Doug McVay was trained as a Reefer Raider by Jack Herer in 1984. He is a social justice activist and drug policy reformer residing in Oregon. He works for the Real Reporting Foundation as Editor of Drug Policy Facts at drugpolicyfacts.org and World Health Systems Facts at healthsystemsfacts.org. Doug also volunteers as a community radio news reporter, public affairs producer, and host of a weekly radio program called Century of Lies and a monthly show called Free Culture Radio. He discusses the impacts of recent funding cuts on legalization and drug policy reform efforts.

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Dr. Chanda Macias, MBA, is the CEO of National Holistic Healthcare, a medical cannabis cultivator, processor, and dispenser in the United States. Dr. Macias has spent 15+ years developing her knowledge of medical cannabis. She contributes to her success by educating on ailment strain alignment, which aligns a medical cannabis strain with a specific condition or ailment. She started her career in the flagship medical cannabis dispensary in Washington, D.C., at the National Holistic Healing Center in Dupont Circle. Dr. Macias educates women entrepreneurs and patients through her outreach platform as the Chairwoman of the Board of Managers and CEO for Women Grow, a global leader in connecting, educating, inspiring, and empowering the next generation of women leaders in the Cannabis and Hemp Industry. 

Dr. Macias educates women entrepreneurs and patients through her outreach platform as the Chairwoman of the Board of Managers and CEO for Women Grow, a global leader in connecting, educating, inspiring, and empowering the next generation of women leaders in the Cannabis and Hemp Industry.

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Mitchell Colbert is a journalist and educator who has written over 200 articles for over a dozen outlets, including High Times, Leafly, and Cannabis Now. He is also a co-author of multiple whitepapers focused on sustainability in the cannabis and hemp industries and The Budtender’s Guide, a companion textbook for the training course he helped create at Oaksterdam University.  Since 2018, Mitchell has lobbied around the United States to legalize the recycling of cannabis waste, specifically vape waste. He is currently a member of the SB 54 Working Group in California, representing the cannabis and hemp industries in implementing a first-in-the-nation plastic packaging EPR, or Extended Producer Responsibility

law. The ASTM International published Mitchell’s novel study on cannabis consumer packaging waste last year, offering a first look at the types and volume of consumer waste being created.

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Robert Sheilds received his natural resource management education in Vermont and has had a professional career in renewables and green building. The last decade spent on the frontline of a rapidly changing planet in Fairbanks, Alaska, has prepared him for what comes next for us all. Robert is a champion of permaculture as the foundation of a regenerative economy and believes that Alaska is in the process of emerging as a living lab where innovation, not fossil fuels, drives us forward and that industrial hemp is the key to practical self-reliance where food, energy, and zero waste policies keep costs low and the quality of life high for generations to come. He believes mainstreaming the hemp industry in Alaska and regionally across the US can save our farm feed and our families.

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As a little girl, Pamela Des Barres fell in love with rock ’n’ roll. While in high school, her friend introduced her to the psychedelic pioneer Captain Beefheart. At eighteen years old, she packed her bags for Hollywood. She spent the rest of the 1960s in rock’s cradle of civilization, meeting, befriending, or dating all of her musical heroes—The Byrds, the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and countless others. 

Once Frank Zappa got to know Pamela and her girlfriends, he helped hone them into a performance art and music troupe he called the GTOs. Throughout her time opening for The Mothers of Invention with the GTOs, doing handstands in Jim Morrison’s living room, sitting in at protests, accompanying Mick Jagger to Altamont, and nannying for the Zappas, Pamela kept detailed diaries, resulting in her best-selling memoir, I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie, and several subsequent tell-all publications. Today, Pamela is a respected author, journalist, creative writing instructor, podcaster, and rock historian and has earned the distinction of being recognized as the world’s most famous Groupie and she joins Vivian to tell us all about it.

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Mark Karan is best known for his extended time on the Grateful Dead scene as lead guitarist for Bob Weir & Ratdog, The Other Ones, Phil & Friends, and Planet Drum. But Mark’s musical reach extends far beyond the land of the Dead. His six-string contributions have complemented recordings and tours with Delaney Bramlett, Dave Mason, Sophie B. Hawkins, the Rembrandts, and Paul Carrick. Mark has been a guest for sit-ins with the Allman Brothers, Trey Anastasio, Gov't Mule, Jackie Greene, Levon Helm, Little Feat, and many more. The San Francisco-based singer-songwriter-guitarist has recently been playing well-received live shows with the Grammy Award-winning Dave Alvin in a newly minted interpretive Americana band called “the Third Mind,” touring actively with “Live Dead & Brothers,” an interpretive “mash-up” of “Grateful Dead” & “Allman Brothers” material… touring with the David Gilmour/Pink Floyd inspired “Gilmour Project” & playing nearer to home with his own band, “Mark Karen’s Buds.” Mark also recently finished recording and mixing his newest record and is embarking on what is possibly the most personal phase of his career. He joins Vivian to discuss it all.

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Peter Boehm has had a 35-year career in consumer products, tech, and disruptive market solutions. After an entrepreneurial career in 2015, Peter’s passion for cannabis led him to a pioneering role in alternative medicine, initially as a distributor of Charlotte’s Web cannabis strain. He soon transitioned to developing cannabinoid-based formulations. Peter talks about his launching of JaWeeDE, which he calls a unique cannabis business model integrating member-based grow operations and compassion clubs.

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Dr. Allison Justice, an alumnus of Clemson University, where she garnered a Ph.D. in Plant and Environmental Science, is now a pioneering figure in the dynamic field of cannabis cultivation and research. She is the proud Founder and CEO of The Hemp Mine, a 20-acre innovative hemp farm, breeding company, and hemp product manufacturer. Dr. Justice has been recognized by esteemed organizations like the California Industrial Hemp Advisory Board and South Carolina Farm Bureau and has been named one of the top "40 Under 40 in Cannabis" by Marijuana Venture Magazine, one of Dope Magazine’s Four Dope Women, and City Beat’s one of “San Diego’s Most Important People.” 

Harrison Bard is an accomplished entrepreneur. He has started multiple companies in the eCommerce space and has worked with many Fortune 500 companies, including McDonald's, Facebook, Yelp, Zappos, Wholefoods, and UPS. He co-founded Custom Cones USA in 2017 and has expertise in every facet of the Pre-Roll sector, from paper science to pre-roll manufacturing technology and techniques to a deep understanding of packaging and compliance regulations. Harrison co-founded DaySavers, the most compliantly tested and innovative pre-rolled cone and tube company for consumers. They discuss pre-roll technology and the science of smokability.

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Leonora (Leo) Russell is a licensed mental health therapist and chemical dependency professional. Leo is also the Executive Director of Entheo Society, a 501c3 non-profit organization focused on providing education and community regarding entheogenic culture. She is currently the chair of the initiative PAC ADAPT-WA, which is working to get legal psilocybin on the ballot in Washington for 2026. She is the chair of the ADAPT therapeutic psilocybin bill effort, aiming for the next Washington State legislative session in 2025.

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Grace Hyde is the Director of Commercial Operations for District Cannabis, a thriving cultivator providing premium flower to the Washington D.C. and Maryland markets. Grace oversees innovation across the company. In addition, she is responsible for government relations in Washington, D.C., and operational oversight of the D.C. cultivation facility. She previously held management positions in wholesale and retail cannabis operations in D.C. and Rhode Island. She discusses topics such as the regulatory and market challenges facing retail cannabis operations in DC and Maryland and exciting developments at District Cannabis, a trusted brand of high-quality cannabis products in DC and Maryland.

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