FOR OUR BUDZ
“To me, it’s about pioneering a movement for clean cannabis in New York. We are trying to inspire our community to want better, higher quality cannabis for themselves.”
Vitabudz was built on advocacy and education. How did you first recognize the need for higher standards in cannabis testing and cleaner cultivation practices in New York?
J: Vitabudz began before the legal market in New York, so early on I recognized when purchasing in the street, that most people didn’t understand what they were putting into their bodies. My experience as a grower took me to legal states to learn to grow and purchase cannabis. In Legacy market they were testing cannabis, so I was being educated on better practices that were already being used on legal farms in other markets. That made me realize how behind the illegal cannabis market was in terms of being aware of what they were consuming. We began bringing awareness to the streets by bringing our customers clean cannabis from Legacy. Now, legally we’re using those same practices in New York, seeking out regenerative farmers with the same values because we want to bring clean, sun-grown cannabis to this market.
R: Cannabis is a part of our community, the same as our bodegas, shops and fruit stands. Growing up, cannabis was normal even when it was illegal. It was around just like any other plant or fruit. It wasn’t treated like a drug – in Caribbean culture it is normal to be of age and consume cannabis. Clean cannabis is a part of Caribbean culture. We knew were it came from. It was medicinal. Flatbush is Caribbean culture.
Coming from Flatbush, how did your roots influence your belief that New York consumers deserve transparency, safety, and organically grown cannabis?
R: Before I grew up in a neighborhood in NYC, we grew up with a Rastafarian Jamaican father who always believed in nutrition. Every fruit should have seeds. Everything you consume should have nutritional value. When you consume live foods, you enhance your experience and your body. That’s the mindset he raised me with and cannabis was treated the same way as any other sustenance. We want nutritious, clean cannabis without additives. As time went on, the streets lost the knowledge of naturally grown cannabis and people just wanted to get their hands on any type of flower they could find. They were chasing the high, consuming and buying more than what was once needed when the cannabis was clean. My brother educated me about the power of consuming better, clean cannabis, which resulted in better highs and experiences, reminding me of when I was younger. Instead of chasing the high and smoking more, I was able to realize the benefit of clean cannabis – consuming less flower for a steady high, resulting in less anxiety.
Why is it so important to partner with small farms that prioritize organic, sun-grown cultivation?
J: Partnering with small farms gives us the best cannabis, closer to culturally what we’re accustomed to smoking. Know your farmer, know you’re getting quality product.
R: We prioritize small farms because it’s farm to table cannabis. We know the grower, we know the practices and what goes into growing their plants. It gives us the ability to ask questions and gives our customers transparency that isn’t found in the commercial market. As a brand, we want to bring this knowledge to the consumer. We identify the plants grown in this region, so we know what we’re consuming. Similar to how conscious shoppers in a grocery store find organic, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables, we want our customers to know how the cannabis they buy from us is grown, what’s in the soil, and that there aren’t dangerous pesticides being used on our flower.
J: These farmers are the people who really care. They care about what is happening on the planet. They aren’t concerned about enormous plants for the most money, but with sustainable practices.
R: Energy is always transferred and cannot be destroyed. When plants are grown in living soil with care and good ingredients, they carry positive energy. That energy is then passed on to the consumer—creating happiness and a good experience.
How do you ensure your products are not only effective but also clean, transparent, and safe for consumers?
R: We are hands on in quality assurance. We visit the farms and sample the product. Our team goes in and helps grow the product ourselves, so that we are able to understand the process. If we feel their operation is not up to our standards, then we will find another farm with better practices.
J: Yes, we go to the farms, put our hands in the dirt and on the plants. We ensure they follow the practices and standard operation procedures that we know are best. We try this with every farm and many times we find that the farmers are struggling in these areas and at times we can work with them to help generate capital, become hands on and educate them on practices that they may not know.
R: Some growers in New York are legacy, but many are new and have never experienced the practices from Northern California. For years, New York has been misled. We are able to apply our expertise to guide newer farmers in the right direction to create the cleanest, best plants.
Vitabudz is pioneering effects-based, science-driven products like High Terpene Extract–infused gummies. How does testing and clean sourcing factor into product innovation?
J: Our gummies are created by our head chemist, Rami Taha, who can better answer this question.
RAMI: When it comes to things like terpenes, we need high quality testing to be able to determine not only the terpene percentage in our products, but the different terpene compositions to blend to create the different effects.
How do you see organic, sun-grown, and rigorously tested cannabis shaping the future of the New York market?
R: I see the potential for organic, sun-grown cannabis to become scarce in the New York market. Once the consumer understands the nutritional value, they’ll seek out the product because they understand that it’s what’s best for their body instead of just finding whatever is convenient and conventional.
How do you see your farm partnerships contributing to community empowerment and long-term sustainability in the industry?
J: We hope in the future to host trips to the farm, where consumers can talk to the farmer, and get to know the process and practices. Farm partnerships allow us to educate dispensaries and their budtenders, which in turn will educate the people.
What do you think consumers gain from cannabis that’s grown more intentionally and with respect for the plant and the land?
R: You get a more nourishing high versus a numbing high. The high from sun-grown flower is richer and lasts longer, even though I smoke less of it. I don’t feel lethargic and can accomplish what I need to do throughout the day. It enhances my experiences.
Vitabudz emphasizes education, empowerment, and sustainability. How do you bring those values to life in your work and your products?
R: When I was a budtender, brands never really came and educated us on the products and the ones that did would bring treats for us, but never anything healthy. Now as a brand owner, I come in with a vegan chef who cooks for the staff and customers, while we educate the budtenders on our products. We bring samples and teach them about the farms we work with to leave an impactful experience. This empowers the budtenders to educate the customer and then the customer can share this information with their community. Most budtenders don’t know about COAs and different terpenes, especially pertaining to sun-grown cannabis. If they don’t know better, they can’t choose better for themselves and their customers.
J: Information is power. By providing the education, we are empowering them. By sourcing regenerative farmers for our flower, we are supporting the most sustainable way to farm. Indoor growing is burning so much electricity, while outdoor is minimal energy, off the grid, using land water, recycling the water and staying away from fertilizers that damage the crop. Regenerative farming helps build the nutrients in the soil as opposed to destroying the soil. That’s one of the practices we look for in the farms we work with.
R: We prefer farmers over commercial growers because we get better results from farmers.
“The real question should be: How is it grown? By asking this, people begin to think about the process and learn more about what they’re consuming, instead of only focusing on THC levels. It plants a seed of thought in our community, so the next generation can carry forward quality, sustainable practices.”
As a minority-owned brand, how do you see your role in shaping a more inclusive and community-focused cannabis industry?
J: To me, it’s about pioneering a movement for clean cannabis in New York. We are trying to inspire our community to want better, higher quality cannabis for themselves.
R: Make sun-grown cool again! People are buying what they’re told to buy. Through decades of marketing, the consumer, especially in our communities, has been tricked into thinking that the more potent, higher THC, indoor, commercially grown cannabis is the better high. We’re here to change that narrative through education.
Why is storytelling—sharing the voices of farmers, advocates, and local pioneers—so important to the Vitabudz mission?
R: The farmers, advocates and local pioneers are the ones that hold on to traditional and organic, quality flower the way it’s supposed to be grown. They hold onto these values even though the cannabis market has made it hard to do.
Vitabudz is creating clean, effects-based products like High Terpene Extract–infused gummies. How do you balance innovation with staying true to your cultural and community roots?
J: In the 1960s, many hippies left the cities—escaping government oppression, racial tension, and war—and moved into the mountains. There, they learned cultivation practices from Black farmers, whose cannabis and hemp-growing knowledge dated back through the 1800s and 1900s. These traditions, rooted in organic practices and passed down through Rastafarian culture in places like Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, shaped what we now think of as cannabis culture: from the way food is grown, to hairstyles, to drumming patterns, to the spiritual connection with the plant itself.
Today’s second-generation farmers—the children of those original hippies and Black growers—are carrying on this knowledge. It’s a cultural legacy that risks being lost as legalization changes the industry, but it’s also a living tradition that we want to protect and pass down. Cannabis has always been more than a crop; it’s a sustained livelihood, a cultural practice, and a piece of history that connects us across generations.
Where do you see the New York cannabis market heading in the next five years, and how do you want Vitabudz to help guide that direction?
R: I want to see a greater demand for clean products and more informed consumers. At Vitabudz, we’re working to shape the market by leading with education and quality cannabis—so that sun-grown, sustainably cultivated flower is valued equally, if not more, than indoor, high-THC cannabis.
If there’s one change you’d like to see in the way people think about cannabis—whether in culture, community, or consumption—what would it be?
J: I would like to see more of the community involved in the growing and supply chain side of the cannabis industry. I want more of the community to be interested in owning land and growing. In the future, we’d love to inspire people on the cultivation of the plant through grow classes.
R: The real question should be: How is it grown? By asking this, people begin to think about the process and learn more about what they’re consuming, instead of only focusing on THC levels. It plants a seed of thought in our community, so the next generation can carry forward quality, sustainable practices.
Cultivating Change: The Vitabudz Mission
Vitabudz is pioneering clean, sun-grown cannabis in the Empire State
In the heart of Flatbush, long before New York legalized adult-use cannabis, two brothers were quietly laying the groundwork for what would become one of the state’s most forward-thinking cannabis brands. Vitabudz, co-founded by Julian and Rich Murray, wasn’t born out of a trend—it was born out of necessity. For them, cannabis was more than a product; it was a culture, a community, and a tool for empowerment.
What started as an advocacy and consulting firm designed to educate communities and promote safe access has since transformed into a full-fledged brand and cultural platform. Today, Vitabudz is sourcing premium sun-grown cannabis, creating clean and effects-based products like their High Terpene Extract–infused gummies, and building a community where farmers, advocates, and enthusiasts can share their stories.
But Vitabudz is more than just a product line—it’s a vision for how cannabis can shape the future of New York. As a minority-owned business rooted in sustainability and regeneration, their mission is as much about people as it is about plants. They’re reimagining what it means to be a cannabis brand, blending culture, science, and storytelling into one evolving ecosystem.
We sat down with Julian and Rich to talk about their journey, their vision for the Empire State’s cannabis future, and why the community will always be at the heart of Vitabudz.