This article originally appeared in the August 2018 issue of Cannabis Dispensary. To subscribe, click here.
Ten years ago, American swimmer Michael Phelps dominated the 2008 Beijing Olympics, capturing a record eight gold medals. His performance made him one of the world’s most famous athletes. What happened next made him one of the most infamous. A photo of Phelps smoking from a bong surfaced Feb. 1, 2009, followed by worldwide criticism and a three-month suspension levied by USA Swimming, the sport’s national governing body.
“We decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so many people, particularly the hundreds of thousands of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and a hero,” USA Swimming said in a statement at the time.
The message was clear and reaffirmed a traditional, archaic belief: Cannabis has no place in sports—never mind the fact that one of the greatest Olympians of all time consumed it. After all, cannabis is banned in all of America’s major sports leagues and appears on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances.
The cannabis industry, however, is anything but traditional. So when Chrissy Hadar started seeing her Oregon dispensary fill with customers decked out in athletic attire, a light bulb went on.
“We were seeing people coming into our store after a long day on the mountain, or after suffering a mountain biking injury, looking for alternative treatments for pain or athletic recovery,” Hadar says. “So, we put our brains together, and we realized there was something there.”
Hadar is the co-founder (along with her husband, Aviv) and vice president of retail and branding of Oregrown, a vertically integrated, medical and adult-use dispensary in Bend, Ore. Hadar’s mission since opening Oregrown in 2013 has been to distinguish her craft-cannabis company from the state’s plethora of dispensaries. She’s gone about it in a unique way: Oregrown doesn’t market itself as a cannabis brand, specifically, but rather a lifestyle brand that promotes activity and health.
“When [people] think of Oregon, they think of a particular lifestyle. It’s connected to the environment. It’s connected to the outdoors. … Bend is a hub for extreme sports: mountain biking, climbing, white-water rafting, snowboarding, skiing,” Hadar says. “So, that’s what the Oregrown brand represents.”
And what better way to market that lifestyle than with athletes who are living it? In 2017, Oregrown began sponsoring professional athletes to reflect the brand’s ethos and “destigmatize people’s stereotype of your average stoner.” Today, Oregrown sponsors 10 athletes across various sports such as snowboarding, mountain biking and climbing.
To read the full article in Cannabis Dispensary's August 2018 issue, click here.
Top photo by Bradley Lanphear
