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# 1 | S E P T . 2020
INDEPENDENT CANNABIS JOURNALISM SINCE 2010
The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition Brothers Grimm Seeds presents
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growing together! The 2020 Virtual Boston Freedom Rally continues a storied legacy of radical cannabis activism that must now begin to confront the challenges of legalized cannabis.
NORTHEAST
TH E CHA L L E NGE S O F O UR T IME S MAY K E E P US A PA RT PHYSICA L LY, B UT T HRO UGH T HE B E AUT Y O F D IG ITA L C O MMUNICAT IO N MASSCA NN IS H O NO RE D TO PROVIDE A DIGITA L SPAC E FO R TH E CO MMUNIT Y TO C O ME TO GE T HE R A ND GROW.
Are you
Interested in fighting against the racist legacy of cannabis prohibition? Interested in helping to create an equitable marketplace for those seeking to run cannabis operations? Looking for a way to meet new people interested in cannabis activism? Self-motivated and willing to work as a volunteer within a fast paced and consensus driven environment? For $30 per year, members receive * A MassCann T-Shirt * Membership and voting rights within the organization * The ability to participate in MassCann Committee Meetings * Volunteer opportunities through the calendar year (both digital and in-person, if allowed) * Participation in steering groups to help prepare for and run the annual Boston Freedom Rally * Access to educational programming related to the cannabis plant and cannabis reform (lawmaking and regulations)
JOIN THE ORIGINAL GRASSROOTS CANNABIS ACTIVIST ORGANIZATION IN MASSACHUSETTS, 31 YEARS ON THE GROUND AND STILL GROWING TOGETHER!
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sept. 2020
NORTHEAST
ISSUE 01 7 EDITOR NOTE 8 ABOUT NE LEAF 10 CANNABIS NEWS 16 HEMP EXPERT 18 HIGHLY LIKELY 20 DIANE RUSSELL 21 ELAINE KEEVIN 22 CANNTHROPOLOGY 24 STRAIN OF THE MONTH 26 SUBSCRIBE TO THE LEAF 28 NE LEAF POT LAW GUIDE 34 CANNA PROVISIONS 38 GREENLEAF COMPASSION CENTER 42 RECIPES 43 EDIBLES 44 CONCENTRATES 45 TOPICALS 46 STONEY BALONEY ISSUU.COM/NWLEAF
COURTESY
4
22 CANNTHROPOLOGY
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28 WHERE’S IT LEGAL? BREAKING DOWN LAWS ACROSS THE NE
in massachusetts, we tour the beautiful locations of canna provisions, and learn how they’re helping educate consumers.
STORY by DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF for NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTOS by MELISSA OSTROW/MEL O PHOTO
BRUCE WOLF
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REMEMBERING DR. LESTER GRINSPOON
42 CANNABIS RECIPES STONED SUMMERTIME GOODNESS
Search the good stuff Visit weedmaps.com or download the app
ISSUE #1
profile
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21
northeast leaf chats with excelsior extracts’ cultivation manager and r&d manager elaine keevin on her life and journey in cannabis.
Sept. 2020
STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTO by KOURTENAY ESTACIO @K.MEPHOTOGRAPHY
E S TA B L I S H E D 2 0 1 0
T H E E N L I G H T E N E D VO I C E
N O RT H W E S T L E A F / O R EG O N L E A F / A L AS KA L E A F / M A RY L A N D L E A F / CA L I F O R N I A L E A F /
A B O U T T H E C OV E R “It’s no easy feat creating an image that unifies the diverse region covered by this publication. We chose Owen Murphy, owner of One Drop Design Studios and a New Jersey native, to illustrate Northeast Leaf’s inaugural cover. Owen has made a name for himself producing concert posters for the likes of Dead & Company, Slightly Stoopid, Billy Strings, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Twiddle. Tasked with designing a cover that represents the Northeast, Owen hit on the ocean - a common thread shared by most states in this part of the country. His cover image depicts a lighthouse watching over the region with a bountiful crop of Cannabis on shore, representing the Northeast’s growing marijuana industry.” -Early
ILLUSTRATION by OWEN MURPHY for Leaf Nation | @onedropdesignstudio
PUBLISHER
CONTRIBUTORS
WES ABNEY | FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
BOBBY BLACK, FEATURES
WES@NWLEAF.COM 206-235-6721
JENNMARIE CASTIGLIONE, FEATURES
SENIOR EDITORS MIKE GIANAKOS | DAN VINKOVETSKY
MIKEG@NELEAFMAG.COM DAN@NELEAFMAG.COM 844-4NELEAF
CREATIVE DIRECTOR DANIEL BERMAN | VISUALS & DESIGN
DANIEL@BERMANPHOTOS.COM
AMANDA DAY, FEATURES EARLY, PRODUCTION STEVE ELLIOTT, NATIONAL NEWS KOURTENAY ESTACIO, PHOTOS BRIAN JAHN, FEATURES DAN MCCARTHY, FEATURES MELISSA OSTROW, PHOTOS JEFF PORTERFIELD, DESIGN MIKE RICKER, FEATURES
DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY
MEGHAN RIDLEY, EDITING
PETE THOMPSON
ROBERT SCHEUERMAN, PHOTOS
PETE@NELEAFMAG.COM
GABE SOUZA, PHOTOS
SALES DIRECTOR
PACER STACKTRAIN, FEATURES
MICHAEL CZERHONIAK
OWEN MURPHY, ILLUSTRATION
MICHAEL@NELEAFMAG.COM
BRUCE & LAURIE WOLF, RECIPES
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ABNEY
Editor’s Note Thank you for picking up the first issue of Northeast Leaf magazine! It is a privilege and honor to be serving as advocacy journalists for Cannabis in a new part of the country. Our new Northeast magazine will span eight states with 20,000 monthly copies, all sent out for free to share the truth about our plant, our industry and our communities. When I first began publishing Northwest Leaf in Washington state in 2010, my mission was to legitimize medicinal Cannabis use when Cannabis was still illegal. Patients faced huge stigma and legal consequences for using a plant without harm, and that has never sat right in my heart. Fast forward to today and our community and plant are still only emerging as accepted for medical and recreational use at a national and global level. We still have a long way to go before our culFAST FORWARD ture and plant are respected and free, but we are TO TODAY AND OUR also making major strides in Cannabis normalCOMMUNITY ization! From illegal to essential business in a AND PLANT ARE decade, the future of Cannabis is very bright. STILL ONLY The bright light ahead of the industry is why EMERGING AS ACCEPTED FOR we chose to use a lighthouse as our cover art MEDICAL AND central theme. RECREATIONAL We see ourselves providing a guiding voice to USE AT A the industry and Cannabis communities of the NATIONAL AND GLOBAL LEVEL. Northeast, and doing so with honor and respect for the plant. I am beyond ecstatic to be joined in this new project by four legacy Cannabis pioneers: Danny Danko, Michael Gianakos, Pete Thompson and Michael Czerhoniak. They have joined Leaf Nation after influencing the industry at High Times, and we are now united along with the rest of our amazing team to deliver the highest quality Cannabis journalism - every month with a fresh issue of the Leaf. Which is where you come in! I love sharing the Leaf and I hope you share your copy, and the information inside, with those within your own community. We will end the drug war and the stigma of our plant, but only by being vocal about how Cannabis helps us. I have seen countless lives saved or benefited by Cannabis over the last decade, and believe that Bob Marley said it best. “Herb is the healing of the nation.” That nation is ours. And the healing is just beginning. Thank you for reading!
-Wes Abney Sept. 2020
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NELEAFMAG.COM
We are creators of targeted, independent Cannabis journalism. Please email us to discuss advertising in the next issue of Northeast Leaf Magazine. We do not sell stories or coverage. We can offer design services and guidance on promoting your company’s medicinal, recreational, commercial or industrial Cannabis business, product or event within our magazine and on our website, neleafmag.com. Email michael@neleafmag.com for more info on supporting and advertising with us!
WES
N O RT H E AS T L E A F
ABOUT THE LEAF
8
WELCOME TO NORTHEAST
Y
ou are reading the debut issue of Northeast Leaf magazine - a free, monthly print publication dedicated to covering all things Cannabis in the
Northeast. Just a few short years ago, this project would have been inconceivable. The West Coast and Colorado have dominated marijuana media for decades and, unless you were chronicling unjust pot arrests, you wouldn’t really want to focus too much on states like New York or New Jersey. But times have changed. The green rush has
neleafmag.COM
headed east and suddenly a regional Cannabis magazine focused on the Northeast is not just possible, it’s essential.
Sept. 2020
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The eight states covered by Northeast Leaf magazine - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont - are at different stages of marijuana-law reform, from full adult-use legalization with rec sales to decriminalization and strictly enforced medical rules. But the region is undoubtedly progressing and, when it comes to Cannabis, things can change quickly. By the end of the year, there’s a good chance that Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Vermont will all have recreational programs with retail sales. As the region evolves, Northeast Leaf magazine will be there to cover the pot progress and the passionate people who have transformed the Northeast into a vital part of the Cannabis world. Another reason this project would have been inconceivable just a few years ago is because the staff worked for a different Cannabis company at the time. Four former High Times magazine senior
staffers teamed up with Leaf Nation to create Northeast Leaf. Former High Times Senior Cultivation Editor Dan Vinkovetsky (previously known as Danny Danko), Editor-in-Chief Mike Gianakos, Director of Technology Pete Thompson and Advertising Executive Michael Czerhoniak, joined forces with Leaf Nation, bringing decades of marijuana media experience to The Leaf’s latest venture. Since 2010, Leaf Nation’s regional magazines have become the most trusted, recognized Cannabis publications still in print in America. Beginning with Northwest Leaf in Washington state, The Leaf has expanded to Oregon, Alaska, Maryland and California, setting the standard for Cannabis journalism, covering every aspect of the plant and the people who care about it. Teaming up with The Leaf to create this magazine is a natural fit. All of us here at NE Leaf grew up and currently reside in the Northeast. We’re proud to represent the region’s Cannabis community and cover its burgeoning
industry. We hope that with Leaf Nation’s expertise in launching and maintaining regional publications and our media experience and passion for the plant, we can become the voice of Cannabis culture for the more than 40 million people living in the region. Our goal is to reach the medical marijuana patients, Cannabis connoisseurs and pot aficionados of the region by providing a unique perspective on news, culture and the everchanging political climate here in the Northeast, as well as local coverage of all eight states on the issues that are important to you.
Looking to be a part of the Northeast Leaf community, or want more information on contributing, advertising, distributing or subscribing? Email us at: info@neleafmag.com Thanks for reading — The Northeast Leaf Staff
STORY by MIKE GIANAKOS @ MIKEGEEZEEY and DAN VINKOVETSKY @ DANNYDANKOHT
NATIONAL NEWS
trends & culture
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politics
PELOSI DEFENDS MARIJUANA’S COVID-19 THERAPY POTENTIAL
H
ouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August defended a provision of the Democratic coronavirus relief bill tied to Cannabis. “I don’t agree with you that Cannabis is not related to this,” Pelosi said during a press briefing, reports The Hill. “This is a therapy that has proven successful.” House Democrats passed their own $3 trillion stimulus bill called the Heroes Act on May 15, but it never got a vote in the GOP-controlled Senate, reports Forbes. The provision would have allowed legal Cannabis businesses to work with banking services, reports USA Today. Cannabis business have been deemed ‘essential’ during the pandemic, but aren’t eligible for Small Business Administration loans, according to the National Cannabis Industry Association.
‘POSITIVE PERCEPTIONS’ OF CANNABIS FOR LEGAL STATES
R
esearchers with the University of Waterloo, School of Public Health in Canada surveyed 5,530 adult respondents living in Alaska, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state, and they found some very reassuring news, reports NORML. Adults over the age of 21 who live in states where retail Cannabis sales are allowed tend to have positive impressions of the marijuana industry, according to data published in the journal Addictive Behaviors. “The current findings suggest generally positive perceptions of the legal Cannabis market,” the authors reported. “THIS DATA ONCE “Most respondents, including frequent AGAIN AFFIRMS THAT MOST VOTERS DO NOT Cannabis consumers, perceived legal EXPERIENCE ‘BUYER’S Cannabis to be of equal or greater quality REMORSE’ FOLLOWING and convenience, and as safer to buy and MARIJUANA use than Cannabis from illegal sources.” LEGALIZATION.” “This data once again affirms that most voters do not experience ‘buyer’s remorse’ following marijuana legalization,” said NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano. “In the minds of most Americans, these laws are operating as voters intended and in a manner that is consistent with their expectations.”
southwest
ARIZONA LEGALIZATION INITIATIVE WILL BE ON NOVEMBER BALLOT
C
northwest
CANNABIS SOCIAL EQUITY MAKES PROGRESS IN WASHINGTON STATE
neleafmag.COM
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ttempts to increase minority participation in Washington state’s marijuana industry are ongoing, but government officials there face hurdles in creating a workable social equity program, due to stiff competition and plentiful supplies, reports Marijuana Business Daily. Governor Jay Inslee in March signed House Bill Gov. Jay Inslee 2870 to create a new social equity program “that provides business opportunities to people from disproportionately harmed communities so they can ... become a Cannabis retailer.” Existing weed retailers in Washington are well established, as the state began recreational sales in 2014. That makes the state one of the most competitive in the nation for all types of Cannabis licensees. It will still be months before any social equity business licenses are issued, according to state health department employee Christy Hoff. Members of a task force - expected to consist of about a dozen people from state agencies, Cannabis businesses and minority representatives haven’t been selected.
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tons of Cannabis hidden inside lime boxes was seized at the Mexican border by authorities in August.
Sept. 2020
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percent of Canadian Cannabis market share is earned by vape pens, reports Headset data.
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annabis could become legalized in Arizona in the near future as a new measure has officially qualified for the November 2020 ballot. The Secretary of State in August announced that activists had turned in enough valid signatures to qualify, one month after about “ADULTS WOULD 420,000 signatures HAVE THE RIGHT were submitted, reports TO LEGALLY POSSESS UP Marijuana Moment. TO AN OUNCE Adults would have OF CANNABIS UNDER THE the right to legally MEASURE.” possess up to an ounce of Cannabis under the measure. Cultivation of up to six plants for personal use would also be allowed. Restorative justice provisions are also included in the measure, such as allowing people with prior pot convictions to petition for expungements and establishing a social equity Cannabis business ownership program.
$
LEGALIZATION
NEW INITIATIVE TO LEGALIZE CANNABIS SALES FILED IN D.C.
A
ctivists have filed a new proposed bailout initiative to legalize Cannabis sales in the nation’s capital. The “New Modern Day Cannabis Justice Reform Act” would halt prosecutions of marijuana cultivation, sales and consumption, reports Marijuana Moment. It would also stop Cannabis from being the cause of police searches and provide for record expungement of prior marijuana convictions. D.C. voters approved a legalization measure in 2014, but it only covered possession and home cultivation - not sales. The city has been prevented from implementing a retail model due to a Congressional rider barring it from using local tax funds for such purposes. The currently unregulated system of legalization has failed to address problems such as racially disproportionate enforcement, according to Dawn Lee-Carty, Executive Director of the campaign behind the initiative. To qualify for the ballot, activists would need to collect 24,835 valid signatures from registered voters. Activists recently submitted enough signatures to qualify Initiative 81, which would decriminalize psychedelics in D.C.
“Our research has always shown that a majority of Montanans support legalization, and now voters will have the opportunity to enact that policy, which will create jobs and generate new revenue for our state.” -New Approach Montana Political Director Pepper Petersen, describing the group’s successful effort to get Initiative 190 and Constitutional Initiative 118 on the November 2020 ballot.
new Cannabis retail licenses will be issued by Illinois in September, more than three months after the deadline.
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Cannabis plants were seized after two men were arrested for illegal cultivation in Bradford, England
$50m $348m
is the projected value of Virginia’s limited commercial medical Cannabis program by the year 2024.
was the jaw-dropping record amount of retail Cannabis sales reported for California in just the month of July.
By STEVE ELLIOTT, AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MARIJUANA
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LOCAL NEWS
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SUPPLYING DEMAND Connecticut’s 18th medical Cannabis dispensary is now open for business. Herbology, located in Groton, is the final storefront to open after the state expanded its medical program in 2018, permitting nine additional dispensaries. The new shops are necessary to keep pace with increased demand for access to medicine. When the state last licensed a new dispensary in 2016, there were fewer than 10,000 registered patients in Connecticut - there are now almost 42,000. Marijuana Business Daily estimates that medical Cannabis sales in Connecticut could be as high as $160 million in 2020. Last year, sales reached $125 million, up from about $90 million in 2018. The program’s growth can be attributed in part to lawmakers adding to the list of conditions that qualify patients for medical Cannabis. The addition of chronic pain in 2020 brought the number of qualifying conditions to 38, up from the 11 permitted in the original law. Groton was announced as one of the new storefront locations in 2018. The state received 73 applications for the nine new dispensaries permitted to open. Herbology is the second dispensary to open in New London County, servicing patients in Southeastern Connecticut. It is not, however, a homegrown success story. Herbology is operated by Grassroots Cannabis, a Chicago-based business that was recently acquired by industry giant Curaleaf. The $830 million acquisition made Massachusetts-based Curaleaf Holdings the world’s largest marijuana company by revenue. Curaleaf can now be found in 23 states. The company boasts 88 operating dispensaries, 30 processing facilities and 22 grow sites.
RISE OF THE
HOLDING
PATTERN After a delay of nearly four years, Maine officials announced that recreational Cannabis sales would begin on October 9. However, the wait for retail sales might be a bit longer for Portland. A federal judge ruled that Maine’s biggest city couldn’t use a scoring system it had developed for awarding licenses to rec shops because it unfairly prioritizes Maine’s residents. The ruling comes less than a month before the state plans to begin issuing licenses to recreational Cannabis companies, on September 8. Wellness Connection of Maine, which is owned by the Delaware company High Street Capital - which is itself owned by New Yorkbased Acreage Holdings - filed a lawsuit against the city seeking an injunction that would prevent Portland from discriminating against out-of-state businesses when it awarded its 20 retail licenses. A temporary restraining order was granted and now things are on hold in Portland. The city argued that the scoring system doesn’t reject out-ofstate applicants and Wellness could still win a license by earning points in other categories. However, the judge found that denying companies from other states “equal footing” in the new market was discriminatory. Wellness is currently Maine’s largest Cannabis company. It has four of the state’s eight medical dispensary licenses. And it has a conditional state license for retail sales in Portland. Earlier this year, Portland approved a local ordinance that capped the number of recreational Cannabis shops allowed to open at 20. However, a citizen’s initiative that seeks to remove the cap will appear on the ballot this November.
MACHINES
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Massachusetts dispensaries will experiment with Cannabis vending machines this fall. The machines are prefect for people concerned with excess contact in the age of COVID, and also for misanthropes. The self-checkout kiosks, called anna, offer a touchscreen interface for browsing the inventory - at just eight square feet, the machine can hold 2,000 pot products. Customers can also save time by ordering online and scanning a QR code when they get to the shop. anna machines will dispense the order and accept cash or debit payments. While the dispensing is automated, human employees are still needed to verify that customers are of age. The Boston-based company behind anna believes an automated option will actually allow for more one-on-one time with budtenders for customers who need extra help at the dispensary, leaving the self-checkout to more experienced consumers who know exactly what they want to order. The marijuana machines debuted in Colorado dispensaries in mid-August and will hit Massachusetts pot shops in September. The company plans to have 14 kiosks in the two states by October, before deploying units in Nevada, California and Canada.
Sept. 2020
WEEDWORKERS
UNITE While self-checkout kiosks like the anna machines being rolled out in select markets may be convenient for the customer and cost-effective for the proprietor, that’s probably little comfort to the thousands of Cannabis industry workers in Massachusetts who are attempting to unionize and likely won’t appreciate an essential dispensary job, like budtender, being automated. A growing number of workers in Cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and processing facilities, as well as labs and dispensaries, are turning to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union for help in obtaining adequate health coverage, fair wages and better treatment from their employers. UFCW, one of the country’s largest private sector unions, now represents 1.3 million marijuana workers. Sira Naturals was the first dispensary in Massachusetts to unionize in November 2019. More recently, Cultivate Holdings in Leicester, Mayflower Medicinals in Holliston and Curaleaf dispensary in Hanover voted to unionize. “The legal Cannabis industry is a newly regulated market that can offer local communities jobs with strong wages and benefits that can’t be outsourced,” the UFCW said in a statement. “Jobs that pay better wages and provide better benefits - like the ones we represent - are vital to keeping our economy afloat and families out of poverty.”
CHIPPING AWAY AT PROHIBITION New York legislators want to ensure that all residents who have been convicted of minor marijuana offenses can have their records cleared. This summer, the Senate passed a bill that would make people with Cannabis convictions prior to 1977 - when the state first decriminalized - eligible to have their records automatically expunged. The bill is necessary to close a loophole that was created by the state’s 2019 decrim update. Last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved a law that expanded decriminalization, making possession of up to two ounces a civil violation and allowing for automatic expungement of previous marijuana offenses. However, the legislation only addressed violations that occurred after New York decriminalized, leaving those caught with Cannabis prior to 1977 with no remedy. While New York seemed poised to pass a recreational Cannabis law in 2019, legalization efforts have stalled this year and residents must settle for incremental improvements to the state’s existing legislation. The expansion of decriminalization in 2019 was necessary to change another loophole in the law regarding Cannabis in public view. Previously, despite statewide decrim, possession of pot in public view was still an arrestable offense. That distinction allowed officers to target minorities under the city’s stop and frisk policy beginning in the 1990s, which led to a massive spike in marijuana arrests in New York City. This spring, a ban on pre-employment testing for marijuana use went into effect. The law prevents employers from requiring a drug test for Cannabis as part of the application process. There are, however, exemptions that allow testing for “safety sensitive” positions. Nonetheless, many advocates applaud the bill as a step in the right direction for New York City. >> Continues pg. 14
STORIES by MIKE GIANAKOS @MIKEGEEZEEY
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LOCAL NEWS
>> Continued from pg. 13
14
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon
SUPPORT FOR A GREENER
neleaFmag.COM
GARDEN STATE
New Jersey voters are ready to legalize marijuana. According to a new poll, nearly 70 percent of voters in the Garden State support the upcoming adult-use ballot measure that would tax and regulate Cannabis. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy supports recreational marijuana and lawmakers have considered several legalization bills in recent years. However, the legislature has been unable to agree on a plan. Now the issue will go directly to the voters this November. The recent poll by DKC Analytics shows overwhelming support for legal pot in New Jersey, with 68 percent of would-be voters approving of the policy change - up seven percent from a poll released in April. According to the DKC poll, 50 percent of New Jersey voters also favor allowing social consumption lounges, while 56 percent approve of online ordering and home delivery of pot products. The survey also asked voters why they favor legalizing Cannabis for adults and reported that 70 percent are most interested in preventing illicit sales, while 61 percent focused on revenue generated by taxes. Issues like ensuring safer products, saving money, stimulating the economy and creating jobs all received strong support. However, just 43 percent of respondents said they favor legalizing marijuana because it is safer than alcohol. Those who oppose legal pot told pollsters they were concerned about impaired driving, underage consumption and Cannabis acting as a gateway drug.
Sept. 2020
Photo by Marketeering Group
RHODE ISLAND
RAKES IT IN
Medical Cannabis sales are up again in Rhode Island. Officials are reporting that the state’s three licensed dispensaries combined to sell nearly $60 million worth of marijuana products in the last fiscal year. This marks the third consecutive year of rising sales for the Ocean State. In the previous year, dispensaries reported about $53.5 million in sales - up more than $15 million from 2018’s total. Rhode Island legalized medical marijuana in 2006. The original law set the number of dispensaries serving registered patients at three. However, lawmakers recently approved adding six additional dispensaries to serve the state’s growing program, as well as registered patients from out of state taking advantage of reciprocity in Rhode Island. Unlike the original three dispensaries, which are allowed to cultivate their own Cannabis, the new stores will be retail only. The state is accepting applications for the new dispensaries through December 15 and will award the six new licenses through a lottery next year. Those who win the opportunity to open a dispensary will have to pay the state a $500,000 licensing fee. Rhode Island also licensed its first testing laboratory this summer. Green Peaks Analytical will now test medical Cannabis grown by the state’s licensed cultivators. Previously, testing was handled by the grower or by the dispensary that sold the product. Officials will now set a deadline for testing results from a licensed lab to be included on all medical Cannabis products sold in the state.
STORIES by MIKE GIANAKOS @MIKEGEEZEEY
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EXPERT OPINION
THE HEMP INDUSTRY JERRY WHITING for LEAF NATION L e B l a n c C N E . co m / N WL e a f
No one is going to be rescuing us - certainly not the federal government. We’re on our own and we’re free to work together.
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How Hemp Can Benefit From the Pandemic
With time on their hands, some hemp farmers will become hemp breeders - creating new and potentially valuable cultivars.
COVID-19 is not the flu. It’s not going away anytime soon and when the lockdown ends, we aren’t picking up where we left off. Life is forever changed. The question is: How will hemp be part of the recovery and rebuilding? My faith in hemp hasn’t wavered one bit. In fact, I’m more excited about hemp now than I ever have been before. IMHO, the glass is definitely half full, not half empty. Sept. 2020
Fortunately hemp cultivation and processing isn’t overly regulated. There’s lots of room for creativity and innovation. Not everyone will survive, let alone prosper. Today’s economy makes it nearly impossible to run an inefficient, unprofitable business. Weak, unsustainable companies will fail as they should. The flip side of the coin is that well managed companies with quality products have less competition, and are thus better prepared to succeed. People have time on their hands. Either they’re laid off, or working at home without the hassle of commuting. In chaos lies opportunity. Some will turn their attention and talents to creating new things. The lockdown can be an incubator of innovation. Fewer hemp licenses will be issued in 2020 compared to last year. Farmers will grow fewer acres because the market is already flooded. With time on their hands, some hemp farmers will become hemp breeders - creating new and potentially valuable cultivars. There are virtually no hemp specific farm or processing tools. For example, there are no tractor attachments or decorticators. You may already know what you want, but can’t build it yourself. There’s probably a fabricator, mechanic or engineer with time on their hands who can help build what’s in your head. We’re going to see people emerge from their basement, garage or barn with a solution to a problem we didn’t realize existed. Entrepreneurship is happening during the lockdown hidden from public view. My guess is that work isn’t going on across the country, but going on all over the world. If you’ve learned something you’d like to share, Zoom it, make a YouTube video or start a podcast. You don’t need start up capital, an extensive business plan or a huge staff. All you need is the home office or workshop you already have. Once you start, you may find friends, neighbors and strangers who share your passion and curiosity, and are ready to help. One thing I learned during the #Occupy movement is that it’s more fun to play with the other kids on the playground, than it is to play by myself at home. So get busy and socially distance your hemp projects. As a Black hemp farmer during these ever changing and challenging times, I face challenges each and every day just like everyone else. When I wake up my morning mantra is: “Feet, hit the floor!” If you believe in hemp’s potential as an agent of social, political and economic change, we have the gift of time to focus on building the world we want for our children.
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Highly Likely highlights Cannabis pioneers who paved the way to greater herbal acceptance.
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SUSANBLACKMORE In the same lecture, she went on to talk about how Memetics refers to the before any sort of SUSAN BLACKMORE IS societies have developed relationships to mindstudy of information and recreational legalization A RENOWNED BRITISH altering substances: culture, and is based on in America, Blackmore WRITER, LECTURER, “In just about every human society there has ever the concept of Darwinian admitted to a largely PROFESSOR AND been, people have used dangerous drugs - but evolution. One of the best academic audience that BROADCASTER WHOSE most have developed rituals that bring an element ways to simply look at what FIELD OF RESEARCH she consumes Cannabis: INCLUDES MEMETICS, of control or safety to the experience,” noted memetics studies is the “Some people may PARAPSYCHOLOGY Blackmore. “In more primitive societies, it is shamans concept of the ‘meme’ in smoke dope just to relax AND CONSCIOUSNESS. and healers who control the use of dangerous drugs, internet culture. One can or have fun, but for me choose appropriate settings in which to take them study what effect memes the reason goes deeper. and teach people how to appreciate the visions created and shared (and edited) online In fact, I can honestly say that without and insights that they can bring. In our own society, can have in the real world; say, on social Cannabis, most of my scientific research criminals control all drug sales. This means that justice movements or the rise of neowould never have been done and most users have no way of knowing exactly what they are fascism. of my books on psychology and evolution buying and no one to teach them how to use these Parapsychology is the study of processes would not have been written,” she said. dangerous tools…” typically considered outside of scientific “Some evenings, after a long day at my “It’s an old metaphor, but people often liken the knowledge of the capacity of the human desk, I’ll slip into the bath, light a candle task to climbing a mountain. The drugs can take brain. Processes like telepathy, telekinesis and a spliff, and let the ideas flow - that you up in a helicopter to see what’s there, but you and hypnosis. lecture I have to give to 500 people next can’t stay. In the end, you have to climb That said, listening to a lecture from week, that article I’m writing the mountain yourself - the hard way. Blackmore can be a heady experience. for New Scientist, those “I can Even so, the drugs may provide the But it’s Blackmore’s wit and colloquial tricky last words of a book honestly say inspiration to keep climbing.” style of interpretation of big subjects (like, I’ve been working on for that without This is only an introduction to you, for example – consciousness) that has months. This is the time Cannabis, most dear reader, of one of the many subjects made her such a popular lecturer and when the sentences seem to of my scientific (61, by my count) that this column has essayist. I recommend a seven minute write themselves. Or I might research would covered over the past five years. It is YouTube video called “Consciousness sit out in my greenhouse never have my hope that this small introduction – A Short Introduction” to see how easy on a summer evening been done will pique your interest enough to learn she makes big, sweeping concepts among my tomatoes and and most of a little bit more about her and about understandable to lay people. peach trees, struggling with my books on your own consciousness - and what But what might be Blackmore’s most questions about free will or psychology beneficial things that Cannabis does for compelling thoughts on Cannabis (and the nature of the universe, and evolution it. If a leading scientist can be helped other mind-altering drugs) can be taken and find that a smoke gives would not have by this remarkable plant, let’s see what from her 2005 speech at the Cheltenham me new ways of thinking been written.” we can do! Science Festival. There, a full 10 years about them.”
Sept. 2020
By PACER STACKTRAIN for LEAF NATION | PHOTO by CREATIVE COMMONS
Tyler Curtis
STO RY b y DAN VI N KOV E TS KY @ DAN N YDAN KOH T | P HOTO b y RO B E RT S C HE U E R M AN @ RO B E RTS C HE U E R M AN
budtender of the month
NORTHEAST LEAF
Budtender of the Month At just 25-years-old, Tyler Curtis is already a veteran of the Cannabis community/industry and the jamband music scene in the Northeast. He works at Sunnyside Medical Cannabis in Brooklyn as a budtender for one of New York City’s premier dispensaries and has played drums for a handful of bands. Originally from Verona, N.J. and now living in Queens, Tyler has written about Cannabis and music for High Times, Vice, MerryJane and Mass Roots.
WHAT EFFECT HAS CANNABIS HAD ON YOUR LIFE? Since I was a teenager, my life has revolved around Cannabis. The medicinal benefits of the plant have allowed me to be a more social and less anxious person. Beyond that, the friends I’ve made around the globe over a simple love of it is as rewarding as it is astonishing. It literally got me to where I am right now!
WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING RIGHT NOW? Been mixing it up with a few different flower strains, but as someone that has mostly used concentrates over the last five years, it’s nice to switch back for the full profile effects. For whatever reason, switching it up between flower and oil has been most beneficial to me as of late. WHAT GRINDS YOUR GEARS? [I wish] people would open their minds more when it comes to Cannabis, and the world in general! Other than that, I have no complaints!
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SUNNYSIDE MEDICAL CANNABIS 178 North 4th St. Brooklyn, NY (917) 793-1107 sunnyside.shop @sunnysidedispensary
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT YOUR WORK BUDTENDING AT SUNNYSIDE? The patients. We have some
incredibly kind people that come in and make it genuinely fun to show up to work. Beyond that, my coworkers are hands down the coolest and most dedicated folks I’ve met in Cannabis. I’m super thankful to be on this team that supports me every step of the way! WHERE DO YOU GO FOR NEW CANNABIS KNOWLEDGE?
Kind of like any topic, I try to keep as many different sources as I can. I find that googling Cannabis and reading up on the happenings in the news section for NY has been the best way to cover local happenings. I used to watch an online show called Hash Church that featured people like Skunkman Sam and other growers and hash makers, but now I’m trying to read up on the classics like “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” and “Marijuana Reconsidered,” to double down on the foundation that carried us to where we are IF YOU COULD GET BLAZED WITH ANY FIGURE FROM HISTORY, WHO WOULD THAT BE? Jerry Garcia, hands down! Been a
Deadhead my entire life and I think it’d be cool to kick it with him!
> > W h o ’ s y o u r f a v o r i t e b u d t e n d e r ? Te l l u s w h y ! E m a i l n o m i n a t i o n s t o d a n @ n e l e a f m a g . c o m
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WHAT MAKES A GOOD BUDTENDER? A listener. Someone that genuinely forms compassion for what they do is guaranteed to have more of a positive effect on their clientele, which should be the end goal. I’ve always put my patients first, and in turn those people come back and form a therapeutic relationship with the store and the medicine we provide. Everything else can be taught, but love for the game cannot.
“THE MEDICINAL BENEFITS OF THE PLANT HAVE ALLOWED ME TO BE A MORE SOCIAL AND LESS ANXIOUS PERSON.”
profiles
women in weed
DIANE RUSSELL F O R M E R D E M O C R AT I C R E P R E S E N TAT I V E | M A I NE H O U S E O F R E P R E S E NTAT I V E S
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DIANE TOOK ON THE SUPERDELEGATE SYSTEM BY INTRODUCING AN AMENDMENT TO THE MAINE BYLAWS TO LIMIT THEIR POWER.
Sept. 2020
<< In 2008, Diane Russell was working as a cashier at a convenience store in Portland when she decided to run for office in the Maine House of Representatives, where she served from 20082016. By 2011, she was named “Most Valuable State Representative” by The Nation magazine. That was the same year she introduced a bill (on April 20) to legalize, tax and regulate Cannabis in Maine that was ultimately unsuccessful. Undaunted, Diane won re-election in 2012 and reintroduced her legalization bill with bipartisan support. Her motto: Fight like a girl! Diane also led the fight to introduce and pass Ranked Choice Voting, a voting system that allows you to rank your candidates in order of preference. She’s strongly in favor of this new type of electoral system. “It means people can vote their hopes, not their fears. Imagine being able to rank your presidential candidates as we can do in Maine this year for the first time,” Russell said. “Since passing Maine, it has passed in NYC and is on the statewide ballot in Massachusetts and Arkansas, with several other states and communities looking at it. It’s been endorsed now by AOC, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Reich, Jerry Nadler and a host of amazing people. And of course, Bernie’s been on the RCV train for years!” Diane took on the superdelegate system by introducing an amendment to the Maine bylaws to limit their power. That amendment (or variations thereof) was passed by more than 20 state parties in less than two months, and she then took the fight to the national convention and won. As Diane tells it, “It wasn’t a complete win, and we see that donors still have a lot of power to influence primaries, but we got their power significantly checked - enough that folks are still mad about it. I spoke at the national convention.” Since losing her bid for Governor of Maine in the 2018 race, Diane has been working as the Director of Government Affairs for Noble Medical Supply/MFG - a medical supply company working to deploy PPE through the pandemic - and is the managing editor of the Maine Cannabis Chronicle. Diane is also working to create a national conference to educate state lawmakers on how to regulate Cannabis, providing a smart venue where lawmakers from across the country can come to learn about Cannabis from 101 to advanced levels, with an emphasis on home grow, packaging and banking issues. She hopes to form a nonprofit of Cannabis lawmakers and regulators who can learn from each other, advocate together and move the issue forward in a way that balances public health with market practicalities. The inaugural conference was slated for this summer in Philly, but will be pushed to 2021 due to COVID-19. “Serving in government revealed to me how little even our allies in office know about Cannabis and how to properly legalize and regulate it,” says Diane. “I want to put together a conference to teach them the basics and get them an understanding of the important issues. Stopping them outside their offices for five minutes at a time is not enough to enlighten them to the Cannabis community and industry needs.”
STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTO by GABE SOUZA @GABEVSOUZA
Excelsior Extracts | Cultivation Manager Research & Development Manager
PATIENT of the month
Elaine Keevin
She learned to grow, and along with her partner and now husband Tommy a.k.a. ‘TOH’ or The Other Half, she roamed the online forum called overgrow.com teaching others, sharing information and spreading both knowledge and genetics far and wide under the moniker ‘Outkastt.’ As a caregiver, she was top notch - helping newbies, making connections and starting a real life meetup for growers and breeders called Nugs and Jugs. It was at one of these events that she and Tommy found out their grow house back home had been raided and they went on the run for five years. Since coming home, Elaine and Tommy have put their lives back together, growing many different strains of Cannabis for patients and creating some of the strongest edibles ever made. She’s even spoken before the Rhode Island Senate on the subject of Cannabis patient rights. A lifetime of helping 21 others finally collided with her own needs after a recent diagnosis of stage four lung cancer took her by complete surprise. But Elaine isn’t complaining. If anything, she dislikes having to be helped by others. She’s staying strong through her treatments and worries only about the sadness and pain of her family. Recently, their kids arranged an amazing socially distanced wedding for Elaine and Tommy, and it was a beautiful day dedicated to their true love of each other. Cannabis played a major role in the nuptials, with live plants on proud “ I t’s b e e n a n display and plenty of joints consumed. ho no r a nd I asked Elaine for her thoughts on p ri v i l e g e to a Cannabis, her diagnosis and her journey. b e a Ca nna b i s “When I look back over my life, the one thing that has always been a constant for me g ro we r, a nd I ’ ve is laughter,” she said. a l way s g ro wn “And the belief that everything works out thi s p l a nt wi th exactly as it’s meant to be. I certainly didn’t reve re nc e a nd plan on growing Cannabis, but that’s the way i nte g ri ty. ” it turned out. And what an adventure growing has been. I have absolutely no regrets.” FINDING RELIEF
a devastating injury to her leg while on the job — where a gurney malfunctioned, fell and completely demolished her knee, leaving a gruesome scar and a lifetime of pain. The agony of RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) led her down the pharmaceutical path, until she decided to ease her way out of an addiction to pills with Cannabis.
STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTO by KOURTENAY ESTACIO @K.MEPHOTOGRAPHY | @EXCELSIOREXTRACTS
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ELAINE KEEVIN has been helping people her entire life. Spending years dedicated to her work as an EMT, she sustained
“This plant saved me from a pharmaceutical abyss. And it also allowed me to help so many others and have a positive and healing impact,” she said. “I started growing Cannabis decades ago, in the good old bad days, when it was just us growers against pretty much everyone! It’s been an honor and privilege to be a Cannabis grower, and I’ve always grown this plant with reverence and integrity.” Elaine said she raised her children around this plant while she was smoking and using a lot of Cannabis, and they are good and decent humans. “I’ve met many incredible growers and formed lasting and meaningful relationships, because of this plant. I’ve smoked and grown some of the finest Cannabis on this planet. That’s a life well lived. That’s all I can ask for.”
Cannthropology
WORLD OF CANNABIS PRESENTS
HOMAGE DOCTOR TO THE
R E M E M B E R I NG D R . LE STE R G R I N S PO O N
June 24, 1928 - June 25, 2020
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As the 1960s drew to a close and newly-elected president Richard Nixon was codifying his anti-drug agenda into law, a handful of pro-pot activists arose to challenge those efforts. These reformers found an unlikely and invaluable ally in a brilliant middle-aged professor from Harvard named Lester Grinspoon. Grinspoon received his doctorate in psychiatry from Harvard Medical School in 1955. It was while teaching there in 1965 that he met young astronomer Carl Sagan at a faculty dinner. The two bonded over their opposition to the Vietnam War, sparking a lifelong friendship. But Grinspoon was shocked to learn that Sagan and others in their intellectual circle enjoyed smoking marijuana. Both intrigued by Sagan’s affinity for cannabis and concerned by what he believed was a dangerous habit, Grinspoon did what any scientist worth their salt might do—he started researching it.
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MARIHUANA RECONSIDERED
When he began his study of marijuana in 1967, Grinspoon’s initial intention was to “define scientifically the nature and degree of those dangers” and persuade Sagan to stop using it. Instead, he reached the opposite conclusion—that cannabis was “remarkably non-toxic” and that it may have some beneficial medicinal applications. Grinspoon published his findings in the December 1969 edition of Scientific American, in an article called simply “Marihuana.” “Based on the reaction to that [article], he was encouraged to do a book-length exposition of what he had learned,” Grinspoon’s son
Sept. 2020
David recalls, “which was basically that he’d been brainwashed along with everybody else into thinking that marijuana was this dangerous substance.” Two years later, he published Marihuana Reconsidered (Harvard University Press), an instant classic in which he dispels many of the myths surrounding the much-maligned herb. “I have concluded,” Grinspoon writes, “that marijuana is a relatively safe intoxicant which is not addicting, does not in and of itself lead to the use of harder drugs, is not criminogenic, and does not lead to sexual excess.” The only real harm associated with cannabis was, he noted, “the way we as a society were dealing with people who use it.” The book also contains an essay extolling the plant’s virtues by an anonymous cannabis user dubbed ‘Mr. X,’ whose identity remained a family secret for over 30 years. Mr. X, it turned out, had been Sagan all along—a fact that Grinspoon only revealed after Sagan’s death in 1996. The impact of Marihuana Reconsidered was immense and immediate—disdained and disowned by his Harvard peers, but extolled by the fledgling legalization community, for whom it was a valuable resource and a validation of their mission. “Lester, without question, was the intellectual leader of the entire movement from the moment his book was published in 1971,” asserts NORML founder Keith Stroup. “Lester Grinspoon’s book was the Bible.”
NEMESIS OF NIXON
Thanks to his book, Dr. Grinspoon quickly became a thorn in President Nixon’s side. After reading a New York Times review of Marijhuana Reconsidered in his daily brief, Nixon launched into an an anti-Semitic tirade. “Every one of the
bastards that are out for the legalization of marijuana is Jewish!” he complained in his infamous oval office recordings. “What the Christ is the matter with the Jews?” Nixon then circled Grinspoon’s name and scribbled in the margin below: “This clown is far on the left.” “When Lester saw that, he was delighted,” says David. “He said, ‘Wow—I made it onto the enemies list of one of history’s biggest assholes!’” The same year that Marihuana Reconsidered was published, he was called to testify before the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse (aka the Shafer Commission). Nixon appointed the commission to investigate cannabis’ potential harm to bolster his argument for categorizing it as a Schedule I drug under his new Controlled Substances Act. Stroup, who first met Grinspoon at these hearings, recalls being impressed by his confidence. “He was so self-assured, so comfortable with his own intellect, that he showed no signs of being intimidated. He was the most powerful person testifying at those hearings.” Grinspoon’s testimony proved highly effective. When the commission released its final report in 1972 (“Marihuana, a Signal of Misunderstanding”), it concluded that cannabis was in fact not a danger to society, and even recommended decriminalizing it (which Nixon ignored).
JOHN LENNON
Later that year, Grinspoon was called to testify on another high-profile case—at the deportation hearings for John Lennon. After Lennon had campaigned against the president’s reelection, Nixon tried to use a past “cannabis resin” possession charge as a basis to kick Lennon out of the country. Thanks to Grinspoon’s testimony, Lennon’s lawyer Leon Wildes argued that “resin” was a secretion of cannabis, but not technically marijuana, and therefore the immigration law citing “narcotics and mar-
STORY by BOBBY BLACK @WORLDOFCANNABISMUSEUM for LEAF NATION | PHOTOGRAPH by TODD MCCORMICK
ijuana” didn’t legally apply. After three years in court, Wildes finally won the case and Lennon got his green card. To show their gratitude, John and Yoko took Grinspoon out to dinner, sent him flowers, and gifted him with albums autographed to his sons Danny and David. (Side note: It was one of Lennon’s albums— The Beatles’ masterpiece Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band—that “astounded” Grinspoon after getting high with Sagan for the first time, some two years after Marihuana Reconsidered was published.)
FAMILY TRAGEDY
Dr. Grinspoon witnessed cannabis’ medicinal efficacy first-hand when he and his wife Betsy administered it to their teenage son Danny. Danny had been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia and was suffering from nausea and vomiting after his chemotherapy...but after smoking a few hits from a joint before each treatment, those symptoms disappeared—dramatically increasing his quality of life and morale. Sadly, Danny lost his battle with leukemia in 1973, but his case led to the first scientific study on cannabis for nausea.
THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA MOVEMENT
Grinspoon went on to author many other books about illicit drugs throughout the 1970s and 80s. Then in 1993, he co-authored a second book about cannabis called Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine (with Harvard Law professor James Bakalar)— a compendium of anecdotes that further explored the medical potential of the plant and helped bolster California’s burgeoning medical marijuana movement. Valerie Leveroni Corral, who co-founded the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, attests to the book’s influence. “It absolutely had an impact on our movement...it had a scholarly element which was profoundly important to not look like just a ragtag team of activists.” Within a few years of its publication, Corral and other prominent cannabis advocates in California co-authored and helped pass the Compassionate Use Act (Proposition 215), which legalized marijuana for medical purposes in America for the first time in 1996. “Without a doubt, [Grinspoon’s] intellectual gravitas lent to the incredible activism that was going on in the San Francisco area,” affirms former NORML executive director Allen St. Pierre. “We have legal marijua-
na in many parts of the country today because of these two unique forces working together.”
THE NEW NORML
One year after the publication of “Forbidden Medicine,” Grinspoon was tapped by NORML to overhaul its then struggling organization. Stroup had enlisted Grinspoon into NORML’s leadership early on. Now, on the brink of collapse, the organization turned to him for help. “In 1994, the NORML board, for all intents and purposes, imploded,” St. Pierre explains. “So Lester was contacted to try to pull together an entirely new board.” “The only thing the board could agree on is that they trusted Lester’s judgment,” says Stroup. “They knew whoever he picked would be good for NORML and for the movement.” At Grinspoon’s recommendation, Stroup returned as NORML’s director and a new board of directors was compiled—ushering in a new ‘golden age’ for the organization. Grinspoon continued to serve on NORML’s board for decades and spoke at many of their conferences. And in 2007, when Stroup and fellow NORML board member Rick Cusick were arrested for smoking a joint at the Boston Freedom Rally and decided to take their case to trial, Grinspoon kickstarted their defense fund with a $5,000 contribution and helped convince renowned Harvard Law Professor Charles ‘Billion-Dollar Charlie’ Nesson to take their case pro bono.
and Writing. Both NORML and High Times named their most prestigious awards after him. There’s also a band named after him in Australia (Grinspoon), and a cannabis strain named after him in Amsterdam (an heirloom sativa called “Dr. Grinspoon” by Barneys Farm). And on April 20 of this year, the cannabis Business Awards, in collaboration with World of cannabis, named him a 420 Icon (one of the top 100 cannabis influencers of all-time).
DEATH & LEGACY
After spending half a century fighting cannabis prohibition, Dr. Grinspoon spent the last decade of his life fighting cancer. On the morning of June 25—one day after celebrating his 92nd birthday— he passed away peacefully at his home outside Boston. Thanks to his groundbreaking work and courageous activism, Lester Grinspoon will be forever remembered as one of the most consequential figures in cannabis history.
Watch our exclusive memorial to Dr. Grinspoon at worldofcannabis.museum/grinspoon, or listen to it on Episode 5 of Cannthropology wherever you get your podcasts. (This content was originally published on worldofcannabis.museum and is reprinted with permission.)
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HONORS & ACCOLADES
Grinspoon retired as an associate professor emeritus in 2000, having twice been ‘green listed’ by the Harvard promotion committee, who didn’t approve of how his controversial stance on cannabis reflected upon the school’s reputation. “He didn’t get a full professorship, which is objectively silly given his level of accomplishments,” David notes. “There was a time when that bothered him, but it ceased to bother him because he got so much out of the community that were engaged in this movement with him.” Indeed, Dr. Grinspoon was a beloved figure in the cannabis community, and was honored numerous times over the years: In 1990, he received the Drug Policy Foundation’s Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship
President Richard Nixon’s notes on Grinspoon | courtesy Nixon Library
Lester with longtime friend, astronomer Carl Sagan, left | courtesy Grinspoon family
STRAIN OF THE MONTH
NORTHEAST
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THE FLOWER ENGULFS ITSELF AND SMOKES THROUGH EVENLY, NEVER NEEDING TO BE RE-LIT.
GMO COOKIES GROWN by MELTING POT FARM
Sept. 2020
GMO Cookies (AKA Garlic Mushroom and Onion Cookies) is an offensive smelling cross of Chemdog and Girl Scout Cookies. The new school line up of berry/citrus heavy strains were calling for some funk, and the GMO answered with a stank you can smell from across the room. Melting Pot Farm grows this GMO in a majority water-only coco blend with some top dressing and occasional Biobizz feeding. The skill level combined with the mix takes this cultivar to the next level, which is cured to perfection and boasts a very thick, full-bodied smoke. The trichomes are heavily packed and the buds feature a series of dark green and violet bulbous puzzle pieces that break apart in elegant fashion. When lit, the flower engulfs itself and smokes through evenly, never needing to be re-lit. Unless of course the user needs a break, which is very possible Melting Pot’s GMO is a hitter. After one bowl, I settled in for a second to reach the GMO’s true potential. As the second bowl burned, I noticed an unmarked white van with blacked out windows in my driveway, leaving me to stare at the driver side window for what seemed like five minutes. Is this it? Is this the end of the line? Then a dude hops out with a delivery and goes on his way. I had gone straight to DEFCON 5 and then thought to myself, “This GMO is good!” I got past the paranoia and switched to a subpar Hulu original comedy that I paused after a few minutes, leaving me to sit in deep and silent thought for about an hour. This strain is not for beginners. GMO brings a very onion garlic smell, lots of funk from the Chem, and heavy aromatics of spice coming from the Durban Poison side of the Girl Scout Cookies. Brings me back to the days of ‘90s roadkill skunk and not being able to enter a room without everyone knowing you’ve got that bag.
REVIEW by CHARLEY HOWE | PHOTO by GABE SOUZA
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NORTHEAST LEAF’S GUIDE TO CANNABIS LAWS
LEARN THE RULES OF THE REGION IN THIS HELPFUL EXPLAINER STORY by MIKE GIANAKOS @MIKEGEEZEEY
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The West Coast has arguably been the center of the Cannabis world since California’s landmark Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which pioneered state approved marijuana programs. While the Western states have dominated marijuana-law reform for decades, which in turn has emboldened breeders out West to create some of the industry’s most celebrated strains, the legalization movement is, at long last, heading East. The eight states represented by Northeast Leaf magazine Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont - are all guided by differing Cannabis laws. Since this is our inaugural issue, it’s the perfect time to break down the rules of the region. Marijuana has momentum and the East Coast is embracing the green rush, so things can change quickly. But for now, here’s how things stand in the Northeast.
Sept. 2020
MED
REC
REC
CONNECTICUT
MAINE
MASSACHUSETTS
After decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of Cannabis in 1976, Maine was among the first states to embrace medical marijuana when voters approved a medical law in 1999. In 2018, the program was greatly expanded (despite veto attempts by then-governor Paul LePage). The new law increased the number of dispensaries allowed to better serve the 60,000+ patients in the state and removed the qualifying conditions list, meaning any condition qualifies if a doctor believes Cannabis would be helpful. Additionally, patients can now possess eight pounds of medical marijuana, up from two and a half ounces, and grow up to six Cannabis plants. Maine’s medical pot program also offers reciprocity for patients from other states.
Voters in Massachusetts opted to legalize Cannabis in November 2016. The law allows adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of Cannabis or concentrates when outside their home, and up to 10 ounces of Cannabis and one and a half ounces of concentrates inside their home. Adults can also cultivate up to six plants per person and 12 plants per household. Edibles are limited to five milligrams of THC per serving and cannot exceed 20 servings, or 100mg of THC total.
Medical (2012) Decrim (2011)
Connecticut does not have a recreational Cannabis program. However, if Gov. Ned Lamont had his way, pot prohibition would be a thing of the past in the Nutmeg State. Gov. Lamont is dedicated to legalizing Cannabis for adult use in Connecticut. Earlier this year, he introduced a bill that would tax and regulate marijuana, allowing for licensed cultivators, retailers and manufacturers, while creating admirable social equity programs. Unfortunately COVID-related government shutdowns caused the bill to stall for the time being. Lamont’s predecessor, Gov. Dan Malloy, signed legislation decriminalizing Cannabis in June 2011 and the state legalized medical marijuana the following year. Connecticut’s nearly 42,000 registered patients can purchase medicine at one of the state’s 18 licensed dispensaries and possess up to two and a half ounces per month. Patients have access to flower, concentrates, edibles, topicals and tinctures. However, the program does not allow for cultivation, public consumption or reciprocity. There are also no delivery options currently available for medical patients.
MANDATORY MINIMUMS KICK IN FOR CULTIVATION OR DISTRIBUTION OF A KILO OR MORE, WITH FIRST TIME OFFENDERS FACING 5-20 YEARS. Residents without a medical card are offered some protections thanks to decriminalization efforts in the state. Adults 21 or older in possession of up to half an ounce face only a $150 fine - no arrest or jail time. However, possession of over half an ounce can result in jail time, even for a first offense. Cultivation or distribution of any amount of Cannabis in Connecticut is a felony. Those caught growing or selling less than a kilogram face up to seven years and/or a $25,000 fine. Mandatory minimums kick in for cultivation or distribution of a kilo or more, with first time offenders facing 5-20 years. State law includes a sentence escalator of three years for growing or selling Cannabis within 1500 feet of an elementary or middle school, public housing project or daycare center.
Recreational (2016) Medical (1999 & 2018) Decrim (1976 & 2009)
WITH DECRIM AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS ON THE BOOKS, MAINE VOTERS LEGALIZED CANNABIS OUTRIGHT THROUGH A BALLOT INITIATIVE IN NOVEMBER 2016. With decrim and medical marijuana laws on the books, Maine voters legalized Cannabis outright through a ballot initiative in November 2016. The recreational law permits adults 21 and older to possess Cannabis (up to two and a half ounces) and concentrates (up to five grams), and to grow up to three mature marijuana plants. It also allows for retail sales of Cannabis products. Maine was one of four states - along with California, Massachusetts and Nevada - that passed adult-use Cannabis laws in 2016. While those other states have long since implemented retail sales, Maine has lagged behind thanks to vetoes - and general obstinacy - from officials, particularly former governor LePage. Recreational Cannabis sales should have begun 40 days after voters approved the state’s legalization initiative. Unfortunately, Mainers were deprived of the ability to purchase pot under LePage’s tenure. His successor, Gov. Janet Mills, signed a bill that finally established a framework for recreational Cannabis sales in the summer of 2019. Now, after a delay of nearly four years, officials expect retail sales to begin on October 9, 2020
Recreational (2016) Medical (2012) Decrim (2008)
THE BAY STATE NOW HAS A FULLY INTEGRATED RECREATIONAL CANNABIS PROGRAM COMPLETE WITH RETAIL SALES. The Bay State now has a fully integrated recreational Cannabis program complete with retail sales. However, the adult-use law initially faced some interference from officials who did not support legalization. Legislation was created to allow local governments to ban dispensaries from their town and delay issuing licenses for them, which pushed the first retail sales of legal pot to November 2018. Nonetheless, by the end of 2019, in just a little over a year, retail sales in Massachusetts produced approximately $71 million in tax revenue for the state. Voters passed the state medical marijuana law in November 2012 and the first dispensaries opened in 2015. Registered patients can purchase a 60-day supply of medicine, which is defined as 10 ounces of flower and one and a half ounces of concentrates, tax free. Many dispensaries in the state offer delivery services. Patients can also choose to grow their own medicine. Gov. Baker inadvertently created a renewed interest in the state’s medical program when he ordered retail Cannabis shops to close in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The temporary shutdown caused a 245% spike in patient registrations, as medical dispensaries remained open during the outbreak. Recreational sales returned in May, but the total number of registered patients in Massachusetts is now over 70,000. >> Continues pg. 30
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If it were up to New Hampshire’s House of Representatives, the Granite State would join several of its New England neighbors in embracing marijuana. Earlier this year, the House passed a bill that focused on allowing adults to possess and cultivate Cannabis, a legalization compromise since a tax and regulate bill was deemed unrealistic. Unfortunately, the state’s Senate managed to kill the bill without voting on it, with an assist from COVID-related shutdowns. While residents strongly support legalizing Cannabis - with recent polling indicating 68% of the population favors full legalization - progress in reforming marijuana laws has been slow in New Hampshire. The state became the last in New England to legalize medical marijuana in 2013. However, the law approved by thengovernor Maggie Hassan is considered one of the country’s strictest, as home growing was outlawed and only patients with the most severe conditions qualified for the program. Medical dispensaries eventually opened in 2016, but only four locations were allowed and delivery service is not an option. Current governor, Chris Sununu, approved legislation that expanded the state’s qualifying conditions list in 2017. Still, the program leaves a great deal to be desired. Medical patients in New Hampshire can possess up to two ounces of flower or concentrates, but cannot purchase more than that amount in a 10-day period.
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NOW, GETTING CAUGHT WITH SMALL AMOUNTS OF POT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE RESULTS IN A CIVIL VIOLATION AND A FINE.
While the Senate and Gov. Sununu do not support legalization, New Hampshire did decriminalize Cannabis in 2017 when Sununu signed a bill into law that removed criminal charges for possession of up to three-quarters of an ounce of Cannabis. Now, getting caught with small amounts of pot in New Hampshire results in a civil violation and a fine. Last year, the state passed a law that allows those who were charged criminally for misdemeanor marijuana possession before decriminalization to have their records expunged.
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Medical (2010)
New Jersey appears to be on the brink of big things as full marijuana legalization is on the horizon. However, just a few years ago, New Jersey arrested more people for pot offenses than any other state. And while attitudes seem to be changing, the state has not managed to decriminalize Cannabis - meaning simple possession can still result in jail time.
FORTUNATELY, THE ISSUE WILL NOW GO DIRECTLY TO THE VOTERS, WHO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEGALIZE RECREATIONAL CANNABIS AND IMPLEMENT A TAX AND REGULATE PLAN FOR NEW JERSEY. The state legislature has considered a number of legalization bills in recent years and the current governor, Phil Murphy, supports taxing and regulating marijuana in the Garden State. Despite several efforts to pass Cannabis legislation, the House, the Senate and the governor couldn’t agree on a plan. Fortunately, the issue will now go directly to the voters, who have the opportunity to legalize recreational Cannabis and implement a tax and regulate plan for New Jersey. Legalization is expected to pass by ballot initiative in November 2020. The state managed to pass a medical Cannabis program in 2010 when thengovernor Jon Corzine signed the bill on his last day in office. Incoming governor Chris Christie opposed the program and slowed its implementation. The law established a strict list of qualifying conditions and capped dispensaries at six for the entire state. Patients were allowed to begin registering for the program in 2012 and the first dispensary opened later that year. In 2019, Gov. Murphy approved legislation to reform the program by expanding its qualifying conditions, improving access to medicine, increasing limits on the cultivation and sale of Cannabis, and allowing for home delivery. Patients in New Jersey are allowed to possess up to two ounces of Cannabis and concentrates, but cannot purchase more than that amount in a 30-day period. Marijuana edibles are only available to qualified patients under the age of 18, and patients and caregivers are prohibited from growing Cannabis.
NEW YORK
Medical (2014) Decrim (1977 & 2019) After New York’s draconian Rockefellerera drug laws took effect earlier in the decade, the state decriminalized in 1977, making the possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana a civil infraction punishable by fine. Decriminalization caused marijuana arrests to drop off initially. Unfortunately, possession of any amount of pot in public view remained a criminal violation, and that loophole was exploited in New York City starting in the late ‘90s, when marijuana arrests skyrocketed. Those arrests disproportionately affected minorities in the city. Last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that expanded and improved decriminalization in New York. Now, possession of up to two ounces - even if in public view - is a civil violation, punishable by a $50-$200 fine. Additionally, the law automatically expunges records for previous minor marijuana possession convictions. New York came close to legalizing Cannabis in 2019. Unfortunately, the state legislature couldn’t agree on a plan to regulate marijuana and the initiative failed. After falling just short in 2019, many New Yorkers believed legalization would pass in 2020. However, the coronavirus pandemic impacted the legislative session this year and legalization efforts stalled.
THE MEDICAL CANNABIS LAW ALSO PROHIBITS MARIJUANA EDIBLES. HOME CULTIVATION IS, LIKEWISE, OUTLAWED. New York legalized medical Cannabis for qualified patients in 2014. Unfortunately, the program is very restrictive, even after reforms in 2017 that added PTSD and chronic pain to the list of qualifying conditions. To date, 10 companies have been approved to operate dispensaries, resulting in 37 locations that service the state’s 110,000 registered patients. Incredibly, only non-smokable forms of medical marijuana are allowed under the program’s rules. This means that patients do not have access to medicine in flower form. Ground flower intended for vaporization is available, along with capsules, sprays, topicals and cartridges. The medical Cannabis law also prohibits marijuana edibles. Home cultivation is, likewise, outlawed.
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Rhode Island’s General Assembly has consistently dismissed bills to legalize Cannabis since 2011. Most recently in 2020, Gov. Gina Raimondo included a plan to regulate Cannabis in her annual budget. However, lawmakers in the Ocean State will not approve the governor’s latest plan, which included a proposal to distribute recreational marijuana through state-run dispensaries. Gov. Raimondo views regulated Cannabis as a means to generate much needed revenue for the state. Rhode Island residents have been making the short trip to neighboring Massachusetts, where Cannabis is legal, to purchase pot.
PREVIOUSLY, MINOR MARIJUANA OFFENSES RESULTED IN A CRIMINAL RECORD AND POSSIBLE JAIL TIME.
In 2013, Vermont removed criminal penalties for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. Five years later, it became the first state to legalize Cannabis through the legislative process when Gov. Phil Scott signed its adultuse bill into law in 2018. Adults 21 and older in the Green Mountain State can possess up to an ounce of Cannabis and five grams of concentrates. The law also allows for personal cultivation of “two mature and four immature marijuana plants” per household. Harvested Cannabis kept in the growroom doesn’t count toward the one ounce possession limit. Sales of recreational Cannabis, however, are not allowed in Vermont. Since the state’s legalization bill passed in 2018, advocates have called on lawmakers to create a regulated system that would enable retail sales. A bill to regulate and tax Cannabis is close to being approved by the state legislature. The coronavirus pandemic has delayed their progress and, as we go to press, lawmakers have yet to reconvene. Still, many are hopeful a plan for sales can move forward this year. An economic report on potential retail sales in Vermont estimates the state could collect more than $175 million in tax revenue by 2025 if sales were implemented in early 2021.
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA SALES IN VERMONT ARE NOT SUBJECT TO TAX AND THE STATE’S FIVE DISPENSARIES SERVICE AROUND 4,500 PATIENTS. Vermont legalized medical marijuana in 2004. Since the program began, the law has been expanded and improved. Bills that added qualifying conditions, an additional statelicensed dispensary and a delivery option for patients, passed in 2014, 2016 and 2017. Registered patients in Vermont can possess up to two ounces of Cannabis, and can grow two mature and seven immature plants. Medical marijuana sales in Vermont are not subject to tax and the state’s five dispensaries service around 4,500 patients. A sixth dispensary will be allowed to open when the state reaches 7,000 registered patients.
STORY by MIKE GIANAKOS @MIKEGEEZEEY
neleafmag.COM
Former governor Lincoln Chafee signed a decriminalization bill in 2012 that made personal possession of up to an ounce of Cannabis a civil offense, punishable by a $150 fine. The law took effect the following year. Previously, minor marijuana offenses resulted in a criminal record and possible jail time. Rhode Island legalized medical Cannabis in 2006 when the legislature overrode a veto by then-governor Donald Carcieri. The state’s nearly 19,000 registered patients can purchase medical pot products tax-free at licensed compassion centers. Currently, there are three dispensaries operating in Rhode Island, but lawmakers recently approved adding six additional locations. State law prohibits delivery services and limits patients to purchasing no more than two and a half ounces every 15 days. Registered patients are allowed to possess two and a half ounces of medical Cannabis products - flower, concentrate or edible - at one time. Patients can also choose to grow Cannabis and are permitted to have as many as 12 flowering plants and 12 seedlings. Those who grow their own marijuana are required to register the location of their grow with the state and tag their plants to comply with Rhode Island’s medical marijuana plant tracking system. Non-residents with medical Cannabis cards can purchase marijuana at Rhode Island’s dispensaries.
Recreational (2018) Medical (2004) Decrim (2013)
Illustration by Jurassic Blueberries
Medical (2006) Decrim (2013)
legalization
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cannabis 101
language barriers Why do brands and budtenders alike cling to terms taken from 18th century definitions?
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alling a particular product sativa or indica is much like describing a wine by its vine. It is interesting information if you enjoy plant morphology, but falls short when relaying the nuances of effect, aroma and taste. Yet here we are today, drowning in the vagueness of these words. They are marketed on every item and muttered by the bulk of budtenders. From dispensaries to the mainstream media, we can’t escape these persistent plant identifiers. The terms sativa and indica have come a long way from their original definitions: ones that focused on geographical origin and plant structure. Despite a constant flow of community conversation on the matter, they remain widely misused. In a 1753 publication titled Species Plantarum (one of the first works to present a system of scientific nomenclature), a Swedish botanist named Carl Linnaeus introduced the name Cannabis sativa. At that time, Linnaeus described but one species of hemp (of the sativa variety). It wasn’t until European naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck listed another in 1785 that the world was introduced to “Cannabis indica.”
Sept. 2020
A British Medical Journal piece by editor Geoff Watts explains that Lamarck originally distinguished Cannabis sativa from the indica variety “on the basis of several characteristics including their firm stems, thin bark, and the shape of their leaves and flowers.” In a 2016 publication called Cannabis Taxonomy: The Sativa vs. Indica Debate, Robert Clarke and Dr. Mark Merlin observe that Lamarck named the second species Cannabis indica - meaning ‘Cannabis from India’ - after the first wave of this “highly psychoactive plant” reached Europe. While Linnaeus observed the hemp-like, narrow-leafed, low THC characteristics of Europe’s plants being grown for fiber, Lamarck documented India’s wide-leafed, high-potency plants grown for hashish. The high-potency plants that were observed as “indica” may have something to do with the classification’s reputation as heavy hitting and sleepy. Originally grown for their fiber production and low THC, sativas became well known as light or uplifting. This knowledge gives us insight into the way these words are used today. But our scientific evidence has grown a great deal since the 18th century, and we now have access to a neverending network of information at our fingertips. It’s easier than ever to learn about strain lineage, cannabinoids, terpenes, and the synergy of mechanisms like the entourage effect that affect the human body far beyond what simplified categories of Cannabis can relay. So, why do brands and budtenders alike cling to terms taken from 18th century definitions? These classifications were never put down on paper as a way to describe effects and if they were, years of evolution and breeding would have rendered them obsolete in the 2020 market. There’s no question that regulation has played a part in the industry simplification of classifying Cannabis. Companies can’t legally make medical claims and are limited in how they describe products. The State of Oregon doesn’t require terpene testing either, so many companies don’t see the need to test every product for a complete profile. With only parts of the puzzle (like THC and CBD) required on Oregon Cannabis labels, it is admittedly difficult to assess the outcome of particular products.
“There are biochemically distinct strains of Cannabis, but the sativa/indica distinction as commonly applied in the lay literature is total nonsense and an exercise in futility. One cannot in any way currently guess the biochemical content of a given Cannabis plant based on its height, branching, or leaf morphology...It is essential that future commerce allows complete and accurate cannabinoid and terpenoid profiles to be available.” -Dr. Ethan Russo The solution? Consumer education and conscientious company branding. Educate your staff, encourage terpene testing and take time to use alternative product descriptors. Tempted to describe a strain’s effects as sativa? Try terms like uplifting, focused or energetic. Got an inclination to say indica? Try talking about sleepiness, heaviness or relaxation. There are a plethora of descriptors that will avoid rustling regulator’s feathers over medical claims. When thorough terpene testing isn’t available, there are many ways to read about common cultivar characteristics. Clarifying that there is no need to throw out the terms sativa and indica should soothe any sour feelings this far into the conversation - after all, they are irrefutably relevant to growers and breeders identifying the morphological characteristics of plants. But drastically limiting the use of this tacky terminology on the consumer side would serve this and future Cannabis communities well. Generalizing the massive variety of benefits is damaging to normalization efforts, the medical movement and consumerism alike. Narrowing presentation down to sativa, indica or hybrid severely limits the long list of incredibly valuable effects Cannabis can provide. Amanda Day is a multimedia artist and journalist based in Eugene, OR who has worked for Leaf Nation since 2019.
STORY by AMANDA DAY @TERPODACTYL_MEDIA | ILLUSTRATION by SVTDESIGN
company profile
HOLYOKE, MA
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CANNA PROVISIONS Sept. 2020
Vision meets knowhow with the new vanguard of independent recreational Cannabis retailing in the Northeast. For consumers of the Northeast’s legal recreational market, particularly in Western Massachusetts, Canna Provisions needs little introduction. If it’s needed however, try to imagine what happens when you mix deep and results driven expertise in Cannabis retail operations management with the freedom fighting Cannabis activist spirit, as well as a value system deeply focused on integrity, community and the deep humanism found at the center of Cannabis culture. That’s Canna Provisions.
>> Canna Provisions’ Holyoke location offers a gallery experience.
The operation is led by CEO Meg Sanders and COO Erik Williams, a duo recognized as two of the preeminent independent Cannabis retailers and entrepreneurs in the country after launching and operating a dozen or so Cannabis businesses over the last decade. With their stores in Lee, Easthampton (which is currently operating but awaiting an official name change to Canna Provisions) and Holyoke operating at full steam, the brand is actively creating a name for itself by thoughtfully executing a new vision for the retail experience in the Northeast. “We’re committed to the beauty of providing customer service in the most thoughtful way possible,” says CEO Meg Sanders. “Canna Provisions provides an exceptional consumer experience no matter what your relationship is with the plant. We believe people should be assisted side-by-side with an experienced guide while exploring the different products available. We’re unique in that we simply meet consumers where they are on their Cannabis path and better their journey.” And with well over 200 products (and growing) their guides have to know their stuff. Between state licensing, compliance and customer service training, staff and guides are continually training up on the product roster, common consumer questions and solutions, as well as a variety of additional programs and platforms. The average Canna Provisions guide has over 80 hours of training before hitting the floors. >> Continues pg. 36
STORY by DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF for NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTOS by MELISSA OSTROW/MEL O PHOTO
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CANNA PROVISIONS >> The Easthampton location is a kind of psychedelic experience.
The expansive and curated craft Cannabis menu is led in scope by Chief Marketing Officer Sean Curley - a known fixture for years in the Berkshires and greater New England Cannabis culture.
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His niche sourcing in tandem with Meg and Erik’s reputations, relationships and experience bringing some of the more exciting products from bench to market in the national landscape, has become the hallmark of the brand’s place in the pantheon of Mass grass. “We’re not just saying it, there is no other dispensary experience like this, period,” says COO Erik Williams. “Meg and I have done big things in Cannabis which can’t be taken away, and the only reason we got back into operations after having done dispensaries several COO Erik Williams & CEO Meg Sanders times already - was the opportunity to make a big splash with Canna Provisions in a way nobody has done before or is doing in this state.” He adds: “This is a company centered on customer service. I don’t know a thing we’re doing wrong, some we can do better, but there is nothing we’re not putting on the table for our customers.” THE NEW STANDARD OF CANNABIS RETAILING IN NEW ENGLAND
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ince opening the first Canna Provisions store in July of 2019, nestled just off I-90 on the Mass Pike minutes from the New York state border, there’s been a slew of big ‘firsts.’ Among them: the first brand with three adultuse stores under their management and the first adultuse store to open in Holyoke, Mass. - a soon-to-be stronghold of recreational Cannabis retailing courtesy of a mayor who sees the town as the future Amsterdam of New England. Another hallmark is the boon of experience and hands-in-the-dirt knowhow of the growing Cannabis industry at large. Sanders and Williams earned their stripes in Colorado, Illinois, Florida, California and more, and have extensive experience launching Cannabis companies and brands across the United States. Sanders helped open one of Colorado’s first dispensaries in 2010 and was among key stakeholders who assisted then-Gov. John Hickenlooper and state officials in developing retail Cannabis laws. Williams, in addition to being a longtime political consultant across the country, served as Founder of the Connecticut NORML, where he led decriminalization efforts and was integral in passing Connecticut’s medical marijuana law through its legislature. Connecticut was the first state to pass medical Cannabis through the actual legislature, which changed everything. After 2012 came Illinois in 2013, then NY in 2014, then Florida in 2015 and so on.
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In short: if you have a state with legal craft Cannabis access in the US, Sanders and Williams have most likely had a direct role in it. At the same time, their ascension as a new kind of dispensary in the growing Massachusetts scene has them continually in pole position as the lap car to watch. And that core attention to guided Cannabis purchasing experiences for consumers - versus simply slinging leaf via a transactional meat grinder counter service - is the key driver for their ongoing success. Yet there’s still one secret weapon Sanders, Williams and Curley have yet to reveal until now… CHEM DOG COMETH, AND HE’S BRINGING THE GENETICS
As much as Sanders and Williams can take credit for helping launch the stateby-state legal market to begin with, Chem Dog can take credit as the father of top shelf kind bud in America. For those that need a refresher on who Chem Dog is and how his quarter-century of influence in Cannabis is still seen as a game changer, here’s a short version courtesy of a 2016 High Times feature by our own ‘Danny Danko’ - former cultivation editor for the magazine: It’s June 1991 in Deer Creek, Indiana, and the Grateful Dead and their entourage are pulling into town for a two-night run...As the story goes, Chem met P-Bud and Joe Brand on the lot in Deer Creek and purchased an ounce of a strain called Dogbud for $500. Later, he asked Joe to mail a few more ounces to him in Western Massachusetts, one of which contained 13 magic seeds...When Chem got home from the tour, he popped the first four of the 13 seeds. One plant was a male and unfortunately discarded. The three females were dubbed “Chem Dog” (now known as the Chem 91), “Chem Dog A” (now Chem’s Sister)
“...at the end of the day, it’s the leadership and experience in the national market that serves as the star at the center of the Canna Provisions universe.” and “Chem Dog B.” The 91 immediately became the most desirable and went on to serve as a parent for many of the most popular strains of the last 25 years, including Sour Diesel, OG Kush and their many offspring.” Fast forward through a lot of time and legal troubles associated with a long run in the black market, last autumn, Chem Dog and Curley connected and a new partnership was born. “We’re doing our best to maintain the path black market trailblazers like Chem Dog laid before us, and demonstrate how we can now embolden those icons and top tier local players, and even begin to work together with them for the benefit of the Cannabis community at large,” says Curley. “We have a commitment to honor the culture and the people and the trailblazers that came before us, as well as the spirit of what voters of Massachusetts voted on when legalizing Cannabis via the passing of Question 4 in 2016.” Chem decided, once assessing his own goals and the road ahead for the craft Cannabis market in the Bay State, that Canna Provisions ticked off all the boxes. With cultivation centers in Lee and Sheffield currently under construction, Canna Provisions’ first Director of Cultivation is itching to get his hands in the dirt.
CANNAPROVISIONS LEE 220 HOUSATONIC ST. LEE, MA (413) 394-5055 CANNAPROVISIONS HOLYOKE 380 DWIGHT ST. HOLYOKE, MA (413) 650-2500 THE VERB IS HERB EASTHAMPTON 74 COTTAGE ST. EASTHAMPTON, MA (413) 327-9393 CANNAPROVISIONSGROUP.COM
Additionally, Chem’s award winning and masterful glass creations are being exclusively sold in western Massachusetts at Canna Provisions. The Holyoke store has visually striking displays of upcycled former manufacturing floor desks and cabinets of yesteryear reclaimed from within the 150 year old former paper mill. As the first adult-use Cannabis retailer to open in the Paper City, the Independence Day opening weekend demonstrated what over $1 million in investment back into a town and the historic property looks like in legal weed. The introduction of Chem Dog into Canna Provisions 100-staff and growing strong army is something of a full circle for Sanders and Williams. They’ve seen it all from seed to sale in every form in legal Cannabis, so the deployment of their expertise and embracing of Chem Dog’s mastery of the craft of cultivation means big things are on the horizon.
“I really wanna bring quality and the most tasty and exclusive strains to the Massachusetts recreational market,” says Chem. “Being from Massachusetts drives me more to bring quality to the people. Trust me we are going to be all gas, no wang.” No wang indeed. He says he’s planning some of the clone-only Chems and other very tasty favorites, but the famously press-shy master grower doesn’t want to spoil the fun yet. “We’ll be starting with over 60 different kinds of seeds of all different stuff from other breeders. We’re going to do a huge pheno hunt of my seed stash I have been hoarding, too. It’s going to be a pretty sick pheno hunt,” he says. But at the end of the day, it’s the leadership and experience in the national market that serves as the star at the center of the Canna Provisions universe. And with a swelling roster of employees, partnerships with craft farmers and onboarding of exciting new partners like Chem Dog, it’s the vision of Sanders and Williams that serves as the beating heart of the company. “I chose to work with them after a few meetings,” says Chem. “Seeing their vision and passion being in line with my own and we both want to provide the best possible product we can achieve. I think we can do that together. Meg and Erik are not your average owners, and if everybody [in Cannabis] had people like Meg and Erik running their business, this whole industry would be in a way better spot.”
D A N M C C A R T H Y is a longtime Boston area freelance journalist, Cannabis content creator and brand consultant, and editor-at-large. His work has been featured in Esquire, DigBoston, The Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, The Boston Institute for Non-Profit Journalism, VICE, Leafly News, Thrillist, Pacific Standard, Sensi Boston, and many others.
STORY by DAN MCCARTHY @ACUTALPROOF for NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTOS by MELISSA OSTROW/MEL O PHOTO
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BLUEBERRY
Sept. 2020
STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT | PHOTOS by BRIAN JAHN @BRIANJAHNPHOTO
MONTCLAIR, NJ
GREENLEAF COMPASSION CENTER Q&A | CEO JULIO VALENTIN
Ten years after receiving one of the first medical marijuana dispensary and grower licenses in New Jersey, a veteran of the military and law enforcement turned Cannabis pioneer is ready to speak about how he and his team took on the system and overcame the odds. IN THE HEA RT of downtown Montclair, Greenleaf Compassion Center buzzes as a hub of essential medical Cannabis retail activity, even during a pandemic. A line of patients, all masked and socially distanced, winds out the door and down Bloomfield Avenue as I sit down to talk to Julio Valentin about his long and winding road to become a successful Cannabis entrepreneur. The lobby and waiting area of Greenleaf resemble a doctor’s office more than a headshop or typical dispensary. Patients wait to talk with trained specialists who help them choose the right strains from more than a dozen options. One of the first six licensed nonprofits in 2010, Greenleaf was the first up and running in December 2012 - and the only one in the heart of a city (the others are in industrial parks). I ask Julio about the two-year delay in opening up. “Gov. Corzine signed the medical marijuana legislation on his way out the door. Then the Christie Administration tried to sabotage and bankrupt the industry by making us jump through ridiculous hoops. When we first received the application, it looked like a Bible! We had to pay rent for over two years with no buildout on the dispensary or the grow location. We were forced to set up as nonprofits, but with no access to banking or loans.” >> Continues pg. 40
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U L I O T E L L S ME H E WAS BROUGHT UP “OLD SC HOOL.” He enlisted in the Army Reserve straight out of high school in 1987, joining the Newark Police Department in 1989. In 1997, he started the Eclectic Cafe in Montclair and retired from law enforcement three years later. Having the restaurant for 16 years gave him a unique foothold and he found Montclair to be safe, diverse and welcoming. When it came time to open Greenleaf Compassion Center, he knew it had to be in the heart of the town that had been so open and accepting. He also insisted on providing discounts to veterans and low-income residents. “Many of my former law enforcement officer colleagues are very supportive,” says Julio when asked how those he used to work with perceive his new profession. “You’d be surprised how many of them understand that this is medicine. I’ve still never tried it. That might be hard to believe, but it’s true. I’ve seen it benefit friends and family, and I could see firsthand that the medicinal uses are real.” As the tears come, he continues, “My father, the most ‘old-school’ as you could meet, died just last February. I was able to help him and it took away a lot of his pain.” I wanted to know more about what he has learned in his decade as a pioneer, and if he has advice for others looking to get into the business. “We had to teach the State everything about Cannabis,” Julio tells me. “We were the guinea pigs. You have to be very patient and continue to educate everyone around you as to the medical benefits and patients’ needs. We had over 60 employees at one point. That’s down to about 48 now due to the COVID pandemic, but it’s still a lot to manage, so be aware of how much real work goes into running a Cannabis business.”
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Julio is all too familiar with the challenges faced due to overregulation by the State of New Jersey. “At the beginning, we could only grow three strains and only enough flower for registered patients,” he says. “At the time it was only around 2,000 people. Others had to shut down at times, but we’ve never failed our patients. Also, patients have to register with a single dispensary, but can change it all the time. It’s silly the way they set it up. They had no clue. When Gov. Murphy came in, he campaigned on making progress with medical marijuana, but he still wouldn’t let us open more dispensaries to take care of more patients. We still can’t make or sell any types of concentrates!” Having heard rumors that Greenleaf was being sold to a large multi-state Cannabis dispensary corporation, I wondered why Julio was getting out of the business just as it seems to be gaining steam on the East Coast. He tells me that the rumors are true, although he can’t discuss the particulars. “Danny, recreational adult use of Cannabis will likely pass this year in New Jersey, with implementation starting next year,” he assures me. “We’re a ‘Mom-and-Pop’ - it’s just me and my partners - and these huge corporations are coming in whether people like it or not. We’re not going to be capable of keeping up with tremendously increased demands. I can see the writing on the wall and that’s why I’m selling.”
GREENLEAF COMPASSION CENTER 395 BLOOMFIELD AVE. MONTCLAIR, NJ (973) 337-5670 GREENLEAFCOMPASSION.COM
Sept. 2020
“Many of my former law enforcement officer colleagues are very supportive. You’d be surprised how many of them understand that this is medicine.” - J U L I O VA L E N T I N
G R OW I N G G R E E N L E A F
CBD RICH AC/DC
WE TA KE A 4 5 -MI N UT E RI DE TO T HE GROW and meet up with Greenleaf’s Head of Cultivation, Ricardo Luis, for a rare and exclusive tour of the facility. The 7,000 square feet of different grow spaces were all built out in just two months. They created a warehouse inside a warehouse, with all walls and ceilings built from four inch thick insulated panels and 16-gauge steel on both sides, as well as floor drains in each room. There are eight flowering rooms, seven at around 500 square feet (16’x32’) and one at 900 square feet. Another 900 square foot room serves as a mother plant area and a separate clone room features fluorescent lighting to keep down costs and heat. Ricardo explains that keeping things compartmentalized allows for perpetual harvesting and helps isolate any possible issues that can arise with mold or pests. New Jersey’s Department of Health monitors have access to the cameras in every room, 24 hours a day. Reverse osmosis (RO) well water goes through multiple sediment filters and UV until true purity is achieved. Plants are grown in coco coir in three gallon air pots that sit in plastic trays for drainage. They are fed twice a day and flushed once a week through two drip emitters per plant. The plants stay in their vegetative stage for three weeks under metal halide (MH) lighting, until they’re ready to start the nine-week flowering process. Flower rooms are lit with double-ended 1000watt HPS lights and kept cool using a five-ton HVAC split with CO2 piped into rooms from a large tank outside the building. Two 180-190 pint dehumidifiers in each room, 12-inch exhaust with 12-inch HEPA filters and wall-mounted circulating fans keep air moving and the climate at ideal levels. Ricardo uses Autopilot units for temperature/humidity and CO2 level monitoring and control. Asking Ricardo about Greenleaf’s harvesting and processing protocol, he shares the intricacies of the process he has fine tuned. “When the flowers are ready to harvest, we hang whole plants in our climate controlled drying room for one to two weeks. Then they’re broken down into branches for another one to two weeks, drying with temperature kept between 65-67 degrees and relative humidity at 50%. A free-flowing HEPA filter keeps things clean. After harvest, we decontaminate every inch of every room. Everything is removed and disinfected. Even the fans are taken apart. Everything.” In the processing room, flowers are handtrimmed by a crew that works nonstop to ensure quality and freshness. Finished buds are weighed and packaged to prepare them for sale in the dispensary. The new owners plan to expand the cultivation operations considerably, so keep an eye out for big changes coming to the New Jersey Cannabis marketplace.
STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT | PHOTOS by BRIAN JAHN @BRIANJAHNPHOTO
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cooking with cannabis
STONED SUMMER
Same crazy world, with no end in sight. As we all try to stay safe with our masks and our hand sanitizer, try to remember what you have to be thankful for. And help make the changes we need to be the world we want to have - a healthy planet, equal justice and peace for everyone. Try, we all need to try. These recipes were infused with Noble Farms Royal Wedding, and a bit of Wesley’s Wish CBD from East Fork Cultivars. #BlackLivesMatter #DontFearTheEdible #EatYourCannabis
STEAK & ROASTED POTATO SALAD
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1. In a medium bowl whisk together the vinegar and oils. Add the cumin, salt and pepper. Set aside. 2. In a medium skillet heat the canola oil. Add the scallion, cooked potato and beans, and sauté for 4-5 minutes. 3. In a large mixing bowl combine all the remaining ingredients. 4. Toss the dressing with the steak and vegetables and serve. Serves 4.
>> This is my absolute favorite smoothie. Refreshing, tasty and calming, now when we need it most.
PISTACHIO LIME SMOOTHIE
4 tablespoons sherry vinegar 4 teaspoons canna-olive oil 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon cumin salt, pepper
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree. 2. Garnish with pistachios. 1 ½ cups almond milk, or preferred milk
¼ cup lime juice concentrate
1 whole avocado, peeled and pit removed
2-4 tablespoons honey
1 banana, peeled and sliced
4 tablespoons pistachios
1 lime, cut in chunks
2 teaspoons canna-oil
1 tablespoon canola oil
>> You can always change the meat or veggies. The last time I made this, I turned the leftovers into a tasty sandwich on a toasted roll.
2 scallions, in pieces 2 pounds cooked potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks 1 cup cooked green beans, trimmed and cut in pieces ½ cup chopped red onion 16 ounces steak, grilled to desired degree of doneness, cut in chunks 4 radishes, thinly sliced
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4 cups chopped romaine
>> This dish would also be wonderful with the addition of shrimp, tofu, scallops or chicken. Feel free to use spinach instead of arugula. Although many pesto recipes are made with pine nuts, their current price point has made walnuts my go-to. No regrets here.
Sept. 2020
1. In a food processor or blender combine the arugula, walnuts, garlic, salt and pepper. 2. Drizzle in the olive oils. 3. Turn the pesto into a serving bowl and stir in the Parmesan. 4. In a large saucepot bring salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package instructions. 5. Drain the pasta, return to saucepot off heat, and toss with the pesto and the remaining bunch of arugula. 6. Divide the pasta between the plates, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with some grated Parmesan. Serves 4-6.
ARUGULA & PESTO SPAGHETTI
6 cups arugula, packed
Salt
½ cup walnuts
Pepper
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 lb. pasta
½ cup olive oil
1 bunch arugula, rinsed, dried
2-3 tablespoons canna-olive oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup grated Parmesan
Small chunk Parmesan for grating
RECIPES by LAURIE WOLF | PHOTOS by BRUCE WOLF
NETA, short for New England Treatment Access, opened their first dispensary in Northampton in Western Massachusetts in 2015, serving registered medical patients and becoming the first store to open for recreational adult-use on the East Coast in 2018. The Brookline shop, in my former hometown, is located in a beautifully restored bank building in the heart of Brookline Village, where it has become known for some amazing flowers, concentrates, topicals and of course, edibles. Their 100mg THC-infused Dark Chocolate with Mint Bar is made with Belgian dark chocolate. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find them infused with mint and separated into 20 pieces that are approximately 5mg THC and 15 calories each - not to mention vegan. These treats are made in-house at their cultivation and production facility in Franklin, Massachusetts using 53.8% dark chocolate, with the THC processed using hydrocarbon or ethanolbased fractional distillation. All NETA edibles are lab tested and labeled with all the information needed to consume them safely and responsibly. We started with four, 5mg pieces and began to feel the sativa dominant effects after about 25 minutes. The buzz was uplifting and a general feeling of warmth and wellness spread through the body. There was absolutely no taste of Cannabis, only the delicious rich chocolate flavor with more than a hint of minty freshness. The effects were long lasting and lingered for almost two hours, without any paranoia or discomfort. The next day, we discovered yet another great way to enjoy these bite-sized nuggets: by melting a couple of pieces into a mug of tasty homemade hot chocolate. Mmmmm.
edible of the month
NETA THC DARK CHOCOLATE BAR
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> > 100MG THC / 20-SERVING BAR
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There was absolutely no taste of Cannabis, only the delicious rich chocolate flavor with more than a hint of minty freshness. NEW ENGLAND TREATMENT ACCESS 160 WASHINGTON ST, BROOKLINE, MA (617) 841-7250 NETACARE.ORG @NETA_NOW
REVIEW & PHOTO by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/NORTHEAST LEAF
concentrate of the month neleafmag.COM
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As a daily consumer of flower, mostly at night, I am a relative newcomer to the world of dabs. This product, Pie Dough from Mega Raw Melts - a boutique Maine producer/processor specializing in the fine art of hash rosin - may have converted me. Pie Dough is a very unique and rare strain bred by Cannarado Genetics and pheno-hunted by Mega Raw Melts. This elusive cultivar is a cross of Animal Cookies Star Dog x Grape Pie and was made available on a very limited release. The packaging is simple, with a historic logo featuring the ‘ice cream cone boy’ from the cover of the Europe ‘72 album by the Grateful Dead from the Kelley Mouse Studios. The rosin features a light milky quartz color to it with an intense aroma that can be smelled as soon as the seal of the cap is broken. Mega Raw describes it as a very unique combination of gunpowder and incense. The smoke was easy and filling, with no resistance from the lungs - it just seeped into me. Moments later my eyes widened, I felt focused and dare I say, happy. I could play a game of basketball or read an instruction manual afterwards. It was a nice taste going in, and loud flavor on the exhale. These qualities are no doubt the reward of knowledge and skill in the intricate process of growing quality flower and years of experience making bubble hash. Mega Raw Melts attributes their high quality and ability to retain flavor and potency through a process of extraction that is “whole plant ice water extract pressed into rosin.” It’s certainly a science of which I have no concept or knowledge, but I’m sure Walter White would be proud. Overall, the product was wellcrafted and incredibly smooth, tasty and enjoyable. Just like a good piece of pie.
> > TESTING
DELTA 9 THC 0.9% CBG-A 1.3% CBG 0.7% TOTAL THC 86%
> > TERPENES
BETA-MYRCENE 0.44% D-LIMONENE 1.74% LINALOOL 1.89% BETA-CARYOPHYLLENE 1.88% ALPHA-HUMULENE 0.45% ALPHA-BISABOLOL 0.31% TOTAL TERPENOIDS 6.71%
Sept. 2020
UNIQUE & RARE STRAIN
Moments later my eyes widened, I felt focused and dare I say, happy.
PIE DOUGH MEGA RAW MELTS @MEGARAW_MELTS
REVIEW by MICHAEL G. SEAMANS/NORTHEAST LEAF | PHOTO by GABE SOUZA @GABEVSOUZA
BUZZ BALM
BudSuds was founded by ‘canna couple’ Amanda and Joe in 2014 with the mission of creating high quality, handcrafted CBD infused soaps and topicals. All of their products are made with natural organic ingredients and full spectrum CBD oil. In January of 2019, they opened a brick-and-mortar storefront in Westfield, Massachusetts called BudSuds Soapery, where they make all of their soaps, bath bombs, balms and oils in-house, retailing them to the local community. We tried their multiple award-winning CBD Buzz Balm, a 100mg blend of oils and rich butters including coconut oil, raw shea butter, locally sourced beeswax, cocoa butter, hemp oil and more. It’s meant to soothe pain and ease inflammation, while nourishing the skin and amazing the senses from the moment it’s applied. Upon gently rubbing this smooth and silky balm onto the skin, an immediate tingling sensation is felt on the surface before slowly sinking deeper into the epidermis. The scent of lavender and peppermint adds to the uplifting feeling, leaving a pleasant aroma that lingers as the butters and oils work their physical and mental magic.
topical of the month
BUDSUDS LAVENDER & PEPPERMINT
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An immediate tingling sensation is felt on the surface before slowly sinking deeper into the epidermis. > > AWARD WINNING TOPICAL
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2019 COMMONWEALTH CUP 1ST PLACE 2018 TERPTOWN THROWDOWN 3RD PLACE 2018 COMMONWEALTH CUP 2ND PLACE 2017 HIGHTIMES NEW ENGLAND 1ST PLACE 2016 HIGH TIMES MICHIGAN 3RD PLACE 2015 HIGHTIMES MICHIGAN 2ND PLACE BUDSUDS SOAPERY 14 SCHOOL ST. WESTFIELD, MA BUDSUDSSOAPERY.COM @BUDSUDS | $30/2OZ CONTAINER
REVIEW & PHOTOS by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/NORTHEAST LEAF
B ATT LING GRA VIT Y he actress Bette Davis once said that getting old is not for the faint of heart. And the reason for this assessment of absolute accuracy is because after managing your life over the Earth’s crust for enough seasons, the force of attraction by which terrestrial bodies tend to fall toward the center of the Earth begins to have an effect on your physicality. That’s what gravity is. But don’t be mad. You see, it is this pull of weight that has afforded us a body at all. Unless you believe we were put here by a superhuman being or spirit, worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes. Thank God for the dictionary. Wait, my bad, he didn’t create that - a man named Robert Cawdrey did in the year 1604. Or did God create it through him? Hold on, shouldn’t God be referred to with gender neutrality now? Anyway, back to gravity. Our energy attracts the matter that forms muscle, bone, etc. And with the pressure of gravity, your substance grows. And if you are not working the muscle, what occurs is atrophy, eventually resulting in immobility and death. So, it is this force of gravity that has allowed all organisms on Earth to develop and proliferate. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Recently, I went a week without walking due to being bedridden as a result of an injury and with the first attempt, it was clear my muscles had begun the physiological process of atrophy. Now, taking steps along a firm sidewalk was like navigating a massive trampoline surface. Or like a cat walking in booties. Thankfully, Cannabis gets you lifted.
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by Mike Ricker
Sept. 2020
F O L L OW @ R I C K E R D J | G E T T H E AU D I O V E R S I O N & EV E RY E P I S O D E AT S TO N EY- B A L O N EY. C O M
INTRODUCING FAIRWINDS CBD VISIT FAIRWINDSCBD.COM
