Opening Mexico to cannabinoids for the first time legally with Dion Markgraaff, head of the U.S. Hemp Building Association and Vice President of communications for Hemp Technologies. Before Hemp Technologies he worked for General Hemp in San Diego, a private equity company founded to support growth in the industrial hemp industry. In 2016, he was the President of HempMeds® Mexico, opening Mexico to cannabinoids for the first time legally. With more than 25 years of experience in the cannabis industry, Mr. Markgraaff has achieved many “firsts” for the cannabis industry, as the founder of Europe’s first hemp store “Cannabis in Amsterdam” in 1993; organizer of the first medical cannabis dispensary in San Diego in 1997; and founder of one of the largest cannabis patient rights groups San Diego Americans for Safe Access in 2002. Mr. Markgraaff graduated with a dual Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in Political Science and History from San Diego State University, using cannabis/hemp as a subject in his senior thesis.