A portion of this story was reposted with permission from NJ.com. Read the full story here.
By Susan K. Livio | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com ; Photo credit: Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
1906, a cannabis edibles company deeply rooted in Colorado, wants to branch out into Florida. Yet it might be a year or more before the Sunshine State allows the market to grow.
But that hasn’t stopped CEO Peter Barsoom from planting seeds.
Barsoom asked his Chief of Policy & Health Innovations, Jackie Cornell, to serve on the Florida Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee so she can get acquainted with the market, the regulators and the rapidly-growing patient base of 300,000.
Cornell was Deputy Health Commissioner for the first 15 months of Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration, in 2018 and 2019, at a time when he aggressively expanded the state’s stagnant medicinal marijuana program. There are striking parallels between Florida and New Jersey, where patients have had to accept limited choices — in dispensaries, products and price, he said.
“She had the experience of what it was like to inherit something that sucked,” Barsoom said.
“The people (in Florida) running the program realize they have their hands tied. Jackie was able not only to be empathetic to that position and thoughtful, but she also could say here are things you can do despite some of the shackles by the Legislature and executive branch,” Barsoom said. “She is building those relationships and investing the time, so that when the market opens up, we are ready to go.”
With a background in politics, public health and government — including a stint in the Obama administration during the implementation of the Affordable Care Act — Cornell brings a regulator’s sensibility and an activist streak to the cannabis industry.
All of this will continue to come in handy as the market grows, hopefully in her home state of New Jersey which is poised to approve marijuana legalization in a ballot question on Nov. 3.
“I started my career as a sex educator at Planned Parenthood. This is almost the same model — I educate you on the options and empower you to make the best decisions,” said Cornell, 37, a Pennington resident and a Rutgers University and The College of New Jersey alumna. “It feels very full-circle to me in a weird way. The war on the drugs and the war on sex — Just say no-ism hasn’t worked for anything.”
Through her work on the advisory committee in Florida, Cornell said she has observed a “fair amount of ‘reefer madness’ in Tallahassee” — even as “boomers and seniors are rapidly embracing the benefits of cannabis for a wide range of conditions and quality of life.”
“Nearly every state is struggling when it comes to finding the sweet spot of balancing government oversight, attracting responsible and thoughtful cannabis companies and meeting the needs of consumers,” Cornell said.