{"id":11124,"date":"2020-09-18T12:10:44","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T19:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arizonafoothillsmagazine.com\/people\/?p=11124"},"modified":"2021-02-08T12:39:58","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T19:39:58","slug":"trendsetter-to-know-a-special-qa-with-steve-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arizonafoothillsmagazine.com\/people\/interviews-profiles\/trendsetter-to-know-a-special-qa-with-steve-white","title":{"rendered":"Steve White of Harvest House of Cannabis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Who is Steve White?<\/strong>
I am a normal guy who grew up in Tempe. I became one of many who guessed right about the emergence of marijuana as a great opportunity and emerging industry. Today I am a Co-Founder and the CEO of Harvest Health and Recreation, a publicly-traded cannabis company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where were you born? <\/strong>
Desert Sam (now Banner Desert) in Mesa, Arizona<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did you go to school?<\/strong>
How far back do we go? Roosevelt Elementary in Mesa?  Kyrene del Cielo the year it opened?  Pueblo Middle School the first year it opened in Chandler?  Then Corona del Sol for high school. I started college and ultimately graduated from Arizona State, before going away for law school at Washington and Lee School of Law in Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are your long term goals?<\/strong>
In our industry long-term goals aren\u2019t ever too far out. Big things change too quickly. But I am very excited about playing a small part in bringing a model recreational marijuana program to Arizona. 10 years ago people didn\u2019t even believe that a medical program was even possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Any mentors role models?<\/strong>
Locally, John McCain and Larry Fitzgerald for very different reasons, but Arizona has a lot of great options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was your impression of marijuana and marijuana policy as you were growing up? <\/strong>
Nancy Reagan and the failed War on Drugs informed my early impressions of marijuana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did it start to change?<\/strong>
I\u2019m afraid to admit it, but it was later than you would think. I hadn\u2019t fully evolved until 2012 and even then I had some prejudices that I needed to critically examine.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When was your awakening that cannabis was something other than a gateway drug?<\/strong>
That argument is a really dumb one. I knew too many people who used cannabis and never tried harder drugs to ever really buy that one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did you first learn about the cannabis industry? <\/strong>
It was about the time that we started Harvest. I always knew there was a market for marijuana \u2013 where there\u2019s demand, there will always be supply.  But I didn\u2019t understand the structure and organization until we decided to make a run at it in Arizona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would you say to people that oppose it being legal or don\u2019t know the benefits of how this is helping millions of people with health issues?<\/strong>
Everyone approaches marijuana with certain prejudices, but once someone you care about needs it, you lose the ability to be so entrenched in your outdated way of thinking about it. And it will happen to everyone in time. If you don\u2019t know someone getting benefits from it, it means that they haven\u2019t told you yet.  Do your own research on it.  When I did, I was shocked at how misinformed I was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you one of the original license holders?
<\/strong>Yes, an AZ OG!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us about that day your team won the lottery in Arizona? What was that like?<\/strong>
Well, there was lots of nail-biting and hand wringing followed by high fiving and hugging. Little did we know it was just the beginning of more nail-biting, hand wringing, high fiving, and hugging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n