Fine Fettle’s Judson Hill Champions Georgia Cannabis Access

After ten years in California, Judson Hill is finally returning home. 

Once a Georgia college student self-medicating with legacy weed, Hill has played a significant role in California’s recreational cannabis market over the last decade. Using the skills he acquired as a key player in the California scene, Hill now directs his attention toward a community closer to his heart: he recently moved home to Atlanta to act as the Georgia Market President for Fine Fettle. 

Check out Hill’s appearance on The Green Standard: A Podcast By Veriheal above!

Now, instead of helping rec brands build a name for themselves in a competitive hype-adjacent market, he’s helping Georgia residents access medical cannabis in one of the country’s most restrictive programs. 

At Fine Fettle, Hill’s day-to-day can look like anything from cutting the ribbon at a new dispensary opening to connecting with Georgia practitioners and lobbying local legislators. Nevertheless, these varying responsibilities are connected by one major mission: making it easier for Georgia residents to access medical cannabis. 

Who Is Fine Fettle?

Fine Fettle is a premier medical & recreational cannabis dispensary with locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Georgia. More than just a chain of dispensaries, Fine Fettle is a cannabis company dedicated to offering a welcoming and educational experience for both medical and recreational users. Their mission is to make cannabis approachable by providing high-quality, tailored products and support to enhance customers’ lives. With a focus on a calm and friendly environment, Fine Fettle aims to combine a retail experience with accessible learning through blogs and resources.

However, though the company began in Connecticut over five years ago, its presence in Georgia is fairly new. Since Georgia’s medical cannabis program faced a slow rollout, with lawsuits delaying patient access, dispensaries did not begin opening locations until years after the legislation first passed. 

Once Georgia began issuing licenses, however, Fine Fettle was granted the third license that the state issued, following Trulieve and Botanical Sciences. As such, Hill played a large role when the founders began opening locations across the state this past summer. Though the team faced challenges breaking ground in a new market, the new stores are already making progress in the space — and, with Hill at the helm, are hoping to help expand access to medical cannabis in Georgia.

Judson Hill’s Unconventional Path To Cannabis

Like many within the cannabis industry, Hill is guided by his personal experience navigating the sometimes muddy cannabis industry.

After a severe car accident in college, Hill began using cannabis for his pain. And – again reflecting the experience of many individuals within the medical space – he did so long before Georgia established its legal medical marijuana program. 

Not long after, Hill found himself working in the legal cannabis space in California. Though he moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of another career path, his experience in the fashion industry proved crucial to his involvement in cannabis. When his friends were looking to move their legacy business into the legal space, they leaned on Hill’s expertise in stocking products in stores and establishing their brand in the quickly growing California scene. From there, Hill began working with larger brands and cannabis tech companies. Eventually, he played a crucial role in establishing one of the first lending firms that specifically lent to cannabis companies. These roles gave him significant insight into a facet of the cannabis industry that is historically cloudy. 

Energized by his diverse experiences in the California market, Hill recognized an opportunity to shape Georgia’s budding cannabis industry, combining his regulatory knowledge with a personal passion for the region. For him, this was more than a career shift; it was a chance to bring compassionate access to a population still unfamiliar with cannabis as medicine.

So, when a position opened up with Fine Fettle in Georgia, transitioning home was an easy decision – particularly because the company was uniquely qualified to succeed in Georgia’s market. 

How Fine Fettle Is Revolutionizing The Georgia Market

Since Georgia’s medical cannabis program faced a slow rollout, with lawsuits delaying patient access, opening Fine Fettle locations in Georgia posed some challenges. However, Hill also saw an opportunity for Fine Fettle to fill a need in the Georgia cannabis market, one that the other dispensaries in the state were unable to fill.  

“What drew me to Fine Fettle is that we really have the perfect positioning to be the cannabis voice and operator that’s authentic to the plan. We are in other states that are medical and recreational. We understand cannabis, we’re part of the industry, but we also have that kind of health and wellness focus,” notes Hill. “In Connecticut, it’s a very pharmaceutical-driven program, and Connecticut is where we’re based. You have to have a pharmacist in every store, which helped them prepare for the Georgia application since they were highly medically driven and focused on patients.”

Now, Fine Fettle has three open dispensary locations in Georiga, with plans to expand as the state’s medical cannabis program grows. As such, Fine Fettle’s success in Georgia is largely due to its positioning as a medical-focused, patient-centered cannabis provider while maintaining a voice that’s authentic to the average cannabis user: a best-of-both-worlds attitude that drives its mission. 

Fine Fettle operates with the goal of bringing comfort into the cannabis space, emphasizing accessibility and understanding. Especially because cannabis is a medicine that can be used for a variety of conditions or personal reasons, meeting customers at their level of understanding and need is fundamental to Fine Fettle. 

“Bringing comfort in cannabis is really our mission statement. We’re just trying to meet people where they’re at to show them cannabis is safe and okay and how it can work into your lifestyle,” Hill shared. “For some people, if it’s in their lifestyle, smoking weed, chillin’, and listening to music, that’s cool. Or if you are an older person that’s never had cannabis but you’re curious about how it works, it’s about coming in and simply feeling comfortable with whatever your need or reason for coming into the store is.”

Building the Future: Fine Fettle’s Vision for Georgia Medical Cannabis 

Nevertheless, though Fine Fettle is already helping to progress the Georgia medical cannabis market, Hill’s vision is still set for the future. Currently, Georgia’s medical marijuana program doesn’t allow for smokeable cannabis: instead, the program is centered around low-THC oil. And while Georgia patients can access almost any other cannabis product, the lack of flower poses some challenges to patients who want the instant relief that can be gained from smoking or vaping. 

As such, a large part of his job as President in Georgia revolves around pushing the program forward to include other product types and more qualifying conditions. In achieving these goals, Hill sees a future where more patients can get their Georgia medical marijuana card. 

Hill envisions progress through expanded legislation and product offerings, such as flower and vape, which would allow Fine Fettle to serve a broader patient base. As Hill puts it, “The biggest issue for our program right now is we don’t sell flower. And I like to think once we do, that’s the biggest issue solved. Until we have flower and vape, there’s only going to be so many patients.” 

Hill’s plans for Fine Fettle go beyond expanding access to product types, however. He aims to foster trust through partnerships with doctors, understanding that physicians play a crucial role in legitimizing cannabis use for many patients – and for the legislators who make decisions about the medical program in Georgia. 

As such, a core focus for Fine Fettle in Georgia is aligning with the state’s medical community, leveraging doctors’ trust to connect patients with the benefits of cannabis.

“Our day-to-day is more about partnering with doctors who have patients with legitimate conditions. People trust their doctors. So if we can partner with a doctor, it’s great for the patients and also, from a business perspective, we gain that trust by association,” Hill explained. “In this case, the doctor is someone that people trust when it comes to medicine, who has hundreds or thousands of patients. Once doctors say, ‘Hey, this is safe, this is something you should do,’ people will believe them.”

Therefore, as Hill brings his experience back to Georgia, he’s not just building a business; he’s helping shape the future of cannabis in a state that has historically resisted it. By working to expand access, educate patients, and partner with trusted physicians, Hill and Fine Fettle aim to build a bridge between the cautious Georgia medical community and a plant that has long been misunderstood.

All in all, Hill envisions a Georgia where medical cannabis is accessible, understood, and tailored to meet the needs of every patient who could benefit from it. With Fine Fettle at the helm, Georgia’s cannabis market may finally evolve into a model of compassion, trust, and genuine patient care. As Hill says, “It’s all about making people feel comfortable, whether they’re seasoned users or new to cannabis. In the end, we’re here to help people find relief in a way that feels right to them.”