A look inside operations at gLeaf Frederick

For this episode of the UnCapped podcast, host Chris Sands headed to gLeaf to talk with general manager Mike Goldstein, regional marketing manager Matt Jenner and senior corporate trainer Kristin Cousin. The Frederick-based gLeaf is a grower, processor and dispenser of cannabis. They talk about the steps they’ve taken to prepare for July 1, when recreational use is legalized in Maryland, as well as the history of the company, their products and what the future holds for them. Here is an excerpt of their talk.

UnCapped: We’re gonna start off by talking about what is probably the biggest news in your world right now, which is in Maryland on July 1, recreational use of cannabis is fully legalized. … I think when medical was passed, a lot of people I talked to were like, “It’ll be five years, and then recreational will pass.” You could just see the steps that were being taken to ease people into the idea that people would be allowed to smoke “devil’s lettuce” without repercussions. I think it was almost five years exactly. First it was decriminalized, then medical, now full legalization.

I’m assuming since you’ll be able to sell July 1, the full framework has already been laid out. I am astonished by the Maryland legislature. In the alcohol world, there have been plenty of times where something was passed and then they slow-walk it and extend it a year or two before a license is actually defined.

Matt Jenner: Absolutely, yes. We were shocked that it ended up being July 1 as the first day. I was expecting more of a pause, more red tape people were gonna have to go through, but it looks like it really is gonna happen, so we’re ready for it.

Mike Goldstein: I think initially, we had a two-year timeline, to July 2024, when we learned that rec use did pass. I think we were fully anticipating the 2024 launch, and then that really sped up in November, December of last year. By February, we were 100% sure we were gonna be dispensing cannabis recreationally come July.

UnCapped: Maryland must be hungry for those tax dollars. How different do you have to operate on the recreational side versus the medicinal side? Does everything have to be physically separate?

Goldstein: In order for us to operate as smoothly as we’d like, we really have no choice other than to separate everything. What has to be legally separated are the rec use point of sales systems and the medical point of sales systems — and/or we need to give at least an hour’s worth of time every day to cater to just the medical side. So we chose the two different line options. We’ll have three registers available to the medical side and the rest of the dispensary open to the rec side.

Other operational changes: We’re no longer accepting walk-in patients. Everything has to be preordered. Even if you want to come in, try something for the first time, we’re still gonna give you an iPad and have you in that pre-order situation. You’ll place the order, we’ll fill it. That is all gonna be brand new to us. As of right now, if you’re medical, you can come in and talk directly to the person and they’ll help you with a ll of your questions and needs. All of that is gonna go away, so we’re gonna have to figure out how we’re gonna serve our patients the way we want to serve them.

UnCapped: HR at a cannabis company is probably interesting.

Kristin Cousin: Yep. Before I even got into cannabis, I was a full-time mental health addictions therapist in the state of Maryland. I still do groups now, but gLeaf is my full-time job. When I first got in the industry, I started at a dispensary and then came to gLeaf working in cultivation, where I wasn’t working with people at all. Our director of operations at the time knew that I’d done counseling and had taught a lot of classes and was like, “How would you like to train our staff?” Fast forward, four and a half years later, and I’m training all of our staff in all four states. It’s not anything I ever expected I would do.

UnCapped: That is a good segue into talking about gLeaf as a company, because it’s actually very different than I thought it was. I didn’t realize that it had started in Frederick. I knew it was a larger company, but it still feels small, not corporate. Can you give us a little history lesson on gLeaf?

Cousin: Absolutely. Our company was founded by two gentlemen, Phil and Kevin Goldberg, brothers based out of Montgomery County. In 2014, they thought cannabis might be up and coming in Maryland, and they did the footwork of getting the applications set up, buildings picked