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.

