Speakers

Dr. Suzanne A. Sisley practices medicine in Scottsdale, AZ and specializes in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry. She is widely known for her research into potential medical uses of marijuana to treat veterans diagnosed with PTSD. Dr. Sisley’s research is supported by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a California-based nonprofit organization. Dr. Sisley serves as Principal Investigator for the only FDA-approved randomized controlled trial looking at use of whole-plant marijuana (grown by NIDA) in combat veterans with treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD.

Don Stevens is the mayor of North Bonneville, Washington, a small city with approximately 1,000 residents located about 45 minutes east of Vancouver along the Columbia River. He’s been a cannabis advocate since his high school days in Oakridge, Oregon, specifically since 1973 when Oregon decriminalized cannabis possession and use. With the passage of I-502 in 2012, North Bonneville’s City Council began studying the potential effects on their community and arrived at the conclusion the city would be best served through the creation of a Public Development Authority (PDA) to apply for 1 of the 2 recreational cannabis store licenses authorized by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board for Skamania County. Their belief was this option would give them oversight of the store and ensure its compliance with both the letter and spirit of I-502. They also felt the PDA route would provide the potential for increased revenue for the city with the PDA acting as a granting authority should their revenues exceed expenses.

Jay Stratton Noller is a Professor and the Head of the Department of Crop and Soil Science at Oregon State University, where he is taking the lead on Industrial Hemp research. In addition to supporting research and extension in field crops and small farms in Oregon, his studies involve field explorations of the human—soil relationship around the world, with more than 150 publications in the disciplines of soil science, agronomy, geology, engineering, forest ecology, art, archaeology and interdisciplinary studies. As Principal Artist with Soilscape Studio LLC, he is a globally exhibited fine-arts painter.

Crystal Oliver co-founded Washington’s Finest Cannabis, a WSLCB licensed cannabis farm, with her husband. Prior to the passage of I-502 she advocated for legalization while volunteering for Washington NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and participated in the I-502 campaign. Crystal joined the cannabis industry with 15 years experience in project, sales, & operations management.  In the last 2 years she has planted, pruned, and harvested thousands of cannabis plants,  and successfully organized & advocated for fair zoning and reasonable building codes for cannabis businesses in Washington.

Steve Walser is a long time organic farmer starting when he was a kid. As a young man Steve moved to the country where he met his wife Margaret. By the mid 1970’s Steve and Margaret expanded their small garden into a small farm. By the 80’s and 90’s they were growing and marketing many thousands of acres of organic vegetables every year, eventually buying a beautiful farm along the Spokane River outside Spokane where they have lived and farmed since. Steve and his wife grow blueberries, tree fruit, hay, wheat and cannabis on the farm. While cannabis is not the most difficult crop to grow it is certainly, by far, the most time consuming! They have sold their value added products around the world exporting and importing to and from numerous countries with all sorts of Organic regulations and yet find cannabis, sold only in Washington, to be particularly unique in the demands on management time. While their business employs hundreds of people, they are most proud of having raised 5 fine kids on the farm, each child a great friend and wonderful adult. Three of the children now work on the farm, in the winery and in the new cannabis operation.

Sunil Kumar Aggarwal, MD, PhD specializes in treating life-threatening illnesses and chronic pain. He is deeply interested in integrative and cross-cultural medicine, in addition to pain and symptom management, advanced care planning, and end-of-life care. He led the successful effort that changed the American Medical Association’s cannabis policy from retention in schedule I to rescheduling review. He also conducted and later published the first health-related quality of life and symptom relief medical social scientific research with 176 medical cannabis patients and 1 dispenser in Washington State. Dr. Aggarwal is Affiliated Faculty at MultiCare Institute of Research and Innovation, a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Kevin Jodrey co-founded The Ganjier and has been a commercial propagator of cannabis for decades, running his own operations and offering consulting services. He considers himself a steward of the plant and has long had a fascination with it. As an internationally respected cannabis expert and easily the most well-known Humboldt cultivator, he has spoken at universities, been a judge at the Emerald Cup, and consulted with TV networks on cannabis-related programming. Featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, countless other articles, books, and radio shows, he is at the epicenter of the modern cannabis movement. He owns Wonderland Nursery in Humboldt County, CA .

Ah Warner is the Founder and CEO of Cannabis Basics, Seattle’s Own since 1995. Warner has a Bachelor’s from the University of Washington, was the winner Hemp Times 1999 Bioneer award for “Outstanding Achievement in Body Care”, featured in Cannabis Now Magazine for her entrepreneurial savvy, honored as Dope Magazine’s Patient of the Month for her advocacy work on behalf of the Cannabis plant and recently received a special award from MJBA Women’s Alliance for her focus and dedication to the women in Washington’s Cannabis Industry. Proud member of AHPA, the American Herbal Products Association and a member of it’s Cannabis Committee. Founder and Executive Director of ICHABAPA, International Cannabis Health and Beauty Aids Producer’s Alliance. Member HIA, Wa. HIA, NCIA, SSDP, WCC, CCSE, NORML and a guiding roll in both Norml Women of Washington and MJBA/Women’s Alliance.

Dr. James MacRae is the founder of Straight Line Analytics, a company that leverages data & analytics to help businesses thrive in competitive markets and to help policy-makers form better policy and rules. Since 2014, Jim has been supplying data, analytic summaries, innovative metrics and the occasional insight to the Washington State-legal Cannabis Industry, it’s regulators, and it’s current and potential consumers and patients. He currently authors a data-centric business intelligence blog covering Washington’s regulated Cannabis industry (at HighIntelligence.org) . He is a member of the CCSE, and is actively engaged in efforts to form an Agricultural Commodity Commission to support this newly legal commercial crop and it’s farmers.

Inst. Anndrea Hermann, M.Sc, B.GS, P.Ag. is the President of Hemp Technologies, Sales and Business Development Officer of Hemp Production Services, Principle The Ridge International Cannabis Consulting and Founder/Host iHempRadio. Anndrea is also the instructor of OSU’s course WSE266 Industrial Hemp (ecampus, as she lives in Canada), as well as a Health Canada Authorized Hemp THC Sampler and Canadian Hemp Licensee who has advised Health Canada on a wide spectrum of Cannabis projects (from 2001 to the present). She is a current board member of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, President Emeritus and current board of the National Hemp Industries Association and special committee member for the European Industrial Hemp Association. Most significantly, Anndrea has assisted with creating and reviewing hemp regulations in Canada, the European Union, South Africa, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand, India, Vermont, Virginia, Tennessee, North Dakota, Missouri, Colorado, California, Oregon and Michigan, for example. These regulations govern the hemp industry. She is recognized and revered around the world as being a hemp leader of the highest caliber.

Mitzi Vaughn, Esq. is the Managing Attorney for Greenbridge Corporate Counsel, a transactional law firm entirely dedicated to cannabis industry clients. She oversees Greenbridge’s Washington state practice, advising the cannabis industry regarding corporate, transactional, and employment matters, as well as adult-use and medical cannabis regulation. Ms. Vaughn has represented a wide variety of cannabis industry leaders: nutrient manufacturers, cultivators, processors, retailers, real estate developers, investors, consultants, and software companies.

Dr. Dominic Corva is a Political Geographer and Public Policy scholar. He was most recently a visiting assistant professor in Public Policy at Sarah Lawrence College (2009-2013), and continues to be an Affiliate Researcher for the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research (HIIMR) at Humboldt State University, Arcata, California. His work has been published in The International Journal of Drug Policy, Political Geography, the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, and ACME: A Journal of Radical Geography. His dissertation research examined the political economy of international drug policy in the Western Hemisphere, and his postdoctoral research has focused on the political economy of cannabis agriculture in Southern Humboldt county.

Joy Beckerman is President of Hemp Ace International, an industrial hemp consulting and brokerage firm; and the Industrial Hemp Advisor to the Northwest Farmers Union. She owned the first hemp store in New York in the early 1990’s, and was appointed to serve as the Secretary of the Vermont Hemp Council in 1996. Joy then developed an extensive dual career as a compliance and complex civil litigation paralegal working with some of Seattle’s most distinguished attorneys. Joy is the recipient of the National Hemp Industries Association’s 2014 Hemp Activist of the Year Award and works directly with law- and policy-makers.

Dr Raymond L. Hogler is a Professor of Labor Law, Labor Relations and Human Resource Management at Colorado State University. Ray’s research focuses on labor and employment relations. He is the author of more than 60 articles and has published four books in his areas of interest. Employment Relations in the United States (2004) was reviewed in the 2006 University of Michigan Law Review as one of two notable contributions to employment law for the year. He has been cited as a legal authority in the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Post, the Las Vegas Sun-Times and various other media outlets. His article on slavery and culture is the lead essay in the 2014 Research Volume of the Labor and Employment Relations Association. “The End of American Labor Unions: Right to Work Movement and the Failure of Collective Bargaining in the United States” will be published by ABC-CLIO publishers in 2015.

Jerry Whiting, founder of LeBlanc CNE, Inc., spends his days focused on cannabis genetics and cannabis-based biopharmaceuticals. He specializes in CBD (cannabidiol) and its use in treating seizures and epilepsy. Jerry teaches and speaks frequently, has developed Althea, a software framework for storing & sharing cannabis data, and has a collecction of vintage heirloom seeds and pollen. Jerry writes for O’Shaughnessy’s and Marijuana Venture magazine. Jerry was a judge at the Terpestival, has spoken at Seattle Hempfest, and teaches the Budtender Certification for CannaCon. Most recently, Jerry was invited to write the introduction to “Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations” by Warren Bobrow. No, he doesn’t sleep much.

Christopher Young started in Municipal Government at age 23 as a career firefighter and paramedic in New York State in 1986.  He was promoted to Fire Lieutenant in 1994, to Fire Captain in 1996, and to Deputy Fire Chief in 1998. From 1998 to 2006 he directed the Fire Prevention Bureau, which encompassed the Department of Buildings, Fire Investigation, Public Education, and Hazardous Materials divisions. After retirement from the fire service in 2006 he was hired by the City of Toledo, Ohio as the Commissioner of Buildings and Codes where he directed the Development Services Department, Fire Prevention Bureau, and Code Enforcement Division. In 2007 he relocated to Arlington, WA and was hired on as the Building Official.  In 2012 he was promoted to Department Manager and then Director of Community and Economic Development in 2015.  Christopher currently supervises the Department of Community & Economic Development, the Airport, and the Maintenance & Operations Division.

He is a Board Member of the International Code Council representing the Building Official Membership Council and a member of WABO – Washington Association of Building Officials.