Over the past year there’s been doom and gloom in the cannabis industry, but at MJBIz Con, the worlds largest cannabis conference, there is guarded optimism about the future of the cannabis industry. Hebl, California’s largest legal distribution company finally closes, were they victims of that state’s impossible regulations? LeVanna Vassau has that story. Multiple reports from MJBiz Con including A Dream Team of Michigan Advocates who pay tribute to one of their own thanks to the Michigan Weedsters! Weed Talk News is Coast to Coast Cannabis coverage anchored by Alaina Pinto.
1:30-5:00—MJBiz Con report Tribute to Michigan’s Rick Thompson by his podcast partner Jamie Lowell. Amie Carter on the Michigan Weedsters
5:00-8:00 LeVanna Vassau on Herbl failure in Califormia report
8:10-9:25 Senator Cory Booker
10:15-12:30 – Karen Black’s Arizona report
11:30-10:00 New Hampshire’s Tim Egan- Chair of NH Cannabis Association on getting shot down again!
14:00-16:30 Claudia Post with Pennsylvania Report
17:00-20:20 – Harry Bernstein’s Ohio Report
20:20- 22:00 – Matthew Friedlander’s Washington State
22:45- – 24:20- Debi Facey in Canada
24:20- 26:00 – Doug Miller’s High on Wall Street report
26:30- 29:30 – Pam Chmiel in New York with Dispensary owner Christian Chavez of Statis in NYC
High Tide’s 3 cannabis dispensaries targeted by Canadian arsonists in Ontario in a coordinated attack. If you get texts from your favorite dispensary and they use Twilio to deliver the messages to you, they will have to find another tool. Alabama is still waiting to launch their already passed medicinal cannabis program after 2 years! Could a Washington State naturalized citizen serve as a test case for citizenship or deportation because of an ownership of a cannabis dispensary, and it might get to the Supreme Court.
Weed Talk News with Alaina Pinto includes cannabis reports from coast to coast.
What happens when you’ve served your sentence—but technology never stops watching?
In this episode of Let’s Be Blunt with Montel, Montel Williams sits down with Seth Ferranti—author, documentary filmmaker, founder of Gorilla Convict, and one of the most recognizable voices in criminal justice reform.
Seth spent 21 years in federal prison for nonviolent drug offenses during the height of America’s War on Drugs. While incarcerated, he reinvented himself as a writer, eventually becoming an acclaimed journalist and filmmaker dedicated to telling the stories of people impacted by mass incarceration.
Today, Seth is once again making headlines following a Nebraska traffic stop that has sparked a national conversation about AI-powered surveillance, automated license plate readers, digital privacy, and whether emerging technologies are quietly reshaping the relationship between citizens and law enforcement.
Together, Montel and Seth discuss:
Seth’s journey from federal prison to award-winning filmmaker
The lasting consequences of the War on Drugs
Why cannabis prohibition changed millions of lives
Life after incarceration and rebuilding from nothing
AI surveillance and automated license plate readers
Civil liberties, privacy, and constitutional rights
Government overreach in the digital age
What true redemption should look like
This isn’t just a conversation about cannabis. It’s a discussion about freedom, second chances, technology, and what happens when our justice system intersects with artificial intelligence.
If you enjoy thoughtful conversations about cannabis policy, criminal justice reform, civil liberties, and the future of America, be sure to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode.
Getting To Normalization: Changing the Stigma of Cannabis Through Public Relations
Designed as an add-on credential for those in public relations or the cannabis industry. In this six-week online course, Jimmy Young will guide you through the history, myths, and stereotypes to give you an insider’s view of the industry, politics, and laws that now dictate its future as a billion-dollar international business. You will then be able to leverage this information to promote the industry effectively within the realm of public relations.