Alleh Lindquist, CEO of FloraWorks- Interview Series

Even if you haven’t extensively studied botanical sciences, the complex chemistry behind cannabinoids and their combinations remains fascinating. It is remarkable how specific cannabinoids and terpenes can significantly impact both the appearance and effects of cannabis products, as well as the specialized ways these components are extracted and formulated. With the upcoming federal rescheduling, these scientific fields are poised to receive a substantial increase in research attention.

To gain deeper insight into the intricacies of cannabinoid formulation and the future of federal cannabis and hemp research, MyCannabis.com spoke with Alleh Lindquist, CEO of FloraWorks.

What industries did you work in prior to entering the cannabis industry? What were the most valuable skills you picked up during those early years?

There really wasn’t a path into cannabis when I got started—you just stepped into it. I was working in marketing and commercial photography at the time, and also doing some small-scale medical cultivation on the side.

When Oregon Measure 91 passed, it felt like the beginning of the end of prohibition. I made a clear decision at that point to go all in and get my “10,000 hours” in this industry as quickly as I could. Looking back, the last decade in this industry is where I grew up as an operator.

Even during the first years of its existence, what caught your professional attention about the potential of the cannabis industry? Was it the entrepreneur drive within you, or were there other factors as well?

My grandfather was a business professor, and he drilled the idea of entrepreneurship into me at a young age. I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, but looking back, that mindset stuck. So when cannabis started to open up, it immediately stood out to me.

Honestly, it was how early everything felt. There was no real playbook, you had to solve problems in real time. Regulation, operations, product, everything was being figured out as you went. That kind of environment either pushes you out or pulls you all the way in. For me, it pulled me in. At the time, I didn’t fully understand where that path would lead—but I knew it was something I wanted to commit to.

What all went into the creation of Swell Companies Limited, and how would you describe the licensing process? How did you successfully obtain the first cannabis extraction license in Oregon?

We started building Swell as a medical extraction operation before recreational licenses were even available. The goal from the beginning was to be ready for that transition, we weren’t reacting to legalization, we were preparing for it.

By the time Oregon rolled out licensing after Oregon Measure 91, we were already up and running with an established operation. At that stage, there wasn’t a cap or lottery system. It really came down to being prepared. We had the infrastructure, processes, and compliance in place, so we were able to submit immediately when the portal opened and secure our license early.

That early positioning made a big difference as the market scaled and competition increased.

How many Oregon cannabis brands were under the Swell umbrella, and how did you strategically make sure that multiple product formats were produced by those brands?

At one point we had about seven brands coming through our operation, three of our own and a handful we supported as a manufacturing and distribution partner.

We originally started as a high-end hash company, but it became clear pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to scale the way we wanted. So we expanded into broader extraction and focused on producing inputs that could be used across multiple product formats.

That shift gave us flexibility. We could build our own brands where it made sense and also support other operators, depending on where demand was.

After selling Swell, what inspired you to then co-found FloraWorks? Based on your industry experience from creating and operating Swell, what need for FloraWorks’ products did you see in the industry?

After exiting Swell, I wasn’t looking to jump right back into a CEO role.

I got pulled into a project with some peers who were working on a way to produce CBN at scale. At the time, it wasn’t a well-known cannabinoid, but there was a long-standing idea that older cannabis made people sleepy because it had higher levels of CBN, a cannabinoid formed through the oxidative breakdown of other cannabinoids in the plant.

The challenge was that CBN only exists in very small amounts in the plant, so if you wanted to really explore it, you had to figure out how to replicate that process in a controlled, repeatable way.

I helped on the strategy side, supported the capital raise, and helped bring in a CEO. That process led to the formation of FloraWorks, which absorbed the original business. About two years later, I was asked to step into the CEO role.

What stood out to me was the gap between what cannabinoids could be and how they were actually being developed. There wasn’t much consistency, not much data, and no clear path into more serious medical or regulatory frameworks.

FloraWorks was built to close that gap, starting with CBN and building toward a more structured, research-driven approach to cannabinoids.

From a scientific standpoint, what goes into the production of FloraWorks’ cannabinoid formulations? How does the production team at FloraWorks successfully extract specific cannabinoids while ensuring that their products are safe for consumption?

At a high level, FloraWorks is focused on advancing cannabinoids in the context of human health and wellness, specifically non-intoxicating compounds, with a primary focus on CBN.

Our work sits at the intersection of chemistry, quality, and clinical research. We’re focused on understanding how these compounds behave—how to produce them consistently, how to validate their quality, and how they interact with the body.

A big part of that is building the data layer, around safety, consistency, and clinical outcomes, so we’re not just working with cannabinoids, we’re actually understanding their effects.

The goal is to take cannabinoids, particularly non-intoxicating ones like CBN, and move them out of loosely defined consumer products into something that can be understood, trusted, and meaningfully applied to improve health and wellness.

From a regulatory standpoint, what is so significant about the TruCBN™ 50 mg softgel formulation being “documentation-ready” for evaluation under the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Substance Access Beneficiary Engagement Incentive program? How could this inclusion be beneficial for cannabis and hemp research and recognition on the federal level?

Being “documentation-ready” means TruCBN has the clinical, safety, and quality data required to be evaluated within a healthcare program.

What makes this significant is that it’s happening through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This is the first federally sanctioned cannabinoid medical program. The focus is senior care, where something like sleep disruption doesn’t exist in isolation, it drives a cascade of downstream health issues and increased cost of care. The goal of the program is to introduce cannabinoid options into care settings and measure real outcomes, do they improve patient health, and do they reduce cost.

For a compound like CBN, which has shown clinical effects on sleep, that creates a meaningful opportunity. If sleep improves, you start to see secondary effects, better recovery, fewer complications, and potentially lower overall cost of care.

That’s the shift. Cannabinoids, particularly non-intoxicating ones like CBN, are being evaluated based on outcomes in a real healthcare system.

When it comes to research conducted on cannabis and hemp-based formulations and products, how do you think the federal rescheduling to Schedule III will expedite and expand upon current research? Will more federal agencies and funding be used to further study the plant’s many possibilities?

Even though Schedule III doesn’t directly apply to CBN or other cannabinoids we work with, it’s still a major milestone for the entire category.

For decades, cannabis being classified under the Controlled Substances Act created both practical barriers to research and a significant amount of stigma around the space. Moving to Schedule III starts to change that. It doesn’t just reduce friction, it signals that cannabinoids are something worth studying more seriously. That shift in perception is what drives broader research. It opens the door for more academic involvement, more funding, and more structured clinical work.

It’s one of the first real steps toward cannabinoids being approached as legitimate therapeutic compounds rather than something on the fringe.

As someone with ample cannabis industry experience, how will the federal rescheduling impact legal state cannabis operations? Will cannabis businesses and brands, like those that fell under the Swell umbrella, thrive more after the rescheduling, or will there be additional challenges that are currently unforeseen?

Overall, it’s a meaningful step in the right direction. It should help expand access to medical cannabis, improve the quality of research and care, and remove 280E tax penalties that have historically slowed innovation and growth.

But the bigger shift is what comes next.

As federal involvement increases, especially through programs like the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services initiative, the incentives start to change. There’s now a real business case for investing in research, data, and product quality, because those are the things that can actually drive outcomes and be measured.

That’s likely to define the next phase of the industry. The companies that put science first—who can answer real questions around efficacy and treatment, and engage credibly with clinicians and caregivers, are going to separate themselves.

Those are the operators that will be able to adapt to a more medical, structured environment, and ultimately be the ones that thrive.

Thank you for joining us, Alleh! For more information on FloraWorks, please visit its website.