Cannabis has a special responsibility when it comes to social justice, because cannabis has a special history. To quote the Leafly report on social equity -Seeds of Change: Strategies to Create an Equitable Cannabis Industry - It is disingenuous to legalize cannabis and pretend that people of all races enjoy equal access to the opportunity offered by this new industry. Eight decades of prohibition have burdened people of color with targeted policing, arrests, and criminal records. In the present, venture capitalists and other investors, who are overwhelmingly white, often ignore, shun, or dismiss pitches from entrepreneurs of color. To make progress in the future, we’ll have to examine where and how we can do better. On this episode of Let’s be Blunt Montel talks with Josiah Young, a NY & CA licensed attorney with a passion for social equity within the cannabis industry.

#Cannabis #SocialEquity #Law

Montel talks with one of the 100 most influential individuals in cannabis on this episode of Let’s Be Blunt, Dr Benjamin Caplan. After an early career in brain imaging research at UCLA, he graduated from Williams College, completed his medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine, and his residency at Boston University. In addition to practicing as a primary care physician at some of Boston's foremost hospitals, he served as the Chief Medical Officer of one of the largest medical cannabis healthcare groups in the US, overseeing the clinical evaluations of over 250,000 medical patients. He has supervised and mentored hundreds of physicians across the United States and abroad, served as Investigator for multiple pharmaceutical research studies, and has been published in premier medical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine. He is a board-certified doctor of Family Medicine, the Founder and the Chief Medical Officer of CED Clinic, CED Foundation, and EO Care, Inc, as well as a co-founder of Solo Sciences which was acquired by Akerna Corp.

#cannabis #EOCare #HealthCare

On this episode of Let’s Be Blunt, Montel speaks with Liz Rogan, a certified Cannabinoid Medicine Specialist by the American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine. Liz is a 17 year veteran of the cannabis industry and acts as a liaison between government, community and cannabis business owners, and a consultant to both doctors and patients on customizing cannabis treatment plans and approaches the industry from a natural sciences perspective. She holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Biology with a minor in Botany from the University of Maine and is currently the Executive Director for the Cannabis Business Council of Santa Barbara County, Inc.

William Pollard once said, “Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” On this episode of Let’s Be Blunt, Montel chats with Cullen Raichart, a US Navy veteran who is a pioneer in automation in the emerging agricultural cannabis sector. His vision has led his company GreenBroz, Inc, to become a world leader in automated harvesting solutions.

Mike Glazer & Mary Jane Gibson join Montel on this episode of Let’s be Blunt for our first ever “Cannabis Year in Review”, a round-up of developments and headlines relating to cannabis in 2021. Many had hoped that 2021 was set to be a record year for cannabis with Democrats sweeping the 2020 elections, and the industry was optimistic that legalization was within reach. Montel & his guests discuss the progress on state legalizations, corporate support for cannabis, the recent mayhem in Oakland, the Olympics and much more!

Montel talks with Baba Israel & Grace Galu on this episode of Let’s Be Blunt about their new theatrical production entitled Cannabis! A Viper Vaudeville. The show is a theatrical concert exploring the history of cannabis using music, dance, and spoken word. It’s inspired by Martin A. Lee’s book Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana - Medical, Recreational, and Scientific. Cannabis! weaves the histories of icons such as Louis Armstrong and Bob Marley, and grassroots activists such as Dennis Perron and Brownie Mary with personal narratives and explores the cycles of repression & injustice surrounding the policing of the plant (and those who use it), along with its simultaneous celebration in the culture at large. It’s an immersive, multimedia artistic experience. The show runs from January 8, 2022-January 15, 2022 at the Ellen Stewart Theatre in New York City.

Tickets available at here.org/shows/cannabis-a-viper-vaudeville (HERE.org) or PrototypeFestival.org