by Brittiany Ralls
Have you ever been to a place that felt like home even without ever being there? Being back in Houston has me feeling like I’m home. Which to be honest I’m not really in Houston, but rather the surrounding area, closer to Galveston. Being near the ocean puts my body at ease in a way a mountain range never could. I’m so glad to be back! Where the city is diverse and the day turns into night and continues on, never ceasing. 2020 was hard, in so many ways. But with that hard came growth in so many ways. Being back in Houston at the beginning of 2021 has me hopeful and ready for the year. The city of Houston is home to many like me. Someone who was born somewhere else and lived somewhere else a majority of their childhood but loves Houston and all it has to offer.
About half way through the year, after all the quartining had been steadily put into place, my husband and I decided that we needed more than what we were doing. We missed the ocean and being in the water. We needed more than working in the cannabis industry and helping others see their dreams come to life. Which can seem selfish but, a part of our passion is helping others with their passions. We have put OUR passions on the back burner to help others though. So we were ready to start seeing our dreams come to life. The biggest issue with part of that dream was that we dreamed of it starting in Texas. Texas is my husband’s home state and Houston is where I moved when I turned 18. I lived in Houston for 11 years before pursuing my career in cannabis in Colorado. I’m originally from Oklahoma, but Houston has felt more like where I should be since moving there. It’s where my children were born, it’s where I learned a lot about what I’m capable of and is even the reason I had the courage to move to Colorado with the intent of learning cannabis.
]We came back with the anticipation that Texas will be legalizing soon. I don’t know if it’ll be in 2021 or it’ll be another 5 years, all I know is most states have shown that they prefer their own residents being majority owners in the cannabis business, so my family can’t miss our chance at staking a claim in our home state of Texas. With all that said, since I will be in Texas I will be doing pieces on everything related to Texas culture and helping Texans get informed on cannabis/hemp and the amazing community we are. Which…. if you didn’t know, Texas has a medical cannabis program. It’s very restricted and difficult to participate in. But, it does exist. There are a ton of CBD only stores and CBD is basically sold almost anywhere. So Texans do have that option for their cannabis medicine. The problem is, there is still a hard stigma attached to cannabis and anything related to it in Texas. Leaving many patients without any way to know where to find valid information about cannabis/hemp brands/products or what will even work for the ailments they are treating. I hope to help the cannabis community in Texas so that we can hopefully see our dreams come true of full cannabis legalization in Texas.