cannabis business

MEND Season 2 (Episode #26)

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What is it Worth...   Re-Claiming & Affirming our Value in a Dollars-driven World.

Welcome back to season 2 of MEND.

As you can see, we're shifting things around here a bit.  

Moving from the local landscape of a dwindling & tumultuous underground industry into the bright light of the larger world around us.  

At a certain point, this local cannabis industry shifted it's values to re-align with those of the dominant culture.  Rather than the former objective of utilizing the money gained from cannabis to bring other forms of value into the world - things like schools, art, music, community outreach and such.... Eventually, we settled into the good ole, black-and-white, cut-and-dry margins of the almighty profit margins.  

At some point we seem to have forgotten that this was just ONE way to bring value to the world. That money was but one way to move our ideas, values & dreams out into this Life.

And so that is where our sights are headed next.

We are thrilled to explore this topic of the different ways we can and do create wealth and value in our lives and our communities.

To start this season, we sat down with each other to dig deeper into the 8 Forms of Capital as we are coming to understand them, offering a general overview for each so that we have a shared starting point of how our guests are working and creating wealth in these realms.  

This is going to be an inspiring, (hopefully) perspective-shifting season.  We’re going beyond the stories to the “practice” and application of these ideas, this wisdom, and the many ways in which we can all bring something to the table.     

In many ways, perhaps the current cannabis industry has failed to live up to the initial values it was instigated on.  But we want to acknowledge that we can do better.

We can shift the conversation.

We can tip the scales.

And here are some stories, diatribes & ideas on where to start.

Enjoy! 

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Big Thanks to Ethan Roland and the visionary team of Appleseed Permaculture who first put words to this framework, and mapped out these ideas for us all to drop into and explore.

And an equally open-hearted shout-out to Sam Sycamore of the Good Life Revival Podcast - who first hipped us to these ideas - and shared them in a way both eloquent but inspiring us to ACT.  Deep bows.

MEND Season 1 - Episode 23

With 
Steve 
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Steve DeAngelo - The Man behind the Manifesto

You know those rare moments in life where you get to meet a truly celebrated figure?

Someone whose face you’ve seen online & in print?

Someone who’s built up a worldwide following behind their work - and for one brief, shining moment you get to sit and chat with them?

How often do these real life meetings ever live up to the hype?

How often do we build up an impossible image of the celebrity in our own minds - that when we meet them in the flesh - it pales in comparison to the shining visage we’ve erected in our minds???

THIS was not the case as Anne & I had the great pleasure to find out - as we sat down for an hour to talk with the venerable Steve DeAngelo this past week.

We spent weeks e-mailing back and forth with his camp, reading his book, watching his Youtube videos and appearances - so that we could get good and ready for this talk with a man who has been on the Activist & Advocacy front of the Cannabis world for some 40 years.  

For those not fully familiar with his work, Steve is the owner of the Harborside Health Center in Oakland, CA - the largest medical cannabis dispensary in the United States, serving over 200,000 patients.  

Fortune Magazine has named him one of the top 7 most powerful people inside the Marijuana Industry today.  

He’s written a terrific book about the history of cannabis, prohibition, and his own work inside this world - The Cannabis Manifesto.

And is also the co-founder and president of the Arcview Group - a company aimed at introducing bright, promising cannabis entrepreneurs to angel investors who can fund their work.  

We speak to Steve about his path of Activism & Entrepreneurship (and why he sees them as mutually beneficial).  About his own time & connection to our neck of the woods, inside the Emerald Triangle, and his own love of the culture we have built up here and the work of the legacy cannabis farmer.

He shares his thoughts on the unique challenges confronting our community and the tools he sees as key to staying vital & financially solvent in the tumultuous time to come.  

He talks about the ways in which the Prohibition era programmed us toward a mentality that will not sustain us in the next iteration to come.  And the shift he sees as critical to become viable in the new, legitimate marketplace.  

And he offers us guidance on how to continue to affect the current paradigm surrounding cannabis.  Moving, as he says, “out of the shadows & into the Light.”

And ultimately Steve guides back to the plant itself.  

To those amongst us who are called to work with and cultivate it.

To use it reverently & as the healing, medicinal currency for which it is best suited.

To caretake the plant so that it can caretake us and our families and communities, and usher in the type of world we wish to inhabit…

We simply must be willing to sit & listen..

And trust that the way we will be made known.

We are deeply honored and proud to bring you this powerful talk from a great man.  

Cheers.

Links:::

Steve DeAngelo.com

Harborside Health Center

The Arcview Investment Group

The Cannabis Manifesto Book

MEND Season 1 - Episode 22

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Some times you need to take a knee.  

Some days you need to go deep into your yin.

The pause.

To sit with the questions though the answers seem none-too-soon-in-coming.

This week is such a week.  

Anne & I took this moment to ready ourselves for our big TALK with the intrepid Steve DeAngelo - the subject of next week's forthcoming episode.

We'll be talking to Steve about his book - The Cannabis Manifesto - why he chose to pursue Entrepreneurship as his own path to Activism & what he's learned inside his 40+ years as a rabble-rouser, community organizer, leader & voice against Prohibition.  Plus his work inside Harborside Health Center, in Oakland, CA, as well.

As an added bonus to our loyal listeners, though this talk is scheduled to take place tomorrow, let us know if there's some burning questions you'd like to have answered.

We've got our own list of go-to's and entreaties we'd love to hear more about, but this is a great opportunity to get some personal Q&A's fielded by one of the leading experts in the Cannabis field.

Pop us a line over @ mendpodcast@gmail.com

Mention Steve DeAngelo in the subject line.

And be sure to get them into us by 10 AM (PST), Wednesday, October 4th.

For now, may this give you an opportunity to catch up on some other listening, some back episodes you've yet to finish, or to start an awesome project all your own.

Thanks, as ever, for being a part of this community with us.

For being a voice.

And for keeping the Conversation rolling.

Cheers.

Links:::

SteveDeAngelo.com 

The Cannabis Manifesto Book

Harborside Health Center