How Florida’s Surterra is preparing for the possibility of recreational marijuana

In 2017, Lynnette French made a career shift. Back then, the Massachusetts mom held a managerial position at an Urban Outfitters store in Boston.

Her vision for the future changed when she took her first step inside a medical marijuana dispensary. A longtime marijuana user, French felt that visit was the first time she felt “really normal” about cannabis consumption. And it taught her that she wanted others to have the same access she did.

“Long story short, I emailed the CEO. I said, ‘Hey, if you ever have an opportunity for someone to work…’ and I had a job offer five days later,” she said.

Fast forward six years, and French has gone from front-end retail to chief operating officer of Parallel, a multi-state company that owns Surterra — one of Florida’s largest medical marijuana operations.

She’s overseeing Surterra at a time when Florida may be on the cusp of legal overhaul. Cannabis players are optimistic that a Trulieve-backed ballot petition to get recreational adult use of marijuana on the ballot in 2024 will clear the state Supreme Court’s review process, and gain the 60% of voter approval needed to amend the state constitution.

Surterra has witnessed plenty of controversy in recent years. Former Parallel CEO Beau Wrigley, who pumped $65 million into the company in 2018, stepped down in 2021 after a major acquisition deal fell through. Lawsuits have followed that allege the company concealed massive debts.

Surterra is also one of only 22 medical marijuana operators in Florida. Few businesses can comply with the state’s vertical integration laws, which require a medical marijuana entity to grow, process, market and sell marijuana products with no middlemen or contractors.

Those barriers to entry mean Florida cannabis is fractured between sprawling medical marijuana operators and small businesses that turned to hemp products like cannabidiol and delta-8 THC. Austin Jones, owner of hemp lab and retail shop Divine Wellness, said he thinks the recreational industry will end up “just as restrictive as the current scheme.”

In a conversation with the Times last month, French talked about the prospect of legalizing adult recreational use of marijuana in Florida, how company executives are reimagining Parallel and Surterra, and equity in cannabis.

The big focus for marijuana in 2024 is whether recreational legalization will make it to the ballot. How optimistic are you about those prospects?

I am optimistic that we’ll get on the ballot, and I’m optimistic that Floridians will vote for it. What we’ve learned from other states is there are very different paths (to legalization). I’m very much looking forward to 2024 and what comes after. But my crystal ball is generally pretty hazy, and sometimes doesn’t have good predictions.

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What makes this try different than the two recreational marijuana ballot measures that were shot down by the Florida Supreme Court in 2021? Does it come down to money?

Trulieve is making a very big investment. We thank them for that. I think the whole East Coast has almost been swept (in recreational legalization) at this point. I have a little bit more optimism because the states have to look at, if they don’t move to get a recreational market, they have a neighbor who does. Guess where your residents are going to gain access? With enough pressure from the whole East Coast and people in Florida saying “we want this,” we believe that will be enough to get it there this time. I believe (public support) was only like 50% when it was on in 2021. And last I heard it was well over 70% now.

Some vendors in the hemp industry have their suspicions toward medical marijuana companies like Surterra. What do you make of the wariness coming from the hemp industry?

I think there’s wariness on both sides. I wouldn’t feel right opining on the use of hemp and delta-8. It’s not my wheelhouse. I think a lot more studies need to be done. And it kind of goes back to the root of what we need for the entire industry: to continue pushing for federal legalization so we can have the appropriate studies and standards of dosing. But at the end of the day, people having options is really what’s most important.

How would you respond to hemp growers who think the path to recreational marijuana in Florida will benefit medical marijuana companies before it benefits them?

I do think there’s some of the key license holders that have made a land grab. We’re not doing that. We’re not going to try to be set up on every area. I still think there’s a place for all of it. Surterra is one of the top dispensers of CBD. I don’t necessarily see it as one or the other. I understand there’s a lot of friction there. But we’ve got a lot of work to do in our own house. And I think Florida is opening up licenses that will hopefully improve access.

You’ve said that Surterra has had a cultural evolution. What does that mean?

In 2019, there was a huge play for everyone to be a (multi-state operator) and just have a land grab. How many states can you get? How many licenses can you get, and how fast can you do it? For a lot of reasons, we had to look internally as a company and redefine who we were and what success was. After the original thought process of “make it huge takeover,” COVID kind of caused everybody to stop and reset. What we did in the last 14 months is really look at the quality of our products. We shouldn’t be producing anything our teams aren’t proud of.

You’ve talked about how the cannabis industry needs input from people that have been growing marijuana since long before it was legal. Why is that important?

In 2019, it was all about bringing people into the industry who had no cannabis experience. It’s hard to maintain a culture of people who are passionate about cannabis when you’re like, this is just a cog that we push out. You can get any scientists come in and say “do this process,” but it’s a plant. Maintaining that knowledge that has been gained over decades is really important to us.

Medical marijuana in Florida gets poor marks when it comes to equity. Just 2% of medical cardholders in the state are Black. How is Surterra dealing with equity concerns?

We’ve really challenged ourselves to do the work. We’ve got two key things that we’ve been doing nationally, but also in Florida. We have a partner called BCB Mastermind. They run a CEO intensive program, which works with BIPOC CEOs looking to get into the cannabis industry. If you’re a minority CEO with no experience of the complexity and regulations of the industry, and then try to get into it, you’re automatically set up for failure. We’ve helped set up 100 CEOs of Black and minority groups. In addition, we’ve been partnering with Minorities 4 Medical Marijuana in Florida to do Safe Access events. We’ve been providing free certification and education in those events, to get people access, get them medical cards.

What’s it like to be a woman in cannabis?

Personally, I am so lucky, because I am surrounded by some really progressive people. I’ve had plenty of days where it’s not always awesome and it’s challenging. I have to remind myself that I’m just as much of a cannabis consumer as any dude who walks into the room. So I have to remind myself to take up space. Even on my worst day, even when I’m in the room with no diversity at all, except for myself, I just feel really fortunate to have the opportunity to make a difference.