In our latest Trade To Black podcast, host Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell tee up a powerful episode featuring Jim Higdon, CEO of Cornbread Hemp, and Anthony Coniglio, CEO of NewLake Capital (OTCQX: NLCP). Jim Higdon takes us inside the growing tension between the hemp and cannabis industries—two sectors that share the same plant but play by very different rules.
In a spirited and insightful segment, Jim Higdon, co-founder and Chief Communications Officer of Cornbread Hemp, joins Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell to outline the mounting tensions between the hemp and cannabis industries. Higdon emphasizes how Cornbread’s Kentucky-based business, rooted in transparency and full-spectrum organic hemp, is battling intense state-level opposition regarding beverages from both liquor and cannabis lobbyists.
It is a regulatory gray area that continues to frustrate licensed cannabis operators, particularly when it comes to synthetic cannabinoids like Delta-8 and Delta-10, which are being sold with little to no oversight. He explains why Cornbread Hemp has taken a different route—focusing strictly on compliant, full-spectrum CBD products—and how the hemp industry can clean up its own act before federal reform steps in. Jim also shares what he believes needs to change in the next version of the Farm Bill to create a level playing field.
He recounts regulatory challenges stemming from a lack of FDA oversight and highlights how uneven federal policy, including the infamous 0.3% THC threshold, is outdated and ill-suited to today’s product innovations.
Anthony Coniglio, CEO of NewLake Capital gives a sobering but pragmatic overview of the cannabis industry’s current financial headwinds. Defaults are rising—on both leases and loans—as companies hit the end of their financial runways. Without significant reform, especially in the form of Schedule III rescheduling, 2025 is shaping up to be a year of “capitulation.” Coniglio affirms that the mature players will survive through cost-cutting, asset trimming, and selective M&A—but investors and institutions must reset their expectations.
He also defends the much-criticized sale-leaseback model, explaining that NewLake structures its rents sustainably, with an average yield of 12.1% and 4x EBITDA coverage. The industry isn’t collapsing, he argues—it’s maturing, and reform will bring a surge of human capital and investment back into the fold. But until then, survival hinges on discipline, not hype.
