KC Stark

Name: KC Stark

Occupation:
CEO and Founder: MMJBusinessAcademy.com
| StudioA64.com
| GoGreenCross.com

When and how did you become an advocate
for cannabis?

It’s been a
part of my life for as long as I can remember. What began as a lifestyle
choice in the ’70s became a career in the 21st century. After leaving the
military, I moved to Colorado and joined the fight for cannabis legalization in
2009. It was at that time that I went from using cannabis to advocating
for safe, affordable and legal access to medical marijuana. I joined the
Mayor’s Medical Marijuana Task Force and helped craft the laws that regulate
cannabis in Colorado. 

 How has cannabis benefited your life?

It’s allowed
me to not only enjoy the medicinal benefits of marijuana, but also help craft an
industry from the bottom-up. As a young man, I spent my life avoiding
police encounters. Working as a cannabis advocate has been a complete
180.  Instead of avoiding the police, we’re able to work with police, city
council members and mayors to craft safe, affordable and legal access for all
Americans, young or old, medical or recreational.

What’s your greatest achievement for
the cannabis cause?

 On Valentine’s Day, 2013, I was able to open what many have argued is
the first cannabis club in America’s history, Studio 64 (StudioA64.com).
It was by far the riskiest business move we’ve made, trying to do what has
never been done before on such a scale. It’s not a collective, it’s not a
co-op, and it’s not a one-night show. It’s America’s first licensed brick
and mortar cannabis club, approved by city planning and zoning and the city
council.

 How did that manifest?

The idea
that separate is NOT equal. If cannabis is to be “treated like alcohol”
then cannabis consumers MUST have a place that they can congregate, petition
their government for change and exercise their constitutional rights to possess
and consume cannabis in private. In doing so, we opened ourselves up to
persecution and prosecution. Indeed, we had to face down not one but two
cease and desist orders and two public hearings. It was NOT easy, but we
won both times. 

If you could change one thing about the
way cannabis is viewed and/or treated right now, what would it be?

We live in
what I call the paradigm of the absurd.  Meaning, while deaths by alcohol
and prescription drug abuse devastate our nation daily, the nation as a whole
turns a blind eye—and vilifies cannabis. Every day, 44 people in the U.S. die
from overdose of prescription painkillers, and many more become addicted,
according to the Center of Disease Control. Imagine if 44 people died each
day from cannabis?  There would be national outrage and congressional
hearings.  In the last 3,000 years of recorded history, no one has ever
died from an overdose of cannabis. Stop the absurd. Start anew. Welcome
to the age of cannabis.