August issue of Maxim New Zealand & Maxim Australia with 2 covers to collect in stores and online now!
Featuring Aussie Kings of Cannabis and their fight to legalise!
With The Pot Playboy Will Stolk
Modern entrepreneur, and former pro skier, Will has focused his platform and media savvy into the growing cannabis industry. Having built the lifestyle brand Ballin’ On A Budget from the ground up, Will has moved on to develop and own cannabis companies in both Australia and the U.S.. He is also one half of the infamous Who Are We Hurting? collective who have been performing grandiose publicity stunts to promote the legalisation of cannabis in Australia for the past five years. His crazy antics can be seen via his Instagram feed it’s as though he inhabits a Hunter S. Thompson novel, only with crazy publicity stunts, less inhibited females and dangerous stunts and antics.
Why do you love cannabis?
I have had a love for cannabis since I was 15. I first started smoking it while I was at a ski training camp in Whistler, Canada. Cannabis has and always will be one of my greatest joys in life. It makes every single thing in my life better sex, skiing, surfing, travel, eating and going to the gym. It has also given me almost my entire friend group. Everywhere I have travelled whether chasing snow, waves or women, I’m always looking to get on. Being the cheeky, spontaneous and outspoken character that I am, I usually always meet the local guy who runs the scene and they become my new best friend. This has translated into making my core group of lifelong friends, who are all bosses of the highest order, and I thank God that the cannabis plant was created. Without it, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in right now.
Tell us a bit about what exactly you are doing in the cannabis space right now.
We have launched a few cannabis companies in the U.S., including a weed dispensary and a hemp for pets company. One will be a Californian-based lifestyle-focused cannabis company called Fully Lit, which will be inline to compete with the giants of the industry like Dan Bilzerian’s Ignite. Starting with vapes and then edibles, we will be focused on making the best tasting and quality THC Gummies in the world as well as amazing vapes, then expanding into other fields of cannabis as time goes on. We are also launching a health and wellness brand called Byron Bay Biologicals with the sub-brand of Byron Bay CBD, producing an array of organic Hemp and CBD health products from tinctures to sports and pain relief creams, and beauty products. Our aim is to make Byron Bay Biologicals the premier brand in the cannabis health space. Considering I live in the northern NSW area, a place that exudes a hippie vibe of spiritual tranquillity with the best that nature has to offer, our products will reflect this and take that same vibe and spirit to the world. Other than that, we have some future plans for farming and manufacturing facilities here in Australia and abroad and some secret technology that could potentially revolutionise the extraction side of hemp, CBD, and Cannabis. But these projects are top secret, and I am not at liberty to discuss them yet!
The Prop Drug Lord – Alec Zammitt — Craze™
As a former graffiti artist and public relations expert, you could say Alec started his career in guerrilla marketing from an early age. An entrepreneur at heart, he owns a number of businesses in Sydney including the Craze Collective, a network of content creators and artists. Having turned his passion for public art into an avenue to create social change and in particular advocate for drug reform policy in Australia. These days he is the go-to guy for any drug-related props in the film and television space, carving out a niche for his crew that allows them to continue pushing their message by creating these massive art installations and protest pieces.
Why do you love cannabis?
She’s the mistress that never mistreats. I love cannabis because I found a better quality of life while consuming it. There are things in my life I like more when I’ve consumed cannabis in some form. But mostly, it’s given me a passion and a path to do something with my art and skill set. There are no negative impacts that cannabis has caused in my own life. The only negatives I’ve seen are directly related to legislation and that’s what has driven my passion and work. The sad fact is everybody knows that cannabis isn’t nearly as bad for people as say, alcohol or cigarettes, but no-one wanted to talk about it because it had such a stigma.
How did you get started in guerrilla marketing exactly?
For most of my working life I’ve been in guerrilla marketing, starting as a graffiti artist, wearing TNs and spraying trains. My own personal entrepreneurial spirit led me to progress into printing T-shirts, and attempting to turn my art into a successful business. I also wanted to do something more, and turn my passions into something more sustainable and better for society as a whole, creating artistic-based marketing activations where the community benefits. While working with local artists on controversial issues, it wasn’t long before I had to start organising media appearances for both them and myself. This is probably what stoked my interest in marketing and PR, and my background in street culture is what drove me to the guerrilla marketing side of things, and now moving into set and prop design. I really like the film and television industry as it allows us to push our message and flex our creativity with the sole purpose of entertaining people, without the need to convert a customer.
What’s next for the collective?
We’ve expanded into even more drug props and have partnered with an American prop house to service international demand. Our props will be in a new Sony & Dynamo collaborative production named Cannabica, it’s filmed in Columbia and set for international distribution however locals will have to watch that one with subtitles. Most recently, we received AFP approval to import working pill-press machinery so we can produce custom pills or create a working clandestine lab set. We have an upcoming TV show I can’t speak about yet utilising this new prop inventory, but we also have plans to use these props to encourage further debate about the need for pill testing. In the coming year we have plans for more live art installations at music festivals as well as further expanding our online content.
The Prince Of Cultivation – Tom Forrest
The founder of Indicated Technology, Tom Forrest (yes, that’s seriously his surname) is a certified horticulturist working in the Australian medical cannabis space. He has spent the better part of the past decade working in the protected cropping industry and, as the Communications Manager for Stealth Garden Wholesale, he brings the very best in horticultural supplies to the Australian industry. Tom also has been instrumental in teaching medicinal cannabis cultivation via Indicated Technology, with courses hosted in various university and private education programs.
You recently visited 50 commercial growing operations around the world, including ones in Canada, Europe, Slovenia and Israel. What were some of the commonalities you found between these countries and can Australia learn from them?
As part of my Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship, I was fortunate to visit more than 50 cannabis cultivation sites across 10 countries. I found that cultivators worldwide had differing approaches to medical cannabis cultivation varying from heavily automated, high-tech CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) to traditional organic broad acre outdoor cultivation, and everything in between. The commonalities were primarily around the aversion to pest and disease. Regardless of which cultivation method was preferred, it was evident that pest and disease (primarily grey-mould/botrytis and powdery mildew) were causing headaches for growers worldwide. For those utilising protected cropping it was evident that fungal diseases (i.e. mildews) were caused by inept environmental control such as lack of dehumidifiers or inadequate airflow hardware. While for those outdoors it became clear that pests (such as caterpillars or mites) were enemy number one, however the specific type of pest drastically depended on the location of the site. Australia and New Zealand can learn from countries with a functioning legal framework by adopting cultivation methods best suited to the location of the facility (latitude, daylight hours and microclimate are crucial) while trialling different methods of cultivation for different commodities. For example to grow for milled biomass suitable for extraction would look very different to cultivating a manicured flower.
What is the most technologically advanced cannabis facility you’ve seen?
Aurora Sky in Vancouver, Canada, was breathtaking — a truly exceptional progression in automation and high-density cultivation. Although it still had room for improvement, John Barnet and his team had designed and implemented a world class (‘Sky Class’) facility that was pioneering in the Canadian industry. The overwhelmingly pleasant smell and sheer scale of the site was awe inspiring. The unique technologies and their refining of novel technologies were an example of Canadian ingenuity.
There is nothing in Australia that compares to Aurora Sky which is logical due to the size of our industry. Right now we have a stifled medicinal market and industry hindered by red tape resulting in slow growth and patient uptake. Our limited patient numbers do not yet justify a 600,000 square feet of canopy! If we move to a progressive medicinal and nutraceutical framework, and onto an adult-use market then the Australian industry would benefit from these large scale facilities providing jobs, ancillary industry growth, significant revenue and investment into a growing agricultural sector.
Read the full interviews via Maxim Australia and Maxim New Zealand August Issues!
