AACE INTERVIEW: Sohan Shen of MCR Labs
My relationship with cannabis has led to a deeper self-awareness and understanding of who I am and the world around. - Sohan Shen
I met Sohan online at Linkedin, a great place to network and most importantly to find the people of note in the Asian American cannabis industry, this is a true honor to have him on AACE - Ophelia Chong
Sohan Shen is the Business Development Manager at MCR Labs, where he identifies opportunities to help serve the cannabis community by testing for and ensuring safer products. As a sales and marketing professional with a background of helping early stage technology companies grow and scale, Sohan maintains an understanding of the industry where things are trending and can often be found at community and industry events. Sohan received a masters in accounting at UMass Boston after completing his undergraduate studies in marketing and chemistry at MIT.
How has your views on cannabis changed?
Beyond the typical health ed/anti drug abuse campaigns during school which I never paid close attention to, I didn't really give cannabis much thought growing up. It was the summer before college when I first tried it with some friends, curious to see what I was missing out on and haven't doubled back since. I've gone from a more myopic view of engaging cannabis for personal enjoyment and overplaying my hand recreationally, to modulating consumption in a more mindful manner and sharing its benefits with others. Working at our lab has opened my eyes firsthand to a variety of ways in which people rely on cannabis for therapy and relief. Furthermore as a recently diagnosed diabetic, I've noticed a positive correlation between my cannabis use and blood glucose levels, being able to scale back my insulin dependency. As with most things in life there are pros and cons, but I firmly believe the former heavily outweigh the latter when it comes to cannabis - both based on personal experience and what I foresee objective research in the coming years to bear out.
What was the impetus to that change?
Trying it and seeing for myself what it was all about. My relationship with cannabis has led to a deeper self-awareness and understanding of who I am and the world around. It's instilled the value of gathering information and forming my own opinions on something instead of simply accepting other people's authority without question. Getting to know people in the community more has also been momentous in unanticipated ways. Cannabis makes friends and brings together the widest collection of individuals all sharing a common appreciation.
How did you enter the cannabis industry?
My first foray into the industry was a stint blogging for StonerDays. Unemployed at the time and wanting to feel somewhat productive, I figured why not translate the thing I love doing into making me some money. While not the most lucrative gig, it did grant me unique access to products and gear for testing and review. I went on to be a co-founder of Social High, a social media app geared toward the cannabis community. From there, I joined a marketing agency and focused on building cannabis brands. However, I was finding that everyone wanted to tell their own stories and not hand off that part of the process to someone else. While attending a cannabis start-up pitch event one night, one of the companies presenting happened to be MCR Labs. Ready for a new challenge at that point, I decided that I wanted to start contributing in a different way and pursued a position with MCR. Working here has allowed me to meet so many interesting and passionate individuals, as we are in a privileged position to build people's trust in cannabis.
Did you do research into cannabis before entering?
I operate pretty instinctually, so it almost felt inevitable that I would somehow find a way to get involved in cannabis on a professional level. I didn't really have any specific or set expectations when entering, just a belief and desire to turn my interest into a career. It's been a winding path to arrive here, but not all those who wander are lost.
How does your family feel about your cannabis businesses?
Coming around on it slowly but surely. My brother has always been supportive and I'd like to someday work together with him on something in this space. My parents' minds have been a bit more stubborn to open; I've joked that to my father my career choice is like having a daughter choose to pursue porn. However, now that I have a daughter of my own I'm hesitant to speak so lightly. My mom's just relieved to see me working at something I enjoy at this point. And to be fair, my dad's become more accepting in adopting a longer view and has stopped emailing me new job listings every week. I'm also fortunate in that my partner respects my stance on cannabis and overall ethos even though she was opposed to it before meeting me, but reexamined it with an open mind and has come around bigly.
What is the most frequent question you are asked about cannabis?
Do you get to test it on yourselves? Sadly consumption is not part of the official service offerings.
What is your favorite way of ingesting cannabis?
Joints...the process of preparing and rolling, then smoking them socially or solo.
Where do you see the cannabis industry in five years?
Hopefully much less restricted by regulation and embraced by more of mainstream society. I haven't personally experienced cannabis culture anywhere other than the US, but people's views in general are already trending positively here. Unfortunately politics and regulation aren't as caught up with prevailing sentiment when it comes to cannabis. Once the federal firewall falls and banking is secured, more products can traverse state lines and we will see an even greater diversity of offerings. People will have developed a firmer grasp on a more personalized approach toward cannabis consumption tailored to individual endocannabinoid system and makeup.
Why do you think some Asians are against cannabis?
There still exists a stigma especially amongst the older generations around altering states of consciousness feeling unnatural or impure/immoral somehow. These sentiments can partly be attributed to lingering negativity from the Opium War. Even though cannabis was touted as a remedy for a multitude of maladies by Emperor Shen Nung and there is documented culture and tradition around it (i.e., ancient burial sites, prehistoric rope fibers), for whatever reason this embrace has not carried through to today. But I have felt the pendulum swinging the other direction, particularly as younger generations are more culturally connected and can easily access more information to make their own determinations.
LINKEDIN: SOHAN SHEN
