EPISODE #60 Cannabis and Activism with Steve DeAngelo, Cannabis Activist and Advocate

How and why has the status of cannabis changed over time?


This week we’re joined by the legendary Steve DeAngelo, internationally renowned cannabis activist and advocate who founded some of the biggest names in the business including The Arcview Group, Harborside Dispensaries and Steep Hill Labs.

In this episode, Steve discusses why cannabis reform is finally happening, his non-profit campaign - The Last Prisoner Project, and why he believes cannabis will become the most valuable commodity in the world.


📚 SHOW NOTES AND EXTRAS:
https://www.cannabis-conversat....ion.com/blogs/episod 60


Episode Summary

Steve is a renowned and globally recognised cannabis activist and advocate who has founded numerous companies within the space.

Steve starts the show by talking about the ways in which our brains change when we consume cannabis, comparing this to the Covid-19 crisis.

When we consume cannabis or other psychoactive substances, our brains start perceiving  and feeling in new ways, knocking us out of the ‘default mode network’ - the place where our brains spend most of their time. This phenomenon is explained here by Michael Pollan. 

Steve’s business success has come from his evaluation of the cannabis landscape, creating and solving problems where the most pressing need was. 

The goal for Harborside (one of the first legal cannabis dispensaries in the USA) was to create a ‘gold standard’ cannabis retail experience, which looked and felt like a ‘normal’ one. Steve wanted to create a store which would fit into any community, without opposition. 

Harborside was so successful that it turned over millions of dollars worth of sales per year and received a large amount of media attention.

Attitudes towards cannabis change over time depending on country and political climate and are ever changing. Steve refers to the current time as the ‘cannabis renaissance’.  Steve suggests that prohibition pseudo-science is falling away as it is being replaced by legitimate clinical research from countries leading in the medical space such as Israel.

Steve suggests that cannabis reform is starting worldwide, after he spent 200 days last year travelling to and researching emerging cannabis markets. Steve also thinks that cannabis will become the most valuable product in the world as cannabis becomes a widely used raw material. 

Hemp as a raw material can produce more biomass in one season than you can in several years for trees. Cannabis sequesters 1.8 metric tonnes of carbon for every acre of cannabis, pulling poisons out of the soil without the need for pesticides. 

We are now seeing cannabis reform due to a number of reasons including: younger generations are now moving into positions of political power, we are realising that the way we are living is unsustainable, and there has been an increase in scientific studies proving the efficacy of cannabis.

Steve founded The Last Prisoner Project - a nonprofit organization dedicated to freeing inmates convicted of nonviolent cannabis crimes. As a legal cannabis industry is built around the world, there are many people still serving prison time for cannabis related activities, although those activities are now legal. The aim of the project is to serve justice, and free those who have been incarcerated for these crimes.

Steve grew up with civil rights activist parents who inspired him to be the person he is today. He was exposed to activism from an early age. Although liberal in many senses, they first opposed Steve’s cannabis use, damaging the relationship between them. 



Quotables

‘Modern science has now validated all of the ancient medical uses of cannabis and is proving day by day that cannabis in fact is the most valuable medicine on the planet’ 19:41
‘The ideas that cannabis leads to addiction, psychosis or criminality are being thoroughly debunked’ 20:15
‘By dollar volume, cannabis is going to be the most valuable product in the world’ 21:20
‘Cannabis is the raw material of the future’ 23:20
‘If you believe in this plant, if you take the lessons that she teaches us seriously and if you take those lessons and carry her to other people, [cannabis reform] will happen, it is within our grasp, it is not a noble mission. Mother nature has given us the raw materials, it is down to our actions and will to make a new world’ 50:40

Resources

Steve’s Official Website: https://www.stevedeangelo.com
Steve’s Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_DeAngelo
Steve’s Coronavirus Message: https://vimeo.com/401539172
Steve’s Book - The Cannabis Manifesto: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canna....bis-Manifesto-New-Pa
Last Prisoner Project: https://www.lastprisonerproject.org
Protect Incarcerated Communities from Covid-19 Petition: https://www.change.org/p/donald-j-trump-protect-incarcerated-communities-from-covid-19?recruiter=1054997652&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition