Currently, the CBD market is completely unregulated. Almost anyone with some capital can get into the CBD business, and there’s been a glut of raw materials (raw hemp extract) available at falling prices over the past year, especially if you’re not too picky about the quality. 

The result? Consumers struggle to know whether the CBD products they’re buying are legitimate or effective. Between completely fake products, and those that are misleadingly advertised, lots of people get turned off of CBD entirely, even if they might benefit from it. That’s unfortunate because, while there are a lot of overinflated claims out there, there’s ample evidence that CBD helps a lot of people.

While we normally focus on the positive aspects of the industry, and the highest quality CBD products, we also think it’s important to warn our readers … and put pressure on the hemp industry to do better.

Table of Contents

• Why are CBD scams such a big problem?
• CBD-infused clothing, pillows and bedsheets
• “Immune Boosting” claims about CBD & CBD hand sanitizer
• Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) and CBD
• Fake CBD Products
• Lead-filled & Impure CBD Supplements
• How do we fix this? A call for transparency & quality

Why are there so many CBD oil scams?

Once an obscure supplement of dubious legality, CBD has gone completely mainstream. A survey published in August 2019 by Consumer Reports suggested that 40% of people in their 20s have tried CBD, and even 15% of people 65 or older have tried it. Many more people are curious about CBD, or at least have heard of its potential. And an amendment to the 2018 Farm Bill fully legalized hemp-derived CBD products, removing much of the remaining reluctance consumers had about trying it.

Unfortunately, when you combine unprecedented popularity with a lack of regulations, it leaves the market open for grifters, scammers, and a lot of people just looking for a quick buck. We frequently hear from readers that have purchased or considered purchasing scammy products from fly-by-night CBD brands.  

At the time we’re writing this, the FDA is preparing to present its guidelines for consumer CBD products, after receiving approval from the White House. However, we expect these guidelines to be imperfect in their first draft and require a lot of tweaking and negotiation with the industry before the market is truly stable and safe. 

Beyond that, greedy brands are forever looking for loopholes that let them continue to exploit undereducated CBD buyers. The FDA simply does not have the resources or the power to shut down every problematic or misleading product on the supplement market — powerful lobbyists have ensured that. 

In other words, even FDA regulations won’t make all these CBD scams and bad ideas disappear.

#1 Scam: CBD-infused pillows, mattresses, and clothing

A CBD-infused mattress. It’s something that would have seemed like a joke a few years ago, that someone might have used to make fun of the tendency to stick CBD in everything.

Now it’s a reality. A very expensive reality! In a way it’s almost ingenious: mattress brands struggle to differentiate themselves from one another since most use almost identical technology. The same is true for CBD oil. So why not combine the two?

Except it’s completely ridiculous. In the case of a mattress, consumers are meant to believe that CBD inside it can not just penetrate your skin, but any bedsheets, mattress covers, and pillowcases you might use. Even if the products did work as advertised, they’re costly and short-lived. One brand charges $60 for a CBD-infused pillow and $900 (or more) for a twin mattress. For that price, you could buy a regular mattress online and still have money left over for multiple bottles of high strength CBD tincture. 

Speaking of which, you can simply look at a bottle of tincture to see how much you have left. How would you know when the product has become “depleted” and what are you to do with them then? Throw the whole mattress away?

CBD-infused clothing or plastic “CBD bracelets” are a similar scam, with many of the same problems. Even if these products did work, they seem to encourage a culture of disposability and conspicuous consumption that we can hardly afford during our climate emergency.

#2 Scam: Making ‘immune-boosting’ claims and selling CBD hand sanitizer during a pandemic

We covered this topic in more detail in our article on CBD and the novel coronavirus. 

While some (very preliminary) research that suggests certain cannabinoids might be beneficial in treating some symptoms, there’s no scientific evidence that everyday use of over-the-counter CBD supplements will do any good.

We think CBD can be extremely helpful during this stressful time. Cannabidiol can ease symptoms of anxiety or stress, help us sleep better, among other ways it might benefit us. But it’s very, very unlikely that it can keep you from getting sick if you’re exposed to the virus. 

We’re revisiting it here because these shady products didn’t disappear as shortages on regular sanitizer ended and we learned more about COVID-19. Instead, they’ve proliferated.

Target sells an 8oz bottle of hand sanitizer for $5.00. That’s the fancy kind with added nice-smelling essential oils. Meanwhile, a typical 8oz bottle of CBD-infused hand sanitizer sells for $19.99. Even “on sale” for $9.99, it’s still twice the price.

It’s true that CBD hand sanitizer is unlikely to hurt anyone, as long as it’s made using safe ingredients. It’s still a waste of money. Frankly, it seems like an excuse to sell surplus CBD during a pandemic.

All that aside, a number of reputable CBD brands now make regular hand sanitizer available for cheap or for free. We applaud those companies for taking a small step that may actually help folks stay healthy.

#3 Bad Idea: Multi-level marketing (MLM) CBD brands sell the American dream, but can they deliver?

Multi-level marketing CBD brands make our industry look bad.  

If you’re wondering what multi-level marketing (also known as direct sales) is … remember Amway or Tupperware Parties? Maybe someone in your family sells essential oils or tights from a popular MLM brand. Now apply this same business model to CBD. 

These brands sell a product, but they’re also selling the idea of becoming a salesperson. People pay a fee to join and then more money to buy CBD supplements to sell. Members are encouraged to not just sell supplements, but also get friends and family to join too. 

The MLM business model is not ethical or sustainable.

Unfortunately, there are only so many people in the world who can, or should sell CBD. Mathematically speaking, it’s impossible to keep recruiting forever. In almost every MLM, members spend far more money buying products than they make selling them, or from recruiting others. Many MLMs resemble cults more than they do legitimate businesses, putting immense pressure on members to keep spending money instead of leaving.

Let’s be clear: we’ve no reason to believe that MLM CBD brands are creating bad CBD products. Many of them seem to buy quality raw materials and perform the kind of quality testing we look for in a brand. We simply don’t believe their profit model is ethical, or sustainable.

This is likely to be the most controversial section of the article. MLM CBD brands are commonplace. Some belong to influential lobbying groups in our industry. We think it’s important to say this anyway. Amid record-breaking unemployment, we think it’s irresponsible to sell people this very expensive but elusive dream of financial freedom.

If you want to learn more about MLMs and how they hurt their members, we strongly recommend the first season of The Dream podcast.

#4 Fraud: A flood of fake CBD products on Amazon & beyond

Hardly a week goes by without us hearing from someone asking about a CBD brand. Many of them seem reputable, and it’s just impossible for us to review every single brand out there. But some of them are clearly frauds.

Brands that spam people by email to buy questionable products. Some don’t even have a stable website. They just put up a crude storefront, make a quick profit, and disappear. 

The problem is widespread. Even Amazon.com is full of fake CBD products. Most of them are simply hemp seed oil, a substance that is nutritious but lacks the concentrated cannabinoids found in a hemp extract supplement. Many of these fake CBD products claim to contain literally impossible amounts of CBD, like 50,000 milligrams inside a one ounce bottle.

You also see these kinds of CBD products in gas stations, pipe shops, we even heard of a food truck that also sold CBD on the side. You should leave selling CBD to the experts: experienced, reputable brands that prioritize transparency.

Even major CBD brands sometimes go wrong. One study by Leafly found numerous products that under-delivered on their CBD. A few didn’t contain any CBD at all. Some had too much!

We only partner with CBD brands that offer third-party lab results, so customers can verify the product’s contents. Whenever possible, we’ve also run our own third-party lab tests on the CBD products we review. You’ll find the results in each review.

#5 Fraud: Lead-filled CBD products put consumers at risk

And then there are products that can actively harm consumers. In July 2020, the FDA recalled a lengthy list of CBD products, for both humans and animals, because they were high in lead. Unfortunately, there are probably other harmful products out there that slipped through the cracks. 

The FDA recalled dozens of lead-tainted CBD products for both humans and animals in summer 2020.

Hemp is known to be especially effective at absorbing heavy metals and other toxins from the soil. That’s great if you want to clean up pollution, but bad if the hemp you grow is going to end up in people’s bodies. Lead can also end up in products in other ways, both through other tainted ingredients and during the manufacturing process.

Lead exposure is serious. According to the FDA, “lead is poisonous to humans and can affect people of any age or health status,” but is especially dangerous to vulnerable populations like children, pregnant people, and people with pre-existing conditions. Lead builds up in your system over time, so even low-level exposure can be dangerous down the road.

While most people selling lead-tainted products probably aren’t doing so maliciously, there’s simply no excuse for putting your customers at risk of serious health problems, even permanent neurological damage.

CBD brands and buyers must put quality and transparency first

It’s true that the FDA may soon impose new regulations on the CBD industry. But that won’t absolve the industry of the responsibility to put extra care into making the best possible supplements.

Anytime a product becomes as popular as CBD, there’s a great temptation to use it to turn a quick profit without worrying about the quality of your product. With increasing competition and a saturated market, there’s a lot of pressure to cut corners. 

The CBD industry can and must do better. Hemp returned to the U.S. starting in 2014, and it’s been fully legal since the end of 2018. When it comes to CBD, it’s past time to develop best practices and stick to them rigorously.

In the long term, we are sure that the brands which prioritize quality, transparency and care for their customers will survive, while others fall away.

What consumers can do to hold hemp brands accountable & stay safe

CBD consumers need to keep being careful and doing their research before buying any products. We suspect this will remain true even after the FDA releases their guidelines for CBD.

Fortunately, there are resources available — like our website — to help you make more informed purchasing decisions. If you use these tools, you’ll be able to avoid CBD scams and find the right, safe CBD product for your needs.

Here’s a small selection of some of the resources we’ve created to help you make informed purchasing decisions:

• Our complete introduction to CBD outlines a lot of vital, basic information on this supplement.

One way to help improve the CBD industry is to “vote with your money”: only buy quality products from brands that make it easy to find information or get more help.

The post CBD Oil Scams Run Wild: A Look At 5 CBD Scams, Frauds & Bad Ideas appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Our host Matt talked with Connor Skelly, head of marketing for the Brightfield Group which specializes in cannabis marketing. They talk about the cannabis year in review, how COVID-19 devastated the market but also made it stronger, trends in new cannabinoids, and how both successful and budding young companies are weathering the storm.

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Cannabis Marketing And The Future Of CBD: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the complete transcript of episode 61 of the Ministry of Hemp podcast, “Cannabis marketing and the future of CBD”:

Matt Baum:
I’m Matt Baum, and this is The Ministry of Hemp Podcast, brought to you buy ministryofhemp.com, America’s leading advocate for hemp and hemp education.

Matt Baum:
Welcome back to The Ministry of Hemp Podcast. This is Tuesday. It’s Election Day. And as I sit here recording this, I have no idea what is happening with the election yet. And I’m not going to lie, I’m a little nervous, I voted by mail. I didn’t see a whole lot of people in line today, so I think a lot of people in Nebraska also did. But, I am a little anxious. And I’m taking my CBD today to help me stay calm, collected, and head in the game. I hope you guys all had a chance to vote, I hope you’re not as anxious as I am, but if you are, it just so happens that CBD is great for Election Day anxiety, as well as a lot of other types of anxiety.

Matt Baum:
But we’re not here to talk about that. Today we are going to talk about CBD, but we’re going to talk about the marketplace as a whole. Today I’m talking with Connor Skelly.

Cannabis marketing expert Connor Skelly

Connor Skelly:
My name is Connor Skelly, and I’m the marketing director at Brightfield Group.

Matt Baum:
The Brightfield Group is a marketing group that supports the most comprehensive data in CBD and cannabis out there today. They’ve been tracking this market pretty much since its birth. Which, as you’ll here, has been pretty exciting for a guy like Connor. Now there’s still a lot to learn, but just like any other product, CBD, cannabis, is sold to people. And you got to market to people. It’s a very cool conversation about the state of the cannabis market today, dealing with COVID, the election and whatnot, and what it’s going to be like next year. Here’s my conversation with Connor Skelly of the Brightfield Group. We opened with some discussion of 2020, the cannabis market year in review.

Connor Skelly:
Zooming out, over the course of this year, this very long year-

Matt Baum:
Yeah, it has felt pretty long, hasn’t it?

Connor Skelly:
It’s been a pretty long year. It’s the same amount of days as last year, but it still seems a lot longer.

Matt Baum:
I don’t know if that’s true, to be quite honest. So, at this point.

CBD marketing during a pandemic

Connor Skelly:
So what has happened to a lot of these CBD brands is, they’ve had to significantly adjust their marketing strategy, and their digital strategy, and how they go to market. When COVID hit, across most of the United States in March, these brands who were predominantly in brick and mortar saw significant declines in sales.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, just like everybody, right?

Connor Skelly:
Yeah. So not just with them, but everywhere. And even online first CBD brands, they saw a hit too, as consumers and people across the country were evaluating their budgets, many people were getting laid off, it was just a tough economic time for, really every sector. And the ones who were able to adapt very quickly were those online first brands, the ones who had strong D2C model in place already, the ones who have already been setting up strong marketing channels online, where everyone was just online even more.

Connor Skelly:
And so over the course of the past six, eight, seemingly 100 months, a lot of these company’s brands who may have had strong distribution networks able to get into brick and mortar very quickly, they are now adapting, strengthening their D2C models, trying to play catch up on their digital marketing strategies.

Matt Baum:
So you’ve been working with a lot of these brands I’m guessing.

Connor Skelly:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
You work in strategic data and insights. I’m looking at your website right now. It’s a good looking site by the way.

Connor Skelly:
Thank you.

Matt Baum:
That’s coming from a guy that helped people with broken websites, so.

Connor Skelly:
I appreciate that.

Matt Baum:
What is the strategy when something like COVID hits? Because you would think, a lot of people would think, well, you said brick and mortar stores have had trouble, but online brands, I mean, what’s the problem there? They should be fine, right? I mean, they’re online. And CBD’s the hottest thing in the world. Is it still as hot as it was? Is it just COVID that is pushing this stuff back right now? Or are there other things that are causing issues as well?

Connor Skelly:
So one of the larger things in the CBD industry was price compression. So in Q1 a lot of… With the steep decline of hemp going down, it’s going down and down more and more, CBD brands wanted to be able to reach more consumers by doing 30, 40% price cuts across their entire portfolio.

Connor Skelly:
And so seeing that in Q1, a lot of people not… No one knew that COVID was coming, they saw significant revenue declines, even though a lot of that sales volume still remained relatively strong going into Q2. So back in July we reforecasted our US CBD market sizes. And that was one of the biggest contributors to it, was that, even though sales volume was still going strong, the CBD brands were adjusting their pricing strategies, and their pricing models, and it just brought everything down.

Matt Baum:
Right. Which, good for the consumer, but scary for the actual brand, right?

Connor Skelly:
Absolutely. Yeah. It makes revenue forecasting significantly harder to do. And it just makes it much harder. That situation in Q2 was… It just made it significantly harder to predict for the future. Even some of the top brands who were performing really well last year and early this year, they’re in a tough spot.

CBD and dropping prices

Matt Baum:
Do you think that this is something, like the price that we’ve seen, the declines, because I have seen that through a lot of brands, have drastically been cutting prices, do you think that’s something that stays when things start to rebound? Is this going to become the new normal? Because it does seem like, to me, just dealing with a lot of people that have questions about CBD, and CBD brands and whatnot, it seems like the biggest entryway blockage is price. And as price comes down that seems to get more people buying, and checking it out, and it helps more people. Do you think prices stay down after this? Is this a new normal?

Connor Skelly:
Yeah. Yeah. Prices should roughly stay the same, if not go lower on some of those products that are more easily available to produce like capsules, for example. And there have been a lot of brands doing big awareness grabs. From a marketing standpoint, being able to do these large awareness grabs, just to get consumers in the top of your funnel, giving away free product for 30 days, or whatever it is, for a 30 day supply. And just a way to get those people in on a relatively low cost has been really popular.

Matt Baum:
Definitely. I’m sure.

Connor Skelly:
And what we’re seeing in our data is, consumers are… They’ve cared about price for a long time, right? Price and education have been some of the top things. And what they look for in brands is trustworthiness and high quality products. And that is now quickly becoming table stakes. And so if that’s the standard for a CBD brand, how else can you further differentiate yourself. And so that’s where we’ve seen a lot of these online first brands over the last few months really try to differentiate themselves through their marketing.

Matt Baum:
Sure. So who comes to you? Who do you work with? What kind of brands are you working with? Big huge brands? Little brands? All kinds of brands? Who is coming and looking for this?

Connor Skelly:
All kinds. Yeah, all kinds. And we work with many of the top CBD brands in the space. The top cannabis brands as well, the ones with CBD products. And we’re hearing it from all angles. The top brands, our experience and challenges, surely prior to COVID we were tracking 3,500, roughly, CBD brands.

Matt Baum:
Wow.

Connor Skelly:
In the US alone.

Matt Baum:
Wow.

The future of the CBD industry

Connor Skelly:
So that is… I mean, any industry like that is due for a shakeout, right?

Matt Baum:
Of course, of course.

Connor Skelly:
You can’t have a healthy industry with that kind of saturation. So it was due for a lot of these small brands to kind of leave. And COVID accelerated that significantly. And so the smaller brands who were able to stick around were the ones that were often online first, the ones that were brand first, the ones that were customer first, consumer-centric, they were thinking like a real company. Where at the end of 2019, or even just at first when the Farm Bill got passed in 2018, you just had a lot of bad actors in the space that were just trying to sell this product.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, definitely.

Connor Skelly:
And a lot of times it was just olive oil. So now that we’re past the curve of disillusionment, we’re kind of passing sort of this massive-

Matt Baum:
Would you say that bubble has burst? Would you say that? I mean, just like any other marketing, it gets huge, it bubbles up, everybody wants a part of it, we’re all going to get into it, there’s bad actors, there’s good people, and then bang. It pops. And you do shed a lot of those bad actors because they go, “Well, what’s the point right now?” You also shed, unfortunately, some really cool people who just couldn’t survive. But ultimately, it does seem like it’s better for the business, right, in the end?

Connor Skelly:
Ultimately, yes, right? Ultimately, overall for the industry, it does strengthen it. And this was going to happen anyways, and COVID just accelerated it. Where, another possible consolidation point, or another sort of come to Jesus moment for the CBD industry will be when the FDA provides more guidance on specifically in decibels. Because then that will shake up the space a lot more, and they have since accelerated their guidance a bit, which is promising-

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Connor Skelly:
… especially for a lot of these large CBG companies that are holding out to make a stronger decision. But once those companies come in, they’re going to be looking at brand acquisitions, they’re going to be looking at doing their own product innovation, and to your question around what else is happened this year, innovation did not slow down. Companies are launching new products, they never stopped doing that.

Matt Baum:
It does seem like that.

Connor Skelly:
Adding in minor cannabinoids in their products, trying to find new ways to position, thinking much more strategically about how they can get in front of different types of consumers for different need states. That really, that didn’t slow down at all as a result of COVID. So-

Current trends in CBD and cannabis

Matt Baum:
So what’s hot right now? Like you said, there’s all kinds of new innovation. They’ve been forced to innovate, basically, because there’s so many other companies. What’s hot right now? What’s the new hot cannabinoid if you will?

Connor Skelly:
CBN is kind of the biggest one. With all these cannabinoids, the jury’s still out on how conclusive the science is around all of it. And these CBD brands, they’ve been very careful about making health claims, and that’s kind of the biggest number one thing that you shouldn’t do. [crosstalk 00:11:31], and-

Matt Baum:
Right. The good ones have been very careful about it. There’s plenty of bad ones that have not been very careful about it though.

Connor Skelly:
Right, right. And with CBN it’s being positioned for sleep more and more. It does have properties that allege to help with insomnia, and overall sleep issues. So various brands have been launching products with CBD and CBN, with CBD, CBN, and melatonin, to further use those kind of functional ingredients, to not only help position our product when people have that need state of, I need to improve my sleep. And then they go out and find that product. Melatonin can help with that.

Connor Skelly:
But now we’re seeing more of products with just CBN and CBD. And so they’re taking out that functional ingredient from it, and now just sort of strengthening the positioning of CBN as a potential sleep aid.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. I’d seen a lot of those. I’ve actually talked to a few companies that are really pushing CBN. And I got to tell you, I really like it, personally. I’ve found a couple that work really well, and I’ve found a couple that didn’t do anything. So, I mean, you got to look around.

Connor Skelly:
Yeah, that’s how it goes, right? And kind of getting at that point around trial, right? Trying out different products, brick and mortar is fantastic for that. And that’s where a lot of these innovations have capped launching. And I expect that a lot of those innovations will ramp up faster as brick and mortar opens back up again.

Matt Baum:
Definitely. Definitely.

Connor Skelly:
Because it’s a great avenue to do trial packs for customers just to grab a quick thing that may be on sale for them to try out. And we’re starting to see that more in the earliest channels that we saw that in during COVID was convenience and the C stores and gas stations. Those [crosstalk 00:13:23]-

Meet the Brightfield Group

Matt Baum:
Before we go a lot further with this, tell me a little bit about you guys, about what you do with the Brightfield Group. Where are you located? How do you find clients? Do they come to you? What do you guys do exactly?

Connor Skelly:
So we are a market research firm. And consumer insights firm. And what we do is, the core value of our business is our ability to implement a multi-source methodology to get as much information around emerging markets as possible. And so with CBD and cannabis, we have been able to leverage multiple sources. So on the research side, doing the desk research, doing the modeling out for market forecasts, and talking with… Doing various in-depth interviews with retailers, and brands, and manufacturers, and everyone across the supply chain, as well as a partnership network with various brands so we can understand sales a lot more.

Connor Skelly:
And then on the tech side, being able to do digital menu audits across retail, social listening, our consumer survey is integrated with social media so we can better tie usage, and attitudes, and psychographics, and product usage, to actual social media behavior. So taking all of these inputs and using a research team and a team of subject experts to look at this, and being able to provide the most robust view of the industry possible.

Matt Baum:
So why strictly cannabis? I mean, you guys are obviously marketing nerds, I can tell by the way you’re talking.

Connor Skelly:
I can’t help it, I can’t help it.

Matt Baum:
No, yeah.

Connor Skelly:
Well, this approach to research works really, really well in emerging markets when you just don’t have the data elsewhere.

Matt Baum:
That’s exactly what I thought you were going to say. This is pretty much a baby market. I mean, we now have about, what? Five, eight good years of marketing research on this basically?

Connor Skelly:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Matt Baum:
Does that-

Connor Skelly:
Yeah, I mean-

Matt Baum:
Is that more difficult? Or is that easier to deal with?

Connor Skelly:
Wait, what do you mean?

Matt Baum:
The fact that it’s so young. Is it easier because you can see it and track it from its birth? Or is it more difficult because you’re not looking at something like, I don’t know, pork belly futures or something, that have been around since before the Dust Bowl.

Connor Skelly:
It’s a bit of both, right? It’s extremely difficult because you don’t have the traditional data that you would to track, say, general beverage companies, or beverage industries, right? You don’t have the Nielsen data, or the Mintel, or the SPINS data that has been tracking this stuff in store for years, and then after a few years they’ll put into their consumer surveys, and then you finally start to get more consumer data about that. The time hasn’t happened for us to get that.

Connor Skelly:
So our approach to it is, collecting as much data from as many sources as possible, and creating a larger picture that way. And for markets like CBD and cannabis, that really is the main way that you can do it, because you’re going to miss out, point of sale for CBD, for example, a lot of it happens online. And so you have a huge data gap there. A lot of it happens in independent pharmacies. And so a lot of them don’t have the point of sale infrastructure.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. A lot of them are dealing in cash, because they don’t even have credit card usage that they can work with right now, so.

Connor Skelly:
Right, exactly. So that’s our approach to tracking these markets. And consistently, we were the company that had originally predicted the CBD boom in 2019. And well before the Farm Bill was passed. And it was all under the hypothesis that the Walgreens and the CVSs of the world, they’re going to see the opportunity and they’re going to want to get in on it. And we did see that. FDA, COVID, those are our big blockers to it. But the way that we approach this stuff, it’s worked really well.

What’s next for the CBD industry?

Matt Baum:
So let’s take, best case scenario. COVID gets cleaned up, FDA goes, “All right. We figured our crap out. Here’s how it works.” And they spell out the rules. What is the next big thing for CBD, for cannabinoids?

Connor Skelly:
Well, this has been going on for a couple years, maybe even more than that, it’s such a large industry. But looking at… Well first, I’ll look at CBD and where it’s being used as, and being positioned as just an ingredient that can fit into all types of different categories.

Matt Baum:
Right. Food, drink, capsules, tincture, whatever.

Connor Skelly:
Yeah. And that’s happened, right? These CBD brands, they’ve done a very good job of creating robust product portfolios around CBD. As the category expands, it will be… And more of these larger players get into the space, ingredients companies, CBG companies, it will continue to be used as an ingredient to focus on wellness positioning, which is a big topic, right? Wellness is a huge category. Something like four trillion dollars is the global wellness market, or something ridiculous.

Matt Baum:
And it can mean like anything almost, it seems like.

Connor Skelly:
Right. Even from spas to my FitBit to CBD, right? And so where I see this going is, these companies will begin to use CBD more and more in a wellness positioning, and really targeting those need states of consumers under, for many companies, where it makes sense for their brand, under a wellness umbrella. And there’s a lot that you can do with that, right? There is a lot of these brands moving more and more into the wellness space because there’s only really so high you can go for a growth potential in CBD.

Matt Baum:
Unless you want to end up like Kratom, in ever gas station, or something.

Connor Skelly:
And there’s always companies like that, right? There’s always companies that they stay in their lane, they know what they’re doing, and they do it really well. And there’s nothing wrong with that. And there’s a lot of companies out there that want to continue to grow.

Matt Baum:
So you think the growth though is moving into more of a wellness lifestyle type situation as opposed to just a tincture that you take to help you sleep, or a tincture that you help to take with anxiety. This becomes more lifestyle related.

Connor Skelly:
Yeah. Companies will start to… And not just CBD brands, right? Other companies that want to enter the space, they will begin to look at, what are those other tangential products, lifestyles, services, things like that, that fit into an overall CBD consumer.

Matt Baum:
So what are you looking at? What kind of things do you think? What recovery drinks and protein stuff like that?

Connor Skelly:
Yeah, I mean, those are happening now. For sure. Back to the point around innovation, there’s been a ton of beauty products. Beauty and skincare has exploded this year. And-

Matt Baum:
Which seems odd, because no one can go out. We can’t do anything. Why do we need to be so beautiful.

Connor Skelly:
Self care. It’s self care man.

Matt Baum:
I stopped cutting my hair even, I was like, “Ah, screw it.”

Connor Skelly:
Yeah. So, we’ve seen the beverage space has been really big again, the growth of it is kind of artificially constrained by the FDA guidance right now. But all these different kinds of positionings focus towards recovery, focus towards energy, all these kind of aspirational need states that consumers have. CBD brands and other companies are getting better and better at starting with those need states and then figuring out, well what products… How do my existing products meet those needs? And if they don’t, where this will be going in the next year, or two, three years.

Connor Skelly:
They’ll say, “Well what other products can I create?” Maybe, what other brands can I partner with to create that experience for our customer?

Matt Baum:
That seems… And I don’t know, I don’t work in market research, but I do feel like I’ve seen a lot of these companies that are marketing to athletes, or to weekend warriors, and that seems to be where a lot of this is going. Gym culture, and health culture like that, where yeah, it’s just part of the deal. You drink your special drink and you get your CBD, and it helps you with your muscles and whatnot. Is that the way to go? Or is that going to get played out really quick here to?

Connor Skelly:
Not every brand’s going to do it. There’s going to be a lot of brands that, they perform really well in pharmacy, right?

Matt Baum:
When you say in pharmacy-

Connor Skelly:
They have a medical positioning for their brand. What’s that?

Matt Baum:
When you say they perform really well in pharmacy, how do you mean? Full on in a pharmacy like Walgreens type setting?

Connor Skelly:
Yeah, your Walgreens. They may have, whether it’s their entire product portfolio, or the company has created a separate brand geared towards a pharmaceutical audience. There’re many companies that are moving in that kind of direction, where they find that they could be channel driven, and then so they’ll create a brand, position their products differently around that specific channel, and the consumer behavior on that channel.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough.

Connor Skelly:
So that’s just one example. There will be a lot of brands that will continue to move more into this wellness, or active, or these other kinds of positionings. It will just kind of depend on how they want to grow as a company and where those overlaps are with their current consumers and their prospective consumers.

Cannabis & hemp marketing during a pandemic

Matt Baum:
Okay. So let’s play, I’m a CBD brand. And I come to you. It’s been a rough year. Ugh, COVID. It’s killing me. What is the worst mistake that I made this year? What is the worst possible thing that you’ve seen brands doing, in your opinion? I want to go the opposite side of the spectrum, as opposed to, here’s what you should be doing. What’s the worst trend you’ve seen them do?

Connor Skelly:
Ignoring digital.

Matt Baum:
Really? All together ignoring? Just saying, “Nah, all we are is a brick and mortar?” That seems insane.

Connor Skelly:
Yeah like-

Matt Baum:
I can’t believe anyone’s doing that.

Connor Skelly:
And this doesn’t just apply to CBD, this applies to companies in general. There have been a lot of companies spending more money on social media and social listening tools. There are companies that are spending more on market research and things like that, because that’s what you do when market’s down. Is, you need data to back it up. The people that aren’t able to quickly meet their customers to where they are are in a lot of trouble.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Okay. So, and they come to you. I’m struggling doing that. I’m having so much trouble. What do I do? What do you say to these clients that come in and they’re like, “I’m just screwed. I don’t know. I’m screwed.”

Connor Skelly:
Well, you use our data, you listen to us. No, no. So, CBD brand, for example, comes to us and say, “We’re steadily losing sales. We don’t have a problem getting people to come to our site, but they don’t convert.” Or things like that. Then, we could help them understand who their core consumers currently are and everything about them. From how they’re using those products, to basic things, demographics, usage, attitudes, all that.

Connor Skelly:
But then also, help them understand, well how are they talking about this stuff on social? What’s the context in which they talk about these things on social? What are the different points in their journey that you can continue to educate them? Because that’s very important, consumer education. What’s the right way to educate them for your brand and the brand direction that you want to go?

Matt Baum:
There you go, yeah.

Connor Skelly:
And-

Matt Baum:
Because there’s things you can tell them, but there’s also a right way to tell them these things, and a wrong way as well too, so.

Connor Skelly:
Right. And especially early on, it’s just kind of this buckshot thing where it’s like, “Well we’re just going to put this out and kind of see, and put it out in a bunch of different places and kind of see what happens.”

Matt Baum:
Right. We’ll tweet about it, we’ll talk about it on Instagram, whatever. But God, there’s so many. Like you said, there was 3,500 that you were tracking. And they’re all doing that. It just seems like, at first, we talked a lot about extraction. And then we talked a lot about the carrier, what kind of oil are they using? Or what kind of pill is it? Or whatever. And then we talked about specific things. Well this product will help you sleep. Or this product… CBG is a new one that we’re learning about.

Matt Baum:
Is it that differentiation where everyone’s going to… You spoke earlier, saying CBN seems to be popping up. Is CBG doing something similar? Is that coming up? And do you think-

Connor Skelly:
Yeah, it definitely is. I think C-

Matt Baum:
Do you think that differentiation is because of where we’re at?

Connor Skelly:
What’s that?

Matt Baum:
That differentiation, is this also just because where we’re at? Everyone is trying to survive right now and carve a niche?

Connor Skelly:
Yeah, I mean I would say, especially with CBG, where the positioning on it isn’t 100% defined. And-

Matt Baum:
Right. That seems like a really tough one right now. Because-

Connor Skelly:
It does-

Matt Baum:
We know it’s a thing. We just don’t necessarily know what that thing totally does.

Connor Skelly:
Right. And that goes with all of them, right? But to me, the positioning on CBG has always kind of been more wellness. Which, to the right consumer, there is nothing wrong with that. If you’re able to position your product of, this has enhanced wellness features or properties, that’ll be music to their ears, and those products will perform well with those consumers.

Connor Skelly:
So I think that’s kind of one of the areas where the industry is advancing right now, and how, they may have a tough time, or they may not need to position their products any differently than they do now. But if they want to be more innovative and have their positioning of those products, a lot of them are using cannabinoids to do so, especially as the cost of hemp decreases. I’m assuming, and I’m guessing, that over the next year or two years it’s going to become a very complex brand and consumer targeting space. Yeah.

Matt Baum:
Right, as you start to drill down into this and decide… And again, not making health claims, but CBG helps with X, or it’s really good for Y type of person, you’re going to start to get into more very much directed marketing to that. Whether they’re athletes, or they’re senior citizens, or they’re kids with anxiety, or something. What do you think, next year, what do you see as… And again, we’re forecasting here, no one’s saying go bet on what he says folks, you heard it here. There’s your hot tip. But what do you see trending up next year?

The FDA and CBD as a big business

Connor Skelly:
Well, with FDA guidance likely getting figured out by middle of next year, that’s going to open the floodgates.

Matt Baum:
Food and beverage you think more than anything? Or do you think it’s going to maintain a larger business in the tinctures and pills and whatnot? Because I would think, you’ve got companies, there’s no way Coca-Cola isn’t just waiting for some FDA so they can go, “Boom, we put it in Gatorade, we put it in Diet Coke, we put it in this.” I mean, I would guess that market is, I mean, just massive, absolutely massive.

Connor Skelly:
Yeah, I think, take that new product from Pepsi, Driftwell, right?

Matt Baum:
Oh, I don’t even know what that is.

Connor Skelly:
I don’t know if you saw that.

Matt Baum:
No.

Connor Skelly:
It’s a sparkling beverage that has calming properties in it. There’s no CBD in it.

Matt Baum:
Oh.

Connor Skelly:
There’s no CBD, there’s no hemp in that product. But that’s definitely where I see these companies going.

Matt Baum:
Do you see that-

Connor Skelly:
I think they’re going to use their existing… their brand prowess, their distribution prowess, they’re going to use all of this to really target after those need states of consumers. And they’re going to do it significantly better than a lot of these CBD brands have. Now, a lot of those top CBD brands, they have done extremely well on it. And some of them, they may be looking to be acquisition targets, they may want to still compete against all those big CBG companies, and they very well could. It will be a very brand-centric space.

Matt Baum:
So do you think, you said next year sometime when FDA… I mean, phew, fingers crossed, the FDA figures this out and gives us rules for this.

Connor Skelly:
Fingers crossed next year it happens.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, no doubt. I’ll believe it’s there when we get their friend, okay? But as soon as these FDA rules come in and you start to see major players come in, is it going to turn into what we see with microbrews getting famous and then getting purchased by Coors, and all of a sudden it’s like, yeah, they still maintain this type of beer or whatever, but it’s not really them anymore? Is that what’s next for these companies? Blow up, get acquired, make your money, start a new company?

Matt Baum:
That seems to be what happened in brewing in the United States as beer got more and more popular, and microbrews got more and more popular. The idea was, go get bought. That seems like the next frontier, to me, for a lot of these CBD, CBG, CBN companies. Get acquired, so now you’re still your company, but it’s your company CBD in Gatorade, for example, or something.

Connor Skelly:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). I think there’s definitely a lot of brands that, they want to be acquisition targets. There’s a lot of those founders, they’ve put in a lot of the work for all these years and they saw the space moving this direction. And they want to get acquired by Pepsi, right? There’s nothing wrong with that. And they should absolutely make sure that they have a strong brand and a strong connection with their consumers, so then it’s an easy sell to them.

Connor Skelly:
I think there’s also a lot of these top brands, aren’t going to want to give up their seat, right? They have very established relationships with consumers, like I said earlier, trustworthy, high quality products are some of the top brand descriptors that we get from consumers. And a lot of those top brands, they rank highly for those descriptors. And so when you bring in another brand, say like a Coca-Cola or a Pepsi that have strong brand affinities across a wide range of consumers, the jury’s kind of still out on, are they going to be trustworthy on a CBD side?

Matt Baum:
Yeah. The exact opposite, it could turn a lot of people off that are into this sort of wellness ideal, and they look at major companies like Procter & Gamble getting involved, that’s scary, I’m out. I’m not touching… Boulevard got bought by Coors for example, Boulevard Brewery-

Connor Skelly:
Or-

Matt Baum:
… and a lot of people said, “I’ll drink something else, thanks.”

Connor Skelly:
On that kind of same token, it could just strengthen the relationship that those consumers have with their existing CBD brands. So, over the past few months we were starting to see brand loyalty grow a bit more, brand preference grow a little bit more across different attributes and descriptors, and there’s a good amount of evidence to show that CBD consumers, they may want to stick with their current brands, even if a larger company enters the space.

Matt Baum:
Sure. It does seem like we’re in a space right now with CBD where, again, we don’t have a lot of government oversight. And so it can be hard to find good quality CBD. And when you do, yeah, people go, “That’s the one. I don’t want any other one, I want that one. I’m sticking with it.” And that can also be good and bad, in the sense that it’s like, a company goes out of business, well what do they do? Maybe they go, well screw it, I’m going to try something else then. Because I can only trust those one guys.

The shakeout in the CBD iindustry

Matt Baum:
Is there a danger there of, when this starts to get regulated… I mean, I want regulation. We need regulation. If nothing else, so we can see these people are doing it right, these people are doing it wrong. Do you see any sort of day of reckoning coming, if you will, like an armageddon almost that is going to shake out a lot of these companies? And the strong are going to survive and the others will just go into the next Wild West whatever?

Connor Skelly:
I think a lot of that has already happened.

Matt Baum:
Really?

Connor Skelly:
Especially with last year and COVID accelerating a lot of the big shakeout. A lot of that has already happened. And I think the top players will continue to strengthen, even though there’s… Across different channels, like independent pharmacies are online, are still highly competitive. The entire industry is highly competitive. But there are certain channels where top 10 brands could look very different-

Matt Baum:
Yeah definitely.

Connor Skelly:
… in a year from now. So no, I don’t think there will be this kind of reckoning in that sense. But when these CBG companies… What these brands should be doing now is, using this time before FDA guidance wisely. That’s been a big talking point to CBD brands that we have had-

Matt Baum:
Get ready for it.

Connor Skelly:
… for the past year. Is like, use this time to your advantage. Continue to build up a strong brand, continue to develop… set the foundation for long term relationships with your customers, listen to them, meet them where they are, and you’ll be well set up to effectively compete, or be ready for an acquisition target.

Matt Baum:
So, still a good time to get in the business. It’s not as scary as we all thought. Because I honestly, I didn’t think you were going to come in and be like, “Oh, doom and gloom. Oh, good lord.” Right? But it’s scary and a little more complex right now. But would you say, still a pretty good time to get in the business if you’re going to do it right?

Connor Skelly:
I think so, yeah. I mean, we’re seeing a lot of bounce back from Q2, and I definitely want to acknowledge the hardship and a lot of the challenges that all brands, and especially the brick and mortar ones have faced over the last year. We absolutely have to. You can’t negate that.

Matt Baum:
No, no, of course not.

Connor Skelly:
But as we’re progressing, and through 2020 and into next year, economies are opening back up, and we’re seeing, in Q2, we saw a steep decline in new users entering the category.

Matt Baum:
Definitely, yeah.

Connor Skelly:
Compared to last year.

Matt Baum:
I’m sure.

Connor Skelly:
And we’re starting to see that number come back up. And those that are heavy users have been steadily decreasing since last year.

Matt Baum:
Really?

Connor Skelly:
Or, sorry, steadily increasing since last year. And so-

Matt Baum:
Okay. Okay, because I was going to say, this year has been so awful that I’ve needed by CBD more than ever.

Connor Skelly:
Yeah. And we started asking questions related to COVID to our cannabis and CBD respondents, end of Q1, and the most recent data that we got showed that 75% agreed that this helped them through the pandemic.

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Connor Skelly:
And so that usage continues. New users are coming back in. And close to 50% of respondents are saying that they’re starting to purchase their CBD in store again.

Matt Baum:
That’s great.

Connor Skelly:
Yeah. And so-

Matt Baum:
That’s really great.

Connor Skelly:
… what’s also interesting is, yes, they’re starting to purchase in store again. But we saw, it was something like, roughly 20, 22% I think, in Q1, purchased online. It more than doubled to Q2.

Matt Baum:
I would guess.

Connor Skelly:
Of people purchasing online. And that’s continued to stay strong. So that’s going to continue to be a strong channel for brands.

Matt Baum:
Awesome. This has been fantastic, and it’s not something I really get to talk about. Usually we’re talking about processes, or we’re talking about quality, or we’re talking about this cool cloth that could replace cotton someday, who knows? And it’s really interesting to talk about this from a market perspective. Because I mean, you wouldn’t think about it so much because it is CBD, and it seems like this separate thing, and it’s still new and ever. But, you have to market it just like anything else. And you’re selling it to people. And people are going through a tough time right now, and that means it’s going to be a tough financial time for all kinds of markets and whatnot.

Final thoughts from Matt

Matt Baum:
Huge thanks to Connor for coming on the show and giving me a chance to have a conversation that I haven’t really had. It’s amazing that marketing firms really are paying attention to this market, because it is huge. And while it has been struggling, it was really nice to here somebody like Connor, who is deeply entrenched in this, with such a positive outlook for what comes next. And for companies that are doing it well. And, not to mention the fact that he seems to think the FDA is going to figure it out sometime next year, which would be good news for everyone involved.

Matt Baum:
Well, that about brings us to the end of another episode of The Ministry of Hemp Podcast. I’ll have links to the Brightfield group in the show notes. And speaking of show notes, we here at the Ministry of Hemp believe that an accessible world is a better world for everybody. So, you will find a full written transcript of this show in the notes as well. Next week, I promise, we’re going to get to that show about Delta-8-THC, I finally have locked down an expert. And I’m super excited to talk to them. Not just that, I am going to take Delta-8-THC and let you know about my experience right here on the show.

Matt Baum:
If you’re looking for more hemp news and information right now, head over the ministryofhemp.com where we have a Delta-8 fact sheet you can check out to prepare for the episode I keep telling you is coming. Sorry about that. And, we have a brand new Ministry of Hemp verified seal that we are giving to cool brands that we’ve reviewed, and researched, and talked about. So, if you see that seal, the Ministry of Hemp verified seal, it’s green, it’s really cool, you got to check it out, you know we’ve done the hard work for you. And, this is a brand that you can trust. We wanted to do something to help you, the consumer make good choices with your money while we’re waiting for FDA regulation. It’s a cool stamp, and I even suggested we make t-shirts of it. So let me know what you think.

Matt Baum:
If you want to help support hemp education and spreading the word of hemp education, head over to patreon/ministryofhemp and become a Ministry of Hemp insider. It gets you access to all kinds of cool stuff, like this weeks podcast extra, where I am talking to Connor about how a marketing guy ends up working in cannabis. It’s a fun little conversation. And, you get so many other things too, like early access to articles, and extras that we don’t even put on the site. Not to mention the fact, in doing so you are directly helping us spread the word, keep the site alive, and keep this show going. Please head over to patreon/ministryofhemp and become an insider today.

Matt Baum:
Well that about does it for me. I’m about to go huddle in front of the television all night and hope for good news in the election results. We’ll see. Either way, we’ll be back here next week, and we’ll deal with it, one way or another, I promise. You’re not alone. And the good news is, there’s things like CBD to help you with your anxiety if you need it. For now, remember to take care of yourself, take care of others. I hope you voted, because it’s your patriotic duty to do so, and I hope you made a good decision. This is Matt Baum in the Ministry of Hemp, signing off. (silence).

The post Cannabis Marketing And The Future Of CBD, With The Brightfield Group appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

First up on this episode of the Ministry of Hemp podcast, Matt talks about the importance of wearing masks in public as the Covid 19 outbreak continues to spread and where you can find hemp fabric masks.

Then Matt has a conversation with the Mike and Paul Harney the co-vice-presidents of Harney & Sons Tea. This decades-old tea company added The Hemp Division product line in 2018, infusing tea with CBD and hemp leaves. They’ve also begun growing their own hemp.

Matt also mentions our recent roundup of the 6 best CBD bath products, (which would be perfect to combine with a hot cup of CBD tea).

About Harney & Sons & The Hemp Division

In 2018, brothers Michael and Paul Harney embarked on a mission: create an all-new, extraordinary fusion of fine tea and premium CBD. Fueled by their 30+ years of combined tea experience, they decided to do it from the roots up and worked with hemp farmers to plant 7000 hemp plants on the Harney & Sons headquarters in Millerton, NY forming their new sister company: The Hemp Division.

You’ve Got Hemp Questions? We’ve Got Hemp Answers!

Send us your hemp questions and you might hear them answered on one of our Hemp Q&A episodes. Send your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind, this phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for the Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com

Subscribe to the Show!

Be sure to subscribe to the Ministry of Hemp podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podbay, Stitcher, Pocketcasts, Google Play or your favorite podcast app. If you like what your hear leave us a review or star rating. It’s a quick and easy way to help get this show to others looking for Hemp information and please, share this episode on your own social media!

Become an MOH Insider and Help Spread the Good Word of Hemp!

If you believe hemp can change the world then help us spread the word! Become a Ministry of Hemp Insider when you donate any amount on our Patreon page. You’ll be the first to hear about everything going on with our special newsletter plus exclusive Patron content including blogs, podcast extras and more. Visit the Ministry of Hemp on Patreon and become an Insider now!

A Cuppa CBD Tea: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the complete transcript of episode 46 of the Ministry of Hemp Podcast, “CBD Tea”:

Matt Baum:
I’m Matt Baum and this is the Ministry of Hemp podcast, brought to you by ministryofhemp.com, America’s leading advocate for hemp and hemp education.

Matt Baum:
Welcome back to the Ministry of Hemp podcast. Today on the show, I am going to talk to Mike and Paul Harney of Harney & Sons Tea Company. They’re a family owned tea company that travels the world to find amazing blends of tea, using several different herbs and spices. And recently they moved in the realm of hemp and have started incorporating hemp into their tea lines in several different products. They are currently growing their own hemp and doing it right. So stick around for that. But first I want to talk about masks for a minute.

Talking about COVID-19 and hemp masks

Matt Baum:
This summer has been one of the strangest ones I can remember in my life. I’m a comic book nerd, and I also host a podcast called The Two Headed Nerd Comic Book Podcast. So normally at this time I would be going to blockbuster, summer comic book nerd movies, and attending comic book conventions. But all of that is on hold because of COVID-19. And as much as a lot of people want us to return to normalcy, they’re still a problem, a huge problem. And one of the best things that we can be doing right now is wearing a mask in public to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

Matt Baum:
Now you’re saying, “Matt, what does this have to do with hemp?” That part is coming. But first I just want to stress the fact that yes, there was some conflicting information at first from the CDC. And we weren’t really sure if masks helped or not. We quickly learned more about the disease. And now we know wearing a mask absolutely helps. This is not a political statement and do not make it political because that’s not what this is about. We now know that wearing a mask absolutely reduces the chances of both you catching and spreading COVID-19. So do the responsible thing and wear a mask when in public.

Matt Baum:
What does this have to do with hemp? I’m glad you asked. There are people making hemp masks, 100% organic hemp masks out there, and I’ll have a link to a story that we have on ministryofhemp.com all about it. It’s a great way to both support hemp farmers and do the responsible thing as a citizen, not as a political statement, but as a citizen that cares about other American citizens and help stop the spread of COVID-19. If you’re wearing any kind of mask, you’re doing the right thing, but if you’re a hemp advocate like me, and if you’re listening to the show, you probably are, buying a hemp fabric mask is a great way to support hemp farmers, hemp fabric producers, and make a statement that you’re not only doing your best to take care of those around you, but you’re also making a conscious decision to support responsibly grown hemp as an alternative to cotton, polyester and plastics that go into other fabrics.

Matt Baum:
The truth is until we have a vaccination, we’re going to be living with this and wearing a mask is the easiest and simplest and most effective way that you can make a difference while we wait for a vaccine for this horrible disease.

Growing hemp in Connecticut & New York

Matt Baum:
My conversation today is with Mike and Paul Harney of Harney & Sons Tea Company. And full disclosure here, we already did this interview once and something happened with my computer and I ended up losing the whole interview, so we had to do it again. And we’re going to joke about it during the interview. So I just figured why not come out and let you guys know? Stuff happens, right? I had a great time talking to these guys and you’ll hear it. We laugh through pretty much the whole thing. I caught up with them both after a day where they had been planting more hemp on their mother’s property in Connecticut. And that’s where we start off talking. They were a riot to talk to. And I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did talking to them. Here’s my conversation with Mike and Paul Harney.

Matt Baum:
So today you were at mom’s place in Connecticut from what I understand, with a backhoe tearing up some soil that has not been turned over for 100,000 years.

Paul Harney:
Yes we were. It was a little… I don’t think technically, it’s hard pan. I don’t know what it is.

Mike Harney:
It doesn’t look like anything because it was a doctor’s house, so it wasn’t probably a working farm back in the day. I mean, maybe it was, but in 1830 the doctor started to assemble it. So it’s in the middle of town, so a doctor, lawyer, whatever. It was a bookstore when my parents bought it.

Matt Baum:
Okay. How much land does she have out there?

Paul Harney:
Yeah, I think this part of it is about an acre. I mean, she’s probably got three acres in it.

Matt Baum:
Okay. And she said, “Yeah, my boys are getting into hemp for their tea company.”

Paul Harney:
Why not?

Matt Baum:
“They can absolutely plant here and see what happens.”

Mike Harney:
We have a New York license and we also have the processing license. So I said, “Well, why don’t we get a Connecticut license? Sort of a CYA.” Right?

Matt Baum:
Fair enough. Was it easier or was it harder or the same as getting the New York license?

Paul Harney:
I’d say it was more work, yeah. I had to go get fingerprinted.

Matt Baum:
Oh, you’re kidding me.

Paul Harney:
And New York State is pretty mellow.

Matt Baum:
So they want to make sure you’re not a felon or something before you grow hemp?

Mike Harney:
That’s right, yeah. They had to go down to central headquarters for the state and give my left you-know-what. But it was a little bit more work. They say Massachusets are the biggest pains. We have a friend that, I guess he qualifies as a former employee, that when they came in time for harvest, they came out and looked. He only had seven plants, he had to test each plant separately.

Matt Baum:
Seven of them?

Mike Harney:
Yeah, seven plants. He went, “This is crazy.”

Matt Baum:
So if you had 700…

Mike Harney:
Yeah, that’s what I mean. So you can go like…

Paul Harney:
I don’t know what they did, if you did have seven…

Mike Harney:
We had 7,000 last year, so I mean, we were like…

Matt Baum:
Good lord.

Mike Harney:
State of New York is a little bit more mellow, we’ll see how it works out this year.

Matt Baum:
So how many plants are we planting in mom’s place?

Paul Harney:
We’re going to only plant about 350.

Matt Baum:
Okay. And it’s going to be the same species that you’re growing in New York right now?

Paul Harney:
Painted Lady.

Mike Harney:
Yep. Yep.

Matt Baum:
Painted Lady.

Mike Harney:
And with the state, we had to commit over there. That’s the other thing that’s more complicated. But we’re thinking maybe getting more plants, so then we’ve got to work the bureaucracy a little bit.

Matt Baum:
So when they say, “Well, we need to know what kind of you’re planting,” and you look at them and you say, “Painted Lady,” do they have a dog faced reaction? Or do they go, “Oh yeah. Okay,” and just write it down?

Mike Harney:
Basically. No, we had to send in the seed bag.

Matt Baum:
Really? Are they testing it?

Mike Harney:
And the bag has to be approved. So I just remembered that, so that’s what we have to get set while we get the seed bag and it’s got to have a little stamp on it from, been approved by somebody.

Matt Baum:
What are they going to do with the seed bag? Do they literally just want to see the stamp? Are they putting the seeds under a microscope?

Mike Harney:
Yeah, every state, I mean, federal rules are the same, right?

Matt Baum:
Right.

Mike Harney:
But every state interprets them a little bit differently.

Matt Baum:
Yep.

Mike Harney:
And that’s the way Connecticut as interpreted. We just heard how Massachusetts interpreted, and then New York State sort of interpreted, it’s like old school.

Matt Baum:
Good lord. So you’ve got 350 there. How many plants are you growing right now in New York?

Paul Harney:
A little over a like 2,800, I think.

Matt Baum:
And all of this goes to the hemp division?

Paul Harney:
Yep.

Getting into CBD tea with Harney & Sons

Matt Baum:
And so, tell me about that. Let’s start real quick. I’m going to act like we didn’t already have this talk and I’m surprised and I don’t know anything about you, but I’ll edit this part out, obviously. Tell me about how this starts. Let’s start with Harney & Sons, the tea company. This is old school…

Mike Harney:
We can start with Harney & Sons.

Matt Baum:
Old school family tea company. Everybody on the about page has the same last name, I couldn’t help but notice.

Mike Harney:
Well, we’re from Appalachia.

Matt Baum:
You used that joke on me last time too, and it still works. I like it.

Mike Harney:
Did I use that the last time?

Paul Harney:
Yes, you did.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, it still works.

Mike Harney:
Well, that’s good then. That’s good.

Matt Baum:
You know what? I’m going to leave all this in, so they know that we talked before and we’re friendly now, because it sounds like this is an even better interview as far as I’m concerned.

Mike Harney:
There you go. So yeah, I use the same joke.

Paul Harney:
You did.

Matt Baum:
How old is the tea company? How long have you guys been around?

Mike Harney:
Oh, our father started it in that 1883? No, 1983.

Matt Baum:
I was like, you’re not that old. I can see you.

Mike Harney:
And then he got me to come in after a couple of years and he got Paul to come in a couple of years later. Paul was a Marine officer. So he saluted Paul, my baby brother. And then we started, we’ve been doing tea and we still continue to do tea. It does pay for the lights above us and the computer screen to work and all that sort of stuff.

Matt Baum:
There you go.

Mike Harney:
But 2018, we started the hemp division.

Paul Harney:
Yep.

Matt Baum:
So what makes two guys that are firmly entrenched in the tea business, and from what I can tell kind of kicking ass, what makes you decide, well, we need to branch out, we want to mess with this hemp stuff? Where did that come in?

Paul Harney:
Well, we had a suggestion from a family friend that had been saying, “Hey, CBD is something maybe you guys should think about.” And that was in the summer of 2018. And the first license that was available in the state of New York was for growing. And we’re sort of in a farming area.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Paul Harney:
And so, there’s a fallow field as part of our land here. [crosstalk 00:10:41]

Matt Baum:
You can’t grow tea there, obviously.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, and you can’t grow tea, so it was appealing to… We go to origin, we go all over the world and see.

Mike Harney:
What do you mean by origin?

Paul Harney:
Where tea is grown, tea plantations, all that sort of stuff. So we go to these places and this was a chance for us to bring the origin home.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough.

Mike Harney:
Right in our hands. We go from the roots up.

Learning to grow hemp for CBD tea

Matt Baum:
How does it go from traveling all over, looking at these leaves, understanding tea mixes and stuff like that to growing your own hemp? You just threw it in the ground and went for it or did you watch a YouTube video?

Paul Harney:
We threw it in the ground and went for it, yeah. We didn’t know a lot.

Mike Harney:
We did ask somebody. Yeah, we asked somebody who knew a little bit more than us, but I think she was only one page ahead of us, frankly. And it was an expensive textbook, just like in college.

Matt Baum:
Of course. An expensive one page anyway.

Mike Harney:
Yes, yes, yes.

Matt Baum:
But sometimes that’s good too.

Mike Harney:
So we did that and we learned a lot. We learned a lot. I mean, I think we said we planted it all in one day, so that was a hot day in July. July 8th.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, that was early July. And I think we have about, on a shift, somewhere around 150, 160 people. Plus my mother who’s…

Matt Baum:
And you just grabbed him and said, “Everybody out, we’re planting. Let’s go. Put on your gloves. Hope you didn’t wear nice clothes today.”

Paul Harney:
Everybody went out there and popped some in the ground. And I think we didn’t even start early. We started at 10:00 and I think by 6:00 PM we were done.

Matt Baum:
So why July?

Mike Harney:
You had your daughter.

Paul Harney:
I did. My three year old daughter, so she’s out there this year. She was two then, so now she’s three. And my 13 year old son, they’ve been hitting it every day.

Matt Baum:
New York has more favorable child labor laws too, is what you’re saying?

Paul Harney:
Yes.

Matt Baum:
That’s great. That’s excellent. We could use those here.

Mike Harney:
The local law, the law that they could affect them.

Paul Harney:
Right, yes.

Matt Baum:
I’m from Nebraska…

Paul Harney:
But she wasn’t good, Mike. She really just sits around and talks to people and I think she was putting in the little, what type of tea plant or what type of hemp plant it is.

Mike Harney:
She puts in the card, she puts in the stick.

Matt Baum:
Oh, that’s an important job though. I mean, come on.

Paul Harney:
That’s why we’ve got some of these little brains doing it.

The challenges of growing hemp

Matt Baum:
There you go. Now I’m from Nebraska. I’m not a farmer, but it seems like July is awfully late to plant. Why July?

Mike Harney:
Well, as we said, the lady was one page ahead of us.

Matt Baum:
Gotcha.

Mike Harney:
It was that perfect.

Paul Harney:
It was not really. We weren’t farmers either, but we had identified, we asked that same question.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Mike Harney:
But there was no easy, well, it’s a difficult business, this hemp growing stuff. It’s hard. The idea is that you’ve got to get the plant. You’ve got to grow the plant, so you’ve got to put the money down for the seed. This is a little bit like a Nebraska story.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Mike Harney:
And then you don’t get paid for that stuff for actually a year, year and a half later, so money is tight. So it’s a difficult business.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, she had actually grown it from seed, all the plants.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Paul Harney:
So we had to wait until…

Mike Harney:
She had a get the money to buy the seed, and it’s a buck a seed or whatever, which turns out, it doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you’re getting 30,000 plants, you’ve got to have the scratch for that.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Paul Harney:
And then you’ve got to grow.

Matt Baum:
And then you’ve got to have room to grow them and get them going before you can drop them in the ground.

Paul Harney:
Yeah.

Mike Harney:
All that.

Paul Harney:
Before you can get them in the ground. So yeah, last year we were a little further behind this year.

Matt Baum:
So this year, much better?

Paul Harney:
This year, much better. Absolutely.

Matt Baum:
We learned.

Paul Harney:
We learned a little bit. We spread them out a little bit more so we’re growing a little less plants, but we’re hoping that…

Mike Harney:
Better production.

Paul Harney:
We’re going to get a little better production out of it.

Matt Baum:
Did you get them from the same place or did you say, “No, we’re not using that. We’re going to use something else for this”?

Paul Harney:
No, we went somewhere else.

Matt Baum:
Okay. But the same species, like the same type?

Mike Harney:
Different species.

Paul Harney:
Different species too.

Mike Harney:
Last year, it was Cherry Wine. This year, you’ve got that Painted Lady.

Matt Baum:
Okay. So tell me…

Mike Harney:
That’s from San Francisco, I’m not sure what.

Matt Baum:
Why do we make that choice? Is that better for the tea? Or is that better for the CBD? Or both?

Mike Harney:
Or neither?

Matt Baum:
Or neither?

Paul Harney:
Mostly, it’s more related to what’s going to grow the best up here.

Matt Baum:
Okay. That makes sense.

Mike Harney:
We had a fungus problem last year. Not a fungus problem, a mold. No, fungus problem. Yeah.

Matt Baum:
Fungus?

Mike Harney:
Yeah, fungus. In our toenails. But what happened was it came in off the woods. And so, we got it from a place that was dryer in our opinion. So there was a guy that just got in the business in Connecticut, so he’s less than 10 miles from here. So we think he’s acclimated, he’s chosen plants that are correct. We don’t know that fact, that’s why I said neither. We’re not sure if we got it better yet. It sounds good. Everything sounds good when you’re putting it in the ground.

Matt Baum:
Of course. So it’s growing now, though? You can look out and be like, “God, I feel like we’re getting somewhere.” Or are you like, “Oh, God”?

Paul Harney:
It’s about this high. So it’s about 12 inches high at the moment.

Mike Harney:
Not quite knee-high before the 4th of July, but we’re getting there.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough. And hopefully you’re going to, what? We’re talking September, October, you harvest?

Mike Harney:
September. We’re hoping we’re getting it out two weeks earlier because we got it out a bit late last year.

Paul Harney:
We got it out in Halloween.

Matt Baum:
That’s late.

Paul Harney:
And then you struggle because it doesn’t dry off after the frost, it’s colder.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Definitely.

Paul Harney:
Just have to really struggle with the bud and stuff.

Mike Harney:
And then the other thing is with the plants we’ve got, supposedly won’t go hot because you always have to be careful that it doesn’t get much THC.

Matt Baum:
Of course.

Mike Harney:
Because the US government, that’s one thing they do watch, is the 0.3%.

Creating The Hemp Division’s CBD tea

Matt Baum:
So last year, obviously you brought in hemp from other places to infuse. Let’s talk about that.

Mike Harney:
In the beginning, yeah.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, we made the bottles out of that. Yeah.

Matt Baum:
So what kind of products…

Paul Harney:
Yeah, we started…

Matt Baum:
I’m sorry, what kind of…

Paul Harney:
We started with a CBD, with an isolate.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Paul Harney:
Was how we started last year. In 2018, after we’d gotten our processing license, that’s where we started, was buying an isolate. And then, we’ve gone from there into more broad spectrum with the terpenes. And then, what we’ve done since we had our own product was we’ve actually turned it into hemp tea, processed it, decarboxylated it and blended it into different blends.

Mike Harney:
So right now, we’ve got people up there who are taking the stuff that we did last October, and we have big bags, white bags of them, and they’re just going through and getting rid of the riff-raff. And then that’s what Paul says we’re going to use that stuff in the tea bags. So we have three different options, right? You’ve got the bottles with the isolate.

Paul Harney:
Yeah. So we have bottles, we have sparkling waters, the Spark.

Matt Baum:
Love those. Yeah.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, and then we have some tea tins that are packed in sachets, and some of those have CBD powder in them and then some of them are just blends with the hemp tea.

Mike Harney:
Where did we send the isolate to, Paul?

Paul Harney:
Colorado.

Mike Harney:
Did you see it? Did you wave to it as it went by in Nebraska?

Matt Baum:
I didn’t see it. I’m sure it came by. I may have been asleep or not paying attention, but normally I would notice that stuff, yeah.

Mike Harney:
It went by there. It went by your house, of course.

Matt Baum:
I’m right on the interstate, usually just waving at trucks.

Mike Harney:
All right. Just checking.

Matt Baum:
So next year, now that you’re growing this, the idea is we’re going to use our hemp?

Mike Harney:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
And you’re going add-

Paul Harney:
We are using our extraction and our hemp now.

Matt Baum:
Oh, okay.

Paul Harney:
But yeah, the idea is that going forward, it’s that we are covering it from the roots up, so to speak.

Matt Baum:
Right. Control every aspect of it.

Paul Harney:
Control every aspect.

Mike Harney:
Almost every aspect.

The process of making CBD tea

Paul Harney:
The idea is to really try to use the same level of skill we use to blend teas to ensure that we to get the proper dose, all this sort of stuff, into the products.

Matt Baum:
Someone else is doing the extraction though?

Paul Harney:
Right, yeah. Someone else.

Mike Harney:
He’s out in Colorado, so maybe you’ll catch him on the way back.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, maybe. I’ll watch for him. So when they do this extraction and they send it back to you, are you guaranteed, and I’m sorry, I know nothing about this, but is it the type of thing, like say you’re making your sparkling water drink, where we know if we put X amount in this vat that it’s going to become sparkling water, it will be so many milligrams of CBD per can basically?

Paul Harney:
Right, right.

Mike Harney:
They’re doing the concentrate, right? They’re not making the product. You’re making the product.

Paul Harney:
We make the product. All they’re doing is they’re doing the extraction.

Mike Harney:
And emulsification.

Paul Harney:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
Right. And they basically give me something that’s…

Mike Harney:
But it’s oil and it won’t go into water. So we’ve got to do the magic, the secret sauce, in Colorado.

Paul Harney:
And then it won’t stabilize either if you just put the oil in the water.

Matt Baum:
Okay. To boil it down, I mean, to a ridiculous metaphor, you add a 1/4 cup of this to a gallon of this and there you go. You know what you’ve got.

Paul Harney:
Pretty much.

Mike Harney:
That’s right, now.

Matt Baum:
So with the teas themselves you’re using a powder, you said, to infuse those?

Paul Harney:
So we’re using a powder as well as we’re using the hemp leaf. The hemp leaf doesn’t give off…

Mike Harney:
The hemp flower.

Paul Harney:
The flower when you brew it, though you get an effect, it does not give you…

Matt Baum:
Much lighter, I’m sure.

Paul Harney:
The CBD number.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Paul Harney:
Due to water solubility and stuff like that. So generally, we add in some powder with the leaf to give it a solid number, but it’s very effective.

Matt Baum:
So what’s the leaf do to the flavor? What’s that taste like?

Paul Harney:
Tastes a little happy.

Mike Harney:
Like marijuana.

Matt Baum:
I would guess. I like that flavor, I kind of look for it in certain, like when people send me CBD oils and whatnot.

Paul Harney:
Sure.

Matt Baum:
I’m fine with ones that are flavored and I understand not everybody’s looking for that, but I feel like the flavor itself is very interesting and adds something to it. And maybe that’s from a lot of practice of trying other types of cannabis perhaps, I don’t know.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, you remember.

Matt Baum:
I would think that could be a turnoff for some people in tea. Is that something you try to hide?

Paul Harney:
Yeah, we’ve got them both, where you can find it, where you do taste it, and then others, you don’t taste it at all.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Paul Harney:
We have one that’s called Center and that one is based a little bit off of our Hot Cinnamon Spice tea, which tastes like an old red hot candy.

Matt Baum:
So tell me about that one real quick. It’s like you’re using more of the stuff to give it the red hot flavor and just a little bit of the hemp leaves?

Paul Harney:
Yeah.

Mike Harney:
Yeah. And the hemp, with a lighter dose, you really don’t taste it.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Mike Harney:
You can taste a little bit, but it’s not strong like you’re talking about.

Matt Baum:
And obviously-

Paul Harney:
There are ones that are stronger, but that’s certainly the one where we just took one of our great blends…

Creating different CBD tea blends

Mike Harney:
And then you also came up with some other stuff, right?

Paul Harney:
We did. We did.

Mike Harney:
What have you got? Moringa?

Paul Harney:
We got one with moringa, yeah, it called a Deep Sleep.

Matt Baum:
I don’t know what moringa is. What is moringa?

Paul Harney:
Moringa’s a herb.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Paul Harney:
So that’s an herb and it provides a little balance. So some of them, like we have another one that’s called Focus and that one has a yerba mate, which is a caffeinated leaf. Yaupon, which is the only caffeinated leaf grown in the US, and guayusa and some mint.

Mike Harney:
From Ecuador.

Paul Harney:
Yeah. So that particular blend is actually pretty high in caffeine.

Matt Baum:
That sounds amazing.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, but when added with a little CBD, it gives you, that’s what we call Focus.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Because you’re riding the wave instead of vibrating.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, exactly. And it is, people like that one a lot. Sleep is certainly a calm, Sleep.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Paul Harney:
These sort of things that are somewhat lifted even more.

Mike Harney:
But Focus is good because it elevates you without taking you up over the top.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. I had a guy send me some CBD-infused coffee and I drink coffee like it’s going out of style, like I like a fricking need it. And I couldn’t get to that point where my eyes felt like they were boiling. And I was almost like, “Is something wrong?” And I was like, “No, I feel normal. This is what I’m supposed to feel like. I’m awake.”

Mike Harney:
That’s what normal looks like.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, I’m focused and I don’t feel like I’m going to pass through a wall because I’m vibrating too fast.

Paul Harney:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
That’s cool. So as far as that flavor profile goes, do you treat it the same way that you would treat any other herb that you’ve worked with?

Paul Harney:
Absolutely. I mean, I think that’s one of the advantages that we have, is that we’re used to dealing with a lot of crazy herbs. Kava’s another crazy herb that mellows you out.

Mike Harney:
What about chaga?

Paul Harney:
Ashwagandha and chaga mushrooms, so we’re used to dealing with a lot of-

Mike Harney:
We’re not too used to it, though.

Paul Harney:
Barely into it.

Mike Harney:
Not too used to it, no.

Matt Baum:
Well, sure.

Mike Harney:
Well, we’re used to it.

Paul Harney:
We’re sort of used to it now.

Matt Baum:
Sort of used to it. That’s what I like to hear of my professionals, “I’m sort of good at this. Don’t worry.”

Paul Harney:
It’s a work in progress.

Expanding into herbal wellness

Mike Harney:
Well, no. I mean, that’s because as a tea company, mostly it was just tea, but in the last year or two Paul’s been pushing us more and more into wellness, so you have to say if it’s hemp bud in there, that’s part of the wellness concept.

Matt Baum:
Right. Tell me about the wellness concept. Where did that come from? You were a Marine and you decided, you know what?

Mike Harney:
Yeah, you must have gotten tired of the softer stuff.

Paul Harney:
That’s it, yeah.

Matt Baum:
I fought for freedom and now I want to fight to detox.

Paul Harney:
Well, mushrooms obviously are… Neurotropics are a really big thing right now.

Mike Harney:
Adapto.

Paul Harney:
And adaptogenic, yeah. Absolutely. So there’s a wide variety of herbs, ashwagandha, all this sort of stuff that people are using and blending to mellow you out, take a little of the edge off and all that sort of good stuff. And we started, as we had these hemp products coming out, then we started adding a few more traditional wellness products that helped…

Matt Baum:
It was a gateway drug, if you will.

Mike Harney:
And during this COVID period here, you know what I mean?

Paul Harney:
It became particularly of use.

Mike Harney:
Well, wellness, everybody’s jumped…

Paul Harney:
Everybody’s like, “Look, probably. Probably, I need it.”

Matt Baum:
It turns out hemp is a gateway drug. There we go. They were right.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, that’s correct.

Mike Harney:
After hemp, it becomes chaga.

Paul Harney:
That’s right.

Matt Baum:
Next thing you know, you’re chewing on yerba mate leaves.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, it’s crazy.

Matt Baum:
Strung out somewhere, shaking on caffeine.

Paul Harney:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Matt Baum:
So where did the wellness thing come from though? Where did you find that day? Is it just something you heard about and said we should try it? Or was it something that you experienced in your life?

Mike Harney:
These all have been considered a wellness beverage.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Mike Harney:
And we’ve done other things, chamomile to help you sleep in the old days.

Paul Harney:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
I mean, I guess that makes sense.

Mike Harney:
And peppermint for the upset stomach. So then my brother here, Paul, he looks at that side more than me. So Paul.

Paul Harney:
Well, no, the base was already there.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Paul Harney:
And you know, green tea is obviously a very healthy product for you.

Mike Harney:
And well known.

Paul Harney:
And well known. We just didn’t, I think we didn’t play on it very far. And then, as hemp matured a little bit, and we had more of these products, last year was a little different because we had the powder and that was the first year of this.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Mike Harney:
Making a name for ourselves, yeah.

Paul Harney:
But then, once we had the hemp to really start blending in these things, then it was like, “Hey, maybe we need some chaga in there with that.

Matt Baum:
It was just the next logical thing, basically?

Paul Harney:
Yeah.

Mike Harney:
Logical.

Paul Harney:
Well, it was relatively logical.

Mike Harney:
I don’t know if it was completely logical, but…

Matt Baum:
I love you guys because you both do this Columbo thing where you’re like, “I mean, I’m just, I don’t really know,” but you totally know. You guys do, okay?

Mike Harney:
You’ve got to be telling us the truth then.

Looking forward to the harvest

Matt Baum:
So tell me about, you’re going to harvest next, hopefully early October.

Paul Harney:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
You had mentioned that you were going to do stuff with every aspect of the plant, like you’re going to try grounding up the roots and stuff.

Paul Harney:
We are. We had some roots this year. We did not get very far, but obviously, roots is considered also a very medicinal piece of the plant.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Paul Harney:
And it’s something we tried to get to last year, but roots obviously need to be cleaned quite well if you’re going to try to use them later on.

Matt Baum:
Of course.

Paul Harney:
So that was a bridge too far. So this year, we hopefully will get there and dry them out and grind it into something, and see if we can figure out a use for it.

Matt Baum:
See what it does, basically?

Paul Harney:
Yeah. It’s been fun. It’s been a great project and we’re definitely enthusiastic about it. And we’re fully involved in all aspects of it. We’re out there planting ourselves and all that sort of stuff, so it’s been a fun ride so far.

Mike Harney:
Actually, we just did a video we’ll have to send to you where it’s a planting from last week.

Matt Baum:
Oh yeah, please. I’ll add that to the post. Definitely.

Mike Harney:
But yeah, so you’ll find that fun.

Matt Baum:
That’d be a riot, yeah.

Mike Harney:
Paul, I know you’ve got it.

Matt Baum:
Definitely. That’d be…

Mike Harney:
It’s got Paul. It’s got a little surprise thing with Paul in there. I don’t want to ruin it for you.

Matt Baum:
It’s family friendly though, right?

Paul Harney:
We don’t want to ruin it for you. You’re going to have to watch the video.

Matt Baum:
This podcast is PG-13, so as long as it’s family friendly.

Mike Harney:
And you’re going to do a TikTok, right, Paul?

Paul Harney:
Yeah, we’ve got a TikTok. Everybody’s got a TikTok going. We can’t get mad, just get our TikTok going.

Matt Baum:
Sure. You and all the K-pop kids, right?

Mike Harney:
That’s it, man.

Matt Baum:
So real quick, and I’m sorry if I’m dwelling on this root thing too much, are there other tea plants out there where you literally take the leaves and grind up the root to add to tea?

Mike Harney:
Not for tea because it’s a perennial.

Paul Harney:
Right.

Matt Baum:
Oh, because it’s going to come back.

Mike Harney:
You don’t want to get rid of it. Yeah, next year’s crop.

Matt Baum:
That makes sense.

Mike Harney:
You just want a handful.

Paul Harney:
But ginger, right? Ginger’s certainly…

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Mike Harney:
But you don’t use the top of ginger to my knowledge. I mean, I don’t know. You’re from Wisconsin, so you would know more about it. I don’t know.

Matt Baum:
I don’t think you do. I think really, it’s just ginger root.

Paul Harney:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
Like ginseng is the same thing. They really don’t use the plant for anything.

Mike Harney:
Yeah. So that’s what I mean. So we’re going to find that out. But I mean…

Paul Harney:
We’ll report back, man.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Mike Harney:
Bill will report back.

Matt Baum:
I’m real curious about that. That sounds really interesting.

Mike Harney:
A crop report, we’ll give you a crop report.

Paul Harney:
Rather than a crap.

The future of The Hemp Division’s CBD teas

Matt Baum:
What’s the plan going forward for the hemp division? What comes next?

Paul Harney:
That’s the plan is, to get this harvest through and to see what sort of other products we can come up with, but we’ve got a couple more sleep teas coming out. And we’ve got one called Boom. It’s got a little chocolate and coconut in it for you.

Matt Baum:
Oh, that sounds nice.

Paul Harney:
That’s a nice one. Mike came up with the name, he’s a namer.

Matt Baum:
Dumb question. How do you do the chocolate without it melting?

Mike Harney:
That’s what I said, yeah.

Paul Harney:
I don’t know.

Mike Harney:
Paul, you came up with it.

Paul Harney:
You came up with the name.

Matt Baum:
I’m not a tea guy, so I have no clue.

Mike Harney:
I’m a tea guy, I have no clue.

Matt Baum:
We put some chocolate in the bag and it melts into you tea.

Paul Harney:
That’s it. That’s pretty much it.

Matt Baum:
Really?

Paul Harney:
You put one of those Hershey kisses in there, that’s it.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, sure. Guys, thank you so much. It’s been great. I appreciate your time.

Paul Harney:
Right, Matt. That’s great.

Mike Harney:
Thanks, Matt.

Matt Baum:
And this time it’s going to work. It’s going to work, we’ve got it.

Mike Harney:
We’re with you, buddy.

Matt Baum:
And if not, I’ll fly out and make it worth your time.

Paul Harney:
There you go.

Mike Harney:
You can help plant.

Matt Baum:
That sounds good.

Mike Harney:
We’ll get you that video.

Matt Baum:
Excellent.

Final thoughts from Matt

Matt Baum:
As always, there will be links to Harney & Sons Tea Company in the show notes for this episode. Also, at Ministry of Hemp, we believe that an accessible world is a better world for all, so you can find a complete written transcript of this episode there too.

Matt Baum:
I just want to say a huge thanks again to Mike and Paul for being so easy and fun to talk to, and thank you to you for downloading this show, and I hope you’re enjoying it. And if you’ve got questions, criticisms, or maybe a subject you want to hear about call me. 402-819-6417, that is the Ministry of Hemp Google Voice line and you can leave a message there. Ask any question you would like and I will answer it on this show. Typically, I do that with help from Kit O’Connell, he is the editor in chief of ministryofhemp.com. And I’ve been poking and prodding my buddy, Drew to come on one of these Q&A shows too, so I bet we’re going to get her on next time as well, but we love to answer your questions. Please give us a call. And if you don’t want to call, email me directly, matt@ministryofhemp.com. That’s M-A-T-T. I’m not cool enough to spell it with one T.

Matt Baum:
Speaking of ministryofhemp.com, get over there right now and you can check out an article we have up on CBD bath products. It’s our Six Best CBD Bath Bombs and Soaks. These are super popular and they are an amazing way to relax after a stressful day. You drop the bath bomb in hot water, the CBD releases into the water, you get in and you soak it in. It is wonderful. Like I mentioned in the beginning of the show, there will also be links to the story about hemp masks and where you can get those. And if that’s not enough, you can find us at all your favorite social media sites, \ministryofhemp, @MinistryofHemp.

Matt Baum:
And if you really want to make a difference and help us out, go check us out at patreon\ministryofhemp and become a Ministry of Hemp insider. You will get access to podcast extras, to early articles, to bonus articles that don’t even make it to the site. And this week’s extra is actually going to be a video extra. We talked about it in the interview that I had with the Harney brothers. It’s them planting and it is a pretty hilarious video, but it’s also cool just to see how grass roots this organization is. So please head over to Patreon and become a Ministry of Hemp insider. I cannot stress how much it helps us in spreading the good word of hemp.

Matt Baum:
But that’s it, we’re done here. I’ve got to get out of here and I like to end the show the same way every time by saying remember to take care of yourself, take care of others and make good decisions, will you? This is Matt Baum with the Ministry of Hemp, signing off.

The post A Cuppa CBD Tea? We Meet Mike And Paul Harney Of Harney & Sons Tea appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

When it comes to focus at work, society’s top choice is coffee. While caffeine can certainly give us a great boost of energy and cognitive momentum, overconsumption comes with its dangers. For some, coffee can cause nervousness, restlessness, and difficulty sleeping. In extreme cases of overconsumption, coffee can cause muscle tremors, and even nausea.

While a cup of coffee every so often won’t do too much harm, there are a number of all-natural alternatives that help boost energy and promote focus. Throughout this article, we’re going to take a deeper look into these alternatives and how they might help you. 

First though, we’re going to look closer at why working from home can be so challenging, and offer some tips on creating better habits for keeping your energy levels high throughout the day.

Why is it so hard to focus at home?

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have found ourselves working from our homes. While this is a luxury for many, it’s been detrimental to other’s focus. To put it simply, working from home provides a wide range of distractions that are likely to eat up productivity.

According to Psychology Today, one of the biggest reasons for this is we’ve found ourselves trying to be productive in our personal space rather than our professional environment. Our homes are meant to comfort us while our offices, admittedly, tend to stress us. It’s easy to avoid the stress of work when we’re as comfortable as we are in our personal spaces.

But it goes without saying that this isn’t productive nor healthy. And, unfortunately, many of us still don’t know when these stay-at-home guidelines are going to end. Some major companies like Twitter have already decided their employees can work from home permanently. Your company may be next.

So, what can we do in order to maintain focus while we’re doing our jobs from the comfort of our homes?

The answer to that question is naturally going to look different for everyone. You may find it beneficial to grab a cup of joe while others find coffee brings on too much anxiety. Due to these differences, we’re going to offer alternatives to maintaining a mental focus that comes with little to no side effects.

Better focus isn’t just about natural supplements

Before we get into the supplements you can take to improve focus, it’s important to remember that there’s no natural alternative that can fix all your problems. You should look at these supplements as lending a hand with a bigger issue.

When it comes to maintaining focus, our brains are wired to functioning on a routine. The healthier this routine, the better our focus is. If you wake up at the same time every morning, go to sleep at the same time every night, and perform similar activities throughout your day, you’re going to be much happier and more productive.

But what should this routine entail?

Again, this is something that’s going to look different for everyone. Some will find a morning workout to help while others need a 20-minute nap in the middle of the day to recharge. The bottom line is you’ll want to find a routine that works best for you.

With that said, it is in your best interest to consider some activities that promote health and well-being. These can include, but aren’t limited to:

• Exercise
• Meditation
• Spending time with friends and loved ones
• Staying physically active (take a walk, stretch, etc.)
• Taking time to relax (napping, reading, etc.)

We encourage you to experiment around with healthy activities and to find where your perfect fit is. Don’t be afraid to try something new, you may just surprise yourself: maybe you are a morning person after all.

Top natural alternatives to coffee that improve focus

While you promote healthy activities, it can also be beneficial to look into all-natural alternatives that have been found to promote focus and energy. Admittedly, we could write an encyclopedia about the versatile selection Mother Nature has to offer. But for the sake of this article, we’re going to keep our focus on 9 alternatives to coffee that have shown the most results.

Bacopa Monnieri

Sometimes referred to as brahmi, water hyssop, thyme-leaved gratiola, and the herb of grace, bacopa monnieri has been a principal plant for traditional Ayurvedic medicine. It’s been known to help improve memory, concentration, and attention. Not to mention, it’s also a great source of antioxidants that can protect you from free radical cell damage.

Cannabidiol (CBD)

As you probably know, CBD has a list of potential benefits that make it a staple in natural alternatives. It’s able to do this by indirectly balancing out our endocannabinoid system (ECS), part of our nervous systems that’s responsible for a variety of things, from our immune response to the communication between cells. Since our ECS is so prominent in our daily lives, balancing it out can actually help our brains focus.

To take things further, CBD mimics certain compounds within the body that will have an effect on non-cannabinoid receptors. These effects leave you feeling healthier and, when we feel healthier, we tend to be more productive.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

When we consume foods and supplements with omega-3 fatty acids, they preserve fluidity of cell membranes. In turn, there’s better communication between nerve cells and this provides us with better concentration and mental coherence. Not to mention, by preserving fluidity of cell membranes, omega-3 fatty acids may help with other ailments, such as anxiety and depression. Did we mention hemp seeds are a great source of these?

Lion’s Mane

Lion’s Mane is a mushroom that’s become a popular natural supplement. One of the most prominent aspects of Lion’s Mane is that it’s an adaptogen. This means it can help restore your body and brain’s balance while you’re experiencing stress. Through these properties, Lion’s Mane has also been found to help improve cognitive performance, reduce brain fog, and promote overall mental well-being.

L-Theanine

This amino acid, originally found in tea, supports mental focus while improving cognitive performance. In turn, you’ll have the ability to learn at a quicker rate while processing information faster. It’s worth noting that when L-Theanine is consumed with caffeine, it can further improve cognitive performance and your overall mood.

Rhodiola Rosea

Like Lion’s Mane, Rhodiola Rosea is an adaptogenic plant that helps your brain and body keep balance during times of stress. To take things further, Rhodiola Rosea can also alleviate fatigue and anxiety. Due to these characteristics, this adaptogen has been found to help improve mental concentration and alertness.

Natural sugars

While it isn’t good to overconsume sugar, natural sugars (more particularly, glucose) have been found to enhance alertness. Preferably, you should receive these sugars from various fruits — like oranges and pineapples — rather than sugary foods like cookies and cake.

Experiment with exercise, meditation, natural supplements and more to find your perfect healthy routine.

Keep in mind, recharging your brain with natural sugars is all about quantity. The right amount can improve memory and thinking. But too much can actually inhibit concentration.

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 has been found to support mood regulation, focus, and memory. These prominent characteristics have garnered the vitamin as essential when it comes to our brain health. Unfortunately, our body doesn’t naturally produce these — so, the only way to receive these benefits is through food and supplements rich in vitamin B6.

Water

Staying hydrated is a crucial element to maintaining focus throughout the day. And perhaps there’s no better supplement for that than water. In a study published by the University of East London and the University of Westminster, it was discovered that consuming 300ml of water will improve your attention by 25%!

There’s a better, natural way to maintain focus at home

While supplements are a great way to assist us in mental focus, it’s vital we incorporate a number of healthy activities to make the most of natural alternatives. As mentioned, our brains are wired to be on a schedule. It’s safe to say many of our typical routines were thrown off when this nationwide crisis began.

However, that doesn’t mean we can’t make the changes necessary in order to improve our cognitive performance now and for the future.

As you go about this change, you may find yourself curious enough to research some supplements that can help improve focus. While there are a number of great products for you to choose from, we recommend you check out FOCL Day. These capsules are designed to assist in cognitive performance and incorporate many of the natural alternatives we listed above.

We wish you the best of luck as our definition of normal changes day-by-day. Remember, we’re in this together!

The post Natural Focus Without Coffee: How to Stay Focused While Working From Home appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

We tried the new organic hemp face mask with cotton ties created by iLoveBad Organics and The Hemp Cooperative. Available in black, or a reversible black & white option, this simple mask ties around the back of the head. It’s easy to wear and easy to throw in the washer to clean (use a lingerie bag to keep it from getting tangled). But the differences go deeper than the deceptively simple appearance of this mask.

With no finite end to the pandemic in sight, frontline workers, from grocery clerks to delivery drivers, now wear masks all day. Many businesses require masks for entry. Most of us want to keep ourselves and other people safer too. But what about creating masks that are made from more sustainable fabrics? 

That’s where hemp masks come in. Hemp fabric is extremely durable, and naturally antimicrobial and antibacterial too. There’s no proof this will provide additional protection from the COVID-19 virus. It does mean your mask will stay fresher during long sweaty wearing sessions. 

We talked with Daniel Ong, half of the founding team behind iLoveBad Organics. Ong said although they’d been considering making hemp masks for some time, it was Brittanny, the other founder, who spurred them to move forward with this collaboration. 

“Brittanny woke up to this palpable realization that masks are going to be the standard and that we should contribute towards the production to supply our friends at our local supermarkets,” he wrote in an email.  

Creating a hemp mask with THC (The Hemp Cooperative)

“Prior to the Pandemic, I had small talks with my twin brother Dany (a co-founding member of The Hemp Co-op) about the idea of a mask,” Ong recalled. “Shortly after the pandemic took off, he made a prototype, showed it to me and proceeded to go into production with it.”

“We genuinely feel that we’re all in this together.”

Daniel Ong, cofounder of iLoveBad Organics

Originally, Ong became interested in creating hemp masks both out of a desire to create a “weird” hemp fashion aesthetic, and to reduce their exposure to the bad odors of urban life in Los Angeles.

When they realized that the front line workers who supported them needed better masks, they agreed to collaborate with The Hemp Cooperative (a clothing brand cleverly known by theit acronym “THC”). 

“With THC’s help, we made a couple refinements to their design to fit our personal preferences and within a few days, we started production.”

Their hemp masks are manufactured in the U.S. from organically-grown hemp that’s carefully sourced from China. The seamstresses they work with are largely single mothers or senior citizens, and the brands are paying higher than normal wages to help them make it through the pandemic. 

Hemp masks are breathable, comfortable for long wear

“A number of frontline supermarket employees have reached out stating that the masks were perfect for their needs given that they have to wear it for longer periods of time,” Ong told us. “Hearing it directly from them was pretty awesome.”

The iLoveBad & THC masks sell for $21 with free shipping. They sent us a sample to try out. Our Editor wore the mask multiple times while getting outdoor exercise or doing simple chores out of the house.

The masks tie around the back of the neck and the back of the head, unlike the more common design which loops over the ears. This may be more comfortable for longer wear. If you have long hair, you can loop the upper ties over a pony tail, which feels very secure. For anyone having trouble adjusting to the masks, Ong sent us a graphic which shows how to use them properly:

While these hemp masks aren’t medical-grade personal protective equipment, current CDC guidance suggests that even wearing cloth masks can help reduce transmission of the novel coronavirus. 

iLoveBad & THC make their hemp masks are made with two layers of fabric. A pocket in between allows the wearer to add their own filter. Popular disposable filter options include paper towels and coffee filters. Another option that’s also washable is a fabric called non-woven polypropylene. Commonly found in reusable shopping bags and conference swag bags, this fabric is washable and closer to medial-grade N95 materials.

Hemp industry offers sustainable solutions during crisis

Hemp fabric is extremely durable, and tends to grow more comfortable with repeated washing. It also typically requires fewer chemicals during manufacture (and while the hemp is grown, as well). iLoveBad make their fashion even more sustainable by contributing a portion of their profits towards valuable causes. These include ending animal abuse and supporting orphans in Mexico. For Ong, it’s important to give back to the community anytime, but especially during the pandemic. 

One other clothing brand, Hemp Black, also recently started making hemp masks. Many CBD brands have started giving away free hand sanitizer, another way to be a part of the solution. We love seeing the industry step up to find ways to be leaders in corporate responsibility during this time. However, Ong stressed that the hemp industry isn’t special here: everyone has a part to play.

“We genuinely feel that we’re all in this together and we all will respond accordingly when the timing is right,” he wrote.

He hopes the hemp industry can find a way to sustain itself through this rocky economy. Like us, he believes in the potential of hemp to change the world.

“If there is one responsibility that hemp brands should take on, perhaps it’s purely to stay in business during these times so that we may continue the momentum that the hemp community had powered over this past decade.”

The post Hemp Masks Offer Sustainable Personal Safety During COVID-19 Crisis appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

In this episode Matt talks about the dangers of ending social distancing practices too soon and some tips on quarantine self-care. Then Matt’s weekly conversation is with Wayne Carkeek, Co-Founder of Out and About CBD. Wayne founded the company after dealing with his own anxiety as a young gay man growing up in Montana and with the mission of bringing the benefits of CBD to the LGBTQ community.

Wayne also works with and is an avid supporter of The Trevor Project. Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film “Trevor,” The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25.

Also mentioned in this episode: our Editor in Chief Kit O’Connell collaborated with Honeysuckle Magazine to tell the story of how the media fueled the early war on drugs.

We Want to Hear From YOU!

Send us your questions and you might hear them answered on future shows like this one! Send your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind, this phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for the Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com

Subscribe to our Podcast!

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CBD & The LGBTQ Community: Complete episode transcript:

Matt Baum:
I’m Matt Baum and this is The Ministry of Hemp podcast brought to you by MinistryofHemp.com, America’s leading advocate for hemp and hemp education.

Matt Baum:
(music)

Matt Baum:
Welcome back and today on the show we’re going to be talking to Wayne Carkeek. He started a CBD company that was geared towards the LGBTQ community and it’s the first time I’ve really talked to someone who started one of these companies with a community in mind, and he did so because he went through some things as a young gay man trying to come to terms with who he was that caused him a lot of anxiety and he found relief in CBD. So much so that he decided to start his own company and help other people just like him. It’s a very cool interview and I’m excited for you to hear it, but before we get into that, we got to talk about Covid at least one more time

Matt Baum:
(music)

COVID-19 Update: Stay home if you can

Matt Baum:
As you’ve probably heard this week, the US passed 55,000 deaths to the Coronavirus and at the same time there are a lot of states and governors and mayors saying it’s time to reopen the economy and it’s time to get back to business. I’m not going to get on a political stump here, but I will say there are still people dying and the science is still saying that we need to distance ourselves and we need to wear masks when we go out and it’s probably not the right time to reopen the economy until there’s more testing. I have to go with the science here and I try to promote science on this show. I know a lot of people think that CBD is another herbal remedy or some type of Chinese medicine, but I hope it shows through in the episodes that I’ve produced that we are pushing the scientific benefits here and we’re looking for more science and more research and in that same sense, the science right now says it is not safe to reopen the country yet and it’s not safe to reopen the economy.

Matt Baum:
We have to continue social distancing until there is more testing and that’s just the end of it. I don’t see any argument on the other side other than some very rich people who are not going to be working on factory floors, who are not going to be going into restaurants telling people that aren’t as wealthy they need to get back to work. In my day job, I work in web hosting and I am very fortunate that I can work from home, but I have a lot of friends who work in the restaurant business or work in the tattoo business or are musicians and I was a musician, I was a chef, and I can’t imagine they’re going through. But it’s just not safe yet. It isn’t and we need to continue social distancing until such time that there is more testing and we can figure out who is immune, who is not, who is sick and where they are.

Matt Baum:
Right now, that information is just not out there. For the time being, I am urging you to continue social distancing, to continue staying home when you can. If you are going out, wear a mask. And I know it sucks. I don’t want to be home all the time either. I love going to restaurants, I love going to see live shows, but it is irresponsible of us to say, “Well, I feel fine and everybody around me seems like they feel fine. Let’s get back to work and go out and party.” That’s how people get sick and that is how more people die. Just as we are starting to flatten the curve, as they say, and see deaths reducing we could spike that right back up if we rush this and it’s just terrible information, bad ideas and information coming from people that run businesses, from politicians. It’s not coming from scientists and doctors. Listen to your doctor. Listen to the science.

Matt Baum:
Right now they’re saying we have to continue staying home and we have a fantastic article on Ministry of Hemp right now all about isolation, self care. It’s a whole guide with everything from cookie dough smoothies to showing you how to nourish yourself inside and out with hemp and of course good CBD that you can take to reduce your anxiety. But I implore you, please be safe. The testing is not there and we are not ready to go back to life as usual. We just aren’t so please don’t even listen to me. Listen to your doctor, listen to the science and take a good look at the people who are telling you it’s time to get back to work.

Meet Wayne Carkeek

Matt Baum:
My conversation today is with Wayne Carkeek. He is the co-founder of Out and About CBD and he started his CBD company with a community in mind, the LGBTQ community, namely. Now of course Out and About is for anyone who wants to use it, but Wayne has a really cool story and I talked to him about coming into his own as a gay man and feeling safe and okay in his own skin and how CBD helped him. I caught up with Wayne from his kitchen in Huntington Beach, which is turned into a makeshift warehouse as well. Here’s my conversation with Wayne Carkeek.

Matt Baum:
And you’re working from home today. We were just talking about it before we started recording. You’ve got your little warehouse all around you right now.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah, yeah. It’s nice. II just have a little sample of every product here. [crosstalk 00:05:57] …Take it to the box office.

Matt Baum:
It’s very responsible of you in these times we’re currently in. Wayne, welcome to the podcast first of all.

Wayne Carkeek:
Well, I come from the military. Organization is a huge thing for me.

Matt Baum:
Absolutely. Okay then. Well, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for your time today. We just want to hear your story, really. You have a very interesting story as to how you got involved in CBD and running your own CBD company. What is your origin story? Can you tell us a little bit here?

Wayne Carkeek:
Growing up, I came from a really small community in a small town in Montana. I just didn’t feel comfortable coming out there and I have some friends currently today who didn’t feel comfortable at the time either. I just felt really insecure. I didn’t feel like I had any support when it came to being who I was. I had people in my family who I knew would love me no matter what, but I also didn’t know how it would be treated going forward.

Wayne Carkeek:
I held it in for a long time and I think that during that time I built up a lot of self doubt, a lot of like inner pain and yeah, it took me a long time to really understand how that was affecting me. I transitioned from my hometown straight into the military. Still playing out the straight man act and I went through the whole military like that as well.

Matt Baum:
Can I ask, is that why you went into the military do you think? Were you trying to prove something to yourself?

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah, I think a lot of it was, I was trying to act like a lot of the same masculine figures that I had in my life. There’s a lot of people in my family who were in the military. I had friends who joined the military. I didn’t really know what to do. I wanted to go to school. I wanted to go to college, but I also didn’t have the money for that.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough.

Wayne Carkeek:
That was my route. I like that was what I needed to do in order to go to school. Yeah. In the military I was in a straight relationship and as soon as I got out of that, I had a point in my life where I just wanted to be done playing that game and start living my life and being the person who I knew I could be. And it took me a while. It took me a year to build up the emotional support for myself to do it. I began writing letters to my friends and my families and I promised myself after I got out of the military, I would come out.

Matt Baum:
How old were you when you finally did, when you decided it’s time to come out? How old were you and was there anything that fomented the decision or were you just like, “Dammit, it’s time. I’m done with this.”

Wayne Carkeek:
I think I was, “Damnit, I’m done with this.”

Matt Baum:
Fair enough.

Wayne Carkeek:
And it was at the age of 24. Yeah.

Matt Baum:
Okay. You were young.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. I was 24 years when, yeah, I came out. I was pretty young, yeah, but at the time it felt like forever. I felt like I had held that in since I really knew memories.

Matt Baum:
I’m sure.

Wayne Carkeek:
Everything I could remember growing up and becoming an individual through puberty, through high school, making friends, I held all that in and I never spoke a word of my feelings to anyone until that point.

Matt Baum:
Small town Montana. I get that. This is not to disparage any small town, but, yeah, it is different everywhere. And when you go into smaller communities where people grow up a certain way and aren’t accustomed to other ideas of gender or love or whatnot, that can be terrifying. I’m sure. Even if it’s not. Even if when you do come out, people are fine with it. That could still be terrifying until you do, I’m sure. But it sounds like after you came out-

Wayne Carkeek:
And that’s the thing is it’s…

Matt Baum:
Oh no, go ahead. Please.

Wayne Carkeek:
Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt.

Matt Baum:
No, please.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah, no, I was just going to say, and that’s the thing is I love that hometown. I have very good memories and I wouldn’t have wanted to grow up any other way except for being comfortable in coming out. It’s such a good small community and there were some amazing people there so I wouldn’t change what I’ve gone through for anything.

Anxiety after coming out

Matt Baum:
Did you go home and come out or were you living somewhere else when you decided that you felt like you were ready?

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. I guess to continue, after I got out of the military, I moved back home, not to the same small town, but to a larger city in Montana. I had a sister who lived there and I moved in with her until I got my feet right. Right. The military doesn’t prep you for every aspect of getting out of the military.

Matt Baum:
Go figure.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. Yeah. I started college and yeah, that Thanksgiving, which was just after my birthday I came out.

Matt Baum:
Wow. At the family Thanksgiving?

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to just get it out and have it all done. Like I said, I wrote letters to every one of my family. Those who weren’t close nearby to celebrate Thanksgiving with, I sent them the letter so that they would get it on Thanksgiving and then I handed them all out right before dinner.

Matt Baum:
Wow. That’s really tearing the bandaid off. I’m impressed. How did dinner go?

Wayne Carkeek:
I’m either all for it or…

Matt Baum:
Yeah, I suppose.

Wayne Carkeek:
What’s that?

Matt Baum:
How did dinner go after that? Just out of curiosity.

Wayne Carkeek:
Really well. I have a big family, so I spent most of it I think with my mom and my sisters and they were very loving and I had felt like after this long trek, that dinner would be very different. It was very special to me, but it felt no different than any other dinner with my family.

Matt Baum:
Good. That’s fantastic. But it also wasn’t the end of your journey, from what I understand.

Wayne Carkeek:
It wasn’t, no. Yeah. Going into my life after that, as a gay man, I started to realize that I was out and I was happy and at the time I had a boyfriend. Just going out, going to bars, going doing things that I finally wanted to be comfortable holding someone’s hand down the street. I felt like I was constantly looking over my shoulder and I was, yeah, I had these little anxieties. Especially in going into cities or towns that I wasn’t familiar with.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. I’m sure.

Wayne Carkeek:
Including my hometown. Yeah. There were just certain moments that I just didn’t feel comfortable. And I know that there are people out there who go through the same things that I have and they do it on the daily. Yeah, so there’s other things that obviously have attributed to this, but I also got panic attacks and I couldn’t explain why. Sometimes they would just be me at home watching TV just thinking about things and they just build up and the next thing I know, I’m freaking out. I can’t breathe, my heart is racing.

Matt Baum:
I know all about it.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. I had just a lot of unknowns.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Nobody knows why panic attacks come on. They just do. If we knew why we could shut them down, right?

CBD helps with anxiety of being ‘out’ as LGBTQ

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. And honestly I think it has everything to do with your mind and your mindset and I’ve grown to understand that, but sometimes you do need a little extra help, a little boost in finding that breath of air or slowing your rhythm down and yeah. I’ve looked into yoga. I’ve tried pain medications, anxiety medications, muscle relaxers. I have back pain and stuff too. Yeah, there’s just a lot of things that I’ve tried and nothing really helps like the way CBD helps.

Matt Baum:
How bad did it get before you found CBD? Where were you at? Was it the kind of thing where you had tried everything? You were having…

Wayne Carkeek:
Anxiety, yeah. It moved its way into every aspect of my life. I would grind my teeth constantly throughout the day and I’d wake up doing the same thing. I’d wake up four or five times a night and thoughts are just running through my mind. Yeah, it was pretty regular. The anxiety attacks, they seemed, once every month is about how bad they got, which honestly I feel lucky that that’s as bad as it got because I know a lot of people who get them regularly, every week. Yeah.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Definitely. You hear a lot of stories about, and it gets sensationalized of course, but men and women that held it in all their life and then finally they came out and they were better and then their life was so great, but that’s not the case sometimes. There are still societal things. There’s, like you said, going to a new place. Is it okay to walk around and hold my boyfriend’s hand and whatnot? That can be terrifying. And it sounds like you tried a lot of different things before you found CBD. How did you come about CBD? Did someone show it to you? Did you stumble into it?

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah, actually I was, so I think I spent three, almost four years being out before I’ve found CBD. I moved to California shortly after living in Montana for a year after the military. I didn’t have the most experience to get any type of great job, so I was baristing, I ended up working at a retail store, and I just slowly moved my way up to this retail store that I’m very thankful for, but my store manager at the time, she was starting her own CBD company for dogs and she was like, “Have you ever tried CBD?” And I was like, “No. I don’t smoke weed. Honestly, that makes my panic attacks come on more full on than anything.” And she was like, “No, no, no. It’s not THC. You’re not going to get high.” And she’s like, “Just trust me. Try it.” Yeah. I ended up trying it and I slept like I never had in 10 years. It was such an amazing effect to me. Just that one aspect, of my sleep. Yeah, so I started using it daily after that.

Matt Baum:
It just turned your head off? You were able to actually rest, basically.

Wayne Carkeek:
I was able to rest and I was able to catch up on my sleep and my thoughts and I was able to take a breath throughout the day and go, “Yeah. Today’s, today. Tomorrow’s tomorrow.” And yeah, and the more I used CBD the more I realized how many different uses I had for it. Yeah. I could take it when I was starting to feel a panic attack or just when I just felt like I was grinding my teeth too much or something. Sure, sure. Yeah. I fell in love with the product.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough. And then from there, so much so you decided, “Ah, screw it. I’m just going to start my own CBD company,” more or less.

Starting an LGBTQ-focused CBD company

Wayne Carkeek:
Well, honestly, I’ve been in retail since I was 14 years old. My brother-in-law had a hardware store that I worked at and I’ve been working for so long in retail that I always wanted to have my own business and I always wanted to be more involved. I’m also very careful and I want to make sure that if I was to start a new adventure like that I would do it right and I wouldn’t just the first idea that popped into my head. Yeah, this made sense and it was just something I wanted to pursue. I just didn’t know how.

Wayne Carkeek:
And that until I met my friend Ralph and yeah, we had so much in common and just the stars aligned. He was looking for someone to start a CBD company with. He was finding investors and we just got to talking how I started using CBD, why I used it And then Ralph is a smart guy. He started doing research and he started giving me these ideas of more people like you, LGBTQ community based people experience 2.5 to three times mental health issues.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, absolutely.

Wayne Carkeek:
Which I wasn’t aware of. I thought that I was the single one in the herd.

Matt Baum:
Of course. You’re the only one. Everybody else is fine.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah, yeah. Everyone always thinks that, right?

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. We started doing more deep dives into this and the next thing we knew that that was our idea, was to start a CBD company for the LGBT community and with the thought to help ease those mental health issues like anxiety and stress.

Matt Baum:
I get a lot of different CBD companies that contact me and say, “Hey, I’d love to come on the show.” And I would love to have them all on the show, but most of them are just starting a CBD company and there’s not really a story there. There’s no there there as they say in the journalism business. You came into this with a mission. You named your company Out and About. There’s a rainbow that is right there. It’s pretty plain what we’re doing here. I think it’s amazing, first of all. Was there any pushback? Did you feel from other companies or anything, did anyone accuse you of maybe making yourself a poster boy or taking advantage or anything like that? Right in your mission statement it says, “We’re doing this for the LGBT community. Now, of course, anyone can take it and it will help with anyone’s anxiety. What was the focus behind that and did you feel any pushback from anyone?

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. I think that no matter what you do in life, you’re going to get push back from anyone, whether it’s your friends or strangers. Yeah, I have received push back, but I think that’s a little validated. If you look at the way my community has been subject to different business opportunities in the past, every June is pride and every company out there, they throw up a rainbow label over their logo.

Matt Baum:
Suddenly they’re 100% behind you for one weekend.

Wayne Carkeek:
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. We know their intentions. It’s so that they can be a part of that community to make their bucks through that month and then they removed that rainbow from their logo. That’s something we fly proud year round is our logo is a rainbow. Yeah. We’re going to continue to receive push back, but I know where my heart is in the company and that’s making a difference and also giving back. Yeah. I’m more than prepared to deal with those kinds of things.

Creating Out And About CBD

Matt Baum:
Fair enough. Tell me about the company itself. How did you get started? It’s one thing to decide, “I think I want to do this,” and it’s another thing to go find growers and people that are going to separate the CBD from the plant and the oil and whatnot. How did you get involved with that? What were the choices along the way?

Wayne Carkeek:
I guess Ralph, for the most part, is very well connected in the CBD industry. He’s worked with some people, some clients and so we had a little bit of a headstart and where we wanted to source our products from and we wanted to make sure that they were premium products. We don’t want to outsource from a different country. Yeah. I think Ralph was very well fluent in where we were going to be buying our products from, but that said, we definitely brought in a big array of items to test and see what products we wanted to make ours. And we also wanted a little bit of customization from them. We wanted to be able to make it specific to the LGBT community. You’ll see things in our collection that are specific to who we are and the things that my community enjoys like working out.

Matt Baum:
Tell me about that a little bit. Tell me about the specifics.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. Working out. We have an energy drink that will be coming out hopefully this month. Yeah. It’s something that can give you a little bit of energy at the gym, get your heart racing, gets you through your workout, but it also has that CBD additive too. Help you relax afterward. I think there’s a little bit of thought about how it influences the lactic acid in your muscles. Don’t quote me on that, but-

Matt Baum:
Fair enough. Now, California is a little looser on that than some states. They’re allowing you to do an energy drink. I know that the FDA is still looking into a lot of this stuff and saying you can use it in an ointment, you can use it in a tincture, but you cannot use it as a food additive yet. That’s cool that you’re allowed to, honestly.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah, 100%. Yeah. There’s just a couple of products that are specific now, but going forward I think that we definitely want to hear what our community wants in their products. We’ve already done that with one of our products, which is a CBD lubricant.

Matt Baum:
Oh nice.

Wayne Carkeek:
It’s the sexual lubricant and it’s for gay sex, straight sex, but yeah, it’s something that that can enhance your sexual pleasure.

Matt Baum:
Absolutely. I did an interview with a woman that runs ENG, E-N-G, which is Engineered Erotics and they were doing CBD infused lubricants and whatnot and she said-

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah, I listened to that. That was a really good one.

Matt Baum:
She’s really cool and we’ve actually stayed in contact. That’s awesome, you guys are doing that. What other kinds of products are you offering?

Wayne Carkeek:
We have a lot of the ones that other mainstream companies will have out there like gummies. We want to provide, the one thing that I’ve learned using CBD is not everyone’s the same when it comes to dosing. I’m super sensitive and I take usually 10 milligrams at most.

Matt Baum:
Oh wow.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. When some people can take 25, 50 milligrams.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. I’m in the 25 to 50 group myself. Yeah.

Wayne Carkeek:
And that blows my mind away. I think that’d be dead asleep for four days if I did that.

Matt Baum:
Well, that’s the goal for me. It’s time for Matt to turn this thing off and go to bed. How do you take your own CBD? What do you prefer? What’s your regimen?

Wayne Carkeek:
Usually what I do, I’ll go to bed every night and I’ll use the tincture. Especially today with as much sleep as I’m allowed to get with the virus and staying home. I feel like I have to take an extra dose at night, but I’m experimenting right now with taking a tincture before bed, but also taking a gummy so it can digest and hit me a little bit later on. But yeah, throughout the day I’ll usually use either a gummy or we have a mint, which works very similar to a tincture. As it’s dissolving in your mouth, it’s hitting your bloodstream a little bit faster.

Matt Baum:
That’s cool. That’s very cool.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. And then, especially now, I’m working out every day almost. I’m using, we have a massage oil with CBD in it. Lavender scented, and yeah, I’ll put that on my muscles after I shower and it just helps soothe my muscles immediately.

Matt Baum:
Where can we find your products? Are you everywhere now or are you, is this a California mainly or…

Wayne Carkeek:
Currently we’re just an e-commerce. We had big plans to branch out into all the gay neighborhoods across the US over the next couple of years, but obviously with the virus, we’re a little bit pushed back-

Matt Baum:
Society crumbled as we know it.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. We’re okay with that. It gives us time to get our feet wet and figure out what we’re doing, where we’re going, build our image a little bit and just get our name out there before people start seeing it in stores. I’m not discouraged at all by it. Yeah, I’m also excited to get out there firsthand and start meeting people in the communities trying to get them to see our products firsthand and test them out and see if they like them.

The Trevor Project & supporting LGBTQ youth

Matt Baum:
Most definitely. Most definitely. What do you have to say to the kid that is out there right now that’s listening to this, that’s terrified? That hasn’t come out and it doesn’t matter where they live or whatever the reason is. What do you have to say to them? Take CBD out of it. What do you say to someone that comes to you and says, “I read your story and I know how you feel and I’m terrified.”

Wayne Carkeek:
The first thing I have to say is I’m very personable and so my first response is, “Give me a call. Text me. Email me.”

Matt Baum:
That’s awesome.

Wayne Carkeek:
I think that’s the one thing that I really wish I had in my life is someone to talk to. And if you don’t feel comfortable talking to me, like I said, the Trevor Project is an amazing organization. That’s why I fully support them because they’re there and they’ve modernized their whole on call system. You can call them, you can text them, you can chat with them online. They’re great people. I’ve met them. I think that what they’re doing is something that should have been here 20 years ago, 30 years ago.

Matt Baum:
Absolutely. Can you talk about the Trevor Project a little bit? How you got involved with it and what it is.

Wayne Carkeek:
Definitely. I love talking about them. Yeah. The Trevor Project is crisis prevention for LGBT youth and it started in the ’90s and it was because of a movie, I guess a film that had come out. What they do is they provide 24 hour services for LGBT youth. I believe what their scope is, is from the ages of 14 to 25 years old. [crosstalk 00:28:23]

Matt Baum:
The highest risk factor too.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense because those were the years where I felt like I was most at risk.

Matt Baum:
Exactly.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. I can completely relate with them, but yeah. They provide these call centers. I think they have five to 700 volunteers working for them across the nation.

Matt Baum:
That’s amazing.

Wayne Carkeek:
Which is amazing. It’s something that just inspires me. If anyone’s ever in need, mental health issue, whatever it is, you should always reach out. I’m not saying that just to the LGBT youth, but anyone obviously.

Matt Baum:
Right. Absolutely.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah. I just know that my community is a little bit more susceptible to having these issues.

Matt Baum:
Right. And as someone who went through it, coming from your background, I can’t think of anybody better to put their face on this stuff and say, “Hey, not only do you not have to suffer and it’s okay to be yourself, there are things that are not drug related or pharmaceutically related that can help you with anxiety and whatnot. I think it’s amazing what you’re doing, man. I really do. And I want to thank you so much for your time. This has really been fantastic. I appreciate it.

Wayne Carkeek:
Yeah, I appreciate it. I appreciate giving me the time and I appreciate everything that you’re doing because I think the education about CBD is the most important thing out there. The more people that can get out there and learn about it, the better off our world will be.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. This is really an aspect, what we’re talking about today, that I hadn’t really taken into account. We’ve obviously done shows about anxiety and whatnot, but as far as looking at a community and how this can help a certain community, I think that’s really cool and it goes way more than just a marketing shtick. I think it’s important.

Wayne Carkeek:
100%.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Very cool, man.

Final thoughts from Matt

Matt Baum:
Again, I want to thank Wayne for his time and we will have links to Out and About CBD on the post for this show. We’ll also have links to the Trevor Project and if any of you out there listening are in the LGBTQ community and you’re having a mental health issue or you just need someone to talk to, I urge you, reach out to these people. They’re fantastic and they will listen.

Matt Baum:
That is about it for this week’s show, but a few announcements before we leave. As always, I want to thank everybody that has jumped on our patron and is supporting Ministry of Hemp there. You can go to Patreon.com/MinistryofHemp and any amount will make you a Ministry of Hemp insider which gets you early access to interviews and articles that are posted on Ministry of Hemp and our podcast extras. We just posted a couple of them. One is with Nick Warrender from Herb who I just talked to in the last episode and the other is from episode 35 where I talked to Seth Hirsch of Catskills Comfrey about how he makes his ointment. They’re fun little extra stuff, and honestly, I can’t thank you guys enough for throwing little extra cash at us, especially during these times and helping Ministry of Hemp out in getting this information to people that need to hear it.

Matt Baum:
Speaking of MinistryofHemp.com, get over there and check out an article we have up about CBD industry insiders speaking about how to stand out in the competitive CBD industry. Also, I don’t normally plug other websites, but our editor in chief and my buddy Kit O’Connell got written up again in Honeysuckle Magazine. They shared some of his writing. It’s a really great article about how the media spread reefer madness and now it can spread the truth. I’ll have a link to that in the notes as well because it’s cool and Honeysuckle is a great magazine too if you haven’t checked it out.

Matt Baum:
Speaking of show notes, at The Ministry of Hemp, we believe that an accessible world is a better world for everybody. You will find a complete written transcription of this show in the show notes as well. If you need more Ministry of Hemp, follow us on all of our social media. You can always find us at /MinistryofHemp or @MinistryofHemp And if you have questions about episode or any hemp questions you’d like to hear answered on the show, call us at (402) 819-4894 and leave us a message. That is The Ministry of Hemp phone line and we would love to hear from you. Kit and I going to be getting together real soon and answering a bunch of your questions for another Q and A show and they are so much fun. You can also email me your questions directly, if you don’t feel like calling in, to matt@ministryofhemp.com and again, I would love to hear from you.

Matt Baum:
For now, just like I like to say at the end of every show, remember to take care of yourself, take care of others and make good decisions, will you? This is Matt Baum with The Ministry of Hemp signing off.

The post CBD & The LGBTQ Community: Talking With Wayne Carkeek Of Out & About CBD appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

For most of us, our daily routines and regular passions have been disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis. Even if you are fortunate enough to be relatively untouched by this pandemic, we’re all at least shaken by this change to our way of life. Self-care can be challenging right now, especially if you were used to engaging with the world in ways that simply aren’t possible anymore. 

Whatever your situation during this pandemic, we hope you’re able to take a little time each week when you can focus on caring for yourself. That’s where this isolation self-care guide comes in. We’ve included a delicious healthy recipe and some self-care tips we’re using to maintain a healthy outlook. We also selected a few of our favorite hemp and CBD products which you might find nourishing, soothing or relaxing to try.

While we don’t know what you’re going through right now, we hope the best for you and your family, and hope these tips can give you a little more relaxation.

Table of Contents

• Isolate with us: Self-care tips with the Ministry of Hemp
• Recipe: Cookie Dough Smoothie
• Nourish yourself inside & out with hemp

Check out our list of CBD assistance programs if you’re having trouble affording CBD during this time.

Isolation self-care tips from the Ministry of Hemp

Many of us at Ministry of Hemp are used to working from home. But this pandemic is stressful even for those of us with years of experience working this way.

There’s no longer any way to escape the same four walls for long, whether it’s to a café or a coworking space. All our routines are being disrupted, not to mention facing the stress and anxiety of this uncertain, scary and dangerous time. 

At the time we’re writing this, some states are beginning to open up again. But medical experts are cautioning it will be a long time, from months to years, before things go back to anything approaching normal. And, sadly, we may see several waves of the virus, forcing us to stay home again. Making the most out of our home life is going to be important for a long time to come.

We polled everyone in our virtual office, to find out how they’re coping. Here’s some of our favorite isolation self-care tips:

Separate work & home 

If you’ve got the space to do so, create a separate space for work and living. Having a home office, and a clear end time to your work every day, will help you maintain a work/life balance.

That means both physically separating your work from the rest of your home, to the extent it’s possible to do so, but also deliberate scheduling. Especially if you’re not used to working from home, it’s easy to turn a normal workday into an all nighter, or find yourself answering emails at all hours, even when you’re trying to get some sleep or visit with your family or partner. Try to create a concrete start, and end, to every workday.

Take time every day for self-care 

Our video producer Desiree says she spends 20 minutes every morning, drinking coffee while laying in the sun on her deck. Drew, our sales & sponsorship assistant, loves to listen to sound meditations and garden. Of course, taking CBD might be part of your self-care routine too. Some studies and numerous anecdotal reports suggest CBD can reduce symptoms of anxiety.

Maintaining our connections with others is vital too, however we’re able. If you’re living in isolation with someone, make sure to make time for each other. Many of us are participating in video chats and regular phone calls with friends and family that we can’t be near.   

Don’t spend all your time online 

Have you found yourself awake at some weird hour, staring into your social media feed as you watch the world seemingly fall apart? We’ve been there and it sucks. Set limits for yourself. That might be a maximum amount of time you spend on social media per day, or you might decide not to check your phone for a certain amount of time before sleeping or after waking up. Consider keeping your phone out of the bedroom, and maybe switch to a book before bed.

Keep to a routine …

What day is it again? If you’ve been stuck at home, and all your routines are a mess, it can make it harder to cope. If you can, stick to a regular routine as much as you can. Make sure to get sleep. Get up around the same time. Make sure you eat regular meals. 

… but love yourself when things go wrong

At the same time, make allowances for the hard days, when you just aren’t able to do as much. You might need to sleep more, or have trouble sleeping. Things might feel a bit hopeless. That’s OK, so let yourself feel it too. 

If you do feel out of control or overwhelmed by your feelings regularly, considering reaching out to your doctor, a therapist or other medical professional. Most therapists are offering video chats now, and it’s hard to overstate how valuable these conversations can be.

Help your neighbors

We’re all feeling a little disconnected right now. Look for ways to support people close to you, even if you didn’t know them before the pandemic. Maybe there’s an older or immunocompromised neighbor that needs someone to bring over some groceries. If you have money, consider donating part of your stimulus check to someone who has less. Leave notes on doors, or find people to help on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and NextDoor. There may even be an organized volunteer or mutual aid network in your community that you can tap into to help even more. 

Helping others can be a valuable form of self-care, because it turns self-care into community care. And it helps us all feel less isolated, even while maintaining isolation for safety. You might make new friends that last long after this crisis passes.

Eating well is the best isolation self-care

Eating nutritious foods is one of the best forms of self-care during isolation. Taking time to cook with or for your partner, or even just yourself, can feel extremely nurturing. And that’s even before you dig into your freshly made food. There’s lots of ways to safely get fresh food in many communities, whether it’s through grocery pickup, or joining a local farm share. Here in Austin where many of us work, some local restaurant distributors are even now selling their produce to the public.

Of course, we’re big fans of hemp seeds. Hemp seeds and hemp seed oil are nutritional powerhouses, full of amino acids, omega3s and other nourishment. We also think they taste good too. But whether or not you’re eating our favorite plant, we encourage you to pick meals that are both good for you but also nourish your spirit. And if that means indulging in some ice cream after a rough day, we say go for it.

Recipe: Cookie Dough Smoothie

Who hasn’t taken a bite of cookie dough out of the bowl? This delicious CBD smoothie offers you a healthier version of an old favorite.

Salty and sweet, this cookie in a cup has a frosty, blended-ice texture with chocolate chips (or cacao nibs if you want something less sweet). This smoothie is filling with a secret fiber- and protein-rich ingredient … chickpeas! You’ll never know they’re in there, but once you try this, you won’t be able to stop using them in your own smoothie blends.

Excerpted from CBD Drinks for Health by Carlene Thomas. Copyright © 2020 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 1 (2-CUP) SERVING

Per Serving

Calories: 242 – Fat: 7g – Protein: 6g – Sodium: 777mg Fiber: 5g – Carbohydrates: 41g – Sugar: 20g

Ingredients

• 1 cup sweetened vanilla oat milk
• 1⁄4 cup canned, drained, and rinsed chickpeas
• 1⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon chocolate chips
• 1⁄2 small peeled frozen banana, cut into chunks
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 15 milligrams CBD isolate oil

Directions

• Add oat milk, chickpeas, salt, chocolate chips, banana, and ice cubes to a small blender.
• Start blender on low and increase to high for 1 minute and 30 seconds until smooth.
• Add in CBD oil and blend on low for 10 seconds. 
• Serve immediately.

Nourish yourself inside & out: Hemp & CBD products for isolation self-care

To close out our isolation self-care guide, we thought we’d select some of our favorite hemp and CBD products. All of these are products we’ve enjoyed during our time working from home. They have helped us feel more relaxed, more nourished, moisturized, and less anxious. 

We’ve broken down our selections into categories. Click the product below to go directly to the listing, or keep reading to see them all.

Beauty & Skin Care

• EngErotics Soaking Sands Bath Shots
• Prima Night Magic Facial Oil
• Kino Whole Plant Hemp Lotion, White Gardenia Scent

Health

• Populum Full-Spectrum Hemp CBD Oil
• Joy Organics CBD Softgels
• Vitagenne Pure Sleep Hemp CBD Capsules

Fashion

• WAMA Hemp Underwear
• Hemp Zoo Hemp Socks

Food

• Hemp seed foods from Humming Hemp
• Neurogan Hemp Tea

Ministry of Hemp received free samples of these products for evaluation. We receive a percentage of sales if you buy products using the links or coupons below. We only selected products that we genuinely enjoy, and that meet our high standards, for inclusion in this article. 

EngErotics Soaking Sands Bath Shots

What is it? EngErotics Soaking Sands Bath Shots are single-serving bath salts that combine moisturizing oils, delightful scents and the soothing effects of CBD. 

Why did we select this product? A relaxing bath can be the perfect way to ground yourself in your body and focus on self-care rather than the stressful news of the day. And you know you’re supporting a great small, black-owned business with your dollars.

What’s it cost? $12.00 each

Kino Whole Plant Hemp CBD Body Lotion

What is it? Kino’s CBD Body Lotion, enhanced with kukui nut and hemp and rich with vitamin E will moisturize, heal cracked skin, and ease painfully dry hands. 

Why did we select this product? We’re all washing our hands over and over and over again! A soothing, moisturizing lotion is some of the best self-care right now. The White Gardenia scent helped mentally transport us to another place, too, far from isolation.

What’s it cost? $58 for an 8oz bottle

Prima Night Magic Facial Oil

What is it? Prima Night Magic is a face and skin oil designed with a targeted blend of vitamins and nourishing oils, plus the power of hemp. 

Why did we select this product? A mindful skin care routine can become a kind of meditation, and there’s something intensely relaxing about this facial oil, with its warm earthy undertones and soothing feel. We’ve applied it to our face and neck, dry hands, even elbows. A little goes a long way!

What’s it cost? $88 for a 1oz bottle

Special Offer: Use coupon MINISTRY20 for 20% off your entire order!

Populum Full-Spectrum Hemp CBD Oil

What is it? A top-quality, full-spectrum product, Populum CBD Oil rich is with terpenes and cannabinoids, but blended with a fresh orange flavor that makes it easy to take. Available in 250mg, 500mg and 1000mg bottles.

Why did we select this product? CBD oil can offer stress relief, pain relief, and often helps relieve anxiety. There’s so many little ways CBD can help during isolation, so we make sure to take some every day. The great flavor of Populum’s CBD means there’s no hempy taste to contend with either.

What’s it cost? $59 – $179.00 depending on strength

Special Offer: Subscribe to monthly deliveries for 20% off

Joy Organics CBD Softgels

What is it? Broad-spectrum, THC-free Joy Organics CBD Softgels made with nanoemulsion technology to ensure fast absorption and high levels of bioavailability. Available in 10mg and 25mg strengths.

Why did we select this product? If you’re already taking other supplements or medications, a softgel can be an easy way to add CBD to your everyday self-care routine during isolation. Softgels also make it easy to take the same dose every time. 

What’s it cost? 44.95 – 74.95 depending on strength

Vitagenne Pure Sleep Hemp CBD Capsules

What is it? Vitagenne’s Pure Sleep Hemp Capsules combine 25mg of CBD isolate with 5mg of melatonin and 180mg of valerian extra in every softgel.

Why did we select this product? You’re not alone if you’ve been having trouble sleeping during the pandemic. Combining CBD with other natural sleep aids like valerian and melatonin, these capsules could help you drift off and sleep deeper.

What’s it cost? $49.99 for 30 capsules

Special Offer: Use coupon MOH20 for 20% off your entire order!

WAMA Hemp Underwear

What is it? WAMA Underwear is super soft, super comfortable, super durable underwear made from hemp! Available in 8 styles for men and women.

Why did we select this product? Hemp underwear is some of the softest underwear you can imagine and, like all hemp fabrics, it just gets softer as you wash it more. Plus, hemp is naturally antibacterial, meaning you’ll stink less around anyone you do get close too during isolation.

What’s it cost? $24 each for men’s underwear styles, $20 each for women’s underwear styles, discounted multi-packs available 

Hemp Zoo Hemp Socks

What is it? Ultra comfortable Hemp Zoo Hemp Socks available in basic black or cute hemp leaf print. These come in a crew style.

Why did we select this product? A warm, soft pair of socks just relaxes our feet, making great self-care when we’re isolating inside in the air conditioning all day. Hemp Zoo also has a wide selection of hemp clothes that are great for lounging indoors, helping you stay a little stylish while still very comfortable. Plus that whole anti-stink feature we mentioned above applies here too.

What’s it cost? $14.99 per pair

Hemp Seeds & Bars from Humming Hemp

What is it? Humming Hemp sells U.S. grown hemp hearts (hulled hemp seeds) that are easy to add to almost any dish. For quick snacking, we love their delicious hemp-based Hummingbars. Try several of their products in their special Stay Home Humming Kit.

Why did we select this product? Hemp seeds are very balanced nutrition, offering a complete protein along with other vital nutrients. Good nutrition is essential self-care, especially during the stress of isolation. 

What’s it cost? Various. Hemp hearts start at $9.99.

Neurogan Hemp Tea

What is it? Each bag of Neurogan Hemp Tea contains only caffeine-free hemp leaves and a small amount of CBD (10mg). Hemp has a natural earthy flavor that many tea lovers will adore. 

Why did we select this product? Neurogan is a CBD and hemp brand with Scandinavian roots. Neurogan seeks to promote the art of “hygge,” which means enjoying the simple things in life. A warm cup of hemp tea is the perfect simple self-care we need during isolation.

What’s it cost? $15.95 for 20 tea bags

Drew De Los Santos contributed to this guide.

The post Isolation Self-Care Guide: Hemp-Powered Stress-Relief During A Pandemic appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

In this episode, Matt talks about more novel coronavirus fraud as some companies prey on people’s worst fears with misinformation about CBD and COVID19. Then Matt sits down with Seth Hersh, founder of Catskills Comfrey for a discussion about a smaller purveyor trying to compete in the evergrowing hemp industry.

Update April 10, 2020: After this episode aired, Seth reached out to let us know that New York denied his 2020 hemp growing license. As touched on in this episode, he ran afoul of New York’s regulations because he planned to directly process his hemp into CBD for his topicals, without using a New York-state licensed processor. And New York won’t issue any new hemp processing licenses, making it all but impossible for him to create “seed to shelf” style products.

Seth stressed he still has a lot of hemp left from his last crop, and so he’s still making and selling his great CBD-infused topical ointments. -KO

We want To hear from YOU!

We want to hear from you too. Send us your questions and you might hear them answered on future shows like this one! Send your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind, this phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for the Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com

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Small hemp farms vs. corporate hemp: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the complete episode transcript:

Matt Baum:
I’m Matt Baum and this is the Ministry of Hemp podcast brought to you by ministryofhemp.com, America’s leading advocate for him and hemp education.

Matt Baum:
Hi, it’s Matt Baum and this is the Ministry of Hemp podcast and today on the show we’re going to be talking to a small CBD topical producer that also works with an herb called Comfrey. His name is Seth Hersch. He has a small farm in the Catskills where he literally grows the hemp, mashes it up and makes ointment out of it, start to finish. He’s controlling every step of the process and documenting those steps and the government is giving him some trouble and we’re going to talk about that today.

Misinformation about CBD and COVID-19

Matt Baum:
But first, before we get into that, I don’t want to repeat myself here, but we need to talk about CBD and the Coronavirus again.

Matt Baum:
There currently is no cure for the coronavirus. I can’t say that any other way. There is currently no cure for the coronavirus and anyone that tells you that there is, whether it’s a toothpaste, whether it’s CBD, whether it’s an herb, a spice or even Western medicine. There is no cure out there, but there are a lot of companies that are trying to make money on your paranoia. They are trying to take advantage of you right now.

Matt Baum:
The magazine Forbes just reported on a major spam campaign that hit hundreds of thousands of cell phones with a fake Fox news article that said that one mom has found the solution to fight back against the coronavirus outbreak and it was wait for it, CBD. Of course this is completely false and it is geared to separate the terrified paranoid public from their money and that’s all it is and you have to recognize this stuff for what it is.

Matt Baum:
There’s another company that was selling CBD infused hand sanitizer. Does it sanitize your hands? Probably, but is the CBD doing anything? No, and it’s certainly not fighting the coronavirus. With a global pandemic like this of course there is a huge movement to boost your immune system and there are a million herbal and nutritional supplement companies out there saying that they can boost, strengthen your immune system or balance your immune system or whatever clever word they’re using to make your immune system superhuman and lots of them have CBD included as well.

Matt Baum:
The hard news is there is no good way to boost your immunity system. Your best defense right now is to wash your hands and stay quarantined. That is it. There’s no real good news here. This will pass. It’s going to, but CBD, herbal and nutritional supplements are not the answer. Do not waste your money and do not spread this kind of misinformation because it does nothing. It does nothing but scare people and make them spend money on what is essentially snake oil. I’m going to say this one more time, and this is coming from a podcast that is here to educate and promote the benefits of hemp and CBD. It does not cure the coronavirus and there is no easy answer to this right now, and anyone that tells you differently is a liar.

Meet Seth Hersh of Catskills Comfrey

Matt Baum:
One of the things CBD can do is help with pain and we’ve talked about it extensively on this show. Today I’m talking with Seth Hersh of Catskills Comfrey. As you’ll hear in the interview Comfrey’s an herb that helps with pain and cellular regeneration and it only seemed natural for him to start mixing CBD with that as well after he discovered that it relieved him and his wife of the pain that they had been living with. He’s the founder and head farmer as well.

Matt Baum:
Seth is a small purveyor out of the Catskills in New York trying to make his way in this new gigantic business and I hope you enjoy the conversation we had about growing hemp, producing his ointment and the difficulties of trying to follow the law and just find someone that will process your credit card payments.

Matt Baum:
So Seth, give me a little background on you first. How did you get into this business?

Seth Hersh:
I got into it through a practical matter. I have trigger finger. Trigger finger, if you’re not familiar with where your finger is locked. It’s a common problem often with musicians where you have repetitive motion. And I have been seeking a solution, literally a solution, like people were suggesting [inaudible 00:05:17] from aquariums and things like this. Nothing worked.

Seth Hersh:
And I read about Comfrey and overnight, I mean the impact on my trigger finger, loosening up of the fingers, the duration, the intensity, discomfort was an herbal remedy. And it was very impactful. It was very obvious. And I said, “Boy, a lot of people must be suffering from this. Let me make an ointment.”

Seth Hersh:
My wife too had sprained her pelvis, which is very painful.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, Wow.

Seth Hersh:
And she couldn’t sleep and this is actually the initial account. She was a herbologist and we got some Comfrey and that night she did a poultice and that night she was able to sleep again. So it was obvious to us, I mean, you had to go to the [inaudible 00:06:04] there was some benefit here. And that’s how I started growing.

Growing herbs in the Catskills

Seth Hersh:
We have a small farm up here about eight acres in the Catskills, and it’s ideal for growing [inaudible 00:06:13]. We’ve probably got 400 plants around now, plus some other medicinals were growing on a calendula and last year at least I started with hemp.

Matt Baum:
So let me ask you, we talk mainly hemp on this show, but what is Comfrey? I’ve never heard of it until I bumped into you.

Seth Hersh:
Comfrey is a plant. If you are into cosmetology and you look on the ingredient list of many cosmetics, you will see an active ingredient called Allantoin. Allantoin is associated often in conversations with collagen anti-aging benefits.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Seth Hersh:
The demand by the cosmetic injury is so huge that they manufacture Allantoin synthetically. The Comfrey plant is a natural source of Allantoin. It’s called meat bone. It’s a cell proliferate actually. The active ingredient in Allantoin is known to be a cell proliferative, it encourages cell growth.

Seth Hersh:
So there’s many, many skin conditions in bones. For example, if they’re broken, what do you need to mend them? You need new cells.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Seth Hersh:
And in Comfrey enhances the body’s ability to create new cells.

Matt Baum:
A little audio glitch there, but Seth was saying that Comfrey has been shown to help the body in new cell growth. So where did the idea come from to start growing hemp and mixing that with the Comfrey? That’s got to be relatively new.

Seth Hersh:
I mean, around New York state or a couple of years ago selling my ointments, the three originals that are non CBD, I kept running into these stores, these wellness stores. It was saying… And I would see the sign for CBB and some people were saying, “Hey, you ought to do a CBD thing.” So I started looking into it and I saw the benefits complemented what Comfrey offers.

Seth Hersh:
Comfrey’s an anti-inflammatory, CBD’s an anti-inflammatory.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Seth Hersh:
Comfrey is great for sore muscles and joint pain. CBD is good for relieving muscle and joint pain. It’s supposedly good for rashes. Comfrey is great for rashes because it helps create new cells where the cells have died on the surface of the skin.

Seth Hersh:
So it became a kind of, “Hey, let’s do this.” And I started looking around for a source of CBD. So to mix in with the ointments that I’m making, the Comfrey, the [inaudible 00:08:37], the collegial coming up with various formulations. So that was the impetus. It’s worked out pretty good.

Growing hemp and comfrey on a small farm

Matt Baum:
So what’s the growing season like on hemp? Is it the same as Comfrey? I mean hemp is a great big giant plant. And on your site it looks like Comfrey’s kind of a cute little green guy.

Seth Hersh:
Well there’s a lot of… You drive the Comfrey leaves… The main source of what I do for the ointments is I recover the Allantoin from the large leads of the Comfrey plant. Yes the plan is small. They actually grow quite large after a few years. In fact they had told me to do two foot spacing or two and a half foot spacing and I didn’t listen to people [crosstalk 00:09:19]-

Matt Baum:
That’s a tomato plant spacing. It’s pretty big.

Seth Hersh:
Yeah. But they have now filled in the space. I mean the leaves touch and [inaudible 00:09:26] plants so you cannot get rid. You have to be very careful of planting Comfrey because you just can’t get rid of it, which is one of the benefits. It has a very, very deep root.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Seth Hersh:
And it just keeps on going down and down to draw in nutrients.

Matt Baum:
It’s an annual. It comes back every year?

Seth Hersh:
Oh yeah. With much bigger, more vigor every year. So that’s good because it has minimal care. You give it a shovel full of manure every year. Horse manure, he loves it. Soil up here seems to be ideal. I’ve had no problem. Minimal care. I mean the main thing is just harvesting it, drying it, crushing it.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Seth Hersh: (inaudible 00:10:07) it, infusing it. It’s not the growing aspect. It’s pretty a minimal care for that.

Matt Baum:
I assume the process that you’re talking about is very similar for the hemp as well.

Seth Hersh:
Well, yes. I mean you have different perhaps ground requirements. My hemp grows very easily. That we were blown away with the yield last year. We were actually taken aback. We got into a [inaudible 00:10:31]. What we had done, I had secured actually a local supply of excellent hemp. A distillate. CBD distillate about an hour away from here. I’ve been searching all over the country a couple of years ago when it first started taking off. Eventually, think global act local, acted locally, found a great hemp… I [inaudible 00:10:53] extracts.

Seth Hersh:
An hour from here, they supplied me with my first batch of distillate and then I had the idea at the end of the year. “Why don’t I grow it?” So we had been getting along pretty well, [inaudible 00:11:05] and myself and they agreed to give me a plot of land and let me grow under their license.

Seth Hersh:
The New York state has rather rigorous CBD laws now. They’ve been active all along, [inaudible 00:11:18]. So he had a license. I grew under that about half an acre, which is a lot of plants for someone like myself, but I’m only growing for my own use. I’m going to use in the ointments.

Seth Hersh:
I quickly discovered last year that you don’t make money if you’re small. Find the sellings were a hemp market.

Navigating New York hemp laws as a small farmer

Matt Baum:
That was my next question actually. Not to poke any fun, but you’re a little guy. You’re doing smaller business, are you surviving on this? Is this a living? Are you able to survive?

Seth Hersh:
Well I am retired and I’m trying to grow the business. I mean in the curious case of obstacles along the way.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Seth Hersh:
And have the CBD ointments that I have, I have two now. One’s a, I call it CBD and then there’s a CBD premium, which is a potency one that is doing very well also. But along the way New York state decided to get involved.

Seth Hersh:
And the very day that I was applauding the New York state efforts, they advised me that, “Hey, you can’t infuse your products.” I use the infusion process to move the active ingredients from the hemp buds along with the Comfrey [inaudible 00:12:35] and the other herbs I’m using. I use the infusion process. Well, New York state didn’t recognize it in their hemp bill and they were saying, “Well that’s illegal. You can’t use that.” And that’s kind of-

Matt Baum:
Out of curiosity, what did they recognize? What would they have said was legal?

Seth Hersh:
Well, the traditional commercial-

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Seth Hersh:
… ethanol and the carbon dioxide, the extraction methods.

Matt Baum:
Right. Multimillion dollar chemistry extraction.

Seth Hersh:
Exactly.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Seth Hersh:
Now to be fair, the authors they had there, I’ve met with the Senator in New York state recently or talked over the phone with their office and they were very receptive to the little guys like myself, the small farmers.

Matt Baum:
That’s cool.

Seth Hersh:
They said they wanted to help the farmers. This was an Avenue, but the way the restrictions on… There’s three things. You can be a manufacturer, you can be a processor, you can be a grower. Now I’ve applied for my growers license this year. Apparently I’ll get my own independent license, but I can’t process it. They won’t sell me a processor license.

Matt Baum:
Why? What are they afraid of? I don’t understand. So you can grow it, you can process it, but you can’t grow it and process it. That’s the issue.

Seth Hersh:
Yeah. Well, they’re not issuing any more processor license they say. They didn’t give me much of a reason. Apparently 50 or 60 had been let, and my resource was telling me behind the scenes and saying, there’s really only four companies that have all those 60 license. So it’s a case of the big boys controlling the market and precluding small people like myself from just infusing small batches and doing these niche products.

Matt Baum:
Is it cost-prohibitive? What’s the licenses like? A grower’s license, let’s start there.

Seth Hersh:
No, they’re rather fair, it’s $500.

Matt Baum:
Oh, that’s nothing.

Seth Hersh:
Right, exactly. That’s good for an acre or 100 acres. So they’ve been fair about that. And the processor license also at that rate. But it’s the restrictions and the regulations and all this just preclude the practical ability of somebody like myself to secure one.

Credit card processing is a barrier for hemp vendors

Matt Baum:
So I just saw on your site, like very recently, you also had Stripe who was processing your credit card sales just dropped you. Did they give you a reason? Any reason why?

Seth Hersh:
Well of course, yeah. It was kind of abrupt. I got an email at 9:00 in the morning and I was out and my [inaudible 00:14:57] has disconnected my credit card processing account. They just said we… I complained because I say, “Hey, you been processing my account for six months.” I’ve been making sales and they gave no reason. One email and said [inaudible 00:15:12] here, thank you David [inaudible 00:15:15].

Matt Baum:
That’s sweet of them.

Seth Hersh:
You’re out of here and you’re on your own. And I literally was. [inaudible 00:15:24] is now my process so which is okay, I’m not crazy about it. They caused a similar restriction but right now they haven’t discovered me.

Matt Baum:
We’ll keep it quiet on our side. I won’t tell him anything.

Seth Hersh:
You can delete that out.

Matt Baum:
No problem.

Seth Hersh:
I’m trying to secure but that becomes a major task because rather than my templates, Squarespace, I have a Squarespace template to run the website. They make it, they don’t even allow us there. They have Stripe and they have a square and PayPal. Forget trying to put somebody else in there. So I’m having to rebuild the site around that problem.

Matt Baum:
They have contracts with them is what they have basically. So they say.

Seth Hersh:
Was that it?

Matt Baum:
You play in our yard, you play with these people basically.

Seth Hersh:
Yeah, exactly. So that’s been frustrating to kind of get back up and smoothly running.

Matt Baum:
Sure, sure.

Running a small hemp farm in retirement

Seth Hersh:
It’s a constant challenge when you’re small, you don’t have the basis, the benefits to scale. You may be able to see them. I’m retired, but we started this business back up. I’m 70 plus years old and last year we had the 500 plants. That was way more than I could handle.

Matt Baum:
That’s amazing. Is it just you?

Seth Hersh:
Well no, I had some people come in and help.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Seth Hersh:
So other users came in.

Matt Baum:
I’m picturing this like retirement community farm.

Seth Hersh:
Well, we didn’t do the tradition round in farming. I’m not a traditional farmer. I had worked for a farm organization five prior years before I retired as a database administrator. But as my wife and I, we’ve been growing the Comfrey. We had growing other things and that was working out. So when we jumped into the hemp, I had a little bit of experience and kind of knew what to expect.

Seth Hersh:
But when the plant started coming in and they were big and they were healthy and they had a lot of buds. and harvest, we were running out of space in our barn. At the end of the season, we had stuff hanging everywhere.

Matt Baum:
I’m sure.

Seth Hersh:
Inside the barns. So it was a good learning experience. But yes, it is very, very labor intensive. And now I’m cutting way back. The market is flooded up here.

Matt Baum:
Right. Everywhere.

Seth Hersh:
There’s no way… I’m sure everywhere. So I’m just kind of literally focusing on this year cutting way back on the number plants to about 80 plants and really grow in some monster plants with great yield and quality of ’80s so I could focus on them. That will reduce my labor costs, keeps me outdoors, which I enjoy.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Seth Hersh:
And so it should work out to the better this year as you learn and you play better.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. And I’m sure you’ve looked into this and I’m just spit balling here. I’m not trying to solve your problem, but like at the end of the year when you have all this hemp hanging and there’s a glut in the market, there’s literally nowhere you can go with it? You can’t sell it to anyone else? You can’t give it to the processors and be like, “Take this off my hands?”

Seth Hersh:
Well I did get contact some processors to say, “What can I do with this [inaudible 00:18:34] I’ve got?” And yes, they would have taken it, but the rate converting it was high.

Matt Baum:
I’m sure.

Seth Hersh:
So then you have the processing fee, which by the time I turned again to a couple of kilos of distillate, I’ve added a significant amount of costs. My whole marketing plan now is I’m trying to build up demand of course and add value to the product. That’s the only only viable route for me is to, I do my ointment, let’s add some CBD to it. I make a good product and hope that somehow gods of marketing will shine upon me and increase my throughput of the CBD and that would make it viable and then I see a route to using when I’m producing.

Seth Hersh:
Until that happens, there’s really… You lose money. Last year I went out into the market. I checked the market and see what can I get for this stuff and I wouldn’t even cover the fence I had put in last year to guard the half arce. It was just a realistic thing. I went into this with eyes wide open and realize in between my buddy in high falls and myself talking to the price was going to drop. We knew that. But still it was kind of a shock to see that I wouldn’t even be able to recover some basic expenses trying to sell into a farmer’s market.

The future of small hemp farms in New York

Matt Baum:
So you said you’ve been talking to legislatures in New York and they have been listening. Is there hope here? Do you think you’re getting through to them?

Seth Hersh:
No, I think we are. There was a unbeknownst to me, another associate of mine who I work with up in another village up here has a feed store and he was complaining to them independently of me. I didn’t know this and he had a very good conversation with them as well and they do seem receptive to the idea that the little guys want to play too. That we should be allowed to participate in the benefits also and they recognize the infusion process, how it’s processed, they understood that. [crosstalk 00:20:47]-

Matt Baum:
That kind of blows my mind that they would look at the infusion process specifically, which basically no chemicals, no ethanol, no chance of anything exploding. You’re literally putting ground up leaves into oil and letting the oil take the good stuff out. Right?

Seth Hersh:
Yeah, exactly. I mean it’s a very age old, centuries old process that really promotes-

Matt Baum:
What is the problem. I don’t understand. That’s the thing. When you get into legislation like this, this is what blows my mind. I get when they were worried and they said, “Well, we don’t know what this is and there’s no proof behind it and we’re afraid it’s marijuana.” We can teach people that, but then you’re stuck with stupid legislation like this. It’s saying you can’t steep the leaves in oil. I mean that’s mind blowing.

Seth Hersh:
Yeah, they get it. When you say what do you do when you steep a teabag? If they finally get what all of it is about and become a bit more receptive and yes, it is. I told them, I said, “Look, it’s not going to get cleaner because you send it out to the ethanol people are extract it that way. I test my stuff regularly with certificates. I do it a lot and these little $50 increments of testing add for a little guy.”

Matt Baum:
Oh yeah.

Seth Hersh:
“But we do it frequently and my test is just as valid as the big boys. It’s the same process in the testing facility.” So there might be some understanding there. I’d like to think so. When I tell them about the entourage effect and the full spectrum aspect, they kind of understand the chain of integrity of being able to say, “Well, I know where my CBD comes from.” My upper pasture. They start to I understand. It may be a bit more helpful as we move forward.

Seth Hersh:
It’s a simple matter. They just didn’t address the infusion method so it might be possible to do an amendment to say the infusion process is exempted. Something like this. I don’t know what form it may take if it will take it all. But they did listen, I thought they were… We were on the phone a good while.

Matt Baum:
So he was just literally left off the page more or less?

Seth Hersh:
Yeah. I mean the bill was probably written by some big boys and they said this is the main processes as if you’re doing 100 acres and 10 acres of stuff. You need a commercial process. My process in a sense, is commercial on a small scale. It’s not commercial across the United States. It doesn’t scale. I can’t do 100 pounds at a time. [crosstalk 00:23:21].

Matt Baum:
It just seems like there’s farmers in your same area that are pasteurizing goat milk and making cheese and producing food that could kill people if you do it wrong and you’re making an ointment. You know what I mean?

Seth Hersh:
Well, curiously, I wonder how curious it is, but the FDA has never in all my readings specifically come out and referenced topical applications, which is what an ointment is. They leave it unsaid, unmentioned in all these discussions. They’ll talk about ingestible. They’ll Talk about oil. Anything that’s going into your body they want to address and as do all the other health organizations.

Seth Hersh:
But topicals are pretty much left off to the side and on their own. So I’m optimistic that, that is the case, that they will remain that way without… Burdensome regulations are just a killer for people [crosstalk 00:24:17]. I mean, it’s not like we’re trying to make a lousy product or skirt the rules or anything. But the scale of what we do limits the practicals, application of all these things that the big boys have to go through.

Growing hemp is a fun challenge

Matt Baum:
Sure, sure. So do you regret it at all? Is there a part of you that says, “Man, everything was fine. We were growing comfrey. It was kicking ass and now I get into this hemp crap and you have got to be kidding me.”

Seth Hersh:
Well, no. That’s a good question but it’s never crossed my mind. It’s actually fun. I’ve enjoyed growing the plants and seeing these things. I know what a healthy plant looks like. It has been a real challenge. One of my blogs is about the challenge we got into last year for while undertaking this.

Seth Hersh:
I was going to say that we’re not a traditional farm. You come to my place, you’ve got eight acres. It used to be a dairy farm here. Back in the day this could support people nowadays, eight acres won’t do it in terms of dairy. But there was no trackers on this property. I went in and augured out each of the 500 holes with a big auger, an 18 inch augured hole. Refilled and plant the holes with improved soil.

Seth Hersh:
Although the soil was quite good and you have to add very much. I had it assayed it was excellent soil for growing hemp anyway. But still, that intensive labor or work… The first year I invested a lot since irrigation, getting holes prepared and harvesting 500 plants was a bit of a load. But no, I don’t think I’ve ever regretted. I’m getting great stories. I meet lots of people. And it keeps me out in the street. And it keeps me healthy. And these specific times, we’re talking right in the midst of the coronavirus issue.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Not a bad idea to get outside and get a little exercise. I mean, keep your distance from others, but you know…

Seth Hersh:
Well, the thing that I laugh about, okay it’s not a laughing matter by any means, but I say my lifestyle is barely changed. We live in a very rural area. I’ve got some neighbors on the other side of my rock wall a quarter mile away. There was nobody around. So we were out the other day working on the beds, working on the fields. So no self isolation or shelter in place is kind no different to me than I was two months ago.

Matt Baum:
You were socially distant before it was cool.

Seth Hersh:
Yeah, great.

Matt Baum:
So you keep saying this is non traditional farm and you went out and you augured all these holes on your own. Seth, why? Why do you choose to do it this way?

Seth Hersh:
Well, I mean the area we had was small. I mean you a half acre is small to a farmer. Why did I… I just didn’t want to get involved ripping up that pasture up at the top. I looked at it and said, “Hey, my associate was putting soil into these big pots.” I forget how big these pots and growing these monster implants used to produce these clones.

Seth Hersh:
And I said to myself, “Man, if he could put the hemp plants inside these big pots, these giant pots, I could put it in the and grow it.” So that was the impetus and that was how I approached it. I think it was a good decision. It keeps it on a scale. It’s manageable. This year I’m really going to be able to focus on watering. I have a natural water or spring that comes down from our half a mile. I left the side of the mountain here.

Matt Baum:
It sounds like you live in Hobbiton. It sounds beautiful.

Seth Hersh:
Well it’s nice. I mean the Catskills is really a… I’m very blessed here. We’ve got water, flowing water in addition to our 500 foot well, it’s some of the best water I’ve ever drunk in my life. So the fact that we had the running water and it allows us to run the gardens was a real blessing. And I focus that directly on the 500 plants and I’m not convinced I was really getting the pressure I needed even though I have a good head on it.

Seth Hersh:
About 60 foot ahead by the time it got down and gets distributed into the different zones, yeah, I’m not so sure it was a really that effective getting the fertilizer out. So now with 80 plants, I can really manually do it and have a nice time, a peaceful time doing it and really making sure each plant gets all fertilizers and all the attention it needs.

Matt Baum:
Seth, I appreciate you coming on the show. This has really been great and I’m rooting for you 100%. It’s so funny because there seems like the United States right now, farmer’s markets get bigger and bigger and bigger and people are more concerned with where their food is coming from. And like you said, thinking locally and buying locally, but for some reason the government wants to get in the way of hemp and CBD doing the same thing even though guys like you are trying to do it the right way, the hard way and the right way, I might add.

Seth Hersh:
Yeah, it’s our patient. I’ve been doing this so it’s… I feel I’m on the right course. It doesn’t feel wrong. If something’s not right, it’s wrong. I think this is right and I feel that it’ll work out. I get people happy that they’re using my products and that’s a nice blessing in itself. Yeah. I certainly haven’t gotten a applause in the bank account yet, but the applause comes through with people who say thank you and nice job and appreciate you making these ointments. That’s gratifying.

Matt Baum:
Well, I’m pulling for you. I hope the money comes soon here. Okay? I mean, applause is great. Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice to have people say thank you.

Seth Hersh:
Well, it’s also nice if they say thank you with a deposit and a purchase.

Matt Baum:
Exactly. Exactly.

Final thoughts from Matt

Matt Baum:
You heard a bleep during this interview and that’s because I didn’t want Seth to expose who was actually processing his credit cards right now in case he gets in trouble and that’s how ridiculous this business is, that’s a state that we’re in. This is completely legal. The 2018 farm bill made hemp and CBD completely legal in the United States, but it’s still very difficult for people to find credit card processing because everyone is waiting to see what happens next.

Matt Baum:
I’ve talked about it on this show before, but hopefully with new banking legislation that is coming, we will see this change so people like Seth don’t have to go through this headache for doing the job the right way. And as always, I will have links to Catskills Comfrey in the show notes for this episode.

Matt Baum:
That brings us to the end of another episode of the Ministry of Hemp podcast. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Seth and again, you can find those links to Catskills Comfrey in the show notes along with links to an article on ministryofhemp.com about why CBD can’t cure or prevent COVID-19 and why so many hemp brands are claiming that it can.

Matt Baum:
I didn’t mean to get negative or scary, but we have to be serious about this and if we want to promote the real scientific benefits behind hemp and CBD, then we have to focus on the science and separate out the garbage. And if you believe in this message and you believe in the power of hemp to change the frigging world, and it really can, I honestly believe that, please become a patron of ministryofhemp.com and help us to spread this message.

Matt Baum:
You can go to Patrion and search ministryofhemp.com. Any amount you donate makes you a ministry of hemp insider and gets you all kinds of benefits like podcast extras. And on this week’s podcast extra, I am talking to Seth about how he actually makes his ointment from start to finish. It’s very cool and I hope you get a chance to check it out.

Matt Baum:
At the Ministry of Hemp we believe that a more accessible world is a better world. So there is a complete written transcript of this show in the show notes of every episode as well. I hope all of you are staying healthy and keeping sane during your quarantine period. I know having a podcast helps give me something to do and I hope, listening to this helps give you some normalcy in your life.

Matt Baum:
There’s a fantastic DJ on KEXP out of Seattle and his name is John and goes to the morning show and every day he says, you are not alone. And every day he does it. I get a little misty. I really do. And I hope you guys know that you’re not alone either. We’re all going through this together and we are going to get through it. We just have to be smart about it.

Matt Baum:
So let’s remember, we are all in this together. Remember to take care of yourself. Remember to take care of others and make good decisions, will you? This is Matt Baum with the Ministry of Hemp podcast, signing off.

The post Small Hemp Farms vs. Corporate Hemp: Seth Hersh of Catskills Comfrey appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Obviously, there’s plenty of companies offering useful products and services during this unprecedented crisis, and some of them are profiting from it. Whether it’s Zoom offering vital video-conferencing tools, or hemp brands selling CBD oil that can help relieve some people’s anxiety or chronic pain, well-positioned companies profit from a crisis. That’s inevitable under our economic system, and it’s not what this editorial is about.

There’s no evidence that CBD can cure or stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Instead, we’re seeing brands try to capitalize on the fear and uncertainty of this pandemic by misrepresenting what CBD can do. At the Ministry of Hemp, we usually focus on the positive sides of the hemp industry. If a brand doesn’t meet our high standards, we typically simply don’t review them or partner with them on our site. But the current health crisis is different: Misinformation could cost people their lives. 

Let’s emphasize it again: There’s no evidence that CBD, in any form, can cure, prevent, or stop the spread of the new coronavirus. In addition, the idea of CBD “strengthening the immune system” is frequently misrepresented in order to sell hemp-based CBD products. Despite the lack of evidence that CBD can help directly in the COVID-19 crisis, a lot of CBD companies are making misleading claims anyway.

We understand that there’s a lot of hype around CBD. In addition, the marketplace is crowded and brands are struggling to stand out against more competition than ever before. That’s no excuse to let greed overcome your ethics. 

Claiming CBD can reduce spread of COVID-19 is irresponsible

On March 19, Forbes reported that hundreds of thousands of mobile phones were spammed with ads for irresponsible, unsubstantiated products that purportedly could cure or prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Many of these ads led to a fake Fox News website purporting that “one mom” had “found a solution” to the new coronavirus. And that solution is CBD oil. Sorry, but even if you had 5 moms (or 500!) who believe this, it still wouldn’t be true.

Other hucksters take that indirect approach so beloved by dishonest marketers throughout history. They don’t come right out and claim that CBD can cure COVID-19. Instead, they make vague claims about the antibacterial, and antiviral properties of CBD. However you phrase it, it’s still snake oil.

Part of the problem here is greed, and the other part is scientific illiteracy. While hemp has antibacterial properties, it’s more that it can make hemp clothing less prone to smelling bad when it gets sweaty. And, remember, COVID-19 is caused by a virus, not bacteria.

There are intriguing possibilities for the use of cannabinoids in medicine, including as a solution to antibiotic resistant infections. But, that’s all theoretical. It’s in our future, if it ever pans out at all.

And currently, there’s absolutely no published, peer-reviewed research we’re aware of on CBD and COVID-19. In a health crisis, we need to stick to facts, not speculation. Even (especially) if we can make money off speculating. 

CBD-Infused Hand Sanitizer: Pandemic Products No One Needs

It’s become a bit of a joke on social media that people are stuffing CBD into absolutely everything, even hummus and pillows.

It’s not a joke that makes the CBD industry look good. CBD pillows don’t help us make our case that this is a genuinely beneficial supplement.

Now along come brands seeking to directly capitalise on COVID-19 induced shortages and fears. With products like CBD-infused hand sanitizer. Rumor has it, the CBD infused face masks and gloves are right around the corner.

There’s no indication that CBD is doing anything here, despite the claims that “proprietary technology” makes the hand sanitizer offer “faster relief.” To us, this just seems like a way to charge $6 for a one ounce bottle of sanitizer with a few drops of CBD added. It’s a product that wouldn’t exist if there weren’t shortages of Purell.

Contrast this behavior with that of others who are stepping up to genuinely help. Cannabis brands in California and Massachusetts are now making, and donating hand sanitizer. Just hand sanitizer, no CBD.

If you have the resources to make protective supplies or equipment for our healthcare workers and other vulnerable people, please do so. And leave the cannabinoid hype at home.

Can CBD “boost” or “balance” the immune system?

Right now there’s a booming business being done in herbal or nutritional supplements that are meant to “boost” or “balance” your immune system. That includes CBD.

Unfortunately, the reality is that there’s no simple way to strengthen our immune system, nor any magic bullet that can bring it back into balance.

Let’s talk science for a moment. CBD and the other natural “cannabinoids” found in hemp and cannabis work by mimicking compounds normally found in our bodies. Those chemicals made by our bodies are called “endogenous cannabinoids,” because endogenous means, roughly, “from the body.” When we take CBD, it interacts with our natural “endocannabinoid system”, a series of receptors in our nervous system found throughout the body. And we know that this system does interact with the immune system.

Beyond that, our knowledge of the endocannabinoid system is very limited. Decades of drug prohibition made it extremely difficult for researchers to study how our body interacts with these chemicals. Once again, we simply have no evidence that CBD’s effect on our body can do anything to help us fight off COVID-19. In fact, at least one study suggests that cannabinoids could harm the immune system’s ability to fight off viruses, in some cases.

That doesn’t mean quit taking CBD until the COVID-19 crisis ends (unless your doctor tells you to do so, of course). It just means we need more research before making any claims. 

The myth of immune system ‘boosting’

The idea that we can take herbs to “boost” our immune system is a bit of a myth, according to Self Magazine. “For starters,” noted Carolyn L. Todd on March 23, “your immune system isn’t one single thing that we can pump up on demand—it’s a highly evolved, complicated system.” You should read the whole article, because she goes into a lot of detail, and interviews actual experts on the immune system.

Your immune system isn’t one single thing that we can pump up on demand.

Carolyn L. Todd, Self Magazine

In some cases, an overactive immune system can lead to health problems, even the dreaded “cytokine storm” that is deadly during some illnesses, including potentially the new coronavirus.

According to the experts Todd consulted, the only thing that can help make your immune system better able to fight off illness are “basic healthy habits” like “eating well, sleeping seven to nine hours every night, getting moderate exercise, and managing your stress levels.”

So if CBD helps you sleep better, recover from exercise faster, or feel less stressed, great! But the hemp industry should stop making unsupported claims about CBD and the immune system.

What CBD consumers & brands can do during COVID-19 crisis

When millions of lives are at stake, seemingly insignificant claims can become very serious. Giving people a false sense of security, or leading them to believe that a nutritional supplement will prevent them from catching the COVID-19 virus, could have deadly consequences during this pandemic.

We decided to close out this editorial with some tips for CBD buyers, and advice for CBD brands.

Stay as safe as you can and let’s all do what we can to protect each other.

Advice for CBD buyers

Use caution when buying CBD, now just as any day. Make sure you do your research to help you identify quality CBD brands. During the pandemic, you can add another factor to your selection process:

Don’t buy CBD from brands that make health claims about COVID-19 or the immune system.

Remember, CBD can help a lot of people with anxiety, insomnia, and other symptoms of isolation and a very stressful time. But claiming CBD can help directly with COVID-19 is simply inaccurate based on our current knowledge.

If you do see brands making outlandish claims about CBD during the pandemic, send us an email. We’ll make a list of some of the worst offenders we hear about here.

How CBD brands can help during the pandemic

Just as we want everyone to act responsibly by washing their hands and practicing social distancing, we want hemp brands to act responsibly too. How can they do that?

By being honest about what CBD can (and cannot do) to alleviate suffering in this time. By taking care of their employees as best they can, and donating supplies and money whenever possible.

To the extent that CBD and other cannabinoids can help, make sure you’re making your products accessible to people who are losing income. If you work for a hemp brand, consider launching a CBD assistance program. If you already have one, consider whether you can make more people eligible or give bigger discounts for a while.

We get it: these are scary and uncertain times. You’re trying to make a profit, while facing the prospect of profound disruption to our economy.

If the hemp industry wants to be a leader at sustainability, as we often claim, now is the perfect time to prove it. We must put people over profits, and humanity over economic growth.

Ultimately, we believe that has to be more important than any quick profits based on fear and lies.  

The post CBD Can’t Cure Or Prevent COVID-19, So Why Are Snake Oil Hemp Brands Claiming It Can? appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

In this episode of the Ministry of Hemp podcast, our host Matt warns about fraudsters selling Coronavirus cures. Then Chef Ron Silver, CCO and Founder of Azuca, comes on the ‘cast to talk about their unique CBD infused sugar. Their CBD sugar is perfect for CBD drinks or almost any elevated recipe that requires some sweetness.

We want to hear from you!

We want to hear from you too. Send us your questions and you might hear them answered on future shows like this one! Send your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind, this phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for the Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com

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CBD Sugar with Azuca’s Ron Silver: Complete episode transcript

Below is the complete transcript of episode 33 of the Ministry of Hemp podcast.

Matt Baum:
I’m Matt Baum and this is the Ministry of Hemp Podcast, brought to you by MinistryOfHemp.com, America’s leading advocate for him and hemp education.

Matt Baum:
Welcome back to a another edition of the Ministry of Hemp Podcast. My name’s Matt Baum and I am your host and today in the show we are going to talk about Azuca, a company created by a chef that is infusing CBD into sugar in small packets to help you with your dosage. It’s very cool. But before we do that, let’s take a minute to talk about the coronavirus.

CBD & fake coronavirus cures

Matt Baum:
The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19 as it’s been called, has dominated the news cycle recently and for good reason, it’s dangerous. The NBA has canceled their season along with the NHL. March Madness is canceled. Baseball doesn’t know if it can get started. As of Tuesday of this week, things seemed to ratchet up very quickly in the news and the United States woke up to the fact that this is serious and it’s probably going to affect a large chunk of the population.

Matt Baum:
Now with a warning like this comes a lot of misinformation. Just last week, disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker got a cease and desist letter from the state of Missouri for selling a fake cure. Alex Jones of InfoWars fame also just received a cease and desist for selling fake coronavirus cures. And of course there are people on the internet saying that CBD can cure of coronavirus. This is absolutely false.

Matt Baum:
CBD will not cure the coronavirus. It can be used to help with pain. It can use to help with anxiety centered around the coronavirus, sure. But I repeat, it is not a cure for the coronavirus. And if you find a site or a person or a shop that is selling CBD and saying that it is a cure or even preventative, they are lying to you. Do not give them your money and report them to your local authorities so they can be told to stop lying to the populace.

Matt Baum:
It’s kind of a scary time right now, I know. But we’ve all just got to stick together. We’ve got to share facts as we get them and make sure you and your loved ones are not being taken advantage of by criminals and conspiracy theorists trying to make money off this latest national panic.

Meet Ron Silver

Matt Baum:
Ron Silver has been the chef owner of Bubby’s, with locations in New York and Japan, for 30 years now. But recently he started a new venture called Azuca. Azuca took the idea of infusing CBD into organic sugar. They’re now doing it with simple syrups and chocolates too. I spoke to Ron from his apartment in New York and here is our conversation.

Matt Baum:
You started off as a chef. What kind of cooking were you doing? What was your background cooking?

Ron Silver:
Well, I own restaurants in New York City and in Japan called Bubby’s. And our specialty is home cooked American food, but it’s sourced from local farms that … I’ve been open for 30 years. So, I’ve been doing that. [crosstalk 00:03:54]

Matt Baum:
I’m sorry. I don’t mean to cut you off. What was the name of the restaurant? You blinked out a little bit.

Ron Silver:
The name of the restaurants are Bubby’s.

Matt Baum:
Bubby’s, gotcha, okay.

Ron Silver:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
So, how do we go from being a chef to hemp? How does this come about?

Ron Silver:
Well, first of all, being a chef I have absolutely also been in the scene and I’m not a big drinker, or I haven’t been a big drinker, so cannabis is my go to thing and it really always has been all my life.

Ron Silver:
So, cannabis is something that I have a weird understanding of more than your average person. So, when cannabis started to become legal, I started to try to understand what the problems were and how I could help solve those problems and that was maybe seven years ago. And since then I really have been zeroing in on a lot of interesting solutions for cannabis edibles.

Matt Baum:
And how did you get to CBD from cannabis? Was it something you just about seven years ago you haven’t discovered?

Ron Silver:
Well no, I didn’t know anything about CBD until maybe six years ago. Actually I was at a little meeting where people were talking about what the new cannabis industry was going to look like. We were in a suite at the Four Seasons hotel in San Francisco and there were about 20 people and there were all kinds of things going on there.

Ron Silver:
And one of them was that people were dabbing. And I had never heard of that before. I didn’t know what it was. And somebody had too much of the dab. And another person said, “Well, just smoke of this CBD, it neutralizes it.”

Ron Silver:
So, that was the first time I had ever heard of CBD. And I was really quite interested in that. And since then, the things that I’ve learned about CBD in the possibilities of what CBD is and also in experiencing how it has affected other people or has affected people who I’ve given it to or who take it, is amazing. It’s been an amazing journey of learning about another aspect of this plant, cannabis, and really what I surmise and realize is that what we called dirt weed back in the day in the old days was actually just high CBD cannabis.

Matt Baum:
I’m from the Midwest, so it was ditch weed, is what we called it here.

Ron Silver:
Ditch weed, exactly. Where are you located?

Matt Baum:
I’m in Omaha, Nebraska.

Ron Silver:
Cool.

Matt Baum:
So, you had a lot of river basin and a lot of ditch weed growing all over the place.

Ron Silver:
Well, yes. It basically grew wild. It does, it grows wild out there, right?

Matt Baum:
We had no idea that it was CBD benefits we were getting.

Ron Silver:
Well, it’s not only CBD benefits, it’s fiber benefits, it’s fuel, it’s building materials, it’s a million things, plastic replacement. A billion, weird little things that can come out of that.

From cooking to CBD sugar

Matt Baum:
So, you get interested in this at this party and experiencing it, did you start to incorporate it in your life after that to see how it affected you?

Ron Silver:
No. First of all, things were not that available seven years ago. So, it was part of a process of understanding, first of all, that it was something that was super interesting and really, I know that there is a big trend and fad and all kinds of people using it for all kinds of different things, but I’m not really so interested in that.

Ron Silver:
I’m interested in like actual … I wouldn’t call it hard data because it’s hard to get hard data. But I have direct experience with direct people in all kinds of different ways. Including for example, my nephew. He’s high functioning Asperger’s and he’s 22 years old probably. I think he’s something like 22 and he has a really high functioning job and he does amazing shit. This kid is amazing in that he sets up whole stadium sound systems for concerts.

Matt Baum:
Oh wow. Yeah.

Ron Silver:
Engineering that goes on behind that. And he also does computer programming and stuff like that. Super high functioning guy. And at the same time he has anxiety because he really does have Asperger’s and it is a certain way of looking at the world that requires medication oftentimes, that is given to people that is very, very strong.

Ron Silver:
And so this particular nephew of mine basically has been using this sugar for probably four years and he really uses it as a medicine and he’s replaced all kinds of bad drugs like Prozac and, I don’t know, Thorazine, just really serious drugs.

Matt Baum:
Anti anxiety drugs.

Ron Silver:
That were really messing him up.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Ron Silver:
and giving him other affects, and so he’s replaced it with this and he really is the best ever patient to tell, because he really is very specific with how it helps him and how much he takes and how often he takes it and exactly what he uses it for. In the daytime, he uses it in this way. At nighttime, he uses it in this way, and he’s very conservative and very responsible about it.

Ron Silver:
He reached out to me just yesterday. He said, “Uncle Ron, I am out of sugar. Could I get some more? Because it’s the only thing that helps me.” And we talk about how to get more out of it and to get the feedback on it and what exactly it is doing. So it’s super … I don’t know, it’s almost like being doctor, but not really [inaudible 00:10:51] and I’m used to that because I feed people food and I really do take that seriously. And so it feeds into that. But this is, this is a special thing and I take it very seriously. Very seriously.

Why make CBD sugar?

Matt Baum:
So you brought up the sugar. Let’s talk about that because that’s why you’re here today. You started a company called Azuca, which literally means sugar, that incorporates CBD into sugar. Can I ask why go that direction instead of just starting a company that makes a CBD tincture like a lot of other people did? Why sugar?

Ron Silver:
Well, for one thing, it’s a very understandable thing. My main concern is making it so that people can take a controllable dose and decide what that dose is.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, very important.

Ron Silver:
If we sell a packet of sugar and it’s 25 milligrams, that means that that person takes half that packet, or 1.25, whatever the measurement is in there, a quarter teaspoon, 12.5 mg, or if they want 30, it’s easy to figure out.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Ron Silver:
So, essentially that’s the first a reason that I went with sugar. And it’s also something that you could bake with or make beverages with or put it in your coffee or tea. It’s very easy use and it’s a familiar thing. The main thing is, is that the technology that we have, it’s called Azuca Time Technology, which time stands for Thermodynamic Individual Molecular Encapsulation.

Matt Baum:
That’s so cool. It’s like shield out of the Marvel universe. I love it.

Ron Silver:
It’s cool, but it’s also accurate which makes it actually cool. To me, it’s amazing how cool it is in that it really does it allow that CBD molecule to be delivered in the best way possible. So, there’s a lot of amazing sort of science and factors going on to make that happen.

Matt Baum:
How did you stumble upon this, this Time, we’ll call it, how did you happen into this? And I’m not trying to downplay your job as a chef, but you don’t usually think of chefs when you think of molecular chemistry and whatnot. How did you find this method, I guess, we’ll call it.

Ron Silver:
So, that is a really interesting question. And one of the things I would say is that cooking is chemistry.

Matt Baum:
Oh, definitely, definitely.

Ron Silver:
You just don’t think about it. But it is chemistry and if you do it poorly, it really doesn’t taste good.

Matt Baum:
That’s true.

Ron Silver:
And that’s because of chemistry. 100%. And the other thing is that I’m sort of dilettante-ish in figuring out stuff. So, I’ve read a bunch of textbooks and theses and interviewed people and experimented with a whole bunch of stuff and tried to understand where the problems really were and really stumbled on a bunch of things and one of the things I’ll say is that because cannabis was illegal, I was able to have fairly candid conversations with CEOs of companies that were willing to, to me off the record because they couldn’t do anything about cannabis.

Ron Silver:
So, I was able to really dive into … Well, one thing that I would say is that oftentimes in the world, there are 37 people thinking about really interesting ways to approach a problem. But those 37 people don’t really talk to each other. And some of them don’t talk to each other because they’re dead and some of them don’t talk to each other because they’re competing with the other guy, and some don’t talk to each other just because whatever.

Ron Silver:
But what I found myself doing is diving into a whole bunch of different thoughts about how to approach this problem. And was able to, after really a long time, it took me five or six years to really, really get to where it is now, which I would say, this is always a mistake to say, but I would say it’s in a really, really good spot. I don’t see how it could be better. But of course, things can be better and I think it’s important to pay attention to that.

The cooking connection

Matt Baum:
Do you think the Genesis of incorporating CBD into sugar, making it almost an ingredient, did that come directly out of your experience from cooking and whatnot?

Ron Silver:
100%. I would say that for sure. It makes it easy to think about. Sugar is easy to think about. There’s a million ways to use it. And all those ways can be used with this product through this thing. But the technology can also be applied to savory things. I’ve made weird food things with it, but we also have what I call plop, plop, fizz, fizzes, little-

Matt Baum:
Alka seltzer type things? Yeah.

Ron Silver:
Yes. And those really work nicely and there’s no sugar in that. Personally, and I catch grief from this and unfortunately in the Azuca family and the company, I’m the weird brother [crosstalk 00:17:10] really the business end of the stick at all.

Ron Silver:
And the blessing for Azuca is that we really do have leadership that is totally responsible and I’m just not that one person who is [inaudible 00:17:23].

Matt Baum:
That’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that. Have you incorporated anything with the sugar into your own restaurant?

Ron Silver:
Well, in New York city that is forbidden. So, we do not do that. We were doing that for awhile and then it became not allowed and we stopped.

Matt Baum:
There was a cease and desist type thing or?

Ron Silver:
Through the whole city. A lot of people started to do it and the city said you can’t do that. And they gave certain deadlines and everybody, well, we followed them. So, one of my main things is to be compliant and it’s really work to do that.

Matt Baum:
In the future when things loosen up, is that the plan to start to incorporate stuff like this into menus and whatnot?

Ron Silver:
That’s not necessarily my plan. If I had my druthers, and I’ve said this a whole bunch of times, I would prefer to sell THC infused, cannabis infused drinks at my bar than liquor any day.

Matt Baum:
Absolutely.

Ron Silver:
The thing that Azuca Time allows us to do is, and one of the things that being a chef allows us to do, is have a bunch of cool syrups.

Matt Baum:
Right?

Ron Silver:
And it’s possible to have a cocktail that’s exactly three milligrams. And that way you can have three or four or five of them and being really fine shape and not have any problem in it and it hits you while you’re sitting at the bar. It’s not like you’d go home, feel it eight hours later, you’re in a bad state of affairs.

Ron Silver:
So, for me I would love to see that, but I don’t foresee that happening. But I do think that would be a responsible and interesting thing to do with no … It’s not dodgy. I would way rather sell that then whiskey any day.

Using CBD sugar

Matt Baum:
Fair enough. So, let me ask you as far as your product goes, and you sent me some and I really enjoyed it, it’s very cool, and I tried the sugar in my coffee and I use the simple syrup to make some drinks. Can you explain for someone who’s never messed around with something like this, what will they experience when they take a packet of your Azuca sugar and pour it into their coffee? What is the experience like?

Ron Silver:
Not to double back a question with a question, but what was your experience like?

Matt Baum:
That’s fair. I will say, obviously I use CBD daily and I host a podcast about hemp, so I’ve used a lot of it. It did seem to me that when I put the sugar in the coffee I felt the effects much faster than if I were to take the tincture that I take daily or if I were to, there’s a powdered CBD that I’ve been using daily as well in different drinks.

Matt Baum:
I felt like this hit really quickly and it really mellowed me out. I drink a lot of coffee in the morning because I work in web hosting and I need to be aware and I’m working in engineering, but I also don’t want to get to the point where I’m vibrating through my workspace and I do feel like this really hit me almost as fast as the caffeine did.

Ron Silver:
Right. Did we send you enough for you to … Do you still have some now?

Matt Baum:
Oh, I need much more. I’m going to beg for that later.

Ron Silver:
I’ll probably send you a bunch of cool stuff. 100%.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, most definitely.

Ron Silver:
That’s one thing is that I really do play with things and I need people to try things, it’s the best [crosstalk 00:21:11].

Matt Baum:
I would love to be your guinea pig, definitely.

Ron Silver:
That sounds good.

Fast acting CBD through science

Matt Baum:
Is that part of the technology though? The effects hitting that fast? Or is the sugar doing something?

Ron Silver:
100%. The effects of the technology make it hit that fast. And essentially what that means is that, you use CBD all the time and you’ve seen the oil and you know how thick that is. If it’s very thick, and obviously if you drop the oil into a glass of water, it would drop right down to the bottom it does not mix up well. And even if you boil it up, it doesn’t mix well, it’s oil and water.

Ron Silver:
And so when it goes into your system, those molecules are perfectly round and very hard and they have to go through your esophagus and through your entire digestive system to your liver and your liver has to break that down and your liver can get 2% to 6%, in, say, one to four hours. There’s a lot of variables there depending on liver function.

Ron Silver:
And so some people have come up with something that’s a very popular approach, which is called nano lipid technology. Maybe you’ve heard of that.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. We’ve talked about this on the show.

Ron Silver:
Nano lipid is an emulsion. It’s like mayonnaise. The best nano particulate, smallest nano particulate, would be about 20 nanometers and that would be the smallest particulate and that would also be the weakest emulsion because it’s like making a mayonnaise. When you put that last drop of oil in, it breaks, and the same with nano lipid technology.

Ron Silver:
If you bring it to 20 nanodes, it’s the most possible that it can hold to make it that small. So, the nano lipid technology in edibles, which is not monitored or thought … You could almost say anything, but there are decisions made in a nano lipid process were you’re deciding how stable you want that to be because the less stable it is, the more returns come back on the shelf. That’s a big source of waste. Big source of waste. And so essentially the nano particle could be anywhere from 20 a 1,000 and people would more than likely choose a 400 or 500, 600 size to make it nano lipid but still shift stable on the shelf.

Matt Baum:
So, the smaller the better? Is that where we’re going with it?

Ron Silver:
(inaudible 00:24:02) particle is, the more able it is to pass through soft tissue. Your esophagus and your mouth and your stomach into endocannabinoid receptors that are placed all over your body. There are billions of them. And it’s a system that exists within your body, the endocannabinoid system. I’m sure you know about that.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, absolutely. Talk about it a lot.

Ron Silver:
With Azuca Time technology, it only works in one way, which is one molecule is completely encapsulated and that little molecule, 1.5 nanos, that’s how big our particle is. And so, that absorbs the best and it goes directly to your brain and the endocannabinoid system and does its thing. And that really is how it works.

Matt Baum:
So, correct me if I’m wrong. Most times when I’m talking to companies that are using tinctures or using something like MCT oil, because the CBD bonds to fat really well, is this basically CBD bonded to a very small amount of fat? On a molecular level almost?

Ron Silver:
There’s no fat involved with it. It’s more of like the difference between mayonnaise and slime that you would buy for your children at the store.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Ron Silver:
And that slime, it stretches and it really stretches. And if you have the sort of machinery and the exact viscosity, you could stretch that out to one molecule thin.

Matt Baum:
Gotcha.

Ron Silver:
So, essentially this is what it is, is a really, really, really fine wetsuit around each individual molecule.

Matt Baum:
Gotcha. So, the same thing happens with your simple syrup where it’s basically, this is so small that you can break it down into a syrup and not affect it whatsoever.

Ron Silver:
Well no. What we do is we encapsulate the molecules and then we incorporate that into the simple syrup so that it’s evenly distributed. And before we apply it to sugar, there’s no sugar involved. So, we encapsulate and then we apply it to sugar, which is also simple syrup. It can be applied to topicals and it’s very effective. All kinds of stuff.

Matt Baum:
So for those who don’t know, simple syrup is basically exactly what it sounds like. It’s almost a sugary syrup and in this case, if I were to take enough Azuca sugar and cook it down, like I was making simple syrup, would that still work? Is it the same type of thing or is there another step in that process?

Ron Silver:
If you take Azuca simple syrup and put a teaspoon in, a teaspoon is 25 milligrams, and you can put that into a drink.

Matt Baum:
Right. I’m sorry, I was speaking as far as the sugar. If I just took your raw Azuca sugar, could I make simple syrup the same way out of it?

Ron Silver:
Absolutely. 100%.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Ron Silver:
Yes.

Matt Baum:
So, you are literally just taking the sugar that you already make and making a simple syrup that has CBD in it.

Ron Silver:
Well, basically.

What’s next for Ron Silver & Azuca

Matt Baum:
That’s brilliant. So, what else is Azuca working on right now? I noticed there were chocolates that just popped up on the website not too long ago.

Ron Silver:
We have chocolates. We have sugar stick packs. We are working on a nice cool stevia packet. We are working on some flavored syrups to make different kind of cocktails.

Matt Baum:
Very cool.

Ron Silver:
A bunch of cool stuff.

Matt Baum:
So, where’s the future go for this, do you think? After the FDA comes out and says, “All right, we figured it out. What’s the future for Azuca? Where do you see this going?”

Ron Silver:
Well, I hope that we can continue to find interesting ways to deliver CBD and THC to people in ways that are helpful for whatever the sort of use that they come up with is. We come up with different kinds of hangover cures and athletic ways for runners to take it and weightlifters and stuff like that.

Ron Silver:
So, I think there’s a lot of different ways to go with it. It also seems to help people who are dealing with opioid addiction. And then it somehow shuts off some receptors that create a lot of the addiction issues.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. There’s our early stuff coming in on that. I can’t remember who it was, the name of the doctor, but there’s some early information coming out on that that looks very promising actually.

Ron Silver:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
Very promising.

Ron Silver:
And there’s also other cannabinoids that are super interesting for specific things like weight, diet either control or diet stimulation or any number of things. Sleep and studying and all kinds of wild possible applications that obviously all need to be researched and one of the big things right now is that CBD companies can’t make any claims like that and we don’t make any claims like that and it really is a very big deal to understand those regulations and work within them every step.

Matt Baum:
Absolutely. And stay honest while doing so.

Ron Silver:
100% yes.

Matt Baum:
Definitely. Chef Ron, thank you so much for your time today. This has been fantastic.

Ron Silver:
Thank you for having me.

Final thoughts from Matt

Matt Baum:
I love what you guys are doing and like I said, thanks again to Ron for joining me and the good people at Azuca for seeking us out and asking to be on this show. That was really cool. I wouldn’t have known about them otherwise. And if you want to try Azuca’s simple syrup or organic sugars or even their chocolates, we’ll have link to their website right here in the show notes.

Matt Baum:
That brings us to the end of our episode. I hope you had a good time with this one and I’d love to hear from you if you’ve got comments, questions, you can call me at (402) 819-6417 with your Azuca or any hemp related question and every once in a while when we get enough good ones, Kit, the Editor in Chief of MinistryOfHemp.com and myself will answer your questions right here on the show. It’s very cool.

Matt Baum:
Of course, you can hit us up on all of our social media. You’ll always find us at MinistryOfHemp or /MinistryOfHemp and be sure to check out our Patreon over at Patrion.com/MinistryOfHemp. You can become a supporter of MinistryOfHemp.com and there’s all kinds of cool rewards including the podcast extra, and in this latest one I’ll be talking to Chef Ron Silver about some drinks you can make using Azuca products and they’re awfully tasty. We’ve already made a couple. So, get over to patrion.com, search for Ministry of Hemp, and become a supporter and help us to get the good word of hemp out there to the people.

Matt Baum:
Speaking of MinistryOfHemp.com, get over there right now and check out two awesome articles we’ve got up. One is an update to understanding the different types of CBD oil and an update to an article we had about how to identify high quality CBD. Both are great and very informational stuff.

Matt Baum:
Here at MinistryOfHemp.com, we believe that an accessible world is a better world for everyone. So you will find a complete written transcript for this show in the show notes on the post for this podcast over at MinistryOfHemp.com. Next time on the show, we’re going to talk about testing and a company that is trying to make it easier for everyone to have access to real lab results. It’s going to be very cool. Be sure to tune in, and I know I say this at the end of every show, but I think it’s especially important right now. Remember to take care of yourself, take care of others, and make good decisions, will you? This is Matt Baum and the Ministry of Hemp Podcast signing off.

The post A Spoonful Of CBD Sugar, With Azuca’s Ron Silver appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.