Greed Thumb Industries and the Problem with Monopolizers
You know what really pisses me off? The never-ending battle that the cannabis industry seems to find itself in.
We all had such high hopes for the cannabis industry.
We thought we would get those swanky consumption lounges like California and Colorado. We thought our weed would be the best, in typical Chicago fashion.
Well, the reality has been far from that. What we got was an industry dominated by corporations. Consumption lounges are not only few and far between, but they don’t accurately represent their culture or the locals who consume.
We recently learned that canna-corporation GTI has successfully blocked legislation that would allow medical patients to pay their tax discount at all dispensaries, not just medical ones.
Why would GTI want medical patients to pay recreational taxes? Legislation like this would create a new line of revenue for social equity dispensaries. Social equity license holders are not permitted to sell cannabis at the reduced medical tax rate. Allowing this tax rate at every dispensary would give medical patients the one thing shitty product providers don’t want: options.
HB 2911 included a provision that would’ve allowed medical patients to access their tax rate at all dispensaries. This is the portion of the bill that GTI has positioned themselves against.
This isn’t GTI’s first media shut down.
Between working with the insufferable Commonwealth Dispensary Association in Massachusetts to block social equity license holders from their rights, to mass walkouts because of employee treatment and company culture, and hell, even death, we know that GTI didn’t get to where it is today by caring about its community.
No, I would say GTI got to where it is today the same way many money-hungry, privileged white men get to where they are: with daddy’s connections.
Who Is Ben Kovler?
The ugly side of GTI is definitely in the people in charge, especially when it comes to people like Ben Kovler. The great - grandson of the Jim Beam fortune, he is not just “a former math teacher” like so many articles label him. Ben is the epitome of privilege within the cannabis industry: a rich kid who used his money and connections to enter an industry he knew nothing about.
How do I know he knew nothing about it? Because Benjamin Kovler has also been accused by Cary Neiman of not only stealing the entire premise of Green Thumb Industries, but of going so far as to use his lingo and take all of the info taught to him and basically run with it. Although there is no official public statement from Kovler, he has agreed to settle with Neiman.
Ben Kovler, like many of the white boys in cannabis, likes to pretend he’s self-made. With his stupid trucker hats and conveniently untrimmed beard, he poses as a humble Chicago kid. The reality is far from that. With many ties to politicians and a family history of being mega-donors to the government, Ben is exactly what many rich white people in the cannabis industry are: out of touch.
How rich are the Kovlers? Well, those motherfuckers are everywhere.
Donating to just about every museum, zoo, library, and university in Chicago, the Kovlers are considered part of the Chicago cannabis cartel—a group of monopolizers who have been accused of running a pay-to-play system with licensing in Illinois.
Benjamin is someone who not only has history, wealth, and an entire machine on his side, his family also has deep political ties. They’re involvement is so deep that they even have connections to the CIA. Do we really believe someone like this got into the cannabis industry for something other than money?
There is a deep history of the Kovlers in Chicago. Despite their many endeavors in support of civil rights and their predecessors' weird fascination with FDR, the Kovlers seem to be like many Democratic-leaning rich white families: for civil rights, until it impedes on their fortune.
I stand with organizations like the Cannabis Equity Coalition who are working hard to make the cannabis industry more equitable. It is time we stand up to corporate greed in our legal weed.
Cannabaddie Talk calls for the total boycott of all GTI Brands and locations.
The boycott extends to all of their brands including:
GT
Rise Dispensary
&Shine
Rhythm
Good Green
Incredibles
Doctor Solomon’s
Dogwalkers Prerolls
Beboe
