DEBBY GOLDSBERRY
Executive Director - Magnolia Wellness
Business development specialist and pioneer
of the modern cannabis industry
We are so lucky to have Debby, one of the industry's most dedicated advocates and recognizable faces, as a part of our mentor network. Her dispensary, Magnolia Wellness, is only a half mile from Gateway. She has become a fast friend and invaluable asset to Gateway, and every conversation we hold with Debby is eye-opening and inspiring. Here is our most recent discussion:
WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY?
The first time I tried cannabis, it changed my life for the better. It was immediately clear to me that the War on Drugs was built on a lie about marijuana, and that the harms created by prohibition were vast. My first efforts to organize for cannabis reform came after the cops beat up cannabis smokers at the annual smoke-in on my campus. The year before (1987), it was so free that someone set up a lifeguard chair to smoke from a 30 foot long bong. In 1988, the cops came and beat students bloody, and arrested several (including my friend, Rex). They said the annual event was cancelled forever, but we responded by holding events on all of the college campuses in IL (the public ones) the following year, which was so successful that we did 6 states the next fall, and then 17 states the next spring, and then we went everywhere for years and years. MPP and SSDP both sprang from this effort, as did countless other organizations.
I am passionate about cannabis as a helpful, beneficial medicine, which people should have access to without stigma and fear, and to freeing people from jail and putting back together the families destroyed by cannabis prohibition. And, I want to shape the future of the cannabis industry, especially helping to guide people towards the importance of being truly socially responsible as we build the industry, so we can create a better America through ending prohibition. Creating jobs with livable wages, in meaningful workplaces, is essential.
CAN YOU GIVE US A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO WHERE YOU ARE IN YOUR CANNABIS CAREER?
I got involved in the cannabis reform issue in college, joining my campus NORML chapter back in 1987, as a student at the University of Illinois. The campus has a long history of cannabis advocacy, and when the war on drugs hit hard, we fought back, mostly by educating users about their constitutional rights and training people to avoid and survive police interactions. The nonprofit we founded straight out of college, Cannabis Action Network, was a key in turning the tide against prohibition, organizing people through the Hemp Tours, across the nation, to change the laws. I co-founded one of the nation's first cannabis dispensaries, in 1999, Berkeley Patients Group, which I managed for more than 10 years, before leaving to become a business management specialist in this field.
Over the last five years, I have consulted on a wide variety of projects in the cannabis industry, specialized in standard operating procedures in retail dispensaries and in business formation and development.
Recently, I raised $1.5 million dollars for my own start up company, Eureka Management Services, and took over the job of Executive Director at Magnolia Wellness, in order to continue the growth of this well known Oakland dispensary.
My biggest accomplishments to date have been both in politics and in business, including supervising the legal sales of more than $100 million dollars worth of medical marijuana, and also directing several winning local initiatives, a winning recount campaign, and fighting the federal government as part of the "Silent Seven," united against the feds efforts to jail Ed Rosenthal for cannabis cultivation. Winning our battle for freedom, when the government put us on trial when we refused to testify, was an amazing accomplishment.
What was your single greatest challenge as an entrepreneur in the cannabis industry?
Right now, I would say being instantly dismissed, simply for being a 48 year old woman. I have tough skin, and generally stand up for myself, but I wonder how this effects women, in general, as they try to enter the industry.
As for hurdles, we had to fight the federal government, all while being likable to the voters. It took the development of strategies to cope with every step, and a lot of guts not to stop, especially when faced with loss of freedom and family. Biggest hurdle has been fear.
Our business has been constrained by the nonprofit mandates in CA, by the difficulty in raising money, and by the lack of opportunities to expand, including to vertically integrated production and also into new retail spaces.
What excites you about the near-term future of the industry?
The change to a for profit mandate, which means expansion and rapid growth becomes more realistic, the upcoming manufacturing and cultivation licenses that will allow vertical integration and a provably safe supply chain, and the opportunity in Oakland to expand the number of retail outlets, so we can really become a world class cannabis city. I think our business will continue to grow, and especially quickly if legalization passes in CA in 2016.
What is your prediction for the ultimate future of cannabis?
It will be ridiculously regulated for years to come (sin taxed), and maybe the regulations will become more reasonable over the years. The stigma of cannabis use will slowly drop away, but I bet it is still frowned on more than alcohol for the foreseeable future. Cannabis prohibition lasted 100 years, and won't be easy to end.
The market will be huge, but no one will make much money, as the taxes will crush us for years to come (until 280e and all of the other high taxes get lowered). This will keep a lot of business people out of the market, but those with a lot of heart will want to be involved, as we are helping create a kinder America. Global prohibition will slowly crack, but not big until congress changes our laws here. Hopefully, people will never again be executed for cannabis crimes.
Early entrepreneurs, minus a few like Steve DeAngelo and Ed Rosenthal, and hopefully me, will largely be forgotten, but some of the next wave brands will be the one's that last a 100 years.
HOW DOES MAGNOLIA WELLNESS PLAY A role in all of this, currently and in the future?
Magnolia Wellness is in the process of a major remodel and systems upgrade, to create a model, scalable dispensary. We plan to expand to other retail locations around CA, and, through Eureka Management Services, we will help other companies build world class dispensaries, based on our model. We are currently vertically integrating production in house at the dispensary, and have secured the exclusive right to manufacture Hi Brand products in CA, including topicals and tinctures. Our vision is to take the lead as one of the nations top dispensaries, by building the best supply of medicine possible, served by the kindest workers in the industry.
Debby Goldsberry, you will certainly never be forgotten, and are an invaluable resource to the companies being accelerated at Gateway. Thank you for everything you have done to bring the industry this far.
