Santa Cruz Naturals Celebrates Its 10-year Anniversary
Over 10 years ago, Colin Disheroon, Santa Cruz Naturals’ founder and CEO, worked as an outdoor education teacher. Colin suffered from chronic back pain and found cannabis to be helpful for pain management. He also discovered that it could help others. He took his belief in a higher flower and a passion for the cannabis industry and turned it into a reality, founding Santa Cruz Mountain Naturals. This growing collective, Santa Cruz Mountain Naturals, based in Boulder Creek, was a neighborhood collaboration that sought to grow and distribute cannabis for medicinal use.
In 2010, Santa Cruz County began the process of legalizing cannabis medical dispensaries. This prompted Colin to work with Clean Green Certified® attorney Chris Van Hook to create what would soon be Santa Cruz Naturals’ medical dispensary. On May 30, 2011, Santa Cruz Naturals, with support from county officials and the local chamber of commerce, opened its doors for medical patients.
Santa Cruz Naturals was built on the values that cannabis could be grown organically and could be immensely beneficial for the community. It could reduce crime, contribute financially to the communities it served, generate tax revenue, and help those seeking relief from most of life’s aches and pains, while also providing joy to those who embraced cannabis’s psychoactive effects.
In 2019, broadening its work within the community, Santa Cruz Naturals created and hosted one of the first fully licensed cannabis events in California, the Power of Flower Festival of Music and Cannabis. The Festival showcased over 60 different local cannabis and non-cannabis businesses, a full day line-up of world-class bands, a dab bar, VIP lounge, and a full-service cannabis retail experience.
Today, Santa Cruz Naturals stands behind those same values that it committed to nearly 10 years ago, as a majority of the product offerings are local and sustainable, providing consumers with the best choice in quality and the most community-focused options. When looking to the next decade, it is Colin’s hope that “Santa Cruz Naturals can be a catalyst that helps cannabis consumers recognize the benefits that come with supporting local, environmentally conscious businesses—businesses that prioritize the well-being of the community.”
When asked what his favorite part of building Santa Cruz Naturals has been, Colin answers happily: “Having spent the past 10 years providing a forum for our staff to both learn and engage with the community has been incredibly rewarding, as has developing the many wonderful relationships that we have with local businesses.”
Santa Cruz Naturals is excited and humbled to celebrate its 10th anniversary and looks forward to the next 10 years of serving our community!