At some point in his cannabis career, Jonny Griffis has held nearly every position imaginable. It’s given him a comprehensive understanding of the industry, from cultivation to sales to compliance, helping him work his way up to president of True North Collective, a cultivator and manufacturer with about 50 full-time employees.
“We’re in over 500 of stores here in Michigan, medical and recreational, so we have a pretty big impact for a company our size,” Griffis says.
Griffis began his career as a caregiver in Michigan, then moved to Colorado in the early days of regulated cannabis, where he learned the challenges of working in an industry with strict rules and oversight.
In 2018, he returned to his home state to help launch True North Collective, which, in 2019, was the 39th cannabis license granted by the state. (For reference, the company’s most recent license was No. 1,161 in Michigan.)
Lately, he’s been focusing much of his energy on the political side of the industry, working closely with the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association to push for repeal of the state’s new 24% wholesale tax on cannabis.
Griffis, who’s every bit as comfortable sitting down with state lawmakers as he is having a smoke with a customer from the dispensary, says the wholesale tax is a potential “death blow” to an industry that employs nearly 50,000 Michigan residents.
As the father of one young child and another on the way, Griffis is reminded on a daily basis why he does what he does.
“I just hope to be the best dad, the most supportive husband, and to keep this thing rocking the best we can,” he says. “That’s the best goal I could set. That helps keep my sanity. I think you have to have a real solid pillar to build your life around. That could be your family, your god, your community — for me, it’s all three. I can’t sit where I’m sitting now without that. I can’t pay my bills without that because I have to have the motivation to get out of bed every day, and I have 50 families relying on me and my directors, so that’s a ton of motivation.”
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