Those within a 50-mile radius of Organic Remedies’ greenhouse in Carlisle, Pa.., will see a pink sky each Sunday evening in October as part of the vertically integrated medical cannabis operator’s multipronged approach to raising awareness and supporting local organizations during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“Breast cancer in particular is the most diagnosed cancer in Pennsylvania,” Eric Hauser, president of Organic Remedies, tells Cannabis Business Times. “It affects thousands and thousands of women every year. We’re in this to help people. I’m a pharmacist by training, and I know there’s a big need out there for a lot of different disease states, but this one in particular is close to our hearts, with people we know that have been affected by it.”
Part of the company’s efforts each October include supporting the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition (PBCC); Organic Remedies offers select products, marked with pink labels, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting PBCC.
Organic Remedies also offers free educational resources about breast cancer, provided by PBCC, at the company’s six dispensaries throughout the state. It also collects donations of clothing, jewelry, purses and scarves for Pink Hands of Hope, a local nonprofit organization that operates a thrift store in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and works with PBCC to provide wigs, caps, clothing and other items.
To recognize the work that still needs to be done to eliminate breast cancer, Organic Remedies removes the covers from the LED lights at its greenhouse for one hour each Sunday evening in October to light the sky pink.
While local ordinances typically require greenhouses that use grow lights to block light pollution, the Organic Remedies team worked with its community to be able to pull back the curtain and put on the pink light show for breast cancer awareness.
“It was a nice way to show the community that we’re supporting those who are struggling with breast cancer,” says Mark Toigo, CEO of Organic Remedies.
Janice Spurlock, the company’s director of marketing and communications, says the display has “generated a lot of attention around the neighborhood.”
“You can see it for miles and miles, and it’s just really, truly astounding,” Spurlock says. “Mark got the approval from the township to do this, and every year, it’s kind of become a tradition. Now, this is the third year that we’ve opened the drapes, although we worked with the Breast Cancer Coalition for four years, and we’re raising a lot of money, generating a lot of awareness for breast cancer, and we’re all excited by it [and] very passionate about it.”
Spurlock says Organic Remedies tapped PBCC early on as its partner for its breast cancer awareness efforts.
“They are a very passionate organization, but they’re focused on Pennsylvania,” she says. “There are a lot of national organizations, but we were locally grown. We’re proud of it, and we’re committed to Pennsylvania. And this was an organization doing the same thing. They have been great partners with us, and we are so happy to support them.”
Cancer is among Pennsylvania’s qualifying conditions for medical cannabis, and some of Organic Remedies’ patients are battling breast cancer.
Several products are included in Organic Remedies’ breast cancer awareness campaign with a portion of the proceeds supporting PBCC, including roughly 15 different cultivars of pre-ground flower and a pink disposable vape pen.
Toigo says part of Organic Remedies’ mission is to create community impact, which the company does, in part, by acting as a “clinical registrant” licensee in Pennsylvania. The unique license allows the company to partner with one of the state’s medical schools, called “academic clinical research centers,” to conduct patient-facing clinical studies into the benefits of medical cannabis.
Organic Remedies has a partnership with the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) to do six different studies, two of which have been completed.
“Four hundred and sixty five patients enrolled in a quality-of-life study, which was a two-year study that just concluded this summer, where we found out a lot of interesting things about medical marijuana use in patients that are naïve to marijuana and their quality of life improvements,” Hauser says. “The medical school’s actually published several papers on that research and actually presented them at national conferences for public health.”
Toigo says Organic Remedies’ partnership with PBCC and its initiative to light the sky pink are other opportunities to give back to the local community.
“It's a blessing to be able to get involved with organizations,” he says. “We can help those who are struggling when we get involved in several community programs. I don't think there’s anything we would not get involved with if we could help them in any way to make a change for the better. I think it's incumbent upon us to do this kind of thing for society. We live in world with a lot of work out there that needs to be done.”
Hauser says Pennsylvania’s patients have taken notice of Organic Remedies’ outreach and “support it wholeheartedly.”
The company contributed $20,000 to PBCC last year and the team hopes to donate even more this year.
Organic Remedies works with several other organizations throughout the year in addition to PBCC to raise awareness and funds for various causes.
“It’s just a part of who we are as a company,” Spurlock says. “I believe it is one of the core values of our company, and we walk the walk and talk the talk. We have people dedicated to outreach, and we’re constantly doing a lot of different things for the community. … . And I think it’s important for the cannabis industry as a whole to build good reputations in the community. There are a lot of myths and stigma that we’re trying to overcome in this industry, and I think one way to do that is to build a good reputation [and] to do good for the community."
