Episode Details

Meet NHA's New Director Sully Sullivan

Season 9 Episode 18 Published 2 weeks ago

Description

This week on the Hemp Show we meet Sully Sullivan. He's the new executive director at the National Hemp Association — and what a time to be taking the helm of a hemp association.

So much is up in the air right now. What about the November federal deadline that will ban most hemp-derived THC products, from gummies and beverages to most full-spectrum CBD?

Yeah, it's just sort of hanging out there, flapping in the breeze.

What's going to happen? Will there be an extension? Will there be new legislation? How will all this play out?

No one knows just yet.

Sully Sullivan is aware he has his work cut out for him as the new director of the NHA.

"I feel like we're at a precipice right now, or a crossroads perhaps, where we are, as a country, getting the regulations right," he said.

He sees what he calls "fracturedness" in the industry and the cacophony of voices in the advocacy space.

"There's a lot of voices and some are saying the same thing. Some are saying different things. Some things don't match up at all," he said.

For over a decade, Sullivan has been active in hemp policy in his home state of Arizona as a leader of the Hemp Industry Trade Association of Arizona, so he's no stranger to conflict, hard conversations and compromise.

"I feel all of my work over the last 10 years is coalescing right now," he said. "Like this is what it was all for. This all has manifested for this moment. So I take it very seriously, and it's almost spiritual in a sense. I am in the right place at the right time. I'm the person to fill these shoes and help push this industry forward."

Listen to the whole show to hear what else Sully Sullivan has to say.