Real SAFE Progress
Monday, October 2, 2023
Time to read: About 4 minutes. Contains 833 words.
Good morning!
My conversation with Lauren Carpenter of Embarc dispensaries and events is live! The podcast chat goes behind the scenes of the Grass Lands event attached to Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco, sharing lessons learned from planning a major activation—one that incl sales and consumption. We discuss the vital, evolving role events play in building cannabis communities and supporting successful legal markets, and she offers advice for entrepreneurs planning and executing cannabis events of any size. I opened it up for all subscribers to enjoy, just head here to listen.
These insider chats have been fun to develop as Sticky Bits evolves from its Broccoli Report roots, and I encourage y’all to send me suggestions of people or topics you’d be interested in hearing more about. I’m also considering a sort of AMA episode where I answer pre-submitted questions, or we aim for a live event for paid subscribers where we talk through PR questions, market assessments, community-building questions, etc. in person…let me know what you think!
Paid subscribers receive special deep dives into trending topics 2X/month and access to past trend reports, entrepreneurial tools, and more one-on-ones with industry insiders.
One-Hitters: Cannabis News at a Glance
A potential hallelujah in the making: the SAFE bill moves forward towards a Senate vote. As of right now, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer stated he aims to bring the bill "to the Senate floor with all due speed." There’s bipartisan support, but concerns on both sides remain, and it’s important to note that while the passing of this bill would open up banking options for cannabis businesses, it does not guarantee them. A dispensary owner with a clean record will likely still have a better shot at a business account and/or a fair loan rate than a dispensary owner with a past criminal charge relating to cannabis.
In Michigan, today marks the end of pre-employment cannabis testing for (most) public employees. The new ruling won’t change hiring protocols for certain safety-sensitive positions, i.e., law enforcement personnel. Anyone previously denied positions because of a failed cannabis test will be eligible to reapply for employment immediately.
Los Angeles cannabis event organizer Hazy is making this month’s Friday the 13th soiree their last event of the year, and one to remember at that—expect flash tattoos, live music, fun activations, and more.
In other event news, it sounds like PuffCo did not disappoint! If you attended as a consumer or a brand, feel free to chime in your observations in the comments. All I know for sure is Fidel’s Hash Hole collaborated on a primo “Weed & Wagyu” mini cooler of gourmet beef, bud, and banana pudding, and I’m obsessed.
Eater NY explores the bodegas selling unlicensed weed and unlimited international snacks.
If you live or work in the California cannabis scene, Origins Council has made it easy to send a letter of recommendation for Governor Gavin Newsom to veto AB 1207, a prohibitive bill sitting on his desk right now that would further challenge cannabis businesses in their marketing efforts. To start, the bill would ban images of “real or fictional humans” on packaging. You can send a template letter to Newsom and sign a petition.
High Finds: Lifestyle Goods I Like
I don’t know about cafes near you, but in my home base of Portland, OR, ube is king right now. Lavender-tinted lattes are popping up across town. Last week I saw ube whipped cream atop iced coffees at Kalesa Coffee. To my knowledge, the hype ingredient has yet to hit dispensary shelves here, but Californians can enjoy ube gummies from the new Filipino-founded and inspired brand, Dear Flor. In an edible market so saturated with gummy variants, I think they’ll do well standing out with a unique flavor.
A big congratulations to cannabis culinary luminaries Haejin Chun and Jamie Evans—a.k.a. @bigbadwolf and @theherbsomm—for their new cookbook, Let’s Get Baked: High Times’ Official Cannabis Baking Cookbook. You can preorder this collection of recipes for creative desserts, infused drinks, non-infused munchies, and beautiful photography right now.
The latest issue of Broccoli is out now, in all its delicate-but-strong, floral & industrial energy glory. It includes a feature interview with Mia Khalifa, a Q & A between musician Lizzy Jeff and yours truly about her inspiration, career trajectory, and range of activations she’s facilitating across the world, Balinese ritual offerings of flowers and smoke, a flourishing of fake plants, and much more.
After moving apartments for the first time in several years, I am very inspired to minimize my possessions. Two-in-one pieces like the doob tube/lighter Stashlight by Honest have never made more sense.
To seshes that cover many topics and tools that fill many gaps,
Lauren Yoshiko
Better yet, share on LinkedIn.