh, she took that jelly bean company from $650 million in revenue to $1.2 billion in revenue? Let’s talk to her.”

So, it’s much more than location. The concentration from our side of the desk is, what’s the talent? Then, as far as relocating, if you live in Brooklyn but I’m headquartered in Chicago, we don’t care right now. If it’s a job in which face-to-face is critical, then we’ll adapt.

TL: How did your previous experiences align you with your role as the vice president of the new Executive Talent service at Vangst?

JB: If I’ve spent the last 20 years building a prestigious network of killer executives, Vangst likewise has spent the last five years building the best staffing and recruiting brand name in the business. So, it was a really nice fit for me to go, “Oh, these are my people.” I can bring what I do to them.

TL: How did you connect with Vangst CEO Karson Humiston to conduct her vice president of revenue search (before she hired you as a full-time team member)?

JB: I had just finished LeafLink’s chief revenue officer search and recruited a guy out of a software-as-a-service marketplace company, and I had also found LeafLink’s head of insights, so I think LeafLink CEO Ryan Smith had suggested Humiston talk to me. That’s how the introduction was made.

TL: How does being a headhunter in the cannabis space differ from other arenas, and who are your competitors?

JB: Remember, I’m a talent scout at the executive level. Cannabis multistate operators right now want to grow and establish their executive teams. And that’s the sole focus right now is how do we have a big 2021? How do we do that? We do that by having killer executives—smart, social-equity focused, you know, cares about their organization, revenue-driven, all of that.

And so, my focus is on those multistate operators and on existing Vangst clients. We get to elevate Vangst’s clients’ game right now by giving them an executive search offering that they previously had to go out and use a search firm. You could say there’s competitors at the executive-search level with a few boutiques out there—like what I did at Signal Partners—that are doing our work. Those were my competitors then. And you’re starting to hear more search firms starting to put up their little cannabis flags and saying we can do that.

But I’m super proud to walk in the door at Vangst with a deep network of not only existing cannabis executives, but also a thousand executives with their hands in the air waiting to be called on. People want to get into this fast-growth sector.

TL: Companies are obviously counting on you to recommend the right person for the job so that they’re not coming back three months later starting from scratch—how do your executive talent searches ensure matches are a win-win for both employer and employee.

JB: You’re asking the age-old question about the part of the business that’s called human capital, and human capital is not for the meek. If you haven’t done your job right as a recruiter and you didn’t vet out what his or her weaknesses are, or vet out that his or her spouse didn’t want to be in that sector, or that his or her kid needed a special school and that relocating was a bad idea—in the human-capital space, you’ve got to know all that. You’ve got to do that homework and prepare as best as possible for this candidate to be successful at the company.

If somebody falls out at three months, what do we do? Well, there are different contractual promises that I say to a client. But my job is to give you a candidate who is so psyched to grow the business, and I’ve done all the homework to make sure that they’re not going to fall out.

TL: Virginia, New York and New Mexico are some of the recent states making moves to legalize adult-use cannabis. Do you feel more pressure to understand those additional state-legal markets, or are you more excited for additional opportunities?

JB: Great question; it’s both. The excitement level not only is elevating on a state-by-state basis, but also at the federal level. What cannabis has always been from the beginning has been a state-by-state chess game. And we’re all moving our chess pieces one piece at a time. And I think what we’re seeing in the state-by-state legalization conversation is that if you look at New York as an example, we’re getting better at this. As legalization efforts are hitting the East, the cannabis sector is so much more mature now. And if you fold the politics and the social equity components and the expungement components and all of that, really what I call good-news aspects of cannabis legalization, you’re going to see us getting better. You’re going to see this sector getting better. It really is analogous to other growth industries that we’ve seen over time.

And I pay attention to history. I pay attention to industries that have had their growing pains. And, boy, last year with the pandemic was certainly one of them for cannabis because cannabis, yes, we were deemed an essential medicine right at the beginning of COVID-19, but there was also a lot of recalibrating that went on last year. So, I think we’re hitting our stride. I think MSOs, Vangst clients, cannabis companies, cannabis ancillary companies, the technology companies associated with the sector, everybody is really flexing this year. It’s going to be a year in which you’re going to see a ton of growth. And, from my perspective, as somebody who cares about the sector, I want to see that growth from the executive level and from the C-suite. I want to see it done thoughtfully and carefully.

Q&A With Etain’s COO Hillary Peckham on Adult-Use Legalization in New York

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When companies raise capital and grow, the No. 1 thing they do is hire.

Vangst, a Denver-based recruiting platform that connects cannabis job seekers with employers, is now better positioned to service that demand after launching its Executive Talent service March 29, with Jennifer Bedford as the vice president.

According to CEO Karson Humiston, who founded Vangst in 2015, more than 210,000 people are directly employed by the U.S. cannabis industry—a Leafly report estimated that number to be even higher, at 321,000—with a 75% growth in employment over the last two years. The new Executive Talent service will help companies secure administrative-level talent as they continue to build out and grow their leadership teams, she said.

“Before hiring [Bedford] at Vangst, we engaged her for our VP of revenue search. It was hands down the best experience I’ve ever had with an executive recruiter,” said Humiston, who turned around and reverse-recruited Bedford to join her team.

Before taking on the vice president of Executive Talent position at Vangst, Bedford was a veteran recruiter at Signal Partners, an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles, where she executed executive searches in the legal and compliant cannabis market. And before that, she serviced the consumer-facing tech sector. Overall, she is a 20-year veteran headhunter.

Vangst’s recruiting services include staffing cannabis companies with positions like marketing managers, budtenders and social media coordinators. But, until now, it did not have an executive talent offering—Bedford’s specialty.

“What CEO Karson Humiston has built is pretty much a top-tier staffing marketplace within cannabis, you know, a ZipRecruiter or an Indeed of the cannabis space,” Bedford said. “That’s exactly what we are building is a staffing recruiting talent marketplace within the most explosive growth consumer product sector in North America. It’s going to be super fun.

“We can elevate our game now for Vangst to be able to service the cannabis investors and to be able to service cannabis CEOs who want to build out their leadership teams that populate across the U.S.”

Here, Bedford shares more about how she became an executive recruiter in the cannabis space, tricks of the trade, how she connected with Humiston, where cannabis executives come from, how companies make their hires, how cannabis-sector recruitment stands out, what new states coming on board means for leadership teams and more.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity.

 

Tony Lange: How did you first get into your line of work?

Photo by Sarah Waters

Jennifer Bedford joins Vangst from Signal Partners. 

Jennifer Bedford: I cut my teeth at Korn/Ferry International—an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles—which is a really great place to learn the business. Executive search is not for the meek. There’s an art and a science to it. And I got to start with the best people in the business.

My Korn/Ferry days were all about technology. And what I learned the most from cutting my teeth was just knowing how to do this work. Getting top-level executives to get on the phone with you, there’s an art to that. So, I learned early on how to find whom I’m looking for and how to get them to talk to me.

TL: What are some of the tricks of the trade you learned early on in terms of executing leadership-level searches?

JB: The business that I’m in is a hybrid between sales and buying. I always say to people first I’m in sales because I’m trying to get “Tony” to talk to me. I like Tony’s background a lot. Tony looks like he’s a really good fit for that VP of marketing role that I have. I’m looking at Tony and I’m like, “Oh, I like him a lot.” So now I’ve got to get you to talk to me. I’m going to use my emails. If I can find any way to get you to talk to me, I’m going to do that. That’s what I learned at Korn/Ferry, is the relentlessness.

Then when I get to you, I’m going to give you the shortest amount of sell that I can so that you’ll talk to me. “My client is Apple.” Now Tony’s excited about listening to me because, boy, would he love to work for Apple. Once the sell part is accomplished, then I flip to being a buyer, which is now, “How good is Tony?” That is how executive search works. And what did I learn at Korn/Ferry? I learned how to do that.

TL: What else shaped your career path toward the cannabis sector?

JB: After Korn/Ferry, I pivoted into consumer technology, sort of grew up growing Silicon Valley technology companies, building out those leadership benches. And then I showed up at Signal Partners, my recent executive search firm that’s built to service investor-backed and owned operations here in Los Angeles—they’re a national leader as far as associating themselves with the investor side of the house. So, I was introduced to clients through the venture capital firm, or through the private equity firm, and that was Signal Partners’ sweet spot.

When cannabis clients started tapping on my shoulder and I started doing cannabis-related tech searches out of the gate, and started building cannabis technology companies and marketplaces, I went to my partners and said, “You guys, I should just call it our cannabis practice. Can I just put that stick in the sand and call it what it is?” And the answer was absolutely. We created a tech stack that was like a Porsche. To be really good in this business, you’ve got to have a killer tech stack, because if you hire me to do your chief marketing officer search, I want to know within 48 hours who are the best marketing leaders in that lane, and how can I go after them, and how can I find them. That’s what the back of the house looks like when I get an assignment like that.

TL: What year was that when you launched the cannabis practice at Signal Partners?

JB: I would say my phone started heating up with cannabis calls in late 2017, early 2018. And because my network is investors, I’ve spent years building my network of chief executives, executive-level operators, executives in supply chain and executives in technology. So, when those calls started, it was very easy for me to pivot. It was like just another consumer product lane. “Oh, I just did a kombucha search last year. Now I can do this hemp CBD beverage company, no problem.” [CBD is] the fastest growing consumer product category in the world. The same kind of executives want to get into it.

TL: Where are executives who want to join the cannabis space coming from?

JB: Well, the answers are pharma, supply chain, distribution—it’s consumer product boxed categories, technology, etc. So, my job is to sort through all of that talent and find the premier-level talent that is a trusted, vetted-out executive.

TL: Do leadership-level hires often have to relocate?

JB: That’s not a big thing right now with some states still shut down and a lot of people working remote. I don’t think you need to focus too much on that. Companies are making hires based on talent, which is, “Has she done this? Is she a rock star? How do we back-channel her?” I’ll use the edibles category, for example, “Oh, she took that jelly bean company from $650 million in revenue to $1.2 billion in revenue? Let’s talk to her.”

So, it’s much more than location. The concentration from our side of the desk is, what’s the talent? Then, as far as relocating, if you live in Brooklyn but I’m headquartered in Chicago, we don’t care right now. If it’s a job in which face-to-face is critical, then we’ll adapt.

TL: How did your previous experiences align you with your role as the vice president of the new Executive Talent service at Vangst?

JB: If I’ve spent the last 20 years building a prestigious network of killer executives, Vangst likewise has spent the last five years building the best staffing and recruiting brand name in the business. So, it was a really nice fit for me to go, “Oh, these are my people.” I can bring what I do to them.

TL: How did you connect with Vangst CEO Karson Humiston to conduct her vice president of revenue search (before she hired you as a full-time team member)?

JB: I had just finished LeafLink’s chief revenue officer search and recruited a guy out of a software-as-a-service marketplace company, and I had also found LeafLink’s head of insights, so I think LeafLink CEO Ryan Smith had suggested Humiston talk to me. That’s how the introduction was made.

TL: How does being a headhunter in the cannabis space differ from other arenas, and who are your competitors?

JB: Remember, I’m a talent scout at the executive level. Cannabis multistate operators right now want to grow and establish their executive teams. And that’s the sole focus right now is how do we have a big 2021? How do we do that? We do that by having killer executives—smart, social-equity focused, you know, cares about their organization, revenue-driven, all of that.

And so, my focus is on those multistate operators and on existing Vangst clients. We get to elevate Vangst’s clients’ game right now by giving them an executive search offering that they previously had to go out and use a search firm. You could say there’s competitors at the executive-search level with a few boutiques out there—like what I did at Signal Partners—that are doing our work. Those were my competitors then. And you’re starting to hear more search firms starting to put up their little cannabis flags and saying we can do that.

But I’m super proud to walk in the door at Vangst with a deep network of not only existing cannabis executives, but also a thousand executives with their hands in the air waiting to be called on. People want to get into this fast-growth sector.

TL: Companies are obviously counting on you to recommend the right person for the job so that they’re not coming back three months later starting from scratch—how do your executive talent searches ensure matches are a win-win for both employer and employee.

JB: You’re asking the age-old question about the part of the business that’s called human capital, and human capital is not for the meek. If you haven’t done your job right as a recruiter and you didn’t vet out what his or her weaknesses are, or vet out that his or her spouse didn’t want to be in that sector, or that his or her kid needed a special school and that relocating was a bad idea—in the human-capital space, you’ve got to know all that. You’ve got to do that homework and prepare as best as possible for this candidate to be successful at the company.

If somebody falls out at three months, what do we do? Well, there are different contractual promises that I say to a client. But my job is to give you a candidate who is so psyched to grow the business, and I’ve done all the homework to make sure that they’re not going to fall out.

TL: Virginia, New York and New Mexico are some of the recent states making moves to legalize adult-use cannabis. Do you feel more pressure to understand those additional state-legal markets, or are you more excited for additional opportunities?

JB: Great question; it’s both. The excitement level not only is elevating on a state-by-state basis, but also at the federal level. What cannabis has always been from the beginning has been a state-by-state chess game. And we’re all moving our chess pieces one piece at a time. And I think what we’re seeing in the state-by-state legalization conversation is that if you look at New York as an example, we’re getting better at this. As legalization efforts are hitting the East, the cannabis sector is so much more mature now. And if you fold the politics and the social equity components and the expungement components and all of that, really what I call good-news aspects of cannabis legalization, you’re going to see us getting better. You’re going to see this sector getting better. It really is analogous to other growth industries that we’ve seen over time.

And I pay attention to history. I pay attention to industries that have had their growing pains. And, boy, last year with the pandemic was certainly one of them for cannabis because cannabis, yes, we were deemed an essential medicine right at the beginning of COVID-19, but there was also a lot of recalibrating that went on last year. So, I think we’re hitting our stride. I think MSOs, Vangst clients, cannabis companies, cannabis ancillary companies, the technology companies associated with the sector, everybody is really flexing this year. It’s going to be a year in which you’re going to see a ton of growth. And, from my perspective, as somebody who cares about the sector, I want to see that growth from the executive level and from the C-suite. I want to see it done thoughtfully and carefully.

Cannabis Control Commissioner Jennifer Flanagan Announces Departure from the Agency on April 30

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When companies raise capital and grow, the No. 1 thing they do is hire.

Vangst, a Denver-based recruiting platform that connects cannabis job seekers with employers, is now better positioned to service that demand after launching its Executive Talent service March 29, with Jennifer Bedford as the vice president.

According to CEO Karson Humiston, who founded Vangst in 2015, more than 210,000 people are directly employed by the U.S. cannabis industry—a Leafly report estimated that number to be even higher, at 321,000—with a 75% growth in employment over the last two years. The new Executive Talent service will help companies secure administrative-level talent as they continue to build out and grow their leadership teams, she said.

“Before hiring [Bedford] at Vangst, we engaged her for our VP of revenue search. It was hands down the best experience I’ve ever had with an executive recruiter,” said Humiston, who turned around and reverse-recruited Bedford to join her team.

Before taking on the vice president of Executive Talent position at Vangst, Bedford was a veteran recruiter at Signal Partners, an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles, where she executed executive searches in the legal and compliant cannabis market. And before that, she serviced the consumer-facing tech sector. Overall, she is a 20-year veteran headhunter.

Vangst’s recruiting services include staffing cannabis companies with positions like marketing managers, budtenders and social media coordinators. But, until now, it did not have an executive talent offering—Bedford’s specialty.

“What CEO Karson Humiston has built is pretty much a top-tier staffing marketplace within cannabis, you know, a ZipRecruiter or an Indeed of the cannabis space,” Bedford said. “That’s exactly what we are building is a staffing recruiting talent marketplace within the most explosive growth consumer product sector in North America. It’s going to be super fun.

“We can elevate our game now for Vangst to be able to service the cannabis investors and to be able to service cannabis CEOs who want to build out their leadership teams that populate across the U.S.”

Here, Bedford shares more about how she became an executive recruiter in the cannabis space, tricks of the trade, how she connected with Humiston, where cannabis executives come from, how companies make their hires, how cannabis-sector recruitment stands out, what new states coming on board means for leadership teams and more.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity.

 

Tony Lange: How did you first get into your line of work?

Photo by Sarah Waters

Jennifer Bedford joins Vangst from Signal Partners. 

Jennifer Bedford: I cut my teeth at Korn/Ferry International—an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles—which is a really great place to learn the business. Executive search is not for the meek. There’s an art and a science to it. And I got to start with the best people in the business.

My Korn/Ferry days were all about technology. And what I learned the most from cutting my teeth was just knowing how to do this work. Getting top-level executives to get on the phone with you, there’s an art to that. So, I learned early on how to find whom I’m looking for and how to get them to talk to me.

TL: What are some of the tricks of the trade you learned early on in terms of executing leadership-level searches?

JB: The business that I’m in is a hybrid between sales and buying. I always say to people first I’m in sales because I’m trying to get “Tony” to talk to me. I like Tony’s background a lot. Tony looks like he’s a really good fit for that VP of marketing role that I have. I’m looking at Tony and I’m like, “Oh, I like him a lot.” So now I’ve got to get you to talk to me. I’m going to use my emails. If I can find any way to get you to talk to me, I’m going to do that. That’s what I learned at Korn/Ferry, is the relentlessness.

Then when I get to you, I’m going to give you the shortest amount of sell that I can so that you’ll talk to me. “My client is Apple.” Now Tony’s excited about listening to me because, boy, would he love to work for Apple. Once the sell part is accomplished, then I flip to being a buyer, which is now, “How good is Tony?” That is how executive search works. And what did I learn at Korn/Ferry? I learned how to do that.

TL: What else shaped your career path toward the cannabis sector?

JB: After Korn/Ferry, I pivoted into consumer technology, sort of grew up growing Silicon Valley technology companies, building out those leadership benches. And then I showed up at Signal Partners, my recent executive search firm that’s built to service investor-backed and owned operations here in Los Angeles—they’re a national leader as far as associating themselves with the investor side of the house. So, I was introduced to clients through the venture capital firm, or through the private equity firm, and that was Signal Partners’ sweet spot.

When cannabis clients started tapping on my shoulder and I started doing cannabis-related tech searches out of the gate, and started building cannabis technology companies and marketplaces, I went to my partners and said, “You guys, I should just call it our cannabis practice. Can I just put that stick in the sand and call it what it is?” And the answer was absolutely. We created a tech stack that was like a Porsche. To be really good in this business, you’ve got to have a killer tech stack, because if you hire me to do your chief marketing officer search, I want to know within 48 hours who are the best marketing leaders in that lane, and how can I go after them, and how can I find them. That’s what the back of the house looks like when I get an assignment like that.

TL: What year was that when you launched the cannabis practice at Signal Partners?

JB: I would say my phone started heating up with cannabis calls in late 2017, early 2018. And because my network is investors, I’ve spent years building my network of chief executives, executive-level operators, executives in supply chain and executives in technology. So, when those calls started, it was very easy for me to pivot. It was like just another consumer product lane. “Oh, I just did a kombucha search last year. Now I can do this hemp CBD beverage company, no problem.” [CBD is] the fastest growing consumer product category in the world. The same kind of executives want to get into it.

TL: Where are executives who want to join the cannabis space coming from?

JB: Well, the answers are pharma, supply chain, distribution—it’s consumer product boxed categories, technology, etc. So, my job is to sort through all of that talent and find the premier-level talent that is a trusted, vetted-out executive.

TL: Do leadership-level hires often have to relocate?

JB: That’s not a big thing right now with some states still shut down and a lot of people working remote. I don’t think you need to focus too much on that. Companies are making hires based on talent, which is, “Has she done this? Is she a rock star? How do we back-channel her?” I’ll use the edibles category, for example, “Oh, she took that jelly bean company from $650 million in revenue to $1.2 billion in revenue? Let’s talk to her.”

So, it’s much more than location. The concentration from our side of the desk is, what’s the talent? Then, as far as relocating, if you live in Brooklyn but I’m headquartered in Chicago, we don’t care right now. If it’s a job in which face-to-face is critical, then we’ll adapt.

TL: How did your previous experiences align you with your role as the vice president of the new Executive Talent service at Vangst?

JB: If I’ve spent the last 20 years building a prestigious network of killer executives, Vangst likewise has spent the last five years building the best staffing and recruiting brand name in the business. So, it was a really nice fit for me to go, “Oh, these are my people.” I can bring what I do to them.

TL: How did you connect with Vangst CEO Karson Humiston to conduct her vice president of revenue search (before she hired you as a full-time team member)?

JB: I had just finished LeafLink’s chief revenue officer search and recruited a guy out of a software-as-a-service marketplace company, and I had also found LeafLink’s head of insights, so I think LeafLink CEO Ryan Smith had suggested Humiston talk to me. That’s how the introduction was made.

TL: How does being a headhunter in the cannabis space differ from other arenas, and who are your competitors?

JB: Remember, I’m a talent scout at the executive level. Cannabis multistate operators right now want to grow and establish their executive teams. And that’s the sole focus right now is how do we have a big 2021? How do we do that? We do that by having killer executives—smart, social-equity focused, you know, cares about their organization, revenue-driven, all of that.

And so, my focus is on those multistate operators and on existing Vangst clients. We get to elevate Vangst’s clients’ game right now by giving them an executive search offering that they previously had to go out and use a search firm. You could say there’s competitors at the executive-search level with a few boutiques out there—like what I did at Signal Partners—that are doing our work. Those were my competitors then. And you’re starting to hear more search firms starting to put up their little cannabis flags and saying we can do that.

But I’m super proud to walk in the door at Vangst with a deep network of not only existing cannabis executives, but also a thousand executives with their hands in the air waiting to be called on. People want to get into this fast-growth sector.

TL: Companies are obviously counting on you to recommend the right person for the job so that they’re not coming back three months later starting from scratch—how do your executive talent searches ensure matches are a win-win for both employer and employee.

JB: You’re asking the age-old question about the part of the business that’s called human capital, and human capital is not for the meek. If you haven’t done your job right as a recruiter and you didn’t vet out what his or her weaknesses are, or vet out that his or her spouse didn’t want to be in that sector, or that his or her kid needed a special school and that relocating was a bad idea—in the human-capital space, you’ve got to know all that. You’ve got to do that homework and prepare as best as possible for this candidate to be successful at the company.

If somebody falls out at three months, what do we do? Well, there are different contractual promises that I say to a client. But my job is to give you a candidate who is so psyched to grow the business, and I’ve done all the homework to make sure that they’re not going to fall out.

TL: Virginia, New York and New Mexico are some of the recent states making moves to legalize adult-use cannabis. Do you feel more pressure to understand those additional state-legal markets, or are you more excited for additional opportunities?

JB: Great question; it’s both. The excitement level not only is elevating on a state-by-state basis, but also at the federal level. What cannabis has always been from the beginning has been a state-by-state chess game. And we’re all moving our chess pieces one piece at a time. And I think what we’re seeing in the state-by-state legalization conversation is that if you look at New York as an example, we’re getting better at this. As legalization efforts are hitting the East, the cannabis sector is so much more mature now. And if you fold the politics and the social equity components and the expungement components and all of that, really what I call good-news aspects of cannabis legalization, you’re going to see us getting better. You’re going to see this sector getting better. It really is analogous to other growth industries that we’ve seen over time.

And I pay attention to history. I pay attention to industries that have had their growing pains. And, boy, last year with the pandemic was certainly one of them for cannabis because cannabis, yes, we were deemed an essential medicine right at the beginning of COVID-19, but there was also a lot of recalibrating that went on last year. So, I think we’re hitting our stride. I think MSOs, Vangst clients, cannabis companies, cannabis ancillary companies, the technology companies associated with the sector, everybody is really flexing this year. It’s going to be a year in which you’re going to see a ton of growth. And, from my perspective, as somebody who cares about the sector, I want to see that growth from the executive level and from the C-suite. I want to see it done thoughtfully and carefully.

Leaders in Cannabis Formulations: Part 2

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Editor’s Note: In Part 1 of this series, green sat down with Drew Hathaway, senior food scientist at Stillwater Brands. Click here to see Part 1.

Natural cannabinoid distillates and isolates are hydrophobic oils and solids, meaning that they do not mix well with water and are poorly absorbed in the human body after consumption. By formulating these ingredients using a patented delivery system technology, trademarked VESIsorb®, Geocann has overcome common obstacles associated with fat-soluble active ingredients, including poor stability, bioavailability, absorption, and solubility. In addition, Geocann has peer-reviewed, published evidence of the dramatic improvements in Cmax, AUC, and Tmax (“time to peak absorption” directly related to “fast-acting” benefits).

Geocann is a cannabis formulation company with its headquarters in Fort Collins, Colorado, and additional offices in Chicago, Illinois and Zurich, Switzerland. The company is led by an impressive leadership team of scientists, pharmacists, researchers and natural product industry leaders. Geocann’s technology platform has been successfully applied to a wide range of cannabis product applications, including soft gel and hard-shell capsules, functional foods (e.g. gummies) and beverages, powder systems, tinctures, sublingual sprays and topically applied formulations. Brand partners in the U.S. utilizing Geocann’s technology for hemp applications include Nestlé Health Science, Cannaray and Onnit, and brand partners for medical and adult-use cannabis applications include Curaleaf, Sunderstorm and CannaCraft, among others.

We spoke with Jesse Lopez, CEO and Founder of Geocann, about their product formulation technology in cannabis and how they work with brand partners in the U.S and internationally. Lopez started Geocann in 2018 alongside the success he’s experienced at SourceOne Global Partners (founded in 2003 by Lopez), a leading formulation company in the nutraceuticals space with a reputation for pioneering innovative products that combine science-backed ingredients with patented drug delivery system technologies to address the most pressing consumer health concerns, such as heart health, cognitive function, inflammatory response, metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes, among others.

Aaron Green: Jesse, first off, how did you get involved in the cannabis industry?

Jesse Lopez: Our focus at SourceOne Global Partners has been on natural products for nearly two decades. Some of the folks involved with our natural products business decided that they would get involved in the cannabis business and they asked for my support at the Advisory Board level. I agreed to serve and figured I better learn about the cannabis industry! We realized that there was a tremendous opportunity for utilizing our drug delivery system technology to enhance the value of these cannabis-based products. Due to the regulatory environment, strategic legal counsel and new investments necessary to take an immediate leadership position in the cannabis industry we launched Geocann in 2018 with an office in a fully legal state at the time, Colorado.

Green: How do you select the natural products you work with at SourceOne?

Jesse Lopez, CEO and Founder of Geocann

Lopez: We really focus on science-backed natural product ingredients that may require high doses to reach therapeutic blood levels. By combining these science-backed ingredients with patented technologies – which we own the global rights to – these products offer desirable differentiation for leading brands, such as dramatically improved absorption and bioavailability, patent protection and trademarked “intel inside” branding.

Green: What are some of the other natural products you have experience with?

Lopez: We work with a range of some of the most popular nutraceuticals such as coenzyme Q10 and omega-3 fish oil to the more innovative natural products like resveratrol. We also work with vitamin D, and other immunity-based ingredients that can be enhanced using our delivery system technology to deliver greater benefits to the people that are taking those products.

Green: What is the technology and how does it work?

Lopez: I think it’s important to recognize our technology partner, Vesifact, in Zurich, Switzerland, who is the inventor of the VESIsorb® technology platform and serves as the scientific research, technical support, production, and product development arm of SourceOne and Geocann. We are very proud of this symbiotic relationship where our role at Geocann and SourceOne is to provide the commercial development, sales, marketing and strategic distribution infrastructure. We promote our partnership openly on our website and in our marketing materials because of their unrivaled leadership position in the global marketplace.

They have consistently been recognized as a top 10 global organization for health-related nanotechnology patent activity, ahead of many of the most well-known pharmaceutical companies in the world. It is an intellectual property portfolio that has been used to provide solutions to the most difficult product formulation challenges over the years in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and now cannabis applications. Together, our focus has been on delivering novel solutions in these diverse fields of use and product applications based upon VESIsorb® formulation technology.

Each active compound identified with its own set of formulation, absorption and bioavailability challenges requires a customized solution that allows the full potential health benefits to be realized from success in the lab to commercial scale up. This is the process and we have successfully delivered unmatched solutions for close to twenty years from coenzyme Q10 to now both psychoactive and non-psychoactive cannabinoid product formulations in a wide range of product applications.

We saw the exploding interest in CBD with our nutraceutical partners and demanding consumers worldwide but chose to start Geocann to keep the markets served separate. We were confident that the VESIsorb® technology would provide much needed solutions for CBD as a wellness product, but also adult-use and medical cannabis products regarding “fast acting” and “product stability” needs.

Green: What’s the problem in cannabinoid bioavailability that Geocann’s technology helps to solve?

Lopez: It is well-recognized in the scientific literature that CBD, THC and other cannabinoids, in general, show limited bioavailability due to their lipophilicity, poor aqueous solubility and extensive first-pass metabolism.

Our VESIsorb® technology was designed to address the poor bioavailability of drugs and natural bioactives like cannabinoids exhibiting poor water solubility but high membrane permeability (Biopharmaceutical Classification System: Class II compounds). The VESIsorb® technology is a lipid-based formulation that self-assembles on contact with an aqueous phase into a colloidal delivery system. This colloidal solubilization improves the transport of the cannabinoids through the aqueous phase of the GI-lumen to the absorptive epithelium, dramatically improving bioavailability.

VESIsorb® is typically characterized as a SEDDS (self-emulsifying drug delivery system). What’s unique about our VESIsorb® SEDDS is the long history of safe and effective use worldwide and the large number of products that, over the years, we’ve successfully developed. With decades of experience delivering novel formulation solutions, there is significant and valuable “know how” that we bring to each formulation challenge.  This “know how” allows us, for example, to develop cannabinoid formulations that provide lymphatic absorption pathway advantages in addition to standard gastrointestinal absorption, therefore optimizing therapeutic blood levels for maximum benefits.

Needless to say, there are various methods that attempt to address the poor cannabinoid bioavailability. Unfortunately, too often, companies make claims that they have water soluble cannabinoids but offer little evidence to validate their claims. The popular misconception is that some degree of water solubility will consistently translate to improved bioavailability. This is clearly not accurate. We know scientifically that pharmacokinetic performance is highly variable. A review paper I read recently comparing water soluble delivery system formulation types illustrated this fact. There was greater than an eight-fold difference in bioavailability amongst the various water-soluble formulations.

Green: Can you tell me some details about your global license with Vesifact?

Lopez: Our technology exclusivity is based upon given categories. So, when we say we have global exclusivity for nutraceuticals, that can be as I’ve already mentioned, omega-3, coenzyme Q10, or resveratrol as examples, and this business is managed by SourceOne. With regards to our global exclusivity for cannabinoids and terpenes– whether we formulate these ingredients to create a functional drink, or we’re creating a gummy, or creating a softgel capsule or powder-filled hard-shell capsule, or sublingual, or topical – all of those product applications are covered by ourexclusivity for the technology and is managed by Geocann.

The beauty of our technology is that we’ve already achieved success with all of those product applications. That’s one of the big advantages of our technology versus some other approaches trying to address the challenges of cannabinoid bioavailability.

Green: What kind of validation and clinical studies have you done so far in the cannabinoid space?

Lopez: We were the first to have stability data with creating our formulation in a soft gel capsule with CBD. We recently submitted to the European market for novel food application. We invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in proprietary safety studies that are required to achieve novel food status in Europe and FDA GRAS in the U.S. We have proprietary stability data as well as proprietary toxicology data from multiple, self-funded clinical studies. Many companies that submit for the EU novel food application are only referencing the existing scientific literature about the pharmacokinetics of cannabinoids, whereas we have our own peer-reviewed, published study. In our study, we compared our VESIsorb®-CBD formulation to the industry standard MCT Oil-CBD formulation in a crossover design where we were able to demonstrate how we could dramatically improve the bioavailability of CBD.

Green: Can you talk about the benefits of your technology with regards to bioavailability and onset time?

Lopez: When you start talking about onset time we move into a broader discussion relative to cannabinoids. We’ve been very successful with marijuana, especially as it relates to THC, because of the dramatic improvement in time to Tmax, and how much faster we reach Tmax than a standard THC formula. Our formulation is generally four times faster compared to standard formulations.

When it comes to area under the curve and Cmax, we show improvements of four to six times a standard THC or CBD product. Further, when we start looking at the differences between other studies that have been published, we show an even greater improvement based upon study comparisons to what other people have done, even compared to products like GW Pharmaceuticals’ Sativex Oromucosal Spray.

Green: Can you address the SEDDS formulation and liver metabolism?

Lopez: We’ve dramatically overcome challenges with the first-pass effect. We have also formulated our products to address lymphatic absorption. So, we’re coming at it from a number of different angles.

We disagree with people who talk about water solubility as an end-all be-all solution. When you look at the range of published studies, whether it’s nanoparticles or liposomal systems or micro-emulsions, they all are water soluble systems, but yet the data shows there’s dramatic differences in the real efficacy of those approaches, and what the actual improvement in blood levels are. Ultimately, those blood levels represent the efficacious nature of the products whether we’re talking about CBD, or talking about THC.

Green: As a Colorado-based company you work with cannabis partners across the US. Can you tell me about your relationship with marijuana product formulators and brands and how you structure your licensing agreements across state boundaries?

Lopez: In a recent article about the leading fast acting gummies, the two companies they focused on were Sunderstorm with the Kanha Nano gummies and Curaleaf with their Select Fast Acting Nano gummies. Both of those companies use our VESIsorb® technology. We’re very proud of our relationship and the success they’re having as leaders in most dominant states with that particular product application.

Onset time has always been a challenge with gummies. And we’ve dramatically improved onset. Actually, we’ve shown statistically significant improvements for all measured pharmacokinetic parameters in a recent peer-reviewed published study.  We demonstrated much higher total absorption in maximum plasma concentration (Cmax), total exposure [area under the curve (AUC)]) and the time to reach the peak concentration (Tmax).

We say powered by VESIsorb® technology the product is faster, stronger, longer.

Green: How does the experience differ from a standard oil- or isolate-based formulation?

Lopez: The only way that I can answer that question is we’ve had 100% success with the companies we work with in their initial trials. When someone tells me that a group of employees are going to try the product and they’re heavy users of cannabis and they are smokers, I think, “wow, you know, gummies have to be really successfully formulated for someone like that to be pleased with the high.” Then they come back and say, “that’s the best that I’ve had in four years!” and they’re totally blown away. That’s completely different than a peer reviewed published study, but for sure, that’s the kind of feedback and anecdotal evidence that we get. I think that’s why that application is growing so much faster now because we’ve overcome this onset issue.

Green: Do you give exclusive rights on a state-by-state basis?

Lopez: We’re very selective about who we work with. Exclusivity is always part of the discussion. But at the same time, it’s really more about protecting the investment in the people that we partner with and not cannibalizing a given market. So, there are some exclusive relationships in the U.S. and internationally, like Heritage Cannabis and Pathway Health Corp in Canada, but for the most part, I would say simply, we were very selective about who we do business with and open to new partnerships.

Green: What kind of support do you provide to your licensing partners?

Lopez: We provide 100% formulation and technical support. We provide the SEDDS and then they use their own legal, licensed cannabis and their own equipment. Our system requires no special equipment or investment in changes to their process. So, not only do we provide formulation expertise, but our system is really easy to use both in a lab environment as well as producing large scale commercial productions.

Green: What geographies are you in currently with the cannabinoid formulations?

Lopez: We are global in scope. We’ve been very fortunate to have success not only in the US and Canada, but Europe, Brazil and Australia as well. Our level of participation will vary whether we’re talking about medical marijuana, adult-use or hemp extract and CBD.

Green: If somebody is interested in learning more about your product or potentially becoming a license partner, how would they how would they reach out to you to set that up?

Lopez: If they went to our website, www.geocann.com, it’s pretty easy to reach us and I am grateful that so many companies are doing that.

Green: Great, thanks Jesse that concludes the interview!

UPDATE: New Mexico Legalizes Adult-Use Cannabis

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When companies raise capital and grow, the No. 1 thing they do is hire.

Vangst, a Denver-based recruiting platform that connects cannabis job seekers with employers, is now better positioned to service that demand after launching its Executive Talent service March 29, with Jennifer Bedford as the vice president.

According to CEO Karson Humiston, who founded Vangst in 2015, more than 210,000 people are directly employed by the U.S. cannabis industry—a Leafly report estimated that number to be even higher, at 321,000—with a 75% growth in employment over the last two years. The new Executive Talent service will help companies secure administrative-level talent as they continue to build out and grow their leadership teams, she said.

“Before hiring [Bedford] at Vangst, we engaged her for our VP of revenue search. It was hands down the best experience I’ve ever had with an executive recruiter,” said Humiston, who turned around and reverse-recruited Bedford to join her team.

Before taking on the vice president of Executive Talent position at Vangst, Bedford was a veteran recruiter at Signal Partners, an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles, where she executed executive searches in the legal and compliant cannabis market. And before that, she serviced the consumer-facing tech sector. Overall, she is a 20-year veteran headhunter.

Vangst’s recruiting services include staffing cannabis companies with positions like marketing managers, budtenders and social media coordinators. But, until now, it did not have an executive talent offering—Bedford’s specialty.

“What CEO Karson Humiston has built is pretty much a top-tier staffing marketplace within cannabis, you know, a ZipRecruiter or an Indeed of the cannabis space,” Bedford said. “That’s exactly what we are building is a staffing recruiting talent marketplace within the most explosive growth consumer product sector in North America. It’s going to be super fun.

“We can elevate our game now for Vangst to be able to service the cannabis investors and to be able to service cannabis CEOs who want to build out their leadership teams that populate across the U.S.”

Here, Bedford shares more about how she became an executive recruiter in the cannabis space, tricks of the trade, how she connected with Humiston, where cannabis executives come from, how companies make their hires, how cannabis-sector recruitment stands out, what new states coming on board means for leadership teams and more.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity.

 

Tony Lange: How did you first get into your line of work?

Photo by Sarah Waters

Jennifer Bedford joins Vangst from Signal Partners. 

Jennifer Bedford: I cut my teeth at Korn/Ferry International—an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles—which is a really great place to learn the business. Executive search is not for the meek. There’s an art and a science to it. And I got to start with the best people in the business.

My Korn/Ferry days were all about technology. And what I learned the most from cutting my teeth was just knowing how to do this work. Getting top-level executives to get on the phone with you, there’s an art to that. So, I learned early on how to find whom I’m looking for and how to get them to talk to me.

TL: What are some of the tricks of the trade you learned early on in terms of executing leadership-level searches?

JB: The business that I’m in is a hybrid between sales and buying. I always say to people first I’m in sales because I’m trying to get “Tony” to talk to me. I like Tony’s background a lot. Tony looks like he’s a really good fit for that VP of marketing role that I have. I’m looking at Tony and I’m like, “Oh, I like him a lot.” So now I’ve got to get you to talk to me. I’m going to use my emails. If I can find any way to get you to talk to me, I’m going to do that. That’s what I learned at Korn/Ferry, is the relentlessness.

Then when I get to you, I’m going to give you the shortest amount of sell that I can so that you’ll talk to me. “My client is Apple.” Now Tony’s excited about listening to me because, boy, would he love to work for Apple. Once the sell part is accomplished, then I flip to being a buyer, which is now, “How good is Tony?” That is how executive search works. And what did I learn at Korn/Ferry? I learned how to do that.

TL: What else shaped your career path toward the cannabis sector?

JB: After Korn/Ferry, I pivoted into consumer technology, sort of grew up growing Silicon Valley technology companies, building out those leadership benches. And then I showed up at Signal Partners, my recent executive search firm that’s built to service investor-backed and owned operations here in Los Angeles—they’re a national leader as far as associating themselves with the investor side of the house. So, I was introduced to clients through the venture capital firm, or through the private equity firm, and that was Signal Partners’ sweet spot.

When cannabis clients started tapping on my shoulder and I started doing cannabis-related tech searches out of the gate, and started building cannabis technology companies and marketplaces, I went to my partners and said, “You guys, I should just call it our cannabis practice. Can I just put that stick in the sand and call it what it is?” And the answer was absolutely. We created a tech stack that was like a Porsche. To be really good in this business, you’ve got to have a killer tech stack, because if you hire me to do your chief marketing officer search, I want to know within 48 hours who are the best marketing leaders in that lane, and how can I go after them, and how can I find them. That’s what the back of the house looks like when I get an assignment like that.

TL: What year was that when you launched the cannabis practice at Signal Partners?

JB: I would say my phone started heating up with cannabis calls in late 2017, early 2018. And because my network is investors, I’ve spent years building my network of chief executives, executive-level operators, executives in supply chain and executives in technology. So, when those calls started, it was very easy for me to pivot. It was like just another consumer product lane. “Oh, I just did a kombucha search last year. Now I can do this hemp CBD beverage company, no problem.” [CBD is] the fastest growing consumer product category in the world. The same kind of executives want to get into it.

TL: Where are executives who want to join the cannabis space coming from?

JB: Well, the answers are pharma, supply chain, distribution—it’s consumer product boxed categories, technology, etc. So, my job is to sort through all of that talent and find the premier-level talent that is a trusted, vetted-out executive.

TL: Do leadership-level hires often have to relocate?

JB: That’s not a big thing right now with some states still shut down and a lot of people working remote. I don’t think you need to focus too much on that. Companies are making hires based on talent, which is, “Has she done this? Is she a rock star? How do we back-channel her?” I’ll use the edibles category, for example, “Oh, she took that jelly bean company from $650 million in revenue to $1.2 billion in revenue? Let’s talk to her.”

So, it’s much more than location. The concentration from our side of the desk is, what’s the talent? Then, as far as relocating, if you live in Brooklyn but I’m headquartered in Chicago, we don’t care right now. If it’s a job in which face-to-face is critical, then we’ll adapt.

TL: How did your previous experiences align you with your role as the vice president of the new Executive Talent service at Vangst?

JB: If I’ve spent the last 20 years building a prestigious network of killer executives, Vangst likewise has spent the last five years building the best staffing and recruiting brand name in the business. So, it was a really nice fit for me to go, “Oh, these are my people.” I can bring what I do to them.

TL: How did you connect with Vangst CEO Karson Humiston to conduct her vice president of revenue search (before she hired you as a full-time team member)?

JB: I had just finished LeafLink’s chief revenue officer search and recruited a guy out of a software-as-a-service marketplace company, and I had also found LeafLink’s head of insights, so I think LeafLink CEO Ryan Smith had suggested Humiston talk to me. That’s how the introduction was made.

TL: How does being a headhunter in the cannabis space differ from other arenas, and who are your competitors?

JB: Remember, I’m a talent scout at the executive level. Cannabis multistate operators right now want to grow and establish their executive teams. And that’s the sole focus right now is how do we have a big 2021? How do we do that? We do that by having killer executives—smart, social-equity focused, you know, cares about their organization, revenue-driven, all of that.

And so, my focus is on those multistate operators and on existing Vangst clients. We get to elevate Vangst’s clients’ game right now by giving them an executive search offering that they previously had to go out and use a search firm. You could say there’s competitors at the executive-search level with a few boutiques out there—like what I did at Signal Partners—that are doing our work. Those were my competitors then. And you’re starting to hear more search firms starting to put up their little cannabis flags and saying we can do that.

But I’m super proud to walk in the door at Vangst with a deep network of not only existing cannabis executives, but also a thousand executives with their hands in the air waiting to be called on. People want to get into this fast-growth sector.

TL: Companies are obviously counting on you to recommend the right person for the job so that they’re not coming back three months later starting from scratch—how do your executive talent searches ensure matches are a win-win for both employer and employee.

JB: You’re asking the age-old question about the part of the business that’s called human capital, and human capital is not for the meek. If you haven’t done your job right as a recruiter and you didn’t vet out what his or her weaknesses are, or vet out that his or her spouse didn’t want to be in that sector, or that his or her kid needed a special school and that relocating was a bad idea—in the human-capital space, you’ve got to know all that. You’ve got to do that homework and prepare as best as possible for this candidate to be successful at the company.

If somebody falls out at three months, what do we do? Well, there are different contractual promises that I say to a client. But my job is to give you a candidate who is so psyched to grow the business, and I’ve done all the homework to make sure that they’re not going to fall out.

TL: Virginia, New York and New Mexico are some of the recent states making moves to legalize adult-use cannabis. Do you feel more pressure to understand those additional state-legal markets, or are you more excited for additional opportunities?

JB: Great question; it’s both. The excitement level not only is elevating on a state-by-state basis, but also at the federal level. What cannabis has always been from the beginning has been a state-by-state chess game. And we’re all moving our chess pieces one piece at a time. And I think what we’re seeing in the state-by-state legalization conversation is that if you look at New York as an example, we’re getting better at this. As legalization efforts are hitting the East, the cannabis sector is so much more mature now. And if you fold the politics and the social equity components and the expungement components and all of that, really what I call good-news aspects of cannabis legalization, you’re going to see us getting better. You’re going to see this sector getting better. It really is analogous to other growth industries that we’ve seen over time.

And I pay attention to history. I pay attention to industries that have had their growing pains. And, boy, last year with the pandemic was certainly one of them for cannabis because cannabis, yes, we were deemed an essential medicine right at the beginning of COVID-19, but there was also a lot of recalibrating that went on last year. So, I think we’re hitting our stride. I think MSOs, Vangst clients, cannabis companies, cannabis ancillary companies, the technology companies associated with the sector, everybody is really flexing this year. It’s going to be a year in which you’re going to see a ton of growth. And, from my perspective, as somebody who cares about the sector, I want to see that growth from the executive level and from the C-suite. I want to see it done thoughtfully and carefully.

Executive Leadership Teams Ready to Build Out in 2021: Q&A With Vangst Vice President of Executive Talent Jennifer Bedford

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When companies raise capital and grow, the No. 1 thing they do is hire.

Vangst, a Denver-based recruiting platform that connects cannabis job seekers with employers, is now better positioned to service that demand after launching its Executive Talent service March 29, with Jennifer Bedford as the vice president.

According to CEO Karson Humiston, who founded Vangst in 2015, more than 210,000 people are directly employed by the U.S. cannabis industry—a Leafly report estimated that number to be even higher, at 321,000—with a 75% growth in employment over the last two years. The new Executive Talent service will help companies secure administrative-level talent as they continue to build out and grow their leadership teams, she said.

“Before hiring [Bedford] at Vangst, we engaged her for our VP of revenue search. It was hands down the best experience I’ve ever had with an executive recruiter,” said Humiston, who turned around and reverse-recruited Bedford to join her team.

Before taking on the vice president of Executive Talent position at Vangst, Bedford was a veteran recruiter at Signal Partners, a management consulting firm headquartered in Los Angeles, where she executed executive searches in the legal and compliant cannabis market. And before that, she serviced the consumer-facing tech sector. Overall, she is a 20-year veteran headhunter.

Vangst’s recruiting services include staffing cannabis companies with positions like marketing managers, budtenders and social media coordinators. But, until now, it did not have an executive talent offering—Bedford’s specialty.

“What CEO Karson Humiston has built is pretty much a top-tier staffing marketplace within cannabis, you know, a ZipRecruiter or an Indeed of the cannabis space,” Bedford said. “That’s exactly what we are building is a staffing recruiting talent marketplace within the most explosive growth consumer product sector in North America. It’s going to be super fun.

“We can elevate our game now for Vangst to be able to service cannabis investors and to be able to service cannabis CEOs who want to build out their leadership teams that populate across the U.S.”

Here, Bedford shares more about how she became an executive recruiter in the cannabis space, tricks of the trade, how she connected with Humiston, where cannabis executives come from, how companies make their hires, how cannabis-sector recruitment stands out, what new states coming on board means for leadership teams and more.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity.

 

Tony Lange: How did you first get into your line of work?

Photo by Sarah Waters

Jennifer Bedford joins Vangst from Signal Partners. 

Jennifer Bedford: I cut my teeth at Korn Ferry International—a management consulting firm, with an executive search service headquartered in Los Angeles—which is a really great place to learn the business. Executive search is not for the meek. There’s an art and a science to it. And I got to start with the best people in the business.

My Korn Ferry days were all about technology. And what I learned the most from cutting my teeth was just knowing how to do this work. Getting top-level executives to get on the phone with you, there’s an art to that. So, I learned early on how to find whom I’m looking for and how to get them to talk to me.

TL: What are some of the tricks of the trade you learned early on in terms of executing leadership-level searches?

JB: The business that I’m in is a hybrid between sales and buying. I always say to people first I’m in sales because I’m trying to get “Tony” to talk to me. I like Tony’s background a lot. Tony looks like he’s a really good fit for that VP of marketing role that I have. I’m looking at Tony and I’m like, “Oh, I like him a lot.” So now I’ve got to get you to talk to me. I’m going to use my emails. If I can find any way to get you to talk to me, I’m going to do that. That’s what I learned at Korn Ferry, is the relentlessness.

Then when I get to you, I’m going to give you the shortest amount of sell that I can so that you’ll talk to me. “My client is Apple.” Now Tony’s excited about listening to me because, boy, would he love to work for Apple. Once the sell part is accomplished, then I flip to being a buyer, which is now, “How good is Tony?” That is how executive search works. And what did I learn at Korn Ferry? I learned how to do that.

TL: What else shaped your career path toward the cannabis sector?

JB: After Korn Ferry, I pivoted into consumer technology, sort of grew up growing Silicon Valley technology companies, building out those leadership benches. And then I showed up at Signal Partners, my recent executive search firm that’s built to service investor-backed and owned operations here in Los Angeles—they’re a national leader as far as associating themselves with the investor side of the house. So, I was introduced to clients through the venture capital firm, or through the private equity firm, and that was Signal Partners’ sweet spot.

When cannabis clients started tapping on my shoulder and I started doing cannabis-related tech searches out of the gate, and started building cannabis technology companies and marketplaces, I went to my partners and said, “You guys, I should just call it our cannabis practice. Can I just put that stick in the sand and call it what it is?” And the answer was absolutely. We created a tech stack that was like a Porsche. To be really good in this business, you’ve got to have a killer tech stack, because if you hire me to do your chief marketing officer search, I want to know within 48 hours who are the best marketing leaders in that lane, and how can I go after them, and how can I find them. That’s what the back of the house looks like when I get an assignment like that.

TL: What year was that when you launched the cannabis practice at Signal Partners?

JB: I would say my phone started heating up with cannabis calls in late 2017, early 2018. And because my network is investors, I’ve spent years building my network of chief executives, executive-level operators, executives in supply chain and executives in technology. So, when those calls started, it was very easy for me to pivot. It was like just another consumer product lane. “Oh, I just did a kombucha search last year. Now I can do this hemp CBD beverage company, no problem.” [CBD is] the fastest growing consumer product category in the world. The same kind of executives want to get into it.

TL: Where are executives who want to join the cannabis space coming from?

JB: Well, the answers are pharma, supply chain, distribution—it’s consumer product boxed categories, technology, etc. So, my job is to sort through all of that talent and find the premier-level talent that is a trusted, vetted-out executive.

TL: Do leadership-level hires often have to relocate?

JB: That’s not a big thing right now with some states still shut down and a lot of people working remote. I don’t think you need to focus too much on that. Companies are making hires based on talent, which is, “Has she done this? Is she a rock star? How do we back-channel her?” I’ll use the edibles category, for example, “Oh, she took that jelly bean company from $650 million in revenue to $1.2 billion in revenue? Let’s talk to her.”

So, it’s much more than location. The concentration from our side of the desk is, what’s the talent? Then, as far as relocating, if you live in Brooklyn but I’m headquartered in Chicago, we don’t care right now. If it’s a job in which face-to-face is critical, then we’ll adapt.

TL: How did your previous experiences align you with your role as the vice president of the new Executive Talent service at Vangst?

JB: If I’ve spent the last 20 years building a prestigious network of killer executives, Vangst likewise has spent the last five years building the best staffing and recruiting brand name in the business. So, it was a really nice fit for me to go, “Oh, these are my people.” I can bring what I do to them.

TL: How did you connect with Vangst CEO Karson Humiston to conduct her vice president of revenue search (before she hired you as a full-time team member)?

JB: I had just finished LeafLink’s chief revenue officer search and recruited a guy out of a Statistical Analysis System (SAS) software marketplace company, and I had also found LeafLink’s head of insights, so I think LeafLink CEO Ryan Smith had suggested Humiston talk to me. That’s how the introduction was made.

TL: How does being a headhunter in the cannabis space differ from other arenas, and who are your competitors?

JB: Remember, I’m a talent scout at the executive level. Cannabis multistate operators right now want to grow and establish their executive teams. And that’s the sole focus right now is how do we have a big 2021? How do we do that? We do that by having killer executives—smart, social-equity focused, you know, cares about their organization, revenue-driven, all of that.

And so, my focus is on those multistate operators and on existing Vangst clients. We get to elevate Vangst’s clients’ game right now by giving them an executive search offering that they previously had to go out and use a search firm. You could say there’s competitors at the executive-search level with a few boutiques out there—like what I did at Signal Partners—that are doing our work. Those were my competitors then. And you’re starting to hear more search firms starting to put up their little cannabis flags and saying we can do that.

But I’m super proud to walk in the door at Vangst with a deep network of not only existing cannabis executives, but also a thousand executives with their hands in the air waiting to be called on. People want to get into this fast-growth sector.

TL: Companies are obviously counting on you to recommend the right person for the job so that they’re not coming back three months later starting from scratch—how do your executive talent searches ensure matches are a win-win for both employer and employee.

JB: You’re asking the age-old question about the part of the business that’s called human capital, and human capital is not for the meek. If you haven’t done your job right as a recruiter and you didn’t vet out what his or her weaknesses are, or vet out that his or her spouse didn’t want to be in that sector, or that his or her kid needed a special school and that relocating was a bad idea—in the human-capital space, you’ve got to know all that. You’ve got to do that homework and prepare as best as possible for this candidate to be successful at the company.

If somebody falls out at three months, what do we do? Well, there are different contractual promises that I say to a client. But my job is to give you a candidate who is so psyched to grow the business, and I’ve done all the homework to make sure that they’re not going to fall out.

TL: Virginia, New York and New Mexico are some of the recent states making moves to legalize adult-use cannabis. Do you feel more pressure to understand those additional state-legal markets, or are you more excited for additional opportunities?

JB: Great question; it’s both. The excitement level not only is elevating on a state-by-state basis, but also at the federal level. What cannabis has always been from the beginning has been a state-by-state chess game. And we’re all moving our chess pieces one piece at a time. And I think what we’re seeing in the state-by-state legalization conversation is that if you look at New York as an example, we’re getting better at this. As legalization efforts are hitting the East, the cannabis sector is so much more mature now. And if you fold the politics and the social equity components and the expungement components and all of that, really what I call good-news aspects of cannabis legalization, you’re going to see us getting better. You’re going to see this sector getting better. It really is analogous to other growth industries that we’ve seen over time.

And I pay attention to history. I pay attention to industries that have had their growing pains. And, boy, last year with the pandemic was certainly one of them for cannabis because cannabis, yes, we were deemed an essential medicine right at the beginning of COVID-19, but there was also a lot of recalibrating that went on last year. So, I think we’re hitting our stride. I think MSOs, Vangst clients, cannabis companies, cannabis ancillary companies, the technology companies associated with the sector, everybody is really flexing this year. It’s going to be a year in which you’re going to see a ton of growth. And, from my perspective, as somebody who cares about the sector, I want to see that growth from the executive level and from the C-suite. I want to see it done thoughtfully and carefully

Five Things Every Cannabis Business Needs Before They Open

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When it comes to small business opportunities these days, few phrases give people the old dollar-sign-eyes more than “legal cannabis”.

From states like Michigan where it’s been approved for both medicinal and adult use, to places like South Carolina where legalization has been a popular topic for ballots and voters, cannabis is slowly turning into one of America’s biggest businesses.

You don’t need us to tell you that – Investopedia reports that (as of Nov. 2020) over 340,000 American jobs were devoted to the handling of plants at various stages along the retail cycle, and the industry was estimated at over $13 billion as of 2019.

Not bad for a plant that’s still technically illegal under federal law, huh?

If you’ve read this far, it probably means you’re hoping to be among the lucky ones who can strike it rich with their own cannabis business. A noble undertaking, but are you really prepared to make your mark? In a field as competitive – and occasionally complicated – as cannabis can be, you really need to lead with your best foot forward, and make sure you’re as well prepared for the various challenges of a fairly new industry as possible.

With that in mind, below is a list of the five things you’ll need to double-check and make sure you actually have access to before embarking on your new business venture.

The right shelving & equipment

You see this a lot with smaller businesses as well as, er, ‘independent growers’. A lot of people assume that they can just buy some greenhouse shelves, line the walls of their business with it, and call it a day, right?

Offering rare or unique cannabis strains is a great way to differentiate

This approach leads to problems more often than not. Even above and beyond the inherent concerns of helping your plants grow safely (and productively!), the sort of equipment you use should reflect the sort of business you’re trying to run. A cannabis retail outlet, for example, is going to need different sorts of shelves and tables than a dispensary or growing facility, as the work being done is completely different.

It will take a little research, but it helps that a lot of businesses these days are starting to offer shelving specifically designed for various cannabis operations. Check to see if any of the big warehouse suppliers near you have gotten into the cannabis game yet – Shelving Inc, Metro, and Rack & Shelf are a few of the bigger shelving names with cannabis offerings as of this writing.

Strong branding

Long gone are the days when all you needed to be successful in cannabis was a booth at the shady flea market, a pun name and a big sign that said “Head Shop” to throw off the authorities.

Far too many cannabis businesses launch themselves headlong into a business plan without stopping to think of a good name, or just settling for the first one they think of. With as crowded as the playing field is quickly becoming, it might honestly be worth it to pay someone to help you come up with a decent logo and branding – it’ll go a long way towards helping you stand out against everyone else using a green font. Places online like High Hopes specifically offer these services for cannabis businesses, so you know they’ll be able to figure out what you’re about more quickly.

An understanding of your consumer base

The exact sort of work your cannabis business performs is going to affect what your potential customer base can be – and vice versa.

Brands are embracing contemporary design more and more

Early on in the planning stages, make sure to figure out exactly who you’re going to sell your products to, as this will inform nearly every other decision your business makes. Do you want to sell directly to the customer, or to work as a distributor for CBD/cannabis retail outlets? Are you prepared to manage and run your own storefront, or are you just going to rent warehousing space to sell your plants to other retailers? If so, do you know who the businesses are in your area that you could work with? Or, if you are planning on entering the retail space, do you know how many other cannabis businesses could be operating in your desired geographical area? Finding an audience may be the hardest part of opening any business, but it’s important work.

Banking that understands your industry

Maybe the biggest drawback to being involved in an industry as comparatively new as cannabis, is that a lot of the old methods of doing business aren’t quite available to you. Many financial institutions of various sizes are limited in the ways they can help finance cannabis businesses, from not understanding the regulations and needs of your industry, all the way to being unable to assist cannabis businesses with banking in the first place.

Finding the right banking services can be challenging

It might be advantageous to look into banks, credit unions or financing companies in your area that specifically offer banking services (like business accounts and the like). A few examples include Aery Group from New Mexico, or Seed to Sale in Michigan. (It’s important to note that many of these companies, such as Aery Group, can only service the state they’re located in due to different state-by-state regulations – check ahead to make sure you find a place that can help you!)

Knowledge of the needed licensing and regulatory requirements

Getting a license to open any business is a tricky prospect on a good day, but for an industry as wide-ranging and varied as cannabis, getting licensed can require a lot of homework.

Even if you’re lucky enough to be setting up shop in a state that allows for the sale of cannabis, the licensing process can vary widely from state-to-state. In New Mexico, for example, it can take months to acquire a license simply due to the amount of paperwork, research and submissions required to cement your business. Before going too far down the rabbit hole of opening your business, make sure to take the time you need to completely research and understand the various local and state regulations you’ll need to adhere to for your business to get off the ground.

Obviously, there’s going to be a lot of other hurdles and requirements that come with starting a business – but by remembering these five things, you’ll be off to a much better start than many others.

Montana Prepares Its Adult-Use Cannabis Market: Week in Review

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Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s adult-use cannabis bill is far from the finish line, but the criminal justice aspect of the legislation was vetted and approved by the Joint Judiciary Committee in a 22-16 vote April 6.

The proposed legislation, An Act Responsibly and Equitably Regulating Adult-Use Cannabis, which Lamont unveiled during his budget address Feb. 10, would authorize the automated erasure of criminal records for those with cannabis-related drug possession convictions and charges.

The overall bill remains a work in progress—with language involving financial issues, regulatory issues, licensing issues and more— but the Judiciary Committee’s due diligence was to get the criminal justice components of the bill right, said Rep. Steven Stafstrom (D), who co-chairs the committee and also co-sponsors the legislation, Senate Bill 888.

“Our cognizance really is on the criminal justice, erasure piece, and I certainly have not heard much opposition to that because I think the language we have in here is language we’ve vetted through fairly well on the criminal justice aspects,” he said during the committee’s meeting on Tuesday.

“On the criminal justice components of this bill, this bill retains and improves upon the language we’ve seen for the last couple years on erasure of prior cannabis convictions,” Stafstrom said. “It puts in place what I believe to be an appropriate mechanism to deal with the issue of driving under the influence, something that is I know of particular interest to this committee, particularly given the fact that neighboring states are undertaking legalization.”

Included in S.B. 888, law enforcement units would be required to have a minimum number of officers report to the Police Officer Standards and Training Council no later than Jan. 1, 2022, so that each unit has state-accredited drug recognition experts to ensure adequate availability of drug recognition experts can respond to instances of impaired driving. Law enforcement units would be able to call upon drug recognition experts from other law enforcement units as necessary and available.

To execute on that front, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council would work with the Highway Safety Office within the Department of Transportation to issue a joint plan to increase access to advanced roadside impaired driving enforcement training and drug recognition expert training for police officers and law enforcement units throughout the state, according to the bill.

Roadside safety and what constitutes probable cause during traffic stops without roadside tests available for cannabis, such as a breathalyzer test for alcohol, has been a reservation of legalizing adult-use cannabis among lawmakers in other states. Last week, roadside safety was part of the debate on the House floor of the New York Legislature.

“As we move through our legislative process, we are not oblivious to what is happening around us, and certainly just last week, New York put in a legalization and regulatory framework,” Stafstrom said. “Massachusetts, to our north, certainly has had legalized cannabis for several years. I think what we are trying to do as we maneuver through this process is to align our legalization effort in as many respects as we can with our neighboring states. And, so, we continue to study what has worked and what has not worked in other locations.”

During the Judiciary Committee meeting, Stafstrom highlighted several amendment’s to S.B. 888 that he said were made to address concerns the committee members heard during a public hearing on the bill.

According to Stafstrom, the Judiciary Committee’s revised bill:

  • Adds legislative appointments to the Social Equity Council and gives it additional authority as a permanent body to develop the means to ensure potential societal, equitable applicants have access to licenses, and that individuals from disproportionately impacted communities can get jobs in the industry.
  • Includes definitive language to clarify that from July 1, 2021 through Jan. 1, 2024, only the existing medical establishments and social equity applicants can open cannabis establishments; and that cannabis establishments have a social equity plan and agree to labor peace and prevailing wage provisions.
  • Creates an accelerator program to provide technical support, mentoring, networking and apprenticeship opportunities for social equity applicants; and creates a workforce pipeline program to help individuals from impacted communities get jobs in the industry.
  • Allows patients in the medical program to home grow up to six plants starting May 1, 2022.
  • Provides the framework for issues involving local zoning and local control of allowing cannabis establishments in individual municipalities.
  • Provides additional employer protections, particularly for federal defense contractors.
  • Proposes that the revenue generated from the sale of cannabis be spent 55% on social equity efforts, 15% to grants for prevention and recovery services and 30% to the general fund to cover administrative costs.

“Those are proposals coming out of this committee based on the concerns and the testimony we heard at the public hearing, but certainly this is not the end of the conversation of the bill before us,” Stafstrom said. “I’m sure we’ll see additional revision as it moves through the legislative process and its next committee of assignment.”

Sen. Gary Winfield (D), who co-chairs the Joint Judiciary Committee, said S.B. 888 is a piece of legislation that he knew from the beginning was going to have a lot of effort put into it, and that he hopes the adult-use conversation continues so that the interests of all involved are represented.

“We also kind of knew that when we got to this point [the bill] wouldn’t be completely baked but that the conversation will continue after this point,” Winfield said. “There are people, both in the legislature and outside the legislature, who paid a lot of attention to this and have a lot of interest in the subject and have things that they want to see in this bill.”

All 22 yay votes out of the committee were from Democrats, while the 16 nays included 13 Republicans and three Democrats.

Rep. Craig Fishbein (R), a ranking member of the committee, said he could not support S.B. 888, or any cannabis legalization bill for that matter, until cannabis is federally legalized.

“Unfortunately, at the very outset, I, in respect for the oath that I took as a state representative to uphold the federal and state constitution, cannot find myself to be in support of this,” he said. “The fact of the matter is, we come together as the United States. And the federal constitution says that under the Supremacy Clause, if the federal government passes a law that state can’t invalidate it.”

Article VI, paragraph two of the U.S. Constitution is commonly referred to as the Supremacy Clause. It establishes that the federal constitution, and federal law, generally take precedence over state laws, and even state constitutions, according to Cornell Law School.

“State can’t say, ‘We don’t like that particular federal law,’ and do their own thing,” Fishbein said. “Through our representative government, we send representatives to Washington to represent our interests, and if residents of our state feel that this is a proper overture, then our representatives, our senators, our congresspeople advocate for a change in the federal law.”

While cannabis is not federally legal, the U.S. Department of Justice has not extended its reach to prosecute state-legal cannabis businesses in a fashion that has deterred lawmakers in 18 states and the District of Columbia from passing adult-use legalization measures. And before the U.S. Senate confirmed Merrick Garland as the 86th U.S. attorney general last month, Garland testified that he did not think it was a “useful use” of limited federal resources to prosecute most cannabis-related conduct.

S.B. 888 is not the only cannabis legalization bill being considered in the Connecticut Legislature. House Bill 6377, which emphasizes social equity and includes licensing for social consumption sites and provisions for roadside testing, cleared Connecticut’s Labor and Public Employees Committee, 9-4, on March 25.

But with the Judiciary Committee passing its amended version of Gov. Lamont’s S.B. 888 Tuesday, the two pieces of legislation are now more closely aligned—both measures have been filed with the Legislative Commissioners’ Office.

Stafstrom said, “I would submit that [adult-use cannabis] is long overdue here in the state of Connecticut for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is that this is a drug that is widely believed to be less addictive and less harmful to the body than many other drugs that we already legalize and regulate here in the state of Connecticut, including tobacco and alcohol.”

A Look at the Rise Of The East Coast Cannabis Market

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The rise of the East Coast cannabis market gained another foothold in late March 2021 when New York became the most recent state to legalize adult use cannabis, joining ranks with other Atlantic stalwarts, including New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

In doing so, it opened the door to an industry that many experts agree could exceed $7 billion annually, once the market is fully established. That’s potential the cannabis market hasn’t seen since Washington became the first Pacific state to legalize adult use cannabis, almost 10 years ago (followed shortly after by Colorado, then Oregon in 2014 and California in 2016).

Unfortunately, the leaders of this great country have yet to follow suit, and cannabis remains illegal at the federal level. For those in the cannabis market, this means that state-licensed cannabis businesses must cultivate and sell their products within the confines of the state in which they are licensed. Nothing can cross state lines. Even if a business is licensed in both Vermont and New York, it can’t ship product from one state to the other without running afoul of federal legislation. Most in the East Coast cannabis market view this as a negative.

Virginia became the first state in the South to legalize adult use cannabis

While it certainly makes things more difficult, a small group of forward-thinking investors and entrepreneurs see this for what it really is: an opportunity to get in on the ground floor and establish state-specific grow operations and other supply-chain waypoints, where none or few currently exist. Think of the current state of the East Coast cannabis market as a beachhead. Right now, the industry is defined by state lines. But when the federal government finally legalizes adult use cannabis from coast to coast—and it’s only a matter of time before it does—those state lines will essentially disappear. When they do, the beachheads established now will become the infrastructure for the entire Eastern seaboard.

Take Virginia, for example. It shares its border with five states that have legalized medical cannabis but have yet to cross the bridge into adult use sales (West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina). A Virginia-based grow operation built now has the potential to serve not just those five states but other contiguous markets including Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, and even Alabama, Georgia and Indiana. A relatively small investment now could pay huge dividends in just a few years, when the market literally blows wide open.

It’s this incredible potential that makes the rise of the East Coast cannabis market one of the most important developments in the last five years. And while the potential scale of grow operations and other cannabis businesses is certainly essential to the conversation, let’s not forget that “niche products” within the East Coast cannabis market are still very much up for grabs.

If the past decade has taught us anything, it’s that consumers are willing to pay a premium for high-quality, organically grown cannabis. Both new and long-time cannabis enthusiasts will choose — even demand — high-quality, organically grown cannabis that looks, smells and tastes fresh and doesn’t rely on harmful fertilizers, heavy metals or pesticides. They’re also enthusiastic about supporting brands that have a commitment to sustainable, eco-friendly operations.

The demand for high-quality, organically grown cannabis continues to increase

It’s very much like the current trends we see in the grocery store aisles. Manufacturers and consumers alike are seeing the value of “whole foods.” After decades of relying on heavily processed fare, both suppliers and end-users are benefiting from higher-quality ingredients. Consumers want to know what’s in the stuff they’re putting into their bodies. When it comes to cannabis, they want to know that what they’re taking to alleviate their anxiety doesn’t include harmful chemicals. This demand has the capacity to push revenue even higher.

And when the dam finally breaks and businesses can ship product from state to state, the idea is for growers to be well-positioned geographically to become suppliers of high-quality, organically grown cannabis, for every state east of the Mississippi.

Cannabis businesses in states such as Colorado have had the past decade to prepare for the coming boom, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to join the party. The rise of the East Coast market parallels what Colorado and the other Pacific states experienced in the early-to-mid teens—the potential to become a very real industry, with huge capacity for growth and profit. Get in on that action now!

The East Coast cannabis market—and, indeed, the entire U.S. market—also sits on the verge of another game-changing trend: following in the footsteps of other markets and realizing sooner rather than later that high-quality, organically grown, eco-friendly cannabis is the next stage of the game. Few investors and entrepreneurs see that right now, but the astute businessperson can capitalize on both trends now and position themselves and their businesses for huge returns in the very near future. The rise of the East Coast cannabis market makes that a very real possibility.