Meg Sanders: Most People in Cannabis Are Struggling

Cannabis Equipment News

This week, Meg Sanders, CEO of Canna Provisions, joins the Cannabis Equipment News podcast to discuss why it might be time to loosen regulations and take our hands off the wheel a little bit.

Meg Sanders got her start in the cannabis industry in 2009. It was an exciting new industry and Sanders is an entrepreneur at heart who loves a new challenge.

In 2010, she got into the consulting side of the business because she saw a huge need for expertise in the industry, particularly when new states came online. She sold the company in 2017 and moved to the east coast with her partner, Erik Williams. As they consulted for new companies in the Massachusetts market, a client came to them and asked them to come onboard as operators. Canna Provisions was born. The company started on the retail side, opening the second adult-use dispensary in the state, but has since become vertically integrated.

Working with a brand new regulatory body in the state was difficult, with seasoned operators engaging with brand new regulators who didn't really understand the plant or the process. While the state is maturing, it is still rife with inefficiencies that need to be addressed.

It's also expensive from a compliance standpoint and Sanders suggests that it might be time to take the regulatory hands off the wheel a little bit. She says most people in cannabis are struggling against a thriving legacy market because states and municipalities are too greedy when it comes to cannabis. The only ones winning in cannabis are the states.

Jump around:

• Transitioning from consulting to becoming an operator. (3:34)
• Trying to work with new regulators. (5:14)
• Inefficient state regulations. (7:44)
• Problems staffing regulator positions. (17:31)
• Issues with intoxicating hemp products. (21:42)
• What it's like to be a woman in cannabis. (34:24)
• Cultivation strategy with living legend Chemdog. (41:45)
• Why they switched to an employee-owned company. (46:24)