Here Weed Go!

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It's Public Health Campaigns Jun 28, 2023

Show notes

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome back to another new episode of Here Weed Go!, the podcast issuing a public health message that it’s just a matter of time before marijuana makes its way into your life!

So, in the age of the pandemic, I’m of the belief that knowledge, when paired with good data, is power. That logic applies to public health initiatives as well.

In the case of marijuana and other recreational drugs, however, patients and consumers within those communities and industries are rightfully skeptical of public health programs and initiatives.

And who can blame them? Look at the infamous DARE program of the late 80s and 90s. Two generations of school children and young adults were given the “Just Say No” talk taught to lump cannabis into the same category as much harder substances when it came to consequences and health detriments.

And those consequences, when they weren’t coming in the form of unfair and unjust criminal charges (usually worse for minorities), were usually overexaggerated when it came to physical and health related effects.

Still, it’s disingenuous to suggest that consuming cannabis, especially habitually, is all rainbows, lollipops and thumbs up from your doctor for a clean bill of health.

For some people, there are health- and psychological-related risks and issues that come with cannabis consumption. But it’s not like the over-dose fears drilled into third graders during their after recess DARE session.

To help talk to me about what a modern, state-sponsored and funded public health campaign aimed at educating the public about marijuana usage, I spoke with Dr. Benjamin Brady director of education and policy initiatives at the University of Arizona's Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center.

The Center was the recipient of a $1 million grant from the Arizona Department of Health Services, the state agency in charge of regulating marijuana, to develop a program that promotes awareness and respect for Arizona’s marijuana laws and to encourage responsible use of cannabis.

You can read more about the grant in my story on TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com, but in our conversation, Dr. Brady and I clear the smoke around what a public health campaign created around marijuana usage should sound and look like in this day and age, how public health education has evolved since Nancy Regan smashed those eggs, and just how he and his colleagues will be able to measure if the public has finally wised up when it comes to weed.

MORE INFO

For more on Dr. Benjamin Brady: https://publichealth.arizona.edu/directory/benjamin-brady

For more on University of Arizona's Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center: https://cpac.arizona.edu/

For more on the $1 million grant to CPAC from the Arizona Department of Health Services: https://tucson.com/marijuana/ua-pain-center-wins-1-million-grant-from-state-for-new-cannabis-education-program/article_fd433883-34ac-57a9-940b-4a033ca7a8a1.html

For more Here Weed Go! podcast episodes: https://omny.fm/shows/here-weed-go

To subscribe to the Here Weed Go! Southern Arizona Newsletter: http://tucne.ws/hereweedgo

Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Trending with Headset Jun 21, 2023

Show notes

How’s it growing folks? Welcome back to Here Weed Go! Before I get going, I want to remind you, dear listeners, that you can stream all of my Here Weed Go! episodes by clicking on the link I've provided in this episodes description, available on whatever platform you stream or download Here Weed Go! from!

So, speaking of economic and macro sales trends, I figured since we’re almost halfway through 2023, we might as well take a look back at the last year of cannabis sales trends.

Is the overall national market for cannabis growing with new states being added to the recreational column, or did COVID-19 artificially increase average sales so much two years ago that there’s still nowhere to go but down?

If you’ve ever wondered how much states took in in tax dollars related to cannabis, or how one state’s recreational and medical market measures up against another's, this is the episode for you.

To help me make sense of a mountain of data, I’ve enlisted the help of Cooper Ashley, the analytics manager at Headset, a cannabis industry data tracking firm that follows sale, tax and compliance data in most American and Canadian legal cannabis markets.

Our conversation aims to clear the smoke around what factors influence consumer behavior, from the effects of the pandemic to the availability of dispensaries for the average customer.

We also dive into why some newly legal states seem to be thriving, while legacy markets like California and Colorado are struggling.

A few notes before we start our interview: This conversation was recorded on April 20, 4/20, this year, so some information may be slightly out of date. Additionally, I recorded the interview without the help of my trusty Yeti microphone, so my audio might be a tiny bit scratchy.

MORE INFO

For more data from Headset: https://www.headset.io/

For more Here Weed Go! podcast episodes: https://omny.fm/shows/here-weed-go

To sign up for the Here Weed Go! Southern Arizona Newsletter: http://tucne.ws/hereweedgo

For all other Here Weed Go! and TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com content: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo

Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's in Missouri with Greenlight Dispensary Jun 14, 2023

Show notes

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome again to Here Weed Go!

For my regular listeners, you’ll know I did a few election-centered episodes of Here Weed Go! near the end of last year that focused on some of the most important races and ballot propositions and initiatives for cannabis advocates across the country.

One of those state initiatives was in Missouri, and it ended up passing resoundingly. I’ve been looking to take a toke out of that market ever since.

It only makes sense then that I would reach out to one of the biggest operators in the Show-Me State to, well, show me what exactly is happening in the country's latest developing cannabis market.

I reached out to Greenlight Dispensary, one of the most prominent dispensary chains in the Midwest, who has a large presence in Missouri.

Greenlight is a chain of dispensaries found in Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, West Virginia and South Dakota. The chain is an example of what is known in the industry as a multi-state operator.

Luckily, John Mueller, co-founder and CEO of Greenlight Dispensary, was available.

In our discussion, Mueller talks a little about growing Greenlight Dispensary into the Midwest giant it is today and how the company has grown in states both with recreational cannabis programs and ones without.

We then hone in on what makes Missouri special in the greater U.S. cannabis market, like being bordered by states that either aren’t as friendly to cannabis use or who have significantly higher taxes.

And we dive into what’s next in the Midwest, from further Greenlight Dispensary expansion to the next possible states to drop cannabis prohibition.

Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star

MORE INFO

For more on Greenlight Dispensary: https://greenlightdispensary.com/

For more Here Weed Go! podcast episodes: https://omny.fm/shows/here-weed-go

To sign up for the Here Weed Go! newsletter: http://tucne.ws/hereweedgo

For all Here Weed Go! and TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com content: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Fixing the Supply Chain with Lucid Green Jun 07, 2023

Show notes

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome back to Here Weed Go!, the podcast dedicated to covering the ever-growing cannabis industry! I’m your host Eddie Celaya, reporter here at the Arizona Daily Star and TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com.

Today’s podcast is a fun and interesting one.

Usually when we take a look at new technologies on Here Weed Go!, they are things that are physically tangible. Take for example the episodes we’ve done on THC breathalyzers, eye-motion capture devices, and two weeks ago with the Boveda humidity packets.

However, the products we’re focusing on for this episode is a little different. This tech is a little more about code, in particular UPC.

You see, Lucid Green is a Universal Product Code, or UPC, that claims to help with cannabis retailers and brands when it comes to supply chain inefficiencies, optimize inventory management and cut down on the impact of human error within the cannabis industry.

Lucid Green’s technology also claims to be a boon for cannabis consumers, allowing anyone with a smart phone to scan their purchases code to find out all the information they need to know their flower or edibles meets state regulatory requirements and is as fresh and safe as possible.

Since I’m the least tech savy guy in the cannabis world that also somehow has a podcast, I decided to reach out to one of Lucid Green’s co-founders and president, Paul Botto, to help me learn more about the company.

Our wide ranging discussion starts with the story of how the idea for Lucid Green came to be after Botto and his business partner, Larry Levy, got together and realized they were working on different ends of the same problem and eventually gets into applications for the technology outside of the cannabis industry.

Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star

MORE INFO

For more on Lucid Green: https://www.lucidgreen.io/

To subscribe to the twice-monthly Here Weed Go! newsletter: http://tucne.ws/hereweedgo

For links to all other Here Weed Go! and TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com content: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's for Women, Too with Her Highness May 31, 2023

Show notes

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome to Here Weed Go! the still-weekly podcast bringing you the latest in news, science, business and culture when it comes to cannabis, the nations fastest growing and best smoking cash crop.

I’ll tell you what folks, my first week back on the breaking news beat has so far been quiet, so that’s allowing me to continue covering this amazing world of cannabis, and damn do I have an interview for you today.

This episode, which features my very fun interview with Allison Krongard, the co-founder of the unabashedly women-forward cannabis brand Her Highness, was supposed to run for mothers day.

But schedules get mixed and episodes that are mixed and ready get out of the gates first. So think of this episode as a belated mothers day edition of Here Weed Go!, or at least one dedicated to the women in your life!

I’ve grown up around cannabis since my mid-teens, and ever since that time, its been a very dude dominated culture. That’s remained fairly unchanged as the plant has transitioned from the underground to the nearly mainstream.

According to a survey by industry trade journal MJ Biz Daily, the percentage of women executives in the space only grew by a percentage point to 23.1% over the past year. Women also continue to lag behind men when it comes to staff-level jobs in cultivation/manufacturing (44%) and retail (47%), the survey found.

Krongard and her partner, Laura Eisman, have set out to help change that narrative by marketing Her Highness and their products exclusively to women and, as they say, men who love women.

Many of the Her Highness products come in bright gold packaging, with a large Her Highness logo in the shape of ruby red lips gracing the packaging's front. That stands out on a shelf where many brands in the industry seem to be blending in, instead.

Krongard and I begin our chat talking about what Her Highness is and why it’s focus is on the female consumer and how women can enjoy of cannabis, move into a discussion about Her Highnesses unique packaging and marketing strategy, then clear the smoke around topics ranging from Her Highnesses patent pleasure oil to what the future holds for a brand that seems to be taking New York by storm.

Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star

MORE INFO

More on Her Highness: https://www.herhighness.com/

More Here Weed Go! podcast episodes: https://omny.fm/shows/here-weed-go

For all Here Weed Go! content and social media pages: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Boveda May 24, 2023

Show notes

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome to the latest episode of Here Weed Go! I’m your host Eddie Celaya, cannabis reporter for the Arizona Daily Star and TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com!

So about a year ago, I was out at Earth’s Healing dispensary here in Tucson looking for some top shelf marijuana flower. I made my purchase, came home to grind the flower up to hit out of my freshly cleaned bong, and when I poured some of the flower out, a small brown baggie about the size of a Splenda package fell out with it.

Perplexed, I looked at the baggie to see what it might be. It wasn’t immediately clear to me, but there was the name of a company on the back of the baggie: Boveda.

According to it’s website, Boveda is the creator of two-way humidity control packs. Essentially, the company creates humidity packs to help keep fresh products that depend on a certain humidity level, like marijuana, hemp, cigars and musical instruments.

To help me learn more about the company, and to help explain some of the science behind Boveda and its humidity packs, I spoke with Shannon Klick, the Vice President of Global Sales for Boveda.

Klick and I chatted about the history of Boveda and how it originally started as a technology to help preserve high-end cigars and tobacco products, how the company got involved with cannabis, and just how exactly Boveda’s proprietary technology works, especially when it comes to keeping your cannabis flower fresh!

Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star

MORE INFO

For more info on Boveda: https://bovedainc.com/

For more Here Weed Go! content: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Packaging with DIZPOT May 17, 2023

Show notes

How’s it growing folks? Welcome again to Here Weed Go!, the podcast bringing the latest news, info and science surrounding the nations newest cash crop, cannabis, to you!

Today starts a string of podcasts that explore an overlooked but integral part of the cannabis industry: packaging. Gone are the bad-old days of dried-up cannabis passed around in Ziploc baggies or rolled up pieces of tin foil.

Instead, that's all been replaced with some of the freshest flower and products you’ve ever laid eyes on, sealed in glass jars or smell-proof bags, with the latest technology making sure the products stay as potent and moist as the day they were sealed.

If you’re buying legal, adult-use or medical cannabis in the United States, pretty much every product sold out of state-licensed dispensaries, from marijuana flower to edibles, comes packaged.

And chances are, whatever it is you’re buying sports packaging made or developed by DIZPOT, a Phoenix, Arizona based packaging, design and branding company that produced over 80 million pieces of packaging exclusively for the cannabis industry last year.

Here Weed Go! spoke with DIZPOT co-founder and CEO John Hartsell, a one-time political campaign worker and ad agency executive, about DIZPOT and how it keeps up with the differing packaging requirements not only for all of the separate brands the company serves, but all of the different legal cannabis jurisdictions as well.

We also touch on how DIZPOT has been able to become integral in the world of cannabis packaging, in a relatively short period of time.

One note on the conversation: The episode was recorded in mid-March, and throughout the conversation, Hartsell and host Eddie Celaya make quick mention of a piece of state legislation, known as Senate Bill 1271 or SB1271, that dealt with the regulation and packaging of hemp and hemp-derived products here in Arizona, and that Hartsell opposed.

We’ve removed a portion of our conversation that dealt with the bill since it was eventually killed in the Arizona State House of Representatives and was too "inside baseball."

Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star

MORE INFO

For more info on DIZPOT: https://www.dizpot.com/

For more Here Weed Go! podcasts: https://omny.fm/shows/here-weed-go

For all other Here Weed Go! content, including the Here Weed Go! newsletter and TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Colombian Hemp May 10, 2023

Show notes

How’s it growing folks?! Welcome back to Here Weed Go!

As any of my long-time listeners know, I’m endlessly curious about how cannabis is treated, regulated and used in different jurisdictions and markets. What’s legal, acceptable and cool in one place, might not exactly be in another.

In today’s episode, I’m taking a deep toke on one of the world’s great agricultural producers: Colombia! Once known primarily for its association with cocaine and the illicit drug trade, the country has made a concerted effort since the late 90s to rehabilitate its image for the world.

Now, the country is an agricultural powerhouse, exporting bananas, cut flowers and other commodities to all corners of the globe.

To help me get a better understanding of how cannabis is doing in one of South America’s fastest growing marketplaces, I spoke with Auz Zadoff, the CEO and co-founder of Cannexp Consulting Group.

Zadoff explains how Cannexp has helped non-psychoactive cannabis (or what we in the United States call hemp) producers, farmers and growers get their product in front of international consumers, from Europe, Australia, and as of recently, the US!

Zadoff and I also discuss what makes Colombia such a great place to produce cannabis and why producers within the country have been forced to look elsewhere to make money off the cash crop. We also touch on the politics surrounding psychoactive cannabis, or marijuana as we know it, in Colombia and how this year could be the year it becomes federally legal

Our conversation starts off with Zadoff explaining how he got into cannabis consulting and why he helped found Cannexp.

Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star

MORE INFO

For more info on Cannexp Consulting Group: https://cannexpconsulting.com/

For more Here Weed Go! podcasts, to subscribe to the Here Weed Go! newsletter and other cannabis content: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Copperstate Farms May 03, 2023

Show notes

How’s it growing folks?! It’s so nice to say "Welcome back to Here Weed Go!," again!

I’m keeping it Arizona-based this episode by taking a look at Copperstate Farms.

Known best its five Sol Flower dispensaries in the Phoenix area, the vertically integrated company was started in 2016 in part by former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington, and sports as part of its portfolio one of the largest indoor greenhouses in North America.

The facility, a former industrial hydroponic tomato grow located in Snowflake Arizona, is over 40 acres in size, or 1.7 million square feet, with over 50 strains of cannabis in production under its roof at any given time. It also has a state of the art extraction lab on site.

In other words, it’s an enormous cannabis grow that rivals anything in the country.

To help talk about Copperstate, I spoke with Allie Marconi, the company’s senior director of marketing.

In our conversation, we explore how Marconi transitioned from a career in fine dining to cannabis, why Copperstate is going through a rebranding effort and what consumers can expect from the company in the near future, and just how impressive that big greenhouse is!

MORE INFO

For more on Copperstate Farms and its brands: https://www.copperstatefarms.com/

For Sol Flower locations: https://www.livewithsol.com/

For more Here Weed Go! podcasts and content: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo

Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Timeless Vapes Apr 25, 2023

Show notes

How's it growing folks?! The Here Weed Go! interview this week features Josh Hirschey, the president of Timeless, a marijuana vape company based here in Arizona.

Timeless started its corporate life originally as a cannabis lifestyle company that was founded in 2013.

After beginning life as a sort of hybrid head shop and skate shop merchant, the brand expanded in the medical cannabis vape space, becoming one of the OG brands in Arizona to get into the industry.

Since then, cannabis has been legalized for adult-use in Arizona, and Timeless has expanded it’s offering of vape products and associated brands while dipping its toes in the marijuana pre-rolled joint market as well.

Hirschey and I take a deep toke on Timeless’ lifestyle brand past and it’s move back towards that distinction over the last few years, how the vape market has grown so quickly since the early 2010s, and what timeless’ plans are for the future when it comes to expanding its reach, both in terms of products and geography.

MORE INFO

For more about Timeless: https://www.timelessvapes.com/

For more Here Weed Go! content: https://linktr.ee/hereweedgo

For the entire Here Weed Go! podcast library: https://omny.fm/shows/here-weed-go

Podcast is produced by Pascal Albright/Arizona Daily Star

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.