Dispatch from Ukraine
An ongoing conversation with Lana Braslavskaia, who works for AskGrowers, a cannabis website based in Kyiv
An update to a story that originally published on Forbes.com
On Thursday, Feb. 24, the day that Russia officially invaded Ukraine, I received an email from Lana Braslavskaia, who manages marketing and public relations for AskGrowers, a Kyiv-based cannabis website focused on information and reviews about cannabis cultivars, brands, and dispensaries. She wanted to know if I’d like to interview her about their business and what it’s currently like operating a cannabis website in a city under siege by Russia. I said yes and we corresponded over email.
I published that conversation over at Forbes.com the next day. Last week, I emailed her asking how she was doing, and if she would share more about what is happening in Ukraine and she got back to me yesterday with what is a frankly shocking and heartbreaking account from the last few weeks. Braslavskaia finally was able to leave Ukraine and is now safely installed somewhere else in Europe, which is why she was able to get back to me.
I retain the rights to all my Forbes stories after five days, so I republished our first conversation, plus Braslavskaia’s new comments, in its entirety here.
AskGrowers is a popular and growing website with 250,000 monthly visitors after two years in operation. It boasts a database of over 5,200 strains according to 20 different metrics provided by readers, as well as interviews with various people in the cannabis industry.
Kyiv boasts a booming tech industry — according to FastCompany, well-known companies like Grammarly, Readdle and MacPaw are all based in the capital. Companies like Google, Ring, Oracle and Snap have significant workforces in Ukraine, and Wix, Lyft and Uber maintain staff there, too.
The country has an estimated 200,000 software developers, according to a 2021 report from the IT Ukraine Association. Some work directly for companies or contract through IT-outsourcing firms, like Elitex and Softserve or direct through talent platforms like Fiverr. Fiverr has company employees in its Kyiv office.
According to the WorkWeek newsletter WTFintech, there are 235 fintech startups in Ukraine. These companies mostly facilitate payment and money transfers, provide infrastructure and enabling technologies, and digital lending, and it makes up a large part of the country’s tech industry.
Currently, Braslavskaia said the majority of AskGrowers’ team is in Kyiv. Its content manager is in Odessa and the SEO specialist has been cut off from returning home to Kyiv and is stuck in the Russian occupied territory near Chernobyl. Two other employees have moved abroad and are now unable to return to their families in Ukraine.
Here, Braslavskaia discusses cannabis’ illegality in Ukraine, what the country’s weed culture is like, current conditions in Kyiv, hopes for the future, and more. “Our team is trying to do everything in our power to help our homeland. We will continue to work in Kyiv and do everything possible so that as many people as possible learn about this war and demand to support us in the fight against the Russian occupiers,” she said.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and was conducted over email, owing to the current war in Ukraine.
Jackie Bryant: How is AskGrowers connected to Ukraine and its people? Is the entire team based in Kyiv? How did that come to be?
Lana Braslavskaia: Our team started working on the project in 2019. We are all specialists in the field of digital marketing. In addition, we are united by a love for cannabis and an understanding of its possibilities for a wide range of people. Our team was based mainly in Kyiv. Also, we have several specialists in the United States.
The only market where our project works is the USA. This location was chosen due to the huge market and the progressive level of legalization.
JB: What's Ukraine's cannabis culture like? What's the current status of cannabis in Ukraine and, prior to this war, was there a path to legalization? What is the activism culture like?
LB: Ukraine has had a fairly close relationship with cannabis since the time of the ancient Scythians. But over time, we also began to stigmatize cannabis and people using it. But for now, with the exception of the limited use of certain cannabis-based psychoactive substances (nabilone, nabiximol and dronabinol), the medical use of cannabis is prohibited in Ukraine. Recreational use is even more so.
Ukraine is only at the beginning of its journey in the struggle to achieve the legality of cannabis. I can highlight three main milestones:
2019: The Ukrainian Association of Cannabis has submitted a petition to the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine) with a request to consider a bill on the legal status of medical cannabis. There is a big problem with cancer in our country. People burn out quickly or slowly with pain, many cannot afford expensive painkillers. If such a bill were adopted, it would ease the most difficult days for sick people. But then this did not happen, despite the fact that still a presidential candidate, Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his agreement with the need for access to medical cannabis.
2020: An all-Ukrainian survey was conducted on whether the population supports the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes - to reduce pain in seriously ill patients. The result was as follows: 65 percent were in favor, 30 percent were against, 5 percent abstained.
2021: The regulation of drug preparations containing nabilone, nabiximol and dronabinol, which are based on cannabis, has been changed. To be honest, this change did not help seriously ill people, since drugs containing these substances are still very expensive.
Also, cannabis, according to AskGrowers, has a great chance to partially replace alcohol as a way of relaxing for the population. But so far, due to their illegal status, many people do not use cannabis. Also, there are no prerequisites and conditions for the development of the industry for the creation of edibles and other cannabis products.
JB: How does cannabis' illegality in Ukraine affect the business, if at all? Are there loopholes, things you need to work around? Is it considered risky for the business to do what it does in Ukraine?
LB: Since we work exclusively for the United States populace, we do not break any laws and thus we do not need to circumvent the laws. But if you are asking us if we will make a marketplace and cannabis platform in Ukraine when medical or recreational use is legalized, then our answer is, of course, yes!
JB: What's the weed like in Ukraine?
LB: Situation with cannabis in Ukraine is more like it was in the U.S before legalization. Growing up to 10 bushes is not a criminal offense in Ukraine, and many use this very loophole to grow for themselves. Also many people order cannabis seeds abroad, it’s legal and therefore they are well familiar with many strains that are currently sold in dispensaries in the US.
The proof of this is that Ukraine until the 1950s was the leader in the world in the cultivation of hemp.
JB: How has this invasion and war affected AskGrowers' operations so far? Is everyone safe? What's the plan going forward, is everyone planning on staying in Kyiv? Why or why not?
LB: At the moment, there is a full-scale war that has engulfed my entire country, and not just the front line. But, in part, we are grateful to the pandemic for the fact that the remote work format has become quite familiar to us. That heightened anxiety after the pandemic has not yet been completely forgotten, too.
There are no interruptions with the Internet, so we work as usual. The only difference is that we now have breaks not for coffee, as before, but for a sprint to the bomb shelter. Kyiv from the very first day is endangered from the sky.
At the moment, most of our team is in Kyiv, including me. Our content manager in Odessa. Our SEO specialist was cut off from Kyiv and is now in the occupied territory near Chernobyl. Two more of our colleagues moved abroad before the war and now cannot return to their families. We keep in touch with everyone.
JB: What is the company's view on the current actions in Ukraine?
LB: I'm not sure that I have enough words to describe our fear for the lives of our compatriots, anger at the occupiers and endless faith in our armed forces. We also do not understand why the entire western world, including the United States, does not give us real support. We hear only words of support and faith in our strength. While Ukraine, a country that has been at war for 8 years, is holding back one of the most powerful armies in the world, the whole world keeps silent and pats us sympathetically on the shoulder. The new Hitler revealed his face, is it possible that the whole world will again delay the massacre of him, as it was during World War II?
AskGrowers's Founder Igor Dunaevsky and CEO Irene Stepanenko did everything to make us feel safe and assured that the project would not suffer. It is possible for us to bring our families and pets to the office which has everything for comfortable work and safety: bomb shelter, food, shower, internet, and more.
You know, when choosing a company, it was important for me that the office had a homely comfortable atmosphere, but I didn’t think that a bomb shelter should appear on my comfort list.
We have sufficient financial cushion to ensure that the project is also safe. Also, anyone from the team who decides to go to defend their country in any way will, of course, save the position and full salary for each month.
JB: As a digital property, what is the company doing to ensure its safety and that of its clients from a possible cyberattack? Is that a concern? What's the contingency in that case?
LB: We have experienced data security specialists on our team who have already reported phishing attacks. But this is observed throughout Ukraine, and our project is no exception. There are no real reasons to worry. Our servers are based outside Ukraine. We're definitely can operate, work and support our project.
JB: What do you want international and especially American cannabis consumers to know about what is happening in Ukraine right now?
LB: I think the idea is simple. Each of us, regardless of the industry, must contribute to the development and stability of the country. Even if it's a cannabis business. We do not stop and do our best to develop our business. We will be grateful if everyone among the community will spread the news from reliable sources on Russian invasion to Ukraine in their social media.
People who want to go even further in helping my country can donate to the official account of the National Bank of Ukraine, which was created for this purpose yesterday.
JB: What do you hope for the future of Ukraine? Its cannabis culture? How can it and the business around it be kept alive during wartime?
Before the war, we had forecasts in the company regarding the legalization of first medical and then recreational cannabis in Ukraine. The time frame varied from 5 to 10 years, depending on the change of power and the growing up of a new generation. Now, it is quite difficult to build a new forecast, because it is not at all clear when this war will end.
As practice shows, we manage to work successfully in wartime and even achieve record metrics in our project development strategies. But in general, this is an incredibly scary time that requires a lot of resources.
JB: What did I miss? Please feel free to add anything we didn't touch on that you think readers need to know.
LB: As a human being and as a woman, I would again ask you to draw attention to the war and the horrors that we are experiencing here permanently scrolling through the news feeds and our official state pages or when we say goodbye to our fathers, brothers, and husbands when they go to protect us. But I understand that I need to focus on cannabis.
Our team, thanks to the frequent fiery speeches of our founder Igor Dunaevsky, for two years now has a feeling that the cannabis industry is freedom. The freedom to choose what is good for your body and mind. Of course, I'm talking about responsible consumption 21+.
This is something that feels good in the example of what is happening now. Russia, with an authoritarian regime, where even for the toke of cannabis people are imprisoned, where no one can even hint in the media field about the issue of legalization, since you will immediately be accused of promoting drugs. A vivid example is the persecution of journalist Yury Dud for this interview.
While Ukraine and its citizens confidently choose what they consider to be the best for themselves and not be afraid of anything and anyone.
Braslavskaia’s email from Mar. 10
“Sorry for the late reply. I overcame a difficult path and devoted all my time to urgent volunteer work. I want to thank you for the informational support you provide us. This helps many people to know what is really going on in Ukraine.
Today, March 10, is the 15th day of the war.
I'll tell you honestly, Jackie, it seems to me that the war has been going on for at least six months. The volume of news, hopes, tears, activities to help friends, strangers, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine is simply enormous. You know, I used to think social networks and all the informational noise were a super problem for the entire civilized society. But now I happily remember the days when I couldn’t stop scrolling stupid posts on Instagram. After all, then I could solve it by limiting the operation of the application or simply by force of will. But now it is impossible to stop living on the phone because lives depend on it.
All the people of Ukraine are experiencing absolutely the same thing that happened during the Second World War. This is a war of conquest, which, unfortunately, has been repeated in our land. The only difference is that with the help of the strongest propaganda machine, Putin is trying to pretend that this is not a war of conquest, in a special operation for disarmament and denazification. This is an absolute lie. And about denazification - this is incredible nonsense, we have a president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a Russian-speaking Jew, whose relatives died during the Holocaust, and his grandfather was awarded a medal for bravery.
At the moment I have been in Western Europe for 3 days. My father remained in Kyiv, he signed up for the territorial defense of the city. He is 52 years old. Explosions are heard daily in Kyiv. Active actions are now underway in the suburbs of the capital, so people in Kyiv are trying to help in the defense and life of Kyiv as much as possible.
Unprotected sections of the population are trying to leave Kyiv and go either to the western regions of Ukraine or to Western Europe. Children, the elderly, and the women who care for them cannot help in the defense and subsequent counteroffensive, so they can become extra mouths in a city where food is already difficult. The logical thing to do would be to leave the city and give our defenders more food and space to work with. Also, I want to note that many women remain, those who have combat experience, medical workers, as well as workers in critical enterprises.
There are no normal things left for residents of areas where hostilities are taking place. For areas where it is still calm, almost the same. Since they either accept a huge flow of refugees, or collect humanitarian aid, or are in permanent fear for loved ones who live in hot spots.
For example, my close friend's parents have not been contacted for 6 days, they are in Mariupol, the hottest spot at the moment. He doesn't know if they are alive. The city is in a humanitarian catastrophe. Children are dying of dehydration.
My boyfriend is on the front lines right now. He serves in such a unit that he is forbidden to say exactly where he is now. Every 2 days he writes that everything is fine with him. I naturally don't live while I wait for his next message. I didn't hear his voice for almost 10 days. At the same time, I respect and am very proud of him, because if it weren’t for such brave men like him, we would no longer have our homeland, and I would have nowhere to return.
My colleague and her husband are still in the occupied territory near Chernobyl. There is almost no communication with them, once every few days she manages to get through on the phone with us and say that everything is fine with them. There is no electricity. They are in the village with their grandmother and there are food supplies, they live only with the help of this.
I was able to leave on the evacuation bus organized by my company. The road to the border took me 2 days and 2 nights.
Also, I want to note the real help of our neighbors, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, etc., their volunteers do an amazing job, hot food, water, clothes, resettlement, transport, medical and psychological assistance — all this is provided free of charge.
This all helps a lot, but the grief from what is happening cannot disappear. I spoke to many people along the way, not a single person wants to be a refugee. None of the Ukrainians are trying to take advantage of the situation for their own selfish purposes. We really want to go home and leave the country for vacation/work/training only when we decide to do so, and not when we are forced by the Russian troops.”