Happy Friday!
It was so great seeing so many of you last night at our inaugural Highrise event.
We’ll have much more to share in the coming days, but for now, a big thank you to all of you who showed up on a frigid NYC evening, and an even bigger thank you to those of you following along our journey!
-JB, JR, ZH
Today’s newsletter is 334 words.
💡 What’s the big deal?
THE HIGHRISE
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: ‘I need President Trump to want to do cannabis’
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand joined the Highrise Thursday night prior to a key vote to keep the government open. (We’re extremely grateful for her time).
We discussed the federal reclassification of cannabis, New York’s cannabis rollout, and how the industry can advocate moving forward.
We’ll have much more coverage in the coming days, but we wanted to highlight this quote. She said the rescheduling push starts from the top — and that if President Trump puts his thumb on the scale, so to speak, the process would move a lot faster.
“I need President Trump to want to do cannabis... If I can get him convinced it is a great business,” Gillibrand said. “Maybe we should offer him a cannabis license for New York so that he can make a ton of money and then he will be for this industry.
“So I don’t know, but that’s just one theory.”
While the quote was clearly in jest, Gillibrand is right. Cannabis reform starts at the top.
Watch it here:
🧳 People moves
Glass House Brands named Heineken USA Chief Marketing Officer Alison Payne to its board of directors.
📰 What we’re reading
Six years in, has Illinois' cannabis equity law delivered? | The Chicago Reporter