WEED IN THE WORLD OF ZOOM AND CLUBHOUSE

By STU ZAkIM

Happy post 420 Munkey family. Those of you who made it to our Farewell to Prohibition party on 4/20 at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse opposite the NY Stock Exchange building enjoyed what was one for the history books and shows how far the NY Cannabis community has grown.

While it was great to see friends and industry colleagues we haven’t seen in person for over a year, it was still a little eerie to be with that many people, all COVID compliant, in one place. After taking it for granted at the many networking events pre-pandemic, it felt great to smell a roomful of connoisseur grade weed.

But, as cool as it was, reality is back. As the pandemic has shown us, thanks to platforms like Zoom or Clubhouse, the Cannabis industry, like other industries, has been forced to migrate its networking activities there to keep the Cannabis family together as the states legalizing it continues to increase. Personally speaking, I’ve been participating in regular Zoom weed meet-ups with a number of groups throughout the pandemic and have found these conversations much more beneficial than shouting over loud music at a live event.

What I have found more interesting than the Zoom calls is the phenomenon of Clubhouse and the freedom that it presents for all kinds of conversations. I don’t know if it’s the lack of video, but people seem much more relaxed and also candid. And, the topic rooms - on any given day, the topics, Cannabis related or not, are quite provocative and sometimes those conversations can get a little heated. Clubhouse is certainly one of the lifestyle changes COVID has created that will stay with us once we’re past this crisis.

Both of these platforms present the perfect storm to unite our community on a global scale to take the lead in education and political power to help our elected officials understand what many of their constituents want. The best definition of that is seeing NY Senator and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and his new attitude toward legalization.

As the Munkey’s Farewell to Prohibition party showed, it’s a different world now and if we learn anything from this time WFH, these platforms, while never taking away the fun of MJBIZ or CWCBE or other live events, helps satiate our community’s craving any chance to meet and exchange info and let’s use them to our industry’s best advantage.

Till next time.