After 15 years in the medical field working on both the human & veterinary sides, Adam Bushey made the jump into the Cannabis/CBD industry. He is the director of strategic growth at Open Book Extracts.
Open book Extracts - bringing scientific rigor to every ingredient they sell and formulate, from traditional medicine, to modern nutrition science, to clinical program design, and translate their data into messages you can use.
What sets Open Book Extracts apart from others is they also deal in rare cannabinoids such as TCV. Along with other rare cannabinoids - cbdv, CBDa, CBGa, THCV. Adam said there's so many exciting variables or exciting cannabinoids coming out very soon. Listen to this episode to learn more about the extracts being researched by the team of experts at Open Book Extracts.
Connect with Adam:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-bushey-49aa718b/
https://openbookextracts.com/team/
https://www.instagram.com/obxtracts/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ronjini Joshua (00:04):
In this next interview, we took a little bit
more of a scientific approach.
And speaking with Adam Bushi,from open book extracts, he
talks about his journey of howhe got into cannabis. And
furthermore, his journey of howhe got into extraction and what
cool things. They're doing anopen book based in California.
So let's jump into the interviewnow. Hello, we are back today
with Adam. But she from openbook extracts. Thank you for
(00:29):
joining me, you are the Directorof Strategic Growth. Yes, yes.
So you guys are here. Are youguys exhibiting here mjbizcon.
This week,
Adam Bushey (00:38):
this week, we're not we're exhibiting next week
for another trade show. But thisweek, we just kind of wanted to,
you know, the first big oneback, we wanted to walk the
floor meet with a bunch ofclients. And so
Ronjini Joshua (00:48):
to that vein, you know, what was the biggest
anticipation coming here toVegas?
Adam Bushey (00:53):
I think it was more of a, wondering how it's going
to be, you know, it's going tobe like we we've entered into
cosmic Prov and a couple of theother semi cannabis, trade
shows, and some of them weredevastated, you know, third of
the attendees. So it's like aunknown factor right now, are we
going to show up and it'sbooming, like, MJ is this year?
(01:14):
Yeah. Phenomenal, are veryexcited, or is it going to be
normal? Or is it going to beless? I mean, there's nobody
knows, what do you know is it'salready sad. And every show will
tell you, Oh, we're at capacity,or we sold this many, but they
want people to come right. Andyou don't know what's true and
what's not. And it was true withMJ. It's amazing. You know, they
stacked it, the energy isamazing. Everybody's happy to be
(01:34):
back in cannabis and be minglingand talking. And I mean, it's
just, it's nothing like it. Sowe're very happy to be back and
very excited to be at a showthis this size. Yeah. Hopefully
that continues forward to nextyear, everybody gets their
energy back. And they're allcoming in. And we can have a lot
of great conversations.
Ronjini Joshua (01:51):
So what were you personally looking forward to
the most?
Adam Bushey (01:54):
I love, like, face to face interaction, that's my
biggest thing, sales tactic thatI exceed that. So you know, for
the last two years, it's been alot of virtual, a lot of phone
calls a lot. I mean, it's just,you know, and it's fine, it's
safe, and it is what it is, butI missed the old days of being
in person closing a big deal inperson, taking people out to
(02:15):
dinner, get to know their familyand talking about different
things. And, you know, we missedthat for a while. And we had
some interaction with clients,but it was very sparse. And now
it's like that we're justwalking the floor, having
engaging conversations, talkingabout this crazy thing that
they're doing or your thing andhow we can come together. And
those conversations and face toface are so much more
(02:35):
beneficial. I think for youknow, our company growth versus,
you know, cold calling and allthe other things we've had to do
for a couple years.
Ronjini Joshua (02:42):
Yeah, at the end of the day, we're all people. So
I think that interaction isreally important. You had
mentioned like, you're you'vebeen de MJ about four times,
four times. So tell me like,What do you think from the first
time you've come to today? Andobviously, like, so much has
happened? But what do you see isthe biggest things.
Adam Bushey (03:02):
It's interesting is it's like, there's so many new
type of companies here that I'veseen before, right? So it's
like, it's not just hemp incannabis brands anymore, and
just people getting started.
Now, it's established brands,it's industrial equipment, it's
water purification. I mean,there's so there's securities,
there's, you know, like thegentleman had earlier, all those
(03:23):
types of things now that Ididn't really see before it was
kind of just like a startup kindof shop of like, rough and
tumble cannabis and a lot ofgood old OG vibe kind of thing.
Yeah, now, it's like, there's alot of corporate mixing, there's
a lot of still the OG and themore older vibe. And then
there's also like entrepreneurs,and essentially, a collective
group of people that I've neverseen before at one trade show. A
(03:46):
lot of interesting boosts colorschanges, the techniques. You
know, it's definitely the mostcomprehensive show in this area
I've ever been to where you canjust find anything you need, you
know, right off the bottom,whether you're doing, you know,
manufacturing, or you're doingsourcing, or you're farming or
whatever it is, it's prettycrazy.
Ronjini Joshua (04:08):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's kind of a testament to
a growing industry, how it'slike just expanding into every
area of the business. So nowit's like a has equal
representation and all thesedifferent areas,
Adam Bushey (04:21):
right. And instead of having to go to a
manufacturing Expo, right, forgrowing Expo, or whatever, you
can come to MJ Yeah, and geteverything. And I mean, it's a
long day to walk through that.
You can learn a lot you can seea lot and I mean, any questions
you have, I mean, we were justtalking on yesterday, you could
literally walk in as anentrepreneur with just a plan.
You could have enoughinteraction in that in mg to
start your own business, geteverything figured out and have
(04:43):
a product lead time you walk outthe door. Yeah, it's
Ronjini Joshua (04:49):
pretty amazing.
Well, that is the good news.
Good news that like the growthis kind of really happening now.
But this is a really excitingtime I think in the cannabis
industry. And we'll love to talkto about about you, and how did
you What was your journeygetting into cannabis
personally, and then we'll talka little bit about open book
extracts and kind of what theirjourney has been and where you
(05:11):
guys are going.
Adam Bushey (05:12):
Yeah, so had a funny journey. I've been in the
medical field prior for 15 yearsand on the urology space on the
human side and on the veterinaryspace on the animal health side,
okay, and sold equipment workedwith veterinarians worked with
urologists and other surgeonsand things. And through the
last, like five years of thatrelationship with that company,
a lot of trade shows I went to,especially in the veterinary
(05:34):
side, sort of having boomingbooths everywhere with CBD and
cannabis related, okay, and thenit will childhood friend, his
name's Steven cytol, he traveledthe country. And he's a RVT in
the veterinary space, hetraveled the country speaking
about the benefits of cannabisin the animal health side and
how it can really help with lotsof different issues. And he was
(05:55):
kind of a pioneer along withanother gentleman named Robert
silver. So they kind of theywrote a book together and they
did a lot of these tours andgetting to know him again,
reconnect with him after afterhigh school, to learn about all
those possibilities and theexciting things that you can do
that don't involve, you know,chemical components and
everything else. It's veryinteresting. I no idea about
(06:17):
cannabis or hemp at all. Andthen it was just a random luck
streak that one of my bestfriends joined folium
Biosciences over in Colorado,and we were at a bachelor party,
and he's like, how's your jobgoing? I'm like, I love it. It's
great. He's like, I gotta tellyou about CBD and hemp he's
like, it's it's a crazy marketis exploding. This was back in
early 2019, when I ended uptaking the position. And it was
(06:40):
like at the peak, you know, ofall these big attraction
companies raising to ramp up.
And so I went ahead to interviewthrough nothing about cannabis
or hemp, you know, barelyanything that I learned at the
veterinary show, and I was aboutit. And it just found a good fit
that it was exciting, the youknow, the sky's the limit on you
know, the product and everythingelse. And then I just start
learning about it and learningthe effects and the benefits for
(07:02):
helping people with opioidaddiction. All the other
beautiful things that it helpswith, and had a little bit of a
rocky go at folium ended upleaving. And then I found a
manufacturer in San Bernardinonear where you're at. And they
were doing custom formulationsfor cannabis CBD related
products. And it was awesome,because I get to come in and
(07:25):
start a sales team with them,build out reps and manage the
team. You know, we grew 700% Inthe first year. And we enjoyed a
lot of success. And it was justa beautiful situation because we
got to create these productsspecialized for different people
to be unique to have certaincannabinoid molecules or
supplements that ated thecannabinoids to make a lotion,
(07:48):
or gummy or whatever else toreally help and be a good
efficacy for the problem or thefix that they were trying to
have. And then one of my biggestclients became oak extracts. So
I've sort of worked with themintimately about a year ago and
visited the facility and met thewhole team and two of my best
friends joined their team aswell. And just through those
(08:10):
interactions, it was just like aperfect match. And so I just
decided, actually a month ago tojoin their team that left the
manufacturing side to go back tothe extraction side and you
know, couldn't be happier. I getto have my hands and everything
help the team with differentparts of growth and trying to
bring it we have a big goal tohit for lots of different things
(08:32):
you want to do this next year.
Yeah. And you know, it wasexciting to be able to go back
in but to a company that reallybelieve in and trust. And you
know, there was a lot of there'sa good amount of companies
extracting right now. But thereason that you know I made that
decision to go there was becauseI see the long term potential
with their focus. And theirfocus is on rare cannabinoids
(08:53):
and those specific unique, youknow, form factors. So going
forward, CBD is great. CBG isgreat. You know, they have they
have great purposes. But at acertain point, we all need to
get unique. We all need to getspecialized, we need to find out
what is your problem that you'reyou want to deal with? And how
do we fix that? Just by blanketsaying take CBD, it'll fix
everything. We go, No, we have acustom formulation with five
(09:16):
different molecules anddifferent variations to really
target that issue, whether it'sanxiety or sleep or depression,
whatever it is. There's we'vebeen involved with studies over
at a few colleges near NorthCarolina, where we're at doing
actual research to show this isefficacious, and this does this
and this helps with this. Andafter we build that out, we're
(09:36):
going to be able to havedifferent offerings. And that's
the biggest difference with openbook is the custom oil that
they're able to create to reallyspecify what the issue is, how
do we fix it? How do we resolveit? How do we create a new
unique product that's gonna lastin the market? And I think in
the next year, maybe two years,it's really going to move that
direction. And so the company ispumping out CBD isolate those
(09:57):
kinds of things. Okay, they'regoing to have to figure out And
you know how to work with theseother molecules, because
everybody's gonna want to havesomething that really works. And
it's not just for the sake oftaking, you know, CBD, something
like that.
Ronjini Joshua (10:08):
Right? So so how does it how do you guys work at
Open Book extracts? Like how doyou guys work with brands and
products to get those productsdeveloped? I mean, you kind of
gave a quick overview on that,but like, really like how does
it work to kind of identify? Howdo you how do you identify what
molecules do what and how to,like, you know, optimize those
(10:29):
for for like you said, youdidn't say eczema, but I'm just
putting out eczema out there,anxiety, stress, sleep,
whatever, whatever the case is,right? So,
Adam Bushey (10:38):
I mean, we have 10 PhDs on staff that do different
things, from r&d, tomanufacturing, to formulation to
everything else. We brought in awhole team from the
nutraceutical supplemental side.
Cool. We have a team from thethe like skincare side, and then
we have obviously beautifulminds in the cannabis side. So
together, you know, we know whatsupplements will work best in
(11:00):
this formulation, whether it's ayou know, an edible item, or in
the topical side, you know, whatingredient will help with eczema
or something else? No, it'sgood. It's a good example,
because you can pick acannabinoid that might help with
that skin condition. But there'salso so many other great
supplements that already do thatwe know and they're verified for
hundreds of years. Right? Right.
(11:21):
So we can combine those and getthe best efficacious product out
of it without having to justsay, No, you're fine. With just
cannabinoids, our team is sodeveloped that we can create
these core new products that areunique that in that involve all
those different aspects ofsupplements, nutraceuticals, and
everything else. So now you havethis top line skincare product
that you find. But now you caninfuse it with cannabinoids that
actually target that issue aswell. So those r&d teams work
(11:43):
together to figure out a finalsolution to get that product the
way it should be, and to beefficacious for the user. And
then we're able to basicallyscale that, you know, from a
small mo Q order up to you know,millions of units, depending on
the size, and we have differentrelationships with, you know,
finished good manufacturers tobuild those out after we do the
(12:04):
r&d work and really get aformula that works for them.
Ben Michaels (12:08):
When you get these, you know, formulas
together, like how much becauselike I know, like, like CBD can
like work well, you know, alone,and I personally tried some CBG
pills that were like absolutelyamazing. But like how much does
like the entourage effect comeinto play when you're isolating
some of these other lesser knownones that come in and speak
(12:29):
treat the more specific parts?
Adam Bushey (12:31):
It's a good question. And I mean, Entourage
is always like an amazingfeature for kind of targeting a
lot of issues at once andoverall health, you know, the
endocannabinoid system, gettingevery go your reactors and
everything. But it, I think itdepends on the issue you're
trying to fix. Because if youhave a specific issue that you
can target, using somethingthat's like a full spectrum that
(12:54):
has a lot of the miners mixedin, it has a lot of the fatty
acids, the flavonoids, all thedifferent components that make
up a really rich oil, which aregreat, but you might not have
enough CBG or CBN, to targetthat issue that you have. And so
we can still include and that'swhat that's what is different
about openbook is that you canwe can create these custom
distillates and custom isolatestogether that have a profile
(13:17):
specific for that need, that hadand it can continue the
entourage idea because we didn'treintroduce terpenes anything
else that's necessary for thatfinal goal. But I think that's
where the future is. It's notjust about taking something with
entourage and helping 20different issues. It's if you
wake up in the morning, you haveback pain, how can we target
that if the next morning youhave stress? Or you have
(13:38):
anxiety? How can we target that.
So thinking the same thing andkind of helping with everything,
we can target something and tryand hit it at the core. And then
the next day you have some adifferent problem, we have a
different product for that. Andwe can you know target those as
well. But it is overall ifyou're just taking as a daily
supplement the like nothingbetter than having the full
entourage you just bringeverything and pump everything.
But if you're targeting an issueand you want to resolve that
(13:58):
issue, that's where this comesin to be able to break out that
formula. That's awesome.
Ronjini Joshua (14:04):
So you have a pretty sophisticated team. I
mean, like that's a lot ofpeople. So do you guys
specialize and we talked aboutskincare we talked about
edibles? Is there an area whereyou guys specialize particularly
Adam Bushey (14:16):
we specialize in the rare cannabinoid extraction.
Rare cannabinoids Yeah, so we soand we we also obviously produce
CBD broad spectrum, fullspectrum, isolate all that
Standard Oil content, but wespecialized in the rare
cannabinoids, like thc v is areally interesting new
cannabinoid. We're the world'slargest extractor and provider
(14:37):
of that currently, and that'slike an energy kind of
cannabinoid. It's not there's nohallucinogenic, partial to it.
It's a very like mild kind ofenergy effects from it, but it's
very exciting molecule rightnow. It's expensive to extract
so we're working on getting thatdown so it'd be a little more
affordable so more people canget into their daily regimen,
(14:58):
but things like that, like weyou know, we
Ronjini Joshua (14:59):
do Would that be in like an edible type format
then can be
Adam Bushey (15:03):
in it? Yeah. Mainly edible. Yeah. You know, oral
drop gummies chocolate event,something like that. On the skin
here. I don't actually know it'san interesting question that
ended dive into I don't knowwhat effects it has on skin.
Yeah, but I know its maineffects are like, similar to a
cup of coffee or energy drink.
And then mental, like, clarity,clarity. Exactly, yeah, yeah.
And so you know, there's over100 cannabinoids in the plant.
(15:25):
Yeah, and we our goal is to findeach of the new interesting
cannabinoids that so fall in thein the hemp bill in the in the
2018 Hemp bill. So is it stayingaway from the THC side, but
finding all these cannabinoidsthat we can extract legally? And
what are the use for them? Wherecan we target this? How do we
make a better product for ourclients and be the first ones
out the gate to offereverything. And that's the end
(15:48):
goal is to be like a one stopshop for every product, every
cannabinoid, you come to us, wecan build you something from
nothing with just an idea. Wecan put in our own input and
kind of consult on it and say,This is great, this is great,
you know, stay away from this orhere's a milligram you need for
this to be efficacious. Thosekinds of things we can help with
that we they come in with anidea and they want to get this
brand going or they want a newproject to run. We can come in
(16:09):
and just help the entire processalong and we're not having to
park stuff out or you know,source things from other places.
We can do it all in house.
Ronjini Joshua (16:17):
So what is the question? So I'm uh, I mean, I
don't know why keep usingskincare. I'm a skincare brand,
okay? And let's say I'mNeutrogena, whatever. Yeah, I'm
coming to you. And I say, hey,look, we really want a product
that addresses ekzema. But youknow, it like what is the next
step to that? Well, is that isthat the kind of is that the way
(16:39):
the brands will work with you?
Or is it a different kind ofway?
Adam Bushey (16:43):
No, there's so there's like three ways that
that conversation starts. Yeah,way is they walk in the door,
they're brand new, they justexcited want to get a company
rolling, and they want to beinvolved in cannabinoids, and
they have a passion andskincare. Yeah, we'll do a lot
of consulting, we'll bring insome people to consult on maybe
what types of bases they shoulduse, you know, lotion versus
SAV, like a ball, you know,different aspects for what
(17:03):
they're trying to achieve. We'llfigure out the other added
ingredients, nutraceuticalingredients that can help along
with the cannabinoids, find acamp cannabinoid profile that
works for that. Yeah, theapplication. And that's a little
more rigorous, but you know,it's dealing with a new client.
And that's, that's our goal isto help everybody go start at
the bottom and be, you know, upin the big stores as soon as
they can. The secondrelationship is they come in and
(17:24):
they're like, Okay, here's whatwe want. We have a little
guidance here. Here's what we'relooking for. Can we do it? And
then we'll look at the list ofingredients, figure out which
ones work together, which onesmight be counteractive and, you
know, have an issue withstability or whatever else. We
can do r&d with it to make sureit's a stable product. And then
we finish that product out andthen they're ready to launch.
The third way is people come inthey go, I love this product.
(17:45):
Here it is, I want to recreateit but I cannabinoids, you know,
can you do that. And then whatwe'll do is we'll take that
product, we'll look at theingredients, we'll you know,
backwards. Get down, figure outhow to replicate that. But make
it better simpler if we can andadd the cannabinoids in and then
get to that product. Sonormally, it's one of those
three, even if it's notskincare, it's one of those
three on everything, to have oneof those entry level points. And
(18:07):
then we have ways with our teamhow how we're built out, it's
it's unbelievable. But we havepeople in place to do all three
of those and help them succeedno matter, you know what way
they're entering the market.
Ronjini Joshua (18:17):
So the people that are formulating the base of
whatever you're making is like awhole different team than the
people that are incorporatingthe cannabinoids Right? Or no,
Adam Bushey (18:27):
they're gonna do the blending. But there's a
different team that extractscannabis. Yeah, testing and
everything else. And so yeah,there's teams that do the
different levels, but r&dAltogether, that all the all
other minds come together. Yeah,they work in their different
aspects of, let's introducethis, let's try this. And then
they work together to get thatfinal product out.
Ronjini Joshua (18:43):
So scalability is it sounds like is one of your
kind of key things to being ableto scale up. So what kind of
brands I mean, you're obviouslyworking with bigger brands is
this kind of like the overalllike, you know, corporate
consumer size brand that that'sreally coming to you guys for
this formulation.
Adam Bushey (19:01):
It's it's such a broad market. I mean, there are
large corporations we're workingwith, we're under NDA, because
we can't unfortunately talkabout them, but they're but
they're the big beverage, bigMSOs, like, lots of different
corporations that we're workingwith on that scale, mainly
providing just wrong reading tothem, because they already have
manufacturing setup there. Okay,they're rolling that way. Then
we have the medium sized clientsthat are doing large volume
(19:23):
across multi states, but youknow, they needed a little help
with r&d or formulation ormanufacturing. And when you take
on those clients, and then wehave a lot of entry level
clients that are in a spacealready, and they're jumping
into cannabinoids, or they'renew to this space altogether,
and then they're starting abrand from nothing. So we have
we have all three of thoseinteractions on a normal basis.
And we have applications oroptions for all three in order
(19:46):
to start small or scale rightaway or back and forth,
depending on the need for theproduct.
Ronjini Joshua (19:51):
So you guys are focusing in this rare
extraction. Like what, like Iguess you're never gonna get all
of them I guess at the end ofthe day, you We still have more
to explore. But you said you'reyou guys were mentioning you
were mentioning kind of focusingin city CBD space right now. Are
you going to be moving to theTHC THC and getting those
(20:12):
connect cannabinoids as well
Adam Bushey (20:14):
so our founders have a background in THC that's
where they started. Okay okay inthem in the market and I think
they're definitely they'rewaiting probably for
legalization. Yeah, okay,negotiation happens. I think
that skill level they alreadyhave. Yeah, silly not to do
everything. Especially it'sgoing to be kind of under the
same umbrella. I think once THCis legalized? Yeah, I've been
TCU primary together. So in onecannabis, you know, market? So I
(20:34):
think yeah, absolutely. We'll bein that right now. We know we
can dabble in what we can, andin order to reach all 50 states.
But you know, when that finallyopens up, and we're also hopeful
for that, yeah, I think we'regonna be ready to rock on THC
side as well.
Ronjini Joshua (20:49):
I mean, there's so many exciting companies that
are doing similar things, likehow do you really identify the
kind of company you want to workwith, especially when it comes
to extraction? Obviously, youguys kind of carved out a niche,
which is smart and very nice.
But you know, if someone says,oh, well, I don't need a rare
cannabinoid, I just, you know,I'm just looking for a run of
the mill, like, what, what islike, what is kind of the
(21:11):
decision making factor betweenleveraging open Buck extracts
versus another extractioncompany? Or is it not for
everybody? Or, you know, howdoes that work?
Adam Bushey (21:20):
It's right now with the way the market is
fluctuated, it's a lot of pricecomparison. Okay, yeah, we're
very price competitive, we don'tnormally lose those battles,
unless it's a rare occasion. Butoutside of that, it's more about
relationship building, right. Solike a lot of our staff, our
sales staff, including myself,we have these relationships
we've had for three or fouryears. And at the end of the
(21:41):
day, if especially in thecannabis world, we're all we all
love each other, we all want tobe part of this, you know,
forever for the long run, is ifI know you and trust you, and
you can you can be competitivewith pricing. I'd rather just
work with you and not to keepchanging things and have
somebody reformulate somethingor get a product or have to
Ronjini Joshua (21:57):
recreate it again or like, Yeah, you don't
start from scratch. Yeah,
Adam Bushey (22:00):
yeah. And so it's a lot about relationship building.
This is why I love being MJ Ilove finally being back in front
of people and talking to people,because you start that
relationship early. And then youknow, we'll figure out a way to
get it done for them and getthem the product. And even if it
is simple CBD isolate or simpleCBD product, we can still do it
the best. And we feel like wehave the best product to offer.
(22:21):
Price wise, and qualitycertifications are a big thing.
So, you know, we, we have acouple of people on our legal
team that interact with FDA, andthey've been very open with FDA
to kind of help out with thestructure when FDA finally puts
some kind of regulation on how,and we are doing everything we
can so that the company is in aplace where when those
(22:42):
regulations come out, we'reabove board, we're not catching
up, we don't have to run and geta couple of different surgery
ready to go. We're alreadythere, and we're above it. And
so they'll never be you know,any any issues with that a lot
of companies that may have acheaper price or, you know,
lower mo Q's or something thatmight help try to get that that
sale move forward. They mighthave those certifications,
(23:03):
whether it's kosher, or organic,or cGMP certified, lots of
things that are very important.
If you're having especially anedible product, you need to know
that that they are followingthese processes, right? You're
not eating something or vapingsomething that's going to cause
you harm, right. And that was abig issue with the vape industry
with those street vendors, thevitamin E and everything else,
right. I mean that that killedvape for everything for tobacco,
everybody else because therewere people and not and you
(23:25):
would buy something withoutasking for certifications or
anything to know where it'smade, right? It's the same thing
with any product, even skincare,you don't put something on that
causes a rash hasn't been testedhasn't gone through, you know,
certifications as you havesomething behind it to show,
hey, this the product youbought, this is why, you know,
we're we believe in it. And thiscompany is built to do that. And
there are other companies thathave similar certifications, but
(23:47):
none that have the robustcertifications with the team
with the interaction I think wecan provide. And that's kind of
you know, our leg forward on themarket is the offering we have
is very specific. And there's alot of companies, I don't think
there's any companies really tohave that full portfolio that we
have of cannabinoids, right. Soinstead of coming to one company
that might be cheaper andgetting a product with just CBD,
(24:08):
but then tomorrow you want CBGCBN, you got to go another
company, you come to us and wecan do every different
variation. Yeah, we can dodifferent products for different
issues that people are dealingwith any you can stay with us.
And we can have one rep workingwith you and kind of consulting
with you on the way and helpingyou brand your business. And you
know, that's what a lot ofpeople want. They want
(24:30):
stability, they want comfort,they want a friendly face that's
going to do what's best for themand their company, because then
we're both going to succeedtogether. Right. And I think you
know, in this industry,especially that value is worth
sometimes a little more, youknow, cost and price and because
the relationships there and theyyou know, they love to trust
somebody. Yeah, right. They wantto feel like they have something
(24:51):
for the long run. They alwayshave their back and be there to
support them. Yeah.
Ronjini Joshua (24:57):
Do you think that the backward certificate
thing is going to be a challengewhen things kind of come to
fruition. Like being going backand making sure you have all
those certifications in place,like do you think that's going
to be something that theindustry is faced with? Because
you know, it's not? We're kindof in progress. Yeah, it is.
Adam Bushey (25:16):
If you're not looking at similar industries
that have similar capabilities,Sharon, so if you're if you look
like skincare is great, if we'regonna make lotion at the
facility, what are thefacilities that are making
lotion for Neutrogena and theseother big companies? What are
their requirements? What aretheir certifications, right? We
have those as well, then wecover that aspect, right? If you
look at an edible or a foodcompany, what are their food
(25:37):
regulations that they have, whatthings have they gone through,
if we have those, then we'regood on that side, he cover all
those different industries thatare similar to where we're going
to be when FDA opens everythingup, right, and we have all that
set. And we do already. And weknow, okay, we have cGMP, and
food, we're there, we're set upto be Intraceuticals, we have
all the different certificationsfor the separate industries. And
it can't be more robust thanthose because those are already
(25:58):
such a high echelon, right, andit's so hard to be certified in
those for good reason. But Ithink that's where the tea is
gonna be, it's gonna becombining all the different
industries that are similar tocannabis. And if you're already
there, then you're great. Ifnot, and you're a little behind,
you'll have time to get to catch
Ronjini Joshua (26:13):
up a little bit.
But but then that's it, likethere's no substitute for time.
Like, as if you have if you haveto take six months to 12 months
to do that somebody else mightedge you out of the market, like
so that's it. That's a big deal.
Adam Bushey (26:25):
Yep. And fines and everything else you could deal
with right? FTA and everything.
And so we're looking forward tothat very much, because I think
it's gonna weed out a lot of thesmaller companies that are
causing harm, and with the vapeand those kinds of things as
well, right? It's gonna be niceto have everything regulated,
everybody has to be held at thesame bar. And, you know, to make
the whole industry a lot cleanerand
Ronjini Joshua (26:46):
streamlined,
Ben Michaels (26:47):
maybe I'm curious.
So what percentage would yousay, you know, there's hundreds,
that was 100, or hundreds ofdifferent cannabinoids,
cannabinoids. And then whatpercentage do you think that you
all figured out, you know,specifically to these different
things? And then research wise,how many years up? Do you think
we are to understanding all ofthem, if ever,
Adam Bushey (27:11):
I think that it's going to be expedited now
because there's such a goodfocus on cannabis in general,
everybody from the President toour grandmas are talking about,
you know, him getting cannabisand everything else. Right. So
that's helping because a lot ofthe colleges are getting
involved. You know, before itwas a lot of in Israel and
Europe and other countries thatwere ahead of the game for it.
And now we're finally catchingup. We have a lot you know, more
(27:33):
into hemp and CBD in general, asfar as you know, studies and
everything else. But as thecannabinoids become easier to
isolate and easier to replicate,they're going to be able to do
those studies based on thoseindividual cannabinoids. And
then at that point, we'll starthaving more studies done, we'll
have more information aboutthem. And I'm sure you know,
over the next 50 years, we'regoing to be able to extract all
the cannabinoids. But you know,for now, there's I think there's
(27:55):
10 that are really key rightnow. And they have all different
aspects and purposes, fordifferent products. And the real
key is going to be finding agood solution to get a lot of
information about those to havestudies made to have, you know,
panels done and have people kindof learn how these can actually
affect the body, how they canhelp, Is there too much that
(28:17):
somebody should not take isthere's too little that won't do
anything. There's so manydifferent variables, right, that
we have to go through, but run agood path now to single those
out. And they've done a lot ofwork and CBG and CBN. Now, so
those are kind of on the nextlevel. And then we have all the
next things coming and excitingthings that you know, cbdv,
CBDa, CBGa, THCV, there's somany exciting variable or
(28:39):
exciting cannabinoids coming outthat all needed to have go
through that same process. So wecan actually figure out okay,
what does this for? What does itdo? How do we make it make sure
it's safe and all those kinds ofthings. So it's exciting. But
you know, the more people talkabout it, the more we have
things like mjbizcon, we'regreat people come together and
minds work. And, you know, thegovernment takes notice, and
they want to be a part of it.
And they want to see how theyget the tax money. Right. Yeah.
(29:00):
So they're gonna support it andkeep it growing. So, I mean,
it's all it's all been good. Thelast 10 years have been huge,
right. And I think the next timewill be even better. Absolutely.
I think within 10 years, we'llknow a lot about these different
cannabinoids and how tospecifically target, you know,
the need for each person.
Ronjini Joshua (29:18):
Yeah, this is awesome. I mean, that there's so
much there's a lot of wealth ofinformation when it comes to the
plant like life and like the wayyou guys kind of inspect it and
and research it because, youknow, there's like, an endless
pool of knowledge that you'retapping into. So it's really
interesting to see, like, I feellike every month there's like
some new letter coming out. Soknowing what those things are
(29:42):
going to do is going to bereally cool.
Adam Bushey (29:44):
Yeah. You have a purpose. We just have to figure
out what that is.
Ronjini Joshua (29:46):
Yeah, yeah.
It'll be good. I'll check onyour website today to see what's
going on. Well, thank you somuch for joining me, Adam. is
where can people find you?
Adam Bushey (29:56):
Open Book extract.
com. Find us on LinkedIn too. OnFacebook, Instagram, but yeah,
check out the website and lotinformation on there and then
love to connect with everybodyand talk more about it. So we're
excited. All right. Thank youfor having me. Yeah, absolutely.
Ronjini Joshua (30:12):
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(30:57):
cpr.com/the-green-room Thanksfor listening and be well
In this next interview, we took a little bit
more of a scientific approach.
And speaking with Adam Bushi,from open book extracts, he
talks about his journey of howhe got into cannabis. And
furthermore, his journey of howhe got into extraction and what
cool things. They're doing anopen book based in California.
So let's jump into the interviewnow. Hello, we are back today
with Adam. But she from openbook extracts. Thank you for
(00:29):
joining me, you are the Directorof Strategic Growth. Yes, yes.
So you guys are here. Are youguys exhibiting here mjbizcon.
This week,
Adam Bushey (00:38):
this week, we're not we're exhibiting next week
for another trade show. But thisweek, we just kind of wanted to,
you know, the first big oneback, we wanted to walk the
floor meet with a bunch ofclients. And so
Ronjini Joshua (00:48):
to that vein, you know, what was the biggest
anticipation coming here toVegas?
Adam Bushey (00:53):
I think it was more of a, wondering how it's going
to be, you know, it's going tobe like we we've entered into
cosmic Prov and a couple of theother semi cannabis, trade
shows, and some of them weredevastated, you know, third of
the attendees. So it's like aunknown factor right now, are we
going to show up and it'sbooming, like, MJ is this year?
(01:14):
Yeah. Phenomenal, are veryexcited, or is it going to be
normal? Or is it going to beless? I mean, there's nobody
knows, what do you know is it'salready sad. And every show will
tell you, Oh, we're at capacity,or we sold this many, but they
want people to come right. Andyou don't know what's true and
what's not. And it was true withMJ. It's amazing. You know, they
stacked it, the energy isamazing. Everybody's happy to be
(01:34):
back in cannabis and be minglingand talking. And I mean, it's
just, it's nothing like it. Sowe're very happy to be back and
very excited to be at a showthis this size. Yeah. Hopefully
that continues forward to nextyear, everybody gets their
energy back. And they're allcoming in. And we can have a lot
of great conversations.
Ronjini Joshua (01:51):
So what were you personally looking forward to
the most?
Adam Bushey (01:54):
I love, like, face to face interaction, that's my
biggest thing, sales tactic thatI exceed that. So you know, for
the last two years, it's been alot of virtual, a lot of phone
calls a lot. I mean, it's just,you know, and it's fine, it's
safe, and it is what it is, butI missed the old days of being
in person closing a big deal inperson, taking people out to
(02:15):
dinner, get to know their familyand talking about different
things. And, you know, we missedthat for a while. And we had
some interaction with clients,but it was very sparse. And now
it's like that we're justwalking the floor, having
engaging conversations, talkingabout this crazy thing that
they're doing or your thing andhow we can come together. And
those conversations and face toface are so much more
(02:35):
beneficial. I think for youknow, our company growth versus,
you know, cold calling and allthe other things we've had to do
for a couple years.
Ronjini Joshua (02:42):
Yeah, at the end of the day, we're all people. So
I think that interaction isreally important. You had
mentioned like, you're you'vebeen de MJ about four times,
four times. So tell me like,What do you think from the first
time you've come to today? Andobviously, like, so much has
happened? But what do you see isthe biggest things.
Adam Bushey (03:02):
It's interesting is it's like, there's so many new
type of companies here that I'veseen before, right? So it's
like, it's not just hemp incannabis brands anymore, and
just people getting started.
Now, it's established brands,it's industrial equipment, it's
water purification. I mean,there's so there's securities,
there's, you know, like thegentleman had earlier, all those
(03:23):
types of things now that Ididn't really see before it was
kind of just like a startup kindof shop of like, rough and
tumble cannabis and a lot ofgood old OG vibe kind of thing.
Yeah, now, it's like, there's alot of corporate mixing, there's
a lot of still the OG and themore older vibe. And then
there's also like entrepreneurs,and essentially, a collective
group of people that I've neverseen before at one trade show. A
(03:46):
lot of interesting boosts colorschanges, the techniques. You
know, it's definitely the mostcomprehensive show in this area
I've ever been to where you canjust find anything you need, you
know, right off the bottom,whether you're doing, you know,
manufacturing, or you're doingsourcing, or you're farming or
whatever it is, it's prettycrazy.
Ronjini Joshua (04:08):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's kind of a testament to
a growing industry, how it'slike just expanding into every
area of the business. So nowit's like a has equal
representation and all thesedifferent areas,
Adam Bushey (04:21):
right. And instead of having to go to a
manufacturing Expo, right, forgrowing Expo, or whatever, you
can come to MJ Yeah, and geteverything. And I mean, it's a
long day to walk through that.
You can learn a lot you can seea lot and I mean, any questions
you have, I mean, we were justtalking on yesterday, you could
literally walk in as anentrepreneur with just a plan.
You could have enoughinteraction in that in mg to
start your own business, geteverything figured out and have
(04:43):
a product lead time you walk outthe door. Yeah, it's
Ronjini Joshua (04:49):
pretty amazing.
Well, that is the good news.
Good news that like the growthis kind of really happening now.
But this is a really excitingtime I think in the cannabis
industry. And we'll love to talkto about about you, and how did
you What was your journeygetting into cannabis
personally, and then we'll talka little bit about open book
extracts and kind of what theirjourney has been and where you
(05:11):
guys are going.
Adam Bushey (05:12):
Yeah, so had a funny journey. I've been in the
medical field prior for 15 yearsand on the urology space on the
human side and on the veterinaryspace on the animal health side,
okay, and sold equipment workedwith veterinarians worked with
urologists and other surgeonsand things. And through the
last, like five years of thatrelationship with that company,
a lot of trade shows I went to,especially in the veterinary
(05:34):
side, sort of having boomingbooths everywhere with CBD and
cannabis related, okay, and thenit will childhood friend, his
name's Steven cytol, he traveledthe country. And he's a RVT in
the veterinary space, hetraveled the country speaking
about the benefits of cannabisin the animal health side and
how it can really help with lotsof different issues. And he was
(05:55):
kind of a pioneer along withanother gentleman named Robert
silver. So they kind of theywrote a book together and they
did a lot of these tours andgetting to know him again,
reconnect with him after afterhigh school, to learn about all
those possibilities and theexciting things that you can do
that don't involve, you know,chemical components and
everything else. It's veryinteresting. I no idea about
(06:17):
cannabis or hemp at all. Andthen it was just a random luck
streak that one of my bestfriends joined folium
Biosciences over in Colorado,and we were at a bachelor party,
and he's like, how's your jobgoing? I'm like, I love it. It's
great. He's like, I gotta tellyou about CBD and hemp he's
like, it's it's a crazy marketis exploding. This was back in
early 2019, when I ended uptaking the position. And it was
(06:40):
like at the peak, you know, ofall these big attraction
companies raising to ramp up.
And so I went ahead to interviewthrough nothing about cannabis
or hemp, you know, barelyanything that I learned at the
veterinary show, and I was aboutit. And it just found a good fit
that it was exciting, the youknow, the sky's the limit on you
know, the product and everythingelse. And then I just start
learning about it and learningthe effects and the benefits for
(07:02):
helping people with opioidaddiction. All the other
beautiful things that it helpswith, and had a little bit of a
rocky go at folium ended upleaving. And then I found a
manufacturer in San Bernardinonear where you're at. And they
were doing custom formulationsfor cannabis CBD related
products. And it was awesome,because I get to come in and
(07:25):
start a sales team with them,build out reps and manage the
team. You know, we grew 700% Inthe first year. And we enjoyed a
lot of success. And it was justa beautiful situation because we
got to create these productsspecialized for different people
to be unique to have certaincannabinoid molecules or
supplements that ated thecannabinoids to make a lotion,
(07:48):
or gummy or whatever else toreally help and be a good
efficacy for the problem or thefix that they were trying to
have. And then one of my biggestclients became oak extracts. So
I've sort of worked with themintimately about a year ago and
visited the facility and met thewhole team and two of my best
friends joined their team aswell. And just through those
(08:10):
interactions, it was just like aperfect match. And so I just
decided, actually a month ago tojoin their team that left the
manufacturing side to go back tothe extraction side and you
know, couldn't be happier. I getto have my hands and everything
help the team with differentparts of growth and trying to
bring it we have a big goal tohit for lots of different things
(08:32):
you want to do this next year.
Yeah. And you know, it wasexciting to be able to go back
in but to a company that reallybelieve in and trust. And you
know, there was a lot of there'sa good amount of companies
extracting right now. But thereason that you know I made that
decision to go there was becauseI see the long term potential
with their focus. And theirfocus is on rare cannabinoids
(08:53):
and those specific unique, youknow, form factors. So going
forward, CBD is great. CBG isgreat. You know, they have they
have great purposes. But at acertain point, we all need to
get unique. We all need to getspecialized, we need to find out
what is your problem that you'reyou want to deal with? And how
do we fix that? Just by blanketsaying take CBD, it'll fix
everything. We go, No, we have acustom formulation with five
(09:16):
different molecules anddifferent variations to really
target that issue, whether it'sanxiety or sleep or depression,
whatever it is. There's we'vebeen involved with studies over
at a few colleges near NorthCarolina, where we're at doing
actual research to show this isefficacious, and this does this
and this helps with this. Andafter we build that out, we're
(09:36):
going to be able to havedifferent offerings. And that's
the biggest difference with openbook is the custom oil that
they're able to create to reallyspecify what the issue is, how
do we fix it? How do we resolveit? How do we create a new
unique product that's gonna lastin the market? And I think in
the next year, maybe two years,it's really going to move that
direction. And so the company ispumping out CBD isolate those
(09:57):
kinds of things. Okay, they'regoing to have to figure out And
you know how to work with theseother molecules, because
everybody's gonna want to havesomething that really works. And
it's not just for the sake oftaking, you know, CBD, something
like that.
Ronjini Joshua (10:08):
Right? So so how does it how do you guys work at
Open Book extracts? Like how doyou guys work with brands and
products to get those productsdeveloped? I mean, you kind of
gave a quick overview on that,but like, really like how does
it work to kind of identify? Howdo you how do you identify what
molecules do what and how to,like, you know, optimize those
(10:29):
for for like you said, youdidn't say eczema, but I'm just
putting out eczema out there,anxiety, stress, sleep,
whatever, whatever the case is,right? So,
Adam Bushey (10:38):
I mean, we have 10 PhDs on staff that do different
things, from r&d, tomanufacturing, to formulation to
everything else. We brought in awhole team from the
nutraceutical supplemental side.
Cool. We have a team from thethe like skincare side, and then
we have obviously beautifulminds in the cannabis side. So
together, you know, we know whatsupplements will work best in
(11:00):
this formulation, whether it's ayou know, an edible item, or in
the topical side, you know, whatingredient will help with eczema
or something else? No, it'sgood. It's a good example,
because you can pick acannabinoid that might help with
that skin condition. But there'salso so many other great
supplements that already do thatwe know and they're verified for
hundreds of years. Right? Right.
(11:21):
So we can combine those and getthe best efficacious product out
of it without having to justsay, No, you're fine. With just
cannabinoids, our team is sodeveloped that we can create
these core new products that areunique that in that involve all
those different aspects ofsupplements, nutraceuticals, and
everything else. So now you havethis top line skincare product
that you find. But now you caninfuse it with cannabinoids that
actually target that issue aswell. So those r&d teams work
(11:43):
together to figure out a finalsolution to get that product the
way it should be, and to beefficacious for the user. And
then we're able to basicallyscale that, you know, from a
small mo Q order up to you know,millions of units, depending on
the size, and we have differentrelationships with, you know,
finished good manufacturers tobuild those out after we do the
(12:04):
r&d work and really get aformula that works for them.
Ben Michaels (12:08):
When you get these, you know, formulas
together, like how much becauselike I know, like, like CBD can
like work well, you know, alone,and I personally tried some CBG
pills that were like absolutelyamazing. But like how much does
like the entourage effect comeinto play when you're isolating
some of these other lesser knownones that come in and speak
(12:29):
treat the more specific parts?
Adam Bushey (12:31):
It's a good question. And I mean, Entourage
is always like an amazingfeature for kind of targeting a
lot of issues at once andoverall health, you know, the
endocannabinoid system, gettingevery go your reactors and
everything. But it, I think itdepends on the issue you're
trying to fix. Because if youhave a specific issue that you
can target, using somethingthat's like a full spectrum that
(12:54):
has a lot of the miners mixedin, it has a lot of the fatty
acids, the flavonoids, all thedifferent components that make
up a really rich oil, which aregreat, but you might not have
enough CBG or CBN, to targetthat issue that you have. And so
we can still include and that'swhat that's what is different
about openbook is that you canwe can create these custom
distillates and custom isolatestogether that have a profile
(13:17):
specific for that need, that hadand it can continue the
entourage idea because we didn'treintroduce terpenes anything
else that's necessary for thatfinal goal. But I think that's
where the future is. It's notjust about taking something with
entourage and helping 20different issues. It's if you
wake up in the morning, you haveback pain, how can we target
that if the next morning youhave stress? Or you have
(13:38):
anxiety? How can we target that.
So thinking the same thing andkind of helping with everything,
we can target something and tryand hit it at the core. And then
the next day you have some adifferent problem, we have a
different product for that. Andwe can you know target those as
well. But it is overall ifyou're just taking as a daily
supplement the like nothingbetter than having the full
entourage you just bringeverything and pump everything.
But if you're targeting an issueand you want to resolve that
(13:58):
issue, that's where this comesin to be able to break out that
formula. That's awesome.
Ronjini Joshua (14:04):
So you have a pretty sophisticated team. I
mean, like that's a lot ofpeople. So do you guys
specialize and we talked aboutskincare we talked about
edibles? Is there an area whereyou guys specialize particularly
Adam Bushey (14:16):
we specialize in the rare cannabinoid extraction.
Rare cannabinoids Yeah, so we soand we we also obviously produce
CBD broad spectrum, fullspectrum, isolate all that
Standard Oil content, but wespecialized in the rare
cannabinoids, like thc v is areally interesting new
cannabinoid. We're the world'slargest extractor and provider
(14:37):
of that currently, and that'slike an energy kind of
cannabinoid. It's not there's nohallucinogenic, partial to it.
It's a very like mild kind ofenergy effects from it, but it's
very exciting molecule rightnow. It's expensive to extract
so we're working on getting thatdown so it'd be a little more
affordable so more people canget into their daily regimen,
(14:58):
but things like that, like weyou know, we
Ronjini Joshua (14:59):
do Would that be in like an edible type format
then can be
Adam Bushey (15:03):
in it? Yeah. Mainly edible. Yeah. You know, oral
drop gummies chocolate event,something like that. On the skin
here. I don't actually know it'san interesting question that
ended dive into I don't knowwhat effects it has on skin.
Yeah, but I know its maineffects are like, similar to a
cup of coffee or energy drink.
And then mental, like, clarity,clarity. Exactly, yeah, yeah.
And so you know, there's over100 cannabinoids in the plant.
(15:25):
Yeah, and we our goal is to findeach of the new interesting
cannabinoids that so fall in thein the hemp bill in the in the
2018 Hemp bill. So is it stayingaway from the THC side, but
finding all these cannabinoidsthat we can extract legally? And
what are the use for them? Wherecan we target this? How do we
make a better product for ourclients and be the first ones
out the gate to offereverything. And that's the end
(15:48):
goal is to be like a one stopshop for every product, every
cannabinoid, you come to us, wecan build you something from
nothing with just an idea. Wecan put in our own input and
kind of consult on it and say,This is great, this is great,
you know, stay away from this orhere's a milligram you need for
this to be efficacious. Thosekinds of things we can help with
that we they come in with anidea and they want to get this
brand going or they want a newproject to run. We can come in
(16:09):
and just help the entire processalong and we're not having to
park stuff out or you know,source things from other places.
We can do it all in house.
Ronjini Joshua (16:17):
So what is the question? So I'm uh, I mean, I
don't know why keep usingskincare. I'm a skincare brand,
okay? And let's say I'mNeutrogena, whatever. Yeah, I'm
coming to you. And I say, hey,look, we really want a product
that addresses ekzema. But youknow, it like what is the next
step to that? Well, is that isthat the kind of is that the way
(16:39):
the brands will work with you?
Or is it a different kind ofway?
Adam Bushey (16:43):
No, there's so there's like three ways that
that conversation starts. Yeah,way is they walk in the door,
they're brand new, they justexcited want to get a company
rolling, and they want to beinvolved in cannabinoids, and
they have a passion andskincare. Yeah, we'll do a lot
of consulting, we'll bring insome people to consult on maybe
what types of bases they shoulduse, you know, lotion versus
SAV, like a ball, you know,different aspects for what
(17:03):
they're trying to achieve. We'llfigure out the other added
ingredients, nutraceuticalingredients that can help along
with the cannabinoids, find acamp cannabinoid profile that
works for that. Yeah, theapplication. And that's a little
more rigorous, but you know,it's dealing with a new client.
And that's, that's our goal isto help everybody go start at
the bottom and be, you know, upin the big stores as soon as
they can. The secondrelationship is they come in and
(17:24):
they're like, Okay, here's whatwe want. We have a little
guidance here. Here's what we'relooking for. Can we do it? And
then we'll look at the list ofingredients, figure out which
ones work together, which onesmight be counteractive and, you
know, have an issue withstability or whatever else. We
can do r&d with it to make sureit's a stable product. And then
we finish that product out andthen they're ready to launch.
The third way is people come inthey go, I love this product.
(17:45):
Here it is, I want to recreateit but I cannabinoids, you know,
can you do that. And then whatwe'll do is we'll take that
product, we'll look at theingredients, we'll you know,
backwards. Get down, figure outhow to replicate that. But make
it better simpler if we can andadd the cannabinoids in and then
get to that product. Sonormally, it's one of those
three, even if it's notskincare, it's one of those
three on everything, to have oneof those entry level points. And
(18:07):
then we have ways with our teamhow how we're built out, it's
it's unbelievable. But we havepeople in place to do all three
of those and help them succeedno matter, you know what way
they're entering the market.
Ronjini Joshua (18:17):
So the people that are formulating the base of
whatever you're making is like awhole different team than the
people that are incorporatingthe cannabinoids Right? Or no,
Adam Bushey (18:27):
they're gonna do the blending. But there's a
different team that extractscannabis. Yeah, testing and
everything else. And so yeah,there's teams that do the
different levels, but r&dAltogether, that all the all
other minds come together. Yeah,they work in their different
aspects of, let's introducethis, let's try this. And then
they work together to get thatfinal product out.
Ronjini Joshua (18:43):
So scalability is it sounds like is one of your
kind of key things to being ableto scale up. So what kind of
brands I mean, you're obviouslyworking with bigger brands is
this kind of like the overalllike, you know, corporate
consumer size brand that that'sreally coming to you guys for
this formulation.
Adam Bushey (19:01):
It's it's such a broad market. I mean, there are
large corporations we're workingwith, we're under NDA, because
we can't unfortunately talkabout them, but they're but
they're the big beverage, bigMSOs, like, lots of different
corporations that we're workingwith on that scale, mainly
providing just wrong reading tothem, because they already have
manufacturing setup there. Okay,they're rolling that way. Then
we have the medium sized clientsthat are doing large volume
(19:23):
across multi states, but youknow, they needed a little help
with r&d or formulation ormanufacturing. And when you take
on those clients, and then wehave a lot of entry level
clients that are in a spacealready, and they're jumping
into cannabinoids, or they'renew to this space altogether,
and then they're starting abrand from nothing. So we have
we have all three of thoseinteractions on a normal basis.
And we have applications oroptions for all three in order
(19:46):
to start small or scale rightaway or back and forth,
depending on the need for theproduct.
Ronjini Joshua (19:51):
So you guys are focusing in this rare
extraction. Like what, like Iguess you're never gonna get all
of them I guess at the end ofthe day, you We still have more
to explore. But you said you'reyou guys were mentioning you
were mentioning kind of focusingin city CBD space right now. Are
you going to be moving to theTHC THC and getting those
(20:12):
connect cannabinoids as well
Adam Bushey (20:14):
so our founders have a background in THC that's
where they started. Okay okay inthem in the market and I think
they're definitely they'rewaiting probably for
legalization. Yeah, okay,negotiation happens. I think
that skill level they alreadyhave. Yeah, silly not to do
everything. Especially it'sgoing to be kind of under the
same umbrella. I think once THCis legalized? Yeah, I've been
TCU primary together. So in onecannabis, you know, market? So I
(20:34):
think yeah, absolutely. We'll bein that right now. We know we
can dabble in what we can, andin order to reach all 50 states.
But you know, when that finallyopens up, and we're also hopeful
for that, yeah, I think we'regonna be ready to rock on THC
side as well.
Ronjini Joshua (20:49):
I mean, there's so many exciting companies that
are doing similar things, likehow do you really identify the
kind of company you want to workwith, especially when it comes
to extraction? Obviously, youguys kind of carved out a niche,
which is smart and very nice.
But you know, if someone says,oh, well, I don't need a rare
cannabinoid, I just, you know,I'm just looking for a run of
the mill, like, what, what islike, what is kind of the
(21:11):
decision making factor betweenleveraging open Buck extracts
versus another extractioncompany? Or is it not for
everybody? Or, you know, howdoes that work?
Adam Bushey (21:20):
It's right now with the way the market is
fluctuated, it's a lot of pricecomparison. Okay, yeah, we're
very price competitive, we don'tnormally lose those battles,
unless it's a rare occasion. Butoutside of that, it's more about
relationship building, right. Solike a lot of our staff, our
sales staff, including myself,we have these relationships
we've had for three or fouryears. And at the end of the
(21:41):
day, if especially in thecannabis world, we're all we all
love each other, we all want tobe part of this, you know,
forever for the long run, is ifI know you and trust you, and
you can you can be competitivewith pricing. I'd rather just
work with you and not to keepchanging things and have
somebody reformulate somethingor get a product or have to
Ronjini Joshua (21:57):
recreate it again or like, Yeah, you don't
start from scratch. Yeah,
Adam Bushey (22:00):
yeah. And so it's a lot about relationship building.
This is why I love being MJ Ilove finally being back in front
of people and talking to people,because you start that
relationship early. And then youknow, we'll figure out a way to
get it done for them and getthem the product. And even if it
is simple CBD isolate or simpleCBD product, we can still do it
the best. And we feel like wehave the best product to offer.
(22:21):
Price wise, and qualitycertifications are a big thing.
So, you know, we, we have acouple of people on our legal
team that interact with FDA, andthey've been very open with FDA
to kind of help out with thestructure when FDA finally puts
some kind of regulation on how,and we are doing everything we
can so that the company is in aplace where when those
(22:42):
regulations come out, we'reabove board, we're not catching
up, we don't have to run and geta couple of different surgery
ready to go. We're alreadythere, and we're above it. And
so they'll never be you know,any any issues with that a lot
of companies that may have acheaper price or, you know,
lower mo Q's or something thatmight help try to get that that
sale move forward. They mighthave those certifications,
(23:03):
whether it's kosher, or organic,or cGMP certified, lots of
things that are very important.
If you're having especially anedible product, you need to know
that that they are followingthese processes, right? You're
not eating something or vapingsomething that's going to cause
you harm, right. And that was abig issue with the vape industry
with those street vendors, thevitamin E and everything else,
right. I mean that that killedvape for everything for tobacco,
everybody else because therewere people and not and you
(23:25):
would buy something withoutasking for certifications or
anything to know where it'smade, right? It's the same thing
with any product, even skincare,you don't put something on that
causes a rash hasn't been testedhasn't gone through, you know,
certifications as you havesomething behind it to show,
hey, this the product youbought, this is why, you know,
we're we believe in it. And thiscompany is built to do that. And
there are other companies thathave similar certifications, but
(23:47):
none that have the robustcertifications with the team
with the interaction I think wecan provide. And that's kind of
you know, our leg forward on themarket is the offering we have
is very specific. And there's alot of companies, I don't think
there's any companies really tohave that full portfolio that we
have of cannabinoids, right. Soinstead of coming to one company
that might be cheaper andgetting a product with just CBD,
(24:08):
but then tomorrow you want CBGCBN, you got to go another
company, you come to us and wecan do every different
variation. Yeah, we can dodifferent products for different
issues that people are dealingwith any you can stay with us.
And we can have one rep workingwith you and kind of consulting
with you on the way and helpingyou brand your business. And you
know, that's what a lot ofpeople want. They want
(24:30):
stability, they want comfort,they want a friendly face that's
going to do what's best for themand their company, because then
we're both going to succeedtogether. Right. And I think you
know, in this industry,especially that value is worth
sometimes a little more, youknow, cost and price and because
the relationships there and theyyou know, they love to trust
somebody. Yeah, right. They wantto feel like they have something
(24:51):
for the long run. They alwayshave their back and be there to
support them. Yeah.
Ronjini Joshua (24:57):
Do you think that the backward certificate
thing is going to be a challengewhen things kind of come to
fruition. Like being going backand making sure you have all
those certifications in place,like do you think that's going
to be something that theindustry is faced with? Because
you know, it's not? We're kindof in progress. Yeah, it is.
Adam Bushey (25:16):
If you're not looking at similar industries
that have similar capabilities,Sharon, so if you're if you look
like skincare is great, if we'regonna make lotion at the
facility, what are thefacilities that are making
lotion for Neutrogena and theseother big companies? What are
their requirements? What aretheir certifications, right? We
have those as well, then wecover that aspect, right? If you
look at an edible or a foodcompany, what are their food
(25:37):
regulations that they have, whatthings have they gone through,
if we have those, then we'regood on that side, he cover all
those different industries thatare similar to where we're going
to be when FDA opens everythingup, right, and we have all that
set. And we do already. And weknow, okay, we have cGMP, and
food, we're there, we're set upto be Intraceuticals, we have
all the different certificationsfor the separate industries. And
it can't be more robust thanthose because those are already
(25:58):
such a high echelon, right, andit's so hard to be certified in
those for good reason. But Ithink that's where the tea is
gonna be, it's gonna becombining all the different
industries that are similar tocannabis. And if you're already
there, then you're great. Ifnot, and you're a little behind,
you'll have time to get to catch
Ronjini Joshua (26:13):
up a little bit.
But but then that's it, likethere's no substitute for time.
Like, as if you have if you haveto take six months to 12 months
to do that somebody else mightedge you out of the market, like
so that's it. That's a big deal.
Adam Bushey (26:25):
Yep. And fines and everything else you could deal
with right? FTA and everything.
And so we're looking forward tothat very much, because I think
it's gonna weed out a lot of thesmaller companies that are
causing harm, and with the vapeand those kinds of things as
well, right? It's gonna be niceto have everything regulated,
everybody has to be held at thesame bar. And, you know, to make
the whole industry a lot cleanerand
Ronjini Joshua (26:46):
streamlined,
Ben Michaels (26:47):
maybe I'm curious.
So what percentage would yousay, you know, there's hundreds,
that was 100, or hundreds ofdifferent cannabinoids,
cannabinoids. And then whatpercentage do you think that you
all figured out, you know,specifically to these different
things? And then research wise,how many years up? Do you think
we are to understanding all ofthem, if ever,
Adam Bushey (27:11):
I think that it's going to be expedited now
because there's such a goodfocus on cannabis in general,
everybody from the President toour grandmas are talking about,
you know, him getting cannabisand everything else. Right. So
that's helping because a lot ofthe colleges are getting
involved. You know, before itwas a lot of in Israel and
Europe and other countries thatwere ahead of the game for it.
And now we're finally catchingup. We have a lot you know, more
(27:33):
into hemp and CBD in general, asfar as you know, studies and
everything else. But as thecannabinoids become easier to
isolate and easier to replicate,they're going to be able to do
those studies based on thoseindividual cannabinoids. And
then at that point, we'll starthaving more studies done, we'll
have more information aboutthem. And I'm sure you know,
over the next 50 years, we'regoing to be able to extract all
the cannabinoids. But you know,for now, there's I think there's
(27:55):
10 that are really key rightnow. And they have all different
aspects and purposes, fordifferent products. And the real
key is going to be finding agood solution to get a lot of
information about those to havestudies made to have, you know,
panels done and have people kindof learn how these can actually
affect the body, how they canhelp, Is there too much that
(28:17):
somebody should not take isthere's too little that won't do
anything. There's so manydifferent variables, right, that
we have to go through, but run agood path now to single those
out. And they've done a lot ofwork and CBG and CBN. Now, so
those are kind of on the nextlevel. And then we have all the
next things coming and excitingthings that you know, cbdv,
CBDa, CBGa, THCV, there's somany exciting variable or
(28:39):
exciting cannabinoids coming outthat all needed to have go
through that same process. So wecan actually figure out okay,
what does this for? What does itdo? How do we make it make sure
it's safe and all those kinds ofthings. So it's exciting. But
you know, the more people talkabout it, the more we have
things like mjbizcon, we'regreat people come together and
minds work. And, you know, thegovernment takes notice, and
they want to be a part of it.
And they want to see how theyget the tax money. Right. Yeah.
(29:00):
So they're gonna support it andkeep it growing. So, I mean,
it's all it's all been good. Thelast 10 years have been huge,
right. And I think the next timewill be even better. Absolutely.
I think within 10 years, we'llknow a lot about these different
cannabinoids and how tospecifically target, you know,
the need for each person.
Ronjini Joshua (29:18):
Yeah, this is awesome. I mean, that there's so
much there's a lot of wealth ofinformation when it comes to the
plant like life and like the wayyou guys kind of inspect it and
and research it because, youknow, there's like, an endless
pool of knowledge that you'retapping into. So it's really
interesting to see, like, I feellike every month there's like
some new letter coming out. Soknowing what those things are
(29:42):
going to do is going to bereally cool.
Adam Bushey (29:44):
Yeah. You have a purpose. We just have to figure
out what that is.
Ronjini Joshua (29:46):
Yeah, yeah.
It'll be good. I'll check onyour website today to see what's
going on. Well, thank you somuch for joining me, Adam. is
where can people find you?
Adam Bushey (29:56):
Open Book extract.
com. Find us on LinkedIn too. OnFacebook, Instagram, but yeah,
check out the website and lotinformation on there and then
love to connect with everybodyand talk more about it. So we're
excited. All right. Thank youfor having me. Yeah, absolutely.
Ronjini Joshua (30:12):
The Green Room podcast is brought to life by
green seed PR, cannabis greentech focus PR agency, and a
dedicated production team ofeditors mixers and show
Booker's. A huge thank you tothe vessel team for providing
their studio for our recordings.
Don't forget to subscribe andshare the greenroom podcast with
friends, colleagues and family.
(30:32):
That way you'll never miss anepisode and we can keep the
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(30:57):
cpr.com/the-green-room Thanksfor listening and be well
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