Kevin Jodrey has been involved in cannabis since 1978… and he shows no plans of slowing down.
Who Is Cannabis Pioneer Kevin Jodrey?
At age 58, the New England, Rhode Island native has built an incredible long-lasting career in the cannabis industry, revered as one of the most well-respected growers in California’s Humboldt County, a place he’s called home since 1992. Jodrey’s contributions to the space lie on a global scale, best known for improving, innovating, and empowering the modern cannabis movement.
While it’s hard to fit his endless accomplishments and accolades into one article, one feat that stands out is opening the first direct-to-consumer cannabis nursery in the United States, Wonderland Nursery, in 2013. Also his involvement as a founding member of The Ganjier, a cannabis sommelier program that educates the masses on all things cannabis. In fact, graduates of the program oversee billions in cannabis sales internationally.
Being raised in the era where cannabis was incredibly illegal and frowned upon, the flower has brought Jordrey more than he could ever have imagined. In fact, he reminds us that the cannabis plant affects the universe more than any other plant.
And Jodrey’s efforts go far beyond what meets the eye, even helping other countries such as launching the first dispensaries in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Kevin Jodrey On His Cannabis Journey, Global Industry Evolution, And Changing Attitudes Toward The Plant
Honeysuckle caught up with Kevin Jodrey during his few days in Los Angeles.
SHIRLEY JU: For those who don’t know, who is Kevin Jodrey? How would you describe yourself?
KEVIN JODREY: I've been involved with cannabis since ‘78. Caught my first felony in ‘83; I was in 11th grade. I spent most of my life doing cultivation and genetics. What I got known for in the industry was [Wonderland], the first real nursery in the United States. I was approached by Cookies, and became co-founder of Cookies’ research and development.
I'm also co-founder of The Ganjier, a cannabis sommelier educational service. We have approximately 2.5 billion dollars of flowers sold around the world under our students. I'm also in 60 universities around the United States as an instructor. I spent my whole career, 25, 30 years of it in the game. Around 2008, I got into dispensary operations where I ran a dispensary, and I've had a couple of them since then. I spent my whole life pretty much in cannabis.
What does cannabis do for you?
Cannabis allows me to feel connected to other people. What I believe is that cannabis is a golden thread that wove society together. Cannabis upon consumption, really being around it, it minimizes your prejudice and it allows you to see people in a non-judgmental way. If you take that sensation, you can continue it after the experience. For me, cannabis provided me a life I don't think I could ever possibly have [otherwise].
You've been in cannabis since 1978; how much has the space evolved? And where do you view it today?
Woo. It's evolved dramatically in terms of technology, acceptance. But fundamentally, the varieties. I have plants that we've held since [the] early 80s. I showed someone the other day: This is 1983 Northern Lights. They said, “Wow, it's not much different than the stuff we have today.” You see the idea that was so much better, we're so much more consistent. I love the fact that we have the acceptance. Because from running dispensary operations for so long, what I found was so many people that are mainstream stayed away from using cannabis in a therapeutic manner, because of the stigma.
Even though all of us in the industry are struggling with these changes, the big picture is people should be able to have access to homeopathic medicine, and cannabis is that homeopathic medicine that we were raised on. I just spent a month in Pakistan, exploring the genes in Pakistan and traveling the Silk Route. That experience really solidified the relationship between human beings and cannabis as this totality. Where humans used the seed as food, women used the cannabis as a tea. Men use the resin. What you had was this totality of use and this weave into society in a way that that's what I hope happens again. We have this normality and people can understand. Even if you don't consume for psychoactive purposes, the ability to use an anti-inflammatory cream on your arthritic hands is a gift.
Where do you see the future of cannabis?
That's a good question. There's a couple different ways you can look at it. We first have to look at it in a way of: we barely understand the chemistry in the plant. Cannabis as a plant is probably the most complex bioreactor in the plant kingdom. Because of it, we have so many different molecular compounds that we don't understand in singularity, nor in unity. The ability to be able to look at this from a scientific level and start to really understand: how do we look at this? How do we use it to treat ailments? How do we get it to be more effective for people's needs? That is going to explode.
The part that's hard to understand is who's going to get to do it. That's the part in the gray area, because everyone's fighting for the control of the money, and the government is in that fight as well. When you have the government fighting for who's going to get the money, it makes it tough for anybody to know how they're going to get the money. You have an industry that's about to become unbelievably sophisticated, incredibly adopted and accepted, but I have no idea who's going to be allowed to do it. I don't know if I'm going to be able to export from my farm, and I work all over the world.
I have operations in other countries. I work in all these other countries over time, and each country has literally the same exact issues. They begin with this really good idea, then as the money appears, the problems appear. We have to go through the explosion, the collapse, then the normality. It's a bloodbath.
And for people from my generation - I just turned 58. I'm from prior to medical - To me, cannabis was heroin as far as anyone around me was concerned. That's how you were treated. If you were in cannabis, you were a heroin dealer.
We go full circle to now you’re mainstream, so I can see those changes occur. Okay, we're moving forward in this way. I'm involved in scientific work, in genomic development, in medical research. I can see those things moving forward. But in terms of who's going to get to produce the product? I don't really know. I really don't know. I do the best I can to diversify, but I have such little faith in the way regulatory works and the government works that it's one of those roll the dice and see what happens.
For more about Kevin Jodrey, follow @kevinjodrey on Instagram. To learn more about Wonderland Nursery, follow @wonderlandnursery on Instagram. For more about The Ganjier, visit theganjier.com or follow @the_ganjier on Instagram.
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Written By:
Shirley Ju is a journalist, media host, and seasoned music industry professional. She is the founder of Shirley's Temple, a podcast series with a focus on mental health, where her guests include Trippie Redd, Chanel West Coast, Ricky Williams, Blac Chyna, and more. Shirley's work has been featured in publications such as Variety, Complex, Nylon, Flaunt, and REVOLT; she can also be seen doing exclusive interviews for leading urban news source VLADTV, featuring a platform with 5 million subscribers. Find out more about Shirley at @shirju on Instagram and Twitter, and on LinkedIn.
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Featured image: Kevin Jodrey, founder of Wonderland Nursery and co-founder of The Ganjier. Courtesy of Kevin Jodrey.
