Original Art By Anthony Haley
As the end of the year 2022 approaches and we begin the cusp of 2023, I write this story in hopes that most of us in the cannabis industry will reflect on the lessons A Christmas Carol has ingrained in all of us. Most in the emerging cannabis industry probably feel akin to Bob Cratchit, trying to feed our Tiny Tim’s while quietly, or not so quietly resenting those Scrooges at the top.
For the purpose of this article, the amount of cannabis companies that went under in the past calendar year will be metaphorically representing the chained ghost of Jacob Marley. Jacob Marley, who warned Ebenezer Scrooge, who will be for the sake of this article representing corporate cannabis, that he was going to be visited by three ghosts.
If The Ghost of Christmas Past arrived to show Scrooge his cannabis past, they’d probably point to the commotion, panic, and disruption caused by Toronto-based cannabis company Ghost Drops. A company who in the matter of a year, seemingly outsmarted the competition, dominated retail sales, and changed the narrative of weed in Canada forever. They did so simply by being true to what they believe and who they are.
The Ghost of Christmas Past would convey that until Ghost Drops came along, much of the cannabis industry in Canada was focused on the old narratives first set out by giant billion-dollar licensed producers. “Educating” the public by telling them that anyone involved in weed before legalization was a bunch of hippies, thugs, and stoners hiding in the shadows or under stairwells.
As much as they were right about us, The Ghost of Christmas Past would also point out that the hippies, thugs, stoners, and shadowy stair-dwellers thought of corporate cannabis as overspending predatory investors. A …
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Author: Ben Rispin / High Times
