RTZ Rootz is an acknowledged European player, its founder Sam hails originally from the Manchester area of England. His company is growing weed, operating retail, as well as a consumption lounge in Tenerife, an island off the coast of Spain. The founder also has plants in the ground in Thailand as of this year. Sam says it’s equally surreal to come home again even as the legal market hasn’t opened up yet for him to enter it. His booth showcased unique soccer jerseys with the RTZ logo and other merch at Product Earth.
If England legalizes, the founder says he would love to bring RTZ Rootz back home in the future. “Yeah, of course,” says Sam. “Obviously, my family lives in the UK, so for me, it's still home and always will be. But because of the stipulations of the work that I want to do, in this climate, I could never live comfortably.”
The founder says in the UK, he feels, “you're always looking around your shoulder. You're essentially selling drugs. That's something I don't want to do. I want to be a consumer product. I want to be a legitimate, licensed company. Knowing in Thailand, we're able to do that fully above board, it's amazing.” RTZ has a license to grow in Thailand with the maximum amount of lights per brand, and plans to expand into retail over the next year.
Change may be on the horizon for his home country, though. As Germany moved one step closer to legalizing cannabis for adult use, Sam predicts that England will likely follow suit once they see Germany succeed.
