WHO WE ARE
So here's the thing -- at the moment the CCF is a one-person-show; it is just me, the creator, sole founder, and head roller
This is my baby, this is my startup, and I've risked everything to get to this point
Whether I succeed or fail is going to come down to these next critical few months, and to how this platform is received in the community
Legalization has all but blocked the CCF from existing; even though there is no law whatsoever against me rolling my joints, rolling other people's cannabis into my joints, smoking my joints, or giving my joints to other people to smoke, I am utterly blocked off from any license that would permit me to charge for any of the above
I am one of the best rollers in the world, yet I am not allowed to receive compensation for my craft, and so, to keep this dream alive, I must wait in limbo and bide my time
Who am I? I am a roller with a big dream!
OUR MISSION
For as long as I've been smoking, my goal has been to roll a 'Perfect Joint'
While perfection might be an unattainable standard, I believe I'm closer than any other human being on earth
For all intents and purposes, I would say, "Mission accomplished!"
Now I want only to share my creations with the world
The Cannabis Cigar Factory will be the first of its kind; modelled after the infamous tobacco cigar factories of Cuba, it will elevate the joint-roller to a new level of prestige and set the bar for luxury cannabis smoking
One day I hope to gaze upon a factory of master-level rollers who are supplying the entire world with perfection, but until that day becomes possible, I'll have to keep busy by teaching the world to roll and continuing to pioneer my craft
WHAT GOT ME ROLLING?
Since my earliest introduction to cannabis, I was captivated by rolling. My friends would always bicker about who was the best roller, and who should get to roll the joint; we took roller's rights seriously, and the yardstick by which we measured ourselves as smokers was the caliber of our joints
I was far from the best at first; in fact, I wasn't even 5th in line to roll. My joints were terrible and I was embarrassed if the duty ever fell to me, so I started to practice on my own, rolling up a joint, taking it apart, and rolling it again
It took me a few years of practice to surpass everyone in my crew, but I did, and ever since, I have continued to perfect my craft
For the last few years, I have been singularly focused on building up the resources to launch this platform, and I'm proud to say that the time has finally arrived
OUR PLANS
The plan as of this moment is to position ourselves to thrive through our instructional content, memberships, and specialty rolling store; if we are able to solidify ourselves in the market, without the need for any cannabis sale, then we will be able to wait out the regulatory process and position ourselves for when we are permitted to sell our products / services
The larger we can grow within this limited sphere, the more resources we will be able to command in our fight to exist -- legal fees, consultants, petitions, representation, and everything else that will come when we have a community to support us
We have learned to hope for the best, but plan for the worst; as optimistic as we want to be about our chances at market access, we are planning as though it will be another 10 years before the market has normalized from this 'post-legalization reefer madness', and craft enterprises like ours are permitted to operate freely
Help this day come sooner by supporting the CCF however you can!
OUR LIMITATIONS
The CCF is forced to operate exclusively in the instructional / informational / brand / merchandise niche, and this means that our survival depends on the size of the following we can generate
Right now, the only way anyone can try these rolls is if I give them away for free, so the more we are able to generate through indirect channels like the rolling school, the shop, sessions, donations, and investment, the more I will be able to roll up and hand out!
Spread the word, and show some love however you can; right now we are small, but every movement starts with a few passionate people, and with your support we will make this dream come true
COULD WE GET A LICENSE NOW?
It is technically possible for us to qualify for a micro-processing license that would allow us to purchase cannabis from licensed producers, then roll it into a finished product and sell it back to the government sales board which would pass it onto licensed dispensaries for sale
We were fed a story that this would be a fair and equal process, open to anyone to apply; unfortunately the process is not as simple as we hoped
After conversations with premier cannabis consulting agencies that specialize in bringing companies to market, we were told rather bluntly that 'capital requirements' are currently being held artificially high to prevent small, 'under-capitalized' platforms from even applying
The licensing process takes approximately one year, has a six-figure application cost, and requires facilities to have at least a one year lease, with staff in place and vetted, and then the entire venture is all subjected to an arbitrary inspection process that could shut the enterprise down on a whim
So to answer the above questions, yes, we could technically qualify for a micro-processing license, but the rough cost would be between $2.5 - 5 million, and take at least a year -- we simply don't have access to these resources, so we cannot even apply
THE NEED TO DEREGULATE THIS INDUSTRY
The unfortunate reality of Canada's cannabis industry is that it is heavily regulated in order to create artificial, unnecessary, and often unreasonable barriers to entry that prevent small and medium sized businesses from operating
The typical argument goes like this: cannabis is a newly legal substance that has not been adequately studied in terms of its long-term effects, and thus must be heavily controlled as a matter of public safety
But think about it: people have been playing up the dangers of marijuana since the days of Reefer Madness, yet in all of this hysteria, there has not been a single documented case of a death or serious injury that can be directly attributed to cannabis consumption in any form, EVER
In all the years that this product has been operating in the black market, with ZERO health and safety standards, THERE HAS NOT BEEN A SINGLE DEATH LINKED TO CANNABIS
"Oh, but there are no adequate long term studies of the adverse health effects," you say? Go ask Tommy Chong or Snoop Dogg how their last medical checkup went... There are plenty of people who have been smoking cannabis morning to night for their entire lives, and, surprise, they are 100% fine
Are we arguing that the health effects related to smoking shouldn't be studied? Obviously not!!! But we don't think any good will come of pretending that this is some newly discovered substance that arrived from outer-space that we no nothing about
Seriously, it is starting to look like the only legitimate reasons for this ongoing concern is to protect the interests of the big LPs (wow, omg, who would have thought!)
The hyper-regulated market is collapsing, and now regulators are in a position where they need to ease restrictions to keep these multi-billion dollar investments afloat, or risk bankrupting the great cannabis experiment before it can even begin
EVEN IF WE HAD A LICENSE...
Just for arguments sake, lets say that an investor was willing to put up the money to go through the licensing process, and we were somehow able to access the micro-processing license to source LP ingredients, and could then access the government sales-board; and let's just say that our products were approved for sale, and could be purchased tomorrow in government dispensary: there are still two massive, if not insurmountable obstacles
First the quality of the flower we would be able to access, and second the cost facing consumers (which we would have no control over)
The sad reality is that LP cannabis in its current state is not of a high enough quality to use, and we simply would not feel comfortable standing behind our products if we were not willing to stand by the cannabis we were rolling
Secondly, even if we were willing to roll with inferior products, the cost to consumer would make our products impossible -- we've witnessed $30 premium 0.5g prerolls in government stores, what would they charge for a 14g ultra-premium cigar? And remember, we would have no control over final prices