Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
Welcome to Cannabis Talk, A toZ and Educational Odyssey with your host Frankie
Boyer. And welcome. It isFrankie Boyer and this is Cannabis Talks and
Educational Odyssey. And are we goingto become educated today? Because the man
himself, you know, Michael Olsen, who is the author by the way
(00:30):
of the award winning book Metro Farm, such a brilliant, brilliant farmer,
and he also has been involved infarming for so many years, was on
the road and had been documenting andwe have so much to talk to Michael
(00:53):
about. But Michael, what Ilove about your philosophy, which is so
critical for all of us in thisworld, is that we really need to
get back to the basics. Howdo we do that? And is it
too late for the hemp and CBDworld? Well, I don't think so.
(01:15):
And when it gets right down toit, they are getting back to
basics because when when you look atthe history of hemp or cannabis, you
will see that it really was oneof the foundational crops of human civilization.
So tell us more, tell usmore, because many people, many people
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listening to this are like, whatare you kidding? Us, so tell
us the history. Oh goodness,I think you know, the first recorded
use of cannabis goes way back tothe Skissians. You know, thousands of
years ago people were using cannabis forclothing and for intoxication. So the earliest
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indications of the stories about the Scissiansthrowing cannabis on the fire, on the
campfires and sitting around getting high thatway. But you know, the plant
itself has also provided a fiber forrope and fiber for canvas, and you
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know, with rope and canvas,we could make ships that sailed where we
wanted them to sail, and sowe used cannabis as a means of getting
around the world and establishing trade.It's just hard to think of a plant
that has been more useful to humankind than cannabis. It's there just aren't
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that many that even come close.So when you say, you know,
getting back to basics, I thinkthat of the history of cannabis and its
use and it's usefulness to we thepeople that you know, you just gotta
say thank you, good Lord forputting the plant here, and we're sorry
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to have lost our way with it, but we're finding our way back slowly,
but surely, slowly, but surely, very slowly. Michael, Michael.
Is it true that many of thedocuments regarding our constitution were written on
hemp paper? Of course, andthat's why they'd lasted. That's why our
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constitution lasted as long as he has. It was written on hemp paper.
There you go, that's pretty good. But yes, and the hemp makes
great paper, it makes great cloth. In Cris strong Am, I got
a hemp towel, I swear toyou at least fifteen years ago, if
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not more. And these two hemptowels are still in my in my towel
collection because they just will not wearout and they're still fabulous. And maybe
that's one of the reasons why wehad this great prohibition against cannabis, because
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it was so useful in so manydifferent ways that people who had other ways
of doing things wanted to get ridof it. I think of a lot
of of Henry Ford and what agreat advocate of hmp that he was,
and his fight with standard oil overethanol and versus petroleum. And you hear
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stories of how you know, theforest industries wanted to get rid of hemp
because it was much easier to growhemp than trees, and on and on
and on and on. So ithemp became a target of economic convenience for
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a lot of people, and Isuspect alcohol was part of that too.
Get rid of hemp or cannabis,and then we can sell more of alcohol
and so on. So when wethink of this, this magic plant,
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we just have to remember of itsgreat history for us, for we the
people, and how it literally allowedus to satellite civilize the world because it
was so incredibly diverse and its uses. So it's you just have to be
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grateful that it was given to usand that we've been able to do so
much with it. Where we arewith it now is principally as an intoxicant
and as a medicinal, and we'retrying to really come to grips with how
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to manage those two things in ourworld. Out here on the coast,
we've legalized to the extent possible cannabis, and in that process we gave it
over to the government, and thegovernment instituted all kinds of taxes and all
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kinds of rules and regulations and ineffect destroyed the industry, or as destroying
the industry by making it so difficultto grow cannabis that only a couple of
companies are big enough have the economiesof scales sufficient to be able to pay
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for all the rules and regulations andso whereas a few years ago, I
think millions of families earned a partialpart, a part of their living by
growing a secret pot plot of cannabis. Those small farmers are really getting wiped
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out and the industry is falling intothe hands of a few. Sounds familiar,
doesn't it. Yeah, unfortunately itdoes. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. You know Michael, whyI love having you on for so
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many reasons. But you're so Whendid the when did the farm in the
land become such an important part ofyour life? How old were you?
Oh, that's very interesting. Iwas six years old when I so lowed
my first working tractor on my grandparentsfarm near Belfrey, Montana. And for
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a six year old boy to beput up on the seat of a big
tractor and Grandpa Carl he said,okay, kid, I'll meet you at
the end of the field, andhe just got off the tractor, put
it in gear and left. Andthere I was sitting way up high on
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this big tractor I was so frightenedI peed in my pants, But don't
tell anybody, but I did makeit to the end of the field and
Grandpa was there, and I guess, you know, always look back on
that, Wow, I did somethingand kind of gave you a little sense
of accomplishment to be able to dosomething like that. But the grandparents farm
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was a huge formative part of myyouth and I kind of ran away with
it from it because, like manykids, you want to go to the
big city and you want to goout into the world that can explore things.
And it wasn't until I was workingfor NBC Magazine with David Brinkley and
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we were doing a story on survivalistsup in southern Oregon and we were standing
on a hill overlooking the Rogue Valleyof Southern Oregon, and our guide,
I think it was our network talentwas saying, you know, beyond you
could see the Rogue Valley of SouthernOregon, this is where the survivalists hanging
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out. But at any rate,I looked down in this beautiful valley and
there were all of these people downthere, all of these farms I'm still
there that had been subdivided in thoselittle survivalist retreats and nobody was growing anything.
So I just turned to our publisherto take survivalist track. We have
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to take a quick break. We'llbe back in just a moment. Food
Chain it's food Chain and food ChainRadio, and you also have metro farm
dot food Chain Radio and metrofarm dotCom. Okay, we'll be back in
a moment. Frankie Bowyer, Staytuned Cannabis Talk Agency and Educational Odyssey and
(11:05):
welcome back at his Cannabis Talk HCand Educational Odyssey talking with Michael Olson.
His stories are fascinating, He's fascinating. Food Chain is The food Chain with
Michael Olson is fabulous. His books, His whole feeling about where we are
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in this planet when it comes tofarming and the survival of this planet is
very much connected to who he is. And I always like to have you
on, Michael, because I thinkyou're Your knowledge and the breath and depth
of what you know is such animportant reminder for all of us and how
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powerful, how powerful this plant reallyis, because it is so truly amazing
plant, so many uses. Youcould talk about the uses for a month.
Probably it goes on and on andon, and it's really unfortunate that
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the federal government, you know,focused all of its uses and got rid
of all of them, with theexception of one. By prohibiting the plant.
The government focused our attention only onits intoxicating properties, and so all
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of those other useful things that weuse that plant for through the years,
we're lost. So, Michael,this whole story of my buying a couple
of hemp towels fifteen, if nottwenty years ago, long long, long
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time ago, that are still fabulous. Why and I was redoing my linen
closet and gave away my hemp sheets. I could kick myself for doing that
because they would have lasted forever aswell. Michael, Why is it so
hard to years ago there were hempstores everywhere getting clothing, and what has
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happened? Industrial hemp has gone bythe wayside. I know Europeans are using
hemp crete instead of concrete, butwhy are we not? I think moltenet
is a residue of prohibition, andperhaps that's a big reason for prohibition is
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to get rid of all of thosethings, is because they're so efficient.
I was reminded of a story ofHarry Anslinger, who was the chief prohibition
cop of cannabis, and he wentto raid a farmer's place someplace in the
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Midwest and pulled up all of hispot plants, and the farmer said,
you know, those are my clothesthat you just took. That's when I
make my clothes out of. AndHarry Annslinger said, well, not anymore,
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and walked off with his pot plants. And I guess that of all
of the stories I've heard, thatwas one of the more apocryphal ones about
the plant. And so it wasas the Harry Annslinger, the chief prohibitor,
was telling the farmer that you areno longer allowed to make clothes out
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of this plant. You can onlysneak behind in the barn and smoke it
for its intoxication. And it waskind of like in that statement, we've
been robbed of so much. Andthat's, to me, is the greatest
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tragedy of the cannabis world. It'sso it's so sad. It is so
sad because you and I both knowthe money, the resources, the relief,
it goes on and on and onthat this plant would be giving.
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It's the plant that keeps on giving. It really is it's the plant that
keeps on giving, Michael. Ithelps with the it helps clean the soil.
They've used it in areas we're radioactiveproducts and they're using hemp to clean
the soil. YEA, yes,it does so much for so many people.
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As I'm most sad to see whatwe have done. But maybe we'll
find our way back to the basics, as you suggested earlier, maybe we'll
find our way that to realize theusefulness of it. I know a lot
of people are trying right now.You know, there's a lot of people
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growing industrial hemp. But if youdon't have the infrastructure, you know,
to deal with all of that hemp, then you're not going to be growing
industrial hemp very long. And Isuspect that's what kind of happened to the
industry, is that a lot ofpeople grew industrial hemp, but then what
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do they do with it now,because there's not the infrastructure to make the
cloth from it and so on.So it's a it's a gradual road back
because when they prohibit something, theyreally took away everything. They took away
so much, they really did.And I've been told that right in in
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outside the Harbor here in Charlestown,there's so much wildhamp still growing, and
in many parts of our country wildhampis growing and people wouldn't know what the
wild hamp look like looks like.So, but it's so easy to farm
as well, isn't it? Well, yes, it is. They called
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it a weed for good reason.It grows very well just about everywhere,
and I think it does grow everywhere, especially now that people have been selecting
it for various other purposes, youknow, other than just growing it as
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a fiber plant, which was whatit was used for in World War Two.
You know, it was against thelaw for people not to grow it
in World War Two, and nowit's against the law for them to have
that that they were forced to growduring World War Two. So it went
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from being a mandatory thing to growto a prohibited thing to grow. And
the stuff that was growing when itwas mandatory is steal around even though it's
prohibited now. It just it justkeeps getting crazier and crazier and crazier.
So, Michael, what's happened isthat we as Americans have lost so much
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because of it, and it's sosad because we could be using camp in
so many areas of all of ourlives from building I'm not even talking about
the medicinal piece of this story,which is what we talk a lot about,
but I'm talking about the industrial useof this extraordinary product. So we
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thank you for being with us,always so much fun and informative. As
I told you, the food chainis available with Michael Olson check out his
metrofarm dot com at Michael as alwayswhat a pleasure, always fun to be
with. Frankie Boyer. Thank youso much, and thank you all for
(19:41):
tuning in today. We love you. Yes, yes, and we'll take
a quick break and be right Backstaytuned. It is Frankie Boyer Cannabis talking
Agency and Educational Odyssey. Welcome back, Frankie Boyer Cannabis Talks an educational odyssey
(20:11):
joining us now and one an eventthat Randy Row is putting together for everybody.
And it is a conference, butnot just any conference. The conference
is about putting together media, cannabiscultivators, the trades, traditional media and
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the hopes of this all is aboutwhat Randy and explain to us. Why
this educational component in piece is socritical. Well, one of our main
goals at our conference is building ourcommunity, sharing knowledge and elevating everybody as
a grower and the growing community andculture to better our plant, better the
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products, and to be able tocommunicate and network with one another. So
tell us about this incredible event.So it's a we usually have a three
day conference. This year we're backdown to a two day conference. Our
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kickoff day started with our Canadian CannabisCup. We did a Flour Cannabis Cup
and then on Monday we did aHash Cannabis Cup and it was the top
LPs in Canada that we had thirteenjudges doing a blind judging in front of
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delegates, attendees and curious people justwalking by wanted to see what's going on.
And then we had a Canadian premierof French and Canoli his documentary called
Frenchie Dreams of Hashis. So thatwas our day one, and then day
two we had a Cannabis Science fora symposium along with our Hashtone and our
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regular industry conference in stage well wepull everybody together and network and collaborate and
learn. We ended it off withour award show, our third annual award
show, and we that's where weannounced the Master Grower of the Year,
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our Craft Rower of the Year.We had a Hall of Fame induction of
Arian Roscom from the Netherlands. He'sa four time Cup winner. We had
a Lifetime Achievement Award winner which wasRamo from Ramo Nutrients, and then we
had our flower in our hash winnersfor the Cannabis Cup. So it is
it's an incredible event. Now todayit's for our third day. In our
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last day, we do a growerslunch which we have a room full of
head growers and master growers and basicallydo a think tank session. So we
got uh you know, they're havinga lunch, but they have a table
round tables and curated questions and theygo through when we're talking about quality and
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how to do things better. Andthen we end the day off with a
seat exchange. So there's no otherconference in Canada is doing you any So
the conference, the conference, sorry, the conference is called grow Up.
Yeah, grow Up Conference and Expoand awards. Tell me a little bit
about I have so many questions foryou, Randy. When did you why
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did you start this? Because asthe president, did the grow Up Conference
in Expo. When did you startthis event? Twenty seventeen. So we've
done a show up in Toronto,more related to the business side of cannabis.
And I lived in the once fromthe Nagar region, and I know
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in the Nego region we've got alot of growers either outside outdoor growers,
but we got a lot of greenhousesdown here, and I thought, this
is just such a great place toget growers together. Because a lot of
the conferences deal with you know,business and finance and all that stuff.
I thought, well, let's dosomething for the growers. And this was
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just such a natural location. Imean, you've got the falls, it's
a you know, one another worldand it's a great place to visit.
So let's let's have it here.It's been magnificent setting, a magnificent setting.
Yes, it's fantastic. We alsodid one this year in Victoria,
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BC, which is an incredible placeif you know, if you've never been
there, yes, visiting it andthat's kind of a birthplace of growers.
So that's one of the reasons whywe look at that location. So instead
of going to the large cities,you know, downtown Toronto or Vancouver,
we tend to go and migrate tothe ones where growers would want to go
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to but rather than drive into thecity. And a lot of the growers
are used to being out in urbanareas oral area, so that's why we
do them out of here. Randy, I have a lot of questions for
you, and I'm sure the audiencelistening to this. You've been doing this
for several years now. What isthe flavor? Tell us the flavor of
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the world of cannabis in Canada andwhere you are and what's happened since COVID.
Well, everybody's been taken a beatingwith COVID. I think there's not
an industry that really hasn't been affectedby it. Marijuana. I think the
sales have not decrease because of thepandemic. I think they've been pretty steady.
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But I think the business of cannabisis changing, and right now we're
in a down slope. We've gotretail businesses out there that are going to
be going out of business in thenext year. There's maybe a thirty percent
of them are probably going to disappear. We're oversaturated. There's too many shops
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that are opening up and they're competingagainst these large corporate retails. So some
of the mom podlams are just notgoing to be able to survive. And
I think that's gonna read it folk, But I think the way that the
government implemented it sort of caused theproblem. Now the next thing is the
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microgrowers and the craft growers. Again, there's these are the people that are
putting out some high quality products,but their profit margin is swimming because the
government thinks, you know, fairshare of the money that they would go
back into the company, and they'recompeting with larger companies. So I think
there's got to be a lot ofthings that's got to change, and there's
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a lot of room for improvement.But I think overall we're moving ahead.
It's going forward. I see thethe industry starting to get stronger, and
I think in twenty twenty three,I think as the world hopefully gets back
to somewhat normal, that everyone startsto increase and you know, they're looking
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ahead. Yes, you had mentionedabout the science and I'm curious what was
discussed at that round table. Well, we had six different panels of sign
it. We had a doctor ErieMedri from Israel came up. Oh how
fabulous, fabulous. Yeah, Sohe did two talks yesterday. I can't
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remember what exact topics were spoken allday yesterday, so I can't really get
into the specifics of it we had. They're all doctors, that we're all
talking science. It was it wasfull. I mean, the crowd just
that, you know, really tookto it. Well. Again, I
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apologize that I don't have the specificson everything that we talked about, I
know, but yeah, the factthat you did the science though, is
so exciting. It's very exciting.Well it's groundbreaking research that they're doing,
and you know, and that justhelps growers and it helps the industry.
So it's an idea liking into thiskind of environment. Tell me your your
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journey. How did this cannabis world? How did it open up to you?
When did you first realize that thiswas going to be your future?
When did you realize that this therewas an offertunity to make money and to
have this expo. It wouldn't havebeen back in twenty seventeen. I mean
I had always been involved in cannabishere and there, just as a as
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a consumer and a user, butyou know, nothing on a grand scale.
I didn't have any investment in thecannabis. And when we did that
one show in Toronto. It wasI just saw the potential to bring everybody
together. And I mean, I'vebeen in the event business for quite a
while and mostly on the music side, so it just it seemed like a
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good fit. And I thought agreat opportunity in Niagara Falls. So I
came to the center here and itjust made it work, and it just
it was such a good fit.And it was at that point when I
first started developing it and talking topeople that I realized that, Yeah,
this is this is what we need. Love it, love this story.
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This is an opportunity for all ofus to hear firsthand about a conference,
successful conference, and it is calledgrow Up Conference in Expo. Randy Row
is the president of grow Up Conferencein Expo and we're thrilled you're with us.
We have to take a quick break, so how can people find out
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more about you, the conferences andall of those things. Please grow up
Conference dot com. You'll see whatwe're doing here in Niagara Falls. That
I have a list of all ofour schedule and then our future dates which
we'll be announcing in the next month, and we've got a lot of them.
But no, I was just goingto say, so hold on to
(30:45):
that and we will be back injust a moment with Randy. I Frankie
Boyer. You're listening to Cannabis Talkingto Z and Educational Odyssey. Welcome back
(31:11):
Cannabis Talk Ages and Educational Odyssey.I'm Frankie Boyer and we are continuing our
conversation with Randy Rowe, who isthe president of grow Up Conference in Expo.
He's been doing this since twenty seventeenand this has been Would you say
this was one of the more successfulconferences, Randy, Well, it depends
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on what measurement. Will you seethe conference itself, the scheduling and the
programming has probably been by far thebest program that we've done. We've just
got such great content. The sizeof our conference this here is a lot
smaller than we typically have. Let'ssay it's probably down to a third of
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what we normally do, but Ithink that's just an indication of the industry.
But as far as it's success,it's been a huge success. We've
added our consumption lounge, which wedid in twenty nineteen, and we've continued
to here, but we've just madeit so much better. So the consumption
area is if we go to anyof these conferences on a regular basis,
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even though that a lot of peopledo business at the bar, even at
the bar at the hotel, sitand have a drink and you know,
you meet new people. Well,we're a cannabis show, so why are
we not outside smoking. And there'sa lot of people that don't drink beer.
They don't want to go to ahotel, or they don't want to
go to the after party. Sowe need to accommodate that. And you
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know, I'm looking out tied rightnow and there's you know, a hundreds
of people out there and they're they'redoing business. They're talking, they're writing
deals, shaking hands. It's nodifferent than the bar, and they're doing
and they're in their own element.You know, people sometimes smoke because they
don't they either have a social anxietyand they don't like going to bars.
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Well, now they're able to sitthere and do a dab if they want,
or roll up a joint and youknow, and be able to talk
to other consumers and growers. Andreally it's the community and feeling comfortable in
being able to enjoy what you knowyou couldn't do five years ago, they
were not allowed to use this.It's all legals. Our Canada Canadian Cannabis
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cup that we had was legal.It was all legal cannabis. It was
from licensed producers Health Canada, licensedproducers. Everybody had within their limits of
the amount of cannabis that you're allowedto have, and it was done outside
outdoors and people were able to seeit and think of doing that five years
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ago. It's just crazy that everybodywould have been arrested when you first started.
You're doing all of this. Tellus about the laws in Canada,
so it's totally legal for all consumption, or give us what the specifics are,
please. So when we first started, it wasn't legal. In twenty
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seventeen, you weren't allowed to haveCanaba scuts, you had achanical license.
All that changed in twenty eighteen andour second show was legal, but there's
still a lot of the restrictions.So the way that it works in Canada
is recreational. You can carry upto thirty grams, so that's any combination
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of hash we concentrates sheets. Aslong as you don't go to that limit,
that's your personal limit, and thenyou can consume it anywhere you can
just walk outside and wherever anybody's havinga cigarette, you know, you can
light up. And it's some peopleget offended, and I think a lot
of our culture we're used to smokingbehind the garbage can in the back alley
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so that nobody sees it, soeverybody's respectful and then you stay away.
But I mean, we can smokewherever we want. That's very that's very
different than here in the States.Do you see, and I'm just curious
your thoughts. Do you see thatthe states we will have to at some
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point come to terms with legalization ordo you think it will still go state
by state. I think it's goingto be state by state for quite a
while. It's the way that UnitedStates are. It's to do it federal.
It's going to be something huge tohappen to make that federally acceptable,
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because I mean, there's a lotof states that are just not going to
accept it. So I think that'sthe hurdle, and I think doing a
state by state, I think they'rethey're getting to the point where you know,
you're going to have a majority ofthe country that's going to be legal,
and once they go legal, recreationalthen you're going to see kind of
(36:05):
what we're doing here in Canada.And I think that's one of the things
that we get restricted on Canadas.We can't advertise, so we can't have
a billboard that has come to ourdispensary, or you know, we can't
advertise this as the best product orthis product is it for you. At
least in the United States, you'vegot a little bit more freedom state by
state to be able to promote yourproduct and promote the actual consumption of it.
(36:30):
So I think the United States isdoing a lot of things right.
And I think once they get tothat sort of federal level, I don't
know how long that's going to takeand if it'll level reach that point,
but I think once they do,it's going to be a game changer.
I mean, there's a lot ofthe countries that are coming online, Thailand,
(36:51):
that are becoming legal, and Ithink eventually there's gonna be enough pressure
put on the federal government to weswitch over to making it legal. And
if you look at the amount ofpeople that are in jail right now because
of you know, just a havingpossession, it's just it's of the numbers
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are incredible and Eugangelo has ended upthe Last Prisoner Project and basically it's just
trying to get everybody out of jail, you know, was arrested for possession.
Well, I think it's going toget there. It's going to take
a long time, and it takesa lot of leaders and a lot of
people advocating for it. I mean, of Canada get push. So I
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so agree with you, and Ithink it's disgraceful and disgusting that there are
still people in mail because they possesscannabis. I mean, it's stun people
that there are in there. Yes, it's stupid, it's stup stupid.
I hate it. I hate it. I'm I'm I'm you know, I'm
so grateful for Steve in the workthat he is doing because it's just horrible,
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horrible in this day and age.What it takes people like Steve and
everybody to just get on that soapboxand get people involved in and uh you
know, and just keep pushing it. That's that's how things get done.
Well, we thank you for comingon board and tremendous success with this year's
(38:25):
conference and next year when is thedo you have the date, chet or
do you are you all set fornext year. I don't have date chat,
but we are looking to do BCand Alberta. And we're always considering
doing an American show because there's somany Yeah yeah, I mean, we
had talked about keep us, keepus posted, please keep us posted.
(38:46):
We're out of time, but RandyRow give us the website. Thank you
so much for being with us today. Thank you. And the website is
grow Up Conference dot com. Andthis has been another edition of Cannabis Talk,
Agesy and Educational Odyssey with Frankie Boyer. Thanks for listening. Make it
(39:08):
a great day everybody, and asalways, smile as still as wie.
If you somebody, let's somebod
Welcome to Cannabis Talk, A toZ and Educational Odyssey with your host Frankie
Boyer. And welcome. It isFrankie Boyer and this is Cannabis Talks and
Educational Odyssey. And are we goingto become educated today? Because the man
himself, you know, Michael Olsen, who is the author by the way
(00:30):
of the award winning book Metro Farm, such a brilliant, brilliant farmer,
and he also has been involved infarming for so many years, was on
the road and had been documenting andwe have so much to talk to Michael
(00:53):
about. But Michael, what Ilove about your philosophy, which is so
critical for all of us in thisworld, is that we really need to
get back to the basics. Howdo we do that? And is it
too late for the hemp and CBDworld? Well, I don't think so.
(01:15):
And when it gets right down toit, they are getting back to
basics because when when you look atthe history of hemp or cannabis, you
will see that it really was oneof the foundational crops of human civilization.
So tell us more, tell usmore, because many people, many people
(01:38):
listening to this are like, whatare you kidding? Us, so tell
us the history. Oh goodness,I think you know, the first recorded
use of cannabis goes way back tothe Skissians. You know, thousands of
years ago people were using cannabis forclothing and for intoxication. So the earliest
(02:08):
indications of the stories about the Scissiansthrowing cannabis on the fire, on the
campfires and sitting around getting high thatway. But you know, the plant
itself has also provided a fiber forrope and fiber for canvas, and you
(02:29):
know, with rope and canvas,we could make ships that sailed where we
wanted them to sail, and sowe used cannabis as a means of getting
around the world and establishing trade.It's just hard to think of a plant
that has been more useful to humankind than cannabis. It's there just aren't
(02:53):
that many that even come close.So when you say, you know,
getting back to basics, I thinkthat of the history of cannabis and its
use and it's usefulness to we thepeople that you know, you just gotta
say thank you, good Lord forputting the plant here, and we're sorry
(03:15):
to have lost our way with it, but we're finding our way back slowly,
but surely, slowly, but surely, very slowly. Michael, Michael.
Is it true that many of thedocuments regarding our constitution were written on
hemp paper? Of course, andthat's why they'd lasted. That's why our
(03:39):
constitution lasted as long as he has. It was written on hemp paper.
There you go, that's pretty good. But yes, and the hemp makes
great paper, it makes great cloth. In Cris strong Am, I got
a hemp towel, I swear toyou at least fifteen years ago, if
(04:03):
not more. And these two hemptowels are still in my in my towel
collection because they just will not wearout and they're still fabulous. And maybe
that's one of the reasons why wehad this great prohibition against cannabis, because
(04:27):
it was so useful in so manydifferent ways that people who had other ways
of doing things wanted to get ridof it. I think of a lot
of of Henry Ford and what agreat advocate of hmp that he was,
and his fight with standard oil overethanol and versus petroleum. And you hear
(05:00):
stories of how you know, theforest industries wanted to get rid of hemp
because it was much easier to growhemp than trees, and on and on
and on and on. So ithemp became a target of economic convenience for
(05:21):
a lot of people, and Isuspect alcohol was part of that too.
Get rid of hemp or cannabis,and then we can sell more of alcohol
and so on. So when wethink of this, this magic plant,
(05:41):
we just have to remember of itsgreat history for us, for we the
people, and how it literally allowedus to satellite civilize the world because it
was so incredibly diverse and its uses. So it's you just have to be
(06:03):
grateful that it was given to usand that we've been able to do so
much with it. Where we arewith it now is principally as an intoxicant
and as a medicinal, and we'retrying to really come to grips with how
(06:26):
to manage those two things in ourworld. Out here on the coast,
we've legalized to the extent possible cannabis, and in that process we gave it
over to the government, and thegovernment instituted all kinds of taxes and all
(06:48):
kinds of rules and regulations and ineffect destroyed the industry, or as destroying
the industry by making it so difficultto grow cannabis that only a couple of
companies are big enough have the economiesof scales sufficient to be able to pay
(07:14):
for all the rules and regulations andso whereas a few years ago, I
think millions of families earned a partialpart, a part of their living by
growing a secret pot plot of cannabis. Those small farmers are really getting wiped
(07:34):
out and the industry is falling intothe hands of a few. Sounds familiar,
doesn't it. Yeah, unfortunately itdoes. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. You know Michael, whyI love having you on for so
(07:55):
many reasons. But you're so Whendid the when did the farm in the
land become such an important part ofyour life? How old were you?
Oh, that's very interesting. Iwas six years old when I so lowed
my first working tractor on my grandparentsfarm near Belfrey, Montana. And for
(08:20):
a six year old boy to beput up on the seat of a big
tractor and Grandpa Carl he said,okay, kid, I'll meet you at
the end of the field, andhe just got off the tractor, put
it in gear and left. Andthere I was sitting way up high on
(08:41):
this big tractor I was so frightenedI peed in my pants, But don't
tell anybody, but I did makeit to the end of the field and
Grandpa was there, and I guess, you know, always look back on
that, Wow, I did somethingand kind of gave you a little sense
of accomplishment to be able to dosomething like that. But the grandparents farm
(09:03):
was a huge formative part of myyouth and I kind of ran away with
it from it because, like manykids, you want to go to the
big city and you want to goout into the world that can explore things.
And it wasn't until I was workingfor NBC Magazine with David Brinkley and
(09:31):
we were doing a story on survivalistsup in southern Oregon and we were standing
on a hill overlooking the Rogue Valleyof Southern Oregon, and our guide,
I think it was our network talentwas saying, you know, beyond you
could see the Rogue Valley of SouthernOregon, this is where the survivalists hanging
(09:52):
out. But at any rate,I looked down in this beautiful valley and
there were all of these people downthere, all of these farms I'm still
there that had been subdivided in thoselittle survivalist retreats and nobody was growing anything.
So I just turned to our publisherto take survivalist track. We have
(10:13):
to take a quick break. We'llbe back in just a moment. Food
Chain it's food Chain and food ChainRadio, and you also have metro farm
dot food Chain Radio and metrofarm dotCom. Okay, we'll be back in
a moment. Frankie Bowyer, Staytuned Cannabis Talk Agency and Educational Odyssey and
(11:05):
welcome back at his Cannabis Talk HCand Educational Odyssey talking with Michael Olson.
His stories are fascinating, He's fascinating. Food Chain is The food Chain with
Michael Olson is fabulous. His books, His whole feeling about where we are
(11:28):
in this planet when it comes tofarming and the survival of this planet is
very much connected to who he is. And I always like to have you
on, Michael, because I thinkyou're Your knowledge and the breath and depth
of what you know is such animportant reminder for all of us and how
(11:50):
powerful, how powerful this plant reallyis, because it is so truly amazing
plant, so many uses. Youcould talk about the uses for a month.
Probably it goes on and on andon, and it's really unfortunate that
(12:15):
the federal government, you know,focused all of its uses and got rid
of all of them, with theexception of one. By prohibiting the plant.
The government focused our attention only onits intoxicating properties, and so all
(12:37):
of those other useful things that weuse that plant for through the years,
we're lost. So, Michael,this whole story of my buying a couple
of hemp towels fifteen, if nottwenty years ago, long long, long
(12:58):
time ago, that are still fabulous. Why and I was redoing my linen
closet and gave away my hemp sheets. I could kick myself for doing that
because they would have lasted forever aswell. Michael, Why is it so
hard to years ago there were hempstores everywhere getting clothing, and what has
(13:24):
happened? Industrial hemp has gone bythe wayside. I know Europeans are using
hemp crete instead of concrete, butwhy are we not? I think moltenet
is a residue of prohibition, andperhaps that's a big reason for prohibition is
(13:46):
to get rid of all of thosethings, is because they're so efficient.
I was reminded of a story ofHarry Anslinger, who was the chief prohibition
cop of cannabis, and he wentto raid a farmer's place someplace in the
(14:09):
Midwest and pulled up all of hispot plants, and the farmer said,
you know, those are my clothesthat you just took. That's when I
make my clothes out of. AndHarry Annslinger said, well, not anymore,
(14:31):
and walked off with his pot plants. And I guess that of all
of the stories I've heard, thatwas one of the more apocryphal ones about
the plant. And so it wasas the Harry Annslinger, the chief prohibitor,
was telling the farmer that you areno longer allowed to make clothes out
(14:56):
of this plant. You can onlysneak behind in the barn and smoke it
for its intoxication. And it waskind of like in that statement, we've
been robbed of so much. Andthat's, to me, is the greatest
(15:18):
tragedy of the cannabis world. It'sso it's so sad. It is so
sad because you and I both knowthe money, the resources, the relief,
it goes on and on and onthat this plant would be giving.
(15:41):
It's the plant that keeps on giving. It really is it's the plant that
keeps on giving, Michael. Ithelps with the it helps clean the soil.
They've used it in areas we're radioactiveproducts and they're using hemp to clean
the soil. YEA, yes,it does so much for so many people.
(16:10):
As I'm most sad to see whatwe have done. But maybe we'll
find our way back to the basics, as you suggested earlier, maybe we'll
find our way that to realize theusefulness of it. I know a lot
of people are trying right now.You know, there's a lot of people
(16:32):
growing industrial hemp. But if youdon't have the infrastructure, you know,
to deal with all of that hemp, then you're not going to be growing
industrial hemp very long. And Isuspect that's what kind of happened to the
industry, is that a lot ofpeople grew industrial hemp, but then what
(16:55):
do they do with it now,because there's not the infrastructure to make the
cloth from it and so on.So it's a it's a gradual road back
because when they prohibit something, theyreally took away everything. They took away
so much, they really did.And I've been told that right in in
(17:22):
outside the Harbor here in Charlestown,there's so much wildhamp still growing, and
in many parts of our country wildhampis growing and people wouldn't know what the
wild hamp look like looks like.So, but it's so easy to farm
as well, isn't it? Well, yes, it is. They called
(17:47):
it a weed for good reason.It grows very well just about everywhere,
and I think it does grow everywhere, especially now that people have been selecting
it for various other purposes, youknow, other than just growing it as
(18:08):
a fiber plant, which was whatit was used for in World War Two.
You know, it was against thelaw for people not to grow it
in World War Two, and nowit's against the law for them to have
that that they were forced to growduring World War Two. So it went
(18:30):
from being a mandatory thing to growto a prohibited thing to grow. And
the stuff that was growing when itwas mandatory is steal around even though it's
prohibited now. It just it justkeeps getting crazier and crazier and crazier.
So, Michael, what's happened isthat we as Americans have lost so much
(18:57):
because of it, and it's sosad because we could be using camp in
so many areas of all of ourlives from building I'm not even talking about
the medicinal piece of this story,which is what we talk a lot about,
but I'm talking about the industrial useof this extraordinary product. So we
(19:19):
thank you for being with us,always so much fun and informative. As
I told you, the food chainis available with Michael Olson check out his
metrofarm dot com at Michael as alwayswhat a pleasure, always fun to be
with. Frankie Boyer. Thank youso much, and thank you all for
(19:41):
tuning in today. We love you. Yes, yes, and we'll take
a quick break and be right Backstaytuned. It is Frankie Boyer Cannabis talking
Agency and Educational Odyssey. Welcome back, Frankie Boyer Cannabis Talks an educational odyssey
(20:11):
joining us now and one an eventthat Randy Row is putting together for everybody.
And it is a conference, butnot just any conference. The conference
is about putting together media, cannabiscultivators, the trades, traditional media and
(20:40):
the hopes of this all is aboutwhat Randy and explain to us. Why
this educational component in piece is socritical. Well, one of our main
goals at our conference is building ourcommunity, sharing knowledge and elevating everybody as
a grower and the growing community andculture to better our plant, better the
(21:04):
products, and to be able tocommunicate and network with one another. So
tell us about this incredible event.So it's a we usually have a three
day conference. This year we're backdown to a two day conference. Our
(21:25):
kickoff day started with our Canadian CannabisCup. We did a Flour Cannabis Cup
and then on Monday we did aHash Cannabis Cup and it was the top
LPs in Canada that we had thirteenjudges doing a blind judging in front of
(21:45):
delegates, attendees and curious people justwalking by wanted to see what's going on.
And then we had a Canadian premierof French and Canoli his documentary called
Frenchie Dreams of Hashis. So thatwas our day one, and then day
two we had a Cannabis Science fora symposium along with our Hashtone and our
(22:14):
regular industry conference in stage well wepull everybody together and network and collaborate and
learn. We ended it off withour award show, our third annual award
show, and we that's where weannounced the Master Grower of the Year,
(22:34):
our Craft Rower of the Year.We had a Hall of Fame induction of
Arian Roscom from the Netherlands. He'sa four time Cup winner. We had
a Lifetime Achievement Award winner which wasRamo from Ramo Nutrients, and then we
had our flower in our hash winnersfor the Cannabis Cup. So it is
it's an incredible event. Now todayit's for our third day. In our
(22:57):
last day, we do a growerslunch which we have a room full of
head growers and master growers and basicallydo a think tank session. So we
got uh you know, they're havinga lunch, but they have a table
round tables and curated questions and theygo through when we're talking about quality and
(23:17):
how to do things better. Andthen we end the day off with a
seat exchange. So there's no otherconference in Canada is doing you any So
the conference, the conference, sorry, the conference is called grow Up.
Yeah, grow Up Conference and Expoand awards. Tell me a little bit
about I have so many questions foryou, Randy. When did you why
(23:42):
did you start this? Because asthe president, did the grow Up Conference
in Expo. When did you startthis event? Twenty seventeen. So we've
done a show up in Toronto,more related to the business side of cannabis.
And I lived in the once fromthe Nagar region, and I know
(24:03):
in the Nego region we've got alot of growers either outside outdoor growers,
but we got a lot of greenhousesdown here, and I thought, this
is just such a great place toget growers together. Because a lot of
the conferences deal with you know,business and finance and all that stuff.
I thought, well, let's dosomething for the growers. And this was
(24:26):
just such a natural location. Imean, you've got the falls, it's
a you know, one another worldand it's a great place to visit.
So let's let's have it here.It's been magnificent setting, a magnificent setting.
Yes, it's fantastic. We alsodid one this year in Victoria,
(24:47):
BC, which is an incredible placeif you know, if you've never been
there, yes, visiting it andthat's kind of a birthplace of growers.
So that's one of the reasons whywe look at that location. So instead
of going to the large cities,you know, downtown Toronto or Vancouver,
we tend to go and migrate tothe ones where growers would want to go
(25:12):
to but rather than drive into thecity. And a lot of the growers
are used to being out in urbanareas oral area, so that's why we
do them out of here. Randy, I have a lot of questions for
you, and I'm sure the audiencelistening to this. You've been doing this
for several years now. What isthe flavor? Tell us the flavor of
(25:37):
the world of cannabis in Canada andwhere you are and what's happened since COVID.
Well, everybody's been taken a beatingwith COVID. I think there's not
an industry that really hasn't been affectedby it. Marijuana. I think the
sales have not decrease because of thepandemic. I think they've been pretty steady.
(26:03):
But I think the business of cannabisis changing, and right now we're
in a down slope. We've gotretail businesses out there that are going to
be going out of business in thenext year. There's maybe a thirty percent
of them are probably going to disappear. We're oversaturated. There's too many shops
(26:26):
that are opening up and they're competingagainst these large corporate retails. So some
of the mom podlams are just notgoing to be able to survive. And
I think that's gonna read it folk, But I think the way that the
government implemented it sort of caused theproblem. Now the next thing is the
(26:47):
microgrowers and the craft growers. Again, there's these are the people that are
putting out some high quality products,but their profit margin is swimming because the
government thinks, you know, fairshare of the money that they would go
back into the company, and they'recompeting with larger companies. So I think
there's got to be a lot ofthings that's got to change, and there's
(27:08):
a lot of room for improvement.But I think overall we're moving ahead.
It's going forward. I see thethe industry starting to get stronger, and
I think in twenty twenty three,I think as the world hopefully gets back
to somewhat normal, that everyone startsto increase and you know, they're looking
(27:32):
ahead. Yes, you had mentionedabout the science and I'm curious what was
discussed at that round table. Well, we had six different panels of sign
it. We had a doctor ErieMedri from Israel came up. Oh how
fabulous, fabulous. Yeah, Sohe did two talks yesterday. I can't
(28:00):
remember what exact topics were spoken allday yesterday, so I can't really get
into the specifics of it we had. They're all doctors, that we're all
talking science. It was it wasfull. I mean, the crowd just
that, you know, really tookto it. Well. Again, I
(28:23):
apologize that I don't have the specificson everything that we talked about, I
know, but yeah, the factthat you did the science though, is
so exciting. It's very exciting.Well it's groundbreaking research that they're doing,
and you know, and that justhelps growers and it helps the industry.
So it's an idea liking into thiskind of environment. Tell me your your
(28:48):
journey. How did this cannabis world? How did it open up to you?
When did you first realize that thiswas going to be your future?
When did you realize that this therewas an offertunity to make money and to
have this expo. It wouldn't havebeen back in twenty seventeen. I mean
I had always been involved in cannabishere and there, just as a as
(29:11):
a consumer and a user, butyou know, nothing on a grand scale.
I didn't have any investment in thecannabis. And when we did that
one show in Toronto. It wasI just saw the potential to bring everybody
together. And I mean, I'vebeen in the event business for quite a
while and mostly on the music side, so it just it seemed like a
(29:33):
good fit. And I thought agreat opportunity in Niagara Falls. So I
came to the center here and itjust made it work, and it just
it was such a good fit.And it was at that point when I
first started developing it and talking topeople that I realized that, Yeah,
this is this is what we need. Love it, love this story.
(29:59):
This is an opportunity for all ofus to hear firsthand about a conference,
successful conference, and it is calledgrow Up Conference in Expo. Randy Row
is the president of grow Up Conferencein Expo and we're thrilled you're with us.
We have to take a quick break, so how can people find out
(30:21):
more about you, the conferences andall of those things. Please grow up
Conference dot com. You'll see whatwe're doing here in Niagara Falls. That
I have a list of all ofour schedule and then our future dates which
we'll be announcing in the next month, and we've got a lot of them.
But no, I was just goingto say, so hold on to
(30:45):
that and we will be back injust a moment with Randy. I Frankie
Boyer. You're listening to Cannabis Talkingto Z and Educational Odyssey. Welcome back
(31:11):
Cannabis Talk Ages and Educational Odyssey.I'm Frankie Boyer and we are continuing our
conversation with Randy Rowe, who isthe president of grow Up Conference in Expo.
He's been doing this since twenty seventeenand this has been Would you say
this was one of the more successfulconferences, Randy, Well, it depends
(31:34):
on what measurement. Will you seethe conference itself, the scheduling and the
programming has probably been by far thebest program that we've done. We've just
got such great content. The sizeof our conference this here is a lot
smaller than we typically have. Let'ssay it's probably down to a third of
(31:56):
what we normally do, but Ithink that's just an indication of the industry.
But as far as it's success,it's been a huge success. We've
added our consumption lounge, which wedid in twenty nineteen, and we've continued
to here, but we've just madeit so much better. So the consumption
area is if we go to anyof these conferences on a regular basis,
(32:19):
even though that a lot of peopledo business at the bar, even at
the bar at the hotel, sitand have a drink and you know,
you meet new people. Well,we're a cannabis show, so why are
we not outside smoking. And there'sa lot of people that don't drink beer.
They don't want to go to ahotel, or they don't want to
go to the after party. Sowe need to accommodate that. And you
(32:43):
know, I'm looking out tied rightnow and there's you know, a hundreds
of people out there and they're they'redoing business. They're talking, they're writing
deals, shaking hands. It's nodifferent than the bar, and they're doing
and they're in their own element.You know, people sometimes smoke because they
don't they either have a social anxietyand they don't like going to bars.
(33:05):
Well, now they're able to sitthere and do a dab if they want,
or roll up a joint and youknow, and be able to talk
to other consumers and growers. Andreally it's the community and feeling comfortable in
being able to enjoy what you knowyou couldn't do five years ago, they
were not allowed to use this.It's all legals. Our Canada Canadian Cannabis
(33:30):
cup that we had was legal.It was all legal cannabis. It was
from licensed producers Health Canada, licensedproducers. Everybody had within their limits of
the amount of cannabis that you're allowedto have, and it was done outside
outdoors and people were able to seeit and think of doing that five years
(33:53):
ago. It's just crazy that everybodywould have been arrested when you first started.
You're doing all of this. Tellus about the laws in Canada,
so it's totally legal for all consumption, or give us what the specifics are,
please. So when we first started, it wasn't legal. In twenty
(34:14):
seventeen, you weren't allowed to haveCanaba scuts, you had achanical license.
All that changed in twenty eighteen andour second show was legal, but there's
still a lot of the restrictions.So the way that it works in Canada
is recreational. You can carry upto thirty grams, so that's any combination
(34:35):
of hash we concentrates sheets. Aslong as you don't go to that limit,
that's your personal limit, and thenyou can consume it anywhere you can
just walk outside and wherever anybody's havinga cigarette, you know, you can
light up. And it's some peopleget offended, and I think a lot
of our culture we're used to smokingbehind the garbage can in the back alley
(35:00):
so that nobody sees it, soeverybody's respectful and then you stay away.
But I mean, we can smokewherever we want. That's very that's very
different than here in the States.Do you see, and I'm just curious
your thoughts. Do you see thatthe states we will have to at some
(35:22):
point come to terms with legalization ordo you think it will still go state
by state. I think it's goingto be state by state for quite a
while. It's the way that UnitedStates are. It's to do it federal.
It's going to be something huge tohappen to make that federally acceptable,
(35:44):
because I mean, there's a lotof states that are just not going to
accept it. So I think that'sthe hurdle, and I think doing a
state by state, I think they'rethey're getting to the point where you know,
you're going to have a majority ofthe country that's going to be legal,
and once they go legal, recreationalthen you're going to see kind of
(36:05):
what we're doing here in Canada.And I think that's one of the things
that we get restricted on Canadas.We can't advertise, so we can't have
a billboard that has come to ourdispensary, or you know, we can't
advertise this as the best product orthis product is it for you. At
least in the United States, you'vegot a little bit more freedom state by
state to be able to promote yourproduct and promote the actual consumption of it.
(36:30):
So I think the United States isdoing a lot of things right.
And I think once they get tothat sort of federal level, I don't
know how long that's going to takeand if it'll level reach that point,
but I think once they do,it's going to be a game changer.
I mean, there's a lot ofthe countries that are coming online, Thailand,
(36:51):
that are becoming legal, and Ithink eventually there's gonna be enough pressure
put on the federal government to weswitch over to making it legal. And
if you look at the amount ofpeople that are in jail right now because
of you know, just a havingpossession, it's just it's of the numbers
(37:13):
are incredible and Eugangelo has ended upthe Last Prisoner Project and basically it's just
trying to get everybody out of jail, you know, was arrested for possession.
Well, I think it's going toget there. It's going to take
a long time, and it takesa lot of leaders and a lot of
people advocating for it. I mean, of Canada get push. So I
(37:40):
so agree with you, and Ithink it's disgraceful and disgusting that there are
still people in mail because they possesscannabis. I mean, it's stun people
that there are in there. Yes, it's stupid, it's stup stupid.
I hate it. I hate it. I'm I'm I'm you know, I'm
so grateful for Steve in the workthat he is doing because it's just horrible,
(38:04):
horrible in this day and age.What it takes people like Steve and
everybody to just get on that soapboxand get people involved in and uh you
know, and just keep pushing it. That's that's how things get done.
Well, we thank you for comingon board and tremendous success with this year's
(38:25):
conference and next year when is thedo you have the date, chet or
do you are you all set fornext year. I don't have date chat,
but we are looking to do BCand Alberta. And we're always considering
doing an American show because there's somany Yeah yeah, I mean, we
had talked about keep us, keepus posted, please keep us posted.
(38:46):
We're out of time, but RandyRow give us the website. Thank you
so much for being with us today. Thank you. And the website is
grow Up Conference dot com. Andthis has been another edition of Cannabis Talk,
Agesy and Educational Odyssey with Frankie Boyer. Thanks for listening. Make it
(39:08):
a great day everybody, and asalways, smile as still as wie.
If you somebody, let's somebod
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