Welcome to High Minded by The Cannabist, our podcast diving into the stories, news and voices shaping a new billion-dollar industry.
High Minded is a podcast in three acts, hosted by The Cannabist’s staff.
Act I features serial news storytelling from our team of award-winning journalists. Season one is hosted by Alicia Wallace. In Act II, Cannabist editor Alex Pasquariello leads “The Conversation” with marijuana’s movers and shakers in government, law and business. For Act III, we turn over the microphone to leaders on all sides of the legalization movement in a segment we call “Closing Arguments.”
Enjoy our second episode, subscribe so you don’t miss any of Season One, and follow this podcast on Twitter at @HighMindedCast. Got feedback or a nominee to be on the podcast? Drop us a line here.
High Minded by The Cannabist
Season 1, Episode 2
[podcast]
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Act I
CBD, TBD with Alicia Wallace
In the DEA’s words: Agency stance on CBD, hemp products and the Farm Bill
High Minded continues its Season 1 serial series “CBD, TBD” in Washington, D.C., where the Drug Enforcement Agency has reiterated their position that CBD — even if derived from hemp — “is a schedule I controlled substance under the CSA.”
Cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive cannabis compound touted for its medicinal promise, can be extracted from hemp. CBD is in a legal battleground as advocates and attorneys argue on Capitol Hill and in federal courts that hemp is an agricultural product that is protected under the 2014 Farm Bill.
“CBD TBD” with Alicia Wallace explores the issues with CBD — federal-state conflicts, national drug policy, pioneering research efforts and the potential paths toward the compound’s full legalization.
Act II
The Conversation, hosted by Alex Pasquariello
High Minded’s Season 1 Conversation is framed by a months-long correspondence The Cannabist has dubbed “The Sessions Letters.”
Since April 2017, the U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions has sent missives to officials in the first four states to legalize adult-use marijuana: Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. In the letters, Sessions has raised serious questions about their respective regulatory and enforcement regimes.
High Minded convened a panel of Colorado’s top government officials to discuss their state’s response to Sessions.
The Conversation unpacks how Colorado is keeping its residents safe with:
- Mark Bolton, adviser to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on marijuana policy
- Dr. Larry Wolk, executive director and Chief Medical Officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
- Michael Hartman, executive director of the Colorado Department of Revenue, the agency that oversees the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division.
- Glenn Davis, highway safety manager for Colorado Department of Transportation
- Kristi Kelly, executive director of Marijuana Industry Group, a state-based trade association facilitating ongoing public-private collaboration to realize the state’s public safety and health goals.
Act III
Closing Arguments
The Closing Arguments are made in this episode by Mason Tvert, who reflects on the years of advocacy he helped lead that brought before Colorado voters the marijuana-legalizing Amendment 64 in 2012. Tvert is the new vice president of communications at VS Strategies, a national cannabis lobbying and public affairs firm. He is also a co-founder of nonprofit SAFER, which laid the groundwork for successful legalization efforts in 5 states beginning in 2005.
