If you ask any hobbyist why they do what they do, the answer you’re going to get is that they enjoy it. Gardening is no exception, but what about Cannabis? Sure, it may be fun to grow, but as Cannabis laws loosen all over the country and more and more Cannabis enters the marketplace, you may wonder why anyone would want to grow their own. It’s a good question.

Think about it this way: even with fresh produce available almost everywhere, many people still enjoy growing their own fruits and vegetables even if there is no financial benefit. Similarly, beer is available almost everywhere in the US, but there are over a million homebrewers in the country. If these trends are any indication of people’s habits, we should expect the same for hobby grown Cannabis.

It’s a fact: From flowers, to herbs, to food, people love to garden. So whether you’re a gardener interested in growing Cannabis, or a Cannabis enthusiast looking to produce your own, we’re going to break down the top five reasons why hobby Cannabis cultivation is a great idea.

1. Absolute Control

The control you can have when cultivating your own plants is its own reward. Like any other agricultural product, you can’t always be sure of what goes into your Cannabis if you didn’t raise it. If knowing exactly what goes into your plants is important to you, then growing your own Cannabis gives you control over the entire process. From seed selection, to fertilizer, to pest management, you’re in total control with your own hobby grow. And when you take the first toke, you can be proud to know what effort went into your cannabis.

2. Medicine

Control over the process is important in any application, but particularly when it comes to Cannabis as medicine. Through careful preparation and attention to detail, you can guarantee your harvest contains only what you want. This is especially important since certain medical conditions could be exacerbated by exposure to chemical pesticides or other additives, as has happened with relative regularity. By growing your own, you can tailor your methods to grow medicine for yourself without any unwanted additives.

3. Recreation

For many hobbyist beer brewers, crafting the perfect brew has the added benefit of sharing it with friends and family. Cannabis hobbyists will be able to enjoy the same satisfaction. Imagine the wonderful gifts you could give using Cannabis. You can even give your mom flowers! From flower, to extracts, to edibles, your friends and family will love your Cannabis infused gifts, whatever the occasion.

Again: Make sure you are aware of the legal status of Cannabis products in your state or country before you grow or use them!

4. Environmental Impact

If you care about the environment, you probably appreciate plants. As with all plants, Cannabis leaves release the oxygen we breathe, and they take in environmental CO₂, a major contributor to global warming. Plants also recycle nutrients the soil needs to keep the planet healthy, so growing Cannabis can be good for the earth. Just remember to compost any parts you don’t use and you can help the environment even more!

Just remember that cannabis is a thirsty plant, so keep it someplace where that water won’t get wasted, like a grow tent.

5. Save Money

Though most hobbies include some kind of initial investment, starting a hobby grow for Cannabis can be accomplished on nearly any budget. Additionally, you will be able to save money over time as you harvest. No longer at the mercy of the market, you’ll be able to enjoy your Cannabis without breaking the bank. And compared with other hobbies like craft brewing that require some expensive equipment, basic growing isn’t that expensive.

So there you have it, our top 5 reasons to grow at home. If gardening and beer brewing trends are any sign, at-home Cannabis is going to increase in popularity as laws continue to relax and people see the benefits for themselves.

So, you ready to get growing?

Matt Hoffman joined the Vangst platform in search of a new career in a growing industry.

He was hired by Brook Lodge Cannabis Company and is now the Director of Cultivation for the cannabis startup! Here is Matt’s story on how he elevated his industry experience through Vangst.

Matt Hoffman was an experienced cannabis grower when he decided to search for a new career in the industry with Vangst! With over 20 years of experience under his belt, Matt was prepared to take on a new challenge. He is now the Director of Cultivation for Brook Lodge Cannabis Company in Augusta, Michigan!

Matt entered the regulated cannabis industry in 2010. He started out as a Lead Grower and worked his way up to eventually become a Master Grower and Facilities Manager!

He also spent several years working with companies to obtain cannabis cultivation licenses in multiple states throughout the US.

Matt’s new role as the Director of Cultivation is crucial for Brook Lodge, where he is responsible for all aspects of cannabis cultivation for the startup.

“The fact that the company is a new startup really excites me,” Matt says. “I have the ability to design the cannabis facility from the ground up and be involved in the process from start to finish.”

Initially, he will be planning and designing all future buildings and determining how those spaces will be used. Other parts of his job include planning the style and type of grow the company will use, writing and implementing SOP’s for all aspects of the facility, hiring and training all new employees, and setting and adhering to all production schedules.

Matt had a great experience working with Vangst!

“Vangst had interviews for me in a matter of days and, as always, was really great to work with,” he says. “Without Vangst, I would have never known this position was available and my recruiter’s endorsement put me at the top of the list for Brook Lodge.”

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1. Want to learn more about subjects similar to those touched upon in this article? Check out our articles on subjects such as:
   1. U.S. Markets See First Cannabis IPO
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1. In the Beginning
2. A Quick History
3. From Unknown to Illegal
4. The Players
5. A Compelling Narrative?

Cannabis has a long history of use by humans all over the world. Though the plant didn’t reach the Americas until the 17th century, it has been a consistent part of the culture ever since. Opinions vary on how effective it is for use in medicinal, religious, and recreational settings, but it is indisputable how versatile the plant is and the variety of products that can be produced from it. In fact, in a 1938 a Popular Mechanics article, Cannabis was touted as a new miracle miracle crop capable of supplying the country with not only a plethora of cannabis-based products, but also new infrastructure and jobs.

Despite its versatility and benefits, Cannabis was banned early everywhere in the early 20th century and then all but forgotten in agriculture. How could this happen? Why did this happen? There are two schools of thought on this subject:

1. One school of thought believes unequivocally that a few, well-connected affluent families were responsible for Cannabis prohibition
2. The other school of thought dismisses that idea as a conspiracy theory and that it was just a natural societal change.

So was it a conspiracy or was it a natural societal shift? Making any kind of definitive statement would be premature, but it is likely that the truth lies somewhere in between these two extremes.

As we previously mentioned, Cannabis reached the Americas in the 1600s via European ships destined for South America. Already a valuable natural resource and cash crop in the Old World, its usefulness as a source of fiber, food, medicine, and fuel allowed it to take root in the New World as well. In the English colonies that would eventually become the United States, the Cannabis story began with a royal decree for hemp to be cultivated and sent back to England. The colonial farmers obliged, quickly recognizing the value of Cannabis as a cash crop, and the plant's popularity grew throughout the colonies.

The crop became a source of fiber for paper, clothing, and rope while the seeds were used for food, and the resin for lamp oil. By the 1800s the medicinal and psychotropic properties of Cannabis were well known to doctors and pharmacists, and these properties made it a popular additive to the burgeoning elixir and tonic market. This is where the story of Cannabis prohibition in the US begins.

An "elixir" of cannabis made with alcohol, circa 1928.

Cannabis' potential as a medical treatment was unknown to Western medicine until Irish physician William O'Shaughnessy introduced it in 1839. It caught on and by 1850 a variety of Cannabis mixtures were available as over-the-counter remedies in pharmacies everywhere, alongside other elixirs containing morphine, cocaine, and more. With no federal regulation of the market at the time, the first labeling laws were introduced in individual states. In essence, states wanted to inform consumers about what substances were in the tonics and prevent purveyors from adulterating their products. Additional laws around this time restricted the sale of Cannabis mixtures to minors, and some even required the products to be labeled as “poison” if not sold by a pharmacist.

Despite the new regulations, Cannabis remained popular medicinally and recreationally. "Hash houses" began popping up in cities across the country, with over 500 of these establishments reported in New York City alone. As the country entered the 20th century, state laws varied widely with regards to Cannabis elixir labeling.

However, a book published around this time would change everything. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is a fictional, albeit damning, indictment of the lack of sanitation and safety in the meatpacking industry in the early 20th century. The book opened eyes across the country and it served as an impetus for the first federal mandate regarding the labeling of Cannabis and other substances. In 1906 the Pure Food and Drug Act was signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt.

I think we’d all agree that consumers deserve to know what’s in the products they consume, but how did an innocuous labeling law eventually become an outright Cannabis ban? The answer only begins to make sense when we ask the following: Who had the most to gain (or lose) if Cannabis caught on?

William Randolph Hearst was a newspaper man. His media empire in the 1920s was the biggest in the world, and was so strong that it even stands today. Hearst was heavily indebted to the Canadian timber industry because he needed their paper, and Cannabis could have potentially been a cheap alternative to timber. Given this knowledge, it would be reasonable to ask why he didn't welcome the transition to a cheaper alternative.

The likely reason is that Hearst's family owned vast timber holdings. Though a transition to Cannabis might have benefited Hearst in the short term by saving money on paper imported from Canada, what about the long term effect on his family holdings? When we couple this piece of evidence with how critical Hearst publications were of marijuana and its users, his motive to protect his assets seems plausible.

Critics of this theory may argue that many publishers were engaged in this same type of sensational reporting on marijuana. The difference is that many publishers were likely following his lead. The man wielded great power to influence public opinion, not dissimilar Rupert Murdoch in the “Fox News era.” Hearst’s own views and concerns shaped the journalism of the times. Just ask Orson Welles.

The next player who had an interest in seeing Cannabis banned was chemical baron Pierre S. Du Pont (of the Du Pont family). A titan in the chemical industry, Du Pont had an interest in banning Cannabis because it would compete with his petroleum-based, polymer plastic products. However, his interest in petroleum went beyond plastics. Cannabis had potential as a fuel source, and this conflicted with Du Pont’s interests as a board member of the fledgling (and struggling) General Motors Corporation. A new term was also being thrown around in the 1920s: Chemurgy, and it scared Du Pont. Chemurgy is the concept of using agriculture to provide all of the raw materials necessary for the creation of industrial goods such food, clothing, fuel, and even cars. This would have reduced dependency on foreign imports and increased the number of jobs. Even Henry Ford was a major proponent of chemurgy. However, from Du Pont’s point of view, chemurgy was a direct threat to his petroleum products and his investments in General Motors. It's no stretch to suggest he may have felt threatened by Cannabis.

Two more people integral to the story are former Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon (the richest man in the world at the time) and ex-prohibition enforcer Harry Anslinger. From his cabinet position, Mellon (with personal ties to the oil industry and banking as well as being a financial backer of the Du Pont corporation), appointed his niece’s husband Harry Anslinger as head of the newly formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Anslinger was a self-made lawman, starting as a railroad police officer tasked with investigating fraud cases and later making a name for himself during alcohol prohibition. At the time of the appointment by Mellon, Anslinger was in need of a new enemy, and well-suited to head up the push against Cannabis.

So how did it play out?

With Mellon's appointment of Anslinger in place to protect he and Pierre du Pont's financial interests, Hearst’s media conglomerate went to work influencing the opinion of the American public. Hearst's papers pushed horror stories about the “devil weed,” the foreign-sounding “marijuana,” and tapping into the racism of the time via reporting the “Mexicans and coloreds” were the primary users of marijuana, a media strategy of racist association proven to be employed during the Zoot Suit Riots of the 1940s. Hearst chose the Spanish term for Cannabis to intentionally to create anxiety and drum up racist fears. In fact, the term was so new to the American lexicon that most voting politicians didn’t make the connection between the word and the Cannabis they already knew. And if the most informed in society were susceptible to the ruse, what would happen when the propaganda machine was turned on the public?

With Hearst drumming up prohibition support via his media empire, Harry Anslinger’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics was given a $100,000 budget ($1.5 million when adjusted for inflation) and told to investigate. By 1937, Congress passed the "Marihuana Tax Act" (despite a protest by the American Medical Association) which levied taxes against farmers who grew Cannabis, as well as any doctors or pharmacists who purchased the plant for medicinal purposes. It’s really no wonder that the treatment was basically abandoned by doctors and pharmacists in favor of other, untaxed, pharmaceuticals such as opioids.

But Anslinger didn’t stop there. Mandatory sentence guidelines for first time Cannabis offenses were established by pushing for the Boggs Act in 1952, and by 1960, Anslinger successfully petitioned members of the UN to combine and unify all existing drug treaties into a single policy. This came to be and the result was the UN’s Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, making Cannabis cultivation, sale, possession, and use illegal nearly worldwide, with 150 countries pledging to eradicate marijuana within their borders. The trend continued domestically when President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act into law, a move that made Cannabis a schedule 1 narcotic, similar to heroin and cocaine with no recognized medical uses.

In short, an argument can be made that American xenophobia and financial uncertainty was effectively co-opted to drum up support for a Cannabis ban, essentially coupling the fear over the influx of nearly one million legal Mexican immigrants with the economic uncertainty of the USA in the 1930s. Since the Mexican laborers were known to smoke Cannabis and were employed as cheap laborers, it was easy for politicians and journalists involved to demonize the "Mexican marijuana smoker", while also promoting their own financial interests. Couple that with their financial power and political connections, and they could enact laws based on bad information, despite the objections of medical professionals who understood the plant and its medicinal value.

We haven’t even considered the social ramifications of the “War on Drugs,” such as the swelling prison population and the fact that the vast majority of these non-violent offenders are people of color. This aspect alone deserves specific attention and will be covered in a future article.

As a newbie, getting used to the lingo in any industry can take some getting used to. The cannabis industry is no exception, and as it grows it can be a real challenge to keep up with all the new companies, products, and even methods of consumption!

We’ve created a quick reference guide for you to understand some of those zany acronyms you’ll hear and read about in your cannabis job, and by the time you reach the end of this list, you’ll be a expert! (Or at least sound like you know what you’re talking about with your colleagues.)

This isn’t an exhaustive list. The industry is ever-changing and full of scientific terminology. But for the cannabis newbie – or any seasoned pro who wants a review – this is a great place to start!

BOE – based on experience. Simply put, employees’ rate of pay will be determined by their prior experience. This is seen on many job listings in place of a fixed rate. Typically – and in a perfect world – more experience means a higher pay rate.

BHO – butane hash oil. A potent form of cannabis concentrate that comes in several forms of different consistencies such as shatter, wax and more. Used for dabbing (and we don’t mean the ubiquitous dance move that resembles sneezing).

CBD – cannabinoid, also cannabidiol. Cannabinoids are the diverse chemical compounds that are the active parts in a cannabis plant, such as the most commonly known THC (see below). Cannabidiol is another type of cannabinoid that is frequently used to treat pain, and is not known to have psychoactive effects.

CDC – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The US agency responsible for tracking and investigating public health trends. They provide many cannabis use tools and resources.

CO2 – carbon dioxide. For those who actually remember chemistry class, you’ll know this is a colorless gas. In cannabis, CO2 is used for extraction and is turned into CO2 oil, which can be used in a variety of cannabis products.

DEA – Drug Enforcement Agency. A government agency that deals with drug abuse and drug smuggling in the US. The DEA is not a fan of cannabis, as it is still considered a Schedule I drug on the Controlled Substances list.

EPC – extended plant count. Refers to the number of medical cannabis plants that a qualifying patient is allowed to grow in their own home. It is granted based on proof of legible medical records proving their ailments.

FDA – US Food and Drug Administration. The FDA is responsible for protecting public health regarding food, tobacco, and other products. They regulate and approve drug products for medical use. (One CBD product has been FDA-approved, but cannabis is still in waiting.)

FF – fresh frozen. This describes cannabis concentrates made from plant material that has been cryogenically frozen immediately after harvest in order to best preserve it. Also refers to a type of hashish made using fresh frozen cannabis flower and trim.

FSE – full spectrum extract. A type of hash oil that includes a higher percentage of a cannabis plant’s unique cannabinoids and terpenes.

HIA – Hemp Industries Association. A non-profit trade association that represents hemp companies, researchers and supporters in the US and Canada. The group petitions for fair and equal treatment of industrial hemp.

MED – Marijuana Enforcement Division. This is the state division in charge of providing the operational rules for the legal cannabis industry in Colorado.

METRC – Marijuana Enforcement Tracking Reporting Compliance. A regulatory system that cannabis businesses use to monitor cannabis plants from ‘seed-to-sale’ (from the time they are a seed to when their products are sold) in order to comply with state regulations. It’s the official system used by the state of Colorado.

MIPs – marijuana-infused products. Edibles, THC soda, and anything created using a cannabis concentrate falls under this category. MIP also refers to a licensed facility where these products are made.

MITS – Marijuana Inventory Tracking Solution. Program that tracks individual cannabis plants according to government regulation (see METRC above).

MMJ – medical marijuana/cannabis. The cannabis or cannabis products that are recommended to patients by doctors to treat a variety of ailments.

OLCC – Oregon Liquor Control Commission. This is used in reference to the Oregon MED Badge, which allows a business or individual to operate within the legal cannabis industry.

POS – point of sale system. Software used in dispensaries and retail outlets to help manage their inventory, process cash transactions, and other primary functions.

REC – recreational cannabis. Cannabis or cannabis product intended for personal consumption. Also referred to as “adult-use.”

THC - tetrahydrocannabinol. Remember when we talked about CBD (cannabinoids)? THC is the most common cannabinoid and the most common psychoactive molecule in a cannabis plant.

THCa – tetrahydrocannabinolic acid. Different from THC! This is a non-psychoactive compound found in raw and live cannabis. THCa slowly converts to THC as the cannabis plant dries, and heat accelerates this process when flower is smoked or vaporized.

Resources:

Want to get in touch with Vangst? They can be reached via the following methods:

1. Website: vangst.com
2. Email: info@vangsttalent.com

Tessa Parris joined Vangst in search of a new career in an emerging industry. She was hired by 1906 and is now a packager for the renowned chocolate edible brand! Here is Tessa’s story on how she entered the industry through Vangst.

Coming from an artistic background, Tessa was very open to new opportunities within the industry. She always seeks to grow professionally and to further her education on a variety of topics, and 1906 was the perfect fit for her!

This edible cannabis brand combines natural botanicals with drool-worthy cacao and cannabis for the ultimate edible experience.

Tessa’s new role as a packager is important to this type of company, where maintaining clean, consistent, and quality production is vital.

“It’s a very hands-on process that includes tasks such as working with chocolate molds, weighing, labeling, sanitation, wrapping, and operating various machines to deposit product,” says Tessa. “I’m happy to be responsible as a team member in the production process of packaging edibles!”

She absolutely loves being a part of the friendly and professional culture at 1906 and is excited to have easily found her new job through Vangst!

“Everything was streamlined for me, down to the parking [at the interview],” says Tessa. “I was placed right away and had access to answers to any questions that I might have had!”

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Resources:

Want to get in touch with Vangst? They can be reached via the following methods:

1. Website: vangst.com
2. Email: info@vangsttalent.com