“We don’t think that wellness and feeling good is something that should be a privilege,” ardently expresses Peter Rosenstein, co-founder of Stream Wellbeing. “It should be a right.”
That is what Stream Wellbeing, a CBD company, in essence, is. The products that Stream cultivates are about promoting the health and the wellbeing of those who use them. And so why would the altruism stop there.
Stream Wellbeing is headquartered inside Chicago, a city whose gun violence and discrepancies between the rich and the poor is well-documented.
The brand has partnered with initiatives to give back to the community and promote wellness to individuals that don’t often get the opportunity to take part in certain activities like yoga, breathing exercises, and gardening.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Rosenstein. He was adamant about Stream Wellbeing being more than a CBD company. It is a wellness brand, one that doesn’t turn a blind-eye to societal issues or racial disparities.
What follows is an exploration into a cannabis brand with a clear focus on social and environmental consciousness. And what efforts like that of Stream’s can mean for the cannabis industry and business in general moving forward.
Stream Wellbeing’s push for CBD wellness
“It really got started on my end, as a user,” says Rosenstein.
“I had a shoulder injury cause I trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and I’d been trying everything to get rid of this inflammation in my shoulder…”
He was an investor in a THC and CBD extraction company in Colorado at the time. After trying other healing methods for almost 18 months, he was convinced to start trying CBD.
Peter got on “the regime” and started feeling really good after about three weeks of taking CBD. He started going around telling everyone about it, “preaching it like gospel… this stuff was sort of magic juice for healing.”
Some time later, Peter and his two partners in Stream, Alex and Cody, were out in CO for their yearly guy’s trip. They looked at the cannabis space and decided that there were some different things they could bring to the market.
A three-pronged approach
Cleaner extraction
Organic ingredients
Giving back
“To put it simply, we have a three-pronged approach here. We have a cleaner extraction than our competitors. We have targeted organic ingredients in most of our skews. And we’ve partnered with a community on the south side of Chicago through a group called I Grow.”
Cleaner extraction
In order to turn a hemp plant into an oil tincture, one must extract the cannabinoids and terpenes from the plant material leaving them with a concentrated oil. But in order for that extraction to take place, there needs to be a solvent.
Too often companies try to cut costs and cut corners, resulting in residual solvents. This means the product is less safe for the consumer, as well as for the environment.
Stream does things differently.
Stream doesn’t use any solvent. It uses a patented process whereby heated air is the only thing that comes into contact with the plant material. The hemp is extracted, activated and refined in a matter of seconds, producing a terpene-rich, USDA Organic certified hemp extract.
“In our book, less is more,” Rosenstein says.
“We kind of view ourselves as like the wild-caught salmon or the grass-fed beef of the industry. It’s just a cleaner process with less ingredients.”
Organic Ingredients
Stream CBD has three products: Rest, Recovery, and Natural.
The Rest CBD oil contains organic MCT oil, organic hemp-derived CBD, organic lemon balm oil, organic holy basil oil, and organic chamomile oil.
The tranquil properties of the Rest product allows for a soothing healing feeling.
The Recovery CBD contains organic MCT oil, organic hemp-derived CBD, organic turmeric extract, organic cordyceps mushroom extract, and organic ginger oil.
The Recovery concoction is all about restoration.
Finally, the Natural oil contains only organic MCT oil and organic hemp-derived CBD.
While Stream still takes flavor into account, the organic properties that make up its products are what is most important. Through a stringent research and development process, everything is considered, but naturalness and safety for the environment and consumer supersedes all.
And it’s the honesty and vetting in Stream’s products that separate it from other brands. You truly know what you’re putting into your body, and for purposes of healing, nothing is more important than that.
Community give-back
In addition to environmental awareness, Stream is socially conscious of the company’s position and how it can give back to communities in need.
In partnership with I Grow Chicago, a community program focused on helping residents in need, Stream wellbeing wants to help provide communal solutions and opportunities to live safely and freely.
Specifically, Stream sponsors some of I Grow’s yoga, mindfulness and wellness programs. The young Yogi’s program is as much about teaching people about proper mindful yoga practices as it is about teaching them how to teach others.
“We’re teaching the residents of the community a skill that they can then go and have beyond this program. And they teach them expression through movement, breathing practices, and their one breath,” says Peter.
He explained that the “one breath” theory is that in a crucial moment, the ability to take a deep breath and make a rational decision can make all the difference, sometimes even between life and death.
Speaking of the Yogi’s program, Peter says,
“It’s also just fun for them. It’s such a break from a lot of the traumas they have going on in their life. I’ve been down to a bunch of these yoga classes… these kids are having so much fun.”
When COVID struck the U.S. hard, the Yogi’s program had to pivot. Stream had to look for other ways to give back to the community.
“Initially we went straight to supporting frontline COVID workers that, this community in particular, were devastated by COVID. I mean, 80% of the deaths in the Chicago area came out of these communities and were [largely] black deaths,” says Peter.
He remarked how in some ways, Stream has been focused on Black Lives Matter before it became a trendy thing. Chicago is a city well-known for its racist systems and segregation between white and black communities. Trying to combat centuries worth of economic, social and political inequity is a lofty aspiration. But everyone doing their part makes a difference.
“So, you know, look, we realized that yoga isn’t healing the systemic problem in the hood, but it’s just… I know how good I feel when I’ve done a yoga class. And we don’t think that wellness and feeling good is something that should be a privilege. It should be a right and so we chose to sponsor this specific area of the I Grow program.”
COVID striking wasn’t just about a virus that doesn’t discriminate; it was another example of how, through the systems that make up the city, black people are worse off and more prone to danger than white people are.
“This is just part of who we are as people, and we believe that stream is a wellness product. It’s hard for underprivileged people to afford but we wanted to take a piece of those proceeds and make sure we were giving back and promoting wellness to communities that maybe couldn’t afford to do it themselves,” says Peter.
Another effort Stream has connected with I Grow Chicago on is the Peace Garden. It’s done every year, and it’s about providing nature and gardening opportunities to people without those chances.
Neighborhoods in Chicago like Englewood can be extremely desolate. They don’t see much green, they don’t see much nature.
“This garden brings a lot of light to the area and it teaches the community where your food comes from and about organic food practices,” says Peter.
Stream employed one of the residents who tends to the garden for the month of June. The garden has recently been harvested for eggs, tomatoes, zucchinis, cucumbers, eggplants, etc.
“It’s just kind of this little beacon of light in what can otherwise be a kind of a rough and tough neighborhood.”
Stream hopes to help out more communities across Chicago and across the entire country. There is little satisfaction in helping out a small group. While it is pleasant and clearly worthwhile, there is more to be done, and I Grow Chicago helps Stream renew its determination.
Stream doesn’t just preach sustainability and ethical practices. The company backs it up. Tested, safe creation methods, transparent, organic ingredients, and a focus on helping out people who need it most. That’s what you get when you get involved with Stream.
“We’ve taken the approach that we’re not going to compromise anything when it comes to our ingredients. This is a product that we take every day and we want it trusted by all of our customers the way we trust it. And I think that is going to set us apart.”
The cannabis industry is blossoming right now, but depending on city, state, and country, certain regulations and loopholes could change the entire trajectory of a business. Not all brands standing on two feet right now are going to be doing the same five years from now.
Who do you trust to help you get and stay well?
A brand where you know what you’re getting. A brand that looks out for everyone.
Stream’s focus is as much on sustainability and community wellness as it is on the betterment of its products. Ultimately, everything is intertwined, and the wellness of CBD users is only part of the effort.
Do marginalized members of the community have access to wellness opportunities? Do they have access to the same treatment that more privileged people do?
The efforts of Stream are to promote wellness, kindness and compassion. It’s about more than cannabis, and Stream shows us that there is more to life.
