Sensi Magazine - Boston (January 2019)

BOSTON

THE NEW NORMAL

1.2019

sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 3

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ELEVATED CANNABIS EXPERIENCES FOR THE DISTINGUISHED DINER

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ISSUE 1 // VOLUME 2 // 1.2019

FEATURES

S P EC I A L RE P O RT

34 Forgive and Forget?

More and more Americans can obtain cannabis legally. What happens to those incarcerated or with criminal records for possessing something that is lawful today?

OG BARBERING Dave Matthews being taken to shave street via Steve Vilot

40 Digital Gypsy

Setting yourself up for the freedom of life on the road is a journey in itself.

every issue 11 Editor’s Note

HELLO, NEW YEAR

12 The Buzz

START IT UP

16

16 NewsFeed

CITGO F YOURSELF

21 AskAngie

LITTLE DIFFERENCES

22 CrossRoads

CITGO F YOURSELF Historic landmark status denied

COMING ATTRACTIONS

28 HighProfile

THE OG BARBER OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY

48 The Scene

SENSI LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

50 HereWeGo

HISTORY, NOT MIS-STORY

Sensi magazine is published monthly by Sensi Media Group LLC. © 2018 SENSI MEDIA GROUP LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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sensi magazine ISSUE 1 / VOLUME 2 / 1.2019

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NEW YEAR

editor’s

NOTE

The year before us, 2019, should for all intents and pur-

poses be a landmark one for the Bay State. Once the recreational industry has finally begun yawning to life, several years after voters approved Question 4 in Massachusetts, the recreational market triggered over $2.6 million in the first seven days of collecting revenue legally. State regulators are now thinking weed could generate between $93 million and $172 million in the 2020 fiscal year.

This is also as good a year as any to really begin or maintain monitoring the last squeaks from the dying planet Prohibition. Take the axiom pot-fearing suburbanites or property owners love to tout to stoke financial insecurity, without any data, that loosely posits: If a cannabis outlet were to come to their town—windfall of tax revenue be damned—at the very least, homeowners would suffer the most.

And yet, a recent study published in Contemporary Economic Policy found that homes prices in Denver, Colorado, increased 7.7 percent on average for any home within a quarter mile of a new dispensary in that robust market, and 4.7 percent for those within a half mile of one. So much for that old fiscal-panic rhetorical workhorse of a cannabis foe. It’s not just homeowners. They also found in the original weed town, Amsterdam, that losing a cannabis coffeeshop causes a 3 percent decrease in Airbnb rental prices, so even homeowners making side money on tourism take a hit when legal weed does in a flourishing marketplace.

Then there’s simple observable reality for anyone willing to pay attention.

Back in December, three of the largest common drugstore pharmacies–CVS, Walmart, and Family Dollar–had to issue an emergency recall for baby ibuprofen because of “higher concentrations of ibuprofen than listed.” A whoopsie that could be “especially dangerous for infants and could cause nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain, or diarrhea” as per the manufacturer of such wonderful medicine, Tris Pharma out of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. Or put another way, synthetic medicine from corporate pharmacology has too much of the synthetic medicine in there to work as synthetic medicine, and instead will be a synthetic recipe for pain and suffering. In babies.

Then on the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got endless stories about how properly administered and produced cannabis treatments for childhood autism, epilepsy, and a range of other issues continue to surface as parents begin to go public with their experiences. I’m fond of the one involving Las Vegas internet-famous baby “Carter,” who, despite suffering from Lamellar Icthyosis–a rare skin disorder causing dark “scales” to form all over the body that corrective surgery couldn’t cure–has found a new lease on life thanks to cannabis cream.

Here’s to 2019 bringing more miracles for the kids, goodies and social consumption and economic empowerment for the adults, and Big Fun for anyone leaning on the leaf for whatever reasons in the months ahead.

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sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 11

Start It Up

Second Annual BU Cannabis Start-Up Competition winners are ready for MJBizCon With adult-use cannabis rec sales underway across the Bay State, the rest of the business world isn’t wasting any time branching out into the local marketplace from across the country.

Just days before legal cannabis sales began in Massachusetts, Boston University held its second annual Innovate@ BU Cannabis Start-Up Competition. Open to graduates of BU and sponsored by Colorado-based cannabis strategy firm Green Lion Partners, finalists gathered in late November for the chance to take home $10,000 and consultation from Green Lion.

“There’s Craigslist, then there’s Angie’s List, so now why not Mary’s List,” says Mary’s List cofounder and CEO Denise Biderman. Biderman and partner/CEO/BU Alum Taylor Al12 JANUARY 2019 Boston

drege took home the bacon from Innovate@BU with their creation of a gig-based cannabis digital marketplace. Mary’s List connects businesses with freelance opportunities to professionals looking for work in a variety of fields from marketing to engineering, and even security consultants. But for Biderman and Aldrege, it’s more than just a job board.

“It’s freelance in some respect, but there’s also the element where people just need help finding vendors and different service providers,” Aldrege says.

The five finalists all of whom were charged with presenting “ancillary businesses,” not involved in a grow facility or dispensary. Some ideas included a spray to mitigate the effects of THC, a mobile safe space for cannabis consumption, as well as a delivery service not unlike a HelloFresh or Blue

Apron for weed and infused goods.

Armed with a polished pitch and a good once over from Green Lion Partners, contestants presented in front of four judges, three of whom are industry veterans, including Kim Napoli, attorney and cofounder of New England’s The Hempest store.

“It was such a unique and amazing experience. BU’s Business school was unbelievable, I mean Boston University, it’s an institution!” Biderman said.

And the win for Mary’s List was what they needed to realize their dream of having a booth at 2018’s MJBizCon in Las Vegas.

“We’ve been on our own trying to figure this out and suddenly this has been a shot in the arm where people believe in us and are willing to listen to us”, Aldrege said.

Biderman chokes up recalling her experience at the convention and the success they’ve experienced. “We had so many people from Boston and New England come up to us saying they saw us in Boston [and] we’re so proud of you,” she said.

The origins of Mary’s List might as well have come out of a storybook.

Biderman and Aldrege, having met in-between jobs and a harboring more than average interest in cannabis, were at career crossroads in 2016. Soon the duo moved to Colorado to further investigate a mature market and Aldrege, a B2B and tech marketing professional, and Biderman, a NYC attorney, both had personal connections to the benefits of cannabis, and were hoping to get their hands dirty. (Continued on page 14)

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Faced with the unappealing prospect of taking prescribed painkillers after her 4th knee surgery, Biderman reached for cannabis topicals and the occasional vaporizer to mitigate pain when she had an aha moment. “It changed my life, my doctors were blown away at my reduced recovery time. I was on a machine that bent and straightened my leg for 8 hours a day for 2 months. Within about a month and a half of using cannabis topically, I was running on a treadmill, it was nuts.”

Aldrege too has a similar story; dealing with a critical ACL injury in high school, and Stage 4 Osteoarthritis, cannabis had become part of his pain regimen after prescription painkillers made him feel unwell.

In hindsight, the development of Mary’s List seems completely natural, but it was not without its fair share of trial and error. “It took 15 payment processers before we could find one that allowed us to do payouts through the site.” Biderman says. Normalizing the process of paying for services, employers can also pay for projects directly through the new platform.

Mary’s List is more than just a freelance board for the cannabis forward. By creating a space where people can come together and build a community around like-minded interests, new relationships are born on opposite coasts.

“You can get creative and connect with people you may have never otherwise met. A dispensary in San Diego can meet service providers in Virginia, which isn’t a legal stage, and work together.” Aldrege says.

After a nasty bout of health issues related to altitude sickness, the duo has moved the company to New York City, but is continuing to move forward with the development of Mary’s List. With the award money assuredly put to good use, a MJBizCon under their belt, and a good steam propelling them, Mary’s List aims to be one of the largest collections of cannabis specialists in the industry for those hoping to break into the community without breaking the bank.

“The sky’s the limit, as many people as we can help, that’s what we want to do.

We’re watching this take shape as we build it.” Biderman says. –Jameson Viens

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{newsfeed }

by DA N M C C A R T H Y

Kenmore’s famous sign denied official historic landmark status. That’s probably a good thing.

After two years of campaigning and petition work by lo-

Take the historic “Live At The Rat” recording taped over

cal preservationists, in November the Boston Landmark

three days in September 1976 at The Rathskellar, Ken-

Commission approved official landmark status for the

more Square’s legendary grime-core house of punk, rock,

world-famous Citgo sign in Kenmore Square.

and early hip hop, where Willie Alexander & The Boom

But it wasn’t to be. With final approval in the hands of

Boom Band crooned:

Mayor Marty Walsh and the Boston City Council, Walsh ultimately vetoed the official designation but noted in a

Under the Citgo Sign

statement the sign would be protected in the long term, in a

She was lookin’ so fine at the Rat

move he described as “recognizing the significance that this

She was my BU baby, and I don’t mean maybe

sign has on our landscape in Boston, while balancing the op-

At the Rat.

portunity for horizons to continue evolving in future years.”

The official landmark designation wasn’t a first swing by

But with the landmark status denial, some may cry foul

proponents of the move. Since the sign was constructed

out of a sense of pure hometown pride. Which is why it’s

in 1965, it has been burned into the collective pop con-

worth casting a critical eye not on the designation per se,

sciousness as an indelible piece of the city as well as one

but on what the symbol behind the sign stands for.

of the most notable shapes of Boston’s metropolitan sky-

Boston Globe columnist Marcela Garcia observed in an Octo-

line, and there have been various attempts at landmark

ber op-ed that the government of Venezuela, Citgo’s majority

status through the years.

owner, operates an oppressive dictatorship and that the profits

And through its more than half century of unofficially serv-

from Citgo directly support a government that starves its own

ing the public as a wayfinding beacon, as well as creative muse

people. For that reason alone, Garcia said it’s worth suggesting

for artists and sportscasters alike, the signage and its steady

the sign itself be changed to promote a more positive message.

luminescence have been celebrated in sonnet and song, often

“A local Venezuelan native has a creative solution,” Garcia

while championing other cultural landmarks in the area.

16 JANUARY 2019 Boston

wrote. “Franklin Marval is an artist and a high school teacher

in Roxbury who wants to remove the Citgo letters but keep

could see the conflict embedded in any coastal metropo-

the rest of the sign and turn it into something that’s more

lis joyfully celebrating a global corporate symbol of the oil

aligned with what Boston represents today. To Marval, the

and petroleum monolith.

Citgo sign is deeply distressing. He recently returned from

That sense of conflict burns even brighter when con-

Venezuela, where he ‘only saw misery.’ When he looks at

sidering, as world-renowned climate activist and investi-

the sign, he thinks of the empty supermarket aisles in his

gative journalist Wen Stephenson phrased it in his book

native country. ‘I don’t want to get rid of the sign,’ Marval

What We’re Fighting For Now Is Each Other: Dispatches From

told me. ‘I think we just have to change it. People just have

the Front Lines Of Climate Justice, “the fossil-fuel industry

to let go. What’s on that sign should reflect all of Boston.

and its lobby are prepared to cook humanity off the planet

It’s better we’re known for who we truly are—a diverse and

unless somebody stops them.”

multicultural city.’”

The oil industry’s dirty dealings

Of course, as is becom-

are no secret, but let’s also not

ing clearer with each passing

forget that in 2007 Citgo became

100-year-storm,

the

the first refinery a federal jury

matter of global warming. Any-

convicted of violating the Clean

one with even a passing inter-

Air Act after one of its refineries

est or familiarity with the issue,

in Corpus Christi, Texas, sickened

and particularly the known im-

and harmed a nearby communi-

pact fossil fuels have had on

ty with toxic air pollution and a

human-made climate change,

decade of illegal operations. Op-

there’s

erations which, the jury found, involved emissions of benzene and

other

wildly

hazardous

sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 17

chemicals, courtesy of two massive uncovered tanks emitting airborne toxins that would waft into nearby communities including the mostly poor, minority neighborhood of Hillcrest.

Seven years later, a judge finally sentenced the company to pay a paltry $2 million fine. Prosecutors in the case rightly pointed out the amount was symbolically meaningless; the same refinery raked in over $1 billion in profits from the illegal activity. Adding insult to injury, in handing down the sentence, the judge refused to announce in court the individual restitution going to the affected families. A curious move, to be sure. A few months later, those same families learned they personally wouldn’t be getting a single dime, not for reimbursements for medical costs or even relocation away from the refinery at the heart of the issue. Nothing.

Then in January 2015, the case was issued a death blow. A three-judge panel of the US Fifth Court of Appeals overturned the entire conviction of Citgo’s violation of the Clean Air Act, destroying whatever symbolic win the case ever served.

Melissa Jarrell, a criminal justice professor at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, told the Texas Observer that the panel decided that “not only are they not victims, but Citgo did not commit a crime, and that to me is just impossible given the evidence.”

Greg Cook, a Boston-based culture writer for WBUR’s The ARTery and the man behind the local arts website Wonderland (GREGCOOKLAND.COM/WONDERLAND ), isn’t so sure the city should have given the sign cultural historic landmark status, either. A prickly position for Cook—he was one of the local voices Boston’s Landmarks Commission directly quoted in support of the landmark designation.

While noting the city would lose some sparkle without the famed signage, Cook wrote in a post: “Two years ago I ranked the Citgo sign at number 10 on my list of the best public art around the city. The problem is what Citgo stands for...and I regret not weighing this more seriously in the past. As the devastation global warming is doing to our communities—to the entire world—becomes ever clearer, it’s long past time to part ways with fossil fuel companies. Giving the Citgo sign official city landmark status sends exactly the wrong message.”

Normally, landmark status is emboldened when a site in question is under threat of removal or damage, but there was no real threat to the sign per se, at least one to justify a timely designation. It’s just a celebration of the sign itself, really.

Sure, for most, the sign is emblematic of Boston’s skyline and Kenmore Square, rather than the company or the petroleum industry at large. Others may remember a time when the Citgo logo seen from afar was a symbol for the freedom of the open road, where a gas-burning car taking us wherever we wanted in a free and prosperous land was the mark of American exceptionalism. For Cook, that’s potentially where the real rub is.

“Look, I share a love and fondness many in the community have for the sign.

It’s so iconic, a piece of our city, of our skyline,” Cook says over the phone, “but I think we need to find ways to break up with our love of fossil fuels and begin to come to terms with this romance and even sense of nostalgia we have with them, and how they’re preventing us from making very serious, real changes we need to make as a society.”

18 JANUARY 2019 Boston

One of the challenges we face is how sepiatoned notions of freedom are bound up in all this. The lionization of the Citgo sign is one example of how difficult it is to change.

It’s not a hard line of logic to follow when presented that

symbolism matters, and you have to do the things that

way. One of the macro challenges we face with address-

make the changes,” says Cook, who admits that climate

ing global warming is America’s love of cars and how se-

change reversal, or even awareness, won’t begin or end

pia-toned notions of freedom and road trips and the like

with the Citgo sign gaining historical landmark status.

are bound up in all of it. In that sense, the lionization of the

“It’s just the wrong symbolism for a city like Boston,

Citgo sign is one example of how difficult it is to make ma-

which claims to be working hard to make changes on how

jor changes toward reversing the dangerous place we’re

we deal with climate change and global warming,” he says.

currently at. Amongst the more cloak-and-dagger aspects

“But at the same time, we’re permanently landmarking

of corporate and political greed and malfeasance in the

a symbol in the heart of our community that’s iconic for

fossil fuels industry, we are generationally and culturally

Boston but also the very kind of corporation (and fossil fu-

indoctrinated to love and have nostalgia for the wonderful

els) that’s at the heart of climate change.”

trappings of fossil fuels, so inescapable in our daily life.

“That we’re having this conversation gives me hope, but

We’re not saying that was definitely the reason for the decision to prevent landmark status. But it’s a damn fine one. sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 19

20 JANUARY 2019 Boston

{askangie }

by A N G I E Mc C A R T N E Y

Where to Ask

email: ASKANGIE@SENSIMAG.COM Instagram: @SENSIMAGAZINE #ASKANGIE web: SENSIMAG.COM/ASKANGIE

LITTLE DIFFERENCES In the premiere Q&A installment of the Ask Angie column, Dr. Angie McCartney answers the very first query submitted by a Sensi reader, diving into the big differences one letter can make when it comes to cannabinoids.

“I have been hearing about both CBD and CBN. What’s the difference?”

–Zatfig via SENSIMAG.COM/ASKANGIE

eryone knows because it’s the one that gets us high—that has been degraded by oxygenation and UV light exposure.

CBN has only mild psychoactive effects but strong sedative and calming properties, and it’s being studied for many of the same ailments as CBD, things like pain and inflammation, seizures, and insomnia. (Cannabis testing facility Steep Labs found that 2.5 to 5 milligrams of CBN is similar to 5 to 10 milligrams of Diazepam.)

You mean, besides the fact that everyone’s talking about CBD these days, while most people have never heard of CBN? Both are cannabinoids, chemical compounds that act on special receptors in the human brain and body to shift neurological and physical pat-

CBN has only mild psychoactive effects but strong sedative and calming properties, and it’s being studied for many of the same ailments as CBD.

terns. More than 100 cannabinoids have been discovered, and they’re being studied as treatments for everything from pain and inflammation to muscle control and anxiety.

Right now, non-psychoactive CBD—the most prevalent cannabinoid—is getting a lot of attention for its antianxiety, anti-inflammatory, and pain-relieving properties, and it’s widely available around the world.

If you’ve ever smoked or eaten cannabis that’s been sitting around exposed to the air for a while and then fallen into a sleepy stupor, you’ve experienced CBN. This cannabinoid is actually a metabolite of THC—the cannabinoid ev-

A major difference between CBD and CBN is how they affect appetite. Studies on mice found that CBN causes significant chow intake, while CBD did the opposite. Whether you’re trying to lose weight or gain it, that’s another reason why it’s always good to know your weed’s cannabinoid content if you can.

DR. ANGIE hosts Teaflix Tuesdays on Facebook (FB.COM/DRANGIEMCCARTNEY ), and has a live radio broadcast on the Pete Price Show out of Liverpool on Saturday nights (RADIOCITY.CO.UK ) and on Richard Oliff’s HFM Drive Show on Wednesday afternoons (HARBOROUGHFM.CO.UK ).

sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 21

{crossroads }

by RICARDO BACA

22 JANUARY 2019 Boston

COMING ATTRACTIONS Predicting the future of consumption habits.

My friends who partook in the ’60s and ’70s have long waxed poetic about how things were back in the day—the awkward Pineapple Express-like encounters with dealers, the wildly varying levels of cannabis quality, the everyday objects repurposed as smoking apparati (apples, soda cans, foil-covered toilet paper tubes), the ritual sifting of seeds and stems, and the stressful searches for a safe place to burn one.

No doubt, today’s post-prohibition reality seems like the future my friends thought they would never know. But if this is our modern reality in 2019—where legal marijuana is increasingly becoming the law of the land—what unpredictable cannabis future awaits us in 2025 or 2030?

Here are a few fantasies in my crystal ball: PREDICTION 1

Legitimate, peer-reviewed cannabis research

matter of time before someone figures out that they can be individually tailored for private, on-the-go toking.

PREDICTION 3

Add-ons at the juice bar.

You want 10 milligrams of CBD in that PB Chocolate Love smoothie? No problem. How about a shot of limonene? That’s a boost we can get behind. In the Jamba Juice experience awaiting us around the corner, we see a whole roster of mind-altering options—in addition to the straightforward additions that are just as healing as the collagen, probiotics, and zinc currently on the menu.

We will have prerolls in the hotel minibar.

Sure, the mark-ups will be astronomical, but how sweet will it be to settle into your hotel room after a long flight and light up (on your room’s patio) without having to

In areas such as medicine, massage therapy, fitness, and

WeedMaps the nearest dispensary? Very. In our ideal vi-

other health-oriented realms, the lack of concrete studies

sion, booking sites would already be offering pot-smoking

on cannabis’s effects continues to stymie real progress. In

rooms as an option, so it would be a given that the goods

the fitness scene of the future, the performance-enhanc-

would be waiting for you, conveniently next to the salted

ing effects of cannabis will be well established, resulting in

almonds and Snickers bar.

customized concoctions that have been dialed in to each athlete’s needs, available right next to the water and the protein bars. Meanwhile, a day at the spa would include consultations on the specific CBD oil or THC-infused lotion that could target sore muscles or arthritic joints.

PREDICTION 2

Modular car services that serve weed

PREDICTION 4

Restaurants that cater to cannabis consumers The connection between THC (and other cannabinoids) and our taste buds is well documented; it’s all about the release of hunger hormone ghrelin and the stop-I’m-satisfied hormone leptin, combined with the lighting up of the brain’s olfactory bulb and the increase in dopamine. And so it’s not

We’ll book the modular car of the future the same way

all that far-fetched to fantasize about actual restaurants

we call a Lyft or Uber now, but there will be an option to

offering fine-tuned food-and-weed pairing menus. And

choose a 420-friendly self-driving ride, with the pod arriv-

yes, we know these experiences exist in LA pop-ups and

ing well stocked with prerolls, edibles, and other goodies,

Boulder farm-to-table one-offs, but let’s normalize this

offering yet another welcome place for legal imbibing. With

already and allow existing restaurants the ability to legally

modular cars already in testing and production, it’s only a

incorporate cannabis into their food and drink programs. sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 23

PREDICTION 5

Vineyard-like tasting rooms Just as we can now swing by our favorite winery’s tasting room and pull up a stool at the counter to sample a few flights and nosh on a cheese board, cannabis farms one day will feature strain samples and snacks in the comfort and conviviality of their on-site smoking spaces. Oh, and check out the view: fields fleshed out with rotund indica

As fast as we can picture it, cannabis entrepreneurs are looking for ways to make it happen.

shrubs and towering sativa trees as far as the eye can see.

PREDICTION 6

Marijuana-specific lounges in American airports In the same way a pre-flight drink is often a good idea, who wouldn’t appreciate the sedating effects of a solid indica-based edible taken just before a 14-hour flight, or a quick smoke to take the edge off before spending five hours cross-country with a screaming baby? Because we’re dreaming big: These would be dedicated spaces separate from cigarette lounges and bars, with state-of-the-art air filters, entertainment, and snacks. Imagine how much bet-

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ter those long layovers would suddenly be, too, especially

strains for specific medical conditions, the ideal AI-en-

augmented by video game consoles, constantly streaming

hanced cannabis experience would involve smartphone

movies, and other fun distractions, along with Coaster Call-

software that accesses the same information you already

type pagers pre-set for your flight’s boarding time.

input on your phone’s health app—age, gender, height,

PREDICTION 7

Expanded experiential entertainment Escape rooms are a regular go-to for folks looking to challenge their cannabis-enhanced (or -addled) brains, but that’s just the beginning. Picture adult play-places packed with interactive amusements, from comfy couches sporting virtual-reality stations to sensory-enhancing rooms à

weight. The AI’s biometrics would read your fingerprint and also your current state (high heart rate indicating anxiety, low metabolic rate) and then make recommendations for the cannabis experience that would best address your current physical and headspace. The app would also interact with your vaporizer, auto-dosing to ensure an exact and intentional serving size.

la Narnia—just open a door and prepare to be blown away

Of course this is just a taste of what we’re dreaming

by the augmented-reality activities, similar to Pokémon

about. As fast as we can picture it, cannabis entrepreneurs

Go, but with pot and a safe spot in which to wander.

are looking for ways to make it happen. So here’s to a time

PREDICTION 8

AI devoted to cannabis products While some progress has been made in machine-rolled joints and computer programs that suss out the best

where our high hopes meet the real weed world.

RICARDO BACA is a veteran journalist, thought leader, and founder of The Cannabist. His content agency Grasslands works primarily with businesses and individuals in the cannabis and hemp industries on thought leadership, publicity, and marketing projects via thoughtful, personalized marketing campaigns.

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{highprofile }

by DA N M C C A R T H Y

28 JANUARY 2019 Boston

As recently as 2017, grand outlets of finance and prosperity like Forbes were proclaiming that “a cultural resurgence of men’s grooming, estimated to reach $26 billion by 2020, has barbers, brokers, and landlords lining up to get their cut.”

Steve Vilot knows this, and just

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about anything else you could wonder about the game as it exists today, as it has existed over the past 27 years, and even just how close Eminem likes his sides faded. The 52-year-old Western Mass native has worked his way up the stratospheric ladder of modern barbering.

In the grooming world, Vilot’s word carries serious weight. From his first outpost in Pittsfield in 1990 to his string of shops in the Berkshires and his lectures and instructionals with various brands, Vilot has built the kind of reputation and respect that results in requests to spearhead the design and opening of a $2.1-million barbershop and tattoo parlor like the one he did in Nashville, Tennessee, last year with rapper Yellow Wolf (“kind of a Kid Rock guy,” he says).

Something of an oracle for demonstrations and teaching, Vilot still has gigs as a barber instructor for straight razor companies and beard oil outfits. He’s also had a barber shop set up at Boston Calling, conducted Art of Shaving popup shops at Barney’s in New York City, serves as a professional barber competition judge, and is a personal barber to a list of texting clients like former Massachusetts Gov. Duval Patrick.

If such supposed embarrassment of opportunities with the region’s titans leaves readers looking to get in feeling intimidated, Vilot says don’t be. Just do what he calls “barber math.”

Industry analysts say barbering is one of the fastest-growing general trade jobs in the United States, with brick and mortar barber shops accounting for 80 percent of the men’s grooming industry. Yet a waft of cognitive dissonance sets in when you learn the U.S. Labor Department Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts nearly 10,000 people will enter or be working as a skilled trade barber between now and 2026. Additional opportunities from new businesses in the overall industry—as well as chair replacements for old lions hanging up their clippers and cowls in retirement or for different gigs—would make you think sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 29

the barbering industry at the shop level is cascading with skilled hands clawing at glass shop windows like a horde of grooming zombies. Think again.

“We’re seeing we’re a trade that relies on people, and since the 1960s the population has doubled,” Vilot says.

“We should have twice as many shops and barbers. We don’t. Even if there’s four [barbers] for every shop, you’re still looking at over a million other potential other jobs in our trade.”

When Vilot began his barbering career nearly 30 years ago, the decision was hardly en vogue. He had just been laid off from the gas company he worked for in the Big Dig’s heyday, and the Wentworth graduate decided his

Besides a string of no-names-please clients, Vilot handles Maroon 5’s heads, Dave Matthews’ dome, Godsmack’s gobs, Korn and Kid Rock’s locks

structural engineering degree would be better employed building fresh looks and clean lines than it would be reconstructing Bay State roadways. He had a pal who worked as a barber, and it was time to make a go of it.

Vilot, who clocks in at a svelte 6’3”, 275 pounds, supported himself through the mid-1980s bouncing for clubs around Fenway, from The Ratt and The Task to Venus de Milo and Spit. He even worked a gig at Fenway Park in 1986 during Bill Buckner’s boo-boo morning of through-the-legs we-go infamy. “I was standing probably 25 yards from that,” Vilot chuckles. “And while I was a bouncer, I was often paired up during a shift, the big white guy with the big black guy. Those were all my buddies. We went to war together every night, so when I started going to barber school I learned how to cut black hair on my black buddies from the clubs.”

In the smaller community where Vilot lived and opened his first shop—Berkshire County’s largest city Pittsfield– in 1990 just a few spots in town serviced various types of hair, yet specialized in none. Thanks to both learning on his bouncer pals and barber school in Holyoke, where he learned the nuances of properly handling Latino hair, Vilot soon amassed a diverse clientele of regulars as word spread about a new king in town.

His shop in Great Barrington, on the southern tip of Berkshire County, where New York and Connecticut meet the Massachusetts border—a luxe life little hamlet where many flush New York City elite and Boston Brahmins keep second (or third) homes—brought an unusual cross-breed of patrons and new encounters with interesting people.

A client who had been regularly coming in for a year for cleanups, hot shaves, cuts, and what anyone heads to a 30 JANUARY 2019 Boston

shop or salon for, took interest in Vilot’s noteworthy client diversity. “Roughly 30 percent of my business was black at the time, and he says, ‘Wow, usually I have to hire a black guy for blacks, white for white, Spanish for Spanish...I could just hire you, and you can do everybody.’”

The guy turned out to be Marc LeBelle, Eminem’s longtime tour manager and the senior vice president of A&R at Shady Records, and he quickly began connecting Vilot with his own roster of clients in the music world. But you don’t just start with the king’s crown, of course. Barbering, like hip hop and stand-up comedy, requires working your way up the ladder, paying dues, and proving you can hold your own.

“I started with, like, the bass players and stuff,” Vilot says with a laugh.

Eventually he wound up going on tour with Eminem, a crossover client event that blossomed into an entire on-demand road barber business that continues today. Besides a string of no-names-please clients, Vilot handles Maroon 5’s heads, Dave Matthews’ dome, Godsmack’s gobs, Korn and Kid Rock’s locks, and others.

But when you boil down all the access to the rap and rock world, the industry respect and accolades, it’s about the work. “Take shaving,” Vilot says. “I love hot shaves and straight razor shaves. I find it to be really therapeutic and relaxing.

No talk, just peaceful. And there’s not a lot of artistic interpretation to shaving.

It’s just about skin type, razor, pressure, the basics. I love it.”

Where the magic happens.

sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 31

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That love in the purity of the work keeps Vilot’s fans happy and coming back. Or in the case of Shady Records President and Def Jam CEO Paul Rosenberg, whose bald head and beard loves a hot shave with hot towels, Vilot says with a laugh, “He’s the one driving that train, and he’s taken me around the world to do so.”

Up next, in the middle of his constant sojourns to private houses, tours with rockstars and rap gods, and tradeshows and lectures, Vilot says he has his eye on a Boston shop of his own. Provided he finds the right location and space that can house his full shop-in-waiting. After closing one of his Berkshire stores to focus on the Nashville opening, he has a full-tilt seven-chair shop—from the phones to the gear to the spinning old-timey barber pole—ready to go, with a national network of the cream of the national barber crops stuffed into his phone’s contact list along with all the other glitterati comprising a pro’s career still in full swing.

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But after it’s all said and done, for Vilot the real juice and joy often comes from the most basic element of barbering.

“I have 15 to 20 people a day tell me thank you, that I make them feel good every time I do my job,” he says. “That’s the best.”

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More and more Americans can obtain cannabis legally.

What about those incarcerated or with criminal records for possessing something that is lawful today?

by L E L A N D R U C K E R

34 JANUARY 2019 Boston

Michael Diego-Rivera was 19 years old and out with friends WHEN HE WAS STOPPED BY POLICE IN COLORADO SPRINGS. “THEY PULLED US OVER WITH GUNS DRAWN AND ASKED US WHAT WE WERE DOING,” HE SAYS. AFTER HE REFUSED TO ALLOW A SEARCH OF THE CAR, A WARRANT WAS OBTAINED, AND OFFICERS FOUND THREE BAGS, EACH WITH LESS THAN AN OUNCE OF CANNABIS. Those three bags led to a felony distribution charge, and

through public-interest groups like Cage-Free Cannabis,

Diego-Rivera, a citizen of Puerto Rican descent, wound up

California Cannabis Advocates, and Smart Pharm Research

taking a plea bargain that reduced the charge from distri-

Group to raise awareness and provide support by offering

bution to possession. Because he had a job, he wound up

employment opportunities, online resources, and health

serving seven months on a work-release program with three

screenings. The goal is to shine a light on the problems peo-

years probation and restitution. When he tried to get his con-

ple face after they think they have paid their debt to soci-

viction expunged from his record, he found that can’t hap-

ety. “Once you’re arrested, it’s difficult to get a job, get a loan,

pen until 2023, because he had a reckless driving charge in

get housing,” says Dan Gilmore of the Massachusetts Rec-

2013, and you have to go 10 years without any kind of offense.

reational Consumer Council, another Expungement Week

“I can’t work in the cannabis industry, which was auto-

sponsor. “They just want to continue with their lives.”

matically interesting to me, because of the marijuana felony,”

As more states decriminalize, it would seem that the

Diego-Rivera says. “It’s an opportunity I would like to pursue.

number of people arrested for cannabis infractions, espe-

But they wouldn’t let me do something I was doing anyway.”

cially for possession, would go down. That was the trend

Erving Jean Jacques was arrested in Boston more than

until 2017, when the number of arrests actually rose from

10 years ago on a firearms possession charge and served

the year before. FBI data indicate 660,000 people were

a mandatory prison sentence of a year and a half. Though

arrested in 2017 for cannabis violations, and 600,000 of

he wants to work in the cannabis industry, especially the

those, or 90 percent, were for possession.

medical side, the felony charge follows him around and prevents him from doing that in Massachusetts.

Though African-Americans and Latinos make up 31.5 percent of the population, they account for a dispropor-

He found employers hesitant to hire him once they saw his

tionate 46 percent of those arrests. While some of the ar-

record, and he had no idea how to break the cycle. “Whatever

rests reflect the continuing black market, it also means

mistake I made in my 20s, society just won’t let that go. It’s a

police are still arresting citizens for doing what people

scarlet letter, basically,” he says. “I get it that I did something

can do legally on the other side of a state line.

bad. But what about after? No one cares about that.”

Expungement is a way to acknowledge and address the

Those are just two of the many untold stories of people who,

government’s past, says Shaleen Title of the Massachu-

because of mistakes made when they were young—much of

setts Cannabis Control Division “The ability to expunge a

the time simple possession of marijuana—can’t seem to shake

record allows people to live their lives and pursue oppor-

once they’re back out on the street. Arrest records are for life.

tunities without the failed War on Drugs following them

Marijuana convictions rarely involve long prison terms,

around and obstructing them in a way that perpetuates

but any blemish can make life more difficult once you’re out.

the discrimination built into the criminal justice system.”

There are 77 million Americans with convictions on their records, many of them for cannabis and other nonviolent,

A Patchwork of Approaches

drug-related offenses. What do you do with those who are im-

Let’s face it, the best time to tackle expungement is

prisoned or have paid their debt for possessing a substance

right now, as legalization takes hold. Canada once fined

like cannabis that today they wouldn’t be arrested for?

people up to $1,000 and gave them six months in jail for

The best way, of course, would be to allow individuals in

possession. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who cam-

those situations to have their records expunged or at least

paigned on cannabis reform, has announced the country

sealed from public viewing. (To expunge is to complete-

will initiate a program that would allow people convict-

ly eliminate a criminal record. Records can also be sealed,

ed of pot possession before it was legal to fill out a form,

meaning they can only be opened under certain conditions.)

much as it has for people convicted of same-sex partner-

Getting the word out is most important. Jacques told

ships, to get their records removed or sealed.

his story during National Expungement Week in Boston,

Oh, that it could be that easy here in the United States. “It

a weeklong event in cities around the country organized

just can’t move forward until federal law catches up,” says sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 35

Julie Saltman of Buddle, whose practice in Boulder, Colorado, is devoted to helping people understand and navigate complex cannabis laws. “There’s just this sort of roadblock in terms of what’s been created by the federal law.”

There are bills pending in the US Congress that address various aspects of legalization. Sen. Cory Booker’s bill for legalization includes expungement of records for cannabis crimes, but it might be the least likely to get any movement forward. “You know, we sit here and we say, ‘Oh, it’s so crazy that you wouldn’t want to clear the record of people for this thing that we’re all now agreeing is legal,’ ” Saltman says. “But so many people in the government writing the laws don’t think that way. They think, ‘Well, it was illegal when you did this. So…’ ” Events like National Expungement Week are a good start for raising awareness, but there’s plenty of work to be done to get this issue on the radar for the majority of people who can’t comprehend the problems those who have served time face in getting their lives back together.

In November 2018, legislators in New Jersey, who are now considering legalizing cannabis, proposed a plan that includes fast-tracking the procedure. “By streamlining the expungement process, the state can help ensure that people with criminal records for marijuana-related offenses get a clean slate,” Kate Bell, counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement. “Nobody should be branded a criminal simply for using a substance that is less harmful than alcohol.”

In September 2018, all seven judges of the Seattle Munici-

If you have a cannabis conviction on your record or know somebody who does, online resources can help you through the process of getting rid of it. “Part of the battle is using software to automate the process of filling out a petition,” says Julie Saltman of Buddle. “We’re trying to make it so that the user can generate that from our software and just make it as simple as possible.” Find out more at BUDDLELAW.COM .

The National Expungement Week site (OFFTHERECORD.US ) also includes a wealth of information about getting rid of criminal records. Its expungement toolkit is at NATIONALEXPUNGEMENTWEEK.SQUARESPACE.COM/TOOLKIT

“How to Seal or Expunge Decriminalized Cannabis Cases,” a booklet from Greater Boston Legal Services, is another great resource: MASSLEGALHELP.ORG/CORI/SEALING-EXPUNGINGDECRIMINALIZED-MARIJUANA-CHARGES-BOOKLET7.PDF

pal Court signed an order to create a process to vacate cannabis offenses that were illegal then but legal now. More than 500 people could be affected, dating from 1996, when municipal courts began handling these cases, to 2010, when the city completely stopped prosecuting low-level cannabis offenses.

days later, the city of Denver said it would begin proac-

In Michigan, where voters just passed an initiative to le-

tively helping citizens get their records expunged. “This

galize adult-use cannabis, new Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says

is really a program based on fundamental fairness,” As-

her administration will take action to free anyone in prison

sistant District Attorney Ken Kupfner told newspapers. “It

and expunge criminal records for cannabis crimes that will

just seems like the right thing to do in these circumstanc-

become legal under the state’s recreational cannabis law.

es is to vacate and seal those convictions.”

Colorado allows juvenile records to be expunged, but

When Colorado passed Amendment 64 to legalize canna-

adults can seal their criminal convictions. It’s a process

bis for adult use in 2012, expungement of criminal records

that involves obtaining your criminal record and history,

wasn’t part of the conversation. “Back then when Colorado

filling out forms and filing a petition, which is then re-

legalized, nobody was thinking about this,” says Buddle’s

viewed by the court for approval.

Sarah Gerston. “And I think what states like Massachusetts

That could change. On December 1, the Boulder Coun-

and California are trying to do is make sure that that indus-

ty District Attorney’s Office announced that as part of a

try is accessible, particularly for those people who were

“Moving on from Marijuana” program, it would vacate

harmed by criminalizing cannabis.”

and seal the records of people arrested for possession of

Massachusetts, which opened recreational stores in

less than 2 ounces and all paraphernalia charges—which

November, passed a criminal justice reform bill last year

could affect 4,000 people arrested since 2008. Just a few

that would allow people to get their records expunged or

36 JANUARY 2019 Boston

Ingrid Archie, after being imprisoned twice in California, is now the Prop 47 specialist for New Way of Life, helping others get their records expunged or sealed.

sealed. The Massachusetts Rec Council’s Gilmore says it took intense lobbying to get it into the current plan. “It’s restrictive, with no teeth, and it’s not helping the people it should help,” he says. But, he adds, it’s a start.

In 2014, California passed Prop 47, which allows many nonviolent offenses, such as drug and property offenses and shoplifting, to be changed from felonies to misdemeanors. Gov. Jerry Brown last fall signed Assembly Bill 1793, which requires the Department of Justice, before July 2019, to review hundreds of thousands of cannabis cases in the state’s database and identify convictions that should be dismissed, vacated, or reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor. And the city of San Francisco is working with a nonprofit organization that would allow cannabis convictions to be vacated within its jurisdiction.

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Simplifying the Process The key to making this work is to simplify the expungement process. Kathleen Bryson, a lawyer in Humboldt Coun-

ed again after a gang friend stashed his cannabis at her place and did a three-year sentence in state prison.

ty, California, says people should seek out clinics at cannabis

After she was released, things didn’t get any easier.

events and public defender offices that offer aid to people.

In 2009, she was laid off by a telecommunications com-

She helps clients and former clients with expungement pro-

pany that had just hired her after it found her record. In

cedures and problems, which vary from county to county.

2013 she was arrested again and served three more years.

“Each county has a different character with different local

While there, she found out about Prop 47. She educated

rules and policies,” she says. “Humboldt County is generally

herself, used the statute to get her sentence reduced, took

known as a more progressive county than any of its neigh-

back custody of her two children, and today works as the

boring counties. In particular, Mendocino and Trinity, the oth-

Prop 47 specialist for New Way of Life, an organization

er two counties in the Emerald Triangle, have vastly different

devoted to helping others break the cycle.

courtroom cultures from Humboldt and from each other.”

Archie uses her story to give others the courage to do

That leads us to Ingrid Archie. She had a troubled child-

what she did. “It kind of helps give people hope because

hood, grew up in foster care in California and fell in with a

the laws were passed to make our community better, but

bad crowd while staying in group homes. At age 18, about

they don’t understand how to do it,” Archie says. “When

the time her first daughter was born, she was arrested

they see the impact that it has on my life, and to know it

for selling drugs and put on probation. She was arrest-

has worked, they want to take advantage of it.”

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Find us on Masscann.org

The mission of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition (MassCann), the state affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of the Marijuana Laws (NORML) is to educate the Public in the Commonwealth about Cannabis Sativa's potential as an ecologically sound resource, medicine, and recreational substance, and build a consensus for a more moral and rational public policy regarding all uses of the cannabis plant. sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 39

Gypsy Digital

Setting yourself up for the freedom of life on the road is a journey in itself.

by R O BY N G R I G G S L AW R E N C E

40 JANUARY 2019 Boston

I’m about to hit the road and live in my Airstream. I HAVE A PLAN (THOUGH NOT AS MUCH OF ONE AS I’D LIKE) TO SPEND THE WINTER IN BAJA, THEN I DON’T KNOW WHERE I’LL END UP. I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR MOST OF MY LIFE. I’M PETRIFIED. I’m joining the nearly half-million people in the United

Then Dennis will travel with me through Baja—just in

States who live full-time in their rigs, and I’ll be one of a re-

time to celebrate legal cannabis in Mexico, maybe?—before

cord-breaking 10 million RVers hitting the road as #vanlife

he goes back to Colorado and leaves me on my own. That’s

explodes, driven largely by experience-hungry millennials

where my plan ends, but the whole idea is to be OK with that.

and Instagrammers. The $19.7 billion RV industry has seen

It’s amazing how much planning and organization it’s

sales grow 200 percent over the past eight years, according to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, and RV shipments are at their highest level ever. Sales at Thor In-

taken to get here.

Freedom Isn’t Free

dustries (which owns Airstream) grew 57 percent to $2.02

The first thing I never considered was what I couldn’t do

billion in 2017, and Winnebago sales skyrocketed 75.1 per-

without a permanent address. I can’t vote, get health insur-

cent in the last quarter of that year to $476.4 billion.

ance, have a bank account, pay taxes, get a driver’s license, or

The industry is changing, responding to the needs and

register my vehicles, to start. And, of course, I can’t get mail.

desires of the new RVer, whose average age is 48—not the

Or I thought I wouldn’t be able to. Then I found professional

stereotypical snowbird traditionally associated with RV-

services that receive, sort, scan, forward, and shred mail like

ers (though plenty of boomers are still on the road). Ac-

Escapees Mail Forwarding from a big clearinghouse in Tex-

cording to CARHUB.COM , about one-third of new RVers are

as that helps people set up mailing addresses in that state.

under 35, and that makes RV resort hot tubs a lot more fun.

There are a lot of these services in Texas and South Dakota,

Before we head to Baja, Dennis and I have a spot reserved

the friendliest states for nomadic travelers to establish resi-

for a month at the Chula Vista RV Resort, a beautiful too-

dency, but I’m not ready for that yet. I’ve lived in Colorado as it

good-to-be-true park on San Diego Bay that shares space

has turned from red to blue, and I like having my vote count.

with a marina (and sailors are also pretty great for hot tub

I’ve already digitized most transactions that used to rely

fun) where I spent last winter. On February 1, everyone has

on snail mail, so my best option is to keep my Colorado

to clear out so the resort and marina can be bulldozed for

address and have any important mail that might trickle

a billion-dollar convention center and waterfront develop-

in forwarded to me wherever I’m staying. Who knew you

ment. A lot of folks have wintered in Chula Vista for de-

could get mail sent to you care of General Delivery to any

cades. It should be a hell of a month.

town and pick it up at the main post office?

sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 41

a large dog bowl and dog chain. No one ever messed with her.

Be wary of helpful people. “Generally speaking, people in RV places are fun, friendly, interesting, and very helpful,” Vogel says. But sometimes they can be a little too helpful, and it’s no fun getting frazzled when their directions make no sense to you. Vogel also found that people who tried to help her hook up threw monkey wrenches into her routine because they did things differently. It’s usually best to politely refuse their assistance.

I spent many long nights researching the RV lifestyle online, but nothing beats a real conversation with a real pro, and Jane Vogel is that. Vogel grew up traveling in her parents’ Airstreams; she and her sister took away their trailer when they turned 85 and were accused for 15 more years of stealing their lifestyle. When she retired in 2009, she bought a 26-foot Winnebago Aspect that she named Frieda Rome and spent the next two years wandering. A former president of the Winnie Singles Club, Vogel wrote a cookbook for RVers, Grill It or Skillet. She gave me the advice I couldn’t find online.

Stop driving before you get tired. “When you’re tired, you make mistakes and break stuff,” Vogel says.

Know where you’re ending up each day.

When she stopped for lunch, Vogel would call campgrounds to find her destination for the end of that day. She always asked if the website’s directions were accurate and if there was construction in the area.

Never rely on GPS. Vogel learned that the hard way when she ended up on a flooded gravel road while towing a Jeep. “GPS can really mess you up,” she says.

Wasp spray is a weapon. Vogel chose not to carry a gun. Instead, she kept wasp spray by

the front door to disable potential intruders.

Join a club. Moose and Elk Clubs and American Legions allow members to camp on their grounds, often with water and electric hookups, for as little as $15 a night, and annual memberships are cheap.

Women traveling alone: take precautions.

Vogel bought a Winnebago instead of an Airstream because she didn’t want to have to go outside from her vehicle to the trailer in the dark or when she didn’t feel safe.

She bought the largest pair of men’s boots she could find at a thrift store and put them next to the door along with two chairs, one with a beer can and a Tom Clancy novel, and

Go minimalist in the kitchen. Vogel carried basic spices—the most exotic was lemon pepper—in jars with their names written on the lid in a shoe box. The only electrical appliance she had was the skillet. She used an ice cream scoop as a masher and had a collapsible colander, flexible cutting board, and a chef’s knife with a sharpening sheathe. RVers don’t need place settings for six, she says. “You’re not going to be inviting two other couples over,” she says, “and if you do, it’ll be paper plate night. You’re not really running a house like you’re used to.”

Go minimalist in the closet. “You don’t need six pairs of blue jeans,” Vogel says.

“You only need one hoodie. You’re not seeing the same people every day, so you don’t need different clothes every day.”

Go minimalist in the shower. Thick, fluffy towels take forever to dry and are too heavy for the clotheslines in most RV showers.

Cheap, lightweight towels are more practical when paying for laundromat drying time.

Then there’s health insurance, a hellish mess even

and slow. (Internet connectivity consistently ranks as

when you’re staying in one place. The marketplace options

one of the worst things about full-time RV living.) I had

barely cover me when I’m out of network, which is where

to invest in a Jetpack and an unlimited data plan, and

I plan to spend the year. I made an appointment with Por-

I’ll still be data-starved because “unlimited” data slows

tia at RVERINSURANCE.COM to help me sort out my options.

down after I’ve used 15 gigs. I also had to buy a weBoost

I also learned about an app I wish I’d known about years

cell booster, which adds a bar or two in weak areas and

ago called GoodRx (GOODRX.COM ) that lets me download

could make the difference between a work day and a

coupons for super cheap prescriptions at pharmacies near

non-work day. I have nothing against non-work days,

me—wherever that may be.

but I’d rather plan them than have them forced on me.

And finally, there’s connectivity—that crucial element

It costs a lot, it seems, to be free. I’ve also spent a small

for working on the road that’s notoriously scarce in RV

fortune on gadgets for better Airstream living, every-

resorts, where the “Free Wi-Fi” is always painfully weak

thing from a sewer hose support to refrigerator orga-

42 JANUARY 2019 Boston

PHOTO COURTESY OF AIRSTREAM INC.

Jane’s World

A good grill is an RVers best friend. Grill It or Skillet is about “putting good, honest food on the table without using pots and pans,” because she didn’t want to wash mixing bowls and pans in her tiny sink. She made every meal on a portable Weber grill or, in terrible weather, an electric skillet.

She even made eggs on the grill using grill mats and silicon egg rings.

nizer bins, a laundry backpack and bag with door hooks

three-outlet desktop charging station is for our sanity as

to a collapsible laundry basket for trash and recycling.

we both try to use all our devices while sharing one outlet.

I bought silicon molds for oversized ice cubes because

The two of us sharing an 8-by-27-foot space for four

they melt more slowly, and they’re great for freezing

months might be the craziest part of my non-plan. We get

stocks and juices—and cocktail hour’s a pretty big thing

along fabulously in his 3,500-square-foot house where I have

at RV resorts.

my own room and an Airstream, and we’ve done well on two-

Dennis was a little alarmed when the big Amazon box

and three-week excursions. We’re not married, and we have

full of these on-the-road necessities arrived, especially be-

our own cell phone plans, so we don’t have much to fight

cause he’s been watching me get rid of the trappings of my

about except closet space and clutter. My Amazon binge was

house life for a good two years. I explained that the non-

a lame attempt to wrest control through retail therapy.

slip glow-in-the-dark tape for the front steps and the mo-

I’ve never been here before, about to embark on a journey to

tion-sensor LED emergency flashlight that will be mount-

an unknown end, and I’ve worked my whole life to get here.

ed by the front door are for our safety and the three-USB,

I can be military-level meticulous and download every app

I’ve worked my whole life to embark on this

journey to an unknown end.

It’s amazing how much planning and organization it’s taken to get this far.

When you look great you feel great.

KRISTEN SALON Come visit us at 21 Vinal Square North Chelmsford, MA. Call or book appointments on line.

KristenSalon.com • 978-251-7767 sensimag.com JANUARY 2019 43

Apps for RVers

available to help me navi-

Download these before you hit the road.

gate roads, campgrounds, and relationships, but I

AllStays

(iOS only) has extensive filters that help you find campgrounds, RV parks, and related services and check GPS-based weather reports, road conditions, and state laws.

can’t control what’s about to happen. The funny part is

Coverage? lets you quickly find where the best cell cover-

that I ever thought I could.

age is along a route and compare carrier coverage maps.

Here’s to partying in Ch-

GasBuddy finds the best gas prices on your route.

Hurdlr helps freelancers keep track of mileage, expenses,

ula Vista like it’s 1999.

income, and tax deductions in real time. (And I didn’t have this one years ago because…?)

ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE, author of the bestselling Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook, went to San Diego last winter to write Pot in Pans: A History of Eating Weed, which will be released by Rowman & Littlefield in May. The book would have been out for 4/20 if she’d had a little less fun in the hot tub.

inRoute

(iOS only) lets you plan optimal routes based on weather, elevation, road curviness, and other factors. It navigates with voice-guided turn-by-turn directions with automatic severe weather alerts.

the Next EXIT gives a thorough, exit-by-exit service listing, including gas, food, lodging, camping, shopping, and more.

Rand McNally RVND, a standalone RV GPS device, offers navigation and routing, RV tools, points of interest, real-time traffic updates, and predictive traffic videos and photos.

State Lines tracks more than 55 pieces of travel-relevant

information for all 50 states, including cell phone and texting bans, gas and diesel taxes, towing and RV-specific laws, rest area overnight parking limits, and alcohol sales laws and taxes.

WeatherTAB provides forecasts as far as 18 months out.

Windy is for anyone who drives through blustery places like

New Mexico, offering precise hourly forecasts and a wind map.

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GREEN MATTERS

Connecting the Dots: Ag Tech to Cannabis Consulting to Dispensary Operations ONE EXECUTIVE’S STORY OF JUMPING IN TO HELP AN INDUSTRY ON THE RISE MOVE UP TO THE NEXT LEVEL. When Tim Shaw, COO of MariMed Inc., saw the can-

structure. The thing that keeps us open and the lights on

nabis industry evolving, with new states legalizing

is the constant consumable needs, like nutrients and soil.”

medical cannabis through the early 2000s and his

MariMed offers total turnkey solutions for cannabis

home state of Massachusetts decriminalizing posses-

cultivators and dispensaries. The company is spreading

sion in November 2008, he wanted to get involved.

deeper into the industry, working in seven states and se-

He jumped in in 2010 when he started Green Mat-

curing three cannabis business licenses in Massachusetts.

ters, a gardening supply store with two locations–and a

It is set to open its first dispensary in December in

third on the way–in Massachusetts. “I was an engineer

Middleborough, Massachusetts, and is planning to

at Nextel in a previous life and saw this industry coming

open a 140,000-square-foot cultivation facility with over

west to east,” Shaw says. “So I thought, what can I do

1,000 hydroponic lights in New Bedford soon.

legally to get involved?”

As a business consultant, Shaw says part of his job is

He knew all the grow operations in the state would

grassroots lobbying to bring common sense to state reg-

need to buy nutrients and other consumables. “So I decid-

ulations. “Regulators have worked through a lot of the

ed I would meet new operators, find out what they need-

kinks, one of them being testing,” he says. “They had this

ed, and make some money,” he says. “And it’s not illegal.”

baloney situation where the testing labs were permitted

Working with plants is “in his blood,” Shaw says. His family comes from a long line of garden center owners,

for medical but not for adult use. It was the same process. I think it was a money-grab situation.”

growing and selling ornamentals and Christmas trees

He says he has never worked so hard in his life as he

at Van Wilgens Garden Center and Nursery in North

has in the last six years. “This industry is not for the faint of

Branford, Connecticut. “I do not have formal training or

heart,” he says. “I am an absentee father at the moment,

a college education in horticulture,” he says. “But I have

all over the place traveling.”

developed a good system of how to grow this plant.”

Looking around at the floor of the huge 2018 Marijuana

While Shaw is the CEO of Green Matters, which func-

Business Conference in Las Vegas, a show with 27,500 of-

tions as the supply arm to MariMed clients, all Green

ficial attendees, Shaw appears confident that soon all the

Matters supply chain operations are handled by his

time and effort he has put into the business will pay off. “I

wife, Lilli, a former dental assistant. “So I see things on

think the wheels are just starting to come off the ground in

the front end and the back end,” Shaw says.

this industry,” he says, gesturing to groups of hundreds of

Green Matters sells hydroponics, soil, nutrients, and everything required for a grow operation. “The stuff that

conference attendees. “There is real B2B action here now.

There is real money being made right on the floor now.”

takes up the most real estate—the big equipment like hydroponic lights and its support structure—has the least amount of margin,” he says. “Once a customer buys it, they don’t have to buy it again. They have built their infra-

46 JANUARY 2019 Boston

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SENSI LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

If you were one of the nearly 30,000 attendees at this year’s fantastic MJBizCon trade conference in Las Vegas, you probably saw us there. We had our leadership conference there. You may have even hung out with us there. Some of you definitely partied with us there. In any case, it was definitely a “you had to be there” week, and if you weren’t there, call this the next best thing.

48 JANUARY 2019 Boston

What: MJBizCon Where: Las Vegas, Nevada When: November 15–16, 2018

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{HereWeGo }

by G E O R G E W. H I G H T O W E R

HISTORY, NOT MIS-STORY Time traveling to the dawn of the Republic with Thomas Jefferson and hemp.

Rumors have swirled for years across the cannabis-consuming classes that the earliest presidents—George Wash-

during the half decade Jefferson spent in Paris as minister to Louis XVI’s court.

ington, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson,

In a 1787 letter to Edward Rutledge, governor of South

Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, and of course, Thomas Jeffer-

Carolina and the youngest signatory of the US Declaration

son—were proud hemp smokers.

of Independence, Jefferson wrote about the challenges of

Most armchair pot-history buffs will remind anyone with-

smuggling rice (in the face of a law prohibiting the action

in earshot that cannabis hemp was collected as legal tender

under pain of death)—“I could only bring off as much as my

for taxation in most of the British colonies from 1631 until

coat and surtout pockets would hold”—and made arrange-

the early 1800s. Putting a pin in just how true the stories of

ments with a muleteer to smuggle more to Genoa.

George and Martha Washington blazing freely actually are,

It was in France that TJ took up the habit of smoking

it’s worth spending a few moments touching on the role

hemp and hashish, and there has been a long swirling

our third president and founding father Jefferson had in the

inference and legend that Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds

hemp game.

himself. In Jack Herer’s landmark book on the history of

As maven of our nation’s nascent hemp industry, Jefferson

cannabis, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, Herer wrote about

made clear his thoughts on the miracle crop in The Great Book

the backchannel Jefferson supposedly used to move the

of Hemp: “Hemp is of first necessity to the commerce and

hemp seeds to the United States: “Jefferson…went to great

marine, in other words to the wealth and protection of the

expense—and even considerable risk to himself and his

country.” He also filed one of the first US patents for a vastly

secret agents—to procure particularly good hempseeds

improved hemp-threshing machine.

smuggled illegally into Turkey from China. The Chinese

One should also be familiar with Jefferson’s diplomatic missions to France and England. From August 1784 to Sep-

Mandarins so valued their hempseed that they made its exportation a capital offense.”

tember 1789, Jefferson served as commissioner, minister,

Ultimately, the maxim “radicalism in defense of liberty

and finally ambassador to England and France on behalf of

is not a vice” truly applied to Jefferson, and given what we

our new independent nation. Jefferson expanded his world-

know about Jefferson’s wont to thumb his nose at authority

view in the salons and elegant social life of Paris, stimulating

in the name of independence, as well as his documented rice

him to “say and do and write remarkable things,” Douglas

smuggling, it’s not hard to conclude procuring choice hemp

Wilson and Lucia Stanton wrote in Thomas Jefferson: Jefferson

seeds would be high on Jefferson’s worth-the-risk meter.

Abroad, a tome comprised of letters and documents written 50 JANUARY 2019 Boston

Can’t blame him.

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