The National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) are helping to usher in a new era in sports and cannabis with a new, tentative deal.
While the deal must still be ratified by players and team governors before it’s official, it’s looking like the NBA will not only remove cannabis from its banned substances list for players—it also plans to allow players to promote and invest in cannabis companies, as reported by The Athletic.
These new details emerge in a seven-year collective bargaining agreement that came together last weekend. The agreement would formally codify the league’s decision to temporarily suspend cannabis testing for the past three seasons, officially removing cannabis drug testing requirements for athletes.
The NBA’s New Path Forward
The move is a long time coming. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver signaled back in 2020 that the Association’s temporary policies could one day become permanent after initially suspending cannabis testing.
“We decided that, given all the things that were happening in society, given all the pressures and stress that players were under, that we didn’t need to act as Big Brother right now,” Silver said at the time. “I think society’s views around marijuana has changed to a certain extent.”
In 2021, Weedmaps also announced its partnership with NBA star Kevin Durant, teaming up for a multi-year partnership aimed at destigmatizing cannabis and showcasing the plant’s potential in aiding “athlete wellness and recovery.”
While other professional sports leagues have steadily moved in a similar direction, the NBA stands apart with its aim to let players promote and invest in cannabis companies. The deal would also allow players to invest in NBA and WNBA teams as well as sign non-gambling endorsement deals with sports betting companies.
Reigniting the Conversation of Cannabis and Sports in the NBA
The conversation of cannabis and sports has reached new heights as the industry continues to grow. Retired athletes like Ricky Williams have opened up about their cannabis use and its benefits during their careers and beyond, especially as it relates to gameplay-related symptoms like chronic pain or achy joints.
In a 2019 interview with High Times, Williams said the NFL is improving with its approach to cannabis, though he believed they could also do more.
“The NFL is a powerful corporation that carries a lot of clout, and if they did modify their approach more significantly, it could create a lot of change in the world,” Williams said.
Sha’Carri Richardson notably sparked renewed interest in cannabis policy in sports in 2021, after she was suspended and unable to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for testing positive for THC following the death of her mother. She’s said that she would feel “blessed and proud” if her story sparked broader policy change for other athletes.
The topic of cannabis and sports also came up in 2022 after U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner was detained in Russia over the possession of a THC vape.
As athletes continue to open up about their cannabis use as it relates to their health and wellness, research continues to affirm that cannabis and cannabinoid products have the potential to aid in athletic training and recovery, though more research is needed on the topic as a whole.
Progress for Cannabis in Sports
As the NBA takes the lead in this conversation, other major sporting leagues have steadily moved in a similar direction.
During the 2021 offseason, the NFL and NFL Players Association agreed on a change to the league’s cannabis policy. The updated policy says that players must test for cannabis just once a year, at the start of training camp. Previously, players who failed the test were subject to lengthy suspension, but now they are only subject to a fine.
In 2022, the NFL also authorized $1 million in grants for two studies that would examine the efficacy of cannabis and its compounds to manage pain in football players and provide neuroprotection from concussions.
MLB has also taken a more progressive stance in the last several years. In 2020, it clarified that players would not be punished for using cannabis, just a few months after removing cannabis from its list of banned substances. Prior to the change, players who tested positive for THC were referred to mandatory treatment, and those who failed to comply faced a fine of up to $35,000.
In 2021, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced it would no longer punish fighters for positive cannabis tests.
The official NBPA Twitter account shared the news release announcing the tentative deal on April 1, which confirms that “specific details will be made available once a term sheet is finalized.”
Connecticut’s chief prosecutor announced last week that state’s attorneys have dismissed more than 1,500 pending cannabis-related criminal cases involving offenses that are no longer against the law. In a letter sent to a Connecticut legislative committee on March 31, Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin reported that prosecutors had reviewed more than 4,000 pending drug possession cases and dropped the charges for 1,562 of them.
In June 2021, Connecticut lawmakers passed legislation to legalize personal quantities of marijuana and to regulate commercial cannabis production and sales. The possession provisions went into effect one month later, and dispensaries began regulated sales of recreational marijuana in December 2022.
The legalization statute also included provisions for the expungement of past cannabis-related convictions in cases involving up to four ounces of cannabis. In January, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announced he had “erased 42,964 cannabis convictions” as a result of the legislation. But the expungement provisions did not explicitly clear charges for pending marijuana possession cases, a point that was later clarified by lawmakers.
“The legislature made clear to the Division of Criminal Justice that it intended for the new cannabis laws to apply to people who had charges pending on the date the law went into effect,” Griffin said in a statement cited by CTInsider. “Understanding the intent of the legislature, the division undertook an expedited review of its files to respect the legislature’s wishes. The state’s attorneys and their offices should be commended for their efforts and their commitment to addressing these cases in such a timely manner.”
More Than 4,000 Pending Drug Possession Cases Reviewed
The charges dropped by prosecutors represent cases that were pending when the legalization bill went into effect. In addition to the 1,562 dropped charges, about 600 more that involved multiple charges were modified to remove cannabis charges from the case. Griffin reported to lawmakers that his office had to review each of more than 4,000 pending cases individually, citing state law that combines cannabis with other controlled substances such as heroin and cocaine.
“It has been the shared position of this committee and the division that persons charged with a possession of a cannabis-type substance offense that has subsequently been decriminalized should not be prosecuted for that offense,” Griffin wrote in his letter to lawmakers last week. “Thus, identifying these cannabis cases could not be accomplished merely by conducting a computerized review of pending cases.”
“This was no small task and quite labor intensive,” he added.
Griffin sent his letter to the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, which was last week considering a new bill directing state’s attorneys to end prosecutions for cannabis possession cases. The bill, HB-6787, also creates a process for automatic sentence modification of all eligible marijuana convictions identified by prosecutorial officials and instructs courts to determine if release or sentence modification is warranted. The measure was approved by the panel by a vote of 27-10, although Representative Steve Stafstrom, the co-chair of the committee, said that the bill is likely to be amended as it continues through the legislative process.
“This clears up confusion that may have been created under the legalization-of-cannabis process, whereby certain offenses that were pending before cannabis legalization remained pending even after that legislation was adopted,” Stafstrom said on March 31. “I want to specifically thank the office of the Chief State’s Attorney, who I know heard the concerns, the bipartisan concerns of this committee at the public hearing in terms of getting those cases dismissed.”
ConnecticutActivists Applaud Dropped Charges
Griffin’s move to drop the pending marijuana cases was warmly received by cannabis policy reform advocates including Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
“Hundreds of thousands of Americans unduly carry the burden and stigma of a past conviction for behavior that most Americans, and a growing number of states, no longer consider to be a crime,” Armentano said in a statement from the cannabis policy reform group. “Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that public officials and the courts move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization.”
Sarah Gersten, executive director and general counsel of the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to securing the release of all cannabis prisoners, praised Griffin’s move and urged lawmakers to approve HB-6787.
“We applaud Chief State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin for dismissing more than 1,500 pending cannabis cases and modifying approximately 600 others. This announcement marks a tremendous step towards achieving justice in Connecticut,” Gersten wrote in an email to High Times. “However, HB-6787’s passage is still crucial to ensure those currently incarcerated have the same opportunity to have their sentences reviewed and potentially terminated. It is unconscionable that some in Connecticut remain incarcerated for cannabis while others are profiting from the exact same activity.”
The New York Cannabis Control Board approved the 99 new licenses on April 3, increasing the total provisional retail dispensary licenses for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries (CAURD) to 165.
“We are proud of today’s approval of 99 CAURD provisional licenses, marking a vast expansion
of the Seeding Opportunity Initiative as we continue to build an equitable market that offsets
harms caused by cannabis prohibition and its disproportionate enforcement,” Tremaine
Chris Alexander, the executive director of the Office of Cannabis Management, said that “the approval of these licenses will help expedite building a robust and diverse supply chain while also ensuring that individuals that have been disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition have meaningful opportunities to participate in the industry.”
Wright thanked New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and members of the state legislature in Albany “for helping us reach this day,” and noted that the “new licenses will allow entrepreneurs to fairly participate in the legal market while promoting innovation and creative diversity throughout New York’s ever-growing cannabis supply chain.”
The Cannabis Control Board said in a press release on Monday that the “licenses included four for Western New York, one for Central New York, five for MidHudson, and three for Brooklyn, marking the first provisional licenses to be issued in these regions following last week’s modification of a court injunction that had prevented the Board from issuing them.”
The board explained the application process: “License applications will continue to be sent to the Board for consideration on a rolling basis. To be eligible, applicants themselves were required to either have had a cannabis conviction or be the family member of someone who has and have owned a profitable business. Nonprofits were eligible if they had a history of serving current or formerly incarcerated individuals, including creating vocational opportunities for them; have at least one justice-involved board member; at least five full-time employees; and have operated a social enterprise that had net assets or profit for at least two years.”
New York launched its adult-use cannabis market late last year with the opening of a retailer in New York City’s East Village neighborhood.
Other dispensaries have opened in Manhattan since then, while the first legal dispensary in Queens opened late last month, but Brooklyn, New York City’s most populous borough, has so far been left out due to a court-ordered ban last year.
The Cannabis Control Board said on April 3 that, to date, it has “granted at least one [Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary, or “CAURD”] provisional license in each region other than the Finger Lakes, which remains blocked by the injunction.”
The CAURD license “is a central pillar of the Seeding Opportunity Initiative,’ the board said, noting that the initiative ensures that “New York’s first legal adult-use retail dispensaries will be
operated by those most impacted by the enforcement of the prohibition of cannabis or nonprofit
organizations whose services include support for the formerly incarcerated.”
“As stated in the MRTA, marijuana laws had disproportionately impacted African-American and
Latinx communities. For the past 30 years, Black individuals in New York have been 15 times
more likely to be arrested for cannabis-related offenses than their white counterparts. For Latinos, it was 8 times more likely. These arrests perpetuated a cycle of poverty in Black and Brown communities. Accordingly, the criteria for obtaining a CAURD license included having been impacted by the enforcement of the prohibition of cannabis,” the board said in Monday’s press release.
“We are thrilled to announce the addition of 99 more CAURD provisional licenses as we
continue to work swiftly and equitably to establish New York’s cannabis industry,” said Alexander.
I’m not here to talk about any specific brand or any specific strain, but in my capacity as a journalist, I have been tasked with truth-telling and to tell you the truth: I have been extremely disappointed with the lack of quality in the California rec cannabis market as of late.
We’ve all heard the news stories and the insufferable bitching from corporate cannabis CEOs about how the legal market just can’t compete with the traditional market, but past the press releases and the buck-passing, anyone in the cannabis space should be asking themselves: what exactly is standing in the way of truly good weed being widely available on legal shelves?
To find the answer to that question, I enlisted the help of some California and Emerald Triangle cannabis staples who have been around long enough to know what good weed is and/or have all managed to put fire onto dispensary shelves. Sourwaves is a long-time grower and meme maker who has lived in infamy for years for his unwillingness to take his foot off the industry’s neck when it comes to growing practices and quality.
John Casali of Huckleberry Hill Farms has been growing and living in the same valley of the Emerald Triangle for his entire life and has multiple awards under his belt including a 1st place Ego Clash win for the Riddlez rosin processed by Heritage Hash Co. Finally, Robert Gale of Humboldt Terp Council produces some of the finest concentrates I have ever had the pleasure of dabbing and is a vocal member of the Humboldt County community on the state of the industry and of cannabis in general.
After extensive conversations with the aforementioned, I have boiled down the most likely causes of mass boof to the following three explanations:
Excessive Government red tape/taxes
Corporate margin slimming/market manipulation
General lack of growing experience
Uncle Boof-Smoking Sam
Almost every state has objectively bungled the way they set up their cannabis laws either to the tune of a “pay-to-play” market or a lack of foresight when it comes to issues of license caps or lack of maximums on canopy space or both.
“Basically overproduction and over-taxation have caused a race to the bottom and everybody is losing,” Gale said. “The other issues are, especially with flower, it has only a certain window where it’s good and it takes so long to get through processing, packaging and testing that unless you’re vertically integrated the weed’s already getting old by the time it hits a shelf.”
Testing is its own beast of burden. Every legal state requires some form of THC testing but with little to no guidance on exactly how that process needs to be performed, it has opened the door for manipulation and consumer confusion when they buy a 31% THC eighth that doesn’t get them high at all.
“There’s no set calibration for testing, one. Two, you can buy test results,” Sourwaves said, referring to the lack of regulations surrounding the methodology in which California labs perform tests. “You’re gonna pay more than the next lab but that’s what makes the lab popular. ‘Oh, my, THC is over 30%,’ that makes things fly off the shelf. There’s little tricks people do to make a test hot, like drying it super, super dry and stuff like that.”
In addition to overproduction and over-taxation, many cannabis industry business owners have lamented that excessive regulations on how cannabis businesses have to operate have caused industry gridlock and a slough of unnecessary money hang-ups.
“One of our biggest hurdles is having to go give [our cannabis] to a distributor who takes 17%, who doesn’t pay us up front. Then they give it to a retailer who doesn’t pay that distributor who doesn’t pay us. And then, if the customer doesn’t buy that product, or it takes them a year to pay the retailer, it takes a year to pay the distributor, who then in return takes a year to pay the farmer,” Casali said. “More [often] than not most of us farmers don’t get paid a lot of times.”
Just a few mids for reference. Photo by Patrick Maravelias
Revenge of the Chads in Rec Markets
The jury is out: big money is growing too much weed for their own good. Of all the people I’ve talked to in cannabis throughout the duration of my lifetime, scale is the number one cited culprit of boof production. However, extreme scale is also an extremely effective tool if you’re a really rich dude who wants to get into cannabis but would prefer if all the traditional market cultivators got conveniently arrested or set on fire.
This mentality has led to market manipulation and pushing out of legacy operators by massive grow companies, some of whom have been accused (if not informally) of shmoozing and lobbying politicians for economically unsound favors like removing a one-acre cap on cultivation licenses, for instance, or generally making it easier for people to buy their way into the industry and weed people out who have less capital.
“If a guy has a one-acre grow, it’s just basic economics of why the bigger guys cost less to produce a pound of weed,” Sourwaves said. “So, these goons over at Glass House got their costs probably between $30 and $60 a pound so if they need to go crash the market selling packs for $150-$250 It’s because and they know that these smaller farms cannot keep up with these low prices.”
For someone like Casali who grows only 5,000 sq ft of canopy, which he hand waters with his girlfriend/partner, it’s virtually impossible to compete with the margins set by some of the larger operators, so even if the product is vastly better in quality, it creates a situation in which the consumer is faced with a dirt cheap option decent enough to defend saving the $20-$40 extra per eighth they would have spent on something worth smoking.
“Growing in the Emerald triangle, it costs a lot more to produce a pound and in the country up in the hills, being environmentally friendly it costs us between $300 and $400 to produce a pound,” Casali said.
“You have people who are solely in this to make money and this is America I’m not against making money it’s not that. The problem is that the weed sucks, right? So how do we make that better?” Sourwaves said.
While no one I’ve ever talked to had a hard line for a plant or light count considered “too big to be dank” almost everyone could attest that once you pass a certain threshold, it’s basically impossible to produce quality bud and at the scale some of the California producers are producing at, it has created a perfect storm of dogshit.
“There’s a few people doing it, but they’re few and far between. I think a place like Fig Farms has managed to keep their quality up and slowly get bigger,” Gale said. “Man, it’s hard to scale quality. Most of the stuff that we view as quality doesn’t stand a chance to what the people are still producing on the traditional market.”
No Love for the Plant, No Knowledge About the Plant
I have never met a single grower worth their salt in my time as a weed nerd who didn’t love the plant and/or sacrifice an immense amount of time and hard work for the plant. Maybe that’s some hippie mumbo-jumbo I picked up whilst on acid in the Arcata plaza, but if every good grower on Earth says the same thing, there’s a pretty good chance they know what they’re talking about and they all stress that while it may be easier than ever to learn how to grow, you still gotta put in your 10,000 hours to be able to consistently produce the best representation of the plant.
One thing Sourwaves stressed to me in terms of growing techniques he believes lead to poor quality are high intensity, full synthetic nutrient cycles for big indoor grows which he thinks could be made incrementally better by the introduction of organic nutrients in addition to the synthetics.
“When you’re feeding super high EC several times a day, and you’re forcing that plant to uptake all these nutrients because you’re using sensors to measure your dry backs, and it’s telling you how and what you need to feed that crap. Access to that information is so dope, don’t get me wrong, but the way that is being manipulated to push the crop to a higher yield, It does not result in a pleasurable smoke to the end user,” Sourwaves said.
The lack of experience and lack of love for the plant seems to extend to every part of the industry beyond just the cultivators.
“Even in 2018-2019 if you worked at a dispensary it’s because you loved weed and because you wanted to be closer to it, Gale said. “And now that we’re like five years into legalization, and the truth is you’ve got a lot of staff at dispensaries that applied to 10 different places, and the dispensary happened to call them instead of Subway or the shoe store or Orange Julius.”
Could it be that Mother Nature simply has a fail-safe from allowing herself to be taken advantage of by people who do not show her the love she deserves or is this more mumbo and more jumbo? Many growers I’ve spoken to firmly believe that when you put in the work, it comes back.
“Most of us, our parents, were part of the back to the land movement. They taught us that it’s just as important to take care of the environment and take care of the land and the more time and the more energy and the more love that you put into any kind of plants, whether it’s fruit trees, whether it’s grapes, or vegetables, or cannabis plants, the more time, the more energy and the more love you give them, the better they turn out in the end,” Casali said.
So what do we do about all this, asked the obnoxious journalist who was taught never to ask rhetorical questions. In a nutshell:
We get rid of the excise taxes and any/all red tape standing in between the grower and the consumer so small growers can make a living.
We put a reasonable cap on license size and/or the number of active licenses so the Chads can still play but don’t ruin it for everyone else.
People growing cannabis for a living need to learn how to f***ing grow.
Show respect for the plant and the plant will respect you.
In the past, I’ve written about how marijuana can make a great movie or show even better than it already is, and the same is true for video games. Small wonder, too. When you play a game, you’re not just watching – you’re actively involved in what’s happening. Add a joint into the mix, and you’ll soon forget that the world you’re interacting with isn’t real.
Maybe you already have a go-to game to play while high. But if you’re looking for suggestions, High Times has you covered. Most of the games in this list feature satisfying gameplay and stunning visuals. I tried to not just include blockbusters in this list, but also some lesser-known games you may not have heard about. Indie developers need all the love they can get – and deserve.
Journey
I believe it’s an unwritten rule in the game world that everyone who talks about pretty, trippy games has to mention Journey. This game, developed by Thatgamecompany, directed by Jenova Chen and released in 2012, only takes between 2 and 3 hours to finish, meaning you could complete it in a single smoke sesh. If there’s a story here, it’s for you to piece together.
Elden Ring
Speaking of piecing things together, go play 2022 Game of the Year-winner Elden Ring if you haven’t already. Bluepoint’s Demon’s Souls remake from a few years ago has better graphics, but Elden Ring is better designed. It’s honestly the closest any game has ever gotten to making you feel like a hero setting out on an adventure in a strange, colorful land – which is something 99.9% of games try to do.
Becalm
Do you ever use those apps on your phone that help you unwind with relaxing music and videos of rolling waves and northern lights? Basically Becalm is those apps, but in game-form. There’s not much to it, but that’s the point. You sit in a sailboat that gently steers past colorful oceans and an even more colorful sky. I don’t think this game is on VR yet, but it really should be.
Psychonauts
Psychonauts will blow your mind – literally and metaphorically. Inspired by those old-school platformer-collectathons from your childhood, you play as a secret agent/psychiatrist who travels into people’s minds to solve crimes and treat childhood traumas. The developer took concepts from psychology – social anxiety, schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder – and turned them into gameplay mechanics.
Little Nightmares
There’s a ton of atmospheric 2D platformers out there worth playing – Limbo, Rayman Legends, Ori and the Blind Forest – but Little Nightmares takes the cake for me. This is, in part, because it’s not just a platformer but also a horror game, and a terribly effective one at that. You play as a tiny kid in a dystopian world ruled by giant, ugly, child-eating adults. Fun for the whole family.
Portal
The portal-shooting mechanic is trippy enough on its own, but when you combine it with weed you get something very special – and fun. The plot is great, too. In both games, you venture through an abandoned tech facility while getting chased by a menacing yet hilariously written robot. One of the most innovative, well-crafted games in the history of the medium in my opinion.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Unpopular opinion perhaps, but as far as Zelda games are concerned, I’d pick Wind Waker over the more recent and technically impressive Breath of the Wild any day. The game may look a bit childish at a glance, but over time the more cartoonish art style grows on you. More importantly, Wind Waker has this amazing nostalgic ambiance that I just haven’t found in any other game.
Shadow of the Colossus
Ethereal is the word I would use to describe Shadow of the Colossus. This classic, still regarded by many nerds as one of the best games ever made, is unlike anything you’ve ever played. It’s a massive open world with a dozen or so free-roaming bosses for you to find. Those bosses, the titular colossi, are also the game’s levels. To defeat them, you’ll have to climb on top of them.
Death Stranding
Sorry to all the Kojima purists out there, but I feel like Death Stranding is a game that’s incredibly boring when you’re sober, but unbelievably captivating when you’re high. The game’s deliberately awkward and difficult movement controls have led some to label it as a walking simulator, and I’m willing to bet stoners will have the time of their lives trying to do something as simple as climbing up a hill.
Baba is You
Good luck to you as this is one challenging puzzle game, and a highly original one at that. In order to proceed to each next level, you have to literally rewrite the rules of the game itself. It’s made by a guy from Finland and has this hard-to-define Scandinavian aesthetic that I find strangely comforting, like some 90s kids shows or furniture from Ikea.
Snake Pass
Snake Pass is a platformer where you play as – you guessed it – a snake. Pretty clever design decision that, because snakes cannot do the things that most platformers are built around, like running and jumping. To succeed at this game, you’ll have to move like a snake. And to move like a snake, you’ll have to think like a snake. If this doesn’t make any sense at this moment, it will once you start playing.
Dinner with an Owl
If this was a movie it would have been produced by A24 and plastered all over your favorite meme forum. It looks, feels, and plays like a nightmare. You have a vague idea of what’s going on, but for the life of you, you couldn’t accurately describe it to someone else. There is this owl, and he wants you to have dinner with him. Over and over and over.
Ayahuasca
There are a bunch of indie games that try to recreate the experience of taking ayahuasca, but this one won an award at the Tribeca Film Festival and Raindance. It’s not really a game so much as it’s a film, but it’s played on a VR headset and the player does appear to have a choice in what kind of person their character is and what kind of vision their life experiences would inspire.
With over 3,000 industry operators, investors, policymakers, and advocates expected to attend, registrations have surged by 30% compared to last year, reflecting the industry’s rapid expansion. It is expected that 90% of the total cannabis market cap will be at this event, making it the perfect place to network with the top operators in the space.
Twitter and Uber Dive into the Budding Cannabis Industry
In a major development, Twitter and Uber are set to participate in the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, highlighting the increasing crossover between mainstream business and the cannabis sector.
Alexa Alianello of Twitter US Sales & Partnerships, Rohan Routroy of Twitter NEXT, as well as Jesse Young, Global Lead of New Ventures at Uber Technologies, are among the top executives scheduled to speak.
This marks the first time Twitter executives will meet with cannabis industry leaders to discuss the social media giant’s role in cannabis advertising, making it the first platform in the social media landscape to open its doors to the burgeoning industry.
Politicians Join the Conversation
The conference will also witness the participation of prominent politicians, including Rep. Dave Joyce, U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 14th Congressional District, and Rep. Troy Carter, U.S. Representative for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District.
Their attendance underlines the importance of political support for the continued growth and mainstream acceptance of the cannabis industry.
Photo courtesy of Benzinga.
A Hub for Networking and Learning Opportunities
The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference offers an unrivaled platform for networking, deal-making, and knowledge-sharing among the world’s leading cannabis investors and top-performing companies. Among the star-studded lineup of speakers are Gina Collins (CMO, Trulieve), Emily Paxhia (Managing Partner, Poseidon), Tim Seymour (CNBC News Anchor, and Founder and CIO of Seymour Asset Management), Matt Darin (CEO, Curaleaf), and many more.
The event provides attendees with an exceptional opportunity to learn about thriving in the cannabis business amid challenging market conditions, discovering the next generation of industry-leading businesses, and understanding what investors are seeking in today’s market. Attendees will also have the chance to connect with CEOs and decision-makers from top industry companies, gain insider access to celebrities, and drive public opinion and narratives via the largest financial media voice in the sector.
The 2023 Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is set to be an indispensable event for cannabis entrepreneurs and investors looking to forge new partnerships, generate meaningful ventures, and engage in vital conversations about the current state of the industry.
Check out the full lineup here and get your tickets here. Prices are surging fast!
Photo courtesy of Benzinga.
Ten reasons to join the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference:
1. Learn how to thrive in your cannabis business amid a bear market.
2. Discover the next generation of industry-leading businesses.
3. Identify exclusive opportunities for retail investors.
4. Gain invaluable tactics from the most profitable businesses.
5. Learn what investors are looking for in a challenging market.
6. Network with CEOs and decision-makers from top companies in the industry. 7. Gain insider access to celebrities sharing their stories and brand-building secrets. 8. Ask industry leaders and celebrities your burning questions and receive real-time answers.
9. Drive public opinion and your own narrative via the largest financial media voice in the industry.
10. Connect with your next investor or co-founder and make lasting friendships.
BONUS: Don’t miss the tantalizing Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference afterparty, an irresistible evening set for April 12 at the illustrious LIV nightclub, nestled within the iconic Fontainebleau Hotel. Prepare to be mesmerized by scintillating performances from seductive artists like Lexy Panterra and a plethora of enticing surprises that await you.
The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is designed to help cannabis entrepreneurs and investors make the most of their time, offering an unparalleled opportunity for networking, deal-making, and learning from the world’s leading cannabis investors and top-performing companies.
Don’t miss out on this year’s exceptional speaker lineup, including:
● Alexa Alianiello, Twitter US Sales & Partnerships
● Rohan Routroy, Twitter NEXT
● Rep. Dave Joyce, U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 14th Congressional District
● Rep. Troy Carter, U.S. Representative for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District
● Jessie Young, Global Lead, New Verticals, Uber Technologies
● Gina Collins, CMO, Trulieve
● Emily Paxhia, Managing Partner, Poseidon
● Tim Seymour, CNBC News Anchor and Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Seymour Asset Management (SAM)
● Matt Darin, CEO, Curaleaf
● Weldon Angelos, Founder and President, The Weldon Project
● Darren Weiss, COO, Verano Holdings
● David Goubert, President and CEO, Ayr Wellness
● Matt Hawkins, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Entourage Effect Capital
● Kristi Palmer, Co-Founder, Kiva Confections
● Kelly Flores, COO, Wana Brands
● Jason Wild, CIO and President at JW Asset Management
● Wendy Berger, Board Member, Green Thumb Industries
● Paul Weaver, Director and Head of Cannabis at Boston Beer
● Gia Morón, President of Women Grow
“Cannabis businesses have closed deals in aggregate north of $1.5-$2 billion at our prior events. And get ready: the 2023 conference will be even larger, with a record level of investment capital and top-notch operators,” says Chief Zinger Jason Raznick.
Musician, singer, actor, comedian, and beatbox extraordinaire, Reggie Watts has layers like an onion. If onions ate edibles, that is.
Born in Germany and raised in Montana, Watts’s love affair with cannabis started with the finest schwag a teenager’s money could buy. Thankfully, that crispy weed didn’t hinder him as he stayed on a path that led him to learning all of the benefits the cannabis plant has to offer.
Somehow he always gives the audience exactly what they want—not even Watts knows what he’s planning, from a TED Talk and comedy specials to his tones and beats on Comedy Bang! Bang!. His gift comes naturally and what a gift it is.
Edibles have also been a gift to him, not just to reduce stress and anxiety, but as a muse as well. He even takes his love for cannabis steps further, advocating far and wide in loopy improvised musical odes to 4/20 on The Late Late Show with James Corden where he serves as the leader of the show’s band, called Melissa.
We talked to Watts about practicing proper dosage, vibes over terps, and an “edible game” he plays when alone with himself. (Get your minds out of the gutter.)
High Times: What was the weed like growing up in Montana?
Photo credit: Robyn Von Swank
Reggie Watts: Oh man, I mean, it was very schwaggy. It was very brown with seeds in it, but we would get really fucked up! I don’t remember its efficiency, I didn’t know anything about that then, but we were high. I guess it came from Mexico? That’s what everyone always said, “It came from Mexico.” Who even knows if it was true.
Do you remember where you got it back then?
I like that question because it’s like you’re trying to score some.
Yeah so, where’d you get that dirt weed from? Can I get that number like, pssst… Reggie sent me?
So yeah, is there an email I get? A number I can hit up? I need some schwag! You know, I don’t know where we got it from back then. It was always my friend that procured it, and I had no idea where he got it. Ok actually, there was one time when I knew where we got it. I had broken into a small pickup truck and behind the seat, there was a huge brown paper bag full of weed. We ended up selling that in the summer, but we kept a bunch too. So that’s where we got some of our weed, but the rest of it my friend Beav got that was probably just from some guy. Maybe he got it from Mexico.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve MacGyvered to smoke pot out of?
Wow, what would that have been? Oh, you know what? This one was a pretty good one. I had this wood coffee table that I got from a thrift store when I was furnishing my first place in Seattle. My friend was a woodworker so, we decided to make one of the corners of the table into a pipe. So, we carved out a bowl and then drilled a hole in the corner so you had to just like, get down on your knees, put some weed on top of the table in the bowl, and draw from the corner of the table. You know what? It worked!
That’s the most random thing I’ve ever heard. Now that you’re a vet in the game, do you have a favorite strain?
My favorite stuff comes from my friend Dave. He’s in a band and grows the most amazing weed. It’s incredible because it’s grown biodynamically and it just has this really chill, fun, and awesome feeling to it. That’s my favorite. I’m not really a connoisseur when it comes to strains and things like that because for me it’s like, is it weed? Ok, lemme get high off of it. I’m not really like, well the terpenes are like… yeah, I have no idea.
“What gets me high? What’s a good vibe? For me it’s about the vibe. When someone is like, this is great for being creative… yeah good, let’s get high. That is all I need and I’m happy.”
– Reggie Watts
That’s so funny because every weed store is like, this is great because of the percent of terps and I’m like, “Let me stop you. I’ll take a sativa. Preferably something fruity.”
Yeah! What gets me high? What’s a good vibe? For me it’s about the vibe. When someone is like, this is great for being creative… yeah good, let’s get high. That is all I need and I’m happy. I also try to stick to edibles because smoking does kind of fuck with my throat.
Ahhh yes. I recall a space cake story you told onA Little Late with Lilly Singh. Have you given space cakes another go or was that it for you?
Of course! I’m not one of those people who give up or have a crazy experience like, “oh I’m never going to do that on stage again.” Of course I’m going to do that on stage again. The one thing I dislike is that every single person I run into when I offer them an edible is like, “I don’t know mannnn, I just can’t, it makes me all urghhhh.” I just feel like, you have to keep trying. You have to practice, know your amounts, and pick a brand that is consistent. People just give up so easily and weed has so many benefits. Don’t pass on it!
I hate to be part of the problem, but I once ate 25 mg, couldn’t move for 12 hours, and I had shit to do.
Photo credit: Robyn Von Swank
I don’t think anyone is a pussy for not taking them. And if you took too much, you took too much. I can’t just be like, “SUCK IT UP!” There are tricks you can do to calm yourself down and get through it, but it’s not really about that. It’s about how that was too much, so next time, you’ll do 4 mg or 2.5 mg. People get afraid of edibles and they’re so scienced out now and have all different kinds of doses from low to high. And their levels are insanely accurate, which makes them awesome products. I think edibles have a big advantage and I think they’re very helpful.
OK you win! I’ll give them another go. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re all high and such?
All stizzy? That wasn’t sponsored. I enjoy the classics like video games and watching a really amazing show of any kind, mainly science fiction. Those things I really love. Something else I really love is, I just recently got ahold of some Level pills that are 100 mg each. I’ll take a high dose, like 100 mg, and then just try to complete technical tasks. Firmware updates or organizing a drawer or something like that. I love stuff like that because it’s basically me trying to batten down the hatches on a ship that’s in the middle of a hurricane, you know?
It’s a mental exercise or a creative challenge. Can I maintain my composure? A lot of people don’t know I’m high on an edible, or on anything. I have some weird ability to tap into normalcy and I can get into a pragmatic mindset. I just kind of do it as a practice because you know, when shit goes down, I don’t wanna be freaking out! I want to go into problem solving rather than being all, “AHHHHH!!!!”
I think you need to sell portions of your brain to other people. We all need a little Watts brain, please.
Yeah, I should do that. I need to create a method. The Watts method!
