Part IV - It is a conspiracy

It’s just a word. What possible harm could come of it? Chronic, as in the name of our business, Wicked Chronic.  Here is a list of “what the f@#k”, thanks for being so closed minded you a-holes.

It started with our bank loan, which I wrote about in a previous chronicle. For over a month the account manager we were working with on our SBA loan kept saying over and over again, “It’s looking great. I don’t see any problems.”  He kept saying that until he abruptly called and said, “Sorry, you are not approved for the loan.” They didn’t want to give us the loan because our name has the word “Chronic” in it, and that associates us too closely with the cannabis industry.  And the SBA is controlled by who? The government.

Next up was a piece of mail I received that was ripped open. The mail carrier handed me the mail that day, at our store. I immediately noticed a large white envelope from our insurance company had been completely ripped open down the long side. I feel confident my insurance company put that envelope in the mail without the giant rip down the side. So somewhere between them and me was…the government.  And the only reason I could possibly think of as to why this would be ripped open is because it was addressed to “Wicked Chronic” right on the shipping label.

The next “what the f@#k” happened with our press release. I signed up with PRLog to distribute our press release for our upcoming Grand Opening on April 20^th. The online signup was easy and our press release was approved and pushed out on their website within an hour. That was Saturday afternoon. Sunday evening I got an email that my press release had been refunded with this explanation: “We are unable to promote "Cannabis" related content. We've refunded your money.”

So far the folks at Business Wire have been just fine with our press release. So far.

To be continued.

And then there are moments that surprise you in a good way.

It was our own fault, mine specifically, for not planning further ahead in order to get logo specific items in our store for our grand opening. Specifically, a t-shirt with our logo on it. We didn’t want to print it on just any old fabric, we wanted hemp or some other eco-friendly material. After a quick Google search for local screen printers I found Tully Ink. Tully can print the shirts on 100% organic cotton. Our first choice was hemp, but time was critical as we were only 8 days from our opening.

 

Tully originally offered to do it with a large rush fee to guarantee we have the shirts by 4-20, but since money is short and the cost was too much we agreed to wait the typical turnaround time and not have our logo shirts for our opening. It was very disappointing, but I completely understand why they have to charge so much. Tully is very busy this time of the year, printing items for the Boston Marathon, which is 2 days before our opening. And I was a brand new customer with a brand new setup for them to deal with.

And then something wonderful happened. I got an email from the owner letting me know he would get us our shirts done in time for our opening without the rush fee. He just got himself a client for life with that move.

To the folks at Tully Inc. who are working extra hours to get our shirts done in time I want to say, “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.” You guys are awesome, wicked pissah awesome!

Speaking of awesome, the family-run J & M Diner two doors down from us not only serves amazing breakfast food, but they are also amazing people to know. I have only briefly met our new neighbors, Karen and daughter, Mihlan (apologies for not remembering the names of the other two I met), but I instantly got a great vibe from them. And during our brief conversation Karen said this in regards to life in general, “As long as you’re not causing harm to anyone else, then you should be able to do whatever you want.”

I couldn’t agree more. Stop trying to regulate the hell out of every aspect of our lives. Let’s get back to some basic freedoms again. Do whatever you want with whomever you want, as long as it is consensual and no one gets hurt.  Don’t tell me what I can or can’t put in my body. If I know it is poison and I still want to take, then I should be allowed to take it.

“I think it’s consensual.” – Dale Denton, Pineapple Express

If I believe smoking weed is medically good for me and I also happen to enjoy it recreationally then so be it. I’m putting this into my body of my own free will. No one is forcing me to do this. And I feel I am educated enough on cannabis to take whatever risks there might be. I’m not forcing this onto anyone else. All I ask is that the world (our government) just leave me alone.

The only regulations I would deem acceptable would be ‘No driving while impaired.’ Whether its alcohol, cannabis, opiates or anything else that degrades a person’s ability to safely operate a vehicle, I would absolutely be OK with this regulation.

Tuesday night, err, make that early Wednesday morning 12:12 AM and got home around 10:30 after working 13 hours today. But we have made it to the finish line. Tomorrow is April 20^th, (Happy 420 everyone) and Wicked Chronic will officially be open. Yeay!

How am I feeling? A nervous wreck. I keep remembering last minute details. There aren’t enough yellow sticky notepads in the house.

Right at the last possible day, our exterior sign finally arrived and got installed. And it came out way better than I thought it was going to. Thank you to Signarama of Framingham for getting this done on time and making an absolutely fantastic sign

.

And really and truly at the last hour Greg from Tully Ink shows up with our logo T-Shirts and they look and feel amazing. 100% Organic Cotton.

The store looks great and we managed to get enough product in to at least get us off to a good start. We still have new products coming in and we will be expanding a lot over the next few months, especially after the Champs Trade Show in Atlantic City. Really looking forward to that at the end of May.

6:35 PM, April 20^th – Our Grand Opening is behind us and I am exhausted from head to toe. I feel like I could sleep for a week. The amount of physical and mental energy I have expended over the last several weeks (months) leading up to today has caught up to me.

I am extremely happy with how the store came out.

Van Halen, “Everybody Wants Some” (great song, one of my all-time favorites), is playing on the store music system as our first official day comes to a close and I couldn’t be happier.

Big THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by to shop and support us.

One Love. Peace Out.

POST UPDATE #1 (hopefully there won’t be more than one, but you never know)

On my morning commute to the store the day after our Grand Opening I answered a call on my cell from our security company informing me a motion sensor has gone off and asking me if they should send the police.  I was 1.5 miles from the store but I didn’t want to take any chances so of course I said “Yes, please send the police.”

I got to the store before the police and with the help of the properties maintenance person (thanks Lenny) we determined that a new decoration hung from the ceiling the day before was too close to a motion sensor.  When the heat kicked on, the decoration was blowing in the wind right in front of the motion sensor.

So no big deal. Except now the police were arriving, two of them. I had no idea what to expect and what happened next shocked me.

Both officers loved the store, the name, the concept and both of them seemed disappointed we were not selling glass, pipes, vaporizing and other “marijuana” related devices. After explaining why we couldn’t sell those items (read Part 1 - The Birth of Wicked Chronic for the explanation) one of the officers started talking about how ridiculous prohibition is and why he supports the legalization of marijuana. He believes it will make our community safer and eliminate the dangerous black market.

The officer went on to say he has never been attacked by anyone on marijuana and the second officer confirmed the same. When I asked if he had ever been attacked by someone who was drunk he said, “Not just alcohol, but cocaine and other hard drugs. But never anyone on marijuana.”

He then went on to say he has never busted anyone for possession of marijuana unless there was a gun involved.

The entire 10 minute interaction with them was eye opening and wonderfully refreshing to hear common sense, educated opinions from my local police officers.  Now we just need to get the local politicians and board of health to open their eyes.

UPDATE #2

After re-reading this post I realized I forgot to mention Dr. Uma Dhanabalan. Thank you Dr. Uma for supporting our grand opening by not only stopping by to say hello, but she also brought lots of water, food and flowers.  We won’t forget to hydrate!