Texas may be the last state in our country to legalize. The Texas government recently showed how much they don’t want cannabis through an attempt to ban smokable hemp, a federally legal product. As someone that travels in the name of cannabis, Texas gives me very few reasons to visit outside of my family.
What Is Grow House Media (Grow House Texas)?
But Austin-based cannabis production company Grow House Media (Grow House Texas) is working to clear the smoke around the most misunderstood plant on the planet; living at the intersection of education and entertainment, advocacy and amusement, telling the truth about cannabis, and getting a little wild along the way.
Grow House is founded and operated by Liz Grow and Patrick Pope, husband and wife video storytellers who travel the country to “effect positive change in our state and country,” keeping the legalization conversation alive. As owners, producers and hosts of Grow House, the couple focuses on telling authentic stories about the people behind the plant to make cannabis approachable and fun.
Liz says Grow House Media is meant for them: “We were born to make cannabis our religion; just kidding! I always get a great reaction when people find out that GROW really is my last name. It makes me feel like I’m on the right path.”
Grow House has worked with High Times TV to stream their nationwide journey, and they continue to tell stories like the upcoming docuseries Big Texas Hemp, which follows six Texas farmers as they navigate the state’s new legalized hemp industry.
Grow House Media Founders Liz Grow And Patrick Pope: Their Journey To Cannabis
I was excited about this sit down to get to know Liz, Patrick, and Grow House Media. We share some similarities: I too was born and raised in the South (Florida), I’m a traveling writer in the cannabis and plant medicine space, and I also took the advice of a friend regarding cannabis; forever changing my life.
Born and raised between Italy, Florida, and Texas; Liz and Patrick didn’t grow up with a shining light of positivity on the plant. Like many of us, Liz and Patrick say that when it came to cannabis, the conversations at home were non-existent:
“We were both pretty sheltered and our parents never talked to us about cannabis," the couple recalls. “'Don’t Do Drugs' was the extent of it! We both tried cannabis in high school and thought it was great, but that was that - we knew that we were breaking the law and didn’t see cannabis as a medicine.”
Patrick was born in Austin and raised between Florida and central Texas, with his parents putting down roots in New Braunfels, Texas. He spent most of his 20s in New York City working as an independent filmmaker. He relocated to Los Angeles in his 30s and started working in digital video production.
Liz was born in Italy, to American parents, and came to the states at age 4. Her father was an officer in the Army, so her family moved quite a bit. It was during Liz’s sophomore year in high school that Texas became home.
Before romance, there was friendship between the Capricorn (Patrick) and Libra (Liz), who met in high school and became occasional sketch comedy partners. Going their separate ways for college, they each found cannabis. Patrick, who moved to New York to pursue independent filmmaking in his 20s, remembers his journey to becoming a cannabis consumer:
“In college I was not a partaker, but I was pro-freedom, and thought the War on Drugs was a scam. In my 20s, I was an occasional user living in NYC trying to work my way up the ranks in production. Around age 27 I was working as a development assistant and had a really big pitch, and the night before I was experiencing creative block. My roommate said, ‘Go hit the bong in my room.’ One massive bong rip and three hours later, I was ready for bed with the pitch of a lifetime fully developed and rehearsed.”
Liz shares what got her into cannabis: “I was living in San Francisco in 2011 to launch a tech start-up and slowly dipping deeper into depression due to the pressure of the work and distance from my daughter in Texas. I started to question my worth and purpose which led to suicidal thoughts, but I didn’t want to get on the rollercoaster of anti-depressant meds. I was introduced to cannabis by a coworker and friend who could see that I was struggling, and I truly believe that she saved my life.”
What Cannabis Content Does Grow House Media Provide?
The inspiration behind Grow House Media started with safe cannabis spaces and real education that Liz experienced in San Francisco, which she vowed to bring back to Texas.
Visiting the Grow House Media website and the Grow House Texas Instagram page is a treat; it documents their adventurous journey around the country in the name of cannabis, filled with content and insight such as:
- CanEx Jamaica: covering the new industry and sacred roots.
- The Emerald Cup: meeting and learning from the Emerald Triangle community.
- Autoflower Cup: sleeping in yurts and foraging for mushrooms.
Liz and Patrick affirm: “We’re always ready to travel to where the story is happening and meet the people making it happen. We’ve easily visited over 100 grows across the country and spent countless hours with growers, breeders, and extractors from both the legacy and legal markets.”
What's Next For Grow House Media?
In addition to storytelling and education, Grow House Media offers full-scale video production services, multimedia marketing strategy, events development, and more. They will announce the premiere date for the Big Texas Hemp docuseries soon.
In the meantime, Liz and Patrick say, “We are proud Texans and are excited to introduce our fellow Texans to a new way of looking at and benefiting from cannabis. We’d like for people to know Grow House as an important movement that they helped drive. We want to inspire people to think about cannabis differently and ask these questions out loud. When people think differently they will vote differently, and that’s what really drives the Grow House engine. Change. And we will never stop.”
For more about Grow House Media, visit growhousemedia.co.
A version of this article was originally published in Honeysuckle's 16th print edition. Click here to get your copy now!
Special Thanks to Cannabis Business Sponsor Weedgets
Weedgets is a creator of cannabis accessories designed to eliminate the harshness of smoke. Visit www.weedgets.com and use discount code HS420. Honeysuckle Magazine readers get 20% off their purchase.
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Veronica Castillo is the Traveling Cannabis Writer from Miami, with a pre-cannabis and psychedelics background in insurance and human resources. Currently, she is a resident of the road covering cannabis, psychedelics, and plant-based lifestyles all over the U.S and soon abroad. Follow her journey on IG at @vee_traveling_veg_canna_writer and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vee-traveling-veg-canna-writer/
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Featured image: Patrick Pope and Liz Grow, co-founders of Grow House Media (Grow House Texas) (C) Amanda Johnson @atmosvere
