Cresco Labs looks to normalize the cannabis industry

1094 0

The multi-state company has hired a chief communications officer to push for standardization across the market

According to an announcement by the company today, Cresco Labs has hired Jason Erkes to be its Chief Communications Officer. The move is designed to propel the multi-state firm’s mantra of normalization and professionalization of the cannabis industry. Erkes will help “spread messaging that breaks down pre-conceived notions of cannabis,” says Cresco Labs CEO Charlie Bachtell.

Erkes has been a consultant to Cresco for three years. He is an Emmy-winning journalist and is often referenced in articles published by both Forbes Magazine and Huffington Post. He has also contributed to Cannabis Business Executive and Cannabis Business Times as a writer.

The PR expert told the Cannabis Business Times, “I hope to be able to carry forward the mission of Cresco, which is to normalize the cannabis industry and have it be viewed as just another form of medicine without the age-old stigma attached to it. As the person sharing Cresco’s message with the media, public, medical community, investors and legislators, I intend on continuing to explain and show what we do as a company and how that provides relief to the thousands of suffering patients that are our customers. As a communicator for Cresco, it’s equally important to be a steward of this still-emerging industry as it is to promote the quality brands and products Cresco produces.”

Bachtell expects great things out of Erkes. He said, “Jason is a great strategist and truly a communications/PR expert. He’s been involved in the media in different capacities for … a while. He’s got a lot of experience. He used to be a reporter. He actually has a couple of Emmys that he received. He understands messaging—he understands the power that it has, the ability to get a point across—and he knows how to do it pretty effectively.”

As is typically seen in any industry, the cannabis industry is currently an amalgamation of a variety of business plans that has almost no central structure. Cresco, with the help of Erkes, hopes to change this and will campaign to provide the underpinning framework that could help to shape the industry in the US going forward.