Your Friendly Neighborhood Cannabis Company: Revolutionary Clinics

Meet Revolutionary Clinics! 

If you're looking for a company that's "doing it right" look no further than Revolutionary Clinics. Based in Massachusetts, Revolutionary Clinics currently has three locations and offers delivery services in the greater Boston area.  

Sana Packaging has been working with Revolutionary Clinics since 2019 and they have single handedly diverted and reclaimed over 20,102 lbs of ocean-bound and reclaimed ocean plastic - that's 10 TONS! Needless to say, we are extremely proud to call them a partner and help them make an impact. 

We had the pleasure of interviewing Andrew Sharp, Brand Manager at Revolutionary Clinics, and learning about their sustainability practices, community engagement, and experience running a vertically integrated cannabis company in Massachusetts. 

Our Interview with Revolutionary Clinics

Tell us a little bit about Revolutionary Clinics

Revolutionary Clinics is a vertically integrated cannabis company in Massachusetts. We have three dispensary locations, one in Somerville and two in Cambridge.

We also have a production facility located in Fitchburg, MA, where all of our flower is grown and other products such as edibles, vape cartridges, and topicals are created.

You can also find our products at 50+ dispensary partners across the state, and order delivery from our medical locations to almost anywhere in the greater Boston area!

How did you become involved in the cannabis industry?

As the medical cannabis industry in Massachusetts began to take root in 2016, I saw the opportunity to work in a brand new space where I could utilize my passion for the plant and helping others along with my experience in digital marketing.

In my five years in this fast paced and growing industry, I’m proud to have helped improve the lives of thousands of patients.

What inspired you to make the leap to sustainable packaging?

The cannabis industry is heavily regulated with policies that require packaging to be child-resistant, tamper proof, small serving sizes, etc. which can lead to a lot of packaging being used for a single unit.

As a large producer, we’re aware of the impact excess packaging has at scale. With this in mind, we’ve always focused on how we can best use eco-friendly packaging that meets all the required regulations and have continued to source sustainable packaging as more options become available. 

What other sustainability initiatives are you taking to be more environmentally conscious (besides packaging)?

This is a major focus for us at Revolutionary Clinics (we're a bunch of tree-huggers) as we continue to evolve our supply chain to source more raw ingredients from eco-friendly and community focused responsible vendors. For example, sourcing single origin carbon negative sugar to be used in a variety of edibles.

Revolutionary Clinics is known for its diverse team and strong community engagement, how did you go about laying the foundation for your company culture?

Early on, we interviewed our customers as well as cannabis consumers across the United States and we learned that “people” were what customers really connect to. While product is important, it was the connection with our people that made folks want to shop at Revolutionary Clinics.

This sharpened our focus on hiring the best, paying the best, and treating our “rev family” the best. This philosophy also made its way into how we see our customers as well as the communities that we are in. 

What are some of your key community outreach initiatives? 

The Margaret Fuller House, a Cambridge-based organization that provides integrated services to individuals and families to empower them to overcome challenges, reach their potential, and achieve their goals, has become a key outreach initiative of ours.

We recently announced a $25,000 commitment to the Margaret Fuller House to help provide nutritious meals to families in the Cambridge community and assist with community outreach efforts.

We also support CAAS (Community Action Agency of Somerville) with a $25,000 grant that they use to support Head Start in Cambridge and Somerville.

We’ve expanded our Aspire program, or Achieving Success through Partnerships for Inclusive Retail Entrepreneurs. The program aims to help people who were disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs start a cannabis business.

This grant will be funded through additional profits generated when we are able to sell adult use license in Cambridge. We kicked off the commitment with $100,000 free grants to two economic empowerment shops that are working to get open in Cambridge.

We also support and fund a handful of other community organizations such as East Somerville Main Streets, The Welcome Project, Somerville Homeless Coalition, Somerville Community Corporation, Cambridge YWCA, Starlight Square and The Mayor’s Covid Disaster Relief Fund in both Somerville and Cambridge.

We also helped form and fund a program called GIFT (Green Industry Funded Training) a mentorship program in which we pay, train, and mentor economic empowerment applicants to learn the business before they open their own. 

Beyond our core programs, we regularly run brand campaigns focused on specific nonprofit organizations from the Last Prisoner Project to GLAAD, and so many more to provide a portion of sales from specific products to be donated.

Massachusetts is a limited license state, what were some of the challenges of navigating the Massachusetts regulatory landscape and building a vertically integrated cannabis company? 

Nothing really unusual. Like every cannabis company whether it’s retail, a grow and/or production facility, or fully vertical, there are a plethora of rules that have to be followed or you're out of business. It definitely adds a layer of complexity, but it’s just part of the game.

You have three retail locations - one in Somerville and two in Cambridge - how have these different communities embraced the cannabis industry?

Both cities are moving very slowly as neither one of them has an adult-use retail location. Not that they don’t embrace cannabis, but there's a lot of politics and good intentions in play to try to do this right which has slowed down the progress. 

What is your most popular product (or strain) and why? 

Our I Am edible line of Fruit Chews is among our most popular brand of edibles.These delicious chews come in a variety of flavors and are trans-fat free, gluten-free, and vegan. You can find I Am edibles in dozens of medical and adult-use dispensaries throughout the state.

On the flower side, we have our Mile 62 brand which always tests in the high 20 percent range for THC and has a solid terpene profile. This is a very popular product in our flower line.

What environmental issues are most important to you and your community or region?

Revolutionary Clinics is working to be as efficient as possible when it comes to protecting the earth’s natural resources. The majority of our packaging is biodegradable, recyclable, or made from post-consumer waste.

Our grow and production facility, which is housed in a retrofitted shoe factory built in 1893, is a model of sustainability and the facility’s geothermal water-cooled LED lights make us more environmentally efficient. 

What are some of your favorite aspects of working in the cannabis industry?

There are many positive and fulfilling aspects of working in the cannabis industry. One common facet we hear from many team members is being able to help patients.

Many of our patients have tried countless other medicines before turning to cannabis. Being able to help a patient find a product that fits their needs and actually helps them, that is one of the best parts of this industry.

Learn More About Revolutionary Clinics

Sana Packaging had a great time sitting down with Revolutionary Clinics and learning more about their business, community initiatives, and values. 

We hope that our Customer Blog Series puts a spotlight on the companies who continuously do the right thing for the planet and its inhabitants. Thank you to Revolutionary Clinics!

Visit their website here.