Jordan Lams
Company: Moxie
Title: Owner
Age: 28
For the past 12 months, the editorial staff at Marijuana Venture has compiled a list of candidates for our third annual 40 Under 40 feature. This year, we narrowed our list down from hundreds of worthy candidates to come up with a cross-section of personalities across the U.S. and Canada, from salt-of-the-earth farmers to tech savants. All of them have unique stories, successes and ambitions and all represent the excitement and promise of the cannabis business. We feel honored to share their stories and look forward to watching them push forward in our ever-evolving industry.
It’s hard not to say that Jordan Lams has moxie.
At 28, he has licensed operations in California, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada and has consulted on safety regulations across the U.S., South America and Europe. Considering the name of his extraction and genetics company — Moxie — well, the pun writes itself.
In just three years Moxie has made astounding progress. Not only has the company received more than 50 consumer and industry awards for its products and practices, it also received the first distribution and manufacturing licenses for California’s recreational market.
“It’s been the sweet culmination of a lot of hard work,” Lams says.
Ten years ago, Lams was skeptical of cannabis, but started researching it as a teenager when a friend challenged his negative assumptions. It took him a year and a review of his findings with his family doctor before he changed his mind.
“That doctor has gone on now to treat patients with cannabis,” Lams says. “Having that information, you can’t sit on it. If you have a heart, then it’s impossible not to tell people who need it.”
By that time Lams was in college, studying to follow in his parents’ footsteps as a professional musician. But a family tragedy left him at a crossroads.
“With my sister having leukemia and the horrible process she went through from diagnosis to passing away, I feel this conviction within me to be a part of this movement,” he says. “As soon as I did, all the doors and windows flew open.”
Lams founded Moxie in 2015. He never intended cannabis to be a career, but “one thing just led to another,” he says. Moxie’s partnership with Pure Penn is a perfect example.
“I just got a call from a buddy who said Pure Penn is looking for a partner in Pennsylvania,” he says.
“We just keep going one foot in front of the other until global domination for the cannabis movement.”