Jeff Guignard

In studio today, Bert is joined by criminal defence lawyer, Sarah Leamon. In 2017, she was invited to speak before the House of Commons Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, providing legal testimony on the changes to Canada’s impaired driving laws in light of cannabis legalization, and has since then continued her advisory role with the federal government, submitting frequent briefs, pertaining to issues from hate speech to human trafficking. In 2018, she founded her own law firm, located in downtown Vancouver, with a focus on impaired driving, cannabis regulation, and criminal defence. Along with supporting a number of local non-profit organizations, she is currently the Board Chair for PACE Society, which offers low-barrier programming, and support, for Vancouver’s marginalized sex workers.

License to Chill with Bert Hick is recorded live at Studio 710, in downtown Vancouver, and produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out RisingTideConsultants.ca

On today’s show, Bert welcomes cannabis leader, Jamie Shaw. Noted as Canada’s only court-certified dispensary expert, Shaw was a key witness in the Allard trial, which came before the Federal Court, and gained medicinal patients the right to grow cannabis themselves. She has successfully lobbied for dispensary regulation in Vancouver, Victoria and other canadian municipalities under prohibition, and has consulted at length with all levels of government on cannabis regulations. As the director of the B.C. Independent Cannabis Association, and partner at Groundwork Consulting, Shaw continues advocating for, and working with, the growing canadian cannabis industry.

License to Chill with Bert Hick is recorded live at Studio 710, in downtown Vancouver, and produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out RisingTideConsultants.ca

In studio today, Bert is joined by Queen’s Counsel and legendary criminal defense lawyer, John Conroy, QC.

In historic cases before the Supreme Court of Canada, Conroy has defended the rights of patients using medical cannabis, and fought for the constitutionality of accessible medication, at an affordable price.

With decision such as Smith, and Allard, the landscape of medicinal marijuana, compassion clubs, medical treatment with cannabis, and the rights of the person as underlined by the Charter have been profoundly changed for the better.

Now in the later years of his practice, Conroy sits down with Bert, to reflect on what needs to change going forward, and how our current cannabis legislation has largely forgotten the medical patients, for whom much of legalization was purported to be for.

License to Chill with Bert Hick is recorded live at Studio 710, in downtown Vancouver, and produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out RisingTideConsultants.ca

Taking the show on the road, and setting up at the offices of the Attorney General of British Columbia, Bert is joined on the hot mic by Minister David Eby. An NDP MLA, he was re-elected to the legislature in 2017, following a more than noteworthy defeat in 2013 of then Premier Christy Clark by a margin of 785 votes, in the riding of Vanouver-Point Grey - a riding previously held by fellow Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell. Eby previously worked with the Pivot Legal Society, in the downtown eastside, which he then followed as the executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, through 2012, before being elected into provincial politics.

As the Attorney General of British Columbia, he recently worked to overhaul ICBC, an action that had been long-time necessary, but which has been met by a lukewarm reception from younger drivers, who have seen an increase in their yearly rates. He also oversaw the on-budget $57.1 million construction of a new centralized distribution center for liquor and cannabis. With the addition of the latter through national legalization, Bert speaks to the Attorney General about the challenges the province has faced with implementing a safe and efficient roll out of both licensed retailers and product to British Columbians, while also acknowledging the significant work that still needs to be done, on both fronts.

License to Chill with Bert Hick is recorded live at Studio 710, in downtown Vancouver, and produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out RisingTideConsultants.ca

Today, Bert welcomes famed cannabis activist and politician Jodie Emery. Joining him in studio, she shares her account of the tepid relationship between the police and cannabis offenses over the last couple decades, and with the details of her own harrowing experience being arrested, she explains why the full expungement of criminal offenses is needed - a step up from the current pardons in place. Frequently found on speaking engagements around the world, she shares her thoughts today on the what, why, and how of the failed War on Drugs, Canada’s own history with it, and where our own new found national legalization of cannabis needs to grow and change for it to be labeled a success.

License to Chill with Bert Hick is recorded live at Studio 710, in downtown Vancouver, and produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out RisingTideConsultants.ca

In studio today, Bert is joined by leading cannabis rights activist and politician Dana Larsen. With this year’s 420 Vancouver event being the largest to date, taking place post-legalization in Canada, and during a federal election year, we explore the question of whether 420 is more celebration than protest, along with diving into the issues that many argue are yet to be addressed with the current legislation. Championing psychedelics and the broad legalization of other drugs, Dana also discusses the safety measures that need to be more widely put in place across the country, building upon his new harm-reduction street-drug testing community-service “Get Your Drugs Tested" that he recently launched. 

License to Chill with Bert Hick is recorded live at Studio 710, in downtown Vancouver, and produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out RisingTideConsultants.ca

On today’s show, Bert welcomes Jeff Guignard, the Executive Director of British Columbia's Alliance of Beverage Licensees, better known as ABLE BC. With the addition of cannabis, alongside alcohol on the recreational scene, Jeff joins Bert in studio to chat about what this will mean for the industry going forward, and what the response has been so far, in the urban and rural markets, across British Columbia.

License to Chill with Bert Hick is recorded live at Studio 710, in downtown Vancouver, and produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out RisingTideConsultants.ca

In studio today, Bert sits down with Ken Beattie, the Executive Director of the BC Craft Brewers Guild. For over 25 years, he has been a mainstay of the beer industry, and is a certified [Prud’homme] Beer Educator. With the craft beer boom still flourishing in British Columbia, Ken sits down to chat about the current state of the industry, and the upcoming BC Craft Brewers Conference, mere days away.

License to Chill with Bert Hick is recorded live at Studio 710, in downtown Vancouver, and produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out RisingTideConsultants.ca

In studio today, Bert sits down with Ian Tostenson, the President and CEO of the BC Restaurant and Food Services Association. He previously served as Director of the David Foster Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to helping support families with children in need of lifesaving transplants. And in recent years he has been a leading voice in the debate for RideShare, which would finally bring services like Uber and Lyft to Vancouver. 

License to Chill with Bert Hick is recorded live at Studio 710, in downtown Vancouver, and produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out RisingTideConsultants.ca

In studio today, Bert sits down with former Surrey City Councillor, Barinder Rasode, the CEO and Co-Founder of Grow Tech Labs. In 2017, she founded the National Institute for Cannabis Health and Education, and a year later, Cannabis Wise, an accreditation program, aimed to help Canadian consumers identify products that are created with quality control, legality, and responsible cannabis use in mind. Along with Co-Founder Natasha Raey, she launched SheTalks in 2015, an open-speaker series for women, which connects and inspires them through the stories they share, challenging the notion of them silencing their voices. Barinder has been recognized as one of Vancouver’s 50 Most Powerful People by Vancouver Magazine, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential women in the cannabis industry today.

License to Chill with Bert Hick is recorded live at Studio 710, in downtown Vancouver, and produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out RisingTideConsultants.ca