Sensi Magazine Michigan - Spring 2022

MICHIGAN SPRING 2022

MORE THAN A

FEELING How One Love Labs founder Casey Yosin overcame pain and found a new life in the healing power of the plant

MEET THE

GANJIERS

The certified masters of weed

SPRING

FORWARD The latest in cannabis culture

n more at

Cannabis for Humanity Uniting people through the power of cannabis.

Learn more at www.commoncitizen.com

VISIT US AT SKYMINT.COM

Bleised Edibles For Work & For Play

@bleised @bleisededibles www.bleisededibles.com (269) 532-1250

Bléised (/blaz/ed) THC Gummies are available in a variety of assorted flavors from Cherry to Bléised Smoothie. Find the perfect dose for work... and for play. Each Bléised edible contains 2mg of THC with 10 pieces per pack; 20mg per pack.

Cannabis Done Right Whether it’s our expert budtenders or unique loyalty program, we strive to create a welcoming environment that makes cannabis approachable for all.

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Happy Pride Month!

Find Terrapin flower at a dispensary near you.

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FEATURES

42

Highest Vibration

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Reclaiming Recovery

Hit hard by a debilitating injury, One Love Labs founder Casey Yosin found humility and purpose in cannabis.

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

DEPARTMENTS

17 EDITOR’S NOTE 28 THE LIFE Contributing to your health and happiness 18 THE BUZZ HIGHER SENSES Ganjiers News, tips, and tidbits to keep you in the loop SWEET JUSTICE Four Questions with Redemption Cannabis’ Ryan Basore MICHIGAN ON TOP The state’s cannabis sales continue to soar.

YUM YUM Cannabisinfused chocolate chip cookies GREEN THUMB Grow cannabis in your garden this spring.

ORDERED HERB The feng shui of marijuana THE BIG O Cannabis for better sex

are coming soon to top-tier dispensaries near you.

68 THE SCENE

Hot happenings and hip hangouts around town LOCAL HEROES PC Pure founders Bill Walsh and Heath Armbruster run the business like brothers.

74 THE END

ON THE COVER

One Love Labs founder Casey Yosin discovered the healing power of cannabis after he suffered a painful accident. See page 42.

PHOTO COURTESY ONE LOVE LABS

Dispensaries step up to support Ukraine.

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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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SENSI INTERVIEW

Sweet Justice I read that you started working toward cannabis legalization when you were 18. That’s a big move to take at such a young age. Have you always been an activist? And, if so, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned so far?

It actually started earlier than that.

I fell off a tractor and onto some ice when I was 12, and it jarred my hips out of place. When I was 13, I was prescribed [the muscle relaxant] Flexeril three times a day to “help” with the issue. Then I discovered cannabis when I was 14, which helped relieve my pain better than any pills.

I had to hide my use for school and 18

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sports. I also remember all the DARE bullshit we were fed and how the entire country was being lied to.

Those early experiences taught me to always look for patterns in real-life experiences and not to blindly trust what I’m being told.

You’ve had a rough time with state and federal agencies interfering (quite violently at times) with your attempts to grow and provision cannabis legally. You spent four years in prison for crimes allegedly committed. What have those experiences taught you about law and governance in America?

When I talk to budtenders about how different the world was just 10 years ago, they are usually shocked. I was raided in 2010 by what was essentially a U.S. military operation—I’m talking National Guard helicopters and troops, automatic rifles in my face, and so forth—for a couple of legal caregiver grows in Okemos, Michigan. It’s shocking for me to say it out loud now, but this is my life. My first year in prison I was so bitter toward our government and country, I decided I was going to legalize cannabis or die trying. My perspective now is this: what other country in the world can you be considered public enemy

PHOTOS COURTESY OF REDEPTION CANNABIS

Four Questions with Ryan Basore, Founder and CEO of Redemption Cannabis

CONTRIBUTORS

Tracy Ross and Sensi Staff

number one for growing a plant and 10 years later be celebrated for helping to legalize it in Michigan? We have the tools to change things we don’t agree with in this country with our political/legal system, and that is a beautiful thing.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNSPLASH

After prison you jumped headlong back into cannabis advocacy and business. Why and what forces—family, friends, faith, a belief in your cause—gave you the strength to do this?

I decided in 2010 that I would work on cannabis legalization and safe, affordable access for the rest of my life. Going to prison, I took the approach that I was going to use that intense experience. I knew it was going to take years to come out of, but that it would be a crucible moment. I leaned into it and spent every day working on getting smarter, healthier, and tougher. It was incredibly painful at times for me and my family, but we get to live every day now with a great sense of appreciation and gratitude for what we came back from.

You say the fight is on to “save the soul of cannabis.” What do you mean?

In states with restrictive and capped licenses, cannabis has turned into a widget. A majority of the flower is remediated prior to being sent to testing, many people running the companies aren’t cannabis people, and there is no innovation. In states like Michigan and Oklahoma, you have to get up every day and fight to get better. Most multistate operators have stayed out of Michigan because of the level of competition. Many of the caregivers that made it out of that market to regulated cannabis are having the most success. We’ve been through a lot together and we trust each other. I believe if it wasn’t for states like Michigan, cannabis would lose its soul. We aren’t going to let that happen because we let our passion for the plant shine through in everything we do. That’s something the suits at corporate cannabis companies will never be able to match.

BY THE NUMBERS

$165

Price drop for adultuse cannabis in Michigan between December 2020 and December 2021. The same year saw a drop of $90 per ounce for medical use.

Going Low(er) to Get High While annual cannabis sales are slumping in other states, Michigan is holding strong.

SOURCE: MMRA Executive Director Andrew Brisbo

3X

How many more cannabis workers there are in the US than dentists.

700 Number of dispensary licenses in Michigan, the most issued per capita in any state east of the Mississippi.

Despite lower prices on some cannabis products, Michigan’s annual cannabis sales hit another high in 2021, according to Andrew Brisbo, executive director of the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency. December totals helped, as they topped $135 million in recreational cannabis purchases and about $33 million in medical marijuana sales. That’s big news nationally. For perspective, Colorado experienced sales slumps for three months in a row, from August to October, yet still rang in the New Year with $2.19 billion before counting December numbers.

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"TOP SHELF"

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THE BUZZ

VOX POPULI

MICHAEL BRENT Salesperson at Grow Haven, Grand Rapids

___________________

Got married on 4/20 at 4:20pm. Juliea Paige officiated as one of my patients and was gifted a zip.

Question: What’s the sexiest thing you’ve ever done involving cannabis?

JESSICA LYNNE JACKSON Owner of Copper House Bud & Breakfast, Detroit

___________________

Coordinated a delivery of a bouquet of my wife’s favorite flowers for her birthday when I was in Brazil.

MARJORIE HARVEY

JESSICA VETTER

TIM JEFFERS

Personal Chef and Caterer, Detroit

Budtender, Kalamazoo

Organic Farmer, Mesick

___________________

___________________

___________________

I made a three-course infused dinner followed by candle-lit bubble bath and some infused whip cream.

For our wedding, we gave out two joints in a bag tagged “a joint union” as favors.

On our anniversary we asked for trim/buds as gifts and took the money we would’ve spent on each other and bought a pound. We spent our anniversary day making oil and our date night was dropping free oil off to patients.

Super Simple Cannabis-infused Chocolate Chip Cookies Celebrate 4/20 with these sweet treats, PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFFANY NICKS

compliments of chef couple Eric and Tiffany Nicks.

ING REDIENTS

3 cups gluten-free flour 3/4 cup brown sugar 3/4 cup natural sugar (coconut, for example) 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs or equivalent amount of egg replacer

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup de-carbed butter 1 bag vegan chocolate chips INSTRUCTIONS

• Step 1. De-carb your cannabis Tiffany spreads unground cannabis on a parchment-lined baking sheet and places it in an oven heated to 170 degrees for 70 minutes. She then mixes it into 1 pound of butter melted in a double boiler. Double boil for 70 more minutes. Keep cannabis in the butter for 72 hours; then strain and use in any recipe.

• Step 2. Make the Cookies Mix dry ingredients; mix wet ingredients; mix together. Roll dough into palm-size balls and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Enjoy!

I smoked a blunt so I could kick these facts about Louisiana to the nation. Our state ranks number 50 in crime and number 49 in opportunity.

We need new leaders who address the issues not play silly games.”

—Louisiana senate candidate Gary Chambers, on Twitter, in January

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W e thank you for last year’s success & wish you all a healthy and prosperous New Year 2022 - from our Family to Yours!

Thank You

W WWW.Y O UO URRTTRR II MMMMEER RS .SC .OCMO/M2 4/8 .2540 89 ..G5R0O 9W. G R O W W W.Y

THE BUZZ

THE FENG SHUI OF CANNABIS Interior designer and feng shui master Jami Lin can’t grow hemp plants at her home in Florida. If she could, she would place them in her home’s southeastern and eastern corners, where, according to feng shui’s five elements theory, the wood element resides. Plants are wood elements, so they feel comfortable and thrive there.

Lin says you can also place cannabis plants, with intention, in the southeastern or eastern part Follow this simple guide to growing cannabis in of individual rooms. In the bedroom, they would your garden this year. grow opportunities for deepening relationships; in Growing cannabis takes knowledge, time, and attention, but anythe home office, professional and financial opportuone with good intentions can do it, says Susan Sheldon, a landscape architect and master gardener in Amherst, Massachusetts. She had nities; in the zen den/meditation room, subliminal and conscious head spaces. no idea how to grow it when she first got started, but she learned online and now has cannabis sprinkled among the hyssop, borage, basil, chamomile, and mountain mint in her herb garden full of QUICK HIT native pollinators. We asked her to share some tips to help anyone who wants to give it a try themselves.

Obey laws. Local regulations vary state by state, county by county, town by town. Make sure your space complies with the rules of the land.

Be discreet. Hide cannabis among other plants or structures. It’s still federally illegal and could invite thieves.

Plant a diverse ecosystem. If possible, plant cannabis among beneficial companion plants (a quick Google search can point you in the right direction) with good light penetration and air flow.

Give plants space. Cannabis plants each need at least 2.5 to 3 square feet. The more space you give the roots, the larger your plant will grow.

Feed them. Go online or visit a grow store to find the best nutrients for your plants. Don’t be stingy, but don’t overfeed them either.

Water as needed. Let plants dry out between watering, then thoroughly saturate them. If plants are in pots, place the pot in a tub of The inventor of Viagra introduces water and let it drink from the bottom up. If pots are in trays, don’t a cannabis-enhanced sexuallet them sit in water. enhancement serum for women.

Practice garden sanitation. Remove diseased plants or plant pieces One of the developers of Viagra co-inventimmediately. Clean pruning shears with rubbing alcohol between snips. ed Vella Women’s Pleasure Serum ($65), Beware of mold. Plants in damp climates are most susceptible, but which uses nanoencapsulated CBD to mold can happen anywhere. Check plants daily if not twice daily. In relax vaginal and clitoral muscle tissue and the late season before harvest, shake off dew and fan the plants. deliver more intense orgasms. Apply 15 Kill powdery mildew. PM Remover, a spray made from potassium minutes before having sex. bicarbonate, lactose, and garlic powder, does the trick. vellabio.com

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) BY AAPSKY VIA ADOBE STOCK; COURTESY VELLA

Inner Growth

CBD for the Big O

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P R O M OT I O N A L F E AT U R E NOBO

Set No Boundaries

ensure its teams stay healthy.

One area of pride for NOBO is its numerous partnerships with area charities and nonprofits. From drives to collect much-needed supplies for families in need to fundraisers, the folks at NOBO are always willing to lend a helping hand.

“We knew from day one that the only way that we succeed is if the community surrounding us does too,” says Daniel Paul, VP of marketing at NOBO. “That has been our driving message both inside our four walls that is due to NOBO’s commitment to and outside, where we actively reach remove the stigma that still can hover out. By providing high-quality cannabis over cannabis. The other is to help bring and compassion, we think that we are new industries in that can economically just what is needed these days.” help. Yes, NOBO dispensaries might sell Best of all, NOBO’s cannabis blends some of the best cannabis in the state, offer consumers some of the best but they also are your neighbors. flower, vape cartridges, and gummies A vertically integrated business, in Michigan. The next time you are NOBO now operates four dispensaries heading out for some product, look up located in Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, your partners in the Michigan cannabis Edwardsburg, and Muskegon, along community, NOBO. with its own grow and production facilities. That means NOBO is paying taxes and working with local leaders to ensure that it contributes in a mean- NOBO ingful manner every day. NOBO proMedical and Recreational vides sustainability, employee growth, Cannabis Dispensary and excellent benefits packages to nobogoods.com

Neighborhood brand NOBO is on a mission to remove the stigma from cannabis.

T

he cannabis community is a family that was born from the decades-long struggle to destigmatize and, ultimately, legalize the plant. In Michigan, with its deep Midwestern roots, that commitment to each other is ingrained in our identity. It’s a feeling that flows through our veins. So, it is a pleasure when a business that understands this philosophy succeeds here.

NOBO, which is short for no boundaries, is one such entity in the cannabis space, and you should search it out.

From the moment NOBO opened its first dispensary in Edwardsburg, its focus has been to reach out to its local neighbors and community. Part of

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simply helping and friendly!

Give your finances room to grow.

(989) 327-1400 | GrappLerash.com

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P R O M OT I O N A L F E AT U R E UNION BANK

Safe Money Michigan’s Union Bank has supported the state’s farmers for generations—and it’s here to help cannabis growers and businesses.

F

or nearly a century, Union Bank—a proudly independent bank with roots deep in west and central Michigan’s soil—has been the preferred bank of agricultural businesses across the state. Through thick and thin, Union Bank has stood alongside generations of farmers and their partners to ensure they are equipped with the financial tools they need to be successful. Its commitment and loyalty to the makers, builders, and growers in this state is as strong as steel.

It only made sense that the bank,

a timely manner without the worry of violating legal standards.

Championed by Edith Farrell, Vice President of Cannabis and Specialized Services, the Bank is entering its fourth year of servicing the industry. “Small businesses are my passion, and I want them to succeed,” says Farrell. “We consider our clients to be business partners, and it is my job to ensure they are equipped with the tools they need to operate just like every other business in Michigan. It’s very gratifying to watch a cannabis owner build out a location, receive a license, and, finally, generate revenue.”

Union Bank offers armored courier services to transport and deposit cash, a full suite of payment options (online, checking, and ACH), and dedicated CRB representatives for exceptional service. Plus, it has a virtual branch to eliminate distance barriers for business owners across the state who need to speak with a bank representative via video chat to manage accounts and transact business. The onboarding process is fast and efficient, and compliance is the number-one priority.

The bank and its employees genuinely are grounded in loyalty.

with a longtime dedication to agricultural businesses, would have an active interest in the burgeoning cannabis industry currently growing across the Great Lakes State. As an active community member, the bank quickly recognized Cannabis Related Business (CRB) as another sector of industry in 2019. It made the decision to be a trusted partner to help and provide guidance in a way that could significantly impact the industry’s success. The bank’s full slate of cannabis banking services offers Union Bank (Michigan) business owners the ability to safely Cannabis Banking secure their funds and pay vendors in ubmich.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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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 CURALEAF

It’s Time to Join the Cliq

reservoir to extract every last drop of oil and a set of heavy-duty magnets to hold it in place.

The cutting-edge battery is equipped with three voltage settings that put temperature control in users’ hands.

Whether you like it hot and heavy or slow and low, each breath you pull comes just the way that you want it.

Best of all, it’s encased in an almostindestructible stainless-steel shell coated in matte-finished paint that can handle anything you throw at it and still show up each time you need it. s one of the leaders in enjoyment. Designed to pair with its As part of Curaleaf’s Select lineup, the the cannabis industry, award-winning premium Elite Oil, it Cliq works seamlessly with a wide array Curaleaf is continually enables the refined cannabis oil in of the company’s pods, which will allow searching for better ways each pod to deliver high potency with a you to enjoy sativa, hybrid, or indica in to deliver its high-quality products to robust terpene profile with each hit. both .5- and 1-gram sizes. Isn’t it time the public to ensure people can fully The Cliq is a sleek and stylish piece you upgrade your cannabis experience? enjoy the benefits the cannabis plant of hardware loaded with high-tech Reach for the new Cliq at one of the can provide. So it should be no surprise innovations and features that set company’s four Michigan locations and to Michigan residents that the team at it head-and-shoulders above other ensure many happy times ahead.

Curaleaf just rolled out one of the best vapes on the market. vapes the market has ever seen.

It all starts with the vape pod. Triple The Cliq is the culmination of sealed, it functions perfectly on the years of research and development to hottest days or the coldest nights— Curaleaf create the perfect on-the-go device weather quite common in Michigan.

Cannabis Cultivator and Manufacturer that allows users straightforward It also features a unique tapered curaleaf.com

Curaleaf just rolled out one of the best vapes the industry has ever seen.

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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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P R O M OT I O N A L F E AT U R E SOZO

Sozo Opens Flint Outpost A new dispensary honors the full history of the town.

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he newest Sozo retail store scheduled to open this April in Flint is yet another eye-catching addition to one of Michigan’s most interesting cannabis cultivators and sellers. Located a stone’s throw away from the Flint River and the University of Michigan-Flint campus, the store highlights Sozo’s ability to marry design and architecture as well as celebrate local artists at its retail locations.

The former mid-century bank building which serves as the location of Sozo’s newest outpost sat abandoned for many years. Despite neglect, stripped for parts, and tagged with graffiti, it oozed character.

the company commissioned local artists to create a stunning piece of street art through the Flint Public Arts Project. Using aspects of the former teller windows pneumatic tube system and carport structure, Sozo is engaging talented local graffiti artists to create an immersive three-dimensional piece of art that will tie the building back into the local community and honor Flint’s history through the modern medium of spray paint.

“In the same way we saw the chandelier that had to be restored and not destroyed, when we saw the building covered in graffiti, we knew that we had to honor that aspect of the building’s story,” says Kristi Kelly, chief strategy officer.“ Rather than trying to scrape away the soul of the building inside and out, we decided to preserve as much of it as we could, encourage and support local street art rather than constrain it, and honor its place in Flint’s history.”

The company went to work with architects and designers to preserve and rehabilitate many of the original details. Inside the fresh new interior, the old chandelier that once anchored the lobby has been restored, the bank vault has been repurposed and updated with modern security fittings, and the teller counter, reimagined in walnut, awaits new customers.

The outside of the building received equally tasteful attention with the restoration of massive steel mesh walls above the entrances, a ubiquitous mid-century finish given a new lease on life.

But it’s the old drive-thru that’s most Sozo striking. As Sozo has at other retail Cannabis Dispensaries locations in Cheboygan and Muskegon, sozocompanies.com

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P R O M OT I O N A L F E AT U R E EVO PHARMS

Gold Crown Extracts incorporates several proven technologies in its extraction processes and it can make formulations to suit anyone’s needs. Certified for use in the Michigan regulated industry, the extraction laboratory systems and equipment are fully compliant with Class 1, Division 1 manufacturing and processing environments. Its services are based upon extraction systems for quality, safety, and precise operation to provide time- and cost-efficient processing to produce concentrates to meet the needs of all businesses and consumers.

Gold Crown Extracts services include toll processing to extract oil from cannabis biomass, allowing cultivators to realize an additional and highly profitable revenue stream from an underutilized product. Toll processing is a simple method via which biomass producers pay an extractor to turn their plant material into CBD or THC oil.

Gold Crown Extracts’ will process plant material into shatter, crumble, distillate, RSO, and resin.

If pesticides are detected in the products, there is a way to save the investment. Gold Crown Extracts can remove pesticides from concentrates or take failed biomass and convert it into a high-quality distillate.

Gold Crown Extracts’ white labeling old Crown Extracts, and terpene profile. can also help clients develop their based in Warren, Mich“Our mission is to bring unique products and brands. The brand will igan, is working toward growers and their handcrafted genetics design and produce packaging and its goal to become an in- to the cannabis connoisseur in the deliver a shelf-ready product. dustry leader in extracted concentrates. form of a truly pure concentrate,” says Gold Crown Extracts aims to be an It uses state-of-the art extraction Jonathan Kello, CEO of Gold Crown. industry leader in extracted concentechnology to provide a superior yield “Our concentrates encapsulate all the trates by producing the highest-quality with the clarity, color, and purity that naturally occurring cannabinoids and products and delivering exemplary produces the highest-quality products. terpenes that the plant produces while service to its industry partners.

Gold Crown Extracts concentrates are using zero fltration—without altering born from a love of cannabis and its the natural composition of the extract.” unique effects on the body and mind.

When a client consumes a non-remeTo that end, the team selects premium diated full-spectrum product, they receive Gold Crown Extracts biomass from craft growers resulting in a variety of cannabinoids and terpenes, Cannabis Concentrate Extractor a more robust and diverse cannabinoid resulting in the entourage effect. evopharms.com

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Hit hard by a debilitating injury, Casey Yosin found humility and purpose in cannabis.

TEXT AARON H. BIBLE

COURTESY ONE LOVE LABS

E

veryone has a unique story when it comes to cannabis brands. And some are more unique than others. I love my job, and having the privilege of uncovering these stories, and getting to know people like Casey Yosin is what makes me love this industry.

And while the words “one love” may ring familiar and true to you, the business of One Love Labs is a unique story.

About 45 minutes north of Detroit in the unlikely locale of Burton, Michigan—far more famous for its ice hockey and grand timbers than its place in the cannabis world—sits one of the foremost extractors in the country with an unusual penchant for helping people through the powers of cannabinoids.

One Love Labs founder and CEO Casey Yosin, 38, sums up its purpose in that very word: love—and the desire to help others find the healing powers of cannabis.

NEW LOVE Yosin is quick to emphasize that he didn’t do it alone. “I would not have been here without my dad,

Craig Yosin. He loaned me the money to buy my first big piece of equipment, and, without that, I would not have pulled this off,” Yosin says. Mark Acchione (of Rocket Mortgage fame) and Louis Meeks II are the other two primary partners, and he paid his dad back when making the switch from CBD into cannabis. He is quick to rain compliments on his team of staff and investors, a humility that he says was not part of his general nature growing up.

“I was basically a cocky little shit, an alpha of the alpha males,” says Yosin with the humility only someone who has been there and done that can muster. “I was the captain of every hockey team I ever played on, always the life of the party.”

It wasn’t until he was laying in bed, in constant, excruciating pain, and couldn’t move that Yosin was able to gain clarity on what was important. “I needed to learn some humilty—and that life comes at you hard,” he says. “Now I’m just lucky to get up out of bed every day.”

Serious hockey ended for Yosin in college. Having played junior

hockey (if you know, you know) at the pinnacle of his career and watching some of his high school buddies go on to the NHL, he dropped out of architecture school and went straight into the family business—45-year-old Hardwood Door & Bevel—in 2004.

“I learned every single bit of the whole trade, from sweeping floors, how to build doors, custom glass windows, installs, design, and client relations,” he says. The family business may not have been for him, but the background was integral to his cannabis journey.

Never heard of One Love Labs?

That’s because it has been quietly growing, harvesting, and processing for more than a year now, and the brand is just launching in April 2022, with both its own retail line of edibles, concentrates, and cartridges, and a robust offering of white-label products ranging from gummies and chocolates to tinctures, cartridges, distillate darts, and more.

The bad news: Yes, this is a full service operation Yosin’s spine. and a massive, modern production facility, a guiding star of the midwest cannabis industry. One Love Labs specializes in biomass extraction, including BHO, ethanol, and CO2, and distillation methods in the form of darts, concentrates, cartridges, and tinctures. Edibles include gummies, chocolates, and water soluble powders. It also offers packaging in the form of cartridge filling, disposable pen filling, edible and flower pouch filling, and chocolate wrapping. One Love Labs’ state-of-the-art machines can produce more than 15,000 gummies per hour, fill more than 1,800 cartridges per hour, and include extraction outputs that are setting new industry standards.

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One Love Labs began in pain. In 2016, Yosin was essentially paralyzed through a mishap at a chiropractor appointment, which led to six months of bed rest—but this tragedy would unknowingly bring his passion for the cannabis industry into full bore. Although this was literally his first experience at a chiropractor, Yosin had been suffering from pain due to a broken back suf-

from home, he knew as they pulled that door off of him that his back was broken, again, and this time the pain was truly unbearable. Infinitely stubborn and self reliant, he got in his truck and started driving toward the hospital.

Facing a second paralyzation, pain, and the potential for narcotic interventions, Yosin headed into emergency surgery committed to avoiding narcotics and making the

every single day. When you’re consumed by pain, you look at things differently.” He undertook his entire recovery without the help of any narcotic pain killers, and hopes to inspire others to avoid the addiction and withdrawal that he went through years earlier.

fered in a wakeboarding injury years earlier. This is not unimportant to his story. After the accident, Yosin ended up addicted to a long-acting oxy-derivative called Opana. “I learned the hard way that you will be addicted to this stuff,” Yosin says, “and because of the nature of this narcotic drug, the withdrawal was a couple of weeks long, not days.”

Yosin is emphatic: he knew right then and there he would never take another opioid again, and he had to do something to help others avoid the same situation in which he had unwittingly found himself.

The day he got back to work at his family business, a massive custom door frame fell on him as they attempted to move it onto a job site in Chicago. An hour-plus drive

best possible recovery he could.

His life and his family depended on it. “I was already in so much pain, I was not willing to tackle even another couple hours of it. I’m surprised I even powered through the first time,” he says.

“I knew I needed help at that moment, and I said a prayer right there,” Yosin continues. “I said that if this is the plan I’m meant to be doing, I will never stop hammering.”

Following a successful but risky Mobi-C cervical disc replacement spinal procedure, he got up and left the hospital three hours post-surgery.

“I just wanted to get at it,” says Yosin, infinitely resolute. “I wanted to get back to having a life where I could move around and do things again. It made me more thankful for

and begin helping others along the path, he founded Total Health Companies, a CBD brand, in 2016.

It also hosted a comprehensive website to help people understand CBD and cannabinoids.

Yosin grew approximately 30 acres of hemp in his home state of Michigan, and, at that time, he was also extracting and building the industry from the ground up. “I just happened to know some guys who were already really good at extracting,” he explains. “I just gave them a way to do it legally.”

But, he says, “Unless you have a complete supply chain there’s really no way to move that stuff. Establishing a supply chain and manufacturing has been very hard. I’ve been in the hemp industry for six

COURTESY ONE LOVE LABS

PAIN AND PASSION

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COURTESY ONE LOVE LABS

years. I’m an OG in the hemp game; for someone to stay around for that long is almost unheard of. But I built the entire supply chain—topicals drying, processing—and I make my own sustainable packaging.”

Yosin says he was fortunate to connect with some cash-heavy investors early on to help grow in the fledgling Michigan cannabis industry. “When Michigan first started it was very speculative for property and businesses; no one knew where the zonings would end up falling.

So you had to buy 10 properties and hope one falls in the zone. It was very cash heavy,” he explains.

“People already knew from our family business that I was a guy who will say a thing and do it. I already had the highest quality product and reputation in one area, so they trusted me to execute in this area,” he says. “We’re really going to blow up—because we’re going to be able to offer these services of allowing people to have their own brands and their own stores and their own grows.”

READY TO LAUNCH One Love Labs’ 10,000-squarefoot building is a modern wonder that was practically built from the

ground up. “The shell was existing,” Yosin says, “but we had to put all the infrastructure in, including the water line, and all the underground facilities.”

“Our entire GMP-certified facility is fiberglass-reinforced plastic panel walls, medical grade air compressors, all stainless steel, scrubbers and UV filters—it’s unbelievable,” says Yosin.

“Everybody is ecstatic to get everything going,” Yosin explains during our multiple phone conversations. “Last fall, I bought three freezer trailers, semi-trucks with commercial freezers below -20, and secured enough material to run for a half a year. I sent them out to outdoor grows with my automated bucking system. We set up these trailers to be MRA compliant with cameras on the inside and outside, sitting out there since October, waiting for us to process.”

The name One Love Labs came from a group effort from the whole team. “We essentially said, what would be something that would resonate with people, that would embody the things we believe as a team. That love is the highest vibration,” he says. “How do we convey that into a brand? When you put

love into something that is truly intended, you can’t be stopped, you won’t be stopped,” he says.

EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON “It’s been my intention that has carried me through,” Yosin says. “I did this to help people. They don’t need to rely on prescription drugs to deal with these things.”

Yosin’s two kids, now 10 and 6, are still on top of him, literally, every day, just as they were when he was bedridden for months at a time. “That was equally as hard as the physical pain, and gave me that much more drive to want to get back to it,” he says. “Money cannot mean more than doing things correctly. I operate like that.”

“I had to learn all of these lessons the hard way. I’m a hard-way learner unfortunately. The universe, God, whatever you want to call it, needed to teach me some humility, and patience. Now, I’m very grateful for every moment there is. It can always be worse. It’s all problems on the way to the goal. And I’m lucky to be able to tackle the problems every day,” Yosin tells me.

And there is no doubt in my mind at this point that he means it.

A B O U T T H E AU T H O R

Aaron H. Bible is an award-winning writer and multimedia producer with three decades of experience working as a content specialist, creative director, and journalist. Bible is a contributing writer, editor and photographer to publications including SKI, Freeskier, Men’s Health, Popular Mechanics, Sunset, Gear Junkie, 5280, Elevation Outdoors, Vanish, and more.

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P R O M OT I O N A L F E AT U R E CANNABUS DETROIT

Take a Ride on the CannaBus

Jackson, her legal advisor, had a revelatory phone call during which the idea for a smoke shack on wheels was born. The bus is part of a planned fleet across the state—and, hopefully, the nation.

While taking a tour on the CannaBus is fun, it also offers dispensaries the perfect consumption lounge for their customers to relax in before heading home or out for the night.

CannaBus will secure a legal parking location to gain maximum public exposure to help increase sales. Plus, the bustender will promote the event to attendees and social media threads.

The vehicle can even be turned into a mobile billboard during festivals, concerts, and sporting events.

The company gives its customers what it calls “The High Road for Elevated Experiences.” Where else can you cruise in comfort while enjoying some of the finest cannabis products on the market? All it takes sometimes is one crazy idea.

Two mompreneurs created this consumption lounge on wheels to roll you through the best of Detroit.

S

ometimes it just takes one wild idea to turn everyone’s head. Such is the case with CannaBus Detroit, the Motor City’s most unusual cannabis consumption lounge. The brainchild of two mompreneurs—a cannabis retail facility owner and a lawyer—CannaBus offers exciting and enjoyable cannabis-themed nights out on the town.

Their kickin’ bus will take groups out on unique tour experiences such as Budz & Sudz, Strains & Strippers, Pot & Shots, and more. A customized rolling hot spot, it’s equipped with

comfortable seating, mellow lighting, smart TVs, Wi-Fi, and many more comforts. All guests receive a customized lunch box stuffed with gifts from local cannabis entrepreneurs and there’s a “bustender” onboard to ensure everyone has a fun trip. Best of all, the driver is completely sectioned off in an air-tight compartment to eliminate any contact and provide a legal and safe experience for all.

A little over a year ago, this Blackowned business hit the roads after Shannon Patterson, the owner of High Quality Provisioning Center, and Renette

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P R O M OT I O N A L F E AT U R E GLAZED AND CONFUSED

Everyone Loves a Half-Baked Donut Weedy McWeedface is happy to greet customers at local dispensary Glazed and Confused.

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he city of Crystal Falls, Michigan, located just across the border from Wisconsin on US 2, has long been known as one of the gateways to the Upper Peninsula.

Several cozy restaurants await travelers in its quaint downtown, and the residents are quick to lend a helping hand. It’s also home to a mom-and-pop cannabis dispensary that recently won a prestigious national award.

When Dan and Jackie Rosek, the owners of Glazed and Confused, found out that their dispensary logo had been named the best in the nation

by Cannabis & Tech Today last fall,

with the other perfectly encapsulates the store he represents.

Located inside an old supper club building just off US 2, the store exudes a welcoming vibe the moment you see it. A battered marquee sign sports a humorous cannabis-themed message designed to make drivers smile, and its award-winning logo stares contentedly down at all in the parking lot. Enter the dispensary and warm music washes over you. The preponderance of tiedyes worn by the staff sets the mood.

The fact that the store even exists is a testament to the owners’ accumulated goodwill within their community. Dan Rosek was a longtime medical caregiver who had dreamed of opening his own shop. Everything was lined up for that to happen when the pandemic hit and halted his plans cold.

He and his wife had to sell personal belongings to stay afloat, and his uncle helped finance the store. When they finally opened the doors in January of 2021, friends staffed it until both Roseks could get fully vaccinated in order to take over. The store has thrived since, and now it’s getting the attention it deserves.

they were a little shocked—but not surprised. “From the moment we came up with Weedy McWeedface, we knew we had something special,” says Dan Rosek. “Everyone loves him, and he seems to keep bringing customers to our store.”

Created one night when Rosek sketched him up on a napkin, Weedy was the perfect accompaniment to the dispensary’s humorous and catchy name, Glazed and Confused. A half-baked doughnut with blood-red eyes, he looks like any happy cannabis connoisseur might after a fat joint. The Glazed and Confused fact that he is holding a coffee cup in Dispensary one hand and is flashing a peace sign upglazedandconfused.com S P R I N G 2022

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P R O M OT I O N A L F E AT U R E RAIR CANNABIS

Not Born in Detroit, Made in Detroit.

around cannabis use, and we’re going to bring you a brand that shows the grit and toughness my teams and I always brought to the court in Detroit,” Wallace says.

Rair Co. has quickly become a leader in Michigan’s cannabis industry, using groundbreaking aeroponic processes and growing techniques to produce healthier plants, higher quality products, and consistent experiences for its customers.

Rair is also setting new diversity and equality standards in the industry, with critical divisions—cultivation, processing, and retail—all being women-led.

This has gained Rair recognition and respect within the cannabis space, and he battle between canna- aches and pains, not to mention the it hopes to help pave the way for more bis and professional pressures and strain of being in the women-led brands. sports has been long public eye. After a storied career in the The launch of Rair’s Ben Wallace and tiring. Still, we’ve NBA with the Detroit Pistons, Wallace line is set for April 2022. It will be seen a steady increase in athletes discovered that cannabis more effecavailable at all Rair cannabis dispenstanding up to the historical stigma tively and safely helped him cope with saries throughout Michigan, including against cannabis, including right here these ailments than medications he’d Rair’s newest store in Kalamazoo, in Michigan. Many of these athletes been prescribed throughout his career. which also opens in April. For more argue that they can better manage Wallace’s experiences and hope to information, visit rairco.com. their health concerns—both physical change perceptions about cannabis and mental—using cannabis rather align with Jackson-based Rair Co.’s than other forms of medication. own mission, which soon led to a partAs a professional athlete for much nership between the NBA legend and Rair Cannabis of his life, NBA Hall of Famer Ben Rair. “Rair is serious about growing Cannabis Prodcuer and Dispensary Wallace is no stranger to chronic quality products and ending the stigma rairco.com

NBA legend and Hall of Famer Ben Wallace is partnering with Michigan’s Rair Co. to launch an exclusive line of the highest-quality cannabis.

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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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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 58

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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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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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P R O M OT I O N A L F E AT U R E OUNCES PROVISIONING CENTER

Welcome to the Neighborhood New player Ounces has a unique take on how to run a customer friendly dispensary.

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Located in the quaint town of Sturgis, just a few miles from the Indiana border, the provisioning center offers its guests an exceptional

offering the best to its local community, the company set up its own cultivation facility nearby and brought in an incredible team to shepherd the plants from seed to bud. Now, it has a lineup of high-quality and well-curated strains that offers something for everyone in its in-house brand.

experience from the moment they walk through the front doors. That’s because the adult-use and medical cannabis facility has made it its goal to create a dispensary designed to meet each user’s individual needs.

“As one of the newest entrants into the Michigan cannabis market, we knew that we wanted to focus from day one on the health and happiness of our clients,” says Rodney Gold, owner and CEO. “That meant elevating the cannabis market in our own Ounces Provisioning Center special way.”

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P R O M OT I O N A L F E AT U R E SCOTT & ITOH

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n the ever-changing universe that surrounds the cannabis industry, one thing is certain: consumers are always looking for new and exciting ways to partake in cannabis consumption. That has led to many brands and retailers to the drawing board to create new pipes, vapes, and other innovations.

But, having an idea and bringing it to fruition are two vastly different things, especially if you want to create something out of metal.

Luckily for creators in Michigan, there is the Scott & Itoh Machine Company in Madison Heights. Expert at machine fabrication, it has a long

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COURTESY PC PURE

Local Heroes

co-founders (they’re not big on formal titles) have been friends since before PC Pure founders Heath Armbruster and Bill Welch have built a they can remember— they even married sisters brand with trust and integrity at the heart of all they do—and (Heath met his wife at these local boys continue to push a commitment to quality in a Bill’s wedding). That deep friendship means rapidly changing industry. the two understand each TEXT DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN other in a way many business partners can’t— Heath Armbruster’s rigorous processes and sion is formulating and they can fight like brotha Michigan fan. Bill testing in the industry. manufacturing for the ers; they respect their Welch’s a Michigan State Credit that business cannabis industry, which specific strengths; they fan. Despite, or perhaps savvy to their ability to he has been doing since have the same goals. The because of, that built-in complement each other’s 2009. Their business proof is, of course, in the adversary, they run a skills. Welch is a serious runs like a family and product—PC Pure makes tight business—PC Pure control and operations the pair is dedicated to high quality gummies, is a cannabis company expert; Armbruster making consumers feel mints, and concentrates. dedicated to providing has done everything that trust and care.

To let us in on what quality product backed from tend bar to deal Growing up in Saline, makes a good cannabis by some of the most poker—but his pasMichigan, the two business work, Heath and

stability. We’re using the best surfactant system to make sure that our product has a long shelf Your quality standards life and doesn’t separate in the drink. Our go above and beyond legal requirements (but resin is another example.

We want a really high higher standards may be coming in the future). potency with the most pristine terpene profiles, You have your own lab a quality product that testing on site. Why is delivers exactly what you it important to do this are looking for. When and why should your it comes to gummies, customers care? sourcing good oil and Heath: We really pride making sure the oil has ourselves on using the best ingredients and the a high potency is key.

We don’t want a lot of best equipment, knowunknowns in there. ing everything that we source is high quality.

We don’t want any heavy How do you think this focus on quality metals or pesticides or resonates with your anything like that. We customers? make sure that everyBill: I feel people really thing is dosed properly. appreciate our dediSo when you eat a 2mg cation to formulating mint, you’re getting products sourced from 2mg. Homogeneity is only quality ingredients. really big with us as well. Michigan has really We thoroughly vet our suppliers and require strict standards.

Bill: Our beverage line is COAs [certificates of authenticity] for everya really quality product with proven shelf thing. We have received

COURTESY PC PURE

Bill took the time to talk to Sensi about their business and their products.

great feedback from customers and it feels wonderful. We love all of our Purists!

You two are as close as brothers. How does that kind of deep friendship transfer to a business relationship?

Heath: We have been friends since we were six years old. We grew up in the same neighborhood.

We played together, went to the same high school. Our parents went to the same high school. So it works. Bill was willing to take a risk with me and that’s how we got started.

Bill: It doesn’t always work out well with people you’re close with.

Heath and I have an uncanny ability to really separate the business and the personal. It’s funny. We make our wives uncomfortable.

We make our employees uncomfortable. We’ll go at it. But we have

the ability to go at it like brothers and then it’s over. We’re both passionate guys, both stubborn guys, but, at the end of the day, we can just set it aside and really get at it.

What challenges do you face in this business?

Heath: I had to hide the fact that I was in the business from my extended family. I told my mom in 2014 and my dad’s family in 2016. I told my mom because I was tired of keeping it a secret and I moved to Florida for a little while. I wanted to move back to Michigan so bad that I had to open up about it. My grandma died in September 2016 and I never wanted her to know. So after she passed away, I told my family at Christmas. My wife and kids, however, have been supportive all along. I couldn’t do it without them.

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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.

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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

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

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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 MediThS P R I N G 2 02 2

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.”

COURTESY MEDITHRIVE

TEXT DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN