A Growing Concern
By James Bridges
HERBAGE MAGAZINE
Andrew Green, owner of Cowboy Cannabis Pharm in Dover, OK, grew up in somewhat of an “Americana” atmosphere. It’s not new. It’s actually more common than not. Once you look around at the ones that actually matter to you and your well being you realize something simple. Almost all of them would never have given a damn if you consumed cannabis if it were not for the LAW.
“I’ve been around cannabis since I was a kid. I was more brought up with alcohol and tobacco and stuff you know? I never knew the medicinal benefits of cannabis. I always knew that it was put on this Earth for good.” Andrew was bringing me into his world.
“About 5-years-ago my dad passed away after being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer two years prior. So, I did more research. All of my research kept leading me towards medical marijuana.” I could tell where this was going. Andrew was still driving though. “Dad was kind of old school. He wouldn’t try it. There was too much of that stigma around it being illegal. After he passed away we actually found a little of what we tried to give him stashed away and never touched.”
I’ve often thought about what people I leave behind might find hidden away. So many reasons to wear clean underpants when I leave the house… However, a stash is one thing I would not mind you finding. For that matter indulge yourself. Please…
“I was working in West Virginia and there was an old man up there that had a greenhouse. He told me that I need to get into this, you know. He talked to me about his stories and about his business.” Andrew was recalling as the story unfolded.
I felt like I was on a train ride that had to get to its destination with a sense of urgency. Andrew knew exactly how he got into this business. Step by step it seems that every move the universe around him made was to assist him to get to this point.
“I came home and I was in my local bank that day. My ex partner, Monty Taylor, actually walked into the bank. I looked at him and it was a little bit of a shock. Like fate or something. It seemed like there was a reason why our paths crossed.” Andrew’s passion was starting to show.
“So anyway, he started telling me about his father-in-law who had cancer in Colorado and basically beat it. He had stage 4. He beat it with medical marijuana and eating right. We started talking about all of the research that I had done. His experiences and mine. So we partnered together to grow.”
Later down the line the two have ventured toward different paths in the cannabis world. Monty is more on the dispensary and retail side of things. Andrew seems very comfortable on the grow side.
Andrew’s uncle, his father’s brother, passed due to cancer only one month after his father. Another uncle soon after was moved to hospice care because of stage 4 cancer.
“Now an uncle on my mom’s side of the family is suffering from stage 4 cancer. Cancer is a big issue for me and my family. It just scares me. I know this stuff can help so many people. If the government would just get off their tail.” I could tell Andrew had enough, like so many of us.
“I think chemotherapy is such big business. It would cost my dad $75,000 for every treatment of chemo. The insurance would pay, but that was the bill. How is this happening? A plant from mother nature can help with this and we have so much greed going around that this is acceptable?” Andrew’s facial expression most likely matched mine at that point which was disgust.
If throwing your hands up out of being ass-whipped then congratulations. Welcome to a rather large population of society that wonders, why in the hell are we still listening?
Now go do things like below:
“We want to be like those guys that showed the world Charlotte’s Web. We want to be known as a company that cares. We are here for a reason. We love our patients and we are proud to help them get well. I don’t care about making the money as long as I pay my rent. It’s about helping people and making this a better place to live.” Andrew dotted the eye.
The enormous amount of good spirited people that I run into in this cannabis community is overwhelming. I can’t explain the feeling I get knowing that once we were all considered criminals. It truly is a good feeling to know that there are choices. For the most part those new choices of a cannabis life are much healthier, safer, less expensive, and less collateral damage causing.
“You can always make money doing something else. You just have to find it. This is something special. This is something that can give back to people.” He smiled. “To me… from all the things I might have done wrong, this may be my way of paying it back.” Andrew looked concerned.
A man can be torn down in many ways. The mind will most assuredly win a battle between itself and one’s physical size. So when you take a large and dominant figure like Andrew and witness him behaving out of self guilt for no apparent reason I raise a brow. To me, this means something or someone got into his mind. To believe that your own past requires you to claim redemption is pretty bold in my opinion. This is a small aspect of what our misguided principals and miseducation have done.
Once Andrew noticed an opening in the current vein of conversation he went for the grow rooms. He couldn’t wait to show me what’s going on behind the curtains.
The grow was very clean and something any respectable cultivator would love to work with.
Andrew let me know of a few challenges the team has been facing while growing with coco. Growing with coco and looking for high terpene output equals not a fun or short process of hitting oneself in the head. However Andrew showed enthusiasm as he shouted, “We are going to! We’re going to figure it out.”
“I consider ourselves to be more of a boutique type of grow facility. Yes, we are small. We care for each and every plant and we are comfortable knowing that it’s good medicine.”
Andrew and the gang have aspirations of getting into the edible market with his wife, Robin. “You can ask these guys. I mean come on. Robin’s cooking is delicious. Her cookies are so good. The problem is that you want to keep eating them.”
Who knows? Maybe the next time I’m out in the area I may stop in for a “magical” dinner and a smoke.
