Wiz Khalifa Majik Icon Edition

HONEYSUCKLE MAGAZINE

MAGAZINE

VOL XIII

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FREEDOM

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The Magic Carpet Ride With Wiz Khalifa Edition

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CONTENTS

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4 MARY PRYOR Inclusion in Cannabis 7 HONEYSUCKLE ON THE LOOSE We Shoot New Yorkers for Rebelle Dispensary 11 TREMAINE WRIGHT An Interview with the New York Cannabis Control Board Chair 15 THE FLOWERMILL REVOLUTION Mill Don’t Grind 18 KHALIFA KUSH A California Sneak Peak 21 CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ Golden State Photos 24 CHRISTIE HEFNER Queen Christie: She Reigns 28 WIZ KHALIFA Read While High 40 HIGHSMAN Ricky Williams: Holistic Health 44 THE PERFECT STORM: RUBEN LINDO Makes Social Equity Global Equity 46 BLK GIRLS GREEN HOUSE Grass is Always Greener 48 THE BUZZ On the Canna-Bizz: Austin Stevenson 50 THE TWO BEST HIGHS: WEED + LOVE A Gift Guide 56 NATIONAL CANNABIS FESTIVAL Back, BIGGER, Better 58 ONTHEREVEL Revelry: a New York Cannabis Licensing Conference Talent Cover: WIZ KHALIFA photographed by SAM C LONG and styled by CARLOS SANTOS. BIG BUNNY by PLAYBOY robe.

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EDITOR’S LETTER

THE MAGIC ICON ISSUE

EDITORS LETTER 4

Magic Carpet Ride Magic is the theme of Honeysuckle’s 13th Edition, because everyone featured in this is pure magic. Our cover icon, Wiz Khalifa, the rap mogul whose vision of a life “well lit” is transforming a generation’s relationship with cannabis. In an exclusive interview, Wiz opens up about how cannabis inspires his creativity – particularly for his surprise album Wiz Got Wings – the need for more Black entrepreneurs to enter the industry, and what he believes his ultimate legacy will be. And of course, we get a sneak peek inside the mysterious workings of Wiz Khalifa’s cannabis brand, Khalifa Kush.

We continue our journey with Tremaine Wright, Cannabis Control Board Chair for New York State, who sprinkles nuggets of wisdom into the necessity of representation for marginalized communities in New York’s burgeoning cannabis communities - ahead of cannabis licensing in what’s arguably to be the largest legal market in the world. Tremaine explains how the state’s Office of Cannabis Management is strategizing towards a social equity program that is stronger than any other in the nation, with advances in expungement, clemency, and fighting back against the War on Drugs.

Football legend Ricky Williams has been creating magic all of his life. Most recently with his cannabis brand Highsman, that transforms trauma into greatness. The Heisman trophy winner looks back on his past with college and professional athletics through the spiritual quest that led to his latest venture with Highsman. Few people in the public eye are as eloquent about how they spirituality transformed their lives. Ricky’s advice about understanding collective energy – and choosing love – is how we evolve as humans.

From these powerful accounts to many others, we invite you to join us down this magic carpet ride of journalism, photography, art and Wiz Khalifa!

Originated from one of the most storied legacies in American history, Christie Hefner - former Playboy CEO, current environmental activist, health care revolutionary, women’s rights advocate and more - has absorbed all of the birthrights from her father, the late Playboy creator, Hugh Hefner. Christie has evolved her lessons as a fighter for First Amendments, sex rights, and cannabis justice into a spectacular oasis of intelligence, grace and most importantly, action.

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FOLLOW ON SOCIAL

IG: @HoneysuckleMagazine Twitter: @honeysucklemag Youtube: Honeysuckle Magazine Publisher / Founder Ronit Pinto Creative Director Sam C. Long Editor-At-Large Jaime Lubin Cover Design + Cover Spread: David Soto Editor Theara Coleman Illustrator Sarah Heightchew

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Contributors Tauhid Chappell Mehka King Matthew Nordgren Jake Wall Tasnia Choudhury Social Justice James Litkett Shawanna Vaughn Arthur Rambert Advisory Board Bobbi Paley Paul Rosen Dan Foehner Cover Image: Wiz Khalifa © Sam C. Long, 2022 Voelker Studio, CA Tracy Love - Hair Lauren Matos - MUA Carlos Santos - Styling Add’l Wardrobe - Playboy

ADVERTISE WITH US Want to advertise with the hottest Cannabis Magazine in the world? Call, text, or email.

Honey@HoneysuckleMag.com 646-632-7711 New York, NY 10023

Special Thanks: DJ Saul Matthew Nordgren Printed in Queens, NY USA

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Mary Pryor

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By Theara Coleman Who is Mary Pryor?

Mary Pryor is much more than the many titles she holds. It is undeniable that she is a pioneer, most prominently as an advocate in the cannabis industry for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). She has founded multiple companies, including co-founding Cannaclusive, one of the major collectives that provide resources for BIPOC-owned cannabis businesses.

The Cannaclusive team operates Inclusivebase, a database of BIPOC-owned companies in the industry; the largest collection of BIPOC stock photography in cannabis; and The Accountability List to help everyone hold each other accountable for achieving diversity aims and reparations.

But what matters most are the real-life steps Pryor is taking towards increasing access to the cannabis industry for people that are either socioeconomically or racially disadvantaged.

"I'm just a person that knows what this plant can do, and I want others to benefit as well," Pryor says. "That's that. You know, the more people give these convoluted things of who they are and what they are, the harder it is to understand what it really is, so I try to simplify my terminology."

The work she is doing speaks volumes about her mission of holding people accountable for building a holistically inclusive legal cannabis industry, in the shadows of decades of systematically oppressing Black and brown people. Pryor models how to hold people accountable for their actions or inactions in terms of diversity and the treatment of BIPOC people, through the work she does with various companies.

She recently became a board member and advisor at The Parent Company, which owns several high-profile cannabis brands including Jay-Z's Monogram. She's also a leader of Cannabis for Black Lives, a coalition of businesses to amplify Black voices in the cannabis space; the Chief Marketing Officer for Tonic CBD, one of the leading national womenowned CBD brands; the founder of Fit For Us, a wellness company to improve the health of minorities around the world; and of Breaking Bread NYC, which helps feed the homeless.

Across all of these roles, Pryor is consistently active in expanding the possibilities for Black and brown people in an industry built on the backs of victims of the War on Drugs, while holding those complicit in their continued erasure accountable. Honeysuckle caught up with Pryor to discuss the honest truth about the reality of DEI efforts in the cannabis industry.

Pryor Tells the Honest Truth about DEI and the Cannabis Industry

HONEYSUCKLE MAGAZINE: How has your journey led you to the cannabis industry?

MARY PRYOR: I think my health led me here, or rather the value of doing what I can for my health. I dealt with a lot of things that stem from some autoimmune situations. Through the consumption of cannabis, I'm able to manage my pain levels and fill a lot of those gaps that the endocannabinoid system really benefits. I come from tech and marketing, media systems, I always used cannabis but not the way I use it now. I do agree that use is use. The idea of medicinal versus adult use is a real problem for me because it makes people think one isn't the same as the other, which it is.

HONEYSUCKLE MAGAZINE: What is your personal mission in cannabis?

MARY PRYOR: I think a lot of these terms that we utilize are kind of like crawling up against us. Like social equity is a term, I think we need to just kill and redo it because now it's just it's all over the fucking place. I don't even want to call it that anymore, so I'm going to introduce a whole new lexicon in January. Our team of about eight Black, brown, and Latinx folks care about these things. I feel like at this point, the work I'm doing in the industry and the connections I have matters in terms of how I think about what the next steps are to make this a real thing. Especially as a businesswoman who wants to launch a cannabis business and is about to launch lines next year. I think that's important, but I do not want to keep using terms and talking about stuff that isn't working anymore.

I'm usually the one that calls that out and deals with the ramifications of that, whether good or bad. I'd like to think that the work that we've done has given people a look into how this industry claims to support equity and what they think is doing the job but isn't. I'm a person in the space that is aware of where things really need to shift. Consumers need to take more power into buying from entities and brands that actually are supporting the work of melanated people, and or comprised of melanated people. And if we don't make that important so that people see it as a bottom-line problem, either because they never give a damn or they found a way to co-op it, then we're going to keep having issues where accountability just isn't going to matter.

With that being said, accountability comes in all forms. There are people that do dirt, no matter what race or gender they are. Overall this is an industry that has a lot of good people, but there's also a lot of bad things that happen to those good people.

What's your role at The Parent Company?

I'm an advisor for their social equity ventures, which is a fund they are using to invest in ventures that are coming from equity applicant markets. Right now their big focus is California.

How is the Accountability List shaping the state of social equity in the industry? ​​I think that we're trying to redefine it as a tool that lets consumers know which brands are actually doing the work that matters to them.

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Inclusion in Cannabis

Cannaclusive's Mary Pryor on Diversity and Equity

What do you see as the current reality of DEI efforts in the industry?

How do you balance all these high-pressure leadership roles?

Your answer is as good as mine. Because people don't ask about it, companies do not have to share that information. Enough people aren't asking about it [and] aren't making it an issue. Consumers aren't saying that it matters to them. And to be honest with you most of these products are ass, so it'd be good to know that if you're going to spend money on pretty packaging, who is at least giving back to communities that look like you. Whether you're Black, Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Desi. The origin of the plant comes from areas that are now known as Afghanistan and India. That's the first documented origin of it, but we know that there's the genus of this plant family across the globe. From the continent of Africa, down to what is now known as South America.

I work out and meditate. I have a solid spiritual practice. I take breaks. I don't do anything on Sunday. Sunday is my day off. If anybody doesn't respect my personal Sundays, I don't like to deal with them, period. I have very firm boundaries. I did not use to have boundaries.

Now I do, and I only do things that are going to make me feel good. If that's masturbating, smoking weed, eating an edible, or taking a bath I'm going to do it. if that's great sex with a guy that I like and likes me back, a trip, or sleeping under my weighted blanket, I'm with it.

Because life is too short, and I know people don't care about other human beings lives much less their own. Sometimes due to things like environmental racism and the psychiatric effects of that. There are so many things that cause that like lack of self-care, which I fight through every day as someone that grew up in the hood. But I'm aware of it, and that's the first step. And when you're aware of it and then you start seeing it around you you're like "Holy fuck, they got us."

But, while these entities are creating a good brand or making something that you like to share with people that you care about, who's actually giving a shit?

We've made it less sexy to give a shit. Especially after the whole #blacklivesmatter thing didn't work out like we thought it would.

What does a potentially bright future for DEI in cannabis look like to you?

The industry wouldn't be comprised of over 80 percent white guys.

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Don't buy from companies that are making things worse for melanated people, while not doing their part within those communities.

Especially those brands who are not doing business within those communities, in addition to not advertising and displaying diverse audiences. Nor do they have diverse C-Suites, diverse boards, or diverse employees.

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What is a direct action people can take to support equity efforts in cannabis?

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How would you redefine social equity as a term?

Actionable accountability and awareness. We need a way to provide the real measurement of why this matters. Also having the real intention to not be a fucked up person. You can't sit here and tell me that racism isn't embedded into every fabric of our society. If you are cool with that, you know, I get it because it benefits you. That's common sense. But you're literally appropriating and commodifying a melanated origin plant genus to exalt your privilege. And to me, that just signifies that you're probably not a good person. Why would I buy your brand? In reality, I don't have to buy shit from you, The legacy market will never die. So if I'm going to go in there to spend 60 or 100 dollars on an eighth, show me that you actually are doing stuff with people that are melanated. And you can't just choose to do shit with only Black people. You've got any Latines in the fucking room? You've got any lesbians? Do you have any queer folks?

I'm a straight Black woman that wants to see you acknowledge the fact that you don't have anybody. You're not doing any programs with anybody who's Desi. You don't acknowledge that people are suffering in Afghanistan, considering all the Afghan Kush that you sell. Black folks do a good job of calling that shit out, and that's the problem. Because people like me get eaten alive.

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Honeysuckle’s Creative Director and Publisher take to the streets with Rebelle Dispensary and our favorite New York Artists to find out why they Need Weed.

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HONEYSUCKLE ON THE LOOSE

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By: Jaime Lubin What is it about cannabis that unlocks our creativity? That’s what the the creative team at Honeysuckle set out to discover.

Honeysuckle founder Ronit Pinto and Creative Director Sam C. Long, captured Rebelle’s NEED WEED theme for a series of videos spotlighting artists who draw their inspiration from the plant. The back-cover sponsor for Honeysuckle’s past two editions, Rebelle is the stylish and sought after women-owned brand with a cannabis dispensary in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Rebelle founder and CEO Charlotte Hanna and Chief Marketing Officer Geraldine Hessler appear in one of the videos.

Honeysuckle took to the streets of New York City for a magical nighttime shoot. Kai Jmarii, a Bronx-based dancer whose viral videos have made him a TikTok sensation, and Mia the MVP, a burlesque performer updating Josephine Baker’s style for the digital age, posed in front of a Rebelle poster-lined wall to explain why they Need Weed. Both artists described how their cannabis consumption liberates their minds and puts them in a state of flow.

Kai states, “When I smoke weed, I freestyle… I come up with different moves. A lot of the time, when I’m thinking about videos, I be high, you know what I’m saying? It just opens me to different types of moves and I love how music sounds when I’m high… A lot of the time, my most viral videos went viral because I was high.”

“Weed is like the gateway to your creativity,” Mia notes. “I really like to smoke weed when I’m creating a new act or when I’m listening to music, because then I start to imagine things differently. When I’m listening to my playlist and I’m smoking weed, I dance around my house with my feather fans or my boa or something and figure things out in a way that I wouldn’t normally do if I was sober.”

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“I think cannabis really opens the door to creativity,” says Hessler, whose own process is featured in a video. “It changes the way you look at things around you, which changes the way you think, which changes the way you create, so it really is all tied together.”

REBELLE

Imagery from the Rebelle poster shoots is interspersed with the artists in their natural habitats: Kai freestyling on the New York streets, Mia onstage at iconic venues like Duane Park and Club Cumming, and Hessler in her studio.

The experience is simultaneously cinematic and intimate, immersing viewers in these minidocumentaries.

That’s just what Rebelle and Honeysuckle wanted, according to Long, who co-directed the ads with Pinto and shot the footage. “What Ronit and I set out to create was a series of spots that reflected the texture of the posters and the performers,” he comments. “New York is really just a giant set you can live in. The layering of the posters, that real grit, was what led us to shoot on so many textural mediums. I love shooting on vintage lenses (and even some low budget Chinese modern ones) because there’s a texture to the image. A layering of ghosting, flares and low contrast. Shooting on film was another element we knew we wanted from the beginning. Super 8mm has the high grain

and saturation that really enhances the performances and what the artists had to say. I think this campaign reflects the talent and diversity of voices that makes New York, New York.”

Additionally, the videos serve to highlight what makes Rebelle unique. Not only does its female leadership cultivate an aura of empowerment and limitless opportunities, but the brand’s very mission is to craft distinctive cannabis adventures to be both intensely personal for consumers and healing for body and mind. Pair that with the fact that Rebelle’s flagship dispensary is nearby New York City but also situated in nature, and you’ve got the best of all possible worlds in one glorious package.

Pinto knew instantly that the RebelleHoneysuckle partnership would be a formula for success. “When crafting this ad campaign, I wanted to combine the edgy, raw voice of editorial that is typical and true to Honeysuckle Media,” she explains.

“Honeysuckle deep dives into issues of race, gender and culture. We wanted to make sure that the Rebelle brand integrated with these issues. As a brand [Rebelle] with astonishing visuals, we knew that combining an editorial voice with strong visuals was the key to a successful brand campaign.”

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You certainly can’t argue with the results.

SHOOT

Hessler’s spot transports the viewer into the middle of photographic action, while her Zen reflections on the art of consumption automatically puts you in her mindset: “I always consume cannabis to put me in the zone when I’m editing. It just makes me focus, dials me in, blocks everything else out.” The statements are simple, yet her calm belies her absolutely badass capabilities.

Mia’s video, emblematic of her persona, seduces you in its charismatic sultriness. Yet as the burlesque pro purrs her words, giving the camera shades of Eartha Kitt, her vulnerability shines through and she’s utterly charming as she concludes her interview with a giggle. “I’m very high now,” she declares.

While Kai displays the improvised dance moves

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that got his videos featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and praised by Rihanna, he also allows a further glimpse into his private thoughts. Speaking candidly on how he experiences being Black and openly gay, he offers aspiring young creators an amazing ray of hope that they can find success in being themselves.

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That deeper layer was clear to Pinto from the start. “When Sam and I were discussing the direction for this video, it occurred to me that we should sort of pass through the different phases of Kai’s life through dance. And so we came up with four major questions, and asked him to kinetically represent them. ‘What do you feel like when you hear the words ‘race,’ ‘sex,’ ‘inspiration,’ etc. ‘ We traveled to different locations across the city and Kai knocked it out of the park as he is known to do. We are very happy with the way the ads and interview turned out.”

In the end, all the videos are powerful expressions of why cannabis fuels artists like no other. No matter your medium, we all want liberation and peace of mind. We all Need Weed.

Check out the Rebelle x Honeysuckle Need Weed campaign now on Honeysuckle’s YouTube channel.

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W R I G H T

An Interview with the New York Cannabis Control Board Chair Written By Jaime Lubin Interview By Jaime Lubin and Ronit Pinto Tremaine Wright, Chair of New York’s Cannabis Control Board (CCB), has worked for justice all her life. A Brooklyn native and longtime attorney before her career in government, Wright emphasizes that serving her community is her purpose, whether running a neighborhood coffee shop or practicing as a public defender. Now in her role with the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), she relishes the job of solving the questions so many New Yorkers are asking in the wake of adult-use cannabis legalization – especially those connected to legacy brands, social equity, and prison reform.m.

Wright’s passion for social change is infectious; she punctuates every statement of good news with warm laughter, while delivering more sobering information with keenly insightful eloquence and

empathy. “This is about trust,” she says in describing the relationship New York’s underground brands will have with the government regulators, and she means that. With Wright at the helm, we know the Empire State’s cannabis program is perfectly equipped to bring an evolution of humanity to plant-based industry.

HONEYSUCKLE MAGAZINE: What is the OCM’s stance on New York’s legacy brands? The legality issue seems so complex.

TREMAINE WRIGHT: It’s not actually that complex. There is no gray market in New York. If anyone is operating and selling cannabis in New York state at this time, if not under the medical license, it’s not legal. What we need [people] to do is prepare themselves so that they can obtain licensing and come into the regulated market.

Really, what we want to make sure is that we’re not seeing consistent streams of unregulated untested products; it’s just not safe. [We’re working on] controlling the marketplace so that our consumers can trust what they’re buying and… know exactly what they’re

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Tremaine Wright © New York State Office of Cannabis Management

T R E M A I N E

Tremaine Wright (top) speaks to Honeysuckle founder Ronit Pinto (center) and Editor-At-Large Jaime Lubin (bottom) (C) Honeysuckle Media, Inc.

getting. So it’s twofold. We need consumers to be educated and to know that they can trust it. And then we also need to know that our providers, our businesses, are operating in good faith and that they’re building great relationships.

We do have an enforcement mandate, but we’re not beginning with enforcement. We would much prefer to have legacy operators onboarded into a licensed, regulated market… We don’t want to reinstitute a police state, but what they’re doing is actually illegal at this moment and we don’t control police. We only control the enforcement agents that will be hired, and we don’t even have them yet. We’re in the process of hiring them for the OCM. How do you see the legacy brands participating if they’re not operating legally now? They’re getting a lot of attention.

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They are. We understand that New York has a robust market, that we are asking people to move out of that space and into this regulated space. But it’s going to take us building a partnership…

It’s about them knowing and understanding that as we are building a cannabis industry, a healthy market has a space for everybody.

So long as we stand true and hold ourselves accountable to that premise, I think that we’ll be able to create the marketplace and the ecosystem that allows people to know and understand that there’s a space for them in it.

into this space. We’ve got to come up with a system that balances the competing needs. But I do think that the microbusiness is going to be a real gamechanger for us here in New York. It’ll give a lot of our budding entrepreneurs an opportunity to carve out space for themselves, to scale their businesses and to thrive even when we go national, because I do think, and I really do believe that we will see, cannabis legalize nationally in the near future.

One unique aspect of the OCM’s cannabis program is its many components to support social equity and people from communities impacted by the War on Drugs.

Yes. We are really excited about what we’re doing in New York.

We were clear that we were not going to pass legalization without expungement and addressing the records that many people are burdened with before they can return back to society and fully participate. [In her State of the State plan], Governor Hochul announced that our tuition assistance would be available to those who are formerly incarcerated… We’re launching a $200 million fund so that we can support our equity applicants with access to capital. We’re looking at ways in which we help people transition back.

Our expungement process is moving along. We have affected 400,000 New Yorkers since [we passed the cannabis decriminalization bill] in 2019. I think that we’re doing the things that are necessary to get people access. We at OCM and CCB are tasked with putting structures in place to support our small businesses, our new businesses, our social equity applicants with technical assistance, financial planning, and other business assistance as they’re moving forward. This excites us because this is how we build an industry. The larger players don’t need us to participate, [but] our newer entrants to the business, [those] will be the folks that are hiring 25, 50, 100 people locally. Those are the businesses that need us, and we’re excited that we have actually been mandated to support them.

New York is the only state that has such measures mandated into its cannabis program, right?

I’m not going to say that people aren’t trying to build it out or not doing it, but I think that we’re the only ones that were mandated.

New York has an opportunity to be the leader in this moment, to say a healthy industry allows all participants to participate fully...

We’ve got to make sure that we’re building cannabis in a way that really says, “[Here’s] a way for you to grow your business.” If you OCM is offering specialized cannabis licenses, including decide to stay small and create work for yourself and maybe five or the microbusiness license, which will allow small brands toState Office Tremaine Wright © New York Cannabis Management six ofother people, you can do it. But if you’re also looking at [building] cultivate, process and distribute their own products. That could an industrial center and you’re going to hire 200 people, we want to grow New York’s craft cannabis industry, but there are also be able to have a pathway for that too. limits on vertical integration. How will this balance presence from small businesses (craft) and large multi-state operators (MSOs) like Curaleaf?

It seems like Governor Hochul and Lieutenant Governor Benjamin have been very supportive of the OCM.

We’re very supportive of new entrants into the market having an opportunity to do everything from seed to sale. And that’s what the microbusiness is allowing them to do. We don’t want to put artificial limitations on their growth, but we do believe that that fits in very well to the model and the outlook as we start to think about what does this industry look like in two, five or ten years, because they have got to have the ability to scale their businesses. So we’re looking at models very much like our wine [and] beer industries here in New York and the supports necessary for them to manage and to be successful. When we think about it that way, that’s what we’re trying to carve out for New York businesses.

They are. I was so happy when Governor Hochul was sworn in and immediately took the task up of assigning members to the control board, and then she got us up and started so that we can start hiring people. The fact that our fund is part of the State of the State is just amazing. I really think that those are the types of supports that we need and the signals that New Yorkers need to see. No one understands that’s a big deal for us, to be able to go out and do a public-private partnership to raise funds so that we can actually give loans to people before we start to collect taxes. [People asked] where is the money going to come from? This is where we’re going to get the money. Largely that means we’re getting it from the private market. We are planning $150 million from private investments and only $50 million from taxes and revenue. So that gives us a lot of flexibility. It means that we can get folks on the ground ready to operate as soon as licensing is available.

Our existing medical marijuana companies, the MSOs, they have a plan under the MRTA [Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act] for how they too can expand their presence in New York, but it’s limited.

They’re not allowed to have more than three dispensaries even under the adult-use market, but the timing will be left to our agency and the board to [determine] when that makes sense to allow them

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[Also, Governor Hochul] is creating an initiative to explore clemency in the state. We in New York State don’t have anybody

Your enthusiasm for the expungement program is palpable.

Do you see this as an opening for overall approaches to prison reform?

I do. And I think that that’s probably why it’s exciting and why that was one of the foci of the legislature when they discussed and [considered] the first versions of a legalization bill. There could be no legalization if we were leaving people out who are suffering under laws that criminalize something that we’re no longer criminalizing.

That was the lynchpin for many people, that the work that we’re doing is about restoring communities.

Someone recently asked, what does it mean to have been harmed?

And I think that we’ve got to remember and develop language so that we consistently bring home the point that the harm that was done was greater than just having someone arrested. It was a loss of innocence. It’s the constant terror, it’s trauma that people have experienced. It’s the weight and burden that families and communities have carried because of this Prohibition on cannabis.

The War on Drugs affected us in a lot of ways and normalized activities that in no way should have ever been normalized. And now we have an opportunity to right those wrongs and to bring attention to harms that have been done. I think that that’s a very large shifting of the paradigm: Shifting language and helping people to understand that that is just not acceptable behavior for government.

What’s been your personal experience with the War on Drugs? Is it something you witnessed growing up?

So I’m from Brooklyn, New York. I’ve lived here my entire life and I’ve definitively experienced it. You could not be Black in New York City without experiencing it, almost. It is going outside or walking home and knowing that you needed to be guarded and prepared for an unwanted police interaction. It is watching friends that may have just gone to the park to play ball, being swept up by the police, into police vans, on any given day, and then held at police stations for unknown amounts of time, just because it was sweeps. And there was opportunity for New York City police officers to hopefully capture somebody that might have a little bit of marijuana on them.

It’s being patted down against walls. It’s seeing people thrown up against surfaces.

It’s the loss of innocence for young people, it’s terror, and it’s ongoing trauma. It was living in a police state that had been normalized. It is 20 years of us watching a TV show that many of us loved, Law and Order, where you can’t name five roles by Black men or Hispanic men that were not the criminal or the target of the investigation. So I think that those things framed it for me.

And as soon as I was elected as an assembly member in 2016, the first person who came to my office with a request – I wasn’t even sworn in yet – was a friend who said, “Tremaine, you’re going to Albany and this is what you’ve got to work on.” It was about the decriminalization of marijuana, but more importantly, it was about removing the criminal charges on people who had been picked up for holding small amounts of marijuana, because it disrupts so much of their life thereafter. It was about figuring out ways for us to reintegrate people into our society and allow them to participate fully. That’s the work that we’ve all got to be involved in.

from people who are supposed to be service providers. It builds expectations. To redirect and reimagine those expectations will take time. It’s like asking us, how long does it take for those who served in Vietnam to come back and be fully restored? And I don’t know if they’re ever fully restored. We have a population and a generation of people who have got to reassociate, and they are still teaching lessons. [We must ask] what are the lessons that they’re teaching and how are people reinterpreting that?

On a macro scale, the country’s reflecting on Black History Month and the cultural injustices against people of color. What would be your message for this year?

I think Black History Month is America’s moment to look at itself in the mirror. It is a celebration of the accomplishments of Black Americans who have been innovative, tenacious, and they’ve always approached problem solving with a hopefulness. This is our moment to celebrate that. But I also think that it’s the moment for America to assess how all of these accomplishments have occurred under conditions that have been less than beneficial, less than supportive, and to reckon with ourselves on how do we correct some of that. I never fool myself into thinking that we’re erasing it, but I do believe that we’re constantly making steps to better the situation. And I hope that the work that we’re doing in cannabis in New York State can be considered a part of that work of consistently moving the dell forward, to create a more humane, more supportive space for Blacks in America.

What do you see as the future of OCM and yours within it?

I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, (Laughs) but I’m truly hopeful that all of cannabis ultimately comes together under the OCM so that we can treat it like one industry. I think that it will be helpful to the market for us to be able to do that while we have great relationships with our other agencies. It becomes easier for our consumers, if they know that… it’s one-stop shopping for all of cannabis. That is down the road and in the future, but I would love to see that. And I really want to see New Yorkers think boldly about cannabis and what it could be in this marketplace. There’s a lot of conversation about retail dispensaries. We have such creative people here in New York State, that if people start to think a little more broadly, we’ll see great innovation and we’ll see new product lines that folks are not thinking about. We need to be thinking too, [that] not everyone’s going to be a cultivator. We are going to need lots of ancillary businesses. I would love to see New York leading the way.

I really do enjoy this work. I love the idea of helping to shape this new industry in New York State… So for me, if the OCM and CCB will have me, I will stay here and serve. [Now] I have three years to work on building the best industry here in New York State. I want see people with strong businesses that can sustain market trends, that we have a marketplace that can pivot when we go national and that we are doing fantastic, innovative things. So if I can help build that, there’s nothing more I could ask for.

How long does that harm even take to repair on a generational level, psychologically?

I just don’t know that answer, because I think that there are habits that people are taught by their parents or loved ones so that they can consistently protect themselves. There’s a hardening that must happen so that people can navigate such a space, so that they’re prepared for what might occur, and that ends up shaping their interactions with one another, their outlook on what to expect

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Jaime Lubin and Tremaine Wright

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that’s sitting on marijuana charges at this point, but she’ll be able to explore all kinds of things outside of cannabis, and just the way we reform considerations on clemency generally.

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@rennhaas + @k.atastrophic for @flowermillUSA Pink Puffer Jacket by @playboy @bigbunny Photo @samuelclemenslong

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Mill

Don’t Grind

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wer Mill Revolution

“Our mission and goal is to make products that bring people joy,” says Brent Stevens, partner and Vice President of Sales at Flower Mill. Known for its compact, easy-to-use cannabis grinders that produce high quality “fluffy herb,” the brand certainly puts a smile on the face of all who happen across it. Stevens recalls how, when traveling to live events, everyone from cab drivers to restaurant workers to cannabis connoisseurs stops to ask him about Flower Mill’s revolutionary signature item.

“A line I really love is ‘becoming part of your ritual,’” Stevens explains. “We’re bringing people off of dabs and back to smoking flower because it’s more natural. They enjoy using [the Flower Mill] and having the smell of the terpenes come out when you pop it open. After you run [cannabis] through it, the flower opens up in a way that you just don’t get from a traditional grinder with teeth.”

Imagine a culinary experience where the chef honors the innate flavors of the food, how powerful that is for your senses. That’s what Flower Mill does for cannabis; it encourages consumers to embrace the plant in its truest form.

Flower Mill’s design is completely unique (check it out for yourself at flowermillusa.com). The versatile grinder features an easy-to-open magnetic top, rather than the full 360-degree spins that other models require. Its kief catch can be interchanged with a ring so that the pocket for your flower is deeper, and the use of kief itself becomes entirely optional. Flower Mill’s food-grade stainless steel chamber with rotor, sleeve, screen and catch mills your nugs – hence the name – rather than shredding the cannabis.

This produces a more natural “fluffy herb” (or “happy herb”) that gives a cleaner and more consistent high full of the plant’s best qualities.

“The Flower Mill doesn’t beat up all the trichomes and cannabinoids,” Stevens asserts. “We’re really trying to respect the flower and get the most out of it. [Nothing’s] getting stuck in the teeth and creating hash and gunk… Lighter and fluffier flower burns more evenly and consistently, no more canoeing in your joints. It lasts longer, you go through less product because it’s so even, and it ashes better. As you’re milling it, the product breaks apart naturally where it wants to crumble instead of grinding it.

We cultivate premium buds that we pass you with chopsticks, with considerable expertise to grow and create, and then you stuff it into a grinder. When you do that, you’re abusing the product.

With our design, the whole process becomes more thoughtful and respectful of the plant.”

BY JAIME LUBIN

older smokers can use it without a problem. Its bottom catch, which can be opened with a quarter turn, allows for kief, hash, and stems to be separated cleanly from the nug so each person can use these elements to their preference. The different parts of the device can break all the way down for easy cleaning. Finally, the grinder’s interchangeable screens and patent-pending rotor system empower consumers to “define their grind,” as Stevens notes. You can use a micro screen for vaping or a more coarse one for Backwoods blunts, and each screen has been designed for the consumer’s preferred method of use.

In fact, consumers can define their grind to the point that they can even customize their flower based on factors from its size and type to adapting to the very weather around them. (Remember, canna-connoisseurs, crumbly nugs in dry heat are no good!)

New products will soon be arriving from the Flower Mill team, including a “mini mill,” which has a more compact design for portability. At a lower price point and with an adorable fit-inyour-pocket aesthetic, these fun-size iterations might just be the next big thing.

And in yet more pioneering news, Flower Mill is poised to make history this year through a collaboration with tobacco accessories giant Zig-Zag. The publicly-traded company will release an exclusive line in partnership with Flower Mill that, according to Stevens, will be Zig-Zag’s first cannabis-related products in its 140 years of operation.

But in Stevens’ view, the greatest reward of working in cannabis comes not from achieving milestones, but in transforming lives.

“I do what I do because of the clients we help with their stress,” he affirms. “To see people respond in such beautiful ways to [cannabinoids] is amazing.” He hints at new cannabis and hempbased projects he’ll have on the horizon, which already include state-licensed grows in Michigan; The Shire Group, a company that helps streamline those businesses’ daily operations and compliance; and initiatives where cannabis can be given directly to communities in need.

Stevens’ ultimate message for consumers? “Thank you, personally, for all the business and opportunity to step into this space. [With Flower Mill] I love giving people something fun and it’s their favorite gift.”

Visit flowermillusa.com or follow @flowermillusa on Instagram for more information on how to make the Flower Mill grinder your favorite gift too. Fluffy, happy herb for everybody!

Stevens’ enthusiasm is justified. He’s a lifelong cannabis consumer and has been in different parts of the industry for the last eight years, so he’s seen his share of frustrating grinders (largely unchanged from their original 1905 design) and lumpy joints. But in 2019, Stevens attended the CannaCon business expo in his native Michigan and discovered a company called Roiel Health that finally put a brand-new spin on it. The people behind Roiel’s distinctive Crown grinder were trained in automotive engineering, applying their expertise to processing the plant instead, but they didn’t know how to capitalize on their amazing invention. It was a match made in heaven. Within a year, they had partnered with Stevens to rebrand as Flower Mill and launch further-improved versions of the miraculous grinder.

Lest that word “miraculous” seem like hype, consider this: Flower Mill’s design not only gives consumers full-bodied herb, it also eliminates wrist strain, meaning medical patients and

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TheFl

A

SNEAK PEAK

By: Jaime Lubin If you've ever wanted to experience Wiz Khalifa's perfect high, now's the time. The iconic, multi-platinum-selling Grammy and Golden Globe Awardnominated artist has been a champion for cannabis since he first exploded into public attention in 2010, his mixtape Kush and Orange Juice a testament to the plant-based life. This year, his signature strain Khalifa Kush (KK) is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and the team behind the cannabis brand of the same name can't wait to make it more accessible than ever.

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"Our vision for the company is creating a world where everyone can smoke like Wiz," says DJ Saul, Khalifa Kush's CEO. "We're bringing that to life in every possible way, and having people feel connected with Wiz any time they smoke the product."

best-in-class cultivation capabilities and significant scale and penetration, have proven to be the premier cultivator and distribution platform in the largest and most competitive market in the country, and we're honored to partner with their teams to expand Khalifa Kush's footprint in California," Saul comments.

"In California, we'll be launching with flower and pre-rolls right out of the gate, and we'll be adding additional SKUs soon," Hunkele explains.

"Predominantly we're a flower-and-pre-rolls company. Wiz is a testament to that; he smokes flower all day long. But we do have a full lineup of pre-rolls, vapes, and edibles in select markets, as well as various concentrates, budders, shatters, etc."

"It really is what Wiz smokes," Tim Hunkele, KK's co-founder and COO, affirms. "We wouldn't put a product out that isn't of that quality. That's the guiding light for running our operation."

Most exciting for music-loving cannabis fans, KK products debuted in the state beginning exclusively at Cookies stores - the globally-renowned Cookies brand having been founded by Wiz's good friend and fellow rapper Berner.

Expanded distribution will be available in California this Spring.

The Khalifa Kush strain was developed exclusively for Wiz in 2012. It remained part of his private stash until 2015, when the rapper, alongside Will Dzombak (Wiz's longtime manager) and Hunkele, high school friends from Pittsburgh, formed the brand to bring the distinctive flower public. (Saul, who's been close with the team for years, officially came aboard KK in 2019 and runs its Los Angeles team.)

This interplay of cannabis and creativity, the team agrees, is right at the heart of what drives the KK mission. "For us, it's about experiences," Saul notes. "We haven't been able to create many in the Covid era. But as music, touring, and festivals come back, and with cannabis consumption lounges opening up in major markets, we couldn't be more excited to bring the brand to life through unique experiences."

Hunkele observes that even though the company's origin story is shrouded in myth and legend - "and we like to keep it that way" - he's amazed by how the brand has evolved.

Wiz will be headlining at this year's National Cannabis Festival, held in Washington, D.C. over the 420 weekend. This is one of many activations that will occur to highlight KK's expansion and connection to the cannabis community. And for Hunkele and Saul, that community is everything.

Today, the company is expanding into several new markets and will have products available in more states than ever before. Recently KK announced its exclusive partnership with Cresco Labs, one of the largest vertically-integrated multi-state operators (MSOs) in the United States, to launch in California for the very first time. Through the cultivation and product collaboration, Cresco's FloraCal Farms and Continuum will be the sole producer and distributor, respectively, of premium branded products featuring the KK strain in the Golden State. Cresco is also responsible for pioneering the cannabis industry’s largest Social Equity and Economic Development (SEED) initiative, which provides numerous new opportunities for KK to empower the local community, a deep passion for Wiz and the company as a whole. The plan is a home run for all parties involved in many ways. "FloraCal Farms and Continuum, with their honeysucklemag.com

"Unlocking new markets gets us up and moving every morning," Saul enthuses. "We're getting ready to launch in California, followed closely by Michigan, with another three states later this Spring/Summer that haven't been publicly announced yet... So our day to day right now is building up the team to prepare for those launches, expanding our genetics and product portfolio, as well as building up our digital ecosystem."

Typical of the Khalifa Kush ethos, the biggest questions remain a mystery.

Not much is known about the Michigan launch yet outside of industry notes released this summer that KK would be working with Gage Growth Corp. in that state's market. Nothing formal has come to light about which other states will be receiving KK launches at the moment (the brand is currently available

21 @WizKhalifa Black Robe: @playboy @bigbunny Photo @samuelclemenslong

@honeysucklemagazine

in its original markets of Nevada, Arizona and Utah). As to new product lines, Hunkele confirms that the team is actively testing new strain crosses, and Saul has expressed an interest in exploring additional categories such as beverages.

Still, KK's leaders are clearly having the time of their lives amid all the fun. Hunkele loves working so closely with his old friends, and as a computer engineer by training, he says some of his fondest memories are tied to co-creating the Wiz Khalifa's Weed Farm video game, which has garnered over 10 million downloads since 2017. The game's success helped support a large donation to the food bank nonprofit Feeding America in 2020; Hunkele and Saul highlight how partnerships with organizations like Feeding America has allowed the company to support the community outside of cannabis as well as within the industry.

22 And of course, both Saul and Hunkele acknowledge Wiz's personal commitment to every step of KK's evolution.

The star is involved at each level of product development, and has even occasionally guest-budtended at partner dispensaries and events.

Ultimately that opportunity to bond over a love of cannabis is the reason Wiz, Dzombak, Saul, Hunkele and the entire KK team on both East and West Coast are doing what they do. If the title of Wiz's surprise new album, Wiz Got Wings, is any indication, then Khalifa Kush is following its destiny to go higher and higher - and humanity is ready to be uplifted. honeysucklemag.com

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25 Photographer: Braden Walker; official tour photographer for Wiz Khalifa Model: Lexi Torres @lexitorresss Malibu, California

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Rock N Roll, an exclusive with Christie Hefne d n a s g u r D , r Sex

Originating from one of the most storied legacies in American history, Christie Hefner - former Playboy CEO, current environmental activist, health care revolutionary, women’s rights advocate and more - has absorbed all of the birthrights from her father, the late Hugh Hefner.

Hugh Hefner was one of the most notorious creators and activists to have ever lived, an animal lover and human rights activist, a fighter for First Amendment rights, sex rights, cannabis justice, and Playboy creator. Christie has evolved her birthrights into a spectacular oasis of intelligence, grace and most importantly, action.

As the keynote speaker at the inaugural MJ Unpacked conference during Las Vegas Cannabis Week, Christie wowed the crowd, moderating a panel with actors-turned-cannabis entrepreneurs Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi that she introduced by saying, “This panel should be called Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll.” In her fitted black dress, black pumps and black Blues Brothers sunglasses, she looked every bit a rock star as the men on the stage.

When we spoke in her Delano suite, Christie filled me in on all things Hefner. After achieving the title of longest-working female CEO in history during her tenure at Playboy, she is now involved in advising and investing in a wide array of companies. From recycling ocean plastics, to women’s rights and supporting female entrepreneurs, she is an advocate and pioneer in wellness and the cannabis space. We were honored to spend so much time with her for this Honeysuckle Exclusive.

----------------RONIT PINTO: How did you come to be involved with MJ Unpacked?

CHRISTIE HEFNER: I’ve [often] been asked to do conversations with Jim [Belushi] at conferences because he’s now been a grower for five years and in the last couple years has transitioned to building a portfolio of brands in the cannabis space. And he’s serious about the industry, the healing properties of the plant and also the social justice aspects of ending the War on Drugs. And because Danny Aykroyd and Jim had committed to doing a benefit concert for Last Prisoner Project, [MJ Unpacked] had the idea that I could have a conversation on stage with Jim and Danny.

When did you become a proponent of cannabis?

I was on the board of the Playboy Foundation from the ‘70s on and got involved with NORML [National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws]. We did some benefits for them, I went to some of their conferences, and then in the more recent years, I’ve

worked with the Drug Policy Alliance, helping them build a network of supporters as they’ve worked to move from a criminal justice punitive model to a health model in terms of drug issues. And I’m chairman of the Hugh Hefner Foundation, which was set up as kind of an extension of work that my dad had done and one of the pillars of that is around drug reform too.

You’re now on the advisory board of Fyllo, a cannabis compliance and marketing company. What’s most interesting for you there?

So Fyllo has two complementary businesses, both of which involve data that it syndicates. One type of data is about compliance regulatory information. So they have the ability to get, in real-time, updates on what all localities and states are doing, whether it’s around hours of dispensaries or packaging requirements, so that anybody who is involved in the cannabis business whether they’re an operator, retailer, investor or law firm, can subscribe and make sure that they are aware of what’s happening in terms of the legal framework. The other and probably, ultimately, the more valuable business is they also have agreements to gather point of sale information about consumer purchases. And through that, build a database of customers, and segmented in different ways based on the kind of products that customers are buying.

Would you categorize your interest as primarily in healthcare but also in criminal justice and civil rights reform?

I would say they’re inextricably linked. You could start with just the premise that criminalizing marijuana made no sense in terms of law enforcement resources, in terms of putting people in prison, in terms of what the priorities ought to be, given that it’s a victimless crime. But part and parcel of that is that it kept us as a society from learning more, earlier, about the healing power of the plant in ways that had we not had it as a Schedule I drug, had we been doing the research on the drug as we do research all the time on drugs, and learn the ways it could be used to help — whether it’s a traumatic brain injury, PTSD, cancer or Parkinson’s or anxiety. We might have avoided some of the opioid crisis, that we paid a huge and are still paying a huge price for in terms of human life.

What’s your prediction for the future of holistic health?

I think we’re moving in the right direction. There’s a much greater awareness of the idea that health is not just the absence of illness, that health is about how you feel. But where we have really fallen woefully short of any meaningful progress is in our healthcare system. We really don’t have a healthcare system, we have a sick

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Interview by Ronit Pinto

care system. Now, it’s the world’s best sick care system. If someone [in another country] needs a procedure and they have a lot of money, they come to the United States. We have the best doctors, and the best hospitals, and the best treatments. That’s part of what we should be doing, providing intervention for people. Although we should be providing it at a much more affordable price.

predetermined. But we also now know enough to know that the whole field of epigenetics is predicated on that our lifestyle choices either enhance or suppress the likelihood of genes being activated.

So if I’m a smoker or not, if I get enough sleep, if I exercise, if I eat healthy, those are honestly more important than the genetic makeup that you were born with.

But what we don’t do at all is actually have a system that encourages prevention, and staying healthy. If the doctor spends a half-hour with you talking about behavior modifications that would help you sleep better, there’s no money from the insurance company for that. If the doctor gives you a prescription, there’s money from the insurance company for that.

It sounds like Newlight Technologies is doing awesome work in terms of environmental wellness too. Can you tell us more about how you work with them?

We reward people for procedures, not for keeping people healthy.

It’s based out in Huntington Beach. They’ve spent more than a decade figuring out how to turn the extraction of methane from the atmosphere into molecules that then can be made into completely ocean biodegradable plastic. There have been other products produced over the years that are good for the planet, as opposed to petroleum-based plastic, but they’ve always been at such a premium price that you’re not going to get to any scale with them.

So [Newlight]

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finally cracked the code.

T h e n they built their own

You’re Board Director for the Healthwell Acquisition SPAC, which recently raised $250 million. It’s wonderful to hear that the CEO and CFO are women and there are a number of women on Healthwell’s board as well. How did you gravitate toward healthcare?

I did work with Canyon Ranch, first on their board, and then as a strategic advisor. And while they’re not a healthcare company, they really were an early pioneer in healthy living and wellness. They had a real appreciation, before many others did, of how dispositive lifestyle choices are on our health outcomes. I think there used to be a view that a lot of health outcomes were basically genetically

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manufacturing facility. And now we’re going to market with the product. We decided to start in the foodware space because that’s a big contributor of the problems: Straws, cutlery, cups. So instead of those paper straws that are good for the planet, but get soggy, these straws are incredibly durable [and reusable]. We have deals with Steak ‘n Shake and Target and with some airlines, and we’re rolling out the product.

So that’s been a really fun company to work with because it’s very innovative and is very mission-focused.

You have so many business proposals coming across your desk. How do you select which projects to get involved in?

I have four questions that I ask when I’m approached about being involved with a company. The first is, would I like to have a long dinner with the people I’m going to work with? And if the answer is no, then that pretty much tells me that that’s not something I

The next question is, do I think I can help them? And the last question is, will I learn something new? Early on when I left running Playboy Enterprises, I made the conscious decision to not go narrow and deep and say, ‘Okay, I could spend the rest of my life helping media entertainment brand companies,’ and I definitely do some of that. But it would be intellectually interesting if I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. And I’m really happy that I made that decision because I definitely enjoy the diversity of industry and size of the company and ownership structure and geography and where the company is in its lifecycle. But I also have come to believe that it engenders a kind of intellectual agility that makes me better at what I do.

It seems that representation is also a deciding factor for you when working with companies. You were a founding member of the Committee of 200, the membership organization for the world’s most powerful women in business. What other work are you doing to support female leadership?

On the networking side, there are three organizations that I’ve helped start that I’m involved with. One is the Committee of 200, which has half of its membership as entrepreneurial women and half corporate women. Then there’s the Chicago Network, which is not just businesswomen, but women in any field. It could be media, the arts, government, healthcare.

The last one is a group called Women Corporate Directors, and there we work to get more women on boards. So that’s been an interest of mine for many decades. And we had a great year last year in terms of the percentage of women and people of color who went on boards, which was actually above 50% for the first time. Currently, there only 22% of women are directors.

Then there’s a wonderful nonprofit I work with called Springboard Enterprises, an accelerator for women tech entrepreneurs.

Women with technology-forward business ideas compete in what Springboard calls not shark tanks, but dolphin tanks because as we like to say, we swim with you. The women who get into the program are helped to refine their business plan and model, and what the organization looks like, and how they’re going to go to market with whatever their product is. But also, they really are good at helping them raise money because there’s still a huge gap on the venture side of how much money goes to women-led companies, compared to companies led by men. It’s actually around like 5%.

You’re also one of the founders of EMILY’s List, the largest national resource group to fund women, political candidates.

What have you learned from that side of fundraising?

That acronym, EMILY, stands for “Early money is like yeast”: It makes the dough rise. So the whole premise behind EMILY’s List was recognition that women candidates were having a harder time raising early money. If you can’t raise early money in a race, then you can’t hire the best campaign advisors. You can’t demonstrate that you’re electable, and it becomes sort of a vicious cycle. So EMILY’s List was designed to reach out to women across the country and say, ‘You need to step up and help women candidates.’

I find it interesting that your father advocated for gender equality so much, yet his portrayals of femininity were often criticized. If Playboy were started today, what would that look like?

Everyone is a product of their time. I think [my dad] was ahead of his time in so many ways on race, on gay rights, on reproductive rights, on First Amendment rights. And I think he considered himself an ally to feminists. I don’t think he considered himself a feminist, because I think for him, it was hard to distinguish feminism from the part of feminism that took the attitude that men were the enemy [or people who said] that all heterosexual sex is rape because the whole system is predicated on a power imbalance.

And all of that was just mind blowing [for my dad] because he believed so strongly that the sexual instinct was the humanizing instinct on the planet. That it was the opposite of violence, the opposite of war. But he considered himself an ally because he had women executives, he believed in equal rights, he believed in reproductive rights.

But the people who own Playboy now, because I’ve been out since 2009, they don’t publish a magazine anymore, and they don’t seem to do very much in the content space. But I think that there’s a lot in media and entertainment that is the beneficiary of both the sexual revolution and the women’s movement.

And that’s always been my approach to things: You want the culture, but also for the expression of the culture in media and entertainment to be one that is really pro-sex. And also profemale. And I grew up at a time where that was the prevailing attitude. The Pill was available, abortion was legal, Our Bodies, Ourselves was published. An erotic, feminist art movement was going on. Conversely, it’s not a coincidence that the countries that repress women are the countries that repress sex. I think those two things are very inextricably linked.

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want to do. I want to choose who I work with, and I want them to be people I really enjoy spending time with. Then the second question is, do I find the business genuinely of interest? Usually, if the answer to that is yes, it’s because they’re doing something innovative, disruptive, different.

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By Tauhid Chappell, Additional Reporting by Mehka King and Theara Coleman. Photos by Sam C. Long Then there are wizards like Wiz Khalifa, who seemingly have been born from the plant itself, brought to this Earth in 1987 to instill to us mortals an understanding of what it means to truly find oneness at the intersection of Black and cannabis liberation – freedom for all to truly enjoy the medicinal and therapeutic benefits of cannabis without reproach, retribution or negative retaliation – just good times, good vibes and a whole lot of bud to go around.

Wiz has always been a cannabis lover, entertainer and entrepreneur – using the plant to power himself and his art in crafting more than a dozen unique mixtapes, records and collabs which all keep his mind and focus grounded in his love of kush. And beyond the typical consumption and influential production of stoney beats with infectious laughs and metaphorical lyricism that gives ode to all things cannabis, Khalifa has continued to hone his craft as a business person intending to expand and spread the love and joy of green beyond the earphones and into the hands of the people. @honeysucklemagazine

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In the ever-expanding multi-billion dollar industry that is the cannabis industry, it seems like artists from all backgrounds continue to jump in to participate in the growing green rush – from Whoopi Goldberg to members of the Wu-Tang Clan. Some celebs have dipped their toes in to test the strength, resilience and marketability of their brand to carry new products to market - banking on their fame and popularity to attract curious consumers and long-time fans of the plant.

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With the burgeoning cannabis market, in which a combined total of $10.4 billion in tax revenue was generated in all legal adult-use according to Marijuana Policy Project, Khalifa has stepped into the arena to channel his energy in ushering his own Khalifa-based brand to California’s cannabis market, and it’s no short of amazing to see how his 2022 is quite a busy one.

Khalifa Kush, a strain legal in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, is also now in California, one of the largest cannabis markets in the country. The brand enjoyed its initial launch exclusively at one of the hottest stores in the cannabis industry - Cookies - giving KK a nice step into California.

On top of making his presence known in the legal cannabis space, Khalifa has also inked a new collaborative product and cultivation partnership with cannabis mega and multi-state cannabis operator Cresco Labs, which will help distribute Khalifa Kush goods all across the Golden State.

And if things didn’t seem busy enough for the rapper, he’s hustled in a new surprise album Wiz Got Wings, which music buffs will cherish as an album that hearkens back to his heydays of Kush & Orange Juice times.

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Does the man ever sleep? Or does weed keep Wiz going 24/7?

We sat down with the shaman of shish to learn more about his ongoing projects, collaborations and new deals that seem to be blossoming left and right. Though we learned he likes to move fast, Wiz slowed down just enough to show us the introspective passion and far-reaching vision that has made him a legend.

Beyond the music and cannabis, we also delved into his personal work in advocacy and taking on the banner of being a source of happiness and peace following the ongoing heartbreaks the music industry has continued to see with the deaths of rappers like Drakeo, The Ruler and Young Dolph. Wiz also touched upon his legacy as a person and artist, and what he wants to continue to be remembered as while he continues to position himself as the music industry’s cannabis aficionado and cosmopolitan. In a rare pause, we got Wiz’s insights into the roles that entrepreneurs of color play in the cannabis industry, the links between creativity and the plant, and so much more.

Spending the day with Wiz was an absolute inspiration.

The man has wings, and he definitely took us on the flight of a lifetime.

@honeysucklemagazine

HONEYSUCKLE MAGAZINE: Your surprise album Wiz Got Wings is being compared to your signature mixtape Kush and Orange Juice.

What about that earlier sound is inspiring to you now, and how did you update it for Wiz Got Wings?

WIZ KHALIFA: I was inspired because the fans loved Kush & Orange Juice … For this on`e I updated it by making the subject matter more relevant to my life today.

What brought you to reunite with producers Cardo and Sledgren for Wiz Got Wings? The album also features multiple guests, including Curren$y, Chevy Woods and Larry June; how did this combination of artistic talents shape your vision for the album?

Cardo and I had talked about it, about a year ago, and then it became a passion project with our inner squad to bring it to life.

Why did you want Wiz Got Wings to be a surprise?

I felt like that’s what people needed.

How did cannabis influence your process on putting this album together, and what role does weed play in the album's narrative?

I was stoned the whole time while making it…

If you smoke, you will enjoy it. [That’s] how it’s supposed to be listened to.

What advice can you give to those wanting to learn from you regarding ongoing success in the cannabis space? Specifically for those with difficulty due to lack of capital, or technical assistance, etc?

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There's always something to learn, and learn as much as possible… if it isn't directly touching the plant, there is still branding, marketing, and different ways to contribute and get your foot in the door.

Why is raising awareness about cannabis and working to end prohibition important to you?

Raising awareness is important because there are people locked up for no reason and there are lots of opportunities for financial gain. The world is changing and we need to help push the narrative.

Across the country, thousands of cannabis advocates are fighting for reparations, abolition, equity and access to cannabis as the market continues to cut out Black and brown owners and bar formerly incarcerated people from participating.

What do reparations and social equity mean to you regarding mass incarceration, The War on Drugs, and the lack of diversity in leadership positions?

It’s good to be able to take a stand and move forward on negative things from the past to make the future better. We have the opportunity to break down the barriers and give everyone a chance to benefit from these new opportunities.

Recently you were featured as a guest on HBO's street fashion show The Hype and you were very vocal about a contestant's cultural appropriation. Do you see a similar appropriation happening within cannabis culture?

I don’t see a similar appropriation – I see it working financially, so not as scary as other areas.

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I was stoned the whole time while making it…

If you smoke, you will enjoy it.

[That’s] how it’s supposed to be listened to.

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What are your opinions on Black cannabis entrepreneurs like Al Harrington, Raekwon the Chef, and Jay-Z pushing to invest into Black and brown cannabis businesses to increase the level of representation?

Is it something you have considered for yourself?

I’m a huge supporter and love it. It is definitely something I actively work on and think about.

In Raekwon's memoir The Story of Raekwon, he mentioned the importance of honoring the legacies of former and older rappers. Can you describe the legacies that other rappers have created (dead or alive) which continue to inspire you to create and produce? How do you personally reflect and honor the elders of rap?

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Some of the pioneers in the space that I look to for inspiration are the Wu-Tang Clan, Bone Thugs, Nas, and of course Snoop Dogg. I think they helped push the thinking back then to where it has grown to today.

Who are some of your biggest inspirations in the cannabis industry?

Snoop, Berner, and B Real.

You're in the prime of building your legacy and expanding your brand across industries beyond rap and cannabis. As you reflect about your accomplishments, how do you want to be viewed by your peers and colleagues who are in this space with you?

I want folks to remember me as somebody who took cannabis seriously and took it to the next level with the other greats that are making strides in the space.

What are your personal go-to strains to seek inspiration?

My go-to strain has always been and will always be Khalifa Kush.

@honeysucklemagazine

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When it comes to leaving your mark as an established artist, especially in your hometown of Pittsburgh, how would you like the city to remember you? What would you like the current youth to think when they listen to your music or read about you?

I hope to leave everyone to know how passionate, loving, and caring I am… I hope to continue to build and sign more talent from PGH, as well as change the dynamic of how people think and are raised within the city.

In this age where we are seeing a lot of depressing deaths, both from the coronavirus and sudden murders of rappers, how does the fragility of life right now make you think about the impact you want to be making right now in the midst of this chaos?

The current world pushes me to want to make sure people are happy and appreciate the blessing of being alive. My hope is that when people leave, from hanging or being around me, they become a better person.

Your recent tweet following the death of Drakeo called for peace and asked people to treat each other better. Dream a bit here: What would you personally like to see the rap industry to look like in 20 years?

For me, I hope to still be in it and there’s really no telling what the landscape will look like. 20 years ago was the early 2000s and things were drastically different; I don’t have a prediction of what it will look like, but it's going to be fun to watch.

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Ricky Willia

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Ricky Williams on Greatness Cannabis Spiritual Well-Being & Health

We are at a time in history when the world is ready to hear the lessons told to us by Ricky Willians, NFL hero, football legend, astrologer, healer and plant medicine activist. Williams faced decades of penalties and discrmination over his cannabis use, which he has explicitly stated enabled him to win the Heisman trophy in 1998. Now he brings things full-circle with his cannabis brand Highsman - a play on his career and themed around athletics, but going levels deeper to give the public the sense of inner peace and focus Williams has achieved in his spiritual journey. What he really wants is to help people find their greatness and reach connections beyond their daily lives. His message of universal love, and selflove, has never been so needed.

Most know Williams through his sports accomplishments; the College Football Hall of Famer has broken numerous records, including all-times for rushing and scoring. With 11 seasons in the NFL, most notably with the New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins, Williams continued to break records in professional football, winning multiple accolades including the league’s Leading Rusher title of 2002. But his cannabis advocacy made him controversial in an era where plant-based healing was woefully misunderstood.

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Following his NFL career, Williams devoted himself to becoming proficient in Ayurveda, yoga, astrology, meditation, and many types of herbal wellness. Few people in the public eye are as eloquent, passionate and willing to be vulnerable about how spirituality transformed their lives as Ricky Williams has. But when our society is fractured, struggling to heal generational traumas, mental health crises, pandemic fallout, and striving to overcome the cynicism that says life is only face value, Williams is delivering the most powerful tonic. We have to follow his example and seek to understand what we bring to the collective energy. This is how we make our world better.

In this exclusive interview, Williams reunites with his old college football friend Matthew Nordgren, founder of pioneering cannabis venture capital firm Arcadian Capital. We at Honeysuckle are privileged to share his deepest thoughts with you. You don’t have to agree with him, but we hope you’ll read and learn from what he says. May you be inspired to find your greatness within.

box you check; it’s about having a holistic view [which] means you’re taking the whole. In order to take the whole, you have to listen to all of the voices. In our country in general, I think the minority voice has been disproportionately not heard.

What convinced you to make cannabis and different types of plant medicines part of your health tools during your NFL career?

It was the evolution of my definition of health. Health means wholeness, but growing up and playing football, wholeness meant hundred yards a game, at least four and a half a carry, and scoring touchdowns at least every other game. I was doing a good job of that kind of wholeness, but my personal life off the field was crap.

So I prioritized my mental health and I found the best thing for it was cannabis.

I’m using this terminology to make fun of it, but it was a “gateway drug” to myself. When I consumed cannabis, I started to become more aware of what was going on in there. At the time, I said, it’s self-psychotherapy. I was having those inner conversations with myself and becoming more aware of my motivations. I realized playing football isn’t really what I’m supposed to be doing.

I retired from the NFL and gravitated towards spirituality.

Ayurveda, holistic healing, herbalism, meditation, yoga. As I learned to meditate, I noticed this felt almost exactly like those self-psychotherapy sessions I was having. I started reading more and I saw that the Indian god of meditation, Shiva, his devotees consumed cannabis. I connected the dots and realized that part of our mental health is being spiritually healthy.

Based on the way you presented yourself then as a Black athlete who used cannabis and had dreadlocks, do you feel you would have been treated differently if you were a white football player?

First of all, it’s because our eyes are our most powerful, trustworthy sense. Whatever we see, it activates certain free associations and connections in our mind. Race plays into everything… based on our past experiences, that’s just the way our brains work.

RICKY WILLIAMS: It’s the trifecta: I’m Black. I played football and I

If you’re an outlier, you’re a victim of stereotypes. How it affected me personally was when I got into the NFL’s drug program in 2002. I was traded to the Dolphins and we were drug tested in training camp. I failed a drug test and they put me into the program, where you spend a whole day talking to psychiatrists and they put you through all these tests. Then they put you in a two-year drug program where you’re tested nine times a month.

Then you have to talk to a therapist once a week.

smoke a lot of weed. But I think the deeper conversation is really about diversity, and to me, the value of diversity isn’t a quota or

In the program they’d say, “It’s hard to be Black, but you can’t let the stress of being Black make you ruin this great opportunity.”

MATTHEW NORDGREN: I’d love to let you touch on all these topics: Cannabis, the Super Bowl, and Black History Month.

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Interview By Matthew Nordgren

That was the message, just the assumption of what the issue was. And that pissed me off even more, ‘cause I was like, “If you’re trying to help me, at least see who I am.” I fail a couple more drug tests. At the very end, when I’m talking to the doctor, the doctor said to me, “The biggest mistake we made with you is we just assumed you were a certain kind of person. We didn’t really take the time to realize you were just a seeker and spiritual.”

I think that’s the biggest issue with race; we don’t see who’s really there. That’s the biggest travesty because we miss opportunities to grow and to learn. We belittle people because we don’t acknowledge and appreciate their gifts and talents in terms of creating a safe space for someone to be exactly who they are. If you can’t create a safe space for somebody, how can you possibly balance them to achieve the highest level possible?

Do you feel that we’re in a different time now, in terms of how Black athletes are perceived and the platform they have?

Things have changed culturally and we see the effects in sports. In 2004, I was shamed for my cannabis use. Now when there’s a sports cannabis story, CNN calls me first to come speak about it. And one of my missions is to keep taking the conversation further. That’s really the passion behind launching Highsman. But for me, wellness was always directly tied to being a better football player, so wellness was always tied to accomplishment. How can I get the most out of my potential? What I realized is those self-psychotherapy sessions reflecting and letting go, then being able to envision a brighter future, that was one of my greatest gifts because we see so many people with so much ability and talent. But they can’t let go and give themselves permission to envision a better future.

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One of the reasons your current business Highsman is exciting is your divergent healing interests that led you here: Cannabis, hemp, astrology, Ayurveda, yoga, various therapies you’ve explored, putting that together with your physical, mental, and spiritual health.

It has been a journey. When I walked away from the NFL, I started traveling and [wanted to relocate to Australia]. I got the paperwork and a section asked, “What are you going to do when you come to this country? You’ve got to have some kind of skill.” I realized I don’t have a skill. I can play football. But other than that, I can’t do anything.

It was a profound moment for me where I realized I want to offer something.

The moments that gave me the greatest pleasure were always making someone else feel better. So I wanted to learn healing. When I got back to the States, I came across Ayurveda and the philosophy really spoke to me. [I found] a class in Northern California’s Grass Valley.

I didn’t know that Northern California was the Mecca of legal medical cannabis at the time, but I landed right in the middle of it. I was learning about Ayurvedic herbs, and about cannabis. From there, my interests expanded into body work, because my body was beat up from playing football and I was alwa ys going to body workers. The first day I took that class, I was nervous ‘cause I was this big football player with all these middle-aged white ladies. But there was a point where we had to put our hands on someone’s head and feel their energy. As soon as I did it, I felt my heart just open. This is what I’m supposed to be doing.

I’ve collected a bunch of different healing modalities and now I do my own thing. Part of it is astrology. Part of it is body work, yoga, meditation. A lot of it is cannabis. I was studying Ayurveda, not even thinking about cannabis. Then I opened this Ayurvedic book and there’s a whole chapter on cannabis. I’m like, “Oh my God, this has been medicine for a long time.”

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What gives you the courage to fight mainstream stigmas against these modalities?

The reason I can do this is because of all these classes. In my yoga training, there’s actually a science to terms like soul. Their definition of soul is the combination of all our past experiences.

When we say, “That hurt my feelings,” what we’re saying is based on my past experiences, that didn’t feel good.

When we meditate, we can say, “I can see based on my experiences, that should have hurt my feelings, but I can respond in a different way.” Life is education, this constant growth and developmental process of adding new information that allows us to modify the past, to see a brighter future.

There’s this taboo against feeling good, but… if we could make even difficult things joyful, they stay productive. Creating positive associations with cannabis, the number one thing that needs to heal, is we’ve all come from the past. We’ve been told this is a drug and it’s bad and there’s something wrong with us. But let’s look into the future. How do we consume cannabis and how does it help us move forward? As we have more open, honest conversations, we create more positive associations.

You say the mentality of Highsman is the appreciation for greatness. What does that mean to you and how does it affect your mission with this brand?

The goal for me is for people to associate our brand with greatness. We’re merch, but we’re also a cannabis flower brand.

Imagine consuming cannabis and the intention, the set and setting, carries this energy of greatness. To me, if we hit that, it’s a home run and it comes from my own personal experience. It’s easy to tap into greatness when you’re on top. But you don’t make it there unless you can envision the greatness when you’re not on top.

Ricky William

When I talk to people, they’re like, “It’s easy for you, you’re a Heisman trophy winner.” I wasn’t born a Heisman trophy winner.

If you saw where I came from, I had a very little shot. I had to be able to dream and see a bigger vision for myself. I remember I was on the precipice of fulfilling my dream of being the best college football running back ever. I came back to Texas for my senior year. I had an opportunity to not only win the Heisman trophy, but to become the all-time leading rusher in college football history, the most yards ever, the most touchdowns, and the most all-purpose yards.

First game, I tear it up; second game, I tear it up, but we get our butts kicked. I find out that my girlfriend is now with the quarterback. The next week we go to Kansas State. They hold me to 40 yards. I have this quad strain. I’m sitting here and my heart hurts.

One day my smoker friend said, “You need to chill.” I wasn’t really a smoker [but] I was having a rough night, so I hit his bong. I went to my room, lay on the bed and just thought about things. And I was able to start letting them go. Then the idea popped into my head: I need to laugh. I rented Blazing Saddles, and I laughed and laughed. That moment was special because it was the ability to let go and connect to the bigger vision that I think saved me.

Obviously I won the Heisman trophy; was best player in the country, went to the NFL, led the NFL in rushing. When I was playing ball, you put the team on one person’s shoulders and everyone plays a supporting role. Then as I got into the business world, I didn’t want to have everything on my back. I want to work as a team. I want all of us to be superheroes. At Highsman we’re finding that sweet spot. We got rock stars. We like each other and we care about what we’re building and empowering. Envision something brighter, surround yourself with people that can help you achieve it. When you’re interacting with this brand, that’s what you get. This is what we are.

For me, the brand is about using my platform to get this important message out in the world. We all have these limitations in our mind about what’s going to stop us or get in the way of us achieving our goals. I want Highsman to represent that when you’re interacting with our brand, those limitations start to dissolve. It’s a “we.” I measure my greatness by how much I inspire other people to achieve their greatness, because we can’t do it by ourselves. All of us need to step up.

What does Black History Month mean to you, in your study of spirituality and evolution? How do you think that humans will evolve in terms of race on a spiritual level?

So if you say, “What color is your spirit?” It doesn’t have a color.

It’s only when it comes into a body that has a color. When I was in India, traveling with my yoga teacher, she would always tell me whenever, she’d hear me going into a story about being Black, she would remind me, “You are not that.” She’d say, “You are the soul, you are the Atman” [Sanskrit for soul]. I realized that I am a soul having an experience in the body of an African-American.

From there, there’s an expansive understanding and appreciation of race relations. I see it as bigger than race; it’s white and black, meaning certain things that we’re taught are good, we’re supposed to accept. Certain things that we’re taught are bad, we’re supposed to neglect.

These are what get pushed into the unconscious or projected onto minorities. This is the real issue we have to see, that it’s all beautiful.

There is no darkness. There’s contrast. If we can appreciate the contrast, we can appreciate the difference. I think that’s what we’re moving towards. From a spiritual perspective, that’s the point of race, right? We have to see our other side. We can hate it, or we can love it.

But this is an opportunity to love.

We are right there with you, Ricky Williams and we can’t wait to see what you offer up to the world next. Thank you for sharing your views with Honeysuckle.

Matthew J. Nordgren is a renowned executive, philanthropist, and accomplished athlete; He is the Founder and C.E.O. at Arcadian Capital. @honeysucklemagazine

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What does greatness mean to you in terms of getting yourself where you need to be and, with Highsman, preparing for greatness with a team?

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Ruben J. Lindo Makes Social Equity Global Equity

By Tasnia Choudhury

Ruben J. Lindo

is a man of many lives.

Former athlete. Business entrepreneur. Rehabilitated felon. He tenaciously chiseled his future as a social equity leader and he does not take the title lightly.

He is the CEO of Phoenix Nutraceutical, a Black-owned business with several divisions under its corporate umbrella in the hemp industry, and BlakMar Farms, a cannabis cultivation company with a social justice focus. At the helm of these two companies and other business ventures, Lindo is able to guide the development of a cannabis culture that doesn't betray itself.

With BlakMar Farms, he creates a network of BIPOC cultivators from the U.S., Africa, and Central and South America to bring their high-end cannabis products to market. He cultivates educational collaborations with institutions like the Cleveland School of Cannabis to fortify this entrepreneurial pipeline for Black and Brown people who were harmed by the failed War on Drugs. BlakMar, through Lindo’s lifestyle brand HERBN Couture, bridges cannabis culture, art, and entertainment in can't-miss galas. Phoenix Nutraceutical, on the other hand, is research-driven by a brilliantly simple but creative endeavor: Let's use the whole plant. Hemp biodegrades in just six months; its distilled forms can be used to power farm equipment and the biocomposite hempcrete can insulate buildings. Meanwhile, Lindo's entrepreneurial spirit lends itself to empowering BIPOC youth, eradicating food deserts, fostering systemic sustainability and pigmenting the cannabis industry with some much-needed melanin. honeysucklemag.com

So how did Lindo become a key player in a billion-dollar industry? The story involves a complete stranger eavesdropping on Lindo's phone call. After serving his sentence, by 2016 Ruben found himself living in his in-laws' attic, fighting recidivism, and preparing for a baby on the way. One night when he was discussing cannabis with a fellow athlete, a Canadian businessman overheard the conversation and approached Lindo with a fortuitous job opportunity to learn the industry's corporate ropes. The answer was an emphatic yes. During the formative years of Canada's powerful cannabis brands such as Canopy Growth and TIlray, Lindo absorbed everything he needed to know in the space. When he ventured out on his own to create Phoenix Nutraceutical and BlakMar Farms, he did so with the intention to restore communities.

One of Lindo's most exciting recent deals is a partnership with Seneca Nation businessman, JC Seneca, an entrepreneur who went from $10 in sales to $40 million in annual revenues with his hemp business. Their business venture includes the construction of a 30,000 square foot cannabis cultivation facility in Buffalo and will honor Native Americans, who Lindo considers as "the first social equity candidates in the world."

"A lot of the things that we know about the plant come from their traditions and that's hardly ever given any recognition at all," explains Lindo.

Ruben Lindo marks his moment in history and finds himself at some dramatic firsts.

"This is the only time in our lifetime that we will ever, ever, ever have an opportunity to participate as African American entrepreneurs, Native American entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs in an industry that's not being built in a boardroom. It was built in the streets and in the fields."

He has a vision to develop a cannabis culture out of the plant rather than within its troubled past. His intuition has brought him to seemingly impossible opportunities.

With the rise of Afrobeat and African culture in mainstream media, Lindo was sought out for a partnership by Darin Hickman, CEO of his own cannabis start-up in South Africa, AphriHelios Global. The idea, again, was brilliantly simple: Imbue Africa's position as low-cost producers of quality cannabis products with Lindo's expertise and you get a symbiotic harmony of global social enterprise.

A "no-brainer" for Hickman, AphriHelios became the South African distributor of Phoenix Nutraceutical products. The partnership, under the brand name Eq8tor, will be the premier South African-grown legal cannabis driving expansion into the exploding European and U.S. markets, and will also "further develop the business relationship between Africa and the African Diaspora", said Hickman. They are facilitating cultural exchange across the entire planet off the back of this plant.

Brilliant.

Once again, Lindo is initiating another memorable first. "There's never been a Black American business owner coming into such a highly politicized industry and partnering with a Black African businessman and talking about educating other Black folks." Rooting for everyone Black, as Issa Rae would say, and making sure they win.

Lindo wants to show that Black-owned cannabis isn't just about hip-hop. Black culture is the vehicle in which Black pride is protected and moved through the entire world. When more countries fully legalize cannabis, as Germany is scheduled to do in 2024, Lindo is poising his South African operation to fill the demand void using the growth facilities being built right now. By exporting African goods, they are exporting African culture as well and honoring this pride of the people.

"I think that cannabis presents itself as the perfect storm," shares Lindo. The pandemic forced us to pay attention to mental and spiritual health, and Lindo believes plant medicine is the key to unlocking the potential for good. In this way, his career is not solely founded on economic prosperity but a radical liberation of underrepresented communities.

Ruben Lindo champions an equitable distribution of wealth, but he also knows liberation cannot exist without an equitable distribution of knowledge. "Social equity has become the most watered down word in cannabis," Lindo notes. His solution instead is to open up these international channels of opportunity and cultural exchange. He urges those entering the cannabis industry to not only strive to do good, but to be good. "Why don't you just be you and bring the best version of you to the table? [People wonder] 'How is he doing all this?' Well, I wanna show people how I do it. I outwork everyone."

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By bringing in Indigenous talent from the Seneca reservation in Western New York and teaching them the mechanics of the business from seed to sale, Lindo is helping position people to grab the reins and ride into their own sunset. Both JC Seneca and Ruben Lindo have clearly embraced their duty to be social equity leaders in an industry borne from oppression. With their first harvest set for the end of 2022, they are that much closer to this equitable reality.

Blazing Trails in Cannabis Law Experienced. Proactive. Innovative.

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By Jake Wall People aren’t all that different from plants – put us in the right environment and

we grow and thrive. The ups and downs of the pandemic have made us all a bit more conscious about the sanctuaries we create in our homes and the importance of cultivating vital spaces for self-care.

Kalkidan Gebreyohannes and J’Maica Roxanne co-founded Blk Girls Green House in Oakland, California as a welcoming outdoor space where consumers can purchase everything from plants to home goods and apparel, while Black business owners can meet to shop and network at the same. The co-founders are two lifelong friends who decided to turn their passion for all things verdant not only into a bustling brick-andmortar, but a true community hub built around spotlighting all walks of the Black and brown creative community. The flagship is located in what’s affectionately known as “The Town” and delivers a unique experience that draws one into a world that combines the conventions of an outdoor nursery with modern trappings and elegant tributes to people who have inspired and fueled this duo’s talent for interior design and their world of “homescaping.”

You might recognize these two “boss babes” from Revolt TV’s Bet on Black – a business competition reality show focused on supercharging the next set of Black trailblazers. The series, co-created in partnership with Target, allows entrepreneurs to present ideas to panels of celebrity judges for potential funding of $200,000 and mentorship from the corporate giant. Judges have included T-Pain, Zerina Akers, and DJ Envy. Although the opportunity to be featured and pitch to the judges was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of experience, Gebreyohannes and Roxanne are most excited that the panel recognized the importance of the spaces they have set out to create. honeysucklemag.com

The grass is always greener thanks to the co-founders of BLK Girls Green House.

“We must create more spaces and places that provide any of us a sense of balance,” says Roxanne. “Everything we do is designed to help the individual find their own unique voice empowered through our world of curated greenery and community artifacts.”

Gebreyohannes and Roxanne have a few key tips to transform interior spaces and create the perfect cannabis crib complete with all the greens. These two ladies lead by example and draw attention to their own retail space, which feels more akin to a place for respite and restoration and your favorite spa than a place to pick up a plant or two. When looking to alter your own spaces, the two encourage you to start small with just a plant or two and layer in as you get more confident.

“You want to cultivate and curate your experience with care,” said Roxanne. “It’s good to build your foundation and expand out from there as homescaping can be gradual – it’s not a race.”

The pair were quick to highlight that greening your interior space is the perfect way to enhance your at-home cannabis experience by incorporating the best elements of nature to create a different time of organic and authentic pairing. If you are worried about maintenance and upkeep killing your “good vibes,” Gebreyohannes and Roxanne are quick to point out that plant care is pretty minimal for the most part, but it does require some intention and that you slow down for a moment and pay attention. They draw attention to the idea that plants will often tell you what they need if you look closely enough. An added byproduct of caring for another living thing – even if it’s just a plant or two – translates to an increased mental state of self-care and self-reflection.

If there is one thing we learned from these constant gardeners, it’s that there’s no one way to green with your greens. When pressed on their own perfect cannabis and horticulture pairing, the duo did not hide their opinions.

“A current fave of ours is MAISON BLOOM!” said Roxanne. “The flavors are truly unique and it’s the perfect garden in your glass to sip while sitting in your own private garden.”

Catch Blk Girls Green House Tuesday nights on Bet on Black or stop by for a curated experience at their retail location at 1700 Center Street or online at https://bggh. shop.

@honeysucklemagazine

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These Black women are sowing more than seeds of hope. Since opening, their unique offering has reserved 80 percent of their shelf space for Black makers, which is one of the primary barriers to entry in the retail space.

Their entirelyBlack staff will happily take you on a journey to find the perfect greenery to upgrade and encourage you to live out loud. Embracing cannabis – something the duo points out has been a part of cultivation for a variety of uses for centuries – is another way in which one can create diversity within their interior ecosystems.

More than anything, BLK Girls Green House wants to encourage people to indulge in a world of cannabis and plant life that feels right for you. It’s “or,” “but” and “and” as to whether you want to grab your favorite preroll and prune the verge, or unwind with your favorite edible and the perfect Etta James playlist while reclining under the shade of a well potted interior ficus.

spirit as one of the first women in the St. Louis Fire Department and the city’s first Black woman firefighter Captain.

Meanwhile, Stevenson’s drive and dedication as a maker were inspired by his father, a building and construction professional who was often first onsite and last to leave.

“For as long as I can remember, I was taught that if it is possible, then do it,” said Stevenson. “And if it isn’t possible yet… then it’s my job to make it so.”

Into The Weeds: Vertosa’s Austin Stevenson

By Jake Wall The Vertosa co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, a booksmart kid from the Show-Me state, spills the tea on how he’s quietly infusing the everyday for a bold new world.

It was Fall 2019 and every resource that mattered was sharing their own big expectations for the cannabis-infused food and beverage space going full throttle. Thanks to some of your favorite chefs and culinary personalities taking hold of this new “ingredient,” a bold new trend had been ushered in across dining, allowing cannabis to be integrated into the hospitality and restaurant scene. But COVID-19 had other plans for all of us and 2020 was not the mainstream breakout year for cannabis that some had anticipated.

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Like the Monty Python boys used to always say, “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.” With that phrase, used in several comedic sketches seen on Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the brilliant wisecrackers of the show’s the writers and cast inadvertently created a meme that woven itself into popular culture ever since and is, perhaps, a little too on the nose to describe these last few years. If there was a deeper thought behind the inspired silliness, it is that, indeed, no one did expect the Spanish Inquisition or any of the innumerable calamities that periodically befall human societies. But before we can understand the “can’t stop, won’t stop” mentality that has led Austin Stevenson – as Vertosa’s Chief Innovation Officer – to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the world of cannabis infusions, we must look to the past as much as the future.

Vertosa is one of the companies leading the new charge in the cannabis space toward infused categories. Also known as Advanced Infusion Technology Partners, the brand strives to break the stigma around cannabis by unlocking impactful truths around the plant and its various cannabinoids. As the company partners with different infused product makers to develop new cannabis delivery mechanisms, its team is creating new plant-based experiences and making cannabis more accessible to consumers worldwide. As Chief Innovation Officer, Austin Stevenson leads Vertosa’s initiatives to forge into the next frontier of consumption. However, his path to the sector wasn’t always so clear - although it was paved with Monty Python-tinged memories.

Watching repeats of biting social commentaries set to laugh tracks like the great works of Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and John Cleese didn’t set in until Stevenson’s esteemed college years as he racked up quite the portfolio with degrees from Columbia University and the University of Bath alongside formal training in Advanced Design Thinking from Silicon Valley’s IDEO. To understand Stevenson, we must see that his world was fueled by the perspective that he really could do anything he put his mind to. Originally from St. Louis, Stevenson’s “early bird gets the worm” mentality emerged at an early age thanks in no small part to his strong-willed parents. His mother inspired his pioneering honeysucklemag.com

Stevenson cut his teeth in the professional world of finance with a great run at Citigroup, but his real education began when he was fortunate enough to be a part of a global think-tank in NYC that exposed him to an innovative ecosystem of health, tech, and wellness entrepreneurs. Stevenson’s experience as an advisor to an accelerator in agriculture technology in Africa was similarly transformative for him. As part of the MIT Innovation Laboratory, he saw African farmers cultivating green leafy vegetables in the middle of the Kalahari Desert, via hydroponic indoor cultivation in freight containers. Seeing this piqued his undying curiosity and upon returning stateside, he learned that it was really the cannabis industry driving innovation in terms of indoor vertical farming. Stevenson hopped, skipped, and jumped his way from New York across a few different cannabis opportunities before he crashed into an old friend. This individual introduced Stevenson to a PhD scientist focused on applying his expertise in surface chemistry to creating emulsion systems to infuse beverages and topicals with cannabis, ensuring precise potency and consistently stable products. The scientist in question turned out to be Vertosa co-founder and Chief Science Officer Dr. Harold Han and the “old friend” Vertosa CEO and Co-Founder Ben Larson. Together this trio found synergy and connection in wanting to solve a clear problem in the cannabis infused products supply chain.

Stevenson points out that he is part of a team of self-proclaimed :cannabisnerds.” “We love putting on our ‘problem solver hats’ and we all share a deep passion to design new experiences

Honeysuckle’s

Inside Look Inside The Canna-Biz!

In the beginning, Stevenson and his merry band of nerds focused on consistency, dosing, and stability. Quickly they realized there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to infusion tech. This inspired this group of forward thinkers to develop a portfolio of many different ingredients, and patented an emulsion designed for stability in aluminum cans and beyond. Their dedication to infusing the most ubiquitous consumer packaged good (CPG) product worldwide – beverages – empowers Stevenson and the Vertosa team to overcome health concerns of smoking, and simultaneously provide a familiar, approachable, and easy form of consumption anchored in comfort traditions such as drinking. Additionally, that dedication has fueled their signature innovation platform, which can be accessed by any entrepreneur dedicated to supercharging the next generation of thought leaders looking to unlock the power of this unique plant.

As a B2B company with a “Service First, Science Backed” mindset, Vertosa has given Stevenson a platform to speak his informed truths.

Through his position, he educates leading cannabis brands like PLUS Products and STiiiZY, as well as traditional CPG Brands like PBR, and VitaCoCo on why cannabis products infused by Vertosa are helping unlock the true potential of the cannabis plant, and bring a new generation of cannabis products to benefit their consumers.

Stevenson and his team utilize peer-reviewed data, and invest in third-party FDA registered, IRB approved pharmacokinetic studies that illustrate “how” and “why” their ingredients deliver on the promises they make – all in an effort to build trust between brands and consumers.

Stevenson sees collaboration as the new competition, and he’d like to unapologetically start a movement that calls out cannabis operators who prioritize profit over people and product. From his vantage point, the cannabis industry is as diverse as the country itself. Being part of an industry that is full of amazing leaders who are people of color, women, LGBTQ , and other minorities is a point of pride. However, he’s also quick to point out that many of the cannabis products on retailers’ shelves today are not made by or representative of this diverse community that the space intends to serve. Instead, Stevenson highlights that those who have always benefited from privilege continue to prosper in the burgeoning industry, and the privilege gap will widen further unless forward thinkers band together to create a movement that helps amplify the voices of BIPOC, women, LGBTQ , and minority entrepreneurs.

“I’ve always believed a life worth living is a life full of learning,” said Stevenson. “The cannabis industry is at its infancy and as long as we all remain curious and lead as much with our hearts as our heads, we really can set this industry on a path unlike any that has come before it.”

To spend time with Stevenson is to be in the space of a human who is always moving, chasing, dreaming, and doing. The soundtrack by which he moves through life is drawn from his parents’ old record collection, a mix of the greats like Nina Simone and Billie Holiday.

But sometimes even Stevenson has his moments where the world slows and it’s in these moments, if you look closely enough, that you can see within the man is still that wide-eyed child filled with wonder and in awe of all that he could learn.

Most people get hardened by the world, made tougher to survive and in doing so they lose that bit of magic that allows them to never stop being astonished. But Stevenson is not most people. In Stevenson, you have an individual who has learned to work harder to manage expectations and create a safe space for open and free dialogue. And it’s through this carefully curated approach to learning and doing that the foundations of “Design Experience” fuel the next wave of innovation from these leaders in infusion science. Stevenson and his team are unwavering champions pushing cannabis to move beyond just THC and CBD, to fully embrace all the compounds of the plant: minor cannabinoids, terpenes, and beyond.

As Stevenson looks to 2022 and beyond, it’s all about the entourage effect married with the intention to design products with purpose.

The days are often long for Stevenson and the Vertosa team, but he is the first to admit that hard work is a requirement. Every day is not promised, but earned. Stevenson adores watching the sunset with a little sip, a little smoke, a little savor of cannabis and reflecting each day as the sun goes down that the night comes to life.

He’s definitely earned his sunsets. Have you?

To accomplish this, Stevenson has a plan. His methods include using consumer advocacy groups to demand that current cannabis brands/ manufacturers donate a percentage of revenue to sponsor grants for minority cannabis entrepreneurs – something he personally supports as an Advisor for EAZE’s Momentum Program. Layered into this will be local and state regulatory programs designed to create equity awards and licenses for underserved minority populations, as exemplified through the work of the City of Oakland’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission. But Stevenson highlights that all of this must be furthered by a “those that have must give” approach to community involvement and responsibility. He is a thunderous voice for accountability, championing that companies who are profiting off cannabis today must give back. One key area that he is most passionate about is zeroing in on re-entry programs for those whose lives were turned upside down from this plant, which is now a multibillion-dollar industry, as an immediate opportunity to right many of the wrongs and deliver tangible change for the better. @honeysucklemagazine

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with our favorite plant, cannabis,” he says. “As nerds, we also love to read, and one of our company’s foundational books is The History of the World in 6 Glasses when we realized there’s actually one missing – the 7th Glass of cannabis beverages.”

THE TWO BEST HIGHS: BEST EDIBLES & GUMMIES:

By Jake Wall

Dont’t let the afterglow of V-day fade. Here are our top picks for fanning the flame of love and all things weed. Whether you are celebrating self-love or with someone you love, cannabis has never been more full of flavor and fun.

1.Sol Berry [ Leune ] LOOKING FOR YOUR SOL MATE? Perfect for Valentine’s Day, that romantic anniversary or a fun-loving night out with friends, Sol Berry is your go-to for a social, well balanced high. Where sweet meets tart alongside a boost of B complex, these 5mg THC gummies sparkle, offering an even keeled cannabis experience. We can’t get enough of the vibrant bold mix of flavors that, while taking a page from true comfort foods of days gone by, this is definitely not your mom’s strawberry rhubarb pie. This is new. This is fresh. This is delicious.

For more info: leune.co, IG: @leunebrand

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1.

2. DELI Dimes [ DELI by Caliva / The Parent Company ] SOMETHING TO CHERRY YOU UP. Looking for a sweet (and fun) treat for your sweetheart, but chocolate just isn’t cutting it this time? We love DELI Dimes fruitful mixes. This delicious new cannabis-infused gummies featuring 10mg of THC from 100% full-spectrum oil for a rich experience. We fell head over heels for the Black Cherry. It’s bursting with juicy flavor; whether it’s a juicy slice of sweetness or tart taste of the orchard, these are sure to please. 100% Indica Full-Spectrum Oil; 10mg THC per Dime, 10 Dimes per pouch.

For more info: delibycaliva.com, IG: @delibycaliva honeysucklemag.com

3.

3. Uplift Sour Watermelon [ PLUS Products ] SHE’S ONE IN A MELON! Looking for that perfect Watermelon Sugar High? Day or night when you need a boost, PLUS’s best-selling Uplift Sour Watermelon gummies contain uplifting THC to help you feel euphoric and energized and can spice things up thanks to the perfect combination of 5mg THC and is crafted with a custom blend of terpenes to deliver Sativa-specific effect per serving. A little sweet and a little sour, we think these gummies are a refreshing way to amplify any occasion.

For more info: plusproducts.com, IG: @plusproductsthc

2.

WEED + LOVE BEST CHOCOLATE & COOKIES:

5. Hibiscus Flower Bar [ Flor de Maria ]

4. Select X Bites [ Select Cannabis / Curaleaf ] WE LOVE THIS BERRY MUCH. Ever dreamt of walking on the moon? Select promises to take you up, up, and away with their new X Bites. combine Select’s award-winning oil with new encapsulation technology – a specially-engineered coating that protects the cannabinoids to maximize the absorption of every milligram. We fell for the Strawberry Spacewalk’s promise of onsets, steep climbs, and extended flight times of our most intense ride yet. What’s not to love?

For more info: selectcannabis.com, IG: @select.better

For more info: enjoyflordemaria.com, IG: @enjoyflordemaria

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4.

5.

FOR ANYONE IN NEED OF A GARDEN ANGEL. For this year’s Valentine’s release, Flor de María has chosen the Hibiscus Flower to deliver a flavor pairing that brings a true garden of delights to life. We were charmed by the fact that not only is Hibiscus an excellent antioxidant and can boost your immune system, but this flower – that blooms only one day on the vine – is also a symbol of the preciousness of ephemeral beauty. The cacao is Carenero Superior from Barlobento, Venezuela, roasted to perfection to match the taste of our Full-Spectrum CBD from Tricolla Farms in Berkshire, New York.

6.

6. Chocolate Ganache Macarons [ Hervé ]

THEY’RE JUST TOO A-DOUGH-ABLE. Hervé proudly blends decades of traditional French culinary history with an innovative infusion process, to launch the first intricately infused luxury desserts. And we can’t get enough of their Chocolate Cremeux macarons containing 10mg of premium hybrid distillate per macaron. Each macaron is hand-made, gluten-free, low in sodium & sugar, and dusted with real 23k Gold. With deep roots in the classic world of pâtisserie creations, we bet you can’t manage to eat just one.

For more info: hervedibles.com, IG: @hervedibles @honeysucklemagazine

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Real Sleep [ OpenNest Labs ]

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NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS. Fast-track your self-care ritual this Valentine’s Day with the gift of sleep.

Not just good sleep. Not just great sleep. But real sleep. This product knocks it out of the park by knocking you out in all the right ways. RealSleep is the first personalized, clinically tested personalized plant-based nightly sleep solution, created just for you. RealSleep builds tailor-made formulas from 14 natural plant-based ingredients specifically for individual needs and will transform the way you rest and recharge.

7. The Remedy [ Mary’s Medicinals / BellRock ]

For more info: opennest.co, IG: opennestlabs

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8 honeysucklemag.com

A REAL TONGUE TEASER. Mary’s 1:1 CBD:THC sublingual was formulated by their team of scientists to harness the “ensemble effect.” The unique terpene blend works synergistically with the cannabinoids to enhance therapeutic value. Regimen users utilize the graduated dropper to ensure accurate dosing.

The Remedy 1:1 CBD:THC Sublingual oil is the remedy you’ve been searching for.

For more info: marysmedicinals.com, IG: marys_medicinals

9.

Love Cordial [ KOAN ]

9

A SHOT TO THE HEART. Koan’s new Love Cordial powered

by Resonate delivers a unique blend of precision-calibrated cannabinoids and terpenes to deliver a smooth and sensual high that releases tension and stress in the mind and body. The experience allows for a deeper connection, heightened tactile sensation and greater sexual satisfaction. Koan Cordials, all designed to enhance well-being, can be taken alone, or added to any beverage and provide a fast-acting, long-lasting, consistent, and beneficial experience. This proprietary formula, manufactured with industry-leading Vertosa emulsification, has brought to market this exciting, life-affirming new blend and all we can say is “Sex, please!”

BEST TOPICAL:

10

BEST FLOWER:

12

12. KK [ Khalifa Kush ]

FOR YOUR BEST BUD! We can’t get enough of Khalifa Kush’s “KK” signature strain. If you are Chronic Bath Soak [ TONIC ] looking to unlock the power of the flower, this Indica-Dominant Hybrid OG delivers the perfect punch as your go-to strong, well-balanced, allWE LIKE BIG TUBS AND WE CANNOT LIE. day smoke. Our friends at Khalifa Kush take their jobs very seriously Whether you are loving yourself or treating someone else, TONIC’s got the and have delivered a classic terpene profile that is loud and potent “Chronic” we just can’t get enough of. This restorative blend of Himalayan and blended this with a Chef’s touch with notes of Piney Kush, OG Sea salt, epsom salt, and dead sea salt infused with TONIC’s proprietary Fuel and Gassy Incense. The smoke is a perfect way to take your ‘Chronic’ essential oil blend and a potent dose of full spectrum CBD is, simply intimacy to a sweet new level with this smooth palette and put, perfection. Each essential oil is carefully selected by the creators for its ability unlock a high that has no ceiling. to target all your worries and pains and the combination of natural plant compounds layer in to leave your skin feeling silky smooth while the light layer of foamy bubbles For more info: khalifakush.com, IG: @thekhalimakes the vibe complete. fakush For more info: tonicvibes.com, IG: @tonic_cbd

11 11.

Paula Flores Limited Edition Rolling Papers [ House of Puff ]

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13. VS1 Diamond Encrusted [ KINGSTON ROYAL / ENDO ]

BECAUSE DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND. SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA JUST ROLL WITH IT. Leave it to Kingston Royal to really level up your game with their VS1 Good things come in small packages and our friends at House of Puff are on a Diamond Encrusted Cannabis. The first of its kind, this diamond infused mission to make getting lit even more pleasurable — with art that will take you cannabis strain from this top selling social equity brand incorporates to a beautiful place right on your rolling papers. These gorgeous rolling papers next level mixology horticulture techniques by taking the material take the art of smoking to a whole new level thanks to internationally acclaimed from one strain to create the THC diamonds and combining them Latine artist, Paula Flores. These gorgeous papers come wrapped in the vibrant image with a completely different strain. With flavor combinations of her original painting, Grass Level, with a portion of the proceeds from each pack ranging from sweet and savory, fruity and gassy, to earthy going directly to the artist. These papers hit all the marks: Made of unbleached hemp, and citrus, we know you will find the perfect pairing for 33 leaves per booklet with thin, and with slow-burning tips. you and your special someone.

For more info: houseofpuff.com, IG: @thehouseofpuff

For more info: kingstonroyal.com, IG: @ kingstonroyal_ @honeysucklemagazine

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10.

14. Pink Jesus [ Sonoma Hills Farm ]

14

WE LOVE YOU… ONCE AND FLORAL. Sometimes you just want to go “top shelf” and our friends at Sonoma Hills Farm are sure to knock more than your socks off with their signature “Pink Jesus.” With notes of lavender and raspberry, it brings a fully enveloping body high paired with a lifted cerebral experience that amplifies connection and supercharges intimacy. Sonoma Hills Farm has set out to bridge Sonoma County’s rich agricultural history with a farm-to-table cannabis lifestyle, curating an experience for the sophisticated and passionate flower consumer. This special herb is truly deserving of a Chef’s kiss. It’s that good.

For more info: sonomahillsfarm.com, IG: @sonomahillsfarm

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15.

Trio of Items – Kimono, Lounge Pant and either Offline Vape Pen or Offline Pre-Rolls [ Potent Goods ]

15 honeysucklemag.com

THE WHOLE NINE YARDS. Love and luxury go hand-in-hand and there is nothing more perfect than this triple threat from our friends at Potent Goods.

Get into the mood by slipping into their Offline Kimono, an all-around favorite, inspired to uplift the senses and pair with the matching lounge pants so you can truly bring sexy back. Marry this with Potent Goods’ signature “Offline” strain which is sure to delight your senses with an exquisite blend of Purple Punch and Cactus Cooler flower, ripe mango and honey delivering an enriched experience thanks to a blend of Myrcene, Beta Caryophyllene, Pinene terpenes.

For more info: potentgoodsla.com, IG: @potentgoodsla

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NYC, NYC, LINDSAY LINDSAY LOO LOO WANTS WANTS TO TO DO DO YOUR YOUR HAIR! HAIR! @honeysucklemagazine

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NYC, NYC, LINDSAY LINDSAY LOO LOO WANTS WANTS TO TO DO DO YOUR YOUR HAIR! HAIR!

NYC, NYC, LINDSAY LINDSAY LOO LOO WANTS WANTS TO TO DO DO YOUR YOUR HAIR! HAIR!

Lindsay Loo wants to do your hair!

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, k B c igge a B r, Better!

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National Cannabis Festival 2022

aroline Phillips, founder and owner of the National Cannabis Festival, is on a mission to make policy information accessible to the public in fun, memorable ways. Since 2016, she and her team have organized annual gatherings of the NCF, the largest cannabis music festival on the East Coast with over 5000 attendees each year. The event includes a full-day concert and outdoor expo that put the spotlight on social justice and education for the cannabis community. For 2022, NCF has expanded to a weeklong affair with events commencing in Washington, D.C. April 16th, meaning it will be the biggest celebration yet.

This latest iteration features international music icon Wiz Khalifa as the headlining artist for the main concert, with guest performances by the Wu-Tang Clan’s frontman Ghostface Killah, funk band Lettuce, and the nationally-acclaimed Farrah Flossett. Def Jam legend Slick Rick and D.C. sensation DJ Footwerk take center stage on April 24th when festival goers will also enjoy the inaugural National Cannabis Championship, an award show honoring the best cannabis and hemp cultivators from the East Coast.

On Friday April 22nd, Phillips and the NCF staff will host the National Cannabis Policy Summit, which brings together diverse panelists for action-oriented dialogues around the most pressing issues surrounding legalization. Though the official 2022 lineup of speakers has not been confirmed at the time of press, honeysucklemag.com

past summits have featured politicians from the federal, state and local levels; top cannabis entrepreneurs and advocates; medical experts, and many more.

Honeysuckle got the advance scoop on this year’s NCF as Phillips joined us to answer some of the biggest questions about what to expect for the best of the fest.

HONEYSUCKLE MAGAZINE: What are you looking forward to most about this year’s National Cannabis Festival?

CAROLINE PHILLIPS: So many things! I’m super-excited about our concert line-up. Having Wiz Khalifa headlining the event is a dream, and having his performance supported by Lettuce and Ghostface is going to be the best vibe.

In addition to our concert line-up, I’m always excited about our education programs.

This year, NCF programming kicks off on April 16th with our 4/20 Week events which take place at Eaton DC. We’ll be hosting panel discussions, elevated yoga sessions, sound baths and more. On Friday, April 22, we’re bringing back the National Cannabis Policy Summit, an event that’s free to attend and features members of Congress and thought leaders from across the nation. On Saturday, April 23rd, join us at the National Cannabis Festival at RFK Stadium for the full festival, including

five education pavilions covering policy, cannabis culture, wellness, cultivation and culinary arts.

The biggest change for NCF this year is the addition of the National Cannabis Championship Awards Show at Echostage on Sunday, April 24th. We’ll be recognizing the best cannabis cultivators in the region and partying with performances from Slick Rick and Footwerk.

How do you select each year’s festival and summit agenda?

Our program planning process is very collaborative. Our advocacy committee is responsible for much of the education program you’ll see at the festival. Starting a few months before NCF, they submit ideas and start inviting speakers to share information on policy issues impacting folks across the United States. The rest of our programming is communitygenerated throughout the Session Selector Contest. Cannabis community members have the opportunity to submit ideas to be featured at NCF. Last year, we had the most incredible selection of talks ranging from nursing and mental health to state policy to home growing and regenerative agriculture. I like to say that my team’s job is to provide the best platform for our community to share knowledge and ideas, and I think the Session Selector Contest helps us accomplish that.

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What elements are most important to you in the legal industry?

In addition to my work on NCF, I’m also the Deputy Director and on the Executive Board for Supernova Women, a nonprofit with the mission of empowering Black and Brown people to become self-sufficient shareholders in the cannabis economy. Recently, we released the firstever Social Equity Impact Analysis Report, a tool that we hope provides advocates data that shows the potential ROI [return on investment] that a state or municipality can see with a social equity program that supports and creates sustainable businesses for owner/operators.

You were the first Black woman in the cannabis industry to produce an event this size. What are your thoughts on being a woman and person of color working in the industry today? How have things changed over the years?

When I started my work on NCF [in 2015], I didn’t really think about the fact that I’d be creating a business in two industries - music and cannabis - that lack representation of women and Black and Brown people in leadership positions. Six years in, I am starting to find my footing in the live events and music industries. Recently, I was asked to be a Chapter Leader for D.C., Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia for the National Independent Venue Association. That was a huge honor for me and I’m excited to work with the organization to help deliver resources and advocate for independent venues and promoters in the region.

In the cannabis industry, I’ve been fortunate to find a great network of people to mentor and support me. One of those networks is Supernova Women, which has allowed me to learn from some of the best and

brightest advocates and business leaders in the cannabis industry. Not only do we work together to empower Black and Brown owner/operators in the industry, but we also work to help and advance each other's work.

Being a Black Woman in the cannabis industry mirrors the challenges that women of color face in many other industries. We are still fighting to get our seat at the table and to make sure that seat is impactful and not ornamental.

What do you see as the future of NCF? I’m very hopeful for the future of NCF. We’ve been blessed to be able to create and expand our program in Washington, D.C., and it would be amazing to take programs like the Summit, and eventually the festival, to other cities. I hope that we can continue to grow NCF to be a destination event for cannabis advocates and enthusiasts from around the world.

For more information about NCF, visit nationalcannabisfestival.com or follow @ natlcannabisfest on Instagram. @honeysucklemagazine

Revel 60 This fall, the cannabis events and education platform Ontherevel returned to live-and-in-person glory with Revelry, its first daylong community conference in New York City. Co-founders Jacobi Holland and Lulu Tsui have been bringing industry and cultural figures together for meaningful conversations around cannabis through Ontherevel’s projects since 2015.

But after being relegated to online-only events during 2020 and most of 2021, Revelry was built to celebrate both New York State’s legalization of adult-use cannabis and Ontherevel’s evolution to another level of production. The results were deemed extraordinary by attendees, many of whom applauded Ontherevel’s efforts to honor the communities most in need of representation within the cannabis space.

Corporate team; Brittany Carbone, CEO of TONIC, a top-of-the-line CBD brand with an all-female leadership team; Steven Phan, CEO of the groundbreaking wellness product destination Come Back Daily; and Jesce Horton, CEO of the award-winning cannabis company LOWD and a visionary known for co-founding the Minority Cannabis Business Association along with other revolutionary achievements.

Dreams of Revelry, Realized: Industry Insights from OntheRevel With a program including 15 Ted Talk-style presentations from curated speakers, 9 ask-me-anything dialogues about cannabis licensing, local brand activations from New York-based companies, and musical performances throughout, Revelry truly lived up to its name. The conference was intentionally created for current and future cannabis operators, focused to address issues surrounding how to transition the legacy market to regulation. A diverse list of presenters featured figures known far and wide to cannabis professionals. Among them: New York State Senator Liz Krueger, a lead sponsor of the Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act (MRTA); Chenae Bullock, Managing Director of Little Beach Harvest and a prominent member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation; New York State Senator Jeremy Cooney, co-chair of the Marijuana Task Force for the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus; Matthew Kittay, a Partner at the Fox Rothschild law firm, Co-Chair of its Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group and Chair of its New York honeysucklemag.com

Ontherevel co-produced Revelry with Point Seven Group, a global management consulting firm, and Cannaclusive, a collective focused on inclusivity and diversity in cannabis. We’re confident it will be the first of many standout events to come from the minds of Holland and Tsui and their team in the post-legalization era.

Honeysuckle asked Tsui, as Ontherevel’s CEO - that’s Chief Experience Officer - to share her thoughts on what made the conference a standout event, and what she envisions for New York cannabis going forward.

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[Also] Jacobi and I have spent a lot of time building solid authentic relationships with good players in cannabis. When you attend one of our events, you can feel the positive energy and the authenticity coming from our speakers, the audience, the sponsors… it’s definitely a vibe because we choose to work with our cannabis family.

How did you work with sponsors for Revelry?

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New York is still a global influencer. We have the opportunity to learn from previous markets, and create the standard for the global cannabis industry. This includes specifically providing opportunities for everyone.

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There was a cannabis industry way before it went medical or adult-use, created from the sweat and sacrifice of many people who look like us.

The existing “legal” industry does not. We want to ensure that the people who built the existing cannabis industry in New York are able to participate in a meaningful way as legalization moves forward.

What do you expect to see play out in real time?

To be honest, we won’t know until they let us get started. But knowing New Yorkers, the game is on!

For more information about Ontherevel, visit ontherevel.com or follow @ontherevel on IG.

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What would you like to see for the future of NYC’s cannabis industry?

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Jacobi and I are both experience and product designers in our other professional lives. We employ the same user experience and design methodologies to our events as we do with our enterprise clients. Which means we first learn what is important to our audience, then we create the program, and last we invite the best people from our network to be a speaker. We’ve never gone the “Call for Speakers” route.

Yes we did; none of this can happen without our partners and sponsors. It was wonderful to have Weedmaps and Hawthorne come in as our Title Sponsors. It felt great to know they are proactively embracing the New York market with good intentions. And big shout out to Leaflink, Fox Rothschild, and Cole Schotz for being amazing partners since the beginning.

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What makes OnTheRevel presentations unique from other panels, events or conferences in the space?

You had some significant players at the conference, from speakers to sponsors and even in the audience.

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LULU TSUI: Ontherevel focuses on showcasing companies and organizations we think are setting the gold standard within the cannabis industry and who share the same ethos that our industry can be inclusive, diverse, and have opportunities for all. Since we strive to be mindful and inclusive, we intentionally feature women and professionals of color on our stage which mirrors the beautiful and diverse cross-section of the audience that can only be found in NYC.

Ontherevel can support. We are only interested in building long term relationships with good people because that’s the only way a healthy cannabis market will flourish.

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HONEYSUCKLE MAGAZINE: How do you feel Ontherevel represents the cannabis industry in NYC?

Coming Soon...

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There may be side health risks of associated consumption of this This product hasrisks. not been analyzed during pregnancy andand breast-feeding may pose (FDA). potential harms.

It is against the lawon tothe drive oreffects operateofmachinery when under influence this product.

KEEP PRODUCT AWAY FROM approved by the Food Drug Administration There is limited information side using this product, andthe there may be of associated health risks.THIS Marijuana use during pregnancy and breast-feeding potential It is against the law to drive or operate under the influence ofcoordination, this product. KEEP THIS PRODUCT AWAY FROM CHILDREN. There may CHILDREN. Theremay maypose be health risksharms. associated with consumption of this productmachinery Marijuanawhen can impair concentration, and judgment.

The impairment effects of Edible Marijuana be health risks associated with consumption of this product Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. The impairment effects of Edible Marijuana Products may be delayed Products may be delayed by two hours or more.

In case of accidental ingestion, contact poison control hotline 1-800-222-1222 or 9-1-1.

This product may be illegal outside of MA. by two hours or more. In case of accidental ingestion, contact poison control hotline 1-800-222-1222 or 9-1-1. This product may be illegal outside of MA.