Stash Club's BC Craft Summit Report

 

This past weekend, I attended the BC Craft Summit in Kelowna. This event was created as an opportunity for for industry and government officials to collaborate and share what is good. Although it was a BC-focused event, there were growers, producers and innovators from across the country and the US.

 

I arrived a day early which gave me the to opportunity celebrate 420 in Kelowna. The festivities took place in a cidery, which was rented out for the 420 event. The spirit and vibes of the 50+ attendees were top-notch. The flair of costumes, puffing phatties and the booming sound system exuded counterculture to its finest. But it did remind me how 420 culture is still so niche. It was humble event in comparison to the 420 events in Vancouver or California that I have attended with 50,000+ people. 

The BC Craft Summit - Boots on the Ground and Meeting of the Minds

On Friday, I went to the Craft Summit to discover who was growing the best fire so that we could do a better job sourcing for the club membership, huge success btw, so impressed with the quality of gear. I will be visiting and testing out a bunch of farms over the next couple months. But I also wanted to catch up with old friends and gain insights on any innovations in the industry. The most interesting and powerful medicine I discovered was a full-spectrum mushroom extract, which I have shared with man attendees to great affect. 

 

Shifting focus back to the ‘fire department’, there is an overwhelming number of passionate growers and innovators in the Cannabis sector producing amazing work - lights out! I’m pumped for our members, the level of flowers and products we are going to be able to access for the membership is getting better by the day. A good example is High Quads, which was recognized as the winner of the ARCannabis Cup, a competition of over 128 cannabis producers. In fact, we already have High Quads available for our membership! Nameer (cofounder) and I stayed up all night celebrating and jamming on how we could colab together. If you haven’t checked out High Quads yet, I'd love to get your feedback and see if you like it as much as I. If you’re still on the fence about the quality in the legal market, these strains will certainly change your mind. 

The Award Night 

The ARCannabis Cup was very impressive on its own. The tournament went on for months, engaged with 1000s of voters as over 128 cannabis companies all vying for stoner supremacy. Hats off to the AR Cannabis crew, some of East Van’s finest and a true inspiration to the game. They are some of the hardest working people you will meet, and to pull off a tournament like that is a huge gift to the cannabis community. Learn more about the ARCannabic Cup and its many great participants, or check out one of their stores as they are the largest Cannabis retail brand in Vancouver. Let's participate next year.

 

 

Same ol shit.

As successful as the event was; the biggest impact was how stigma and government oppression remain omnipresent. To begin with, the current state of regulation and government control is simply bankrupting young families in the across the country. The over regulation is simply not working for small businesses, tax revenue is up and enforcement likes legalization. But the cumulative effort is stopping healing centres from opening, stifling innovation, and holding back indigenous communities. For instance, the medical panel discussion left the 80+ attendees inspired and teary-eyed, which featured innovators like Jon Conroy, the lawyer who beat the federal government twice and is technically responsible for legalization and the cofounder of organic living soil Dragon Fly certification.

However, the most obvious and infuriating example of existing stigma and  government mismanagement was the fact that the official co-sponsors of the conference, the Syilx Cannabis Society, who were the representatives of the local first nations people, were left off of any promotional materials or posters. For context, The Syilx nation makes up roughly 1/4 of BC’s  total land area. Despite that they spent ten of thousands of dollars on sponsoring the event and hosted everyone on their land, they were still snubbed. Worse yet, the “honourable” Mike Farnsworth and all the key government decision-makers who write the laws governing Cannabis laws cancelled a sit-down last minute with the Sylix elected elders and hereditary chiefs. These elders had not only contributed money to the event but had also spent many hours prepping for the meeting. Despite travelling to the summit, for a pre-booked meeting with government they were literally left outside in the hall while the government prioritized meeting many other small business owners instead, cancelling on them last minute. On top of that, the featured company of the event was the All Nations Cannabis company which was touted as the symbol of reconciliation with the sector. However, they failed to communicate that only 7 of 250+ bands in BC have agreed to their deal. And despite being featured on all the signage and propped up on the front stage, the All Nations are the Sto:lo people from 4 hours away in a neighbouring nation. This while the elected leaders, advocates for health and multi-generational medicine people of the Okanogan were literally left in the hallway and silenced from any official communication or recognition. As things change the stay the same, so I am using this experience as a good reminder how we can all continue to promote truth and understanding.