Q+A: Suzan C. Nickelson of Holistic Solutions Talks Legacy Roots and Legal Leadership

Suzan C. Nickelson didn’t just witness cannabis history — she lived it. Born into a family of herbalists, healers, and entrepreneurs whose legacy traces from Ghana to Jamaica to New Jersey, Nickelson’s story is woven into the cultural and medicinal fabric of cannabis. Raised by a family who ran a legacy business in New York and a mother who used plant medicine to outlive a terminal diagnosis, Nickelson has long understood the sacred potential of cannabis, even when the world around her criminalized it.

Today, she is the first Black woman to own a majority-licensed dispensary in New Jersey. At the helm of Holistic Solutions, Nickelson continues her family’s legacy with compassion, advocacy, and a deep commitment to community, adding her personal expertise as a former state employee in a historically stigmatized market. In this conversation, Nickelson opens up about her lineage, the cultural significance of cannabis, and the work still needed to break down stigma and build equitable access to plant-based healing.

Kymberly Drapcho (Veriheal): When we talked previously, you mentioned that your family has a long history of cultivating cannabis. Can you tell me a little about that history?

Suzan Nickelson: So our family was initially from Ghana. When we traced our roots back, we came through the slave trade and ended up in the island of Jamaica. Our family were called Maroons, escaped slaves who fought the British for their own sovereignty and created their own economic communities up in the hills. So, I was born in St. Elizabeth near one of the tribal lands called a Kapong.

My mother was an herbalist. So she comes from a long line of women who are healers who use herbal plant medicine. So my grandmother, Granny Nanny, led a great war and revolution where the slaves actually got the British to draw a treaty giving us sovereign lands, which is called cockpit country in the islands. So, Hills people are very tied to African culture and also indigenous farming.

My mother spent many years learning about plant medicine, astrology, farming, and the appreciation of nature and cannabis specifically in agricultural economics, but also spiritually used medicinal properties.

Veriheal: Wow, that’s beautiful heritage. How did your family then end up in New Jersey? 

Nickelson: My parents met in the Bahamas. My mother was there on a photo shoot. My father, who was recently divorced – white male caucasian, served proudly in World War II – was there on vacation, and as my father stated, it was love at first sight. So, when my parents came to the country in 1976, my mother [Elaine], being the OG that she was, got seeds on the plane. I’m amazed by her ingenuity in making sure that she had something familiar to her, going to a whole new land, starting a whole new family and a whole new country.

In African culture, seeds were carried in many different ways, like in our hair or left as patterns of food and storage, and also told stories of warfare. Interestingly, my mother got the seeds in undetected, but in 1976, my father was still working as a sheriff’s officer. So what an interesting household that was.

Veriheal: Yes, definitely some conflicting pieces there. That’s such an incredible move by your mom, and so touching to think about her bringing that familiarity to an unfamiliar place. You mentioned that your family then continued cultivating cannabis in the States. Can you tell me a little about that?

Nickelson: We grew up in a very suburban area [in New Jersey] where we didn’t see many diverse people. I think there were three black people who lived in our entire community. For the summers, my mother sent us to New York, where a lot of our family lived. And as I know now and knew then, as I got older, cannabis was always part of our economic systems.

They were very big in the legacy market, which was wildly illegal at that time. But I often laugh thinking about going to New York in the summers and wondering why I couldn’t work in the stores. I understand now that it was a way of protection for my family, that they wanted me to go to school and study and get a different opportunity, and use education as a way to get beyond that system barrier.

But yes, my family did great things in this space, and it was a very interesting dichotomy: it was always revered, something common in our household, but we always knew that it could never be spoken of.

My mother would harvest her plants and have her growing season from March until September. During the summers, I saw cannabis from my aunts and their spiritual and medicinal practices and cooking and general usage. And then I also saw cannabis from a very business economic scale point from my uncles in trade. So it was just a nice blend of both worlds.

Veriheal: Wow, so you were there to witness some pivotal cannabis history throughout your whole life. Did you or your family have any idea that you’d eventually end up working in the legal cannabis space? 

Nickelson: I didn’t really start using cannabis until my sophomore year in college. And even then, when my uncles found out and I asked them for a spliff, they literally made me go ask my mother to make sure it was okay with her. I always thought it was going to be a part of my personal pathway, as it always has been, but my ultimate goal probably would have been to retire somewhere where cannabis was legal and just to be able to benefit and enjoy it.

I definitely wasn’t interested in pursuing any legacy matters because at that point, I pivoted, working for the state and earning a pension that I definitely wanted to maintain, and I realized that there were certain things in the older family business that I couldn’t partake in.  They were very proud that I went to school and flourished in the state government.

And what a surprise to go back now and be able to run a successful cannabis business from what I’ve learned growing up. It was just the perfect timing, but no, I don’t think my family, as they laugh now, would ever think that we would be doing this legally.

Veriheal: Something I find so interesting about your story is that your family always used it medicinally, even when working in the legacy New York Market. Your mother was an herbalist but also used it for her own health, right? 

Nickelson: When my mother called and said that she had a year to live, that was a very upsetting time. It was shocking. My mother was very young at the time, and she didn’t accept it. And I was so happy that she had this fighting spirit, and she went right back to her roots in plant medicine. She was like, ‘If you don’t have any faith in what the pharmacy is telling you, I’m going to use my faith in my practices.’

I believe that she used her spiritual practices and plant-based medicine to keep the inflammation at bay. She developed her own oils and tinctures that she used. For most of her journey, it was a beautiful thing, but a very sad thing because New Jersey had a very fledgling cannabis market at the time that was very restrictive. Because it wasn’t welcoming, especially for diverse populations, my mother would have never gone to the government to talk about her cannabis use. She felt at that point that that could have led to her potential deportation because at that point, she was a resident alien.

Veriheal: That’s so challenging. You mentioned previously that your mother lived almost twenty years after being told she had a year to live. Were her practitioners at all surprised by that? 

Nickelson: Once they realized that my mother was using cannabis, they asked her to come down to the National Institute of Health to participate in conversations and share with the doctors what she was doing. She was never able to be accepted for the clinical trials because she would always have cannabis in her system. It was just so unfortunate that they wanted to learn more about it, but because she would always have it in her blood, she couldn’t participate in a trial, something that I feel could have really helped to sustain her lifespan.

Veriheal: Yes, and that is kind of another unfortunate reflection of how the country views both immigrants and cannabis users. Despite your mother’s expertise, they dismissed her practices and refused to give support because of the cannabis in her system. And so, how did that translate to your professional career with Holistic Solutions? You were the first Black woman to own a licensed dispensary in New Jersey, right? 

Nickelson: I was the first female and Black woman to own a majority license in cannabis in New Jersey. Out of 30 awards, we were the third to open in the medical round, and we were the third to convert our license to recreational. It was a really community approach that got Holistic Solutions up and running, and that’s the same approach that I believe continues to sustain and support our operations. 

We keep a keen focus on our medical side of the house, and we remain diligent and passionate to ensure that we provide medical engagement with our customers, whether they’re coming in for recreation or patient use. I think that that’s our big distinction, that we provide education and wellness for lifestyles and leisure. Anyone who uses cannabis uses it for something medically, whether it’s to help their creativity, reduce inflammation, support their wellness — it’s just a part of the wellness journey. And I like to share with people the forms of cannabis and the different ways that I use it and have learned to use it universally.

That engagement really touches people because people normally don’t understand that, for many years, people in different cultures have used this plant in so many vastly different ways. I believe, as the only Black medically-licensed and operating company, we have an opportunity to connect with so many marginalized communities that we feel that healthcare, in some ways, has failed. I don’t know how many times we hear from minority customers that go into healthcare that feel that their voices are unheard in states of crisis that sometimes lead to their death and other bad outcomes.

We want to educate that there are plant-based options that, unfortunately, have been intentionally stigmatized as bad, and that stigma has kept people from looking at this resource as an option for wellness. I’m excited to partner with some new clinical programs and work with our local universities, hospitals, and communities to break those educational stigmas and barriers to create a sense of openness for cannabis. That’s what we’re really looking to do, and I believe that that’s what really sets us apart with our advocacy.

Veriheal: Absolutely, and we’ve always believed that education is the first-line defense against that stigma. How do you see Holistic Solutions fitting into the New Jersey community right now? 

Nickelson: I really believe that cannabis is a universal community. And in that, if you give to it, it gives back.  I always look to see how we can support our community, and learn and build together. So, for Holistic Solutions, we always look to create something unavailable and fill a void to support those in need.

I see patients as young as two whose parents come in for tinctures to provide plant-based oral solutions to their children that have neurological epilepsy, migraines, and other neurocognitive conditions like ADHD and autism.

Squeeze is a drink that many parents are putting into their children’s backpacks and their water bottles, and the children take it at lunch. It’s discreet. It’s plant-based. The children can wean off pharmaceutical compounds that are complicating their livers or kidneys or creating other bad side effects. The parents are coming in and saying, “Sue, my child hasn’t had a seizure. My child can get a full night’s rest. I see a difference in my child. The doctor said that we can actually stop using that one medicine.”  And again, those conversations are happening at our medical and adult-use dispensary.

Veriheal: It sounds like that education and advocacy have already started to make a massive difference. As an outsider, I’ve always admired the cannabis program in New Jersey because it seems to center patient needs for the most part, but I know that some legislative changes are happening in your state right now that might make cannabis more expensive. From your perspective, what does the future look like for cannabis in New Jersey?

Nickelson: I see great things in the future of New Jersey. New Jersey has done a wonderful job in creating a sustainable cannabis market that is diverse and growing. Right now, we’re looking for sustainability and other creative ways of working with the government. There will be some changes and expansion, whether on a national front by having safe banking finally adopted by this administration or rescheduling. I also see on the immediate horizon that New Jersey is facing budget deficits.

As a former state employee, where I spent 24 years and six months prior to my transition to cannabis, I believe that taxes should go to the cannabis community and should not be used to offset budget deficits.  We fought very hard last year to change hearts and minds and to create a different conversation, where we felt that raising the tax rate would be devastating for this very young industry. Many of these businesses are minority and diverse-owned businesses, and this increase would be detrimental and devastating, causing businesses to close.

Right now, where the budget request is that it raises [the tax rate] to $15, we’re not in support of that. Right now, it’s only been doubled to $2. That still would be an egregious increase. But more importantly, we are also still advocating for those dollars to be spent specifically on cannabis entrepreneurs and growing this industry. Currently, those dollars have been allocated to worthy causes, but we believe that the state can do more and should be listening to industry leaders like me and others who want to see more intentionality used with those dollars. We understand that there are budget deficits, but to look at cannabis as those plugs, we believe is inappropriate.

Veriheal: Right, and it’s a relief to know that dispensary owners like yourself, who have experience in government, are working with government officials to center those conversations. On that note, what else would you like to see change in New Jersey to keep supporting patient rights and allowing cannabis access for anyone who uses it? 

Nickelson:  Medical patients really created recreational use, and we need to make sure that we’re not creating any unintended barriers for their access. For example, right now, when they purchase adult-use products, they have to dual swipe, meaning that they pay two separate transactions because those products are not on one supply menu. So, we’re really looking to continue to work toward a one-supply contact for all consumers and to be able to identify medical products in the point of sale to avoid that for our medical patients

Secondly, we’ve created additional pathways for individuals to access medical products. Still, we need to engage more with our physicians to lower the medical costs because that’s where we see impediments and barriers.  As we look at the economic market today, people are anxious and they’re looking to save costs. If we are not bringing down that price point and engaging with our physicians who write the medical scripts, individuals are now forgoing renewals because they can’t afford it at the doctor level.  So, I think New Jersey has a great opportunity to work with some of our state hospitals and universities to lower those prices and identify state doctors who are willing to write those scripts and services at a more nominal fee for patients.

So, I think that there are continued ways that we could look to engage and also to give great credit to where we are as a community. I think the New Jersey community is very unique. It’s a very supportive community and a very diverse community — and it’s a very competitive community but very focused on advocacy. If we are not looking to care for our patients, we won’t continue to grow this program. We need to increase our medical program by allowing dispensaries like ourselves, who have shown that we are responsible, reliable community partners, to expand.  That way, we can continue to create a footprint where more individuals — women, minorities, and veterans — can get into the cannabis space at a sustainable rate.