Women Leading The Cannabis Industry: “Cannabis Isn’t Free Until Everyone is Free”, With Anne-Marie Fischer of CannaWrite

Cannabis Isn’t Free Until Everyone is Free — One of my passions is cannabis amnesty, and working towards the eradication of incarceration and criminal records because of cannabis-related crimes. While many of us work freely and without too many challenges in the industry, and many of us are making thousands and millions of dollars from the plant, tens of thousands of people still sit in jail for minor cannabis “crimes”. As I do my work every day, I always remind myself that cannabis isn’t totally free until everyone who has worked in its name are totally free as well.

As a part of my series about strong women leaders in the cannabis industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Anne-Marie Fischer of CannaWrite.

Anne- Marie is an incredible example of a power woman carving out her own path in the industry. A lifelong educator, Anne-Marie brings her impressive degrees (Combined Honours BA in English & History, a Diploma in Human Resources Management, and a Master of Education) and international research and consultancy experience to the canna — table, “filling a need for professional, accurate writing and research” in the cannabis space.

Anne-Marie has put together a “HIGHly educated” team with the company she founded in 2016 — CANNAWRITE is differentiated by the academic, research level quality of their cannabis content and copywriting. Based in Vancouver, CANNAWRITE has quickly become the go-to company for writing on cannabis and psychedelics, serving more than 200 brands, in Canada and around the world.

Most of her work has been behind the scenes, helping to build the success of other brands, but recently Anne-Marie has been asked to come out from behind the writing desk and take the microphone herself. She has amassed an incredible wealth of cannabis knowledge and truly can speak on every aspect of the plant. Her talks range from the Canadian industry (regulation, compliance, retail, training and curriculum development, advertising and communications, safety, licensing and more) to the history of cannabis (prohibition, industry pioneers) and everything in between (cannabis and sexuality, cannabis and crime, and the continued need for research.

An activist as well as an academic at heart, Anne-Marie supports international legalization efforts. Fischer isn’t afraid to break the silence on topics that need much more attention either. Ethical development and avoiding colonial attitudes in global partnerships, diversity in the industry, expunging of criminal records for cannabis ‘crimes’ are just some of the issues that concern her.

She is also well known for supporting other women in the industry, pointing out that CannaWrite, while “supporting ALL humans within the cannabis industry,” is “women-owned, women-led, and women-supporting.” She wants to bring more attention to sexual harassment and whistleblowing in our community with a particular goal to help women “break through the old boys club” and succeed in the world of cannabis.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the cannabis industry?

I am an educator, having spent 10 years in the higher education sector, where I received my Master of Education, and I was involved in helping faculty members create courses that represented alternative learning methods like experiential learning while working to bring research from the “ivory tower” into the greater community. One day, I decided to leave the I moved down to Costa Rica to change up life a bit. To make my living, I began freelance writing, as I’d identified myself as a writer since I was 6 years old. As I got more into this work, I was noticing I was getting more and more requests for cannabis education, and it just so happened I’d been a very long-term cannabis user. One day, I decided to just wholly dedicate my writing and education services to the cannabis industry, and created my company CannaWrite. That was in 2016, and I haven’t looked back yet.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Whether I’d call it “interesting” is debatable, but I once found myself coming up against a relatively well-known man in the cannabis industry who was outwardly harassing myself and other women. As a writer, I attempted to warn others of this man’s behaviour, but I was met with a very lengthy letter from this man’s lawyer. This made me realize that as women in the cannabis industry, we have a lot to surmount — the misogyny in this industry is shocking at times, and women are very limited in how they are able to speak up against harassment, assault, and bullying, especially when it comes to men in the industry. We can be silenced. This solidified my goal to always ensure that women are protected within this industry and always have a voice.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started writing, I thought I knew it all about cannabis, just because I was a consumer and had been for almost two decades. Boy, was I wrong. Some of my first articles were just terrible, now that I look back at them. I used to talk about “CBDs” rather than “CBD” and I know that some of my early information was inaccurate. I’ve buried those articles deep into files in case someone may find them one day and question my credibility because I sure would if I was reading some of my early stuff. Now, I recognize that I will never truly stop learning about cannabis, and even when I think I know it all, there’s something new to learn, and it’s my job to ensure I’m reporting and writing with 100% accuracy.

Do you have a funny story about how someone you knew reacted when they first heard you were getting into the cannabis industry?

I’ve been so supported by almost everyone in my life since I started my work in cannabis. Back in January 2017, I “came out of the cannabis closet” and announced to my network that I had been a long-time cannabis consumer, and my new career was in cannabis. I was pretty surprised when my inbox was flooded with pictures of my friends and acquaintances ripping bongs, as they showed themselves to me as the cannabis consumers they’d always been. It was very interesting to see who came out of the woodwork, and I found that cannabis use was a heck of a lot more common in my circle than I thought — more people are into cannabis than we know, but unfortunately, it’s the stigma that keeps people from speaking up.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

My father passed away from cancer long before I made my entry into the cannabis industry, but he still very greatly influenced my choice of this career. My Dad was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which metastasized into terminal cancer, where he was given only months to live. While we were lucky to have him for over a year after his terminal diagnosis, his quality of life was terrible, and one of the most painful things to have to witness. At the time, he was offered medical cannabis, but stigma kept him from accepting it into his treatment. I only wish I knew then what I know now about cannabis, but I am grateful that through my close and personal experience with illness and death, coupled with my cannabis knowledge, I can help educate other palliative patients and their families on the medical benefits of cannabis in end-of-life care.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I’ve been a lifelong connector of both people and ideas. In all my previous roles, my job’s success was based on creating partnerships, and connecting people, ideas, and initiatives so that people can help advance particular missions through strength in numbers. Thus, I am moving away from writing and more into consulting work where I am doing some important relationship brokering. By having a bird’s eye view of the industry through CannaWrite, I’ve been able to connect so many great people and ideas to get things moving than had people pursued these ideas on their own. Connecting the right people, with the right opportunities, at the right time is one of my biggest accomplishments, and were I think I’ll continue to have the most impact. I thrive while helping others thrive.

I always have several things up my sleeve, but I am very careful about when I open up my sleeves and let everything fall out — there is a right time and a right place for everything.

Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. Despite great progress that has been made we still have a lot more work to do to achieve gender parity in this industry. According to this report in Entrepreneur, less than 25 percent of cannabis businesses are run by women. In your opinion or experience, what 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender parity moving forward?

You are a “Cannabis Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the cannabis industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each.

1. Keep Your Cards Close — People in this industry love to steal other people’s ideas. Make sure if you’re going to be discussing an idea with someone, you sign a Non Disclosure Agreement, and never trust that anyone has your best interests in mind. As I like to say from time to time, there are a lot of snakes in our grass.
2. Don’t Let Others Ride Your Coat Tails — Unfortunately, I’ve had to disassociate myself professionally with three or four other women in the industry who wanted to advance their own careers based on my hard work. Once I realized that some people were taking advantage of me and getting a free ride on my coat tails, I recognized that I had to take back what I’d accomplished. Nothing great in this world comes easy, and if you want to create something great, you have to put a great effort into doing so.
3. Set Boundaries — A few times the “casual” nature of the industy has made me blur the lines between personal and professional. In the cannabis industry, we tend to bring out whole selves to work, which can be distracting and detracting from professional missions. Create space for people to dialogue about things happening in their lives, but also be sure to set boundaries and understand where personal time ends, and work begins.
4. Be Ready for a Fight — NOTHING in cannabis comes easy. Once we think we may have hit a stride in a certain aspect of the industry, such as legalization, changes are implemented, and thus, we have to go into rapid implementation mode to adapt to changes. There is no room for complacency in this industry, as it’ll keep you on your toes, keep you guessing, and always making you take a little extra effort just to get things accomplished. One example is the implementation of The Farm Bill of 2018. Within the first year of that movement, we experienced the “vape crisis” where the industry needed to work to regain the trust of consumers, and also the difficulties in testing, where both the USFDA and USDA set out some confusing rules, and then retracted them. Just never get too comfortable with anything in cannabis, because things can change on a dime.
5. Cannabis Isn’t Free Until Everyone is Free — One of my passions is cannabis amnesty, and working towards the eradication of incarceration and criminal records because of cannabis-related crimes. While many of us work freely and without too many challenges in the industry, and many of us are making thousands and millions of dollars from the plant, tens of thousands of people still sit in jail for minor cannabis “crimes”. As I do my work every day, I always remind myself that cannabis isn’t totally free until everyone who has worked in its name are totally free as well.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the cannabis industry?

1. Constant Change — I’ve never been able to just relax and settle into cannabis, and I think that’s why I’ve been in it for 4 years and haven’t tired of it — in fact, every day presents a new challenge. As someone who loves change and keeping things moving forward, I love the necessity and challenges of constantly adapting to a constantly-changing industry.
2. The People — I’ve met the most incredible friends in this industry, and I have also met my life partner as well through this industry. Because we bring our whole selves to work, it’s easy to get to know the person behind the professional. I’ve had some of the most deep friendships in my life because of the cannabis industry, and the friendships and connections with women in particular have filled my heart and soul with so much love. While I had pretty much drawn a line when it came to mixing business with pleasure, my partner showed up in my life when I least expected him. Cannabis brought us together, and I’ve traveled across North America to create a life with him, and now we can share our common interests in the industry together as part of our relationship.
3. Research — As I mentioned, I spent over a decade working in the higher education and research environments before moving to cannabis. This specialized interest and skill set has been extremely helpful as we advance research in cannabis. Because it was under prohibition for so long, we had to stretch to find evidence-based information to support our claims for cannabis. Now that it has been legalized in Canada, across many states, and continues to be researched in research hot-spots like Isreal, we have a growing body of evidence through which we can make change, ask for updated policy, and support what we already know about cannabis with solid data. Numbers don’t lie!

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

1. Lack of BIPOC Recognition — The cannabis industry has less than 5% representation of black owned businesses, while Indigenous and People of Color are even more disproportionately represented. I can’t be a part of an industry that isn’t completely reflective of society, and those who consume cannabis. As such, I am working on two major projects, one called Give Us Our Harvest: BIPOC Inclusion in Cannabis (www.giveusourharvest.com) which is seeking to build awareness in the disparity in participation of BIPIC in the cannabis industry, and the other called Black Voices of Cannabis (www.blackvoicesofcannabis.org), which seeks to tell stories about Black people’s experiences with the plant, with each story having an action item to promote a more equitable industry that is truly reflective of those who love the cannabis plant.
2. Sexual Assault and Harassment of Women — The Women in Cannabis Study (www.womenincannabis.study) has shown that upwards of 35% of women in the cannabis industry have experienced sexual harassment, and some, experiencing sexual assault within a professional cannabis environment. Many of these crimes go unreported, especially in the grey market, because women are afraid to speak up and jeopardize their livelihoods. There are also some very powerful men in this industry who use money and influence to silence women. We need not only to create a safe space for women (and all individuals) to come forward if experiencing assault or harassment but to also hold people accountable both within the industry and in the courts of law.
3. Leaving Out Legacy Players — Because cannabis has been criminalized and under prohibition for so long, many people have criminal records that tie them to the “black market” of cannabis. While we prefer to refer to this market as the “legacy market” and we have these players to thank for the legalization movements we are now enjoying, too many are being left out of the legal cannabis market because of their past, and thus, we are depriving our industry. As an industry, we need to push for amnesty for ALL cannabis crimes so that no person, especially when providing cannabis compassionately, is barred from participating in the legal market. These individuals, while wrongfully criminalized, are our institutional memory for the industry — they are the ones with the trade secrets, the best cultivation practices, and truly understand the medical applications of the plant. The industry has a huge gap when these legacy players are left out of participating in the legal market.

What are your thoughts about federal legalization of cannabis? If you could speak to your Senator, what would be your most persuasive argument regarding why they should or should not pursue federal legalization?

As a Canadian, who works both in Canada and the U.S., I’ve been able to witness what happens when cannabis is still in prohibition in some places, while completely free in others. In Canada, while our legalization has been far from perfect, there is no way to describe the freedom of purchasing safe, legal product, and being able to consume outside of the shadows. Cannabis is accepted as a normal part of society, and stigma is lessening by the day.

When I work in and travel to prohibition states in the U.S., I recognize that there is still a long way to go — especially in terms of education — before cannabis is fully legalized at the federal level in the United States. There simply isn’t enough understanding by federal legislators about what cannabis is, what it can do, and how it’s to be safely regulated to quite yet make a wide-sweeping legalization. While it would be amazing if the U.S. just all of the sudden decided to federally legalize, it should be a careful and calculated process that takes lessons from other countries like Canada. In post-COVID times, the United States is going to want to financially recover, and cannabis tax may just be that golden ticket to refilling the federal money pot. However, legalization must also keep the consumer in mind — heavy taxation forces people back into the black market. Thus, legalization should be a win-win for everyone: the government can financially benefit, consumers can get quality and safe products, and society as a whole gains more literacy about cannabis, and its risks and benefits.

Today, cigarettes are legal, but they are heavily regulated, highly taxed, and they are somewhat socially marginalized. Would you like cannabis to have a similar status to cigarettes or different? Can you explain?

Absolutely not. While there is still a lack of longitudinal data that looks at the effects of cannabis on the lungs, cannabis IS a medicine, and consuming it is an act of medicating. I’ve been a long-time on-off cigarette smoker, which I do believe should be marginalized, as it’s a harmful activity that has zero health benefits. Whereas, I’ve also been a two-decades long cannabis smoker, and I truly believe that my long-term inhalation of cannabinoids have helped me maintain health and homeostatis. Whether you’re consuming cannabis recreationally or for medicinal purposes, it will never cease to have the medicinal and therapeutic benefits that the plant offers us.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“You can’t soar like an eagle when you’re surrounded by a bunch of turkeys”. This was a quote that was told to me as a young professional and it stuck. This year especially, I learned the importance of surrounding myself with people that vibe at the same frequency that I do. While I am an eternal helper, I’ve learned too that I can’t take on other people’s problems as if they’re my own, I can only support and provide some tools for people to help themselves. I recognized that when I am around people who vibe at low frequency, my frequency tends to vibe lower than it usually does. But, intentionally finding people that vibe at my same high frequency provides inspiration and the desire to keep bettering myself. I’ve found that in an industry full of turkeys, the eagles can soar as high and as far as they want to.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

It’s important to me that BIPOC get a larger piece of the cannabis pie. Through the Give Us Our Harvest movement, we position cannabis as the cash crop of the 21st century, where modern slavery exists in low wages, disproportionate BIPOC cannabis arrests, and the imprisonment of thousands of people who were involved in cannabis activities. It makes no sense that so many people can make billions off this plant, while others suffer. My greatest wish is that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are recognized and are paid their retribution through inclusion in the industry. We can do this by ensuring that BIPOC always have a seat at the cannabis table and are represented in cannabis culture and in the advancement of the legalization movement.

Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you only continued success!