CULTIVATE WITH SCOTT SWAIL & GUEST HOST LANCE LAMBERT
If traditional media wants nothing to do with your business, create your own way to reach your people. DOPE Magazine is the lifestyle publication that creates purposeful, relevant conversations for those of us in the cannabis culture. Almost eight years young, (That’s middle-aged for cann-businesses!) DOPE Magazine was recently acquired by High Times, one of the best known cannabis media brands in the world.
Catch Cultivate’s interview from the 2018 Lemon Haze Convention in Tacoma, Washington, with David Tran, Co-Founder of DOPE.
At least one of you watching this interview is going to start a cannabis company by 2022
Subscribe to the Cultivate podcast on the Boveda Cannabis YouTube Channel or on iTunes.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THE DOPE MAGAZINE CULTIVATE EPISODE:
- What happened to Cultivate Co-Host Drew Emmer? (0:46)
- How did DOPE Magazine get started? (0:55)
- What does the High Times’ acquisition mean to DOPE Magazine? (3:15)
- What’s DOPE Magazine’s 360 degree marketing strategy for hurdling challenges in the cannabis industry? (4:55)
- How to normalize use for cannabis skeptics and cannabis curious (6:40)
- How will future generations view cannabis? (8:50)
- How has the Northwest paved the way for other states to legalize cannabis? (13:06)
- Where will the cannabis industry be in the next five years? (15:22)
WHAT ROLE DOPE MAGAZINE PLAYS IN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY
While the legal cannabis industry was still in its infancy, a new publication created a new space for the new face of flower. Who is that new face of cannabis? Seniors. Patients. Boomers. Influencers. Gen-Xers. Business leaders. Celebs.
And we all want to hear the realistic story about cannabis, not some oft-portrayed Hollywood buzz-fest.
Short for Defending Our Plant Everywhere, DOPE uses its print and digital platforms to spread the right message about cannabis. This pioneering cannabis publisher strikes a balance between educating new cannabis consumers without alienating the more seasoned cannoisseurs. And squelches stigma while the world goes green.
David emphasized that it’s about freeing this plant, opening up the cannabis conversation and having bigger conversations. How do we tell the story of the industry? How do we focus on the people and their relationship to the plant? That’s the normalization part.
DOPE is all about connecting and defending this plant that will help us all. Helping people. Helping local economies. Helping businesses create tools to succeed in this industry that will build a new world.
“You can’t be in it for the wrong reasons.”
“In cannabis, I don’t have a road map to get to this new world,” David admitted.
DOPE Magazine launched in 2011 in Washington state. Right before the state’s residents voted in November 2012 to legalize cannabis use for adults. Passing the laws taxing and regulating marijuana was just the beginning. Turns out the transition is evergreen, even now.
In Oregon, Washington’s neighbor to the south, the government and cannabis companies worked together to establish best practices for cannabis cultivation and distribution.
In a recent Boveda profile of Oregon-based Nectar , Director of Operations Brian Samore said, “We’re figuring it out just like the government is figuring it out. And we’re doing it at the same time,”
“The rules are changing every 10 minutes in this game,” David said. Staying compliant is a challenge for every cannabis company he explained. “A packaging change can sink your whole thing.”
“If you’re still around here, and you’re one of the brands here in Washington that have gone through this transition, and really laid the foundation for all these other states to legalize, you are a tough person,” David said.
Now that it is owned by High Times, DOPE Magazine has a larger platform to:
- Introduce readers to cannabis experts
- Show how to care for cannabis
- Continue to provide factual cannabis information
-From DOPE Magazine’s Cannabis Chemistry for Connoisseurs by Bradley Turner, founder of the Cannabis Branding Group
BOVEDA + CANNABIS
- Maintains the structural integrity of the trichomes
- Extends the shelf-life of buds
- Prevents evaporation from degrading cannabis
- Preserves potency, taste and aroma
By Rachelle Gordon
www.RachelleGordon.net
Rachelle Gordon is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer and educator in the cannabis space. She has dedicated herself to informing others about the powers of plant medicine after witnessing her father’s struggle with epilepsy (and subsequent stroke) in her childhood.
Rachelle’s posts are being provided for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Boveda of any of the products, services or opinions of Rachelle. Boveda bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of this post or links to the posts. Contact Rachelle Gordon for answers to questions regarding her content.
