Sensi Magazine Oklahoma - Spring 2022

OKLAHOMA SPRING 2022

MEET THE

GANJIERS The certified masters of weed

REDEMPTION

SONG

The rise of Carter Creek

TOP SHOPS

Fan-favorite dispensaries

HOW TWO LOCALS RETURNED HOME TO SUPPORT THEIR SMALL TOWN

COUNTRY

CANNABIS

@zenoacanna

weedmaps.com/brands/zenoa

www.zenoacanna.com

Cannabis With Class...

ALL GLASS. No Atomizer ™ Just daab !

Available now. Buy yours today.

@getispire | @ispire

OKLAHOMA SENSI MAGAZINE SPRING 2022

sensimediagroup @sensimagazine @sensimag

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FEATURES

34

40

Workingman’s Weed

The founders of Country Cannabis see more than an opportunity to lead the booming industry in Oklahoma—Clint and Lisa Pyatt want to become stable-job creators and paradigm-shifting advocates in their beloved home state.

Redemption Song

The epic tale of Carter Creek Cannabis is more than a business success story. It’s the ballad of a former outlaw named Slim who believes we can all find a higher purpose in the plant.

DEPARTMENTS

11 EDITOR’S NOTE 18 THE LIFE Contributing to your health and happiness 12 THE BUZZ HIGHER SENSES Ganjiers News, tips, and tidbits to keep you in the loop FLOWER POWER Edie Parker’s colorful collectibles are made for friends in high places.

COOL KIDS These are the hippest names in the cannabis game.

CLASSY BREW Sip one at the Patriarch Craft Beer House and Lawn.

OK IS OKAY NECANN comes to Tulsa.

BIG BLUES What’s your favorite color?

CREATIVE THINKING Buy this book.

HIGH FIVE A fistful of stuff we love

are coming soon to top-tier dispensaries near you.

BEST OF OKLAHOMA

Fan-favorite dispensaries

48 THE SCENE Hot happenings and hip hangouts around town

THE JOY OF THE ONE-HIT WONDER The key to life?

Savor that single toke.

BIG O A new line of “cannagasmic” products created by women

50 THE END

ON THE COVER

Country Cannabis CEO Clint Pyatt savors one of his brand’s new 25mg infused root beers. He’s wearing a Cowboy Cup belt buckle; Country Cannabis was a gold sponsor for the 2021 event, which Altvm (@altvum), who provided the buckle for this cover shoot, won for best indoor flower. See page 34.

PHOTO BY CASEDGOD / CASEDGOD.COM

Visit the giant bronze buffalo at Medicine Park.

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The Rockies Just Got Higher Now Available in Colorado, South Dakota, Arizona and Oklahoma. @Country.Cannabis

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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M

EDITOR’S NOTE

Magazine published monthly

by Sensi Media Group LLC.

© 2022 Sensi Media Group. All rights reserved.

My dad was a Sooner.

He played football for Oklahoma

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.

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

in the 1960s as a walk-on. I’m lucky enough to have been gifted his college sweatshirt and it’s one of my prized possessions. It’s tucked in a safe box in my closet because, for a while there, I was wearing it so often it started to get threadbare. It’s so soft, wonderful, enveloping, like a hug from my dad. I feel so much pride when I wear it.

I just may have to break it out of its special storage for the Sensi Night event in Oklahoma City on March 31, when we’ll be celebrating the launch of this magazine, Sensi Oklahoma. But anyone who’s been to one of our events in any city across the country will tell you that Sensi Nights aren’t really about us—they’re a celebration of the local cannabis community.

And what a community it is here in Oklahoma.

Sensi cofounder Ron Kolb and his wife Jade moved to Oklahoma at the start of this year to help our local team prepare for this launch. They’ve fallen in love with the state—and with the people driving the progressive cannabis industry here—and their excitement is contagious. They caught it from you guys.

There’s a buzz, a swirling sort of energy, vibrating around the Oklahoma market and everyone I talk to who was around in Colorado at the start of its first-in-the-nation experiment with legalizing cannabis says it reminds them of that incredible era.

These ripples of euphoria emanate from the pioneering people and businesses who are not just launching cannabis companies but also deeply reshaping their communities. The cannabis industry does more than produce products for people to purchase; it creates huge impacts, reshaping health, politics, rural culture, and criminal justice.

The raw beauty of this industry is its power to make the world a better place.

Sensi is a celebration of the people and businesses powering change in their communities. It’s our way of saying thank you to the home-grown farmers, the innovative producers, the local shops that connect the plant with the people. You’re making the world a better place.

We’re excited to tell your stories.

The raw beauty of this industry is its power to make the world a better place.

Cheers,

Steph Wilson @stephwilll

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Fashion Meets Flower

The first brand to fully merge the worlds of fashion and flower, Flower by Edie Parker is a line of cannabis and smoking accessories that portrays—no surprise—the same clever, fashion-forward wit as its namesake, Edie Parker, the accessories brand known for its signature acrylic clutch handbags. (We’re partial to a pink one emblazoned with a cursive “weed” in big, bold letters—subtlety is overrated.)

“Edie Parker is all about surprising and delighting and displaying your accessories— showing them off, whether it’s a handbag or an ashtray,” says the brand’s founder Brett Heyman. Under her direction, Edie Parker launched Flower by Edie Parker in early 2019, not just as a cannabis-adjacent accessories line but as an actual cannabis line with Edie Parker Flower THC products available in states including California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Michigan.

The progression into cannabis came naturally for the Edie Parker team. Riding the high of the successful launch of its home collection in 2016, the small, all-female group knew there was still so much more it could do. The fashionable women with refined-yet-playful sensibilities began talking about “the lack of considered—and frankly pretty—cannabis accessories,” Heyman shares. “Everything in our experience has been either something you buy in a head12

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PHOTO COURTESY OF EDIE PARKER

Flower by Edie Parker’s colorful mid-century-inspired collectibles are made for friends in high places.

CONTRIBUTORS

PHOTOS (FROM TOP): COURTESY OF SUPERETTE, EDIE PARKER

Debbie Hall and Sensi staff

shop or something extremely masculine, or something that felt very medicinal or like things you hide away in your drawer.”

The line is cheeky in the best of ways, with nary a fan leaf marring any of the offerings. “We’re accessory designers,” Heyman laughs. “We would never do something that obvious. We are used to marketing products that can infer something. You know what it’s for—you know it’s end use— but it doesn’t have to be hitting you over the head.” (The limited-edition “This is How I Roll” t-shirt collection that dropped earlier this year exemplifies this sentiment. See the one picturing two fried eggs and the phrase “these are your boobs on drugs” for proof.)

Elsewhere in the very giftable Flower by Edie Parker line are stash jars, hard-edge lighters, grinders, rolling trays, joint clips, doob tubes (“supHerb storage containers”), “Weedie Parker” smell-proof stash bags, and a bunch of other colorful covetables. But what we covet the most are the tabletop lighters, which start at $450 and come nestled inside their own ashtrays—because that’s how they roll.

BY THE NUMBERS

5

TH PLACE

Where cannabis ranks on the list of the most valuable crops in the US, which is above cotton and below wheat. Legal cannabis is the single-most-valuable agricultural crop in Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Oregon.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Agriculture data

5,022,990

LBS.

Weight of weed that is harvested every year at legal grows on the 13,042 licensed farms in adult-use states

57 POOLS How many Olympicsized swimming pools that happy harvest could fill.

For comparison, that’d be more than 2 billion joints.

SOURCE: Benzinga

Sup reWork Sweet Nature Crewneck ($120), Superette & 4ye Vintage garments made modern with handdrawn illustrations depicting cannabis culture make every item in the Superette + 4ye collab a win.

DOPE STYLE We have been keeping our eyes on these brands—the coolest kids in cannabis right now. Except for the grannies. They’re the hippest grannies in the game.

Fleur Marché is the one-stop-shop for rigorously vetted, top-tier CBD products and brands. Tokyo Smoke, the hip Canadian shop for the sophisticated and curious cannabis explorer, is for “those who embrace high design and alternative states of mind.”

Mister Green is a lifestyle brand and retailer that distinguishes itself through “a minimalist design sensibility and dedication to a new cultural perspective.” Miss Grass is a brand on a mission to make the world good at weed. (We’re obsessed with the “Good at Weed” sweatpants.) Designer Adam Lippes is a partner in the LGBTQ-owned and led Farnsworth Fine Cannabis in the Berkshires, where the luxury dispensary is stocked with vintage accessories, including an old lighter of Jack Kerouac. Sundae School is where cannabis meets casual streetwear collections. House of Puff makes luxury smoking accessories for the modern woman and was founded by a former art mag editor—and we're obsessed. Superette is a retail brand dedicated to “creating moments of delight” and making buying cannabis and accessories as enjoyable as consuming it.

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“Growers tip of the day” Love Everybody It’s more than just a statement. It’s been our way of life and how together, we’ve grown great cannabis for over 30 years.

Carter Creek Cannabis, led by “Slim” and Icy Melts Solvent-less, led by “Senior”, are two of the finest brands to have emerged from the Oklahoma medical cannabis market. Our mission as a unified one, is “to improve the quality of people’s lives through the cannabis we grow and process”. This is why we focus on growing our cultivars as organically as possible and why Icy Melts only makes solvent-less infused products.

Making the cleanest cannabis products for the patients of Oklahoma is our number one priority. Our emphasis on clean medicine and the most exotic cultivars in our state has led us to meet some of the most talented breeders/pheno hunters in the world. Special thanks to Rasta from Beleaf Cannabis and Jay from Phresh Harvest for blessing us with our 2022 lineup of amazing breeder-cut genetics. Chimera #2 , Peanut Butter Cookies 44 F2, and Sherbert Cream Cakes, just to name a few.

Dropping in dispensaries all over Oklahoma on 4-20-22.

Sales@highsandlowsbrokerage.com https://highsandlowsbrokerage.com/ @cartercreekcannabis & @icymeltssolventless leaflink.com/menu/icy-melts-solventless/

THE BUZZ

Creative Thinking

PHOTO (LEFT) COURTESY OF PILGRIM SOUL

You like art; you like thoughts; you like pot—buy this book.

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, and 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.”

Get the book, get high, and spend a few hours losing yourself in the mental playground. You’ve already seen everything on Netflix anyway. $30 / pilgrimsoul.com

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/ 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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THE BUZZ

A Cold One

History and beer bring fun to the Patriarch Craft Beer House and Lawn.

The Patriarch Craft Beer House and Lawn has transformed a three-story house in Edmond into an all-American craft beer bar.

Built in 1903 by William M. Hunt, the restored “Hunt House” is a place to enjoy ales, lagers, saisons, blondes, wheats, stouts, and sours made by local and national breweries. Upscale bar food includes molasses-glazed Brussels sprouts, loaded fritters, and pork belly potato skins. Along with build-your-own-burger and sliders, sides of fries add to the casual atmosphere.

The house has maintained its charm in its conversion to a public space. Enjoy the yard-turned-patio, as well as the food-truck port, outdoor facilities, a walk-up window, and outdoor games.

The Patriarch Craft Beer House & Lawn / 9 E. Edwards St. / Edmond thepatriarchedmond.com

Favorite Color?

PHOTOS (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT) BY PRODUCT SCHOOL; GERSON REPREZA; MATTHEW MCBRAYER

MEDICINAL BUSINESS NECANN brings guidance to medical cannabis industry.

Oklahoma became the 30th state in the US to legalize medicinal cannabis in 2018. Now, the medical cannabis industry is thriving and NECANN is bringing its canna-convention to Tulsa. The event covers practically every facet of the industry, including genetics, hydroponics, cultivation products, and inventory tracking. Exhibitors showcase products and services with the opportunity for attendees to engage with cannabis industry professionals.

Learn about legal and licensing issues. For retailers, find POS and management software. Looking for investment?

Private equity and investment resources will be available.

Connect with resources for training, education, security services, equipment, and testing. Get information about patient advocacy, diversity, and inclusion for medicinal providers. Plus, find solutions for storage, packaging, dosing equipment, patient education, medical experts, displays and fixtures, grow lights, and hemp at the convention.

People in Oklahoma embrace blue.

Surprising new research by Singulart has revealed blue to be American’s favorite color for 39 out of 50 states, including Oklahoma. Purple is the nation’s second favorite, followed by green, red, and pink. Beige is America’s least favorite color, followed by brown, silver, gold, and indigo.

“Our research reveals just how personal our favorite colors are to us, even as we grow older.

So often, these colors influence certain decisions with many of us opting to decorate our homes in colors that make us feel calm and happy, bring art to life in certain shades, or even experiment using colors we feel represent our personality,” explains Marion Sailhen, chief curator at Singulart.

When making their choices, 39 percent of respondents said it was their favorite color when they were little, 23 percent said it reminded them of things they love, and 17 percent said it reminds them of happy memories.

Singulart / singulart.com/en

The Oklahoma Cannabis Convention / April 23-24 / Expo Square / 4145 E. 21st St. / Tulsa / necann.com/oklahoma

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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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c

w

is

en

l l a w g o n m i l la love cann ab o h

CONNECT WITH YOURSELF AND OTHERS IN CITIES AROUND THE GLOBE

TOKEATIVITY.COM/CONNECT

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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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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simply helping and friendly!

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THE LIFE DISPENSARIES

Top Picks

Dispensaries go above and beyond.

PHOTO BY PLANTS FOR PERSEPHONE

TEXT DEBBIE HALL

These Oklahoma dispensaries provide the best of cannabis, including flower, edibles, cartridges, concentrates, topicals, gear, and chews. Quality products, knowledgeable staff, and safe, comfortable environments make these dispensaries shine in the eyes of customers and Sensi Oklahoma.

Dab and Go

5 SE 89th St. / Oklahoma City / (405) 724-9235 / @TheDabandGo

Dab and Go strives to provide dedicated care, service, and top-quality,

premium-grade cannabis products directly to its clients. Its mission is to provide the community with a safe and reliable resource for fulfilling the needs of medicinal cannabis and cannabis concentrates, including edibles, vapes, and flower.

A top recommender says: “Amazing place for high-end products. If you are new to solventless or an old hand, you will have a good experience here. You can walk in and just grab a G of a

bomb squish or get good info from knowledgeable staff and some terp training. They also have gear if you need your first rig or some 12x.”

The Peak Dispensary thepeakok.com

With five locations across Oklahoma, including Quail Springs and NW36th and May (Oklahoma City), Edmond, Bricktown, and Moore, The Peak Dispensaries are owned and operated by locals.

With a goal to help patients in Oklahoma find

the medicinal cannabis they need, all stores are designed to offer a premium experience.

This network of dispensaries offers the highest quality organic and pesticide-free cannabis in Oklahoma.

A top recommender says: “This is my top favorite dispensary. Every single worker is knowledgeable and always has the best attitude. They have a big selection, and the store’s layout is one of my favorite things about it, too. It makes it easier to find what you want or need and not feel pressured to hurry. If you need some fireweed and a good talk, this would be where you want to go.

All-around amazing!”

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THE LIFE DISPENSARIES

Green Doctor 420

PHOTOS (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT) COURTESY OF GREEN DOCTOR 420; BY GRAV; COURTESY OF MANGO

greendoc420.com

The popularity of Green Doctor 420 is evident in its nine locations, including Oklahoma City, Del City, Edmond, Moore, Norman, Nichols Hills, and Hefner. Winner of Best of Weedmaps 2021, Green Doctor 420 was founded with a vision to create a completely accessible and welcoming environment, as well as an immersive experience. Green Doctor 420 features a team of budtenders who are trained experts in cannabis and its benefits—and these individuals love their jobs, where they offer the best products.

A top recommender says: “Green Doctor 420 is hands down the best dispensary in town. They have good quality weed, never dry, and I’m never disappointed. All the budtenders are awesome; they make you feel so welcomed. I love it here.”

The Greens of Central Oklahoma

3401 NW 23rd St., Oklahoma City thegreensofcentralok.com

The Greens of Central

creativity. There are over 19 flavor profiles, including earthy, sweet, spicy, pungent, herbal, and flowery. Try pine, as well as berry, lemon, citrus, mint, coffee, and vanilla.

Rose, apple, woody, grapy, cheese, blueberry, and Oklahoma offers a wide pine add to the essences. range of more than 50 As for strains, sweetness strains of flower, ediincludes gelato, lemon, bles, and concentrates, cookie dough, wedding including brands Envy, cake, and Kush mints.

Smokiez Edibles, TasTry pink rozay, diesel, ties, and The Craft. cereal milk, or biscotLocally grown, organic, and tested medicinal ti for a different flavor. cannabis products, along Gushers, gas, MAC#1, Hawaiian Punch, Jealouwith a warm environment, make this dispen- sy, and Trinity round out the list. sary a favorite. Locally A top recommender owned, the dispensary offers a veteran discount says: “Georgia Pie was with military ID: 15 per- off the chain amazing for cent off the entire order. the membrane, freshbaked peach pie burnA first-time patient discount of 10 percent off ing crisply on the inhale. the initial order comes This place is super awewith a penny pre-roll. some, with very friendA top recommender says: ly, very social staff and always new flower.”

“This dispensary is mad cool! The staff is very chill and laid back. It’s a really cool vibe, with great prices and good quality products, a wide range of options. The bottom line is it is a good time.”

Mango mangocannabis.com OG Farma 1801 SE 44th St. Suite A, With five locations in Oklahoma City / og-farma.wm.store Tulsa, Edmond, NorOG Farma features hyman, Lawton, and brid, indica, and sativa Oklahoma City, Manflower to produce desired go employs budtenders effects, including relaxwho are highly knowlation, happiness, energy, edgeable, helping cussleepiness, arousal, or tomers select the best

options for their needs.

All stores are safe, clean, and welcoming places to shop. Mango offers a large variety of thoroughly vetted, high-quality cannabis products. All first-time guests receive a 20 percent discount.

A top recommender says: “I have been here twice, and both times were excellent experiences. I go in for the 20 for 100 deal, and the budtenders are always so patient and are kind enough to go through each concentrate at a reasonable pace. One of the best selections in Oklahoma with the best bulk deals for sure.

Service is on point every time and definitely a must-try.”

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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

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 S P R I N G 2022

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COUNTRY CANNABIS SET UP SHOP IN THE SMALL TOWN OF WILBURTON WHEN OWNERS CLINT AND LISA PYATT MOVED BACK HOME. THEY SEE THE OPPORTUNITY NOT JUST TO LEAD THE INDUSTRY, BUT MORE SO TO BECOME ADVOCATES AND JOB PROVIDERS IN THE PLACE THEY LOVE. TEXT AARON H. BIBLE PHOTOS CASEDGOD

C

lint Pyatt, third generation Oklahoman, cannabis pioneer, and founder and CEO of Country Cannabis, is deep in meetings with leaders of the Native Nations tribes in Massachusetts.

From here, he is heading to upstate New York to meet with the Mohawk Tribe, then down to Florida to meet with leaders from the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes. After that, he’s headed to Arizona and the Gila Tribe. He considers these visits essential to doing business in his home state. And these efforts to involve and give back to Native people when it comes to the benefits of the cannabis industry are just one of the things his brand is doing differently from the ground up.

“The Native Nations are very dear to me for many reasons,” Pyatt says. “Growing up in Oklahoma, and coming back, it’s a different perspective, a different opportunity. I want to help them grow their cannabis industry, develop products that work within their communities, and bring more revenue to them.”

Officially based in Tulsa but rooted in Wilburton, Oklahoma, husband-and-wife team Clint and Lisa, Pyatt (as well as a large extended family who all work at the business) have catapulted their brand into an all-encompassing force in the industry. Country Cannabis is a grower, cultivator, processor, distributor, and maker of

edibles, as well as the operator of a small dispensary in Wilburton.

The Pyatts brought their family back from California when Oklahoma green-lighted medical marijuana sales and cultivation in the state as part of its widely touted green rush that began about four years ago.

Their mission was to use their cannabis experience to lead the industry in the Sooner State—but to keep it real, keep it local.

“We want to be sure Oklahoma does right by this industry,” Clint says. “We’re here for everyone. We like to keep our prices reasonable and our products accessible so that everyone can have the medicine they need and want. We like to say we’re the working man’s weed.”

After a six-year stint in the Marines, Clint settled in California and founded and ran a company (he can’t say the brand name because of an NDA) that became one of the pioneers of extraction and, later, CBD production. He undertook first-level extractions to get the distillate and oils from their plants before that market had been commoditized. “We went out and bought our own equipment,” he says. “Everybody wanted to know where we got the raw material. So we were making product and selling to some of the bigger guys in the space.” Operating in Orange County and San Diego, at one point, his brand was making 30 liters of distillate a week and became a huge oil provider.

“The machinery wasn’t what it is today. You could blow yourself up; any number of things could have happened,” he says.

But that experience and success in California meant the Pyatts were able to bring a high level of maturity to the fledgling cannabis scene in Oklahoma. And this state is fertile ground for the business. According to the Nebraska Public Media network, “Observers have referred to Oklahoma as ‘the only free-market marijuana industry in the country,’ with 10 percent of the state’s population carrying medical marijuana cards.”

The outlet reported that regulators estimate medical marijuana is already a billion-dollar industry in the state, second only to oil and natural gas.

“Oklahoma is very down home,” says Cint. “Here, we have a huge opportunity to change lives.”

BEING THE CHANGE Country Cannabis is based in an old Weatherford Oil building, a fitting location for the state’s fastest-growing industry; this area in southeast Oklahoma historically relied on the economic mainstays of oil, coal, and natural gas. And that connection to place gives the brand a high level of authenticity in the state. “What makes us stand out is that our brand resonates with multiple generations, multiple types of people,” Pyatt says. “We treat all of our patients and client base the same. We go out of our way to make things right.

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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

We’ve never had any issues getting into a new dispensary because usually someone has heard of us, or smoked one of our products, or taken an edible, and they know that we care and do things the right way.”

As the extractive mining industries continue to fluctuate, the cannabis industry is creating a bit of stability in rural Oklahoma. “This tiny little town has been through a lot—all the industry that has passed through the building, how commerce affects small towns, keeping small towns alive,” says Lisa Pyatt, who serves as CMO. “One of our biggest things is giving back to the community in Wilburton, helping out with the Christmas tree when people aren’t going to have it, when someone has passed away. We’re philanthropic, and it’s so important for us to give back to the community, especially the smaller communities.”

Country Cannabis currently employs 63 people. “It’s not the largest, but it’s given us an opportunity to bring some industry and provide some jobs,” Pyatt says. “There’s nothing down there. You’ve got a couple of businesses, but for the most part, it’s not a lot.” In Wilburton, Country Cannabis runs an indoor and outdoor cultivation, an extraction and processing facility, and a kitchen for edibles and pre-rolls. “We make almost all of our products that come from the material that we grow and manufacture off of that. All the concentrates, we make ourselves. We are truly seed to sale,” he explains.

“Up in Tulsa, we have a much larger kitchen where we manufacture for white label and partner brands; we have a facility in Oklahoma City that’s manufacturing pre-rolls and other products,” Clint says. “We’re in a large number of dispensa-

ries, about 800-plus that have been around and consistent just in Oklahoma.” Country Cannabis offers more than 300 SKUs, including new root beer and watermelon sodas.

The Pyatts’ commitment to Oklahoma goes deeper than their hometown, however. Lisa wants the brand to be an advocate for the industry in the state, a force that can help destigmatize and educate.

“It’s important to participate and share our voice,” she says. “We are well rooted and respected here. We want to help elevate and extend the industry here.” To that end, Country Cannabis sponsors numerous events in Oklahoma—Bud Ten-

der Awards, MJ BizCon—and the brand will be the official cannabis sponsor of the Tulsa Oilers hockey team (part of the Anaheim Ducks organization) at the Bank of Oklahoma Center. “We get out there and spread knowledge and awareness about our brand,” Lisa says.

Country Cannabis is especially focused on how cannabis can help veterans and is currently working on a program that will directly benefit vets via the sale of cannabis. Clint served tours in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, as well as time in Africa, so he and Lisa, who also briefly served before getting pregnant, understand first-hand the effects of

TASTY BEVERAGE Country Cannabis just launched new infused Root Beer and Watermelon drinks in collaboration with OKC Soda Co. Made with bioavailable technology for fast-acting use, they dose at 25mg a bottle. okcountrycannabis.com

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PTSD on veterans—and the benefits of cannabis as treatment. “We know cannabis helps with PTSD and anxiety, and we want to educate veterans and the government about it,” says Clint. “It’s important to us that we help veterans move away from opioids and opioid addiction.”

they wanted to support their home where they see the possibilities for more growth due to the way Oklahoma, which has taken a free-market approach to cannabis with no limits on licenses, regulates the industry.

“Oklahoma has paved the way for a free-market society that allowed us to come in and hit the ground SOONER THE BETTER running and provide maturity to the The success of Country Cannabis, market. Years of experience in maboth economically and as a force for ture markets gave us a leg up,” Clint social change, all comes back to the says. “It’s an open market here, and way legal cannabis has played out that may not always bode well for in its home state. Clint Pyatt says the individuals getting involved bethat when Oklahoma passed its first cause of the capital expenditure. Just medical and cultivation laws in 2018, because you open a shop doesn’t he and Lisa made the decision to mean it’s going to be successful. The stay in the industry but not compete out-of-multi-state operators have with themselves in California. And been waiting to get in. But I hire

from here. I grew up here. I never want to lose that small-company feel. I’m always conscious of where we’ve been and where we want to be when this shakes out federally, because it’s coming. I’m not going to be with big pharma or one of the big alcohol companies. If I can keep providing product at a fair price, I’m going to do it for as long as I can.”

“Oklahoma is not a mature market,” Lisa says. “There’s still wonder around the industry and the plant. We want to create a legacy here. We want to think about the industry we’re creating for future generations. People hand down businesses here. It’s about family as much as it is about helping and making a difference.”

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. Aaron 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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TEXT DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN PHOTOS CASEDGOD

THE EPIC TALE OF CARTER CREEK CANNABIS IS

MORE THAN THE STORY OF A RENEGADE NAMED SLIM. This is the tale of an industry rising up from the shadows and making cannabis a means by which we can all find a higher purpose.

T

he story of Slim and Queen Bee reads like a good country song. The founder of Carter Creek Cannabis, Slim (as he wants to be known), who grew up in the Ouachita mountains in the southeast corner of the state, just celebrated his 45th birthday. “March 21, the first day of the Zodiac,” he tells me, settling into his office. “Not long after I was born, Elvis died.” On his 16th birthday, Slim was incarcerated for growing marijuana. Years in the dark followed, spiraling into issues with methamphetamines and a deal with a judge that saved his life. Now, he’s found redemption in his Christian faith as well as in the very place where the troubles of his youth began: growing (now-legal) cannabis. Working with a revolutionary fertilizer developed by NASA, Carter Creek is primed to supercharge the industry in Oklahoma.

THE LIE DETECTOR Slim’s parents were respectable citizens—his dad, a banker—who had

nothing to do with growing weed.

“They never messed with any of that stuff,” Slim says. But Slim’s best friend and neighbor’s father was growing and even exporting Oklahoma cannabis to the marijuana-grow epicenter of Humboldt County, California. “He was a big-time outlaw,” says Slim. “If you looked up ‘outlaw’ on the internet, you’d come up with a picture of him.”

Despite the harsh sentencing laws in place in 1990, growing didn’t seem like a big deal to 13-year-old Slim. “Back then it was 30 to life for a cultivation charge in the state of Oklahoma, not counting federal time,” he says. “But we were young kids, and we figured if we got caught, we’re minors—the feds aren’t going to mess with us.” And when he did get arrested at 16, he was able to avoid serious charges.

Slim was a star baseball player in high school. The University of Oklahoma recruited him. He tried out for major league teams and got a call back from the Florida Marlins. But that possible future fell apart when he began to develop a methamphetamine addic-

tion, which overtook his life by the time he was a senior. He was kicked off the baseball team, and the scouts didn’t call him back.

By 2001, his life was a haze of cooking meth, aimlessness, and running from the law. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, he turned himself in. “I watched 9/11 on the TV, and I said, ‘Man, you know the last thing the government needs to be wasting is its time on is looking for someone like me when they have some real terrorists to go look for,’” he says.

After serving 18 months in prison, he was out—and back at it again. He was hauled back in on a parole violation. The court put him in an Oklahoma drug court program that allowed him the chance to stay out of prison but face higher sentencing if he messed up (and, indeed, he grew pot the whole time he was in the program). On the day he was supposed to graduate, he was required to take a lie detector test and was asked if he was continuing to grow.

He admitted he was and figured that he was headed back to prison.

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He was shocked to find himself called to the graduation ceremony that day. Afterward, the judge confronted him on the court steps.

“He told me they knew I had been growing, even up to that day,” Slim says. “He told me he knew I had sinned through the whole program. He said he decided to stick his neck out for me and told me he was going to keep me out of prison because I told the truth on my lie detector test.” The judge struck a deal with Slim. He asked him to quit growing pot and to never break Oklahoma law for the rest of his life. Slim agreed. He gave it all up, and even stuck to the deal after the judge passed away in 2011.

“He could have put me in prison for 20, 30 years that day,” Slim says. “He didn’t because he believed in me. So I thought, I’m not gonna let this man down. And in October 2012, I was granted a full pardon by the governor.”

LEARNING CURVE TO THE MOON Things went well for a reformed Slim. He met his now wife, Queen Bee, soon after he was released,

“HE COULD HAVE PUT ME IN PRISON FOR 20, 30 YEARS THAT DAY. HE DIDN’T BECAUSE HE BELIEVED IN ME. SO I THOUGHT, I’M NOT GONNA LET THIS MAN DOWN.”

and they started having babies. He stayed away from drugs, including cannabis. He found a renewed power in his faith, in the grace of God. And then life took a weird twist. In 2018, the state of Oklahoma legalized medical cannabis.

The very substance that had started a cascade of trouble was now presenting an opportunity. Because, despite any of the perceived sins of his past, Slim knew how to grow cannabis—outside, that is.

He founded Carter Creek Cannabis with Brady Sorrell, and the two began intense research on the best methods to grow in the way they would need to for a viable, controlled business: inside. With legalization, cultivating cannabis had evolved into a science, an art.

“We didn’t have rules back when we grew,” he says. “So it was a big learning curve. It’s progressive science and nobody has it mastered. You have to be open and humble to learn new things.”

This was the new, reformed, revived Slim, a man with a second chance and an opportunity to learn and grow from the mistakes of his S P R I N G 2022

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youth. He had a vision to make Carter Creek not just a cannabis company, but a trusted brand that could bring all the best of the weed that once landed him in jail to people who were suffering and lost.

Carter Creek is moving at light speed. Last year, the brand won the High Times Cannabis Cup in Oklahoma and third place in the Cowboy Cup for its infused prerolls. The brand is partnering with other brands in the Sooner State, including Icy Melts Solventless, Beleaf Cannabis, and Fresh Harvest to craft new strains. On 4/20 this year, it will open Carter Mountain Dispensary, along with sister brand Mountain Fork Cannabis.

Credit that success to Slim’s dedication to doing things the right way, committing to organic growing processes, and his willingness to partner and learn from those around him. “I real-

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ly respect the craft of what he is doing,” says Icy Melts Solventless founder David Trujillo, known as “Senior,” who partnered with Slim on the Cannabis Cup-winning prerolls. “My goal is to find the best possible starting material. And I fell in love with the way Carter Creek was growing craft cannabis. Beyond that Slim and I really connected on our faith.” Trujillo moved down from Tulsa to collaborate more with Slim, and his son, Junior, works for Slim as a grower.

“At the forefront of what we’re trying to do is educating people on how we make our products, why they’re better for you,” says Trujillo. “We were always told that there was no medicinal value in this plant, but now we have learned that it’s one of the most effective natural holistic therapeutics known to man.”

The forward momentum of Carter Creek goes even deeper. The brand is also partnering with Brandon Rust, the founder of Bokashi Earthworks, and using a soil that was developed by NASA Agritech, which Rust distributes in the US. The soil uses lignite, an inert form of carbon, to hold nutrients, similar to a magnet, and then release them in the soil so that plants can make use of them. It’s far superior

to other fertilizers in which competing elements cancel each other out or simply get washed away.

“When you start attaching all these same molecules that the plants need to these carbon chains, they become 100-percent bioavailable,” Rust explains. “They don’t change or react in solution or in the soil. They stay there.” That makes for healthy plants as well as healthy bacteria and fungi in the soil, which creates a healthier system for indoor grows.

INSTAGRAM, OKLAHOMA, AND GOD With such a powerful origin story and now a blossoming business in a state that’s become a hotbed for innovative cannabis entrepreneurs, you’d think Slim would be happy to just enjoy the benefits of making it. But after traveling a life path from outlaw to benefactor, he’s more interested in the higher purpose of his endeavors.

“As I started to grow more in my late 20s, I started to learn to love the plant,” Slim says. “I realized I was growing life, that I got to be a part of something that was a whole lot bigger than me. I’d watch a seed sprout, pop the husk off, and then grow into this great, beautiful orange, pink, yellow purple, beautiful, perfect-smelling

plant. Now, growing indoor medical cannabis instead of outdoor weed, we’re actually making medicine that has to be dialed in just right. It’s changing people’s lives.”

Slim also has a profound love of his home state, not just for the judge who saw bigger potential in him when he was at bottom two decades ago, but also in the way Oklahoma has been so forward thinking when it comes to cannabis. “I want to thank the state of Oklahoma and the legislators for how they wrote the cannabis laws.

We have more pot here than California, yet the California market’s gonna collapse because they’re overtaxed and they have too much junk in their laws,” he says. “Oklahoma understands the bigger picture of cannabis. I also want to thank all of the citizens of Oklahoma for voting medical cannabis in.

And then I want to thank them all for voting in recreational, because it’s going to happen. We’re not shunned here in Oklahoma. It’s even accepted in the churches.”

That religious acceptance is essential to Slim, who was teaching Bible study before the pandemic hit. And he found reassurance in his faith and his business in an unlikely place: social media. He had been positioning his Instagram

“I REALIZED I WAS GROWING LIFE, THAT I GOT TO BE A PART OF SOMETHING THAT WAS A WHOLE LOT BIGGER THAN ME… NOW, WE’RE ACTUALLY MAKING MEDICINE THAT HAS TO BE DIALED IN JUST RIGHT. IT’S CHANGING PEOPLE’S LIVES.”

page to promote Carter Creek Cannabis, but he got caught up in the narcissistic emptiness of social media. “I’d make posts and comments on my page to try to sell my business, sell cannabis,” he says. “But my heart just wasn’t in it.” At the same time, he went through a rough patch selling an HVAC business he owned and trying to quit cigarettes. Then God spoke to him—about Instagram.

“I was thinking, what’s the purpose of all this crap that happened in my life? And it was as if God sat down beside me and said, ‘Son, I give you a platform with 18,000 followers. And what are you doing with it?’” Slim says. “He said, ‘Growing cannabis and life itself are the exact same thing.’ He told me to try to think about the process that gives this plant life, something that makes this plant survive in this environment, and you’re going to relate that to life itself and what people deal with. And that’s going to be your grower’s tip of the day.

(I mean, he even told me: grower’s tip of the day #farmerofmen). So that’s what I did. The cannabis is just a bonus and a vessel to get me from point A to point B.” Remember that when you read Slim’s tip of the day: there’s a higher purpose in everything he does.

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

Doug Schnitzspahn is Sensi’s executive editor.

His work has appeared in National Geographic, Men’s Journal, and the Colorado Sun.

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PHOTO BY CHASE FADE VIA UNSPLASH

One-Hit Wonder

The key to life? Savor The one-hit wonder. In the world of popular music, it’s a somewhat dismissive term. It’s a slight to the bands and artists who enjoyed one hugely successful song (think “MMMbop,” “Walking on Sunshine,” or “867-5309/Jenny”), then more or less disappeared into showbiz oblivion.

Personally, I would rather have one hit instead of none. And I often can.

That’s because at my house, the term “one-hit wonder” is shorthand for the cannabis cocktail hour, when, sometime around 5 or 6 p.m., I smoke one hit and instantly leave all the Zoom calls, texts, emails, pop-up schedules, news alerts and noise of the day behind.

It’s an incredibly liberating feeling. Opening the doors in my head to new ideas, suddenly solving problems to things that just an hour earlier I thought I might never quite figure out, thinking of how I really might finish writing a new book—The Ghost Hotel—this fall, or just kicking the soccer ball for my big dog, Moses, while I move the backyard hose around.

The concept of the onehit wonder is something I discovered researching my first book, The Monster, a

It’s the savoring of things, and sometimes the scarcity, that gives them meaning. It’s by that single toke. TEXT PETER KRAY being in the moment that kind of allegory about how funny Malamute-Labrador you heighten the pleasure and increase the memory mix we had nicknamed, we might take control of “The Mighty Burrito.” The of each event. And it’s the ways we confront the so much more enjoyable rolfer said, “You need to monsters in our personal than the monotony of stop looking at your feet lives—whether they be gluttony—of having so disease, mental strife, ad- so much when you walk. much of something that diction, or alcoholism—by Look where you’re going. the only remarkable Look at the horizon.” “turning a light on.” aspect is of how much you Which is something I During my research, can cram in your garage still think about when I I met a rolfer who was or stuff in your mouth. instrumental in helping my go for a long walk. Albeit You know that feeling the one-hit thing is what I wife and I on the path to you get when you first think about the most. At better health. Once, after the time I was writing that hear a song that you a particularly therapeutic book, it slowly dawned on know you will love forsession, I asked him how me that I was also writing ever, and every time you he managed the cycle of play it again, it takes you it to help myself. processing all of the hurt back to the first time you It was a period in my he was healing. Or, in other words, how he made life when I wasn’t satisfied heard it? That’s what I’m talking about. with just one of much sure he wasn’t holding I read once that when of anything. And canonto other peoples’ shit.

Brian Wilson, the Beach nabis—along with good He said, “Every night Boys founder and archibeer, bourbon, and crisp when I get home, before tect of the California surf reposado—was key to I walk in the house, I treating every day as part sound, first heard The smoke one hit then go of some extremely casual Ronettes classic wall of hold on to an iron rod in sound masterpiece, “Be long-working weekend, my courtyard until I feel My Baby,” he had to pull something Ernest Hemlike it’s all gone. Then I over to the side of the can go be with my family ingway called, “the fiesta road because it impacted concept of life” in his for the evening.” final—and I think finest— him so much. In 2013 he “One hit?” I said. told The New York Times, “That doesn’t seem near book, A Moveable Feast.

“In a way it wasn’t like The beauty of getting enough for all the probhaving your mind blown, back to one sublime molems you’re solving.”

But he was already back ment or lasting sensation, it was like having your mind revamped.” to focusing on my health— one perfect pint of cold That’s the way I feel IPA, one fine glass of piin particular, a lingering not noir with fresh pasta, when I enjoy my one hit at knee injury he thought the end of the day. Then I or one fragrant inhale of was exacerbated by my walk out onto my patio to the sweet leaf to rememreluctance to release my grief over the recent death ber the magic of each day look at the big, blue beautiful world, as I smile and was still a couple years of my dog Tobear, a barwonder about it all. down the tracks. rel-chested, willful, very

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

Peter Kray is the author of The God of Skiing. The book has been called “the greatest ski novel of all time.” Find it on Amazon.

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THE SCENE BODY AND SEX

Sex, Drugs, and Rock-n-Roll: oOYes

Get to know the groovy, sex-positive woman behind this new line of “cannagasmic” products created by women—for anyone who enjoys a good f*cking.

Founded in 2018, oOYes isn’t just another lube company—it’s a whole sex-positive lifestyle.

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you,” says Tanya Griffin, whose love affair with sex runs deep.

A badass businesswoman based in Denver, Griffin spent the last 30 years opening retail stores, restaurants, and dispensaries, creating products

focused on women’s and family health while she hopped continents and industries, working in everything from cannabis to financial services to software development— all while raising four kids.

With the launch of her

latest venture, oOYes, she can add an “ecstatic sex, experience-driven lifestyle brand” to her list of entrepreneurial ventures.

“I like to say that I’ve gone from colostrum to cannabis to cum,” Griffin says with an easy laugh.

PHOTO BY BINGHAM X

TEXT STEPHANIE WILSON

THE SCENE

PHOTO BY BINGHAM X

BODY AND SEX

Colostrum is a type of breastmilk, and Griffin was a lactation specialist early in her career. She transitioned into cannabis in 2014, joining The Green Solution to help build the first vertically integrated cultivation, manufacturing, and retail national franchise opportunity in the industry—a highly successful effort. The multistate dispensary chain was bought by Columbia Care in 2019 for $140 million.

Which brings us to the third C in that triple alliteration: cum.

The oOYes line of sex products is created to help you do just that; and they’re formulated with cannabis-derived terpenes and cannabinoids, so oOYes combines two of the Cs into a brand that exudes a 1960s mod-hippie sex-drugsand-rock-n-roll vibe. It’s a whole mood—and it’s a good one, if not a little bit forward. There’s a sex quiz featured frontand-center on the oOYes homepage that calculates your kink score by asking whether you’d be down to try sex acts that range from the basic (oral sex, sensual massage) to the extreme (foot jobs, swinging, anal fisting, so much more). Have your partner take the quiz as well, and find out where your kinks align, perhaps

opening both your eyes (and other orifices) to experiences you hadn’t realized were on the proverbial table.

The whole thing is very sex positive, as are the products, all of which feature a rock-nroll theme and a groovy 1970s-inspired branding.

Created and formulated by women, oOYes sex lubricants and wellness products have a subtle orange blossom flavor and feature plant-based botanicals, active terpenes, and minor and major cannabinoids including cannabigerol (CBG), cannabidiol (CBD), as well as patented BeeFused Superhoney.

While cannabis sexual product lines grow in popularity, the brands behind them tend to play it safe, with vibes that are clinical, possibly sensual.

But fun? Heavens, no!

That’s not how they roll baby roll at oOYes, as evidenced by the products themselves: Roll Baby Roll is a sex oil with BeeFused Honey and CBD. It’s oral friendly, vegan, gluten free, and safe to ingest.

“The bottle has a roller ball that you roll right onto your clitoris—and it feels so good,” Griffin says (she’s not lying).

Going Down is an oral sex elixer that combines sunflower oil, BeeFused honey, and orange blossom with CBD that tastes

delightful. Love Me Too, a sensual moisturizer “for your other lips,” features CBG and cannabinoid-rich honey. Start Me Up is a lickable glide that, according to the product description, is “crafted to rock your world while your partner gets to taste a subtle yet sweet orange blossom flavor. Made to encourage licking, sucking, and f*cking.”

Many of the products feature the brand’s Bee Wild tantric honey, which uses BeeFused patented technology where freerange bees organically feed on nectar made from hemp-derived cannabinoids, cannabis strains, and superfoods to create highly bioavailable, cannabinoid-rich raw honey.

“Bees do all the work!”

Griffin says. “Nothing is added, nothing is made in a lab. This is nature doing what it does best.”

Griffin says, “oOYes is sex forward and by no means shy.” And if it’s not clear yet, neither is she. The Denver-based entrepreneur loves sex, and she loves talking about sex—not in a sterile, clinical way, but not in an omg-TMI-please-stop way either. She just enjoys it, and she’s passionate about helping others enjoy it too. For her, it’s about creating experiences for people. “That’s why all the products are travel sized,

that’s why everything is tied to rock-n-roll. It’s all designed around how you feel, it’s about getting your mind in the right place, and—yes—using drugs to do it. Having fun with it in a nice way.”

And it all comes down to basic biology: sex is fun, and having more of it is good for you. Science backs this up: There are a ton of emotional and psychological benefits of getting busy, and sex is strongly linked to a better quality of life, offering both mental and physical benefits ranging from better self-image and higher rates of happiness to enhanced brain function.

“I freaking love sex,” Griffin continues. “I think it’s like eating and sleeping and everything else. oOYes founder Tanya I think everybody should Griffin is having fun in be having lots of it.” the sex space.

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THE END

MORE INFO

Medicine Park Music Hall and Event Center 140 E. Lake Drive, Medicine Park medicinepark.com

No Bellowing Aloud A bronze bison welcomes all to Medicine Park.

The Sentinel, a bronze sculpture of a bison, greets all visitors to the Medicine Park Music Hall and Event Center.

Created and designed by resident and sculptor Robert Errol Dean, the 15 total pieces of art here pay homage to the history of the resort town.

Dean’s sculptures grace Medicine Park, as well as Lawton and Norman.

Medicine Park, Okla50

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homa’s first resort town, was once the Medicine Park Summer Resort and Health Spa. Guests came for the healing qualities of nearby Medicine Creek. Over the years, the town lost its popularity with tourists.

When Medicine Park started to show its age in the 1980s, needing many repairs and restoration, residents came together to revitalize the area.

Cabins and other buildings were renovated, and the music and event center were opened. The sculptures were installed in 2003; The Sentinel was the first piece to go in.

The event center, including a nearly 100-year-old wedding venue, has views of the Wichita Mountains and Medicine Creek. Eightpane glass windows from the 1920s run the

length of the ballroom with original wood floors and high ceilings.

Bath Lake Lawn, Jack Laughter Park, and Hitchin’ Post Park add to the rustic appeal.

Lodging includes cabins, RV parks, and places to camp. Festivals are back with ParkStomp (March 18-20), April Fools Mountain Bike Festival (April 1-3), and The Roots Ball (May 27-29).

PHOTO BY J. PHILL

TEXT DEBBIE HALL

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