Get high — on money!
That’s the message of the new Cannabis Cultural Association, which his hosting its inaugural “Entrepreneur Empowerment Workshop” this weekend in Crown Heights — and is hoping to teach would-be “pot-repreneurs” how to get in on the ground floor of what they claim could become a $2-trillion business.
“We will show people how to get into the industry, right now, even though it remains illegal in New York State,” said Jake Plowden, co-founder of the group. “Right now, those businesses are ancillary to actually growing the plant. But you need to get yourself into position because New York will legalize at some point.”
Plowden said he created the association last year because “there are not a lot of people of color in the pot industry.”
“There are not a lot of people of color on Wall Street or in most newsrooms, either,” Brooklyn Paper Radio co-host Gersh Kuntzman, a Daily News columnist, pointed out.
But Plowden added white domination of the legal pot business — currently a $7-billion industry — was particularly ironic, given that the jails and summons courts are filled with people of color.
“The War on Drugs primarily arrested people of color,” he said, “so there’s naturally a lot of fear in the minority community about going into the cannabis industry. But we are creating a safe space for people to learn everything about it.”
Saturday’s all-day workshop at the Electropositive Center in Crown Heights will include such sessions as “Building Your Cannabis Business — Legal and Accounting,” and “Promoting Your Cannabis Business,” plus breakout sessions with existing business owners and, of course, a networking party that Plowden promised would not include any consumption of cannabis — though he could not swear that no marijuana would be consumed nearby.
“Bottom line: This isn’t about getting high — it’s about getting rich,” Kuntzman said.
“Exactly,” added Leland Radovanovic, the association spokesman and its self-proclaimed “token white guy.” “We want people to leave this event with a business plan to start their cannabis company, whether they learn how to become growers in a legal state or figure out an ancillary business, such as clothing or vape shops. Remember, all the same jobs that are required in any legal industry are required in the cannabis industry. You can do it in New York as long as touching the plant isn’t your priority.”
Kuntzman and co-host Vince DiMiceli — full disclosure: they only get high on whiskey after the show — definitely wanted to know more about touching the plant. Indeed, Kuntzman shared numerous stories of the few times when he was high, including a college toking experience that led to a brief sexual affair with an angora sweater and a more recent ingestion of marijuana that led Kuntzman to that most rarest of states: silence.
“You know me, I always have a retort, but I was high on something and the words that so smartly formed in my brain simply would not come out,” Kuntzman said.
“Sounds like you were on a good strain of sativa,” Plowden said.
“It’s obviously a good strain because it did the impossible — it shut up Gersh Kuntzman,” said DiMiceli.
Also on Brooklyn Paper Radio this week, we returned to our weekly segment, “Vince Talks About Some Crazy Stuff.” In this week’s edition, DiMiceli regaled Kuntzman and listeners with a story of a dead bird that he discovered under the hood of his car.
“It was just bones and a beak,” DiMiceli said. “Though a beak is technically bone.”
“If you’re high,” Kuntzman added.
Cannabis Cultural Association “Entrepreneur Empowerment Workshop,” Electropositive Center, 639 Classon Ave. between Pacific and Dean Sts., April 29, 1-8 p.m. Tickets are $50, but Brooklyn Paper Radio listeners can use the promo code 420 for half-priced entry. For info, visit www.weare
Brooklyn Paper Radio is recorded and podcast live every Tuesday — for your convenience — from our studio in America’s Downtown and can be found, as always but not likely forever, right here on Brook