MMJ: Yay, Canada. Boo, Alison.

I heard there was something that happened in San Francisco that made people in the cannabis industry upset. What happened? - Otto D. Loupe

I was hoping to talk about Canada and how they decided to become the second country in the world to legalize marijuana (Uruguay was first), and how Canada grows great weed (I’m in Vancouver right now, smoking on a Lemon Thai variant). But no, instead I have to talk about racism and ignorance and lack of awareness in the cannabis community. Sigh.

Last week, Alison Ettel, CEO of Treatwell, a company that specializes in making very popular cannabis tinctures for pets (and humans), created a very rough day for herself. Ettel allegedly (I say allegedly because Ettel claims she was only pretending to call the cops, which doesn’t make much difference) called the cops on an 8-year-old black girl who was selling bottles of water on Ettel’s block without a permit. The girl’s mother posted a video of Ettel, and shit has hit the fan. People have called for boycotts of Treatwell, many dispensaries have taken her products off the shelves, and her social media pages have been inundated with invective. Ettel has resigned as CEO of Treatwell, but it may be too late for the company to recover.

Some people are saying that what is happening to her is too much and that people shouldn’t be so mean, but I feel like she learned some valuable lessons:

1. Don’t bully kids, including kids of color. Ettel claims she is receiving death threats; my contention is that she started making death threats first. Calling the cops on a black child could be construed as a death threat. Ask Tamir Rice’s family.

2. If you are in the cannabis industry, calling the cops on someone for not having the proper permits is hypocrisy writ large. I’m pretty sure you can’t get a permit to sell weed tincture to dogs.

3. Everyone has a camera. It is virtually impossible to be a racist ass in public and get away with it these days.

There’s a lot more I could say about racism in the cannabis industry and how a lot of folks seem to forget that cannabis legalization started as a social justice movement, but I only have so much space. I’m glad many members of the cannabis industry have decided to do the right thing even though it may cost them money in the short term. Let’s all continue to take the high road.