Innovating Cannabis Podcast
Welcome to the Innovating Cannabis Podcast, where you will meet the people breaking barriers in the cannabis industry, both locally, nationally, and internationally, with a focus on business, entrepreneurship, cultivation, manufacturing, retail, brands, science, and policy. Get in touch with pam@InnovatingCannabisPodcast.com
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186_ Trade Show Strategy and Cannabis Industry Insights With George Jage
<p>Trade show season for 2026 is officially underway. </p> <p>I’ll be heading to MJ Unpacked, taking place May 5–7 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. </p> <p>I recently sat down with co-founder George Jage—someone many of you already know from his long track record in the trade show world, including his role in helping scale MJBizCon in the early days. </p> <p>In this conversation, we go beyond the typical event preview and dig into what it actually takes to build a meaningful industry gathering in cannabis. George shares how MJ Unpacked is intentionally designed not to be the bigge...
185_ Crunching Numbers With Sax Accounting
<p>Allison Kirchhofer is the Director of the Cannabis Division at Sax Accounting, where she leads a team of CPAs serving operators across multiple states. She has also worked closely with businesses in New York.s turbulent adult-use rollout, helping them manage compliance, tax strategy, and financial infrastructure in one of the country's most closely watched markets.</p> <p> </p> <p>Prior to joining Sax, Allison served as Controller for Travel Agency, one of New York's first licensed dispensaries, giving her first-hand operational insight into the financial realities of launching and running a cannabis retail business.</p> <p> </p> <p>In...
184_ How's the Nevada Cannabis Market Doing?
<p>Kema Ogden was one of the early pioneers of Nevada’s legal cannabis industry. In 2015, she helped open one of the state’s first medical dispensaries, laying the foundation for what would become the Top Notch THC brand.</p> <p>Since then, she and her partners have expanded to multiple adult-use locations across Nevada, building a loyal customer base in one of the country’s most competitive cannabis markets. Today, Top Notch THC serves both medical patients and recreational consumers and continues to grow alongside the evolving industry.</p> <p>In this episode, we talk about the Nevada cannabis market...
183_ How a Wisconsin Spirits Distiller Is Breaking Into THC Beverages
<p>River Falls, Wisconsin, is home to Tattersall Distilling, a nationally recognized craft spirits producer whose portfolio is distributed across 25 states. Known for sourcing locally and crafting spirits infused with botanicals and functional ingredients, Tattersall has built a reputation on flavor innovation and ingredient integrity. </p> <p>Co-founder Jon Kreidler joins the show to discuss the company's strategic expansion into the fast-growing hemp-derived THC beverage market with Tattersall Functional. Drawing on years of experience working with complex flavor profiles and plant-based ingredients, Jon explains how Tattersall is translating its distilling expertise into this new category. </p> <p>He also shares in...
182 Jeff Rawson's Mission to Protect Cannabis Consumers
<p>Jeff Rawson founded the nonprofit Institute of Cannabis Science while serving as a postdoctoral researcher in chemistry at Harvard University. He conducts scientific research, investigative reporting, and regulatory reviews, and provides subject-matter expertise in cannabis testing. </p> <p>Jeff serves on the ASTM D37 Committee on Cannabis and is involved with ACIL, which honored him with the 2024 Preston S. Miller Award for extraordinary service. </p> <p>He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bard College, a master’s in organic chemistry from the University of Vermont, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Duke University. </p> <p>Driven...
181_Updates on the Ohio Market with Law Firm, Ice Miller
<p>Today, we examine the Ohio cannabis market with our guests, attorneys John Oberle and Greg May from Ice Miller. We discuss the latest referendum effort led by Ohioans for Cannabis Choice, which seeks to repeal key components of a bill the governor recently signed to scale back the state's voter-approved cannabis law and ban the sale of consumable hemp products outside of licensed cannabis dispensaries.</p> <p>We also explore opportunities for new businesses entering the Ohio market and what they need to know before getting started.</p> <p>https://www.icemiller.com/</p> <p><p>The Innovating Cannabis...
180_ California Has a New Director of Cannabis Control
<p>Clint Kellum brings nearly 20 years of public service experience with the State of California, where he specialized in budget and policy work at the California Department of Finance. He joined the California Dept of Cannabis Control about five years ago as Chief Operating Officer, and was recently appointed Director, where he now leads the agency’s operations and helps shape the future of cannabis regulation in the state.</p><p> </p><p>We discuss his goals and vision for stabilizing California’s cannabis market and what it will take to turn things around for operators struggling to survive ongoing turbu...
179_ The Latest CBD Scientific Research from Western Washington University
<p>Josh Kaplan is the Associate Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience at Western Washington University. His research focuses on optimizing CBD-based medicine for pediatric conditions (e.g., epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder, exposure to early life stress). They use mouse models to probe the effects of CBD and terpenes at the behavioral, molecular, and electrophysiological levels.</p><p> </p><p>They can observe the effects of this medicine unfold in real time through an animal's actions, take pictures of its effects on proteins and other chemicals, and listen to how it impacts brain cell communication patterns. They aim to provide a comprehensive pi...
178_Building The German Cannabis Marketplace
<p>Dr. Julian Wichmann is a board-certified radiologist and the co-founder and CEO of Bloomwell,the first cannabis telemedicine platform to launch in Germany—and a model the U.S. should pay close attention to.<br /> </p><p>We dive into the current state of Germany’s cannabis market, the challenges of building a telemedicine blueprint from the ground up, how medical cannabis is revitalizing German pharmacies, and the role telehealth plays in connecting doctors, pharmacies, and patients.<br /> </p><p>The conversation offers valuable insight into how Germany is structuring medical cannabis at scale.</p><p> </p><p>https://bloomwe...
177_ BIPOCann Leads the Way for Business Incubators
<p>Ernest Toney joins us today. He is the founder of BIPOCANN, a Colorado-based nonprofit that provides business guidance to social equity entrepreneurs looking to start and scale cannabis businesses.</p><p>According to a survey released by economist Beau Whitney, only 27.3 percent of U.S. cannabis businesses are profitable. Another 40.6 percent are breaking even, while 32.2 percent are operating at a loss. Those profitability gaps are even more pronounced along racial lines: 33.7 percent of white-owned cannabis businesses reported being profitable, compared to just 17.5 percent of non-white-owned operators.</p><p>Ernest Toney is working to change those numbers by offering mentorship...
