Leafly teamed up with Trends Dispensary to address common stigmas about cannabis. We brought experts, activists, and growers together to help answer questions from the community.
Trends Dispensary in Long Island City, Queens is changing the narrative about cannabis. Trends stands for “The Real Experience Needs A Different Story.” Leafly is proud to partner with Trends for Shattering the Stigma, an interview series featuring pot pioneers from across the industry. Keep reading to hear from activist Dana Beal, researcher Dr. Sha-Ron Pierre, and some of New York’s brightest growers, grinders, and activists.
“It’s so important for us to gather and share our stories. I want to thank Leafly and Trends for setting up this forum.”
Dr. Sha-Ron Pierre Kovler, Glenmere Farms
Dave Hernandez, Happy Munkey
Dave Hernandez is a marketing guru who’s helped build Happy Munkey into one of New York’s most popular cannabis brands. With Happy Munkey’s first legal dispensary location opening this month in Manhattan’s Dyckman neighborhood, Hernandez and his team are shepherding legacy cannabis culture into the mainstream.
“My mom is Dominican and Puerto Rican. She used to make fun of the smell when she would see people smoking in our building. She worked at Columbia University all my life. So when I went to school, got a degree, and wanted to sell weed, she was like, ‘I’m gonna tell people you’re going to law school.’ I got arrested, but even then she was a very supportive mom. Now, she’s proud of Happy Munkey and what we are doing in the legal space.”
Dave Hernandez, Happy Munkey
Dr. Sha-Ron Pierre Kovler, Glenmere Farms
Dr. Sha-Ron Pierre Kovler is using her research background to help engineer strains with therapeutic effects, including anti-inflammation.
“I’m the first cultivator in New York state with my background–I completed my PhD in biology. I did my post doctoral studies at Columbia University. I study how cannabis can help with inflammation. Most of the diseases that will take you off of this planet come with inflammation. When you utilize the plant, it’s a form of medicine because outside of THC, other cannabinoids are responsible for regulating an inflammatory response in your body. I believe actually having the research to support will help remove that stigma and shame.”
Dr. Sha-Ron Pierre Kovler
Dr. Pierre Kovler told Shattering the Stigma, “At Glenmere Farms, our intention is to grow cultivars that have a plethora of cannabinoids with therapeutic uses. For me, those uses have been validated in peer-reviewed research. So our go-to is to reference the published research, because that’s where my training begins, and my level of comfort. I am not a cultivator by trade. My research background helps me work with a multidisciplinary team–a cultivation expert, a processing expert, and dispensaries. We fine tune our choices for consumers.”
“Back in 2018, with the passing of the farm bill, I became interested in the cannabis plant. A friend of mine said there’s an initiative with a $10 million endowment for research on hemp–That rung a bell. I began to understand the hemp plant, CBD, and there were so many other cannabinoids that had tremendous potential to really benefit patients. I was blown away. I didn’t understand why we hadn’t made more progress or research.”
Dr. Sha-Ron Pierre, Glenmere Farms
After doing the research, Dr. Pierre Kovler is all in on the healing benefits of cannabis. She told Shattering the Stigma, “If you think about cannabis versus an FDA-approved drug– at the end of the FDA-approved commercial, there’s all these horrible side effects. But if you were to make a commercial for cannabis, the side effects are euphoria. Since the side effects are so well tolerated, it’s actually wise for people to indulge in the plant.”
Amy Chin, Consultant at Better Days and High Exposure NY
Amy Chin is a cannabis consultant with Better Days and the High Exposure Agency. Chin and her team work with New York brands and dispensaries to address stigmas and cultural borders that still prevent people from enjoying the benefits of cannabis.
“My first time was sophomore year in college. Some friends offered cannabis to me, and I got the munchies. I did not return to it until my mid-twenties. I was never exposed to it often. I was used to being on a natural high. I’m allergic to alcohol, so my vice became cannabis.”
Amy Chin, Better Days
Chin’s parents were not fond of her love for cannabis early on. “My parents found cannabis in my room, in my purse,” she remembers. “I told them it was oregano. I was in my twenties when this happened. It was the only thing I could come up with. Now I tell them what I do, and they don’t understand it. So they just don’t ask me questions about it. I have given them CBD samples. But my parents are very old school, very stubborn. They don’t like Western medication, they don’t like Eastern medicine–they don’t like anything.”
“As a cannabis coach, I can work with the end consumer or the business that is looking for consumers. That includes consumer treatment plans, guides on how to consume . I’m also a consultant at the High Exposure Agency. We do consulting in the industry for retailers and business development. We also do events and fun projects that aim to push the needle in the industry.”
Amy Chin, Better Days
How cannabis helped me become a better mother
As a mother who consumes cannabis, Amy Chin told Shattering the Stigma: “When I was pregnant, I did look at the Jamaica study on pregnant moms. At that time, that was the only study on that. With my first pregnancy I did not smoke, with my second one I did. That’s a personal choice. Now that it is legal, I advise moms to check regulations in your state. Because the state can come and take your kids away. So I was very discreet about my consumption until it was legal. Now that it is legal, I talk about it openly, because I want for people to understand that you can consume CBD, not feel a high, and to still reap the benefits of the plant. I am on it all day. There is nothing I don’t use CBD for. Daytime anxiety, I use THC at night when I need to really unwind. I use facial oil, I use intimacy products, and tinctures as well.”
“I was researching everything I could about cannabis. Then the Farm Bill was passed, and CBD was everywhere. People said it was snake oil. So I saw that there was a need to guide people. Consuming THC and CBD and knowing all the different effects and living through them, I decided I’m going to solve that problem and educate people on cannabis and how it helped me.”
Amy Chin, Better Days
Dana Beal, Activist, Co-Founder of The Cannabis Parade
Dana Beal is a world famous cannabis pioneer and activist. He told Shattering the Stigma about his days fighting for legalization in the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond. Even today, Beal is facing a charge in Idaho for trafficking cannabis to medical patients. Click here to contribute to his bail fund.
Beal told Shattering the Stigma, “I got arrested for weed earlier this year, and I’m facing eight more months in the clink in Idaho. It’s the last state in the area that has not legalized. And they want to say, ‘we’re different.’ But they have dispensaries in Montana, Washington, Oregon, Nevada–every bordering state with the exception of Wyoming. And we think Idaho is the next domino to fall. Because everybody in the state is saying, ‘we have to go to Oregon to get our weed!’”
The long road to legalization and normalization
Dana Beal remembers various movements to legalize the plant during his life. Beal told Shattering the Stigma about one 420-friendly politician who he remembers openly endorsed cannabis in the 1960s.
“So many times, they almost legalized weed. John F. Kennedy was a medical marijuana user who had a back brace and severe back issues. And RFK was friends with Alan Ginsberg. And he said on national television that cannabis is less harmful than tobacco. They assassinated him right away. This was the month that he was assassinated that he said this. It had a very significant stigma back then.”
Dana Beal, cannabis legalization pioneer
Beal said he was convinced that cannabis was a force for good when he saw a few joints deescalate a potential riot in downtown Manhattan. “We were tripping on mescaline once on 2nd street,” Beal said, “and we were coming down, by the precinct. The cops had busted a peace picnic for having blankets and food on the grass. And it enraged the locals. The police pressed a woman against a wire fence. So a big crowd went down to the police station. And they were all yelling and screaming. The Grateful Dead was playing their first time in New York City. And they were playing a free concert in Tompkins Square park. So we broke out the weed. And this wave of peace descended over everyone. The one thing the hippies and the locals had in common is they all smoked herb. And they could pass joints. We started having regular smoke-ins in the park.”
After decades of fighting the stigma. Beal is as optimistic as anyone about the future of the cannabis. He cites recent studies about the increasing popularity of cannabis with pride.
“Right now for the first time, the number of people smoking pot has exceeded the number of people drinking alcohol. That means despite being illegal, and bad-mouthed to the extreme, people prefer the superior alternative!”
Dana Beal, cannabis legalization pioneer
Papi Santos, Vibe Tribe NYC
Papi Santos is a Queens native who shoots content, organizes Vibe Tribe events, and studies cultivation. Santos told Shattering the Stigma: “I do videos and marketing with cannabis companies on both sides of the business.”
“I started using cannabis when I was 16. Coming from a Pentecostal and Catholic household, it was kind of instilled in me that weed is the devil.”
Papi Santos, Vibe Tribe
Lupita, creator of NYC POV 420
Lupita is a New York native who runs a channel called NYC POV 420, which does marketing, education and events for brands and dispensaries.
“It’s a love and hate relationship with cannabis in my family. I grew up in a Hispanic household. So smoking weed was very stigmatized in my house. They’d rather have you drinking alcohol and taking tequila shots rather than smoking weed… Now, it’s a nice relationship I have with cannabis. I still live in that Spanish household. But I went to the doctor and became a medical card holder. That helps quiet my family when it comes to that. Hopefully I become one of those advocates for Spanish households to help break the stigma.”
Lupita, NYC POV 420
Lupita told Shattering the Stigma, “My first time trying cannabis was at the age of 16. Weed didn’t really get my attention until I was 25. I had two car accidents at an early age, which left me with chronic back pain. I went to the hospital, and they prescribed me hard pain killers. That was ongoing for a year. I didn’t like it. I left it, and my chronic back pain came back.”
“I started freelancing and doing content for small businesses in cannabis. I wanted to meet more 420-friendly people. I didn’t really grow up smoking weed, I mostly grew up drinking. So I didn’t hang out with a lot of cannabis consumers. I wanted to do consumer-based content, where you could see yourself in it–experiential content for brands and dispensaries in New York.”
Lupita, NYC POV 420
Ericka “The Ganja Goddess” Padilla-Toro on mindfully smoking
Ericka Padilla-Toro aka Ganja Goddess, is the author of GG’s Garden: Mindfully Smoking, A Guided Cannabis Strain Journal. The strain journal helps cannabis lovers consume with intentionality.
“I learned that there’s many people out there who have no idea what they’re putting into their body when they consume. I created and published a cannabis journal that’s now available at some licensed New York dispensaries.”
Ericka Padilla-Toro, aka Ganja Goddess
Special thanks to our brand partners and special guests
Shattering the Stigma is powered by Trends Dispensary, along with brand partners East Indica Trading Cards. Special thanks to DJ Damage, Timothy Auyeung of 5Boro, and Queens homegrower Joe Grows for joining the live panel.
