My guest today is, Johnathan McFarlane.
Johnathan started in the fitness world, working with big brands and superstar athletes like NFL star Rob Gronkowski and UFC legend George St. Pierre.

He is now, director of Strategy at Hybrid Marketing Co, the world’s largest cannabis-focused marketing agency where he builds creative marketing and advertising solutions that circumvent the tight restrictions placed on the rapidly growing cannabis industry.

Johnathan lives in Denver Co, with his wife and a 4-year-old. In his free time, he is Hiking and fundraising for Ukraine.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnathanmcfarlane/
https://hybridmarketingco.com/
johnathan@hybridmarketingco.com

Intro:

Unlike most states, which have legalized Cannabis via ballot referendum, New York doesn’t have much of a tradition or infrastructure around statewide voter initiatives. Therefore, it is up to the State Legislature to propose and vote on new legislation, that will be signed or vetoed by the Governor. The debate generally gains steam every spring during budget negotiations, when the Governor introduces a budget proposal for the following fiscal year.

In New York, cannabis for medical use started to be legal in 2014.

In 2018, New York state started a comprehensive study to gauge the likely impacts of legalizing recreational sales which concluded that “The positive effects of a regulated cannabis market in NYS outweigh the potential negative impacts.”
There were many debates on whether or not municipalities would be able to ‘opt-out’ and on the push to ensure a large portion of new tax revenues would be invested in communities of color which have been most affected by what most now see as historically racist and damaging enforcement of cannabis laws.

As of today, New Yorkers are now allowed to possess small amounts of cannabis and smoke, ingest, or consume cannabis products. However, the timeline for dispensaries to open and sales to kick off remains distant. The law doesn’t provide a specific timeline, but the first sales aren’t expected until the end of this year or later and it will take another 18 months for New Yorkers to be allowed to cultivate a small number of plants at home for recreational purposes.

While many small businesses are awaiting the state to issue licenses for farming, dispensing, and delivering cannabis products, there are many unanswered questions, and these businesses wonder how they will pivot their business to cannabis and position their product in the market.