![]() ![]() I have a lot of happy places – out on the mountain and desert trails, in the gym, spending time with friends and family, or anywhere with my mouth wrapped around a good steak are some of the options.Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. Is there a percentage below zero? No chance. For my future, I will just continue to pursue happiness. It’s been really hard and also so rewarding. I went all-in on Harvest a long time ago, so this is it for me. What does the future hold for Steve White? Are you involved in other cannabis-related or non-cannabis related ventures? Yes, Harvest has been fortunate to be in a position to support some amazing causes including helping children access medicinal cannabis through Harvesting Hope and supporting social justice initiatives through the Last Prisoner Project. For many reasons, the timing is perfect for Arizona.īusiness and charity go hand in hand and we have noticed that advocacy and helping others is a big theme in the cannabis industry, are you or harvest involved in philanthropic causes? As we know in Arizona, successful businesses mean more investment in our communities. It means a better economy and more jobs in an industry that is the fastest growing in the country. We have some really innovative folks here. But more importantly, it is our job to bring exposure to all kinds of cannabis and ancillary businesses from Arizona. We are headquartered here, so it means good jobs and tax revenue. What will Harvest’s success mean for Arizona? The original goal was one store in Arizona. ![]() But we’ve all evolved over time and will continue to do so.ĭid you always envision a publicly-traded company with many retail outlets? ![]() Sounds silly, but politicians and regulators looked at marijuana like plutonium so we had our challenges. We were really the first to totally embrace that model. We realized that nobody was treating it like a normal retail experience, so we decided that was the direction we wanted to go. We traveled around and looked at what others were doing. Tell us about the evolution of Harvest? Look at retail locations and feel what inspired them? Little did we know it was just the beginning of more nail-biting, hand wringing, high fiving, and hugging. Well, there was lots of nail-biting and hand wringing followed by high fiving and hugging. Tell us about that day your team won the lottery in Arizona? What was that like? When I did, I was shocked at how misinformed I was.Īre you one of the original license holders? If you don’t know someone getting benefits from it, it means that they haven’t told you yet. What would you say to people that oppose it being legal or don’t know the benefits of how this is helping millions of people with health issues?Įveryone approaches marijuana with certain prejudices, but once someone you care about needs it, you lose the ability to be so entrenched in your outdated way of thinking about it. But I didn’t understand the structure and organization until we decided to make a run at it in Arizona. I always knew there was a market for marijuana – where there’s demand, there will always be supply. It was about the time that we started Harvest. When did you first learn about the cannabis industry? I knew too many people who used cannabis and never tried harder drugs to ever really buy that one. When was your awakening that cannabis was something other than a gateway drug? I hadn’t fully evolved until 2012 and even then I had some prejudices that I needed to critically examine. I’m afraid to admit it, but it was later than you would think. Nancy Reagan and the failed War on Drugs informed my early impressions of marijuana. What was your impression of marijuana and marijuana policy as you were growing up? Locally, John McCain and Larry Fitzgerald for very different reasons, but Arizona has a lot of great options. 10 years ago people didn’t even believe that a medical program was even possible. But I am very excited about playing a small part in bringing a model recreational marijuana program to Arizona. In our industry long-term goals aren’t ever too far out. I started college and ultimately graduated from Arizona State, before going away for law school at Washington and Lee School of Law in Virginia. How far back do we go? Roosevelt Elementary in Mesa? Kyrene del Cielo the year it opened? Pueblo Middle School the first year it opened in Chandler? Then Corona del Sol for high school. ![]() Today I am a Co-Founder and the CEO of Harvest Health and Recreation, a publicly-traded cannabis company.ĭesert Sam (now Banner Desert) in Mesa, Arizona I became one of many who guessed right about the emergence of marijuana as a great opportunity and emerging industry. ![]()
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