By Paul Winter
Activist / Entrepreneur / Author
Steve DeAngelo was baptized into activism and community service at an early age. Growing up in the Washington DC area with a father working in the Kennedy administration, and both parents deeply involved in the Civil Rights movement, young Steve learned the value of supporting social causes. As if to add an exclamation point to the lesson, the family traveled with the Peace Corps for two years (1967-69), witnessing the poverty of India and the ravages of war in Vietnam — quite a lot to experience by the time you’re eleven.
In his late teens, Steve dropped out of school to become a street activist and was a key organizer of the annual 4th of July Smoke-Ins in front of the White House. The first happened in 1974 and was an annual event for the next ten years. The police response varied depending on the president. During the Jimmy Carter era, the police presence was minimal. Under the Regan administration, the response involved legions of police in riot gear, on horseback, wielding nightsticks.
After completing his delayed education, and graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Maryland in 1984, Steve founded the Nuthouse, a DC salon for the intellectual activists in the cannabis movement. In 1986, Jack Herer paid a visit along with a road-worn manuscript of his unpublished book “The Emperor Wears No Clothes.” After helping Jack edit and publish the book, Steve put together a traveling hemp tour and museum, visiting hundreds of universities nationwide.
In 1998, two years after California passed its medical cannabis initiative, Prop 215, Steve was instrumental in the passing of DC’s medical cannabis Initiative 59. Despite winning with 69% of the vote, the US Congress vetoed implementation of the initiative. Steve was incredulous and decided to move to California, where medical cannabis legislation was not subject to a Congressional veto. Steve and his brother, Andrew, arrived in San Francisco in 2000 where Steve became one of the founding members of Americans for Safe Access, the premier advocacy group for medical cannabis patients. He also wrote and produced “For Medical Use Only,” a short film documentary, helped organize several large cannabis gardens, and invented a new form of cannabis concentrate. All the while, mentally sketching the ideal medical cannabis dispensary.
Steve got the chance to make his sketches a reality when he won a hard-fought RFP process to obtain a medical dispensary license from the city of Oakland. In 2006 Steve launched Harborside Health Center, significantly raising the bar on the integrity and professionalism found in the cannabis industry. Harborside quickly gained recognition for its lab tested products, free holistic care clinic, and low-income care package program. This new dispensary model gained wide acceptance and acclaim from the community, city government, and local law enforcement. In 2007 Steve opened Steep Hill Labs in Berkeley, CA, which is California’s first facility for testing medical cannabis for safety and quality assurance.
Today Steve still advocates for safe patient access to and full legalization of cannabis. Steep Hill Labs now has five locations (California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington State), and Harborside Health Center continues to be the gold standard for dispensary operations and legal compliance. He’s also written “The Cannabis Manifesto,” which is equal parts call to action and radical vision of humans’ relationship with this historically healing, yet currently controversial plant.
