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Tanner Stewart is leading his namesake company, Stewart Farms, on its mission to displace opioids, benzodiazepines, and steroidal creams with safe, made-in-Canada cannabinoid-based wellness products. His deep passion for sustainability, and the health & wellness and regenerative farming industries culminated in the founding of Stewart Farms in 2018. Tanner is an impassioned believer that the processes of our agriculture and manufacturing will dictate our health and the sustainability of our future. For almost a decade, he has been an advocate for, and entrepreneur in, the vertical farming and aquaponics industry. His passion for sustainable agriculture led him to become an executive producer of an award-winning environmental documentary, about the importance of living soil to the world, called: “The Need To GROW.”
When Tanner was the first non-Jew to contact me after the Hamas massacre to express his anguish and solidarity, I knew he would be CJM’s next Mensch of the Month (Dayenu!). Even more, he has continued to check in and express his confusion and horror about the global resurgence of antisemitism (Dayenu!). Finally, at this time when we are in dire need of allies, Tanner has called me to have long conversations about his awe of Jews and Judaism and confess that he didn’t always get it, as well as reassure me that we’ll get through this as well (Dayenu!). ✡️
CJM: We have a phrase in Hebrew, Ahavat Israel, that is used to express a feeling of love for the Jewish people, of solidarity with all Jews. (e.g. My desire to create CJM was born from my gratitude for medical cannabis and Ahavat Israel). In the aftermath of Oct. 7, you were the first non-Jew to reach out to me to offer support, and you expressed anguish about the massacre and your concern for Israel. I kept thinking: “How beautiful, Tanner has Ahavat Israel !” This type of solidarity is exactly what so many Jews need right now, and I’m sure many who read this would like to know:
How are you able to feel our pain, especially now, when it’s so easy for others to turn away, and ignore our anguish and fear? (And can you teach the others?)
TS: I feel my own fear and anguish over the horrific state of global affairs, making it easy to relate to those same feelings within the Jewish community. I am writing this after having just participated in a Remembrance Day ceremony. There, my children and I laid a wreath together in honor of my great-grandfather, Merril Stewart, who made it through World War II but passed away due to various health issues before I was born. While I wasn’t fortunate enough to meet him, I always had a picture of him in his army fatigues in my room. Merril was the man I looked up to in spirit, my granddad who fought the Nazis, helped liberate the Jews, and protected my freedoms – our family hero.
I remember as a child confiding in his picture, as one speaks to their deceased relative. We always spoke around Remembrance Day and in general times of pain or strife. I spoke to him for strength, understanding the strength he must have had to leave his family and fight against the evil of his generation. He was spiritually part of my life then and still is now.
As my daughter and son laid the wreath in his honour, the true weight of what is happening in the world, and what this attack on Israel is showing us, set in. It feels like everything Grandad fought for is being undone, and I fear my children are going to witness it. It feels as if Western ideology, the concept of secularism, and the freedom of the individual are under attack from all sides, and most shockingly, from within.
CJM: I was also surprised to learn that you prioritized a trip to Israel in 2018 to attend the CannX conference in Tel Aviv and meet Dr. Mechoulam before entering the cannabis industry. When we spoke about it, you seemed to suggest that the trip had been essential for research, contacts but also — to respect the culture that has played a leading role in cannabis research and science. Again, it’s quite unusual to hear a non-Jew speak about Israel with such reverence. I don’t have a real question here, but would love to hear you kvell about Israel a bit more (speaking on behalf of our Jewish readers—We Got You! 🇮🇱✡️🌱).
TS: Through the cannabis industry, I was blessed with the opportunity to see firsthand the freedoms enjoyed by the democratic state of Israel. In 2018, I ventured there to participate in the first annual CannX medical conference, organized by Yossi Bornstein, founder of Shizim & Cann10. I traveled there with the baggage of my preconceived notions of what Israel was going to be like.
I expected to see men with machine guns, dudes with beards and top hats in suits everywhere – a police-state kind of vibe. I certainly wasn’t planning to smoke any weed during my visit. These were the notions fed to me by Canadian media over the years.
Over the next three days in Tel Aviv, what I discovered was quite the opposite. I met dozens of industry-leading researchers and entrepreneurs doing work on the bleeding edge of medical cannabis. They came from all over the world – Canada, Germany, South Africa, Mexico, and of course Israel.
I listened to Dr. Dedi Meri speak about his research on cancer treatment, Dr. Nirit Bernstein on her groundbreaking research in cannabis physiology, and had the honor of interviewing Dr. Gil Lewitus on his work on neurological entourage effects across various strains. I was drinking from a firehose of knowledge and innovation.
On the opening evening, I was part of a meet-and-greet event on the top floor of my hotel, where the father of modern-day medical cannabis research, Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, gave a welcome speech. It was surreal. The Israeli researcher who identified and named the “THC” molecule and later went on to map out the Endocannabinoid system was standing five feet in front of me, welcoming the world of cannabis innovation to Israel.
I managed to get a customary selfie with him and will forever treasure the kindness he exuded and his willingness to engage with novices like me. Although we recently lost this behemoth of cannabis research last year at the age of 93, he left behind multiple generations of new Israeli researchers who carry on his work. I feel blessed that I had the chance to meet him before he passed.
On day one of the conference, I connected with a team of Jewish Canadian guys running a company called Strainprint, Drew Muroff and Noah Kaufman. Drew had family in Israel in the cannabis industry and asked if I’d like to hang out with them in Tel Aviv. They would show me the true Tel Aviv. Our first night out in the town was when all my preconceptions started to melt away, when I soon found out that cannabis was enjoyed freely on the streets, with no authority bothering anyone about it. It felt a lot like Canada pre-rec legalization. Sure, it wasn’t “recreationally legal,” but no one seemed to care. This really hit home the next day as I was enjoying a delicious deli sandwich and espresso in a small street-side café, while a man two tables away rolled up a joint and smoked it right at his table. That was the moment I realized how truly liberal Tel Aviv is.
In my few hours of free time, I wandered the streets and soaked in the vibrant culture and daily goings-on of Israeli life. Beautifully clean streets only littered with scooters parked along the wide stone sidewalks. A café on every corner permeated the air with the smell of coffee and fresh bread as moms with young kids on bicycles sped by going about their daily routines.
In conversation with locals, I learned that Tel Aviv specifically was the go-to city in the Middle East for the LGBTQ+ community, where their protections and rights are among the best in the world. In one very Jewish interaction, I was abruptly grilled by a lady I had just met:
“So what do you know about us anyway!? Jews? Do you have any connection?”
Growing up in small-town Canada in Miramichi, New Brunswick, I didn’t have any firsthand Jewish interactions. The only thing I could muster on the spot was:
“Well, I really love Jews on TV. Big Seinfeld fan. I really enjoy listening to the musings of Fran Lebowitz…how’s that for an answer?”
“That’s a great answer! I like it!” she said enthusiastically, looking back at me with a smile.
Ironically, this conference took place in October 2018, which happened to overlap the day recreational cannabis was legalized in Canada. So, there I was, sitting in the rooftop pub of my Tel Aviv hotel, watching the news of Canada-wide celebrations taking place on October 18th, 2018. I thought:
“Wow. What better place to be watching the birth of the fully legalized Canadian Cannabis industry than the birthplace of modern-day cannabinoid medical innovation? It felt poetic.”
Over the duration of the conference, I did seven podcast interviews, made a series of long-term connections, and formed a very personal connection with Israel and its people. I now understood that Israel was akin to Canada, our freedoms, and ideologies, and not the picture that was painted for me through Canadian media. I left with a strong base of medical cannabis knowledge that helped inform the focus on wellness in cannabis that Stewart Farms carries today. As a memento, I received a small golden cannabis leaf pin with “Cann10” engraved on it. I wear it proudly on my lapel to formal cannabis events or business meetings. That pin represents everything I took from my first experience in Tel Aviv – the knowledge, the experience, and the relationships.
CJM: Do you find yourself getting angry at the media? (In other words: Just how Jew-ish are you?).
TS: I’m less angry and more terrified by what I’m seeing. What hits me specifically hard within the media, and what happened on October 7th, is the horrifying amount of “they had it coming” attitude that seems to be coming from way too many fronts. Having experienced the breakdown in my own biases to how Israel has been painted in Western media over the years, I can only assume that what we are seeing is, in some part, driven by a misinformed notion of what the Israeli people stand for. If you don’t have the baseline understanding that despite what you may think of this government’s current actions, Israel is a free, democratic country that believes in multiculturalism, gender and LGBTQ+ rights, freedom of religion, and the individual – which is the basis for Canadian society as well – then it’s easier to pass judgment.
This past week, as I have gone on and off social media and watched various news outlets from around the world covering the events that are unfolding, I’m struck and shocked by the amount of confusion and misinformation we are seeing. Just last night on Twitter, I saw this insane conspiracy theory that the “Zionist Jews” or Mossad was behind the 9/11 attacks. All of a sudden, people in the West are looking at Bin Laden as some sort of “hip rebel” that was painted all wrong, and hate-filled people are trying to pin 9/11 on the Jews. There is a vitriol on social media that we should be afraid of, but this took the cake. I thought, “This is how it happened. This is why my great-grandfather and his generation gave their lives fighting the Nazis. Lies, hate, and demonization of an entire people were allowed to prevail within the ranks of German citizens and beyond, who were just like us, but they bought into the dehumanization of Jews.”
I think it’s okay to be against war in general. No one with a heart wants to see what’s happening right now in Gaza or the vile actions taken by Hamas on October 7th. What’s not okay is for those same heartfelt people in the West to stand by silently and let any people be defined as “the other” and blamed for all the world’s problems through the proliferation of lies. I believe you can be in support of protecting Gazan civilians, support Israel, and stand against antisemitism all at the same time, but the key is to stand.
One of the reasons I entered the cannabis industry was to have the opportunity to help people feel well and utilize the power of the Cannabis plant to replace deadly pharmaceuticals. This plant is one of healing that has touched all cultures across the globe. Jews, Arabs, Asians, and Europeans all have a deeply rooted history in the cannabis plant, making our lives more functional. Whether through its medical use, textiles, or hemp-made paper dating back as far as 6,000 years. Cannabis is a plant that brings people together, to break bread, converse, and heal. Cannabis is an important part of the Jewish community today, and it may be more medically critical than ever as the trauma of this war continues to unfold.
I believe that the Canadian cannabis industry can do its part during these crazy global times by focusing on what we are all about. Healing. We should show our love, support, and sense of community with our Jewish friends and colleagues. This love should extend to all decent people no matter their faith, gender, race, or sexual preference. Acting with love and compassion is at the core of the true cannabis industry pioneers. Our job as an industry is to advance the use of cannabinoids in healing. Helping people heal is an act of love. So, while we pray for lasting peace, I encourage my Cannabis industry colleagues to double down on what we do best and put out as much love, support, and healing into the world as we can. God knows we have a lot of healing to do.
