Many people are rushing to get in on the Cannabis Industry. It has been referred to often as the "Green Rush." For illustration, in a matter of days, the largest cannabis trade show in the world will flood Las Vegas, Nevada. Out of the thirty thousand or more people there, most will know very little about the history and legacy of the cannabis plant or its potential yet they will be seeking financial gain from the plant. Meanwhile, there is a concurrent movement happening. A movement referred to by Skunk Magazine as the "Green Renaissance" A movement to change the face of the world for the better by living closer to nature and the natural processes of the earth.
I am not here to belittle those who are here for the Green Rush. Quite the opposite. I think it is up to us, the veterans of Cannabis, to teach the "noobs" what's up. And it is up to those who are new to humble themselves and start reading and asking a lot of questions before they decide how to be involved. If you want to make money with cannabis, you first need to understand what cannabis wants to do to help you.
For starters let's ask this. Have you read the Emperor Wears no Clothes by Jack Herer? By the way, it's Herer like Terror, just so ya know... Is your brain full of the information contained within that book? If so, why are you so focused on the "cannabis industry" when you should be thinking about the hemp industry?
The information contained within that book alone is enough to start tens of thousands of entrepreneurial efforts in biodegradable plastics, cosmetics, papers, fabrics, adhesives, building materials, and more. Basically, all of the products that we use in modern society can be made from the hemp plant. Yet, for the last seventy years we have been infatuated mostly with the medicinal effects of the plant. This is one of the fundamental shift points we need to focus on.
We need to focus our efforts on supporting businesses that are working in these areas. I have mentioned before that we should be replacing our swag at trade shows with hemp products. How about packaging? I have been looking for hemp plastic packaging for some time, and I have only found one company doing it. Sana Packaging out of Colorado. Kind of unacceptable when Henry Ford was making hemp plastic panels for cars 90 years ago. If you know of more companies doing this, please let me know. Especially a mylar like plastic that is hemp-based and biodegradable, is anyone even trying?
How about paper? My friend Erica Halverson has been working on commercial hemp paper products for quite some time and has everything needed to launch a company with the potential to disrupt the entire paper industry. Where are the investors crawling out of the woodwork to help her do it? I hear about so many investors that want to get involved in cannabis throwing their money into a dispensary or a grow operation when they could start a whole new line of manufacturing processes that could singlehandedly take on tree paper... That's like buying a dive bar in a small town when you have the opportunity to make the bottles that every drink company on the planet needs and wants for the same investment.
The point is this. We are at a flux point in human history. Some very bad people have been making very bad decisions for quite some time. We have the opportunity right now to be at the ground level of a real renaissance. We are trying to eject ourselves from oil, and plastics, and cutting down forests and we have the answer in our hands. The question is what are YOU going to do? What product switch are you going to make? What product are you going to design? It is up to YOU to have no compromise. Set a standard. Be a leader. Show the rest of the world how it can be done. Please, for all of our sakes.
Jesse Barney
November 26, 2019