2024 marks a major transition year, which coincidentally is also the year of the Dragon – my Chinese zodiac. Momentum is gaining at Cannabuzz and my focus narrows on establishing a ground swell for Cannabuzz – an entity that started as a retail operation morphs into a culture, a community and a brand. We continue to develop the property, obtaining a grant to redesign our parking lot to help mitigate stormwater impacts which will allow us to create a food truck garden adjacent to our building. We gut 1/3rd of the building and construct the space into a functioning bar where we serve infused beverages and edibles. We brand space as the world’s first Cannabuzzery™ – a microbrewery but for cannabis.

We launch our own branded products including a ready to drink THC beverage available for distribution throughout the state and region.

Legislation is rapidly evolving in KY so I take my concerns to Frankfort and activate a local organization and lobbying group to help shape the laws and regulations.

I found Friends of Hemp, a non-profit with a mission to advance the value of hemp by engaging our communities. Over the next several years we launch various educational and research initiatives aligning with our mission, including: a Hemp Foods Cook-Off, a Hemp Tap Takeover, farming seminars, supporting legal action, and kickstarting the Hemp Feed Coalition.

After running out of medical options for treating Lyme Disease, I start using CBD to cope with my symptoms. Despite my skepticism, I finally find relief; however some brands help, whereas others do not. Quality control issues become evident. The concept of Anavii Market – a trusted retailer for verified CBD products is born. Simultaneously, in an effort to “be my own doctor,” I fall down a research rabbit hole untangling how various cannabis constituents can support my health. I launch Overcome, a product line dedicated to helping me and others overcome Lyme Disease.

I participate and win several local business pitch competitions and an entrepreneurship fellowship and work a side hustle as an associate producer position at Kentucky Education Television (KET) where I pick up editing skills that allow me to launch my podcast series, Anslinger: the untold cannabis conspiracy.

Inspired to make positive change, I move to California for graduate school where I earn a Master’s in International Environmental Policy and an MBA. My thesis is changing federal hemp policy. I apply for and receive a US Fulbright Scholarship to research the environmental life cycle of the hemp fiber supply chain in Canada. I am shocked the US government approves the award to let me research Cannabis.

During my research, President Obama signs the 2014 Farm Bill legalizing hemp production for research purposes. The timing was perfect. I move back California for my final semester where I enter a local business plan pitch competition for a concept I called The “Hempire” but did not win. The judges reasoning… “my idea was too big.” 10 years later I would launch a business remarkably similar to this business concept – a business named Cannabuzz.

After I graduate I move back to Kentucky, where the hemp industry is bustling, and decide to jump into the industry. I stop at archival libraries along the journey to investigate Harry Anslinger.

My joints start to get arthritic pain. Slowly other odd health issues begin to arise. After two years of creeping, unexplainable symptoms, I finally realize that I have Lyme Disease. I go to the doctor. Lab tests confirm a high potential. The Doc gives me antibiotics and apologizes that there is nothing more he can do. It was on me to determine how to get healthy again.

An economics paper at UK determines my fate. My parents recommend I write about “The economic impact of hemp in Kentucky.” As I write, I learn about Kentucky’s rich history growing hemp and about a man named Harry Anslinger, who altered the course of history by regulating hemp as marijuana. My dad sparks an idea – that there is a “story” behind Harry Anslinger. The thought sticks with me and I work over the next decade plus to uncover this story.

My dad films Woody Harrelson infamously planting 4 hemp seeds in an effort to distinguish hemp from marijuana. The footage is later used in the documentary “Hempsters: Plant the Seed.” My dad has forever been an inspiration for my hemp activism and his influence with this introduced me to learning about hemp.