Coltyn.“ As a judge at this event, as always, Karin exceeded expectations and raised the bar on how an industry event should be run.
For over five years, and even through the pandemic, she successfully ran her own business, Imaginarium Enterprises, which brought together astounding gatherings of vendors from all parts of the budding industry in the huge St. Louis Union Station events,“ Biz Con” and“ The Blaze,” from 2019 to 2021.
When
Spinks isn’ t working for North, helping brands, or assisting other organizations in getting started. She teaches classes on cannabis startup business at St. Louis University— and when she isn’ t doing any of those things, she is being“ The best daughter a mom could ever ask for,” her mom Debra told me tearfully over coffee one morning.
I knew several years ago that Spinks would be a lifelong friend. After staying a night with me outside of Kansas City, as I walked her to her car early the next morning, a Great White Heron flew up out of the creek and circled us. They are magnificent birds, bright white with a six-foot wingspan. They look and sound like flying dinosaurs and are rarely spotted.
Wendy( on left) and Coltyn Turner( center) presented the awards on behalf of the Coltyn Turner Foundation at the August, Canna Cup and North Night Out Music and Cannabis Festival.
( Photo by Dolores Halbin)
“ I’ ve seen when things go well, and not so well, but she’ s [ Karin ] always quick to adapt and keeps going with a positive attitude and ironclad resolve, putting patients over profits, from supporting organizations like ours, to the Canna Convict Project, she is a pivotal figure in both the industry and the community.”
Another judge, Digital Creator, Shirley Beesinger, says,“ Karin does not just inspire me; she restores me. Every day, her example whispers— keep going, you are stronger than you think, and you are never alone.”
Beesinger continued,“ She is one of the most extraordinary souls I have ever known, and the standard she sets with her heart and her actions is one that makes us all want to become better versions of ourselves. If not for Karin, I would not know how powerful love and resilience can truly be.”
I agree with Shirley and Coltyn, and pretty much anyone I asked, whatever would we do without Karin Spinks?
Whatever Spinks is doing, whether in her current role at North Dispensary or going back nearly a decade, she acts every day as a change agent for the cannabis industry. From starting JAINE, a movement to recognize women in cannabis, to serving as Vice President of MoCannTrade from 2019 to 2021, she is front and center.
The White Heron is my Spirit Animal, as I was told by a Cree Medicine Woman in the Northwest Territories of Canada when I was seventeen. I have only seen the Heron once in Canada, as a teenager, when the medicine woman told me the bird was there for me, and a second time as I drove away from our home the last time after my husband died. Then in 2022, the Great White Heron appeared once more, this time to bless our friendship. I am honored to have this amazing woman in my life.
Karin Spinks( left) with Dolores’ puppy, Butch( middle), at the North dog adoption event.
The cannabis community and industry would simply not be where we are today without her. So, thank you, Karin Spinks. And thank you to North Dispensary for being an excellent example for the rest of the cannabis industry to follow.
Happy Holidays to all our readers and to all those within this industry who make it one of the best medical cannabis industries in the nation.
Dolores Montgomery Halbin, RN, BSN, and Ordained Nurse Minister, resides in SW Missouri. After her husband passed in 2015, she retired from nursing. She worked with the 2014-2018 Missouri campaigns for legalized medical marijuana. She continues as a cannabis reform activist working toward Federal decriminalization through educational speaking and freelance journalism. Doloreshalbin @ gmail. com. December 2025 2025 39