How to get a cannabis license. Point Seven Group Founder and CEO Ashley Picillo talks with Vangst CEO Karson Humiston about the early days of legal cannabis and how she leveraged her experience as a cannabis employee into the creation of a thriving consulting business. Ashley and Karson take a deep dive into the messy New York adult-use market and try to get to the bottom of when we can expect some real movement — soon ... we think. The conversation gets wonky with a discussion of free-market models vs. merit-based systems in legal cannabis states, and a deep dive into the East Coast markets' efforts to make social equity a real and effective platform for successful cannabis businesses. Produced by PodConx Proud To Work In Cannabis - https://podconx.com/podcasts/proud-to-work-in-cannabis Karson Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/karson-humiston Vangst - https://vangst.com/ Ashley Picillo - https://podconx.com/guests/ashley-picillo Point Seven Group - https://pointsevengroup.com/
How to get a cannabis license.
Point Seven Group Founder and CEO Ashley Picillo talks with Vangst CEO Karson Humiston about the early days of legal cannabis and how she leveraged her experience as a cannabis employee into the creation of a thriving consulting business. Ashley and Karson take a deep dive into the messy New York adult-use market and try to get to the bottom of when we can expect some real movement — soon ... we think.
The conversation gets wonky with a discussion of free-market models vs. merit-based systems in legal cannabis states, and a deep dive into the East Coast markets' efforts to make social equity a real and effective platform for successful cannabis businesses.
Proud To Work In Cannabis - https://podconx.com/podcasts/proud-to-work-in-cannabis
Karson Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/karson-humiston
Vangst - https://vangst.com/
Ashley Picillo - https://podconx.com/guests/ashley-picillo
Point Seven Group - https://pointsevengroup.com/
Karson Humiston & Ashley Picillo: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Ashley, pat. I'm the founder and CEO of 0.7 group. , and I'm proud to work in cannabis because of the major impact that we're able to have at the government level, at the startup level. and now at the legacy operator level, especially in states like New York, Hey everybody. And welcome to the proud to work in cannabis podcast.
I'm your host Carson. Humiston the founder of angst. And today I'm excited because I have one of my best friends on the show. Ashley, the founder of 0.7 group Ashley and I have known each other since in my first year in cannabis. And I'm not sure we'll find out when Ashley's first year in cannabis was but been great friends.
We've grown our businesses together and super excited to have you on the show today. Ashley, how you doing. Doing really well, another day in, in the life, I feel like it's, it's always drinking out of the fire hose in cannabis, but I think we all kind of enjoy that even on the really long, tricky days.
on the long, tricky days. [00:01:00] And , you moved to New York if I understand correctly. Yes. I was actually living in New York at the end of 2013, beginning of 2014 and left to go to Colorado for what was supposed to be a few months. Long story short wound up involved in a number of cannabis projects decided to just make the Colorado a move.
And I hoped at the time that I would be able to come back to New York when, and if New York legalized and started to release its own set of programs. So it, it took eight years, but finally made the move back and it's been awesome. It's it's definitely really exciting time in New York. That's for sure.
Yeah. Well, we're gonna we'll we'll talk about the entire story of the. Eight years, but you still have your place in Aspen. So you know, the us who are lucky enough to be able to go crash there every once in a while, we still get to see you in Colorado from time to time. Yeah. I feel like I, I still live on airplanes and
as much as there is going on in New York, we're still active in [00:02:00] a number of other states right now. So no shortage of things to do. And the Aspen New York life is pretty good. I think. So. I think you got the right setup going here. I feel like I'm, I've got a good balance. I'd like to see it a little more of the mountains, but no complaints.
so, okay. Let let's, let's jump into it. Talk to us about how you originally got involved in this space. I know you said you were living in New York in 2013. Walk us through the story of how you ended up getting into cannabis in the first place? Yeah, it was definitely, an interesting series of events I had, , I, I had signed to start a non-cannabis, , job , in New York city that was supposed to start in the summer of 2014.
And I was offered a short term project in Colorado at the start of 2014. So I made the, the trip out there, thought it'd be a fun little adventure for a few months. And I was introduced to Meg Sanders, who was the CEO of mindful at the time, a vertically integrated facility in [00:03:00] Colorado. And she was looking for support putting together what was one of the first career fairs in the space.
And so I. , took her on as a client was doing a bunch of , event management work. And then yeah, one thing led to another and flash forward, I was running six retail stores, , a significant part of the operation itself, manufacturing, cultivation, distribution. , and it just, it was one thing after the other and , a very wild two years.
It's certainly how I cut my teeth in the space and really. the ins and outs of cannabis, operations, cannabis compliance, and cannabis becoming more of a mainstream business and were, wait, what year was this again? This was 20 14, 20 14. So from 2014 to 2016 is when you're actually literally like running retail stores, cultivation like an employee in the space.
Yeah. I was an employee in the space. [00:04:00] My, my actual job title versus what I was doing each day. There was not always alignment there, but you know, this was a time when previously, if you cultivated cannabis and you sold cannabis, you were, you were making good money, but suddenly there was a lot of saturation.
There were a lot of other license holders and operators were being forced to really understand their procedures and their, ability to standardize and be very E. , and I think that my timing was definitely part luck realizing that facilities like ours, suddenly needed to be operating in a very different way.
And, one thing led to another and it was very clear. I I couldn't leave the space. There was way too much opportunity, especially as a young woman that you know, was figuring out what I wanted to do with my career. And. Yeah. So I, I had a really kind of interesting mashup of skills. I I've been a writer for a long time.
I understand procedures, operations compliance, and, , I was really connecting a lot of dots to try and [00:05:00] optimize the space that we had adjust to ever changing market conditions and make sure that we, yeah. That we were gonna be competitive , in a hyper competitive market, especially at that point.
So then you decided to leave. This company. And then, then what did you decide to do next? it was a difficult decision to leave. but I, I recognized that most other states were following Colorado's progress. And I think trying to understand what Colorado did right. And what Colorado, maybe didn't get.
Right. in order to, , make sure other program. were stronger and, and reflective of those mistakes and those wins. So I decided to start a, what I thought was going to be a small consulting business, supporting groups applying in, in other markets. So right after, Colorado, you heavily involved in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
And, at the time , I was very confident it would be successful, but it, I had [00:06:00] no comprehension at that. the size that the business could reach and like what the actual market need was for the services we were providing. And, things just really kind of took off from there.
But I started, I set up the company at the end of 2015, we launched January 1st, 2016. , 2016 was a big year for cannabis for those people that weren't around at that time, because, going into 2016. California hadn't even been like, legalized for adult use yet. So in 2016, on January 1st, 2016, the only markets that had adult use were Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.
And so your idea was that there's gonna be more and more markets that are gonna open up. These markets are gonna need a blueprint. People are gonna need to open up businesses, win licenses. Since I have this great experience in Colorado, I could help these people in new markets. Was that just like general, yeah. Business thesis. Definitely. [00:07:00] Definitely. And I remember thinking that most states would pursue medical programs first, which is absolutely what happened. And now we're in a state, at 2022, where most of those medical markets are now exploring what adult use programming would look. , as far as a longer term or middle term forecasting perspective, I, I felt like, we would be in a, a pretty healthy position because once the medical markets moved there would still be room to work with teams a second time on the adult use side.
, what, I didn't fully anticipate that these medical markets, especially, I had no idea how competitive they were going to be on the licensing side, because to your. Washington, Oregon, Colorado. These were adult use markets where, , it was pretty simple to get a permit. You filled out paperwork, you had to meet certain requirements.
Obviously there was a funding, , and capital requirement of sorts. But, , by comparison states like Ohio that are gonna give out 12 grow [00:08:00] licenses, that's a different, ballgame entirely, as far as the level of preparation that you have to go through. Just to throw your hat in the ring, hundreds of people competing for these pretty limited, , flag.
Yeah. Yeah. Tell, tell us more about that. So, so in a place like Ohio, they're gonna give out 12 licenses. There's hundreds of people that want them, what is the process like? And really this is where you come into place. I mean, I think a lot of people listening probably have no idea what would go into winning one of those 12 licenses.
I mean, I remember seeing you and we were, I think at some point we were sharing an office. Maybe I can't remember why we were working outta the same office. These applications were like the size of like phone books from the eighties. You've never seen anything like it. , to open a pot shop.
You need to fill out a, like a, like a phone book. So give us a sense of like, what in God's name could they possibly be asking for in these applications? Oh my gosh. , it was crazy to me and it still is crazy to me. Now, the things have, have kind of evolved and changed once again.[00:09:00] , especially 20 16, 20 17, 20 18, even into 2019.
when you think about states legalizing, we kind of put them into two buckets. So you have free market models where, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, but even medical and Oklahoma and medical in Mississippi, where , the bar to get a license. Is set fairly low. So what happens is you have a lot of people apply.
A lot of people get licensed and then the market natural forces applied to the business, sort of determine who's going to survive and who isn't. If you're smarter at your business, you put more into it. , you just have greater competitive advantages, then you'll be around. And people who are not on that side of the spectrum will naturally fall off.
Takes the pressure off of the state to actually score groups and rank them and issue permits, in that more limited fashion. So the other bucket are merit based systems where, , as you were saying, there's 12, 12 [00:10:00] slots or 10 slots, 50 slots, whatever , a lot of people want those permits.
And so , it's a process where the state is essentially. Evaluating whether or not you are capable of carrying out the business plan that you've developed. And so they wanna see it all, , they wanna see full engineering plans, architectural drawings, , full length business plans, five year perform.
Written procedures for every single functional thing that you're gonna do in your business, , how do you mitigate odor? How do you destroy waste? How do you recall a product? How do you check an ID at the store, train an employee? And so depending on what your license type is, there's these extremely long list of requirements and, there's sort of mixed feelings about the validity of that process on one.
In order for someone to win, you jump through a lot of those hoops. Maybe you've demonstrated that you're very well planned out and, , you have a better chance at being [00:11:00] successful in operating compliantly. , on the other hand, , not everyone can hire, , consultants and lawyers and architects, et cetera for basically a bet.
I mean, it's a gamble who knows if you're gonna win. So to spend. Exorbitant amounts of money in that preparation process isn't possible. And I think that's one of the reasons licensing has really changed that, states realize that that method and that model, , it creates an environment where certain people are ineligible from the beginning because the barriers are set very high.
, but , at that point when we were starting the. , for me, I didn't really understand all of those dynamics the way that I do now. , and we were basically engaged to help teams understand and develop all of those processes. Most of our clients were entrepreneurs, investment groups, family offices, some of them came out of, manufacturing, retail, agriculture, but they.
Necessarily know the ins and outs of running a cannabis operation. [00:12:00] And so it's this massive list , yeah, they are kind of like phone booths. Actually. I have a bunch of them printed and it's amazing how massive these things are. yeah, , when I was hearing you talk about all the requirements of like, the business plan and the five year performa and showing the, how you're gonna check people's security and IDs, I was just thinking like, and this is why I started.
Hiring company, because I you're talking about barriers. how are you supposed to know in five years from now, how you're gonna check people's security? So anyway, you need to hire someone like Ashley. , I think most entrepreneurs have an idea of this is the vision for my cannabis business, but they have no idea all these steps.
So you would hire a. Like Ashley's group 0.7 group. They come in, they help you with everything, the entire application process. talk to us a little bit about the success. So you started this in 2016. Now we're here in 2022 and you guys have had a tremendous amount of success in winning these licenses that are extremely competitive to come by.[00:13:00]
Yeah, we have and I, I would attribute a lot of that to. Above all else. Certainly my team, my, , I work with some absolutely incredible people and, , , you really need to understand the, the politics at play, how legislation came to be, you know what's going on in the community where.
Someone intends to apply. And how does this business work within that community or, or raise concerns and, , it's part journalism, it's part business strategy, it's part technical writing. It's part of financial planning. , we really hit on everything. And the philosophy that we've had from the beginning is.
If we do our jobs well and write, , then our clients are not just successful during the licensing process, but they are well poised to be operationally ready on time. Most markets stipulate that you need to be operationally ready within six months or nine months.
So, , if that application process is just, , for the optics versus. Making those [00:14:00] decisions in a way where that, that you intend to follow. Even if you get the license, you probably will fail because there's so much, you have to bring a life in a short amount of time. And so, , we've been really focused on that.
We've been very successful. I think we've worked in over 40 states now for licensing. It's probably 20 to 25, but , we've won in almost every competitive market where we've been hired. but since then, , we've tried to develop other solutions and offerings to not only, support, legacy groups, social equity groups, intending to apply, but also groups that got licensed and are now like deer in headlights, trying to figure out, , what did we commit them to on paper that they now have to bring to life quickly and , how are they gonna go about that?
So we've done everything. Onsite training, , I've staffed certain places with my team as interim leads. , we've done handholding during inspections with state officials. the scope has continued to kind of [00:15:00] evolve just as the industry has, but it's a lot. There's always something to do.
That's for sure. So let's talk about the topic that's on everyone's mind. New. . Every time I get onto a call , with someone they're like, Hey, how's your business doing in New York? like not very well, there's not a lot of jobs to fill right now. Yeah. So I would love to hear from you since you are, you moved to New York, you're anticipating and we're all anticipating New York could be the largest cannabis market, maybe in the world.
what the hell's going on with the New York. How much time do we have, because , it's really difficult to distill down, but I'll certainly do my best, to start and just to kind of contextualize this a little New York legalized, medical cannabis and release.
they're medical license holders, which are called registered organizations. that process started in 20, I think it was 20 15, 20 14, 20 15, by the time they were actually operational. And so you have these medical facilities, they're fully vertical, meaning they have [00:16:00] cultivation between four and eight retail stores.
So they've been, , alive and well. For a while now also New York is a state that issued a number of hemp licenses to growers over the past few years. And so you've had these other, , programs happening in the background in March of 2021, New York rolled out, , adult use legislation, which started the process of, getting people, excited, people, really starting to think.
, how to position themselves in New York and what to apply for. , but the challenge is, when legislation comes out, it gives us a, a sense of where market is going and how a program might look. , but until you have final regulations, there's just a lot of unknowns. And so, , to your point, there's not a lot of people hiring.
Teams are getting organized. , teams are, , registering their businesses. They're putting together their executive teams and things like that. But, , wait, , can you even apply for a license right now? So , there's a few things that are happening.[00:17:00]
, and things are actually moving a bit more quickly. The first are conditional cultivation licenses that were prioritized , for many of these hemp farmers. that program had a lot of challenges in New York. So they were issued , the first wave , of licenses.
And I forget the exact number, but within the last two weeks, the first few dozen were given their , so just in , like plain English, basically what happened here is , there was people that had been farming hemp in New York for. decades. Is that fair saying no, no, not decades.
Maybe, but I, I would say the target group , are shorter term. Within , the last few years, but these are probably like small time farmers. I would imagine a lot of them are in like upstate New York. Most of them are in upstate New York, upstate New York, small time farmers. And so New York wanted to make sure it was fair for these small time farmers to be able to have a shot at having a cultivation program.
Right. . Yeah, I'd say that's a fair summary. So now that you have these small time farmers that won V one of the cultivation [00:18:00] licenses before any like larger, businesses could really come in and try to get cultivation licenses. Correct. And from what I understand, speaking with some of these folks, these are pretty small operations.
And so like, , for banks as an example, , most of our clients are trying to. 200, 300 cultivators. And like, that's just not happening at the small time farmers. So like, , it's not big business that we're talking about here.
I'd say, no, it's not big business that we're talking about, the future of those license holders and the way that they'll be allowed to expand, could, can change that a little bit, but that's the first rollout, but right on the heels of this is a program designed for, , for retail.
And so as a reminder, this first wave of cultivation, is not the end of cultivation. There will be another licensing round. Maybe at the end of the year, it could be the beginning of next that timeframe is not fully known at this point, but, , licensing will open up for, , [00:19:00] additional, okay. Corporation, nurseries, processing, distribution, co-ops micro businesses, delivery and dispensaries, as well as potentially additional medical licenses , and consumption lounges.
So those opportunities are still there. So like basically at this point, just to make sure mm-hmm , if I didn't have. Farm. . I was uneligible to participate in like trying to win a license for cultivation, but now in the future, they're gonna open it up and there will be opportunities if I have a group that might wanna get into cultivation in New York, but that just hasn't happened yet.
Correct. So we do not have that timeframe yet. We do not have regulations final yet. but we do know that, that's , it's an inevitability. , there's no grayness around the fact that those licenses , , will open up and there will be an opportunity to apply for them, hopefully by the end of this year.
But I think the state, very thoughtfully is trying to prioritize, specific groups of people, , [00:20:00] ahead of the. Traditional licensing round. So the hemp piece is first. And then the other is, is going to be a, a retail retail licensing process specifically for people who have been harmed by prohibition and, and by the war on drugs.
So , there's basically a, a financial set aside to support these teams in going through the licensing process, but also to support. In the procurement of real estate, , and then developing that site for whatever your operating purpose is.
That's your biggest cost center in your cannabis company. So, and in it typically in other markets where social equity was priorit and I think the states were doing their best and programs were well intentioned. The reality is if groups do not have access to funding and or access to viable real estate, , you can give certain groups of people or give social equity applicants, a head start, quote unquote, but it's not really gonna make a difference [00:21:00] if those barriers are still right.
the fact that , the state is trying to figure out. The real estate piece paired with funding is certainly unique. It's a , big endeavor. But if there was a state to figure it out, I I'd say New York is, is the state to, to nail this. So hopefully they do. , I'm certainly rooting for it.
in other states, if you win a license, but then you don't have the capital. secure a real estate building and hire a team and get the project operational really what's the point of, winning the license at all. So in New York, , we just went through what was happening on the cultivation side.
On the retail side. They're prioritizing groups that have previously been negatively impacted by the war on drugs. So if someone out there is listening and might be eligible, what are the requirements right now for the Condit? Retail license to be part of the group that could one get access to the license and two get access to the funding that you just described from New York.
So the, the qualifications, [00:22:00] as far as I understand them and I learned some things even last week that challenged my understanding a bit, but, , it seems the qualification now is that you actually had to have been. Convicted. So as an example, we, we have a couple of groups that we're doing some pro bono work for right now that, they were arrested, this is on their record, but
they spent considerable dollars and resources to try to get these things expunged and, fortunately, or unfortunately, depending how you wanna think about it, that's now disqualified them from applying for the ground. For groups that do qualify they, they need to own the majority of the business and , for any group that's applying for retail, you are gonna be limited to three retail locations.
That's an interesting piece too. When you compare New York to markets like Colorado, where there was not a, a limit placed on the total number of retail stores that you could have, which. It gives an opportunity for bigger businesses to come in and, and kind of own the market. Over a [00:23:00] period of time, New York has followed suit similar to, to other states where there's certain licenses you can't even own together.
So in New York, if you own cultivation, you can't touch retail. You can't touch delivery. You can't touch lounges. If you own retail, you can't touch lounges. You can only own three. So, we're all kind of. Wrapping our arms around, what the parameters are. And I think for a lot of the teams that we're coaching , and consulting for part of the exercise is really trying to place value on each of these licenses and really consider the viability of, of each of them.
Because when in markets where you cannot own on both sides, you don't have vertical integration. , there's definitely challenges because of that. You need to be considered. And , it's definitely been interesting for us as we're creating financial models and, and loose forecasts.
So I was just gonna ask, so like right now for the conditional retail license, like the, so really from understanding this correctly, , the [00:24:00] criteria is that you have to have been previously convicted for a cannabis offense. , so the one requirement for this retail conditional licenses is that you had to have been previously convicted for a cannabis offense? That's the requirement, right? , , there's other criteria.
Obviously you need to be of age. There's financial requirements, and the way that you apply, whether you're applying as a partnership or you're applying as an individual, you're applying as a team.
Each situation has to be considered a little bit differently as it pertains to the income piece, . So at this point in time in the New York market, there's conditional licenses for cultivation, which are set aside for the hemp farmers, there's retail licenses, conditional licenses, which are going towards people negatively impacted by the war on drugs.
That's V. And now for V2, it's gonna open up to people that don't meet those criteria that wanna open a cannabis business in New York. So if I'm one of those people would right now, be the time to start working with a group, like 0.7 and other groups. And is [00:25:00] that what you're seeing happening is that other groups are assembling on the sidelines waiting for that opportunity or like kind of what are you seeing with the other groups that don't meet these conditional criteria?
we actually have some teams that even, they do qualify, but they're thinking about applying under the, the regular round, so to speak. There's just, there's a lot of factors that kind of come into play here, but generally most of our clients that don't qualify , they're building their teams.
They're definitely getting financials together. . And a lot of just straight strategy consulting. Again, like some of these clients that we've worked with are very savvy in, whatever other businesses they're part of, but are coming up to speed as quickly as they can.
Kind of learning the, the cannabis side of things. We're also working with a lot of groups that are, just recently figuring out , that they do qualify under these, these various programs, whether they're convicted. I think I might be confusing New York and mass, but I'm fairly certain, both states.
You can also be the descendant of someone who was [00:26:00] convicted for a marijuana offense. , the chapter of the law defines like what offenses are qualifying in which ones aren't I believe you can also be a a domestic partner to someone who was convicted. So, there's a lot of different criteria, but.
We, interestingly enough, , we have connected with teams that qualify and are actually exploring, just waiting until that, that regular round., it's really tough. we don't even know what the licensing requirements are going to be. So the advice I've been giving to our clients just in, various presentations around the state, et cetera, is , to not think so much about.
Like, is this gonna be needed on the application? Is the state going to require us to submit a, B and C? If you think about the application as a roadmap to building a business and building an operation, that's set up to actually succeed. Every single thing you invest your , time into is going to be necessary at some point, whether or not the state says, [00:27:00] do you have a hiring and recruitment?
Or not, you're still gonna need one. Like you're still gonna have to hire and recruit people. So I'm trying to kind of orient people around that. These steps are gonna be important to you regardless. It's just a little bit of a mystery right now, whether or not, this is gonna be a phone book application or something a bit more simple.
My sense is that it's, it'll be somewhere in the middle and the barriers to apply will. Pretty dramatically reduced from other places. once we find out more, I think it'd be fun to have you come back on the show and give the update on here's. What's actually gonna happen in New York for V2 of the licenses, sort of taking a step aside from New York and just thinking about the industry more holistically.
Do you think that it's better for the industry to have these really competitive licensing requirements? Or do you think that. Anybody that wants to get a cannabis business, assuming they meet like baseline qualifications, like in a place like Colorado or how it started, should be able to, or do you think that like the government [00:28:00] should be involved like this and say, Hey, in Ohio, there's only gonna be 12 licenses.
What, what's your personal opinion on the best way for this industry to grow and thrive over regulation or under regulation? Hmm. That's a really good question. Cause just really quickly before you answer that, you look at a state like Oklahoma, right?
At, you could argue it's just a race to the bottom and there's, people on every street corner having these small time shops. But you know, then there's a place like, Ohio where there's not a lot of opportunity for anybody to get involved. So sure. Of context for the listeners is not a super clear answer regardless of general business philosophy.
It's not super clear cuz we haven't seen either work extremely well. Right? I think so many considerations here. , it's definitely somewhere in the middle. I mean, I look at states like Oklahoma, where. It, it felt kind of like a free for all, because it didn't take very much to get a license, but that meant a lot of people received permits to build these [00:29:00] various cannabis facilities who
Weren't forced via regulations to actually learn the ins and outs of these operations and , how compliance impacts a procedure or safety or, community engagement, et cetera. And so it is a race to the bottom in certain respects, and you'll have groups that survive because basically because they're more well capitalized than other groups and, or they had, , a better overarching business strategy.
On the other side of the spectrum states like Ohio Pennsylvania that places where it was ex extremely competi. , it's very much a, a pay to play model in a lot of ways. for, , for me, I think requirements to demonstrate that you're going to take the business seriously, that you understand, what rules you need to adhere to that you've built financials and a business roadmap that are actually based , on the law.
We, people will call and they have. Incredible ideas that are not allowable. Like , I'm excited to open a dispensary and [00:30:00] make products in the back room. Like those are not the same license. , but , when the barriers really low people get permits without having to think through that.
And that's damaging too. We've had groups over the years where they've got second mortgages out on their homes and these, all these crazy things to try and finance a company. Truly not viable. There, there are states in mass, in New York come to mind because they, they didn't, they did not establish a cap meeting Massachusetts. Didn't say it's this many grows. It's this many retailers. They've sort of letting market conditions determine. How many operators are gonna be necessary and they're letting communities decide on that similar in New Jersey.
, but they're still requiring teams to have some amount of capital and to have a plan on paper in order to submit. And I think to me, the, these Northeast markets , have found a, a sweet spot. They're still figuring it out. They're still hiccups and. There's issues, but I think it's a [00:31:00] much happier, medium than what we were seeing, six years ago.
Well, I think we're running outta time here, but this was a super interesting conversation around all things licensing a topic that a lot of people don't know anything about. I mean, if you're. I think that everyone, they go to a dispensary, they buy all the great products that are available on the markets.
And you have no idea how these businesses came about or all the thought that went into them. So Ashley and her team are playing a huge part in defining how these new markets roll out. And we've referred a ton of business over to Ashley and they've won tons of licenses for our clients. Who've gone on to make tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars.
So if you are. Interested in getting into cannabis and winning a license and understanding how to do it successfully. We would certainly recommend working with Ashley and the team at 0.7. So Ashley, any, any final thoughts for us , on. What you're most excited about looking forward in, in, into the next 10 years?
I can't think about 10 years. It's like, how do you think, like four months in [00:32:00] advance cannabis is like dog years? 10 years. We will be old in 10 years. It'll be so old now. , it's an exciting time to be in the space.
I. New York stands to unlock a lot of opportunity in, throughout Europe and to really influence how many of the other medical markets in the country roll out adult use programs. And I'm not surprised that New York has taken the stand that it has. It's just very unbrand for the state. So , I'm excited to be part of that in the ways that we are.
And yeah, let's let's do like new. State of the union update podcast in the next few months, cuz it's like every time I turn around, there's , something new. Good. Well, Ashley, we'll be back in a couple months once we have a more clear timeline and plan for New York.
So tune back in then, and that's all we've got for today. Folks join us next week. We've had another amazing guest coming here next week. Thank you for your time, Ashley. If we will, we will share out all of your details and your business details. So if people wanna work with you, they know where to find you.[00:33:00]
Amazing. Thanks Carson.