Alliance at Work – June 2020

Another month, and yet another extension of the stay at home, stay safe order. The days blend in together and while it seems like there are endless zoom meetings, most are in preparation for the Cannabis Summit and other upcoming programs. The summit has the agenda finalized, the platform locked down, and all of the speakers have been confirmed. It is going to be an amazing program and tickets are now available at the Early Bird Rate. If you are thinking of sponsoring, I would suggest getting ahold of Jill Walker as soon as possible.

In addition to the summit, there are several other initiatives going on and soon will be revealed. Lots of good things coming for the Fall!

June 2 – We had our first of many virtual happy hours on Tuesdays dedicated to building social equity in the cannabis industry. Lively discussions have been had, new friendships formed and we have created some concrete actions to put into play. We will continue these happy hours into the future as long as we are on a stay at home orders. Join us.

June 5 – Kristin Baldwin, Caitlein Ryan and Chris Graves of the Snohomish County Legal Aid met with Hassan Aden, of the Aden Group. Hassan has been leading efforts to build trust and respect between communities and public safety providers. We reached out to see how The Cannabis Alliance could be effective in redirecting some of the tax-based funding locally that is currently going to police agencies to better serve our community and how the next national election could change the conversation around policing in general.

June 5 – Kristin & Jason Lammers, chair of The Alliance’s Sustainability committee met with Jennifer Dzubay & Susan Harrell to discuss a recent vape cartridge packaging ruling. Vape Cartridge packaging was not consistently enforced, and we asked for a ruling for consistency. The LCB will be putting out a statement to the effect that if the vape cartridge that contains the oil is in an unbreakable container that is child-resistant, then the outer package does not need to be two mil or greater in thickness.

June 9 – Trey Reckling, Academy of Cannabis Science, Kara Bradford, Viridian Staffing, and Heather Dagley of Bud and Blossom joined Kristin for a webinar on “Resumes & Interviewing for the Cannabis Industry“. There were some lively and informative discussions around the particulars of interviewing in cannabis and how to tailor one’s resume to fit. Please feel free to share this video with anyone who wants to join the industry and wants some insider information.

June 17 – Headset joined The Cannabis Alliance and presented their webinar on “Understanding the Cannabis Consumer during COVID-19”. Great information on how consumers have changed during the pandemic and whether or not their tastes will remain the same after this is all over.

June 23 – Jill Walker participated in the LCB’s Listen & Learn on the Tier 1 expansion proposal. While The Alliance formally gave comments on this rulemaking in December, Jill found the discussion enlightening on the industry thoughts and feelings about the particular aspects of WAC 314-55-075 Sections 1 through 5 being discussed.

June 24– Hawthorne Gardening donated 7 pallets of face shields to The Cannabis Alliance. Each box held 90 face shields – making it 10 K available to members (all 7 pallets were originally stored in Kristin’s driveway – much to the amusement of her neighbors. Bud Runner has been instrumental in helping distribute those as has Eric Boone. If anyone needs face shields, please contact Kristin Baldwin.

June 30 – Kristin Baldwin attended the second part of the LCB’s Listen & Learn on the Tier 1 expansion proposal. This was further discussion of the WAC 314-55-075 Sections 6 through 11. It seems that industry is overwhelmingly not in favor of expansion of Tier 1 as a whole and has all sorts of ideas on how to make the tiers work more equitable for all.