Here Weed Go!

I want to thank my very last Here Weed Go! (At least when it comes to the Arizona Daily Star edition) guest Sean Williams for coming onto the show. Read his story Purple Haze in Harper's Magazine too! We actually spent most of October and the beginning of November trying to figure out how to make our interview work, because Sean lives full-time down in Australia, and of course, on top of walking around upside down, the Aussies are like 18 hours ahead in the future, or something like that. But it was great to finally get to sit down and talk with Sean, and hear about what it takes to really get into reporting there, on the spot, on the scene. Not to make a direct comparison to what Sean does, because he has to travel to far away lands into literal war zones or occupied territories, but I’ll be doing a lot of on the spot reporting in my new job. To start, beginning on January 16, I'll begin my new broadcast television career as a multimedia reporter for KGUN9 here in Tucson. That means pre-recorded stories and live-on-camera look-ins for me. I'll be making my living off the evening news, as Don Henley might say. So, if you live in the Tucson area and have cable television, you'll actually be seeing a lot more of me. It just won't be all weed, all the time. And I am OK with that. But I will miss this job, this role, forever. There won't be a day that I won't have some memory of this magical one year and eight months jogged. My move to TV of course means that, as of 11:01 p.m. on January 11, 2024 I am no longer an employee of Lee Enterprises or the Arizona Daily Star, and thus no longer the host of Here Weed Go! and curator of TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com. At least, for now, anyways. While the name "Here Weed Go!" and all the episodes, content and stories I created under that name will forever be the property of Lee Enterprises, I haven't completely closed the door to producing, hosting, editing and distributing an interview-based podcast focused on the cannabis industry on my own. In fact, I have a few episodes saved I will eventually release, perhaps here under the Here Weed Go! banner or under a new, spiritually related banner. When I’m ready to establish that new show back in the cannabis space, you’ll know about it. Especially if you follow me on Instagram at @ReporterEddieTravels. In the meantime, for the next few months, I just need to commit myself to some other moving parts in my new role on television, reporting live and making mini-news-documentaries 3-to-5 nights a week before taking on the podcast mantle again, though I love it dearly. But to all my friends out there in the Tucson and Phoenix cannabis community, don't worry: I'll still be out at all the AZCannafriends events and vendor fairs that I can, and I will still be looking for a great story to let Tucson know about. Before I close this out, I want to give a shout out to a few people, the ones who really made this crazy experiment possible. To my mother (and first real guest!), Samantha Longenbaugh, thank you so much for always being a fan of the show and everything I do. There were many phone calls you told me to keep my head up and spirit high, and they all paid off with, what is up to now, the best job I've ever had. And you were the best guest I ever ended up interviewing. To Yvanna Cancela, I owe you so much for introducing me to the Las Vegas cannabis community before MJBiz in 2022. You were the first person to really give me the idea to mix my weed and travel stories, and I will forever be grateful for that. To Chris Law and Pascal Albright, your efforts to edit my rambling question/answer sessions into coherent, cogent interviews will always be appreciated. Especially now that I do all that editing of said rambling myself! The industry is small, so here's to working together again sometime in the future. And finally, my biggest thanks are reserved for my former editor-in-chief and biggest professional advocate: Jill Jorden Spitz. Jill, thank you so damn much for taking a chance on cannabis content here at The Star, and thank you so much for taking a chance on me. Before I somehow stumbled into what I once called "The Best Job in The World," I was working the breaking news beat, the very same beat I'll be leaving Thursday. I had pitched an idea for a pot podcast earlier, but word about development on such a project seemed to have stalled. Dissatisfied with the role at The Star, I pursued an offer to become a business reporter in Austin, Texas, and was deciding between staying or leaving. A few hours after being offered the job in Texas, Jill called me to let me know she had approval from corporate to run with the podcast idea. It was all a go, if I wanted it. Although the pay in Austin would have been higher, and the nightlife more my speed, I knew what my answer was going to be. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to cover cannabis becoming legal in my home sate. It was going to be the best job in the world. And it was. "We're gonna change the world," I told her. I hope, with this crazy project of mine, I at least changed your world in some way. If I did, or you want to hear what I'm up to in my new job, you can email me at epcelaya@gmail.com And don't forget, keep smoking and proving them wrong. Here Weed Go!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How's it growing folks?! Welcome to another of my MJBizCon2024 Here Weed Go! episodes. I'm your host of this crazy cannabis podcast, Eddie Celaya. Before I introduce my guest for this episode, I want to remind you all to follow the Here Weed Go! social media pages for a ton of upcoming exclusive content. I also want to let you sign up for the Here Weed Go! (now weekly, again) newsletter. And I'll even add some links to my personal social media if you're interested in seeing my traveling antics around the globe, with my next stops being Mexico City, Cincinnati, Ohio and Phoenix, Arizona. Now, for this episode, I wanted to get a little update on the cannabis testing and regulation industry, and how the year has gone for the sector as a whole. To do that, I got in touch with Tyler Williams, the CEO of ASI Food Safety and founder of Cannabis Safety and Quality. In our conversation, Williams and I talk about the niche that he developed Cannabis Quality and Safety in, what the company looks at when auditing a lab or cannabis grow and how his background in food safety, pharmaceuticals and other industries has helped him in looking at the fast developing cannabis world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How's it growing folks?! Welcome to what's about to be a whirlwind of Here Weed Go! episodes before the New Year. I've set an early resolution to get this backlog of episodes out, and the goal is one episode released a day from now until January 11. The significance of that date will make sense as I get closer and closer to it, and there will be a few announcement's made before the New Year, if all goes to plan. To meet that goal, many of these new episodes will have minimal guest introductions and outros, with the focus being back on the interviews themselves. Anyway, before I get into this episode, I want to let you know you can keep following me, your host Eddie Celaya, on Instagram and keep following Here Weed Go! and it's page there as well. Any big announcements about the future of the podcast, newsletter and my career will be posted there first. Oh, and don't forget to like, share and subscribe to Here Weed Go! wherever it is you stream it from. I've provided links to everything Here Weed Go! related, so be sure to click it and subscribe! This episode features my interview with Red Clover managing director Jen L'Estrange. As a veteran of large, corporate human resource firms, L'Estrange decided to go another route and now works with small-to-medium sized companies in rapidly developing industries. "Rapidly developing" is certainly one way to characterize the cannabis industry, and Red Clover specializes in helping businesses within the space become more nimble and ready for employment in an increasingly regulated environment. Our conversation begins with with L'Estrange explaining just what Red Clover is and does...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome to the first of a few Thanksgiving Week episodes of Here Weed Go! I’m, your host Eddie Celaya, the cannabis reporter with TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com. Before I get going I want to remind you all that Here Weed Go! is more than a podcast: it’s print and online content, videos and a twice-monthly newsletter filled with tons of exclusive content. If you want access to all that and Here Weed Go! (and my own) social media pages, I’ve included a link in this podcast episodes description, which you can click on wherever you stream or download Here Weed Go! from. For this episode I decided to take a look at a side of the cannabis media that’s close to my heart: the podcast industry! As someone who literally does EVERYTHING to make this show happen, I wanted to let you all know what goes into making a podcast really work. While I’m pretty happy with how well Here Weed Go! has done over 72 episodes, I wanted to reach out and speak with someone who has an even more established show. Enter David Mantey, Editorial Director of Digital Media at Industrial Media and host of the Cannabis Equipment New Podcast. Without stealing too much of the following interview's thunder, Mantey, who comes from a background of business-to-business trade publications, began covering cannabis the same way he approached the manufacturing industry. However, during the pandemic, interviews that he began to record over Zoom eventually morphed into a podcast (the aforementioned Cannabis Equipment News Podcast, in fact) and video series that now has over 120 episodes to its name. Clearly, he’s found an approach that works, even in a prohibitionist state like Wisconsin. In our conversation, Mantey and I touch on how his sister’s experience battling cancer by using cannabis-based medicine helped shape his view on the plant, how he and his partners ended up starting Industrial Media, and what it takes to produce a podcast that stands out in the crowded field of cannabis media. Our conversation begins with Mantey talking about his first experiences with cannabis… MORE INFO For more info on Industrial Media: https://www.ien.com/ For more on Cannabis Equipment New Podcast: https://www.cannabisequipmentnews.com/podcast For more Here Weed Go! content, including links for all podcast episodes, TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com stories and to sign up for the twice monthly Here Weed Go! newsletter: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgoSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How’s it growing folks? Welcome back to Here Weed Go! I’m your Host Eddie Celaya, and I’m back to bring you some of the hardest hitting, relevant and fun conversations and interviews centered around cannabis, the country’s fastest growing cash crop. In this episode, I have a very special guest: Hirsh Jain, the Founder of Ananda Strategy, a consultancy that advises various cannabis businesses, brands and others in the industry across North America and Western Europe. Hirsh also wears some other hats woth mentioning: he is the Vice Chair of the California Cannabis Chamber of Commerce and on the Board of Directors of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) in California. Because he has such a diverse background, this episode hits on nearly every big story happening in cannabis at the state level right now: from the state of California’s precarious recreational market, to what smaller states like New Mexico, Missouri and others can teach more established markets and others poised to make the recreational leap (like Ohio just voted to do!) Of course, there’s also huge things happening at the national level, and our discussion attempts to shed some light and clear the smoke around what’s happening in D.C. when it comes to rescheduling cannabis from schedule 1 to 3 and if congress will ever get its act together and clear up SAFER banking and other issues they helped create. But our conversation begins with a little bit of the personal, with Hirsh recounting what sort of impact his first time trying cannabis had on him… MORE INFO More on Hirsh Jain: https://twitter.com/anandastrategy More on Ananda Strategy: https://anandastrategy.com/ For more Here Weed Go! content, including links to social media and TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome back to the latest and greatest episode of Here Weed Go! I'm your host, Eddie Celaya, cannabis reporter at TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com. As a journalist who covers the cannabis space, I always try to look out for other reporters, writers and authors who are working in the industry, as well. It helps me keep up to date on what’s happening in this ever changing business, and it keeps me off my phone and from streaming too much HBO and YouTube. Still, a lot of times, coverage of any kind of news can be a little bit negative, and sometimes, you just want an inspiring story and not a deep dive on what local zoning ordinances could mean for potential pot shops. Enter Dr. Bridget Cole Williams, a board certified physician who has one hell of an inspiring story herself, which we get into in our conversation. Williams, who once had a traditional medical practice at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, decided to leave the field of traditional medicine behind when she realized that for some of her patients, plant-based medicines, including cannabis, might be more beneficial. Eventually, she found her way into publishing and is now the author and driving force behind Courage in Cannabis a two-volume collection of testimonials and short stories from everyday people and celebrities that aims to be the Chicken Soup for the Soul of cannabis. In our interview, Williams and I touch on her personal journey with cannabis and how it has informed both her medical and literary careers within the industry, how she came up with the idea for a series like Courage in Cannabis, and what’s next for Williams and the community she’s created around her books… In talking with Dr. Bridget, I realized that a lot of what we do is similar: We’re both writers telling stories, obviously, but we’re both ultimately trying to tell people's stories about their experiences with a plant (or derivatives of that plant) that have been life-changing or life shaping for them in some way. And because that plant has been stigmatized and criminalized for so long, it’s tough to talk about those experiences sometimes, and even tougher to put those experiences to paper for nearly anyone to read. So I’m proud to be able to tell another storytellers tale, and I hope any of you out there with an inspiring story, or any story with anything that might be less than mainstreamed in society, know you have a safe place to talk about it here. If you'd like to learn more about Dr. Bridget, Courage in Cannabis or Here Weed Go!, check out these links below: MORE INFO For more info on Dr. Bridget Cole Williams: https://www.drbridgetmd.com/ For more on Courage in Cannabis: https://www.courageincannabis.com/ For more Here Weed Go! episodes and content, including links to the Here Weed Go! twice-weekly newsletter and social media pages: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgoSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here Weed Go! is back! After a few weeks in the wilderness, the podcast that puts the flame to flower when it comes to seed to sale coverage of America’s fastest growing cash crop: cannabis! I’m your host Eddie Celaya, cannabis, travel and food reporter for TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com! Before I get this joint lit, I wanted to remind everyone that it really helps the podcast, and I truly do appreciate, when you subscribe, share and comment on Here Weed Go!, wherever you’re streaming or downloading it from. You can also give the podcast a shout and a follow on social media on Instagram by searching for the username Here.Weed.Go. And of course, don’t forget to visit TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com to see all of my latest content, and to subscribe to the weekly Here Weed Go! newsletter. Let me know what you think by emailing me at ecelaya- that’s ecelaya@tucson.com to let me know what you think! Anyway, about this episode you’re currently listening to: it’s the start of a new season and new approach. Appropriate then to speak with someone who is using a technology that is on the cutting edge and disrupting everything it approaches. I’m referring to AI, or artificial intelligence. While the concept and its use within everyday technology is often taken for granted (think about predictive text for texting – that’s AI), the latest offerings in the field have taken businesses in the cannabis (and media) space by storm – and with some push back. My guest today however is an advocate for its use, at least when it comes to processing the mountains of paperwork and navigating the oftentimes contradictory levels of regulatory red-tape that comes along with establishing and running a marijuana business. Dustin Robinson is an attorney and founding partner of Mr. Cannabis Law, a cannabis and psychedelics-focused law firm based out of Florida. His firm is pioneering the use of AI software to help speed up and simplify a process that has become for some, an insurmountable hurdle to gaining some sort of foothold in the burgeoning industry. Our conversation begins with Robinson explaining how he came to a career in law, by way of accounting… MORE INFO More on Mr. Cannabis Law: https://mrcannabislaw.com/ Dustin Robinson's profile: https://mrcannabislaw.com/dustin-robinson-attorney-profile/ The on-stop shop for more Here Weed Go! episodes, stories, video and audio content and more: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo To sign up for the Here Weed Go! Newsletter: http://tucne.ws/hereweedgo See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome to a psychedelic episode of Here Weed Go! I’m your host Eddie Celaya, cannabis reporter for TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com! Before we trip out on today’s main interview topic, I wanna remind you all to sign up for the Here Weed Go! newsletter and to like, follow and subscribe to all of the Here Weed Go! social media pages, like Facebook and Instagram. I’ve added links to all of those different ways to consume Here Weed Go! content in this episode's description, which you can find wherever you stream or download Here Weed Go! Now, for today’s episode, we’re leaving the weed at home (unless you really need it) to venture up north to British Colombia, where I chat a little about psychedelics with some new friends of mine. See, I like to travel, and many times on my travels, I like to take trips. No, not short day-trips in a car to Sedona or Bisbee (although that can also be involved in one of these "trips"). No, instead I mean I like to take some magic mushrooms or other substances that help alter my mind during my vacations. It’s a good way for me to reset and refocus, especially now with a career and future that are seemingly always in flux and ultimately, always on the line. But sometimes, I wish there was a guide when partaking with 'shrooms. Unlike cannabis, which for me is always very soothing and almost numbing to the senses, psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD can be absolutely overwhelming in both an overstimulating and under-stimulating way, depending on the experience, dosage, etc. To find out more about what a purposefully sought out psychedelic experience can be like, I reached out to the creators of The Journeymen Collective, a personalized plant-medicine based retreat and follow-up experience founded by partners Rob Grover and Gary Logan. In our conversation, we look into the reasons why more and more people are seeking out plant-based medicine retreats based in marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, or other psychedelics, what sort of clientele are coming to the Journeymen Collective, and what feedback the pair has received from past retreat goers. It’s a wide ranging conversation that begins with the personal: Rob and Gary recounting their first experiences with mushrooms and the very beginnings of their love story. MORE INFO The Journeymen Collective website: https://www.thejourneymencollective.com/ The Journeymen Collective Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejourneymencollective/ Here Weed Go! one-stop linktree (for Facebook and Instagram profiles, newsletter and podcast subscription sign-up): https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo Host Eddie Celaya's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reportereddie/ Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How’s it growing folks!? Welcome to another fun episode of Here Weed Go!, the podcast focused on finding high-end cannabis content for your national marijuana needs. I'm your host Eddie Celaya, cannabis reporter for the Arizona Daily Star and TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com. While I might be based in Tucson, all of you regular listeners of the podcast know I love to travel and love traveling even more when there’s some top-shelf weed involved. So for this episode, we’re taking a deep toke and getting introspective about one of the most successful independent dispensary chains in the country. And it just so happens that its flagship shop is just north up Interstate 10 in a small Phoenix suburb known as Guadalupe, Arizona. For anyone that’s driven pretty much anywhere in Arizona, they know I’m talking about The Mint, a chain of dispensaries in the Phoenix area (with a future presence in Tucson possible in the near future) known state-wide due to the company’s old-school approach to marketing with billboards. The flagship shop is also the only location in Arizona to be open 24 hours (although a new Mint location in the works will also be open round the clock), feature an active marijuana grow room that customers and patients can see into, and is the only dispensary in the country with an in-house kitchen making infused made-to-order cakes, pies, pizzas and wings, as well as other cannabis-infused culinary confections. As a quick aside, I’ve been to some enormous and impressive dispensaries in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Seattle, and The Mint’s Guadalupe location, where this interview took place, can certainly hang with any of them. Both in terms of products available and showmanship I’ve done recent episodes on how things are going in Michigan and Missouri, and it just so happens that The Mint also has a presence in those states as well. To help me get a better grasp of The Mint and how it operates, I spoke with the companies co-founder and chief operating officer, Raul Molina. Molina, who came into cannabis from the car sales industry, is a near legendary figure in the Arizona market. During our conversation, we were interrupted no less than three times by local businessmen just looking to introduce themselves and exchange numbers with the man. Once we got going, we touched on the origins of The Mint and how the company has grown in and out of state, how the old-school tactics marketing tactics of billboards and radio spots has worked for the company in an age of increasing online footprints, and just how successful The Mint has been. Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily StarSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome back to Here Weed Go! Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Threads at the handle @ReporterEddie. Oh, and you can follow the podcasts social media on Facebook and Instagram, just search for Here.Weed.Go So, I’ve been doing a little thinking (and podcasting) lately on large, macro trends within the cannabis industry. I’ve touched on the rise of gummies in the edible market, and how cannabis beverages seem to be making steady growth, year-over-year, especially since the pandemic. One method of consumption I haven’t touched on yet is pre-rolled joints and blunts. Along with vaping cartridges and edibles, the pre-roll categories completes the “Holy Trinity” of convince consumption methods and, as a category, accounts for anywhere from 10-15% of sales in most states markets in the United States. Still, those sort of numbers only give so much perspective. I still have a lot of questions, like: How has the market for pre-rolls grown since the recreational legalization movement started really gaining steam five years ago? Where are pre-roll papers sourced from? Are their pre-roll machines? To help shed some light on those an other topics, I turned to Harrison Bard, co-founder of Custom Cones USA, one of the largest suppliers of pre-rolled cones and rolling papers in the United States and Canada. In our conversation, Harrison explains how a business venture originally founded on improving infused cannabis rolling papers grew into the giant in the industry that Custom Cones is today, the reasons behind the recent proliferation in pre-roll sales, and what he believes the future is for custom cones and the cannabis industry as a whole. The interview begins with Harrison diving into the origins behind Custom Cones USA, and the story of its rise. Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily StarSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome back to another new episode of Here Weed Go!, the podcast issuing a public health message that it’s just a matter of time before marijuana makes its way into your life! So, in the age of the pandemic, I’m of the belief that knowledge, when paired with good data, is power. That logic applies to public health initiatives as well. In the case of marijuana and other recreational drugs, however, patients and consumers within those communities and industries are rightfully skeptical of public health programs and initiatives. And who can blame them? Look at the infamous DARE program of the late 80s and 90s. Two generations of school children and young adults were given the “Just Say No” talk taught to lump cannabis into the same category as much harder substances when it came to consequences and health detriments. And those consequences, when they weren’t coming in the form of unfair and unjust criminal charges (usually worse for minorities), were usually overexaggerated when it came to physical and health related effects. Still, it’s disingenuous to suggest that consuming cannabis, especially habitually, is all rainbows, lollipops and thumbs up from your doctor for a clean bill of health. For some people, there are health- and psychological-related risks and issues that come with cannabis consumption. But it’s not like the over-dose fears drilled into third graders during their after recess DARE session. To help talk to me about what a modern, state-sponsored and funded public health campaign aimed at educating the public about marijuana usage, I spoke with Dr. Benjamin Brady director of education and policy initiatives at the University of Arizona's Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center. The Center was the recipient of a $1 million grant from the Arizona Department of Health Services, the state agency in charge of regulating marijuana, to develop a program that promotes awareness and respect for Arizona’s marijuana laws and to encourage responsible use of cannabis. You can read more about the grant in my story on TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com, but in our conversation, Dr. Brady and I clear the smoke around what a public health campaign created around marijuana usage should sound and look like in this day and age, how public health education has evolved since Nancy Regan smashed those eggs, and just how he and his colleagues will be able to measure if the public has finally wised up when it comes to weed. MORE INFO For more on Dr. Benjamin Brady: https://publichealth.arizona.edu/directory/benjamin-brady For more on University of Arizona's Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center: https://cpac.arizona.edu/ For more on the $1 million grant to CPAC from the Arizona Department of Health Services: https://tucson.com/marijuana/ua-pain-center-wins-1-million-grant-from-state-for-new-cannabis-education-program/article_fd433883-34ac-57a9-940b-4a033ca7a8a1.html For more Here Weed Go! podcast episodes: https://omny.fm/shows/here-weed-go To subscribe to the Here Weed Go! Southern Arizona Newsletter: http://tucne.ws/hereweedgo Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome again to Here Weed Go! For my regular listeners, you’ll know I did a few election-centered episodes of Here Weed Go! near the end of last year that focused on some of the most important races and ballot propositions and initiatives for cannabis advocates across the country. One of those state initiatives was in Missouri, and it ended up passing resoundingly. I’ve been looking to take a toke out of that market ever since. It only makes sense then that I would reach out to one of the biggest operators in the Show-Me State to, well, show me what exactly is happening in the country's latest developing cannabis market. I reached out to Greenlight Dispensary, one of the most prominent dispensary chains in the Midwest, who has a large presence in Missouri. Greenlight is a chain of dispensaries found in Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, West Virginia and South Dakota. The chain is an example of what is known in the industry as a multi-state operator. Luckily, John Mueller, co-founder and CEO of Greenlight Dispensary, was available. In our discussion, Mueller talks a little about growing Greenlight Dispensary into the Midwest giant it is today and how the company has grown in states both with recreational cannabis programs and ones without. We then hone in on what makes Missouri special in the greater U.S. cannabis market, like being bordered by states that either aren’t as friendly to cannabis use or who have significantly higher taxes. And we dive into what’s next in the Midwest, from further Greenlight Dispensary expansion to the next possible states to drop cannabis prohibition. Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star MORE INFO For more on Greenlight Dispensary: https://greenlightdispensary.com/ For more Here Weed Go! podcast episodes: https://omny.fm/shows/here-weed-go To sign up for the Here Weed Go! newsletter: http://tucne.ws/hereweedgo For all Here Weed Go! and TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com content: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgoSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome to Here Weed Go! the still-weekly podcast bringing you the latest in news, science, business and culture when it comes to cannabis, the nations fastest growing and best smoking cash crop. I’ll tell you what folks, my first week back on the breaking news beat has so far been quiet, so that’s allowing me to continue covering this amazing world of cannabis, and damn do I have an interview for you today. This episode, which features my very fun interview with Allison Krongard, the co-founder of the unabashedly women-forward cannabis brand Her Highness, was supposed to run for mothers day. But schedules get mixed and episodes that are mixed and ready get out of the gates first. So think of this episode as a belated mothers day edition of Here Weed Go!, or at least one dedicated to the women in your life! I’ve grown up around cannabis since my mid-teens, and ever since that time, its been a very dude dominated culture. That’s remained fairly unchanged as the plant has transitioned from the underground to the nearly mainstream. According to a survey by industry trade journal MJ Biz Daily, the percentage of women executives in the space only grew by a percentage point to 23.1% over the past year. Women also continue to lag behind men when it comes to staff-level jobs in cultivation/manufacturing (44%) and retail (47%), the survey found. Krongard and her partner, Laura Eisman, have set out to help change that narrative by marketing Her Highness and their products exclusively to women and, as they say, men who love women. Many of the Her Highness products come in bright gold packaging, with a large Her Highness logo in the shape of ruby red lips gracing the packaging's front. That stands out on a shelf where many brands in the industry seem to be blending in, instead. Krongard and I begin our chat talking about what Her Highness is and why it’s focus is on the female consumer and how women can enjoy of cannabis, move into a discussion about Her Highnesses unique packaging and marketing strategy, then clear the smoke around topics ranging from Her Highnesses patent pleasure oil to what the future holds for a brand that seems to be taking New York by storm. Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star MORE INFO More on Her Highness: https://www.herhighness.com/ More Here Weed Go! podcast episodes: https://omny.fm/shows/here-weed-go For all Here Weed Go! content and social media pages: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgoSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.