Community

cannabis

unity

11 years.

Traveling the greener paths of cannabis. A community built on unity, but a potential split by greedy.

In activism, often the most important voices are lost in the chatter of big money marketing and the mass response to the changes. Looking at cannabis activism it has occurred with much of the same pattern. Folks who fought for Prop 215 and SB 420 are quietly being remembered on branded metallic labels, smoked by consumers who have no idea that Jack Herer is a real man.

From the doctors’ offices, to the pre-ico dispensaries, to these 2021 green rush days…I have witnessed good change and bad change in our industry. For the most part we have repeated the corporate models, top down structures with high paid bean counters at the top, leaving the passionate workers on the bottom with no outlet for growth or purpose. In some way a few legacy farms have out lasted the green rush that flocked from Silicon Valley into the Emerald Triangle.

With more and more states jumping on the cannabis wagon, we’re seeing sky rocketing numbers of employees transitioning into the cannabis sector. From agriculture, pharmaceuticals, fashion, technology…there are departments for all passions in this industry. We start from a seed and end at a consumer bag, including everything in between. Yet, had our law from 1996 continued in the fashion it was written, our industry would be booming with passionate and dedicated workers—workers (aka collective members) who would have had the capital to continue the mom and pop craft cannabis market without the $75 an eighth price tag and without the corporate ladders to climb.

Today more than ever co-operatives and collectives are being discussed in mainstream media as our economy is stagnate. Innovation is collected in the hands of the few multi-national entrepreneurs’ umbrellas and shareholders continue to add up percentages. Meanwhile, the labor force is left with the decision…prioritize healthcare over passion due to insurance being tied to employment and their salaries not allocating enough funds for preventive care?

Our industry can’t reverse the tide and go back and start fresh again, but we can acknowledge that we all signed multiple agreements tying us to collectives—collectives which were meant to grow our “medicine” for us while our monetary donations or volunteered time off set the cost of producing quality flower. Were there any collectives that offered those terms genuinely to the patients they cared for? Maybe a handful? The only collectives I see now are hedge funds and venture capitalists. They are steadily buying up licenses across the nation, pooling their funds and their corporate experience together in order to figure out this booming industry. They never cared two cents about before, some even against it before. They’re even taking advantage of the Social Equity opportunities in major cities.

Our nation is silent on many of the World’s injustices, our capital is depleted due to the hoarding of a few, and our policies are written by those same few communities that surround “those few.” Now our cannabis industry seems to be a duplication of consumer buying and recreational party habits. High prices, flashy labels and fancy names…leaving little space for cannabis’ historical culture.

It is up to us, those who care, those with the experiences of early 2000s. Those with stories of the sixties and seventies. The ones who were jailed. The ones who fought policy. The ones who built community. Our voices collectively can revive the genuine community of cannabis unity. Let’s build beyond capital and revive compassionate care in our cannabis community. Let’s look to the laws of 1996 that paved the way for all of us to enjoy these “recreational” days.