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Industry Leaders Discuss Cannabiz for 2021
November 18, 2020 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
$20
Tune in November 18, 2020 at 1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern to hear from a panel of industry leaders and garner insights into what businesses can expect for the years to come in the fastest growing industry of our day.
Legalization initiatives were a major talking point for 2020 elections across the United States. Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota were all battle grounds for progress in decriminalization and legalization for either medical or adult use.
Many felt that legalization efforts had reached a stalemate before Covid-19 when officials declared medical retailers and staff “Essential” during the early 2020 lockdown in major cities.
Adding fuel to the fire of this global plant medicine movement, the Agricultural Improvement Bill of 2018 established legal framework for intrastate and interstate commerce of hemp and CBD products in the U.S. While Federal restrictions remain on supplement labeling and orally ingested CBD products, consumer packaged goods with hemp-derived CBD are now available in major pharmaceutical stores including CVS and Safeway.
A portion of proceeds will be gratefully contributed to LastPrisonerProject.org.
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Read on to learn more about our speakers who are leading the conversation.
PANEL SPEAKERS
Courtney Aura Freeman, Host & Event Producer, is a second generation industry entrepreneur and business consultant. While pursuing studies in Political Science and Computer Science at Columbia University, Freeman interned with the Honorable Congressman Jerrold Nadler addressing post-9/11 constituent concerns.
Prior to serving as CEO of White Buffalo and founding eCommerce operation WhiteBuffaloSpirit.org, Courtney worked with Fortune 500 companies across tech, media, and finance. A legacy lifestyle brand in this space, White Buffalo is known for the forty-year-old rolling papers, leading edge CBD skincare products, and sold-out events.
Freeman advises global businesses on eco-conscious compliant packaging, product development, licensing, strategic growth, and marketing solutions under her consultancy Plaetonic4. She also hosts podcast Conscious Cannabiz, highlighting thought leaders in the industry and conscious business practices.
Chiara Juster, Moderator, is a social justice advocate and attorney. She is strategic counsel and policy advisor for various organizations devoted to helping others.
Juster is Chair of Government at Oaksterdam University and is a legal advisor for Last Prisoner Project. Chiara is currently the lead attorney on the case of Richard DeLisi, the longest serving non-violent cannabis offender currently incarcerated in the United States, one of many cases of individuals LPP is working with.
Kyra Reed is a social media industry veteran and a community-focused brand innovator. Reed brings a unique and fresh social-first approach to brand marketing and digital strategy. She was named a ‘Social Media Pioneer,’ by Entrepreneur Magazine and her work in social media has been featured in The NY Times, Tech Crunch, NPR and 20/20.
In 2016 she launched Markyr Digital Cannabis, a digital marketing and social media strategy agency focused on the Marijuana, hemp and CBD industries. Kyra also founded one of the largest cannabis networking groups for women, Women Empowered in Cannabis (WEiC) and WEiC Careers a job matching site for women in cannabis and companies committed to gender diversity and inclusion in their hiring practices. She is also the founder of Lady Jane Society, an event production company focused on high end retreats for women in cannabis and Haus of Jane, a collaboration event with Tokeativity. She was noted as one of the “100 Most Important Women in Weed” in 2019 and 2020 by Green Market Report.
For over 27 years, Toni Forge has worked as a litigator, managing attorney, state mediator and associate general counsel. Forge has acted as a chief compliance officer for major Fortune 500 companies and has implemented several litigation management programs for global insurance companies.
Forge co-founded 4LeafConsulting in 2016, a California cannabis licensing and compliance consulting firm. She serves on the advisory board of Women Empowered in Cannabis and the California Cannabis Coalition. She is also counsel for various social equity cannabis huddles in both Oakland and Los Angeles.
Forge was selected as a technical advisor for the City of Los Angeles and a cannabis educational presenter with the City of Commerce. She was nominated for “Cannabis Lawyer of the Year, 2019” by Webjoint Magazine.
Terry Blevins, M.A., is a speaker and advocate for LEAP, Law Enforcement Action Partnership. He is passionate about drug policy reform, reducing harm through social justice as well as policing and criminal justice reform.
In his role as CEO of Armaplex Cannabis Security, Blevins has been actively educating government officials and community groups regarding the realities of legalization and decriminalization. He presents the case that well-regulated cannabis businesses often reduce crime, decrease the illegal market and increase tax revenue for those jurisdictions allowing businesses to be licensed.
During his work in local and federal law enforcement in the U.S. Blevins saw the impact that bad drug policy had on our communities and on people of color in particular. He advocates for legalization of all drugs after seeing that the criminalization of something that is clearly a public health problem has not solved any of the issues surrounding drug abuse. He also advocates for less government involvement in drug enforcement as a supporter of personal freedoms and of state’s rights.
Dr. Thomas Macsay, ND has been working with herbal medicine and natural therapies for the better part of a decade. He currently oversees all business strategy, operations, sales, production, and general logistics. Thomas has spent endless hours studying herbal medicine, integrating it with his deep understanding of medical sciences and alternative medical approaches. By working with healthcare professionals and executives in the nutraceutical and herbal industry, he’s been able to understand what it takes to develop and run a successful business to the highest industry standards.
A deep desire to educate individuals and help create health care reform inspired Thomas to pursue a career in business, as opposed to a traditional medical career, as a way to bring wellbeing and exposure to herbal medicine on a global scale.
Tangy is the CEO of Jayn Green and Chairwoman Of the Board for The Georgia Cannabis Coalition. She specializes in International Cannabis Education, offers natural skincare products for men and women, and has a wealth of cannabis knowledge in compliance to increase wellness and profitability.
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The White Buffalo Team
————- TALKING POINTS ————-
Joe Biden Abridged Campaign Statement
Decriminalize use and automatically expunge all prior use convictions. No one should be in jail because of use. As president, he will decriminalize use and automatically expunge prior convictions. And, he will support the legalization for medical purposes, leave decisions regarding legalization for recreational use up to the states, and reschedule as a schedule II drug so researchers can study positive and negative impacts.
Senator Kamala Harris, now Vice President Elect, and Congressman Jerrold Nadler, House Judiciary Committee Chairman, introduced the MORE Act of 2019 in the Senate – a bill to decriminalize and deschedule, to provide for reinvestment in certain persons adversely impacted by the War on Drugs, to provide for expungement of certain offenses, and for other purposes.
“Laws disproportionately harm individuals and communities of color, leading to convictions that damage job prospects, access to housing, and the ability to vote.” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman and Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
From NORML.org: Voters approved the legalization of medical access in two states, Mississippi and South Dakota. In Mississippi, voters chose between two dueling initiatives — favoring a measure placed on the ballot by patient advocates, and rejected a more restrictive alternative measure placed on the ballot by state lawmakers.
From MarijuanaPolicyProject.org Voters legalized the possession by adults in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and in South Dakota. The measures in Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota each permit adults to possess and cultivate for personal use and establish a regulated retail market. In New Jersey, voters decided on a public ballot question [where home cultivation is prohibited].
- Arizona passed its ballot initiative, Proposition 207.
- New Jersey passed its legislatively referred initiative, Public Question 1.
- Montana passed complementary initiatives, Constitutional Initiative 118 and Initiative 190.
- South Dakota passed its legalization initiative, Amendment A, and its medical marijuana initiative, Measure 26.
- Mississippi passed its medical marijuana initiative, Amendment 65.
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