The name “420” has become synonymous with the cannabis lifestyle and a celebration that occurs every April In many parts of the world, it’s a day when people come together to get high and enjoy cannabis infused foods, drinks and music. But the origins of this cherished date are so complex that it can be challenging to figure out where it came from and what it means.
Originally, the term 420 was a code that five high school students in San Rafael California, used to refer to their daily meeting at 4:20 pm. They called themselves the Waldos and met at a wall outside their school to discuss weed.
They had heard about an abandoned marijuana crop based on a treasure map, and they decided to search it out. They drew a map, found their meeting time, which just so happened to be 4:20, and planned to go to the Louis Pasteur statue on campus to start their search.
Their plan was to light a joint at the Louis Pasteur statue and then drive around the area in their car looking for the plot. They didn’t find the plant they were looking for, but they did make a plan to meet again at 4:20 pm and light a joint again, which became the basis for 420.
They later passed on this code to their friends, who also began saying the word 420. Eventually, the term spread throughout California, and it was also adopted by Grateful Dead fans, who started to use the phrase as well 420 has become a part of the language of cannabis culture and there is no end in sight!
Cheers!
“We’ve all been in this together. I remember Temple Kush put us on the map. Now look at us. We are rocking and rolling and we can’t stop right now. I keep telling Joe, ‘you got to have a gig and stick with it, try like hell to be the best at it, and you will do very well in this industry.’ That’s what we do.” Brian Ganster, owner of Mowdy Farms was rested and ready for his second time to be featured in Herbage Magazine.
Ebony is an Oklahoma cannabis industry transplant who comes to us by way of Georgia. The youngest child in birth order, she was born in Hampton, VA to a big military family. Her Mother, Toni, was a member of the US Air Force. “She taught us who God was,” Ebony relays. Her maternal Grandmother, Annie, was the only Black teacher in her school. She taught Art and Home Economics and was a Godly woman. Growing up, “she had us at revivals from eight to four in the afternoon.” It was not until high school through the age of twenty that Ebony found her personal relationship with God.
“Oklahoma is a sacred land,” she tells us, “So much has happened here. You can feel the blood in this land.” Ebony’s euphemism is not lost on us. “This industry is messy,” she goes on to say, “the divide out here is crazy.” She is speaking to the boundary that is being “one of the few in the room,” she tells us. “In all honesty it has been worth it, though in the beginning it was a huge culture shock, and I didn’t think I would survive Oklahoma.” She asks herself how she is going to change the conversation. “I love being in a place in my career where I can professionally correct others for being culturally inappropriate or placing me in an uncomfortable position and we can still operate in a healthy environment after the teaching moment.” Ebony speaks openly and earnestly on her social media platforms. “I’m down for teaching. I’m still learning myself,” she says. She believes herself to be a “Virgo that has no filter at all.” However, she tells us she “understands the effects of speaking before thinking and evaluating the power of your words and how they may affect another person.” Within her healing process Ebony has also learned that to achieve growth she must “take accountability for my wrongs, correct those wrongs, and put in the work to actively become a better person for this world.”
Things have been taking off for 8Twenty8. Ebony has received lots of exposure recently as 8Twenty8 has been featured in recent Studio 30 events and Sherweed Forrest’s Throwdown Bazaar. She is called upon for private catering and custom orders by the biggest names in the Oklahoma cannabis industry and while ever grateful, Ebony is always looking to the future. With an entrepreneur’s heart she declares, “I’m not accepting this middle class shit anymore,” she goes on to say, “America has taught us to work to live.” She wonders, how can I not think about making money while I make money? “I think it’s disgusting how much I want to give back to people,” relays our brave empath. Ebony dreams of an 8Twenty8 small-batch kitchen to order, that would accept custom orders for a patient’s individualized needs or commercial grow orders for retail sales. She also wants to create opportunities through events designed to be a retreat – a vacation.
I peaked over the top of the couch to see if I could catch what was happening outside. Something was going on that made my sister, mom, and the voices going on in this 8-year-old boy’s little head.
Now that I am a dad I have been able to look back at my childhood with a much finer tooth comb than I normally would have. I have been able to pull from those winning moments that my dad had with us at that age. I have been able to imagine the failures and how to attempt to avoid them.
Many do not know this about me unless you know me well. I have another child that I am also very proud of. Jessi was born in 1993. I was a child myself. I had no education, clue, money, experience, or even a highschool diploma when Jessi’s mother was pregnant. What I did have was a beautiful child that I loved dearly and had ZERO clue as to what the hell a young couple with nothing was going to do. So I did exactly what I learned how to do in these situations. I navigated through it. I started working.
At this point I was on a mission to find out more about the company Hermetic Flower Co.
The room was in all ears as the two were traveling in a highway of recollection. “I was in Austin. I remember like it was yesterday.” Josh’s eyes moved to the recall position. “So we got the emails back. I called Jeff while he was with another partner. I said… y’all get together let me call you back. I called and I had a big American flag on my back. I was so happy. We got our licenses and then the dispensary license came in just hours later. We were all so happy.” Jeff spoke as if he was talking about his family.
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I drove out to Norman, Oklahoma this month to meet with Hilary, Head of Sales, and her husband Mike Campbell, Co-Owner of Star 46 Farms. Newlyweds of just 6 months, Mike and Hilary have built this indoor and outdoor operation from the ground up, with patient advocacy and education at the forefront of their mission. “We saw the benefits it provided for me and my family,” Hilary told me. “We just felt so strongly about helping other people and saw so many people that were going down the road that I was on.”
Upon first meeting Hilary, I instantly knew we were going to get along. Though quiet and somewhat reserved, she is likely one of the most headstrong individuals I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting. After a quick glance, you probably wouldn’t guess that this woman spent nearly 10 years fighting to get her life back. Aside from a boot on her left foot from a recent broken bone, Hilary would appear to have led a fairly simple and healthy life, however her journey with health has been far from easy.
“In a very small set of people,” she continued, “RSD can spread. Since I had other health issues at the time, I was just the perfect specimen for everything to go wrong, and everything did. I just spiraled downhill from there. It moved into the whole right side of my body.”
History.com states that
According to a Red Cross estimate: 1,256 houses were burned, 215 others were looted but not torched; two newspapers, a school, a library, a hospital, churches, hotels, stores, and many other Black-owned businesses were among the buildings destroyed or damaged by fire. The Tulsa Race Massacre/ The Black Wall Street Massacre still stands as one of the deadliest riots in U.S. history. Many don’t know about this because the system tried to cover it up. History.com says that:
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Rocky Fisher is the grandson of Brant Biggerstaff and the son of Brant Fisher. The family has a special tie to the geography surrounding Fort Gibson. The town is located in Cherokee and Muskogee counties in Oklahoma. This family was one of the first five families to settle outside of Fort Gibson before Oklahoma statehood.
ings like OMMA compliance, and much more. My job is something I love. These plants are like my family. It’s funny because harvest day is always a happy/sad day for me. I’m sad they are all coming down, but I’m super happy to know the medicine is helping people.” Luke quickly exited the room to go to work.
With a little help from his Dad, Camron transformed a 1,600 square foot shop in his own backyard into a proper grow facility. Complete with two grow rooms, and later expanding to over 2,000 square feet, this shop became the initial headquarters for his crew to truly hone in on their craft.
“Lab testing reflects diverse terpene content,” Camron informed me, “accounting for its delicious aroma. Some of the more common terpenes like limonene, linalool, and terpinolene are used to treat depression, anxiety and prevent infection.”
“It really does smell like a mimosa,” Camron was excited to share, “it’s delicious. I’ve been using cannabis for a long time, and I just grow the healers.”
Dodd, who is the CEO of Arco Bellum, was brought in to meet with the iconic boxer to pitch him on how he could help Tyson Ranch, a packaging and licensing company founded by Mike Tyson, find a home in Oklahoma.
“They let you out of prison and they put me on a bus right back down to Florida,” Dodd said. “I was 30 years old and going right back into that life without a choice. I didn’t have options. There weren’t any options for someone like me. That is when I realized it was next to impossible for someone who is chronically in this position to get out of it.”
Three days later, it was April 11th and he still hadn’t told the residents at the halfway house about his lie when he left that morning to look for work. It just happened to be the same day of the Boston Marathon and Dodd said he found himself near the finish line when everything went crazy.
That led to an invitation to a celebrity Madden 20 event that Snoop Dogg was hosting during Superbowl weekend. After Snoop posted a photo of the two hanging out. Dodd was solidified in the industry.
Brett explained that picking a favorite is harder than it looks. “It’s so cool to be vertically integrated because the way that we sell it is actually a huge indicator of how we grow it. Our budtenders and our staff at our dispensary are always talking about the medical side of it, the terpenes. What are you trying to solve with this plant? What is this plant giving to you that you want more of? It then educates our grow that this is what’s missing. This is what’s missing from our lab, what’s missing from the market.
Curious to find out how they resolved things as such a large group when faced with obstacles, I asked the crew what challenges they’ve faced in the last couple of years.
“So as a medical cannabis leader, we’re taking over, and want to get the medicine to the masses. Not just here in Oklahoma, but abroad. And that means sticking to high expectations and standards.”
Hicksford Farms has big plans in store for 2021. Keep an eye out for their new strain, Banana Mac, that will drop early March exclusively at CannaMed. You can also be on the lookout for a new CannaMed dispensary opening later in the year. But for now, this crew has some serious work to do.