As several states face troubling COVID-related budget deficits and long-term financial challenges, one state in particular is leaning into a relatively new source of tax revenue to offset ongoing economic contractions. Despite only legalizing adult-use cannabis at the end of last year, Illinois has already experienced enormous commercial success since retail sales started on January 1. In total, Illinois dispensaries have generated over $300 million in recreational sales this year and $52 million in tax revenue within the first six months of operation.
Etain Health, New York’s only family-run, women-owned vertically integrated agribusiness and medical marijuana dispensary, has opened its new flagship facility at 242 East 58th Street on August 6, 2020.
I’ve been a massive fan of art glass since my misspent youth took my mind wandering into the creative worlds of practical art. There was a time when back in the 1970’s I visited the famed Murano glass works in Venice, Italy and marveled at the exquisite art glass being hand blown.
Rico Lamitte CEO & Founder, The Suave Life, LLC PHOTO COURTESY: RICO LAMITTE
Rico Lamitte and Mieko Hester-Perez have had the same goals for over three years now. Rico is a Northwestern University graduate, former (nearly pro) athlete with 10 years of corporate financial background prior to becoming a serial entrepreneur. Mieko is an autism mom, 14-year attorney service firm business owner, and known globally as a sought out healthcare ambassador for special-needs families.
Creative cannabis people intrigue me. Who is satisfied with just sitting behind a desk all day, hacking out metrics, even if it is in the cannabis business? Sure there are jobs for these types of people but let me be the first to tell you that my kind of entrepreneurs in the cannabis space don’t have the patience to sit around and let the world come to them from behind a computer. Far from. What they do is seize the day, create something new, inspire others. Creativity and cannabis really do go hand in hand. Bryant Bowens seeks to open your mind, one carefully sourced cannabis-friendly product at a time. I’m proud to have been able to share my thoughts on his Murano Tips for rolling cannabis joints, even though I’m still unable to roll a joint myself. It’s really quite embarrassing to not be able to use the tips that the Murano folks sent my way. My apologies. But getting back to Bryant. There are many inspired folks who come my way. Bryant Bowens is certainly enlightened. Thank you for this opportunity to share his story with you, my readers. Cheers! WB
Co Founders of CRONJA Culture. From Left Bryant Bowens, Right Ryan Cron PHOTO CREDIT @HELLOIMBIANCAA
CRONJA Distribution Highlights Last 90 Days – Sold $300,000 in bulk & retail sales within the last 30 days, driving strategic alignment and efficient execution of the start-up route-to-market strategy, delivering a 50% increase over months prior.
Of all the recent stories that I’ve worked on, none are as compelling on a personal level as High Herstory. Certainly I’ve written about some intriguing folks, but as a film major from college, High Herstory resonated with me- more than most. It’s because High Herstory is a unique, documentary based Cinéma vérité-style of filmmaking that focuses on the current/now. High Herstory tells stories that have not been told, at least not yet.
wb: I keep hoping that legal cannabis delivery services will come to New Jersey. Even legal cannabis. Why? Because of competition. It would help bring the high prices for cannabis down to earth. Right now the use of delivery services for cannabis is illegal within our state. Sure you can get street weed delivered to you, but that’s frowned upon, so don’t do it!
I sponsored Warren Bobrow to come to Rochester’s 2019 Cocktail Revival and teach about CBD and THC cocktail making. The experience was amazing. Not only down to earth, Warren was also extremely knowledgeable about the whole topic. He shared some historical information and personal experiences that brought him to write his book Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks & Buzz-Worthy Libations. He also shared how polarizing the book was and the negative reaction of so many people in his camp. The experience has been life changing on many levels and a journey he shares with passion, his heart on his sleeve, and a mission to educate others.
Warren shared how he had personal experience with medical marijuana for a chronic medical condition. His life had changed and he looked for a way to bring consumption of marijuana into his daily life. However, he found that cannabis had a stigma that accompanied its use, even when used for medical purposes. There needed to be another way to get a dose of cannabis other than smoking or eating pot brownies. He was culinary trained and food and beverage was an important part of his essence, and enjoyment in daily life. One of his goals in writing this book was to provide a way for people to responsibly consume cannabis in public without everyone one around knowing and judging. He wanted to provide a way for people to enjoy a delicious drink in a social environment and incorporate cannabis into the drink. Maybe medical reasons, maybe just for relaxation, but either way, in a way that the whole world did not need to know you were enjoying cannabis. He said he wrote the book as a medical reference, not merely because of the trend of cannabis. As long as cannabis was slowly becoming legal across the country, he wanted to provide a way to responsibly include cannabis in cocktails. He experimented to get correct dosages and ratios so each recipe provided a delicious drink and had a responsible and therapeutically effective amount of cannabis.
Warren shared how he had personal experience with medical marijuana for a chronic medical condition. His life had changed and he looked for a way to bring consumption of marijuana into his daily life. However, he found that cannabis had a stigma that accompanied its use, even when used for medical purposes. There needed to be another way to get a dose of cannabis other than smoking or eating pot brownies. He was culinary trained and food and beverage was an important part of his essence, and enjoyment in daily life. One of his goals in writing this book was to provide a way for people to responsibly consume cannabis in public without everyone one around knowing and judging. He wanted to provide a way for people to enjoy a delicious drink in a social environment and incorporate cannabis into the drink. Maybe medical reasons, maybe just for relaxation, but either way, in a way that the whole world did not need to know you were enjoying cannabis. He said he wrote the book as a medical reference, not merely because of the trend of cannabis. As long as cannabis was slowly becoming legal across the country, he wanted to provide a way to responsibly include cannabis in cocktails. He experimented to get correct dosages and ratios so each recipe provided a delicious drink and had a responsible and therapeutically effective amount of cannabis.
Warren also stressed the legal challenges cannabis presents and was careful to not expose alcoholic licensed operators to any legal issues by demonstrating THC cocktails. As much as we all wanted to try some and make some cocktails with THC, he would not expose the venues to the risk. (Predictably, as an attorney, I respect that. I am trying to figure out how to do a “part 2” in Ontario, Canada where recreational cannabis is legal and I don’t believe there is a restriction on combining alcohol and cannabis. Email me at TJong@TJong@TracyJongLawFirm.com if you want to be invited to a future event.)
So as an amateur mixologist, I had a key takeaway. CBD can be used like bitters (and in addition to bitters). It can be added as a simple drizzle on top of a cocktail in the same way as an aromatic oil like mint, basil or lemon. It can replace a traditional garnish. The simplest use is a flavored CBD oil or tincture that has a flavor profile traditionally associated with the cocktail. If the cocktail traditionally calls for lime, use a lime-flavored CBD. Drizzle on top just before drinking. A more “professional” approach might be to infuse hemp into either simple syrups or other drink mixers used to make the drink. (He showed a device that could do this an explained how it worked and how the temperatures of the device optimized the flavor and efficacy of the oils and other parts of the botanicals.) His book goes into detail on some of these techniques.
