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The measure of injuries and fatalities on the country’s roadways following cannabis legalization has been haphazard and inconclusive. In this episode Herb speaks with Chuck DeWeese, former head of the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, former chair of the national Governors’ Highway Safety Association, and founder/CEO of Connecting Clients Consulting LLC. In addition to the results seen in longstanding legal jurisdictions, Herb and Chuck discuss new tools on the horizon to assist law enforcement in determining levels of impairment caused by cannabis consumption.

The Licensee Highlight segment focuses on licensed cultivator and microprocessor applicant, William Leibee of Back Home Farms NY. William describes his approach to sustainable farming under an organic management plan that practices crop rotation, cover cropping, without the use of synthetic chemicals. Herb and William are joined by Mike Hassell, co-founder of Elevated Strategies, a consultancy assisting Back Home Farm NY.

Further Reading:

• 2023 Patient and Provider Survey Report

Joint Session: Diverse Voices in NYS Cannabis is produced by Herb Barbot, with additional production and engineering by Matt Patterson, with Rebecca Malpica producing our digital marketing/social media.

In addition, thank you to Cannabis Wire for contributing our cannabis news. You can now get 30% off a subscription to Cannabis Wire by going to CannabisWire.com and using discount code: CWJOINTSESSION

Please contact us at herb.jointsession@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments, including topics to cover.

Follow the show on Instagram at jointsession.pod, and on LinkedIn at Joint Session Podcast.

If you’re enjoying the show, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps new listeners find the show.

Send us a Text Message.

New York State’s cannabis program has been a magnet for lawsuits that have stymied progress in issuing licenses and growing the industry. Is the problem the agency’s implementation of the governing law, or is it the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act itself that is the problem? In this episode Herb speaks with attorney Fatima Afia and covers the full range of lawsuits that have been filed against the NYS Office of Cannabis Management’s adult use program.

Further Reading:

• New York’s OCM distracted with over 20 lawsuits
• State's cannabis office facing over 20 lawsuits
• New York hit with another lawsuit challenging marijuana social equity

Joint Session: Diverse Voices in NYS Cannabis is produced by Herb Barbot, with additional production and engineering by Matt Patterson, with Rebecca Malpica producing our digital marketing/social media.

In addition, thank you to Cannabis Wire for contributing our cannabis news. You can now get 30% off a subscription to Cannabis Wire by going to CannabisWire.com and using discount code: CWJOINTSESSION

Please contact us at herb.jointsession@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments, including topics to cover.

Follow the show on Instagram at jointsession.pod, and on LinkedIn at Joint Session Podcast.

If you’re enjoying the show, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps new listeners find the show.

Send us a Text Message.

In this episode Herb briefly covers news items from across the country, and locally in New York, where a major report in The City, by Rosalind Adams, detailed that OCM officials repeatedly raised alarms to Governor Hochul’s team over private equity loan deal. Also, shuttered unlicensed shop owners joined to bring a class action lawsuit against New York City claiming the closures are unconstitutional.

In the first segment, Herb speaks with Vladimir Bautista, CEO and Co-Founder of Happy Munkey, LLC., an internationally known NYC lifestyle company that is synonymous with cannabis culture. Vladimir is a speaker that is highly in demand across the globe and on this episode we’ll understand why.

Finally, in our Licensee Highlight segment, Herb speaks to Sandra Jaquez and Indhira Mojica, two license applicants who are also on the board of the Latino Cannabis Association. Sandra and Indhira are entrepreneurs who will share some commonsense wisdom with the State.

Further Reading on Our Guests and Topics

• State Cannabis Officials Repeatedly Raised Alarms to Hochul’s Team Over Private Equity Loan Deal, Internal Emails Show
• Illegal Cannabis Shop Owners Challenge Adam's Crackdown on Unlicensed NYC Pot Stores
• Home Cultivation is Now Legal in NYS for Adults 21+

Joint Session: Diverse Voices in NYS Cannabis is produced by Herb Barbot, with additional production and engineering by Matt Patterson, with Rebecca Malpica producing our digital marketing/social media.

In addition, thank you to Cannabis Wire for contributing our cannabis news. You can now get 30% off a subscription to Cannabis Wire by going to CannabisWire.com and using discount code: CWJOINTSESSION

Please contact us at herb.jointsession@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments, including topics to cover.

Follow the show on Instagram at jointsession.pod, and on LinkedIn at Joint Session Podcast.

If you’re enjoying the show, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps new listeners find the show.

Send us a Text Message.

In this episode Herb describes his concerns with the turmoil at the NYS Office of Cannabis Management and how that might impact the momentum in the state’s evolving cannabis industry.

In the first segment, Herb speaks with Jennifer Cabrera, Esq., a partner at Vicente, LLP, a law firm focused on cannabis law and policy. Jennifer’s work with cannabis license applicants in NY and NJ provides us with the episode’s possible subtitle - “Jennifer’s Guide to Opening a Dispensary”. This is a must-listen for anyone considering opening a cannabis dispensary.

In our Licensee Highlight segment, we speak to the remarkable Leeann Mata, owner of the Brooklyn dispensary, Matawana. Leeann describes how her brother’s arrest for a low-level marijuana offense changed his life, and almost left her family homeless. Today, Leeann, a single mother of three, has earned two degrees and is the first black woman to open a licensed cannabis dispensary in Brooklyn, NY.

Further Reading on Our Guests and Topics

• New York Cannabis Chief Resigns After Criticism from Hochul
• NY Cannabis Management Leader Chris Alexander Resigns Early, Leaving Post Unfilled
• Matawana Is Brooklyn’s First Black Woman–Owned Dispensary
• Brooklyn’s first Black woman-owned dispensary opens in Park Slope, Adams vows to crack down on illegal sellers

Joint Session: Diverse Voices in NYS Cannabis is produced by Herb Barbot, with additional production and engineering by Matt Patterson, with Rebecca Malpica producing our digital marketing/social media.

In addition, thank you to Cannabis Wire for contributing our cannabis news. You can now get 30% off a subscription to Cannabis Wire by going to CannabisWire.com and using discount code: CWJOINTSESSION

Please contact us at herb.jointsession@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments, including topics to cover.

Follow the show on Instagram at jointsession.pod, and on LinkedIn at Joint Session Podcast.

If you’re enjoying the show, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps new listeners find the show.

Send us a Text Message.

In this episode, Herb speaks to acclaimed author, Daniel Okrent, about his book Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. Daniel served as the first public editor of the New York Times and invented Rotisserie League Baseball. His book, Last Call, served as a major source for the 2011 Ken Burns/Lynn Novick miniseries Prohibition. His most recent book is The Guarded Gate:Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America.

In this episode’s Licensee Highlight, Herb speaks with Sheldon Anderson, CEO of Public Flower Dispensary, in Buffalo, NY. Sheldon thoughtfully reflects on growing up around cannabis and the opportunity that led to recently as he was awarded a NYS Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary License.

Joint Session: Diverse Voices in NYS Cannabis is produced by Herb Barbot, with additional production and engineering by Matt Patterson, with Rebecca Malpica producing our digital marketing/social media.

In addition, thank you to Cannabis Wire for contributing our cannabis news.

Please contact us at herb.jointsession@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments, including topics to cover.

Follow the show on Instagram at jointsession.pod, and on LinkedIn at Joint Session Podcast.

If you’re enjoying the show, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps new listeners find the show.

Send us a Text Message.

In this episode, Herb speaks to Jeffrey Hoffman, Esq. (Hoffman & Associates), Jeffrey is a well-known cannabis attorney and advocate, as well as host of Ask Me Anything about Cannabis Legalization in New York Ask Me Anything about Cannabis Legalization in New York | LinkedIn. Herb and Jeffrey run down the changes coming to NYS cannabis as a result of the recently negotiated Fiscal Year 2025 budget, as the State again attempts to deal with illicit operators and other issues.

In this episode’s Licensee Highlight, Herb speaks with Osbert Orduña, CEO of The Cannabis Place The Cannabis Place Dispensary Weed Delivery. Osbert is one of NYS’s first Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licensees. A former marine and Service Disabled Veteran, Osbert has become one of New York’s leading advocates on behalf of licensees.

Joint Session: Diverse Voices in NYS Cannabis is produced by Herb Barbot, with additional production and engineering by Matt Patterson, with Rebecca Malpica producing our digital marketing/social media.

In addition, thank you to Cannabis Wire for contributing our cannabis news.

Please contact us at herb.jointsession@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments, including topics to cover.

Follow the show on Instagram at jointsession.pod, and on LinkedIn at Joint Session Podcast.

If you’re enjoying the show, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps new listeners find the show.

Send us a Text Message.

In this episode Herb speaks to Dasheeda Dawson, founding director of Cannabis NYC and Jeffrey Garcia, Executive Director of NYC’s Office of Nightlife. They discuss NYC’s support for those individuals and small businesses interested in participating in the growing legal cannabis industry. They also discuss the expected economic benefits of what is expected to be the single largest market for cannabis, including tourism activity, and other activity that will be made available by onsite consumption opportunities.

In our second segment, Herb speaks to Wei Hu, Esq. In addition to being one of NYC’s top cannabis lawyers, Wei is a partner in the Lenox Hill Cannabis Company, a dispensary on the Upper East Side.

Cannabis NYC

Office of Nightlife - SBS (nyc.gov)

Lenox Hill Cannabis Co. – Lenox Hill Cannabis Co.

Joint Session: Diverse Voices in NYS Cannabis is produced by Herb Barbot, with additional production and engineering by Matt Patterson, with Rebecca Malpica producing our digital marketing/social media.

In addition, thank you to Cannabis Wire for contributing our cannabis news.

Please contact us at herb.jointsession@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments, including topics to cover.

Follow the show on Instagram at jointsession.pod, and on LinkedIn at Joint Session Podcast.

If you’re enjoying the show, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps new listeners find the show.

Send us a Text Message.

In our premiere episode Herb speaks to NYS Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes. The Majority Leader was the prime sponsor of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which created the adult-use market, the Office of Cannabis Management, the Cannabis Control Board, as well as the Cannabis Advisory Board.

In our second segment, Herb speaks to Beatrice Stein, founder of Hospitality Pathways, which is conducting a training course for “budtenders” to work in dispensaries.

Related Links:

• Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes - Assembly District 141
• Hospitality Pathways

Joint Session: Diverse Voices in NYS Cannabis is produced by Herb Barbot, with additional production and engineering by Matt Patterson, with Rebecca Malpica producing our digital marketing/social media.

In addition, thank you to Cannabis Wire for contributing our cannabis news.

Please contact us at herb.jointsession@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments, including topics to cover.

Follow the show on Instagram at jointsession.pod, and on LinkedIn at Joint Session Podcast.

If you’re enjoying the show, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps new listeners find the show.