Episode 2 - Women in Weed (with Rep. Jess Hanson)

In the second episode of Northern Lights, we illuminate the roles of women in the ever-evolving Minnesota cannabis scene. We start with a spirited speculation about who will head up the office of cannabis management, setting the stage for the unfolding landscape of legal cannabis in Minnesota. Then, we get hands-on with some incredible products from women-led cannabis companies, Mi Sota Essense and BLNCD.  We're also thrilled to give you a sneak peek into our upcoming Summer School Event – a must-attend for anyone interested in deepening their understanding of cannabis.

Our special guest, Minnesota Representative Jess Hanson (55A), graces us with her presence, discussing the journey of House File 100 and her experiences in cannabis activism. Rep. Hanson's insight provides an inspiring and informative perspective on the cannabis movement in our state.

Lastly, we preview our Grow at Home Online Classes – a wonderful opportunity for enthusiasts to learn more about cultivating their own cannabis.

Join us on this women-centered episode as we continue to explore, engage, and educate on the cannabis scene in Minnesota.

Links from the Show

• Register for the Minnesota Cannabis Summer School (Aug 5th, 2-5pm): bit.ly/MNCCSummer
• Learn Morea bout Representative Jess Hanson: jesshansonforhouse.com
• Sign Up for Grow at Home Classes (Starting Aug 1): mncannabiscollege.org/grow
• Learn More about the Minnesota Cannabis College: mncannabiscollege.org

Transcript

 Hello, hello, hello, welcome to episode two of Northern Lights, the Minnesota Cannabis College podcast. I'm your host, Tanner, today joined by my co host, Shana. Hello, hello. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. So today we're really going to be focusing on some of the awesome and amazing female leaders that we have here in the cannabis industry.

We're going to be doing that throughout the show, both at the beginning, middle and end. Exciting. Yeah, definitely. Girl power. Oh yeah. Absolutely an important part of our industry. And I think something that oftentimes in cannabis is not really properly appreciated is some of the women that really make this industry what it is today and, and, and make it awesome.

So today we're going to be talking about some women in government. We're going to be talking about some women in the industry. We're going to be talking about some women that have historically impacted cannabis in ways that. It might not be as appreciated as they should be. We've got a whole slew of things, a lot of fun things to know.

So we can go ahead, and jump in. We got sort of one piece of news. So, this episode will be coming out on Monday the 26th which means we are just less than a week away from the job posting for the director of office of cannabis management going live. Okay, and what does that, what does that involve, that position?

So this will be the person that will be running the entire regulatory framework that's going to be managing cannabis in Minnesota. So they'll be helping with coming up with the rules. They'll be helping with making sure that our industry follows those rules and that businesses are being safe to consumers.

And they'll be helping to make sure that those grants, that awesome program that was built into house file 100, that those go out to people in the industry that really need that money to make it awesome. Sounds exciting. Yeah. So like I mentioned in about a week that job position is going to be posted for people to start applying to.

And one thing that we can speculate on, we don't know for certain is that that. Office is likely going to be led by a female. Awesome. Yeah. And, and what some people might not know is that this really falls in line with cannabis historically in Minnesota. So the Office of Medical Cannabis here right now is run by a female, Chris Foulkes.

The Minnesota Hemp Program through the Department of Agriculture is, is women led. It's Katie Moltruster that runs that. And it's looking like the Office of Cannabis Management will be as well. Interesting. Yeah. So we obviously don't know exactly who this will be and they haven't even posted a job position yet, but we do have some hints on what this will look like.

What will it look like? So we know who was put in charge. So Charlene Briner, who worked for the Department of Agriculture, she's sort of going to be the head of making sure that our industry is going to be set up in the right way by having a good director. So. Already on, on step one, we're being led by a woman making sure that our industry is getting built properly.

She's going to help draft some rules, she's going to help make job positions for some key roles, a director of finance, human resources, communication, but mainly what we're talking about today is that office of cannabis management director. That's amazing. And I'm excited to talk with Ms. Jess about that later in the segment.

Yeah. Absolutely. What we're going to talk about here is sort of speculate a little bit on who we think it might be. So Brynner was contacted by the Star Tribune earlier in the week and what she said is that Minnesota is full of very talented individuals, but we also know that we could benefit from the expertise and the experience of other states that have done this.

We want to cast the widest possible net that we can. So Sounds like it could be someone here in Minnesota who's helping to make our industry great or it could be someone around the country who's helping to lead cannabis nationally. Well, we're hoping that someone local can take that position. Either way, we're hoping that it's the best candidate for the job, right?

Yeah, I absolutely agree. So we have two names that we sort of wanted to float. I'll, I'll, I'll introduce them to you. We can, we can chat about it and, and Obviously, we don't know exactly, but can sort of start hinting towards who we think it might be. So the first candidate that we can talk about, we sort of mentioned her a little bit earlier.

She's a person who runs that office of medical cannabis, Chris Foulkes. Ah. Now, Chris is sort of the obvious choice. If you ask people in the industry today, most people sort of point towards her as someone that we might see running that office. In fact, the Star Tribune called her specifically and asked, would you take on the job?

And she said that she's really happy to continue serving the state in her current role or quote. in another capacity. So someone that we could see step into that role. And she has some experience going back to 2019, right? Yeah, absolutely. So she's been leading that office of medical cannabis since 2019.

She's also a nationally renowned cannabis regulator, something that I think people don't really appreciate that often. The National Cannabis Regulators Association she's one of their directors. She helped run that as their treasurer. And she's really been an icon here in Minnesota. Well, I know some people disagree with how the office runs.

I know we don't have the best program by a long shot. But she really worked hard to ensure that patients during COVID were able to get access to medicine. Love that. Yeah, she was able to make sure of that. You know, if they needed to get their medicine, but weren't able to leave their vehicle that they could have their medicine brought out to them really expanded how people could, could get access during COVID.

Something that was really important. Yeah. Great work. So a widely respected individual, someone that I think we could really see as a good director of office of cannabis management. Obviously it would leave that. Office of medical cannabis needing a new director, but I think would be a good upgrade and a friend of ours Yeah, so in in state person someone that I think we both would be pretty happy to see step into that role But we also have women around our entire country that are leading to make sure that cannabis regulation is led Compassionately and in a way that supports the industry Actually, our friend, Dashita Dawson is one person whose name has been floated by a couple people in the industry as potentially stepping into that director role.

Now, Dashita Dawson, for those who don't know, is currently the director of Cannabis NYC, which is the New York City's Department of Small Business Services Cannabis Division. She helps to make sure that the businesses throughout New York City are, are, Properly operating or getting the support they need from their local government really an icon.

She previously worked as the cannabis program manager in Portland helping to connect people not only on the state level but also on that local level And she's really someone who I think could be a good director. And people that have followed the Cannabis College for a while might know Dashita Dawson because she was on our social equity and legal cannabis panel that we had a couple months back.

We'll throw a link to that in the show notes if people want to catch that. Definitely some good thoughts on how our legalization should look and now's a neat time to reflect on the other side of the bill passing. Yes. So, obviously, we don't know who's going to be the director. But what we do at least think, what we do likely know, is that Minnesota's cannabis industry is likely to be female led.

Be it one of the above candidates, or one of the many, many qualified candidates that we haven't discussed. So, That position's going live on July 1st. If you know someone who would be a good director, definitely encourage them to apply. Apply, apply, apply. Oh yeah. And we'll be seeing in the coming weeks, coming months on, on who that person might be.

According to Breiner, it looks like that job position is going to close right at the end of July. Okay. Candidates will be interviewed in August. Governor will likely pick sometime around late August, early September. So we're just a couple months out from knowing who's going to be running that office.

Yeah, we'll keep you posted and updated on that as we gather information. So we can't talk about news in the industry without also sampling some products from the industry. Oh yeah. Now we are going to be inviting you. special guest star to help us sample these products. That is the one, the only, the man, the myth, the legend, Mr.

Marcus Harkness. Mr. Marcus. Oh yeah. So welcome. Welcome, Marcus. Thanks for having me. So we've got a couple of different products that we're going to be trying today. And the theme we're sticking with today, these are all businesses that are women founded women led that really put women operated businesses at the forefront of the cannabis industry.

Girl power. Oh yeah, absolutely an important thing. So the first one that we're going to be trying today are some traditional Mexican cinnamon sugar cookies from Minnesota brand Mi Soda Essence. Well, we love sugar, don't we? Oh yeah, definitely we do. So I'm going to go ahead and open this here.

Wonderful child safe packaging per, per the same law. Ah, yeah. Alright, so Marcus here, I'll, I'll hand you this jar. You can try one of those. Those are five milligrams each. Five milligrams of THC. Other traditional Mexican cinnamon sugar cookies. Infuse cannabis. Absolutely. Fuck it. Varonis, I believe, is what they're called.

It's okay. They've got cinnamon sugar, and as founder Veronica says they're made with a little extra special love. Mm-Hmm. Here I'll, well, they smell amazing, just like it came right outta grandma's oven. Love that. You know, it's a great, great taste. It's subtle, but it's. Strong enough. Feels like a kiss.

Great texture. We'll see when this activates how it hits though. I love that. That is super good. I love that cinnamon in it. It's like a party in my mouth. Jesus Christ. For those who can't see because this is an audio format Marcus did just eat a second one. So that's as high of an endorsement as you can get on this show.

Wow. Very, very good. I've actually not had those before. I've met Veronica before. I've, I've seen them around. I've never actually tried them. So glad I got an opportunity to do that. I'm gonna take a third one. Hey. And she has a website, right? Oh yeah. So if you go to me, Soda Essence, so M I S O T A E S S E N C E.

You can buy them. It's 28 for 10 cookies, but definitely something to check out. Pretty, pretty delicious. So beautiful labels too. Yeah. Nice packaging. I'm going to take a fourth one. And what I love is that you can see the date that it was made, like handwritten on the side. Nice little touch.

That's super duper cool. I love that. Alright, well definitely check those out if you have not yet tried them. Marcus ate four, so that's as high of an endorsement as you can get. Alright, and up next we have what is described as a mouth watering libation to keep you feeling fresh. Made with botanically derived flavors and 5 mg of hemp derived delta 9 THC.

It's strawberry, basil, THC, and sparkling water. It's a women owned and operated business. Yes, the company is called Balance. So B L N C D you might've seen them around in shops. They've had tons and tons of CBD products that were all over Minnesota. And then with the legalization, that allowance hemp derived THC started making some wonderful THC products as well.

Strawberry basil is a complex and bold cannabis infused sparkling that provides an elevated beverage experience. We like to be elevated around here. Absolutely. And these are just made right over in the Northeast, not too far from where the Minnesota Cannabis College is based. Northside. Ah, yeah. So we're excited to give these a try.

Let's go ahead and bust this open here. Okay, Marcus, you're up next.

Whoa, that was sexy. Marcus describes it as sexy. Okay, we got the commercial going on. Hot mic. That's really good. Wow, that's super duper refreshing. You can taste the strawberries there. Marcus, what are your thoughts on that? It's wet.

Sorry. Well, for someone who's new to THC beverages, How do you think it ranks from, you know, taste and, you know, just the flavor of that compared to some of the other ones? Okay. So as somebody who is a honey junkie, I like sweet things. So sugar is my number one drug addiction. I think this is a safe bet.

I like a stronger sweetness, but I think it's subtle. Subtlety of it is really nice. See, and that's an interesting comment, because I actually sort of come at it from the, from the opposite direction, where I think a lot of the seltzers that I tried have been a little bit too sweet. This one feels like it sort of hits that nice middle line of it's got some good flavor, it's got that little bit of sweetness with that strawberry but it's not, it's not too overpowering.

So I'm glad that we sort of found the middle here of, of, you like your sweet beverages, I don't. We both can settle on the strawberry basil drink. Well, the thing is, I'm still going to drink this entire can. Oh, absolutely. And I'm going to enjoy every drop. Refreshing. Every drop. Wow. No, I think it's a great product though.

The packaging is cute. We got the pink going on. Girl power. Yeah, this is it. There's some great brands. Vibe higher. I like that. I like that. Yeah. My question is, it seems like the beverage market so far is dominated by carbonated drinks. Do you think that we're going to see More diversity among the beverage types?

That's a really good question. I don't totally know. You know, if you look at other states, like Colorado, they have Keef Cola, they have many of the, like, traditional THC drinks, and almost all of them are carbonated. The only ones that I've seen that aren't, are meant to be, like, mixed into other drinks So I definitely think sort of a, a spot on the market that is I mean, don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the carbonated beverages, but I'm just thinking they're all carbonated.

Yeah, no, and I, I struggle to think of one at the current moment that isn't. I've seen sodas, I've seen seltzers, I've seen sparkling waters, I've not seen water. So for those that are looking to try this one you can get it tons of different places. In fact, this was bought at the Wedge Co op. Because co ops can now carry THC seltzers.

You also can go to the website, balanced naturals. com, and again, that's spelled B L N C D, naturals. com. This is 18. 99 for a 4 pack. It has a sophisticated flavor. Mm hmm. Profile. So you think of a classy lady. Yeah, exactly. So, before we jump to hearing your interview with Representative Jess Hanson, Yay!

Announcements! Yeah, I wanted to talk about an upcoming event that the Cannabis College has, that I think is going to be a really, really awesome time that I encourage people to check out. Dope. This summer, We are having our first Minnesota Cannabis Summer School event. Yes, yes, yes. So this event is for cannabis enthusiasts, industry hopefuls, or just curious learners.

Join us to learn a little bit more at this event that's a blend of education, networking, and Yes. Tell a friend to tell a friend to come join us. Absolutely. Tickets are on sale now. Yeah, we're going to be shedding light on the budding industry here in Minnesota, providing you with knowledge and connections that you need to launch your career.

Or if you're looking to start an entrepreneurial venture, we'll have resources there for you as well to learn about how to help your business thrive. Good stuff. So let's jump into, when is this happening Saturday, August 5th, just a couple weeks away. This will be from two to 5 p. m. We definitely encourage people to come and check it out.

So we will be at the Theodore Wirth Pavilion just over on the border of Minneapolis and Golden Valley. It should be a fun time. Awesome. Shane and Johnny here about some of them. Presentations that they're going to be. Yeah. Tell us more. All right. So first off our friend, Mr. Marcus Harkis will be telling people a little bit more about what the new law was giving us the 411.

Yeah, definitely an important thing for us to hear about the laws. transformatively changed we want to help to illuminate what some of those changes were. After that, I'll be speaking a little bit about some of the future cannabis careers that people can expect to see here in Minnesota. I think one of the biggest things that we've seen from other states is this boom of jobs that people start flooding into, and we're going to be exploring what some of those jobs are going to be, what people can expect working those jobs, and what people can be doing today to help prepare for those jobs of the future.

Stay ahead of the curve. Absolutely. After that, you won't be hearing from the Minnesota Cannabis College, but instead we'll be inviting in a guest of ours, Mr. Mark Waller from Mormon Waller CPA. He is a certified public accountant, and he'll be talking a little bit more about what is People need to know from a financial standpoint before starting their own cannabis business.

Keep your business straight. Oh yeah, definitely some important stuff. Already in that first half, you will have learned about what the laws were. You will have learned about what exciting careers are going to be. And you will have learned some important tips from an industry insider on what you can do to help start your cannabis business in the future by laying the groundwork financially today.

Then we'll be taking a short break. We got a musician coming in. He's going to be playing some incredible music. We don't want to spoil who it's going to be yet, but we will be announcing that soon, so be on the lookout for that. Mm hmm. And then after that, we've got two Q& A panels that I'm really, really excited about.

Now we put these together to try to craft what could be the most informative package for people who want to learn more about the business side of things, but also want to learn a little bit more about how they can get a job in the industry. So we're going to be starting with a Q& A with some people that already work in Minnesota cannabis industries.

Mason Ault from Uniflora Holistics, who we had on the podcast last week Jamie Croyle from House of Oilworks and Bridget Pindler from Grounded Gardens are going to be sitting and answering your questions about what you need to know about what you'd like to hear about how to get into the industry.

Yeah. Exciting thing. So joining us is a great opportunity to hear from some of our friends and people that we've worked with in the past. We're all coming together to help give you the knowledge you need to jumpstart your career. So the last presentation that we'll have that people will be able to hear includes some of the awesome wraparound services that we have.

here in Minnesota, ready to support your cannabis business. Mark Waller, who spoke a little bit earlier about cannabis business finance, we'll be coming back to answer your questions, but he's joined by Rachel Kane from Sherlock Packaging, Jen Reese from Northstar Law Group and by Corey Lake of Lake Group Insurance.

So we've got the law side, we've got the packaging and distribution side. We've got the insurance side and we've got the financial side. So a great variety of panelists. Yeah. So if you're looking to jumpstart your career in the industry, if you're looking to start a business that makes up our industry this event is going to have information that I think you'll want to check out.

So tickets are on sale right now. They are going very fast. So we highly recommend if you are interested in this event that you check it out soon. You can get those tickets by going a bit. ly. So that's B I T dot L Y backslash M N C C summer. Or, of course, you can go to our website, mn cannabis college.

org, and get your tickets there. Should be a fun event. Yeah. Exciting. Tanner, do you want to know an awesome fact? Did you know that a cannabis icon was raised right here in Minnesota? Here in Minnesota? Yeah, Minnesota. Her name was Brownie Mary. Oh, I know Brownie Mary. You do? Well, tell us more about Miss Brownie Mary.

Absolutely. So, Brownie Mary's story goes back to the 1920s. She was born not in Minnesota, but just slightly south in Chicago. A couple years later, her family moved up north here to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and she started to live in Minnesota and really to absorb Minnesota culture. I'm sure Minnesota winters, though?

Ugh, almost certainly. But another thing that she almost certainly absorbed while here in the state was some Minnesota greens, some Minnesota grown cannabis. It really sort of changed who she was as a person. She moved out to California, specifically to San Francisco, where she bumped into another cannabis icon Mr.

Dennis Perrone. Now Legendary. Absolutely. Dennis Perrone would go on to found Cannabis Buyers Club Many years later, but it wouldn't be without brownie. Mary's help now. Brownie. Mary was arrested three times Well the first time after being found with 18 pounds of cannabis. She was given 500 hours of community service But no jail time for this 60 year old grandmother selling brownies arrested yet again.

The city attorney said this is not worth our time and actually threw out the case. But, I was arrested a third time. This time, Brownie Mary knew that she had to raise her voice. That she had to fight back. She had been fighting for a while, but now she took that fight to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

She helped to lead a resolution making cannabis crimes the lowest enforcement priority in the city, really setting a trend that was followed throughout the rest of the country. Wow. And Brownie Mary, she's just another example of female icons who have really been trailblazers in cannabis.

industry throughout the country and really trailblazed to help from a medical standpoint. And without this Minnesota Rays icon, who knows where we would be today, right? Absolutely. Just another great example of some of the women that not only today, but historically have, have led our industry and have led the cannabis community.

Absolutely. All about that female empowerment. And we're excited about our upcoming segment with Jess. Absolutely. Wonderful transition. So in just a minute, we'll be back and you'll be hearing Shannon's interview with representative Jess Hanson, who's going to be talking a little bit about her experience helping to write, helping to pass House File 100.

So stay tuned.

Legal cannabis is already here in Minnesota. And if your business is selling hemp derived edible products, the Minnesota Cannabis College is your one stop shop for employee training on the science, law, and how to legally sell cannabis products. Our employee training program allows you to easily train your employees on the nuances of cannabis law in Minnesota, while also providing you with an easy to use platform to track completion throughout your organization.

If you're ready for your business to become highly educated, Visit mn cannabis college. org backslash training program to speak with us today. Okay, welcome friends. I am Shea, your host today, and we are excited to have our friend, Ms. Jess Hansen, state representative for District 55A. Jess, welcome. Could you please introduce yourself and share a little bit about your journey into politics and how you actually stepped into the avenue?

Sure. Well, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. This is really exciting, and I'm just really glad to be a host here and taking the time to do this is exciting. So I'm Jess Hanson. I represent District 55A, Stone and Savage in Northwest Burnsville, and I got into cannabis advocacy when I met Marcus Harkis back in 2017, 2018, somewhere around there.

And we began working on a legislative path into cannabis legalization to end prohibition once and for all. I didn't think I'd be a politician when I grew up. That wasn't what I thought I was going to do. But it Found me through cannabis work. I became a delegate to my state convention with the DFL and slowly But surely just really got involved in the party and I learned that there were not a lot of people That had a story like mine.

There weren't a lot of cannabis real warriors fighting for us there Yeah, and I thought that was really necessary. We had seen some movement because of the work we did from the outside. But the opportunity came up and I took it so that I could be right there at the table as we kind of moved forward. Yeah, that's great.

So you have a background in social work and advocacy and you touched on that a little bit but how have you seen that has really helped your experience as a representative and specifically as we move towards legalization and your advocacy in that avenue? Sure. So the biggest thing that I took away from this was the experiences that I had at the MAPL program.

It's a Master's in Advocacy and Political Leadership graduate program right here in Minnesota. It's housed at Metro State and through that I really learned about the importance of advocacy. networking. You are your network, as we would say. And so just getting to know as many people as possible was a core foundation of the master's program I was going through while we were beginning this advocacy work.

And so that was really exciting to see it play out in real time. The importance of getting to know the people that could make decisions, understanding the power map and really working that in the most effective way. There's a lot of fun things we do in cannabis work. I think about a lot of our social events.

Which are really powerful for building community in different ways, but specifically in this. Journey, or this project, if you will, we needed to organize and activate right. We also had to do some agitating. And so that just takes a kind of different sort of community to build. And that was the other important piece of this is that I did not want to work on anything that wasn't community centered.

Right? I don't think it's right to do that. I think that We have a representative government for a reason, and we elect them to carry out the will of the people. And that's what we were looking for. That's what I did when I went there to make sure that, you know, I put myself aside, we don't see politicians do that all the time to put their own personal views aside, to really work on something Minnesotans want.

And while I am a huge supporter and I've been a cannabis consumer my entire adult life, I think it's important to also listen to the people who had other opinions, but Acknowledge that the vast majority of people in Minnesota wanted this. So that was another part of the advocacy. It wasn't just about the issue itself.

It was about how we have a government that is really for the people. Yeah. Thank you. Well, I'm also a Metro grad, so it's good to hear that. And your network is also your net worth. So just a little point there. And you talked about leading and not being new to this. So talk a little bit about your background with the Minnesota Campaign for Full Legalization.

Kind of tell the people what that organization means and really. How you played a part in that. I met Marcus in the comment section With Nekima Levy Armstrong's post that she made. Yes, we love Nekima. We love Nekima. She made a post about cannabis and Marcus commented on it and said he was working on legalization And I immediately replied and we had coffee within a few days and again, you are your network, right?

Making sure you're getting out there and meeting people is extremely important. I had just finished my undergraduate program And we hit it off right away. And so Slowly, but surely he taught me so much of what I needed to know about how to really get to know people in this movement. He is clearly a networker, so he knows everybody.

And that was really helpful for me to get just that exposure. So I would not be the leader I am today had I not met Marcus Harkus. And so it's really great to continue working with him and still have that. But I, we had a great team, you know, between John Bartini and Tanner Barris and a number of other people.

I always say the world's run by people who show up and show up together consistently. And we led with love the whole time. And I think that's important. So that was why I decided it was okay for me and the right thing for me to do, to be the executive director of that organization. There were some power struggles happening and we figured it out and we just kept growing and growing.

There's a lot of people in this movement. We had to figure out what our team looked like. What were we going to focus on and how were we going to do that? So we. took the vision and we ran with it. We traveled the state to talk to Minnesotans everywhere. We made sure we let them build this model that we have now.

And really how do we keep people involved on social media and at different events that other groups might be putting on and how do we interact with those? So that was a lot of the stuff that I did there. As well as bothering every Democrat I could about cannabis legalization, since I was working within the party as a delegate and on some of the other things so I got to kind of play a dual role, right?

I could walk into those situations and say, I'm the executive director of this organization, and we would like you to support cannabis legalization. And here's why, right? So I think I took those kinds of pillars. I also use my privilege. Like, I'll be really honest. I went and I showed up to Fundraisers for Democrats and I would smell like weed and people would turn their head and they would notice.

And I'd say, hi, I'm Jess. I'm a weed advocate. And because I'm a white woman from the suburbs, I was treated differently than I think a lot of other people's experiences have been, but I was able to at least bridge the conversation and to move that forward. And that was helpful. But then every time. The end of the conversation would always be you wouldn't have treated me the same way if I didn't look like this right and to really have that direct conversation and then talk about the real pillar in the center and foundation of this work, which was a justice movement, a civil rights movement, a freedom movement, right?

To make sure we could talk about the disparities, talk about the fact that people And We're consuming a healing plant at similar rates between races, but black men were facing just absolute disproportionate outcomes and life experiences. I mean, people have lost their jobs, their homes, their lives, their children, you know, their property, all of these things.

And that's disproportionately affecting all of our black and brown communities. And so it really helped me with that kind of leadership from that organization to step into my position as a politician. Because I had already organized so much and we had these visions and it honestly came pretty naturally.

I don't know that I necessarily would have become a politician had I not had the experience at the campaign first. That's amazing. Thank you and shout out to Marcus. We love having him on the team and he's the common denominator between all of us. So let's kind of shift gears here and start.

specifically talk about your, your role and impact that you played here, you know, you don't talk about equity and what that looks like. So tell us a story about House File 100. What is that? What does that mean? What was your journey like in that sphere? And also tell us a little bit about how the, the committee, the sessions went and for people who may not be aware of how that process went.

So the story of House File 100, I like that. As a header. It began by people talking to their elected officials many, many years ago. This advocacy has been happening since cannabis was made illegal. Now the, the, the power of that movement has grown since it started out. It just didn't have a ton of support around it.

A lot of support, really great people, but building that Mass hadn't really happened yet. And so there were a few legislators here and there who would hear that. And they have, they have introduced bills, you know, shout out to representative Liebling, representative Freiberg and a few representatives Dean introduced some, so we know that there were legislators in the sessions before we started the campaign that had been doing this.

But. When we looked at them, they didn't represent what we were hearing on the streets from people, what we were hearing in community meetings, and that mattered. We did not think that, you know, people should do stuff about us without us, right? Like, we know that this is the direction that our government needs to go, and that's what we were going to model.

So, we decided to travel the state. We did a whole bunch of our own funded missions to different cities. Sometimes two people showed up, sometimes 100 people showed up. I think we ended up in nine or 10 different cities if I remember right. And we just listened. It's really easy to build something for the people when you just listen, right?

Absolutely. So we started there. And then house file 600 was introduced by the majority leader of the Democrats the following year. Now this is the year after that. They got major party status, two of the cannabis parties did. So both of the major parties in the state were shaken, right? About this issue.

And we hit them where they noticed and that was in the votes, right? And so our community overall, people who support legalizing cannabis. Really made their voices heard through their votes. If you ever want to wonder, do elections matter? This last election is why we have legal cannabis. I said it last summer to the reporters, Pioneer, all the people who were there, right for some big press conference after the edibles were legalized.

And I said, if people want legal weed, they need to send Democrats back to St. Paul. Because we're ready to get it done. We're fit to lead. We're making the promise, and we're going to keep the promise. I said that before, that's in the heat of the election. Because that's how much faith I had in what we were doing to move this forward.

We had some good partners on the other side, but it never really materialized to what we needed. So this next election comes and that's where House File 100 was born. That's a long story to kind of lead up to that, but I think that background is kind of important. So House File 100 was introduced by our Commerce Chair, which I think is a great choice, too.

He's, you know, embedded in that world. He's got relationships with a ton of people. He's a great negotiator. He's a great facilitator. And so we were able to see that kind of move through the committee process that way. And he took Advice and he took input, whether it was from people contacting him or.

other legislators, for example, in a really great way to, to compromise and get some more support behind it. There's other things that we're going to continue to do to make this law even better, but I just think the journey that it's came through of cannabis legalization in Minnesota is really public policy 101.

This is a case study for how good public policy can and should be made in all things that touch all of our lives. Cannabis touches all of our lives, whether we want to admit it or not. Just like taxes, healthcare, and anything else. We all know somebody who has a story, good or bad. We can't avoid that. And so I think as we did in this industry, we should do it with all others going forward as we fight for healthcare for everybody and all of the other things that we still need.

Anyway, I digress from that piece of it, but I think that we should be really proud. as Minnesotans for how we did this. It is being revered around the country as one of the most thoroughly vetted bills between government and community. What we don't see in other states is that community input, that intentional government interaction with the community.

You know, we had so many instances where we had committee opportunities. There wasn't a single committee, 16 I think was the number, there wasn't a single committee where at least 4 to 5 people from the community didn't show up. Right? And again, the world's run by people who show up, and that's what we had to do from beginning to end.

And, you know, there's, as it got through the process, we passed it off the House floor, so that was exciting. Everybody was pumped, but we've done that before, right? We passed House File 600 off the floor, but the Republican controlled Senate didn't even give the bill a hearing that session. This time was different.

Senator Lindsay Port carried it through the Senate, got its first hearings. And it just kept growing and growing. So they passed their bill off the Senate floor. And that was the historic part. Odds of doing that were very, very, they were very slim. We had a one vote majority, and so we needed to make sure everybody was on board.

So that was a big part that the community did because they didn't just show up in the house. They showed up harder in the Senate. And I think that's important because the senators hadn't had this conversation yet. We had a conversation in the house. And so that was an important piece. So house file 100 and Senate file 73 come together after they both get passed.

And then we go to a conference committee. Conference committees are hard for a lot of people. And I had never been on one until this, and I'm really glad this was my first one because. I mean, it was a subject that I'm an expert in, so at least I knew what was happening at every turn. I had the bill memorized, you know, I could go in very knowledgeable on it.

I can't imagine being on a conference committee like that when you're, when you're doing a thousand issues in an HHS bill or something like that. So it was a good committee because it was one issue and that's not what you're going to find for a lot of other bills. So this entire team came together to just hash out our differences.

We moved that through and had conversations, and man, was I glad I was in that room. We're glad you were in that room. I think we should all be really glad. Not that my colleagues aren't amazing at this, right? And I'm not saying this to say anything negative about the process or them. It is just that it was one, an experience for me that I can bring back to all the other work we're going to do in the world.

And two, an experience where I could make my voice heard, which my job is to amplify the voice of my community. And my community is. the cannabis community. And that's what I did through that whole meeting. And so I felt very involved. The chairs were amazing at keeping me involved. And I think again, I wouldn't have been there if I didn't, you know, go through the process with the campaign and advocacy and my pathway to getting right.

So yeah, then we passed the, that out of the conference committee and then we went to the floor and the floor vote was a little bit different. We were really trying to persuade some Republicans to vote with us who had committed to voting with us. People would have to ask them if they had told their voters they would and didn't.

Ask them why. This was a bipartisan bill. One of the most bipartisan bills in the nation, if not the, I guess, I don't know the numbers on that. I would ask my wonderful friend Tanner, he's giving me a thumbs up that yes, it is. You know, and we were intentional about this because as Republicans cared about this, Democrats cared about this, and we're going to all work together to do any changes we need to do in the coming years, and I'm not going anywhere.

So I'm looking forward to working on this. That's the journey of House File 100. That's amazing, which is a great segue. And I mean, you represent not only having a seat at the table, but being able to use your voice, which is a great segue about female empowerment and raising and elevating those voices from a diversity standpoint.

And we know within the cannabis industry is a challenge for women specifically. So can you talk a little bit about where you see House File 100 impacting women, not only from a consumer standpoint, But for also people who are potentially wanting to seek from an entrepreneur standpoint, we know factually that less than a fourth of executives in the cannabis are women and that number has declined since 2017.

So if you could give us maybe five takeaways about how you see House File 100 really making an impact. So my undergraduate degree is from St. Kate's. I'm Katie in an all women's school, social justice school. So that's why this was important to me, you know, I'll just like, first I want to start with an anecdotal thing.

The day after it passed, I was on Twitter saying, Oh, this is great. Like, I'm so excited. I can't believe this is real. And I saw a hot take from some stock trader, some marijuana stock trade or something like that. And I just commented this is a hot take like his response was not really in tune with what's actually happening on the ground in Minnesota and if people were looking to him to invest in stocks or whatever, I felt like it was worthwhile for me to say something.

I don't usually engage with people like that. This person, I'm assuming a man, Spent the next, you know, four, four hours just completely mansplaining cannabis legalization to me and it was really reflective for me because I thought about like this very issue, this very question you just asked me in that moment, that even as an expert in the field publicly, right, my face is on the cover of the, of the Star Tribune with my friends, with my colleagues, Zach Stevenson, Lindsay Port, like it's us who are there.

It's not just me. It's our whole team. Like, I'm part of that. And to still hear that back, and my response to him was the same thing, right? That women in our industry perpetually face this misogyny. We face so much I think, I don't know, just, they just underestimate us, which is their, it's a them problem, a us problem, but it does affect us in our bottom lines.

So as we were building this bill, you know, really keeping in mind the people who've not had the same access to capital, social or financial, making sure that we were creating those avenues. This industry was really important to me. So you'll find that there's grants that are in there. So I made sure like we talked about those, they were in the bill and house file 600.

So since the inception of this model, we've had these deed programs in there. So for micro businesses and meso businesses, you're going to see that prioritizing a lot of things for our micro businesses. You're going to see things for growers in our CanGrow program. And then the most exciting part is our CanRenew program, which if you're eligible to be a social equity applicant, you're also eligible for grants that would come through the CanRenew program.

Now CanRenew doesn't have to be a cannabis business. Right. This is a, this is, I, you know, in practice, a reparations fund, right? And so this will be available to people. So whether you want to get into cannabis legalization, whether it's in a dispensary or growing situation, or if you just, you want to apply for these grants, the money is set aside through the office of cannabis management separately.

I'm the vice chair of the economic development committee here in Minnesota. And I serve with Hoden Hassan, who is amazing. And we passed the best. Economic investments in businesses in the history of the state. Wow. First of its kind investments in the LGBTQ community. First of which is happy pride month, by the way.

Yes. Also first of its kind investments in developers of color in so many other avenues whether you're in a real tech field, if you're doing some like. You know, research and development type stuff, or if you're all the way over wanting to start a cannabis business, I had my bill to codify the Minnesota small business partnership program in Minnesota.

That program creates more pathways for people to get access to financial and social capital. So if you know your local cap agency or your local, you know, MCCD, NDC, I could name a whole ton of them right now, but different CDFIs that are doing this work and really connecting with them. So those would probably be the main things that I would say to women that are looking at getting into this.

There are a lot of pathways and we made sure there were diverse opportunities for everybody to get into this. And really, you know, I would love to see a lot of women growing. Yeah, absolutely. I think that would be my favorite outcome in all of this. Why is that your favorite? We are, Mother Earth is hurting right now.

And she needs us to nurture her for a bit. I think as women, we sit in this space, not to say that men, I'm not saying gender is binary. I'm also not saying that men and women can't do these things too. But I just think femininity and our womanhood in general, we bring to this work something our counterparts don't.

And living in this world as a woman, living in this You know, climbing uphill. Black women are facing it a million times worse than I will ever face it. We have to sit in that truth. And I think that this is a generation where we can start to turn the ship and really take care of things in a better way because cannabis legalization doesn't matter if we don't have air to breathe and it doesn't matter if we don't have water to drink.

So I think we bring something else to this industry rather than just our womanhood. It is our commitment to our children, our seven generations. Yes. And I love our male and non binary folks who partner with us in this and bring that energy and let us tap into that too. Because this industry just cannot continue to be commoditized in such a capitalistic way because it is a healing plant for so many people and it creates generational wealth when we let it.

And it sounds like allyship is very important to you in this space. So let's talk about, and we talked about female empowerment. What advice would you give to women who are intrigued or interested in maybe trying cannabis for the first time? And you know, that we have all of these. stigmas.

That's rooted in racism. What would be a few of the takeaways or advice that you would give to someone who knows that this, that a plant, like you said, is a healer for them that may resolve some of the issues that they're, they're having medically. Or just want to, you know, just participate as a casual user.

Can you talk a little bit about what advice you would give to women who are interested in the industry, but still caught up on those stigmas? They're real. Like, we have to sit and accept that and not deny that it's there, but we can find a way to support each other through it, and I think that's one of the things that I have taken away from this community is just how tight all of the women have gotten and how supportive they are of each other.

We're not getting anywhere without each other, and that's the most important piece that we need to take away. It's okay to be competitive, it's not okay to be destructive. Right. And what's the saying of kindness or honesty without kindness is brutality. Right. And so we need to like, I don't, I'm taking that from someone that did.

I like it though. I like it. But I think the important part that we bring forward is that togetherness first, that sisterhood first, and then network around that we are our network. Yeah. I mean, we're having so many events that are going on. I know the cannabis college is putting on summer school. I know that there's the wake and bakes that are happening.

All of these events have an event. If you've got 10 girlfriends who just want to talk about it, bring them together, see what happens, right? Bring people into the space and don't forget to, you know, we have a lot of folks in our community who are already feeling like left out. This community is about bringing people in as you absolutely are and we have to like practice. Do that in practice, too. So yeah, that's great.

Some of the things I think the other thing would be to just go to the events. I just got a message from someone the other day who was asking me about this as I go to events to get to know people. If you, if you're starting a business, we're requiring meso businesses and larger to have a labor peace agreement.

So making those relationships with unions, getting in touch with the people that will help you get a labor peace agreement in place. If you're planning on a business of that size. Microbusinesses are not legally required to have one, but it is a good idea because as you grow, you want to make sure you're creating a safe workplace.

I know you probably will, but give your workers the power because that's who's going to make you the money at the end of the day. So making sure we're treating our workers with respect, making sure we're hiring people and having family friendly workspaces, we can build that. anti capitalistic version of what we want to see in the workplace.

And so that'd be the thing I would encourage us to do is think about what it looks like to be a women led industry instead. Absolutely. So switching gears here, as we look at the future and we talk about Minnesota. always being at the forefront of a leader. And it's no different here in the cannabis industry.

But as we look forward to legalization in August, where do you see the most potential for growth and change? Not only in Minnesota, but from a federal level. And what we can do here is just individuals to be active and really have a voice. Federal level would, a great option would be to allow us to bank.

That's a really big thing. So if you're in touch with any of your federal representatives or you want to write to them about anything, I think banking is going to be a really important piece for us because it's a cash industry a lot of the time, and I'm not a money expert. I think also keeping in mind that we built the most diverse licensing structure of any model in the nation.

So making sure you're talking to folks about that I think also keeping in mind that we built the most diverse licensing structure of any model in the nation. So we want to make sure we can give opportunities for delivery services in a few years, for example, or give it's not going to be available right away, but you could build up to that, right?

They'll come out later. Growing, transporting all these different options. So look at the license types. You can also go to cannabis. mn. gov. Okay. And that will lay out the different licensing types as well. The bill, I know people are intimidated by legislation, but really, if you look up In this particular bill, this is a great way to learn about legislation if you're looking to, because 90 percent of the language is new, and so you can really just read through and see what things require.

I know it's intimidating, but you can jump to the sections, use that find feature on the PDF, and get familiar with what are the laws around that. And if you need help, The cannabis college can help you with that. Absolutely. And we'll have all of this information on our website. Make sure you're following us here now.

Just thank you again for joining us. I just want you to just close out and kind of tell us what advice would you give to someone who is interested in becoming involved in politics? Particularly with the cannabis industry, we need those voices here now more than ever. What advice would you give to someone who's wanting to step into that realm of politics?

First, start showing up, get to know people. That's the most important thing. I think people, we don't like the kind of government that showed up and told us how to do things when they never lived like us, you know, paid bills like us, none of that. And so, We have to do the same thing it we are just as responsible for learning about what other people are looking for So find that community find that group get in touch with the Cannabis College and again start showing up at events start meeting people And talking to your friends about it, you know You might be the one that they're waiting to talk about politics and sometimes weed is the way in right?

So as we create this bigger change we want to see in the world We tell I got involved and it can be how a lot of people get involved. And I think, obviously, always contacting your representatives about what you want. I mean, that's, I sometimes take that for granted because it's me now. And so just remembering to tell people, like, we, if you, if I get a hundred emails about something, I notice.

If me and all my colleagues get 100 emails about something, we notice, right? Politicians keep track of that stuff. If it's just one off, one off, one off, we don't, it doesn't make as loud of a splash or as big of a splash. So make sure that you're doing that part. And then if you aren't getting a response, right?

Let's say you're in an excerpt around the Twin Cities, your elections have been close. I'm asking you to run for office, right? I need more Democrats in St. Paul to really make sure that we, the grown ups, stay in charge. That the, that the, the people who are fit to lead continue to lead. And we can't risk Losing that in Minnesota because as much as we may hate the two party system, it's what we got right now, right?

and One of us is fit to lead while the other isn't one of us keeps our promises and one of us doesn't so we need To make sure that we are clear eyed when we think about our vote. Every single vote matters and taking that risk to step up and run for office matters. You'll never feel ready. It'll never feel like the right time.

You gotta be scared and you gotta do it. Anyway, yeah So just do it, jump out there. Well, do you have any final words for us that you can share for our friends, Jess, as we wrap up here? Again, thank you for joining us. This has been a pleasure. I just want to tell you that I'm so honored to sit in front of you.

So thank you. Well, it's an honor to be here. I mean, I'm, I'm a, it's an honor to serve, right? I'm a public servant. And so it makes my heart happy. And that's what I'm here to do. And so getting to do the work of the people is so meaningful to me and getting, letting me talk about it because I nerd out about it.

It's really important to me. And I'm always happy to talk about any of these things. So I can't do one on one consultations as much as I wish, but I do encourage people to talk to the Cannabis College. I was a founding board member. I'm no longer a board member, but I have my full support and excitement for what they're going to do in coming years because this is.

How do we change the world, right? Like this is what it looks like to be the change you want to see in the world. And I've always said that politics is how we care about each other and that we deserve a responsible government. And here we are taking care of each other and being responsible. So yeah, beautiful.

Well, thank you, friend. Thank you so much.

And we're back, Tanner. I think you have a small secret that you like to share with people, huh? Absolutely. So I wanted to share a project that the Minnesota Cannabis College is coming out with. And by the time this podcast comes out, this will actually have already been announced. But as of right now, it is a little bit of a secret.

Starting August 1st, the law is changing and we are starting a new project. We are starting Grow From Home classes. So, if you are interested in growing cannabis at home, we will be there to help give you the education you need. Exciting! Exciting! Yeah, absolutely. So, let me tell you a little bit more about what's going to happen in this course.

Four weeks. online live instructions. You'll be on soon. Live instruction is important. Very, very important. You'll have educators, but you'll also have people that are cannabis experts, people that have grown cannabis for a number of years, both on the micro scale, but also on that macro scale, helping you to apply their knowledge to your home grow.

It'll give you an overview of the entire process from selecting the right seeds. to manage your water, to harvest your plant. It's also going to tell you a little bit about some of the legal aspects. So, knowing where you can have plants, how many you can have, all important stuff. We want to make sure we're following the law.

So, we're here to help give you the information you need for that. Yeah, exciting, exciting. I think it's a great opportunity for people who are new and just really wanting to enhance their knowledge about what's upcoming and how you can do that at home until we go full legal. Absolutely. So I'm going to give a little plug of some of the things you might learn about.

You're going to learn a little bit about what equipment is needed to grow cannabis. Not only like, hey, you need a light, but we're going to talk about specifics of what kind of equipment you should have. We're going to be talking about how you can go about planting your seeds. There's a number of different methods.

We'll be exploring some of the common ones. Talking about some pros and some cons. We're going to talk about how to care for your plant. We're going to talk about harvesting. And finally, we're going to talk about that landing of the plane, that coming into the curing process. Giving you everything you need to go from seed to final product.

All in the comforts of your own home. Step by step, while you're in your PJs. Yeah, absolutely. So, you can sign up today. When this podcast comes out, that sign up will be public. You can enroll in that class. It's only 30 per student. 30. Oh yeah. You got 30 laying around somewhere. Absolutely. Think of how much money you've spent on cannabis products.

For just 30, you will now know. How to grow your own, right? We've got two different sections coming at you Tuesday nights and Thursday nights to try to accommodate a variety of different schedules. And. One of the parts that I'm most excited about was that they were working with some of our local friends here in the state to really create the best course that we possibly could.

Absolutely. Not only on the curriculum consulting on what it is we're teaching, but we're working with businesses here in Minnesota to make sure that students have access to what they need to grow cannabis. I'm excited to say that we're working with eco garden supply, a wonderful growth shop over in St.

Paul. We're working with Canada Joy, MN, a seed bank that is starting up here in Minnesota and a number of others that we're excited to talk about a little bit in the future. But by signing up as a student, you'll get special benefits with some of our friends. Just an added bonus that comes along with the awesome education you'll be getting from this class.

Yeah, and have exposure to some great local Minnesota businesses here in the Twin Cities, so it's great. For sure. If you have someone in your life who is interested in starting to grow cannabis, you're looking to get them a gift to help them celebrate the changes of the laws. Why not buy them a pass to learn how to grow their own cannabis.

So. Great gift. Yeah. For the one you love. So check out more mn cannabis college. org backslash grow. We'll give you all the information you need to get signed up, to get your friends signed up and to learn more about that program. Great. So that's all we have for today. We're going to be back in just a couple weeks digging more into the different license types that will be existing in Minnesota.

We'll be sitting down with Corey Lake of Lake Group Insurance to learn about what business owners need to know before starting their cannabis business, and we'll be playing a new game. Looking at some toked tunes. Love it. So stay tuned for that. Between now and then you can find this on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn, all that social media.

You can find us there. You can listen to previous episodes of the podcast if you have not yet on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and Google podcasts. But otherwise that's all we got for today. And we'll see you again. Until next time, stay well, friends. Thanks everyone. Have a great rest of your day. Northern Lights is a Minnesota Cannabis College production.

This episode was produced by me, Tanner Barris, and by my co host, Tim Gaines. Shana Payton. Production assistants from Marcus Harkis and John Bartee. Special thank you to Representative Jess Hansen for taking the time to sit down with us today. The information in this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice, but is instead for general information purposes only.

Information shared may not constitute the most up to date legal or other information. No listener should act solely on the basis of information provided. Without first seeking advice from their own legal counsel, please listen responsibly.