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VOL. 1
FOUNDER/PUBLISHER
CONTRIBUTORS
Ronit Pinto
Citizen Jay Daily James B. Hirsch James Meissner Kit O’Connell Lacey Jaye Yannelli
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Jaime Lubin Annie Iezzi
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Alex J. Huamán
James Litkett Shawanna Vaughn Arthur Rambert
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Patricia Whyte CREATIVE DIRECTOR & COVER DESIGN
Samuel C. Long
MARKETING CONSULTANT
Kymberly Byrnes PARTNERS
MANAGING EDITOR
SENIOR EDITOR
WEST COAST
Nadya Rousseau
NOCO Hemp Expo Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition SPECIAL THANKS TO
David Pinto Samuel Clemens Long
INTERNS
Alexandra Farina Allison Hagg Afiya Thomas
COVER IMAGE © Giacobazzi Yanez
ART DIRECTOR
Rebecca McNew INTERIOR LAYOUT AND DESIGN
Retro, B Olivia Bevacqua EDITORIAL
Cosima Balletti-Thomas Jackie Hajdenberg Keyanah Nurse Angela Romanos Vickram Singh Xinyu Wang Chelsea Young
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MARA GORDON
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REEFER MADNESS
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Cannabis Influencers We Love 57.
FASHION INFLUENCERS 61. NEW YORK FASHION WEEK
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Dear Honey Sucklers and Honey Potters: Thank you so much for joining us in the inaugural launch of the Honey Pot! Honey Pot started a few years ago, when Jaime Lubin, our executive editor, and I were at MJBizCON, the largest cannabis conference in the world on behalf of Honeysuckle Magazine, in advance of our CANNABIS-themed 6th print edition. Honeysuckle was the first cultural publication ever permitted to cover the MJBizCON and we were stoked. ‘What should we call the new ongoing column?” I asked Jaime, an ever-loving woman of puns. She looked at me and smiled: The Honey Pot! Little did we know that the people and topics in this very dynamic and emerging industry would win our hearts and fill the pages of its own, new magazine. We knew then, as we know now, that a major revolution was taking place. One that affects our economy, our agriculture, our awareness of each other, social justice, social equity and more. We have not seen another force that intersects such an incredible plethora of human inventions and innovations (and mistakes) as Cannabis has and does. On these pages, you will meet a handful of people who have dedicated themselves tirelessly and completely to this plant. Cannabis is a miracle plant for many. The Cannabis genus, a flowering plant in the family Cannabaceae, can be used for agriculture, medicine and herbs. Not all of them make you high, y’all. Some such people have granted us exclusive interviews. Prophets and pioneers, such as Steve and Andrew DeAngelo, speaking in our cover story on brotherly love and their love of Mother Nature. Dan Herer, son of legendary hemp activist Jack Herer, reflects on his father’s lessons in the face of a new cannabis economy. Renowned actor Jim Belushi and famed bassist David Ellefson, co-founder of Megadeth, have been driven to become entrepreneurs in medical cannabis products and CBD coffee. A female plant calls for strong women’s leadership. Dani Billings, co-founder of the Colorado Hemp Project, the first person to facilitate legal hemp trade between the U.S. and Jamaica; Mara Gordon, founder of Aunt Zelda’s, created the first patient-focused software database to recommend medical cannabis treatments.. Our social justice editors, many formerly incarcerated, report on hard-hitting topics from voices not heard often enough, like social justice and prison reform. Political victories such as New York’s sweeping expungement law may clear thousands of criminal records, but the gap between small gains and true progress is actually a chasm. Now The Honey Pot is no joke and no question. It’s our sexy, smart, sweet and growing adventure as we chronicle this amazing community the way it deserves. Greater milestones are waiting to be reached. Thanks for sprouting with us! Ronit Pinto Publisher Jamie Lubin Executive Editor
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LE T’S TALK about pot, weed, Mary Jane, sinsemilla, grass, dope, herb,
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WHAT HAPPENED? By James Meissner
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chronic, bud or any other name you want to use. Today there are only two names that are relevant and defined by our federal government… Hemp and Marijuana. But did you know that they’re really all the same plant? It’s all one plant, Cannabis! Man has had a symbiotic relationship with cannabis for at least the last 5000 years of our recorded history. During this time we’ve molded the plant to our own needs for food, medicine, fiber, cordage, canvas, rope, paints, varnishes and much more. Prior to the early twentieth century, there were only two terms used for this plant: cannabis or hemp. The plant kingdom actually does not even mention the words hemp or marijuana, only the biological name for the Family “Cannabacea,” the name of the Genus “Cannabis Sativa Linnaeus,” and the Species “sativa” or “indica.” The term “hemp” has long been used to distinguish natural fibers for industrial purposes and more commonly used for the cannabis plant. The term “marijuana” has origins in early Mexican Spanish and the Nahuatl language, but really became known in the United States the 1900s when describing immigrants and minorities who may have used cannabis for its intoxicating properties as a drug. So why is cannabis so divided today? The answers lie in the history of prohibition, which actually began within the last century. In 1906, Congress enacted the Pure Food and Drug Act to regulate and control the use of drugs and narcotics for medicinal uses. By 1911, states had added cannabis to that list, limiting its use and possession as well. Regardless of what today's federal government says, cannabis has been used extensively for medical purposes throughout the history of mankind and was even listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia back in 1851. By 1937, over 600 cannabis-based medicines were being sold over the counter for many ailments. There is no set reason why our government tried to end man’s relationship with cannabis, but many “conspiracy” theories ultimately did lead to its prohibition. In 1937, Congress passed the first federal prohibition on cannabis, the “Marihuana Tax Act,” which effectively made possession, cultivation or selling of marihuana illegal throughout the U.S. by placing a ridiculous excise tax on the plant. Unbeknownst to many, banning marihuana also banned hemp, because they are the same plant. This ended hemp as a national commodity because American farmers could no longer afford the tax. Even Congress knew this when they defined “Marihuana” in the Tax Act: “The term ‘marihuana’ means all parts of the plant cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of such plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds, or resin - but shall not include mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil or cake made from seeds of such plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom) fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seeds of such plant incapable of germination.”
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As you can see, Congress differentiated parts of the plant deemed “marihuana” (the flowers) for medicine and drug use, and stalks and sterilized seeds for industrial use, what we call hemp. Fast forward to 2014, when the U.S. finally loosened its grip on one aspect of cannabis to define “hemp” truthfully for the first time in decades. This was a pilot program enabling farmers to grow hemp for research purposes, and in 2018 “hemp” was officially removed from the Controlled Substances Act, where it had been listed alongside “marijuana” as a Schedule 1 drug since 1970. Hemp was allowed as a national commodity through the Agricultural Act of 2018. This is where the official, man-made divide was set forth by the federal government. “The term ‘Industrial Hemp’ means the plant cannabis sativa L. and any part of such plant, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.” We have learned so much about cannabis over this prohibition; it has led us to learn even more about ourselves. Cannabis contains compounds like CBD and THC, called cannabinoids, but contains as many as 100 more along with flavonoids and terpenes, and totaling over 400 constituents that are vital to health. The discoveries of these WHILE THERE IS A “phyto” or “plant” cannabinoids has empowered us to discover our own “endo” or “inside us” cannabinoids. Humans have FEDER ALLY-DEFINED an entire system of cannabinoid receptors because we produce DIFFERENCE BE T WEEN cannabinoids within our own bodies. The endocannabinoid HEMP AND MARI JUANA system regulates our entire bodies’ homeostasis or balance. It’s no wonder cannabis can work for so many issues. NOW, THAT WILL NE VER Cannabis is also a superfood! How, you ask? Well, it contains CHANGE THE FACT THAT almost every essential nutrient that we need to survive. In the IT IS ALL CANNABIS! seeds or “hearts” is a complete protein, high in Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids and also containing many vitamins and minerals. The raw leaves and buds contain all nine essential amino acids and an abundance of fiber. Prior to prohibition, cannabis was fed to livestock and consumed by humans through the food chain. The last 82 years of prohibition have allowed the pharmaceutical companies to reap the benefits, keeping the population dependent on opioid drugs instead of natural foods and medicines. Today, cannabis is used for medical, recreational, industrial, religious, government, pharmaceutical and other purposes by way of marijuana and hemp. Given the advent of social media, you get the sense that had cannabis been found yesterday in the rainforests, it would be heralded as one of the most miraculous plants or drugs ever to be discovered by man. PAGE PREVIOUS THC levels are now the legal differentiating factor that separates "Marijuana" (Blue Dream) marijuana and hemp, two names and two definitions of the same plant Photographer: The Wizard based on an arbitrary THC content threshold of 0.3% found in any speEditing: 420 Studio cific sample. If it tests out in a lab as more than 0.3%, it’s marijuana and if it tests at or under 0.3%, it’s hemp. These two definitions and the THIS PAGE many medical historical facts on cannabis during prohibition are the main "Hemp" (Lifter) reason why we have this divide on a plant and why prohibition still exists Photographer: Troy Hanchey today. However, it has also opened up this industry to the world, even if the Editing: 420 Studio U.S. government is still clinging to its control.
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The hemp pilot program and subsequent federal legalization has allowed many hemp companies to start in this country, creating a new industry, the CBD industry, which had never previously existed. While this was great for farmers, the economy, and many entrepreneurs, it set cannabis and its other 24,999-plus uses on the back-burner. It also created many more unnecessary regulations, oversight, and confusion that further complicate things. Hemp’s current legality has pushed many to segregate themselves from marijuana due to its prohibition. Many claim that marijuana and hemp are separate plants or even cousins of one another. This is false. While they may differ in many characteristics, one can argue that all genetics in cannabis differ and the arbitrary THC content does not create a new species. In fact, the medicinal compounds and even industrial applications can be found in all cannabis plants. It’s about logistics, because how we grow the plant and for what purpose is ultimately what defines it. Let’s not tie our farmers’ and citizens’ hands behind their backs before we even get this industry off the ground. If only we could come together and see that these limits, misinformation, and restrictions are hobbling an entire industry, we could free this plant for all to use as we see fit and that would be a beautiful thing. While there is a federally-defined difference between hemp and marijuana now, that will never change the fact that it is all Cannabis! It’s still all #OnePlant!
LEFT & RIGHT Photos © Lizzy Jeff MIDDLE KORTO M FOR WOMEN GROW SS20 New York Fashion Week 2019 Courtesy of the Creative
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IF YOU’RE IN CANNABIS, YOU SHOULD BE IN IT FOR WHAT THE PLANT IS AND WHAT IT CAN DO AND WHAT IT WILL PROVIDE FOR HUMANITY.
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Hem P e R oR S LIFe: ’
DAN HERER CARRIES HIS FATHER’S VISION TO INFINIT Y AND BE YOND
By Citizen Jay Daily
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e’ve all read The Emperor Wears No Clothes. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? [It’s available for free download at jackherer.com.] The book is generally considered a cannabis activist’s prime instruction manual. Originally self-published, it started many a Gen-Xer and Millennial on the path to cannabis enlightenment—the knowledge and truth about cannabis: its origins and prohibition, its superpowers and its ability to literally “save the world.” Sadly, Jack Herer left us in 2010 before getting to see what the end of prohibition might actually look like in the United States. Fortunately, his son Dan has taken up his father’s mantle. Strongly influenced by his father’s loving and forward-thinking spirit, Dan helps pilot the Jack Herer Foundation and runs his own fully integrated cannabis and hemp operations in California. In their own words, the Jack Herer Foundation “is all about Hemp education. Once the uses and benefits of hemp and its capabilities are known to most, we will then change the world. There is no enemy, just the uninformed.” Over Father’s Day weekend, I had the opportunity to speak with Dan Herer about his father, his work, cannabis and the state of the industry. As a father, I was interested in hearing how Jack handled the subject of cannabis with his son. And I wanted to know what Dan thought his dad would think about all this “re-legalization.” Dan had plenty of interesting things to share with me and even called me back days later to add a few details. FIRST CONVERSATION
cjd:
How did your father’s The Emperor Wears No Clothes change your life?
dh:
I think it changed so many people’s lives. And those lives continue to change my life. When he was writing it he was just my crazy father, trying to expose the truth on cannabis. So many of the things he was finding out were so different than what I had learned in school. Did your dad use cannabis around you when you were growing up? He didn’t start smoking until I was ten. Once he started, he didn’t smoke it openly in front of us until we were in our teens. Did your father ever have “the talk” with you about drugs? I can’t recall having that talk about drugs because they were just around. They were part of the soulful atmosphere around the house, around his friends, and on social occasions. By the time I was in my mid-teens there was access to things that I could either choose to experiment with or not. What do you think you dad would say about the evolution of the cannabis industry, with its rapid acceleration in California, the United States, and around the world? I think he would be mad as hell. Everything being created now is a structure of
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the cannabis industry. All the regulations that are imposed around us in order to function as an above-ground industry. All still based in the fear of prohibition. I think we have paid access [to cannabis]. God forbid you should have been incarcerated prior for the same things I do right now. I produce cannabis. I package cannabis. I distribute that cannabis. I sell cannabis. And I do not live with that same type of fear that those who gave us the opportunities [did]. They paid for it with their lives, their time, their freedoms. That I have the ability to do this without fear of penalty, for the most part, is absurd. It is unjust and this community is no longer just a local community. This is a global community now. Do you see your father’s vision for hemp coming to fruition? What role do you see you and the Jack Herer Foundation playing in that? The Jack Herer Foundation is a continuation of the ideas my father [started]. We go out and continue education in communities to remove the fear. Now there are many companies that are utilizing hemp in industrial ways that my father believed would be important for the development of mankind’s future forward. There are even things that are happening that he could not even have imagined.
What do you think is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone who was looking to start a cannabis company? Don’t do it for the money! If you’re in cannabis, you should be in it for what the plant is and what it can do and what it will provide for humanity. If you build a company that does the right things and produces a product with love and intention? Money may come. And success may come. But the bottom line is, love the plant. Love the community. And let that community love you back by participating in what your beliefs are and your intention in your product. So what do you think the boundaries of cannabis/hemp science look like? I think the boundaries are none. To be able to reutilize these products for everything from paints, and plastics, and varnishes, and glues, and sealants, and insulation, and wood by-products is amazing. Who knows the boundaries when we’ve never even been able to experiment in real substantive ways? You create new technologies for this plant that are in direct competition to the synthetic cycles that have been prominent over the last hundred years. It’s a great threat to industries who would seek to keep cannabis off the radar. By its taxation. By its limiting of access to the ability to grow at scale. We’re at a precipice where we have to embrace new technologies to create better, safer, and non-toxic, and biodegradable products. At some point, we’re going to have to make that choice. And I hope we make it before it’s too late. Do you have any parting words that you want to just throw out there before we finish up? Brother, the truth is out, and cannabis is the future.
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wo days later, Dan called me back and wanted to shed more light on his mindsight. He mentioned that his dad would be deeply appreciative of the accomplishments thus far, not only focusing on the negative. Here are excerpts of some insightful things Dan had to say about the cannabis industry, the people within it, and how to protect the people who have been punished for cannabis. SECOND CONVERSATION
We [people in the cannabis industry] are fighting for our lives every day. We are so consumed with just trying to survive within the space because of regulation and the over-exorbitant extortionary level taxes that are levied upon the existence of this as an actual functioning business. We are also forgetting there’s still another fight that needs to be had - the right to have this plant. The last thing I want to say is this: by accepting and continuing to stay silent for the most part as we’re developing as an industry and not continuing to fight for the education that needs to be had on the other side in order to understand, what we’re doing? By accepting all of these taxations and all of these penalties? In order for them to accept us in these cities and in the states, that they have to exact this price from us in order to exist. By allowing that to be unabated without solid, continuous, boisterous opposition only validates the fact that these things exist. ne question I didn’t get to ask Dan is this: without prohibition, would cannabis demand such a price o as it does? Prohibition, it would seem, powers that growth. Or rather it is the engine that powers that growth? It’s a contradiction in itself—a paradox. Is paradox that engine? What would be the price of cannabis if it were not prohibited?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying prohibition is a good thing or advocating it. What I am saying is that the conditions in the country as a result of prohibition are what make the plant so valuable. What is valuable is the courage it takes to brave that frontier. To be the first ones to risk your necks for the rest of us. To stand up to the Fed and say, “We’re going to do this, help us find a way.” And the ones who pushed those boundaries got rewarded…or punished. But they kept going. They paid and continue to pay the price. Some will get rich. And some will get poor or hurt. In the end, the rush will be over. The fast fortunes will be had, the motherlode spent. And what will remain will hopefully be of use to the whole of us. As Dan said, access to this plant is the ultimate goal.
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ttracted to the plant’s sacred ability to heal, Joel Peterson and Danyal Durman opened a cannabis business, PriceLand Hemp Company, in the small farming community of Black River Falls, Wisconsin. The couple had no clue what they were up against nor could they ever predict how their idea to sell hemp and CBD products in a brick and mortar store would work. But since this business was the first of its kind in their town, it generated a flurry of publicity. Local news outlets and reporters alike rushed to get an interview. Cannabis, after all, always causes a stir. Plant medicine has always been part of Joel’s life: as a kid growing up on a small farm outside Black River Falls, he first learned of the medicinal properties of plants; he then took that knowledge and worked in Colorado’s marijuna industry. These experiences provided the foundation for the creation of PriceLand Hemp Company.
After receiving their industrial hemp growers and processing license through the Department of Agriculture, Peterson and Durman proudly displayed it on the wall of their former-consignment-turned-CBD shop. The couple worked feverishly to prepare for the store’s grand opening on none other than April 20, 2018. But true to cannabis’ ability to generate drama, the chief of police, detective, and State Attorney General requested a field test of their products. Apparently, local news outlets reported a false positive result for THC. The scared, yet determined couple pointed out that their products were legally hemp derived products and below the .3 percentage allowable
MEDICAL MILESTONES
by law. They asked the officials to leave, but were threatened with arrest if the grand opening proceeded. But history favors the bold, and on 4/20/2018 PriceLand Hemp was the first of its kind to sell legal CBD products in the Midwest. With a line of customers waiting hours before opening, it was evident that people were hungry for this change. Since then, PriceLand’s 5 star reviews and thousands of returning customers sends a true message to everyone: this is the beginning of a true revolution. For more information pleaase visit wiscbdoil.com
PRICELAND HEMP BRINGS LEGAL CBD TO THE MIDWEST
LEFT: PriceLand Hemp owners Joel Peterson and Danyal Durman © PriceLand Hemp Inc. TOP: PriceLand Hemp storefront in Black River Falls, WI © PriceLand Hemp Inc.
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A Natural Leader By Chelsea Young
The FaceTime blurs before coming to life, revealing Dani Billings–her red hair glowing under the Colorado sun. She relaxes on her patio, taking in the beautiful weather as her dogs play in the background. Dani is a leading female entrepreneur in the cannabis industry and the founder of Tastee Yummies. She entered the industry in 2008 with her mother, pioneering the all-organic edible company that would ultimately sell to Cheeba Chews in 2012. I question her decision to leave the field and she explains, “The industry, in my opinion, was not [embodying] the way people should be taken care of. There was a lot of greed, and people were out to one-up them-including insomnia, depression, weight gain/loss, selves and not help anyone in the process.” autoimmune diseases, cancer, epilepsy, psychotic Aspiring to continue her work of helping people, issues, etc. she began studying esthetics and massage therapy and, “You would be amazed at what this plant can in 2013, she and her father co-founded the Colorado do,” she insists. Hemp Project, the first American company to receive Dani explains how physical ailments are often legal licensing to grow industrial hemp under Amend- hereditary and often cause internal imbalance. ment 64. Later, the duo founded Nature’s Root, a com- She furthers, “The endocannabinoid system is pany that sells hemp and CBD-based products for skin, what processes our emotions, our food, our ways body, and therapeutic care. of feeling. That’s the makeup of who we are. Not “We started with two and a half acres,” Dani recalls, the function of our organs, but how we think, eat, “and we were fortunate enough to get the seed in that talk, and communicate with each other… I know year because a lot of imported seeds [were] withheld by because I’ve [witnessed] thousands of people go the government.” through this process and get better, just by taking Since hemp had long been banned, Dani endeavored [CBD] that is supposed to balance the inside of to educate others about the plant and its multi-purpose their body.” quality. As an expert in the field, Dani is often con“Cannabis is a feminine plant,” she explains, eyes tacted by medical professionals and PhD holders gleaming. “It’s a male-female plant, but it expresses wishing to participate in case studies. She will feminine. It expresses love, it expresses compassion, create a concoction, and for a span of ninety days, and it expresses need and want.” She elucidates the she and her team will monitor groups of forty parallel between the historical role of women and that participants to determine their bodies’ reactions to of cannabis as both have worked to help, house, clothe, the medicine. and heal. “The doctors are amazed with the process,” she As an advocate for its many healing capacities, Dani reports. These same doctors often refer patients specializes in hemp treatment for a variety of ailments, to her, many of whom travel great distances to
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receive her treatment. “I’ll take [into account] their medicine, weight, height, blood type, and make special concoctions based off that,” she explains. These treatments are more potent than those sold through her company and must be taken in a controlled manner. They also come in various forms: smokable, suppository, or ingestible. “I would [not] consider myself a doctor,” she maintains. “I just know cannabis, and I know quite a few other plants. When I put those together, it’s everything.” In addition to its physical and psychological benefits, Dani explains that the waste produced by cannabis can also be recycled and repurposed into sustainable products, thus reducing industry emissions. “We don’t need everything to be 100% hemp,” she explains. “The goal is to take out the unnecessary products that are killing our planet and replace them with hemp. People don’t understand how easy it is to help our planet.” Dani has also embarked to help others obtain their own hemp license, a relatively simple process conducted through the Department of Agriculture that usually only requires an application and fee. In addition to Colorado, California, Oregon, Ken-
tucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina are some of the biggest contemporary hemp producers. Texas recently legalized the plant, and Dani predicts that it will quickly surpass all other states upon opening licensing in 2020. “In 2013,” Dani notes, “my dad and I were the only hemp farmers in the U.S., and we had two and a half acres. Six years later, there’s already 250,000 acres.” Perhaps her most significant accomplishment was her facilitation of the first legal hemp trade between the U.S. and Jamaica. “I chose Jamaica because back in 2013, I didn’t know if the hemp industry in America was going to thrive [or] if the laws were going to trap me here. So, I set up abroad.” “Every time I’m there, I see the [class struggle]. Government people at the top, and then your workers, and then the impoverished. They have no advantages; I just wanted to see them in power.” Dani’s message remains consistent: not only can the plant be grown and smoked, but it can also be used industrially for textiles and merchandise. While the Jamaican government supported the trade, civilians objected. Ganja is a staple of the culture, and commercialization would threaten its viability. “It’s a very rooted culture, and I respect it. But it’s good for their economy to be able to switch up these genetics and then themselves explore, but I have gotten a lot of pushback.” Dani and her team decided to build a house from the hemp waste and donate it in an effort to sway the public. They intend to build thousands more to further demonstrate hemp’s economic potential. Prompted about U.S. legalization, Dani explains that she plays only a small role in a nationwide issue, adding that she tends to avoid the politicization of cannabis. “Everybody plays a role, and I think politicians should go after it. I have worked with politicians, even backed a couple of them, but [...] [politicians] have an agenda. You’re playing with their agenda, on top of your agenda, and the plant’s agenda. The plant’s agenda is that this [medicine] is for every single person on the planet, and the government is trying to control that. My focus is to continue to create fun, creative outlets for people. I’ve always thought that politics and legalities are great and needed, but I also feel like they play their role and I play mine, and it’s not my job to be a politician.” Photos Karli Adams
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The Rock & Roll Coffee Company: Ellefson Coffee Co. & CBD By Vickram Singh Massively influential bassist David Ellefson, co-founder of Megadeth, has committed to his passion with Ellefson Coffee Co., a coffee brand designed for metal fans everywhere. “We are a rock and roll coffee company,” says Thom Hazaert, manager of Ellefson’s personal label (EMP) and Ellefson Coffee Co. Thom and David have produced quality coffee together for years, providing their maturing audience a tasty, soothing alternative to the harder beverages of their youth. Now they have partnered with leading CBD-infusion manufacturer Flower Power Coffee Co. to unveil their CBD-Infused Jamaican Blue Mountain blend. Hip to the plant’s business and culture, Thom first convinced David to partner with marijuana cigarette brand California’s Finest. They created Combat Records under their EMP label to sell metal-themed merchandising and tinctures, supplements, and prerolls. Wanting to link David’s enthusiasm for coffee with CBD, Thom next spent a few years researching different companies. Then came Flower Power. “I was first introduced to Flower Power... backstage in New York City [at] The Iridium,” David says. “I was doing my solo bass tour called Bass Story. They had come to the show [with] some packets of coffee… I went, ‘Wow, this is a very good tasting coffee.’ Then I went: ‘Is this going to get me buzzed? Am I going to go to stage high and stumbling down?’ That did not happen. It had this calming effect, a unique property to have inside coffee, since coffee has a
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motivational kick to it. I was pleasantly surprised... I knew I wanted CBD within Ellefson Coffee Co.” Observing Flower Power’s great-tasting products, effective CBD sources, and processes to ensure that the CBD would not get cooked out when heating up the coffee, they agreed to a partnership which has delighted both companies. Thom calls it a “marriage made in heaven!” He notes: “Everybody should have this medicine available to them, whether it’s CBD, THC, cannabinoid derivatives, whatever it is. I don’t think it is something that should be regulated, period.” David’s choice of the Jamaican Blue Mountain to complement the CBD’s effects holds a special meaning. He recalls, “One of my dearest memories was walking around the streets of Kyoto, Japan back in the 90s—during a Megadeth tour—and stumbling into this little breakfast shop that only the locals ate at [with] Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee [on the menu]. I remember drinking it and just falling in love with it. Drinking it now takes me back to that experience in Kyoto. “Coffee is something I always had in the studio, when making music… [It] has always been a part of the creative culture for me. We had a lot of Megadeth band meetings at coffee houses around the world... So, to me, coffee has always been a collaborative, creative experience with people I enjoy. When we created this roast, it was all of those things along with the CBD.” Photos (c) Melody Myers
Incredibly, David started out apprehensive about CBD’s supposed benefits. “My outlook on it all is as a sober guy— have been now for 29 years,” he explains. “I have been very careful not to ingest anything that will affect me from the neck up... [CBD initially] seemed like a way for people to legally get high. I didn’t fully understand it... When I started to learn the differences between CBD and THC, I [realized]... The good Lord put the plant here on the planet for a reason, obviously there are many uses.” Medicinal CBD helped David see its potential. “I was playing the bass, [it was] hanging off of me. It caused a serious maladjustment to my right shoulder, which is my picking hand... I was going to the chiropractor, the masseuse, and I started getting these injections. Nothing was helping it. One day I go to the chiropractor and he goes, ’Hey, can I put something on you?’ He then rubbed some CBD oil on me. Kid you not, the next day, the pain was gone. It never came back... There really is a medicinal, healing quality to CBD that has nothing to do with recreational use. That right there changed my concept of the whole thing.” Just a few years ago, even the savviest busi-
nessmen hesitated exploring CBD’s uncharted territory. But today, Thom describes, “When we announced the CBD coffee, everybody was already interested... [People] immediately flocked to it and ordered it. Retailers are flooding us trying to order it. Now every convenience store in America sells CBD products. It’s pretty unbelievable how far it’s come.” This is only the beginning for Ellefson Coffee Co. It’s been a banging summer for David and Thom overall; they recently formed the production company Ellefson Films, greenlighting the horror film Dwellers. David’s first solo album, Sleeping Giants, released in July, accompanied by his second memoir More Life with Deth, co-written with Thom. The album includes collaborations by artists such as DMC of Run-DMC fame, former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Bumblefoot, and a remix from Kristian Nairn, “Hodor” from Game of Thrones. More Life with Deth also contains the Ellefson Coffee Co. origin story, flavored by many more personal coffee experiences. It’s clear this duo will keep rocking, powered by plants, for a long time. And with CBD infusion, fans can vibe right along with them.
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GOOD HARVEST
By Jackie Hajdenberg
Steve White, founder of Harvest Health & Recreation Inc., talks law, diversity and inclusion in the cannabis industry.
All photos (c) Harevest Health & Recreation
At this year’s Cannabis World Congress and Business Exposition New York (CWCBE NY), The Honey Pot got to sit down with keynote speaker Steve White, the founder of Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. Given Harvest’s corporate aura and esteem in the industry, and White’s status as a major figure, we were amazed by the depth and breadth of his altruism.
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Harvest is the third-largest cannabis grower in the United States. They have the largest market share in Arizona, with a strong presence in ten other states, currently operating 219 production facilities nationwide; additionally, they expect to have 100 dispensaries across 14 states by 2020. Earlier this year, Harvest and White made headlines with the biggest legal deal in the American cannabis industry to date, spending $850 million to acquire the Illinois-based company Verano Holdings. White practiced law for fifteen years prior to his start in cannabis, and covered the fundamentals of measuring success in the cannabis industry in his speech to the CWCBE NY crowd. Throughout our conversation, White emphasized a commitment to gender and racial diversity that he’s applied to the upper echelons of Harvest—an inclusive approach unlike anything we’ve yet to see in other multi-operation cannabis companies of their size. Considering how the barriers to diverse entry in the space are increasing by the day, listening to the modest, yet intensely focused White is like coming face to face with a modern-day superhero. But how did Steve White enter the cannabis arena in the first place? In his keynote, Mr. White explained: “... Despite the fact that I started my own firm and I was a successful lawyer, there was something that was missing… About that same time in my home state of Arizona, there was a ballot initiative that everybody was talking about: medical marijuana… And so people were calling me as a lawyer asking to help them with licenses. And I thought: That sounds like something a little bit different. I will take a look and see what it’s all about. I have to admit though, when I was doing it, I actually thought that medical marijuana was a ruse. I thought that it was a way to allow people an opportunity to get a card and then go get high… As I was getting involved in it, I… [w] ent around to various places, and I wanted to figure out whether or not my original thesis was right. As it turns out, it was not.”
“Harvest is making a conscious effort to both hire and empower formerly excluded populations in a clear reflection of political turnaround.”
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The creation of Harvest was not without complications. When they opened their first store in Arizona in 2013, local prosecutors “promis[ed] that [they] would go to jail.” The Harvest team “tried to plan... in the event that that does occur,” essentially leaving White as the fall guy, since he was “the only one on [the court documents]... [not] married, [and without] kids.” Facing those risks himself, and watching people in local communities get prosecuted over issues related to cannabis, White knew that Harvest would need to make a positive impact in changing the demographics of the industry: “When you look across the larger cannabis companies, what you find is that they are largely run by white men. We wanted the female consumers, and so for us to not have females at the upper levels of the organization the largest growing consumer base, would put us at a competitive disadvantage to capitalize on that growing market. And then there is racial diversity; cannabis laws historically have been... applied disproportionately to members of that community and we knew, one, that that isn’t OK, and two, that that was going to eventually be an issue that people spend a lot of time talking about. So our goal was to get out in front of that as best we could and try to attract people from that community to our organization.” For example, White explained how he has personally ensured that members of Harvest’s current board more accurately represent these consumer bases and communities who do not normally benefit from all that the canna-business has to offer: “Early on when we got ready to go public, we had to select people to serve on the board... [including] myself and Jason Bedotti—who happens to be Persian—but we have three outside directors; two are black, one is from Africa —the white one is from Africa. One of the two black members is actually from Africa himself and the other is a lobbyist in D.C.; he’s the CEO of the largest African American lobby and one of the conditions for him coming on board—because it’s a political jump for somebody like that—was that he can spearhead some of those initiatives. So while we are early in the process, it is something that he spent a lot of time working [on] and we’ve been working with him on. We’re gaining some traction… What we’re seeing is black caucuses across the country demanding a seat at the table, demanding certain compromises on how legislation gets drafted so that members of that community can be represented more than they historically have been in the legal cannabis industry.” And so White’s dedication to making a signific ant contribution in this issue is clear. Harvest is making a conscious effort to both hire and empower formerly excluded populations in a clear reflection of political turnaround.
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“We are creating a lot of jobs, that’s for sure,” White observes. As a multi-state operator, Harvest takes a unique approach to overcoming the challenges posed by interstate commerce. Because laws surrounding cannabis differ by state, it is not possible to organize separate components of the company in separate states. Thus, Harvest runs on a vertically integrated model, with full production occurring in each state where they have a presence. Very few American companies do this.
“What you have to do is in each and every state you have to develop a complete infrastructure to support the business that you run,” White notes. “ So when we move into Arkansas, the fact that we have cultivation in Florida, in Maryland and Arizona and California is irrelevant.
You have to build a new cultivation facility, you have to build a new processing facility and then we have to have stores in that state. And if we have excess capacity for something in Arkansas, then it has to be destroyed or disposed of in Arkansas, it can’t go someplace else. So there are really inefficient economies, little micro-economies in each of the states…” 29
It’s within these micro-economies, but together on a macro level, that White discovers the most impact. In fact, he admits, that’s a large part of what drew him to cannabis. “First, you have an industry that’s growing faster than any other in the United States, that in and of itself is exciting. On top of that, you’re on the front edge... changing minds all over the place, so you’re really part of a social movement as well… When the social intersects with the business, it creates a really exciting environment for people running companies, employed by companies, who are working in industries that touch those companies. And so that was something that the law could never provide me and there’s something about the fact that you’re actually on the right side of history and that’s really cool.”
Beyond Harvest’s commercial operations, White founded and serves on the board of Harvesting Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to families dealing with pediatric epilepsy. The company runs a proprietary research division, the Medical Marijuana Research Institute (or “Memory”), under which they can publish academic literature on medical cannabis. Through the studies funded thus far, according to Harvest official statements, there has been consistent evidence that legalization has had a positive effect on patient outcomes, “including increased feelings of safety, improved product knowledge, and greater product effectiveness.”
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Hats off to the man whose “work now, life later” philosophy proves he’ll be on that right side for having the courage to do just about everything.
Even with such a large and successful company, White truly surprised us as a dedicated defender of the public good. When asked where his investment in these issues comes from, White responded, “If you have the ability to right a historical wrong, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to do something.”
Hats off to the man whose “work now, life later” philosophy proves he’ll be on that right side for having the courage to do just about everything.
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From PLANT to MEDICINE
By: Angela Romanos
Mara Gordon
By Angela Romanos
Better than anyone, Mara Gordon understands the complexity of cannabis in healthcare.
Mara herself, co-founder of the pioneering cannabis-based medicine manufacturer Aunt Zelda’s™ (AKA The Oil Plant) and a globally-renowned advocate, had suffered from chronic back pain before she began using the plant to medicate. Her previous prescription was composed of twenty-six different pharmaceuticals to get her through the day, and even then she could not drive a car and was experiencing depression. After hearing about another individual who was alleviating his neck pain with cannabis, Gordon sought out a “prescription” from a doctor. I use the word prescription lightly because, as Mara points out, there is currently no strict standard for dosing patients when it comes to cannabis. Upon receiving the prescription from her doctor, she thought that she’d know exactly what to take, how much to take, and when to take cannabis to relieve her pain. Instead, she was given an address to a dispensary and found herself feeling lost when she got inside. “This is not science, this is not medicine, and I need to go and find out more information…” Mara said after leaving the dispensary. Mara had not been a fan of the recreational use of marijuana previously; her advocacy in the plant started in her firm belief that cannabis is a legitimate medicine that cures ailments of the body. Before moving into the cannabis space, Mara Gordon worked as a process engineer where
she developed software for some of the largest companies in the United States. She has utilized her meticulous manner, analytical and scientific skills, and her personal experience to become co-founder collectively of Aunt Zelda’s™, The Oil Plant, Calla Spring Wellness, and Zelda Therapeutics. She has also been featured in a variety of films on cannabis, starring as one of the main subjects in Weed the People, a documentary featured on Netflix following the lives and practices of children with cancer using medicinal cannabis. Produced by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein, Weed the People has received rave reviews from Good Morning America to Time Magazine to Leafly, and is credited with helping pass progressive medical legislation in Oklahoma. “The film is a really great opportunity for people to see other people exercising their basic human right to treat their disease,” says Mara. Mara Gordon’s work in healthcare, and cannabis has had a large part in reshaping perspectives and destigmatizing medicinal cannabis for adults and children. She strives to bring cannabis into healthcare as a serious medicine that will one day have the clinical trials and studies necessary to legitimize it. She discussed her methodologies and thought processes with the Honey Pot team over an enlightening conversation about medicinal cannabis for the ill. We first asked Mara about the differences between medicinal and recreational uses
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of cannabis. She emphasized that cannabis is a medicine and it is used to remove a problem in the body, similar to how one would take an aspirin to relieve a headache. She doesn’t believe that it defines the user in any way - it’s just a drug used to feel better. Mara says, “When medicine is then used beyond the point of what is required to eliminate the health condition, you are not choosing to recreate with it. If someone uses an opioid to deal with a bad back and it gets them out of pain, but then they think, ‘I’ll take three times that amount so that I can be high while watching this movie,’ then that’s not medical anymore, and that’s where I define it. One is to enhance and create an experience, where the other one is to remove a malady from the body.” Although Gordon asserts that using cannabis should be as normal as using any other medicine, she differentiates cannabis because of its unique entourage effect, where the plant’s various compounds act synergystically to mitigate the psychoactive effects of THC. According to Gordon, the commonplace thinking on medicine is that it is a pure compound or a single molecule, simply because that’s the way the pharmaceutical world has taken it. Through Silver Therapeutics, she funded research in Spain in collaboration with Dr. Christina Sánchez and Manuel Guzmán and their team. The study compares the whole plant entourage effect and the process of killing the three major subtypes of breast cancer. Thus far, Mara reports that, “hands down, the whole plant and the full spectrum works far better [in killing breast cancer] than a single pure compound.” Endless discoveries still exist for those studying cannabis; in the few years Mara has been working in the industry, researchers have gone from knowing 80 cannabi(c) Nataliya Arditi
noids to 144 cannabinoids and 200 terpenes to 400 terpenes. With the classification of cannabis as a Schedule 1 Drug, there has been limited research on the plant’s good aspects. However, Gordon often highlights that testing the effects of cannabis has shown limited harm and no fatal risks to those involved. She explains there are no cannabinoid receptors in the brainstem, and it cannot target certain areas in the body. If someone ingests too much THC for their tolerance and they feel extremely uncomfortable, there are simple solutions such as taking a shower, having some warm lemon water, and waiting for it to leave their system. From society’s standpoint, an overdose commonly means a danger of losing a life due to excessive amounts of a drug in the body. Cannabis presents no such dangers. How does Gordon propose turning a plant into medicine? It’s all in the data. We asked what particular patterns she has found in working with cannabis that people do not talk about enough. She immediately pointed to one of the biggest issues she’s found within the data: there is no correlation between each milligram of medicine per kilogram of the weight of the patient. “In traditional pharmaceuticals,” Gordon explains, “they tend to match milligrams per kilogram. With cannabis, we’ve found zero correlation. I might have a 110-pound woman taking twice the amount as a 200-pound man for the same ailment. Or I may have a child that weighs 50 pounds or less, taking way Upper Photo (c) Green Gold Stories
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higher doses to treat the same thing. Another thing I’ve seen in patterns is that we believe there’s more of a correlation between the age of a patient and milligrams, where younger patients require higher doses. This theory may be based on metabolization rates and potentially the activity in the endocannabinoid system with receptors. We don’t know enough yet. To have fewer barriers to the acceptance of cannabis, it is important that we figure out a way to dose appropriately and pick profiles that are going to help the patient without them feeling uncomfortable from the high dose. However, until it is something that is prescribed by a doctor that you pick up at CVS or Rite Aid, there’s going to be this perception that it’s a ‘nice to have’ drug unless you don’t feel good from it. And that’s too bad because it can be replacing many pharmaceuticals.” Mara also briefly touches on public misunderstandings and misinformation about CBD. Initially, she said, “there was this misnomer that CBD has no psychoactivity.” In reality, CBD can have an anxious or uncomfortable effect on people, like Mara herself. She believes it is dangerous to let corporate interests drive medicine at this level. On CBD’s legality, Mara comments: “CBD is not federally legal. CBD is a Schedule 5 drug, as long as you have an FDA approved drug. There’s only one drug in the world right now and that’s Epidiolex. People are going out there and making CBD products and the problem with that is there’s no regulatory oversight for safety, efficacy, and truth in packaging. So many people come to me and say they found a CBD product on Amazon or at a hair salon and there are no labeling instructions. There’s nothing on there to tell you how many milligrams per kilogram and you have no idea if it has been lab-tested. And hemp is an accumulator plant, which means it cleans the soil and uptakes of the contaminants within the soil. So do you really want to take a CBD product that hasn’t been tested for heavy metals, arsenic in the soil or water, or
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other unknown substances? This is what you’re going to put in your body. We need to do a lot more oversight and regulation around the CBD before it should be out of the mainstream.” At the end of the day, Mara’s goal is to get Aunt Zelda’s products to sick people all over the world. She is confident in her medicine and processes and hopes for the day when cannabis is accessible to all patients. She continues to educate people, doctors, and institutions on how to use cannabis effectively. Aunt Zelda’s had previously been more of a research and development company, its crew becoming trailblazers and experts in understanding how to treat disease with cannabis. Since the data has been accumulating, Aunt Zelda’s is ramping up their manufacturing and ready to enter the marketplace in a larger way. In the coming year, Mara hopes to get Aunt Zelda’s available to everybody in California and start working on their licensing agreements in other states and countries, instead of people becoming medical refugees and traveling to California for other options. Where there’s a fight for cannabis, Mara Gordon will be right there on the front lines. A perfect mixture of passionate and informed, she makes it her mission to combat the social stigma of cannabis because it affects lives that could be saved or improved by this medicine. As a woman entrepreneur and researcher, Mara continues to earn credibility and accolades in her fight for medicinal cannabis for all patients. In parting, she shared this insight: “I really hope that if there is cannabis available and somebody who is ill, that they believe that it is worth trying. Just because you tried cannabis and it didn’t work for you, doesn’t mean it’s over - there are over 14,000 different varieties and there are differences in how the medicine is processed. It may not be the answer and it may not work, but it is definitely worth trying.”
Prophets of Pioneering the Ever since he first encountered the plant at an early age, there has only been one mission for Steve DeAngelo: legalizing recreational cannabis. “I immediately fell in love and immediately knew I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life like a criminal. I wasn’t going to give up the plant. So there was just one option, and that was to legalize cannabis,” DeAngelo says. Entrepreneur, activist, author, and on-screen personality, Steve DeAngelo is often regarded as the “father of the legal cannabis industry.” He is a longtime advocate and co-founder of several iconic cannabis businesses, including Harborside, one of the oldest and largest dispensaries licensed in the United States; Steep Hill Laboratory, the first dedicated cannabis lab; The Arcview Group, the first cannabis investment firm; and the National Cannabis Industry Association, the industry’s first trade association. Famously, DeAngelo and his company Harborside were the subject of the Discovery Channel’s mini documentary series, Weed Wars. In June of 2015, DeAngelo was recognized with the High Times Lester Grinspoon Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition for his four decades of activism in the cannabis reform movement. DeAngelo didn’t know much about the plant when he was first introduced to it, remembering only what he had heard from the media and people around him. The only thing he really knew was that consuming the plant helped him become the person he wanted to be. Walking home from a friend’s house after smoking his first joint at the age of thirteen, DeAngelo thought he had felt nothing. However, while making his way through the park, he began to notice things he never had before. The sun on the back of his neck, light filtering through the leaves of trees, the gurgling of a creek and its water, the crunch of leaves beneath his feet. This was a spiritual experience. “I didn’t recognize it at the time, but it was,” DeAngelo testifies. And so, he had to learn more. In junior high, he would skip school, go to the University of Maryland’s library, and spend hours poring over materials. It was there that he
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the Plant
By: Patricia Whyte
Cannabis Industry
first read documents like the East India Report from 1898 and the Canal Zone Report from 1922. He went back to the source material before prohibition to learn about the medical and industrial uses of cannabis, and the history of its illegality in the United States. “When I learned what really lay behind cannabis prohibition, it just fired me up. I thought it was so outrageous and so unjust and such a wrong thing. So that’s what first impelled me, just the injustice,” DeAngelo recalls. DeAngelo started his career of activism in 1971 at the age of 16. After dropping out of school, DeAngelo joined the Youth International Party, where he organized July 4th smoke-ins in Washington D.C. to protest marijuana prohibition. These protests demonstrated the futility of cannabis prohibition by gathering advocates together to consume publicly. “And most often when we did that, there were zero arrests. So it was this very effective way of pointing out the basic hypocrisy of the laws,” DeAngelo says. Though he continues to advocate for cannabis’s ongoing legalization, the mission of DeAngelo’s work has shifted over the years. As cannabis becomes increasingly legally acceptable in this country, we are only beginning to understand its capabilities and role in our society. According to DeAngelo, cannabis gives us the raw material we need to build a new, green economy. As the plant has enriched his life in so many ways, DeAngelo strongly believes cannabis to be a force for positive social change, and the world needs to learn of its benefits. This motivation drives not only all of his businesses, but his personal mission. “The world is in a pretty dire situation right now. If there’s ever a time that we all need to learn how to be kind and gentle with each other, now is the time,” DeAngelo notes. “If we don’t come together in a good way and we don’t push this far, I don’t know if we’re going to have a planet.”
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Alongside Steve in most of his professional and creative projects is his business partner and younger brother, Andrew DeAngelo. The two work closely, much of their relationship founded on the vulnerabilities they were able to share with one another when they first began consuming together. In their work, Steve casts the visions, and Andrew leads, manages, and executes them. “We motivate each other. So, I gotta keep up with my brother, and when he develops new skills and new things, that... motivates me to try and build those skills too and make sure that we’re not falling behind,” Andrew comments. With a ten-year age difference between the two, the brothers experienced a lot of distance from each other as kids. They experienced their parents’ divorce at young ages, didn’t see much of each other growing up, and had different personalities as well. Steve was a “freak;” Andrew an athlete. However, when Andrew got injured and couldn’t play sports anymore, he had his first identity crisis. He had never smoked with his brother because of sports, but one day, while he was in recovery, his brother was in the kitchen with a joint. When offered, Andrew took it for the first time. “That experience of sharing that consciousness with my brother, with that joint and subsequently many, many sessions in his basement, opened my eyes to a world where there’s more to life than playing sports and trying to heal from our broken family,” Andrew remembers. Sharing cannabis was the first bridge between the brothers. They started smoking together, which allowed them to experience vulnerabilities together. Much of the love Andrew and Steve have for one another is founded in the shared pain they carried from their childhoods, from dealing with both their parents’ separation and the loss of their middle brother, whom they loved profoundly. Steve was also a guide for Andrew. “He taught me and exposed me to [counterculture] and it really set me on my path, not just in cannabis, but as a creative and as an artist too,” Andrew says. “[Cannabis] really opened the channels of communication between myself and my brother,” Steve affirms. “The great thing about having a brother that you’ve spent so much time with and you’re so close to is that our communication is intuitive.”
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Of course, there are challenges that come with working with one’s sibling, small rivalries or jealousies that may emerge along the way. However, Andrew and Steve are able to use whatever challenges they may have to motivate each other and prioritize their common mission of promoting cannabis as a vessel for social change, a cause they admit is much bigger than themselves. At the end of the day, they come together, rely on the plant, and understand the love they have for each other and the impact of their work. “We are not ever gonna lose each other, right? That was a promise we made to each other a long time ago,” Steve attests. As part of his ongoing calling to learn about cannabis’s cultural roles, Steve has spent time working with indigenous leaders around the globe. He just got back from Colombia, where he had the opportunity to meet with figureheads from three different tribes. According to DeAngelo, their message was crystal clear: “This plant has come into our hands so we can fix the damage that’s been done to our planet, because we don’t have much time left.” “This is something that we’ve heard from a number of scientists. Cannabis has this amazing potential to address that problem. The biggest problem all of us are facing. This planet is threatened by all kinds of things… and this plant gives us the means to accomplish it,” DeAngelo declares. In their ventures, Steve and Andrew push that message forward every day. Harborside, which started out as a small nonprofit organization with a mission to legalize cannabis, has now flourished into seven dispensaries, 200,000 square feet of cultivation space, 250 employees, two different brands, and several products. The company won a major court case in 2016, after a fouryear battle with federal prosecutors trying to seize and shutter the dispensary through civil forfeiture. This victory effectively established the medical cannabis industry’s right to exist on a national level. Recently, Harborside achieved new heights of success by going public and being listed as part of the Canadian Stock Exchange for potential investors. “It’s a real milestone in the evolution of Harborside and the evolution of the cannabis industry,” DeAngelo said. Though Harborside is an American company, U.S. stock exchanges have a tenuous relationship with cannabis businesses. Canada has dealt with reform different-
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ly than the U.S.; its policies came from the federal government, and the nation had one change of law, applicable to the entire country. As a result, many of the problems American entrepreneurs face are not present in Canada. For example, because cannabis is not federally legal, companies like Harborside cannot receive federal banking in the United States nor participate in public exchange, where they can across the northern border. “We were forced to go through this very complex set of transactions to be able to list on the Canadian Stock Exchange,” Steve says. “And you know, I love the Canadians. I’m so happy that Canada is there for us and the Canadian stock exchange opened because it gives us the capital that we need to really professionalize this industry. As an American, I’m just in a state of shock and dismay that our federal government has decided to give away what is probably the most important economic opportunity in a hundred years to the rest of the world. It’s crazy.” Despite its challenges, this merger will give Harborside and the DeAngelos the opportunity to expand, further professionalize their business, and make cannabis more accessible for more consumers than they ever thought possible. Steve hopes that the American government will wake up to empowering homegrown companies to list on our nation’s exchanges and create local jobs. The cannabis industry thus far has created 250,000 new jobs for Americans. “That’s more than coal! And the federal government is still burying its head in the sand and claiming the cannabis has no medical properties,” Steve observes. Andrew adds, “If you would’ve asked me when I was eighteen in college, if we would be trading on the public markets in Canada, I would’ve said, ‘No way. I’m never going to do that.’ But the plant takes us into different places, sometimes. It gives unexpected opportunities for us to spread the seed that will save the planet.” As Steve puts it, legalizing the plant makes society better not just for those consuming, but for everyone. As we’ve seen in California, after adult-use cannabis legalized in 2018, crime rates dropped, alcohol con-
sumption dropped, medicare and medicaid reimbursements dropped, and even domestic violence dropped by forty percent. According to DeAngelo, “Not only does the sky not fall when you legalize cannabis, it becomes much more blue.”. But the challenges of the cannabis space still accompany the benefits. Because there is now a legal cannabis industry, billions of dollars are being made and international wealth is being created… yet white men are almost exclusively reaping the rewards of that pay. This leaves black and brown communities behind as those still imprisoned for cannabis consumption are largely minorities.
Photos © Giacobazzi Yanez
“I think everybody can prosper with cannabis, but you can’t do that, and at the same time have hundreds of thousands of people, mostly black and brown, locked up in prison with their families suffering through life without a breadwinner. That has to be fixed,” Steve emphasizes. To that end, the DeAngelo brothers have revised their mission yet again. This summer they launched The Last Prisoner Project (LPP), a nonprofit long in the making, dedicated to restorative justice to ensure every one of the thousands of people currently incarcerated for cannabis comes home. Through an innovative approach to clemency and reentry programs, LPP is helping to alleviate the collateral consequences suffered by marginalized communities. In that effort, Steve and Andrew have been joined by prominent figures such as Jim Belushi, Willie Nelson, and Stephen and Damian Marley, the latter pair becoming advisors to LPP’s board. The reach grows every day, combining the human impact with the power of the plant so dear to the DeAngelo brothers’ hearts. “So, if we are known for anything a hundred years from now, I would like to be known as the person that got our brothers and sisters out of prison,” Steve says. (For more information on LPP, visit lastprisonerproject.org.) For those who love this planet, cannabis, and their fellow living beings, Steve and Andrew DeAngelo’s legacy is secure. We owe the evolving, brave new world of the industry to their willingness to fight for the greater good. As we all begin to enjoy more freedoms based on the foundations they’re building, let us cheer the Mother (Nature), the Brothers, and the Holy Plant. Amen.
GREENING THE BLUES BROTHER:
A NEW ROLE FOR JIM AT BELUSHI’S FARM By Patricia Whyte
You hear the familiar strains of Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi’s Blues Brothers’ version of “Have Love, Will Travel” as actor, musician, and entrepreneur Jim Belushi introduces the world to his farm in a teaser video. The land is called Eagle Point, 93 acres along the Rogue River in Southern Oregon’s Rogue River Valley, and provides a restorative to all five senses, a place where nature’s medicine can surely flourish. Then, you see all the cannabis plants, the smile on Belushi’s face and that of his team, and you know - not only will the According to Jim star now be concentrating on differ-
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ent kinds of “strains,” but his love for humanity has clearly led him to travel to the right place. Welcome to Belushi’s Farm, a fully-functional agricultural enterprise dedicated to medical and adult-use cannabis. Premium sungrown genetics are headed by lead grower Thom Lund and cultivated, hand-harvested and cured by a core seven-person team. Multiple varieties are sold at select dispensaries in Oregon under the product line Belushi’s Secret Stash. Jim Belushi was drawn to Oregon’s Rogue Valley twelve years ago, to a riverfront where the sun, water and air make the perfect combination to sustain naturally powerful cannabis. The Eagle Point plot was originally home to an old Elks Lodge picnic ground. Belushi had a vision and bought the property, quickly getting to work refurbishing everything himself, retaining as much of its millennia-old history as possible. The process was documented by the DIY Network show, Building Belushi. Beside his esteemed acting career, Belushi has become a
prominent figure in the cannabis industry, and his ambitions to take the farms to a national level reflect the rapid evolution of cannabis into a big business. Belushi’s Secret Stash line of cannabis flowers are specially grown and one strain in particular, Captain Jack’s Gulzar Afghanica, was dubbed “The Smell of SNL” in the early 1970s. Captain Jack was the “backstage friend” of the Saturday Night Live writers and cast. Phylos Bioscience, a Portland-based agricultural genomics company with the world’s largest genetics database for the plant, recently certified Captain Jack’s Gulzar Afghanica as “one of the most genetically stable varieties of cannabis.” The Private Vault line includes such strains as Black Diamond OG, Bubblemint, Purple Pineapple Afghani, Lemon Chiffon Cake, Grapefruit Kush, and so many more. Of all the cultivars Belushi’s Farm produces, Cherry Pie is Jim’s favorite. “We call it ‘The Marriage Counselor’ — after I’ve taken a hit, my wife always says, ‘Well, aren’t YOU being charming tonight!’ and I say, ‘Am I?’,” Belushi said. But Belushi’s dedication to cannabis goes far beyond enjoying the plant’s relaxing effects. The
actor’s own family experience has been marred by opioids and the stigmatization of cannabis, with his brother, comedian John Belushi, having died of an opiate overdose in 1982. The company’s mission is multifold, growing top-quality cannabis sustainably while also educating the public about the plant and getting people access to the medicine they need. As Belushi recently told Crain’s Chicago Business after headlining a fundraiser for the Chicago Innovation Foundation: "It's about the Mission From God, John died from an opiate overdose. It collapsed our family. I want to save families, lives and communities. If John were a pothead, I believe he’d be alive today.” His advocacy has led to the development of vitally important partnerships for social justice, meaning he can save perhaps even more communities than he realized. Most recently, Belushi hosted the launch of The Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit founded by veteran cannabis activists Steve and Andrew DeAngelo. The organization seeks to raise money to release people who are still incarcerated due to policies instituted by
the War on Drugs, and to provide resources to facilitate their transition to life after prison. As the team at Belushi’s Farm prepares for their biggest season of operation yet, it’s clear that Jim Belushi is bringing his enormous heart to the cannabis industry. We can’t wait for the medicines emerging from Belushi’s Secret Stash to transform the world, just as the beauty of Eagle Point has transformed its owner’s life purpose forever. Now that’s the kind of love that will travel with you always.
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New Decriminal By Chelsea Young In the past ten years, cannabis has grown to be seen less like a drug and more like the plant that it is. No longer something for hippies and junkies, it’s instead socially accepted and celebrated amongst many. Along with this shift in attitude has been a shift in the laws pertaining to the plant, allowing it to be decriminalized for medical use in thirty-three states and recreationally legal in eleven. This slow-growing legalization/decriminalization has been great for a multitude of reasons. Individuals who like to use cannabis for recreational purposes do not have to obtain it illegally. Businesses in both the medical and adult-use areas have grown rapidly, including those infusing the plant as an ingredient into various products. Exploring the medical benefits of cannabis has created unprecedented treatments for numerous conditions such as PTSD, insomnia, and even cancer. What these changes have been slow to address, however, is the multitude of people who have been affected by the criminal justice system due to marijuana possession, resulting in arrests, convictions and jail time. Communities of color have been particularly disproportionately affected by the criminalization of cannabis, and individuals from these communities are four times as likely as their white counterparts to be charged with possession (despite using the same amount). Luckily things are moving forward. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a new bill, passed in June, that went into effect on August 28th, further decriminalizing marijuana use in the state and enacting statewide expungement – clearing convictions from citizens’ records. “For too long communities of color have been the target of discriminatory criminal justice policies and have suffered serious consequences for the possession of small amounts of marijuana, while others were never arrested or charged,” Assembly Majority Leader Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes said. According to CNN, under this legislation the penalty for illegal possession of marijuana has been reduced, making less than 1 ounce a $50 fine, regardless of criminal history, and a $200 maximum fine for possessing between 1 and 2 ounces. On top of that, convictions in New York dating back to the late 1970s will be sealed or removed entirely from individuals’ records. The New York Times reported that
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York lizes People
about 160,000 people with low-level convictions in New York will see them disappear. The new law means that of those people, 10,872 in New York City and another 13,537 in the rest of the state will no longer have any criminal record whatsoever. Methods for expungement to this scale have never been developed in New York and could, according to reports from the State Office of Court Administration, still take up to a year to finalize. People wishing to have their records destroyed completely, and not just sealed, will have to petition the court where the conviction occurred. All these motions would ensure this information does not come up on background checks, making it much easier for people to apply for jobs, houses, loans, etc. “By providing individuals who have suffered the consequences of an unfair marijuana conviction with a path to have their records expunged and by reducing draconian penalties,” Governor Cuomo said, “we are taking a critical step forward in addressing a broken and discriminatory criminal justice process.” In the years of fighting to decriminalize cannabis, this bill is one of the major steps being taken to fix the War on Drugs’ ongoing traumatic impact on families of color and their communities. This New York law seeks to stop the collateral consequences of people of color, especially Black and Latino men, being put in jail for an activity that white people are doing at the same, if not higher, rates. This law will hopefully inspire changes in states across the nation and allow even more people with marijuana convictions to be set free. Let’s continue fighting until these wrongs are righted everywhere.
(C) Lizzy Jeff 45
}Prison + Pot, Process{ By: James Litkett
Marijuana use in prison can be broken down to medical and recreational. It is important to note that all categories of marijuana use are banned in New York state prisons at this time. There is no medical or recreational reason that can or will justify the consumption of marijuana in New York state prisons. Cannabis consumption in prison is considered a felony and in New York state prisons, possession of cannabis is considered contraband, which can get you sanctioned. A sanction can have results of varying severity, from time in “the box” (solitary confinement) to additional time on your sentence. Repeated offenses can and may hinder your ability to acquire parole when you go to the board, since marijuana consumption on parole is a no-no. You will be risking your freedom. Interestingly, in California, it is not illegal to possess a small amount of marijuana in prison—as long as it is under one ounce. It can be inhaled as a non-burning vapor, such as in tea, or applied topically such as those absorbed through the skin as (like CBD oil), but smoking still remains a felony while behind bars. This ruling also added that prison authorities reserve the right to maintain health and security within facilities. Now, let’s discuss the medical benefits of marijuana within the walls. THC can be prescribed in pill form for the treatment of nausea for patients undergoing chemotherapy and to stimulate appetite, as well as for patients with wasting syndrome due to AIDS. A CBD-based liquid medication oil, Epidiolex, treats two forms of severe childhood epilepsy: Dravet Syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome. CBD oil does not have the psychoactive properties of THC. Nabiximol (AKA Sativex), a mouth spray, is currently available in the UK and Canada for spasticity and neuropathic pain from multiple sclerosis, and can also be used to reduce the inflammation and temporary relief from glaucoma. While there has not been enough research on the matter, there’s positive evidence suggesting that recreational use of cannabis would benefit incarcerated populations. One major plus would be the pleasant euphoric sense of relaxation and altered perception of time that a user would experience. In this writer’s opinion, this would be a great way for someone to demonstrate their ability to do “easy time” and forgo a number of stresses and strains usually inevitable in prison life. Back to marijuana legalization in real-world time. In June 2019, three extra days of debate in Albany prompted legislation that resulted in a comprehensive cannabis decriminalization bill. Final outcome, anything under two ounces will generate a fine. No arrests. Possession will be considered a violation but not a crime. The penalty for possession of less than one ounce is $50 and won’t increase because of an individual’s criminal history, while the penalty for one to two ounces is
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$200, regardless of criminal history. The full bill includes retroactive expungement for all who were incarcerated in the past meaning their records will be cleared of possession charges. Things change slowly outside of prison, but they will take three to five times longer inside the gray walls, if at all. To my incarcerated readers: You cannot be all you can be by using substances or chemicals. Any effect you want to achieve, or condition you are trying to get can be arrived at naturally. Taking the time to learn the process that will allow you to achieve this state won’t cost you a thing. The affect and effect conditioning evolved with the process to free your mind, but doing so takes dedication, discipline, and total focus at all times. It is not easy, but this process helps you to become a better person and truly know yourself. What I’m talking about is total control of your mind, body and spirit, a process that most humans never attain and most don’t even know exists. Use this time wisely to be your deeper, better self, the best you can be in not one, but all areas of your life. If you can’t read, learn to read. If you don’t have a high school diploma, get your GED. Educate yourself— BA, masters, PhD, whatever level. Amplify your position in life. This is the best way I can help you to negate the negativity of your crime and your time. Use your time. Do not just do your time. This is the way for you to develop a vision of hope so as to combat defeat and eliminate all the obstacles you will be facing when you leave prison. Increase your awareness. Don’t be careless. The best way I can describe this process of self-improvement is to admire the feat of Nik and Lijana Wallenda crossing from 1 Times Square to 2 Times Square, twenty-five stories up in the air, all the while being able to focus and communicate with each other and their father. They took the time to wave to the people on the ground. The event lasted about forty minutes, but it was like a walk in the park for them. I want to highlight the ability, skill, and focus that it took to achieve this phenomenal and extraordinary feat. For Lijana, it was her first time back after a forty-foot fall from a tightrope in 2017 where she broke every bone in her face, a rib, her left humerus, and left calcaneus. Somehow she found the courage to walk a 1300-feet tightrope twenty-five stories above Times Square. They call the process “facing your fear,” but the process by any other name stays the same. All the processes— be they brick-breaking, karate, coal-walking, mind control, ice bathing—to prepare and develop these talents are very similar. You need belief, focus, and discipline to accomplish these feats, so why not use the process to better yourself? This is a win-win situation. You can’t lose, and at this stage of the game, we have been losing for too long. Let’s combat and defeat all obstacles that hinder our true purpose and mission on Earth. Accept this challenge to find, develop, or accentuate a better you into the game. Begin to challenge your thoughts, balance your feelings, and choose the most positive actions involved in each and every situation going forward. Can you handle it? That is what I leave to you to answer.
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#CannabisWeek
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N I Y S I R C HYPO THE UK
AN ACTI VIST
’S TALE
By James B. Hirsch In the UK for the Product Earth Expo (PEX)
(August 23-25), we were impressed by a panel of British activists moderated by Greg de Hoedt, chairman of UK Cannabis Social Clubs (a nonprofit offering guidance to consumers, social clubs, politicians and police), and their stand against criminalization of personal cannabis cultivation and use. We’ll focus here on Phil Monk, just one of the panelists. (Visit hshoneypot.com for a broader account of our PEX visit, including brief profiles of the others.) Mr. Monk, age 40, is the brains and guts behind the cannabis advocacy organization We The Undersigned (WTU). Suffering from chronic pain and somewhat reliant on an electric mobility scooter, Monk’s calm yet indomitable spirit is a force to reckon with, as the UK government will soon discover. WTU has recently obtained the minimal funding and legal representation needed to mount a forceful challenge to cannabis prohibition in the UK, based primarily on human rights grounds. Though English, Monk spent most of his childhood in remote North Wales, where he was raised by his stepfather and “racially abused” by the locals. At 16, he discovered cannabis, which he credits with calming suicidal thoughts brought on by the bullying and isolation. From an unusual amount of bike riding (his nearest friend was 20 miles away), he developed bilateral ulnar impaction syndrome. A fly-fishing enthusiast, he struggled to hold a rod and smoked many joints while fishing to manage the pain. A work injury led to corrective surgery to shorten his arms by four millimeters, but also to difficulty walking and more “nonstop” pain. Like many others, he was prescribed opiates and other pharmaceuticals. A series of dramatic medical scares triggered by a cornucopia of side effects resulted in many trips to the ER, but doctors advised he stay
on the meds or else his life would truly be at risk. Emotionally drained from all the false alarms, he chose cannabis over pharmaceuticals. Frustrated by the limited quantity and uneven quality of black-market weed, he was shocked into action when his then 14-year-old son offered to bring some home—“it’s easier for children to get,” he says. He set up an indoor hydroponic garden of five plants inside a 60-centimeter tent, then did something most DIY cannabis gardeners would not dare do. “On the day I planted the first seed,” he wrote to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the drugs minister, the health minister and other officials to tell them what he was doing. To Monk, it’s about human rights. He believes “freedom of consciousness—the right to private beliefs and practices” is paramount, that “laws banning substances or practices must be based on protecting people from harm,” and that “cannabis is not harmful.” The sole reply warned that his sort of gardening could land him in prison for up to 14 years. “It’s absurd,” he says. “You can brew beer to drink yourself and your friends to death,” but growing cannabis at home is a crime. While the UK is the world’s largest producer and exporter of cannabis grown for medicinal purposes (as of 2016, per a UN report: http:// www.incb.org/documents/Narcotic-Drugs/ Technical-Publications/2017/7_Part_2_comments_E.pdf), Monk can’t get a prescription for Sativex (another cannabis-based concoction from GW Pharma, maker of Epidiolex), despite pleading with the National Health Service (NHS) for years. Sativex is lawfully available privately for about £1,000£2,000 per month, which he cannot afford, yet the NHS won’t grant him a script, citing safety and efficacy concerns. If unsafe, why is it available at all? If ineffective, why would those who can afford it pay so much? He says, “It’s not cannabis that’s illegal; it’s the people who cultivate and use it without prescription. I could be healthy legally, if I wasn’t poor.”
Thus WTU seeks “decriminalization” rather than “legalization." They view growing and using cannabis as a fundamental human right that transcends national boundaries, not as a privilege to be granted or denied by the state. WTU’s lawsuit will seek to strike down the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (the UK’s version of the Controlled Substances Act) as incompatible with the Human Rights Act 1998. Monk wrote to “every solicitor in the country” laying out his reasoning and seeking representation. “They all replied they can’t take the case; it’s too political; it’s too expensive; it will take too long. None said there was no case here,” he notes, so he kept at it. Finally, a firm agreed to take the case and a high-profile barrister has also been recruited (to avoid risk of intimidation, he declines to divulge the name.) Looking back, he says he used to be angry at losing himself to illness and prescription meds. He cites Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” saying he “smiles now for pain—it releases the anandamide.” So does the cannabis, which he continues to grow and use. Though he remains undisturbed by the authorities, in 2018 he took the precaution of asking his local police not to use violence if they raid his home—he has a wife and three children; he won’t resist. While the messy Brexit debate dominates headlines, another public fight over self-determination is in the works. Whatever the legal merits of WTU’s case, one thing seems clear: Stamping out homegrow in a country where gardening is the national pastime will be a hard row to hoe. Stay tuned.
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WE CAN END POST TRAUMATIC PRISON DISORDER WE CAN! Shawanna Vaughn is a nationally renowned human rights advocate and the founder of Silent Cry Inc., a nonprofit providing resources to families of incarcerated people and those suffering from poverty-induced trauma. She is on a mission to establish state-by-state legislation to recognize Post Traumatic Prison Disorder (PTPD), and seeking support from cannabis industry professionals, as the plant has proven to be an effective treatment for inmates. Read her statement to the right, as told to HONEY POT’s Chelsea Young, and contact silentcryinc@gmail. com for more information on how you can help spread the word.
@SilentCryInc silentcryinc@gmail.com
Our country is currently facing a crisis known as Post Traumatic Prison Disorder, a devastating and life-changing disorder when left untreated. 95% of the people in our current incarcerated population will return to their communities at some point, most with symptoms of PTPD, which includes a combination of anxiety, insomnia, depression and effects of incarceration. The cures available to us? Action and legislation. For a better society including more effective parenting, housing stability, and prevention of future incarceration, reoffending, and relapse, it is imperative that we support addressing the roots and symptoms of PTPD now. The American criminal justice system holds 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 109 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails, and 80 Indian Country jails as well as military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories, and an additional 4.7 million people in probation or parole. 54% of people incarcerated are parents, only half have a high school degree or the equivalent, and as a result of poor education, low job skills, and mental and physical problems, many have low employment and earnings histories before incarceration. Women, while less likely to have contact with the criminal justice system, are becoming the fastest growing population in U.S. prisons with trauma as a key factor of their entry. Black women specifically are six times more likely to be incarcerated, mirroring the racial disparities seen in the male population. Contact with the criminal justice system brings upon certain types of violent trauma and there is a cumulative effect of repeated exposure to trauma and likelihood of involvement with the system. For example, individuals with a history of arrest are more likely to experience traumatic events at an earlier age. While in prison, men and women are subjected to random individual acts of violence, sexual assault, rape, and exploitation. Proof of the effects of these traumas is shown in the current estimates indicating that suicide is the leading cause of death in jails and juvenile facilities, and the
fifth most common cause of death in state and federal prisons. Incarcerated women specifically are shown to have higher rates of anxiety, depression, and explosive anger. Post Traumatic Prison Disorder is a severe type of PTSD specific to people returning from prison. Once out of prison, formerly incarcerated individuals struggle to reestablish or repair personal relationships, find a job, and find housing. A study from 2001-2006 found that less that half of people released from prison were gainfully employed. Many people are at risk of suicide during the initial period of returning home, trying to cope with PTSD and its fallout. This is also a cause of the high recidivism rates in American correctional facilities, leading to a national average of six percent of inmates returning to prison within five years of their release. Research has shown that an individual's chance of developing PTSD doubles with incarceration, but trauma and PTSD go unrecognized and untreated in the prison scene, causing individuals to return with more mental health issues and fewer skills. When left untreated, this disease could be a cause of unemployment, suicide, domestic violence, assaults, substance abuse, etc. A recent study concluded that people with PTSD are more likely to be arrested and incarcerated, that prison time directly leads to the development of PTSD, or both. To resolve these problems and help incarcerated individuals, we and governing bodies must take the following actions: Make correctional facilities community-based to confine offenders in a safe, humane, cost-efficient, and appropriately secure location. Recognize that prison personnel, from guards to administrators, possess basic core competencies in the trauma and mental health of these individuals and establish a comprehensive policy providing the incarcerated with therapeutic services through outside vendors credentialed in trauma. Invest in behavioral healthcare services such as screenings, assessments, and clinical interventions for trauma. Provide trauma-informed services as the standard of care by frontline doctors, social workers, and other professionals in a correctional setting, and stop post-release suicide by establishing pre-discharge screenings and arrangement of near-term care in the community. The treatment and rehabilitation of incarcerated people today will directly impact future generations. We must resolve what’s broken inside now before looking outward.
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The Media Spread Reefer Madness; Now It Can Spread The Trut h By Kit O’Connell
The media didn’t invent reefer madness or the war on drugs, but it played a vital role in their birth. Presented by Ministry of Hemp If you’ve read classic books like The Emperor Wears No Clothes, you might know parts of the story already. After the end of alcohol prohibition, federal agents set their sights on a new form of substance use: drugs, and especially psychoactive cannabis. By playing on racist associations with Mexican slang for the plant, “marijuana,” and spreading misinformation about its dangers and effects, these new drug warriors convinced Congress to ban cannabis and launch the modern war on drugs.
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And where did the media come in? In many ways, anti-drug articles were the clickbait of their day, known back then as “yellow journalism.” Shocking headlines and lurid stories moved massive quantities of newspapers to concerned Americans, stories the proponents of drug prohibition were more than happy to provide.
The role of the press is very similar today. “Media has an ability, not just with cannabis but in the political realm and environmental world, to manipulate and control the conversation within the framework they want,” said Annie Rouse, a hemp historian.
Harry Anslinger & The Origins Of Cannabis Prohibition
Rouse is a U.S. Fulbright Scholar and the co-founder of Anavii Market, an online CBD oil marketplace specializing in quality, lab-tested hemp products. As the host of the “Anslinger” podcast, she unpacks the origins of cannabis prohibition, through the lens of the life of Harry Anslinger. Anslinger, who eventually became the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics, is literally the prototypical drug warrior.
As we finally begin to undo the seemingly endless harm caused by the war on drugs, the media still plays a vital role: moving that conversation forward to a place of honesty, science, and humanity.
“I look at the ‘reefer madness’ campaign as the most successful marketing campaign of all time,”
“I look at the ‘reefer madness’ campaign as the most successful marketing campaign of all time,” Rouse told me. “It was 80 years of thinking this plant was highly dangerous and was going to make users kill people and go insane.” While he didn’t work alone, Anslinger did more than almost any other government official to promote the idea that only total prohibition would protect good American families from the scourge of drugs. His rhetoric was openly racist, promoting the idea that cannabis would cause people of color to assault white people, especially women. Through his lobbying and law enforcement activities, he created many drug laws that are still in effect. 53
e k a T st oke u J T A
Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, whose media empire once reached 20 million subscribers, was one of Anslinger’s most important allies.
While many of the outlandish tales about the excesses of Hearst’s “yellow journalism” are quite true, Rouse has been unable to verify the widespread belief that Hearst supported cannabis prohibition in order to protect the timber industry. She believes the role of the timber industry in drug prohibition to have been greatly exaggerated, adding: “Hearst didn’t have timber investments, but he did have a media empire. Of course, if you have a media empire you want to sell as many newspapers as you can, and you need good stories to do that. And while of course he didn’t create drug prohibition like Anslinger and other government bodies, he propelled that forward.” Hearst’s publications elevated drug trafficking to one of the major evils of the day and encouraged the dehumanization of drug users. In her research, Rouse uncovered an October 1932 letter in which Anslinger personally thanked Hearst for his help in passing the Uniform Narcotics Act, which still shapes modern drug policy. What Hearst and Anslinger started continues today. The media learned to change their drug scare stories to fit the times. For example, in the 1950s, Rouse says it was commonplace to spread the idea that “Chinese communists” were deliberately undermining America by flooding the country with opiates.
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Legalization & The Role Of The Modern Media Americans are beginning to wake up to the benefits of cannabis, and the lies that we’ve been told. Studies routinely show a majority of people now support cannabis legalization. These attitudes influence, and are influenced by, the changing role of the media in reporting on cannabis. People like Anslinger and Hearst “created a horrific fear towards the plant and we know now that none of it was true,” Rouse said. “It’s still something we’re going to have to work through, and help educate and reverse the reefer madness campaign by shining a positive spotlight. We need the media to help carry that message forward and be educated.” Even now, the media frequently does too little fact checking around statements about drugs by law enforcement or government officials. And the appeal of the lurid headline remains. For example, Anavii Market recently participated in a research project that saw industrial hemp seeds sent to the International Space Station to study the effects of zero gravity. Many journalists incorrectly referred to the lowTHC seeds as “pot” or “marijuana.” Few editors could resist the urge to make a punny headline about the plants getting “higher,” even though they wouldn’t get you buzzed. Though this may drive clicks, it does little to educate the public.
Move Over Marijuana, Here Comes The Green Goddess Actually, Annie Rouse dreams of a world where we do away with “marijuana” entirely. “I would love to see the term marijuana disappear from the media,” she explained. “The term itself is a completely racist term.” Hemp, or cannabis were once relatively unremarkable parts of American life. Many farmers grew hemp, and cannabis tinctures were widely available in pharmacies to treat ailments like muscle pain or menstrual cramps. For a brief window, starting around the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 (the first World’s Fair) in Philadelphia, it was even fashionable to get high at socalled “Turkish smoking parlors.” Anti-drug crusaders promoted the Mexican slang term “marijuana” as a way to disassociate the soon-to-be banned substance from a plant that many Americans knew from personal experience to be useful and safe. Using “marijuana” helped stoke xenophobia by associating cannabis with immigrants, black jazz musicians, and other oppressed groups. While the stigma around words like “hemp” and “cannabis” are disappearing, Rouse believes “marijuana” still serves to stoke fear. “There were a ton of different slang terms that were used back in the day,” she said. One especially poetic term for cannabis that she’s encountered in her research is “green goddess.” “Had they used the term ‘green goddess’ instead of ‘marijuana,’ we’d probably be having a very different conversation about this plant,” said Rouse. 55
Reggie Wingnutz is an accomplished writer and performer whose work explores sexuality, gender identity and spirituality through words and music. (Did we mention he’s a swinging time traveler from the 60s?)
THE HONEY POT: How has cannabis changed over the years? REGGIE WINGNUTZ: It’s stronger now, with lots more varieties. I don’t care that much except I like to physically relax. Now there are waxes, oils, herb, vaping, edibles, and of course, CBD. Back in the 60s and 70s you smoked what you could get. Most of us didn’t think in terms of “bud”; it was a bag of pot and you hoped it was good. Sometimes someone had hash and occasionally hash oil. I partook in all of them. The other thing is that in England, “spliff ” was originally more commonly [consumed, and that’s actually] a mixture of pot and tobacco. That’s been changing more to pure green herb and oils, nowadays. There was quite a stretch when I stopped doing it altogether because it made me paranoid, and it’s only in recent years that I learned about all the different strains. Apparently I don’t do well with the “buzzy” sorts, but I do rather like the relaxing and mellow, which heighten one’s physical senses. [It’s] particularly nice if you’re getting up-close and naked with someone you like! Also, it’s not taboo in the way it once was. And while that’s great in one way, I sort of miss the bit about being naughty (although I always find other ways). But I’m totally happy when it gets legalized in more places.
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Photos (c) Sam C. Long
What was your favorite cannabis experience? Some years ago, my next-door neighbor had a little pot plant growing in her window, and every so often—when I’d go over there (at her invitation)—I’d pick some of the baby leaves. It was a very small plant, maybe two feet high at the most. And those joints were some of the sweetest highs I’ve ever had. Those baby leaves! I’ve never been into being big, hit-you-over-the-head stoned (although I’ve certainly done it), and if I’m trying to get anything done—or have a semblance of a coherent conversation—forget it. I like being on that edge, while I’m mucking about playing music and coming up with ideas.
What’s something people might not know about the cannabis plant? Every plant has a spirit. There’s an herb store I used to go into to gather plant materials to make various concoctions, and I started to notice that each bin or jar of herbs had a distinct personality, and some would actually call out to me. Even when I wasn’t partaking in smoking pot, I always really liked the spirit of cannabis. [It is] more “female” in energy, warm, benevolent, healing and fun. Quite different than the spirit of opium (heroin), who I actually wrote a song about called “Lady in White”. Start tuning into the spirits of the plants. Each one is never all-good, or all-bad. Too much of one can sometimes be poison, but just the right amount can be medicine. They are mutlifaceted and have their own unique characteristics, as we do. If you listen, they will tell and show you a lot; and you might be surprised.
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Diversity in Cannabis The White Republican Woman By Annie Iezzi
Diversity and Cannabis: both are loaded terms, and rightfully so. Inextricably linked through their attachment to those unjustly shunned by the mainstream, these words are moving toward the forefront of the modern cultural narrative. The emerging cannabis industry is placing social equity at the forefront of legislation to ensure communities of color harmed by the War on Drugs are guaranteed an entrée into the space. This diversity is most loudly championed by those with left-leaning political affiliations, paradoxically erasing conservative voices from the cannabis conversation. Interestingly, the diversity lacking in the cannabis space is not entirely predicated upon the exclusion of historically underprivileged groups, although this front certainly necessitates continued efforts. One voice noticeably lacking at cannabis conventions, or, seemingly, the voice least amplified by peers, is the voice of the White Republican Woman. One such Republican woman is Gretchen Gailey, the
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Vice President of Public Relations as KCSA Strategic Communications. About 40 percent of KCSA’s practice focuses on cannabis; Gretchen works on press, media and investor relations in all aspects of the cannabis industry, from those who grow the plant, to those in ancillary businesses. She came to KCSA after working for a Republican congressman on Capitol Hill and entering the cannabis industry after 2012, when she began a job in cannabis data analytics. Prior to her industry exposure, and due to relationships with cannabis users who embodied the negative stereotypes associated with ‘stoners’, Gretchen balked at the cannabis industry. “My own perception of cannabis was that this is not good,” she said of her initial impressions of the plant. Due to her high professional aspirations in journalism and beyond, she refused to interact with the plant, telling a significant other: “You can’t have this around me, you can’t bring it into my home, what are you doing!” She explained, “I couldn’t be involved at all with something that was illegal… because I thought the cops were going to bust down my door and I was going to lose my job.” Her data-based, career-related exposure to cannabis is what alerted Gretchen
to the importance of legalizing the plant. After years of ignoring the lobbyist that she, and her colleagues on Capitol Hill, referred to as the “Cannabis Cowboy,” it was the medical possibilities of cannabis that redefined his “nutball” endeavor as one worth pursuing. “Seeing how this plant can medically help people, that’s what kind of turned me to saying yes. I want to be advocating for this; I want to work for this, move this conversation forward and help make some real change.” Gretchen’s change of heart was ushered in by her introduction to Mara Gordon of Aunt Zelda’s medicines, based in California (see our interview with Gordon elsewhere in this issue). “They’re a great brand,” Gretchen said. “I haven’t used Ibuprofen in 5 years; I love it.” Aunt Zelda’s topicals rely on CBD, and occasionally TCH to activate the CBD, to ease pain in the joints. Even post-industry participation, the necessity for accessible medical cannabis continues to invigorate Gretchen to push for medical legalization: “A friend [of mine undergoing cancer treatments] needed medical cannabis… and I’m out in a field in Maryland at midnight to get something for my friend who’s dying. Because Maryland wasn’t legal at that point. And I’m like, ‘This is what I have to do? I’m in the industry, and I have connections, and this is still what I have to do to get medicine for a friend.’ It gutted me,” Gretchen said. Now, Gretchen strongly advocates for the complete legalization of medical cannabis and the federal de-scheduling of the plant. In line with her conservative leanings, although she identifies as more moderate than many conservatives, she believes the government should “stay out of [the cannabis industry].” Gretchen tempers this statement by describing the important role of agencies, like the FDA, enforcing standards in the budding industry, but she also believes cannabis will self-regulate in many ways. “Many companies work hard to be beyond compliant,’’ she explains. “They meet the standards of their state, but they want to do more… they push harder to have no heavy metals, no pesticides, to be fully organic.” The VP also disagrees with federal involvement in the cannabis industry on the grounds of massive misinformation and disinformation propagated by, and still evident in, the government. “I always say to people who think that the federal government is completely against cannabis: I don’t think that they are. I think they are just ignorant. They just don’t know where to begin,” Gretchen said.
Knowing where to begin with cannabis legislation has been a major roadblock in the movement, especially on the topic of social equity. Gretchen believes states should set a standard to begin to achieve this goal. “If you were selling x amount, if you were a nonviolent offender, if you were caught with x possession, those records should be expunged,” she explained. These standards become hazier when it comes to reparations, and the question of where to begin glares, imbuing government reparations legislation with an air of futility. “Do you fund people who you know are not going to be able to meet those standards?” Gretchen asked. “Or do you set up programs to maybe give them a step up and try and help?” As jives with her politics, she believes the place to start with these programs is in state government. “The state needs to decide who their population is, who they are trying to help, who they want to affect. How has the Drug War affected them personally? Instead of trying to come up with some national standard for how things should happen,” she said. She also supports better banking regulations, fairer licensing processes, and the closing of loopholes that allow large conglomerates to monopolize the cannabis industry as ways of supporting equity. “It’s hard to provide all of the answers up front,” she lamented. “It’s quite a long process that people aren’t willing to wait for. I would just hate to tell people to be patient… it’s definitely not an issue that’s going away. But where to begin? I don’t even know.” Looking forward to the already anticipated 2020 presidential election, Gretchen said the candidates’ stance on cannabis legislation will absolutely impact how she votes. She specified she did not, and will not, be voting for a certain Republican candidate who “hijacked” her party. “Cannabis is something we need to have, and I wouldn’t vote for someone who is against it,” she elaborated, although she didn’t point to a specific presidential pick just yet. While medical cannabis legalization is her main concern, Gretchen’s mindset for recreational cannabis trends in a positive
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direction. “I’m for it, in that I don’t think people should go to jail for growing a plant, consuming a plant that we are finding to have great medicinal purposes,” she said. When it comes to her identity as a white, Republican woman who participates in the cannabis space, Gretchen promotes a mindset of unity and diversity. “You can’t assume that because someone is more conservative leaning that they don’t have the same goals and aspirations to legalize the use of cannabis. And it’s important to remember that it’s going to take both parties to move legislation forward and get this industry to the place that we want it to be. [If] we want people to set aside their stereotypes when it comes to consumers, we need to do the same politically.”
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IN HIGH ESTEEM: FEMALE INFLUENCERS WE LOVE
By Cosima Balletti-Thomas and Lacey Jaye Yannelli
As the cannabis space evolves, it’s becoming clearer that women are leading the movement in myriad ways - whether as pioneering CEOs, innovative scientists, creative artists, mothers on a mission or all of the above and more. Whatever their passion, women in cannabis are embracing the plant in their public platforms to transform lifestyle branding as we know it. We suggest you hit that “Follow” button: Here are some of the most revolutionary voices taking art, advocacy, and health to new highs we can all enjoy.
Olivia Alexander @thelivaealxander / @kushqueenco:
Olivia Alexander, founder and CEO of Kush Queen © Morgan Leigh English @thiscannabislife, courtesy of iamkushqueen.com
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Founder of luxury cannabis brand Kush Queen and owner of the virally-successful Instagram page @buddfeed, Olivia Alexander stands on the other side of the brand-partnership where she creates and sells both THC and CBD products on a global scale. She helped to pioneer a more eclectic cannabis culture through what is now a multi-million dollar company.
Grow Sisters @grow.sisters: Second-generation legacy cannabis farmer Siobhan Danger Darwish lives in Humboldt County, California, growing her own plants and educating others about the process. In 2016 her land at Blessed Coast Farms received the first cannabis cultivation permit in the state, inspiring Siobhan to create Grow Sisters as a multimedia education platform that speaks to all women in the industry. Show me a cooler example of a female-owned business. We love Grow Sisters for embodying feminine creation and creativity through a popular YouTube channel (the current series is called “Know Your Farmer”), and three Instagram pages @grow.sisters, @sister.grow.your.own, and @know.your.farmer that combine cannabis culture, production, and education.
© Grow Sisters
@nikki.narvaez: Nikki Narvaez is an alt model who uses her natural beauty and alternative style to demolish misogyny and do her part for the feminist movement. Her Instagram is filled with sexy photos of Nikki smoking and dabbing in some of the most beautiful places we’ve ever seen.
© Daze @iamdaze_
The Cannabis Cutie @thecannabiscutie: The Cannabis Cutie is a cannabis lifestyle and information page that combines cannabis with art and femininity. We love this page because it presents cannabis culture in a very spiritual and mystical light while also informing followers about cannabis science.
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The Cannabis Cutie © Mitch Forte @mitchforte
Lizzy Jeff @lizzyjeff:
© Lizzy Jeff
Lizzy Jeff is a medicine woman dedicated to elevating consciousness through plant medicine, art and serenity. She is an advocate for higher vibrations, with the belief that cannabis and self love is the gateway to the universal healing and compassion we need on this planet. She provides safe spaces for women to truly embrace and express their sexuality and love of cannabis. Her events don’t exclude men, but attract the highest possible vibes and clientele. Feel free to ride the good vibes in comfort.
@rxmaryjade: Based in New Jersey, RxMaryJade started out as a patient documenting her cannabis journey. She has since formed a brand with an amazing CBD salve, actively advocating and educating on how to work cannabis into your life, and offering classes that teach home infusion. Additionally Jade does community service, locally cleaning up parks and neighborhoods. Her brand is focused on patients first, with the primary ingredient in her Shamans Salve being love. Jade embodies what much of the New Jersey cannabis scene lacks, compassion and honesty. 66
RX Mary Jade © Lucy La Riot
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FASHION INFLUENCERS WE’RE WILD FOR By Cosima Balletti-Thomas
Cannabis culture is meeting the mainstream in unprecedented ways. We’ve known about hemp-based clothing for a long time, but all versions of the plant from CBD to highTHC are now inspiring some of the coolest names in the fashion industry to start greening both runway and ready-to-wear looks. Here are a few influential designers bringing the canna love full-force into their latest collections - and soon to stores near you!
STACEY BENEDET @aliceandolivia: Founder and CEO of the popular brand Alice+Olivia, Stacey Bendet is one part fashion queen and one part canna diva, having fused style and fashion through a partnership with the high-end cannabis brand Kush Queen. Bendet believes in the capacity of art and wellness to empower women and that's exactly what she’s determined to do. Stacey Bendet, founder and CEO of Alice + Olivia, her own work, 2018. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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LAURA SIEGEL @laurasiegelcollection: Fashion designer Laura Siegel combines hemp with other materials to produce handcrafted and ethically sourced clothing. Siegel collaborates with artisans in rural Asian and Central/South American communities to produce natural and unique clothing while helping to maintain craftsmanship and artisanship. She is another active agent in the “for women, by women” movement, as well as the ethical and hemp fashion brand industry.
Laura Siegel (right) and Holt Renfrew’s director of brand strategy, Alexandra Weston (left), both wearing Laura Siegel Spring 2016. Shot by Luis Mora @luismoraphoto for The Kit
SUNDAE SCHOOL @sundae.school: Mia Park and her brother Dae Lim co-founded Sundae School, a clothing brand based in both New York and Seoul that integrates cannabis culture into its designs. With a commitment to the ideals of higher education, these founders truly believe in “cannabis for creativity.” Their products are excellent inspiration for sweet dreams fuel, and we’re here for it.
Sundae School founders Mia Park and Dae Lim, courtesy of The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc., cfda.com.
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ACABADA @acabadaactive:
© Acabada
Clothing company Acabada has begun creating CBD infused women’s athletic wear through a process known as microencapsulation, which essentially means that CBD is integrated into the clothing in time-released microcapsules as well as in accord with specific muscle groups so that the capsules release the CBD gradually during your workout. Acabada’s co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Katrina Petrillo is a leader to watch for her inventive collections bringing cannabis and fashion together.
@kortomomolu: Liberian born fashion designer and Project Runway star Korto Momolu has partnered up with “Women Grow” (@womengrow), an organization that helps women in the cannabis and hemp industry network with one another. Together, these two entities have created hemp designs and are just one more example of a “for women, by women” collaboration. Momolu is creative and bold and we can’t wait to see what she does next! Let’s check out what she just did...
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Korto Momolu backstage at the Korto Momolu for Women Grow SS20 show, New York Fashion Week 2019. Courtesy of The Creative.
In High Fashion All photos from Korto Momolu for Women Grow SS20, New York Fashion Week 2019. Courtesy of The Creative.
Korto Momulu for Women Grow Hits the NYFW Runway By Alexandra Farina As the guests settled into their seats, the lights in the room slowly dimmed until darkness fell, masking the glints and shimmers of the maximalist outfits of the observers. A hush fell over the audience in anticipation. A reading of Maya Angelou’s eponymous poem, “Still I Rise,” projected from the speakers, loud and imposing and booming. The darkness gave glorious space to Angelou’s invocation of the resiliency, strength, and beauty of the black community’s perseverance and flourishing in the face of hundreds of years of
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oppression and discrimination. As the strains of “I rise/I rise/I rise” faded out, the audience took a collective breath, anxious to see what was to follow this powerful start. Suddenly, to my right, a wall of bulbs flashed, flooding the space with brilliance, setting off the sequins, fishnet shirts, and ornate costume jewelry that were temporarily darkened for the reading. Just as the room gleamed gold once more, the first model showcasing Korto Momolu’s newest line burst around the corner of the catwalk. A Project Runway veteran, Momolu collaborated with Women Grow, an organization designed to eradicate the stigma of the cannabis industry and to connect the female leaders within it, to produce New York Fashion Week’s first official cannabis couture show. Accordingly, Momolu’s line features eco-friendly, sustainable, hemp-based fabrics. As I watched model after model strut, cheekbones glittering, garments flowing, it was clear that the collaboration was a match made in heaven. Led by
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CEO Chanda Macias and Executive Vice President Gia Moron, Women Grow has made a sustained effort to increase diversity and representation within the organization and to promote and support women of color in the industry. Indeed, the show reflected such diversity: most of Momolu’s models were women of color, but the show also featured models of varying body types and ages. Integrating Women Grow’s mission seamlessly throughout the show, the line incorporated elements of traditional African fashion with sustainability and cannabis positivity. Momolu began the show with a rose-gold flecked romper cinched by a band printed with cannabis leaves, evoking a warrior-like aesthetic that reflected the attitude of every model’s presence. Her next piece was a loose, Greek-goddess-like tunic belted with hanging fringe. As the model wearing the outfit walked up to the wall of lights, the glint of a gold chain wrapped around her hand revealed a goldencased, bejeweled vape pen. She stopped, looked at the photographers scattered around the lights, and hit the pen, letting the smoke rise around her. The audience whooped with joy, enthralled by the show’s badass buzz. The after party further emphasized the important work, collaboration, support and, yes, fun expressed by the women in the audience. As I entered the venue on the bottom level of Chelsea Market, a throng of people lined up to try the CBD bar, which was adorned with gold, sparkly hearts, and confetti. All around me, women gathered in small groups, excitedly talking and laughing. No one stood alone—everyone was invited to dance or chat about lighthearted topics or talk business. Genifer Murray, co-founder of Genifer M Jewelry, a company that makes cannabis-inspired fine jewelry in order to destigmatize the business and practice, bounced around the room like a veritable firecracker. An eighteen-karat white gold cannabis leaf paved with brilliant diamonds hung around her neck. It was the first piece her father, a jeweler who helped her begin her business, made for her. Before the after party, as I walked alongside her towards High Maintenance, a luxury smoke shop located in Chelsea Market, Genifer explained that the jewelry company was made to provide people with a choice to come away from the pop culture idea of cannabis. Sadly, there exist veritable barriers for cannabisrelated businesses and organizations like Genifer’s. She explained to me that because of the overwhelming stigma attached to cannabis, company sponsorships request confidentiality and charities refuse cannabisrelated funds. Public advertisements are also a struggle. Inside the after party, I caught up with Imani Dawson, Vice President of The WeedHead and Company, an organization dedicated to educate,
empower, and facilitate e-commerce for professionals working in cannabis in an effort to make the industry accessible for all, especially those people who have been disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. Dawson echoed Murray’s sentiments regarding the stigma of the cannabis industry, and emphasized her and other women’s commitments to holding space in the industry for diverse minority groups and small growers and entrepreneurs. Dawson strives to keep the industry egalitarian, and to keep it from slipping into a prohibitive space for smaller business owners. She told me: “If you’re in this business, you also usually become an activist.” From Momolu’s work in the fashion industry to Murray’s intervention in the jewelry industry to Dawson’s activism in the broader cannabis industry, all of these women are exemplars of what Women Grow hopes to cultivate and help flourish. By the end of the night, it was clear that the attitude of this organization and the female business owners and activists within it embody Angelou’s poetic words. Taking the cannabis industry with them, these women are rising and advocating for all those groups that have suffered from its negative impacts.
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Cannabis Astrology
Libra
What’s your star strain?
Aries Taurus Gemini
Cancer Leo Virgo 74
By Jaime Lubin
Panama Red: The passionate intensity with which Aries lead their lives is matched only by the classic sativa Panama Red. This psychedelic strain, popular since the 1960s, encourages the creativity and confidence inherent to the Ram
Scorpio
(and we hear it’s great for in the bedroom too). Bubba Kush: Taureans love decadent, sensual delights, so it’s no wonder the sweet chocolaty indica known as Bubba Kush reminds us of Ferdinand the Bull lolling happily in the fields. Reliable as can be, this fixed Earth sign needs cannabis that performs routine relaxation, which the star strain delivers on time, every time. White Widow: When you’re of two minds about everything, as Geminis always are, you need a hybrid that can bring you double the euphoria and energy. Enter the famous White Widow, a potent stimulant for conversation but also excellent for introspective and practical tasks like cleaning your house or writing that report. Now any curious Twin can concentrate on whatever draws their fancy.
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Granddaddy Purple: Sensitive and nurturing Cancer can cozy right up to this relaxing indica. Floating in dreams while remaining physically in one spot – that’s the standard effect of Granddaddy Purple, and it satisfies every Crab’s greatest fantasy: Unlimited imagination while swaddled in the comforts of home. Acapulco Gold: Larger-than-life Leo could only be compared to such an outstanding strain as Acapulco Gold, which itself has been likened to gold nuggets and luxury vacations. Dubbed “one of the best cannabis strains ever created,” this happiness-inducing sativa fits the Lion’s charismatic personality to a T.
Gelato: Maybe a strange pairing, but don’t underestimate the seemingly timid Virgo. Sweet and innocent on the outside, with the force of a typhoon (a very organized typhoon) inside. Same goes for Gelato, well known as a dessert strain but recommended only for those who can handle the uplifting power of its heavy THC. Enjoy it with the utmost respect; nature adores a Virgin.
Northern Lights: Peacemaker Libra finds a mirror in the famous indica Northern Lights, known for psychoactive effects that pacify the mind. People of the Scales love to make others happy and create a sense of balance, which this strain does beautifully with its easy pain relief, muscle relaxation, and all-around contentment. Jack Herer: One natural-born leader deserves another. Scorpio is all about power, commitment and success, reflected in “The Emperor” Jack Herer. This notorious sativa-dominant strain produces cerebral elevation, blissful experiences, and potent medicinal effects. Hey, all Scorpions know they are the masters of the universe, so it takes something truly illustrious to evade their sting. Maui Wowie: Always hunting for a challenge, the Archers just might discover uncharted territory in Maui Wowie. Despite its long history as a popular sativa, this tropical favorite inspires feats of high energy so bold, you never know what might happen next. After all, this was the strain fellow Sagittarius Jane Fonda smoked in 9 to 5 – and that sparked a professional revolution. Hindu Kush: Wise Capricorn, searching for calm and privacy, gets called back to the mountains with this pure and subtle indica. Hindu Kush’s earthy flavors are sturdy yet ambitious as the Sea-Goat, carrying an ancient knowledge that can grow and evolve, pushing the world quietly forward.
the Jamaican strain Lamb’s Bread, said to Aquarius favored bestow thoughtful serenity to whomever consumes Lamb’s Bread: Fellow Aquarian Bob Marley
it. The Water-Bearer’s mind is constantly on the go, and whether in groups or alone Aquarians march to the beat of their own drummers. Good to have a similarly adaptable strain that can keep up with their unique rhythms.
Pisces
Blue Dream: The pre-eminent fantasists of the Zodiac, Pisces need to be free to swim in their own thoughts and spiritual downloads. With the invigorating and enchanting Blue Dream, it’s easy for Fish to relax into their sensual inner sanctums. This sativa-dominant hybrid is enjoyable to newbies and veterans alike, similar to the Piscean’s mix of old soul and childlike enthusiasm.
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