Something special happened in San Diego on Saturday.
We had our first licensed cannabis consumption event with sales in San Diego County. It took place in Vista, CA, where they are leading the way with cannabis regulations.
Congratulations to my friends at the Farmers Cup Official, Joshua Caruso and Barry Herzberg, who have been paving the way for cannabis events in San Diego for years.
Also, my friend, Kelly Hayes, Esq., the attorney for the Farmers Cup, had to do some heavy lifting to make it all happen while following regulations that the ink hadn't even dried on. It sounded like the epitome of building a plane while flying it. But that's just cannabis, right?
It wasn't smooth sailing after a rainstorm in San Diego that led up to the evening before the event. It made setup more challenging and compacted the timeline. Then came the inspections by the regulators and law enforcement the morning of, which caused the event to start a bit later than planned. It was frustrating but when the gates were able to open, the crowds flowed in and vibes were high.
It was such a cool experience to see a wide variety of people consuming openly and enjoying a festival legally. There were police roaming around, ensuring regulations were followed, and EMTs making sure we all stayed safe.
Another thing that I loved was having some of my friends outside of the cannabis industry who live in San Diego come out to join the fun. I am a bit jaded since I work in the industry and experience more cannabis events and seeing my friends enjoy this normalization was special.
San Diego hasn't always been the hottest location when it comes to cannabis but that is clearly changing. It warmed my heart to have colleagues from LA and Nor Cal come down to San Diego to participate and enjoy the event.
It was great to see the guys from Humboldt Family Farms, Scott Vasterling and Dee Sidhu! Thanks for letting me try Cherry Tsu, which I've been curious about for a while. It was the perfect chill vibe for a consumption event to keep me balanced.
Also, I appreciate the time I got to spend with Annie Davis who recently started working for Jetty Extracts, which started in San Diego.
Finally, I've judged the Farmers Cup competition for several years and wanted to share how impressed I was with Budist's involvement in the competition.
They taught us how to use their process for judging and submitting reviews to their platform. Having them involved really elevated the entire process and got me to submit my first review to Budist. Much appreciation to Jocelyn Sheltraw and her team for everything they did.
And congratulations to Maven Genetics for the wins! French Lotus and Prizm are both outstanding in their own ways, and though the competition was fierce, they were hard to compete with.
Check out an interview I did with Kelly for Pro Cannabis Media's weekly news show: https://lnkd.in/gC9TDzQX
