It’s one thing when you make it your goal to be your own boss and own a business, it’s another thing when you dream about building a business with the sole purpose of helping those in need. Stephen Carmen is the heart and soul behind Sutter Butte Wellness, and has come a long way from dreaming to really making it happen. He works tirelessly to provide affordable and discounted CBD hemp oils to the patients that need them or even sometimes providing them for no cost at all! It’s people like Stephen that are really making a difference in the cannabis industry and bringing to the light the healing powers of the plant itself.

What was the deciding factor for you to join this particular industry?

I’ve always wanted to be a part of this industry, but the deciding factor that pushed me to make the step into the sector of the industry that I am in right now was when my father was diagnosed with cancer. There was no one out there, at the time, to help us get him the CBD hemp oil he needed and when he passed away, I made it my mission to make sure no one else suffered from lack of accessibility to this medicine. I moved to California to help people by donating the medicine to those who needed it, so they could spend more time with their families and less time worrying about obtaining the medicine. It was me deciding that it was time to take a stand and help people who actually needed it. There are both adults and children across the world dying because they can’t get this medicine and it’s unacceptable, so I decided to make it my life goal to make a difference.

There are both adults and children across the world dying because they can’t get this medicine and it’s unacceptable, so I decided to make it my life goal to make a difference.

What were you doing before the green rush?

I was a safety technician in the oil field. I was comfortably in a job that was giving me $150,000 annual salary, but I left that to be in this business of helping others and distributing medicine.

What are you doing to impact the industry?

Not only do we donate over 100 grams of FECO (Full Extract Cannabis Oil) and 100 grams of oral syringes of CBD hemp oil for free, but we also offer our oil at a very discounted rate. Most companies out there jack up their prices and make it unaffordable to people who really need it, that’s where we come in. Our oils are more affordable and more pure with less THC. Our oils are made by a biochemist in a lab and he does further processes to remove any excess of THC for the oils that go to infants or children. And then he also does other purification processes for the FECO since it’s more geared toward pain management and cancer treatment rather than the other conditions that CBD oil is used for. He processes our oils to make them that more pure. I think having a product that is more affordable and more pure definitely makes an impact in the industry.

Describe your work ethic to me in one word.

Extreme. I never stop. From the time I roll out of bed to the time I head back to bed… I am constantly in touch with, not only customers and patients, but also dispensaries all over the country. I am constantly on the phone networking and I am constantly on Facebook looking for families who need access to free CBD oil for their loved ones suffering from diseases, so I can connect them with free resources and I can take one thing off their plate to worry about. I take most of my time to do that, actually. Facebook is a great tool because people always make support pages.

Tell me about a time in your career that didn’t go as planned and what you did about that? How did you handle it?

Just a few months ago, we shipped out a couple of our CBD oils to someone out here in California who needed them. We didn’t have the test results available and she didn’t want to give them to her child which is completely understandable so we asked her to send them back so we could do an independent test on her oils. She returned them, we got them tested, and we got them back to her to give to her child! In light of that, we now attach test results on every oral syringe that we dispense to ensure the purity level.

What book have you read that you’ve been inspired by? Any particular read we should put on our list?

One book that I’ve read that has always stuck with me would have to be, The Value of Life by a British novelist. It’s a story about a man who lost his wife when a drunk driver hit and killed her and all the judge did was put a suspension on his driver’s license and gave him 3 months in jail. Not satisfied, the husband takes extreme measures to convince the judge to turn around and change his ruling. It’s a really great read. Although it doesn’t have anything to do with the green rush, it inspired me to never give up. That man didn’t give up until the drunk driver was given proper justice. It taught me to always keep pushing in what I’m doing no matter how many people try to stop me; always keep on and keep going. We have a goal and it is to help people, persistence is key.

What’s the best advice you have ever gotten?

Best advice I ever got was from my father which was to never give up. Always goes back to endurance and persistence.

How would you advise someone who wants to join the green rush industry?

I would say to just go for it, that’s what I did! I had dreams and visions and I made them happen. Do everything legally, don’t try to slide under the law because it won’t work for you. Just go for it! Hope for the best. That’s exactly what I did, I just jumped into this! I quit my job and immediately started working on making my vision a reality.

What is a skill or trait that you think is necessary to make an impact in this industry?

I think you need to at least have the knowledge of medical cannabis and what it can do for illness and what type of cannabis is needed for different conditions. You have to have enough research as well to get into the field of medical cannabis, because if you don’t know what it can do or how it can help, you don’t know what products to get them or how to direct your customer. You have to have knowledge of the compound in cannabis because without that, you can’t go too far.

What is the most important thing for us to know now about the legal marijuana industry?

On medical marijuana being illegal on a federal level… it’s just wrong, it should be decriminalized; it should not be illegal for us to obtain a natural growing herb from this planet. It’s our god given right, as man, to pick freely; it even says in the Bible, “I give to thee all seed-baring plants”. Marijuana is a seed-baring plant, just as well as tomatoes. It’s 100% natural medicine that comes from the Earth and I don’t believe it should be illegal. My priority is to make medical marijuana accessible to all that need it, but I also believe we should not abuse it recreational-wise either. It needs to serve a purpose and that purpose is to heal people.

My priority is to make medical marijuana accessible to all that need it

If we are sitting across from each other a year from now, how will our conversation about the ‘green rush’ be going

Oh, it will be going very well! I think that there is nowhere for the green rush to, but up! It’s a $4.2 billion dollar industry; it’s not only a huge money-making industry, but it’s also proven to help people. I believe that our laws will have changed to give businesses like myself more freedom to help people.