At a time when recreational cannabis usage wasn’t legal in the state of Ohio, Lenny Berry began his journey trying to connect cannabis producers and medical consumers with the Ohio Cannabis Health and Business Summit in 2019. With the passage of Issue 2 in November of 2023, Ohio became the 24th state to legalize adult-use cannabis, allowing for the sale and purchasing of marijuana. This progress has allowed Berry to open his summit up to a much wider audience this Oct. 4 and 5 at the I-X Center. This year's conference will have more than 100 exhibitors and 75 speakers, including clinic services that offer to help remove low-level cannabis convictions from public records and workshops on topics ranging from mushrooms to plant education.
Cleveland Magazine: What made you want to start the Ohio Cannabis Health and Business Summit?
Lenny Berry: Born and raised here, was in the music industry for over 30 years here locally, and so kind of after all of that happened, I ended up opening two medical clinics with a partner in Lakewood and Maple Heights where they made cannabis recommendations for patients. It was in those three years of seeing patients that really kind of made me want to do the conference.
CM: What's it like trying to plan an industry trade show for something that's federally illegal?
LB: Well, because the state basically made it legal, I don't worry about it. I'm not selling any product there, so you can't sell any cannabis there. Everything is displayed. You have CBD companies, of course, selling hemp-derived, cannabis-derived products. Originally, I had to talk the first hotel into letting me have it there because everybody was afraid of cannabis. After that first time, I told the I-X Center that I would love to bring this event to them. After they saw me doing some charity stuff and saw my other work, they agreed. Bringing this event to the I-X Center only solidifies the message. You know, we're trying to get rid of the stigma. Let me bring it to the most iconic place that everybody knows, that has the Home and Garden shows, so people see it's a real event.
CM: Does holding events like this help break any stigma surrounding the use of recreational cannabis?
LB: Absolutely. Last year, we had 4,000 attendees, not including staff and everybody else that was there. This was at the time when we were trying to pass Issue 2 through. I got a lot of coverage from the news and the various media platforms. I explained to these people that recreational or medical cannabis users are the same to me. If you take cannabis, you're gonna get medicinal properties, whether you want to or not. I think that an informed public, regardless of what we're talking about, helps eliminate stigma. The perception back in the day was that those who were smoking were drug addicts. If you were informed about it, you're saying well, you know, hey, this is helping your endocannabinoid system. If somebody came to you and explained it to you first then you would be like, ‘oh man, I got a different perspective on what they're doing and how it's helping their body.’
CM: Do you think some of the negative stigma around cannabis use just comes from a fear of not understanding and a summit like this could maybe help that?
LB: One hundred percent. If I said to you let's go and jump off of a building together but I say I've never taken a class on skydiving. I just want to do it, are you with me? You may be like no way. Anybody who's walking down this path of a cannabis entrepreneur level or maybe just canna-curious wants to know what it is and not be afraid to jump in it. They don't want to go to jail or be looked at as a drug addict or live in fear that their job is going to fire them because of it. I think one of the biggest holdups for people in the time of medical cards was the actual gun rights scenario. At the time you couldn’t have a CCW [Concealed Carry Weapon] and be a medical patient. You would lose your right to bear arms if you got a medical card. I think that kept a lot of the underground or gray area market thriving because people wanted the medicinal benefits to it, but didn’t want to be seen publicly on paper using it in fear of losing a job or being scrutinized for it.
CM: What is going to be different about this year's summit now that recreational cannabis is legal?
LB: Now we have a lot of people curious about the industry. I'm super excited because every step brings more people to you and they feel more comfortable now that cannabis is legal. I think this year is going to be exceptional because now we get to talk about the best of everything. I don't even have to be limited in my conversations of keeping the language strictly on the medical side. So recreation opens up a lot of things for the free market and for the consumers. It brings a lot of new things to the market from the brand perspective as well. Because now we'll have combustible products, when before we could only vaporize things.
CM: What are some of the workshops or speakers you're most excited to have at this year's summit?
LB: I have not confirmed but I have a big icon NFL player who was a quarterback here. Once he is solidified, I think that's going to be a dynamic conversation. He was basically addicted to opioids and used cannabis as a part of his recovery. I didn't even know that he was going through this or had been through this stuff. I have some other NFL players that will be there to support and cheer him on. That's going to be a remarkable conversation. I'm also excited about our patient panel which we have every year. It helps give patients a platform to voice their opinions who wouldn’t normally be able to do so.
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