Razor Andrew Lopas is an author, cultivator, and distributor of cannabis and cannabis products since 1978. He is also the founder of companies such as OG RazorGrown, Mystic Spring Farms, among others. In this episode, Razor shares his story growing up in the cannabis industry, how he survived the plant’s criminalization, and the true meaning of legalizing cannabis.
Moritz Fendt is the Co-Founder of NXT Pharma and Hanfgeflüster. Based on Berlin Germany, he is an upstart businessman who pioneered the distribution of medical cannabis in Europe. In this episode of DANK Discussion, Moritz talks to our host, Maynard Breslow, about regulations of cannabis distribution across Europe, how elections open up the discussion for legalization, and his new strategies for influencer marketing.
Javier Hasse is the CEO of El Planteo, Managing Director of Benzinga Cannabis, Book author with Entrepreneur Media, and a weed reporter for various publications including Forbes, Playboy, CNBC and CNN. Based in Latin America, he specializes in covering cannabis, hemp, CBD and psychedelics news, information, events and tech with a focus on finance and business. In this episode of DANK Discussions, Javier talks to our host Maynard Breslow about legalization laws, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the undercurrent of racism in Latin America.
Rod Kight is a cannabis business law attorney for Kight on Cannabis. He is the founder and principal of Kight Law Office PC, a law office that represents businesses in the cannabis industry throughout the world. He is also the editor and chief writer of the Kight On Cannabis law blog, as well as the author of “Cannabis Business Law-What You Need to Know”. Lastly, he is a column writer on the advisory board for the American Journal of Endocannabinoid Medicine. Rod joins me to talk about his experience being a cannabis lawyer and the business side of the cannabis industry. (more…)
Saul Kaye is the CEO and Founder of iCAN Israel Cannabis, producer of CannaTech global events (www.canna-tech.co), and one of the main cannabis advisors to the Israeli Knesset. Six years ago, Saul stumbled upon a small event in Tel Aviv called “CannaTech” and decided to acquire it as one of his ventures. Today, CannaTech is continuing to build a strong community of passionate cannabis industry professionals across the world. Saul sees it as the best platform to educate about cannabis across the broad network of agriculture, human relations, venture capital, big business, pharmaceutical, and beverage companies. Although these categories aren’t used to playing together in the global spectrum, CannaTech provides the environment to allow them to do so.(more…)
Raymond Harari is the Founder of Canalis Capital. Canalis Capital is a venture capital & investment firm dedicated to identifying and developing cannabis companies in Latin America within the emerging global market.
Today, Ray shares with us his own serendipitous early investment in the cannabis space as a branding manager. First, Ray tells us why his family was upset with him turning away from family traditions to invest in Latin American cannabis companies. Next, Ray shares that there is an extra level stigma due to cannabis’ association with gang violence in Latin America. Additionally, he talks about the importance of finding your niche within the industry. This prevents brands from truly becoming household names. Finally, Ray predicts that influencers will be the driving force in driving marketing in the long term.
3 DANK Points
Latin America has extra measures of stigma to overcome
Transitioning from the VC banking world to the cannabis industry
While LatAm has been slow to adopt, its cannabis market is growing tremendously
