Working People is excited to announce that, along with our ongoing partnership with the amazing In These Times magazine, we are now partnered with The Real News Network in Baltimore!

In this episode, we sit down with Justin Whittaker for the first part of an ongoing series of interviews where we'll be talking to workers on all sides of the marijuana industry—in states where that work is legal and in states where it's not. Justin is originally from the Midwest, but now he lives all the way up near Fairbanks, Alaska, where he works at an organic weed-growing operation. Alaska was the second state in the U.S. to decriminalize cannabis decades ago; in 2014, it became the third state to legalize recreational use. Justin has seen different sides of the industry, in different states, both before and after legalization. We talk about his life and work, and we talk about the ways legalization has changed things in the marijuana industry for buyers, business owners, and workers.

Additional links/info below...

• The Tight Rope podcast, "Max Alvarez - The Tight Rope on The Real News"
• The Real News Network website
• In These Times magazine website
• Javier Hasse, Forbes, "Even as Overall Deals Declined, VC Investments in Cannabis Nearly Doubled Over 2019"
• Aubrey Wieber, Anchorage Daily News, "Alaska Marijuana Industry Works to Influence Local Politicians"
• Katie O'Reilly, Sierra, "A Higher Cause: Is It Possible to Consume Organic Cannabis?"
• Austa Somvichian-Clausen, National Geographic, "Organic Weed? Marijuana Growers Go Green"
• Josh Marcus, Rolling Stone, "Meet America's Most Powerful Cannabis Union"

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People theme song"
• Robert Farmer, "This Is Our World, This Is Our Home"