What benefits do you see for patients throughout Florida within this space?
Just the fact that we have legal, tested products on shelves is a huge step forward from when parents like myself, caregivers, and patients were desperate enough to have to trust products from strangers’ kitchens.
What motivates you to be a part of the cannabis Industry?
Obviously originally my daughter, with children like her being the motivation behind creating the word and then the nonprofit CannaMoms. From there it just became a mission of every single person who landed on my doorstep … patients of all ages and ailments, families who were being systemically targeted by Prohibition, historically underprivileged demographics being left behind in a multi-billion dollar industry. The motivation is all around us and ever-expanding.
What field are you in within the cannabis space?
I’m primarily known for my advocacy, public speaking and media, although I’ve spent the majority of my time behind the scenes hand-holding families through the healing or death of a child or a loved one; but I’ve been in just about every field imaginable in some way or another. Since there was no industry or organized community a decade ago, I really did whatever was needed. I created nonprofits, I educated attorneys on the laws as they emerged, I co-authored the State’s first CME-approved program for physicians, I contributed to a university textbook … I figured as one person, my resources were limited, but if I could educate a handful of strong professionals, the patients would benefit ten-fold.
As laws passed and the industry began forming, I wrote patient education programs, I made introductions and consulted on licensing deals, and I’ve spent an immense amount of time behind closed doors in Tallahassee. But above all, both in and out of cannabis, I’m primarily drawn to the nonprofit sector. Even when I sit in meetings for the upcoming round of potential licensees, my primary goal is to forge a bridge back to the community. My question is always, “If the community is relegated to purchasing from a specific set of industry license holders, how can we reallocate a percentage of those funds back into the community?”
How can people in Florida benefit from the company you represent?
CannaMoms obviously exists to help patients and caregivers. WISE Florida’s mission to end prohibition and our push to broaden the medical program helps everyone affected by prohibition. Wise & Free Florida’s MMJ home cultivation initiative helps all Floridians in sweeping ways. But each one of these things is really an entire conversation of its own.
How did you get started within the cannabis industry?
Being backed into a corner using cannabis for my daughter to save her quality of life and potentially her life was certainly my formal foray into cannabis. I couldn’t believe how few options parents really have in the care of their own children, how much of an illusion freedom really is here in the U.S., and strongly believe that cannabis should be a first line option and not a last resort. The mission behind CannaMoms was originally for other moms to see someone like myself coming out of the shadows and to offer courage and empowerment to do the same, which would alleviate needless suffering but also change the paradigm of society. When you have pastor’s wives and soccer moms breaking bad laws to save lives, the entire dynamic between government and citizens shifts. When you change hearts and minds, you eventually change votes and laws. As each new goal was met in what was originally a global experiment, the goalposts shifted and the mission broadened.
Are you personally a MJ card holder?
I’ve yet to purchase product on the Florida market and as a bridge between the community and the industry here I can speak to why the majority of cannabis consumers still aren’t purchasing from the legal market. It’s too expensive and inaccessible; disabled children can’t travel hours multiple times per year for their cards and to pick up product that very few families can afford. Not just that, but botanical medicine is so personalized … products that benefit one patient aren’t likely to be lucrative enough to be produced by large corporations, right? Once home cultivation is legal, we can juice the raw plant as a non psychoactive anti-inflammatory for our families and oversee what products are being grown under methods and processed in ways that we’re comfortable with. You can’t have medical freedom without cannabis, and cannabis programs don’t make sense without the option to grow our own. We need to broaden the medical program.
Do you see Florida moving forward with recreational Marijuana/cannabis and how will that affect your business?
Absolutely, and it already has. My current legislative priorities are being pushed under the premise that if we don’t fix, broaden, and strengthen the current medical program, it’s not likely to survive the passage of adult use. We’ve seen this in other states and we don’t need to replicate their failures, especially when there are easy ways to avoid them: reciprocity, telehealth, employee protections, research, discounted cards for veterans and pediatrics, etc.
