Season 2 Episode 3

Welcome to Hemp and Happiness, the podcast where the grass always looks greener.

Sifting through the haze of CBD and Hemp News. I’m your host, Beth Pinti, AKA Canna Beth, bringing you a fresh cut of insights with my signature side of wit.

And I’m De de Taylor, also known as the Hemp Queen. Your go-to for a sarcastic take on all things green and the political landscape that tries to keep up with it.

Join us as we roll up the latest trends, unwrap the complexities of the cannabis industry, and spark thoughtful discussions that’ll hit you

Right where it feels good. Whether you’re can of curious or season of green thumb, we’ve got the buzz you need.

So light up your day and let’s blaze through the world of hemp, CBD, marijuana, health and happiness.

All the news rolled into one. This is hemp and happiness. Let’s get this show on the road.

That was awesome.

Welcome back to Hemp and Happiness. This is Dede Taylor. And can Oh good. You didn’t say you’re a last name because I mispronounced. Mispronounced it last time. Apparently Y got scolded for that pan. Pan. I said pen. That’s a lot of people do that. Okay, good. You’ve only worked with me for a while. That’s five years now. You go back between pin and penti. I That’s okay. I do. I’m sorry. I love you. You just had a little accent too. You too. I do my little southern draw that I never used to have. Mind you, that is not a southern draw. Pinti. That’s more, well, that’s Italian, but when I say it, but welcome. So it’s Friday. We’re recording on a Friday and I think Beth and I are ready for the week to be done. It’s been kind of a crazy week and there’s been a lot of stuff going on in the legislation.

Not necessarily that truly pertains to us, but for some reason it’ll probably affect us. And those are just the regs regarding vapes and vape products in Kentucky. And I’m not even going to get into that crap today because man, I don’t even know how that’s all going to play out. But I feel for all the vape stores, vape stores across Kentucky and the consumers, like we were saying. So yeah, there’s a lot of legislation that is taking our rights away right now. So we need to be aware of all that. Yeah, go ahead and talk about that bait thing. Do you want me to talk about that? Might as well. So house bill 11 and also I think it was Senate Bill 3 34. Don’t quote me on that one. I can’t remember that number for some reason. But there were two bills and both of them passed.

And I don’t know if it’ll become law. I mean obviously we got to wait and see what Governor Beshe does, but it probably will. But house Bill 11, I know that one a little bit better. And even the Senate bill, they kind of both did the same thing, but it keeps the vape stores from selling vapes that are not approved by the FDA, which means that only, I think maybe three, maybe four brands have been approved by the FDA to be sold. And I can’t believe the F FDA A can approve a vape as a safe product period. But somebody had some money and bought and something. They had some money, and I’m just going to call it out. It was Big tobacco y’all. Big tobacco brought in 22 lobbyists to Frankfurt and they passed those bills, 22 lobbyists. And this is just my opinion, what do I know? But I think they were losing money on the vape.

There’s other vape products out there you can get. It’s the competition. It’s the competition. It’s big, big money squashing the competition. So yeah, what’s going to happen now is you’re not going to be able to buy vapes, but from a tobacco company, either a tobacco company or you can only sell the approved products, which that kind of does lead into the Delta eight regulations, which is what I was wanting to talk about. Yes, that’s what we’re talking about today. Breathe. How does say it without sounding bitchy too And angry. And angry? Yeah. Because it seems like we’re constantly fighting something here. Something is always either being taken away for the good of the children or it’s just complete bullshit you hear. And this is both sides. I am straight down the middle on this one because it’s both sides. But most of this stuff isn’t about the children.

It’s about who pays the most money. That’s 100% what it’s about. It’s not about, it’s not about the children. It’s really not. You want to know how you keep vapes out of children’s hands? Don’t let gas stations just sell ’em to ’em. Exactly. Because I’m sorry, but most of the gas stations are not run by responsible business owners. Not all. I’m just saying there’s some And they do. They sell to anybody that comes in and buys ’em. They don’t card ’em. I know a gas station really close to us that didn’t card people. I was in line. I would’ve carded them. They looked young to me. But everybody looks young to me. I’m looking old now. I feel old. Old. I see them darn. Kids are 23 and I’m like, oh my God, you’re a baby. Feel so old. So old looking. But the same kind of stuff is happening with hemp.

And we probably need to back up just a little bit. So in 2018, the farm bill, the farm bill made hemp products legal as long as the delta nine, THC is at or below 0.3%. So that means any salts, any derivatives, any isomers, anything of hemp is hip derived is legal. So that’s how the industry kind of happened. And remember I was here before that big boom. I’m just saying, but that’s what enabled you to open your store and make C No, actually I’d opened my store prior to the signing of that bill. I’d already been selling products, but that was under the 2014 Farm bill and we needed the stability of the 2018 Farm Bill. I mean, it had to happen in order to move him forward, but it really didn’t, the boom really didn’t happen until 2019, really in December I think, or well, December of 2018.

And then January of 2019, that’s when everybody started jumping on the bandwagon to sell hemp and CBD products. But in 2020 is when Delta eight came into the picture. Was it before? Was it before Covid or during the pandemic? It was during the pandemic, wasn’t it? Maybe it was 2019, the end of 2019. I remember it. We was, no, I think it was in September of 2020. I almost remember that because I was like, so it was after Covid? Yeah, I think it was well during it and during the pandemic. But yeah, I think that’s kind of when it started. Because the letter from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture came out in April of 21. Okay. Literally April 19th, the day before four 20, which we were all like, what? So yeah, that letter came out on April 19th, 21. So I’m pretty sure. So to make it understandable, Delta eight was being extracted from hemp because Delta nine was limited.

But Delta eight has that psychoactive effect, and that’s what people wanted. And they feel Delta eight people want to feel it, that TH, they want to get the benefits of the feeling. And what really spurred that part of the industry though for the hemp is that there was such an abundance of CBD, and there’s only and so many people buying CBD. So they were able to take the CBD isolate and convert it to Delta eight. And that’s when people are like, oh my God, it’s synthetic. Well, no, because you’re not making Delta eight up out of thin air. That’s the true definition of synthetic. If you are synthesizing a cannabinoid into another cannabinoid, that doesn’t mean you’re making it up out of thin air. So it is chemistry granted, but you can take any cannabinoid in that plant and convert it to another cannabinoid. That’s amazing.

I dunno how they do that. It’s super cool. I mean, that part’s super cool and I’m not a chemistry person, but I think that’s pretty freaking cool. So that’s kind of really what spurred the Delta eight. And so that was a good substitute on the market that was legal compared to marijuana. So it gave us options. And other people, especially because we don’t have a medical program here still, and many states and many states, the time since then more have Oh, much more. So it’s a little less psychoactive than Delta nine. And people are okay with that. Not everybody wants to get obliterated or whatever term you want to call it. So I’m going to give you this little, so I’ve been using it religiously for the past week. I know I haven’t told you this. I’m surprised. I usually don’t. I know I haven’t told you it’s secret.

I’m secretly using secret. I’m secretly using it. No, but what I’ve been doing, because this week’s always hard for me. I lost my mom on April 2nd, and then this has just always been a rough week for me. I struggle with it. I miss her so much because I knew I wouldn’t sleep. I know how I am. I’ll stay up all night thinking. So I have been taking my CBD oil and I’ve been mixing a little bit of extra Delta eight oil with it. Not a lot, but just enough. And I’m a little fit Fitbit. I’m getting all my sleeping. So it’s been helping me get through this week immensely. So I think that while people were, oh my God, are going to get high from it, no, most of us use it just to get damn sleep. Just wants to sleep to. So I important, very few people come into our store going, I want to get high.

I know that everybody comes in. I just want to sleep. I want some sleep. I mean, that’s what I use it for. And it relaxes your mind so you can get some sleep. So that’s so important. That’s why we fought so hard to keep it legal. Yes. And it does help with pain. Oh yeah. Just like Delta nine, THC. So having that, at least we did have that. And then yeah, the chemist, so smart found ways to get Delta nine, THC into our products in a legal amount. It’s still bad. Well, and it’s all based on weight. It’s all based on gross weight. So I had a lady last night question to me out, she’s like, how again, is this legal? And it’s funny explaining it because I wasn’t ever good at math. I mean, I could write you a story. I can do your divorce.

But the math thing I never was good at, but I’m like, think about it, one milligram per gram, you get a gummy that’s 10 grams, you can get 10 milligrams in that gummy. Right, exactly. So it’s all about the weight. And obviously we have our beers, we have things that are going on with it. But it is legal. These products are legal. And that’s kind of why there’s so many issues with it too. Because you got big cannabis now. Big marijuana, I don’t even like to call it marijuana. I think that’s a racist term, but big can doesn’t want these products sold. So they want, because they have tons of extra fees and rules and regulations that they have to abide by where hemp is federally legal. So hemp doesn’t have nearly the amount of restrictions that marijuana and cannabis does. We’ll call it marijuana for sakes, not to confuse things.

We interchange the two words all the time. So that’s kind of been one of the reasons I think more so than keeping it out of kids’ hands. Don’t get me wrong, kids do not need these products and it should only be for 21 and up. That’s what we fought hard for in 23. That was to get the common sense regulations in place. And we did, and we won that. They were trying to limit it, even though they said it was a typo, which I call bullshit on. Luckily I found that typo or I think things could have turned out a lot different.

Thank God I can read. Thank you for my ET education. Well, thank you. I can read that you put in the time to read those because a lot of people don’t. They’re sneaky. They’re sneaky. The things they sneak and well, you really have to pay attention to what is being brought on the house you really for, because they will sneak things into these bills. They do do all the time. And this bill, I was like, oh my gosh, we finally won the lawsuit. Governor Bashir declared it legal and said, we are going to have regs on it, which is fine. Then the bill gets passed. We agree with those regs, which is 21 and up behind the counter, proper testing, childproof packaging, child packaging, those are the big things. And labeling, which yes, labeling, we’ve already done all those. We already were doing all that.

Well now because of that bill passing in 23, it gave the cabinet the right to create even more regs on it. And this is the part that is just absolutely insane because now they’re trying to impose a $200 fee per skew and it has to be an approved product. So it’s the same shit that they’re trying to do to the vape program too. And most people in this business, in the hemp industry, I don’t even know if they know about these regs. Plus they’re trying to dimi the TCA levels to 0.3%, which is bullshit because there’s no limits in the federal rules or in the Kentucky rules that say THCA has to be limited to the 0.3%. They’re trying to do a total THC. And that’s bullshit. Again, I call bullshit again. And also, I mean, they’ve got more labeling requirements, they’ve got more testing requirements.

We had to put a list of warning labels on where you pop up from your q and r code, which thank God they let us do that. They were going to make you put all that on your label. And I’m like, where are you supposed to put it? But these two paragraphs on your label along with this and that and that. Yeah. And everything else, your jars would be, yeah. I’m like, oh, here, let’s rip out another piece of paper. And don’t get me wrong, I get that people need to know about this stuff. But that’s also why you shouldn’t buy it at a gas station. You should get it from a reputable source. But the whole $200 per skew I’ve had, that’s the worst thing. Because that is, I think that is just targeted towards this one industry. I’ve never heard of that being done in any store where you have to pay $200 a year to carry a product for a specific product that makes, I think it’s absolute bullshit.

How many products do we, how many times can I say bullshit today? I mean, oh my gosh. Well, for the way they wanted the adult cannabinoids. So adult use cannabinoids is what they’re calling them. That’s almost all of our products that we sell. Almost all of them, even including the CBD, they’ve made it a 15 to one. So 15 milligrams of CBD to one gram or one milligram of THC. That’s our CBD line. CBD line. I mean, that’s again, bullshit. I think that’s the name of this podcast. Yeah. You continue say bullshit. I know we were talking about regulations, but now we’re just going to get angry Now at this point. It’s so frustrating. Yeah. And it really is. I think they’re just trying to get people out of the industry one way or another. They’re trying to either not get products that are going to do any good for people or just break you to where you can’t afford to be in the industry.

Right. Well, and heaven forbid the small business has its own brand, really. So you got to pay that yearly. Okay. I mean, how much more can they tack on It is just absolutely insane. So again, probably a lot of hemp industry owners do not know this. I have been, I think we got a, so I’m on the board with the Kentucky Hemp Association now, and with did get a letter out saying, Hey, these are the new regs coming down the pipeline. You need to be aware of this stuff. So hopefully people are aware, because I don’t know what they’re going to do. I mean, the final regs are going to be coming out I think next week maybe. And they’re going to have their website up for where you have to submit all your products to be approved or not approved. And who is making these choices?

Anybody that knows anything about cannabis health science or, yeah, I couldn’t tell you. I mean, Dr. Sea, maybe we should have hire me to do that. Yes. At least it was somebody with some education that knows what they’re talking about. And that’s the problem. Where you face this whole time is uneducated people. Uneducated, trying to make laws make concerning your healthcare. It’s your choice, your body, while it’s happening all the time. I mean, oh yeah. We’re not even, don’t get us women started about taking away our healthcare options. We have got to pay attention when you go to vote, know who you’re voting for, know what they believe in because they will say all kinds of things, but they will turn around and take the rights away. Unfortunately, that is true. It’s happening. And the worst part is, is it’s on both sides of the aisle.

Oh yeah. And it’s just so sad to see it. And the more I’ve been dealing with Kentucky politics, the more I just shake my head sometimes real quick. I did win an award for all of my Yes. Yes. Let’s, because we skipped over and we skipped over the part where, yeah, when Delta eight came out, they tried to say that it was illegal. And you knew for a fact, I got the farm bill here. I’ve got all the regulations pushed and pushed to fight back. So you had to file a lawsuit to keep it legal and you won because you knew you were right. Well, it wasn’t just me. I can’t take all myself. Well, I know, but I did a lot work with it because I was here. I witnessed every moment of that. If you did not spearhead that, nobody else was taking the lead. Do you remember that? That’s what I remember. I remember.

It was a lot of work. Yeah, it was a lot of work. It was a lot. And then you got other people to join in and help you with that fight. I know. Especially monetary. You didn’t it all by yourself. I didn’t pay for it all by myself either, thank goodness. Because it was pricey. And even we had customers wanting to donate things like that. We did have customers that donate. Yeah, I know. Because it was so important. But because of that, because of my work and all that, I actually did win an award for that. And it was definitely unexpected. But it was the Public Catalyst award, the epic from Nabo, how to word that. Yeah. Yes. It’s hard to, so Public Catalyst, epic Award. Okay. Yeah. From Nabo Nabo, which is the North American, no, national National Association of Women. Business owners. Business Owners.

Owners. So that’s a big deal. Well, it is. And I won it. And it’s funny, I went back and reread what my, because you have to submit stuff. Once you get nominated, you have to stay. Well, why should you win this? And man, you know me, in my honesty. I went back in there and I read what I wrote and I was like, oh yeah, that’s true. I wrote in there that even though this, me working on this legislation and the lawsuit, even though it benefited my competitors, I had to do it. And it was the right thing to do. And that also benefited other women, other women in this industry. And that is why I won that, because it wasn’t just about me. It was about all of us. And that’s what I believe we as a society needs to do anyway, is to stand up for each other.

For each other. So to me, that was just so important. And to get that war, man, I was shocked as, oh my gosh, I can’t even begin to tell you how surprised I was. I was not expecting it. I wasn’t even that dressed up, didn’t, she told me not to come. I didn’t, there’s no point. I’m like, you don’t need to be there. I’m just going to support other women. Clap for them. And yeah, I had no clue. So that one, I cried and I be, my mom would be proud. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She is proud. She is. I bet she would proud. But yeah, business, I mean, that’s something you, I mean from starting a grassroots effort in a way to fight these people who are used to fighting in this law, legal, whatever, politics scene, that took a lot of guts. It did.

And for you to do that and spearhead that and win, I knew it had to be done. And I knew that if I didn’t do it myself, one, would I really trust that anybody else would do it. Right. I’m a Virgo. Doubt it. So I felt like I had to take it on myself too. So I’m glad I did. And now I’m working on these regs now too, so I’ll keep you posted about that stuff. God knows I’m working on them as well. It’s not as much to do that I can do about those because the laws already been enacted. So the regs kind of are what they are, but at the same time, there’s always room for improvement. And I’m hoping that the cabinet will take under advisement what we as the industry and the Hemp Association have been telling ’em. So I’m hopeful.

I also don’t have also not holding my breath for the changes. So we’ll see what happens. But in the meantime, y’all make sure you listen to us, make sure you like and follow us. And we’re here fighting the good fight for all of us, including the vape industry and the hemp industry. And it is always going to be about doing the right thing, even when no one’s looking. By the way, that’s why we don’t sell hemp flour. Oh yeah. That’s illegal. It’s illegal. I don’t care what anyone tells you. You can buy it at Hemp Clark. That’s right. That’s right. So follow us on all the socials. Please like, and share and tell all your friends how fun and entertaining we are. We think we’re, because we know we’re. But thanks for listening. We hope you have a fabulous, fabulous day, weekend, wherever you are listening to this. And stay safe and keep hemp and happiness. Yes, thanks.

We want to take a moment to extend our deepest thanks to each of you, our dedicated listeners. Your support fuels our passion and keeps the conversations lively and enlightening.

Remember to keep your mind and ever expanding universe open in new ideas, knowledge and perspectives. Your curiosity is the compass that leads you to incredible discoveries, so never cease to explore question and grow.

Be sure to follow us as we delve into the latest news surrounding the ever evolving world of CBD hemp and marijuana. Trust us, you don’t want to miss what’s coming up.

There is a whole library of knowledge waiting for you at 5 0 2 hemp.com. Dive into more episodes to satiate your curiosity about CBD hemp and marijuana, and join us on this green journey

As we sign off from the bottom of our hearts. We wish you all continuous hemp and happiness. Stay positive, stay inspired, and let the good vibes lighten your days.

Until next time, take care and be kind to one another.