Sometimes, it doesn’t hurt to go against the grain. For former Herb Managing Editor Santiago Rodriguez Tarditi, he started carving his path in the cannabis industry long before it was legal.

When working at Univision in 2014, Thrillist notes that Tarditi pitched a cannabis-related project but got some disheartening reactions that maybe it was too early to bring the plant to “modern” society.

Fast forward a few years (and a few cannabis ventures like a coffee table book “High on Design: The New Cannabis Culture”), Tarditi landed freelancing gigs at Leafly, Monocle, and yours truly. Still, for the young go-getting entrepreneur, that wasn’t enough.

When traveling down to Miami to begin preparing his next business venture, Tarditi met Valeria Hinojosa, his current business partner, and girlfriend. They took their pandemic blues and turned it into a sustainable CBD business, ‘Intū,’ a play on “intuition” and “what are you into”?

According to Thrillist, Tarditi explains, “I’m more of a THC-kinda guy, and Valeria had been using CBD for a while. We wanted to share the benefits of the plant through consciously creating a more widely available CBD product.”

Browsing Intū’s website, the company also features “Heart Expansion” CBD Flower Pre-Rolls, a Rechargeable Lighter, an Eco Sacred Book (In Spanish & Enlight), and a Steel Gua Sha. These products all share some common themes, wellness, and sustainability. Tarditi and Hinojosa wanted to incorporate eco-friendly products into their rollout with cork bottle caps, vegan wax seals, and compostable burlap cords.

These minor details were meant to enhance the overall experience and add to rituals or certain meditations. Besides sustainability and wellness, Intū firmly believes in destigmatizing cannabis and changing the narrative that our favorite medicine is a dangerous drug. Tarditi and Hinojosa felt the new CBD company was the perfect way to start.

However, the main issue for Tarditi was how he believes THC and CBD are treated very differently within the public; one cannabinoid is seen as a drug, and the other as (progressive) medicine. He says that making it seem like these two cannabinoids are polar opposite isn’t good for the industry and the individual.

“That polarization leaves little room for other cannabinoids or more ritualistic consumption of the plant,” Tarditi explains. “We’re asking people to take their time smoking our joints, to meditate after taking a spoonful of our oil, to honor the plant the same way we honor our bodie