Christina Betancourt Johnson
CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP | After years and years “on the ocean,” Christina Betancourt Johnson can finally see dry land: Standard Wellness Maryland will receive two licenses this fall and Johnson will be able to focus on operations.
Women to Watch
Welcome to Marijuana Venture’s 10th annual feature highlighting women in the cannabis industry. This year we are proud to bring readers the stories of 13 influential professionals helping to shape the industry through their leadership, insights and visions for the future of cannabis. The following women hail from a variety of backgrounds and each bring their own unique skillsets, experience and perspectives for the betterment of the industry.
It is an honor to share their stories.
Christina Betancourt Johnson is finally so close to seeing the rewards of a journey that started almost seven years ago and has, through years of attempting to break into Maryland’s cannabis market, required not just a boatload of hard work and know-how, but also an endless supply of persistence, creativity and determination.
“I would say this process is probably equivalent in many ways to someone trying to chart a small vessel, like a three- or four-person vessel across the world,” she explains. “The reality is that like navigating a boat, there are an incredible number of variables and unknowns that you have no control over as the boat captain, and they range in scope and severity from the weather to the materials on the boat not being as sustainable as you thought they were.”
Johnson is the CEO of Standard Wellness Maryland, a company that was incorporated in 2019 and first sought licensure under Maryland’s medical cannabis program, but, among several starts and stops the enterprise has endured, had to shift gears to operate within the state’s adult-use market, following a successful legalization initiative on the 2022 ballot. After years of fundraising, applications, litigation and the necessary work to operationalize the business, Standard Wellness will finally have its first two licenses up and running this fall (cultivation first, with a retail shop possibly opening before the end of October, followed by plans for manufacturing around summer 2025). Standard Wellness will be Maryland’s first social equity licensees.
“I would say we’re still on the ocean, but we’re getting really close to land and I’m tired of the journey,” Johnson jokes.
Prior to undertaking her cannabis business journey, Johnson was the CEO of a nonprofit and also worked in commercial real estate development, experiences that have proven invaluable to working in an industry as challenging and unpredictable as cannabis.
“I learned as an executive in that space that every deal dies at least once before it can live,” she says. “And I think that’s really important because as a cannabis entrepreneur, who is trying to build this new venture and sell it to people who are willing to invest in it, you’ve got to understand that deals will die before they live, and you’ve got to have agility when navigating the fundraising space and the operations space, and you also have to have a resilience that, quite frankly, is impenetrable.”
Johnson has also served on the board of directors for the U.S. Cannabis Council and the National Hispanic Cannabis Council and was appointed vice chair of Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s cannabis advisory board — all while running her own company, doing some nonprofit work and being a mother to a teenage daughter.
“My hope is that I’ve got a pretty successful and long run in this industry,” she says. “I hope my daughter one day can look up to me and be proud of me, or even say, ‘Hey, I want to get in the sector with my mom.’ That would be the ultimate testimony of this journey. It’s legacy.”