GasHouse Farms is one of California’s leading legal marijuana brands. Getting there has not been easy, operating in a state of strict caps on license issuings and local government bans restricting growth. All ironically taking place in a state rich in cannabis culture and history.
For people of color, the state continues to create barriers to entering the country’s most rapidly expanding industry. And the state’s efforts to address the inequity have decisively failed. One social equity program set up to help the disenfranchised get every opportunity to participate in the cannabis industry sinks in delays and controversy.
So what is GasHouse doing right?
GasHouse Is No Overnight Success
The company’s Pluto strain pops up in hip-hop lyrics. Any harvest the company drops disappears from the shelves in minutes. The most high-profile dispensaries can’t meet consumer demand.
Co-founders Felix Murry and Kingston met in 2014. Back in the day, Kingston was growing high-end cannabis outside of Atlanta. He’d been producing for over ten years, devoted to organic herb and potent strains.
Murry experienced some of Kingston’s herb. Murry was an entertainment and nightclub veteran and set up a meeting with Kingston. The brothers formulated a plan to take Kingston’s illegal operation and put it in the regulated arena.
Creating GasHouse, the duo began to cement their brand. The greater Atlanta area saw residents wearing GasHouse hats and shirts. The duo entered several competitions and after winning a multitude of first place trophies including High Times, Dabathon Cup and Chalice cups they created word-of-mouth buzz that skyrocketed their brand..
When Oregon legalized non-medical growth and use, Kingston and Murry dove in. They bought 40 acres in rural southern Oregon. It turned into an interesting encounter with an elderly white couple.
“We sat down in the kitchen,” Kingston recalled. “His wife, you know, just gave me a stare. But it ended up happening.”
GasHouse on the Legit Tip
With the base operation in place, the GasHouse founders had to put their dream into the licensed industry.
Felix says of the plan, “We didn’t use a lawyer. We read the regulations ourselves. We realized it was so new that lawyers didn’t even understand the rules and regulations yet. We felt that we could interpret them just as well as they could.
“We got our recreational cannabis license, and that’s when GasHouse Farms was really born.”
Gashouse Kingston & Felix pictured with Michael Corleone Blanco July 2021 J Lash Photography
Taking Success Forward
It’s conservatively estimated the GasHouse portfolio to be worth $60 million.
Murry and Kingston built GasHouse’s rep by winning competitions throughout the Golden State. This led to a demand for the company’s concentrates and cannabis flowers. Now, their reach extends across state lines with partnered cultivators that produce cannabis utilizing GasHouse genetics, as well as developing a GasHouse CBD brand and a just-launched Delta-8 product line.
They share their knowledge with promising cannabis entrepreneurs. It’s important to the businessmen to see the next generation overcome the obstacles underserved people of color encounter.
“So the state gives someone a license through this social equity program, but that person doesn’t have the startup capital or the business skills to really succeed.” Kingston argues. “What ends up happening, what’s happening in California, is corporate entities find these social equity guys just to use them for their license. The system is setting them up for failure or to be taken advantage of.”
So big cannabis basically, Kingston warns, use the budding entrepreneurs, often taking control of their dream and ability to create something of their own.
Kingston doesn’t want that.
Neither do we.
