{"id":8787,"date":"2019-05-17T22:09:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T22:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3464805"},"modified":"2019-05-17T22:09:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T22:09:07","slug":"jared-polis-taps-marijuana-industry-veteran-to-lead-colorado-pot-policy-its-a-notable-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/jared-polis-taps-marijuana-industry-veteran-to-lead-colorado-pot-policy-its-a-notable-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Jared Polis taps marijuana industry veteran to lead Colorado pot policy. It\u2019s a notable change."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/jared-polis-taps-marijuana-industry-veteran-to-lead-colorado-pot-policy-its-a-notable-change\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jared-polis-taps-marijuana-industry-veteran-to-lead-colorado-pot-policy-its-a-notable-change.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2019\/05\/17\/ean-seeb-colorado-marijuana-special-adviser\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dp-news-marijuana+%28Denver+Post%3A+News%3A+Marijuana%29&amp;utm_content=Google+UK#comments-anchor\"><span class=\"spot-im-replies-count\" data-post-id=\"3464805\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the first time since Colorado voters approved legalized marijuana five years ago, an industry person will be in charge of policy in the statehouse.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Jared Polis recently hired Ean Seeb, a founding partner at a cannabis business consulting firm, to serve as his special adviser on cannabis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEan is a leader in the cannabis industry and we are thrilled to have him on our team,\u201d Polis\u2019 chief of staff Lisa Kaufmann said in a statement. \u201cWe welcome his incredible expertise and know he will help us continue Colorado\u2019s leadership in this growing industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The move to hire a marijuana industry veteran marks a notable change from the previous administration, which tapped people from politics or law enforcement. Industry watchers say the hire is a win for the pro-marijuana camp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo move from someone with a law enforcement background to an industry mindset is significant,\u201d said Sam Kamin, a professor of marijuana law and policy at the University of Denver.<\/p>\n<p>Before starting his new gig two weeks ago, Seeb was co-owner and manager of Denver Relief Consulting \u2014 along with one-time mayoral candidate Kayvan Khalatbari \u2014 and previously operated a cannabis dispensary. He was also a two-time chair of the National Cannabis Industry Association, according to his Denver Relief <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverreliefconsulting.com\/staff\/ean-seeb\/\">bio<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Seeb will serve as the governor\u2019s adviser for marijuana bills going through the legislature and be a liaison with the department of revenue, which oversees marijuana enforcement, among other state agencies.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>Seeb follows three others who held similar positions under former Gov. John Hickenlooper: Andrew Freedman \u2014 the first country\u2019s first \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/08\/31\/andrew-freedman-cannabis-summit-colorado\/87044\/\">marijuana czar<\/a>\u201d \u2014 Mark Bolton and Dominique Mendiola.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo have a person (from the industry) who has the governor\u2019s ear would be a break from the past,\u201d Kamin said. \u201cHickenlooper was not anyone in the industry\u2019s favorite, I don\u2019t think.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>The move to hire a marijuana industry veteran marks a notable change from the previous administration, which tapped people from politics or law enforcement. Industry watchers say the hire is a win for the pro-marijuana camp. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6811,6857,8167,854,2097,6813,6848,77,7280,2437,5667,9,5019,441,8038,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6816,6859,8168,3427,4665,6818,6851,2655,7283,2443,5673,5022,3015,8039],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8787"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}