US Cannabis Council with President & CEO Steven Hawkins today on Blunt Business with Jorge Hermida only on Cannabis Radio. In 2020, just $4 million was spent on marijuana lobbying, according to Open Secrets. That’s measly compared to the $27 million that was spent by tobacco lobbyists, and roughly $30 million from the beer, wine, and liquor industry. Happy to welcome this week the President and CEO of the United States Cannabis Council, an omnibus group that includes many of the largest industry players, namely a strategic alliance of 65 companies and nonprofits working in the licensed, medical, and adult-use cannabis industry in the United States, and Executive Director of the Marijuana Policy Project, the leading national organizations advancing the legalization of cannabis for adult use and medical treatment.

Blunt Business

US Cannabis Council With Steven Hawkins

HERBL with Founder And CEO Mike Beaudry today on Blunt Business with Jorge Hermida only on Cannabis Radio. Our next guest founded California's largest cannabis supply chain solutions company servicing more than 850 storefront and non-storefront retail licensees. They also boast exclusive brand partnerships with the #1 selling flower, vape, and concentrate brands. Recently the company announced its acquisition of Blackbird, a premier cannabis distributor and direct-to-consumer software solutions company based in Nevada. The transaction allows HERBL to leverage Blackbird’s ecosystem of national retail and logistics insights to enter the Nevada market and create the most comprehensive supply chain platform in the industry.

HERBL with Founder And CEO Mike Beaudry

Dymapak with CEO Ross Kirsh today on Blunt Business with Jorge Hermida only on Cannabis Radio. The U.S. cannabis industry is expected to add $92 billion to the country's economy in 2021, according to MJBizDaily. As the industry continues its upward momentum, producers of cannabis products that range from mints to gummies to dissolvable powders are seeking ways to reduce plastic packaging while remaining compliant. Dymapak is the leading solution provider to meet the growing need for safety packaging solutions across a variety of applications and industries. Recently, Dymapak, along with client HEXO, an award-winning licensed producer of innovative products for the global cannabis market, and Plastic Bank®, announced a partnership to offset all plastic in packaging. You said about this: “Ocean plastic is a critical issue with increasing challenges,” said Ross Kirsh, CEO at Dymapak.

Dymapak with CEO Ross Kirsh

Unrivaled Brands CEO Frank Knuettel today on Blunt Business with Jorge Hermida only on Cannabis Radio. Our next guest has decades of experience in working with and advising public and private companies on financial management and controls, M&A, capital markets transactions, and operating and financial restructurings. Bob Hoban in Forbes recently wrote: There are indicators, not the least of which was the House’s passage of the MORE ACT, that senior members of the Biden administration, like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, are moving toward federal cannabis legalization. This is building a wave of momentum for U.S. cannabis investment and goes hand in hand with the trend of industry consolidation we’ve seen in recent months. With this growing enthusiasm and confidence, increasing mergers and acquisition activity, and investors looking for companies to fund, one must ask the question – how does one evaluate cannabis investments? So we talk about the opportunities that Unrivaled Brands is focusing on and what opportunities are in its purview. Just as we saw in Canada, cannabis reform is gaining supporters at the highest level of American politics leading to a wave of excitement and causing investors to position for market entry.

Unrivaled Brands CEO Frank Knuettel

FlowerHire with CEO David Belsky today on Blunt Business with Jorge Hermida only on Cannabis Radio. Our next guest runs a leading staffing and talent strategy firm serving the regulated cannabis industry. It has filled over 300 positions in 10 states since its inception in 2017. To bring listeners up to speed, David built his career in executive search over the course of 16 years. During that time, he spent 13 years with the same company, focusing on tech. Since our chat last June, he launched the FlowerHire X application platform. David told Benzinga he created FlowerHire X, to help job seekers understand what type of job in cannabis is relevant for them and help companies hire the right type of folks in the right type of job to unlock the potential of their workforce and reduce turnover. We talk about this new platform and the solutions he hopes this will provide.

FlowerHire with CEO David Belsky

Nirvana Group with CEO Arshad Lasi today on Blunt Business only on Cannabis Radio. Our next guest runs one of the most prominent and well-known cannabis companies in Oklahoma, which boasts a sprawling 30-acre cultivation facility, 3,000 square foot production center, wholesale distribution company, multiple house brands, and an ever-expanding roster of medical dispensaries. Delays in implementing Oklahoma’s “seed-to-sale” tracking system for medical marijuana have sowed confusion for businesses in the fast-growing cannabis industry as law enforcement authorities step up their enforcement efforts for illicit marijuana products. Oklahoma voters approved medical marijuana in 2018 under State Question 788. Most states with legal medical or recreational cannabis markets have some type of tracking system to verify that products are grown, processed, transported, and sold under the law.

Nirvana Group with CEO Arshad Lasi

Pure Craft CBD with CEO Jason Navarrete today on Blunt Business only on Cannabis Radio. Our next guest is a serial entrepreneur, real estate investor, and adjunct professor, who recently sold his cannabis growing company for $250 Million and is now launching a CBD company with nanotechnology that he has developed with MIT engineers. seed to sale approach and hybrid business model is said to be a precursor to the evolution of the cannabis industry in the coming decades. “We only partner with farmers that understand the importance of genetics and science in regard to cultivating premium hemp biomass. Our products are made following the strictest guidelines and quality control measures, allowing us to call them a pharmaceutical grade."

Pure Craft CBD with CEO Jason Navarrete

Flourish Software with Colton Griffin and Pam Pho today on Blunt Business only on Cannabis Radio. Flourish started with a trip to California in 2017. The creators of Flourish met a team of experienced cultivators who were impressed with their supply chain and enterprise software background. They discovered that while cannabis was set to explode, the industry lacked sophisticated systems to support this growth. At that time, we were working on supply chain analytics and process improvement projects for traditional logistics operations and saw strong parallels between the Flourish background and the industry’s needs. As passionate supporters of legalization, they saw their opportunity to support the most exciting industry in the market and created Flourish.

Flourish Software with Colton Griffin and Pam Pho

Emjay with CEO Chris Vaughn today on Blunt Business only on Cannabis Radio. Our next guest is a serial entrepreneur and leader in the tech, lifestyle, and Bev-alcohol industries, who has redefined how the Bev-alcohol industry connects with consumers online. He has consulted the likes of AB-InBev, Pernod Ricard, Universal Music Group, Tesco, Diageo, Bevmo, and 7-Eleven. Emjay is a vertically integrated cannabis retail and delivery company that, thanks to a merger with Saucey last October, has existing access to 22 U.S. markets for alcohol deliveries and a robust on-demand cannabis delivery service throughout Southern California. Warren Bobrow at Forbes explained Emjay as “helping destigmatize cannabis distribution by disrupting the traditional supply chain in cannabis delivery.” Chris told Forbes: “Just seven years ago the largest alcohol companies in the world had almost no involvement in online shopping or last-mile delivery. We built one of the largest Bev-alcohol marketplaces in the country, and through that journey, cannabis has been increasingly on my radar for the past three to four years.”

Emjay with CEO Chris Vaughn

Hub International Tucson with Chief Sales Officer, Cannabis Insurance and Risk Services, Hub International Jim Clements, SVP Jay Virdi today on Blunt Business only on Cannabis Radio. Our next guests represent the fourth largest privately held, a full-service global insurance brokerage in the world. They provide risk management, insurance, employee benefits, retirement, and wealth management products and services. They are one of the first insurance brokerages to develop a specialty in cannabis. A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators—Rand Paul (R-KY), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), and Jeffrey Merkley (R-KY)—recently introduced the Clarifying Law Around Insurance of Marijuana Act (CLAIM Act). The proposed legislation is intended to encourage insurance for members of the cannabis industry operating in compliance with state and local law. The CLAIM Act would prohibit federal agencies from penalizing or discouraging a company in the business of insurance from transacting with cannabis-related businesses that are operating in compliance with state and local law. The CLAIMS Act allows cannabis businesses to fully operate just as any other legal, small business would by permitting insurance companies to provide coverage without the risk of federal prosecution. Businesses in legal states would have access to products/services such as worker’s comp, property, casualty, and title insurance. Insurance Products – Under the proposed CLAIM Act, cannabis businesses would be permitted full and legal access to insurance products such as worker’s compensation, property, casualty, and title insurance.

Hub International Tucson

ABSTRAX with Max Koby and Kevin Koby today on Blunt Business only on Cannabis Radio. Our next guests founded a leading manufacturer of award-winning, naturally derived terpene blends that are procured from plants found all around the world.. They are producing some groundbreaking advancements in the cannabis and terpene industry. ABSTRAX has officially become the First Terpene Distributor on Weedmaps' WM Exchange, the Wholesale Cannabis Platform from WM Business. Part of the WM Business product suite, WM Exchange is a platform that streamlines discovery between licensed buyers and sellers. Now, retailers and brands on Weedmaps will have access to ABSTRAX's wide variety of terpenes.

ABSTRAX with Max Koby and Kevin Koby

ONE Cannabis Group with Andrew Bowden, CEO of Item 9 Labs, and Mike Weinberger, Chief Franchise Officer of Unity Rd. today on Blunt Business only on Cannabis Radio. ONE Cannabis Group, the parent company to the cannabis dispensary franchise Unity Rd., recently announced that it had been acquired by Item 9 Labs Corp. The newly formed entity becomes the first vertically integrated cannabis franchisor in the United States. The combined business will escalate lead flow for Unity Rd. franchise development and mitigate challenges new and existing dispensary owners face. Unity Rd. offers the safest route for entrepreneurs looking to enter an industry that boasts unrivaled potential, helping franchise partners confidently enter the complex cannabis space. We talk about their Local Alliance Program a little bit later on, but first Andrew takes us through the overall menu of services they provide for aspiring and established entrepreneurs.

ONE Cannabis Group with Andrew Bowden and Mike Weinberger

Drop Delivery with CEO Vanessa Gabriel today on Blunt Business only on Cannabis Radio. Our guest is a self-described serial entrepreneur who runs the cannabis industry’s only all-in-one delivery technology solution for delivery companies and retailers. Drop provides a complete suite of software for Cannabis delivery services. Their software provides your company its own branded e-commerce app, customizable rewards and loyalty program, SMS texting to communicate with your customers, smart deals to increase revenue, compliance integration with METRC for state regulations, last-mile delivery logistics to track your drivers and deliveries, and the ultimate dashboard to manage everything from inventory to your staff.

Drop Delivery with CEO Vanessa Gabriel

AphriHelios Global, LLC with CEO Darin Hickman today on Blunt Business only on Cannabis Radio. Our next guest runs a new startup company that seeks to become a pan-African vertically integrated cannabis company that not only leverages Africa’s prime position as a low-cost producer of quality cannabis-related products but also brings African (continental and diaspora) brands to the global market. AphriHelios Global is a full-value-chain focused, Southern Africa producer, processor, and distributor headquartered in Bethesda, MD with active offices in Cape Town, South Africa, and Maseru, Lesotho. The team has a combined 60 years of corporate finance, agribusiness, and project management industry expertise.

AphriHelios Global, LLC with CEO Darin Hickman

Eybna with Matthew Mograbi Director of US Operations today on Blunt Business only on Cannabis Radio. Our next guest joins us representing a pioneering technology company and terpene manufacturer with two locations in California and in Israel, is expanding its U.S. footprint with the opening of new production and R&D facilities as well as strategic partnerships with leading companies across the consumer packaged goods supply chain. With Vertosa Labs, for product innovation and expanding access to the experiential and therapeutic potential of cannabis-based ingredients.

Eybna with Matthew Mograbi Director of US Operations

Dispensing Cannabis business knowledge beyond a million square feet of cultivation space. Blunt Business will navigate the challenges and opportunities of one of the most profitable industries on earth. Join us each episode to hear our weekly round tables and interviews with industry professionals.

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