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Lulu Tsui, co-founder of On the Revel, shares her journey from Bloomberg to becoming the "Queen of New York Cannabis" and how she's building authentic community in the East Coast market. She reveals how New York's cannabis industry has developed its own unique business culture focused on directness, accountability, and community standards.

• Raised in Eugene, Oregon by cannabis-friendly "aunties and uncles" after moving from communist China in 1979
• Started in tech in 1994, worked with Bloomberg and other major companies before entering cannabis
• Co-founded On the Revel with Jacoby Holland to create inclusive cannabis industry events
• New York cannabis market has over 450 licensed retailers with approximately 80% being social equity operators
• East Coast business culture emphasizes direct communication and face-to-face relationships
• Different consumption patterns in New York with higher demand for discrete products like vapes and edibles
• Community boards play crucial role in local licensing and neighborhood acceptance
• Maintains a "clean pool" philosophy by only working with respectful industry partners
• Building diverse team with varied expertise including legal, scientific, and marketing backgrounds
• Revelry event coming September 12th with 200+ brands and 400+ retail buyers
• Planning to launch psychedelics conference in 2026

Join us at Revelry in New York to experience the East Coast cannabis industry firsthand and witness the incredible community that's been built.

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High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.

Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.

Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?

Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.

THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.

Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.

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Former NCIA CEO Aaron Smith shares his insights after 20 years leading cannabis policy reform, reflecting on the evolution from medical advocacy to today's complex marketplace and the challenges of federal reform.

• The cannabis industry has seen remarkable progress over two decades, with support for reform growing from just two members of Congress to majorities in both chambers
• Current regulatory structures represent a compromise, not the alcohol-style regulation originally envisioned by advocates
• Complacency poses the biggest threat to cannabis reform, with a $40+ billion industry spending only about $4 million annually on federal lobbying
• Multiple competing trade associations dilute advocacy impact, though coordination is improving
• Banning hemp-derived cannabinoids doesn't advance marijuana legalization and may actually hinder progress
• Congressional dysfunction stems from primary election systems that reward partisan extremes over compromise
• The beverage segment represents one of the most promising opportunities for cannabis normalization
• Even struggling businesses should find ways to contribute to advocacy efforts

"Don't give up hope. If you're in this industry, I know it's super challenging, it's super frustrating, depressing at times. Take a breath, step back, see the progress we've made and realize the inputs that went into that progress. We have the resources to do a lot - find a way to invest in advocacy in a way that makes sense for you."

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High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.

Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.

Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?

Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.

THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.

Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.

Send us a text

Rama Mayo, co-founder of Hall of Flowers, shares how he transformed his experience in music, art, and fashion into creating one of cannabis's most respected trade shows focused on high-quality brand and buyer connections.

• Building successful cannabis brands requires clear mission, vision, and values as foundation
• The tension between "money people" and "cannabis operators" creates challenges that require mutual respect to overcome
• Cannabis companies need both business expertise and plant knowledge to succeed long-term
• Mentorship from industry leaders like Shep Gordon provided the confidence to become a cannabis thought leader
• Hall of Flowers expanded from California to Toronto and now to New York, adapting to each market's unique challenges
• Cannabis events need careful curation to maintain value—Hall of Flowers deliberately limits exhibitors to ensure quality
• Daily operations in cannabis are like "The Walking Dead"—new unexpected challenges arise constantly
• The East Coast cannabis market resembles California's market from 6-7 years ago
• For cannabis events to create real value, they must focus on facilitating meaningful business connections
• Perseverance is the essential quality for anyone looking to succeed in the cannabis industry

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High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.

Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.

Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?

Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.

THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.

Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.

Send us a text

A hundred episodes in, and the journey has only just begun. This milestone celebration of High Spirits offers a candid look into what we've learned about cannabis entrepreneurship, regulation, and the future of this evolving industry.

When we first started recording our conversations with friends in the cannabis space, we couldn't have predicted the wealth of knowledge that would emerge. Now, as industry veterans share that our show has brought them hope during challenging times, we're reminded of why we press record each week – to create a community where cannabis entrepreneurs don't have to feel alone.

Our Ask Me Anything format yielded thoughtful questions that cut to the heart of today's cannabis landscape. What would we wish for if a genie could fix cannabis regulations? For AnnaRae, it's full federal descheduling paired with a tiered retail model that honors dispensary pioneers while expanding access through conventional channels. Ben took a more incremental approach, advocating for cannabinoids to be recognized as their own unique category in federal regulations rather than trying to fit them into existing frameworks.

When discussing which states offer the best cannabis business opportunities, we acknowledged a difficult truth – none are truly set up for long-term profitability by traditional standards. Yet some markets like Maryland, New Mexico, and Illinois present better conditions with their constrained license models and tax reform momentum. We caution against markets with unrealistic valuation hype and suggest looking for indicators like wholesale pricing stability and retail density before expansion.

The conversation turned emotional when addressing the struggles of legacy farmers in California. These pioneers who built the industry now find themselves crushed by over-taxation and over-regulation. Our proposed solutions include tax reform, ending local control barriers, and potentially implementing programmatic canopy caps tied to market demand – controversial perhaps, but potentially necessary to protect the value of the plant.

Looking forward to the next decade, we debated whether traditional retail channels would eventually overtake dispensaries. Will normalization mean beverages and edibles in grocery stores while dispensaries remain for high-potency products? The answers might surprise you.

What questions do you have about the cannabis industry? Let us know what topics you'd like us to explore in our next hundred episodes as we continue helping you stay curious, informed, and keeping your spirits high.

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High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.

Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.

Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?

Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.

THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.

Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.

Send us a text

Mack Hueber from Ayrloom shares the remarkable story of how a 114-year-old apple orchard transformed into New York's leading cannabis brand while navigating the complex regulatory landscape of hemp and THC beverages.

• Ayrloom emerged from Beak & Skiff, a century-old family-run apple orchard that expanded into cider, spirits, coffee, and eventually hemp and cannabis
• Mack explains how the company leverages its beverage production expertise to create innovative cannabis products like their signature Honeycrisp THC drink
• New York's cannabis regulations recently changed, potentially impacting over 100 dispensaries due to school/church proximity rules
• The three-tier distribution model in alcohol provides insights for how the cannabis beverage market might effectively develop
• Cannabis beverages are gaining mainstream acceptance with Mack noting they've gone from receiving hate mail to thank you notes
• Mack's leadership approach involves bringing in experts from outside cannabis who bring specialized knowledge while learning about the plant
• The future of cannabis beverages includes innovations like de-alcoholized hard cider infused with THC and CBC
• Mack remains optimistic about cannabis beverages, stating "the category is here to stay" and "we're still in the first inning"

Submit your questions for our 100th episode by going to highspiritspod.com/ask - your submission might end up on the podcast!

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High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.

Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.

Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?

Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.

THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.

Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.

Send us a text

Kim Gomez shares how her TikTok experiment with her mother turned into Soberish, a multi-million dollar online marketplace for hemp-based and non-alcoholic social alternatives without spending on advertising. Her accidental business journey provides insights into serving cannabis-curious consumers who are intimidated by dispensaries but eager to try low-dose products.

• Building a marketplace to curate quality hemp products after discovering that half the products brands sent were "garbage"
• Creating an education-first approach for customers completely new to cannabis who are nervous about getting too high
• Developing the Soberish Sampler Box where 67% of customers return to purchase full-size products
• Growing from $1 million in first-year revenue without ads to a projected $7 million this year with paid acquisition
• Navigating the complex regulatory landscape across states while maintaining seamless customer experiences
• Implementing an API-based dropship model that connects directly with brand inventories for real-time updates
• Targeting the untapped demographic of professional women in their 40s looking for alcohol alternatives
• Advocating for appropriate dosing (2-4mg) that new consumers actually enjoy versus the 10mg+ products dominating retail

Find Kimmy Gomez on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook at Kimmy Gomez, or connect with her on LinkedIn where she shares industry insights and business tips.

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High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.

Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.

Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?

Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.

THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.

Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.

Send us a text

We dive deep into East Coast cannabis markets with Rick Bashkoff, CEO of Lit Alerts, examining how data is reshaping operations in New York, New Jersey, and beyond as these emerging marketplaces evolve.

• Data accuracy in cannabis typically ranges from 70-90% with most platforms using similar methodology to predict market trends
• New York's cannabis retail scene faces challenges with rampant illicit stores that mimic legal dispensaries and confuse customers
• Top-performing stores in Maryland and New Jersey generate over $1 million monthly, while New York averages $600,000-$700,000 in its top quartile
• Store density significantly impacts performance, with Long Island's limited competition allowing dispensaries to reach multi-million dollar monthly revenues
• New York-born brands dominate their local market while New Jersey shows more receptiveness to established national brands
• Regional preferences exist across form factors, with urban areas favoring vapes and edibles while rural regions prefer traditional flower
• Product movement tracking through alerts and notifications helps brands identify when retailers are running low on inventory
• Challenges with indoor growing capacity in New York creates quality limitations compared to West Coast markets
• Successful brands from other states like Miss Grass, Fernway, and Clay Nine have rapidly gained market share when entering New Jersey
• Focus on operational fundamentals and customer needs rather than industry noise is essential for sustainable success

Visit litalerts.com for a 30-day free trial to explore their data tools, or connect with Rick on LinkedIn for more insights on cannabis market dynamics.

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High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.

Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.

Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?

Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.

THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.

Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.

Send us a text

Amy O'Gorman Jenkins, one of California's most influential cannabis lobbyists and director of the California Cannabis Operators Association (CaCOA), breaks down the critical fight to reform cannabis taxes and save the state's struggling legal market. The industry faces a dire situation with legal cannabis sales dropping 30% since 2021 and a recent automatic tax increase from 15% to 19% that represents a 25% hike for consumers.

• Legal cannabis sales in California have dropped 30% since Q2 of 2021
• The cannabis excise tax just increased from 15% to 19% on July 1st, creating a combined tax burden of approximately 38%
• AB 564 would revert the tax back to 15% for five years but faces opposition in the Senate after passing the Assembly 76-0
• Budget negotiations to freeze the tax increase failed despite Governor Newsom's public support
• Tax revenue beneficiaries oppose reform, incorrectly arguing higher taxes will generate more revenue
• California's legislature includes 120 members (80 Assembly, 40 Senate) with 70% of Assembly members having less than four years' experience
• Industry associations are fragmented and under-resourced, limiting political influence
• AB 8 aims to regulate intoxicating hemp products under the cannabis framework
• Future cannabis reform may require a constitutional amendment returning to voters

Call your state senator today to express support for AB 564 and join industry associations to strengthen advocacy efforts in Sacramento.

https://www.cacoa.org/

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High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.

Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.

Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?

Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.

THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.

Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.

Send us a text

The cannabis industry faces an existential crisis as political developments threaten businesses across multiple fronts despite growing public acceptance. State and federal politics are creating contradictory and often hostile environments for cannabis operators while simultaneously claiming to support legalization.

• Texas Governor Abbott vetoed SB3, preserving the hemp industry with a special session starting soon to determine the regulatory framework
• North Carolina scaled back hemp restrictions to focus on age limits and synthetic cannabinoid prohibitions
• Federal appropriations bills contain language that could redefine hemp and effectively ban all intoxicating products
• Senate bill provisions could strip protections preventing federal enforcement against state-legal cannabis programs
• California implemented a 25% excise tax increase on cannabis while Governor Newsom made performative promises to stop it
• California's cannabis tax collections are down 11% year-over-year as the industry contracts under regulatory pressure
• Stanley Brothers (Charlotte's Web founders) are pursuing FDA approval for THC medicines, potentially creating billion-dollar pharmaceutical applications
• Epidiolex, a CBD-based FDA-approved medicine, generated $972 million in sales last year 
• Potential cannabis rescheduling to Schedule III could open doors for medical applications while providing tax relief
• Connected Cannabis filed a lawsuit challenging California's punitive testing requirements for aspergillus

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High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.

Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.

Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?

Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.

THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.

Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.

Send us a text

In this special episode of High Spirits, we share with you AnnaRae's guest appearance on Practical Politics with friend and Lobbyist Lady Sabrina Noah.

From brewing espresso during California's groundbreaking Prop 215 campaign to revolutionizing cannabis quality standards, AnnaRae Grabstein's journey through the cannabis industry offers a masterclass in purpose-driven leadership. Her story begins in the Castro district of San Francisco, where as a teenager she witnessed the birth of medical cannabis advocacy from the AIDS crisis—planting seeds that would later blossom into pioneering entrepreneurship.

Combining her natural business acumen with formal education, she co-founded Steep Hill Lab—the world's first cannabis testing laboratory—while simultaneously pursuing her MBA. This groundbreaking venture not only introduced scientific methodology to cannabis evaluation but created an entirely new sector within the industry.

The conversation reveals profound insights about the delicate balance between ambitious vision and practical execution that defines successful cannabis leadership. AnnaRae candidly shares how early leadership challenges taught her the importance of mentorship and honest feedback—experiences that now inform her work as a strategic advisor through her firm Wolf Meyer. Her three-pillared approach helps cannabis companies define their purpose, establish clear objectives with quantifiable goals, and develop aligned KPIs that enable everyone in the organization to understand what winning looks like.

Perhaps most valuable is AnnaRae's perspective on being a "truth teller" in an industry where executive teams often lack honest outside voices. Whether helping companies transition to employee ownership or realigning compensation structures for profitability, her ability to deliver difficult messages while driving meaningful transformation demonstrates the unique value strategic advisors bring to cannabis businesses navigating complex challenges.

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High Spirits is brought to you by Vertosa and Wolf Meyer.

Your hosts are Ben Larson and AnnaRae Grabstein.

Follow High Spirits on LinkedIn.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would you like to see on the show? What topics would you like to have us cover?

Visit our website www.highspirits.media and listen to all of our past shows.

THANK YOU to our audience. Your engagement encourages us to keep bringing you these thought-provoking conversations.

Remember to always stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, keep your spirits high.