![](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Women-in-Cannabis-Grow-Room-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Just off Sunset
\nBoulevard in the heart of Hollywood, the Paragon offices look fairly
\nnondescript from the street. With a fleet of luxury vehicles parked in front
\nand an exclusive-looking private entrance, the space could house any number of
\nHollywood studios, post-production offices or agency headquarters. But once
\nyou\u2019ve made it past the intercom-protected gates and been greeted by Priscilla,
\na blue brindle French bulldog who trots around like she owns the place, it\u2019s
\nclear this isn\u2019t just any LA chic office space. <\/p>\n
Sure, there are lounge-like spaces, open floor plans and even a ping-pong table, but the real epicenter of Paragon is an inviting courtyard with built-in seating, an ideal spot for opening your laptop to work and enjoying a joint in the California sun. It\u2019s this vision for a cannabis co-working, events and networking space that launched ParagonSpace<\/a> in 2018. The multi-functional space is also HQ for the ParagonCoin<\/a>, a blockchain service launched in 2017 by Paragon CEO Jessica VerSteeg.<\/p>\n The VerSteeg\u2019s And these days, Simply put, \u201cIn the end, I envision this benefitting the cannabis industry by creating a more trusting, transparent industry,\u201d VerSteeg says. \u201cLet\u2019s create an industry that\u2019s so transparent that it\u2019s better than Big Pharma. Why wouldn\u2019t people choose this over opioids<\/a> if we\u2019re able to create an industry that\u2019s transparent?\u201d<\/p>\n Once Metrc is up Paragon will also track the transaction details between cultivator and distributor, distributor and testing lab, distributor to retailer and finally, retailer to customer. Not only will all of this data be collated into a Metrc-ready format that will facilitate compliance and reporting and for companies along the supply chain, but the consumer will also have access to it via a QR code on the package.<\/p>\n \u201cCannabis was But the plant became an issue in her life when her then-boyfriend Tyler Sash, who was at the time playing in the NFL<\/a> for the New York Giants, came to her and asked if she thought he could smoke cannabis to help ease his pain. <\/p>\n \u201cHe needed ankle \u201cI wish I\u2019d never But as Sash\u2019s journey \u201cHe literally In a preseason \u201cAfter the fifth In 2017, the Boston University CTE Center announced that it had found evidence of CTE in 99% of the former NFL players whose brains it studied.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n VerSteeg became Sash began \u201cHe became In order to get help, \u201cI started At the time, It wasn\u2019t until early \u201cI understood When VerSteeg \u201cI was looking up It wasn\u2019t long \u201cIt was really, In the time since his death, Sash\u2019s sister Megan Wieland spoke to the Des Moines Register<\/a>, asking VerSteeg to stop using Sash\u2019s story to promote her business. <\/p>\n \u201cIf she wants to In 2017, the VerSteeg said Sash\u2019s \u201cI created it out VerSteeg said she \u201cI thought, sh*t, That\u2019s exactly where VerSteeg is with Paragon today \u2014 working to develop tamper-proof results that consumers can trust. <\/p>\n To date, cannabis Armed with this Editor\u2019s Note: Since the reporting of this story, ParagonCoin TELL US<\/strong>, what makes you passionate about Originally published in Issue 37 of Cannabis Now. LEARN MORE<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The post Jessica VerSteeg Talks Transparency, Touchdowns, Tech & THC<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Just off Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood, the Paragon offices look fairly nondescript from the street. With a fleet of luxury vehicles parked in front and an exclusive-looking private entrance, the space could house any number of Hollywood studios, post-production offices or agency headquarters. But once you\u2019ve madeContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":351,"featured_media":37160,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1389,2323,11654,50,7579,170,85,10190,11655,6535,969,6864,11656,5071],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37159"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/351"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37161,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37159\/revisions\/37161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tracking Cannabis With Blockchain<\/h4>\n
\n\u201cmodel-slash-fill-in-the-blank\u201d category is robust in Los Angeles.
\nModel-slash-singers, model-slash-actors and model-slash-dancers are de rigueur <\/em>in a town filled with
\nMidwestern transplants chasing their big Hollywood dreams. But
\nmodel-slash-tech-innovator-slash-cannabis-CEO? That\u2019s a first. <\/p>\n
\nlabel-defying nature is driven by her unique mix of talents. She\u2019s strikingly
\nbeautiful and surprisingly approachable; both of these qualities contributed to
\nher success as a model and a beauty queen \u2014 she was, after all, Miss Iowa United
\nStates 2014. But you don\u2019t have to get too far into to a conversation with
\nVerSteeg to see that she\u2019s also bright, curious and bursting with creative
\nenergy. <\/p>\n
\nthe thing that\u2019s captured VerSteeg\u2019s imagination is the future of blockchain
\ntechnology as it relates to the cannabis industry. VerSteeg explains that the
\nprimary mission of the Paragon team is to develop software that tracks cannabis
\nfrom seed to sale and interfaces with the state\u2019s system, Metrc. <\/p>\n
\nblockchain is an inalterable digital account that records all transactions and
\ninformation related to a single product. With California\u2019s stringent
\nseed-to-sale tracking and products changing hands multiple times before reaching
\nthe consumer, VerSteeg sees blockchain as offering an ideal solution for the
\nindustry to establish transparency with consumers who increasingly care about
\nwhere their cannabis comes from. <\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Women-in-Cannabis-Grow-Room.jpg\")
\nand running, VerSteeg says that Paragon will be too. In the meantime, she has
\nbeen working to develop a system of \u201csmart contracts\u201d \u2014 digital blockchain-friendly
\ndocuments that will lock in everything from testing results to cultivation
\ndetails. The benefit to tracking all of this data in blockchain is that once
\nthe information is in the system, it cannot be altered or edited.<\/p>\nThe Roots of the Cause<\/h4>\n
\nnever something I thought I\u2019d be a part of,\u201d admits VerSteeg, recalling how, as
\na child brought up in the era of D.A.R.E. propaganda, she didn\u2019t want to have
\nanything to do with cannabis. <\/p>\n
\nsurgery, and he was having neck issues, back issues, head issues. That was his
\nbiggest thing: shoulder pains, he had six pins in each shoulder,\u201d recalls
\nVerSteeg. VerSteeg discouraged Sash, reminding him the drug was federally
\nillegal \u2014 and banned by the NFL. <\/p>\n
\nsaid that to him,\u201d she says. \u201cWe were young, and you trust the NFL because
\nthey\u2019re such a big corporation, and you grow up with it, especially in America.
\nIt\u2019s \u2018America\u2019s game.\u2019 And you trust doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nin the NFL continued, VerSteeg learned more about how the NFL and its doctors
\noperate, and says she watched them encourage Sash to use opioids with reckless
\nabandon. <\/p>\n
\ncalled [the pill dispensers] \u2018candy machines.\u2019 Just put your pill bottle under
\nit. Twist it like an M&M machine, fill it up and there you go. You get as
\nmuch as you want of these painkillers,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\ngame of the 2013 season, Sash received what was at least his fifth concussion
\nduring his time in the NFL, which according to VerSteeg, was the unofficial
\nmaximum allowed by the league. The Giants cut him from the roster after
\nreaching an injury settlement.<\/p>\n
\nconcussion, you\u2019re out,\u201d VerSteeg says. \u201cNot just out of the NFL, but out of
\npills.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
\nconcerned when Sash\u2019s behavior began to change, but she knew he was struggling
\nwith adjusting to post-NFL life. \u201cI was so worried for him,\u201d she says. \u201cNot
\nbeing able to have that jersey and the game day and not being able to see his
\nfans, and I knew he was depressed.\u201d But VerSteeg didn\u2019t know exactly how Sash
\nwas adjusting to life without access to the NFL doctors and their opioid
\nprescriptions. <\/p>\n
\ntraining college athletes in exchange for pills and his behavior worsened as
\nhis addiction deepened, VerSteeg says. <\/p>\n
\nextremely aggressive, extremely depressed, [was having] crazy mood swings, was
\nvery forgetful\u2026 hearing voices. He was very happy one moment, and then very sad
\nat another,\u201d she says. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t him. The real him was the most genuine and
\nloving person. This was just not him and I knew it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nVerSteeg began reaching out to the NFL.<\/p>\n
\ncalling the NFL, saying, \u2018I think he has dementia; I don\u2019t think it\u2019s
\ndepression.\u2019 Depression isn\u2019t going to make you forget these things and hear
\nvoices. And at the time, the movie \u2018Concussion\u2019 hadn\u2019t come out, and the NFL
\nreally wasn\u2019t vocal about CTE,\u201d says VerSteeg, referring to chronic traumatic
\nencephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head injuries,
\nand the movie about it released in 2015, starring Will Smith. \u201cThey said,
\nthere\u2019s no way he has dementia, he\u2019s too young. He\u2019s just depressed. And he was
\nsleeping 20 hours a day and vomiting nonstop, and they said, these are all
\nsymptoms of depression. Let him sleep.\u201d <\/p>\n
\nVerSteeg was unaware that the NFL had known for years that CTE was a form of dementia and that
\nits players had extremely high rates of incidence of the disease.<\/p>\n
\n2014 when VerSteeg found a handful of undissolved pills in Sash\u2019s vomit that
\nshe began to piece together what was really going on with her partner. <\/p>\n
\nthen that it was an addiction,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\nconfronted Sash about the pills, it only made things worse. VerSteeg says she
\nended up in the hospital when things turned violent between the them and she
\nknew he needed to get clean, so the two separated and VerSteeg moved to San
\nFrancisco in August of 2014.<\/p>\n
\nevery alternative to painkillers. All I wanted to know was how we could get
\nback together,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\nuntil she came across cannabis as a pain management alternative to opioids.
\nVerSteeg was surprised to see that Sash had been right in the beginning, but
\nblames feeling a breakup-related resentment for her decision to not reach out
\nand tell Sash. He had a girlfriend and he seemed clean, so the two made plans
\nto meet up in October 2015. That meeting never took place, because Sash died of
\nan overdose in September 2015. <\/p>\n
\nreally, really hard for me,\u201d says VerSteeg, who admits she spun into a deep
\ndepression after Sash\u2019s death. \u201cI blamed myself for not telling him about
\nmarijuana and what I found\u2026. But I should have at least said, \u2018You were right.
\nThis is an alternative. And if you\u2019re still in pain, you should feel
\ncomfortable with marijuana, because I know you wanted it, and I\u2019m sorry I said
\nno originally.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
\nhave a business that\u2019s fine.\u00a0We just wish she would leave Tyler out of
\nit,\u201d Wieland said.<\/p>\n
\nBoston University CTE Center announced that it had found evidence of CTE in 99%
\nof the former NFL players whose brains it studied. Sash\u2019s name was on the list
\nof players affected, with his severity a level two out of four. <\/p>\nContinuing Advocacy <\/h4>\n
\nstory has, in a roundabout way, driven her passion for transparency in the
\ncannabis space as she translates that to cutting-edge technologies. In 2014,
\nshe founded Au Box, a high-end monthly subscription box (now defunct) curated
\nto offer high-end cannabis products to discerning medical marijuana patients. <\/p>\n
\nof [feeling] so guilty about what happened with my ex,\u201d VerSteeg says. \u201cI didn\u2019t
\nwant anyone else to suffer, and thought that maybe if they saw cannabis in a
\nnicer light, they wouldn\u2019t judge their partner or their children or their
\ngrandparents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nwas committed to sourcing only high-quality products and required lab tests
\nfrom all of her supplier partners before California\u2019s adult-use regulations
\npassed with Proposition 64 made it mandatory. But when she came across a
\nsupplier who had been presenting falsified lab results, she knew there was a
\nproblem that needed to be fixed. <\/p>\n
\nthis is not good. I was giving this to actual patients, and I wanted people
\nhave good products. I wanted to fix this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nis a banned substance in the NFL, and players who test positive for cannabis
\nare subject to heavy fines and suspensions. In addition to its pain management
\nqualities, THC and CBD both appear to be neuroprotectants and have been shown
\nto reduce trauma following a head injury. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\nknowledge and with the memory of Sash in her heart, VerSteeg is a frequent
\nletter-writer to the NFL, admonishing them for their outdated policies on
\ncannabis, CTE and the over-prescription of opioids. One such letter concludes
\nwith a heartfelt plea, made in Sash\u2019s honor: \u201cI would also encourage the NFL to allow players the option
\nof painkillers OR cannabis to ease their pain,\u201d she writes. \u201cNot every player
\nwants to be pumped with opioids. We all know you love your players because you
\nsee dollar signs over their heads, but it\u2019s time that you start loving your
\nplayers as humans and caring about what is in their heads.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nannounced in an SEC filing that it would be selling the ParagonSpace office
\nbuilding and ceasing to operate a cannabis co-working space. In the filing,
\nParagonCoin said it would now focus entirely on developing its blockchain
\ntechnology.<\/em><\/p>\n
\ncannabis legalization?<\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Jessica VerSteeg Talks Transparency, Touchdowns, Tech & THC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"