Pew Research Center has found that in the fall 2019 survey, 59% of U.S. adults said cannabis should be legalized for recreational and medical reasons, 32% said it should be used only for medical purposes, and 8% said that the drug should not be legal. There used to be an uphill battle to legalize cannabis […]
Jahlibyrd, the Northern California cannabis product brand, goes hand in hand with music and community, and they want to keep it that way. Founded in Nevada County with a focus on sustainability and a proud connection with reggae culture, Jahlibyrd has been partnering for several years now on the California Roots music festival in Monterey […]
Gold Seal is one of the most respected and acclaimed cannabis brands in the Bay Area, in no small part because it has maintained a clear focus on small-scale, high-quality cultivation. The brand initially became known for an exclusive strain called Cherry Cheesecake — an indica hybrid of Cherry Pie and Kimbo Kush. Based primarily […]
Atrium Cultivation is a premium, luxury cannabis brand known for its award-winning and exclusive flower varietals. Founded in 2017 in the Emerald Triangle of Northern California, Atrium Cultivation has taken a place in the maturing cannabis industry among the top cultivators of uniquely flavorful marijuana products. The company’s acclaimed breeding program sources from rare and […]
For several decades, the true origin story behind the euphemism “420” and the international cannabis holiday we now celebrate on April 20th was not widely known. The internet therefore became filled with misinformation and myths about the term — was it a penal code associated with marijuana? Bob Marley’s birthday? — until, during the last […]
It’s been, by far, the weirdest April in the history of SPARC. And here it is almost 4/20, and where we would usually be getting ready to celebrate with everyone else during the third 4/20 since legalization, we’re instead figuring out how to keep all our delivery drivers and retail personnel safe and how to […]
Erich Pearson, left, CEO and chairman of SPARC, is working with Joey Airone, founder of Sweetleaf Collective, to jump-start the collective’s compassionate care program. Photo: Sari Staver Compassionate care programs are expected to expand locally, following the March 1 start date for Senate Bill 34, the new state law making it easier for organizations to […]
JULIE JOHNSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT February 24, 2020 When people started getting sick and dying last year in troubling numbers from respiratory problems associated with using vaporizers and electronic cigarette products, staff at Mercy Wellness dispensary in Cotati set aside their projects and put all attention toward determining whether their products were safe. Demand for electronic […]
BY JONAH RASKIN Call them Sonoma County’s best-known marijuana-istas. Erich Pearson, Alexa Wall, Erin Gore, Ron Ferraro and Dennis Hunter are among the most outspoken activists in an industry that long encouraged its members to be faceless and nameless, stay under the radar and keep out of jail. These five industry movers and shakers have put […]
JULIE JOHNSONTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT February 2, 2020, 12:31AM Updated 44 minutes ago On a cold night in November, local cannabis entrepreneurs filled the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors’ meeting hall for a public reckoning about a legal marketplace struggling to meet the county’s demands. Steep taxes, expensive environmental studies, security plans, a changing set of rules and […]
Every cannabis software company says they “integrate with Metrc.” If you’ve heard it during a sales pitch, it sounds easy. But what does that really mean? Is it even possible to have an easy migration and go live without a hitch? What do the process and support look like? And what are some of the success stories […]
In Good Hands SPARC sells an array of hashish-related product BY JONAH RASKIN Hash, the smoke, isn’t for the timid. Soldiers in Napoleon’s army brought it from Egypt to Europe, where it caught on fast. In 19th-century France, every self-respecting writer used the concentrated extract and belonged to “The Hashish Club.” That history was a big selling […]
JULIE JOHNSONTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT August 23, 2019 Acivil engineer, an insurance broker, a steel vessel manufacturer, two educators and a slew of people from the wine, shipping and tech industries lined up on a hot August morning to get onto a tour bus outside the Hyatt Regency hotel in Santa Rosa. Handed mimosas in plastic cups […]
February 18, 2019 Press Release State by State: California San Francisco, CA. — Feb. 21, 2019 — PRESS RELEASE — Closed since March 2018, the legendary San Francisco cannabis dispensary Love Shack re-opens its doors this week in its original Mission Dolores location with a new name reflecting a new partnership: Love Shack by SPARC. Known […]
DAVID DOWNS January 11, 2019 More and more consumers want cannabis grown under full sun, in the soil, using organic nutrients. They think it tastes and feels better than lamp-grown, synthetically fertilized plants grown indoors. Meeting that demand is a new generation of so-called “Demeter”-certified “biodynamic” cannabis farms. They submit to repeat inspections and pay […]
JULIE JOHNSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | November 27, 2018, 9:27PM A cloudy summer and an early rain hampered Sonoma County’s 2018 outdoor cannabis haul, but the mood remained optimistic among growers one year after major wildfires marred the newly regulated crop’s harvest. By this time in the growing season, the marijuana plants have been […]
VOMMAG NOVEMBER 16, 2018VOL. 4 ISSUE 6 Story Jonah Raskin Photos Steven Krause There isn’t a family in Sonoma Valley that doesn’t have a family tree, though some families have deeper roots than others. The Gordenkers’ family history in Sonoma Valley goes back to 1885, when Olga and Vladimir arrived from Russia, rolled up their […]
Rohnert Park, CA. – November 14, 2018 – A leader in California cannabis known for its dispensary outlets as well as for its farming practices, SPARC is pleased to announce the release of its first Demeter Certified biodynamically farmed strains. Biodynamic agriculture is an ecological farming system that views the farm as a self-contained and […]
David Downs September 6, 2018 The morning sun barely clears the Berkeley hills east of the San Francisco Bay today, yet the Volcano vaporizers are already warm at the public cannabis lounges across the region. Over at Barbary Coast Collective on Mission St. in San Francisco, the staff sets out cleaned ashtrays and psychedelic silicone […]
Christine Brizendine buys products from Dannie Holzer (right) at a Sparc dispensary in San Francisco. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle A bonanza of cheap marijuana is flooding the market this week as growers, manufacturers and retailers unload excess cannabis in preparation for the enforcement of strict testing and packaging regulations that are […]
Timing is everything. It was the worst kind of timing on Oct. 8 when the Nuns Fire raged through the Gordenker Ranch property where SPARC, a San Francisco-based marijuana collective, leases growing acreage. In October, a good percentage of the crop had been picked and stored on site, awaiting transport to East Bay processing facilities […]
To celebrate California’s first fully legal 420, San Francisco dispensaries turned to vinyl and drag queens. Zack Ruskin Wed Apr 25th, 2018 2:15pm Chem Tales For many pot enthusiasts, 420 will always be a day to gather with hundreds of fellow stoners and smoke a truly staggering amount of cannabis. However, for dispensaries, the occasion […]
April 18, 2018 · by fleamarketfunk · in 45 RPM, Vinyl Records This year 420 falls on a Friday, which is good for lots of people. It’s also good for this collaboration between SPARC and the Jazz Dispensary, which looks to be a wonderful match for a day like this, not coincidentally the day before RSD 2018. For those not in the know, […]
By Laura Anthony Wednesday, April 11, 2018 GLEN ELLEN, Calif. (KGO) — The North Bay fires were devastating for homeowners and businesses. That includes some of the area’s cannabis growers. “This barn went twice as far, all the way down to that hay and then there was a whole ‘nother barn over here the same size.” […]
Artist Fujiko Nakaya’s Fog Bridge at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP/REX/Shutterstock By Aislyn Greene APR. 10, 2018 As of January 1, 2018, you can legally buy cannabis at any dispensary in California — just for the sheer pleasure of it. All you need is 21 years under your belt, a valid ID from any […]
For 420, the annual celebration of cannabis culture that falls this year on Friday, April 20th, leading cannabis industry partner SPARC and the Jazz Dispensary label announce the first installment of the Private Stock Series. Exclusively available at one of SPARC’s four dispensary outlets, Private Stock Series #001 features two classic songs that exemplify soul, funk, and good times. Not coincidentally, both also reference the […]
April 2, 2018/in San Francisco Bay Area /by News Article Repost As cannabis enters mainstream commerce, shoppers expect higher standards for eco-friendliness. Rising to the occasion, Sense, an indoor cannabis grower located in SoMa, has announced that it has switched to 100 percent renewable energy. Sense is using the city’s Public Utilities Commission program CleanPowerSF. Sustainability is important […]
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Read the full story. By Sari Staver, Bay Area Reporter, March 1, 2018 A rapidly growing number of cannabis dispensaries have opened lounges where adults can legally vape or dab, making the notion of meeting for a cup of coffee or a drink feel very old fashioned. At the moment, there are eight locations in […]
Read the full article. By Jonah Raskin; photo by Steve Krause, Valley of the Moon magazine, February 2018 Last October, just days after a raging fire destroyed much of his bumper crop in Sonoma Valley, Erich Pearson told a reporter: “We’re in fight and rebuild mode.” Soon afterward, he explained, “We got water to some […]
By Erich Pearson, founder and CEO of SPARC Close to Home opinion piece, The Press Democrat, Feb. 11, 2018 Note: DA Jill Ravitch reversed her stance on expungement less than a month after this op-ed ran. You want to know what white privilege looks like? It looks like me. I’m a successful entrepreneur, and I’m […]
California hopes to rake in $1 billion in annual tax revenues from cannabis sales, and nowhere is that more clear than at dispensary cash registers. It’s sticker shock for marijuana customers since Jan. 1, when clerks began adding a whole slate of new taxes to both medical and nonmedical pot purchases. Industry experts have estimated the […]
BY HEATHER IRWIN JANUARY 2, 2018 Less than 24 hours before the doors to Sebastopol’s Sparc cannabis dispensary were slated to open for recreational marijuana purchases CEO Erich Pearson still hadn’t gotten the official green light. For more than a decade the iconic Sonoma County medical marijuana shop had served the community, but with the state legalization of recreational […]
Read the full article. By Carolyne Zinko, Greenstate.com, Nov. 27, 2017 “It’s not very McKinsey-like!” said a 30-ish woman, who presumably worked at the international consulting firm, while glancing at marijuana and tall glass bongs at a backyard party in San Mateo, California, before quickly walking away. Many of the 50 guests at philanthropist Crickette […]
By Christina Molcillo, the Emerald Report, Aug 15, 2017. Access the full article. PUFF, PUFF, PAINT: WEED AND ART CLASSES IN SF SPARC, and DIY classroom space WorkshopSF have teamed up for a series of art and creativity workshops offering expert art instruction paired with an in-class cannabis sampling. . . Click here to learn more about these […]
Local boy makes good! A profile of Marijuana Policy Project founder Aaron Smith. SPARC CEO Erich Pearson made the first contribution get this nonprofit started. Read the story.
By JK Nineen, San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 10, 2017 Access the full article Even by the standards of San Francisco’s famously fractious land use fights, last month’s Planning Commission hearing on a plan to open a cannabis dispensary in the Sunset District was extreme. The hearing lasted nearly seven hours. It included testimony from more […]
By Christian Kallen, Sonoma News, July 20, 2017 Access the full article. Sonoma Valley turkey ranch turns its soil to cannabis cultivation An old turkey ranch near Glen Ellen is the site of a very new business model, applying biodynamic principals that have worked well in grape production and other agricultural practices to the rapidly-growing […]
By Heather Irwin, the Emerald Report Biodynamic farming does organic one better. Of course it’s the best way to cultivate cannabis. SPARC CEO Erich Pearson, mentored in part by wine leader and biodynamic grower Mike Benziger, takes his brand beyond. Read the whole story.
