One Plant Florida, a subsidiary of Bluma Wellness, is hosting a beach cleanup at Jensen Beach Park Oct. 25 to give back to the local community and help a cause that is important to Bluma Wellness CEO Brady Cobb.

“I went to high school at Martin County High School,” Cobb told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary. “I grew up surfing Jensen Beach and Stuart and Stuart Rock. That’s such a coastal community with the beach and the river and the water. … Getting the community together and having our team members show up in the Jensen Beach area to help clean up that beach was something we thought would be a great event and a great way to give back to the community.”

Cobb expects 50 to 60 people at the event, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

“For us, it’s about becoming a part of people’s daily lives and becoming a part of the community that we’re in,” Cobb said. “As a surfer myself, I’m still in the water as much as I can, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the water in Martin County. … Most of our team are Florida born and bred. I’m Florida born and bred, and we take what we do in Florida pretty seriously.”

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One Plant operates two cultivation facilities—one on the west coast of Florida, south of Tampa, and one in Martin County, just above Lake Okeechobee. The company also has six dispensaries located in Long Beach, Jacksonville Beach, St. Petersburg, Ocala, Avon Park and Port St. Lucie. One Plant plans to open four additional stores by the end of the year, and Cobb said the company is always looking for ways to engage with its local communities as it expands.

For example, One Plant recently sponsored a surf competition in Jacksonville Beach to introduce themselves to area residents, and the company has also sponsored local home and garden shows.

“Our overall philosophy is to be an active partner within the community,” Cobb said. “For us, it’s nontraditional things for cannabis. I think most of the cannabis industry is [attending] cannabis conferences or hosting an event at their store, [but] for us, it’s more about, let’s go out and do what we can to destigmatize what it is that we do and become an active participant in the community and a partner in the community. … For us, it’s much more about long-term engagement.”

One Plant plans to be a part of the upcoming Stuart Air Show in November, and is also considering how it can support upcoming efforts to legalize adult-use cannabis in Florida.

“On a broader front, we’re looking at lots of different potential constitutional amendments for 2022 for a rec market in Florida,” Cobb said. “We will be an active supporter and participant in a constitutional amendment to make that happen, and we’re going to work with the amendment organizers to make that happen.”

Overall, Cobb sees community engagement as a critical component of any cannabis company in this nascent and emerging market as a way to destigmatize the industry and provide education on the benefits of cannabis.

“I also just think it’s a way to show there’s a commitment—this isn’t just some industry you’re going to see on CNBC as a big profit center or stock market growth,” Cobb said. “It’s an industry comprised of human beings who have a passion for cannabis. … You [should] get out there and become a part of their community and show them what it looks like. It can only help to benefit the overall growth of the marketplace, and more importantly, the legitimacy of the marketplace."