MEND Season 1 - Episode 23

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 17

The Modern-Day Medicine Chest

Welcome to episode 17 here inside this first season of MEND - where we spend some time both with the originators and pioneers of Humboldt County’s Cannabis Scene but also spend some time getting to know some of the innovators, entrepreneurs, activists, farmers, and more who are helping to shape the Future of this Industry and our Region.

We truly enjoyed sitting down with Gillian - a resident of Humboldt County since 1995, who initially moved here from SEattle to be a part of the Intentional Community at Black Bear Ranch and to escape some of the urban trappings of modern life

She eventually went on to get her degree in Biology & Botany at HSU, and for the past 3 years has been one half of the heart and head behind the biz Humboldt Apothecary  - a medicinal cannabis brand that specializes in CBD-heavy tinctures and formulas, blended with other complementary and synergistic herbs to treat a variety of ailments.  

She tells us about her own path to entrepreneurship - from growing a business with a meer $1500 worth of startup capital to its’ present day iteration - operating across all of California and distribution of over 200 dispensaries statewide

On starting small and using what you have and growing from there.  

On the importance of community not only to help jettison her own business into its current state but also on the quintessential role she sees of continuing to craft cooperatives, community and cooperation across the board if the small, legacy farmer is to stay afloat in the current tidal wave of industry we see today

We talk about the high costs of coming into compliance - both on a very real financial level but on the bigger cultural plane as well

She takes us a bit down the road of her own journey from plant lover, herbalist, and botany-geek to full-fledged businesswoman, the co-creator of a thriving brand - and the steps and shifts it took to move into those roles.

And we find herein another call to Keep it Local - even as the stakes, the market and the money seem to scale ever more global - She stresses the importance of sourcing locally, organically - and staying community minded - as Humboldt County works to extend its output, its’ influence and it’s brand - ever outward.  

There are some of us who will not be able to make the leap.

Who, as small-scale, mom-and-pop farmers and low-level black-market sellers, - were able to care for and feed their families - contribute to their communities - but may not have the wherewithal, the start-up capital, nor the desire - to enter into this brave new world of branding, testing, licensing and so much more…

But herein we glimpse a blueprint and singular scenario - of one such woman making that leap.

And wherever you choose to turn - either toward this new wave - or off into some new enterprise & adventure altogether - may you be inspired and heartened by what you hear.

The leap - if it calls to you - is worth the taking.  

To find out more about Gillian, her work, and the formulations she makes as part of Humboldt Apothecary, visit:

http://www.humboldt-apothecary.com

MEND Season 1 - Episode 10

Production, Pot Plants, Passions & Passports. (Oh My!)

Welcome to this - our Tenth episode of Mend!

This feels like a milestone for the two of us - as we intially envisioned compiling a grand total of 20 interviews for this - our first season of the podcast.   - so this would put us at the halfway point.

We’re continuing to enjoy the conversations and stories we unearth here so we’ll see how that number shifts as we journey forward.  

In this interview, we venture off the path we’ve trod thus far and sit down for a very candid and personal chat with Marie - a worker who has been on the production end of the cannabis scene, aka a “trimmer” for the past 8 years.  

We value deeply the perspective of the pioneers and originators of this tribe, but felt it necessary to examine some of the other aspects of this world as well.  

Here, you’ll gain a vivid portrait of a woman who has been able to  - among other things - travel, support her passions as a singer, a painter, and adventurer abroad.  She gives us a detailed accounting of the typical work day (a hint - not your typical 9-5) and season this particular job entails.  Plus get down to the nitty-gritty money bits - including how much one can make historically in this line of work - how that’s changing - and the great life she’s managed to carve out for herself as a result of this vocation - AND - living this fabulous life on a much smaller budget than you might expect.  

Marie shares with us how cannabis helped her overcome a debilitating addiciton to alcohol and cocaine in her early twenties.  We also dip into some controversial waters, too.  She shares her responses to those who see the Marijuana economy as one of Extraction - of merely taking without ever giving back.  

And we look toward what the future might hold for herself, but also the thousands of people like her who have relied upon this as a way of subsisting and bankrolling their dreams and passions in other walks of life.  

We’ve chosen to keep this talk raw and real.  

We don’t aim to portray perfect people here - but to provide a mic to learning, growing, imperfect folks - who are doing their best to navigate this time - with the tools at their disposal.  

MEND Season 1 -Episode 9

The Work of the Healer...

Welcome Back to MEND - Episode 9!

We’re continuing to seek out stories from the Elders, the Wise Ones, and the Healers of our tribe.  

In this interview, we’re delighted to sit down with Jane Bothwell, owner of the Dandelion Herbal Center - a local school for Herbal Studies in Kneeland, where she has been training, educating and empowering people from all walks of life to learn the ways of Plant Medicine and Holistic Healing for over 30 years now.  

Jane brings the great perspective of the Healer into this Conversation and provides some wonderful points of reference on how we can cultivate a more sustainable, relational & reverent working relationship with the Cannabis plant.  

We talk about the power of Naming things and how this alters our perceptions.

About the increasing legitimacy of Marijuana as a recognized medicine within the Herbalism world & some of the wonderful uses she’s found for it’s curative powers within her own life and practice.

There’s some important information in regards to THC vs. CBD formulations and strains within here. As well as some great references for those who wish to know more about the Healing Properties and possibilities inherent to Marijuana. Plus, the inherent differences between what it means to ingest a plant recreationally vs as part of a larger ceremony.

Most significantly, Jane speaks to us of the importance of continuing to work organically, sustainably, and with great Reverence as we move forward cultivating this plant.  And how one person, working honorably, humbly, & well - can seed an impact for great, societal & cultural shifts.  

To find out more about the resources Jane mentions in our time together, check out the following links:::

The Dandelion Herbal Center  - www.dandelionherb.com

The Medicinal Cannabis Conference - medicinalcannabisconference.com

United Plant Savers - unitedplantsavers.org

Humboldt Apothecary - humboldt-apothecary.com

MEND Season 1 - Episode 6

The Plant as Medicine...

In this episode we speak with a mother, medicine-maker and small-scale farmer who understands cannabis to be not only a medicine for physical ailments, but also a spiritual medicine and teacher. 

She speaks of ceremonies, cannabis as ambassadors between the plant world and human world, and growing her plants with prayer and intention. 

She shares with us her hopes for Humboldt’s future and offers gratitude for having a place to share these stores with the bigger world because, as she says,

“Yes, we might be outlaws, but we’re really good people…” 

This interview takes us deep into the soul connection that is possible with marijuana and hopefully inspires others to question what is lost when money and quantity become the main driving force of cultivation.