Steve DeAngelo

WELLNESS, NOT INTOXICATION

Steve DeAngelo is an undisputed national leader and provocative visionary in the cannabis industry, with four decades of activism and advocacy in the cannabis reform movement. News teams from around the globe have featured Steve, including major media outlets in the United States, Canada, Italy, Japan, Germany, Brazil and the United Kingdom. Steve’s landmark Harborside Health Center in California has also been covered extensively as a model for the emerging cannabis industry nationwide. His creation of a model medical cannabis dispensary that sets the best practices for an entire industry, along with his lifelong cannabis activism and encyclopedic knowledge in this arena, has made Steve one of the world’s foremost cannabis experts and respected speakers on this controversial issue.

BIOGRAPHY

Stephen DeAngelo’s activist education started early. He was born in Philadelphia in 1958 and raised in Washington, D.C., where his father worked for the Kennedy administration. At a young age, Steve was influenced by his parents’ involvement in the Civil Rights movement and his father’s work with the Peace Corps (1967-1969) – but most significantly when the family returned to the U.S. from India as the Vietnam War and its atrocities were prominent in the news. Feeling the turbulent signs of the times, Steve began skipping school to attend antiwar demonstrations – in 7th grade he organized the takeover of his school’s gymnasium in solidarity with one of these antiwar demonstrations. By the time he was a teenager Steve was aware that his political dissent could very well result in going to jail or being shot. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop him. At 16 years old Steve dropped out of school to join the Yippies, and was the key organizer of the annual Fourth of July (Marijuana) Smoke-Ins in front of the White House.

After years of entrepreneurial endeavors, and a complete education, Steve launched Harborside Health Center to bring a new model of professionalism and integrity to the industry. Harborside quickly gained recognition for its free holistic care clinic, laboratory-tested medicine, low-income care package program, and wide array of other patient services. This innovative approach generated widespread acceptance and notoriety, with acclaim by the community, city council, and local law enforcement in Northern California and beyond. In 2007 Steve was a founder in the creation and development of Steep Hill Labs, California’s premier medical cannabis analysis laboratory for safety screening and quality assurance. He also founded The Arc View Investment group, pairing angel investors with cannabis entrepreneurs.

“Out of the shadows and into the light” epitomizes Steve’s mission. His work to expose the myths created about cannabis, and to promote the positive science that is starting to emerge about it, aims to enlighten the public on the many benefits of the cannabis plant. This is an important moment in time and history that is empowering the country to change its image and perception of cannabis. Steve DeAngelo and Harborside Health Center are leading the way globally, while the rest of the world is now discovering the many health benefits of this amazing plant.