Maximum Yield Cannabis USA December 2017 / January 2018 | Page 58

learn
“
HARBORSIDE REPRESENTS
DEANGELO’S ORIGINAL VISION
AND GENIUS WITHIN THE CANNABIS
USLY
SPACE AS IT SIMULTANEO
SIGNIFIES A GREAT BUSINESS
MODEL THAT SERVES AS AN
INSPIRATION FOR CANNABIS
LEGALIZATION EFFORTS WHILE
LIGHTING A FIRE UNDER
THE FEET OF THE CANNABIS
LEGALIZATION MOVEMENT.
”
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grow. heal. learn. enjoy.
STEVE DEANGELO
ADVOCACY & BUSINESS
Steve DeAngelo has emerged as an iconoclastic
figure on the twenty-first century cannabis scene due
to an infusion of business sense, advocacy efforts,
and global media attention. DeAngelo first entered
the cannabis limelight in 2006 with the founding of
Harborside Health Center (now, 11 years later, called
Harborside) in Oakland, CA—the largest and most
controversial medical marijuana dispensary in the
United States to date. The New York Times called it
“the national model in which others could operate.”
In recent years, DeAngelo has expanded on his hard-
won cannabis industry knowledge by co-founding
the Arcview Group, one of the most established
cannabis angel investment network groups on the
market. However, Harborside represents DeAngelo’s
original vision and genius within the cannabis space
as it simultaneously signifies a great business model
that serves as an inspiration for cannabis legaliza-
tion efforts while lighting a fire under the feet of the
cannabis legalization movement.
In 1996, with the passage of Proposition 215,
California became the first state in the union to
legalize the medical use of cannabis. With this
momentous legislation, the state was immediately
moved into the forefront of marijuana activism on the
global stage. California’s unprecedented decision
to legalize adult-use marijuana set the foundation
for the development of a legal cannabis industry
more than a decade before states like Colorado,
Washington, and Oregon decided to follow suit.
As a result, when DeAngelo opened the expansive
Harborside in 2006, the interior design, holistic
health services model, and large, lighted clinic
space immediately put him in the public and media
limelight. According to media sources, Harborside
currently has 270,000 registered and certified
patients, making it the largest dispensary in the
United States and possibly the world. The scope of
the operation at Harborside propelled DeAngelo to
the front lines of California’s cannabis legalization
battles, in turn making his name synonymous with
cannabis on a worldwide scale. It’s worth noting that
publicly running a marijuana dispensary was an
act of civil disobedience in itself—this notion was
rapidly heightened in the George W. Bush era when
Harborside first opened its doors.
As the cannabis space slowly began gaining
mainstream media attention in the mid-2000s,
DeAngelo capitalized on the public interest by
featuring Harborside in a number of television
documentaries. Before this, DeAngelo was featured
in a cover story for Fortune magazine, which had
Mary Louise Parker, from the popular Showtime
series WEEDS, on the cover. Since then, DeAngelo
has been featured on two more Fortune covers, one
in 2009 and another in 2013.
The California dispensary was the primary
focus of the Discovery Channel’s four-part series
titled Weed Wars. The show featured footage
and documentation of the day-to-day operations
in Harborside, garnering national attention of
California’s medical marijuana industry.
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