TACOMA, Washington — Harvest Direct Enterprises, a biotech company pioneering lossless cannabis processing, announced today that industry titans and activists, Steve DeAngelo and Andrew DeAngelo, are joining the company’s advisory board.
Steve and Andrew DeAngelo will leverage their experience to assist Harvest Direct in engaging with researchers for clinical trials, while also engaging with national and international licensing partners interested in Harvest Direct’s patented LACY technology. They also plan to work with the company on interfacing and connecting with investors and media contacts, and increasing general awareness as to the importance of whole-plant cannabis therapeutics.
“We’re excited about this new partnership, we know that working with Steve and Andrew (DeAngelo) will help elevate our technology, and our company as a whole, and it will also bring a larger focus on the medical potential of strain-specific cannabis products,” said Zeyead “Z” Gharib, Founder and CEO of Harvest Direct. “The overarching goal of Harvest Direct is to replace dangerous pharmaceutical drugs that are overprescribed and overused in our society, with natural and holistic cannabis-based formulations.”
“Cannabis is the single most versatile herbal remedy on this planet, and we are thrilled to work with people who have contributed immensely to the advancement of cannabis for medical and therapeutic purposes like Steve and Andrew have.”
Harvest Direct’s flagship invention, LACY, is a manufacturing process that solves one of the industry’s biggest challenges: the gap in effects between cannabis flowers and all of the other products that are made from it. Different strains of cannabis produce different effects on the user based on their unique entourage effect, and the plant’s naturally occurring cannabinoid and terpene profiles.
Harvest Direct aims to preserve the full efficacy of cannabis flower in forms or consumption that are easier to dose, more consistent, and more socially and medically acceptable. This includes capsules, tinctures, gummies, and even vape pens.
“Very few companies have been able to develop truly innovative cannabis products, and still deliver them to consumers at affordable prices— but Harvest Direct has cracked the code.” Steve DeAngelo said. “Their new, patented LACY technology delivers a rich, full terpene profile equal or better than most top-shelf live resin — in a vape pen. I’m excited to see what other breakthrough products come out of the LACY system.”
“The founders of Harvest Direct, Team Z (Z and Zack), actually have a thorough understanding of cannabis pharmacology.” Andrew DeAngelo said. “And all of that love, knowledge, compassion, and respect for the cannabis plant, and for what cannabis can do, shines through in the products they create and in how they carry themselves. They’ve got a dynamic resembling Jobs and Woz, and in my opinion, their working relationship will be vital to the progression of the cannabis industry as a whole.”
Harvest Direct plans to license its LACY technology to 5 additional partners in the legal THC market this year. Currently, LACY is licensed by YIPS, an award-winning CBD products manufacturer that won 1st place in every product category entered at last year’s High Times Hemp Cup. The technology also won first place at the MJBizCon Innovation Battlefield (the TechCrunch Disrupt of cannabis).
In addition to LACY, HDE has numerous patents pending on other cannabis innovations that expand on their lossless processing philosophy. With a mission to bring everything cannabis has to offer to the people who need it most, Harvest Direct will pursue innovations that help harness the full potential of the cannabis plant.
About Harvest Direct:
Harvest Direct Enterprises, LLC (“HDE” or “Harvest Direct”) is a cannabis biotech and intellectual property development company, founded in Seattle, WA in 2017. HDE is the first company in the world to develop a manufacturing method: LACY ™ (Lossless Activation Chamber Y) that captures an entire cannabis strain – with all of its distinct effects and medical benefits – in any product form. As a result, Harvest Direct’s philosophy, and the innovative technology the company has created to support it, are monolithic for the cannabis industry. A massive jump forward in supply chain coherence, product formulation, and overall user experience. LACY is patented and proprietary to HDE, and is the first of many inventions in Harvest Direct’s innovation pipeline, establishing and championing their core philosophy: lossless cannabis processing.
Steve DeAngelo is a globally recognized cannabis activist, author, and entrepreneur. He co-founded several iconic cannabis businesses and organizations including Harborside Health Center, one of the first six dispensaries licensed in the United States; Steep Hill Laboratory, the first cannabis-dedicated testing lab focused on consumer safety; the Arc View Group, the first cannabis investment firm and now the largest network of accredited cannabis investors; and the National Cannabis Industry Association, the industry’s first trade association. He currently serves as Chairman Emeritus of Harborside Inc., a vertically integrated California cannabis company. In recognition of these pioneering accomplishments, in 2015, former Speaker of the California Assembly and Mayor of San Francisco, the Hon. Willie L. Brown Jr. called Steve, the “Father of the Legal Cannabis Industry.”
Andrew DeAngelo is a visionary leader with a proven track record of enacting systemic social change and developing best practices in cannabis. He co-founded Harborside Health Center alongside his brother Steve in 2006. With over two decades as an activist, Andrew worked on a variety of voter initiatives that legalized medical and adult-use cannabis in San Francisco, Washington D.C., and the state of California, and is also a co-founder of the Last Prisoner Project. Andrew led the design and development of gold-standard cannabis retail by innovating many “firsts” for the industry including introducing CBD medicines to heal severely epileptic children as documented in Discovery Channel’s Weed Wars, implementing the first lab-testing program in the history of cannabis dispensing, creating child-resistant packaging for edibles, standardizing inventory tracking, and initiating senior outreach.
