I bought this dragon at a cannabis themed event.
Candles and Candy Apples – Wellness on a Wednesday
It costed $30, $5 more than the listed price on the website, and it was already breaking off by the time I got home.
I was at this event, with this scratchy plastic dragon around my neck when I finally realized that the cannabis industry is split between two worlds.
The first is the familiar (and untrustworthy) corporate giant. After working for one of the biggest dispensary brands it became obvious to me that the corporate cannabis world doesn’t know, respect, or care much about the lineage of consumers, and the troubled history they endured to bring cannabis to where it is today. As far as the corporate America mogul is concerned, the industry is ripe with opportunity and shifting into the booming cannabis market to gain proper market share is good business. It really is the low hanging fruit of find-a-need-and-fill-it business skills 101.
Sure they will tell you different – corporate jargon and marketing are good at telling beautiful lies, but if you listen closely you can hear the snakes hissing behind their grade A copy mission statements.
And if you get too close, surely they will bite. They’ve rebranded the culture to make it more palatable for the customers who are afraid of it. The rest of the customers get potency – a strategy that suspiciously reeks of manufactured codependency. There is more money to be made if more people are getting as high as possible and by politicizing the history we can’t talk about cannabis in a real way.
The second side I find the most disappointing – it’s the consumers themselves capitalizing on the developing system and selling their soul for their own piece of the pie.
After my appetite for corporate cannabis ended in food poisoning, I thought maybe the average joe stoner would keep the spirit of the plant alive. This unspoken hero would kick off the wave of authenticity the industry lacked. However, as Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”
The social media videos, weed parties, and events send a message that there is something you could be missing out on. The reality is that everyone is out to make another sale, get a fresh like, or forge a new contact with little to no interest in connecting.
Sure they will vehemently disagree, stoners know how to vibe, but if you look closely you can see dirty smiles flashing in your face.
I think the conspiracy theories about clones are true. Surely they walk among us obviously cloned and in denial. However, we are the ones who clone ourselves when we hide behind the truth. Clones are wrecking havoc in every corner of society and although weed is supposed to be the antidote to clone-type behavior, it seems this cancer bleeds through the cracks that emerge under the weight of greed and selfishness.
Turns out cannabis does not remove our primitive impulses to be greedy, self centered and manipulative. With this sacred plant now turning into a dollar sign, mindful and responsible consumption is merely an unpleasant afterthought that begrudgingly follows the mention of heavy topics like addiction and abuse.
I’ll admit I wanted in on the gold rush too. I started this blog hoping to discover and celebrate all the great things legal cannabis has to offer. It seemed like the perfect time and place in history where authenticity could, for once, easily ride to a well deserved top. Instead what I’ve discovered is a desperate race to an end that flies straight off the edge of more-of-the-same cliff. So after leaving my last cannabis related event with a familiar feeling bubbling in my gut I’ve decided to take my weed and my heart off the table and watch the toxic brine neutralize from the outside.
True to human nature, there is still a glimmer of hope. There is always a light of truth among the smoke and mirror circus. I’ve met amazing, funny and talented people who give cannabis a good name.
Mostly I’m writing this for them. Hopefully my message reaches at least one, to encourage those who have the courage to be real. I hope those real, non-clone humans in the industry carry the torch of everything cannabis represents. It seems like it may be a challenging battle to elevate and activate an existence that’s not for sale in a time where human emotion is seen as cash. It’s a battle humans have been fighting since the beginning of our history and history tells us it’s worth it every time.
Because as money comes and goes, switching hands and loyalties along the way, it’s only the light that emanates from truth that guides us forward.