Member Blog: As Professionals in the Cannabis Industry, It’s Our Responsibility to Unmask the 4 Big Lies

By Charlena Berry, Cannabis Business Growth

The following is adapted from Breaking the Stigma.

The vast majority of U.S. adults support the legalization of cannabis, with 60 percent supporting legalization for medical and adult use, and 31 percent supporting medical use only. Only 8 percent say it should not be legal for use by adults in any scenario. These numbers are promising for those of us in the industry, but behind the numbers, many stigmas still exist.

Breaking the stigma against cannabis is the responsibility of each and every individual currently working in the cannabis industry. In particular, for those of us working in retail, we are on the front lines of changing the criminal and negative perceptions associated with cannabis.

As front-line workers, it is important to understand how the stigma against cannabis came about and how it has harmed not just the cannabis industry and cannabis users, but our entire country. We’ve all been lied to. These Big Lies have shaped our beliefs about race, cannabis, and addiction, and it’s time to unmask these Big Lies for what they are: lies.

#1: Black Men Are Dangerous

The lie that Black men are inherently dangerous extends far, far back into our country’s history, but we’re going to start in the 1930s, with a man named Harry J. Anslinger. Anslinger became the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930.

Anslinger initially spent most of his time chasing down bootleggers. When Prohibition ended in 1933, he suddenly found himself out of a job. For the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to continue to have purpose — and receive the funding that paid his salary — Anslinger had to find a new bogeyman to prosecute.

He chose marijuana, a term that itself has racist roots and was a way to otherize cannabis as a “Mexican drug.” At this time, cannabis was not regulated in any way in the United States, so he first had to make it illegal. In order to do that, he needed people to fear it. He figured, why not link it to something people already fear: Black people — particularly Black men.

And so, the propaganda began. Anslinger sparked a national anti-cannabis movement by tying cannabis usage to the Black community and other marginalized groups.

Obviously, Anslinger didn’t invent racism, but his propaganda propagated and amplified it. In short, Anslinger used the lie that Black men are dangerous to help make cannabis illegal, and then he weaponized cannabis against minority communities.

To this day, people of color are disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. In fact, though Black and white people use cannabis at similar rates, a Black person is 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for possession. And, as industry professionals, we need to understand the racist roots behind the stigma of cannabis and do our part to elevate those groups disproportionately and unfairly impacted by the war on drugs.

#2: Cannabis Is Dangerous

Using fear of Black men, Anslinger convinced people that cannabis was dangerous. The idea that cannabis makes people dangerous is ludicrous to me. I grew up during the war on drugs, and I bought into many of the lies. I truly believed cannabis was bad, but never once did I think of cannabis users as dangerous.

As a child, I spent time around both alcoholics and cannabis users, and the difference was clear to me. Drunk people were violent, abusive, and dangerous. High people were safe, normal, and most importantly not violent.

However, in the drug education I received, I learned that all drugs are fundamentally bad, with no differentiation. Cannabis, meth, heroin, LSD, cocaine — they were all grouped together. And even when people acknowledged that cannabis was less harmful and addictive than harder drugs, they emphasized that it was still incredibly dangerous because it was a “gateway drug.”

Today, despite all the evidence that cannabis is safe for most people, the lie persists. Cannabis is classified as a Schedule I drug, meaning it has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Other Schedule I drugs include heroin and meth.

As a country, it’s long past time that we focused our attention on true dangers. As a cannabis retailer, it’s important to recognize that even though you know cannabis is not dangerous, your customers might not.

#3: Opioids Are Safe

Because of the lie that cannabis is dangerous, it was not normalized (or legal) as a method of pain management. There was a need for pain management, though, and so in 1996, Purdue Pharma, under the direction of the Sackler family, developed and patented OxyContin.

It was hailed as a miracle drug that took all the pain away, as if by magic. Magic often comes at a cost, though, and in this case, the cost was hundreds of thousands of American lives — more than five hundred thousand, to be specific.

Within a few years, evidence emerged that the drug was addictive and led to overdose deaths. While we were all being told that cannabis was the gateway drug, Purdue Pharma was flooding our country with the real gateway drug—opioids. They funded research studies that supported the use of OxyContin, and Richard Sackler put intense pressure on sales managers to sell more.

This Big Lie has harmed hundreds of thousands of Americans. Opioids destroy lives, and the ripples extend beyond the addict alone. An entire generation of children will be shaped by addiction and the absence of their parents.

You may not be personally connected to the Opioid Endemic, but as a cannabis retailer, you are in the business of pain management. By understanding this Big Lie and providing people with an alternative to addictive opioids, you could literally save lives.

#4: Addiction Is the Addict’s Fault

I understand the impulse to blame addiction on the addict. An addict’s struggles with addiction can be enough to tear their loved ones apart inside. You want to scream, “Why can’t you just quit?” But blaming addiction on the addict makes as much sense as blaming someone for having cancer, asthma, or migraines.

Who is responsible for addiction, then? The people who caused the Opioid Endemic, people like the Sackler family. As Patrick Radden Keefe puts it in Empire of Pain, “Prior to the introduction of OxyContin, America did not have an opioid crisis. After the introduction of OxyContin, it did.”

So, if you want to blame someone for addiction, blame the Sacklers. Blame Big Pharma. Blame the people who knew this drug was addictive but lied to us, told us it was safe, and pumped it into our communities.

Every single person I know who got addicted received their first pill or hit from a trusted source. This is how the Opioid Epidemic started. It didn’t start with irresponsible drug dealers on the street. It started between patients and doctors. Opioids moved through our world via trusted sources.

Cannabis and opioids are very different drugs. Cannabis is far safer than many people realize. Due to the nature of cannabis, I do not believe cannabis retailers will be creating addicts the way Purdue Pharma did, but it’s still important to understand this Big Lie because some of your customers may have struggled with addiction and need compassion from you.

The Consequences of These Lies

These Big Lies are all connected. Without racism, cannabis wouldn’t have been stigmatized. Without the stigma against cannabis, we would have had a nonaddictive alternative to opioids. Without the lies that opioids are safe and that addicts are to blame for addiction, hundreds of thousands more people would still be alive today.

When it comes to breaking the stigma, you are on the front lines. In knowing the truth about where the stigma came from and why it’s so harmful, you can begin to change it.

One customer at a time, you can begin to undo the Big Lies and share the reality of cannabis.

For more advice on how to undo the Big Lies and share the Big Truths of cannabis, you can find Breaking the Stigma on Amazon.

Charlena Berry is the author of Breaking the Stigma: Racism, Lies, the Opioid Endemic, and Inviting Grandma to the Dispensary. In this book, she exposes lies that created the stigmas associated with cannabis, and how these stigmas must be addressed to see continued growth in the marketplace. She then outlines a framework that provides key strategies for retailers to implement to improve the customer experience and increase profitability.

Writing from her experiences in the industry, Charlena is a global cannabis business executive and the founder of Cannabis Business Growth, a premier cannabis business consulting firm. Prior to that, she spent more than a decade in Supply Chain and Retail Operations for Fortune 500 companies like Whirlpool and Office Depot/Office Max. She also serves as the Chief Operating Officer for The Cake House, a chain of dispensaries in Southern California.

Member Blog: As a Leader, You’re in the Business of Talent. That Means Your Top Priority Should Be Your People.

By Charlena Berry, Cannabis Business Growth

The following is adapted from Breaking the Stigma.

As a leader (especially a leader in the cannabis industry), you’re in the business of talent — identifying it, hiring it, developing it, and retaining it. Your top priority should thus be your people.

The first place to look to see if you have a people problem in your company is employee turnover. You can’t (and shouldn’t want to) completely avoid turnover, as it’s natural for some employees to move on and, occasionally, you will make hiring mistakes and need to let people go.

However, if you have high employee turnover — say, as high as 20 to 30 percent over the course of a year — it’s a sign you have an illness in your company. While this figure may seem low, traditional retailers aim for an even lower turnover rate. To calculate turnover, divide the number of employees that left the company by the total number of employees. For instance, if 30 employees out of 100 employees leave in the course of a year, your turnover is 30 percent.

If your employees don’t want to work at your store, do you think they’re going to create the kind of environment that customers want to shop in? Probably not. And if a good portion of your employees are in training and don’t yet know what they’re doing, is that going to create a delightful customer experience? Again, probably not.

The good news is that there are steps you can take — which I’ll share with you here — to reduce turnover and prioritize your people. Ultimately, by implementing some or all of these strategies, you’ll be able to offer your people the greatest possible experience. That will benefit not just them, but your organization and your customers as well.

Adopt the Leadership Mindset

Many factors can contribute to turnover. If you’re not offering compensation and perks that are on par with other cannabis retailers in your area, for instance, you’re likely to lose employees.

The biggest factor, though, is leadership. You might have heard the saying before that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. If your management team makes employees miserable or doesn’t make them feel valued, they’ll leave.

If, on the other hand, you adopt the leadership mindset and take the time to train managers to form a personal connection, be curious, empower, develop, and inspire your employees, they’re more likely to stay because those elements create a rewarding, enjoyable work environment.

Promote From Within

It’s also critical that you establish a practice of promoting from within. If your employees don’t see any growth opportunities within your company, they will be forced to leave to progress in their careers.

Promoting from within also just makes good business sense. Who knows your store and your company culture better than the people who already work there? When you promote an employee to a leadership position, they can hit the ground running.

Especially as you scale, promoting from within is key to implementing a seamless customer experience across multiple locations. When a role is empty, it disrupts the continuity of operations. Imagine a ship whose captain is swept overboard. You need a second-in-command ready to step up and fill the role.

Focus on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

As you hire and build paths to leadership positions for your employees, keep diversity, inclusion, and equity in mind. With the long history of people of color being disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, the very least we can do as retailers is ensure we are being fair and creating opportunities in our hiring and promoting practices.

Plus, diversity leads to better business results! McKinsey & Company found that companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity in executive teams outperformed those in the bottom quartile by 36 percent.

Understand When to Let People Go

As unpleasant as it can be, the final aspect of managing the talent of your company is understanding when to let people go. Every employee is a representation of your company and contributes to the customer experience. You can’t afford to have subpar employees when you could put someone incredible in that role — someone who will make a difference in terms of how customers think and feel about you.

If a team member isn’t living up to the expectations of a role, you need to provide clear, regular feedback about what needs to change. Employ your curiosity and ask leading questions to try to mold them into the role: Why do you do things that way? Have you thought about other ways to do it? What if you tried x or y?

If after several months, they’re still failing to meet expectations, they’re probably not a good fit for the role. At that point, you can either try to find a different role for them if you think they could still make a valuable contribution or let them go. You can’t expect people to magically know everything they need to know and perform well in a role without guidance and training, but you also can’t expect everyone to be a good fit.

Turnover is Expensive

Bottom line, turnover is expensive, both financially and culturally. Every time an employee leaves, you have to pay the costs of onboarding and training a new employee. According to Gallup, that cost can range from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary.

It’s far cheaper — and results in a better customer experience — to retain and develop your current employees. Turnover also damages your company culture. When you have many empty positions or many new employees in training, it increases the pressure and stress on your veteran employees. It can trigger a wildfire of employees leaving, which lowers morale and disrupts team dynamics.

As a leader, it’s easy to get caught up in the minutiae — emails to answer, decisions to make, spreadsheets to review. Those tasks are important, but the area where you can have the most impact is in people’s development. When you put people first, it’s like dropping a rock into a still pond, spreading ripples throughout the company.

For more advice on actionable strategies you can implement that put your people first, you can find Breaking the Stigma on Amazon.