2015 Summit | The WA State Cannabis Summit

The 1st Annual Cannabis Summit Overview
Agronomy
Therapy & Use
Economics
Policy & Politics

[/tab]

The 1st Annual Washington Cannabis Summit held January 9th, 2015 was a visionary event; created to provide continued education and resources in order to cement Washington State as a leader in the modern day cannabis movement. Washington voters understood the need for better laws and acted, thereby launching our state to the forefront of progressive cannabis policy.

Nationally recognized experts provided credible, scientific data to the over 300 stakeholders in attendance in order to build a foundation of knowledge for success with regards to adult-use and medical-use policies. Our speakers inspired attendees; and the event connected all those who participated with professionals, public servants, academics and citizens who shared a commitment to improving the burgeoning cannabis industries.

With more and more states choosing to legalize, it’s important to look at long-term strategies to position Washington as a competitive and socially responsible contributor. We have the ability to make our system better. This can only be accomplished by coming together, being visionary, and working with each other to create sustainable and successful industries.

2015 Keynote Speakers

Ray Carveth, Moderator

Purple Ink Solutions

Ray is a key note speaker, master facilitator, communications trainer and organizational mentor. For 25 years he’s helped large and small groups challenge their thinking to design and implement a better plan for their future. He’s helped non-profits, governmental agencies and for profit organizations design efficient and effective systems. He helps businesses develop marketing strategies and non-profit boards of directors design strategic plans. Just for fun, he is also a fund-raising auctioneer, an event Emcee, and officiator of non-traditional weddings.

Tommy Chong, Opening Keynote

Throughout his life and career Tommy Chong has been an advocate for legalizing cannabis both medically and recreationally. His movies, live performances and many other appearances all speak to that advocacy in one form or another. Tommy Chong was a pioneer in educating the public about the positive side of cannabis and still pursues this goal passionately. He has appeared on all the major networks and most of the large cable franchises discussing the subject of legalization and recounting his own personal use of medical cannabis in a recent bout with prostate cancer which is now in remission. Tommy Chong supports many advocacy groups nationwide who are trying to bring legislation into their states to legalize the medical and the recreational use of cannabis along with supporting groups that seek federal legislation. On a personal level, Tommy donates a great deal of his time, personage and public influence to help many such organizations reach their goals.

Vivian McPeak, Keynote Speaker

President,
Seattle Events

Vivian McPeak is a Seattle based social justice activist and writer. Vivian is the president of Seattle Events, a Non-Profit Organization, and he is executive director of the Seattle Hempfest, the world’s largest annual cannabis policy reform rally. The recipient of the High Times Magazine 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award, Vivian has appeared on numerous television and cable news networks, including FOX News, CNN, & NBC.

AMANDA REIMAN, Closing Keynote Speaker

Manager,
Marijuana Law and Policy Drug Policy Alliance

Amanda Reiman is Manager of Marijuana Law and Policy at the Drug Policy Alliance, where she works to develop DPA’s marijuana reform work as it relates to litigation, legislative and initiative drafting, campaign strategy, policy advocacy, media relations, fundraising, and public education in the local, state, federal, and international jurisdictions in which DPA is active. Reiman joined DPA in 2012 after working with Berkeley Patients Group, a renowned medical marijuana dispensary, as director of research and patient services. Reiman served as the first chairwoman of the Medical Cannabis Commission for the City of Berkeley, currently serves on the Cannabis Regulatory Commission for the city of Oakland, and has consulted with various cities, states, and nations on the development of medical marijuana policy. Reiman is currently a lecturer in the School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned her PhD in Social Welfare.

2015 Panel Speakers

Anndrea Hermann, M.Sc, B.GS, P.Ag.

Anndrea Hermann

Anndrea Hermann, M.Sc, B.GS, P.Ag. is the President of Hemp Technologies Global, the President of the National Hemp Industries Association, the Chief Development Science Officer, Hemp Division, of Creative Edge Nutrition, and an Advisor for Nutiva Foods. 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 who has advised Health Canada on a wide spectrum of Cannabis projects (from 2005 to the present). 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.

David Rice, San Juan Sun Grown

David Rice

David Rice owns and operates San Juan Sungrown, LLC a licensed tier 3 producer and processor in Washington State which recently became the first farm in Washington that will produce marijuana certified as sustainable and grown using organic methods by Certified Kind, LLC of Eugene, Or. David was very active from the onset of I-502 rulemaking, helping to ensure changes where made to the original draft rules that allowed for outdoor cultivation of cannabis. He co-founded and is the current vice president of the Washington Sungrowers Industry Association a trade group that promotes sustainable and sensible practices, policy, and implementation for cannabis cultivation. Working to inform entrepreneurs of lower cost and less energy intensive growing practices while helping educate lawmakers statewide to the unique challenges and opportunities created by the legalization of Cannabis. Before returning to Wa to start his I-502 venture David owned and operated Southslope consulting and successful cannabis farms in Northern California.

Alan Schreiber, PhD.

Alan Schreiber, PhD, President Agriculture Development Group, Inc., has more than twenty-five years expertise in entomology, pesticide toxicology, pesticide resistance, pesticide registration and consulting. Dr. Schreiber has extensive contacts with agrichemical companies and agricultural commodity groups. He has significant experience and expertise in obtaining Section 18 and 24c registrations. Agriculture Development Group, Inc. (ADG) was founded in 1998 to conduct independent research and provide consulting services to the agriculture industry.

Ben Grossman, Hop Nation Brewery

Ben Grossman

Ben has actively worked in the brewing, winemaking, and general alcohol industry since 1993. He first began working with Coors Brewing Company’s Yeast Research and Development and Quality Control Programs where he helped in making Coors millions of dollars per year related to potential alcohol in Coors Light as well as learned the intricacies of quality control at a large brewery. Ben went on to work with Tabernash Brewing Company under Weihenstephan-trained Brewmaster Eric Warner (author of two brewing publications on Kolsch and Hefeweizen and current President of Karbach Brewing Company in Houston, Texas). Ben transitioned to Hakushika Sake, USA where he learned to brew, chemically analyze, and appreciate sake and its byproducts in a state of the art facility. The decimated Japanese Yen moved Ben from Golden, Colorado to the Yakima Brewing and Malting Company (Bert Grant’s in Yakima, WA) while the company was under Stimson Lane (Chateau St. Michelle) control. Priority was placed on improving product quality in order to help grow volume. Ben was placed on the Total Quality Management Team that had taken over the primary marketing directive and product development/enhancement for Bert Grant’s Yakima Brewing and Malting. Improvements related to Ben’s presence were improved product marketing, yeast strain selection, reduced total oxygen pickup, pasteurization control, microbiological control, and involvement in pilot brewing (research and development) projects. Ben then changed focus from beer to wine when he was offered a startup Research Enologist opportunity at Chateau St. Michelle Estates’ Research Winemaking Facility. There he learned how to make a wide array of wine under very tight control using various techniques under the tutelage of winemakers Kendall Mix, in addition to Eric Olsen, Marcus Notaro, and the entire Eastern Washington wine staff. His wines have scored highly both in national and local events, tastings, and publications. Ben is currently employed as an analytical hop chemist and continues his plans for owning a brewery one day. His career has always involved quality control/assurance aspects as well as scientific research and development as related to living organisms. Rice, Yeast, Wheat, Barley, Water, Grapes, Hops, Bacteria, and the quality parameters associated with those products.

2015 Panel Speakers

Natalie Lyla Ginsberg, MSW

Natalie Lyla Ginsberg

Natalie is the Research and Advocacy Coordinator at The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, (MAPS). She works to end federal obstruction of medical marijuana research. Recently, she has focused on pressuring the Department of Health and Human Services to end the Public Health Service (PHS) protocol review, an extraneous, redundant review that exists only for marijuana and has served to block research for over a decade. Natalie also helps with recruitment and training development for researchers in MAPS’ clinical trials. Before MAPS, Natalie served as a Policy Fellow at the Drug Policy Alliance, where she helped legalize medical marijuana in her home state of New York through grassroots organizing, advocacy and lobbying. At DPA, Natalie also worked to end New York’s racist marijuana arrests. Natalie earned her Masters from the Columbia School of Social Work, and her BA in History from Yale.

Jeremy Kaufman

Jeremy Kaufman has been a Cannabis activists for over 15 years. He is one of the founders of The C.P.C. as well as a Co-owner of Absolute Oils. Over 5 years ago The CPC became Washington’s first licensed and recognized Medical Cannabis Research and Development Firm.

Jeremy is one of the founding members of the CCSE. He has devoted time to multiple pieces of legislation over the years including; The Seattle Cannabis Ordinance, SB 5073, and I-502. His work has been featured in articles and news excerpts from The Seattle Business Journal, The Seattle Times, Kiro, King, MSNBC, and many more.

Dr. Michelle Sexton, ND

Dr. Michelle Sexton

Dr. Michelle Sexton is a Naturopathic Doctor and Executive Medical Research Director at the Center for the Study of Cannabis and Social Policy. She is the Founder and Chief Science Officer of Phytalab, the first WA State Cannabis testing facility. She was a paid contractor for the WSLCB to develop the laboratory certification process for I502. Dr. Sexton is a technical advisor and editor on the Cannabis Monograph, adopted for quality control guidance for I502 Cannabis. She is internationally known for her work, research, patient advocacy and industry leadership. She completed a three-year NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington in the Departments of Pharmacology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, where she conducted a clinical study examining the effects of Cannabis use on some defined immune parameters in patients with Multiple Sclerosis. She has published original research in peer-reviewed journals and presented her research internationally. Her most recent project has been documenting the natural history of parents administering cannabidiol-rich Cannabis to their children with intractable epilepsy and other disorders and has been conducting a Cannabis Use survey in collaboration with Bastyr University.

Ryan Day

Ryan Day & Haiden

Ryan Day

Ryan Day is the father of a six year old cannabis patient, Haiden. Haiden has a catastrophic form of epilepsy known as Dravet Syndrome, caused by a random genetic mutation. Haiden started experiencing seizures at six months old and by the time Haiden was five he would experience over 100 seizures each day. At the time, Haiden was taking five medications, including high dosages of a benzodiazepine, a truly frightening class of drugs, and his seizures were still uncontrolled. Haiden was in the process of losing his speech, declining motor skills, and he was slipping away.

In 2013 the Day family moved from Virginia to Washington in an effort to access the only remaining hope for Haiden, medical cannabis. Ryan had no experience with cannabis before moving to Washington, and now finds himself growing and processing that medical cannabis that is saving his son’s life.

Dr. Jake Felice, ND, LMP

Dr. Jake Felice

Dr. Jake Felice, ND, LMP, specializes in the treatment of chronic pain and the improvement of human performance. He is a graduate of Bastyr University, and adjunct professor where he has taught Advanced Soft-Tissue Manipulation and currently teaches Radiographic Lab Interpretation. Dr. Felice is a recognized cannabis expert and is on the advisory board for The Cannabis Defense Coalition in Washington state. Dr. Felice earned his undergraduate degree from Penn State University where he played varsity lacrosse and majored in psychology with a focus on the study of peak human performance.

[/tab]

2015 Panel Speakers

Benjamin Hansen, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Oregon

Benjamin Hansen

Benjamin Hansen is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Oregon. His research focuses on health, education and labor topics. Specifically, he researches factors influencing adolescent and adult risky behaviors, health economics policy, crime, and human capital. His recent work can be found here.

Dr. Dominic Corva, Phd

Dr. 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.

Todd Arkley, CPA

Todd Arkley, CPA, is the owner of Arkley Accounting Group, an accounting firm dedicated to helping small businesses and the cannabis industry grow and thrive. Prior to founding Arkley Accounting Group, Todd served as CFO/Firm Administrator at a 75-employee downtown Seattle law firm from 2009-2013, overseeing all financial and business operations.

Todd has deeply immersed himself in the cannabis industry’s specific financial issues (280e, banking, state/local taxes), while also integrating his extensive accounting and operational background developed over the past 14 years working in private industry. He is a member of the WSCPA and the AICPA and maintains extensive contacts with CPAs, accountants, and bookkeepers both within and outside the cannabis industry.

Todd’s previous forays into landscaping, farming, and Zen monkhood taught him patience and an attuned attention to detail. He often describes the accountant as a water wheel – one who efficiently shepherds resources to generate energy for growth.

Joy Beckerman Maher

Joy is the President of the WA State Chapter of the Hemp Industries Association and Hemp Ace International. She owned the first hemp store in NY in the early 1990’s, served as Secretary of the VT Hemp Council in the mid-late 1990’s and then developed an extensive complex civil litigation paralegal career in Seattle that has served her hemp activism and entrepreneurialism very well. Joy is the recipient of the Hemp Industries Association’s 2014 Hemp Activist of the Year Award and she is currently best known for her outstanding work educating Governor Inslee and the 147 Members of the WA State Legislature with her Industrial Hemp Edu-Kits.

Danica Noble

Danica Noble is Coordinator for the NORML Women of Washington and an antitrust attorney. She is chair of the Antitrust, Consumer Protection, and Unfair Business Practices Section of the Washington State Bar Association. Ms. Noble graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and was a judicial law clerk in the US Virgin Islands.

2015 Panel Speakers

John Davis

John Davis is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Patient Resource Center. He has been working on cannabis law reform for more than 20 years and has worked on many initiatives since 1993 including I-692 (Washington Medical Marijuana) and I-75 (Seattle lowest police priority). He is a founding member of the Coalition for Cannabis Standards and Ethics (CCSE) and served as the first Chairman of the Board when the CCSE was formed and created the first draft of the CCSE’s bylaws.

John has worked with many localities including the Seattle Mayor’s office, State and Federal lawmakers, Congressional Committees and Subcommittees and has written and influenced laws since 1993. John was a member of President Vicente Fox’s global summit on cannabis reform, is a member of Governor Jay Inslee’s Recreational MJ Guidance Workgroup, and continues to work with the Liquor Control Board on 502 implementation. He is a Board Member of the National Cannabis Industry Association, the Nevada Cannabis Industry Association and Chairs the Board for Seattle Hempfest’s production company. John has been instrumental in garnering world wide press for CCSE and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Daily News, Time Magazine, GQ, CNN, BBC, NPR, Al Jazeera (Worldwide, English, and America) TF1, ITN4, ABC, NBC, CBS, Seattle Times, LA Times, Las Vegas Spokesman Review, Weekly World Report and many others.

Jedidiah Haney

Jedidiah Haney has been exposed to agriculture since childhood. His father was a horticulturist and arborist; his grandparents were raspberry farmers in Selah, WA. After moving to Central Oregon in 2004, Jedidiah became a caregiver for a group of medical marijuana patients in Bend. At that time the nascent medical industry became exposed to hydroponics, and the indoor boom began in the NW. His experience in the medical marijuana industry led him into in the organic agriculture sector in Central Washington in 2009, when Jedidiah cofounded a greenhouse based produce company in Yakima, WA. In 2014 Jedidiah cofounded CAUSE-M (the Committee for Adult Use and Ethics of Marijuana), a cannabis-based trade association located in Central WA. CAUSE-M has developed in response to the negative business environment the cannabis industry faces in Central Washington. CAUSE-M is following the past agrarian organizational models that the farmers in Central Washington have created. Currently Jedidiah has coupled his efforts with other organizational leaders in helping to launch the Washington Cannabis Commission.

Alex Newhouse

Alex Newhouse was born and raised on a farm in the Sunnyside area of the Lower Yakima Valley. He graduated from Sunnyside Christian High School, received a B.A. degree in History from Central Washington University, and attended law school at Gonzaga. After received his J.D. degree, he worked for Yakima County Department of Assigned counsel for over 4 years until opening his own practice in Sunnyside, WA in 2012. Mr. Newhouse was the recipient of an award from Gonzaga for his dedication to public service in 2010. He is committed to sensible drug law reform that will result in laws that are more just and evenly applied and that will boost the local, state and national economies. Mr. Newhouse has been speaking at events across Washington state about marijuana legalization for over two years and was actively involved in the I-502 campaign.

Kari Boiter

Kari Boiter is the Washington State Coordinator with Americans for Safe Access, the nation’s largest member-based advocacy organization dedicated to therapeutic use and research of medical cannabis. In 2013, she was the nationwide recipient of ASA’s Medical Cannabis Advocate of the Year award for her work on behalf of federal defendants facing lengthy mandatory minimum prison terms for medical marijuana. She is also the Media Coordinator for the Kettle Falls Five and a registered lobbyist in Washington state. Prior to her advocacy work, Kari spent three years as an Executive Legislative Assistant at the Washington State Legislature and a decade working in TV newsrooms throughout the Northwest.

Shawn DeNae

Shawn DeNae has become a leading voice on the revival of cannabis as a tool for better mental and physical health, a boost to our economy, a renewable resource and a social salve to our society. Since 1975 Shawn has worked to provide education and advocacy through her family business: Washington Bud Company , her blog: A Cannabis Conversation ~ Marijuana Talk for Main Street and her commitment to the business of helping create an industry with women at the helm.

Shawn DeNae believes women are poised, for the first time in history, to actually lead an industry, to shape how policy moves forward in a constructive and collaborative manner. This vision, that this newly forming commerce could be commanded by women, is a key motivating factor to reach out to law makers and industry leaders to formulate a working system that will shape the world we leave for generations to flourish within.

Shawn is one of the founding members of the Marijuana Business Association Women’s Alliance, an active member of the Coalition for Cannabis Standards and Ethics, Americans for Safe Access, a Hempfest VIP Member, eWomen Network, co-founder of Women of Weed and the R5 Cooperative. Her activities include chairing the Health Before Happy Hour Campaign in WA State, writing for Cannabis Now Magazine, being a featured speaker at the Marijuana National Cannabis Convention, participating in panels and giving testimony to educate legislators and rule makers, and lobbying for patient’s rights. Shawn has been highlighted in several publications and videos including Evergreen, The Pioneers, Dope Magazine March 2014 Issue and As the Grass Grows.