Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pete.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
A better wellness wasn't in another prescription bottle, but in
a carefully cultivated plant grown organically, extract it responsibly and
backed by science. The problem the CBD industry exploded before the.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Rules did, thanks to a patchwork of state laws, a
twenty eighteen farm build that left gaps, and the FDA's
continued reluctance to evaluate or regulate CBD products like dietary supplements.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
We've ended up with confusion, chaos, and a flood of
products making claims they can't back up. Today, I just
say no, we're cutting through that fog and getting real
about what's in your CBD and what shouldn't be.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
By twenty twenty, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch estimate
that will grow to thirty five billion dollars, and many
experts believe that could eventually reach two hundred billion dollars.
And every year.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Want to say one of the scut me. I can
see so much your moroson you Moon.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I'm a butterfly who has only begun taking me a
while to get it, had to live and cry, to
appreciate your life and let you give his word.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
When you're holding me, you when you're holding me so close.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Someone bitter and under your skin.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I want to leave the my so that I can
be Hello, Hello, and welcome back to just saying. Now
we're today we are going to take the mystery and
the marketing spin out of cannabis and ham products. I'm
your host, Maria Calibery's and I am excited about today's
topic because it addresses something near and dear to my heart,
(02:11):
transparency and wellness. I'm coming to you from the heart
of California's cannabis country on KCAA Radio ten fifty AM,
one O six point five FM and wherever you get
your podcasts. With so many CBD brands claiming to be pure,
organic or doctor recommended, how do we as consumers separate
(02:34):
the truth from the noise, them from the chaff. While
one company that walks the walk is Asping Green, USDA
certified organic, full spectrum and physician formulated by one of
the most respected names in integrative medicine, joining me today
(02:56):
is Brandon Lewis, the founder of Asping Green. Brandon's goes
beyond selling wellness products. He's here to raise the standard
and help us all become smarter CBD consumers. Brandon. Welcome.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Well, thank you for having me, Maria. It's a pleasure.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I have been looking forward to this conversation not only
because we're welcoming Aspen Green to the green Bee Life Hive,
but because I think your story and the science behind
your products can truly empower our listeners. For those who
may be new to Aspen Green, tell us how it
all started. What led you and your co founders to
(03:34):
step into the CBD space? What problem were you hoping
to solve?
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Boyle boy That is a loaded question a lot of
time back. Yeah, So look, I'm not gonna get religious
on anybody here, but I will tell you that I
literally was asking from above for something that I was
passionate about and that would film me for close to
(04:01):
a decade. Now. I am a recovering alcoholic addict. I'm
sober twenty eight years and I ended up in a
business where I had an executive search firm that was
(04:22):
tied to pharmaceutical marketing and healthcare advertising. And during this time,
when I would ask my clients, I would ask them
about therapeutic categories of expertise that they would require to
have and so forth, and different skills that they're looking
for when they would bring on whether account talent or
(04:44):
scientific talent into their organization. And my stomach really started
to turn somewhere around fourteen fifteen ish, maybe sixteen, when
I had clients that were in the pains in particular,
we're promoting opioids, and so with that, I just didn't
(05:08):
want to be a part of that any any longer.
I didn't know how I would end up over on
this side of the you know this this business. I've
been passionate about prison reform, decriminalization. I believe that people
need to go to treatment centers and get help when
any when they have any addiction. And I did not
grow up as a as really a cannabis lover. I didn't.
(05:30):
I used to have a retail chain a long time ago,
when I was in my in my early thirties. Uh,
we had I did business in eight states. I had
a thousand employees, and and I like the action, but
that but that business was really about the money. It
wasn't necessarily helping people per se. Uh. And when when
(05:55):
this came about with me, probably the first, the first
moment that it made me really pause and think was
in twenty I want to say, twenty twelve, I was
in Colorado Springs and I had stopped off at a
dispensary right off of I twenty five and selfishly, look,
(06:18):
I'm a male. I've been married to my wife, Heathers,
who's involved in the business for I don't know what
twenty three, twenty four years now, and had I heard
that you could have a good time with your intimacy
if you will, if you've got a buzz from cannabis.
So I stop in at this dispensary and it took
every bit of forty five minutes. I get out, and
(06:40):
you know, I get back into the car and heather says,
what took you so long? And I said, Babe, you
don't understand what I just saw. I saw every walk
of life. I saw every demographic. I saw people who
do want to get absolutely buzzed, there's no question. But
I saw so many people who are looking for, you know,
(07:01):
help from their ailments. And again, I want to be
very cognizant. I know I mentioned I was in executive
search tied to pharmaceuticals before. Well, you know, we're not
making any claims, right, so we're not We're not going
to tell you that we're going to help you quote
unquote with pain or with your with your other ailments
where the FDA is involved in far and pharma can
(07:25):
pump out a drug for you. But these are natural,
you know, natural remedies, if you will, from this plant
that's been around for thousands of years. And it was
really eye opening to me to see that in twenty
twelve where people were really really looking for relief from
a variety of their issues. And you know, it took
(07:47):
a few years still where I had to go on
a journey where I thought, you know what, why don't
I open up these marijuana dispensaries, medical marijuana dispensaries, and
was disheartened because it is so stink and political and
every state is doing it differently. Uh. Look, we're a
(08:08):
lover of Colorado. Everything that we've been doing has been
based out of Colorado, from soup to nuts, growing the plants, extraction.
Rebecca and Stephanie were on this call. Live out there.
Our our our teammate Adam Young is in Colorado Springs.
And and with that, you know, I also I live
in Florida in a town called Panovieter Beach, which is
(08:31):
a beautiful place. Uh, and I got to Colorado all
the time. But with that, I really got disheartened in
these in these state sessions, both in Colorado and in Florida,
and in having it be uh, you know, vertically integrated.
You have to do every single thing under the sun,
and you have to retail directly with you know, brick
(08:53):
and mortar and so forth. So fast forward through that.
I was sharing my zest to explore this medical marijuana
space with a friend of mine who's a very wealthy guy,
and he came to me a couple months maybe about
(09:13):
six months later. So this is in the beginning of
eighteen and I'm sitting at this desk right here, and
he calls me up and he says, hey, what do
you think about the CBD thing? He hit me in
a bad moment, and I just go, I think it's
a fat And it was because I was focused on marijuana,
right and I'm not understanding the difference here. I'm not
(09:35):
a connoisseur of cannabis at this time. Really, So fast
forward through this. He invites me to come in and
to be a distributor for another brand out there, and
I started asking him, well, and that company, where are
the farms. I want to meet the farmer. And they
(09:56):
couldn't tell me. They would just say, hey, we buy
material from all over the place, five thousand farms, whatever
it was, across the country. We ship it in into
one location. We're grinding it up, mixing it all together.
It's like a hodgepodge of really bile maass. And I
said to him, I said, this is not what I've envisioned.
(10:18):
I have another gig that I do. I've had success, YadA, YadA, YadA,
and and I really want to help people, and I
want to know. I want to know, like at the
ground level, the strains, the farming and so forth. So
fast forward through that, we have two We have partners,
(10:40):
Kyle and Valerie Chong, lifelong friends of mine. I've known
Kyle since we're twelve years old. He's a Chinese Jamaican guy,
no joke. His mom used to grow, you know, cannabis,
and she would use it in tea right properties to
help with the various ailments. So anyway, so with that,
(11:01):
his wife, Valerie was very in tuned to these different
toxins that are in skincare products like the bandover. I
think it's thirteen hundred of them. So this is kind
of genesis of us where we came together, two families
homeopathic looking for the natural remedies, and then the journey begin.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Looking for the natural alternative to you know, pharmaceuticals or
products that are packed with preservatives or not so great ingredients.
You know, there's a lot of manufacturers out there who
put profit over people. And for you, it was personal
(11:51):
and I share that with you. I think that's what
drew me. I didn't realize the specifics, but two aspen
Green because it's shine through and your you know your products,
they're USDA certified organic, they're grown in the United States
Colorado to be exact. And the care you take and
(12:12):
the interest you have in this commitment towards sustainability. Uh,
for me, it's personal too, and I really appreciate your
sharing the the why in such a candidate. In personal way,
our journeys are quite parallel. I went to law school.
(12:32):
I mean to me, Mariwana. Unfortunately, I was drummed in
as a childhood. There was a it was a felony
and a devil's drug and a gateway drug to all
kinds of mayhem. But I had a horrific car accident.
I had four massive spinal surgeries and opioids that is
(12:54):
not a long term use drug. Sorry, FORMA got it wrong.
Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hurts. Opioids was just not
a long term use drug. If there's really specific cases
very acute short term pain. But for someone struggling or
(13:15):
suffering with a chronic, lifelong condition. This happened to me
after my first day at Los cub was only twenty four.
Opioid addiction was a real threat and concern, so, but
cannabis was never on the table. So for me, it
wasn't until twenty sixteen when it went on the ballot
in California, and it was actually through a dog that
(13:39):
I had. It's funny because with all of the propaganda
and the misinformation, I really thought you had to go
full blown cannabis, and that CBD was, you know, was
just a fat I didn't understand the end of cannabinoid system.
We'll get into that and cannabinoids and that THC and
CBD are only two of over one hundred and fifty
(14:02):
at least cannabinoids. So someone suggested marijuana failing dog, I was,
you know, that was the devil's weed, and CBD I
thought was a fat but she her suffering, not her suffering,
forced me to kind of look into it and when
(14:25):
I have the aha moment like you, especially in the
dispensary and seeing people from all walks of life in there.
And that's what our audience wants to learn more about
because they're they're folks who are looking for natural alternatives
to pharmaceuticals and alcohol. So I wanted to just take
(14:47):
it back to you know, your commitment to doing this
so so authentically and clean. Can you explain to the
audience what exactly USDA certified organic means and how rare
it is to come by in the CBD industry.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Yeah, well, well that was something that I was It
was non negotiable for me is to put out the
cleanest products that we can possibly make. And so it
starts really at the farm, So the USA has to
come out and certify the actual farm. They do this
on the hemp side of the business. Okay, just so
(15:30):
everybody's clear who's listening, this is all the same exact plant.
It's called the Cannabis sativa L plant. There's the only
difference between what is classified as marijuana and what is
classified as hemp is the actual weight of the product
cannot exceed point three percent THHC. If it's point three
(15:52):
zero zero one, you call it marijuana. You have to
have a marijuana license if it If it's at point
three percent and below by dry weight of that actual THC,
then you can call it hemp. And the FEDS had
passed the Farm Bill, also known as the Agricultural Act
in twenty eighteen, and that made it federally compliant. Now
(16:17):
every state's doing things all differently now too. There's this
whole all this stuff. It's a quagmire, frankly, but that's
what gave way to this space. And with that you
can have The USDA will certify a hemp farm as
(16:38):
being organic, but they won't do that with a marijuana farm.
It does not exist. Okay, just so you know now again, and.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That's because of the legal classification of the amount of THC.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yes, it's all about the amount of THC in the plant.
And look, and as we're growing plants, realize this. You
have a buffer state by eight. They give you an allowance.
I told you point three percent by weight. So just
imagine this. For example, if you have a five gram
gummy point three percent of five grams is fifteen milligrams.
(17:13):
So if that came from what was classified as a
hemp plant and it was no more than fifteen milligrams
of THC from a hemp derived plant, then you are
federally compliant. Right. So with if you're on the quote
unquote marijuana side of the business, the USDA will not
certify any farms being organic. But again it's the exact
(17:37):
same plant. And when you're growing the plants, the term
is it went hot, meaning it went over a threshold
that's acceptable by the state, which typically is more than
the point three In a manufacturing process of growing the plant, okay,
getting the oil out, they allow a buffer for that, okay,
(17:58):
And again differently, so if it's over that whatever that
threshold may be in the growing part of the manufacturing
and production, then it's called it went hot, and now
it's called marijuana. You've got to burn it, whatever it
may be. So you know, we're testing at the field level,
at the farm, clipping the buds, clipping the flour, if
(18:20):
you will. Then we're testing the bio mass when it's
ground up and there's no stems. We don't use any
stems it's all the flour, all the buds, if you will,
all the good and abinoids and turpens and so forth.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So that's important for bioavailability, right.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Yeah, absolutely, you have to well you have to have flour, yeah,
for sure. But there's also the ways of ingesting for bioavailability. Okay, okay, okay.
A tincture, A tincture with the oil the droppers smoking
is the fastest way to take this stuff and get
(19:00):
into your system and hit your lungs. Lungs, right. The
second fastest way is actually a tincture bottle and you
leave it in the back of the gum line for
about twenty minutes and so forth, and it soaks in.
I want to be very careful with the FDA all
that stuff with the sub sublingually, Yeah, you have that
and then you know you can drink it. We have
(19:20):
new drinks coming out, by the way. You have the gummies,
you have topicals and so forth. But the tinctures are
and we don't sell smokeables. If you look at our site,
I don't believe in and I'm totally anti smoking. If
somebody smokes, that's their prerogative. I'm personally anti vaping. I've
been asked to get in the smokable space, the vaping
(19:42):
space constantly, and I'm like, I just don't want to
be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Sure, lung helps a whole lung help. There's a whole
other issue. But I got you a little off track.
You were talking about that you mill the hamp flour
removing the stems, on the topic of the USDA certification,
and that's not something everybody does correct.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Oh, yeah, for sure. There's very few of us out
there that do that because it's very coffee. I mean
you're talking about you know, you're talking about the sprays used.
You have to have everything that has to be approved
by the usdas being organic and clean your soil. Then
you're talking about the actual facility where you're doing the extraction,
(20:23):
getting the oil out of the biomass. The facility has
to be certified organic. Like you know in manufacturing the gummies,
that facility needs to be certified organic, everything from soup
to nuts.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
That's what caught my attention about Aspen Green because it
was a few years back. But I mean, you were
one of the first to get that certification, and I
knew that farms could get it but to see that
you as a product, I said, I have to check
this product out and on top of the USDA certification,
(20:57):
and we'll talk a little bit about your manufacturing process.
But you're also physician formulated and that is another unique
value proposition. I don't think too many CBD brands can
say that. And can you tell us a little bit
about doctor Adam Pearlman and his role in these formulations.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Well, he's formulated all of them, so you know it
is Uh, we have to have doors open up with
the right relationships, meeting people and so forth right, and
I've we both have smoked. We've spoken to so many
different folks in this space. There's a ton of impostors,
if you will, a ton of bad actors that don't
(21:39):
dot the i's, cross the t's, et cetera. So with that,
your friend of mine introduced me to doctor Pearlman. And ironically,
you know, I live almost a stone's throw. My primary
residence is from the Mayo Clinic here in Jacksonville, Florida,
and so doctor Pearlman lives in my same neighborhood. We
finally got introduced by a very good mutual friend and uh,
(22:04):
we hit it off. And he ended up offering a book,
Gaisine if you will. So it's a cross between a
book and a magazine, about seventy five or so pages.
It was published by Mayo Clinic Press. It was called,
I believe it was called The Medical Benefits of Marijuana
(22:24):
and the Many Benefits of CBD. And with that, you know,
when you when anybody looks at doctor Pearlman, we're not
talking about just any old doc. This is an integrative,
functional medicine doc. He is all about your diet before anything.
That's the first go to deal. Yeah. Yeah, So he
(22:48):
doesn't prescribe pills unless he has to. He's truly that
blend of Eastern and Western medicine. And if if anybody
in the audience listening never ever got to really meet
doctor Pearlman, I mean this guy is I think he's
fifty eight now. He has like no fat, he's unbelievable,
He shredded in amazing shape, he does martial arts. You know,
(23:12):
just a really unique dude, in a pleasure to be
partnered with. And he didn't join us just because we
became friends. It's his name, it's his career. He was
at Duke University, you know, for five years leading the
Integrative and Functional Medicine at Duke University to the Mayo
Clinic for another five years. And so when he when
(23:34):
he joined US, I wanted him to go through every
formula and every product that we were coming out with
and he signs off on all of them. Yeah wow.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
And you know, he had said something that struck me
that his biggest concern in recommending CBD is the quality
of the products out there, and that resonated with me,
obviously with you two and likely with our audience. And
you know, quality control, as you mentioned, it's still a
challenge in every space, not just CBD, but when you're
(24:09):
in an unregulated space and.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
A space with such.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
The patchwork of laws that are inconsistent with gaps, then
it's even more can be more unscrupulous, which is a shame.
And that's why it's so important to amplify voices like
yours and brands like yours, so that people who want
to be helped by this plant and buy the products
know what to look for and how to find them.
(24:37):
And not just people, but pets. Now you don't just
have and we're going to talk about your products and
formulas in a bit and about your customer care team
and meet some of them. But you also which I
love because my dog was the gateway to cannabis for
me formulate CBD for pets, and I that your pet line,
(25:01):
I know doctor Trina has A and uh, I know
you've got incredible veterinarian board of advisors. It's really impressive.
How did you attract such such medical authority? So tell
us about your vetinary line and your veterinarian board of advisors.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Well, doctor Michael silver and and doctor Trina has A.
I got to tell you. I think it was just
through constant networking. I really can't even remember. I mean,
we're talking about you now right.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Well, they're the best. They are. They are the best,
not just in the cannabis field, but doctor has on
the field of oncology, in their respective veterinary medicine fields.
It's it's it's remarkable. You you hit gold there.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Well, they and those are their formulations. You know. I
didn't want to make a product that two cannabis veterinarians
or veterinarians have expertise in cannabis and and him. It
didn't make sense to me. There's so much there's so
many products out there again, how does a consumer know
what to trust?
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Right?
Speaker 4 (26:06):
And that you Yeah, you got a flood of quote
unquote brands, but there is no dare I say Coca Cola?
Uh in our space, it just doesn't exist. Maybe it
will in thirty years, but uh, you know, how do
we send the message to the consumer to trust a brand?
And to me? To me, it felt like we had
(26:26):
to be USDA certified organic. It was a non negotiable.
We need true, true docs that have expertise in hepen cannabis,
both for the pets with doctor Trina and and doctor
Silver and then doctor Pearlman from the obviously the human side.
And and then let's go further too, because we we
(26:47):
didn't talk much about this as testing, so we all
want to talk about, Oh, these are by an independent
all our products are tested by an independent third party lab.
Does that mean it's mine?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
You got the MVPs of the space because you guys
use sc Labs and I wanted you to talk about that.
So I'm so glad you brought that up well.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
With sc labs. They were our original partner was botanic
Or in Denver, which was purchased by sc labs nationally
recognized botanical with US in Colorado, they were accredited. They
were only one of three labs accredited by the state
of Colorado. So to me, I'm like, I had we
had to go with one of the three period and
(27:30):
you know, they're doing state compliance, they're doing national compliance,
they're doing USDA Organic compliance. To me, they are the
cream of the crop. And I've seen all these other
labs out there and I'm like, who are they? I've
never heard of them. A lot of them. There's a
handful I have heard of, yes, But sc Labs is
the premiere testing authority in our space, and we've been
(27:53):
with them again pretty much since inception. We were with
a different lab in the very beginning for just a
little while, and then when I stumbled on and I
found out about sc labs AKA but previously botanic work,
it was a mic drop. We had to go there.
There's no question about it.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
And your transparency is so impressive because you have such
easy access to the lab results for customers. When you
talk about how to consumers even begin to evaluate, and
it could be overwhelming, but you have QR codes on
every package and on your website, you have the lab results,
(28:31):
make them very very very transparent and you walk the
walk brand and what can I say? And in terms
of all of these Creme de la Creme partnerships, you're
also partnered with the Realm of Caring Foundation and they
are incredibly respected in the space. Now, you know, why
was it important for you to align with them?
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Again? I felt like it was true trust for consumers,
but also we needed to have because we cannot speak
to conditions with the consumer with with our customer base
who are so proud to serve, so when they want
to talk to us about their variety, the variety of
ailments that they've got, and then they get into their
(29:18):
their other pharm of drugs that are taking or their
medical conditions, we felt it was best to partner with
Realm of Caring because they've taken over one hundred thousand
phone calls from they'll say clients, not patients, and they've
also done research with Hopkins, Harvard and Penn just to
(29:39):
name a few, and we've donated products for some of
those observational studies, and we just felt that that was
the right thing to do for our again, our consumers
and educating people out there, this is a this is
a free call, they're they're they're they're there to help
you and guide you on your journey if you will.
(30:00):
And with that, so, actually one of their ten yured
guys I always had on my radar to come join us.
His name is Adam Young. He's not on this call
with us, but Adam was there for about five years,
well versed in cannabis and in hemp again it's the
same plant, folks. So and he was a caregiver.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Distinction to make not everybody realize that that can't be
said enough, but go ahead.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
No, And he was a caregiver as well. He's very empathetic.
He took care of his mom down the stretch she passed.
So a lot of this with you know a lot
of people were using RSO Rick Simpson Oil and and
Adam was and he's such a caring guy. He's been
with us for over two years. And we've got also
(30:51):
two gals on the call with us here, Stephanie and Rebecca,
who have been Yeah. So with Adam Young leading our
customer care team. Him coming from realm of caring and
his experience was just perfect for that. But we needed
to have some other really key stakeholders involved that could
(31:12):
help our customers, and I actually had met an awesome farmer.
Rebecca was at her farm myself, and now she's with us.
It took about two years later she joined us, and
then Steph, who's on this call. Both Rebecca and Steph
are on this call. Sorry, Bonnie, you're not here, Adam,
Sorry you're not with us. We love you both. But
(31:34):
Stef and Rebecca are here, and I'm so honored and
proud to have them on the team. I've been passionate
about I want to have an in house American customer
care team that can really guide our customers and who've
got experience in this space. So with that, I'll let
you chat with Rebecca and Steph.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Well, welcome, Welcome, Rebecca and Stephanie. You know, I could
discuss education and patient support all day, but I'm gonna
let some new voices talk about it. So why don't
we start with Rebecca. Rebecca, tell us a little bit
about yourself, how long you've been in Aspen Green and
(32:18):
what type of patient support or we call it, we
have to call it client support you offer to customers.
Speaker 6 (32:28):
Yeah, so I'm Rebecca. I've been with Aspen Green for
about two years now. And it's been a great company
to work with for me. My background with himp Or
Cannabis has been an extensive background in growing cannabis on
a small and.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
A large scale.
Speaker 6 (32:45):
So that background of like seeing actually what goes into
growing has really made me appreciate this job because I
just know like how much effort and time and care
really goes into it. My history with growing has also
been organic, and that's really helped open my eyes to
how insanely difficult it actually is to get USDA organic certification.
(33:08):
It's not something that the farm that I worked with
was able to do just because it was just so
intensive and also really expensive too. So that's been really nice,
like work for company that offers that on all levels.
So I really appreciate that about Aspen Green. And as
for the support that we give, I think that our
(33:28):
main mission with Aspen Green is to be not only
knowledgeable but also available to customers into our clients, just
because I mean that's something that you know, in the
world of like AI and computerization of everything, like people
are really losing that personal touch with companies and so
for them to be able to actually like pick up
(33:49):
the phone and call us, We'll call them back if
we missed it right away. You know, we'll respond to
their emails quickly, talk to them on the chat. Like
just to actually be able to talk to a human
being like quickly has been I think a game changer
for a lot of people. And on that note, like
even for me, if I'm wanting to get, you know,
customer service from a company and I'm like pitching out
(34:12):
to them, just working for Asping Green has kind of
set my expectations for customer service a little more. I'm
just like, dang, they haven't responded to me in forty
eight hours.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
What's going on? You know?
Speaker 6 (34:21):
So I think that's our main mission is just like
educating people, being knowledgeable, caring, and also yeah, being available
for people.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Well, this is a radio show and we're also going
to have a video version, and I just love to
highlight and spotlight for faces behind it because we're crushing
the stigma. You're relatable, You're you're you're lovely. I'd call
you not the sound date at the Girl next door.
I'm like being stereotypical, crazy propaganda ref madness displays. So
(34:58):
not only are you subject matter expert, you come to
it with years of experience and it's been a gateway
to helping people. So I love spotlighting the people. I
like to say that Greenbee Life is a people network
with cannabis, not a cannabis network with people. And I'm
(35:20):
gonna now introduce. We want to say hi to Stephanie. Stephanie,
tell us a little bit about yourself. Another one who
doesn't look like you know whatever, not that there's not
that there's anything wrong. I love to teaching Chong, but
you know, the demographic's much wider, you know.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (35:40):
So my name is Stephanie and I similar to back.
I've been in the industry now since twenty thirteen. I
took a little bit different a path. I went more
on the retail side of things, so I was working
more customer facing jobs and I worked for a company
called Live Enlightened Health. They had no training program when
(36:01):
I first entered. They were only medical and so it
was crazy to see like all these different walks of
life coming into dispensary having little to no knowledge of
like what they were buying, how to ingest it, what it.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Was going to do.
Speaker 7 (36:14):
And so I kind of saw an entry way of
being like, hey, I can be really impactful for this company,
I'm going to help them create a training program. So
we developed a world class training program that eventually turned
into multiple different states, and we really saw livel expand
at a rate that we couldn't have expected. And the
(36:34):
coolest thing was that a lot of our reviews that
were left back, you know, in the early days, it
was that they were coming in and it was an
experience that they could come in and they could get
walked through all the different forms of ingestion. We were
answering questions in a compliant way, and they were leaving,
you know, feeling really empowered and the decisions that they made.
So it was really cool to be a part of that.
(36:55):
I love Asping Green because they've hired so many different
people with different like backgrounds, and so it all kind
of formulates into this really beautiful symbiotic relationship where you know,
Rebecca has grow, I have retail, Adam has both sides.
Bonnie as well coming into it, and it's just been
really cool to see how meticulous the processes for Aspen
(37:17):
Green and I use the products, My family uses their products,
family friends, everyone's using their products and they love it.
And it's really something that I can stand behind because
the USA Organic just the care that we take with
our customer service, every step of the way is really
thoughtfully curated and it's something that I can really get behind.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, and you know, there's nothing more gratifying than having
customers or listeners. I know today's listeners are going to
walk away from this just interview, but to have an
interaction with you as well feeling more informed. That makes
them feel more empowered on their wellness journey. Which we
talked a lot about the information gap, and there's a
(38:00):
real inform there's a legal gap, but those gaps in
the law and when you you know, we talk about
being able to speak to the customers in a compliant way,
it's it's tough for consumers. That's for me, new to
cannabis and having been so grossly misinformed trying That's why
(38:23):
I put together Greenbey Life and I'm trying to build
a hive of brands that are aligned and who are
putting people over the profits. But you know, we need
you know, it's connecting the people to the brands that
are walking the walk, that are well meaning and that
(38:45):
are really interested in helping the people. Then the profits
will come. But the gaps in the law, present gaps
and information because on the retail side and on the
marketing side, how to separate hype from marketing. But then
even well meaning companies like yourself, if you're restricted from
making health claims or you know where, we have barriers
(39:10):
to social media to putting information out. So having this
customer support team, I you know, I evaluate, and I
look at and I search for many brands I don't
I don't know too many that that offer that, And
so it's fantastic. While I have such smart people, we
(39:33):
like to do something called a quick it. So I'm
going to have y'all drop a knowledge bomb where you
guys are going to share and you're on the spot.
You're on the spot here. I'm not gonna lie they
didn't know about this guy's beforehand, but we're you're going
to share a fast, powerful insight. Now, I kind of
(39:55):
would giving your backgrounds and your mission, I thought it
would be be great to ask each of you and
you could go around. You could take a couple of
minutes each and you could take a minute to think
about it. Tell me who would want to go first?
Today's knowledge bomber, quick hit, what's the one thing you
(40:16):
wish more people truly understood about CBD, beyond the hype
and the misinformation. So who wants to go first? Well
it's Brandon. Brandon is brave, Brandon, your muted.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
I was going to defer to the ladies and being gentlemen.
You want to go with this, I mean, go ahead, Rebecca, Okay.
Speaker 6 (40:46):
I think for me one thing that I really wish
that people I mean, okay, can I drop two?
Speaker 4 (40:51):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Absolutely you can't. I'd love you to indulge me in
answer the one think you wish more people today? You
have a knowledge you want to drop by all.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (41:03):
I think for me and Brandon actually touched on this earlier,
is that like hemp, cannabis, marijuana, it's all the same plant.
And I think that that's something that a lot of
people don't realize, and so there's certain aspects of the
plants I kind of get demonized, so to speak. You know,
like a lot of people are like, oh, like marijuana
is awful, I just want CBD, And it's kind of
(41:25):
explaining to them, like, you know, hemp is CBD is hemp,
and CBD is from marijuana plants, and it's all just
about how much THHD you're extracting from these plants. So
that's something that I think would be really helpful, maybe
not for people to know, but like for the respect
of the plant. Like I feel like it helps people
to like have a better understanding of the plant and
(41:47):
kind of the history of it, and just the terminology
I think is important.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
I agree, And I also think, not to interrupt, but
in terms of respect for the plant, I think when
you make the distinction, we're just perpetuating the propaganda and
vilifying sea at one. Then that's got to be normalized.
Speaker 6 (42:09):
But good, good, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 4 (42:12):
And yeah.
Speaker 6 (42:12):
The other one is just that it's not like one
size fits all solution and it's not like FAS and so,
you know, like Brandon was mentioning earlier, it's like coming
from a space where, like a lot of people, I'd
say most people are kind of conditioned to expect immediate results,
you know, immediate relief because we're used to like having
access to medicines and things that you know, mask the
(42:35):
symptoms right away, and so when people are looking for
like natural alternatives, they kind of have this built up
expectation of like, Okay, if I take this once, I'm
gonna sleep ten hours tonight or my pain's gonna go away.
But it's just like with any natural supplement, it takes
time and patients and consistency to like allow your body
(42:55):
to actually like acclimate to it and give your body
a chance to respond.
Speaker 4 (42:59):
And that could some time.
Speaker 6 (43:01):
So for me, that's one thing that I would just
love to like shout to the world is like give
it time, be consistent, be patient with it, give it
a couple of weeks, and then come back. But like
immediate results like it happens sometimes but pretty rare.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
I love that. I mean, you guys, learn it for
the long haul because the education in managing the expectations.
And that's another thing, guys, just you know, if brands
are making these crazy claims, they are clear. I love
your honesty and that's realistic. Thank you.
Speaker 6 (43:35):
Well, all right, Steph your turn.
Speaker 7 (43:39):
Definitely jumping off that like the fact that we you know,
it's not a one size fits all. I think it's
really important to really drive that home for sure. I
love that when people give get the opportunity like talk
to Rebecca or Bonnie or I, we can kind of
help educate them that you know, everyone's body is going
to react differently, and so to be really open to
like experimenting not only with the different forms of ingestion,
(44:00):
but with the different amounts that you're taking, because it
is going to be different for every single person. Right
what your partner takes maybe a completely different effect for
them versus for you know, what you take. So being
able to be open to experimenting is a really big
thing because your mindset is huge when you're entering the
world of like full spectrum products or CBD in general.
If you have that you know, mindset of like, well,
(44:22):
I want this to be a quick fix, and you're
not willing to experiment and be open to like what happens,
it can be I don't know, it can kind of
be you can kind of not meet that expectation or
you might be let down. Whereas if you're going into
it with okay, let me just be really open to
this experience, especially for new time users, right like when
new time us, like when you when someone that is
trying CBD for the first time calls, it's like, Okay,
(44:44):
this is what you know you're trying. How about you
try it on a day where you don't have a
lot going on you're in the safety of your home,
you can be really open to what is going to
happen to your body because you just kind of have
no idea. So really educating people on that And I
think another thing too, and this is something that we
used to teach back in the dispensary at least, is
that people have the misconception that like CBD is like
(45:06):
not psychoactive, but like CBD is still altering your nervous system.
So in a way, it's still going to be you know,
it may not be intoxicating, but it's still going to
cause some type of difference in your nervous system. So
like it's kind of a misconception to say it's not psychoactive,
because anything that alters your nervous system is. And so
(45:27):
that was another big thing for me that we would
really touch on when people would come into the dispensary
looking and to learn about different cannabinoids.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Very powerful. You've got you you did do you just
get the best people, Brandon. I mean, that is such
an important distinction. And I always say, like psychoactive, psychotropic.
I mean I don't even like the word intoxicating. I
like to apply the word intoxicating to alcohol because it's
toxic marijuanity. See, it's kind a psychoactive effect, but it's
(45:57):
not toxic. So I know it's all semantics, but I
hate when people say that CBD is that's a strong word.
I get discouraged when people say that CBD is not psychoactive,
because wait a minute, if you're taking it for sleep,
or if sleep support, or you're trying to just calm stress,
(46:23):
I mean, is it is affecting the psyche perhaps, and
that's what the studies indicate as well. But so great,
great insight.
Speaker 4 (46:32):
Wow, glorify with that because a couple of times throughout
our conversation, I know we've said sleep, I know we've
said pain. I want to make it very clear we
are not making any claims Nope, nope, that we can
that we are giving you better sleep, pain relief. We're
(46:52):
not making those claims in case the FDA listens to this.
So that's why our products say rest, have a good
a good evenings. Rest, you'll be dreaming all night long. However,
you want to take that, right, You want relief from
your ailments whatever those are, and your discomfort. You can
read between the lines, right.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
Well, it's it's it's balance, and we didn't have it.
We're not gonna have time, but I got to have
you guys back, because it is established that there's an
endocannabinoid system, and the endocannabinoid system, there are studies and
we're going to have them on the show page does
kind of regulate certain bodily functions. And there's a lot
(47:33):
of research to be had. And and your honesty is
is and your your lack of bias is refreshing.
Speaker 4 (47:42):
Maria, your your, your, your audience. The listeners here, they
can go to pub PubMed dot absolutely. Yeah, they can
go to PubMed and they can also go to the
nih dot gov and they can type in cannabis, they
can type in HAMP, they can type in THHD, they
can type in CBD and any ailments that they want,
and they can see a list of studies that we
(48:03):
don't even know who these scientists are. So we used
to actually have those on our site. We thought that
we were good stewards in the very beginning of the business,
and then we had obviously compliance lawyers and they said, no, no, no,
you're by showing those studies, you're making a claim a
claim boom. They had to come down immediately, right.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
So, well, this is where there's the regulation is in
no man's land. But once we get to actual sensible
rules and regulations, it's always threading the needle where you
want to have regulations that are sensible to promote innovation
(48:42):
and to protect the consumers at the same time, but
also to be able to inform them. I wish the
FDA would stop stalling and actually evaluate it, have the
NHI studies and we'll see where that goes. But that
was a really good QUI kit branding. I'm going to
(49:03):
kind of account that is your quick kit. Unless is
there one thing you wish more people truly understood about CBD?
Speaker 4 (49:12):
Uh, it's just it's it's one cannabinoid. We look, we
have sold the in all of our products. We've had
all all the cannabinoids that came out of the plant,
the miners, the terpenes included, and that's through all of
our products. So I didn't want to be focused as
a CBD company. I actually it kind of irked me.
(49:35):
I feel like we are more of a health and
wellness company and it just so happens that the main
ingredient that we use, if you will happens to be
from a cannabis slash hemp plant. I mean it's one
of the same, right, We've gone through that today. And look,
and we've gone through some of this propaganda that we
(49:55):
that a lot of the audience doesn't know. And it
started back with random first right in and I don't
know if we want to get into that or another.
Speaker 2 (50:04):
Time, but nineteen Marijuana Tax Act yep.
Speaker 4 (50:08):
Yeah, And so there's so much stuff out there showing
what Randolph first he had paper mills, well, the hemp plant.
The hemp trees were actually encroaching on his paper farms
that he had in the Philippines. So in his newspapers
he literally put in the ads where it's a white
woman getting busy if you will, with the brown man
(50:30):
and calling it reef for madness in marijuana and and
and that slang term versus just cannabis. And then they
also had put out stories of people going nuts and
like a young guy killing his parents because he's high.
That's that's this is false, right, this is it's crazy.
(50:53):
And Joe I love Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan talks about
this all the time, right, you know, And and it
goes into it goes into Nixon in seventy one in
the drug war. Right, so all the hippies anti Vietnam movement,
if you will, they all know, you know, the politicians
are like no, no, no, they're all smoking pot. This is
how we're going to crack down on them.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
And and by keeping it schedule one, they get arrested
and felons can't vote.
Speaker 4 (51:21):
So yes, right, all that, all of that, yep, taking
away our freedom to use something that we want to
use for a variety of reasons, whether it's recreational or
it's from a therapeutic decision from the you know, the
consumer making that choice themselves.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
We've unpacked very well and we'll have you back because
we could talk about so many facets, so many things.
We could do a whole episode on full spectrum on sustainability.
Sustainability goes right to oh, by the way, talking about
false claims, Yes, William Randolph Hurst, so watch out for
false claims. People were not allowed to make health claims,
(52:05):
but they were allowed to make both claims. Hi, guys,
we're gonna have to wrap up, But this is why
I'm proud to welcome ASP and Green into the Greenbey life.
Hive because we believe in partnering with brands that care
as much about what goes into the bottle as you
care about what goes into your body and Brandon, Stephanie, Rebecca,
(52:30):
I thank you guys so much, and I look forward
to doing part two and really diving in to the
different ways you can consume for what different effects We're
not going to say benefits, and the different delivery systems
there are because there's lotions, there's potions, there's pills, there's
(52:51):
soft gels, there's tinctures, and you, guys, as being part
of the customer care team, we've got a retail specialist
and we've got someone with the cultivation background talk a
little bit about all of it. So, guys, thank you,
thank you so much, and I look forward to having
you back.
Speaker 4 (53:12):
Hey, if the audience would, they can feel free to
call directly at one eight eight eight five seven eight
five nine zero zero. You can talk to Rebecca, steph
Bonnie or Adam and the website's aspingreen dot com. We
also use drink aspengreen dot Com coming out, and then
Bolo Drinks dot Com is coming too. And by the way,
(53:35):
you'd be talking to these gals right here when you're
asking about Bolo as well.
Speaker 2 (53:41):
Rank fantastic. Thank you for letting our audience know how
to get in touch with you. That was going to
be my next question. Guys, if you you know, you
can hear this live on KCAA Radio, which you're listening
to right now, but also to be archived on all
the major third party platform podcast plot forms, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Amazon, Apple.
(54:05):
But if you go to greenbelife dot com, greenbelife dot com, listen,
you go to our show page for this episode, we'll
have all their contact information and who knows, maybe I
can even get them to give us a little special
affiliate link for Greenbee Life. Hi pint, no pressure, but
all right, guys, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (54:26):
Well, why don't we greenbe Live, right, and let us go.
Let's go green Bee you want Greenbe Life, Maria, we'll
go greenbe Life and get twenty percent off.
Speaker 2 (54:35):
Whoa green Bee Life twenty. You heard it here, guys,
it'll be on the show page green Bee Life twenty.
I love it. I love it. Oh, thank you, thank you,
thank you, guys, thank you so all right. So here's
the truth. The more we know, the better we choose.
(54:58):
So before you buy your next seat product, pause and
ask does it follow you know? Does this brand published
lab results Aspen Green yes? Are they third party lab
tested Aspen Green yes? Do they use clean extraction methods
and organic practices aspin Green yes? Or are they just
(55:20):
hoping you won't ask those questions? Hey, if today's episode
raised your standards or inspired you to try CBD for
the first time, head over to greenbeelife dot com. Go
to our show page for this episode with Aspen Green
use green bee Life twenty and they'll hook you up.
(55:41):
Feel free to call them. We'll have their phone number.
You could talk to their customer support Stephanie Rebecca. We
didn't meet Bonnie, but they've got a whole learned team
over there. And so if you care about clean, responsibly
made CBD, let your elected official know. Remember, the FDA
(56:03):
has yet to create meaningful guidance on hemp derived CBD,
and that's left good companies like Aspen Green to figure
it out on their own, while less scrupulous ones muddy
the waters. It's timely demand action and definitely support the
brands that are getting it right. So consider supporting groups
(56:25):
like the US HEMP roundtable, or reach out to your
representatives and tell them you expect clear, sensible regulation that
supports safe access and honest innovation. Because the remedy you're
looking for, it might not be in the prescription bottle.
It might be in the plant if we protect it.
Thank you for tuning in. If you found today's episode helpful,
(56:45):
please share it, follow the show, and leave a review
wherever you listen. Every share helps us grow and helps
others know. Cannabis isn't about getting high. It's about getting well,
being informed and living filmed fully. And here I just
say now we're curiosity is queen. We'll always keep it real,
relevant and rooting to truth. What'sbingreen dot Com was today's spotlight.
(57:11):
Thank you, everybody, have a good safe week. Just Say
No is a green bee Life presentation airing live weekly
on Friday afternoons from four to five pm Pacific on
KCA Radio and KCAA TV. Archived audio episodes are on Greenbeelife,
(57:32):
greenbelife dot com, iHeartRadio, Spreaker, and most third party major platforms.
For archived videos, check them out on GBLTV, on greenbee
Life YouTube and rumble. To follow us our Instagram and
Facebook is at just Say No Radio. To apply to
(57:57):
be a guest on the show or for sponsorship and
advertising opportunities, go to greenbelife dot com, forward slash just
Say No, and feel free to reach out to me
Maria for any questions. I'm at Maria at greenbelife dot
(58:18):
com or call me at eight one eight seven five
eight six nine two five.
Speaker 1 (58:24):
At anything to appreciate?
Speaker 2 (58:33):
Did you know TC and CBD are just two of
more than one hundred cannabinoids.
Speaker 8 (58:39):
At Greenbeelife, you can watch gbl TV with an evolving
slate of original programming.
Speaker 2 (58:46):
I'm going up, Pop up, Up, Up, Up Up.
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From a diverse group of on air personalities.
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Where we cover everything from pets, it's a wellness compliance,
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Much much more. You can learn from articles on our journal,
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Watch learn shop.
Speaker 6 (59:25):
Greenbee Life, changing the way the world sees.
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Green NBC News on CACAA Lomlada sponsored by Teamsters Local
nineteen thirty two, Protecting the future of working Families. Teamsters
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Speaker 8 (59:44):
Org, NBC News Radio, I'm Brian Shook. At least two
tornadoes have touched down in the Saint Louis area. The
storm system caused damage to building and knocked out power
to thousands of people in the city of Clayton. Over
(01:00:04):
one hundred forty three million people are under the threat
of severe weather in the Ohio Valley
Pete.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
A better wellness wasn't in another prescription bottle, but in
a carefully cultivated plant grown organically, extract it responsibly and
backed by science. The problem the CBD industry exploded before the.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Rules did, thanks to a patchwork of state laws, a
twenty eighteen farm build that left gaps, and the FDA's
continued reluctance to evaluate or regulate CBD products like dietary supplements.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
We've ended up with confusion, chaos, and a flood of
products making claims they can't back up. Today, I just
say no, we're cutting through that fog and getting real
about what's in your CBD and what shouldn't be.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
By twenty twenty, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch estimate
that will grow to thirty five billion dollars, and many
experts believe that could eventually reach two hundred billion dollars.
And every year.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Want to say one of the scut me. I can
see so much your moroson you Moon.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I'm a butterfly who has only begun taking me a
while to get it, had to live and cry, to
appreciate your life and let you give his word.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
When you're holding me, you when you're holding me so close.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Someone bitter and under your skin.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I want to leave the my so that I can
be Hello, Hello, and welcome back to just saying. Now
we're today we are going to take the mystery and
the marketing spin out of cannabis and ham products. I'm
your host, Maria Calibery's and I am excited about today's
topic because it addresses something near and dear to my heart,
(02:11):
transparency and wellness. I'm coming to you from the heart
of California's cannabis country on KCAA Radio ten fifty AM,
one O six point five FM and wherever you get
your podcasts. With so many CBD brands claiming to be pure,
organic or doctor recommended, how do we as consumers separate
(02:34):
the truth from the noise, them from the chaff. While
one company that walks the walk is Asping Green, USDA
certified organic, full spectrum and physician formulated by one of
the most respected names in integrative medicine, joining me today
(02:56):
is Brandon Lewis, the founder of Asping Green. Brandon's goes
beyond selling wellness products. He's here to raise the standard
and help us all become smarter CBD consumers. Brandon. Welcome.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Well, thank you for having me, Maria. It's a pleasure.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I have been looking forward to this conversation not only
because we're welcoming Aspen Green to the green Bee Life Hive,
but because I think your story and the science behind
your products can truly empower our listeners. For those who
may be new to Aspen Green, tell us how it
all started. What led you and your co founders to
(03:34):
step into the CBD space? What problem were you hoping
to solve?
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Boyle boy That is a loaded question a lot of
time back. Yeah, So look, I'm not gonna get religious
on anybody here, but I will tell you that I
literally was asking from above for something that I was
passionate about and that would film me for close to
(04:01):
a decade. Now. I am a recovering alcoholic addict. I'm
sober twenty eight years and I ended up in a
business where I had an executive search firm that was
(04:22):
tied to pharmaceutical marketing and healthcare advertising. And during this time,
when I would ask my clients, I would ask them
about therapeutic categories of expertise that they would require to
have and so forth, and different skills that they're looking
for when they would bring on whether account talent or
(04:44):
scientific talent into their organization. And my stomach really started
to turn somewhere around fourteen fifteen ish, maybe sixteen, when
I had clients that were in the pains in particular,
we're promoting opioids, and so with that, I just didn't
(05:08):
want to be a part of that any any longer.
I didn't know how I would end up over on
this side of the you know this this business. I've
been passionate about prison reform, decriminalization. I believe that people
need to go to treatment centers and get help when
any when they have any addiction. And I did not
grow up as a as really a cannabis lover. I didn't.
(05:30):
I used to have a retail chain a long time ago,
when I was in my in my early thirties. Uh,
we had I did business in eight states. I had
a thousand employees, and and I like the action, but
that but that business was really about the money. It
wasn't necessarily helping people per se. Uh. And when when
(05:55):
this came about with me, probably the first, the first
moment that it made me really pause and think was
in twenty I want to say, twenty twelve, I was
in Colorado Springs and I had stopped off at a
dispensary right off of I twenty five and selfishly, look,
(06:18):
I'm a male. I've been married to my wife, Heathers,
who's involved in the business for I don't know what
twenty three, twenty four years now, and had I heard
that you could have a good time with your intimacy
if you will, if you've got a buzz from cannabis.
So I stop in at this dispensary and it took
every bit of forty five minutes. I get out, and
(06:40):
you know, I get back into the car and heather says,
what took you so long? And I said, Babe, you
don't understand what I just saw. I saw every walk
of life. I saw every demographic. I saw people who
do want to get absolutely buzzed, there's no question. But
I saw so many people who are looking for, you know,
(07:01):
help from their ailments. And again, I want to be
very cognizant. I know I mentioned I was in executive
search tied to pharmaceuticals before. Well, you know, we're not
making any claims, right, so we're not We're not going
to tell you that we're going to help you quote
unquote with pain or with your with your other ailments
where the FDA is involved in far and pharma can
(07:25):
pump out a drug for you. But these are natural,
you know, natural remedies, if you will, from this plant
that's been around for thousands of years. And it was
really eye opening to me to see that in twenty
twelve where people were really really looking for relief from
a variety of their issues. And you know, it took
(07:47):
a few years still where I had to go on
a journey where I thought, you know what, why don't
I open up these marijuana dispensaries, medical marijuana dispensaries, and
was disheartened because it is so stink and political and
every state is doing it differently. Uh. Look, we're a
(08:08):
lover of Colorado. Everything that we've been doing has been
based out of Colorado, from soup to nuts, growing the plants, extraction.
Rebecca and Stephanie were on this call. Live out there.
Our our our teammate Adam Young is in Colorado Springs.
And and with that, you know, I also I live
in Florida in a town called Panovieter Beach, which is
(08:31):
a beautiful place. Uh, and I got to Colorado all
the time. But with that, I really got disheartened in
these in these state sessions, both in Colorado and in Florida,
and in having it be uh, you know, vertically integrated.
You have to do every single thing under the sun,
and you have to retail directly with you know, brick
(08:53):
and mortar and so forth. So fast forward through that.
I was sharing my zest to explore this medical marijuana
space with a friend of mine who's a very wealthy guy,
and he came to me a couple months maybe about
(09:13):
six months later. So this is in the beginning of
eighteen and I'm sitting at this desk right here, and
he calls me up and he says, hey, what do
you think about the CBD thing? He hit me in
a bad moment, and I just go, I think it's
a fat And it was because I was focused on marijuana,
right and I'm not understanding the difference here. I'm not
(09:35):
a connoisseur of cannabis at this time. Really, So fast
forward through this. He invites me to come in and
to be a distributor for another brand out there, and
I started asking him, well, and that company, where are
the farms. I want to meet the farmer. And they
(09:56):
couldn't tell me. They would just say, hey, we buy
material from all over the place, five thousand farms, whatever
it was, across the country. We ship it in into
one location. We're grinding it up, mixing it all together.
It's like a hodgepodge of really bile maass. And I
said to him, I said, this is not what I've envisioned.
(10:18):
I have another gig that I do. I've had success, YadA, YadA, YadA,
and and I really want to help people, and I
want to know. I want to know, like at the
ground level, the strains, the farming and so forth. So
fast forward through that, we have two We have partners,
(10:40):
Kyle and Valerie Chong, lifelong friends of mine. I've known
Kyle since we're twelve years old. He's a Chinese Jamaican guy,
no joke. His mom used to grow, you know, cannabis,
and she would use it in tea right properties to
help with the various ailments. So anyway, so with that,
(11:01):
his wife, Valerie was very in tuned to these different
toxins that are in skincare products like the bandover. I
think it's thirteen hundred of them. So this is kind
of genesis of us where we came together, two families
homeopathic looking for the natural remedies, and then the journey begin.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Looking for the natural alternative to you know, pharmaceuticals or
products that are packed with preservatives or not so great ingredients.
You know, there's a lot of manufacturers out there who
put profit over people. And for you, it was personal
(11:51):
and I share that with you. I think that's what
drew me. I didn't realize the specifics, but two aspen
Green because it's shine through and your you know your products,
they're USDA certified organic, they're grown in the United States
Colorado to be exact. And the care you take and
(12:12):
the interest you have in this commitment towards sustainability. Uh,
for me, it's personal too, and I really appreciate your
sharing the the why in such a candidate. In personal way,
our journeys are quite parallel. I went to law school.
(12:32):
I mean to me, Mariwana. Unfortunately, I was drummed in
as a childhood. There was a it was a felony
and a devil's drug and a gateway drug to all
kinds of mayhem. But I had a horrific car accident.
I had four massive spinal surgeries and opioids that is
(12:54):
not a long term use drug. Sorry, FORMA got it wrong.
Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hurts. Opioids was just not
a long term use drug. If there's really specific cases
very acute short term pain. But for someone struggling or
(13:15):
suffering with a chronic, lifelong condition. This happened to me
after my first day at Los cub was only twenty four.
Opioid addiction was a real threat and concern, so, but
cannabis was never on the table. So for me, it
wasn't until twenty sixteen when it went on the ballot
in California, and it was actually through a dog that
(13:39):
I had. It's funny because with all of the propaganda
and the misinformation, I really thought you had to go
full blown cannabis, and that CBD was, you know, was
just a fat I didn't understand the end of cannabinoid system.
We'll get into that and cannabinoids and that THC and
CBD are only two of over one hundred and fifty
(14:02):
at least cannabinoids. So someone suggested marijuana failing dog, I was,
you know, that was the devil's weed, and CBD I
thought was a fat but she her suffering, not her suffering,
forced me to kind of look into it and when
(14:25):
I have the aha moment like you, especially in the
dispensary and seeing people from all walks of life in there.
And that's what our audience wants to learn more about
because they're they're folks who are looking for natural alternatives
to pharmaceuticals and alcohol. So I wanted to just take
(14:47):
it back to you know, your commitment to doing this
so so authentically and clean. Can you explain to the
audience what exactly USDA certified organic means and how rare
it is to come by in the CBD industry.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Yeah, well, well that was something that I was It
was non negotiable for me is to put out the
cleanest products that we can possibly make. And so it
starts really at the farm, So the USA has to
come out and certify the actual farm. They do this
on the hemp side of the business. Okay, just so
(15:30):
everybody's clear who's listening, this is all the same exact plant.
It's called the Cannabis sativa L plant. There's the only
difference between what is classified as marijuana and what is
classified as hemp is the actual weight of the product
cannot exceed point three percent THHC. If it's point three
(15:52):
zero zero one, you call it marijuana. You have to
have a marijuana license if it If it's at point
three percent and below by dry weight of that actual THC,
then you can call it hemp. And the FEDS had
passed the Farm Bill, also known as the Agricultural Act
in twenty eighteen, and that made it federally compliant. Now
(16:17):
every state's doing things all differently now too. There's this
whole all this stuff. It's a quagmire, frankly, but that's
what gave way to this space. And with that you
can have The USDA will certify a hemp farm as
(16:38):
being organic, but they won't do that with a marijuana farm.
It does not exist. Okay, just so you know now again, and.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That's because of the legal classification of the amount of THC.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yes, it's all about the amount of THC in the plant.
And look, and as we're growing plants, realize this. You
have a buffer state by eight. They give you an allowance.
I told you point three percent by weight. So just
imagine this. For example, if you have a five gram
gummy point three percent of five grams is fifteen milligrams.
(17:13):
So if that came from what was classified as a
hemp plant and it was no more than fifteen milligrams
of THC from a hemp derived plant, then you are
federally compliant. Right. So with if you're on the quote
unquote marijuana side of the business, the USDA will not
certify any farms being organic. But again it's the exact
(17:37):
same plant. And when you're growing the plants, the term
is it went hot, meaning it went over a threshold
that's acceptable by the state, which typically is more than
the point three In a manufacturing process of growing the plant, okay,
getting the oil out, they allow a buffer for that, okay,
(17:58):
And again differently, so if it's over that whatever that
threshold may be in the growing part of the manufacturing
and production, then it's called it went hot, and now
it's called marijuana. You've got to burn it, whatever it
may be. So you know, we're testing at the field level,
at the farm, clipping the buds, clipping the flour, if
(18:20):
you will. Then we're testing the bio mass when it's
ground up and there's no stems. We don't use any
stems it's all the flour, all the buds, if you will,
all the good and abinoids and turpens and so forth.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So that's important for bioavailability, right.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Yeah, absolutely, you have to well you have to have flour, yeah,
for sure. But there's also the ways of ingesting for bioavailability. Okay, okay, okay.
A tincture, A tincture with the oil the droppers smoking
is the fastest way to take this stuff and get
(19:00):
into your system and hit your lungs. Lungs, right. The
second fastest way is actually a tincture bottle and you
leave it in the back of the gum line for
about twenty minutes and so forth, and it soaks in.
I want to be very careful with the FDA all
that stuff with the sub sublingually, Yeah, you have that
and then you know you can drink it. We have
(19:20):
new drinks coming out, by the way. You have the gummies,
you have topicals and so forth. But the tinctures are
and we don't sell smokeables. If you look at our site,
I don't believe in and I'm totally anti smoking. If
somebody smokes, that's their prerogative. I'm personally anti vaping. I've
been asked to get in the smokable space, the vaping
(19:42):
space constantly, and I'm like, I just don't want to
be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Sure, lung helps a whole lung help. There's a whole
other issue. But I got you a little off track.
You were talking about that you mill the hamp flour
removing the stems, on the topic of the USDA certification,
and that's not something everybody does correct.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Oh, yeah, for sure. There's very few of us out
there that do that because it's very coffee. I mean
you're talking about you know, you're talking about the sprays used.
You have to have everything that has to be approved
by the usdas being organic and clean your soil. Then
you're talking about the actual facility where you're doing the extraction,
(20:23):
getting the oil out of the biomass. The facility has
to be certified organic. Like you know in manufacturing the gummies,
that facility needs to be certified organic, everything from soup
to nuts.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
That's what caught my attention about Aspen Green because it
was a few years back. But I mean, you were
one of the first to get that certification, and I
knew that farms could get it but to see that
you as a product, I said, I have to check
this product out and on top of the USDA certification,
(20:57):
and we'll talk a little bit about your manufacturing process.
But you're also physician formulated and that is another unique
value proposition. I don't think too many CBD brands can
say that. And can you tell us a little bit
about doctor Adam Pearlman and his role in these formulations.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Well, he's formulated all of them, so you know it
is Uh, we have to have doors open up with
the right relationships, meeting people and so forth right, and
I've we both have smoked. We've spoken to so many
different folks in this space. There's a ton of impostors,
if you will, a ton of bad actors that don't
(21:39):
dot the i's, cross the t's, et cetera. So with that,
your friend of mine introduced me to doctor Pearlman. And ironically,
you know, I live almost a stone's throw. My primary
residence is from the Mayo Clinic here in Jacksonville, Florida,
and so doctor Pearlman lives in my same neighborhood. We
finally got introduced by a very good mutual friend and uh,
(22:04):
we hit it off. And he ended up offering a book,
Gaisine if you will. So it's a cross between a
book and a magazine, about seventy five or so pages.
It was published by Mayo Clinic Press. It was called,
I believe it was called The Medical Benefits of Marijuana
(22:24):
and the Many Benefits of CBD. And with that, you know,
when you when anybody looks at doctor Pearlman, we're not
talking about just any old doc. This is an integrative,
functional medicine doc. He is all about your diet before anything.
That's the first go to deal. Yeah. Yeah, So he
(22:48):
doesn't prescribe pills unless he has to. He's truly that
blend of Eastern and Western medicine. And if if anybody
in the audience listening never ever got to really meet
doctor Pearlman, I mean this guy is I think he's
fifty eight now. He has like no fat, he's unbelievable,
He shredded in amazing shape, he does martial arts. You know,
(23:12):
just a really unique dude, in a pleasure to be
partnered with. And he didn't join us just because we
became friends. It's his name, it's his career. He was
at Duke University, you know, for five years leading the
Integrative and Functional Medicine at Duke University to the Mayo
Clinic for another five years. And so when he when
(23:34):
he joined US, I wanted him to go through every
formula and every product that we were coming out with
and he signs off on all of them. Yeah wow.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
And you know, he had said something that struck me
that his biggest concern in recommending CBD is the quality
of the products out there, and that resonated with me,
obviously with you two and likely with our audience. And
you know, quality control, as you mentioned, it's still a
challenge in every space, not just CBD, but when you're
(24:09):
in an unregulated space and.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
A space with such.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
The patchwork of laws that are inconsistent with gaps, then
it's even more can be more unscrupulous, which is a shame.
And that's why it's so important to amplify voices like
yours and brands like yours, so that people who want
to be helped by this plant and buy the products
know what to look for and how to find them.
(24:37):
And not just people, but pets. Now you don't just
have and we're going to talk about your products and
formulas in a bit and about your customer care team
and meet some of them. But you also which I
love because my dog was the gateway to cannabis for
me formulate CBD for pets, and I that your pet line,
(25:01):
I know doctor Trina has A and uh, I know
you've got incredible veterinarian board of advisors. It's really impressive.
How did you attract such such medical authority? So tell
us about your vetinary line and your veterinarian board of advisors.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Well, doctor Michael silver and and doctor Trina has A.
I got to tell you. I think it was just
through constant networking. I really can't even remember. I mean,
we're talking about you now right.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Well, they're the best. They are. They are the best,
not just in the cannabis field, but doctor has on
the field of oncology, in their respective veterinary medicine fields.
It's it's it's remarkable. You you hit gold there.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Well, they and those are their formulations. You know. I
didn't want to make a product that two cannabis veterinarians
or veterinarians have expertise in cannabis and and him. It
didn't make sense to me. There's so much there's so
many products out there again, how does a consumer know
what to trust?
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Right?
Speaker 4 (26:06):
And that you Yeah, you got a flood of quote
unquote brands, but there is no dare I say Coca Cola?
Uh in our space, it just doesn't exist. Maybe it
will in thirty years, but uh, you know, how do
we send the message to the consumer to trust a brand?
And to me? To me, it felt like we had
(26:26):
to be USDA certified organic. It was a non negotiable.
We need true, true docs that have expertise in hepen cannabis,
both for the pets with doctor Trina and and doctor
Silver and then doctor Pearlman from the obviously the human side.
And and then let's go further too, because we we
(26:47):
didn't talk much about this as testing, so we all
want to talk about, Oh, these are by an independent
all our products are tested by an independent third party lab.
Does that mean it's mine?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
You got the MVPs of the space because you guys
use sc Labs and I wanted you to talk about that.
So I'm so glad you brought that up well.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
With sc labs. They were our original partner was botanic
Or in Denver, which was purchased by sc labs nationally
recognized botanical with US in Colorado, they were accredited. They
were only one of three labs accredited by the state
of Colorado. So to me, I'm like, I had we
had to go with one of the three period and
(27:30):
you know, they're doing state compliance, they're doing national compliance,
they're doing USDA Organic compliance. To me, they are the
cream of the crop. And I've seen all these other
labs out there and I'm like, who are they? I've
never heard of them. A lot of them. There's a
handful I have heard of, yes, But sc Labs is
the premiere testing authority in our space, and we've been
(27:53):
with them again pretty much since inception. We were with
a different lab in the very beginning for just a
little while, and then when I stumbled on and I
found out about sc labs AKA but previously botanic work,
it was a mic drop. We had to go there.
There's no question about it.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
And your transparency is so impressive because you have such
easy access to the lab results for customers. When you
talk about how to consumers even begin to evaluate, and
it could be overwhelming, but you have QR codes on
every package and on your website, you have the lab results,
(28:31):
make them very very very transparent and you walk the
walk brand and what can I say? And in terms
of all of these Creme de la Creme partnerships, you're
also partnered with the Realm of Caring Foundation and they
are incredibly respected in the space. Now, you know, why
was it important for you to align with them?
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Again? I felt like it was true trust for consumers,
but also we needed to have because we cannot speak
to conditions with the consumer with with our customer base
who are so proud to serve, so when they want
to talk to us about their variety, the variety of
ailments that they've got, and then they get into their
(29:18):
their other pharm of drugs that are taking or their
medical conditions, we felt it was best to partner with
Realm of Caring because they've taken over one hundred thousand
phone calls from they'll say clients, not patients, and they've
also done research with Hopkins, Harvard and Penn just to
(29:39):
name a few, and we've donated products for some of
those observational studies, and we just felt that that was
the right thing to do for our again, our consumers
and educating people out there, this is a this is
a free call, they're they're they're they're there to help
you and guide you on your journey if you will.
(30:00):
And with that, so, actually one of their ten yured
guys I always had on my radar to come join us.
His name is Adam Young. He's not on this call
with us, but Adam was there for about five years,
well versed in cannabis and in hemp again it's the
same plant, folks. So and he was a caregiver.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Distinction to make not everybody realize that that can't be
said enough, but go ahead.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
No, And he was a caregiver as well. He's very empathetic.
He took care of his mom down the stretch she passed.
So a lot of this with you know a lot
of people were using RSO Rick Simpson Oil and and
Adam was and he's such a caring guy. He's been
with us for over two years. And we've got also
(30:51):
two gals on the call with us here, Stephanie and Rebecca,
who have been Yeah. So with Adam Young leading our
customer care team. Him coming from realm of caring and
his experience was just perfect for that. But we needed
to have some other really key stakeholders involved that could
(31:12):
help our customers, and I actually had met an awesome farmer.
Rebecca was at her farm myself, and now she's with us.
It took about two years later she joined us, and
then Steph, who's on this call. Both Rebecca and Steph
are on this call. Sorry, Bonnie, you're not here, Adam,
Sorry you're not with us. We love you both. But
(31:34):
Stef and Rebecca are here, and I'm so honored and
proud to have them on the team. I've been passionate
about I want to have an in house American customer
care team that can really guide our customers and who've
got experience in this space. So with that, I'll let
you chat with Rebecca and Steph.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Well, welcome, Welcome, Rebecca and Stephanie. You know, I could
discuss education and patient support all day, but I'm gonna
let some new voices talk about it. So why don't
we start with Rebecca. Rebecca, tell us a little bit
about yourself, how long you've been in Aspen Green and
(32:18):
what type of patient support or we call it, we
have to call it client support you offer to customers.
Speaker 6 (32:28):
Yeah, so I'm Rebecca. I've been with Aspen Green for
about two years now. And it's been a great company
to work with for me. My background with himp Or
Cannabis has been an extensive background in growing cannabis on
a small and.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
A large scale.
Speaker 6 (32:45):
So that background of like seeing actually what goes into
growing has really made me appreciate this job because I
just know like how much effort and time and care
really goes into it. My history with growing has also
been organic, and that's really helped open my eyes to
how insanely difficult it actually is to get USDA organic certification.
(33:08):
It's not something that the farm that I worked with
was able to do just because it was just so
intensive and also really expensive too. So that's been really nice,
like work for company that offers that on all levels.
So I really appreciate that about Aspen Green. And as
for the support that we give, I think that our
(33:28):
main mission with Aspen Green is to be not only
knowledgeable but also available to customers into our clients, just
because I mean that's something that you know, in the
world of like AI and computerization of everything, like people
are really losing that personal touch with companies and so
for them to be able to actually like pick up
(33:49):
the phone and call us, We'll call them back if
we missed it right away. You know, we'll respond to
their emails quickly, talk to them on the chat. Like
just to actually be able to talk to a human
being like quickly has been I think a game changer
for a lot of people. And on that note, like
even for me, if I'm wanting to get, you know,
customer service from a company and I'm like pitching out
(34:12):
to them, just working for Asping Green has kind of
set my expectations for customer service a little more. I'm
just like, dang, they haven't responded to me in forty
eight hours.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
What's going on? You know?
Speaker 6 (34:21):
So I think that's our main mission is just like
educating people, being knowledgeable, caring, and also yeah, being available
for people.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Well, this is a radio show and we're also going
to have a video version, and I just love to
highlight and spotlight for faces behind it because we're crushing
the stigma. You're relatable, You're you're you're lovely. I'd call
you not the sound date at the Girl next door.
I'm like being stereotypical, crazy propaganda ref madness displays. So
(34:58):
not only are you subject matter expert, you come to
it with years of experience and it's been a gateway
to helping people. So I love spotlighting the people. I
like to say that Greenbee Life is a people network
with cannabis, not a cannabis network with people. And I'm
(35:20):
gonna now introduce. We want to say hi to Stephanie. Stephanie,
tell us a little bit about yourself. Another one who
doesn't look like you know whatever, not that there's not
that there's anything wrong. I love to teaching Chong, but
you know, the demographic's much wider, you know.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (35:40):
So my name is Stephanie and I similar to back.
I've been in the industry now since twenty thirteen. I
took a little bit different a path. I went more
on the retail side of things, so I was working
more customer facing jobs and I worked for a company
called Live Enlightened Health. They had no training program when
(36:01):
I first entered. They were only medical and so it
was crazy to see like all these different walks of
life coming into dispensary having little to no knowledge of
like what they were buying, how to ingest it, what it.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Was going to do.
Speaker 7 (36:14):
And so I kind of saw an entry way of
being like, hey, I can be really impactful for this company,
I'm going to help them create a training program. So
we developed a world class training program that eventually turned
into multiple different states, and we really saw livel expand
at a rate that we couldn't have expected. And the
(36:34):
coolest thing was that a lot of our reviews that
were left back, you know, in the early days, it
was that they were coming in and it was an
experience that they could come in and they could get
walked through all the different forms of ingestion. We were
answering questions in a compliant way, and they were leaving,
you know, feeling really empowered and the decisions that they made.
So it was really cool to be a part of that.
(36:55):
I love Asping Green because they've hired so many different
people with different like backgrounds, and so it all kind
of formulates into this really beautiful symbiotic relationship where you know,
Rebecca has grow, I have retail, Adam has both sides.
Bonnie as well coming into it, and it's just been
really cool to see how meticulous the processes for Aspen
(37:17):
Green and I use the products, My family uses their products,
family friends, everyone's using their products and they love it.
And it's really something that I can stand behind because
the USA Organic just the care that we take with
our customer service, every step of the way is really
thoughtfully curated and it's something that I can really get behind.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, and you know, there's nothing more gratifying than having
customers or listeners. I know today's listeners are going to
walk away from this just interview, but to have an
interaction with you as well feeling more informed. That makes
them feel more empowered on their wellness journey. Which we
talked a lot about the information gap, and there's a
(38:00):
real inform there's a legal gap, but those gaps in
the law and when you you know, we talk about
being able to speak to the customers in a compliant way,
it's it's tough for consumers. That's for me, new to
cannabis and having been so grossly misinformed trying That's why
(38:23):
I put together Greenbey Life and I'm trying to build
a hive of brands that are aligned and who are
putting people over the profits. But you know, we need
you know, it's connecting the people to the brands that
are walking the walk, that are well meaning and that
(38:45):
are really interested in helping the people. Then the profits
will come. But the gaps in the law, present gaps
and information because on the retail side and on the
marketing side, how to separate hype from marketing. But then
even well meaning companies like yourself, if you're restricted from
making health claims or you know where, we have barriers
(39:10):
to social media to putting information out. So having this
customer support team, I you know, I evaluate, and I
look at and I search for many brands I don't
I don't know too many that that offer that, And
so it's fantastic. While I have such smart people, we
(39:33):
like to do something called a quick it. So I'm
going to have y'all drop a knowledge bomb where you
guys are going to share and you're on the spot.
You're on the spot here. I'm not gonna lie they
didn't know about this guy's beforehand, but we're you're going
to share a fast, powerful insight. Now, I kind of
(39:55):
would giving your backgrounds and your mission, I thought it
would be be great to ask each of you and
you could go around. You could take a couple of
minutes each and you could take a minute to think
about it. Tell me who would want to go first?
Today's knowledge bomber, quick hit, what's the one thing you
(40:16):
wish more people truly understood about CBD, beyond the hype
and the misinformation. So who wants to go first? Well
it's Brandon. Brandon is brave, Brandon, your muted.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
I was going to defer to the ladies and being gentlemen.
You want to go with this, I mean, go ahead, Rebecca, Okay.
Speaker 6 (40:46):
I think for me one thing that I really wish
that people I mean, okay, can I drop two?
Speaker 4 (40:51):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Absolutely you can't. I'd love you to indulge me in
answer the one think you wish more people today? You
have a knowledge you want to drop by all.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (41:03):
I think for me and Brandon actually touched on this earlier,
is that like hemp, cannabis, marijuana, it's all the same plant.
And I think that that's something that a lot of
people don't realize, and so there's certain aspects of the
plants I kind of get demonized, so to speak. You know,
like a lot of people are like, oh, like marijuana
is awful, I just want CBD, And it's kind of
(41:25):
explaining to them, like, you know, hemp is CBD is hemp,
and CBD is from marijuana plants, and it's all just
about how much THHD you're extracting from these plants. So
that's something that I think would be really helpful, maybe
not for people to know, but like for the respect
of the plant. Like I feel like it helps people
to like have a better understanding of the plant and
(41:47):
kind of the history of it, and just the terminology
I think is important.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
I agree, And I also think, not to interrupt, but
in terms of respect for the plant, I think when
you make the distinction, we're just perpetuating the propaganda and
vilifying sea at one. Then that's got to be normalized.
Speaker 6 (42:09):
But good, good, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 4 (42:12):
And yeah.
Speaker 6 (42:12):
The other one is just that it's not like one
size fits all solution and it's not like FAS and so,
you know, like Brandon was mentioning earlier, it's like coming
from a space where, like a lot of people, I'd
say most people are kind of conditioned to expect immediate results,
you know, immediate relief because we're used to like having
access to medicines and things that you know, mask the
(42:35):
symptoms right away, and so when people are looking for
like natural alternatives, they kind of have this built up
expectation of like, Okay, if I take this once, I'm
gonna sleep ten hours tonight or my pain's gonna go away.
But it's just like with any natural supplement, it takes
time and patients and consistency to like allow your body
(42:55):
to actually like acclimate to it and give your body
a chance to respond.
Speaker 4 (42:59):
And that could some time.
Speaker 6 (43:01):
So for me, that's one thing that I would just
love to like shout to the world is like give
it time, be consistent, be patient with it, give it
a couple of weeks, and then come back. But like
immediate results like it happens sometimes but pretty rare.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
I love that. I mean, you guys, learn it for
the long haul because the education in managing the expectations.
And that's another thing, guys, just you know, if brands
are making these crazy claims, they are clear. I love
your honesty and that's realistic. Thank you.
Speaker 6 (43:35):
Well, all right, Steph your turn.
Speaker 7 (43:39):
Definitely jumping off that like the fact that we you know,
it's not a one size fits all. I think it's
really important to really drive that home for sure. I
love that when people give get the opportunity like talk
to Rebecca or Bonnie or I, we can kind of
help educate them that you know, everyone's body is going
to react differently, and so to be really open to
like experimenting not only with the different forms of ingestion,
(44:00):
but with the different amounts that you're taking, because it
is going to be different for every single person. Right
what your partner takes maybe a completely different effect for
them versus for you know, what you take. So being
able to be open to experimenting is a really big
thing because your mindset is huge when you're entering the
world of like full spectrum products or CBD in general.
If you have that you know, mindset of like, well,
(44:22):
I want this to be a quick fix, and you're
not willing to experiment and be open to like what happens,
it can be I don't know, it can kind of
be you can kind of not meet that expectation or
you might be let down. Whereas if you're going into
it with okay, let me just be really open to
this experience, especially for new time users, right like when
new time us, like when you when someone that is
trying CBD for the first time calls, it's like, Okay,
(44:44):
this is what you know you're trying. How about you
try it on a day where you don't have a
lot going on you're in the safety of your home,
you can be really open to what is going to
happen to your body because you just kind of have
no idea. So really educating people on that And I
think another thing too, and this is something that we
used to teach back in the dispensary at least, is
that people have the misconception that like CBD is like
(45:06):
not psychoactive, but like CBD is still altering your nervous system.
So in a way, it's still going to be you know,
it may not be intoxicating, but it's still going to
cause some type of difference in your nervous system. So
like it's kind of a misconception to say it's not psychoactive,
because anything that alters your nervous system is. And so
(45:27):
that was another big thing for me that we would
really touch on when people would come into the dispensary
looking and to learn about different cannabinoids.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Very powerful. You've got you you did do you just
get the best people, Brandon. I mean, that is such
an important distinction. And I always say, like psychoactive, psychotropic.
I mean I don't even like the word intoxicating. I
like to apply the word intoxicating to alcohol because it's
toxic marijuanity. See, it's kind a psychoactive effect, but it's
(45:57):
not toxic. So I know it's all semantics, but I
hate when people say that CBD is that's a strong word.
I get discouraged when people say that CBD is not psychoactive,
because wait a minute, if you're taking it for sleep,
or if sleep support, or you're trying to just calm stress,
(46:23):
I mean, is it is affecting the psyche perhaps, and
that's what the studies indicate as well. But so great,
great insight.
Speaker 4 (46:32):
Wow, glorify with that because a couple of times throughout
our conversation, I know we've said sleep, I know we've
said pain. I want to make it very clear we
are not making any claims Nope, nope, that we can
that we are giving you better sleep, pain relief. We're
(46:52):
not making those claims in case the FDA listens to this.
So that's why our products say rest, have a good
a good evenings. Rest, you'll be dreaming all night long. However,
you want to take that, right, You want relief from
your ailments whatever those are, and your discomfort. You can
read between the lines, right.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
Well, it's it's it's balance, and we didn't have it.
We're not gonna have time, but I got to have
you guys back, because it is established that there's an
endocannabinoid system, and the endocannabinoid system, there are studies and
we're going to have them on the show page does
kind of regulate certain bodily functions. And there's a lot
(47:33):
of research to be had. And and your honesty is
is and your your lack of bias is refreshing.
Speaker 4 (47:42):
Maria, your your, your, your audience. The listeners here, they
can go to pub PubMed dot absolutely. Yeah, they can
go to PubMed and they can also go to the
nih dot gov and they can type in cannabis, they
can type in HAMP, they can type in THHD, they
can type in CBD and any ailments that they want,
and they can see a list of studies that we
(48:03):
don't even know who these scientists are. So we used
to actually have those on our site. We thought that
we were good stewards in the very beginning of the business,
and then we had obviously compliance lawyers and they said, no, no, no,
you're by showing those studies, you're making a claim a
claim boom. They had to come down immediately, right.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
So, well, this is where there's the regulation is in
no man's land. But once we get to actual sensible
rules and regulations, it's always threading the needle where you
want to have regulations that are sensible to promote innovation
(48:42):
and to protect the consumers at the same time, but
also to be able to inform them. I wish the
FDA would stop stalling and actually evaluate it, have the
NHI studies and we'll see where that goes. But that
was a really good QUI kit branding. I'm going to
(49:03):
kind of account that is your quick kit. Unless is
there one thing you wish more people truly understood about CBD?
Speaker 4 (49:12):
Uh, it's just it's it's one cannabinoid. We look, we
have sold the in all of our products. We've had
all all the cannabinoids that came out of the plant,
the miners, the terpenes included, and that's through all of
our products. So I didn't want to be focused as
a CBD company. I actually it kind of irked me.
(49:35):
I feel like we are more of a health and
wellness company and it just so happens that the main
ingredient that we use, if you will happens to be
from a cannabis slash hemp plant. I mean it's one
of the same, right, We've gone through that today. And look,
and we've gone through some of this propaganda that we
(49:55):
that a lot of the audience doesn't know. And it
started back with random first right in and I don't
know if we want to get into that or another.
Speaker 2 (50:04):
Time, but nineteen Marijuana Tax Act yep.
Speaker 4 (50:08):
Yeah, And so there's so much stuff out there showing
what Randolph first he had paper mills, well, the hemp plant.
The hemp trees were actually encroaching on his paper farms
that he had in the Philippines. So in his newspapers
he literally put in the ads where it's a white
woman getting busy if you will, with the brown man
(50:30):
and calling it reef for madness in marijuana and and
and that slang term versus just cannabis. And then they
also had put out stories of people going nuts and
like a young guy killing his parents because he's high.
That's that's this is false, right, this is it's crazy.
(50:53):
And Joe I love Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan talks about
this all the time, right, you know, And and it
goes into it goes into Nixon in seventy one in
the drug war. Right, so all the hippies anti Vietnam movement,
if you will, they all know, you know, the politicians
are like no, no, no, they're all smoking pot. This is
how we're going to crack down on them.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
And and by keeping it schedule one, they get arrested
and felons can't vote.
Speaker 4 (51:21):
So yes, right, all that, all of that, yep, taking
away our freedom to use something that we want to
use for a variety of reasons, whether it's recreational or
it's from a therapeutic decision from the you know, the
consumer making that choice themselves.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
We've unpacked very well and we'll have you back because
we could talk about so many facets, so many things.
We could do a whole episode on full spectrum on sustainability.
Sustainability goes right to oh, by the way, talking about
false claims, Yes, William Randolph Hurst, so watch out for
false claims. People were not allowed to make health claims,
(52:05):
but they were allowed to make both claims. Hi, guys,
we're gonna have to wrap up, But this is why
I'm proud to welcome ASP and Green into the Greenbey life.
Hive because we believe in partnering with brands that care
as much about what goes into the bottle as you
care about what goes into your body and Brandon, Stephanie, Rebecca,
(52:30):
I thank you guys so much, and I look forward
to doing part two and really diving in to the
different ways you can consume for what different effects We're
not going to say benefits, and the different delivery systems
there are because there's lotions, there's potions, there's pills, there's
(52:51):
soft gels, there's tinctures, and you, guys, as being part
of the customer care team, we've got a retail specialist
and we've got someone with the cultivation background talk a
little bit about all of it. So, guys, thank you,
thank you so much, and I look forward to having
you back.
Speaker 4 (53:12):
Hey, if the audience would, they can feel free to
call directly at one eight eight eight five seven eight
five nine zero zero. You can talk to Rebecca, steph
Bonnie or Adam and the website's aspingreen dot com. We
also use drink aspengreen dot Com coming out, and then
Bolo Drinks dot Com is coming too. And by the way,
(53:35):
you'd be talking to these gals right here when you're
asking about Bolo as well.
Speaker 2 (53:41):
Rank fantastic. Thank you for letting our audience know how
to get in touch with you. That was going to
be my next question. Guys, if you you know, you
can hear this live on KCAA Radio, which you're listening
to right now, but also to be archived on all
the major third party platform podcast plot forms, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Amazon, Apple.
(54:05):
But if you go to greenbelife dot com, greenbelife dot com, listen,
you go to our show page for this episode, we'll
have all their contact information and who knows, maybe I
can even get them to give us a little special
affiliate link for Greenbee Life. Hi pint, no pressure, but
all right, guys, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (54:26):
Well, why don't we greenbe Live, right, and let us go.
Let's go green Bee you want Greenbe Life, Maria, we'll
go greenbe Life and get twenty percent off.
Speaker 2 (54:35):
Whoa green Bee Life twenty. You heard it here, guys,
it'll be on the show page green Bee Life twenty.
I love it. I love it. Oh, thank you, thank you,
thank you, guys, thank you so all right. So here's
the truth. The more we know, the better we choose.
(54:58):
So before you buy your next seat product, pause and
ask does it follow you know? Does this brand published
lab results Aspen Green yes? Are they third party lab
tested Aspen Green yes? Do they use clean extraction methods
and organic practices aspin Green yes? Or are they just
(55:20):
hoping you won't ask those questions? Hey, if today's episode
raised your standards or inspired you to try CBD for
the first time, head over to greenbeelife dot com. Go
to our show page for this episode with Aspen Green
use green bee Life twenty and they'll hook you up.
(55:41):
Feel free to call them. We'll have their phone number.
You could talk to their customer support Stephanie Rebecca. We
didn't meet Bonnie, but they've got a whole learned team
over there. And so if you care about clean, responsibly
made CBD, let your elected official know. Remember, the FDA
(56:03):
has yet to create meaningful guidance on hemp derived CBD,
and that's left good companies like Aspen Green to figure
it out on their own, while less scrupulous ones muddy
the waters. It's timely demand action and definitely support the
brands that are getting it right. So consider supporting groups
(56:25):
like the US HEMP roundtable, or reach out to your
representatives and tell them you expect clear, sensible regulation that
supports safe access and honest innovation. Because the remedy you're
looking for, it might not be in the prescription bottle.
It might be in the plant if we protect it.
Thank you for tuning in. If you found today's episode helpful,
(56:45):
please share it, follow the show, and leave a review
wherever you listen. Every share helps us grow and helps
others know. Cannabis isn't about getting high. It's about getting well,
being informed and living filmed fully. And here I just
say now we're curiosity is queen. We'll always keep it real,
relevant and rooting to truth. What'sbingreen dot Com was today's spotlight.
(57:11):
Thank you, everybody, have a good safe week. Just Say
No is a green bee Life presentation airing live weekly
on Friday afternoons from four to five pm Pacific on
KCA Radio and KCAA TV. Archived audio episodes are on Greenbeelife,
(57:32):
greenbelife dot com, iHeartRadio, Spreaker, and most third party major platforms.
For archived videos, check them out on GBLTV, on greenbee
Life YouTube and rumble. To follow us our Instagram and
Facebook is at just Say No Radio. To apply to
(57:57):
be a guest on the show or for sponsorship and
advertising opportunities, go to greenbelife dot com, forward slash just
Say No, and feel free to reach out to me
Maria for any questions. I'm at Maria at greenbelife dot
(58:18):
com or call me at eight one eight seven five
eight six nine two five.
Speaker 1 (58:24):
At anything to appreciate?
Speaker 2 (58:33):
Did you know TC and CBD are just two of
more than one hundred cannabinoids.
Speaker 8 (58:39):
At Greenbeelife, you can watch gbl TV with an evolving
slate of original programming.
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