“There’s so many people who have seizures, chronic pain and problems with sleep. And here’s this natural herb that people have been using for thousands of years, and there are people living their best lives on earth because of it. That interested me, to a new level.”
Meet Caleb Hawkins
Caleb Hawkins, a budtender at Crave Cannabis, has been in the cannabis industry for five years. He first began exploring cannabis when he started college. For him, it was about relaxation. But he began noticing how much it also helped other people’s underlying health issues.
“When I first started working in fast food, I saw coworkers in the kitchen who were really stressed out. But they stepped out to take a break and came back a totally different person (after smoking cannabis). I compared it to cigarettes — if I smoke a cig, I come back in, I feel good, I see how that makes sense.”
Hawkins notes that these were people who would work 60-80 hours a week. “How do they work 80 hours a week and still come in with a smile on their face? They have this secret happy little vice and it’s marijuana.”
He reflects that as a young highschool grad, getting ready to go to college and create his own life, he’d hadn’t drunk much alcohol but he was curious about cannabis after seeing the positive impact on his coworkers.
“I’m not the type of individual to try things without researching,” he said. “But the more I got into research, the more I saw this ‘vice’ that has a negative connotation actually has really positive results.”
He was pursuing studies in communication, marketing and public relations, and began feeling the desire to take cannabis’s negative reputation and make it a positive one instead.
Hawkins compares it to questions of public health or gender and identity, which have been a source of frequent conversation in the last several years.
“I’ve learned that, we humans, when there’s something new, we’re scared about it. We’re nervous,” he said.
“Can we all collaborate and learn about pronouns or different diseases? Take a moment and then come back with a different perspective? Before, we didn’t know what pronouns were, but now on many applications there are pronouns.” If people can reflect and grow in other areas, he believes we can reflect and grow in regard to overcoming stigma about cannabis too.
“It’s all about evolving, sharing information and sharing knowledge,” said Hawkins. “At Crave that’s our main thing. For a long time, weed has been stigmatized. Now it’s transitioning into marijuana — something positive.”
Imagine what we can shift if we can change our mindsets on just a “little thing called weed,” reflects Hawkins. “I imagine we can change our mindsets on all the bigger things we fight about too.”
Hawkins sees making cannabis and knowledge about it accessible to everyone, locally, nationally and globally, as a part of this transformative growth process.
I found myself inspired in talking to Hawkins. His passion for cannabis truly shines through. And Hawkins feels that same passion comes from his dispensary as well.
Crave Cannabis
Hawkins feels Crave Cannabis does a fantastic job at overcoming the cannabis stigma and creating a welcoming and educational experience for a diverse clientele.
“As a lounge, we’re doing something more than just selling weed,” he said. “We’ve taken the model of a regular dispensary, offering over a hundred brands and created a lounge where we can teach people about cannabis.”
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Teaching Grandma how to roll? Crave does it. Teaching a newly-turned twenty-one-year-old who wants to try something new but doesn’t want to drink about cannabis? Crave does it.
“We’re all about getting into the cannabis community and educating us on the positive nuances of weed. People say, ‘Oh it’s bad, it’s something you gotta do in secret’ — at a consumption lounge, we all enjoy and learn together.
Crave is willing to do research on new brands they don’t have and bring them into their store. Crave, Hawkins said, is committed to educating and growing their own selves, as well as making that commitment to the community. “We take the time to put our own hands into the flowers,” he says. “How can we take the quality up a notch?”
I asked Hawkins if he had any tips and tricks he’d recommend to someone interested in getting into the cannabis industry.
“Start budtending on your own!” he says. “Start budtending yourself, your friends.” Some of the process of becoming a budtender is simple: you apply, go through the interviews, get on the floor. “But once you’re on the floor,” he says, “you have to have that confidence and knowledge to say, ‘This brand is good, because of these reasons.’”
Hawkins said one of the most important qualities of a budtender is learning what your customers need, where they want to go, and how you can help them get there. “Maybe you have Grandma come in, and she’s been smoking for 80 years and she can’t get high anymore,” he said. “You as budtender need to figure out how to help get Grandma high, and communicate it so she can understand. It’s like how she doesn’t know how to use her new iPhone 16, but you got to help her learn if you want her to call you.”
Sometimes Hawkins has people come in who want to enjoy cannabis, but think, “If I smoke I’m going to stink.” Hawkins said there are so many options these days, that there’s truly something for everyone. “Maybe they don’t need to smoke anything at all! Maybe they want a lavender or vanilla scented rub that can help them relax. Cannabis is accessible. Don’t be afraid to come in, look around and feel better.”
Hawkins feels like the budtenders at Crave do an exceptional job with people who have just experienced loss, or who need someone to talk to. He shared a story of a customer whose dog had just died, and a budtender at Crave took the time to read the obituary for their dog and hear about the funeral the customer was planning.
“They shared the story of their dog’s life, they get something to help them relax, and they get it off their chest,” said Hawkins. “They can relax, heal and feel like someone validated their feelings. They don’t feel weird or crazy because something tragic happened. And they get a product that I know they’ll really enjoy!” Hawkins said he sees moments like these happen on a daily basis at Crave.
Recommendations from Hawkins
If someone comes in asking for a personal recommendation, what’s one of Caleb’s go-to recs? “Crave’s hand-rolled flower,” he replies promptly. “It’s hand-grown, hand-trimmed, best on the market.”
He also recommends the Lost Farm brand with live resin — they taste amazing, “and they’re one of the cleanest brands on the market,” Caleb says. “You’ll sleep great or be very relaxed.”
Hawkins feels like cannabis can be enjoyed with a variety of shows. He’s currently enjoying “The Residence” and “Adolescence” — comedies are good for relaxing, he said, but he loved the complexity of the one-shot filming style in “Adolescence.”
For anyone interested in checking out what Crave Cannabis has to offer, Hawkins recommends Crave’s TikTok to get a feel of the store.
