The cannabis industry might be chill, but it may want to start vetting its speakers a bit more. Self-made cannabis expert Daryl Guberman, who was once arrested for driving under the influence when he caused another driver to swerve off the road — all in front of a cop — just gave a speech on “High Quality Cannabis” at the 2017 Boston Cannabis World Congress and Business Exposition.
The speech was allegedly about “discussion on getting high quality in medical and recreational cannabis including attributes and detriments to the process and certification,” but it’s a fair bet that it was just Guberman telling the crowd that the IAF is working for North Korea, that they hacked Donald Trump’s phone, and that keynote speaker Al Sharpton is actually a hologram used by the Chinese to infiltrate the news media or something.
It’s unlikely the organizers are aware of Guberman’s long list of ethical violations and faux pas-es, nor the fact that he makes about as much sense as a man whose brain has been removed, blended into a smoothie with a Snickers bar and two spoons of marshmallow, and then sludged back into his skull through his nose with a funnel.
Guberman has no expertise at all in cannabis industry, except perhaps as a consumer, but that hasn’t stopped him from issuing self-accredited POT9009 (or whatever it’s called) fake certificates to cannabis testing labs. This means, of course, that Guberman-certified labs are not actually subject to any real standards, since Guberman issues certificates to standards that don’t exist, and can fill their medical marijuana with hydrocholoric acid and paper clips and still get a “Gubercert.”
The medical marijuana industry has an uphill battle towards being seen as legitimate already, and having DUI-laden, conspiracy theory mongers like Guberman represent their brand is not going to help. It appears, however, that the group organizers don’t actually vet their speakers, and are just glad to have people fill the slots to justify the entry fee charged to guests.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
