Growing the Industry: Q&A with Heya’s Anthony Domangue
Missouri’s medical marijuana market is growing. Reaching over $100 million in retail sales in less than 12 months, the industry is creating employment opportunities, economic growth, and community revenue. In a new short-form Q&A series, Growing the Industry, Greenway looks to highlight and introduce the individuals behind the plants that the market is built on.
When I met Anthony Domangue, I was introduced to him as a father and husband, a horticultural hobbyist, and a cannabis user who was passionate and knowledgeable about the plant. The Missouri market was barely in its infancy and Domangue was a young father raising a family with his wife, both of whom were newly legal medical marijuana patients – who had been stigmatized at times, due to their use prior to legalization, but were unwavering in their belief in cannabis as medicine. Fast forward two years and both Domangues have now made their careers in the cannabis industry.
Domangue has found his home at Heya Wellness, helping to grow some of the state’s most popular flower.
Name: Anthony Domangue
Title: Flower Lead
Company: Heya Wellness
How did you discover your passion for cannabis?
I discovered my passion for cannabis long ago. When I was 17, I began to learn that cannabis was extremely beneficial. I watched someone online with seizures have bodily rest and mental solace after smoking a joint while actively in a seizure. From use as an analgesic to cancer curative properties, I was astounded that we as a country were deliberately not told the truth. After a few years of study, I began consistent conscious use of cannabis as medicine.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learned from growing?
The best lesson I’ve learned from growing is that repetition, humility, and hard work will continuously put you in a place to improve as a grower. Huge egos are the worst epidemic among home growers and commercial cultivators. Having the attitude of a student will always take you a long way.
What’s your favorite cannabis cultivar and why?
I’m preferential toward cannabis with anti-inflammatory and appetite-stimulating properties. My favorite cultivar at the moment is a two-way tie between Grease Monkey and Scooby Snacks. Both are sedative Indica-dominant cultivars with sweet and gassy flavor/smell profiles. Scooby Snacks has a sweet cookie odor from Platinum Girl Scout Cookies and a gassy funk from the other parent genetic Face-Off OG. Grease Monkey gets its funk from the adhesive smelling Gorilla Glue #4 crossed with the sweet chocolate smelling Cookies N Creme.
You’re a pretty accomplished gardener outside of cannabis – How do those two passions intertwine and what separates them?
On one level, gardening is the same regardless of whether it’s cannabis, fruits, or veggies. I learned my base of horticulture knowledge through conventional gardening. Basic principles of what macronutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) should be fed to a plant during the various phases of the life cycle. So on one side of the coin, it’s all gardening and caring for living plants. Gardening in cannabis differs most obviously on the regulatory side of things. Nobody cares if I grow 100 bean plants in my backyard, but there would be some comments made if I had 100 cannabis plants flowering
What’s the best piece of advice someone has ever given you?
We often stop ourselves before we start. The human potential is vast! With mental and physical perseverance, few things are impossible