A new kind of cannabis capitalism
When we started Luminous Botanicals, our intention was improve the well-being of our customers by making the highest quality, therapeutic cannabis products, while taking good care of our people, our community, and our planet. For the first 6 years, our model worked well.
But since the pandemic, things have been different. A new economic reality shaped by inflation in the larger economy and a hyper-competitive local cannabis market has settled into place. These new market dynamics make it difficult for a values-led company to survive. It has been a race to an unfathomably deep bottom, and it is ultimately good for no one.
Yet, we know that there are a lot of people like you out there, people who consider cannabis to be an ally for healing, insight, physical relief, and creative inspiration. People who know that cannabis feels better and works better when it is grown under the sun by farmers that care about the well being of their soil and their people. People who are passionate about supporting a diverse marketplace that isn’t dominated by soul-less corporate profiteers.
So what if we doubled down on our values, and built a company that is an inspiring new model for how cannabis capitalism could work?
The idea: build a perpetual purpose trust (PPT, for short), using the assets of Luminous Botanicals.
A PPT is a form of steward ownership, which is a philosophy that begins with the premise that corporations have a role beyond generating profits for shareholders and that companies should have a reason for being that is rooted in purpose and that serves a broad range of stakeholders.
In our case, the PPT would exist to support the growth of the regenerative organic cannabis market segment in order to serve the well being of our customers, our team, our farm partners, and our living planet. That core intention would be legally bound into the fiber of the new organization.
Profits would not be funneled up to the owners, but would instead be reinvested in the business, flowing down to the stakeholders, including employee and farmer share holders.
The unifying core of the trust would be Sun+Earth Certification, a regenerative organic cannabis certification standard under which Luminous Botanicals proudly operates. The new organization would provide branding, marketing, sales, distribution, storage, and processing for Oregon’s Sun+Earth Certified farmers, services that are badly needed by small farms, freeing them to focus on what they do best - growing the world’s best cannabis.
The trust would be a unified brand under which to champion and celebrate the benefits of regenerative organic cannabis, including products made from it using traditional extraction methods. We would incorporate Luminous Botanicals’ existing lipid-infusion processing methodology to continue to make infused-oil tinctures and topicals, and we would add a solventless ice water processing line to offer hash products that could also be used as an ingredient in a broad array of additional edible product offerings.
Our assets include an operational manufacturing/storage facility with a commercial kitchen, a cannabis processing license, and a cannabis wholesale license, all located in Portland, with easy access to the state’s biggest market, as well as existing relationships with many of the best cannabis retailers in the state. Luminous’ current founders would be involved in creating the trust, but we desire to build a team that believes in the vision of a regenerative organic cannabis market and wants to carry it forward as employee shareholders. Would you be interested in building this project together?
The project will need financial support. We are seeking legacy investor/s, if you will. A legacy investor is an investor that doesn’t need the possibility of a large payout down the road, but instead invests with a desire to use their resources to influence the growth of something in a positive way, in this case, toward building a sustainable regenerative organic segment of the cannabis industry. We know there must be a few people of means out there that are passionate about cannabis and regenerative organic farming, right? Do you know anyone that we should talk to?
Reach out directly if you feel moved by this idea, or would like to be a part of it. And please forward this to anyone that you think might be interested.
Photo credit: Green Source Gardens, who had to close their adult-use cannabis farm recently due to the poor market conditions in Oregon. Green Source was a shining example of how to grow exceptional cannabis in a way that improves the vitality of the landscape, and we are grateful for everything they taught us along the way. Follow them on IG to see what they do next.