Feature Story
Eye Was There
An Eye Over The Past Five Years of The Missouri Cannabis Industry .
by Clayton Stallings
Brainstorming through spring ’ s thunderstorms over all the memories of the last five years revolving around the birth of a new industry in our state wound up causing me the worst form of writer ’ s block I have ever experienced in my life . I couldn ’ t help getting lost in so many of the memories — the good , the bad , the ugly , and , of course , the most beautiful moments that outweigh all the rest
The EVOLUTION Magazine team ; Bill and Victoria Cromwell with Clayton Stallings ( on right ) at a Patients Out Of Time event in 2022 .
Our front cover for this issue , our five-year anniversary month , represents a look back from My Eye –– LOL ! –– “ I ” means “ Our Eyes ,” as the Publishers Bill and Vickie Cromwell and myself have become the three “ Eyes ” to collectively cover the evolution of a new industry in Missouri . ( That bullheaded “ I ,” as I refer to myself , needed to learn to work as a team in those first few years .)
Yes , even EYE had to evolve along the way .
It takes an unprecedented amount of hard work to break the chains of stigma around cannabis use from the mind distortions ( to put it mildly ) of all the past political propaganda the “ War on Drugs ” gave us over the many past decades , and it takes a team to do it . It ’ s the only way to bring a medical marijuana program to a state outside of the parameters of the same institution that brought us those former un-truths .
Once you are successful in changing enough public minds statewide to vote for cannabis reform , the stigma still exists in all those who voted no . That was our call to action to launch Missouri ’ s first and only “ Printed ” free monthly health and wellness cannabis informational magazine with our inaugural June 2019 issue during the birth of Missouri ’ s evolution with its new cannabis program –– the Green Rush . A new form of capitalism was born , and there was limited time to stake your claim . We ( the state ) learned a lot from other states , being the 32nd state to build its own reformed cannabis program , but things still got overlooked in this initial Green Rush –– the first color on the eye of the front cover .
Overlooking important things like retraining all local law enforcement , prosecutors , and judiciary members –– state-wide . This mistake ended up leading to some of the more beautiful moments for me as I got to help aid in the re-education of local law enforcement with Ryan Hutton ’ s Extract-ED Green Labs . Getting to see so many police officers learn the difference between cannabis consumption and cannabis impairment has been life-changing for me and invaluable to law enforcement and citizens alike .
Giving back to the good frequencies of the cannabis evolution like the Green Labs reflected the energy I ’ ve needed to handle covering some of the darker truths of a Missouri medical marijuana program that ultimately turns into an adult-use program .
I attended the first KC area dispensary opening with long lines at Fresh Green in Lee ’ s Summit , MO , in November 2020 . Selfie of Clayton Stalling ( on left ) with Fresh Green owner Rob Sullivan . Only flower was sold at that time .
“ You get back what you put in ,” as the frequency line describes on the EYE of the front cover , and the first few years of covering the industry through medical sales , I completely evolved with every new relationship I formed by showing up to every single Missouri cannabis-related industry event I possibly could . Every new patient story I got to hear reminded me of all the years I couldn ’ t have such conversations . It was up to me to get their story out to the public to counter the stigma that , as I said , still exists around cannabis use , all while simultaneously covering the evolution of the birth of this new industry .
I ( EYE ) showed up to “ Everything ” possible , to share selfies of the people of this industry on social media and in our OUT and ABOUT section of this magazine ( page 14 ), demonstrating that I ( we ) were there to our followers / readers ( all while social media channels repeatedly shut us down for telling truths about cannabis ). I took so many selfies in those first few years that it made me dizzy , and I still take them to this day in year five . I ’ m a bit “ selfied-out ” at times ! But it ’ s a great way to show our readers the incredible people in this industry .
32 June 2024