Let's be Blunt with Montel

Montel speaks with cannabis regulatory expert Katie Neer on this episode of Let’s Be Blunt. New York legalized adult use cannabis in March of 2021. Now two years later, the program is plagued with lawsuits and holdups in licenses, inadvertently leading to the proliferation of the illicit market. Katie Neer specializes as a cannabis regulatory attorney and the go-to expert for cannabis industry pla...

Montel talks with Gary Long on this episode of Let’s be Blunt. Gary transitioned from an extensive career in traditional healthcare to the cannabis industry. He held leadership roles at numerous public companies and brings a wealth of knowledge to his new role as the CEO of Botanical Sciences, Georgia’s first physician owned vertically integrated cannabis company. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz...

On this episode of Let’s be Blunt, Montel talks with the founder and executive director of the INDIGENOUS CANNABIS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION, Rob PeRo and Mary Jane Oatman. The ICIA uplifts cannabis economic development by advocating for equitable policy reform, empowering communities through education and destigmatization, and building connection through programming that brings together cannabis and h...

Montel talks with Helen Gomez Andrews on this episode of Let’s be Blunt. Helen is a lifelong cannabis enthusiast and advocate, and parent to one of the first medical card holders in New York State. Together with her husband and two kids, she moved from New York City to MA, leaving her Wall Street career behind to launch The High End, a vertically- integrated cannabis company centered around organi...

On this episode of Let’s Be Blunt, Montel speaks with Steven Hoffman. Mr Hoffman served as the initial Chairman of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission from 2017 – 2022 where he was responsible for standing up a safe and equitable market for recreational cannabis in the state and expanding access to the medical cannabis program. Prior to serving on the Commission, he was a Senior Partner...

On this special Veteran’s Day episode of Let’s Be Blunt, Montel speaks with the Executive Director of the Veterans Cannabis Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving U.S. military veterans’ quality of life through the opportunity of cannabis. Stephen served in the United States Navy for over 20 years as a Naval Aviator and Commanding Officer.  His professional experiences span globa...

On this episode of Let’s be Blunt, Montel is on location at Capital Cannabis in Douglas, MA speaking with the owner-operator Teresa Matteson. Teresa was offered an opportunity to transition into the cannabis business in 2019. She dug in and educated herself on the science and the business of cannabis, and opened Capital Cannabis in 2021. Part of her motivation to enter the industry came from seein...

Montel talks with Aaron Bloom on this episode of Let’s be Blunt. Aaron owned, operated and represented traditional healthcare companies for over twenty years. He’s now applying that experience to helping people find relief through medical cannabis and CBD. He is the CEO of DOC MJ, the Chairman and Founder of Floridians for Safe Medical Cannabis Care and an attorney by trade Hosted by Simplecast, a...

On this episode of Let’s Be Blunt, Montel speaks with the Founder of the Cannabis Equity Policy Council and the CEO of Cadre, Madison Shockley. Cadre is a visionary social equity brand that actively advocates for equitable opportunities across the cannabis industry, offering exceptional cannabis products while uplifting marginalized communities. The Cannabis Equity Policy Council is a 501c4 non-pr...

Montel talks with Kate Miller, co-founder and CEO of Miss Grass, on this episode of Let’s be Blunt. Miss Grass is a brand on a mission to help the world get good at weed. Inspired by her stint working at a dispensary in college and powered by a decade-long career in entertainment where she worked alongside Ben Silverman and led brand partnerships for Lorne Micheals’ Broadway Video, Kate is dedicat...

On this episode of Let’s Be Blunt, Montel talks with serial entrepreneur, financier and former professional football player Ruben Lindo. Ruben broke into the cannabis industry in 2015 as a consultant and then began a national CBD company in 2018. The following year he founded Blak Mar Farms, which today is present in three states and growing. After ten years in professional football, he also start...

On this episode of Let’s be Blunt, Montel talks with Hemp-OG Chris Boucher about the potential pitfalls of Delta-8 products on the industry. Chris has been involved in the hemp industry since the early 1990’s globally. In 1994, he became the first person in modern times permitted to legally grow a hemp crop in the US, at the USDA Research Center in Brawley, California. In 2014, he established a la...

On this episode of Let’s be Blunt, Montel welcomes Mike Robinson back to the show to discuss how CBGa has helped his daughter who suffers with Autism. Mike is the founder of the Global Cannabinoid Research Center and a three time cancer surviver who has utilized cannabis to treat cancer, as well as his epilepsy, PTSD and Chronic Lyme disease. He is the former Director of Consumer Affairs at the Am...

Montel talks with Chicago cannabis entrepreneur Akele Parnell on this episode of Let’s Be Blunt. Akele earned his masters degree in public health and doctorate of law degree from Washington University. He served as in-house counsel at Green Thumb Industries Inc., one of the largest publicly traded cannabis companies in the U.S. There, he worked across finance, securities, corporate governance, com...

Montel talks with Marcia Pledger on this episode of Let’s Be Blunt. Marcia is the co-founder of the Ohio Cannabis Health & Business Summit, an annual educational event in Cleveland aimed at both the general public and people in the cannabis industry. She is a freelance business journalist, content creator and author with 30 years-experience covering local and national stories on topics as diverse...

On this episode of Let’s Be Blunt, Montel talks with Michelin Star Chef David Yusefzadeh. David was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in 2011 and has been utilizing cannabis to allow him to function in his everyday life. He is a Michelin Star Chef and food designer who spent the majority of his career working eighty hours a week in fine dining restaurants and hotels around the world.  Jean-Georges Vo...

Montel speaks with Jennifer Conforti on this episode of Let’s be Blunt. Jennifer thought she would never have children, and then was blessed with a surprise pregnancy at age 42. Shortly after the birth of their beautiful baby girl, they learned she had a congenital brain defect and she was later given a secondary diagnosis of severe autism. When her behavior developed into self harm, no doctors or...

On this episode of Let’s Be Blunt, Montel talks with Chris Walsh on location at Green Care Collective, a vertically integrated cannabis company  in Massachusetts that he has recently taken the helm of as CEO. Chris  began his career in the entertainment industry and eventually co-founded the legendary production company, The Shooting Gallery, an indie film company that has been credited with launc...

Montel welcomes back Margo Vesely-Stone to this episode of Let’s be Bunt to talk about cannabis educational programs she is implementing in IL. Margo has dedicated her career to inspiring humanity to understand the blessings in plant medicine. She is a passionate cannabis advocate, researcher, and entrepreneur with almost two decades of cannabis and legal experience, both in the public and private...

On this episode of Let’s be Blunt, Montel talks with Calvin Johnson and Gosder Cherilus, retired NFL players who founded a forward-thinking company dedicated to the advancement of cannabis as a form of elevated wellness, believing that the plant holds incredible potential as a healing agent. Their vision is to positively impact the global cannabis industry, changing stigmas and stereotypes by high...

On this episode of Let’s Be Blunt, Montel talks with Bonni Goldstein, MD, Itzhak Kurek, PHD and Jeff Raber PHD about a study on the impact of cannabinoid therapy for treating Autism utilizing Cannformatics saliva based Cannabis-responsive biomarkers for before and after results. Dr Kurek is the CEO and founder of Cannformatics, a biotech company developing a lab service to analyze non-invasive sal...

On this episode of Let’s be Blunt, Montel talks with Firstman. He is a founding member of Life Is A Ceremony retreats where healers, shamans, artists, change makers, and more, commune in nature’s wisdom, hold space for personal development and solve systemic issues within a village of elders among the glory of Jamaica’s most potent and powerful resources: visionary plants, the healing powers of na...

On this episode of Let’s be Blunt, Montel talks with the Ohio Executive Director of Norml, Simon Dunkle. Simon started his career working for Ohio Speaker of the House, Vern Riffe, in the Ohio’s 114th General Assembly. He then spent 25 years in broadcasting, with the high point being a nationally syndicated blues radio show that ran in 40 Markets from 1994 to 1998. After an accident and twenty plu...

On this episode of Let’s Be Blunt Montel speaks with Dr Benjamin Caplan, a board-certified doctor of Family Medicine who was named one of the 100 most influential individuals in cannabis. In addition to practicing at some of Boston's foremost hospitals, he served as the Chief Medical Officer for one of the largest medical cannabis healthcare groups in the US, overseeing the clinical evaluations of...

Montel speaks wtih Marie St Fleur on this episode of Let’s Be Blunt. St Fleur was the first Haitian- American elected to state office in the United States and the first woman to serve as Vice Chair of the powerful Committee on Ways and Means. She served as a state representative for Massachusetts for eleven years. Before that she served as an Assistant District Attorney and Assistant Attorney Gene...