Greenleaf 06-07-17

Our infamous West Coast
Editor shares interview
highlights from his
potcast each month.
The owner of the Hitman brand and creator of Chalice discusses
what makes his hash, glass, art and music festival one of the
best attended and regarded cannabis events in the world.
BOBBY BLACK: Last year was my first time going to Chalice and I was
really impressed. Quite possibly the best cannabis event I've been to in
a long time. Not overcrowded, a plethora of entertainment and things to
do and see…just a really mellow, chill vibe. Even the police seemed to
get a kick out of being there.
DOUG DRACUP: Absolutely, man. That's my main concern for Chalice: to
ensure the safety of the attendees. We went above and beyond to be compliant
with the local authorities. We were very transparent with them the
entire time—we made sure the sheriff knew the nature of the event, so
when they walked in, they weren't shocked. I've been in scenarios where
they didn't do their due diligence and the place was fucking raided. You’ve
got to communicate with the police from the get-go and they won't be a
fucking problem. When I try to get away with something, that's when we
could have a problem. What it comes down to is just being shown respect,
compensated for their services and not being in the dark. They knew there
were going be patients donating for different kinds of medicine and all the
different booths really just have different flavors of the same thing. It's all
medicine. As long as we present it that way and make sure that underage
people aren't in the medicating area, then hopefully it will open up the
door for us to throw more events like this closer to Los Angeles and major
cities nationwide.
BB: I remember looking at all the branding that you did—the website, the
promotional materials, the talent and the kits—and thinking, “This must
have cost him a fortune,” because it was really well done. I thought, “I hope
he can break even on this event,” because I know from experience working
at High Times that they were very careful about not overspending so that
the event would be profitable.
DD: Contrary to what people might think, Chalice wasn't a profitable festival.
I've put myself in uncomfortable positions financially to get this to where it is
today…I've made a lot of personal sacrifices. Doing this by raising the money
Showing off the
Chalice judges’ kit.
for it the entire time has been a rollercoaster of emotions, but it makes it all
the more of an accomplishment that we're not reaching into a big pot of gold
to do it. I'm taking a risk to try to improve the quality of these events. I've
helped build the trademark, the name, and what they represent, and that is
the true value. I have faith that what we've built is something of value, something
that the industry looks forward to and that will be hard to top. It could
be over a hundred thousand people attending it within two years. That’s why I
don't want to burn it out—I don't want to do it four times a year. It doesn't really
mean anything when you have an event every month.
BB: Glass Village was something that I think really differentiated the
festival from other cannabis events. I've seen live glass blowing at
events before, but not on this scale—not a whole section of top-name
talent from around the country all together in one place on view for
people to check out and buy their merchandise.
DD: Being someone who's collected pipes for over a decade, I know what it
means to get to shake someone’s hand whose art you smoke out of every
single day. Glass pipe culture is very unique and I'm proud to be a representative
of it and a catalyst for these artists to get their names out there. I'm
also really thankful I have [Glass Village manager] Derek White on the
team—he's got a great reach. I also know a lot of artists personally through
my businesses, so together we're able to put together something quite
unique and beautiful.
M6 J6