Among the parties that will defeat the Thanos of cannabis prohibition known as Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, one will undoubtedly be veteran advocates such as Eddie Velez.
Our nation’s heroes, those who love this country’s ideals enough to put their life on the line for this country’s honor. Far from the “Cheech and Chong” stereotype of the constant Taco Bell eater who cares about little more than smoking their weight in Gorilla Glue and gorging on french fry-topped pizza during Rick and Morty marathons, these veterans are pillars of their communities and families. From all military branches and ranks, veterans across Texas have stood up for cannabis and hemp reform of all facets.
Involved in all types of activities within their community and caring deeply about veteran health-related subjects relevant toward their fellow veterans to begin advocating for them, those Texas veterans have become increasingly involved in the flourishing Texas hemp industry.
One such example of a veteran-led hemp company with a special focus in their community is Oak Cliff Cultivators and their CEO, Eddie Velez.
Interestingly, the Marine veteran’s background is actually in emergency management with FEMA. After completing his service in the Marine Corps and getting his Bachelor’s in Emergency Management at the University of North Texas, Velez worked in that field for 15 years in total. Doing operational response plans with hurricane evacuation and other natural disasters for a decade and a half, Velez and his wife Martha eventually changed their career paths quite a bit when hemp became legal in Texas.
Cashing out his retirement from FEMA and wanting to get into a field he certainly wasn’t allowed to be associated with while a federal government employee, Velez and his wife started Oak Cliff Cultivators. With the name, the region of Dallas that their company proudly represents is apparent. But the name isn’t simply an homage to Oak Cliff.
Originally called Brothers at Hemp due to Velez’s status as a Marine veteran, Velez changed course to incorporate his hometown in the name.
“I wanted something to reflect the community we came from and where we grew up. So we changed it to Oak Cliff to represent the Oak Cliff community that I and my wife were raised in.” Velez explained.
Coming back to Texas via his FEMA duties during Hurricane Harvey, the two hemp entrepreneurs began Oak Cliff Cultivators while still living in Austin. As of writing this article, the Velezes only moved back to Oak Cliff less than a month ago. Velez agrees that it feels quite exceptional to be home among family and friends again after such a spanning career in disaster management.
With a farm in the town of Brady, colloquially known as The Heart of Texas for its very central location in the state, the OCC team has formed quite a hemp cultivation facility, a 6,000 square foot greenhouse and a 2,000 square foot indoor drying facility.
With a location as central as Brady, it’s advantageous as Oak Cliff could do business in all the major regions of Texas within a reasonable number of hours.
Focusing on perfecting small batches of quality as opposed to large-scale mid-level flower, Oak Cliff Cultivators has a menu worthy of a store all on its own. With strains like Tokyo Joe and CBG Ice #9 in flower and a 1000 milligram bottle of CBG oil with a cinnamon-flavored option, the award-winning cultivators are showing the power of Texas veterans in The Lone Star State’s hemp industry.
At the inaugural Taste of Texas Hemp Cup, OCC absolutely swept. Winning six of the nine awards including Best Hemp Flower and Highest CBD, the reputation of their flower certainly speaks for itself.
In fact, the passion for veterans and the mission of standing with their fellow veterans is a cornerstone of OCC.
“One of my partners is from Oak Cliff as well and he’s also a veteran from the Marine Corps as well,” Velez said. “When we started OCC, we wanted to leverage the veteran side because there’s a lot of need out there for hemp and cannabis with veterans, from PTSD to anxiety. Vets benefit from hemp/cannabis tremendously and that’s something that we wanted to reinvent. Knockdown the stigmas of cannabis because it’s really helpful for veterans and we’re trying to do the same thing with the State of Texas.”
As many Texas veterans do, Velez advocates for cannabis education in the face of the staunch prohibitionists of Texas. Because many of Texas’ most notorious prohibitionists are from older generations, Velez believes changing their minds from the “Assassin of Youth” and reefer madness they were raised on could cloud their reception on cannabis. And the added emphasis on education is quite fitting for the Velezes, as Martha was formerly a vice-principal before starting OCC.
“We’ve grown a lot and grown our client list just based on educating people and I think if we can have a good approach onto our elected officials and county judges and getting people involved from the local to state levels. It has to be grassroots and has to start with local officials, but then that county and community and then up to the state senators and representatives.
If we can re-educate the local level and re-educate them and provide facts versus assumptions of what if, then that’s what we need to take to the next (legislative) session.”
Through pop-ups in both Oak Cliff businesses as well as hemp conventions and on social media, the OCC team is educating their community in the same way Velez wishes to see on a statewide level. Answering any questions with either friendliness and information or willing to direct the person asking the question to someone quite qualified, OCC’s engagement with consumers and community is multi-layered.
And while the arduous fight for recreational legal cannabis in Texas soldiers on, Velez agrees that Texas’ agricultural backbone could absolutely turn the state into a powerhouse for hemp production.