the lobsterpot< podcast

Often eclipsed by its larger Lat Am neighbours, when it comes to cannabis, Ecuador is firmly on the map. Or at least it should be – and soon will be if Paul and Sebastian Moreno, chairman and CEO, of Ananda have their way. Their efforts to transform rural, indigenous community land into cannabis farms are firmly rooted in altruism, optimism, and a firm belief that cannabis can be a force for good in many different ways.

As Germany *finally* unveils plans for cannabis legalisation, we speak to Stefan Röhrl, the CPO & Co-Founder of Hemp Group, based in Hamburg, and look more closely at what’s in the offing.

Cannabis retail success is part art, part science. And Krista Raymer, co-founder and CEO of Vetrina Group, knows more than anyone how important it is to align a dispensary’s look and feel with a first class customer experience; alongside solid data and shopper insights. We catch up with her to understand what ‘good’ looks like… and how ‘great’ can be achieved.

With medical cannabis steadily gaining ground in Europe, it’s key that patient care is always the key pillar in its growth. We sat down with the founders of Nurture Nursing, Elly Owen-jones and Sophie Hayes, to find out why nurses play such a vital role in this process and how their expertise is being put to work educating patients and medical professionals alike.

Cannabis and marketing are, well, slippery bedfellows. The market demands one approach; but the law requires another. And the disparity between the two varies enormously – depending on where you are.

John Shute, founder and CEO, at Colorado-based cannabis marketing agency, PufCreativ, is no stranger to figuring out how brands of all ilks can make their mark – in spite of the fluff and the flux. But where exactly is the marketing sweet spot for cannabis?

Delta-8 gets a bad rap. Or does it? Recent news reports about the misuse of the cannabinoid – known as ‘regular THC’s younger sibling’ – have cast a safety shadow over its use and brought its ‘synthetic’ status under scrutiny.

But, to give delta-8 a fair hearing, let’s chat to Sam Taylor from Heartland Works in Ohio to better understand the challenges and opportunities. We do know that it takes *a lot* of hemp to create a delta-8 product that offers the same THC potency as other products… Let’s find out more about delta-8.

Malta made history back in 2021 by becoming the first European nation to legalise adult-use cannabis. However, other than homegrow, legal ways to procure products have been limited. But that’s all set to change in early 2023, as Malta ushers in a wave of cannabis club licensing applications. Amna Shamim, chief growth officer at Parsl, long-time industry advocate, and island resident gives us the lowdown

Rebecca Crewe, director of sales at Calgary-based marketing and growth agency, Maggie Jane, has worked in cannabis retail as a buyer, vendor, and sales consultant. But even in Canada, where the recreational market stretches from Nanaimo to Newfoundland, understanding what makes dispensary owners tick is just as crucial as consumer insight.

Cannabis and coffee share something very important – they’re both mind altering substances. People seek them out with varying degrees of interest, and for those passionate for either or even both, there’s a huge amount to learn and even more to gain in that pursuit of knowledge.   We speak to Omri Almagor, inventor of Keiko – a cannabis infusion machine, to see how far those parallels go, and what the cannabis industry can learn from its coffee counterparts.

Like any other industry, cannabis can’t escape the need for rules and regulations. Whether that’s in how businesses operate in the market or with one another. Bob Hoban is the Co-Chair of the Cannabis Industry Group at Clark Hill law firm and he knows a thing or two about the letter of the law, so we sat down with him to see if we could get up to speed.