Cannadelic Summer: A Psychedelic St. Petersburg Experience
All Photos Provided by Author
Last weekend on a hot summer Saturday, the town of St. Petersburg, Florida was painted in psychedelic fun! Cannadelic Miami took its cannabis and psychedelics conference up to Florida’s west coast – where the cannabis and psychedelic community joined with hundreds of exhibitor booths and brand activations to fill up an eventful day.
The convention included keynote talks and discussions with executive experts and big names in the Florida medical cannabis market – plus an expansive expo hall and marketplace followed by live music, workshops, and the trippiest art museum you’d ever imagine.
Cannadelic Summer, advertised as the world’s largest cannabis and psychedelics convention, was hosted at The Factory art center and The Fairgrounds immersive art exhibit in St. Petersburg. I’ve been fortunate enough to now attend both the Cannadelic here and the one in Miami this year, and I have to say that this past event’s location at St. Petersburg was incredibly exceptional!
Both The Factory and The Fairgrounds are local art centers with a location that has quickly grown in their exhibits and events over the years. It’s been cool to see the support of the local Florida art community be represented in this space; it’s even cooler to see it host psychedelic and cannabis events because, as we can imagine, some of the best and most influential art comes from entheogens.
Mindful Workshops & Conversations with Industry Leaders
Cannadelic Summer’s list of workshops and activities kicked off with a cacao ceremony led by Bionic Bloom, a plant medicine advocacy and consultation organization in St. Petersburg.
The list of speaker panels consisted of the future impact psychedelic research has on addiction, sex, trauma, and veterans. “What's Next in Cannabis & Psychedelic Innovation” was interesting as the panelists Garyn Angel (Magical Brands) and Jerry Salem (Mycroboost) challenged the traditional parameters we often set for plant medicine’s potential.
Both the “Diversity in Cannabis & Home Grow” and “Ask Me Anything IRL” speaker sessions featured the executive team of Surterra, who was readily also the main major sponsor of this event.
Towards the end of the day, the entheogenic and holistic wellness expert and my newfound friend, Alexandra Mars led a group meditation and discussion on nature and the impact entheogens has on our environment – offering guests to consider if we truly must “leave no trace” from the habitats we visit, but leave it with a strong and more positive impact.
Honest Perspectives & Luck Floridians in Cannabis
From my perspective, this Cannadelic seemed larger, if not pretty equal, to the first crowd turnout in Miami earlier this year. I can’t stress enough though how much greater this event’s location was – it just made sense with the concept of the convention itself and made it a more fun and inspiring experience to view the variety of art installations throughout the warehouse. Every hall of turn you wandered around had some captivating painting, poster, or artistic installation to view.
Even though attendees were encouraged to visit, tickets to enter the section of the art center that is The Fairgrounds’ immersive art museum was a separate purchase from your Cannadelic ticket. It would be cool to see more cohesive, packaged deals or opportunities for an event and location like this in the future.
The efficiency of an inside and outside deck allowed for the convention’s guests to gather around and enjoy some food truck munchies or spark up and sesh while networking. The event smelled and looked like a cannabis and psychedelic event so much so that I almost forgot I was in the (medical) state of Florida.
Because of this, it raised a critical concern I always have tucked in the back of my mind. This experience at Cannadelic’s event had me immediately thinking about how lucky we are to share this opportunity to network and celebrate cannabis and psychedelic medicine.
However, it also reminds me how incredibly twisted it is for the incarcerated, non-violent drug criminals away right now while we are all profiting, enjoying, and openly consuming the plant. Of course, I was involved in partaking in a joint or two outside of the designated smoke section of the event, but I did it amazed at how twisted and lucky we all are.
Cannadelic’s event also happened at an interesting time this summer – Florida has made recent headlines about its fight for recreational cannabis on the upcoming state election ballot.
The Smart & Safe Florida measure is a proposed initiative for adult-use cannabis consumption in the state and has received more than 967,000 valid signatures. It’s also a measure with a campaign almost completely backed by Trulieve, with selective support from other MSOs like Surterra.
This petition advocates for all the standard processes and operations for a legal recreational market but lacks any sort of recognition or acknowledgment towards diversity, equity, or home grow rights in the state.
As a native Floridian and passionately radical cannabis consumer, I’m super curious to see what lies ahead for the Sunshine State’s cannabis market. Maybe allowing events like Cannadelic to happen means the future of legal, recreational weed is promising.
Until we see the change we desire, I’m thankful events like Cannadelic work hard to curate an immersive experience and network marketplace for the cannabis and psychedelic community.
