The Cannabis Connection

Nicholas Joseph Tanem aka Nikka T is a cannabis visionary, educator, public speaker, processor, activist and artist. Originally from The Bay Area, California, Nikka T moved to Colorado to continue his professional board sport aspirations and attend CU Boulder where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 2007. After college Nikka T spent the next 10 years in Denver Colorado where he founded Essential Extracts, which was the first licensed Non-Solvent Extraction facility in the United States. From extraction, to cultivation, and dispensaries, Nikka T has owned and operated multiple fully licensed and compliant businesses under the legal systems in Colorado since day one of medical legalization. Nikka T is the proud winner of 15+ Cannabis Cups with his Essential team and another 100+ won by clients using his Essential Bag Design and techniques. As of 2018 Nikka T has returned to his roots and brought his vision and brand back to his home town in The Bay Area and launched Essential Extracts California.
When he isn't building extract empires, Nikka T spends his time traveling & DJing, throwing and hosting various MMJ related events including weekly and monthly Reggae parties, producing radio programs, huge festivals and sold out shows, always with a spliff hanging out of his mouth. Nikka T has played with such artists as Rebelution, Kymani Marley, Mr Vegas, The Pharcyde, KRS One, STS9, E-40, Grizz, Matisyahu, Action Bronson, Capleton, Black Uhuru, Busta Rhymes, Gappy Ranks, and Wu Tang Clan, just to name a few. He has hosted and thrown festivals and shows throughout the world including, but not limited to, receiving the honor of hosting and DJing Reggae on the Rocks in 2013, High Times Cannabis Cup Award Ceremonies, South Park Music Fest, Chalice California, The Emerald Cup, The Secret Cup, and Masters of Rosin in Barcelona Spain. 
Between his passion for cannabis and music, timed perfectly with the onset of legalization in the US, Nikka T continues to expand his brand, techniques & music all over the globe nationally and internationally. For now you can find him blessing California with Essential Extracts CA and cultivating the most irie musical experiences worldwide!!!

Marijuana legalization - that long-deferred dream of stoners everywhere- is overtaking the nation. No longer will people be imprisoned for decades for possession of a plant. No longer will patients be denied cannabis needed for medical treatment. Even folks who just want to get high will have easy, safe access. 
But for many that dream has become a nightmare. Legalization has achieved one thing: the wholesale handover of marijuana to a few large corporations...From seed to smoke, legalization is eroding the lives and livelihoods of the people it was supposed to help: the patients, growers, trimmers, "mules", and activists who created the colorful and committed culture that is now under threat. 
Derrick Jensen is an author of more than twenty-five books, including Marijuana: A Love Story. He is also a teacher, activist, and small farmer, and was named the "poet-philosopher of the ecological movement" by Democracy Now!

Dr. Dale Hunt is a plant scientist, a Cannabis lawyer and registered U.S. patent attorney with over 25 years of experience. He has degrees in botany (BS), genetics (MS), molecular & cellular biology (PhD), and law (JD). He graduated from Berkeley Law in 1996 and was a partner in national law firms before founding Plant & Planet Law Firm in 2019. He is also the founder and CEO of Breeder’s Best, a company created to help independent plant breeders protect and license their genetics to benefit Cannabis patients and users worldwide.

Dave Hodges is the Founder of the Church of Ambrosia and Pastor for Zide Door, the Church of Entheogenic Plants in Oakland. He is known for starting the first medical cannabis club in San Jose and his work with High Dose Mushrooms exploring the origins of religion. Dave has spent the past 15 years fighting legal cases to protect sacred plants he believes in. He is currently preparing for his next major legal fight, a federal lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department for the illegal raid on his Church and their violation of the Churches religious freedom. Dave's work with Mushrooms to explore religion has led him to the high dose work. Mushrooms guided him from doing 5 to 30 dried grams in a signal dose. Dave now does between 15-25 grams about once a month in an attempt to understand religion and the true nature of reality.

When writer / director Seth Ferranti received a twenty-five year LSD kingpin conviction, after faking his suicide and landing on the US Marshals Top-15 Most Wanted list, he thought his life was over. 
As a drug dealing teen Ferranti sold LSD and marijuana at 15 East Coast colleges, crisscrossing across five states- Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland- a wanna-be rock star and Hunter S. Thompson-style outlaw whose hero’s were Henry Rollins, Axl Rose, and Jim Morrison. He followed the Grateful Dead and considered himself a counter culture rebel, not a criminal, as he was breaking laws which he thought were wrong.
He stands by those convictions today and see’s himself more as an activist who was a little ahead of the times. A trailblazer of the legal cannabis and psychedelic movements. 
He began building a writing and journalism career from inside the belly of the beast. With unlimited access to criminals and their stories Ferranti started crafting raw portrayals of prison life and crack era gangsters. Discovering a passion and talent for writing Ferranti also studied the trade earning an associates, bachelors, and masters degree while in prison. 
With hope for his future renewed Ferranti started penning prison and gangster stories for Vice, Don Diva, FEDS, Hoopshype and others. He took it one step further and established his brand, Gorilla Convict, from prison. Ferranti became a true-crime publisher and built a website documenting stories that the mainstream media was not willing to share.
In February 2015, after serving 21 years, he was released from the Bureau of Prison, to seek his fortune.
Back in the world Ferranti continued his writing career as a journalist penning pieces for Vice, Ozy, The Daily Beast, Dazed, Merry Jane, and features for Penthouse and Real Crime Magazines, among others. He also started writing and publishing comic books under his imprint GR1ND Studios and embarked on his true passion, filmmaking.
Fresh out of prison Ferranti joined forces with Shawn Rech and Transitions Studios to make White Boy, a feature documentary on Richard Wershe Jr. that aired on STARZ and became a Top Ten hit on NETFLIX.

Ferranti starred in the Season One Finale of Vice TV’s I was a Teenage Felon. Has appeared on Fox News, Inside Edition, and News Nation as a subject matter expert, and is currently directing several documentary projects- Nightlife, Dope Men, Tangled Roots, The Secret History of The LSD Trade, and Generation ECSTASY- which are in various stages of production. He also has numerous scripted and television projects in development. It appears there is no stopping him.

Ben is the head grower and breeder at Motherlode Gardens / Motherlode Seeds since 2014. California native with 15+ years experience growing and selling cannabis in the California medical cannabis scene.

Motherlode gardens is an organic sun-grown medical cannabis farm, located in California’s Sierra foothills just outside of Yosemite national park.

We discuss legendary lines from all over the world and some favorites bred in Santa Cruz.

Kristian started his professional career as a software engineer, entrepreneur and running startups. During his software career he was introduced to cultivating cannabis. Like most growers in the early 2000’s he started growing in garages in the Lake Tahoe area. Honing In his skills he then bought a farm and started to cultivate in green houses in the foothills outside of Sacramento.

He launched Phinest with his late partner Justin “Jai” Malloy in the prop 215 days and supplied a bunch of clubs in the Sacramento and Bay Area. Kristian become involved with local legislation to help build an ordinance as the transition into the recreational market. Justin and Kristian took their skills to Sacramento where they would go on to building licensed facilities; one which was a nursery and formed a partnership to bring tissue culture to a commercial cannabis cultivators throughout California. Jai passed away in 2019 leaving a great legacy in this industry. Kristian has kept the torch going, concentrating on genetic development and high quality cannabis.

Our conversation with Sweetleaf Joe and CT Deibel President and CEO of Deibel Bioscience.
Sweetleaf helps low income veterans, terminally ill patients, and people of color access free medical cannabis. Sweetleaf is california’s oldest Cannabis brand and is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.
Deibel Bioscience has laboratories in Santa Cruz, CA, Lincolnwood, IL, and Hood River, OR Applying over 50 years of regulatory experience in food safety testing to the medicinal plants industry, Deibel can deliver customized solutions, accurate compliance and R&D testing, environmental monitoring and consulting services.

Our guest is Skye McDougall a seasoned Bay Area Chef and Owner / Operator of Hyphaelife Santa Cruz. Being located in Santa Cruz, one of earliest cities to take a decriminalized approach to "active" varietals, we have the unique opportunity to educate the local public as to the medical benefits of (until recently) taboo strains and varieties of fungal fruit that the broader public may be unaware of. To be clear we at Hyphaelife Santa Cruz believe very strongly in the medicinal value of these strains and do not condone their irresponsible consumption. There has been much convincing evidence coming from the scientific community as of late concerning the burgeoning awareness surrounding the efficacy of treating particular psychological disorders such as chronic depression, anxiety, alcohol and substance abuse with low dosages of the active compound "psilocybin" in addition to the naturally occurring entourage chemicals found present in the fruit of certain varieties of mushroom.

House of Harlequin’s core value is, “Attitude of Gratitude.” This attitude is inspired by the story of the cannabis plant called, “Harlequin”. Through its discovery and dissemination as a highly valued CBD cannabis cultivar, we have come to value the gifts in our lives . By maintaining an attitude of gratitude in our work, healing and comfort can be realized. This core value is the foundation of House of Harlequin’s offerings.