New York -- PRESS RELEASE -- Merida Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on high-conviction investments in the cannabis ecosystem, announced it added former Omnicom Group Inc.executive Tom Harrison and former Medco Health Solutions, Inc. executive Pamela Galassini as senior operating partners.

Both executives bring extensive corporate experience to Merida and will focus on supporting the firm and its portfolio companies in the healthcare, media and data sectors. Initially, Harrison will join the board of directors of MediaJel, a global creative and multimedia agency while Galassini will join Manna Molecular, a cannabis biotech and product innovation firm, in an operations executive role. In the coming months, both senior operating partners will assume additional corporate roles at the firm as well as with Merida’s portfolio companies.

“As our portfolio grows in size and complexity, executives like Tom and Pam with institutional backgrounds in healthcare, media and pharmaceuticals will allow our firm to further drive our cannabis ecosystem strategy, while giving our portfolio companies more hands-on support needed to manage their hyper-growth responsibly,” said Mitchell Baruchowitz, Merida Capital Partners' managing partner.

Tom Harrison

Harrison, previously the president, chairman and CEO of Diversified Agency Services (DAS), a global group of marketing services companies and division of Omnicom Group Inc., now serves as chairman emeritus. Under Harrison’s nearly 20-year tenure, DAS grew to become the largest worldwide holding company of entrepreneur-led marketing services companies competing in the public relations, CRM, promotional/experiential/field marketing, branding, research, events and talent procurement, along with clinically-focused companies in the healthcare and wellness sectors.

Harrison is a former board member of Zynerba Pharmaceuticals and currently serves on the boards of Montefiore Health System and Madison Logic. Additionally, Harrison was elected by his peers as a New York Academy of Medicine fellow; served as a member of The New York Academy of Sciences; is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor; and holds an honorary doctorate from West Virginia University, where he earned a graduate degree in cell biology and physiology.

“The undeniable clinical importance and versatility of cannabis and CBD is changing the healthcare and wellness landscape,” said Harrison. “I am excited to work alongside such a talented and diverse group of entrepreneurial leaders in this dynamic space to add strategic value and help accelerate growth for the firm and its portfolio companies which are poised to benefit greatly from these positive market changes.”

Pamela Galassini

Galassini brings more than 20 years of pharmacy benefit management, payor insights and pharmaceutical manufacturer strategies and solutions experience to Merida. Throughout the nearly two decades spent at Medco Health Solutions, Inc, which was acquired for $29B by Express Scripts in 2011, Pam served in a number of roles within the organization, including as the company’s Pharmaceutical Strategies & Solutions Senior Vice President, Government & Labor Senior Vice President and the Central Region Vice President of Sales.

Additionally, Galassini served as the CEO of Leafline Labs, one of only two medical cannabis vertical operators licensed in the state of Minnesota. She holds a B.S. in Speech Communication and Rhetoric from the University of Illinois.

“After years of failing to comprehensively address our nation’s ongoing opioids crisis and flawed healthcare policies, consumers are now demanding smarter health and wellness solutions,” said Galassini. “As a new era in responsible, plant-based health and wellness solutions dawns, I am eager to bring my years of healthcare experience to Merida, Manna Molecular and Merida’s portfolio of cannabis and hemp companies."

Illinois lawmakers officially filed legislation May 6 to legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis, and the bill outlines a set of robust expungement and social equity provisions, according to Chris Lindsey, senior legislative counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project.

Senate Bill 7, introduced by Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago), directs the state to undergo a very detailed process of identifying and expunging the records of those with qualifying cannabis-related offenses, which include possession of up to 30 grams, sale of up to 30 grams and cultivation of up to 20 plants. Should the legislation be signed into law, a court order will be issued to provide clerks of court and law enforcement agencies with specific instructions on expunging qualifying records.

“It’s going to probably take a little while because they’re going to have to do quite a bit of research and there are a lot of folks … who will be impacted,” Lindsey said. “It’s also going to be possible for people to initiate their own [expungement], if they want to make sure they can get their records cleaned up sooner rather than later. … It’s pretty remarkable.”

The bill also includes social equity provisions that provide benefits to those who have been directly impacted by the war on cannabis. An individual who has been arrested, charged with or convicted of an offense that will be expunged under the new law—or an individual whose family member has been arrested, charged or convicted—qualifies as an equity applicant in the adult-use cannabis business licensing process. Business hopefuls who reside in a part of the state that has been disproportionately impacted by the war on cannabis—through higher rates of poverty than the rest of the state or disproportionate arrests and convictions of cannabis-related offenses—will also qualify as equity applicants. These applicants, when forming a business that is 51-percent owned by individuals in these categories, will receive additional points on their applications.

“They can also qualify for financial assistance,” Lindsey said. “If they need help with loans or training, there’s a fund that’s going to be established. … It’s ensuring that they have access to the licenses and also that there’s financial assistance for those businesses.”

Applicants who are awarded licenses during the state’s transition from a medical-only to an adult-use market will pay an additional fee, beyond the licensing fee, that will create the fund for the equity program.

“Several weeks ago, when the governor’s office started getting involved and we started looking at how we define the class of people that would benefit from all of this, it really did come back to: This is about making up for the harms caused by the war on marijuana,” Lindsey said. “It’s absolutely within the structure of this bill.”

The legislation also allows home grow, which Lindsey said the state’s cannabis community supports, while law enforcement groups may want the provision modified or even removed.

The bill outlines a business licensing process where existing medical cannabis licensees can transition to the adult-use market, expanding their cultivation operations and retail locations to accommodate the new customer base.

“That license will be available very, very quickly after the bill passes, with an aim toward sales beginning Jan. 1, 2020,” Lindsey said.

"This is about making up for the harms caused by the war on marijuana. It’s absolutely within the structure of this bill.”

-Chris Lindsey, Senior Legislative Counsel, The Marijuana Policy Project

During the drafting process, lawmakers worked closely with the various government agencies that would be tasked with regulating an adult-use cannabis industry in the state, ensuring that all rules were outlined for them in the final bill. This will allow sales to launch fairly quickly if and when the legislation passes both chambers of the legislature and is signed into law by the governor. (The Illinois legislative session adjourns May 31.)

“Then the dispensaries can also begin an expedited process to get a second location as a retail outlet, and that will be dedicated exclusively to the adult consumer market. So, in other words, it’s not another medical dispensary,” Lindsey said. “That will happen in the months after the sales begin.”

Processing, transporting and craft grow licenses will be new additions for the adult-use market, he added, and the regulatory agencies will work to make the applications for these new license types available as soon as possible. The craft grow license will allow a cultivator to operate much like a microbrewery, Lindsey said, where cultivators can produce product on-site and sell it directly to consumers.

“I think it’s going to have a lot of appeal because they can develop a brand, and it’s just an interesting thing,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what people do.”

The state will cap the number of total licenses issued, and the limit will be determined by the various regulatory bodies, Lindsey said.

Lawmakers are largely still reading through the 500-page bill, he said, but it will soon be assigned to a Senate committee. Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) will likely introduce an exact duplicate of the bill in the House, Lindsey said, allowing both chambers to work on it in tandem. A public hearing will be on the horizon, he added, where lawmakers will hear testimony, and full floor votes will soon follow.

“We want both chambers to pass the bill by the end of May so that the governor will sign it,” Lindsey said. “There are going to be some areas of the bill where we expect some pushback, but so far, we’re not sure exactly how that’s going to play out. We’re just going to be back in the mode of ushering it through as quickly as sponsors are able."