"Cannabis researcher Susan Dupej is another one of CCTA’s founding members. Dupej, a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Guelph, is heading to the U.S. soon to conduct research around cannabis agritourism in California and Colorado. Despite the federally illegal status of cannabis in the U.S., Dupej says there are many examples at the state level that Canadians can learn from, including with respect to cannabis lounges and hotels. It’s a relationship that’s reciprocal, she adds, as the U.S. considers enacting federal cannabis reform and legal states look at Canadian initiatives, such as farm gate sales. Dupej contends that federal legalization has led to a more transparent relationship between consumers and their cannabis sources and it only makes sense that many consumers want to be able to explore that relationship further, including visiting producers, purchasing on-site and learning about growing methods. “In the U.S., you can actually go into the fields and have a personal interaction with the plant and this is something that I’m going to study,” Dupej tells The GrowthOp. “People want to do that. That is cannabis as the ultimate attraction.”