Exploration of the Hemp Industry

Introduction

Matt:
Hi, I’m Matt

Dee Dee:
And I’m Dee Dee. We are the hilarious outcome of opposing brains sharing a mutual desire to share knowledge and positivity when thinking about hemp and cannabis.

Matt:
We are here to tear down the walls built by big pharma and other big companies that seek to keep the human race and fear divided.

Dee Dee:
We are here to shatter the myths about hemp and cannabis and change the stigma of this amazing plant. Welcome to Hemp and Happiness with the hemp queen.

Matt:
And emperor.

Dee Dee:
Podcast. Join us as we venture into this misunderstood and the unknown.

Welcome

Dee Dee:
Hey, all, welcome back to our podcast. We appreciate you all listening, and don’t forget to follow us and like us and leave us your comments about these podcasts. And Hey, if there’s something you wanna talk about, let us know. We’re always open for ideas, but welcome. Welcome. Welcome. So today, Matt, we get to talk about some fun stuff.

Matt:
Yes. We always get to talk about fun stuff.

Dee Dee:
<laugh> it’s wonderful. Uh, we’re gonna talk about the exploration of the hemp industry and kind of how it came to be. Um, man, I guess it started a long, long, long time ago, at least as far as the legalities of hemp and what was allowed and what wasn’t allowed in the United States. Um, there’s a lot of, uh, God that was back in the what twenties, late twenties after world Wari.

Matt:
Well, I mean, how, how far back do you want to go? We’re briefly touching

Dee Dee:
On it. We’re just briefly touching on that.

Matt:
The sales of the Mayflower were, were woven with hemp. Hemp has been found in, you know, the tombs oh, of it pharaohs king Solomon, uh, hemp used of it as a psycho trope has there’s 4,000 years ago. They found chaises, uh, where they burned the flowers and, and inhaled them in spiritual. So, I mean, you, you know, it’s such a rabbit hole. I think that it’s just like the elevator pitch and then get into like what’s going on in the industry today, right? Yes. Yes. For sure. So, you know, hemp has been a, a product, uh, for industrial use and, um, medical use for centuries. Yes. Um, and arguably further, um, it became controversial, uh, up into the, the 18th and beginning of 20th centuries, uh, when, and I’ll let Dee Dee expound on this, but when conflicting interests, uh, didn’t wanna see him. Um, and there’s several reasons why, so why don’t you tell us lots of reasons, a little bit about that?

Dee Dee:
So DuPont was probably one of the biggest reasons that, uh, hemp was one made to be illegal after the war, cuz before in world war II, they were using hemp for everything. They needed. It, it was a great commodity. And then after that maybe even, even world war, I, they kind of put the holds on it because DuPont wanted to make their synthetic products and the timber industry certainly didn’t like hemp because it grew quick and fast and you could be used for all sorts of papers, things like that. Um, cotton industry didn’t want it. They wanted to stick with their cotton. You know, you can make hemp clothing. Hemp is extremely, extremely versatile. Not only does our body need it, but we can make a lot of things out of it. And I think, um, some of the bigger companies that were pretty much running the United States, which some of ’em still are, um, huh. We, they kind of made it illegal and then God, in the seventies, I mean, you got the whole Nixon era that put, uh, marijuana and you know, the whole reefer madness that was in the forties too. So it, there there’s so much history behind hemp and then also behind cannabis in general that trying to break down those stigmas and how people believe and think about it. That’s really why we’re here, you

Matt:
Know? Yeah, yeah. So I think, you know, to summarize that, uh, the, the hemp and cannabis industry was shut down at least in the United States because it conflicted with economic interests of, of people who just simply had more money eloquently. The, the renewability, um, is superior. There’s really no question there. Um, but I think that the real moral to that is, um, the banning of hemp and cannabis was really not for any physical danger, right. Or that it was causing a real issue with anyone. Um, our contentions it’s actually actually quite the opposite. Um, but it was purely for financial interests. Okay. Um, and I think that that’s overlooked a lot. Um, and that was really buried when you, we got under the war on drugs in the eighties where cannabis started in the seventies got started in the seventies, but really took off with Reagan. Um, yeah. And even March there were other, I mean, we could have a whole podcast, we

Dee Dee:
Can show,

Matt:
We might have another chest on the, just on the eighties. So that brings us to where we are today, Uhhuh, um, with the industry where there’s a lot of wonderful and terrible things going on as we, as we navigate this new landscape and, and really try to figure it out, um, because you know, the wonderful part being C, B D has been federally legalized. Um, you have cannabis, uh, legal, uh, for varying, you know, recreational and medical through, I think we’re up to 40% of the states in the United States. Now I’d have to check that statistic, but it’s, it’s, it’s in that ballpark. Um, and, and, and that number’s rising. Oh. And there’s even, uh, now discussion of, uh, marijuana being federally legal in some capacity. So don’t hold your breath. I’m not holding my breath, but, but, but it’s progress. It’s progress. Yes. And we have wonderful things going on. And then with that, we also have the bad. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about that.

Dee Dee:
So the bad about this whole industry. I mean, I think the worst part about it is, is the banking, banking and credit card processing. Those are awful for the actual retail side. Okay. Now for the actual industry, back in 2018, when the federal farm bill passed in December, it seemed like that opened a huge door for so many people to jump on board and start growing. And a lot of there was so much, so many people started growing hemp and, um, all of a sudden there’s a surplus and not everybody knows how to grow this plant. So you’ve got varying degrees of cannabinoids, how high the CBD can be, how low, I mean, not everybody it’s not granted. It’s a very easy plant to grow. They that they call it weed for a reason, but to grow it, um, to make sure it’s below that 0.3% on the THC, a lot of farmers lost their crops. Um, and that, that, that, that in and of itself is a shame. They put all their hard time, money work into that. And then there they are burning crops right. In their field if it tested hot, um, you know, genetics helps with that hemp, genetics, the seeds, the, um, oh gosh, the, uh, what are those? The plants. Yeah. Clones, thank you. The clones. I mean, those are great if you have a good clone set, but

Matt:
Right. Yeah.

Dee Dee:
Those, those are issues that not most people, they just kind of jumped on that bandwagon thinking, hell yeah, let’s grow hemp and we’re gonna be rich.

Matt:
And well, I think that the, you know, there’s just a lot of people that, that jumped onto the industry for, uh, the right and wrong reasons. Um, I think that, you know, economic interests, uh, continue to exploit the industry. It does. Um, and, and, and really it boils down to where’s that sweet spot to where we have the appropriate regulation. We have the appropriate, um, uh, processes mm-hmm, um, without it being so regulated that people have restricted access to the product.

Dee Dee:
Agreed. And I think in the state of Kentucky, there’s a lot of restrictions that people don’t know about. Yeah. And this state is not as hemp friendly as everyone thinks it is. Um, even for the processors for the growers, uh, even for the retail side of it, it’s not nearly as hemp friendly as people think granted, I think Kentucky could be the Mecca center of hemp. And that was the goal. I think when the program started here in Kentucky, uh, it, we are still left behind. Most other states have better programs than we do. Um, most states don’t put the restrictions on like Kentucky does, and that hurts Kentucky farmers. It hurts Kentucky processors. It hurts Kentucky retailers.

Matt:
Right. Uh, you really have to draw this attention to your Congressman, to your senators, make sure that they know what you support. Um, because that, that, that’s the only way you’re gonna have any opportunity to, to make change, but you can make change. Oh, absolutely. Um, and that’s, that’s really what we want for Kentucky, because here’s the reality. Um, the soil in Kentucky is some of the best phenomenal in the country to produce this

Dee Dee:
In the world, in the

Matt:
World, in the world. Absolutely. And, uh, uh, Kentucky is a great state and a, and a great place to live. And there is opportunity here. Um, and the only way you can, you can’t out money, economic interest because they just, they have the money right there, the money they have, the control, the only way you can do it is if the voice of the people become so loud and so powerful, um, that it can’t be ignored. Uh, so you know, the more, the, really the moral of the restrictions in Kentucky is you as an individual need to speak out, need to make a difference. Absolutely. If you don’t agree, with’s go with what’s going on. Uh, because the more that people that speak out, and I think that this has been proven more in, in our society today than any than time. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> good, bad and indifferent. Um, if the voice is loud enough, it will be heard.

Dee Dee:
Yes. Agreed. I think, completely agree with

Matt:
That. You know,

Dee Dee:
I mean, um, that that’s important. I think it’s important that we all come together, whether you are pro rec, whether you are ProMED, whether you are pro hemp only, I think we all need to come together and make our voices heard, especially in this state. I think that’s super important.

Matt:
Yeah. So let’s switch gears a little. All right. Um, the bad economic interest, I mean, you have to have money. Money’s what makes the world go around mm-hmm <affirmative> money is what funds, the things that we do. Um, that’s

Dee Dee:
What caused the boom

Matt:
<laugh>. Yeah. Uh, anyway, so, uh, with that, you know, with that being said, though, when people are just purely in it for the money and not for the, uh,

Dee Dee:
It

Matt:
Shows the intention of the product, it shows in the quality it does. Um, and it affects the consumer who then is confused with, you know, this is a highly unregulated industry. There’s a couple different reasons for that, that, um, we could do a show just on that. Uh, absolutely. Ultimately there’s a, there’s a lot of lack of, of regulation, which leads to a lot of confusion, a lot of misrepresentation, how can a consumer, um, know that they’re buying a quality product

Dee Dee:
Well, and that is extremely important. And since the beginning, since I’ve been doing this since 2016, at least as far as the sales go, that’s always been important. Um, your manufacturer needs to have quality product in order to extract from, right. So it starts with the plant. It starts with the plant needs to be grown organically. It needs to test the way it should be testing. As far as the CBD and THC goes, it needs to be tested for heavy metals and for salmonella and other contaminants. So when it is first comes out, it needs to be tested, making sure that there’s no pesticides being used on it and it’s grown organically. That’s super important. Um, then from there, how it’s extracted, I mean, the extraction process is important too. CO2 is the safest, healthiest and cleanest. I’m not a fan of hydrocarbons or AKA Butan extraction. I will never before that. Um,

Matt:
But there are people that would argue with you.

Dee Dee:
Yes. There are people that argue with me and, and that’s fine. <laugh> I will accept that argument. Yeah. I just know me personally. I prefer the CO2 method. Yeah. Um, there’s also an ethanol extraction, which ethanol is alcohol. We all love alcohol in Kentucky. Um, is, you know, that, and that’s not a bad extraction either cuz you know, uh, before,

Matt:
But ethanol’s not the kind of alcohol that, that,

Dee Dee:
That you’re it’s no, no, it’s not, not the

Matt:
Kind. No,

Dee Dee:
It’s not. No. And, and the worst part about that extraction is, um, you know, the regulations as far as getting rid of the used products. So you’ve got those kind of things too. There’s all those kind of regs and stuff. Right. Um, but you, you know, it starts that it starts there and then having it tested by DEA certified labs is important. The fact that your manufacturers should be audit certified with good manufacturing practices, but actually audit certified that they are. And they’re following all that stuff. I mean, that’s freaking important.

Matt:
Well, and I, you want

Dee Dee:
A level of cleanliness when you’re putting this stuff in your body, people are using this that’s important.

Matt:
So paraphrase that for, for the listeners, get that out. You, you ha it’s, it’s very important that you know, how, how, and at least where the plan has grown yes. The ex the process in which it was extracted. Yes. And, uh, the content’s purity and accuracy. Yes. And all of that can be determined from the certificate of analysis,

Dee Dee:
Which we will probably talk about more later, but

Matt:
Yeah. Yeah. So, so this information to the, the listeners and Watchers out there should be available. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and if the person who you’re purchasing it from does not have it available, you probably shouldn’t buy it from them. Agreed. Um, because they, you know, either they know or don’t know what they’re selling, mm-hmm, <affirmative> either way it’s, it’s not good for you.

Dee Dee:
Exactly. Um, and that, that that’s important. I mean, we got in this to be at least myself and Matt too. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, I mean, it’s all about the health aspects of this amazing plant mm-hmm <affirmative> I don’t want something that’s crappy. I mean, I don’t wanna put that in my body. Yeah. And most other people don’t either. And I think when I got in this business that it had to have the gold standard, I knew that I was gonna be helping others with this. And I had, all of our products are vetted. Yeah. I mean, they just are, and, and anybody that’s in this business should know that. Yeah. Um, now of course with the industry standards, things have improved over time, you know, there’s Q and R codes now where you can scan the little Q and R code right. On the package and it should take you right.

Dee Dee:
To the certificates of analysis on the page. Yes. That’s important. I believe. Um, because of, it’s not mandatory in the industry here in Kentucky, we do it anyway. Yeah. I think that is important. Yeah. Yeah. I think everybody should have that. There has to be, you know, and if you have questions about the, the COA, you gotta be able to talk to somebody and ask them questions about it. I think that’s important that the people selling it know what they’re selling. I think that was my biggest hang up in 2018 when this whole industry just kind of blew up in 2019. Most people didn’t know what they were selling

Matt:
Well, and it, it, it, you know, it’s a, it’s kind of indicative of, of the time that we’re in, where, where people just wanna be spoon fed information. Yes. And unfortunately, when you’re dealing in, when you’re, you’re purchasing something in an industry that that’s that’s frontier and unregulated, you really need to take it upon yourself to do that independent research. And that, that critical thinking and, and ask yourself, you know, is this product right for me, for many different reasons, uh, quality impurity, absolutely being one of ’em. I mean, this is something that you’re putting into your body mm-hmm <affirmative>, um, to help you, and if it has pesticides or impurities in it, right. It could do the opposite. And then what that does is it brings down the industry. Exactly. Um, and then, you know, you don’t

Dee Dee:
Want that. This is a good thing. We wanna keep

Matt:
Those good. Well, and if, if, if, and that’s, if, if it seems too cheap to be, uh, good or true, it

Dee Dee:
Is, it is

Matt:
Agreed. Um, cuz you simply cannot produce a quality, uh, cannabinoid or cannabinoid product, um, cheaper at, at a, at, at a low cost. It it’s just something that it’s not worth. It’s

Dee Dee:
Not you

Matt:
Can’t your, your health and, and your safety to mess with

Dee Dee:
And substantiate the growth of the industry. Buying cheap cheap product is not, I mean, let’s, let’s like clothing take for the example for clothing, you buy cheap clothing. You’re gonna keep buying cheap clothing all the time. Yeah. If you buy something good, that is solid quality. You’re gonna, it’s gonna last year for a while,

Matt:
You, you really can’t use price point as a marker of quality in the industry, because then you have the opposite. Some of these boutique shops now mm-hmm <affirmative> are outrageous. And I, I like, there’s no way that, that you’re not making a 400% margin on that product. I mean, it’s just, and you know, this is in the United States. You can charge whatever you wanna charge. That’s true. And if someone, you know, PT, Barnum, there’s a sucker born every minute. So if somebody’s gonna buy it at that price, I’ll buy all means and sell it. But don’t just assume, cuz you’re buying expensive. You’re buying quality.

Dee Dee:
Oh very,

Matt:
Very, it takes that. It takes that research. Very true. Both ends of the spectrum. You know, you don’t wanna overpay, but you don’t wanna underpay. Uh, exactly. So, you know, do the, do the research, uh, the information’s out there get ahold of it and then make your decision on, on, on your

Dee Dee:
Purchase. Oh my gosh. Buyer beware of the scam emails that you will get that says get a free jar of gummies and this will treat everything in the world. Yeah. Well, first off they should not be making claims to this because it’s not FDA approved. Yeah. You, no, you can’t make any claims to the health benefits of hemp or CBD or any of that stuff. Yeah. But second, they use this and I’ve, it’s happened a few times to some of our customers and it infuriates me and I’m like, okay, I’m gonna tell you what happened. You signed up for an email to get your free bottle and you put in all your credit card information. So every month they will keep charging you for that. And typically it is a low amount of milligrams and you really, probably aren’t gonna feel anything from that. Yeah.

Dee Dee:
Yeah. So they have not only overcharged you, they’ve given you your free bottle, which is great. Of course. To try. Yeah. But they didn’t counsel you on how to use it and then they keep charging you an astronomical rate later. Yeah. So you’re stuck with the, and you can’t turn it off. Yeah. There’s no way to turn it off. Yeah. And some of these, you know, some people really get scammed by this and that, that infuriates me. No, great. We’ve got subscriptions on ours, but you can turn it on and turn it off yourself and we’re not gonna spam you to death about that. Um, well big difference. Big

Matt:
Difference. Yeah. There there’s a, there’s a lot of marketing employees out there. So there are you just, you just have to be careful. Mm-hmm <affirmative> I mean that really do. And you have to know the product that you’re buying too. Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, you know, does it have THC, uh, that’s so important because you may be in a job where they still have the archaic regulations around THC that could cost you your, your job. Yep. You could take a full spectrum CBD and fill a drug test. Yes. Um, and there are some amazing THC for your products out there. Mm-hmm

Dee Dee:
<affirmative> broad spectrum.

Matt:
That’s great that, uh, yield wonderful results in my opinion. Um, and you just need to know what they are and know it’s available know to ask for it. Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, and if you want something that’s rich in THC, you need to ask for that, but you also need to understand the effects and, and any potential repercussions that come along with that. So, oh, absolutely. Um, you know, and, and it’s ironic because it really brings you to the point where we are in an industry where people are, have to use critical thinking to make a conscious purchase. And we are in a time where critical thinking has been abandoned yeah. In our culture today. So, you know, this is kind of a wake up call, you know, know what to buy. Yeah. And, and, and that extends even beyond CBD. It does. I mean, I agree, know what you’re putting in your body mm-hmm <affirmative> uh, cuz there are as dangerous stuff out there that, that they’ll put it on the bottle that it’s dangerous, but they won’t tell you <laugh>. Yeah. And then, you know,

Dee Dee:
Um, problems happen later.

Matt:
Yeah. Yeah. So do the research thing for yourself

Dee Dee:
Round up in our cereal. We’ll

Matt:
Just leave up there and <laugh> think for yourself, do the research, know what you’re putting in your body as a healthy, safe product mm-hmm <affirmative> um, and make educated, uh, decisions.

Dee Dee:
So that’s super important. Yeah. You know, and I, I think I wanted to get back to that part too. I had mentioned it earlier about how hemp has grown organically and how important that is. Right. Well, but does having that little organic sticker on the bottles truly matter?

Matt:
No, that’s a marketing tack.

Dee Dee:
Exactly. And most people don’t know that they think that that little green sticker is, oh the tell all it’s the best, it’s the best. And then that’s simply not true. Um, you can check the COA to make sure it’s organic, organically grown. Um,

Matt:
And I’m not knocking organic cuz I think organic products is great. Especially vegetables

Dee Dee:
Absolutely are vegetables. I

Matt:
Agree. Um, anyway. Yeah,

Dee Dee:
But for when it comes to the hemp and the CBD products, that little sticker is not gonna give you the true answers to how good this product is. Yeah. And I think that’s important. Yeah. Um, it’s all about having integrity in the business and providing that information to our customers. Yeah. So they know exactly what they’re getting. Yeah. And that’s important for anyone that is looking to buy CBD, have questions about CBD. Yeah. Um, those retailers need to be able to answer those questions.

Matt:
Yeah. And if you ask a few very basic questions about the product, you’re gonna find out really quick if you’re speaking to someone who’s educated or not, or if they’re just selling and, and, and it’s just that, that, that, that simple, um, cuz you know, you want an ed, you want an educated person mm-hmm <affirmative>, especially for this product who at least knows what’s in their product. Right. Um, that they’re selling so right.

Dee Dee:
That’s super important that that is in all honesty, Matt, that is why I opened 5 0 2 hemp mm-hmm <affirmative> because I wanted people to be able to come in, ask questions, us, be able to educate them on all aspects of it. Absolutely. And was so important to me. And I love how we have managed to keep that, that same concept. What I first started with when I opened my store even today. Yeah. Even to today. Yeah. Even with new products on the market where we do, um, you know, I mean the whole Delta eight thing, that’s, that’s new to us. That’s new to pretty much everybody. Yeah. That’s about a year, but still, you know, it, that concept, we need to be able to educate people and provide a good solid quality product and that I think that’s just important.

Matt:
Agreed. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. Um, so even if you don’t buy, buy from us and we hope that you do, we do hope you do, but even if you don’t that’s okay. Just do the research. Yeah, please. You know, um, it’s, it’s more important to us that you buy a safe quality product that’s gonna represent the industry properly.

Dee Dee:
Exactly.

Matt:
Um, than just go for something because it looks affordable. Yes. Um, yes. Or is convenient

Dee Dee:
Or even costs too much. So you think it

Matt:
Is better <laugh> or is the most expensive? Yeah.

Dee Dee:
Um, there’s a lot of things out there,

Matt:
So yeah. Yeah. And at that point I think that we have probably covered, but we probably what we can cover on this one today. I hope you enjoyed the rabbit holes that they were, uh, numerous. Yes. <laugh> as always

Dee Dee:
We do that. We always do do that. So, um, um, what we’re gonna be, um, I think we’re gonna be talking about some certificates of analysis and a little bit more in depth in our next podcast.

Matt:
So, well maybe not our next, but one of the ones coming down the road. So coming down, we appreciate you for listening out there and absolutely.

Dee Dee:
Yeah. Keep it hippy <laugh> thanks for joining us for another episode of hemp and happiness with the hemp

Matt:
Queen and Emper

Dee Dee:
Keep your mind ever open and expanding, like subscribe, review, follow us, all the good stuff

Matt:
And keep it, he out there.