I’d love to attend events like these every week. After much frustration with scheduling conflicts, I was able to attend the Secure the Bag event hosted by New Jersey Cannabis Chamber of Commerce in West Orange. What a welcoming, genuine group of people in that packed out room. As a first time attendee, I sat back a bit in the beginning, trying to observe the scene. Before I could do much of that, a few people came up and introduced themselves. We started chatting about Jersey cannabis and it all felt very natural, not forced. Can’t really put my finger on exactly what was done to create that environment, but I think it has something to do with Brendon Robinson and Beth Conway who run the events. I’m looking forward to attending more events this year. I was then fortunate to attend the first Highrise event presented by Cultivated Media and Gotham. What stuck out about this event was the diversity of people, viewpoints and subject matter that were present in the room and highlighted on stage. It was really nice to see research as a center point. Particularly, it was really nice to hear from a doctor who is actively prescribing cannabis and managing patients who use cannabis. I’m very honest with my doctors about my cannabis use and personally believe it’s very important to be able to be upfront with your doctors about cannabis use. In general, interviews with politicians don’t usually hold my attention but Jeremy Berke’s interview with Kirsten Gillibrand was a bit more honest then I was used to. Therefore, it held my interest. Dire times in Washington. The fact that she showed up and took the time was an important point. It’s a privilege to participate in the NJ and NY cannabis markets at this point in time. See everyone next week in Jersey and NYC again.