The Broccoli Report
Friday, April 3, 2023
Time to read: About 5 minutes. Contains 960 words.
Good morning!
Thank you to everyone who read, shared, and responded to the latest Lonely Hearts Board. It’s still up and connections are happening—if you haven’t yet browsed our biggest Board yet, go for it.
I also want to take a moment to thank every paid subscriber that has stuck around (or joined up!) over the past few months while I’ve been working on my book. This is the largest project I’ve ever taken on and the biggest step forward in a career I didn’t even know was a career when I got my start in journalism. Your subscriptions have allowed me to stay housed while I type my way to the finish line, and your support has fueled me through many late nights. 🌸 Truly, thank you.
I have some exciting content just for y’all in the coming weeks, starting with a fire dispatch for paid subscribers next Friday covering the unexpected observations, data points, and cultural takeaways I unearthed researching my book. I’ve spent months studying dispensaries and cannabis-friendly businesses across the U.S., reading hundreds of Reddit boards and local articles, and speaking with dozens of entrepreneurs coast to coast—I heard from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. I’ll share what I discovered about what’s working—and what’s missing—in cannabis scenes across the country.
One-Hitters: Cannabis News at a Glance
According to my contacts and local reports on the ground, both new and long-established dispensaries from Oregon to New York are ignoring a troubling number of past-due invoices. It’s gotten so bad in Colorado that on March 9th, state regulators from the Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) issued a bulletin warning industry stakeholders that contracts between licensed cannabis businesses are enforceable. So to all the licensed cannabis companies out there: No matter how hungry you are for orders, make sure you are getting payment up-front if you can.
On Friday April 7th, New York City-based The House of Cannabis (THCNYC) opens its doors—it’s the newest occupant in a five-story historic cast-iron building in Soho. THCNYC aims to serve as a “new cultural institution dedicated to cannabis.” The space includes retail, a munchy-minded café, and private work and lounge areas. During the grand opening, attendees will be able to wander through ten “immersive experiences created by artists and filmmakers made to transport guests through the many dimensions of cannabis culture.”
In other exciting news from the Big Apple, the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) is partnering with Our Academy to support equity applicants. The Our Academy Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) Accelerator is a twenty-week mentorship program where 175 licensees will be divided into two 20-week cohorts to participate in 41 intensive live workshops covering launching and managing a profitable cannabis retail dispensary. Future CAURD licensees will have access to recordings of these workshops and other learning tools. Our Academy has been doing incredible work connecting equity applicants with mentors and training to bolster their entrepreneurial know-how and strengthen their businesses for the long haul, and I’m so relieved to see that the strained New York cannabis community is going to have access to these resources. (You might recall this 2021 interview with Hilary Yu, Our Academy’s co-founder and executive director, discussing their work connecting equity licensees with dispensary buyers.)
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable has been busy since the Food and Drug Administration refused to categorize hemp as a dietary supplement. Their revamped website offers a state-by-state summary of pending hemp regulation bills, including broad bans on Delta-9 and full-spectrum hemp CBD products. Check out the map to see if your local legislators are debating big hemp rules right now, and don’t hesitate to follow the steps to get your voice heard.
Who would’ve predicted that Mike Tyson would be the first celebrity to make a mark in Amsterdam’s coffee shop scene? Surely not me, but here we are. Coffeeshop Tyson is open for business, welcoming anyone 18 and up from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. daily.
I envy those in Eastern states who will get a view of next week’s total solar eclipse! Did you know there’s another one on 4/20? It’ll only be visible from parts of Australia and Southeast Asia, but I’ll incorporate nods to the cosmos in my holiday festivities. For anyone seeking ceremonial supplies for solstice seshes, these opal and crystal-embedded ceramic pipes by Diverse Earth Studios take the cake.
Want to grow your own cannabis but don’t know where to start? Check out my friend Mennlay Golokeh Aggrey’s “Growing Cannabis as a Houseplant” digital workshop on Sunday, April 16th. This informative, accessible session will equip you with all the basics, including how to propagate your plant, determine its sex (if it isn’t female, you won’t be getting high), bring it to flower, and even make the most of its fan leaves in the kitchen. It is the next installation of Herban Cura’s knowledge-shares connecting plants and people, and there will be live captioning, ASL interpretation, e traduccion al español available, with advance notice. Register here.
You don’t need any special equipment for Mennlay’s class, but if you’d like a fresh pair of gardening gloves, Sundae School’s new Pot Head gloves are a chic choice.
In other stylish spring drops, Toronto-based accessory design studio Vitaly revealed a high-drama lidded ashtray made out of recycled stainless steel, the studio’s signature material.
On the other end of the aesthetic spectrum, I can’t stop thinking about this handmade, “anatomically correct” kitchen sink ashtray complete with mini Scotch-Brite sponge, soap, faucet, and rubber stopper by the queer-owned UK brand, Trailblazers.
One more puff before I deal with the dishes in my life-size sink,
Lauren Yoshiko