CannCentral
  • Home
  • Business
    Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research

    Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research

    Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

    Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

    Licensed cannabis producers navigate Health Canada’s marketing and brand regulations

    Licensed cannabis producers navigate Health Canada’s marketing and brand regulations

    dana-larsen-4-big-problems-with-bcs-new-cannabis-laws

    Dana Larsen: 4 big problems with B.C.’s new cannabis laws

  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • News
No Result
View All Result
CannCentral
  • Home
  • Business
    Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research

    Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research

    Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

    Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

    Licensed cannabis producers navigate Health Canada’s marketing and brand regulations

    Licensed cannabis producers navigate Health Canada’s marketing and brand regulations

    dana-larsen-4-big-problems-with-bcs-new-cannabis-laws

    Dana Larsen: 4 big problems with B.C.’s new cannabis laws

  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • News
No Result
View All Result
CannCentral
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Former D.E.A. agent turned cannabis exec Patrick Moen on changing careers, Jeff Sessions, and legalization

Kirk Smol by Kirk Smol
January 8, 2018
in News
0 0
0
Former D.E.A. agent turned cannabis exec Patrick Moen on changing careers, Jeff Sessions, and legalization

A former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent now at the forefront of a global cannabis industry boom, Patrick Moen, is not your average executive.

As the managing director of compliance and senior counsel for the Seattle-based cannabis investment firm Privateer Holdings, Moen helps the company—whose portfolio includes Canadian licensed producer Tilray, media platform Leafly, and lifestyle brand Marley Natural—operate in accordance with the law.

But prior to his move to the Privateer Holdings in November 2013, Moen worked on the opposite end of the spectrum as the head of the D.E.A. task force in Portland, Oregon, where he led a team of 15 agents and officers as they worked to dismantle drug rings and shut down labs throughout the state.

While he says he oversaw some cannabis enforcement, it wasn’t something Moen and his team prioritized. In fact, his frustration with the agency’s internal policies on cannabis was what pushed him to leave.

Related Post

Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research

Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research

September 7, 2023
Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

September 6, 2023

Licensed cannabis producers navigate Health Canada’s marketing and brand regulations

September 6, 2023

Dana Larsen: 4 big problems with B.C.’s new cannabis laws

September 4, 2023

Recalling the infamous testimony given by then-D.E.A administrator Michele Leonhart to Congress in 2012, Moen was troubled by her refusal to admit that cannabis was less harmful than crack or heroin.

“That in particular really stuck in mind,” he tells the Straight by phone from his office in Seattle. “I had a really hard time reconciling that this was the official position of our agency.”

After moving from a D.E.A. position on the East Coast to work in Portland, Moen saw firsthand how, despite the way Leonhart and others at the agency insisted on demonizing cannabis, regulations seemed to work. Prohibition began to look more and more to him like a failing policy.

“When I came to the West Coast, I realized that regulating cannabis was a good thing,” he says.

It’s why Moen believes that despite U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ attempt to crack down on states with legal cannabis, it’s unlikely that federal prosecutors in the U.S. will change the way they’ve been handling cannabis-related cases.

By rescinding the Cole Memo, a document issued to federal prosecutors in 2013 that set forth guidelines to be used when deciding on enforcement, Sessions is expecting prosecutors to eschew the Obama-era recommendations and return to “the well-established principles that govern all federal prosecutions”, as per his January 4 memo.

But Moen calls Sessions’ move “largely symbolic” and not necessarily a matter of policy. He’s fairly confident that a combination of dwindling resources and common sense means it’s unlikely that the U.S. will see a change in how cannabis cases are dealt with in the courts.

“We’re looking at federal prosecutors and federal agents that have limited resources and competing priorities,” he says, mentioning the opioid crisis, currently at the top of the D.E.A’s list.

“But the bottom line is, the state regulations are working. We’re taking money away from criminal organizations, we are generating tax revenue, and we’re creating jobs.”

Prosecutors and agents might be federal employees, he says, but they’re local people living and working in the communities that are affected by state cannabis regulations.

“They see what is happening around them, and they support it,” he says. “I don’t think there is any real appetite to change anything.”

When asked whether the move might have an effect on the cannabis market north of the border, Moen says it’s unlikely that it would create any long-term downward pressure on Canadian companies. If anything, he says, it might make business opportunities in Canada look more appealing.

At Privateer Holdings, a privately held equity firm that has raised more than $150 million to date to invest in the cannabis industry, Moen says the majority of the company’s funding has been deployed outside of the United States, with its single-largest investment being Nanaimo-based licensed producer Tilray.

“That should tell you where we think the opportunities are,” he says, touting the company’s global approach. It’s also invested in emerging markets in Europe, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand.

When comparing the approach of the Canadian government to that of other jurisdictions, particularly in the United States, Moen says one thing Canada lacks is innovation in products and brands.

“On the medical side to date, they’ve been very restrictive on those factors, and early indications about the adult-use side are only incrementally better,” he says.

In the U.S., the market share of nonsmokeable cannabis products is increasing rapidly, with edibles garnering a large portion of the market. Moen says Canada has made a mistake by deciding to wait up to one year after the implementation of legalization in July 2018 to allow for the manufacture and sale of edibles.

“We’ve had enough experience with them here in the U.S. in terms of portioning and packaging and THC content, that they’ve ironed out a lot of the difficulties,” he says.

“I think if you wanted to roll it out in Canada you could fairly easily, and I’m not quite sure I understand the delay, other than the desire to move a little cautiously.”

Kirk Smol

Kirk Smol

Kirk's journey through the digital realm began with lines of code and algorithms dancing in his dreams. Armed with a keyboard and an insatiable curiosity, he embarked on the path of software engineering. However, fate had a smoky twist in store for him. As the ones and zeros swirled around him, Kirk had an epiphany – he realized that he was more interested in the highs and lows of the cannabis industry than debugging lines of code. With a leap of faith that would make a bungee jumper blush, he bid farewell to the world of semicolons and database queries and embraced the intoxicating allure of cannabis journalism. Now, Kirk finds himself navigating a different kind of network, one that's all about buds, trichomes, and terpenes. Armed with a pen that's mightier than a vaporizer and a keen eye for detail, he's on a mission to unravel the mysteries of the green world.

Related Posts

Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research
News

Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research

by Kirk Smol
September 7, 2023
Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate
News

Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

by Kirk Smol
September 6, 2023
Licensed cannabis producers navigate Health Canada’s marketing and brand regulations
News

Licensed cannabis producers navigate Health Canada’s marketing and brand regulations

by Kirk Smol
September 6, 2023
Next Post
B.C. Liberal leadership hopeful Todd Stone proposes overdose committee and dedicated cannabis revenue

B.C. Liberal leadership hopeful Todd Stone proposes overdose committee and dedicated cannabis revenue

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Cannabis compound kills antibiotic-resistant superbug

Cannabis compound kills antibiotic-resistant superbug

January 31, 2019
It’s not a heart attack: chest pain from smoking weed

It’s not a heart attack: chest pain from smoking weed

July 12, 2019
Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

September 6, 2023
Surrey RCMP arrest 18-year-old for cannabis edibles and vaping products

Surrey RCMP arrest 18-year-old for cannabis edibles and vaping products

November 8, 2019
Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research

Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research

September 7, 2023
Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate

September 6, 2023
Licensed cannabis producers navigate Health Canada’s marketing and brand regulations

Licensed cannabis producers navigate Health Canada’s marketing and brand regulations

September 6, 2023
dana-larsen-4-big-problems-with-bcs-new-cannabis-laws

Dana Larsen: 4 big problems with B.C.’s new cannabis laws

September 4, 2023
CannСentral Magazine

Recent Posts

  • Bill Blair announces $24.5 million in funding for cannabis research
  • Mary Jean “Watermelon” Dunsdon will run as Vancouver’s cannabis-friendly city council candidate
  • Licensed cannabis producers navigate Health Canada’s marketing and brand regulations

Categories

  • Business
  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • News

© 2023 CannCentral

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Landing Page
  • Buy JNews
  • Support Forum
  • Pre-sale Question
  • Contact Us

© 2023 CannCentral

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In