When it comes to providing care, time is obsolete for The Pitch’s 2024 Best Budtender Damone Garrison

Photo by Joe Ellett

The votes are in, and the stage is set as The Pitch’s Best Of Kansas City picks have been announced. Across the community, there are countless individuals and institutions who have been crowned ‘Best Of’ in their respective areas.

“Best Bartender” has been a popular category in the city for years on end. This year, its sister category, “Best Budtender,” has caused some commotion in the cannabis industry. Greenlight Dispensary dominated multiple categories in the CBD/Hemp/THC group, claiming Best Dispensary, Best Vape Cartridge Brand, Best Edibles Brand, and Best Flower. And their very own, Damone Garrison, won The Pitch’s first-ever Best Budtender award.

Garrison—who works at Greenlight’s Independence location—has been awarded for his stellar style of selling smoke. Cannabis consumers in the community recognize his commitment and patience, ultimately crowning him as the city’s Best Budtender.

The Pitch had the opportunity to speak with Garrison to discuss the award, his humble beginnings, his passion for the plant, and more. 

The Pitch: Can you tell me your initial reaction when you found out that you had won Best Budtender?

Damone Garrison: It was freaking mind-blowing, like unbelievable. The support I had behind it was also amazing, but I grew up humble in everything I did. I was taught to never know what the next man is doing. So, when I got it and actually wrote down the numbers out of the different dispensaries in town and everything, it’s just an honor. It was heart-dropping.

Greenlight definitely dominated, winning five awards this year. That’s got to be a good feeling knowing that your dispensary is highly acclaimed by a bunch of citizens in the community.

It’s amazing just knowing that our building is the building that’s really doing the thing. It’s an amazing feeling, and just being part of the team, budtender of the year or not, it’s just amazing.

Can you tell me a little bit about your experiences working at Greenlight? When did you start there? Just tell me a little bit about what it’s like to work there.

I started there maybe about two years ago. When I first got there—shout out Jen, my first GM—she really inspired me. It’s more than just weed—it’s not about the weed. It’s about the feeling you give the people leaving out. When everybody comes to a dispensary, it’s like we’re all one person; We’re all here for one thing—weed, a good time, and happiness. All the stress should be let off your shoulders as soon as you step foot through the door. 

Can you touch on the aspect of breaking down the barrier, the stigma surrounding cannabis? You’re providing medicinal benefits to consumers all over the city.

I tell people all the time, “It’s more than just sitting behind the counter and just handing somebody what they want.” I take in what they’re looking for, and I try to give them exactly, not what they want, but what they need. 

Also, gotta give a shout-out to Raven, my coworker. He’s the bomb. The knowledge that I learned from him about cannabis and everything, just watching him spending time with the patients, and just actually caring, instead of somebody coming in for a sativa and you’re just lying to them saying, “Oh yeah, this is the sativa.” This whole time, it’s an indica.

I want to sit there, no matter how long it takes. I don’t believe in time in the dispensary—Time doesn’t exist to me.

Everybody‘s different. Everybody doesn’t want the highest, strongest weed. Everybody dpesn’t want the weakest weed. I’m gonna be honest, I’m gonna be completely transparent. If it’s good to me, I’m gonna tell you it’s good. If it’s bad, I’m gonna tell you it’s bad. If it’s something you’re looking for, I’m gonna narrow it down to every last thing you’re looking for—from the taste, texture, high, duration—I’m gonna analyze everything about it because I care about my people. I want the same treatment when I go into a dispensary.

For you to be a part of some of the first frontiers of this change in culture in cannabis in Kansas City and the state as a whole, what does that mean for you? And not even to be doing that, but to be doing it so well that you won Best Budtender in the entire city.

It’s bomb because, honestly, a lot of support didn’t just come from Kansas City. As popular as we are and growing, we get a lot of out-of-state people that come and they showed a whole bunch of support, not only to me, but to the store itself. I also got to put out there—Our whole staff is just amazing. It’s like a home away from home. 

Being there as long as I have been there, we’ve had cancer patients stop their medication for five years, started going to dispensaries, and they’ve been perfectly fine. Over-the-counter medications and prescriptions have little side effects, whereas when you come to a dispensary, we actually do have these medical things that can help you.

Cannabis ain’t nothing, but a medicine. Because of the little effects that it has, it does trigger the body in certain aspects, and that’s why we have these budtenders that have this knowledge to make sure you get what you need for your medication, which is why I always look at it as a pharmacy.

What’s something that a lot of people don’t know about working within the cannabis industry as a budtender?

It’s about patience because you’re gonna get a lot of different people each and every day from all over. That’s why I always say I don’t believe in time in there, because everybody‘s different. I don’t believe in being weird. I don’t believe in that at all. It’s billions of people in this world—Everybody’s not gonna move the same way, everybody doesn’t like the same thing, everybody‘s not gonna look the same—Everybody’s just different. 

It makes it easier for me to think like that and get through the day. I don’t I don’t get irritated with people coming in mad because I don’t know what they went through coming in from outside. All I can do is try to turn their day around and make sure they leave with a smile, which I accomplish. That’s my duty. Working in a dispensary, it’s a happy environment.

Considering that legal cannabis is so new to the state, some consumers don’t know what they are getting into. But everybody is in the building to get weed, so how important is it for you all to be welcoming in the aspect that people are so fresh to the process?

Photo by Joe Ellett

I love when new people come in, especially when someone hasn’t ever been to a dispensary. When you go to your weed man, you’re not getting the experience of leaving away happy. 

You’re gonna have a good time. You’re gonna probably forget why you were even mad leaving out.

One thing about me—I am a cheapskate. I’m blessed to be in the position I’m in. The position where I used to come from, it’s a blessing that I can help other people. I was in a situation where I couldn’t even afford maybe a blunt or two. “You came here for an eighth, but we got these three packs of pre-rolls on sale right here. I can hook you up with those, give you a couple of dollars off.“ They’ll be satisfied with that. Send them on their way, and that’s my good deed for the day. It warms my heart knowing I put a smile on somebody else’s face when their day was going completely left.

When they’re walking in mad, you giving them the product is what’s gonna relieve their anger, right? So you just gotta get to that process.

I’ve spent hours with people, not even talking about the product—I’m talking about their life story. It was this one guy who came in maybe a year ago. He had caught his wife cheating, and he’s just bawling. 

I’m just staying there, taking it in, and giving him great advice. We were there for an hour and a half, and my manager, one of my leads, came out, asking what I did. I’m telling him I’m in the front, I’m talking to this guy, and I pull my lead to the side, and ask to do a little favor for me. I ended up having the guy walk away with two pre-rolls later the day. Up to this day, he’s got a new job, new lady, new house, new car, and doing completely better. I check on him to this day.

You already do a service job where you are helping and benefiting others through providing the medication, and then you’re taking it a step further to be a shoulder to lean on, and help them through these personal struggles. When did that start for you? Does it have something to do with how you were raised?

I’m from the city of Chicago. I moved all over, though. I’ve stayed everywhere in Chicago—the suburbs, Memphis, Wisconsin, and Kankakee. In the midst of all of that moving, I’ve just seen a lot—I’ve seen the great, I’ve seen the terrible. As I got older, I just started putting myself in the median. 

I didn’t have too many father figures—I was bouncing house to house with different families. But, everywhere I went, I always got blessed with an older figure who just popped out of nowhere and gave me some type of advice.

I was never that kid to just brush off what the older people are saying, I’m always taking it in. When I ended up in the south suburbs with my uncle, I watched him all the freaking time. He didn’t sit down for nothing, because he was always doing it for somebody else. He came from the inner city of Chicago, and he’s been through it all himself.

It’s kind of like checking yourself at the door. I’m not gonna judge you for what you’ve been through or what you’re going through when I pretty much been through the same thing. If I’m not doing nothing, I can lend my time to you. 

I used to walk. I’ve went a long time without a car. When I used to walk to work, people would give me rides. Now, anytime I see people when I’m in the car, whether it’s mine or a friend, whatever, I’m gonna take you home. If it’s storming, I don’t care. It could be a tornado, man, get in this car. Let’s go. I’m gonna take you home. Only because I’ve been in that situation. I know how it feels to be in certain situations, and I have never had anybody to lean on. But I don’t want that for the next person.

I’m starting up a nonprofit, and I didn’t really think of the nonprofit until I got to Greenlight, until I really started extending my help. I take some of the patients out with me to feed the community.

What’s the name of your nonprofit and what do you all have going on?

P.O.OL. $ide. It stands for “positive outlook on life.” We’re a supporting group. We just support other entrepreneurs who don’t have support. I’ve got a lot of friends that are great with music, artwork, computers, but they ain’t got nobody to help them. 

Like I said, I grew up with no supporter. I had to learn how to build it up myself. I don’t want anybody else to try to go through that the hard way. I could be right there. I want to be that person you can lean on for sure. You feel like there’s no one there. I’m there. I want people to know they can call me for anything.

Does it ever feel like being such a generous person impedes on your own personal life, or do you feel like that’s just the way you’ve got to live, and that’s your vocation?

Honestly, it can kind of get in my personal life. But my personal life revolves around helping other people too.

I try to be as nice and humble as possible in everything I do. I was a four sport athlete. And everybody used to always ask me, “Damone why you make it look so easy? You never seem like you get tired.“ I get tired. I was always taught, “You never let people see you sweat.“ In the most stressful time, you never let people see you down. 

My son always smiles. No matter what—he can get in trouble he’s gonna smile. He had me just start smiling all day. When I was working at Olive Garden, people would literally stop me: “Man, you have a great smile. You should keep smiling.”

I’m not serving these people; I didn’t know them from a can of paint. They would just stop me and tell me that, and I would take it in like, “Wow, I’m doing something. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m doing it.“ 

I never use the term ‘good,‘ ‘well’; I always use the term ‘great.‘ You ask me how my day is going, it’s always gonna be great; Even if it’s a bad day, it’s gonna be great. My house can cave in, I can still go to work, and I can tell everybody it’s a great day. And by the end of that day, my day had turned out great. I had no control over my house. I just got to figure out how to fix it and deal with it.

Where does your passion for selling cannabis stem from? Does it go back to your time spent in these other cities and helping others? Is there a passion within cannabis, is the passion within truly just helping people, or are the two intertwined for you?

It’s kind of like a hybrid. I did get into little things outside of school, getting into a little trouble, everything. But I didn’t want to get into trouble—It was my friends. They did all the weed and everything heavy. Since I was kind of the oldest of the group, I was the one who would get kidnapped to go get their wraps. 

I’m in the car with them, so now I’m in the middle of their smoking habits. Once I got done with sports in college, I would smoke a little bit and eat edibles. Even before the dispensaries, I could just see how happy it made me. I’m a busy freaking body. I can’t sit down for anything. It helped me just not be so ADHD all the freaking time, bugging out, moving around all the time.

Noticing that it actually made people happy, knowing that people actually trust me—I’m a humble guy. If somebody needs a front, I would just give them weed. People try to pay me for weed, man, I’ll give you weed.

There is this one guy, Darian, he is a great guy. Whatever dispensary he’s going to now, I pray they treat him right. Before I started working at Greenlight, he was homeless. It was him and this other guy when I was walking past across the street at this thrift store, and they stopped me. They were like, “Man, you got some weed on you? We’re homeless; we’re just having a bad day. We just want something hit.” I’m like, Damn, I don’t know these guys from a can of paint at all. 

I’ve had those days where they’re bad days, and I want to smoke. I told him, “I’ve got nothing on me right now, but if y’all generally come back here in an hour, I will be right here waiting for y’all.“ I went home, and an hour later, I came back.

The other guy, I gave him his thing, he ran off, but Darian, he stayed there, and he just gave me this whole spiel—His whole, pretty much life story. Before I got my car and I would walk, I would see him there. When he found out I worked at Greenlight, he always came in here and showed his support. Don’t get me wrong, he talked a lot, but he was the best guest we ever had. He’s moved, he’s got a house now, he’s got a job, he’s making actual money. It’s amazing seeing life change in people.

What are your favorite products right now, and what would you recommend as the Best Budtender in Kansas City?

Anybody that says gummies don’t work for you, get the 100mg single Kosmik or the 100mg hybrid mega pearl. I guarantee you’re gonna change your thoughts on that. If you like packs, if you’re a big spender, get the Abyss 200mg a piece; they’re bomb. I do not suggest eating the whole pack at once. 

Keef drinks. If you think 25mg isn’t enough, try the 25mg Keef, you’ll change your whole thought process. If you’re a pastry eater, try edible chocolates or brownies. We do have brownie mix, which is bomb. Get the 200mg brownie mix with the feco—Great recipe; I guarantee you will never change it up again. 

1906, the love pills for the lovers out there. Eat two a piece—I guarantee you will not need anything more or less. The concentrates—Now, I don’t have a rig or anything. I do dabble with the sugars. My favorite is the Vivid. My favorite strain right now is Runtz by Sinse. If you like the hybrid, cool, mellow, high, yet still attentive in a social gathering, that is perfect.