Musical Past, Cannabis Innovation And 'Buying Without Seeing': Meet Carlos Vives Jr., Avicanna's Director Of Genetics

By Hernán Panessi via El Planteo.

There is a scene from the movie Peter Pan in which the eternal child flies over a small island with several bays around it. They are green, and look magical. Apart from the fictional details, Santa Marta, in Colombia, looks a bit like that: the Caribbean Sea lies under a fading sun and there are fabled little beaches. 

Behind its back, the famous Sierras Nevadas and some concavities lead to a bay that could well be a Windows wallpaper: Carlos Vives Jr. lives, literally, in the Pearl of the Americas and looks at life, a bit like Peter Pan.

For a long time, Santa Marta received corsairs, pirates and imperial armies. "Only the strongest could stay", recognizes Carlos Vives Jr., who grows cannabis in the area. 

Since September, 2018, he has served as the Director of Genetics at Avicanna AVCNF, one of the most important medical cannabis companies in the region.

Santa Marta, land of OGs

A long time ago, large fruit and monoculture industries, such as tobacco, cotton, banana, palm and coffee arrived to the mountains and hills of this territory.

"Thanks to these companies we have infrastructure, a railroad and agronomic knowledge," says Vives Jr.

Thus, it is in this geography where the fruit business bloomed, that received the visit of the Great White American Fleet, and was once known as the "wild wild west", ended up constituting a natural legacy: "Not every place has that legacy", Vives Jr. explains.

"We are heirs of those families of marimberos of the '50s and '60s, who were given to abundance thanks to cannabis. The big growers of that time are now OGs," he confessed. And added: "We inherited that green thumb: local knowledge about the use of our lands."

Miami: the confirmation 

José Rafael López, founding partner of Santa Marta Golden Hemp and Sativa Nativa (two licenses in which Avicanna has a stake), and Sergio Puerta, his partner, allied with the Dávila Abondano family owners of Daabon (a company dedicated to the cultivation of palm and the refining of oils and derivatives, among other things) to design a cannabis project.

José Rafael summoned Carlos Vives Jr. to add experience to the genetics department. "José needed a person he could trust. Someone with experience, connections and passion for cannabis. José called me to be the curator of the company's most important asset, which is its genetic registry."

Vives Jr. got his cannabis background in Miami, USA. "Many people say that the cauldron of the best genetics in the world is Florida. Thanks to the Cubans, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans who mainstreamed the real OG Kush," he says.

At the time, living in Florida meant a kind of safe haven and also became his competitive advantage: Carlos has plenty of data he learned in the field and on the street listening to the best growers.

With a fine palate, Carlos Vives Jr. got involved early in cannabis culture, while his social network (he is the son of the famous singer Carlos Vives) gave him easy access to it. "Every week I had different types of genetics on my menu."

At the age of 28, he recognizes that this experience led him to develop a kind of superpower: shopping without looking. "As a kid, if it smelled good, I'd buy it. You didn't have to look at it. I developed that ability and that was my school," he says.

Cannabis as a profession

José Rafael López and Carlos Vives Jr. had their baptism in the cannabis sector in 2012, when Carlos left the United States and moved to Colombia. "I was bored. I found a very backward cannabis culture. I wasn't happy and I was not growing a single plant either. In Colombia I had the need to have my own medicine. José understood the business and I was the passionate one about cannabis. This was a very nice joint venture built on cannabis culture and business knowledge", he asserts.

Born in Puerto Rico from a Samario father, raised next to the sea and the Latin heat, the enthusiastic Carlos gets up every day at 5 a.m. and travels about 30 minutes from his home to a small town on the outskirts of Santa Marta, in Bonda, a tropical dry forest that enthroned the idea of "microclimate."

By 6:30 a.m., he begins to make the rounds to survey the genetics. Later, on a second round, he supervises the sheds where his commercial plantings are located. "I take care of the new crosses."

Regarding his work at Avicanna, Carlos Vives Jr. explains: "José and I are one of the few in South America to use a pollination technique on a large scale, in a public company. We were able to set a milestone: we produced some 70 million CBG seeds. If the Guinness World Records could come to Santa Marta, they would prove that this is one of the largest pollinations in the world, a fact that validates our work.”

Diving into the abyss, living the dream

The company Santa Marta Golden Hemp has three hectares, and Sativa Nativa has another one. Both companies combined add about 200,000 plants. And, regarding the business, which is winding, complex, and long term, he is optimistic: "We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We have just closed a deal for USD 2 million with a Brazilian company."

-What is the best thing about your job?

-Being able to get up every day and not be in a cubicle, but out in the open air. And that the job allows me to use my hands and feets. Being able to walk and be with the plants. Some people say to me, "I envy your job," but I am not outside smoking pot or drinking beer. However, the same energy that the plants release puts you in a state of mantra. 

When I turn off the car, get out and enter that world, everything is left behind. It is a world apart from the normal one. Languages disappear and everything is for them. I feel like a scientist working on a cure for something. You feel like you are doing something for the first time, in a unique framework.

-What did you do before working in the cannabis universe?

-When José called me, I was the marketing director of the "Vives emporium". I managed restaurants, the brand, and the record label. Everything was geared to make my life different. Cannabis was always a hobby for me, "I'm going to be a music producer", I thought. And that's where I was at. That was going to be my life. But this stage left a mark on me. As I told José: "My father is an artist, my sister is an artist and I am a producer. I'm never going to give that up. I'm going to seize this moment."

In fact, when José summoned him to take this professional turn towards Avicanna, Carlos Vives Jr. didn't sleep for two weeks. He couldn't get a bite in, either. "It was like throwing myself into the abyss. It wasn't safe at all," he admits.

What's more, Carlos considered himself an enemy of change. But even so, the opportunity to become a "pioneer" tempted him. "Why not be 'the other Carlos Vives'? And when they say my name think: 'the singer or the geneticist?' 

Through hard work on his genetic bank, Carlos dreams of becoming to cannabis, what his father is to music.

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