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In Episode 47 of the Legacies Podcast, hosts Tom Ritchie and Wesley Bowles discuss the safety issues created by Section 2.5 of the AGCO guidelines, which mandates that cannabis products must not be visible from the street, leading to covered window storefronts. Reflecting on a recent string of retail armed robberies (including at Piffingtons/Piffington’s and Spirit Leaf), they call on the AGCO to update these regulations to protect retail employees. They also feature a budtender submission from Nolan and Leon at Stok’d Boutique and discuss new oil and concentrate offerings from Wildcard Extracts.
The hosts are joined by Chris Jones, Founder and CEO of Cannabis Xpress. Chris outlines his career, beginning with an MBA at McMaster University and working in m&a at CannaRoyalty (Origin House) before its acquisition by Cresco Labs. He details co-founding Starbuds in Simcoe County, growing it to a run rate of $15 million during the COVID pandemic, and later launching Cannabis Xpress. Chris explains the company’s real estate strategy, which focuses on low-overhead retail units (as small as 80 square feet) in underserved Ontario towns, and explains the operational and educational benefits of maintaining a curated menu of under 200 SKUs.
Finally, Jay Rosenthal, Co-Founder of Cultivated Media, joins the podcast. Drawing on his 20-year background in US and Canadian public affairs, policy, and communications (including his time on Capitol Hill and in Silicon Valley government), Jay discusses strategic communication trends and regulatory policy. The guests and hosts analyze the impact of proposed cross-border tariffs and the importance of trade associations taking legal action to challenge unconstitutional promotion and marketing restrictions.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s going on, everyone? Check out what’s coming up this week on Legacies!
Tom Ritchie Says: AGCO, you’ve talked about this. You talked about reviewing it, but you haven’t done it. Get off your ass and do something about it, because you’re creating unsafe work environments.
Chris Jones Says: People ask me like, “Oh, did you like this product?” And yeah, sure, I liked it, but am I going to sell it? Maybe not. It comes right down to what customers want. You know, they make the decision on what we sell.
Jay Rosenthal Says: “Hey, all these products are great. Where can I get them?” We can’t tell you that, right? “What are they like?” I can’t tell you that either. “What do they do?” Absolutely can’t talk to that. No.
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome to Legacies, everyone. I’m your host, Tom Ritchie, joined by Wesley “The Wizard” Bowles. Wes, good morning, sir.
Wesley Bowles Says: Good morning!
Tom Ritchie Says: I’ve slept two nights in a row. Two nights in a row, on the day! I will say that it was very much a cannabis-induced sleep.
Wesley Bowles Says: What were you taking?
Tom Ritchie Says: Bro, I woke up so groggy this morning and way past my alarm. Cannabis oil—let’s see, Xyca to the rescue. They’ve got an incredibly pure oil. It’s a 1:1. Beautiful, love it. I’ll get the exact name, we’ll follow up with that. They’ve got a ton of products. Dom sent over this beautiful care pack with tons of product for you; I haven’t got to all of it.
Tom Ritchie Says: One thing I have not been enjoying: dude, it’s cold! My windows have a clear sheet of ice over them right now. It’s like we’ve entered static dry season and I hate it. I feel like I could rip my skin off. It was like 24% humidity in my house last night.
Wesley Bowles Says: Yeah, I went to an event last night, which is not far from here, drove back, and had to park across the street. It’s literally a two-minute walk, if that. By the time I got back to my apartment, my hands were actually hurting.
Tom Ritchie Says: Really cold.
Wesley Bowles Says: When I was 16 or 17, I spent some time in Winnipeg. Now that’s cold. And I did get frostbite on my ears. So anytime it’s even relatively cold, my ears will just ache. Avoid getting frostbite, because it hurts for a long time.
Tom Ritchie Says: I’m going to get a Fisherman’s Friend here—notice I got it out already. Feeling much better, still congested obviously, but we’ll get that out.
Tom Ritchie Says: Well, the U.S. has a new president. I thought some weird stuff was going to go down. There were these helicopters scanning the Capitol—what was going on with all that? Were they worried about some nuclear dirty bomb or something? I think it was just precautions on the day.
Wesley Bowles Says: Yeah, they did it all inside this time instead of outside. I guess the reason for it was again because it was cold, just like we’re complaining about. But who knows? There’s some craziness. What was there—40 executive orders signed in one go?
Tom Ritchie Says: Over the course of the first bit, it was like 100 or 150. It was a lot. Some people are in complete outrage over it, and other people are like, “Holy shit, finally, let’s go!”
Wesley Bowles Says: You’re bound to have people outraged. Half the country voted for him, half the country didn’t. I think it was 76 million versus 73 million, and the U.S. population is something like 350 million. A substantial amount of people didn’t vote, but of those that did, it was a close race.
Tom Ritchie Says: Elon’s getting himself in a little bit of heat as well with his gesturing on stage. I won’t touch that; we won’t touch that. I see both sides. The biggest thing is whether it was intended or not, it’s how it was perceived. I’ve always joked that he’s an awkward dude—the way he dances, the way he throws his thumbs up, he’s just awkward. I’m not defending his actions, but I’ve seen a lot of awkward movements come out of him before. We’ll leave it at that.
Tom Ritchie Says: But who do we got coming in for the federal Liberals here in Canada? Mark Carney has thrown his hat in the ring, and Carney is the front-runner. Last I checked, he had four nominations. Is Chrystia Freeland running? Freeland is saying she’s running, I think.
Wesley Bowles Says: I caught a bit of her on CP24 with Nick Dixon talking about the proposed Trump tariffs. Is that going to happen? Is it not? I don’t know.
Tom Ritchie Says: And then battling back with, “We’re not going to carry U.S. alcohol.” I get it, great start, but if this were to happen, that seems like we’re bringing knives to a gunfight. They’re talking 25% tariffs on pretty much every export, and we export a lot. What are we going to fight back with?
Wesley Bowles Says: From what I read, Canada is the largest purchaser of alcohol in the world.
Tom Ritchie Says: Largest purchaser in the world? What are we doing? We’ve got cannabis—we don’t need this much alcohol! I’d love to see how empty those shelves are after all the U.S. products are pulled. There are a lot of great Canadian whiskies, incredible craft distilleries, good bourbon and cognac from out west.
Tom Ritchie Says: We’re in limbo as well, looking at who’s our next prime minister. When Nick Dixon asked Freeland how we combat what Trump is wanting to do, it was such a flaky response: “Oh, we need to be open and honest and true business people.” Don’t give me political talk—give me actionable steps. The Liberals have caused so much damage over the last nine years that I can’t let it go, and I’m not even a spiteful person.
Tom Ritchie Says: There are some serious issues going on here in Ontario when it comes to dispensaries. We’ve talked about window coverings and how they create unsafe work environments before on the podcast. Recently, there’s been a string of robberies happening. Our friends over at Piffingtons—Suraju’s store in Brampton was the most recently hit. Previous to that, I heard a Woods and a couple of Spiritleafs were hit, potentially by the same crew.
Tom Ritchie Says: First question I have to ask: what the fuck? We’re not the U.S.; we’re not dealing with a ton of cash. We’re using debit and credit. Sure, there’s cannabis product in there, but what are you leaving with? Four perps come in—in one video, the dude is wearing the same sweater. They’ve got video footage of the vehicle, and apparently a license plate number. These people come in and it’s armed robbery. I don’t care if it’s a toy gun or a BB gun; if you’re on the other side of that counter, that’s scary shit.
Wesley Bowles Says: A couple of months ago, was it Alberta or BC where there was that string of guys backing trucks through the front doors? You’re not walking out with much cash. Most of these places are cashless or low-cash. In the video at Piffingtons, four guys came in with no bags. One of them is armed. What are you grabbing with your bare hands? A few thousand dollars max?
Tom Ritchie Says: It creates a chain reaction. People post online saying how easy it is to rob a cannabis store because of the covered glass facades where no one can see inside. And then the City of Toronto admits they don’t have the resources to enforce bylaws against illegal dispensaries, making compliant retailers feel like sitting ducks.
Tom Ritchie Says: Contrast that with the alcohol industry: the LCBO doesn’t have mandatory opaque window coverings. They might put up seasonal displays, but their entrances and facades remain visible. The AGCO requirement under Section 2.5 of the Registrar’s Standards says cannabis and cannabis accessories must not be visible from the street or outside. Notice it says cannabis—it does not say cannabis packaging!
Tom Ritchie Says: This rule is creating an unsafe work environment. Budtenders rightfully do not want to come to work in fear. I say to all retailers: pull down your window coverings! Suraju has already done it, and others will follow. What are they going to do—fine everyone? We’ll band together and support each other across Canada. Protecting the kids? How about protecting kids from alcohol first? Second, you are creating an intensely dangerous workplace.
Wesley Bowles Says: It reminds me of the smash-and-grab jewelry robberies happening in California that are now spreading into Brampton and York Region in broad daylight.
Tom Ritchie Says: AGCO, you’ve talked about reviewing this standard, but you haven’t acted. Get off your ass and do something before another worker gets hurt! If you want to play the gray area, don’t display raw flower, but keep the store visible. Remember someone suggested replacing window stickers with TV screens playing a live feed of the inside? That’s a creative workaround, but the AGCO just needs to change the rule.
Tom Ritchie Says: Our friend J-Dub—Jonathan Wilson—was on CBC looking great on television. I went over to the CBC comment section hoping to see massive engagement, but there were only four mediocre comments. You can’t judge it purely off comments, though; it was a great segment highlighting the excise tax squeeze on craft producers. Having coverage on CBC gets the message to an audience outside our industry bubble, which is where real policy change has to originate. Shout out to J-Dub and the Dabble Cannabis team.
Tom Ritchie Says: Talking about the extreme cold: when you’re recovering from a respiratory bug, there is no way you’re going outside to smoke a joint in minus twenty weather. Wildcard Extracts sent over a beautiful care pack. I’m not normally a big vape guy, but their cart is the only thing I’ve been using. I kept the Wildcard collab with Victoria Cannabis Company—shout out to Kyp Rowe, our seed-smuggling savant! It was the G-Wagon live resin cart. Beautiful terpene profile and flavor.
Wesley Bowles Says: It’s funny how cold weather makes vaping the convenient option. I had one of their other carts with orange packaging—an incredible extraction that tastes phenomenal and lasts forever because you only need a couple of pulls.
Tom Ritchie Says: How are our budtender submissions coming along? We have a double feature today from Stok’d Cannabis on Kingston Road featuring Nolan and Leon. Let’s roll their clip!
Leon Says: Hey, my name is Leon, and we work at Stok’d Cannabis. What I love most about being a budtender here is seeing how cannabis affects everybody differently and the different ways people use it to benefit their day or enjoy it in an adult-use context. Offering someone a great recommendation and having them come back to thank us is the best feeling. Stok’d has a vast craft selection and incredible merchandise—sweaters, ashtrays, and lighters.
Leon Says: Lately, my go-to recommendation has been Volo, specifically Volo Commando. It tastes amazing and gives a functional buzz where you still get shit done. If you want something that puts you right on your ass, Blk Mkt’s High Society is smooth, potent, and fantastic. I’m proud to work at Stok’d because it’s the best environment for gaining knowledge and learning about products.
Nolan Says: I completely agree. At Stok’d, we take education seriously, making sure we are the best we can be daily. If you’re ever near Kingston Road, stop by and say hi! Our community loves learning about products and actually listens to what we have to say. Thanks for having us on the Legacies Podcast!
Tom Ritchie Says: Leon was wearing that puff-print Stok’d sweater—love that design. Frontline budtenders heavily influence consumer buying decisions, and it’s great to see retailers like Lisa Bigioni creating a top-down culture that values staff training.
Wesley Bowles Says: We have a fantastic show lined up today: Chris Jones from Cannabis Express and Jay Rosenthal from Cultivated Media. We’ll be right back with Chris Jones!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back, everyone. We are joined by Chris Jones, CEO and founder of Cannabis Express. Chris, thanks for joining Legacies, man!
Chris Jones Says: Tom, thanks for having me. It’s good to be here.
Tom Ritchie Says: It’s been a while in the making. We both had our bouts with illness over the holidays, but we figured it out. Chris, what were you doing before Cannabis Express? What drove you to enter the retail space?
Chris Jones Says: It goes back fairly far. I’ve always been interested in cannabis, but I waited until it was federally legal. While finishing my MBA at McMaster University, a co-op position opened up at CannaRoyalty, which was a publicly traded company with a market cap of around $250 million. I worked out of a tiny WeWork office on Richmond Street in Toronto, and the team grew significantly.
Chris Jones Says: While there, I worked on roughly eight M&A transactions and about the same number of investments. This was pre-legalization in Canada, so most deals were in California where regulations permitted investment. We rebranded CannaRoyalty to Origin House. After completing my MBA, I stayed on, and we were acquired by Cresco Labs, one of the top multi-state operators in the U.S., specifically to enter California. I remained through the transition process.
Chris Jones Says: Meanwhile, Ontario announced its retail licensing lotteries. A colleague and I decided to apply when the open licensing began. When the clock struck midnight, I submitted our Retail Operator License application. Because we had a simple corporate structure, we were among the first 150 groups to receive an operator license.
Chris Jones Says: Our original plan was a 50/50 partnership called Town Cannabis with one store. While looking for locations, we connected with a group interested in investing. We brought in close to a million dollars from a public company and private investors, licensed the Starbuds name, and opened stores in Barrie, Innisfil, and Bradford.
Chris Jones Says: That was right during COVID. Fortunately, our locations were in Simcoe County. In Simcoe, customers were actually permitted inside the store with capacity limits, unlike Toronto where operators were restricted strictly to curbside pickup. Our run rate hit close to $15 million in the first two years. My investors offered to buy me out, so I sold my equity, left my corporate position, and founded Cannabis Express.
Tom Ritchie Says: Prior to cannabis, you worked across a diverse range of fields.
Chris Jones Says: I worked at a law firm for two years and at large infrastructure construction companies like EllisDon and Aecon. Having experience across diverse industries gives you a clear perspective on operational realities.
Tom Ritchie Says: How many locations are you operating now?
Chris Jones Says: We are currently working on our 18th location. The model for Cannabis Express focuses on small-to-medium-sized towns where there were few or no existing stores. Consumption per capita is often much higher in smaller towns than in saturated urban cores. We didn’t want to burn millions competing against well-capitalized retailers in downtown Toronto.
Chris Jones Says: All our locations are compact. We operate two of the smallest dispensaries in Canada—one in Brampton and one in Beeton, which has just 80 square feet of retail floor space. A small footprint allows us to build out in weeks rather than months. Operationally, we run with one to two staff per shift, drastically reducing labor and soaring utility costs.
Tom Ritchie Says: With 80 square feet, you can’t carry 800 SKUs. How do you curate your menu?
Chris Jones Says: We strictly limit our assortment to around 200 SKUs. When a store carries 600 to 800 products, it’s impossible for staff to be knowledgeable about everything. We focus on licensed producers and brands that demonstrate staying power. There are so many companies that go bankrupt, leaving customers asking for products that no longer exist.
Chris Jones Says: Approximately 70% to 75% of our SKUs are standardized across all stores, reflecting broad market demand—around 40% to 45% flower and pre-rolls. The remaining 25% is tailored locally: Brampton leans heavily toward pre-rolls, while smaller rural towns sell more topicals, oils, and tinctures. If a customer wants an out-of-stock cultivar, our staff are trained to consult on terpenes, formats, and effects to guide them to an alternative.
Chris Jones Says: My personal taste is completely irrelevant to what we stock. Curating a menu based solely on your own preferences is the fastest way to kill a retail store. The consumer decides what sells.
Tom Ritchie Says: If an LP brand rep wants to get stocked in Cannabis Express, what is the best approach?
Chris Jones Says: Keep it direct and simple. I get ten generic emails a day with five-page PDF sell-sheets and requests for hour-long meetings. I ignore those. Send me two sentences: “Hey Chris, I’m launching a new infused pre-roll. It’s unique because of X, wholesale margin is Y. Do you have five minutes?” If the numbers and concept make sense, I’ll take the call. Hit me with the wholesale price, margins, and why it will move.
Tom Ritchie Says: You have stores in Brampton. With the recent armed robberies, how do you handle security?
Chris Jones Says: Seeing those armed robberies in Brampton was shocking. Historically, daytime armed robberies occurred more out west in Alberta. We haven’t experienced violent robberies, though we’ve had overnight break-in attempts. We install window bars, alarm systems, and panic buttons, and keep minimal cash on premises.
Chris Jones Says: Removing window coverings would improve street visibility and might deter crime slightly, but brazen criminals hitting stores in broad daylight often don’t care. We train staff to comply completely—hand over whatever they want, stay safe, and call police. Canadian stores don’t hold thousands in cash, and stolen packaged cannabis loses 75% of its value if fenced on the street. It’s senseless crime for tiny returns.
Tom Ritchie Says: What were your thoughts when Toronto announced it was stepping back from enforcing bylaws against illegal dispensaries due to resource constraints?
Chris Jones Says: Bylaw officers aren’t police officers; going into illegal storefronts where there might be weapons is dangerous for them. But look at New Brunswick—that’s where we expanded after Ontario. We have 14 stores in Ontario and four in New Brunswick. New Brunswick empowers dedicated compliance officers who go directly after commercial landlords with massive $100,000 fines and building forfeiture. When landlords face losing their properties, they evict illegal shops immediately.
Tom Ritchie Says: How does the retail structure work in New Brunswick compared to Ontario?
Chris Jones Says: Ontario is an open market. New Brunswick operates a Crown corporation model through Cannabis NB with about 25 stores. To serve smaller communities and displace the illicit market, they issued an open RFP for ten private retail licenses. It was an extensive application covering financials, operations, and team experience.
Chris Jones Says: I applied for all ten. Our proposals were ranked number one across all ten applications! Due to ownership caps at the time, we selected our top three locations near airports and population centers. Later, when the rules were updated, we won a fourth license. We are now the largest private retailer in New Brunswick. Gross margins are higher there, and per-capita consumption is three times what it is in Ontario.
Chris Jones Says: Unlike operators spending millions building marble Apple-style dispensaries, my lowest-cost buildout was Wasaga Beach. The rent is $400 a month! We spent about $25,000 total on security cameras, computers, shelving, signage, and buildout, opening in 45 days. If a store ever underperformed, I could load everything into a moving truck in 24 hours and redeploy elsewhere.
Tom Ritchie Says: What remains your biggest operational challenge?
Chris Jones Says: Ongoing operations—hiring, training, and staffing coverage when people get sick. Building a store is a repeatable checklist; managing day-to-day retail logistics across 18 locations is where the real work lies.
Tom Ritchie Says: What regulatory changes are you hoping for?
Chris Jones Says: Honestly, I don’t sit around complaining about taxes or regulations on LinkedIn. It accomplishes nothing. These are the rules of the sandbox. You either figure out how to operate profitably within them, or you exit. Many struggling operators built oversized facilities and bloated head offices. I met a single-store operator with a full-time CFO! In our business, I handle the finances and operations myself with our managers. Keep overhead low and focus on execution.
Tom Ritchie Says: We have to ask about the AGCO inquiry into retail data programs. How did that resolve?
Chris Jones Says: The AGCO investigated data agreements across the sector. We cooperated fully, turning over more than 82,000 pages of commercial records. We appealed their initial notice and settled for half the proposed administrative penalty right before trial. Everything between us and the AGCO is in full, positive standing today.
Chris Jones Says: Following that, the AGCO published clear guidelines confirming that retailers are permitted to sell scan data to licensed producers. Data sharing is standard in CPG. LPs need sell-through numbers to know where to direct sales reps and inventory. But buying data does not guarantee success—plenty of brands purchase data and still fail because their product doesn’t resonate, while great brands succeed on organic pull alone.
Tom Ritchie Says: Chris, thank you for being candid and sharing your operational playbook. Continued success with the expansion!
Chris Jones Says: Thanks, guys! Appreciate having me on.
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back, everyone! We are joined by Jay Rosenthal of Cultivated Media. Jay, what’s going on, brother?
Jay Rosenthal Says: Staying in full lockdown mode from the cold! I’m not opening my front door today.
Tom Ritchie Says: You look like you’re in an ice-fishing hut! You need a classic Seinfeld oversized pimp coat to survive arena hockey.
Jay Rosenthal Says: My son plays in an outdoor hockey league. Last night it was minus 18! I saw someone on Instagram wearing rubber gloves under their mittens to trap heat. Seems like a recipe for sweaty frostbite, but people try everything in this weather.
Tom Ritchie Says: Jay, we’ve known each other since the Ample Organics days when you ran Business of Cannabis. What was your background before cannabis?
Jay Rosenthal Says: I have a 20-year career in public affairs, strategic communications, and heavily regulated sectors. I started on Capitol Hill working for a U.S. Senator, moved to her California office, and then worked in San Jose municipal government in Silicon Valley. Later, I ran my own public affairs agency in California representing energy utilities, healthcare organizations, and charter schools.
Jay Rosenthal Says: I moved to Toronto in 2012. Around 2015, seeing Canadian legalization on the horizon, I started connecting with people. Lawyers knew finance people, finance people knew tech leaders like John Prentice at Ample Organics, but nobody knew each other across disciplines. There was no connective tissue.
Jay Rosenthal Says: We pitched a sponsored insert in The Globe and Mail called *The Who’s Who of Canadian Cannabis* on the eve of legalization in late 2017. Dentons sponsored our launch event. Three days before publication, The Globe’s legal department got cold feet about running a cannabis feature and canceled it, refunding our advertising dollars.
Jay Rosenthal Says: We called all our sponsors—including Ample Organics—to return their checks. Instead, they told us: “Don’t return the money. Go build the media platform and deliver value over the next year.” That refunded ad revenue became the seed capital that launched **Business of Cannabis**.
Jay Rosenthal Says: Ahead of the Lift Expo in Vancouver in January 2018, we commissioned a nationwide poll on Canadian attitudes toward legalization. BNN Bloomberg picked it up and invited me on live TV. We clipped the segment and distributed it directly to the 300 business leaders on the conference floor. We realized our audience wasn’t mass-consumer lifestyle—it was B2B decision-makers.
Jay Rosenthal Says: We produced major events like Medical Cannabis Week at the Masonic Temple and Cannabis & Tech at Steam Whistle Brewery. In March 2020, when COVID hit, we immediately transitioned to daily livestreams and webinars because we had already built remote video workflows. We grew the business and sold it to Prohibition Partners in 2021.
Tom Ritchie Says: Jay, I have to give you a hard time about this: do you remember Ample Organics’ VP of Finance, Peter Slater?
Jay Rosenthal Says: Yes, Peter Slater!
Tom Ritchie Says: Peter would come up to you at events, and after five separate introductions, you still didn’t recognize him! He’d say, “Jay never remembers me, and I’m the one signing the sponsorship checks!”
Jay Rosenthal Says: Back in 2018, you met hundreds of people every week at conferences! If Peter is listening: thank you for writing those checks, and I promise I know exactly who you are today!
Tom Ritchie Says: You left Dutchie and launched Cultivated Media. What was the vision?
Jay Rosenthal Says: Mainstream business outlets scaled back their dedicated cannabis reporting once the speculative bubble burst. I partnered with journalist Jeremy Berke to build a daily B2B newsletter. We deliver morning market intelligence directly to 7,000 senior executives, regulators, and investors across North America.
Tom Ritchie Says: Some people say Canadian cannabis has gotten “boring.” Do you agree?
Jay Rosenthal Says: “Boring” is the desired outcome of regulation! In 2019, an Ontario government official listening to industry complaints about taxation and red tape told the room: “Congratulations, you sound just like every other industry—tobacco, alcohol, natural foods, and dairy.” When regulators view you like traditional agricultural CPG, you have achieved normalized commercial status.
Tom Ritchie Says: What are your thoughts on Toronto deciding not to enforce bylaws against unlicensed dispensaries and mushroom shops?
Jay Rosenthal Says: Municipal bylaw officers lack the mandate and safety training to raid unlicensed storefronts. In New York, thousands of unlicensed bodegas began selling cannabis. Authorities finally made headway by threatening their lottery and tobacco licenses and issuing heavy fines to landlords. If you make commercial landlords legally liable for illegal tenancies, unauthorized shops disappear quickly.
Jay Rosenthal Says: Success in retail today isn’t about opening massive showrooms; it’s about disciplined retail mechanics—assortment optimization, staff training, and growing basket sizes from $15 to $35. Krista Raymer at reTreat talks about this constantly.
Jay Rosenthal Says: Capital in the U.S. is no longer building $100 million grow facilities. Operators in mature markets like California or Michigan expand into new states like New York or Missouri through brand licensing deals with local processing licensees. That limits capital risk while leveraging established IP.
Jay Rosenthal Says: In Minnesota, hemp-derived THC beverages are sold in liquor stores, grocery aisles, and on tap at local craft breweries. That mainstream distribution reaches soccer moms and older adults who would never walk into a dispensary. That is true consumer normalization.
Tom Ritchie Says: Looking back at early legalization: remember when junior mining shell companies on the CSE were suddenly converted into cannabis stocks overnight?
Jay Rosenthal Says: Finance promoters moved from junior mining to cannabis, then to crypto, and on to the next trend. That’s what public venture markets do.
Tom Ritchie Says: A close hometown friend of mine founded Newstrike, partnered with The Tragically Hip, and sold to HEXO. Then Seth Rogen partnered with Canopy for Houseplant. Canadian cannabis had that electric celebrity energy early on.
Jay Rosenthal Says: In 2019, I attended the World Cannabis Congress in St. John, New Brunswick, organized by Civilized. I ran into Bruce Linton at the tiny airport, and he was standing there waiting for Martha Stewart’s private plane to land so she could deliver a keynote! Inside the convention center, Cannabis NB had set up an actual licensed dispensary in the back of the room. It was such a wild, unforgettable snapshot in time.
Tom Ritchie Says: We all have closets full of swag from companies that no longer exist—CannTrust, Civilized, and dozens of others. Jay, it’s been awesome catching up. Continued success with Cultivated Media!
Jay Rosenthal Says: Thanks, Tom and Wes. Let’s do this again soon!
Tom Ritchie Says: What a great episode. It’s fascinating seeing two completely different perspectives: Chris Jones operating ultra-lean, disciplined micro-retail on the front lines, and Jay Rosenthal analyzing high-level public affairs and B2B media.
Wesley Bowles Says: And while we were chatting, Peter Slater actually sent you a screenshot of Jay requesting to connect with him on LinkedIn!
Tom Ritchie Says: That is classic! Shout out to Peter Slater, Chris Jones, and Jay Rosenthal. Support your local independent dispensaries, stay warm in the cold, and we’ll see you next week on Legacies!
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Founder & CEO
Chris Jones is the Founder and CEO of Cannabis Xpress, known for his small-footprint, high-efficiency cannabis retail model in Ontario.
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Cannabis Retailer
Cannabis Xpress is a regulated cannabis retail chain operating in Ontario, Canada. Founded and led by CEO Chris Jones, the...
Learn More About Partner ↗Section 2.5 requires that cannabis products and accessories not be visible from the outside, forcing retailers to cover their windows with decals, which creates blind spots and increases security risks for robberies.
Cannabis Xpress utilizes highly compact storefront footprints (some under 100 square feet) in small-to-medium sized towns, reducing utilities, rent, and requiring only 1-2 staff members.
Cultivated Media is a cannabis-focused intelligence and news outlet founded by Jay Rosenthal that covers policy, regulatory affairs, and business news across North America.
