Government officials and state regulators involved in making rules for legal and medical cannabis are moving to the promising weed industry.
Several officials who were once responsible for managing the budding legal marijuana sector are quitting their government positions to take jobs in the marijuana sector. This is a clear indication that the cannabis industry is shifting from the fringes and into the political mainstream space.
This is happening as majority of residents loosen pot restrictions across the nation. Majority of these ex-officials are offering advice to cities and states while others are lobbying their former colleagues to craft more favorable rules and regulations, taking on the role of industry advocates.
In Colorado, Lewis Koski, who led the state Marijuana Enforcement Division and Andrew Freedman, once the state’s director of cannabis coordination, came together to create a consulting firm that offers advice on crafting new marijuana regulations to local and state governments. Earlier this month, Laura Harris, Koski’s predecessor at the Marijuana Enforcement Division, took a position as director of the Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce.
John O’Brien quit his position as the overseer of New Jersey’s medical cannabis program and is now the chief compliance officer of a cannabis company New York. Manny Munson-Regala now runs his own consulting firm after leaving his job of overseeing Minnesota’s medical cannabis program. In recent years, other former top officials at Washington State’s Liquor and Cannabis Board have moved on to establish their own firms.
“That’s how America works. You work for the government, then you become a lobbyist,” said Ian Eisenberg, a leader in the legal marijuana industry who runs Uncle Ike’s, a dispensary in Seattle, Wash. “I don’t think it’s any different than the defense industry.”
According to these ex-government officials who have moved to the private sector, they feel that they offer important services to the businesses that need to navigate complex regulatory schemes which have never been implemented before and to governments that need to establish new rules.
