Matthew, his father, James, and his father’s partner, Elmar, were living in San Francisco at a time when medical marijuana was legalized in California. Matthew saw firsthand the symptomatic relief patients experienced from this alternative medical treatment and, in 2000, he began growing medical cannabis for patients throughout the Bay Area, founding and operating a nonprofit medical cannabis co-op.
Good Chemistry launched in 2010, and is now considered to be one of the finest vertically integrated cannabis companies in the country. The company’s start, however, can be traced back to the 1990s in San Francisco. The benefits of cannabis cultivation became evident to Matthew when his father and his father’s partner were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
As Matthew considered his options, he spoke to a close friend, Toby Nuber, now Good Chemistry’s COO/CFO, who convinced him to take a closer look at the Colorado medical cannabis market. Seeking an established, regulated market, Huron moved to Colorado in 2009, where regulation and legislation were being created for the developing medical cannabis industry. He co-founded the Wellspring Collective in 2009, which catered to seniors with health challenges and provided alternative health services.
Matthew and his father operated the Elmar Lins Compassion Co-Op from 2000-2009, when his father passed away from HIV/AIDS. After operating the large Co-Op for a short time on his own, the difficulty navigating the rules in the state caused him to consider leaving the business altogether.
When Colorado voters legalized marijuana for adult-use in November 2012, a policy that went into effect in January 2014, Good Chemistry expanded its Colfax location to offer both medical and adult-use cannabis. In 2015 the company opened its Aurora location in a remodeled Blockbuster Video store, and continued to expand its state-of-the art cultivation capacity. In 2016 the company procured a cultivation license in Nevada, and brought on line its third cultivation facility in Colorado. In 2017, the Wellspring Collective officially joined the family becoming Good Chemistry’s third dispensary location.
Soon after, in 2010, Huron and the first generation of Good Chemistry employees founded Good Chemistry and Good Chemistry Nurseries, constructing the company’s first garden, and opening the company’s first medical cannabis dispensary on Colfax Avenue in Denver, which Matthew found reminiscent of San Francisco’s Mission District.
After Massachusetts legalized medical cannabis, Huron followed his family roots back to the Commonwealth and began the process of obtaining a medical cannabis license in Worcester, where his grandparents settled over 25 years ago. His grandparents, Huron has said, instilled in him their passion for agriculture and healthy living that resulted in his initial entry into the industry. The Good Chemistry team constructed Massachusetts’ most cutting edge garden operation in Bellingham in 2018.
With five dispensaries and cultivation facilities across the two states, Good Chemistry now employs more than 250 people between Colorado and Massachusetts, a far cry from the 10 employees the company had when it was founded.
Over five years after Massachusetts voters approved the referendum to legalize medical cannabis, Good Chemistry opened the City of Worcester’s first medical cannabis dispensary in August 2018. Less than a year later, in May 2019, the company opened Worcester’s first adult-use dispensary at the same location.
Most recently, in October 2019, Good Chemistry opened a fourth Colorado dispensary in the Lower Highlands neighborhood of Denver.
Always striving to educate patients and customers, in 2015 Good Chemistry created the “effects category system,” which is designed to familiarize customers and patients with which strains can achieve desired results, and to help people thoughtfully navigate the world of cannabis across many levels.
While growing the business was important, giving back to communities in need is a core component of Good Chemistry’s mission. Matthew and Good Chemistry have been widely recognized for the support they have provided for a variety of organizations. In August 2016, Huron was honored for his work to advance equality for LGBTQ Coloradans and their families at One Colorado’s 2016 Ally Awards. In 2020, during the COVID-19 crisis, the company was recognized by officials in Colorado and Massachusetts for the largest contribution to relief efforts from the cannabis industry when it donated a combined total of $100,000 to the two states.
In addition to creating the effects categories, in 2016 Good Chemistry developed the S.T.A.T.S. (Sight, Touch, Aroma, Taste, and Sensation) guide to help buyers identify and select high quality cannabis while avoiding lower quality options. Huron worked with Good Chemistry master cultivators including Duncan Cameron, Scott Toland, Heath Byington, and Stephen Spinosa over several months to develop a process that helps patients and customers identify desirable and undesirable cannabis through the five senses. Good Chemistry now offers S.T.A.T.S guides free of charge at all of the company’s dispensaries.
Today, Good Chemistry remains guided by four core principles - Science, Access, Dignity and Compassion. The company offers customers an award-winning lineup of medical and adult-use cannabis products and outstanding service. It has established one of the nation’s most sophisticated nursery programs, with cultivation operations in Colorado and Massachusetts that produce world-class products at the highest levels of quality, reliability and consistency.
