Karma Koala Podcast

A great conversation with Max about water usage in the cannabis agri-sector., Not only does he highlight where we are going wrong and need to grow the knowledge base for solutions but he also highlights that we need to ensure that legislators & regulators understand cannabis in the context of all agricultural products in terms of water usage.

We also digress somewhat to talk about Metrc whose drive for profits via compliance enforcement increasingly formulated for regulators from their head office mean that important issues such as water & power consumption are being left in the dust both literally and figuratively

At Cannabis Wise Guys, we don’t rely on theories—we rely on experience. And that experience is the difference between a struggling facility and a thriving one.

Article: When Automation Tries to Kill Your Crop: Why Irrigation Monitoring Matters More Than You Think

https://www.cannabiswiseguys.com/post/when-automation-tries-to-kill-your-crop-irrigation-monitoring-matters

Cannabis Wise Guys was forged in the fire of real-world cultivation challenges. Our founder stepped into a Northern California operation that exemplified everything wrong with cookie-cutter cannabis consulting—poorly designed irrigation, misaligned infrastructure, and owners who had invested heavily in “expert” solutions that didn’t work.

Read more at https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-258-max-jackson-wise-guys-ca-nj-tackling-water-usage-issues-in-commercial-growing-more-knowledge-needed-for-growers-investors-consultants-legislators-regulators-inspecto/

After our chat a couple of weeks back with Chelsea Haskins about the failure of the equity cannabis program in Sacramento I speak with lawyer Jordan Ash who has more than a few equity clients. The summation? The situation is dire statewide with regard to equity and not much can be done to improve things.

Have a listen to what Jordan has to say..

This is what he wrote on Linked In a few weeks back

It’s truly a tragedy how many hashtag#social hashtag#equity hashtag#cannabis operators who’d been actual prisoners for cannabis-related crimes are now essentially prisoners to the very same licenses that were supposed to redeem them.

It is no secret that the industry here in hashtag#CA has been and continues to be hemorrhaged by a draconian regulatory-tax scheme and way too many have been left with no option but to cut their losses and sell out.

However this is not simple for equity operators for whom regulations are in place which restrict their ability to transfer as much as 51% of the company holding their respective licenses.

These regulations were initially drawn up with the intention of redeeming and protecting eligible equity individuals who had been negatively impacted by the war on previously illegal cannabis – the assumption being that the cannabis industry would do far better than it has and that reserved equity would actually be worth something to these individuals.

8 odd years later and you’d be hard pressed to find an equity licensee who’s felt that the benefits outweighed the costs – in fact for many it has been only cost as they operate these expensive businesses with no protection from black market competitors and no real relief in sight.


Read More
https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-257-jordan-ash-equity-in-cali-cannabis-emotion-its-all-we-have-left/

Dr Howell sat on a panel this week on the topic of Global Cannabis Law & Regulation from the perspective of how South Africa as a country is trying to tackle the move from unregulated to regulated cannabis ( it is already legal to consume cannabis in a private space due to a court case that went to the highest court in the land) but in a country with 40% youth unemployment, crime on the rise and a poverty trap that many have yet to escape how does this play out with regard to interaction with the forces of law and order for the majority of the population

Not well is the short answer.

Prior to the conference Simon and I recorded this conversation talking about and around the topic.

https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-256-dr-simon-howell-centre-of-criminology-university-of-capetown/

Nathanial has been in the cannabis industry for the past decade and you may recognize his name from his company Fincann who have helped businesses create relationships with financial institutions around the US.

He writes

As CEO of FINCANN®, I have steered the company to be a trailblazer in providing comprehensive banking and financial solutions within the high-risk sectors, including cannabis and cryptocurrency. Our services extend beyond basic banking, encompassing everything from commercial real estate and inventory financing to complex legal and tax advisory, ensuring our clients navigate the intricate financial landscape with ease. Our commitment to innovation is demonstrated through our proprietary CANNABIS BANKING FINANCIAL NETWORK®, connecting clients with a network of over 300 federally-insured financial institutions and 50+ financial service vendors.

Nathanial is now applying his skills learnt to move New Hampshire toward a fully regulated adult use environment.

We talk in detail about the development of the medical program in NH and how he and allies hope to move towards adult use.

He has also penned the following article on the topic

The Definitive Insider’s Guide to New Hampshire Cannabis Legalization 

History 2013 – 2025

https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-255-nathaniel-gurien-new-hamphire-deep-dive-medical-now-how-to-get-to-adult-use/

The Cannabis Opportunity Reinvestment and Equity (CORE) program, created by the City of Sacramento, is dedicated to assisting individuals and communities who are facing barriers in starting cannabis businesses due to the historical disparate enforcement of cannabis crimes. The program supports community members seeking opportunity and growth by offering training, technical and financial assistance and other guidance.

Our participants are ambitious entrepreneurs focused on a vision of change. Each has a unique story of challenges, aspirations, and achievements.

Cannabis is a growing sector of business that should not be exclusive to big players. CORE is paving the way for inclusion in the cannabis sector, calling for local ownership. We can provide a number of benefits for individuals and communities who are looking to start a business in cannabis.

https://www.sacramentocore.org/about

The only problem is, according to Chelsea is that CORE isn’t fulfilling these aims.

She explains what’s happening and says the city has failed to roll out the program.

https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-254-chelsea-haskins-mwg-holdings-group-sacramento-ca-core-the-cannabis-opportunity-reinvestment-and-equity-is-a-failure/

In this latest episode of the Karma Koala podcast I talk with Edvin Brnčić about the next round of scams about to hit the cannabis industry.

First we back track to Juicy Fields the almost a billion $ scam that got Edvin interested in the topic of cannabis scams initially and how the shadowy figures behind these scams used willing collaborators and facilitators connected to the “legal”  cannabis industry including legal professionals, conference producers, hollywood types and others to tout the fiction(s) that made some facilitators some quick cash and the scammers huge sums of money that disappeared from “investors” bank accounts into the ether and never to be seen again.

Edvin & I talk about  2 new scams that he thinks may even out do Juicy Fields in their efficiency to disappear huge sums of money into murky places that even financial authorities will struggle to identify never mind prosecute the perpetrators.

Edvin has sent me some supporting documents to supplement our conversation and after only a couple of hours of even the most cursory online searching it isn’t that hard to join the dots to identify that both these operations are wrong’uns.

What is, of course, a tad more difficult is proving where the money is ending up and who’s actually handling it.

Edvin first talks about

Capital Grow Box

CGB  is fronted by Dutch cannabis “entrepreneur” Ronald Fields who i gather is big in the “legal” synthetic drugs game, a warning sign in itself.

The set up is eerily similar to the Juicy Fields approach.

Edvin says be warned!

Read more

https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-253/

I recently noticed Victoria raise the topic on Linked In and nobody is really talking about the issues with regard to cannabis and psychedelics medical treatments and therapies in a public forum so I thought it more than worthwhile to hear her thoughts and especially so with regard to HIPAA

Every US citizen has HIPAA ingrained in their brain but those of us outside the US might be a little less aware (see information below)

Victoria explains the intersections and protections individuals availing themselves of psychedelic and cannabis tratments may or may not have.

HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is a US federal law designed to protect the privacy and security of patients’ health information. It establishes standards for how covered entities, including healthcare providers and health plans, handle and protect patient information. HIPAA also mandates that business associates, who work with covered entities and their PHI, also comply with the act

What HIPAA Covers:

Protected Health Information (PHI):

This includes any individually identifiable health information, such as medical records, billing details, and even information about a patient’s family history. 

Covered Entities:

These are healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses. 

Business Associates:

Individuals or organizations that work with covered entities and access PHI on their behalf, such as billing services or IT vendors. 

Key Components of HIPAA

The Privacy Rule:

This rule sets standards for how covered entities can use and disclose PHI, including when they need patient consent or authorization.


Read more at
https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-252-victoria-cvitanovic-of-counsel-ruddick-law-group-psychedelics-cannabis-hipaa-data-privacy/

I’m currently working with Trenton on a conference to be held in Johannesburg end May 2025 as part of the annual SA Cannabis Expo.

See information at the link

Trenton is a cannabis educator and consultant and has built a permanent campus in South Africa to educate people across all aspects of cannabis and hemp. As far as I’m aware he’s the only person on the planet who has done this.

We talk about Cheeba Africa both the education and consultancy arms of the business and then a wider chat about the state of play of cannabis in South Africa and across the continent as a whole.

https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-251-trenton-birch-founder-cheeba-africa-education-the-future-of-cannabis-in-south-africa-across-the-continent/

A milestone the 250th episode of the Karma Koala podcast!

I noticed that Dr Hofmann has published his new title with Routledge mid March so got in touch to talk about all the whys and wherefores of the book and dig into Germany’s experience of trying to legalize cannabis under European law. We also widen the discussion around European law & cannabis as well as other jurisdictions operation outside Brussels purview.

I learnt more in 20 minutes conversation with Dr Hofmann that i have reading media over the past 2-3 years.

Read More

https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-250-dr-robin-hofmann-his-new-book-the-regulation-of-cannabis-in-europe-of-highs-and-laws/

In the run up the Australian federal election and the Nimbin Mardigrass (2-4 May 2025) we talk to Andrew Kavisilas who has been round the block with cannabis more than once in Australia.

He’s grown under license as far back as the late 1990’s, he’s done the Nimbin cafe thing, he was involved the the Cannabis party before it was the Cannabis party but is now on the outside (we koalas like that) and a lot of other things in between.

Nominally our chat was to be about driving, testing  and medicinal cannabis in Australia, yes we did discuss that , but we also yarned about a few other things too.

In old Aussie parlance Andrew is a bit of a larrikin who’s put in the hard yakka and it’s these voices we need to hear as we try to understand what cannabis could, might or should be in Australia.

More at
https://cannabislaw.report/karma-koala-podcast-249-andrew-kavisilas-australia-a-little-bit-of-everything/