Sensi Magazine Florida - Spring 2022

F LO R I DA SPRING 2022

SPREAD t heWORD Cannabis PR guru DURÉE ROSS sees Florida’s bright future plus

MEET THE

GANJIERS The certified masters of weed

SPRING FORWARD

The latest in cannaculture and style

We offer Medical Marijuana certifications, hormone replacement therapy, and assist with weight loss management.

Patient educators are available by phone or email to answer questions you may have before and after your appointment.

166 E. Bloomingdale Ave Brandon, FL 33511 813-651-3492 info@releafmd.care Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 9am to 5pm Friday 9am to 3pm

S P READ T HE LOVE WIT H SOME SW EET TA LK.

Follow us on Instagram @SweetTalkEdibles

Want a sample of our work? You’re reading it.

Em Agency is proud to be the creative force behind Sensi’s award-winning visual style.

We build brands we believe in—the brand you believe in can be next. emagency.com

FLORIDA SENSI MAGAZINE SPRING 2022

sensimediagroup @sensimagazine @sensimag

PHOTO BY MEPHISTOPUCK VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

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FEATURES

28

Reclaiming Recovery

36

Spreading the Word

42

Eternal Blue Sky

Psychedelic therapy could help ease the deep wounds of racial trauma, but the stigma and the movement’s unbearable whiteness keep people away.

Florida is at the center of a forwardthinking revolution of ideas and Durée Ross is poised to help lead her home state to its bright future.

Hemp has been a key component in the ancient shamanistic rituals of Mongolia— but it remains illegal. One native entrepreneur is ready to change all that.

DEPARTMENTS

11 EDITOR’S NOTE 16 THE LIFE Contributing to your health and happiness 12 THE BUZZ HIGHER SENSES Ganjiers are News, tips, and tidbits to keep you in the loop

MIND-ALTERING EXPRESSION Unleash your inner

artist with Puff, Pass, and Paint.

CREATIVE THINKING This interactive journal will blow your mind.

GOIN’ TO THE CHAPEL

Vegas weddings, baby!

SUNSHINE STARS Meet

Florida’s A-listers.

HIGH FIVE A fistful of

stuff we love

coming soon to top-tier dispensaries near you.

HOT SHOPS These Florida dispensaries stand out.

48 THE SCENE Hot happenings and hip

ON THE COVER

Durée Ross understands how PR can make cannabis part of a bright future.

See page 36.

PHOTO COURTESY DURÉE & COMPANY

hangouts around town THE 4/20 PLAYLIST Tune in. Turn it up. Drop into our selection that celebrates the herb.

50 THE END Dispensaries step up to support Ukraine.

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Growing the Industr y.

From Seed to Seed Money Find Everything You Need to Grow Your Business at CannaCon Oklahoma City • March 31-April 1st at the Oklahoma Convention Center Detroit • July 22-23rd at the TCF Center Chicago • August 26-27th at the Rosemont Center Denver • September 24-25th at the Denver Convention Center Richmond Virginia • October 14-15th at the Greater Richmond Convention Center Learn More at CannaCon.org

EXECUTIVE

MEDIA SALES

Ron Kolb Founder ron@sensimag.com Stephanie Graziano CEO stephanie.graziano@sensimag.com

CALIFORNIA Nancy Birnbaum Media Sales Exec.

Omowunmi Lykins Media Sales Exec.

ADVERTISING

Toni Tardif National Sales Director Jade Kolb Director Sales Operations and Global Recruiting PUBLISHING

COLORADO Nancy Seidel Media Sales Executive Amy Sharp Media Sales Executive Tyler Tarr Media Sales Executive FLORIDA Anthony Mckenzie Media Sales Exec.

MASSACHUSETTS Jake Boynton Media Sales Exec.

Nancy Reid Market Director, Florida

MICHIGAN Eric Lutey Media Sales Executive Kyle Miller Media Sales Executive Will Oostendorp Media Sales Exec.

Leah Stephens Media Sales Exec.

EDITORIAL

OKLAHOMA Diana Ramos Media Sales Executive

Jamie Cooper Market Director, Michigan Richard Guerra Market Director, Massachusetts

Stephanie Wilson Co-Founder + Editor in Chief stephanie.wilson@sensimag.com Doug Schnitzspahn Executive Editor Tracy Ross Managing Editor, Michigan Debbie Hall Managing Editor, Spark Jenny Willden Managing Editor, California Will Brendza Managing Editor, Colorado Radha Marcum Copy Editor Bevin Wallace Copy Editor DESIGN

Jamie Ezra Mark Creative Director jamie@emagency.com Rheya Tanner Art Director Wendy Mak Designer Josh Clark Designer Miguel Martinez Designer PRODUCTION

Neil Willis Production Director Richard Guerra Digital Production

NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD

NCRMA Risk Management ADVISORY BOARD

COLORADO Colorado Cannabis Company THC Coffee Concentrate Supply Co. Recreational Concentrates Higher Grade Boutique Cannabis Lab Society Extraction Expert + Lab Supplies marQaha Sublinguals + Beverages Monte Fiore Farms Recreational Cultivation Source CO Wholesale Consulting Terrapin Care Station Recreational Dispensary Uleva Hemp Products Witlon Inc. Payroll Processing

MICHIGAN Aronoff Law (Craig Aronoff) Licensing Law Firm Cannabis Counsel Cannabis Law Firm Etz Chaim Attestations Grapp Lerash Accounting/CPA Services Great Lakes Natural Remedies Lakeshore: Provisioning Center Kush Design Studio Cannabis Facility Design & Build MRB Solutions Human Resources Northern Specialty Health Upper Peninsula: Provisioning Center Pure West Compassion Club Caregiver Connection & Network Rair Medical Flower Solutions by Dr. Dave West Michigan: Hemp CBD Helping Friendly Hemp Company Hemp Topicals MASSACHUSETTS Corners Packaging Packaging Green Goddess Supply Personal Homegrown Biochamber The Holistic Center Medical Marijuana Evaluations Revolutionary Clinics Medical Dispensary Royal Gold Soil Tess Woods Public Relations Public Relations Vantage Builders Construction CALIFORNIA 365 Recreational Cannabis Dispensary: Recreational, Santa Rosa Red Door Remedies Dispensary: Cloverdale Southern Humboldt Royal Cannabis Company Mixed Light Farming Uleva Hemp Products Vaper Tip Vape Supply & Consulting Witlon Payroll

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O

EDITOR’S NOTE

Magazine published monthly

by Sensi Media Group LLC.

© 2022 Sensi Media Group. All rights reserved.

Our spring A-list issue

is brimming with faces of

FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

FAC E B O O K Like Sensi Media Group to infuse your newsfeed with more of our great cannabis lifestyle content.

TWITTER Follow @sensimag for need-to-know news and views from Sensi headquarters.

people who are driving the cannabis industry forward. This season, we celebrate them—the innovators, the trailblazers, the humans at the heart of this all.

Over the six years Sensi has been exploring and reporting on cannabis (in addition to all its adjacent lifestyle topics), we have collectively widened the scope of how we define, think about, and experience the modern cannabis lifestyle. It has never been more mainstream or had more potential: our culture has started treating the plant, the people who consume it, and the industry it powers with an importance that’s long overdue.

Of course, more cannabis news out there means more work for us here at Sensi.

We are working overtime on our mission to help you navigate all its highs, lows, and inevitable challenges.

We—the collective—didn’t get to collectively experience 4/20/2020 or the monthlong 4/20 that surrounded it, something that we had been looking forward to ever since someone had the high thought that in April 2020, it would be 4/20 all month long. We were hoping to make up for it in April 2021, when Sensi celebrated its fifth anniversary, but alas, the world had different plans for us all.

This year, Sensi is turning six and we’re celebrating as if we’re turning four in the middle of a month of 4/20s—and we’re doing it five times. Literally. In Colorado, we’re going back to our roots in the place where we started by celebrating the luminaries at the forefront of the cannabis industry, the pioneers who are pushing the conversation forward.

We’re celebrating where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re heading. Sensi Nights are being held coast to coast, California to Massachusetts, Michigan to Florida, and setting up shop in new markets in between. We invite you to take this journey with us through the pages of this magazine and online where you can read every edition of Sensi we’re publishing this spring: Colorado, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Florida, Oklahoma, and Puerto Rico.

We’re celebrating where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re heading.

I N S TAG R A M Pretty things, pretty places, pretty awesome people: find it all on @sensimagazine

Steph Wilson @stephwilll

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Unleash your inner artist with Puff, Pass, and Paint.

More than an art class, Puff, Pass, and Paint combines cannabis with techniques to tap into individual creativity. Step by step, instructors guide participants who want to create a mind-altering masterpiece with some help. Want to paint outside of the lines, get inspired, and create an original work of art? The 90-minute class includes all supplies needed, including paints, brushes, and an 11x14-inch canvas panel.

Class is always BYOC (Bring your own cannabis) and BYOB. Puff, Pass, and Paint isn’t about making the perfect piece of art. It’s about being part of an atmosphere that’s relaxed, comfortable, and open-minded in which painters of various levels come together. After class, take your art home to inspire family and friends.

Puff, Pass, and Paint / Various dates / 2418 Helen Ave. / Orlando / puffpassandpaint.com

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PHOTOS (FROM TOP) BY ANNA KOLOSYUK; ANDRES PEREZ

Mind-altering Expression

CONTRIBUTORS

Debbie Hall and Sensi staff

BY THE NUMBERS

Creative Thinking

TIME ZONES

Creative thinking is a competitive edge that separates the good from the great in all aspects of life—so light up a joint and think about thinking.

This guided journal is designed to engage your imagination to help uncover new ideas, build more productive habits, and inspire creative thoughts.

Bonus: you’re supposed to use it while you’re high.

It’s not your basic coloring book—although there are pages for coloring plus a set of colored pencils for you to use on them—nor is it a puzzle book for stereotypical “stoners” too blazed to think thoughts at all. Refreshingly free of clichés, the Original Creative Thinking Journal by Pilgrim Soul is packed with more than 50 engaging prompts that are neither incredibly boring or stupidly zany.

The book asks you to make up and define new words and to complete abstract analogies (“Being in a relationship is like cleaning the bathroom. How so?”), write a Tinder bio for Oprah, or fill out the famed Proust Questionnaire. (What is your most marked characteristic? What do you regard as the lowest depth of mystery? Which words or phrases do you overuse most?) One exercise instructs you to go to a public place and invent a narrative for two strangers you encounter.

The people at Pilgrim Soul say the goal of the journal is to “get people to look at problems in entirely new ways, get out of their comfort zones, and tap into what makes them uniquely creative.”

Buy the book, get high, and spend a few hours losing yourself in the mental playground. You’ve already seen everything on Netflix anyway.

in Florida, with the western panhandle on Central Time and the rest of the state on Eastern Time

You like art; you like thoughts; you like pot. Buy this book.

PHOTOS (FROM LEFT) COURTESY OF PILGRIM SOUL; BY EDISON GRAF, LAS VEGAS UNDERGROUND

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$30 / pilgrimsoul.com

1,MILES 350 The length of Florida’s coastline, the longest in the contiguous United States

5 MILLION LOVE STORIES

The Wedding Capital of the World wants you to share your Vegas story.

Clark County, Las Vegas, better known as the “Wedding Capital of the World,” issued its 5 millionth marriage license since the county’s founding in 1909. The license was issued on February 20 to Mayra Ramirez and Luis Pantoja. To commemorate this historic and exciting milestone, Clark County Clerk Lynn Marie Goya, along with the wedding and hospitality industry, launched a year of celebration dubbed Five Million Love Stories to honor couples who share in this Las Vegas legacy.

To celebrate, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will hold a photo sweepstakes. Couples are encouraged to upload a picture and share their love story on Instagram. Post your Las Vegas wedding photo along with your love story with the hashtag #5MLoveSweeps to enter. Profiles must be public to participate. Each month, one lucky couple will win a second honeymoon and vow renewal in Vegas.

The Office of the County Clerk spearheads special events in conjunction with the Las Vegas wedding industry, including the Las Vegas Wedding Chamber of Commerce, resorts, LVCVA, the five municipalities within Clark County, and Harry Reid International Airport.

Clark County Clerk Lynn Marie Goya and Artist Jerry Misko present an autographed mural from the Marriage License Bureau to Luis Pantoja and Mayra Ramirez who were issued the 5-millionth marriage license in Las Vegas. From left to right: Goya, Pantoja, Ramirez, and Misko.

Five Million Love Stories / visitlasvegas.com/five-million-love-stories

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THE BUZZ

Sunshine Stars

PHOTO (LEFT) BY GAGE SKIDMORE

Are your hometown favorites beaming on this list?

Whether A-list film stars or beloved television characters, numerous Florida-born actresses grace our screens. It’s rare that stars are native to Hollywood, so Stacker compiled a list of actresses born in the Sunshine State from IMDb’s most popular list.

Born in Miami, Anya Taylor-Joy wowed audiences on The Queen’s Gambit and Peaky Blinders. Kristin Minter, also from Miami, entertains in Ray Donovan and ER. Yet another actress from Miami, Darcy Donavan added humor on an episode of Parks and Recreation. Fans love Sarah Paulson from Tampa for her versatility on American Horror Story as well as her recent stint on American Crime Story. Pembroke Pines is the hometown of Bella Thorne, mesmerizing in The DUFF and Midnight Sun. Abigail Spencer, from Gulf Breeze, has dazzled audiences in Mad Men, Timeless, and Rebel.

HIGH 5

Elevate your consumption ritual to an art.

Pure Beauty x Jochen Holz Bongs, starting at $875 The London-based master glass artist Jochen Holz, known for his vibrant, organically shaped functional artworks, created 10 one-of-a-kind, abstract bong sculptures for art-forward California cannabis brand Pure Beauty. The collection was unveiled at Nonaka-Hill Gallery in Los Angeles last fall during an exhibit that also highlighted Pure Beauty’s latest artist collaboration: the packaging of the new 5 Pack joints featuring the work of five artists, including Hassan Rahim. purebeautydrugstore.co Henelle Venice Beach Kimono, $130 This silky piece doubles as a smoking jacket with a motif of magic mushrooms and love hearts inspired by the 1970s golden era of Venice Beach. henelle.shop Serena Confalonieri Nebula Collection Bongs, $672 With sinuous curves and ethereal shapes inspired by the lightness of smoke spirals and colors in evanescent, transparent hues that recall 1970s psychedelia, the trio of bongs Italian artist Serena Confalonieri debuted at Design Milan last fall epitomize the concept of “high design.” Now available for pre-order and expected to ship in early 2022, each piece in the collection—Nebula Alpha, Nebula Beta, and Nebula Gamma—is made of borosilicate glass hand-blown by skilled Italian artisans. If money is no object, add all three objets d’art to your bong cart. serenaconfalonieri.com/portfolio/nebula/

My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned 60 and that’s the law.”

—Jerry Seinfeld, comedian, author

Embroidery Art by HealTHCareEmbroidery, from $60 Handmade artworks that don’t fall into the trap of stoner clichés, bud-inspired embroidery like this piece by embroiderer Kaitlin Earl, a.k.a. @HealTHCareEmbroidery, are rising in popularity as more artisans take on “craftivism”—the seamless blending of crafting and activism. Get your own embroidery pattern on Etsy or purchase handcrafted products with embroidered flourishes like this one, inspired by the Juddah’s breath strain. etsy.com/shop/HealTHCareEmbroidery Lovepot Little Bud Vase, $75 This buzzy brand only offers delivery of its bouquets of seasonal fresh flowers mixed with smokable hemp flower in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, but don’t fret if you’re outside of the delivery area. The company’s brand’s all-women team blends together dried flower bouquets with smokable CBD hemp that can be dried to enjoy later as a tea, herbal smoke blend, or for an aromatherapy herbal bath. soplovepot.com S P R I N G 2022

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Sommeliers understand the subtle beauty and intricacies of wine. A new program is certifying the cannabis equivalent, ganjiers, and they are coming soon to top-tier dispensaries near you.

TEXT STEPHANIE WILSON

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PHOTO BY KARELNOPPE VIA ADOBE STOCK, EDITS BY JOSH CLARK

The Art of the Ganjier

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THE LIFE

If you’re a master of wine, you’re a sommelier.

If you’re a master of beer, you’re a cicerone. The credentialed caffeinated masters of coffee are called Q Graders, and Master Tobacconists are to cigars what pommeliers are to cider—taste

authorities, sensory experts, arbiters, and evangelists in their respective fields. They are deemed qualified to distinguish the nuanced qualities of their products by organizations considered to be their industry’s higher authorities.

But what’s the word for a certified master of weed?

It’s not “cannabis sommelier,” as many would assume, because by its very definition, a sommelier is someone who is a steward of wine, so a cannabis sommelier would be an expert in the pairing of food and wine. “Ganjier” is the trademarked title that the industry-leading cannabis educators at Green Flower are bestowing upon the professionals who complete its new cannabis sommelier certification program and pass the exams to become Masters of Cannabis Service. The Ganjier program is training students to assess cannabis products and guide consumers through the newly (and still only

somewhat) legal marketplace, which can be more than a little murky for even experienced users.

And with more and more Americans joining the ranks of cannabis consumers as legalization spreads across the country, there’s a growing need for experienced guides to help them navigate the offerings on dispensary menus. They come to cannabis for different reasons, with different experience levels, expectations, and goals, but they’re all seeking the same thing: good weed.

Certified Guides What that looks like, smells like, tastes like, or makes them feel like, however, is not quite as clear. Not able to see, smell, or touch

PHOTOS COURTESY THE GANJIER PROGRAM

Ganjier Council member, the late Frenchy Cannoli, teaches cannabis history and consumption methods with Ganjier program managing director Derek Gilman.

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simply helping and friendly!

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PHOTOS COURTESY THE GANJIER PROGRAM

THE LIFE

the products themselves, customers rely on shop employees or budtenders to help guide them to quality products within their budget, but in nearly every instance, the budtenders are not qualified to do so. Instead, they promote products based on THC percentages

with a mentality of “the higher the better.”

That disconnect is what led Green Flower to develop its cannabis sommelier program. “We are looking to elevate the service standard in the cannabis industry,” says Derek Gilman, managing director for the Ganjier program. “Cannabis is an

epicurean product, similar to wine or cheese or coffee. And the quality of coffee isn’t dictated by its caffeine content, we don’t judge wine by its alcohol percentage. The desirability of those products is based on their appearance, their aroma, their flavor, and ultimately the experience they deliver.”

Gilman and his colleagues feel that at a retail level, the people on the frontlines guiding all these new cannanbis consumers—the budtenders—are mostly entry-level employees who don’t have the foundational knowledge necessary to accurately and reliably guide consumers in their decisions.

Clockwise from top left: Legendary Ganjier Council member Swami Chaitanya of Swami Select; Judges at the prestigious Emerald Cup cannabis competition used the Ganjier's Systematic Assessment Protocol app to determine the quality of over 250 entries; Ganjier program managing director Derek Gilman holds sun-grown cannabis.

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“Many of the budtenders have experience consuming cannabis,” Gilman says. “They know what they like.

But in nearly every instance, they don’t have the education about how cannabis interacts with the body, the science of cannabis, the nature, the individuality of how it affects different people.”

Max Simon, Green Flower CEO, agrees.

“In cannabis right now, there is no standardized way to provide quality service,” he says. “As a result, you have all these completely untrained people who are essentially making things up.

They’re using the wrong terminology; they’re giving completely inaccurate suggestions; they don’t have any good training in terms of how to guide people to the right products; and, Renowned cannabis cultivator Kevin Jodrey instructs on the art of cultivation and how to unravel genetics.

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To gain a Ganjier certification, students must show they have the ability to confidently discern, educate, and articulate the difference between cannabis that’s good enough to smoke and cannabis that’s exquisite enough to celebrate.

many times, they don’t even fundamentally understand what makes for a high quality product in the first place.”

Convene the Council To develop this deep and thorough knowledge base, Gilman and his colleagues at Green Flower recruited a council comprising 18 of the cannabis world’s most respected experts, covering every aspect of the plant and the industry.

The Ganjier Council includes cultivators, botany experts, geneticists, breeders, advocates, hash masters, legal experts, retailers, and educators.

Over the course of two years, the council collaborated to create the Ganjier certification program, which spans 10 online courses and a two-day live training in

Humboldt County, part of which takes place on a craft cannabis farm. The online courses include the history and botany of cannabis, consumption methods, botany and genetics, cultivating techniques, processing methodologies, and successful cannabis sales.

But it’s not, to be clear, a masterclass about how to grow weed.

“We’re not looking to teach a student how to be a cultivator,” says Gilman. “We don’t teach them nutrient levels to put in at different stages of the plant’s growth life.

What we teach them in the cultivation course is every single decision that the cultivator makes that affects the final quality of the cannabis flower, from the genetics they choose to the cultivation methodologies and light sources—artificial

PHOTO COURTESY THE GANJIER PROGRAM

THE LIFE

PHOTO COURTESY THE GANJIER PROGRAM

THE LIFE

light versus sunlight—to the type of medium they grow in.”

(In case you’re wondering, Gilman says that “most experts tend to agree that cannabis grown under the full sun has more nuance and character to it than something grown under artificial light.”)

A lab test may tell you the cannabinoid content and terpene profile of any given flower or concentrate sample, but it won’t tell you if you want to put it in your pipe and smoke it to achieve your desired results. The program trains students’ senses to cultivate a palate that recognizes the nuances and complexities in flavor and aroma and know how these translate into the desired effects for the consumer.

Most consumers can’t palpably and regularly distinguish between one brand’s OG Kush and another’s—not to mention that strain names are a pretty useless metric by which to judge the effects of what’s in a dispensary’s jars—so the Ganjier program doesn’t focus on arbitrary metrics like strain names or whether the cannabis in question is an indica or sativa. Instead, ganjiers are tasked with assessing the quality.

5 RANDOM CANNABIS FACTS

I LEARNED FROM THE GANJIER COUNCIL

I previewed all 10 courses in Ganjier’s online training curriculum taught by the 18 leading cannabis experts on the Ganjier Council and picked up some fun facts. The courses range from “The History of Cannabis & Cannabis Consumption” with the late master hashishin Frenchie Cannoli and “The Art and Science of Cannabis Cultivation” with legendary grower and industry icon Swami Chaitanya to “Accurately Assessing Cannabis Flower and Concentrates” with hash master Nikka T. Here’s what I learned.

1. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH HASHISH, a cannabis concentrate made using dried cannabis flowers, charas is a type of live resin made by caressing fresh, live cannabis flower between the palms.

2. THE FAN LEAF, ONCE THE ICON OF THE COUNTERCULTURE and now a cannabis marketing staple, is likely a sativa strain, which has longer “blades” or leaflets that are a lighter green in color compared to the short, broad, darkgreen or purple blades on an indica plant.

3. THE BLUE DREAM STRAIN GETS A BAD RAP for being one of those commercial options that you can find everywhere, but it’s actually one of the most unique strains out there that’s commonly available, thanks to its rare pinene-dominant terpene profile that has almost equal parts myrcene. Terpenes are the naturally occurring chemical compounds that give cannabis its aromas and flavors while playing a part in its effects, and pinene is shown to be stimulating or uplifting while myrcene is a known sedative.

4. EVIDENCE INDICATES THE MICROBES IN THE SOIL where a cannabis plant is grown impact the overall terpene quality and diversity in the finished flowers. High-quality craft cannabis is almost always grown in organic living soil.

5. TO CHECK THE QUALITY OF A SOLVENTLESS CONCENTRATE, look at the color. If it’s got any dark brown or green coloration, it’s off. Ideal, typical coloration should be light, buttery, and/or golden.—S.W. Course previews are available for free at ganjier.com.

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P R O M O T I O N A L F E AT U R E RELEAF MD CENTER

narcotics and various antidepressant medications if they are not responding.

The journey of medical cannabis can be overwhelming. Dr. King will assess a new patient’s medical condition with recommendations for those with questions. Existing patients requiring a renewal will also be assisted. ReleafMD Center for Medical Marijuana makes obtaining a medical marijuana card recommendation safe and very convenient. Instructions will be provided on obtaining a medical cannabis card within state guidelines. During the pandemic, King transitioned her practice to telemedicine to better serve the needs of her remote patients. She is currently launching a new venture for her clinic to expand to telemedicine markets throughout the US. Releaf Telehealth will launch in April of this year.

On an initial visit, Dr. King and her staff (one of three doctors) will discuss medical conditions, symptoms, and treatment strategies. She also employs cannabis educators, nurses, and cannabis pharmacists. They will assess possible medication interactions with medical cannabis and provide counseling on medical cannabis use and potential side effects. They will then create a treatment plan for initial dose recommendations. seniors, veterans, and internal medicine Dr. King and her staff also provide patients throughout the state. She additional services, including primary remains a sole practitioner here, where care, hormone, IV therapy, COVID-19 many clinics have become chain clinics testing, and B12/immunocomplex with rapid patient turnover. She also shots. They strive to provide premier sees pediatric patients with autism, facilities for any wellness needs up to epilepsy, ADHD, and cancer. and beyond medical cannabis and help An internist and a disabled Air everyone on their journey to optimal Force veteran, King truly understands health and wellness. the needs of her patients and their families. As a veteran, she has worked with veteran groups throughout Florida; she focuses on treating PTSD Releaf MD Center and chronic pain and working with Medical Education veterans to help them come off of shopreleafmd.com

Safe, Convenient

Releaf MD Center for Medical Marijuana and Dr. Kelly King exemplify experience and compassion.

D

r. Kelly King, internist, drew on her her expertise, education, and personal experience when she Founded Releaf MD, The Center for Medical Marijuana. Active in the cannabis industry in Florida, New York, and California since 2015, she founded ReleafMD, the center for Medical Marijuana, in 2018. She decided to launch this clinic after medical cannabis became legalized in the state of Florida. She wanted to educate and inform her patients and nurture their cannabis journey, with a focus on

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PHOTOS (FROM TOP) BY ONEINCHPUNCH VIA ADOBE STOCK; COURTESY THE GANJIER PROGRAM

THE LIFE

That’s a more nuanced determination that ganjiers rely on their senses to make, looking at the appearance, aroma, flavor, and experience a cannabis product provides. Students are taught to rate or classify 31 different characteristics of cannabis samples, from the color of quality of its trim technique to its aromas and flavor profile. Similar to a wine sommelier, a ganjier evaluates how the cannabis looks, how it smells, how it tastes. But unlike the masters of other gustatory professions, ganjiers are also tasked with assessing the experience the product delivers. To

gain Ganjier certification, students must show they have the ability to confidently discern, educate, and articulate the difference between cannabis that’s good enough to smoke and cannabis that’s exquisite enough to celebrate.

Enrollment in the 2022 Ganjier class is now open, and Gilman expects it to fill up quickly—the first class in 2021 sold out in just two weeks. Those who take the course and pass the exams will join an elite group that as of now includes just 36 certified ganjiers around the world. Among those masters of cannabis are the directors of sales for

two of the world’s largest cannabis companies; the director of employee training for mega-dispensary Planet 13; medical doctors and nurses interested in learning more about the medical potential of cannabis; self-motivated budtenders wanting to excel at their trade; consultants interested in launching cannabis tour companies and bud-bar

services for private parties, weddings, and corporate events; and even the director of the California Cannabis Tourism Association. Enrollment isn’t reserved for cannabis industry professionals, and anyone can sign up—all it takes is an interest in the subject matter and $2,997 to cover the costs.

Learn more at ganjier.com.

Ganjier students learn about the latest sustainable cannabis cultivation techniques, including the importance of living soil.

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THE LIFE DISPENSARIES

Hot Shops These Florida dispensaries stand out above the rest.

TEXT DEBBIE HALL

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Fluent

getfluent.com

The motto of Fluent is “We speak cannabis.”

The company seeks to bring the power of cannabis to people and to expand its medical benefits. Fluent is part of the production process, maintaining high standards and meticulous plant care from the nursery to the lab to the shelf. It takes pride in growing and developing full-spectrum products with consistency, and

the company supports cannabis education.

A top recommender says: “It was my first time, and I was a little nervous and didn’t know what to do or say. But let me tell you that the staff was understanding and made me feel comfortable. They gave me options, answered every question I had, and made me at ease.

I got exactly what I needed. This is a place I trust, and I will be going back.”

Liberty Health Sciences libertyhealthsciences.com

Liberty Health Sciences features flower, edibles, cartridges, concentrates, topicals, capsules, and tinctures at locations across Florida. Select from indica, sativa, hybrid, and CBD-rich strains. Liberty offers substantial discounts to patients who need high-quality medical cannabis. Patients on SSDI and government assistance programs save 15 percent on every order.

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) COURTESY FLUENT; LIBERTY HEALTH SCIENCES

It’s exciting to have so many dispensaries to choose from these days.

So we looked at the landscape and selected our local favorites for their medical cannabis selections—the best flower, edibles, cartridges, concentrates, topicals, gear, and chews.

But quality products, knowledgeable staff, and safe, comfortable environments really make these dispensaries shine in the eyes of customers and Sensi Florida.

THE LIFE DISPENSARIES

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) CORTESY RISE; MÜV

Veterans of the Armed Forces and retired first responders save 25 percent with each order.

New patients receive 50 percent of their first three visits. Patients age 55 and over and under the age of 18 receive a 15 percent discount on any product recommended by a physician.

A top recommender says: “I’ve only been in twice, but I love the vibe, and all the staff is so nice, friendly, fun, and super informative, too. The quality of the service was right up there with the quality of the products.”

Müv

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Müv Medical Cannabis Dispensary features cannabis-infused products with the potential to help a variety of ailments. Its products are backed by research,

development, and innovation in alternative medicinal cannabis, including patented transdermal application options. Müv gives back to Florida communities by supporting regional charities, including Payton Wright Foundation, Josh Provides, and Children’s Cancer Center. These programs raise funds and awareness for those diagnosed with epilepsy, cancer, and other conditions.

In addition, Müv has chaired educational endowments through the University of Florida to support ongoing agricultural research.

A top recommender says: “My representative is super nice and accommodating. She professionally represents the company and is well versed in its products.

She really makes buying very pleasant.”

Trulieve

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Trulieve offers premium medicinal THC and CBD cannabis products—including capsules, tinctures, chocolate, gel edibles, concentrates, RSO, Rise flower, and other medicirisecannabis.com/dispensarynal cannabis products— locations/florida at locations throughout With seven locations the state. Its TruCanthroughout Florida, Rise nabis grows, harvests, applies consistent evaland produces cannabis uation and data-driven plants in an eco-friendly science to cultivation. environment to reduce Innovation and leading its carbon footprint and horticultural methods protect the planet. Its enable master growers TruCommunity creates to advance beyond tradi- safe, comfortable, and tional cannabis growwelcoming spaces while ing practices. The result supporting diversity and is Rise’s prized genetic inclusion. TruAdvocacy library, which is conharnesses advocates for stantly evolving. Rise’s cannabis reform. downloadable patient A top recommender guide helps customers says: “Friendly staff. navigate terpenes, inBeen going here for a dica, sativa, and hybrid long time now, and evforms, as well as educat- eryone is super knowledgeable about differing about how to get a medical card. Plus, check ent products and always out Rise’s cannabis reci- takes the time to explain pes that incoporate into everything to me propdaily wellness routines— erly. The staff went out of its way on several ocfrom avocado toast to casions to find products kale chips to pesto. that were not showing in A top recommender stock online.” says: “Great associates, great products, and I loved that 60 percent off Heal products sale.

I love you guys, and I stand behind your products. I’ll make sure to refer you when patients are looking for a quality variety of flower.”

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Psychedelic therapy could help ease the deep, constant wounds of racial trauma, but the stigma and the movement’s unbearable whiteness keep people away. TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE

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THE ROAD TO

ORIGINAL PHOTO BY BEN SCOTT, UNSPLASH

RECLAIMING RECOVERY

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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ANCESTOR PROJECT

n her vision, NiCole Buchanan is lying on a mat on a dirt floor, watching the woman sitting across from her morph into her ancestors through multiple generations, women she recognizes as legacies of her own history. They tell her they have survived brutal lifetimes as Black women so that she could be. They tell her she’s doing everything they’d hoped and dreamed.

In Jamilah George’s vision, she’s riding a lapa (an African skirt) like a magic carpet, looking down at her ancestors working the plantation fields. A face that looks like hers turns toward her and reaches out a hand, and George pulls her up to the lapa. As generations of her ancestors pass by below, she continues to reach down and pull them up until her lapa is full of beautiful Black women from her lineage, all holding hands. “I’ve never felt so much warmth and support in my life, ever,” she says.

Buchanan, an associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University and founder of Alliance Psychological Associates in East Lansing, Michigan, and George, a Detroit native who is studying the potential of psychedelic medicine to heal the psychological effects of racial trauma while pursuing a PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Connecticut, shared their psychedelic experiences during an emotional segment of “Black Lives Matter & Psychedelic Integration: Pathways to Radical Healing Amidst Ongoing Oppression.” The webinar, sponsored by the Chacruna Institute (a nonprofit that provides education about psychedelic plant medicines) in

November, is one of many such events that have come online recently to explore how entheogens (plants that inspire non-ordinary states of consciousness and spiritual enlightenment) may be able to uproot and heal deep, embedded scars from generations of systemic racial oppression.

Oyi Sun, an Atlanta-based martial arts master and coach who produced the 2020 Detroit Psychedelic Conference, explains it this way: “The white man has been selling trauma for generations, and here’s the terrible part—we’ve been programmed to receive it. And when you’re dealing with earthly trauma, entheogens are the best therapists in the world. There’s been a spiritual suppression going on for over 2,000 years, and now with the help of entheogens, there’s about to be a renewal of spiritual power.”

Sun stepped in to run the conference, with the theme “Entheogenics in Urban Environments: A Journey into the Mysteries,” after its founder, Baba Kilindi Iyi, died in April. Kilindi, one of the world’s foremost experts on psychedelic science and healing and the master of mushroom megadosing, was often the only Black presenter—if not the only Black person—at conferences and events on the psychedelic circuit, and he created the Detroit conference to bring the conversation home. “The faces that look like Kilindi—the brown faces—have not been represented in the entheogenic community,” Sun says.

The conference took place at the Bushnell Congregational Church, a prewar Colonial Revival building on four acres in Rosedale Park, over a long weekend in August. Diverse speakers from around the world S P R I N G 2022

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shared their expertise on everything from subatomic particle research and hyperdimensional realms to psychedelic justice, culminating in a memorial for Kilindi that Sun describes as “four hours of emotions, laughter, speakers, heart pouring, drumming—and more drumming and more drumming and more dancing and martial arts exhibitions.” It was a template for future events, Sun says, and they’re already brewing in Oakland, Denver, and Portland, Oregon (where voters recently legalized psilocybin for therapeutic use and decriminalized possession of all drugs).

a scab keeps getting ripped off a wound, the wound can never heal.

“If someone is assaulted, for most of us, that happens once, then you have some time to heal,” says Undrea Wright, who co-founded The Sabina Project (since renamed The Ancestor Project) last year to provide Black-led psychedelic education, training, and harm reduction. “For people of color, we don’t have any time to heal because when we come out of ceremony, reality is still there.”

Psychedelic therapy, one of the hottest healing modalities to emerge in decades, shows a lot of promise in treating PTSD, and many see its

of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, has found psychedelics to be highly effective at treating racial trauma. She is the clinical director of the Behavioral Wellness Clinic in Tolland, Connecticut, where she and her colleagues offer culturally informed ketamine-assisted psychotherapy as a means of treating racial trauma. They find that many Black people refuse to even consider it, because they can be “fearful of a psychedelic medicine and the vulnerability that comes with it,” Williams explained during a Chacruna Institute forum on diversity in psychedelic medicine in February 2020.

PSYCHEDELICS AND RACIAL TRAUMA Racial trauma is a lot like PTSD— with symptoms like nightmares and hypervigilance—and it develops over a lifetime of injustices and abuses. But racial trauma is more insidious than PTSD because people of color continue to experience the same threats and humiliation that triggered them in the first place on an ongoing basis. When 32

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potential for treating racial trauma as well. “Right now, what’s taking up all the space for Indigenous and Black people is trauma, and the opposite of trauma is creative,” Sun says. “When entheogens come in and start clearing up that trauma, there’s going to be a void, and that void will be filled with creativity.”

Monnica T. Williams, PhD, an associate professor in the School

In 2018, Williams and three colleagues published their findings from a methodological search of psychedelic studies from 1993 to 2017. In those studies, 82.3 percent of the participants were non-Hispanic white, 4.6 percent were Indigenous, 2.5 percent were African American, 2.1 percent were Latino, and 1.8 percent were Asian.

Selection bias is a factor in this,

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ANCESTOR PROJECT

The Pygmy tribes of Central Africa discovered the psychedelic properties of ibogaine, an indole alkaloid extracted from a rainforest shrub called Tabernanthe iboga, thousands of years ago and shared it with people who practice the Bwiti religion in West Africa. Still used as sacred medicine in Cameroon and Gabon, ibogaine opens doors to mystical experiences and communion with ancestors and spirits, often taking people on dreamlike journeys through their lives and offering transformative perspectives.

Ibogaine is being studied as a treatment for drug addiction (opioids in particular), and clinics offer ibogaine-assisted detoxification in Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Africa, and New Zealand. In the United States, ibogaine is a Schedule 1 narcotic.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ANCESTOR PROJECT

certainly, but just as importantly, many people of color have little trust for medical trials (one word: Tuskegee) and illicit substances (two words: Drug War). They’ve been exploited and abused within the medical system and targeted in an immoral war that has decimated communities. Many don’t have the expendable time and money it takes to participate in clinical trials.

George was one of few Black participants in clinical trials for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to treat PTSD that were sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and it was anything but a healing experience for her. (MDMA is an acronym for the synthetic drug 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine, more commonly known as Ecstasy and Molly.) After her session with two white therapists, she was sent home with a white night attendant, but she continued to feel alone and terrified. “I remember feeling so lost, so out of touch with my body, and psychologically, I didn’t have control of my thoughts,” she said during the webinar. “I was scared to call anyone. How do I tell any of my Black friends I just did an MDMA study?”

“THESE MEDICINES ARE PART OF OUR CULTURAL BIRTHRIGHT, AND I BELIEVE WE LOSE MORE WHEN WE STEP BACK AND CHOOSE NOT TO ENGAGE.” —Monnica T. Williams, PhD, University of Ottowa’s School of Psychology

RECLAIMING PSYCHEDELIC HEALING Beyond the clinic, underground psychedelic experiences like ayahuasca circles have become a thing in communities across North America—and every one of those circles is overwhelmingly white, says Wright. The few people of color who do participate, he says, find it uncomfortable because white people often (wittingly or unwittingly) gaslight them. “If I’m in a space that’s supposed to be safe and available to my story, and people S P R I N G 2022

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P R O M O T I O N A L F E AT U R E NCRMA

Risky Business The National Cannabis Risk Management Association (NCRMA) is here for businesses looking to assess—and mitigate—risks that threaten their success in this ever-changing market.

I

n business, as in life, the biggest risk you run is not knowing what you don’t know. That’s why risk management is an integral part of any successful business’s operational plans—even more so in the emerging cannabis industry.

The reality is that running a business—let alone a cannabis business—comes with a lot of complexities, and a lot of pitfalls that could derail your business goals. That’s why

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it’s imperative to not only have practices and policies in place to mitigate those risks, but also to be prepared to minimize the impacts should they become reality. But for new business owners—which by some estimates more than 60 percent of cannabis entrepreneurs are—it can be difficult to even know where to begin.

This is where the National Cannabis Risk Management Association (NCRMA) trade organization comes in. The nation’s

only dedicated cannabis risk management association, NCRMA has put together a disruptively innovative risk management platform for the cannabis industry, supplemented by an insurance platform that offers businesses committed to the risk management process access to lower-cost coverage designed for this nontraditional industry.

The platform includes robust risk assessment and consulting services through the National Cannabis Risk Prevention Services (NCRPS); the NCRM Academy, a virtual educational platform where NCRMA members can access discounted courses, webinars, and customized trainings; and exclusive access to insurance products designed for cannabis businesses through Trichome innovative Risk Protection TM Insurance. Together, these benefits offer NCRMA members tools, procedures, knowledge, and support.

“We first created NCRMA about four years ago because we recognized that emerging markets and industries like cannabis require fundamentally sound risk management in order to be successful,” says Rocco Petrilli, chairman of NCRMA. “Growth in cannabis is not guaranteed, and one of the major derailers is the weak states of risk management and insurance, which threaten the industry’s ability to reach its projected potential. But with the right solutions, these threats can be mitigated and overcome.”

This is the first of a three-part series discussing risk management in the cannabis industry with NCRMA. To read the entire series, visit sensimag.com

NCRMA Risk Management Company ncrma.net

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ANCESTOR PROJECT

are telling me my story is not real or valuable, that I just need to move past it, now I have an additional layer of trauma,” he says. “This is the story we kept hearing over and over.

People of color had the wherewithal and learned about the medicines, finally found the circle—which is cost-prohibitive for most of us— then they had to do this dance in the circle. It can be retraumatizing.”

Wright and Charlotte James co-founded The Ancestor Project because they recognized “how healing it would be to be able to share our experiences and extend access to these medicines with our own communities, especially during these incredibly challenging and isolating times,” James says. People have been flocking to their workshops, trainings, and virtual ceremonies throughout the pandemic, seeking both community and information as they confront the demons of isolation.

“WE JUST WANT TO GUARANTEE THERE IS SOME SAFE, JUDGMENTFREE SPACE TO PROCESS JOURNEYS.” —Undrea Wright, Co-founder of The Ancestor Project

The Ancestor Project’s ceremonies are open to everyone, but integration circles are only for people of color. “We just want to guarantee there is some safe, judgment-free space, free of the white gaze, to process journeys,” she says. Fearing a judicial system that’s stacked against them, Wright and James facilitate only ceremonies with substances that are legal in the United States. Citing an ACLU study in Maryland that found African American men 900 percent more likely to be arrested for simple possession than white men, Wright says, “The consequences for us to do anything illegal are severe.”

Those consequences are why many Black parents warn their children away from all drugs, psychedelics included. Buchanan said during the webinar that when she was growing up, everyone knew the story of her father’s best friend Lonnie, who tried acid after he returned from Vietnam and went crazy. “Every Black community has one of these stories,” she says.

“What’s crazy,” Wright says, “is that most of these [sacred earth medicine] practices come from people of color. They convinced us to denounce these very powerful tools and replace them with pharmaceutical drugs that are killing us.”

“These medicines are part of our cultural birthright,” Williams said in her lecture last February. “And I believe we lose more when we step back and choose not to engage.

It is true that it has not always been safe for us, but I hope we can come together as a people, create our own safe spaces, and become empowered to reclaim psychedelic healing for ourselves, our loved ones, and our community.”

DOING THE MOST GOOD Support The Ancestor Project by donating to its Mutual Ceremony Fund, which provides monetary assistance for BIPOC looking to explore psychedelic healing work through The Ancestor Project’s workshops. the ancestorproject.com

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Florida is at the center of a FORWARD-THINKING REVOLUTION of ideas and economy—but things can be tricky here in the cannabis industry.

DURÉE ROSS understands how the right PR can make it all make sense, however, and she’s poised to help lead her home state to its bright future.

TEXT STEPHANIE WILSON

W

hen I decided to move to Denver from Miami in 2015, everyone—friends, family, strangers like the guy at the car dealership in Tallahassee where my dad was buying a, no lie, Chevy Colorado the week before I headed west—had the same reaction. “Ohhh, Denver, huh?” they’d say with a snicker, as if the Mile High City’s name was a euphemism for the real reason I was leaving the Sunshine State.

“You’re going for the legal weed.”

A statement, not a question.

They weren’t wrong. But fast forward seven years and it’s legal weed that just may bring me back to Florida. I don’t know if I miss Miami or miss being in my 20s in Miami but either way the feeling’s the same and FOMO’s hitting hard whenever I see news coming from the Magic City’s greater metro area. And the news is nonstop because everything is happening in South Florida, ev-

eryone is moving there, and I feel myself getting caught up in the tide.

Durée Ross assures me that I am not alone. “So many people want to be in Florida,” she tells me.

She’s not being hyperbolic; she’s just stating facts, and the fact is Ross knows the market. She was born in Miami, raised in Miami Beach, graduated from the University of Miami. Armed with a degree in communications, she founded her eponymous Durée & Company PR firm in South Florida at the age of 24. This place is her home, and she can see why lots of people are feeling its draw.

“Between the tax structure, the weather, emerging industries like cryptocurrencies and NFTs, the great tech scene, and then you add in cannabis—it’s fascinating.

There are so many synergies,” she tells me over Zoom from Durée & Company’s Ft. Lauderdale office where she and her team had just celebrated a bridal shower. “Lots

of sugar,” she says, laughing, “so I don’t know if I’m gonna fall asleep or just be totally excited.”

Spoiler alert: she’s totally excited.

IT’S ALL HAPPENING Durée & Company counts some big names among its curated client roster, which spans business and lifestyle industries: real estate, hospitality, nonprofit, marine and yacht, art, legal, and emerging industries like cannabis, psychedelics, and cryptocurrencies—bascially, all the industries collectively powering South Florida’s evolution into a global epicenter of commerce and culture, tech, and trade. The message is out: this is a place where people want to live and businesses want to operate.

Florida-based cannabis businesses top that list. The industry has a dire need for retail space, and its growing base of employees is searching for residential housing as it moves to and within the state. So at Durée & S P R I N G 2022

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Company, the real estate business is booming. “It’s just an insane time in real estate—and think about how much cannabis needs real estate.

There are so many synergies between the industries,” Ross says.

Case in point: her agency’s expansion into the burgeoning cannabis and hemp/CBD practice back in early 2018. “We got into cannabis because a real estate client was investing in a national CBD brand. He said that his current provider wasn’t working and asked if I knew anything about it—‘do you know what CBD is? I’m an investor in this company, and I need to bring you in. We need to change, can you do this?’”

Durée Ross could. She’d been wanting to for a while; she sensed that the country was on the verge of a green rush and she was right. That rush became an unstoppable surge with the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized the production of hemp—and therefore hemp-extracted CBD—in the US. But before she dove in head first, she needed to wrap her head around the ins and outs of what adding a cannabis division to her existing, robust client portfolio would look like. And it started with the very basic question of how do you pitch CBD to the media?

“The first question a journalist is going to ask is ‘what can I use this product for?’ And we couldn’t really say,” Ross says. Any answer they wanted to provide would run afoul of the FDA’s policy prohibiting a company from marketing CBD products as providing any health benefits (yes, including the myriad benefits you’ve undoubtedly heard CBD may provide). “You can’t make a claim, you can’t even insinuate, you don’t want the FDA issuing a warning letter to your client.”

“Marketing cannabis is not a one-size-fitsall approach.

There are a lot of complexities to navigate, and they vary by state. You can’t give out samples from medical marijuana treatment centers in Florida...”

—Durée Ross

KIM K. TO THE RESCUE ICYMI: In April 2019, Kim Kardashian was awaiting the arrival of her second son with Kanye West (being delivered via a surrogate) and she decided to host a CBDthemed baby shower. Kardashian told People that she was “freaking the f**k out about having a fourth kid” that was due in two weeks, so she got her nearest and dearest together for a blissed-out afternoon of meditating, sound baths, and visits to the DIY CBD bar where they could make their own infused bath salts and body oils. The high-profile guests all left with a swanky gift bag laden with all sorts of CBD goodies of Kardashian’s liking.

“Whatever your feelings about Kim Kardashian,” Ross says, “her CBD baby shower was gold for us.”

Durée & Company may not have had any clients with products at the happening, but that didn’t stop it from leveraging it as a hook. Kardashian’s cannabinoid-centric event provided an opportunity to not only get clients’ products featured in a bunch of places but also to bring CBD into the conversation for a larger swath of consumers whose interest they hoped to pique.

The shower also served as a rude awakening about the extent of the stigma and confusion surrounding cannabis, CBD, and hemp. Some big national networks that typically would consider coverage of a Kim Kardashian baby shower to be catnip for their target audience got directives from the top down that they couldn’t touch the topic.

Things have evolved in the three years since then, but it still can be challenging for the Durée team to navigate who will and won’t cover cannabis and hemp—a job made S P R I N G 2022

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all the more difficult by a dizzying maze of regulations and restrictions that prevent marketers from using the tactics they employ for products in any other industry. There’s no handbook for cannabis PR firms to follow, and the path they’re forging is littered with roadblocks.

“Marketing cannabis is not a onesize-fits-all approach,” Ross says.

“There are a lot of complexities to navigate, and they vary by state. You can’t give out samples from medical marijuana treatment centers in Florida. You also have to be careful with the terminology—in Florida, it’s ‘patient,’ not ‘consumer’ or ‘buyer.’ Edibles in Florida can’t have any color to them, so an infused gummy may taste like cherry or whatever but the gelatin has to be clear—the state doesn’t want it to look colorful like it’s candy. And the packaging can’t have more than two colors. So imagine you’re pitching a journalist on an edible in Florida, and that product is also available in another state. It’s the same formula but the two products look nothing alike.”

That’s an anecdotal way to explain that there’s a huge difference between traditional marketing and PR and cannabis marketing and PR. To do it right, you’ve got to know the plant on many levels. A deeper understanding of the whole cannabis supply chain is essential, which is why Durée’s client roster includes medical marijuana treatment centers, multi-state operators, lawyers, labs, doctors, products, and other vendors and services from up and down the supply chain. “We work with a carefully curated collection of clients so we can really be an extension of them.”

Ross sits on the boards for the Florida Hemp Council and the Cannabis LAB; she sits in meetings that have nothing to do with her clients just because “it’s the right thing to do. It’s not just about pitching stuff out there, we’re strategic with our approach for each of our clients up and down the supply chain. And so from the start, we had to wrap our head around policy and science. We have to understand our clients and the science in order to properly represent them and the industry.”

“We decided that if we were going to do this, if we were going to get into the cannabis and CBD space, we were really gonna do it. It wasn’t just about representing a couple of clients or pitching our clients; it was about asking, ‘How do we help make this industry a little better?’”

And the industry certainly needs all the help it can get. “It’s hard to even just have a checking account, to have a website, to be able to send emails out, to use social media, to sell products on Amazon,” she says. What worked yesterday may be blocked today or get you shadow banned on Instagram. But cannabis businesses are nothing if not resilient—they’re used to being nimble.

When forced to pivot, they manage to pick up steam—and the Florida market is sure getting hot.

BRING IT ON HOME ArcView Market Research estimates that Florida’s medical market will generate $6 billion in sales by the end of this decade—and that’s if sales are restricted to patients only.

If Florida opens up recreational sales (or, rather, when) to its 20 million residents and 150 million tourists, it will be one of the largest cannabis markets in the world.

Some 76% of Floridians are for full legalization, according to a survey by the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab—an increase of 12% since 2019.

With the legalization of recreational cannabis somewhere on Florida’s horizon, some of the industries biggest names (think: California-based Cookies and Las Vegas-based Planet 13) are making moves in the Sunshine State. Everybody’s lining up and poised to go hard when things go rec here in Florida,” says Ross.

Which brings me right back to where I started: when Florida legalizes cannabis for recreational use, I’m ready to come home. As Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez recently told the Wall Street Journal: “Today, people can run their lives and businesses from anywhere, so the choice is not ‘where do you work?’ but ‘where do you want to work?’”

Miami.

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Hemp has been a key component in the ancient shamanistic rituals of the sparsely populated nation of Mongolia—but it remains illegal. One native entrepreneur has been given the opportunity to make a change for the better.

TEXT & IMAGES MAREN KRINGS

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N

ight has fallen on the Mongolian taiga near the Russian border, thousands of miles from the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. We wait around the bonfire for the ceremonial drum to dry out after a sudden rain storm has soaked it. The spirits will not come until the drum regains its proper sound. The touchier (translator) sits to the left of the shaman, ready to translate the language of the spirits.

When the drum finally dries, the shaman puts on the ceremonial coat and mask, shielding his vision of the mundane world.

Vodka, nicotine, and the beating drum are preparing him to receive the spirits. However, one thing is missing from this traditional ritual: cannabis.

Mongolia is home to native wild hemp, and its people have a history of using it for shamanic rituals dating back to the 13th centu-

LEFT: Inside a traditional ger, Anar and Kama play on an Xbox.

RIGHT: Anar Artur checks the plants often to see if the crossed variety is resilient enough to survive the steppe climate. Mongolian wild cannabis has the potential to be used as a building material and cure for respiratory diseases caused by severe air pollution.

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ry, when Genghis Khan started practicing Tengerism, a form of shamanism unique to the region.

When disasters strike today, many Mongolians still consult a shaman to restore balance between the physical and the spiritual world.

Mongolia’s long and complex history has created a deeply rooted cultural crisis, which is enhanced by the increasing global ecological crisis. Both are having serious impacts on the lives of Mongolia’s nomads—not the least of which is the government’s outlawing of cannabis.

Though it is now illegal in Mongolia, and has therefore been replaced by alcohol and cigarettes, it was once key to the ceremony I now witness. But thanks to the work of one forward-thinking Mongolian entrepreneur, the plant could help solve the problems of a country beset by the ill effects of climate change.

Anar Artur, founder of Hemp Mongolia, hopes to use the plant to help his nation transition from a nomadic lifestyle to urban bliss, while tackling the air pollution crisis of Ulaanbaatar, the world’s dirtiest city.

Hemp Mongolia is the first—and only—hemp company in the country, researching and testing the plant, with plans to use its CBD as a treatment for respiratory diseases and its hemp as a building material for better insulation to reduce coal emissions.

Artur believes the search for identity as manifested in the rise of New Age Shamanism will reconnect the nation with the good spirits. Reestablishing harmony between humanity and the environment might lead the country back to an “eternal blue sky” (mönkh khökh tengeri), which, after all, gives Mongolia its name.

Northwestern Mongolia suffers doubly from global warming—since weather patterns have changed so much, nomads' traditional knowledge and ability to predict the weather are failing.

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Hemp Mongolia employees live according to tradition in felted gers—yet its mission is to revolutionize and modernize the country’s industries, making them greener by including hemp as an industrial crop.

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ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Maren Krings is a German documentary photographer focusing on the social and environmental impacts of the climate crisis. A graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design, she has published work in Stern, The Outdoor Journal, SUSTON, Happinez, Outdoor, Runner’s World, and other international media. For the last four years, Krings has documented the worldwide rediscovery of industrial hemp, photographing more than 200 projects, interviewing more than 80 industry experts, and traveling to 26 countries. Her book, H Is for Hemp, which investigates the plant’s potential to mitigate the ecological crisis, is currently available in a limited edition printed entirely on Hahnemühle Hemp paper at marenkrings.com.

During the Naadam Festival, The Culture Department of the National University installs a cultural village to inform not just international tourists but also young Mongolians who have become alienated from traditional costumes and cultural practices.

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Sensi’s 4/20 Playlist Tune in. Turn it up. Drop into our selection that celebrates the herb that goes handin-hand with great music.

As the voice of the Beat Generation, poet Ginsburg, once put it: “Marijuana is a useful catalyst for specific optical and aural aesthetic perceptions. I apprehended the structure of certain pieces of jazz and classical music in a new manner under the influence of marijuana, and these apprehensions have remained valid in years of normal consciousness.” With that in mind, we give you our annual 4/20 playlist, guaranteed to both up the vibe of the day and celebrate musicians who appreciate the plant.

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Snoop Dog Gin and Juice The modern poster child for cannabis as a recreational pleasure, a medicinal alternative, a symbol of counterculture, an F-you to racism, and an entrepreneurial goldmine, Snoop has never been apologetic about being himself and enjoying his smoke. His biggest song gives the finger to society unwilling to accept him and elevates partying to a social statement.

Essential Lyric: “Rollin’ down the street, smokin’ indo / Sippin’ on gin and juice, laid back”

The Beatles Got to Get You Into My Life

from Revolver is, according to Paul McCartney, a paean to the the green leaf.

Essential Lyric: “I didn’t know what I would find there / Another road where maybe I / Could see another kind of mind there”

The Fab Four is most associated with hallucinogenics—often credited with the cosmic shift of experimentation that gave us Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which changed pop music forever—but marijuana first loosened them up. By all appearances a love song, this often overlooked gem

Bob Dylan Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 Sure everybody must get stoned but don’t fall for the obvious here. Yes, Dylan was talking about the favorite herb of the counterculture but the Nobel-prize winning poet was also calling on the Biblical sense of getting stoned: his haters tossing rocks at him. There’s also

SNOOP DOGG VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (TOP), WEST MIDLANDS POLICE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (BOTTOM)

TEXT DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: TIM DUNCAN VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, ELI WATSON VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, DWIGHT MCCANN VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Black Sabbath Sweet Leaf Marijuana and metal together symbolize a powEssential Lyric: “They’ll stone you erful rejection of societal and then say you are brave / They’ll norms and the original stone you when you are set down in Prince of Darkness and your grave” crew made that evident in this banger that always Peter Tosh seems to boost testosLegalize It terone and call for the volume to go up to 11.

Childish Gambino Redbone The multi-talented Donald Glover, producer of TV series Atlanta and musically known as Childish Gambino, has made it Essential Lyric: “Roll me up and clear that Black people smoke me when I die / And if anyone smoke weed to deal with don’t like it, just look ‘em in the eye” the trauma and PTSD of simply being Black and Manu Chao living in this country. He Essential Lyric: “You introduced me Clandestino also admits that cannato my mind / And left me wanting Singing in English, Span- bis helps him work. His you and your kind” ish, French, and Catalan, rap clicks all the boxes Manu Chao is housewhen it comes to scaring Sublime hold name in Europe your parents and pushes Smoke Two Joints and should be far better boundaries in exploiting This is a mandatory track It would be a crime to known here in the states. the ugliness of racism in on this mix. The Bush leave this anthem off this A proponent of global love this country. And, damn, Doctor was way ahead of playlist. Sublime, who and an unabashed canna- does this slow groove of his time both in seeing recently launched their bis advocate, he has been a song sound good when the spiritual and medicown cannabis brand, in semi-retirement for the you are in the mood. inal values of marijuana unapologetically loved the past decade but his music Essential Lyric: “If you need it, you better believe in something” and in calling for an end life of punk rockers and still makes you want to to the racist power syspartying. While that left get up and move. tem that made it illegal. lead singer Bradley Nowell Essential Lyric: “Mexicano, clandes- Kacey Musgraves tino / Marihuana, ilegal” Essential Lyric: “Doctors smoke it / Slow Burn tragically dead from an Nurses smoke it / Judges smoke it / overdose in 1996, the Country singer and Even lawyer, too” Rihanna songwriter Musgraves music that he left behind proved she’s not afraid continues to inspire a will- Same Ol’ Mistakes ingness to reject norms The pop sensation is to shock anyone when and seek individualism in front-and-center when she performed naked a world where it’s nearly it comes to her love of under a jacket on a recent impossible to escape con- cannabis—just scroll her episode of Saturday Night sumerism and sameness.

Instagram feed. And her Live. She has also been Essential Lyric: “’I work good and support of the plant goes forward about singing I work fine, / But first take care a long way in breakthe praises of cannabis of head’” ing stereotypes about to audiences that might weed. This is not stoner not be as open to it. Like Willie Nelson music—it’s get up, move most complex tunes, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me your booty, and feel good this song plays with the When I Die music. This cover of a sensual and destructive The frontman of the Tame Impala tune unites double entendres of a cannabis movement for hipsters and hip shakers. slow burn. decades, Willie actually Essential Lyric: “Not thinking in Essential Lyric: “I’m alright with a released this tune on April black and white / Thinking it’s worth slow burn / Takin’ my time, let the the fight” world turn” 20, 2012 (the year when biting criticism about the civil rights struggles of the day and the Vietnam War in this song.

Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational cannabis), to make his un-subtle point about where he stands. For extra emphasis, Snoop Dogg provides backup vocals.

LISTEN UP Be sure to check out an expanded version of this playlist on the Sensi Spotify channel.

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THE END

Green Goes Blue and Gold

California's MediThrive paints its walls the national colors of Ukraine to show support.

Dispensaries step up to support Ukrainians ravaged by war.

CALL TO ACTION If you want to help those affected by the war in Ukraine, you can support the businesses mentioned here and donate to World Kitchen (wck. org), Hope for Ukraine (hopeforukraine.net), and Sunflower of Peace (sunflowerofpeace.com).

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Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine has displaced more than 6.5 million people and continues to devastate a nation determined to fight for its sovereignty. Ukrainians have fought bravely on the ground against a far superior force, but this modern war is also being waged across the globe on social media and in the power of a global economy uniting against it. The cannabis industry has even joined in the effort to bring aid to Ukrainians and protest the immorality of Putin’s war.

San Francisco-based dispensary MediTh-

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irve (medithrive.com), which is owned by Ukrainian-Americans, painted its outside walls blue and gold (Ukraine’s national colors) and donated 100 percent sales on March 6 and 10 percent of sales thereafter for the week, to Sunflower of Peace, which is providing medical and humanitarian aid to the beleaguered nation. “I hope to do more as time goes on and be more hands on in the next effort,” says CEO Misha Breyburg.

“Anything and everything helps. This is a time in the world where a social post or a financial donation

is of the utmost importance. Every voice that speaks up with disgust about the war in Ukraine contributes to something bigger. It’s akin to that old idiom that a butterfly flapping its wings creates a tsunami.”

MediThrive is not alone in its efforts.

Homeland Growers Company (hvgcompany. com) normally donates 100 percent of its profits to aid veterans, but is dedicating that money to help Ukrainians through World Kitchen this month. California cannabis manufacturer Lime (limecannabis.co), with 30

percent of its workforce from countries affected by the war, donated a portion of its March sales to nonprofit Hope for Ukraine.

“In my 50 years, I’ve never seen people so ubiquitously on the same page as they are to help Ukrainians against the Russian invasion,” says Breyburg. “There are so many issues that divide us and, in the past 20 years, it feels as if we’ve been stuck in polarizing positions on those issues.

We’re on the same page with Ukraine, and I hope that’s an opportunity to build bridges.”

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Fighting for freedom is Join the revolution at norml.org

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