14 | JULY 2 • 2020
Jews in the D
W
hen Josh Weinberg was working
as an attorney at Honigman LLP
in Detroit, he couldn’
t imagine
that just a few years later he’
d be in the can-
nabis business — much less enter a partner-
ship with one of the best wide receivers in
NFL history.
In 2017, Weinberg met former Detroit
Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson Jr. and
guard Rob Sims, and a business venture
was born. After their football careers ended,
Johnson and Sims had been using cannabis
products to treat long-term inflammation
and joint pain resulting from the beatings
they endured on the field.
They saw a chance to invest in a product
with “untapped health benefits.
” Weinberg
saw a great business opportunity and a
chance to form a partnership with a highly
respected Detroit household name.
“It was just the perfect timing,
” Johnson
told the Jewish News. “I wanted to get
involved and see how much we could do in
the industry.
”
Two years later, in 2019, Weinberg
opened Weinberg Family Enterprises,
a medical marijuana growing facility in
Webberville, Michigan. With Johnson,
Sims, Jared Bundgaard and Adi Twina, he
co-founded an affiliated brand and cannabis
research company, PRIMITIV
.
Weinberg is one of many Jews in
Michigan to become intimately involved in
the cannabis industry since the state legal-
ized medical marijuana in 2008. Since then,
Jews have come to occupy a variety of roles
in the business, including helping to draft
statewide marijuana laws, as well as working
in marketing, advocacy, testing laboratories,
growing facilities and secure transportation.
And marijuana appears to be pandem-
ic-proof. While many businesses have strug-
gled to remain afloat during the economic
recession brought on by COVID-19, many
local cannabis businesses are doing better
than ever.
LEGAL GRAY AREAS
Adam Goldberg, the CEO of Evergreen
Logistics, a licensed marijuana transporta-
tion firm in Grass Lake, Michigan, says one
of the reasons he was attracted to the canna-
bis business was the thrill of being a part of
something new.
“You don’
t get too many opportunities to
be a pioneer in an industry,
” he said.
When Benjamin Rosman and Lev
Spivak-Birndorf opened their testing facility,
PSI Laboratories, in Ann Arbor in 2012,
it was one of only two such laboratories in
Michigan.
Rosman says he was inspired by his own
cautionary experiences with unsafe cannabis
Michigan’
s cannabis industry, propelled by Jews
and ex-Detroit Lions, takes off during the COVID-19 crisis.
MADELINE HALPERT CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Michigan’
s cannabis industry propelled by Jews
Jews
andJoints
“It was just the
perfect timing.”
— CALVIN JOHNSON
GLENN TRIEST
A technician
at PSI Lab
does some
testing.
PSI INSTAGRAM
(L-R) The Jewish PRIMITIV
co-founders, Jared
Bundgaard, Adi Twina and
Josh Weinberg, with Calvin
Johnson Jr. and Rob Sims,
in their Detroit office.