2 JANUARY 31, 2021 THE WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE 3BY DONNA M. OWENSJ
ason White has created dazzling advertising and marketing campaigns for Nike and Disney, the World Cup
and Olympic Games, to name a few. But when the Georgetown alumnus told his parents he was exiting
Apple-owned Beats by Dre for the cannabis industry, the announcement landed with a thud. “What they
heard was, ‘You’re going to sell weed,’ ” t he 44-year-old said, laughing.
White is now chief marketing officer at Curaleaf Holdings Inc., which says it is the world’s largest provider
(by revenue) of legal medical and recreational cannabis. While some liken legal pot to a gold rush, White —
who is African American and Cuban — talks of repairing communities harmed by the war on drugs. “Some are very
wary of cannabis, having seen people arrested and their voting rights taken away,” he says. “But as cannabis has become
more mainstream, others don’t see harm, but opportunity. I want to use this platform to help improve society.”
I first interviewed White at a Baltimore hotel in February 2020. Curaleaf has dispensaries in Maryland, and his team
had flown in from the company’s Los Angeles office. With his gracious manners and clean-cut looks, he’s a wholesome
ambassador for Cannabis sativa, the plant from which marijuana is derived. Indigenous cultures used cannabis for
healing and spiritual rituals, White told me, until it became criminalized amid a “larger story of oppression.”
America is the world’s largest cannabis market, but the use, possession or sale of marijuana over certain amounts
remains illegal under federal law. Still, state laws are shifting, according to data from the National Conference of State
Legislatures. Following ballot measures in November, cannabis will be legal for adult recreational use in 15 states andCan the cannabis industry be an agent of social justice? Or is it just another big business?
Jason White is chief
marketing officer for
cannabis company
Curaleaf Holdings
Inc. Photograph by
André Chung