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In this special year-in-review episode of the Legacies Podcast, hosts Tom Ritchie and Wesley Bowles look back at their favorite moments and interviews from 2024. Powered by their primary technology sponsor, Breadstack, the episode compiles standout segments from 15+ industry guests, covering a diverse range of operational, regulatory, and business topics in the Canadian adult-use cannabis market.
The retrospective features key highlights including Alexandre Poulin’s (Jublee) humorous recounting of purchasing a camel, Ross Rebagliati (Ross’ Gold) sharing his early cannabis experiences with BC bud and hash in high school, and Kevin McBride (Kootenay’s Finest Craft) discussing historical enforcement encounters in the Kootenays. Additionally, Kevin Varner (Royal Harvest) tells an undercover cop story, Alannah Davis (Dabble) explains her winery-inspired micro-cultivation farm gate model, and Abi Roach outlines the early days of building the Hotbox Cafe. Other featured segments include Michael Elkin’s camera installation stories, Glen Coyle’s (Six One Charlie) military experiences, Genevieve Newton’s (Cedar & Sage) highway check encounter, Lisa Bigioni (Stok’d) detailing her retail boutique operations, and Christopher Crosbie (Atlantic Cultivation) highlighting cultivation logistics.
The episode concludes with critical perspectives from Kirk Tousaw (Great Gardener Farms) on the necessity of litigating unconstitutional Health Canada marketing restrictions, Shauna Levy (Madge & Mercer) discussing the branding hurdles in the wellness category, and Adam Coates (Decibel) explaining the complexities of forecasting and managing product lifecycles with aggregated retail data.
Tom Ritchie Says: Happy New Year, everyone! We’ve got a very special retrospective episode planned for you this week, looking back at our absolute favorite moments from 2024.
Alex Poulin Says: How do you buy a camel in the Sahara desert? I showed up at the camel souk with 250 grams of hash to introduce myself to the nomadic Berber tribe.
Glenn Coyle Says: We were pinned down in a firefight in an Afghan pot field at night, calling for air support. They couldn’t spot our position, so six of us got on our backs and started doing snow angels in the crop so the thermal cameras could spot us.
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome to Legacies, everyone! I’m your host, Tom Ritchie, joined by Wesley ‘The Wizard’ Bowles. Wes, happy New Year!
Wesley Bowles Says: Happy New Year, Tom! We’ve officially crossed 44 episodes and over 64 incredible industry guests since we launched.
Tom Ritchie Says: A quick reminder that Legacies is powered by Breadstack. Retailers, upgrade your e-commerce platform with Breadstack to drive real dispensary revenue and dominate organic search rankings. Today, we are reviewing our greatest storytelling moments, regulatory debates, and entrepreneurial triumphs from 2024.
Tom Ritchie Says: Over the holidays, my wife got me an under-desk treadmill. Working remotely in media production, you sit at your desk for ten hours straight. Movement is critical—they say sitting is the new smoking. Taking care of your health and cherishing time with loved ones puts everything in perspective.
Tom Ritchie Says: Over the holidays, I found an unopened pre-roll in my coat pocket that had been packaged on December 23, 2023. Without a humidity pack or airtight seal, it was bone dry. Consumers shouldn’t have to guess when a crop was actually harvested.
Wesley Bowles Says: A packaged-on date only tells you when the flower was put into a jar or pouch, not when it was cut down. An LP could sit on bulk biomass for eighteen months, package it today, and label it fresh.
Tom Ritchie Says: We need mandatory **harvested-on dates** or certificate of analysis test dates printed on retail packaging so consumers receive true transparency.
Tom Ritchie Says: In 2023, **36% of all insolvency filings in Canada under the CCAA were cannabis companies**. That stark economic reality highlights the unsustainable tax structures and regulatory overhead squeezing Canadian licensed producers.
Wesley Bowles Says: Advocates like Jonathan Wilson have kept this conversation front and center on LinkedIn, drawing comments from Canadian senators and policymakers.
Tom Ritchie Says: What is your forecast for 2025? We are entering a pivotal consolidation phase. Operators who rely purely on hype without operational efficiency or marketing muscle will be forced out.
Wesley Bowles Says: Brands that master local distribution, understand their core demographic, and maintain disciplined unit economics will continue to take market share.
Tom Ritchie Says: Let’s kick off our greatest clips with **Alex Poulin of Jublee**, recounting his legendary journey into the Sahara Desert.
Alex Poulin Says: I went to live in the Sahara Desert, but gaining acceptance from the nomadic Berber tribes was extremely tough. For a full week, I walked to the community well every single day, and nobody would even look at me.
Alex Poulin Says: In the desert, life cannot exist without camels, and the nomadic people revere them. I drove to the dromedary souk in M’Hamid near the Algerian border and bought a camel. When I returned to the well leading this magnificent camel packed with dried figs and water jars, an elder approached me. I didn’t speak Berber, so I spoke Arabic, opened my bag, and presented 250 grams of traditional mountain hash. That became our universal language.
Tom Ritchie Says: Next up, Olympic gold medalist **Ross Rebagliati** from Ross’ Gold shares his very first cannabis experience in British Columbia.
Ross Rebagliati Says: It was the late 1980s in Grade 10. Flower wasn’t as prevalent back then; everything was legacy hash. My friends and I did hot knives off an old electric coil stove, resulting in the classic first-timer lip burn—the true mark of a champion.
Ross Rebagliati Says: My mom eventually found a box of blackened butter knives in my room. I had to convince her I was using a blowtorch and hot knives to melt wax and repair the base of my snowboard!
Tom Ritchie Says: **Kevin McBride of Kootenay’s Finest** took us back to the legacy days in the Kootenay mountains of BC.
Kevin McBride Says: The RCMP had a specialized helicopter division called the Green Team. Word would spread through the valley that the choppers were landing in town. You’d literally hide under a fallen cedar log while a helicopter hovered twenty feet above your head—it felt like a tactical combat zone.
Tom Ritchie Says: **Kevin from Royal Harvest** shared one of the wildest road trip stories in Canadian cannabis history.
Kevin Says: We were driving across the Coquihalla Highway toward Vancouver doing 160 km/h when the passenger in the front turned around and announced: ‘I’m an undercover police officer.’ Just as panic set in, the RCMP lit us up with radar.
Kevin Says: The officer checked his badge number on dispatch, saw he was an active undercover operative with a ‘Do Not Detain’ order, issued a minor speed warning, and let us drive away. Moments like that make you realize someone was watching over our journey.
Tom Ritchie Says: **Alannah Davis of Dabble Cannabis Co.** shared her inspiring vision for craft farm-gate tourism on Vancouver Island.
Alannah Davis Says: Why expand to thirteen different provinces if you can sell out your entire harvest right here in BC? My dream is to operate like an estate winery—a farm-gate ‘hashery’ with an on-site tasting room and agritourism where consumers visit the farm, experience our solventless cultivars, and purchase directly at the source.
Tom Ritchie Says: Canadian industry pioneer **Abi Roach** looked back at launching Kensington Market’s iconic Hotbox Cafe in 1999.
Abi Roach Says: When I registered for an HST business number in 1999, the clerk asked what I was selling. When I mentioned accessories and lifestyle products, a friendly security guard stepped in and advised: ‘Let’s write down gifts and glass.’ That single line enabled the creation of Canada’s first normalized consumption lounge.
Tom Ritchie Says: **Michael Elkin (The CannaBrokr)** gave us the origin story of securing Canada’s very first licensed commercial facility.
Michael Elkin Says: In August 2013, I heard on the radio that an applicant named Tweed had purchased the shuttered Hershey chocolate factory in Smiths Falls. I drove out, scoped the 200,000 sq. ft. campus, and knocked on the door with a full binder outlining MMPR Directive 28 security specifications.
Michael Elkin Says: Bruce Linton and the founding team were inside watching me on the CCTV monitors. They brought me into the boardroom, and by October 2013, we were hanging high-definition cameras as the very first mother plants arrived on site.
Tom Ritchie Says: Veteran and founder of **61 Charlie**, **Glenn Coyle**, shared a powerful story of military brotherhood and dark humor.
Glenn Coyle Says: We were pinned down in an intense firefight inside an Afghan cannabis field at night. Close air support couldn’t differentiate between friendly forces and enemy fighters on thermal imaging. We couldn’t fire visible flares, so six of us laid down in the crops and started frantically doing snow angels in the cannabis so the aircraft above could spot our signature.
Tom Ritchie Says: **Dr. Genevieve Newton** recounted her nine-day cross-country relocation during peak COVID border restrictions.
Genevieve Newton Says: In July 2021, my daughter and I drove across Canada with a U-Haul trailer to join Stewart Farms in New Brunswick. Crossing the provincial border at 2:00 AM required extensive health declarations and essential worker documentation—a surreal cross-country migration during an unforgettable time.
Tom Ritchie Says: **Lisa Bigioni, Founder of Stok’d Cannabis**, shared her humorous teenage introduction to the plant.
Lisa Bigioni Says: When I was 13, a friend and I were babysitting. After putting the kids to bed, we found a tiny piece of hash, rolled it, and smoked it. We discovered a copy of the Kama Sutra on the bookshelf, started giggling uncontrollably, and fell sound asleep on the couch until the parents came home calling my name!
Tom Ritchie Says: **Chris Crosby of Atlantic Cultivation** detailed his martial arts discipline in Thailand.
Chris Crosby Says: I lived in Thailand for three years training traditional Muay Thai alongside village monks, running ten kilometers into the jungle to condition our shins against banana trees. That level of physical grit, discipline, and mentorship shaped how we operate commercial cultivation facilities today.
Tom Ritchie Says: **Taylor Giovannini of Oceanic Releaf** shared their community revitalization project in Burin, Newfoundland.
Taylor Giovannini Says: We converted a decommissioned fish processing plant into a state-of-the-art indoor facility and purchased over 50 historic company homes. By renovating these houses, Oceanic Releaf provides high-quality, affordable housing for our staff, proving that cannabis businesses can serve as the economic heartbeat of coastal communities.
Tom Ritchie Says: Prominent constitutional attorney **Kirk Tousaw of Great Gardener Farms** broke down why Canadian operators must defend their legal rights.
Kirk Tousaw Says: Mainstream pharmaceutical and beverage companies routinely take regulators to federal court when administrative rules exceed legislative authority. Health Canada’s extreme commercial speech and promotion restrictions violate Section 2(b) Charter rights. If this industry wants to prosper long-term, operators must unite and litigate against unconstitutional restrictions.
Tom Ritchie Says: **Shauna Levy, Founder of Madge & Mercer**, highlighted the structural hurdles facing functional wellness and non-inhalable products.
Shauna Levy Says: Functional wellness represents roughly 10% of legal retail sales, but the market remains heavily dominated by high-potency recreational flower. Until regulatory avenues open for wellness products to be sold in health food stores and wellness boutiques alongside traditional supplements, dedicated wellness brands face immense friction.
Tom Ritchie Says: **Adam Coates of Decibel Cannabis (Qwest)** outlined how data-driven demand planning dictates modern product lifecycles.
Adam Coates Says: The historical era of assuming a single cultivar will dominate shelves indefinitely is over. Retail SKU lifecycles average six to nine months. Cultivators must balance fast-turnaround manufactured concentrates with twelve-month genetic breeding pipelines to keep retail assortments fresh and profitable.
Tom Ritchie Says: We also want to shout out Jeff and Sherry from Smoker Farms, Dr. Shane Morris, Jonathan Carfield at Aveo, Origine Nature in Quebec, and David Brown at StratCann. 2024 tested everyone’s resilience, but the passion and dedication across Canadian cannabis remains unmatched.
Wesley Bowles Says: Thank you to all our listeners, brand partners, and sponsors who supported Legacies throughout 2024.
Tom Ritchie Says: Check out Breadstack to upgrade your retail tech, and we’ll see you next week for the start of an incredible 2025 season on Legacies!
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Learn More About Partner ↗Episode 44 is a year-in-review compilation recapping the greatest moments and highlights from various guest interviews featured on the podcast throughout 2024.
Featured guests include Kirk Tousaw (Great Gardener Farms), Alannah Davis (Dabble), Adam Coates (Decibel), Ross Rebagliati (Ross' Gold), Lisa Bigioni (Stok'd), and Taylor Giovannini (Oceanic Releaf).
Episode 44 of the Legacies Podcast is powered and sponsored by Breadstack, an enterprise-grade e-commerce platform for cannabis retail.
