Category: Blog Post

Editors’ Note: This is the transcript version of the podcast. Please note that due to time and audio constraints, transcription may not be perfect. We encourage you to listen to the podcast, embedded below if you need any clarification. We hope you enjoy!

This week we are joined by Chris Becker, Co-Founder of Honey Bee Collective  to discuss:

• Employee-owned Company
• Compostable Packaging
• Indoor vs Outdoor Cannabis Flower

Honey Bee Collective: The Honeybee Collective was built by the community. Feedback collected from over 1,200 cannabis consumers and enthusiasts has shaped our company and what we stand for. We’re employee-owned and always will be, we’ll look to our community to guide our business, and we’ll prioritize sustainable decisions as we grow.

#Cannabis #CannabisCommunity #EmployeeownedCompany

At Eighth Revolution (8th Rev) we provide services from capital to cannabinoid and everything in between in the cannabinoid industry.

8th Revolution Cannabinoid Playbook is an Industry-leading report covering the entire cannabis supply chain 

The Dime is a top 50 Cannabis Podcast 

 Contact us directly at [email protected] Bryan Fields: @bryanfields24 Kellan Finney: @Kellan_Finney 

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[00:00:00]Bryan Fields: What’s up guys. Welcome back to that episode of the dime I’m Brian Fields. I’m with me as always as ke Finn this week. We’ve got a very special guest, Chris Becker co-founder of the honeybee collective Chris, thanks for taking the time. How you doing today?

[00:00:14]Chris Becker: I’m great, Brian, thank you so much for having me side dive in.

[00:00:17] Ke how are you doing?

[00:00:18]Kellan Finney: I’m doing really well excited to talk to, um, Another company operating out in Colorado on the west coast.

[00:00:24]Bryan Fields: How are you Brian? I’m doing well. I’m excited cuz Chris and I have Maryland roots as well. So there is some east coast ties there. So, so Chris, for our listeners that on friendly brought you, can you share a little background about

[00:00:34]Chris Becker: yourself?

[00:00:36] Sure thing. Uh, Chris Becker co-founder of the honeybee collective, we are a sustainable cannabis brand based outta Colorado. Um, our mission is to create community wealth and a sustainable future. We do that through employee ownership and sourcing the best environmentally, uh, friendly cannabis that we can find.

[00:00:53] Um, I, uh, have been in the cannabis industry about five years now. Uh, pretty much all [00:01:00] sales roles and a little bit of operational stuff. And, uh, wouldn’t wanna be in any other industry. Love it.

[00:01:07]Bryan Fields: So I, I wanna talk about like the origin of the honeybee collective. I know it’s employee own. Can you take us through like the early days?

[00:01:13] How, how did that conversation start? Where did the idea come and take us like kind of the origin concept

[00:01:18]Chris Becker: of it? Sure. So, uh, about two years ago now, I. We were, we removed the pandemic. Um, I wanted to start a company. I wanted to work with people that, um, I, I, I think are really impressive people and people that I enjoy being around.

[00:01:36] And I reached out to a group of about 15 people via email said, Hey, what would you think about starting a company? Um, I think it’s. Easy enough to start a private label cannabis company. And I think we have a real opportunity to reach consumers in a way that other brands currently don’t, um, meaningful messaging that resonates with them.

[00:01:56] And we could do some good in the world with the profits that we create. And that was the [00:02:00] premise that was, uh, enough to get a bunch of people on an interest all. Um, from there we deployed some surveys to see if this idea actually resonated with people who smoke weed. Uh, we. Several thousand people who identify as daily cannabis consumers respond to our survey and overwhelmingly supported it and said, yes, this is absolutely something that we are missing in the market.

[00:02:23] Um, and from there, we, we refined the idea, refined our positioning and did a lot of research to come up with this unique kind of employee owned structure.

[00:02:33]Bryan Fields: When getting started with it, were there hesitations like, Hey, this is gonna be harder, obviously, as you’ve seen everything in cannabis is a little challenging and then kind of taking a different path, right.

[00:02:42] With an employee owned or maybe from the onset and taking a, a path less traveled. Was there hesitations, were there initial challenges there that you can kind of expand upon?

[00:02:51]Chris Becker: Sure. Um, not a lot of hesitation. We had a lot of enthusiasm, but there certainly were a lot of initial challenges, um, from even the [00:03:00] kind of, uh, a non-revenue producing employee owned company is rather foreign.

[00:03:05] Most employee owned companies are a founder exit and they’re not like a startups. Um, so it was, it was kind of difficult to arrive at the corporate ownership structure. Um, we also had to go out and raise money and we had a lot of. I would say hesitant or lack of understanding, um, from, from investors. So, uh, we ended up crowdfunding and that was our solution to the, the money problem.

[00:03:35] What

[00:03:35]Kellan Finney: was it like launching a company in kind of like a saturated market, like Colorado? I

[00:03:39]Chris Becker: mean, right. The idea of a private label cannabis company actually works best in a saturated market. Um, a cannabis brands. Or what add value to a commodity product, right? Um, it’s either it’s form factor and it’s brand.

[00:03:57] Um, so we came up with some form [00:04:00] factors that, uh, daily cannabis consumers already are reaching for or, or want, um, more of, and we put our brand on it and we, uh, speak to consumers in a way that’s meaningful to them in terms of the, the values of the product and the values of the brand, which are the reasons that people support one company over.

[00:04:21] So when

[00:04:22]Bryan Fields: you’re sorry. Continue, go ahead. No, so, so when you’re forming the, the origin, right. And the investors have the questions to say, Hey, Chris, this sounds great, but like, how do I know that people are gonna be tied to this for the long term? Like, is this is more of like a concept that works better, like in theory versus actually on paper, are those, some of the questions you fielded than when you went through with the, the crowd.

[00:04:42] Did the investors also have similar questions? What did they get in exchange for equity? Was it access to information to the products? What, what was it exchange

[00:04:50]Chris Becker: in that moment? I think initial investors not being the daily cannabis consumer themselves were skeptical of the [00:05:00] consumer research that we had gathered that that said people would support our brand and.

[00:05:04] As an early stage brand, it’s reasonable to, with zero sales, it’s reasonable for an investor to go. I’m not sure that you’re gonna kill it in the market. Right. And, and despite founder enthusiasm, it’s okay for them to say, uh, I don’t know about this. Right. And they wanna see some sales and maybe they’ll invest next year.

[00:05:21] Um, when we went for the crowd funding, People asked very few questions because they very much related to what we stood for. Um, as an employee owned company that guarantees living wages and is trying to reduce waste and increase, uh, environmental friendly practices in the cannabis industry. All of those were things that people identified with and were willing to put their money towards the support.

[00:05:46] That’s awesome. Could you walk

[00:05:47]Kellan Finney: us through some of, uh, like the unique, sustainable, um, aspects of your guys’ company?

[00:05:54]Chris Becker: Absolutely. So number one is the employee ownership. We think that is, [00:06:00] um, The most sustainable corporate ownership structure in terms of fairness, equity for the people that are really creating value day to day in an organization.

[00:06:11] Um, I don’t think that excessive corporate pay is sustainable. Um, excessive. Pay disparities and wealth inequality on unsustainable trajectory that either requires, um, innovative solutions like employee ownership or complete systems change in revolution. And if the rich don’t wanna get eaten, I suggest that they sell some portions of their company to their employees.

[00:06:34] Um, So that’s number one in our sustainability efforts. Number two is we source cannabis. That’s grown using environmentally friendly practices. When I say that, I mean, greenhouse for outdoor grown flower, that’s not using a whole lot of high energy lights and, um, preferably little to know H V a C usage, um, and low inputs in as in, as [00:07:00] far as, uh, Fertilizers are concerned.

[00:07:04] So we prefer growers that use living soil, which is basically a natural ecosystem that feeds the plants rather than having to put commercial, agricultural inputs into the crop. Um, and then number three is our packaging. We, uh, we source all, uh, compostable or rec or recyclable packaging. So I wanna stay

[00:07:23]Bryan Fields: with the first topic and, and kind of the origination, the, of the team and how that works.

[00:07:28] So from a day to day standpoint, are the responsibilities split. And then how, how does the equity work? So people are making decisions. Is there someone in charge where it says, if there’s a disagreement amongst the members of the team, you know, we defer to this person, how, how did decisions be made? Cuz sometimes there has to be conflict among some of the team members in which direction to go.

[00:07:45] So how, how does that.

[00:07:47]Chris Becker: Sure. So our operating agreement, um, assigns day to day managers for routine tasks, and then, um, strategic decisions are made by. The founder team and our [00:08:00] employees. So our employees, we, we factor their input into, um, our strategic decision making processes, whether that comes to large purchases, deciding whether to, to retain profits or reinvest them, um, all those kind of decisions we, we make as a team and, and include employee input in that who

[00:08:21]Bryan Fields: else in the cannabis industry is doing.

[00:08:23]Chris Becker: Um, very few people that I’m aware of employee ownership is pretty new. There are a few groups that are ready to deploy a lot of ESOP financing to roll up dispensaries as employee owned operations. Um, the investors I’ve spoke to that are, that are doing that, uh, believe like I believe that it’s a more equitable way of ownership.

[00:08:45] And in particular in the cannabis industry is, uh, More motivating for, uh, employees to in the retail environment, upsell and, and, and have a reason to create a great customer experience.

[00:08:59]Bryan Fields: Is there a [00:09:00] period of time that they have to be on the team in order to have their equity invested. For example, we have people out on the east coast who are very excited to be in the cannabis industry, but maybe haven’t cut their teeth yet.

[00:09:09] So, you know, some people may be interested in joining, but once they get involved recognize, Hey, this industry isn’t for me, startup life isn’t for me. So is that a challenge that you face and, and have you had to overcome that previously?

[00:09:20]Chris Becker: We have a short vest period, uh, of. One year is the first vesting benchmark.

[00:09:26] And then you’re fully vested by three years. Um, I just, people don’t stick with companies for a very long time anymore. And, uh, we, we, when we, when we into the troubles of ESOPs and, and why they work and don’t work and why they motivate people in some companies and other people think that they. Not that worthwhile, uh, was because of things like vesting periods that favored long term employees over short term employees and that kind of thing.

[00:09:55] So we tried to make it a little bit more fair and equit. Awesome.

[00:09:58]Bryan Fields: Yeah. I appreciate you sharing that. I’m [00:10:00] fascinated by the concept and delivery of that. So let’s kind of, you got hopping Kelly. I

[00:10:04]Kellan Finney: was just, I’m wondering, um, how does the decisions, you said you talked to every employee about decisions. Um, is it like a voting thing or is it like someone just walks around and gets opinions and like collects them and you guys go to the boardroom and like have a conversation.

[00:10:17] And you’re like, Joe said this and bill said that like, how was that

[00:10:21]Chris Becker: actually like executed, um, So currently we’re a small team of four founders and our, and one employee hire. So we execute those kind of decisions in a discussion format in a, in a team meeting typically. Totally. Okay. Perfect.

[00:10:39]Bryan Fields: Yeah. I can imagine a hundred people.

[00:10:40] Chris is coming back. I got 18 people over here. I got 19 over here. I got 10 that are undecided and seven that are still smoking will come back to me when they’re ready. That, I mean, listen, it it’s it’s, it’s a, it’s a really. Optimistic approach. And, and I tip my cap to you for, for kind of going through it and, and putting your, your, your values forward and saying like, Hey, like this is possible.

[00:10:59] I’m gonna [00:11:00] be a part of this and I’m gonna help lead the change because I recognize currently what’s happening in the cannabis industry is not what I think is best. And I wanna put, you know, my foot forward and demonstrate that. So moving on a little bit, some of the products, talk to us about the products that your team has, you know, how you source the products and what makes them different from the.

[00:11:17] Cool.

[00:11:18]Chris Becker: So all of our products come in recyclable or compostable packaging. Um, I just will broadly say that plastic recycling is a myth. It does. It, it is not a real thing. The majority of plastic that goes in recycling bins ends up in tr in landfills. So we use 10, or we use bioplastics that are home composed for our packaging.

[00:11:42] Um, Currently we have three SKUs. We have a 10 pack of pre-rolls that’s our most popular SKU. Um, people love to be able to reach for a joint and just have it conveniently rolled. Uh, it’s a half gram pre-roll so it’s satisfying, but it’s not too much. And, um, [00:12:00] Then we also have a two pack of pre-rolls that comes in a home compostable tube.

[00:12:05] Um, very convenient on the go. Um, and that’s very popular, especially at the consumption lounge in Denver that just opened up, um, And then we have a five gram flower tin. This is, uh, 40% more than your typical eighth, uh, 40% more product, 40% less waste. Uh, what I recognized is that when somebody buys an eighth and a dispensary and typical plastic jar, uh, you end up creating.

[00:12:34] Three and a half pounds of plastic waste for every pound of flour sold. And to me, that is just unconscionable. Uh, so we use tin for that five gram flower unit. Uh, it can go right in a recycling bin. Tin is infinite recyclable. Um, it doesn’t lose structural integrity. So it, it, it, um, ends up staying at a landfills for a lot.

[00:12:57] How did you guys settle

[00:12:58]Kellan Finney: on the [00:13:00] providers and all, uh, your vendors for all these packaging? Because this is very

[00:13:04]Chris Becker: unique in, in the industry. There’s a few emerging vendors that coordinate with overseas factories that have like created SKUs specifically to solve this problem. We ended up working with a company called Steven Gould packaging.

[00:13:18] Um, they, they work with a lot of cannabis companies and, uh, they have a whole sustainability line that they have, um, Come up with, and our compostable tubes come locally from Colorado. They’re from a company called do distributing, um, compostable tubes and compostable labels on the tubes. So you can put it right in your home compost bin and it’ll be gone in three months.

[00:13:40] what was that

[00:13:40]Kellan Finney: journey? Like finding those

[00:13:41]Chris Becker: vendors? Um, frustrating, because there are a lot of people that claim to offer sustainable packaging, and then when you receive it, there’s nothing sustainable about it. The, you know, there’s, um, a lot of people using plastics that they’re putting some kind of enzyme in that they claim makes it degrade faster, [00:14:00] but they won’t tell me if that’s like, A thousand years versus 10,000 years um, and, uh, you know, there there’s a lot of de deciduous stuff.

[00:14:11] Um, so it, it, it, it was frustrating. It’s a pretty niche, uh, item define, I mean, it it’s, it’s interesting when you buy packaging, it comes to you. It’s label as the product. So you, you, you are buying a product when you’re buying packaging and it’s, uh, yeah, the, the whole development process was very interesting.

[00:14:34] One of my partners works in consumer package goods. So she’s been through this process a million times with overseas factories, for various items, bags, baby clothes, all kinds of stuff. So having her was in.

[00:14:49]Bryan Fields: Yeah. I can imagine some brands are like, yeah, we take care of all these things. We check the box and then you ask them the questions and they’re like, no one’s ever asked us these questions.

[00:14:56] We just, it’s a marketing thing. We just kind of check the box and like, uh, you know [00:15:00] how that works. Like we’ll have to ask somebody and I’m sure once you start digging in, you recognize real quick. It’s like these people, they are not sure about we’re doing, I’m sure you guys got some pretty cool stories there or some pretty frustrating stories

[00:15:11]Chris Becker: there.

[00:15:12] Pretty frustrating. I, I, I’m just generally frustrated by. Half truths, especially when it comes to things that I care about. And greenwashing is one that I, I, I. I will be highly confrontational about because like the , the future is hanging on a thread and, uh, the world is burning up. I mean, even in Colorado, like where people built all these houses with no air conditioning, now you can’t live without air conditioning in Colorado.

[00:15:41] Like it’s crazy how fast the climate is changing. And so I feel passionately that like, if we’re going to sell stuff, we need to really reduce our impact on the environment.

[00:15:52]Bryan Fields: Does that add to the cost layer when you get the sustainable packaging as well? I, I know your team takes a lot of steps in order to make [00:16:00] sure this is thorough.

[00:16:00] Does that add into the layer or does it get cut out of the margin? How does that work?

[00:16:04]Chris Becker: Uh, right now we’re, we’re, we’re cutting it out of the margin and, and absorbing it. Um, we have found that people will pay, uh, a premium. It’s not, um, It’s not more than like 20% basically, uh, people will pay a premium for sustainable products.

[00:16:25] Uh, interestingly though, um, when we did surveys about what do you, what, uh, elements of a sustainable business do you care most about or what important to you about the people? Friendly practices were much more important to people than the earth friendly practices. Any idea

[00:16:43]Bryan Fields: why?

[00:16:46]Chris Becker: I think some of it is the timing of the surveys right now we’re in like a labor revolution, right?

[00:16:51] Where people are waking up to realize the value of their production. Um, and then I think there’s also a [00:17:00] lack of education around all the green washing stuff that does go on. So people assume that they are making sustainable choices already when in fact that they’re, they’re making the same choices.

[00:17:09] Everybody else.

[00:17:11]Bryan Fields: Yeah. Some people might have a false sense of what actually is happening, right? If you put your stuff in the recycling, but the garbage man takes the, the plastic and throws into the garbage, are you really recycling? And, and eventually that it’s like, Hey, what is really happening after that?

[00:17:24] So I wanna stay with the grams. You said you have a five gram product, right? So you have, the eighth is wasn’t enough. And then you went to a five, was there kind of conversations about four and a half or six? Or how did you settle on.

[00:17:38]Chris Becker: Um, conversations with customers in a little bit of tuition, uh, and also trying to settle on a, uh, price point that was at, or under $50 at the retail level.

[00:17:51]Bryan Fields: That’s fascinating. So let’s talk about the, the marketing for the products. It has more of the desired effects on it versus the actual strain. Right? Can you take us through the origin of that and how [00:18:00] your team came to that decision?

[00:18:02]Chris Becker: Uh, we use peace, pause and party instead of indica hybrid sativa, to try to guide people as to the effects of the products that they can expect to experience, uh, and give them another reason to reach for our product on the shelf.

[00:18:18] Um, cannabis branding is all about giving people a reason to P reach for your product. From six feet away and behind a piece of glass, right? So you need to be loud and proud and colorful. And, and, um, so that’s what we did. We used peace PA party. We came up with that. It was one of my partners and I had a hour long phone call and smoke session.

[00:18:41] And, uh, tried to come up with different words. Um, Peace and party came first. And then, uh, I believe she just dove into with the sous as we were both smoking joints on the phone, found the word pause, and that was it. We, we, we were done [00:19:00] I love it. So what is

[00:19:01]Bryan Fields: pause?

[00:19:03]Chris Becker: Pause is your hybrid strains. It’s really good for resetting your day it’s it’s anytime.

[00:19:09] I got it. So

[00:19:10]Bryan Fields: if I wanted to fall into the couch, I wouldn’t have pause. If I wanted to reset my day and maybe jumpstart of the afternoon session, I would take the pause.

[00:19:17]Chris Becker: Right? Exactly. And if you really want some high energy, those party strains, those like high energy Sativa’s with the Laine and that kind of thing and the Piney.

[00:19:26] Um, but the pause is just good. Chill, anytime. Reset your day, smoke those,

[00:19:32]Kellan Finney: uh, names resonate pretty well with all of your guys’

[00:19:35]Chris Becker: growers and vendors. Most people say it’s cute. One person said that they didn’t like the, you know, I like triple PS, but you know, I

[00:19:44]Bryan Fields: like it. You gotta have one person who doesn’t like it.

[00:19:46] Right. Otherwise you’re not right. If everyone, if everyone was saying yes to it, I think there’d be more of an issue. So I think it’s good. That person had some pause right with it. No fun intended. So let’s talk about cannabis grown indoors [00:20:00] versus outdoors. How do consumers tell a difference and how, how do.

[00:20:05] Consumers, if we wanna make that priority difference, how do we recognize the importance of that?

[00:20:10]Chris Becker: Sure. So there is a. Dramatic impact to the environment from growing indoors, that many consumers aren’t aware of. Um, when you shut off the, the natural Ray of the sun and then power up, uh, high power grow lights, you end up consuming just a ton of energy.

[00:20:30] And you also need to use, uh, H V a C to keep things either hot or cool, depending on where you’re growing. That’s so detrimental to our environment. Sun grown cannabis does not use power from the grid. Um, if it’s, uh, grown in soil, living soil, it’s not using commercial agricultural inputs, it’s not, um, having this, uh, negative impact on, on soil and water quality and all that kind of stuff.

[00:20:58] So [00:21:00] if people care about the future, I, I, I encourage them to, to choose sun grown cannabis, really. Um, on top of that sun grown cannabis. routinely has higher levels of total cannabinoids and terpenes than cannabis. That’s grown indoors. The sun gives the plant the full spectrum of light and in turn, the plant produces the full spectrum of cannabinoids and terpenes that it’s capable of.

[00:21:25] Uh, so if you grow the same plant side by side indoors versus outdoors, genetically identical plants, you’re gonna have a superior plant in the outdoor environment. It’s

[00:21:38]Kellan Finney: gonna be healthier. I mean, there’s less pest problems when they are grown outside. I mean, they tend to be stronger plants. Um, it’s, it’s wild to me.

[00:21:46] I mean, outdoor cannabis should be the way that cannabis has grown. And it’s very, very interesting that all of these mature markets have. Kind of placed a premium on the bud structure and [00:22:00] the aesthetics of an indoor plant versus an outdoor plant. And personally, from a consumption standpoint, I think it’s a more enjoyable experience consuming outdoor

[00:22:09]Chris Becker: flour.

[00:22:10] Absolutely. I agree. I mean,

[00:22:11]Kellan Finney: right. And you don’t have to, like all of the chemicals that are used in the production of indoor cannabis is where you’ve seen 70 plus pesticides now have to be tested for in California because people are throwing every chemical. They can at these indoor plants because it’s inherently not natural for the plant to be grown inside.

[00:22:30] And so I think that there’s a huge, huge

[00:22:32]Chris Becker: issue. Yep. Absolutely. You still have to fight some of those things when you grow outdoors. Um, but it, it, you can net use less product outdoors in my opinion, and you do much happier, more resilient plants, stronger plants, bigger plants with bigger yields at a much lower cost way, bigger plants.

[00:22:52] Um, I think, you know, the, the, the thing with mature markets and, and the reason. Indoor cannabis has persevered [00:23:00] is, uh, the, the state by state legalization versus just federal reform. I think if, if people could buy in the mail cannabis grown in the Emerald triangle or in Southern Oregon outdoors, they wouldn’t buy indoor grown weed from MSOs or anybody else really.

[00:23:18] I mean, you have a few small indoor craft growers locally, and then most people would prefer the legacy. Crops growing, uh, places that are favorable for growing cannabis. I think

[00:23:32]Bryan Fields: one of the challenges though, as a consumer, is that exactly what you said, Chris, is that you look with your eyes. So when you see a plant that has a certain, um, appearance to it, you kind of just gravitate towards that and you can’t really tell the difference.

[00:23:44] So if it’s labeled, maybe I could see that, but like exactly, like you said, Chris consumers look first with their eyes and then, then reach. So how do they tell the difference between the plant, whether it’s sun grown or indoor grown just by their.

[00:23:57]Chris Becker: With your eyes. It’s pretty hard to tell. [00:24:00] Um, good, good outdoor grown cannabis is indistinguishable from good indoor grown cannabis, except for sort of the health and, and brightness of the buds.

[00:24:12] Really. Uh, we chose to put the words sustainably grown on our packaging. Um, you know, as the market evolves, you need to give people a reason to reach for it. And, um, The word sustainably grown seem to resonate with people. Um, you can’t say things like organic because the U S D a does not, you know, apply organic designation to cannabis farms.

[00:24:35] Um, so we’re, we’re, we’re trying to find those words and qualities that do resonate with the. Consumer that make it meaningful. There are other certifications as well that people put on their packaging on an earth certification, um, clean green certification to try to indicate that it has similar qualities, but, um, we’re hoping to be the leader in sustainable cannabis so that people see honeybee collective and immediately [00:25:00] go that’s good.

[00:25:00] Clean earth friendly.

[00:25:03]Kellan Finney: Yeah, and I think that’s so important. I mean, I remember when we, when I was up in Washington, the only way that they could, uh, determine the difference was by the license. So the license that was acquired was an outdoor license. And so there’s a premium on indoor flower. And I remember going to multiple dispensaries and talking to the managers there and then being like, it looks the same, but I have to price it at $10 less because your license says you grew it outdoors.

[00:25:31]Bryan Fields: And even more so though, right? Like as a consumer and I walk in, I’m not gonna tell a difference. It, you would need to say it on the packaging for me, even to notice that, or I’d have to ask the bud tender to provide a recommendation there. And as we’ve seen before, uh, packaging, isn’t the easiest of game navigate given all of the, the wording that has to go on it because it is litter with information.

[00:25:50] So having that kind of stand out you’re right from a brand standpoint, it’s really critical to have that information be kind of a core principle to the brands that the consumer knows going in. This [00:26:00] is the expectation. This is the trust factor that I get with the honeybee collective. And I know that it’s an

[00:26:04] outdoor

[00:26:04]Chris Becker: grown flower green.

[00:26:07] Yeah. And, and we do source from greenhouse growers as well. So one thing I will say is that we really believe greenhouse growing is, uh, a happy medium and, um, provides a lot of the benefits of outdoors, the lower, uh, energy usage and all that kind of stuff. Um, but gives you the environmental control, uh, ability to keep pests out ability to moderate temperature and that kind of thing.

[00:26:30]Bryan Fields: So let’s move on. What is blunts and bingo?

[00:26:34]Chris Becker: Blunts and bingo is a fundraiser event. We just had this past weekend, we had about 75 people come out. We played bingo. We gave out prizes from Jane West. Jayden Jane elements, Boulder dispensary, um, lady J lady justice, brewing, death and co uh, skin, lab, Denver, uh, fields of weed.

[00:26:56] We had so many great sponsors here and, um, [00:27:00] ultimately we were raised 1070 $7 for a local, uh, mutual aid project called Denver community fridges that has free food fridges around town to feed people that need it.

[00:27:10]Bryan Fields: Awesome. So how, how does it work? What is like, what is BS and bingo? Is it exactly like it.

[00:27:15]Chris Becker: It’s exactly like it sounds we had a, uh, bingo, uh, we had games, bingo and a blunt rolling competition at the first licensed cannabis bar in Colorado. So Jas mile high smoke just opened up. They are the first place in Colorado where you can go and buy weed and smoke it right there. Um, they have it, it used to be a bar.

[00:27:35] So you’re actually buying weed over a bar. You can buy up to two grams of flour or a half a gram of concentrates or some combination of edibles and, uh, People were rolling blunts. We had a blunt rolling competition. People were playing bingo. We fed everybody and, uh, we had some raffle prizes. It was a great time.

[00:27:54]Bryan Fields: Who was the judge of the contest?

[00:27:56]Chris Becker: The blunt rolling competition, a local radio host. [00:28:00] How did

[00:28:00]Bryan Fields: he, how did he judge? Was it by taste? Was it by size? Look.

[00:28:04]Chris Becker: She, uh, did look, feel and smoked every single ju blunt that got entered. So she smoked about 12 blunts. she didn’t smoke. ’em all down to the end, but she hit every single one of ’em, uh, and, uh, ultimately chose the winner based on look and, uh, quality of the pool.

[00:28:25] I, they were also weed, so she didn’t have to judge the quality of. I could

[00:28:28]Bryan Fields: imagine towards the end of that contest, it was a little harder to judge she’s like, well, I really like the last two and I’m not really sure which one I like more. Maybe I just keep going. Um, and just be a universal tie. I gotta hand it to her.

[00:28:37] That is, that is dedicated to the judging contest. I, I expected you to be the judge if we’re gonna be honest, Chris, ,

[00:28:44]Chris Becker: you know, I, I, I. Uh, I, I would’ve chosen the same winner. I think his, his blunt little pretty good, well said,

[00:28:52]Bryan Fields: well said. So let’s, let’s kind of shift the conversation and let’s talk about one of the, the common conversations on Twitter.

[00:28:59][00:29:00] MSOs. Obviously there’s a lot of challenges with going on in the space and some may argue that they’re not doing things necessarily the right way and can do a better job of helping making a more equitable industry. So, Chris. in your opinion, what can MSOs do today in order to do a better job of making a more inclusive industry?

[00:29:19]Chris Becker: Um, MSOs could start by not promoting self-interested, uh, legislation. I, I think is like, stop doing harm is, is, is the first thing. Um, I, I don’t even need them to do anything actively to promote a more equitable industry. Just please stop actively supporting, uh, policies and laws that are inequitable and really just cement their positions.

[00:29:53] That, that that’s the first ask. Um, I I, if they really wanna support an equitable [00:30:00] industry, I think an equitable industry has no caps on licenses and, uh, allows for home grow and allows for easy access for patients and entrepreneurs and consumers to all get the things that they need and participate in the industry.

[00:30:14] So, um, coming out and supportive. Open access laws, both for consumption and for, uh, accessing the industry. Um, I personally know executives at single state and multi-state operators that are not even pro recreational legalization. So it’s, um, it it’s, you know, they, they could come out supporting policies that are good for entrepreneurs and good for consumer.

[00:30:41]Bryan Fields: I know that’s a real sticky, sticky subject, and I kind of feel similar to you, right? The limited licenses, I think only lead to kind of more challenges and UN unfortunately, potentially more bribery and more corruption, which again, I think is, is hurting the industry as a whole, but, but on the, on the flip side, Not to defend the MSOs.

[00:30:56] The longer this goes on like this, the longer they’re building their [00:31:00] moat from the other challenges and protecting themselves from the bigger fish that are coming in. So from their standpoint, they are helping the industry, but also protecting their investment in asset, which I agree is not beneficial for the

[00:31:11]Chris Becker: collective.

[00:31:13] Exactly. It’s um, One, the motivations became really perverse. Once anybody acquired a limited license right now, you have a damn near a duty to your shareholders to preserve that. I mean, my old employer sued the state of Maryland for opening up social equity licenses. What they said at the time was the state promised that they would do a demand, uh, study before they ever issued any licenses, which was true.

[00:31:46] Um, but they were called racist and everything else because they were blocking social equity, blocking minority participation in the cannabis industry. They, uh, [00:32:00] dropped the lawsuit and, and those licenses did end up being issued in Maryland.

[00:32:09] Yeah. As, as soon as you have one of these limited licenses, your duty is to protect it. And, um, for, from a pure capitalist perspective, not from my values, not from what I wanna steer for the industry, but surely from a capital perspective, less competition is better. Right.

[00:32:25]Bryan Fields: I mean, bore Jordan. I’ve had this conversation on Twitter.

[00:32:28] Many times, bore Jordan doesn’t work for the cannabis industry. He works for the purely shareholders and his job and role is to protect his assets, to make it grow as much as possible. And if that means hurting others in a, let’s say not hurting others directly, but in influencing policy in order to better protect his position, he should do that.

[00:32:47] And, and that’s unfortunately kind of the, the name of space. I guess to push the question back on you, Chris is why do you think they states did limited licenses? What do you think was the original intention of it? Was it, uh, a different concept that kind of got misconstrued along the [00:33:00] way, or take us through what you think was the original goal of limited licenses?

[00:33:04]Chris Becker: Um, some of the people that owned limited licenses were involved in the writing of limited license loss. So that’s the first thing is people saw, Hey, uh, We can get legislators to limit licenses based on the fear that they have of legalization. Um, limited license schemes were more palatable in purple and, um, and even some blue states where there’s still a lot of prohibition surround, uh, or, or conservative culture for whatever reason.

[00:33:39] Um, so it’s, it, it was a way in, and in my opinion, Activists should have held out for better legislation. Um, but there’s a lot of people that feel any access is better than no access. And I’m not gonna fault them for that because there are people [00:34:00] like that desperately need medical cannabis that now have it due to these limited license laws.

[00:34:06] Yeah, I think from a, like

[00:34:07]Kellan Finney: a strictly philosophical perspective, I think that, uh,

[00:34:12]Bryan Fields: the idea was

[00:34:13]Kellan Finney: that. Hey, let’s not let every person come in and start growing weed and just flood the

[00:34:18]Bryan Fields: entire state with

[00:34:20]Kellan Finney: weed. It was like, Hey, we just want to a very small and, uh, very small amount of operators so that we can regulate them and keep track of it.

[00:34:29] I think that was the idea. Philosophically of course it really never panned out like that from the idea to, from concept

[00:34:36]Chris Becker: to execution. Yep. Yeah, there, there, there was like a little bit of merit to the idea that like, Well, not really merit, but the legislatures many times forced the regulators to be self-funded through tax collection.

[00:34:54] Um, I was and then like, after sales had already [00:35:00] commenced. Right. Um, so. New regulators that had never looked at or knew how to regulate cannabis before all of a sudden are like asking the people that have a license. Hey, how are we supposed to regulate you? And it’s, uh, it, it, it just doesn’t work out the way that they meant it to.

[00:35:21] So you’re telling me the horse shouldn’t

[00:35:22]Kellan Finney: push the cart. It should pull it, pull it.

[00:35:26]Bryan Fields: okay. I like to use the comparison of like the Willy Wonka golden pig. When I talk about the limit license of my friends. Right. Because if you think about it, it, these massive markets that haven’t come online yet, and there’s only, let’s say six to 12.

[00:35:37] Stations that are open. I mean, you’re talking about a massive opportunity to get a huge head start and to play the other side, Carolyn, to challenge you is like, I understand why it’d be beneficial to limit it so people can regulate it. But at the same part, like this is America, right? Like this is capitalism, like figure it out and like the strong survive.

[00:35:54] And unfortunately many business will fail. That’s part of the process, but at least everyone has a fair crack at the game. And I [00:36:00] think at least if the game was fair to start, many people wouldn’t feel like there would be, um, Missed opportunities or challenges in the beginning in order to get their foot in the door for this burgeoning opportunity.

[00:36:12] Yeah. I mean, I, go

[00:36:14]Kellan Finney: ahead, Chris. You go ahead. No, I was just gonna say that, um, Unfortunately, like if you let everyone just have a crack at it, like now we’re, you kind of look at California, right? Like you have people that went out and got licenses. You have people that did it. They’re all kind of selling cannabis in this super gray area.

[00:36:31] And I mean, it’s, it’s a giant mess out there. You know what I mean? So like, I don’t know if, and they don’t have a cap on licenses in California.

[00:36:38]Chris Becker: I think their problems are more related to the structure of their market and high taxation within their borders. Um, it, it. A saturated market to, to, to Brian’s point is a very American capitalist thing.

[00:36:56] I mean, I, I, I don’t know why we should be afraid of that. The strong should survive and the weak [00:37:00] should perish in the business environment, in my opinion. Um, anything else is corporate socialism. Uh, and I, I don’t understand why there’s this like tendency towards corporate socialism, but like for, for people it’s like, kick rocks, you know, um, It’s really sad in my opinion.

[00:37:18] So I, I believe that like a competitive environment really creates the best companies. And that’s the one thing I think that is really shortsighted about these limited license laws is that ultimately it’s allowing these companies to like, create. Very unsustainable business models that, um, if cannabis were treated like other commodity products, their businesses wouldn’t exist, they would die off very quickly.

[00:37:42] Um, just, like you know, you talked about MSOs, there’s a lot of people growing weed in Florida, you would never grow weed in Florida. If you could import it from California. Because the conditions are terrible for growing weed, even indoor, they are, you’re fighting a crazy amount of [00:38:00] heat. Like it it’s insane. And humidity and humidity.

[00:38:02] Yeah. Um, so you know, that, that that’s, those are now all a bunch of unsustainable businesses. All of that real estate is going to be like non-viable defunct in a, in a, in 5 to 10 years, to your point, Bryan it is a golden ticket and many of those places will already have been paid off. I know people in Maryland that have already paid off their facilities and their investors are receiving distributions because it’s.

[00:38:29] Fucking cash cow. Excuse my language. But, uh, yeah, when you’re selling $4,000 pounds of something that costs you under $800 a pound produce, it’s a great business to be in. Good margins margins are

[00:38:41]Bryan Fields: booming, right? That’s booming, but it’s also not real and it’s not sustainable right. Long term. And I, I think it even gets crazier too, is because like, once we go to interstate commerce, I understand we are far from there.

[00:38:52] But once we get to that, all of the current operators who are all vertically integrated are gonna have to pretty much shuffle in their cards again and, and [00:39:00] redistribute how they wanna do their operations. Because like you said, there’s no reason to grow. Weed in Florida, if you could grow it in California and import it, plus you can special, you can specialize in certain portions of the supply chain, which ultimately the consumer benefits, right?

[00:39:13] Because he’s getting a more, let’s say high end product by a more established individual. It doesn’t have to lean on these big MSOs to be stretched super thin from a capital standpoint and by resource a resource standpoint across supply chain.

[00:39:25]Chris Becker: Absolutely. I think that’s a very real weakness, um, of, of the MSOs is that.

[00:39:32] How many executives are truly Jeff Bezoses that can piece all these things together, right? And, and, and oversee a conglomerate in all these different, highly specialized areas of business, not that many and what they had sick margins anyway, that they could fund any pet project they wanted to, which is not gonna be the truth for people that grow cannabis in a low margin environ.

[00:39:55]Bryan Fields: No way it’s pretty wild and it’s cool. It’s, it’s fascinating to think about it now and recognize [00:40:00] where we’re going in the future, but, and also to watch it from a case study standpoint, to see how these big companies handle the transitions as they kind of not necessarily sell off assets, but they kind of redistribute their organization internally in order to prepare for the next steps, because I’m sure they’ll get a, a heads up that, Hey, something like this is happening in three to five years.

[00:40:17] It’s time to start selling off some of your assets. And then I think we can kind of get word and recognize it. It’s probably more, uh, peasant people in the, in the news space of recognizing the, the steps are currently happen.

[00:40:29]Chris Becker: I think the people that already have this foresight about the future of like the structure of the market are, um, franchising, their dispensaries, and they’re not going vertical in every market that they’re expanding into.

[00:40:40] Uh, I think you’re gonna see a lot more of that. There’s a few franchises that are really taking a lot of real estate here in Colorado. Uh, I know my old employer, uh, is now franchising their dispensary experience and, um, I think you’ll see a lot more of that. And, and that’s to preserve against like, if you can’t have tide houses and [00:41:00] alcohol, and so people see that and they’re, they’re seeing, oh, I’m gonna be forced to divest all these dispensaries that I own.

[00:41:06] Yeah. And I think

[00:41:07]Kellan Finney: that, uh, also I think there’s a challenge to going vertical in every state. Like you don’t look at any other industry and be like, Hey, like Coors light brew beer in every state. Right. Like that’s not a thing. Right? Like so like it, it just doesn’t work economically speaking, you know, like there’s just, it’s a fine line.

[00:41:26] Like you don’t build manufacturing plants in every single municipality.

[00:41:33]Bryan Fields: Like economies of scale is like a real thing, right? Yeah. That’s whatever, that’s a real thing. And like, from a number standpoint, it’s real. So I wonder too, like when we get there, I wonder if the cost of production will just kind of completely drop too, as, as things specialize and then they’re able to outsource to other areas.

[00:41:47] So, uh, slightly switching gears, Chris, what is one state company or policy that you think is doing things the right way?

[00:41:57]Chris Becker: I’m really impressed with the way New York is, is [00:42:00] rolling out their market. Um, they are favoring. Uh, more sustainably grown cannabis in terms of they issued licenses to hemp growers who will either be growing outdoors or.

[00:42:10] in Relatively small greenhouses. Um, they’re giving license. They, they giving licenses to farmers also gives license, gives life to farms. And I think that’s incredibly important because farmers are struggling cannabis, in my opinion, should be grown in an agricultural outdoor setting, not in an indoor factory setting.

[00:42:32] Um, and, and if that can help save small family farms that are otherwise Almost guaranteed to go out of existence. Uh, I think that’s great and admirable. And then on the retail side, they’re prioritizing social equity. They’re prioritizing, uh, restorative justice by giving licenses to people who were, uh, impacted by the war on drugs.

[00:42:53] And I think that’s the right way to go. So I, I really admire New York with the way New York is doing it. I’m sure there’s lot. [00:43:00] Uh, I, I think they’re, they’ve gotten it the most, right. So far. Yeah.

[00:43:05]Bryan Fields: The so far is the super important part, right? Like they’re taking the steps and they’re, they’re vocalizing items to go forward.

[00:43:11] But at any moment, you know, they could take a bad step to the right of

[00:43:15]Kellan Finney: the left. I mean, they’re, they’re definitely taking their time

[00:43:17]Bryan Fields: to get it right. Ah, that’s not fair, dude. end of the, they said end of the year, they said, end of the year, I know we’re running out of time. Right. We’re recording this on July 27th.

[00:43:26] And they said end of the year confidently, but like guys, like. We don’t have more, many more

[00:43:30]Chris Becker: months left. I, I I’d bet a little bit of money that they’ll make at least a sale before the first and next, at least a sale.

[00:43:37]Bryan Fields: it’ll be like December, December 31st. Right? They’re like, we just gotta get this one in, like, just get a photo op quick, right?

[00:43:44] Like get the photo op in and cut the ribbon. You think they get it done before the end of the year?

[00:43:50]Chris Becker: I, I bet that at least one just because it’s. The PR style PR and then the momentum. And they said it, I mean, I, [00:44:00] you know, I believe it. Have you seen,

[00:44:02]Bryan Fields: have you seen like the tr yeah, me too, but like again, have you seen the trucks and some of the other, um, retail front stores that they have in New York?

[00:44:10] I mean, they, they look as close to a dispensary responsible. I had a cousin who stayed with me. He lives in, in Portland and he said that he walked by, it looked like AEN. He had no idea. New York was open and. He went in, they did the normal, the normal jam. He came home with products. He was so stoked to show me.

[00:44:26] He’s like, you told me it wasn’t open. I was like, it’s not. He’s like, then what is this? And I was like, it is not a licensed dispensary, sir. And he was just blown away. And I’m curious to know if you have a perspective on that, right? These operators, or I guess under the radar operators are currently operating any legal storefront selling products in a quote unquote grain market, either as a non-profit or a gifting status in order to escape the loophole.

[00:44:47] What’s your thoughts

[00:44:48]Chris Becker: there? I think that anything, any activity that is currently defined as illicit cannabis is really a tax collection issue and nothing more than that. Right. I, I, I don’t [00:45:00] believe that cannabis should be criminalized in any way for any amount or any growing or processing. None of that should be a jailable criminal offense.

[00:45:10] All. Tax evasion. So if those guys are evading taxes, I mean, you know, I’m, I’m not huge fan of tax taxes myself, but like that’s in my mind, that’s the only thing that they’re guilty of. Right. I, I think it’s very risky and I personally wouldn’t engage in it just like for the threat of federal crackdown or like the inability to get a license, a legal license in that market in the future.

[00:45:34] But Hey, it’s a smart cash grab, right?

[00:45:38]Kellan Finney: And I mean, at the end of the day, it just shows you how much demand out there is for canvas.

[00:45:43]Chris Becker: Yep. Yeah. I think it’ll be, you know, uh, it’ll be difficult, but not impossible to, um, to compete with those. I think that they probably will get. Look at Colorado, right? Like I,

[00:45:59]Kellan Finney: I don’t buy no one.

[00:45:59][00:46:00] I know, buys weed from a drug dealer in Colorado. Right, right.

[00:46:02]Bryan Fields: Like so I think the consumer is the one that’s gonna be heard in this. Right. Because if you, if you’re just not familiar with products and you go there and let’s say you take a product, that’s not tested third party tested. And God forbid something happens that just becomes the spiral effect in my opinion.

[00:46:17] And I think that just kind of hurts it from a public perception of. The nuances with cannabis and all these X, Y, and Z stuff that, that you see on the media where people use cannabis as the scapegoat. Chris, what is an underrecognized challenge? Operating cannabis that most don’t recognize.

[00:46:38]Chris Becker: Um, I there’s this big scam called metric that , that takes, uh, just a fraction of every single transaction that you do in cannabis.

[00:46:53] Uh, whether you are putting a plant in the ground, moving that plant from. Like one part of your [00:47:00] facility or harvesting it or moving it and selling it to a, to a dispensary, you have to have these little blue tags that cost 25 to 50 cents. Every time they create this ridiculous amount of plastic waste. Um, they’re not recyclable because they have an RFI D tag in them that nobody uses.

[00:47:19] And, um, And their, and their system is constantly down and it’s, and it’s the mandated seed, the sale tracking system in most states. So, um, that is a huge impediment, I would say, I would say just metric being down is one of the biggest impediments to productivity in the cannabis industry. It’s a good monopoly.

[00:47:43] They have. It’s great. I’m sure their investors are swimming in dollars. They’re just

[00:47:49]Bryan Fields: printing cash hundred percent. I mean, it’s required in

[00:47:52]Kellan Finney: like, There’s no other option. When we talk about there’s leave two solutions in Washington, but like, I think like everyone’s gonna be on [00:48:00] metric

[00:48:00]Chris Becker: eventually. I believe Vermont is going with another company called traits as well.

[00:48:05] Oh see. So now there’s

[00:48:06]Kellan Finney: what three

[00:48:07]Bryan Fields: options maybe we, we talk about like limited licenses and then challenges in states. These boys got it lockdown. Right? Like they got it locked down on a whole nother level. I can only imagine what they’re we gotta get one of those guys on the podcast and see what’s going on

[00:48:21]Chris Becker: there.

[00:48:22] Yeah. Yeah. They like Rockefeller is like in his grave admiring metric. He’s like, oh my God, I wish I had a metric. He’s just tip

[00:48:31]Bryan Fields: his cap. He’s like these boys got a damn since you’ve been in the cannabinoid industry, what has been the biggest misconception?

[00:48:40]Chris Becker: The biggest misconception.

[00:48:45] I think probably that there’s immense profits in the industry, um, in the legal industry, there’s not, most ones are like comparable to typical manufacturing plus they’re tax disadvantage. [00:49:00] So you have less profit. Uh, I think that’s probably the biggest misconception overall about cannabis is that these companies are just printing money.

[00:49:07] Um, But from within the industry, I also see this misconception that like a business’ success or failure depends on them, like really exploiting labor and paying low wages. And when I look at our business model and the business model of our suppliers, A couple bucks more an hour does, does very little to, to the profitability.

[00:49:33] Uh, but it does so much for the happiness of the, uh, employees. So that’s one, that’s a big thing just from within the industry that I’m passionate about. Seeing change really well

[00:49:43]Bryan Fields: said before we do predictions, we ask all of our guests, if you could sum up your experience in a main takeaway or lesson learned to pass onto the next generation, what would it be?

[00:49:57]Chris Becker: Well, the next generation, I don’t know, [00:50:00] this advice will be so valuable for, but like anybody listening in the next year, like the opportunity is still very real. And you do not need to you, your experience in other industries translates directly into cannabis and, and can. Like create incredible value. Um, so I, I would say just, don’t hesitate to dive in if you’re passionate about it.

[00:50:22] Um, but also don’t dive in if you’re thinking about just dollar signs, because it’s as stressful or more as any other entrepreneurial venture. Uh, and, um, like I said before, the profits just like, are not as incredible as many people think.

[00:50:40]Bryan Fields: Amen. All right, prediction time, Chris, I dropped you off in DC with the ability to change any law or policy you want.

[00:50:49] What is the first step of item you’re changing?

[00:50:54]Chris Becker: Oh, um, I mean the, the, the first thing I would change, if it’s just a single item is two a D E [00:51:00] and, and, uh, having the ability to, to write off, uh, appropriate expenses. Right. I mean, that, that’s the big, the big thing, keeping many companies from being profitable is like, this is tax disadvantaged, uh, activity, uh, and we’re, we’re overpay and not able to weight things off.

[00:51:17] So that’s the first thing I would change. Um, what’s the next thing you change? Well, actually I would, I would take a step back. I mean, like the first thing I would do is like free all the prisoners and probably abolish prisons in general, actually if we were just talking about cannabis, but if we’re taking a broader view, I’m doing something, not just about like cannabis prisoners, but just like the prison industrial complex in general, because it’s like, just so unjust.

[00:51:50] There is no justice in the justice system. So actually that is the first thing I would, and I would not just do something cannabis related.

[00:51:58]Bryan Fields: What’s that? K [00:52:00] uh, cannabis related.

[00:52:01]Kellan Finney: I would probably, uh, legalize banking in cannabis. You know, I think that there’s so many people that would get involved if they could just go to a bank and get a commercial loan.

[00:52:12] Um, and I think it’d be really, really beneficial to the whole industry. And I think couple, I think, opposed, uh, to limited license, the fact that there’s no institutional, uh, support for the industry is the, the other item that’s kind of like limiting people’s ability to get involved and participate. So that would be the biggest thing I would

[00:52:32]Bryan Fields: change.

[00:52:32] What about you, Brian? The capital standpoint is just outrageous, right? Like starting one of these businesses is so much more capital intensive than I think I ever realized, and we’re not even plant touching. So I can’t even imagine what some of these other operators have to go through. I think for me be the limited licenses like we talked about before, I think.

[00:52:50] In in America, you should have the ability to enter industries. You want to given obviously certain understandings. And I think in, in here, you, if you want to [00:53:00] own a dispensary and you have the, the ability to do it, you should be able to do it. You shouldn’t be limited to certain numbers or certain aspects.

[00:53:06] If you can check all the boxes, demonstrate that your qualified individual, you should have the opportunity to compete here for chance for generational wealth. You know, not everyone is handed a participation trophy and unfortunately some will fail. But I think having the opportunity to compete is really all you could ask for in a space like this.

[00:53:25] So Chris, for our listeners, they wanna get in touch. They wanna learn more and they wanna support the honeybee collective and attend BS and bingo. Where can they find ya?

[00:53:33]Chris Becker: So, uh, join the hive on our website, honeybee collective.com. There’s a box you can enter your email and your phone number. We’ll let you having fast giveaways when new product drops, all that kind of stuff.

[00:53:46] So that’s the best way to stay in touch with us. You can also follow us on, uh, social media at the dot honeybee dot collective. You can follow us on Twitter at honeybee Cano. Um, I’m Chris at [00:54:00] Chris underscore honeybee. Uh, if you want kind of more hot takes on the industry. Uh and uh, I think that’s all of our socials.

[00:54:08] Yeah.

[00:54:09]Bryan Fields: Yeah. I link them open the show notes. Thanks for taking the time. This was fun.

[00:54:12]Chris Becker: Yeah, it was. Thanks guys. Thanks Chris.

Due to dramatic market shifts, companies are finding ways to reduce burn. Unfortunately, one of those ways is layoffs. Times are even more challenging than usual in Cannabis with the current economic climate. Sadly, we have heard of other companies that will likely follow EAZE and Dutchie with layoffs. Focus on driving value for your north star and on helping your customers be even more successful during uncertainty.

Bryan Fields, Eighth Revolution

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The Fyllo Regulatory Database creates unparalleled visibility at every level of government with access to more than 800,000+ files and entries addressing regulations across the United States. Today’s leading MSOs, SSOs and law firms rely on Fyllo to accelerate research, track licensing opportunities and make better decisions. To learn more or schedule a demo, please visit hellofyllo.com.

Pennsylvania lawmakers have advanced a medical cannabis tax relief amendment through the House Finance Committee. The measure would allow cannabis businesses, like other industries, to file state tax deductions for expenses. It is intended as relief from section 280E of the Internal Revenue Service federal tax code, which currently prevents businesses that work with controlled substances from taking certain deductions. In April, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a banking bill protecting state financial institutions from penalties for working with medical cannabis businesses. It has yet to pass the House.

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This week we are joined by John Monopoly & M1 to discuss : 

• How Cannabis has influenced the music industry
• Where the Hottest Strains Start
• Influencer Partnerships
• Bridging legacy to legal Cannabis Markets

About Urban Aroma:

Urban Aroma helps you find the best cannabis brands, delivery services, dispensaries and deals. It is a voice for cannabis consumers, offering essential information, education and brand awareness. Steeped in the essence of underground culture, Urban Aroma is also a platform for cannabis, art, activism and social equity with editorial and charitable commitments.

https://urbanaroma.com/

About John Monopoly:

Monopoly, music industry and marketing veteran, who is credited with discovering and managing long-time client Kanye West, has also worked with artists including Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott, and brands including Pheed, Zumani, and Guff during his 25+ years career that has seen him develop music acts, brands, and cannabis companies alike. His experience launching brands at the intersection of entertainment and technology sets him up for his new role that will see him spearhead the day-to-day operations of Urban Aroma–the N.Y-based cannabis movement working to create a cannabis industry that supports communities with been targeted and convicted for their use of cannabis. 

About M1 :

Mutulu Olugbala, better known by his stage name M-1, is an American rapper, songwriter, and activist from Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for his work as one half of the political hip hop duo dead prez with stic.man

#Cannabis #CannabisCulture  #HipHop

At Eighth Revolution (8th Rev) we provide services from capital to cannabinoid and everything in between in the cannabinoid industry.

8th Revolution Cannabinoid Playbook is an Industry-leading report covering the entire cannabis supply chain 

The Dime is a top 50 Cannabis Podcast 

 Contact us directly at [email protected] Bryan Fields: @bryanfields24 Kellan Finney: @Kellan_Finney 

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[00:00:00]Bryan Fields: What’s up guys. Welcome back to my episode of the dime I’m Brian Fields. And with me as always is ke Finney. And this week we’ve got a very special guest John monopoly and M one of urban aroma gentlemen. Thanks for taking the time. How you doing today?

[00:00:14]M1: Good man. How you doing? How you guys doing,

[00:00:16]Bryan Fields: doing well, excited to dive in with you guys and just for the record, uh, your locations please.

[00:00:24]M1: Uh, this is John monopoly and I’m in Los Angeles. Uh, this is Matullo broadcasting live from the planet earth via Miami, Florida. I love it. Ke

[00:00:35]Bryan Fields: I think we’re gonna have a one and a half for the east coast. What do you think about that one? Yeah, I think it’s a nice

[00:00:40]M1: split, you know, east coast, west coast, both

[00:00:41]Bryan Fields: fine.

[00:00:42] And yeah, we’re gonna have a nice conversation there. So the gentlemen for our listeners who are unfamiliar with you, can you give a little background about you guys and kind of what led you to the cannabis space? John, do you wanna go.

[00:00:52]M1: Sure. Sure. Sure.

[00:00:54]John Monopoly: My name is John monopoly. I’m from the south side of Chicago.

[00:00:57] Um, I’ve been in the entertainment industry [00:01:00] for 30 plus years. I started when I was very young as a promoter promoting hip hop parties and hip hop concerts throughout the city. Uh, and then I went on to, uh, manage. Uh, a bunch of different acts. Uh, I worked, you know, I was on managing bus rhymes for a while.

[00:01:17] I, uh, was on Missy Elliot’s management team for a while. Uh, I managed mob deep for a short period. Uh, I, I managed Carl Thomas from bad boy. I mostly known from managing and discovering Kanye west. Um, I, I met him in 1991 and we became very close friends and, uh, ended up doing a bunch of business together and, um, You know, I helped him launch his record label and do do a bunch of things.

[00:01:45] And, uh, yeah, I I’ve been blessed to be in the industry and be, you know, somewhat successful for, for a long time. And, um, I am a, uh, consumer of cannabis. Uh, it helps me with my [00:02:00] anxiety and stress and. Um, something that’s very close to me and dear to me. Um, so when I got the opportunity to work with M and the urban aroma crew, I met M one actually through Kanye a couple years ago and we became friends.

[00:02:16] So when I got the opportunity, I just jumped at it. I loved the platform. I love what we, I love what we’re about. And, uh, I’m, I’m here to add value however I can.

[00:02:27]M1: Okay. Um, yeah. Um, My name is

[00:02:35] I, um, have known, uh, to most of the world as M one, one half of the tell it like it is everything is political rap duo dead press that function, uh, as messengers in the hip hop space. Definitely. Like, uh, reality music, um, speaking to exactly to where people are and like, uh, and like really reflecting a certain kind of truth and speaking truth to power, [00:03:00] um, is kind of like my secret power.

[00:03:02] Um, and so the, uh, the intersection of cannabis and culture. Has been evident to me since the beginning. One of my favorite messengers is Peter Tosh who came with the message to legalize it, um, at a time where, to me, you know, he threw that yard marker so far ahead of where we are right now that I, I knew it, it was gonna be the place for the future to catch up and for us to be, um, I’m.

[00:03:39] You know, cannabis, uh, um, you know, operator. And, um, I came to this space mainly because I saw that, uh, what is happening in cannabis is phenomenal, as phenomenal as changing people’s ideas about human rights or, you know, about. [00:04:00] Healthcare or, or the way we, uh, you know, educate our youth. Um, these, it’s a pivotal question in our life around health and wellness in that way.

[00:04:09] And, um, again, as I. Started to, you know, meet like-minded people, um, in these spaces. Um, one of the most interesting people who I saw, who understood who, uh, the, the, the, uh, acute differences and what cannabis was about. With John monopoly, again, like I said, working, um, you know, political campaign and, and, and with him in other creative ways, let me see how, um, John monopoly gets them and that, um, he was already had, you know, uh, a foot planted in a cannabis space and I felt that he would be great with ours, he with urban enrollment.

[00:04:48] So that’s how we started collaborate.

[00:04:50]Bryan Fields: So I’d love to learn a little bit about urban aroma and kind of the value that brings to space. Is it for the traditional operators or for the retail market? Tell us like what the platform currently is and then where [00:05:00] we, we see it going in the future.

[00:05:03]M1: You want to do that, John?

[00:05:04] Or you want me to start in that? You, you start in. Okay. So, uh, urban aroma is. A, uh, cannabis directory, um, at it space. If I had to just say, start about where it is. Um, but it’s definitely. Has branches and is a seed planted to grow in many directions. So, um, it is a, a, a destination where cannabis meets culture, meets activism and can grow into those places.

[00:05:37] Not only can you, you know, uh, through our SEO, uh, and, and, um, in the east coast and gray market areas put in where to find weed. Um, anywhere up and down the east coast and urban aroma will, will be the place that you will, will direct you toward the, you know, the finance purveyors, um, you know, of boutique and quality cannabis that have, have, you know, the type of ethical standard that, you [00:06:00] know, we have been used to from the west coast for so long.

[00:06:04] Um, so, but also along with bringing you, um, where to find that we are also going to explain the philosophy of why, you know, um, you know, Why we ain’t legal in DC yet, you know, why there’s a statehood issue what’s going on in New York and what mayor Eric Adams says about it, or what the, you know, operation of cannabis management OCM is saying, uh, we’re gonna bring you culture and a way to activate, um, your and empower your mission to, you know, free to plant, I think, ultimately to free to plant.

[00:06:37] So that’s kind of what urban aroma. Does and will do what was,

[00:06:42]Kellan Finney: uh, what was the inception for urban aroma? How’d you guys come up with the.

[00:06:47]M1: Urban aroma came, uh, after working with some of my comrades for a long time, I come from a, a, a revolutionary background, obviously. So, you know, we saw this space as one that was inundated with an upside [00:07:00] downness of kind of people who were interested in exploiting the plant and who also the people who had done, you know, who had paid the most price and were sitting in prison for the plant.

[00:07:10] Weren’t benefiting from it at all. Meaning black and brown. So the inception of urban aroma came and balancing that space and wanting that to change. Um, so, you know, we wanted to put the, the, the controller in the hand of the so-called minority or black and brown user or legacy operator it’s to expose.

[00:07:29] What the legacy work has been for all of these years, they kept the cannabis alive. They kept weed and marijuana popular and a time when it was very unpopular and where we were prosecuted and persecuted for it, you know, um, you know, that is the inception of why urban aroma happened in the first place.

[00:07:48] Um, and what more, better voice to empower? What urban aroma means, then the voices that come out of the urban music, the hip [00:08:00] hop community, R and B, um, you know, we are, you know, if we take it way back to, you know, duke Ellington and, and, uh, and dizzy Gillespie blowing, blowing on Jay’s. That is our truth. You know what I mean?

[00:08:13] Jazz was invented out of this paradigm. So, um, that, that’s what urban Rome was about. It’s about putting like the, the voice back with the voiceless in, in that space and getting some sort of reckoning and that’s, that’s why it was conceived. And just to

[00:08:27]John Monopoly: piggyback off of what M was saying, it’s it is a real travesty.

[00:08:33] Black and brown people represent less than 4% of the overall market, as far as, uh, being able to operate in the cannabis space in this country. Uh, the way that we’ve been persecuted and locked up

[00:08:48]M1: and are still locked up

[00:08:49]John Monopoly: for something that now looks like it’s gonna be federally legal in the very near future.

[00:08:55] Um, we’re here to shed light on, um, You [00:09:00] know, the operators that look like us and just to support, uh, the movement

[00:09:06]M1: in general. Yeah. And, and even before John goes on, cause he, he, he, again, he, um, this is a, a great reason why we’re here. He can touch base with, you know, a lot of the community that feels the same way we do.

[00:09:19] So, you know, we’ve worked with people who are, you know, pushing the, the, the, the line on policy and legislation, um, and organizations who we collaborate with and work with like mission green, you know, Weldon, Angelos, and, and those, those kind of people who are the ill and, and that charact. To directly, directly put money on the books.

[00:09:43] For can people who have been locked up for cannabis. And, uh, I think that that really matters, like to be able to say, you know, this is, you know, this money or this, our efforts will directly benefit going the books so people can eat or write letters [00:10:00] or make action for the people that John was just talking about.

[00:10:04] Um, you know, have been leaned on and it’s a trave travesty that we don’t have that voice. So, um, not only we talking to talk, but that’s the walk that we are. We are walking. That’s

[00:10:14]Bryan Fields: how, how does, like, something like that happen? It’s conversations with political parties? Is it, is it larger outreach? Is it awareness?

[00:10:19] Take us through that conversation? You know, how, how does something like that, you know, take it from where it is and continue forward so that the people who have been, you know, wrongfully locked up can get those, those benefits, like you were saying.

[00:10:31]M1: I think it comes from awareness and education. Cause a lot of people don’t even know.

[00:10:36] They have no idea that cor Vancouver. Got like for 40 tons a week. Just we, they have no idea that Dante Westmoreland got all this time, um, and organized his own campaign to free himself in the Trump during the Trump campaign. I think [00:11:00] when

[00:11:00]Bryan Fields: people, people find.

[00:11:05]M1: How that did the information is to say these, this is really happening in the real world and it’s wrong in the face of what people will believe is a progressive government.

[00:11:17] You know, you’ve got the people at the top saying we are gonna do something and they not doing nothing. So this is, I think the educat.

[00:11:29] That and, uh, to get involved, that’s where it starts. I don’t wanna say that. I think that the, the education is really communication. One of the best, uh, channels to communicate these kind of political messages and everything is, is music. And so, like cannabis and music have kind of been intertwined from a cultural perspective for a really long time.

[00:11:52] And, and John, you wanna kind of touch on how much. Cannabis has influenced the music industry. Oh, wow.

[00:11:59]John Monopoly:[00:12:00] So I remember the chronic album. Yeah. like, I mean, you wanna talk about influence, right? Right. I remember when it was still kind of cool to be a smoker and then Dre dropped chronic and everybody’s smoking immediately.

[00:12:18] Like within three weeks of that record, explode, exploding. Everybody was smoking. And it seems like it’s better. I’ve been smoking ever since. There’s such a, there’s such a, a big intersection there between cannabis culture and hip hop culture. You know, since the beginning of hip hop, almost, I would say that cannabis has played a part and, um, you know, it’s definitely played a part in my life since I was very young.

[00:12:44]Bryan Fields: Is it an important part in the creative process as well in the music making? Or is it more of someone that just enjoyed on the side? You know, take us behind the scenes on how, how it’s used from a music sense. I know

[00:12:55]John Monopoly: when we’re recording records, you know, whether the artist that I’m working with at the [00:13:00] time is a smoker or not, it’s always around, it’s a part of the creative process.

[00:13:06] It’s a part of the overall. Process, whether we’re listening to music, whether we’re shooting visuals, whether we’re creating, it’s always around. And, um, especially being, you know, in, in LA where like most of the artists come to record and create, um, with it being such a big part of the California culture.

[00:13:28] Um, it it’s, it’s every.

[00:13:33]M1: I wanna, I wanna say like what’s so crazy is when the chronic came out, we did not know what chronic was, you know, like, uh, I think obviously

[00:13:50] the, um, they were like, we about to show. World this magic. And I think, you know, we [00:14:00] in New York, we were smoking, you know, smoking BC, you know, British Columbia shit with the orange hairs on it. We were smoking Arizona. We were smoking things that did not necessarily

[00:14:13] that were not as green or open. And, and, and blowing on. And so it definitely sent like a, a, a me, it was, um, but, um, I just wanna say in the creative process, you know, even if you don’t, you’re not a smoker of cannabis as a creator, as an artist, like mono said, It’s in the room. And to me it becomes a great translator.

[00:14:37] You know what I mean? So that, you know, we, we ride, you know, the, the, the elevation that comes from the high and the THC and the, and, you know, CBD and terpenes and all that’s that’s present in, in the plant that is almost like a plug of communication with the brains of the people who we.[00:15:00]

[00:15:00] You know what I mean? So I think it’s, um, of, of, of, of the music and of the culture and that’s, I think, has to go, you know, a part that, that cannabis has played in, in what we’re doing, especially in hip hop music, you know what I mean? So, um, yeah. Um, so part of me, John,

[00:15:20]Bryan Fields: I wanna go back to you from a creative standpoint.

[00:15:22] Are there certain products and strains I got

[00:15:25]M1: so.

[00:15:26]Bryan Fields: Sorry, bud. Are there certain strains in creative products that certain artists lean on? For example, does Kanye west have a preferred product or does a certain artist look for a certain product to kind of help them in an album in certain challenges? Or is it more just like the flowers, the flower, and this is the one I appreciate, like how, how specific is the, the creative aspect with the, the artisanal craft?

[00:15:47]M1: Yeah. Is no craft, ye doesn’t

[00:15:48]John Monopoly: smoke like that. Um, we’ve smoked together a couple times, you know, He doesn’t have a particular strain cuz he doesn’t, he’s not a smoker, but um, [00:16:00] yeah, I think there are preferred strains and I, I, I don’t think it’s one that I could name necessarily. Um, you know, I know that, you know, That a, that Allen Iverson, Viola is like a preferred strain.

[00:16:18] Of course. Anything in the cookies universe

[00:16:21]M1: is, is super hot

[00:16:22]John Monopoly: right now. Yeah. And definitely what young lb is doing when you joke up and runs, I think between those three families, you get kind of like most of the preferred hottest strains today. Yeah. What do you, would you, would you say that’s accurate M or who am I missing?

[00:16:44]M1: I mean, look right now, like for instance, you know, Mario BMO say again, I said, I

[00:16:52]John Monopoly: forgot to say gumbo is

[00:16:53]M1: a preferred strain right now. Yeah. I mean, like I said, Shek made latter, right? That, that [00:17:00] shit was, I see this everywhere. It was like having a hit fucking. You know what I mean? It was like when Lil Wayne made a Millie, Black like it’s in every studio, you feel what I’m saying?

[00:17:11] Like it was like, so it’s amazing to see the, especially geneticists such as like Mario Sherbinski come forward and affect our culture. You know what I mean? Like he hangs around with all the young producers, you know, um, you know, I be in rooms where he he. is Just as much as celebrity and as studio making music as the artist is, you know what I mean?

[00:17:34] So, you know, so you, you can, um, you know, at course, you know, young, lb and Runtz I think he said that already. And, and, um, and you know, for me, like I remember a time coming up where it, you know, Kush was what it was. It was, you know, master Kushing OG Kush, Kush had developed and was, you know, permeating the east coast and almost all good weed was called Kush at that point.

[00:17:57] I’m, I’m gonna take it back to that, that point. [00:18:00] So if you wasn’t smoking kushion in the studio, we probably couldn’t get down. You know what I mean? Like, and you know, before that, you know, you. You had that, that uptown Piff, the Piff was amazing. And we, and that was, that was always in the studio. If you ain’t have Piff then your studio wasn’t lit, I promise you, but Piff, but

[00:18:18]John Monopoly: Piff was more of a New York specific

[00:18:20]M1: thing, right?

[00:18:22] Indeed. Exactly. Outside of New York like that. Yeah. Nah, it wasn was, it was New York and just like New York sour. You know what I mean? That’s that strain itself, you know what I’m saying? And um, so you knows, you know, I, I just, it like, it is regional, obviously, you know what I’m saying? It’s regional, but that, that to me, and I’m a indica smoker, I can’t smoke CI seafood and create shit.

[00:18:44] You know what I’m saying? Like, I’m a indica. I know people, some people need that up, but I need to feel it heavy. In order for me to tap into that vital place. You know what I mean? But yeah. Anyway, you know, I will say though, the west coast came up with a lot of good [00:19:00] strains, but one of my favorite strains is New York sour beasel and style,

[00:19:04]Bryan Fields: for

[00:19:04]M1: sure, for sure.

[00:19:06] For sure.

[00:19:07]Bryan Fields: So let’s talk about the influencer partnership, obviously with, with music and cannabis being so linked together. One of the challenges we’ve heard in the industry is that, uh, bigger names are attaching themselves to strains and, and creating brands in order to kind of push their likeness, but are, are really detached from the actual product on the plant.

[00:19:24] Do you see that as a challenge? Is that something that you’ve seen in your circle? Can you kind of take us through your opinions there, John? You wanna go. Sure.

[00:19:32]John Monopoly: Um, I’ve seen, you know, and I don’t wanna say any names, but I’ve seen very influential, huge artists that are cannabis friendly and cannabis promoters, uh, two in particular.

[00:19:46] And again, I, I just prefer not to name names cause I don’t want them to think I’m kind of sure, you know, crediting their efforts, but I’m, I’m, I’m watching them struggle. You know what I mean? It’s like when you look at a guy like. A [00:20:00] Berner or a young lb who are like huge stars in cannabis. And some of our counterparts from the music side that are much bigger stars than them, right.

[00:20:14] That have millions and millions of followers and platinum records and world tours, but they can’t figure out how to get the same traction. Um, in the cannabis space as they do in the music

[00:20:28] and lifestyle space. And

[00:20:30]M1: it’s,

[00:20:30]John Monopoly: it’s

[00:20:30] really challenging, um, because there’s just certain nuances that people buy into and certain things that they just don’t as, as cannabis consumers, and it’s just being a part of the culture.

[00:20:41] So I’ve learned over these last couple years of just kind of being in the space and, you know, just paying attention that just because you’re a big influencer on the music side. And you’re a big cannabis advocate that doesn’t necessarily translate immediately at least to, uh, a [00:21:00] successful brand in cannabis.

[00:21:02] And, um, yeah, it, it is just tricky. It’s

[00:21:05]M1: just tricky. I wanna, I wanna pick piggyback on what monopoly said and I love it because you got a great mind. Uh, and John monopoly examining this and that is, you know, if anything, if any, anybody knows what’s, what’s tricky is meaning like delivering to a consumer, a product.

[00:21:25] Then, then John does which he’s done successfully, um, in culture in many ways, you know, manifested it in so many ways, whether it be albums. Or clothes or anything that becomes through the mind of the artist. So, you know, I gotta say that it’s this, you know what I mean? Like when I see a brand and I see that who is attached to, I, I have to know deeply that this artist understands the, the plant the way I do.

[00:21:59] And this, [00:22:00] this is a very intimate way. It’s cool that if you just smoke. That’s cool. You know, but I’m talking about, see it as medicine and it doesn’t mean you gotta like smoke a lot, like me or roll big, big joints or anything. It just means that you have that intimate relationship with the plant. And I think that shows, I think people can tell, I think people know burning smokes big and good.

[00:22:24] That’s the reason why they can trust that brand. You know what I mean? So if you don’t see other brands taken off, it’s almost because we haven’t seen the intimate relationship you may have had with that plant. I know people have seen mine that’s for sure. You know what I’m saying? Like I wrote so many songs about what it’s like to, you know, be in that journey and go through that journey and people kind of off can, can even come up to me with my favorite shit and be like, I know this is your favorite shit.

[00:22:50] Cause you talk about that. You know what I mean? I think, you know, there, if, where you have that intimate disassociation with culture, I think that that [00:23:00] is gonna play a major part in brands that are associated with artists taking off. You know what I mean? The more you let us in, the more we are like, oh, I, okay.

[00:23:09] I understand. Well, we are the same, you know what I mean? And you know, like John monopoly got, you know, you know, uh, you know, the, the, the strain for, for bipolar. For, you know, and people are gonna say, oh shit, I’m fucking with, with mono shit. Like, cause I’m on that too. I be on that time too. You know what I mean?

[00:23:31] So I, and I see, uh, that’s how I, I see monopoly. We got together cuz I could see, oh, this man smokes for a reason. It it’s a part of his DNA and that you know that to me, you know, that, that speaks volumes.

[00:23:45]Bryan Fields: I think that’s so important cuz on the, on the internet side for Twitter, there’s always this push back and forth on when the big celebrity more musician attaches themselves to a brand.

[00:23:53] And then there’s the, the purchasing manager who says he’d never buy this because he doesn’t really sell so well. And I think. One of the [00:24:00] things that excites me with the announcement of, of John become an urban aroma is the ability to kind of pair those creativity together and develop that trust.

[00:24:06] Exactly like you were saying them so that it it’s deeper than just that initial push. And I can only imagine, you know, the, the challenge of getting in and then kind of solidifying yourself with, you know, the everyday consumer who sees a name and, and is not sure, but then trust in that. And then the values delivered upon moving forward.

[00:24:23]M1: Right. Right.

[00:24:24]Bryan Fields: Are the hottest trends and strains? Do they start in the dispensary or in the legacy outlets or underground?

[00:24:31]M1: Can

[00:24:31]John Monopoly: I, can I talk on

[00:24:32]M1: this M oh please.

[00:24:34]John Monopoly: Underground first legacy second then in stores, everything starts in the streets, everything. Same way with a record, your first spin, ain’t gonna be a radio.

[00:24:47] Your first spin is in the club. Your first spin is in the strip club. It starts in the streets. Very very similar to the cannabis space. You got guys, and, and again, I’m not going, I don’t wanna incriminate [00:25:00] anybody, but you got guys that are making huge amounts of money in the cannabis space. Now be because of the simple fact that they laid a foundation in the black market.

[00:25:12] Now they can do stuff above ground because they’re so hot that they, that they’re moving real weight, you know? Where they need to, but all that, all that starts on the ground, when you say, would you say M or am I off,

[00:25:25]M1: uh, 100%. Right. Uh, and I, and to, to me, uh, underground or, or the streets is synonymous with legacy.

[00:25:32] You know what I mean? Uh, there, that is synonymous to me. And, uh, because, you know, we are the ones who, again, are gonna smoke it in the room, without anybody watching it really takes to say, is this really what it is? Is this, is this what that is? Is that, is this, that. You know what I mean? That’s in, that’s in the conversations of the rooms or the people, and we, it’s not about anything except for how does this taste, how does that feel?

[00:25:53] Ooh. Uh, you know, and that is where we develop, you know, that word of mouth, you know, we gonna [00:26:00] pass it along. Like, like John said it it’s gonna be in the strip club that, you know, mean your place is going be lit simply if it smells like, you know what I mean? If you smelling like that runs. Yeah, you probably, I probably wanna come in your spot, you know what I mean?

[00:26:16] And, and do what I do. So, you know, um, you know, at the end of the day, I think the dispensaries, this leads to the higher question that corporate or dispensaries in that market and the legal market. Has to really take leadership from, from the legacy market. If it happens the other way around, people are going to bulk that in bulk the industry and have no have distrust and, and you know, what they say that they provide and go to the legacy market, which is the reason why I’m.

[00:26:48] The competitive legacy marketing like California is the way that it is why, you know, most people would rather be legacy 80% and only 20% of the people in cannabis are participating in illegally. You [00:27:00] know, so let’s, let’s do it. Right. You know, let’s listen to the streets first. Let’s listen to the legacy first and, and build and build from there.

[00:27:07] That’s my 2 cents. And I mean, I think a lot of the strongest brands come from, from that whole avenue, right. I mean, we were talking about burner and jungle boys. They didn’t cut their teeth in the, in the legal market. Right. They didn’t learn the skills they, they know now. Right. That creates that tremendous products that they put out there.

[00:27:24] That’s not from the streets and legal, uh, legacies. And now

[00:27:28]John Monopoly: they got two of the biggest brands and it all started underground for the people you’re talking

[00:27:31]M1: about. Yes, sir. and, and just like, and, and to piggyback what Manop said, like, like Jay-Z came from crack and admittedly and when, and when he became the president of Def jam, he said that marketing strategy was me.

[00:27:49] So, you know, literally you could, you could get a bunch of aha who graduated and read a bunch of books and went to college about marketing and, and urban. It, it [00:28:00] has, it has to come from that real experience and really, so,

[00:28:04]Bryan Fields: yeah. Yeah. How, how do we get them to make the transition so that they’re feeling comfortable to in the more, uh, legal market?

[00:28:11] So there’s a fair balance for, for, let’s say all.

[00:28:17]M1: You wanna say that? I’m sorry. Yeah, I do. And I’m sorry about this beeping in my background. I hope it’s not so intrusive in, in here. I think it should go away in a few seconds. Um, you said, repeat the question. How can we do what now?

[00:28:28]Bryan Fields: How do we, how do we get the people who are underground now to feel comfortable with coming out and, and operating in a legal market with, let’s say the rules and regulations of getting the products tested.

[00:28:37] So how do we get that, that balance to get them to feel comfortable, to take that steps forward into, into more of the prominent light?

[00:28:44]M1: I mean, you know, the first step, obviously, Is to have a trusting relationship with the legal market that says we won’t be prosecuted for the things that we did in the past while this wasn’t [00:29:00] this market wasn’t legal, meaning brow beaten by law saying we weren’t, aren’t gonna be in a position to get the first licenses or looked at in some sort of side.

[00:29:10] I mean come like, and I, the term is, is, is amnesty. It’s full amnesty. And I think you’re not starting with amnesty. You’re not gonna be able to build the trust in the legacy market and let people come forward and say, look, you know, I have amassed this empire from cannabis this long, you know, um, you know, I’m gonna come take, you know, my empire and said money and wealth and resources and put it in your banks and we can, let’s do this all legal and tax it and let’s make it all.

[00:29:35] The only way that’s all gonna work out is if we have an established, um, communication and, and, uh, and framework with structure and policy that, um, holds amnesty as, you know, a way that we can come forward. From the true legacy operator, which I think is only gonna be defined by the legacy operator ourselves.

[00:29:59] You know what I [00:30:00] mean? It’s not gonna be defined by the state of, for federal. And with that being said and sanctioned and legitimized in this way, go through the process of saying, look, we’re gonna come forward and we wanna offer all that we have, but more than what we want, wanna do is not be penalized for what we’ve done in the past.

[00:30:17] And that’s how we gonna start. That’s the place to start.

[00:30:21]Bryan Fields: That’s so powerful. So what is one thing you learned in the music industry that applies to the cannabis industry?

[00:30:28]John Monopoly: Um, I learned very, um, how to market and launch an artist. Just from hustling, you know, working at different labels and management companies and working with different artists.

[00:30:45] I kind of learned the ins and outs of how to brand and, and how to promote and how to launch a brand. And it there’s very. Similar, uh, process in the cannabis space. You [00:31:00] know, you, you gotta build a brand, you gotta push it. You have to make sure that it’s hot in the streets first, you know, before it crosses over.

[00:31:08] So there’s a lot of parallels in that space. And, um, that’s that, that’s what I learned. And you wanna speak to it?

[00:31:15]M1: I mean, there’s, you know, I don’t wanna speak to the brilliance of John monopoly. I, I, who am I to even say anything? Um, he, he laid it out. I think he might have gave up a little bit more jewelry than you should gave him.

[00:31:27] Um, but, but I could say this, um, as a touring, Artist for 20 something years traveled the world some more times than I would care to admit. Um, the most important thing to do is connect with people. It is that people feel you and understand the, and the presence and importance of what. [00:32:00] You know, what’s between us, you know, and culture and music, you know, it’s a song that means something sometimes even if it means just get fucked up or have a good time or free ourselves, it means something to us and cannabis can be in that space.

[00:32:13] So like, you know, I think like what I’ve learned is like building that community, building that real community, that they can’t take that from us. I don’t care how much. Many laws you write. I don’t, how care, how many times you go to the capital steps. People are going to act in a manner that makes sense for us.

[00:32:34] And if we are community, if we are United on it, then we can make the definition. You know, it’s like literally all power to the people in, in the form of cannabis. You know what I’m saying? Um, so that’s what I, that’s what I take from. From like, you know, the music industry, um, especially hiphop is like really follows no rules and really sets its own trends as, and, and is empowered by our, uh, community that is in many [00:33:00] ways, outcasted, you know what I mean?

[00:33:01] Like our opinion matters. Nowhere else has except culture, you know, we, and, and, um, even in places where we should naturally be leading, you know, like sports and, and, and entertainment and, and. You know, um, you know, I think we can change that relationship here. And, um, so that’s, that’s what I, that’s what I learned from, from music and, and that, but I just really gotta say, I’m thankful to be able to, um, you know, see the leadership of, of, of, um, mono, because yeah, that, that says it all.

[00:33:30] And that’s the future. I think what’s one

[00:33:34]Bryan Fields: way the cannabis plant has shocked. You

[00:33:39]M1: has shock ha has what shocked you.

[00:33:44]John Monopoly: One way the cannabis plan shocked me. Um, wow. It shock. I’ll say it shocked me when I was young. When I first started getting kind of [00:34:00] comfortable with cannabis in high school, uh, I was shocked at. When I started to learn how to use it, right. How much it actually relaxed me.

[00:34:12] Like, I didn’t know what the actual effects were. I just knew at a young age that I liked the smell and it seemed like something that I should fuck with at a very young age, but I didn’t know it was gonna. Know, completely cool me out as it has for 30 years. So

[00:34:32]M1: what, what about you? Em, I would say this, you know, it’s definitely the same, like the revolutionary thing that it did to my mind and.

[00:34:40] The freeness of it, allowing me to be, be me. I mean, I think that thing is, uh, you know, done wonders. I think psychedelics can do that. I don’t, and I, I don’t think it’s just unique to cannabis, you know, it can be, it can be present in, in, in Sila Simon. You know, and, and, [00:35:00] and, you know, like other kind of things, but the breakthrough definitely came from me in cannabis, and I feel the same kind of relationship with it as a, as mono, um, as Johny.

[00:35:09] But I would like to also say that recently, like in a Mo like kind of hippy way, like, I would find my way to like, Eureka and, and, and other places in California, you know, in Seattle and Portland where, you know, like it was like, man, you know, regarding of what the plant is, happens on another spiritual level.

[00:35:27] So then you have like development of like the lifestyle. So it’s like him. And like other ways to process this, you know, this thing into something more powerful than just something that we smoke. I mean, we could really make full like industry around it. And I, I saw fabric and textiles begin to be born from it.

[00:35:47] And now it’s like talking to people like Isaiah Thomas, like. He’s producing so much hemp. Um, and, and that he’s creating, you know, uh, you know, mechanisms and, and P parts that, [00:36:00] uh, are durable enough to replace, um, you know, bolts, steel, bolts, and nuts in cars. Um, that’s pretty shocking to me. I think that just what, and what’s more shocking is the fact.

[00:36:13] I know this, so I know the government knows this, but chooses not to move on something that can be so advantageous for them. You know, that’s, that’s fucking. You know what I mean? So that’s what I would say.

[00:36:28]Bryan Fields: probably money motivated, unfortunately. Right? Like I, I think at the end of the day, the government, uh, is influenced probably by previous decisions.

[00:36:35] And some of them may not be the best decisions for the collective and the environment and they, they choose to do that, but you’re right. A hundred percent. And I, I think it’s perfectly said with the unlocking that cannabis can do. And I think that’s really the most exciting part for the masses. And I think here on the east coast, who, you know, haven’t had a chance to get as much exposure to the plan as.

[00:36:52] As they might like just given the, the current framework, I think the unlocking is really coming. So let’s talk about the summer series. I’m excited to learn about [00:37:00] that. You know, the, the pairing, you know, take us, take us through that, you know, what can we expect and, and, and shed a little light on, on what that’s gonna be like.

[00:37:07]M1: Sure.

[00:37:07]John Monopoly: Uh, urban aroma summer series, uh, the events take place at legacy New York, which is located at 98 orchard street on the lower east side. Uh, we had our first event with the young lb from, uh, jokes up and runs. Uh, it was a big success. Um, And then we, we just had Mike S uh, last week and we have a lot of really exciting, um, artists, uh, that we’re working with to come do drops and come, do meet and greets.

[00:37:39] And we’ll, we’ll be announcing our calendar, uh, very soon. Um, and yeah, it is been great, you know, and, and I’m really excited to, to, to, you know, tell you who, who all we have confirmed. We’ll just kind of at the end stages of locking everybody in, but within the next week or so you you’ll be seeing some announcements online [00:38:00] with an actual schedule with the, uh, actual, uh, uh, artists that are affiliated.

[00:38:05] But so far we’ve done, like I said, young, lb and Mike abs and they were, and they were both

[00:38:10]M1: good turn. What’s the awesome future roadmap. Yeah. I just wanna tag on and say, I just left New York city. Um, I’m from Brooklyn, New York. The summertime in New York is an awesome time to be outside. The summertime of 20, 22 is crazy.

[00:38:28] Cuz cannabis is emerging and, and so many, so many dispensaries out everywhere. It’s like fucking crazy. It’s Popp. Like mushrooms and which is great because we wanna build community. And so the idea of the summer sessions like monopoly said is to engage in a community that can, we can keep the energy moving around the lower east side, where we founded.

[00:38:52] So like little enclave, our spot, our gallery there, and our dispensary really works for like, just being able to bring people [00:39:00] in. And we, and then we have a spot in a nice downstairs where we, you know, just do multimedia and, and have the ability to do, you know, everything. Cannabis, you know what I’m saying?

[00:39:14] Um, like you said, like lbs party was crazy. Mike EPS who came and burnt it down stupid, but like, you know, we, we, we are hosting other cannabis brands and other partners that are nearby and, and, and community that we all want to come in and partake together. So that’s kind of what the summer, the summer series is about.

[00:39:33] You know what I mean? And we, the best doing it, especially with the, we fuck with so. It has a

[00:39:38]Bryan Fields: focus on giving back, which I think is so important. And I’d love for you guys to kinda shed on that, that it’s not about just the event and the plan and the collaboration of music together, but also the association of helping others and giving back.

[00:39:49] Can you, can you shed a little light on that?

[00:39:55]M1: Well, I, I definitely will say, oh, you wanna start me? Not, no, you [00:40:00] start him. Okay. Yeah. I wanna say that. What people are gonna get used to is that when you visit certain, uh, places that are cannabis friendly or progressive, that because you do. You ship in on something that’s from a higher purpose. You know what I mean?

[00:40:22] Like, uh, you know, for instance, you know, we work with the ASAP foundation, um, ASAP, this foundation has developed these fentanyl kits. Um, you know, anybody who knows ASAP yams or who, who knows, you know, Fe or any one of those dudes know that they are advocates are like, you know, we can prevent. Not knowing what we’re investing in, or even identifying the things that might be harmful to us before they get into our bodies.

[00:40:49] And so, you know, you’ll find, uh, uh, the, that, that the testing kit, um, there, right there on our, on our counter and legacy, um, you know, we [00:41:00] are associating again with brands like mission green weld, Angelos, where we literal. Dollar for dollar

[00:41:06] will

[00:41:06]M1: match people and putting down on the books of, you know, uh, cannabis, incarcerated cannabis people, you know, men and women, um, who many of them we’ve begun to, to free and start working on friends.

[00:41:19] But. Um, more than anything, we just need to let people know that they’re there. So, you know what I mean? We’ve, we’ve given, you know, 30 tens and thousands of dollars in this campaign already. And, um, and we’ll continue to do that. And, and our brand people, army farms, my brand, um, that comes to us going outta dead press is literally about when you, when you, uh, purchase our gummies, our sea Mo gummies or our, you know, people.

[00:41:47] Flower bags you give to political prisoners and you give to, you know, um, you know, urban black campaigns that support, you know, against police brutality and the rest of that type of stuff. So, um, I just, you know, that again [00:42:00] is the ethos of what urban Roman is about

[00:42:04]Bryan Fields: before we do predictions, we ask all of our guests, if you could sum up your experience in a main takeaway or lesson, learn to pass onto the next generation, what would it be?

[00:42:14] M you wanna go.

[00:42:17]M1: Nope. Manop. I want you to go first. I gotta think about that generation. You said if I could thumb up, what was it

[00:42:24]Bryan Fields: again, thumb up your experience in a main takeaway or lesson, learn to pass onto the next generation. What would it be? Can be life related advice,

[00:42:35]John Monopoly: work harder every day. Um, be relentless.

[00:42:43] And no matter how many doors get closed in your face, never give up.

[00:42:49]M1: Oh, oh, I mean, I would, I’m gonna start where man, I left off, which is beautiful because when you said that, [00:43:00] like the only thing I could think of that first thing that came to my head was never give up. Um, cause like, uh, I can, like, I can testify that right now.

[00:43:12] these are some crazy times in America, in the world, you know what I mean? And. It’s not gonna make sense the way it’s being told. We’re gonna have to see it from an alternative point of view. I’m convinced of that. I’m convinced that the lens is gonna have to change and the tellers are, the stories are gonna be different.

[00:43:34] And the, you know, you know, and we’re seeing it all come to pass shit. The criminal weed is now the. A superhero savior for our community, you know? Um, I never thought I’d see some of these days, um, you know, it can look bleak, it can look like there is not worth it, you know, I’ve been there, you know what I mean?

[00:43:56] Um, and, but more than anything, [00:44:00] if you don’t give up and you can keep the idea that you have in your head, that hope is there. We will likely succeed. Just don’t give up. And, um, that’s what I will pass to the next generation. Yeah.

[00:44:16]Bryan Fields: Well said, all right. Prediction time. It’s 20, 27. What type of events releases or activities are happening in New York to make it the biggest cannabis market in the world?

[00:44:29]M1: Wow. You know, it’s being released. License, they’re giving licenses out. Okay. They’re releasing that in New York. And guess what? It’s not being done fairly. They’re not considering they’re giving licenses out and about to roll out the second, uh, set of licenses. I think they car licenses and, and I just think that.

[00:44:57] Social equity doesn’t do it. [00:45:00] So, you know what we’re seeing along with every, all the new dispensaries that that’s happening in New York, which makes it amazing place to be. You should have you seen Washington square park lately. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then Google it. And you know, I just think that.

[00:45:19] If, if, if we’re gonna play this thing fair, you gotta consider the L operator so we can be out there and we can be popping and make, you know, this as hot as the summer in New York is. So I’m turn your question that way. Like,

[00:45:34]John Monopoly: so you said predict what and how we’re doing. What in

[00:45:39]M1: 2027,

[00:45:41]Bryan Fields: what type of events releases or activities are happening to make New York the biggest cannabis market in the.

[00:45:50]John Monopoly: I think by 2027, you’re gonna see retail and every borough just popping everywhere [00:46:00] and hopefully, hopefully black and brown people will be represented in that group. I think you’re gonna see whatever version of web three. Um, there’re gonna be some NFT or web three activations that I can’t think of how it would work now.

[00:46:19] Cause I’m not so familiar with this space, but I know it’s the next frontier. And by then it should be a new version of that probably coming out and there’ll be activations in the digital space. Um, but again, more so than anything, I just hope that black and brown people are represented when retail blows up in New York.

[00:46:41] Because by then, it’ll definitely be popping

[00:46:44]M1: Ellen. You know, I, I, I wanna add on to that prediction as well. I think New York is going to scale to be the largest kind of boutique operation like or producer. My prediction is you’ll be [00:47:00] able to get, we’re gonna catch up as far as conservation and understanding how to scale, make our grow of the plant.

[00:47:08] So unique. There are so many. Unique tastes in New York and the hi combined with the rich history of New York, like 20, 27 is gonna look crazy with what is gonna be available as far as like plant plant medicine and the rest of it. I think it’s gonna be better than Amsterdam, Morocco. Barcelona California, any of that shit ever was, is gonna be the green giant.

[00:47:34] I agree. I think one thing that’s gonna push that too, is gonna be consumption lounges. I think New York is gonna be huge on consumption lounges, especially with the amount of, um, get togethers that, I mean, everyone loves to just hang out and that whole community aspect associated with, with New York, which is what I think everyone really loves about New York is that community aspect and just getting together.

[00:47:56] And I think. Uh, consumption allows, and the ability to [00:48:00] smoke and consume together is gonna really separate New York from other states.

[00:48:04]Bryan Fields: Brian, what do you think? I, I think a little bit of intersection of both, and I think John kind of touched on it before, but like a, a hidden underground album release party that’s pushing a brand or a strain I think is where like the, the streets can kind of take it to the next level.

[00:48:17] Right. That exclusivity that builds like the massive hype. I think that’s what makes New York kind of special. They have these like small enclaves where like there’s small social circles where, unless you know about it, you don’t know about it. And it exists here in New York now. And I can only imagine.

[00:48:31] With the intersection of music and cannabis, continuing to growing with the leadership of both of you gentlemen at the helm, I’m excited for New York, and I think that’s gonna help take us to the new level. And I think that’s what what’s gonna separate us from California. I think California’s not as closely tied into some of those hidden things that I’m at least envisioning in my head.

[00:48:48] Maybe it does exist. And I just have no idea, but I’m excited for that opportunity.

[00:48:53]M1: Me too. Well. Okay. Sure. So

[00:48:57]Bryan Fields: gentlemen, for our listeners, they want to get in touch. They wanna learn more [00:49:00] about urban enrollment summer series. Where, where can they reach you?

[00:49:04]John Monopoly: Uh, you can hit me on Instagram at, at John monopoly.

[00:49:07] J O H N monopoly, just like the board game. M O N O P O L Y.

[00:49:17]M1: Um, You can always reach me out, obviously one dead press RBG, but more than in that go to urban aroma under school at urban aroma under school, we’re building our social media. We, uh,

[00:49:31] you

[00:49:31]M1: know, we’ve had, because of you already know what happens with cannabis, um, online. So, you know, we, we developing. You know, ways to really communicate who we are and what we are.

[00:49:43] But if you hear this, then go to urban aroma underscore, or even just urban aroma.com and, uh, just check out what we have, who we service, um, and, and the communities in DC and New York, um, that we can blend together and turn into like, you know, magic, [00:50:00] you know what I mean? So that’s where to find us. We’ll link

[00:50:02]Bryan Fields: it up in the show notes.

[00:50:03] Thanks for taking the time, gentlemen. This was fun.

[00:50:05]M1: Thanks guys. Thank you.