What do 4/20 and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos® have in common? A lot, it seems. Recently, on 4/20, I took my granddaughter to listen to the inventor of the popular snack; she loves Flamin’ Hot Cheetos®! To understand how much, once, while in the Caribbean, we spent an entire day searching for them in every store on St. Thomas. It was the family’s collective mission.
So after Richard Montañez, Executive Vice President for Frito-Lay® autographed a bag of her favorite snack, we heard his rags to riches journey. He took us from his first day as a janitor at Frito-Lay to his role as Executive Vice President; he peppered thought-provoking statements throughout his presentation. It was inspiring, funny, and filled with sage advice.
His talk was targeted at people starting careers or trying to advance in their careers. But as I listened to him, I realized his advice not only applied to young careers and careers in transition, but also to young industries and industries in transition.
Which takes me back to 420 and cannabis.
Legal, regulated cannabis is a young industry in the process of transition and much of Montañez’s advice applies.
Advice – You were not created to fit in – you were created to stand out.
The cannabis industry has definitely stood out. Colorado began allowing medical marijuana in 2000 with Amendment 20 and in 2012 Amendment 64 was historically passed by Colorado’s voters with 55% in favor of adult-use cannabis.
Over the next year, the Department of Revenue / Marijuana Enforcement Division did what no government department had ever done before – we rolled out the first-in-the-world regulatory program for adult-use cannabis.
Colorado is still considered the tip of the spear. Everything Colorado does is watched, evaluated, criticized, or held up as a model of cannabis regulation.
Advice – There are always detractors – don’t let them take away your success
When we started down the path of building the regulatory program for adult-use cannabis, we took that responsibility very seriously. We knew that the world was watching: half of it wanted us to succeed and the other half wanted us to fail. I had an incredible staff of Type-A personalities and it was critical for us to make this program a success.
Now that the program has been in place for the last four years, the focus is now on how it’s working. This is where accurately looking at data is so important. Colorado did not gather data specific to cannabis prior to legalization so this lack of historical data has made it difficult to draw conclusions about the potential effects of marijuana legalization.
Decreasing social stigma and new capabilities to stratify data may make marijuana use appear to increase when it is unclear if it has. The Healthy Kids Colorado Survey supported by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment has compiled current and accurate information on under-age use.
Advice – The antidote to fear is hunger – hunger for a future, a job position, knowledge, or success; you go and get it and fear will never get a hold of you.
As we all know, cannabis is illegal at the federal level. It’s possible that at any point, the Department of Justice may decide to enforce the Controlled Substances Act. There are no federal benefits like bankruptcy protections, banking privileges, or 280E tax deductions.
In any other industry this would trigger fear – and I’m sure it’s triggered fear in the cannabis industry. But for those that advocate on behalf of the industry, there is a hunger – a hunger for harm reduction, a hunger for decriminalization, and a hunger for tested, taxed, and traced (therefore safe) medical and adult-use marijuana.
There is a hunger for a future.
There’s been a lot of uncertainty since January 2018, when the Cole Memo was rescinded, triggering fear. However, the reaction to the DOJ reversal has been extraordinary. We’ve seen our Congressmen and Senators step up to protect the industry by holding up the Trump Administration’s nominations; introducing bills at the federal level to safeguard the industry, and by former legislators becoming advisers to cannabis businesses.
This adds up to hunger for responsible regulation aimed at elimination or at least controlling fear.
Advice – When you are mopping that floor – you are not doing it for the employees, you are not doing it for Frito Lay – you are going to make that floor shine because you want to show everyone that a Monteñez mopped that floor!
When the industry operates, it needs to be excellent in complying with its regulatory requirements. Licensees need to do the best job they can do so they can show everyone – the federal government, stakeholder groups, consumers – that the regulated industry did its job.
That is a requirement shared by:
- regulators – who need to develop appropriate regulations;
- law enforcement – who need to develop appropriate enforcement mechanisms;
- legislators – who need to enact appropriate statutes;
- stakeholders – who need to make sure that appropriate safeguards are in place; and
- industry members – who need to make sure they continue to embrace responsible regulation because it benefits everyone.
That requirement is shared by all of us. We all have a responsibility to make sure that the mandates of the public that voted for Amendment 20 and Amendment 64 are carefully, safely, and compliantly carried out.
We need to make this regulatory program shine because we want everyone to know that Colorado takes its responsibility seriously! This industry and regulatory program works because, as an industry and a government working together, we mopped that floor and made it shine.
Did I expect that Montanez’s advice would so easily relate to the industry I’ve been working with for the past six years? No, not really. But sage advice on success isn’t limited to providing personal direction. If someone shares secrets to success and the path to achieve it, even a whole industry can learn from it.
As I watched my teen-age granddaughter listen to him speak, enthralled by his words, I remembered the day she made us search an entire Caribbean island for her Flamin’ Hot Cheetos® , eventually finding one bag in a tiny, remote store. It became clear to me – it isn’t impossible to find something we all want if we want it badly enough – it has to be our collective mission.