As we celebrate 4/20 by breaking cannabis sales records in every state, I am compelled to use this tiny platform to reiterate my stance on what I have seen transpire in legal cannabis over the last three years.

Here are a few things I know to be true:

40,000 people are in prison for cannabis offenses.

Cannabis policy is rooted in racism.

Social equity programs have failed to empower those they were intended to help.

The industry has forgotten that compassion, not profit, is the North Star.

Most reasonable humans, if presented with the evidence, would agree with those points. And they would agree that these issues require immediate fixes, too. But not many people can actually do anything about them.

Why?

Well, in short, because we overemphasize dollars in everything we do. Shareholder value trumps humanity. For vivid examples related to cannabis:

Here is my humble suggestion, for all of us moving forward:

We must move - immediately, decisively, definitively - toward Aggressive Goodness.

“Aggressive Goodness” is an intentional name. By aggressive, I mean a bold and energetic shift in perspective. By goodness, I mean compassion and reverence for the plant that mother nature has gifted to us, and for the people that it helps.

Am I suggesting that we throw out the playbook that has enabled our rocket-like growth? Not really. I still very much believe in the cannabis industry as a source of jobs, and sales, and profit. I find the business aspect of cannabis intellectually compelling, too, and I think there are a lot of very smart people flexing their creative muscle here. We’re building great things.

However - with a few exceptions, we’re building great things with a not-so-great primary goal: money. When you make strategic decisions solely to appease shareholders, rather than to enrich the world, you take philosophical shortcuts. You scale for the sake of scale. You partner so you can press release. You pay to play.

In short, you forget the North Star. As a reminder:

You’ll notice that the North Star doesn’t mention profit.

Moving toward Aggressive Goodness means to recommit to our primary goal of compassion, and to uphold that goal over all others. It means taking a hit to your bottom line, if the most humane strategic move is not the most profitable one. It means giving services away for free when it makes compassionate sense. It means getting in line behind social equity applicants for retail licenses.

Ultimately, moving toward Aggressive Goodness means making decisions not based on what is best for your shareholders - but what is best for the world.

I know it sounds lofty - but it’s the only language I can find to adequately communicate the consequences of our behavior over the next few years.

📚 tl;dr

• We must move - immediately, decisively, and definitively - toward Aggressive Goodness, which means reinstalling compassion as our primary goal, and profit as our secondary goal

• It is Tuesday

• (happy 4/20)