Evolving, yet Consistently Valuable and Valued

Cashing in and out

Photo by Elsa Olofsson on Unsplash

Do you know that cannabis sativa is an annual herbaceous flowering plant or that:

• Hemp and marijuana are distinct cultivars that derive from cannabis sativa;

• Marijuana contains higher levels of THC, a psychoactive intoxicative compound;

• Hemp contains 0.3% or less by dry weight of THC;

• Jamestown settlers introduced hemp to colonial America in the early 1600s and imposed fines on those who didn’t produce the crop;

• Colonial massacres and the confinement of Native Americans to reservations began in 1610;

• The first documented arrival of enslaved Africans to what became the US occurred in August 1619;

• The following US politicians cultivated hemp:

  • Henry Clay;

  • Benjamin Franklin;

  • Thomas Jefferson;

  • James Madison; and

  • George Washington;

• The cannabis sativa plant species was first classified by Carl Linnaeus (1753);

• Credited with making the first official US flag, Betsy Ross used hemp (1776);

• The Indian Removal Act was passed in 1830;

• The forced migration -aka- Trail of Tears occurred during the 1830s and 1840s;

• The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except for punishment for a crime, on December 6, 1865;

• Hemp remained a prominent crop in the US until 1937;

• To regulate the manufacture, distribution, and possession of controlled substances, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA) was enacted;

• Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance and is federally illegal;

• California was the first state to legalize marijuana for medical use when voters approved Proposition 215/the Compassionate Use Act of 1996;

• Colorado and Washinton-State were the first to legalize recreational marijuana use (2012);

• The 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the definition of marijuana, effectively legalizing it at the federal level;

• The US cannabis industry is estimated to reach $45 billion this calendar year;

• California reported $4.7+ billion in adult-use and medical cannabis sales (December 2024);

• Colorado reported $1.3+ billion in adult use and medical cannabis sales (December 2024);

• Between 2013 and 2025, Colordo’s combined reported cannabis sales exceeded $16 billion;

• There are approximately 2.9 million persons who self-identify as Native American (December 2024);

• There are approximately 48.3 million persons who self-identify as Black American (December 2024);

• There are 574 federally recognized Native American tribes, with 350 in the contiguous 48 states;

• There are 109 federally recognized Native American tribes in California;

• There are 2 federally recognized Native American tribes in Colorado;

• There are approximately 15,000 marijuana dispensaries across the US (April 2025);

• There are 57 tribally owned marijuana dispensaries in the US (May 2024);

• Black cannabis entrepreneurs account for less than 2% of the nation's marijuana businesses (December 2021);

• Simply Pure, founded by military veterans Wanda James and Scott Durrah, is the first Black-owned and woman-owned cannabis dispensary in the US; or

• Viola Brands, founded by former NBA player Al Harrington, is considered the largest Black-owned cannabis brand?