Innovating Cannabis Podcast
by The Mary Jane Society
Welcome to the Innovating Cannabis Podcast, where you will meet the people breaking barriers in the cannabis industry, both locally, nationally, and internationally, with a focus on business, entrepreneurship, cultivation, manufacturing, retail, brands, science, and policy.Get in touch with [email protected]
Episodes
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209_ Inside Leef Brands Business Strategy with Micah Anderson
Today I'm joined by Micah Anderson, CEO of Leef Brands, one of California's major cannabis concentrate producers. Micah has spent more than 30 years in cannabis, starting as a cultivator in Mendocino County. Today, he runs a publicly traded company that invests heavily in outdoor cultivation to...
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208_ What Happened to Cannabis in Alabama?
Like many Southern states, Alabama developed a strong hemp market while access to legal marijuana remained extremely limited. My guest, Jennifer Boozer Stewart, opened CannaBama, the state’s first CBD shop, in 2018. She hosts a radio show focused on the plant and the endocannabinoid system and…
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207: How Drop is Connecting Dispensaries and Delivery Drivers
In this episode, Kat Savoy and Teri LeBlanc, co-founders of Drop, explain why legal cannabis delivery is so hard to pull off and how they’re building a tech platform to fix it. While consumer demand is there, operators get crushed by seed-to-sale tracking, strict state licensing, and scattered...
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206_ Inside Utah's Pharmacy Model with Dragonfly Wellness
Most medical cannabis programs operate through dispensaries. Utah took a different route, requiring cannabis to be sold through medical cannabis pharmacies with licensed pharmacists on staff. My guest today is Narith Panh, Chief Growth Officer for Dragonfly Wellness, which operates in Utah’s...
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205_ Sitting Down With Snoops Top Dog, Tiffany Chin
Meet Tiffany Chin; she has worked with Snoop Dogg since 2012 and now oversees Death Row Cannabis and Death Row Hemp. We talk about what she calls “un-boofing celebrity cannabis,” building quality products without the celebrity price tag, the economics of beverages, and how her background in…
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204_ Cannabis Rescheduling, Interstate Commerce and the Next Wave of Market Growth With Hirsh Jain
Cannabis federal reform has finally reached a historic moment. Medical cannabis is moving through the rescheduling process after decades under federal prohibition, marking one of the biggest developments in the industry’s history. The final outcome could determine how companies expand, whether...
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203_ Catching Up With Multi-Country Operator, Michael Sassano
Michael Sassano, a former Wall Street banker turned real estate developer, is known in the US for building 16 large-scale cultivation facilities in Nevada. He left for Europe in 2019 to get a head start in the European cannabis market and launched Somai, a cannabinoid pharmaceutical company based...
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202_ National Hemp Assoc. Introduces Bill to Congress
Few people have spent more time in Washington advocating for hemp than Geoff Whaling. Over the past decade, the former Canopy Growth hemp executive has helped shape hemp policy through the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills and is now involved in the debate over the 2026 Farm Bill. Rather than waiting for...
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201_Balancing Technology and Human Oversight in Cultivation
Today's guest is Ryan Douglas, who brings more than 25 years of experience managing large-scale cultivation operations. Ryan is also the author of Presence is a Strategy, a new book that explores what happens when cultivation teams rely too heavily on technology and lose the human oversight that...
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200_ The FDA Pathway for CBN: What It Means for Cannabis Supplements
Alleh Lindquist is the CEO and co-founder of FloraWorks, a cannabinoid innovation company focused on bringing science-backed minor cannabinoids into the mainstream. As a leading supplier of hemp-derived cannabinoids to manufacturers, FloraWorks has been at the forefront of CBN research and...
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199_ Restoring Volatile Compounds with True Terpenes Daniel Cook
Much of the complexity of the cannabis plant stems from its aromatic compounds beyond terpenes, such as sesquiterpenes, aldehydes, esters, and ketones, and sulfur compounds, which are difficult to preserve during cultivation and extraction. In this episode, I sit down with Daniel Cook, CEO of…
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198_ Is Peru the Next Hot Market for US Cannabis Brands?
Is Peru the Next Hot Market for US Cannabis Brands? If you work with hemp, the market is about to open for import/export operations. Peru's medical cannabis framework dates to 2017, when cannabis was legalized for medicinal use, scientific research, and pharmaceutical production. Patient...
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197_ How QRLogix Is Taking the Pain Out of METRC's Retail ID Tags
New York retailers have been among the most vocal critics of METRC's required Retail ID tags — another layer in the state's track-and-trace system that adds real labor and cost burdens for operators. QRLogix, a labeling software company with roots in the medical industry, has adapted its…
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196_ Checking in on the DC Market with District Cannabis
District Cannabis was founded in 2015 as a cultivation company and has steadily expanded its footprint over the past decade, adding manufacturing capabilities and building one of the region's most sustainable cannabis brands. In 2024, the company completed a major expansion, launching a retail...
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195_ Inside the Bellrock Turnaround with Joe Bayern
Episode 195_ Inside the Bellrock Turnaround with Joe Bayern Before entering cannabis in 2019, Joe Bayern spent more than 25 years in C-suite leadership across some of the biggest names in beverages, helping drive major turnarounds, global strategy, and brand-building at Snapple, Cadbury…
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194_ Understanding Your True Manufacturing COGS
Understanding the true cost of cultivating and manufacturing a cannabis product is incredibly difficult without the right tracking tools. Labor, yield loss, compliance, packaging, and processing inefficiencies can all quietly erode profitability without operators ever fully realizing it. That…
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193_ Is Georgia’s Medical Cannabis Model the Blueprint Other States Should Follow?
Georgia legalized medical cannabis in late 2015, but the market itself didn't officially launch until around 2020. As a highly restricted, limited-license state, Georgia allows only six vertically integrated operators. What makes Georgia especially unique is its distribution model: patients can...
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192_ Preserving India's Cannabis Heritage with Vikramm Mitra
India has one of the longest and most deeply rooted relationships with cannabis of any culture, and is home to some of the most prized landrace cultivars in the world. Vikramm Mitra, the co-founder of Delta Botanicals, is working to preserve that legacy and bring India into the global cannabis...
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191_ How Curaleaf Designs the Next Generation of Cannabis Products
Jessie Kater, SVP of Innovation, R&D, and Technical Manufacturing at Curaleaf, brings a deeply technical background to the cannabis industry. Trained in chemical engineering and toxicology, he began his career in pharmaceuticals, went on to work in R&D for a defense contractor, and spent time in...
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190_Where Cannabis Brands Struggle in Retail Execution
As the cannabis industry faces tighter margins and harder-to-find profits, many businesses are struggling not just to grow, but to survive. This year, operators are shifting focus. Instead of chasing expansion, they are being forced to rethink how they grow and, more importantly, how they operate...
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189_ MMJ Holdings Moves Ahead with FDA Approved Botanical Drug Pathway
Today, we're joined by Duane Boise, CEO of MMJ Holdings, a biopharmaceutical company advancing cannabis-derived medicines through the FDA's botanical Drug Development Pathway. MMJ has received Orphan drug designation for Huntington's disease and multiple sclerosis, and its cannabis-derived…
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188_Operating in Missouri with Curio Wellness
Curio Wellness was founded by father-and-daughter team Michael and Wendy Bronfein. Michael built his career in the supermarket industry before launching his own chain of pharmacies, eventually bringing that experience into Maryland's medical cannabis market in 2015. Since then, Curio has grown…
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187_ AI and Cannabis Medicine with Hemant Kumar Bid
Today's guest is Dr. Hemant Kumar Bid, a scientist, educator, and consultant at the forefront of biotechnology, medical cannabis, and artificial intelligence. Dr. Bid serves as Program Director for the Master of Science in Biotechnology with a concentration in Medical Cannabis at Morehouse School...
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186_ Trade Show Strategy and Cannabis Industry Insights With George Jage
Trade show season for 2026 is officially underway. I’ll be heading to MJ Unpacked, taking place May 5–7 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I recently sat down with co-founder George Jage—someone many of you already know from his long track record in the trade show world, including his role in helping...
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185_ Crunching Numbers With Sax Accounting
Allison Kirchhofer is the Director of the Cannabis Division at Sax Accounting, where she leads a team of CPAs serving operators across multiple states. She has also worked closely with businesses in New York.s turbulent adult-use rollout, helping them manage compliance, tax strategy, and…
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184_ How's the Nevada Cannabis Market Doing?
Kema Ogden was one of the early pioneers of Nevada’s legal cannabis industry. In 2015, she helped open one of the state’s first medical dispensaries, laying the foundation for what would become the Top Notch THC brand. Since then, she and her partners have expanded to multiple adult-use locations...
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183_ How a Wisconsin Spirits Distiller Is Breaking Into THC Beverages
River Falls, Wisconsin, is home to Tattersall Distilling, a nationally recognized craft spirits producer whose portfolio is distributed across 25 states. Known for sourcing locally and crafting spirits infused with botanicals and functional ingredients, Tattersall has built a reputation on flavor...
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182 Jeff Rawson's Mission to Protect Cannabis Consumers
Jeff Rawson founded the nonprofit Institute of Cannabis Science while serving as a postdoctoral researcher in chemistry at Harvard University. He conducts scientific research, investigative reporting, and regulatory reviews, and provides subject-matter expertise in cannabis testing. Jeff serves…
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181_Updates on the Ohio Market with Law Firm, Ice Miller
Today, we examine the Ohio cannabis market with our guests, attorneys John Oberle and Greg May from Ice Miller. We discuss the latest referendum effort led by Ohioans for Cannabis Choice, which seeks to repeal key components of a bill the governor recently signed to scale back the state's...
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180_ California Has a New Director of Cannabis Control
Clint Kellum brings nearly 20 years of public service experience with the State of California, where he specialized in budget and policy work at the California Department of Finance. He joined the California Dept of Cannabis Control about five years ago as Chief Operating Officer, and was…
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179_ The Latest CBD Scientific Research from Western Washington University
Josh Kaplan is the Associate Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience at Western Washington University. His research focuses on optimizing CBD-based medicine for pediatric conditions (e.g., epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder, exposure to early life stress). They use mouse models to probe the effects…
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178_Building The German Cannabis Marketplace
Dr. Julian Wichmann is a board-certified radiologist and the co-founder and CEO of Bloomwell,the first cannabis telemedicine platform to launch in Germany—and a model the U.S. should pay close attention to. We dive into the current state of Germany’s cannabis market, the challenges of building a...
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177_ BIPOCann Leads the Way for Business Incubators
Ernest Toney joins us today. He is the founder of BIPOCANN, a Colorado-based nonprofit that provides business guidance to social equity entrepreneurs looking to start and scale cannabis businesses. According to a survey released by economist Beau Whitney, only 27.3 percent of U.S. cannabis...
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176: Taking Cannabis Consumption to a New Level
Today, we are joined by Chris Emerson, who earned his PhD in small-molecule chemistry and completed his postdoctoral research at Stanford University before bringing his scientific rigor to the cannabis industry. He’s now the CEO and Chief Scientist of Level, and was one of the first to introduce...
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175_This Nurse Is Making Cannabis Reimbursable Under Workers' Comp
Joining the show today is Katherine Golden, a Colorado-based cannabis nurse who has been doing some of the industry's most important work behind the scenes. Katherine has been working with the Colorado Division of Workers' Compensation to help build a cannabis reimbursement framework for workers'...
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174_Building A Cannabis Destination in Rural Illinois
Joining the show today is Brad Zerman, founder of 7 Point Dispensary in Illinois. Brad was awarded one of the state's first 50 medical dispensary licenses back in 2015. Brad ultimately sold his medical store and set his sights on an adult-use license, a process that took five years to bring to...
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173_Inside Snoops Beverage Company With Evan Eneman
Today, our guest is Evan Eneman. Evan was an early team member at Snoop Dogg’s Casa Verde Capital and later worked closely with Snoop to launch Iconic Tonic, the beverage company behind Death Row Records’ drink line and other beverage brands. In this conversation, Evan shares how he approaches…
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172_Insurance Program for Medical Cannabis Launches
The American Council of Cannabis Medicine has been quietly working behind the scenes to prepare for a future where cannabis is recognized as legitimate medicine—and reimbursable through health insurance. The organization currently holds nine seats on a special committee convened by the Health...
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171_ NorCal's New Genetics R&D Lab Partnership
What started as growers gathering at the Big Sexy Brewery in Sacramento, California to talk shop and share knowledge grew into a collaboration among cultivation experts who went on to launch PowrHouse, an R&D cultivation facility designed to test the commercial viability of new genetics and...
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170_New Dirty Air Filter Initiative For Growers
It's not uncommon for industries outside of cannabis to adapt their technology to solve challenges unique to our space. American Air Filter International is one of those companies, bringing decades of expertise in air filtration for environments with high levels of gaseous contaminants, including...
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169_Building a Cannabis Banking System with Terry Mendez
The cannabis industry is still operating with a patchwork financial system—full of workarounds and uncertainty. My guest today is Terry Mendez, CEO of Safe Harbor Financial, the first financial services company built specifically to support and advocate for safe banking in the cannabis industry.…
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168_Meet the Founders of NY's Raven View Genetics
Joann and Michael Kudrewicz have been cultivating cannabis in the Catskills of New York for over 20 years. Early participants in the state's hemp program supplied seeds and clones to farmers across the region. They went on to launch Raven's View Genetics, which focuses on preserving and producing...
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167_ Are Triploids The Next Big Thing in Cultivation?
John Keating leads the genetics program at Advanced Nutrients, a company long recognized for its cutting-edge research in plant nutrients and genetics. Keating is also the founder of Tesaro Genetics, which was acquired by Advanced Nutrients several years ago to expand the company's research…
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166_Untangling Another Hemp Loophole and More with Jason Adelstone
Today, our guest is Jason Adelstone, an attorney with Harris Sliwoski. He joins the podcast to break down the legal chaos affecting the cannabis and hemp industries. We dive into a new potential hemp loophole, the latest on 280E, Thailand's reversal of its cannabis laws, the pros and cons of...
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165_ BigMike Talks Cultivation and the New Idea He Says Will Change Everything
How many cannabis companies do you know that have been around for 26 years—and are still thriving? Today, we meet BigMike, founder and CEO of Advanced Nutrients. His story begins in California, where, in his twenties, he started cultivating cannabis. At the time, the big fertilizer companies were...
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164_ How Does X-Ray Tech Work For Decontamination?
As the cannabis industry evolves, so does the technology shaping its future. Innovations from outside sectors are being adapted and refined to meet the unique challenges of cannabis production. One of the newest breakthroughs is X-ray technology for microbial remediation. Unlike chemical or...
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163_New York Hall of Flowers Recap with Rama Mayo
Rama Mayo is the co-founder of Hall of Flowers, one of the most influential B2B trade shows in the cannabis industry, bringing brands and retailers together in California for the past eight years. The show recently made its New York debut, and Rama joins us to share how the East Coast industry...
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162_ The Lowdown on the New York Market
Jason Ambrosino, the founder of Veterans Holdings, a leading B2B cannabis manufacturer and supply partner, producing bulk distillate, rosin, crude oil, BHO, infused pre-rolls, and finished goods for licensed dispensaries, brands, and distributors across New York. Jason is also a member of the...
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How ESOPs Can Save Struggling Cannabis Companies
Darren Gleeman is the Managing Partner of MBO Ventures, an investment firm that works exclusively with Employee Stock Ownership Plans, or ESOPS. He believes ESOPS could be the golden ticket for cannabis companies looking to boost profit margins- especially as debt comes due and financial…
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160_Raising The Standards: The Next Step for the Cannabis Industry
As the cannabis industry matures, setting standards is the next critical step toward ensuring consumer safety and preparing for scalability and global trade. In this episode, I speak with Darwin Millard, Technical Director and standards development expert at Cannabis Safety and Quality (CSQ) — an...
About this show
Welcome to the Innovating Cannabis Podcast, where you will meet the people breaking barriers in the cannabis industry, both locally, nationally, and internationally, with a focus on business, entrepreneurship, cultivation, manufacturing, retail, brands, science, and policy.Get in touch with [email protected]
Hosted by
The Mary Jane Society
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