Skip to main content

Current News

Meet Burl Bryson

The Cannabis Alliance Welcomes Burl Bryson as Executive Director

A Cannabis Industry leader with a background in law Bryson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to move The Cannabis Alliance’s mission forward under his leadership.

Seattle, Wash. June 2022— The Cannabis Alliance, Washington’s largest Cannabis non-profit, which is dedicated to the advancement of a vital, ethical, equitable, and sustainable cannabis industry, welcomes Douglas “Burl” Bryson as their new Executive Director. With a long history of exciting accomplishments, Burl brings a wealth of experience to The Cannabis Alliance. Before his career in the cannabis industry, Burl worked as a successful litigation attorney for a large multi-state law firm. He also traveled extensively and helped found successful non-cannabis businesses. He started in the early days of medical cannabis in British Columbia with an ethos of providing safe, effective, pesticide-free cannabis to other patients. He also led a very active outdoors life which started him in the ski industry as a cat skiing guide and ski patrol and he also volunteered as a team leader for Ground Search, Organized Avalanche Response, and Swiftwater search and rescue with the very active Nelson, BC Search, and Rescue team. He was also training his dog Goose for CARDA (Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association) when he got a call that had him uproot his life in Nelson and he moved to Bend, OR to become the CEO at Lunchbox Alchemy. He helped them become the #1 edible producer in Oregon and they won seven Dope Cups for edibles & extracts during his tenure. Burl was featured in Season 2 of the Netflix series, Rotten, for his work in building a state-of-the-art edible production facility. In 2019, he moved to Washington State to successfully lead Smokey Point Productions as their CEO during a challenging time.

Burl is excited to be joining The Cannabis Alliance and said, “My main motivation is to try and get some common-sense legislation passed. We need to help the industry and we need to help patients, everyone is suffering right now.” Washington was one of the first states to legalize adult-use cannabis, just over 10 years ago, a pioneer in this fast-paced industry which is evolving quickly. Currently, cannabis provides more than 22,000 jobs and over a Billion dollars in tax revenue to the state coffers in Washington. Burl said “It’s time to rework that original i502 law and make some comprehensive changes to the benefit of industry, consumers, legislators, and patients alike. It’s time for 502 point 0.” Burl believes that Washington should be a nationwide leader in the quality of its cannabis just like it is with apples, creating sustainable jobs and revenue far into the future. But to do that there needs to be an updated regulatory framework that helps cannabis businesses thrive. “Federal legalization is coming. We need a legislative framework that helps to create that vital, ethical, equitable, and sustainable cannabis industry now, so that we’re in a better position to take on the challenges of today and ready for the challenges that Federal legalization will inevitably bring” he said.

As the Executive Director, Burl Bryson will be focusing on advancing legislation in Olympia that will benefit growers, producers/processors, retail, patients, and adult-use consumers alike. By working to make changes at the state level, The Cannabis Alliance will further address misconceptions and misinformation to improve the business environment for its members through education and advocacy.

Former Interim Executive Director and current President of the Board of Directors, Caitlein Ryan, had this to say about Bryson, “Burl brings an impressive business track record, an ethos that aligns with the goals of our organization, and a life-long understanding of the plant that, all together, create an ideal leader for the growth of The Cannabis Alliance. I have enjoyed getting to know him as a person and I am looking forward to everyone else getting to know him as well.”

 

About The Cannabis Alliance

With a growing membership in all aspects of the Cannabis Industry from patients to producers, farmers, retailers, and the ancillary industry, they have a perspective and background on a sustainable and ethical future for the cannabis industry. In 2016 when The Cannabis Alliance was created they saw a need for a cohesive voice for advocacy. In the years since, they have taken their vision and crafted it into a robust membership that advocates, educates, and promotes good practices and helps steer the conversation across a multitude of legislative bodies and industry leaders alike. They have been an essential voice in crafting legislation to ensure Washington’s Cannabis industry is one that can both assure safe access and reasonable regulation for our entire state to thrive.

Leave a Reply

TCA Newsletters