The Cole Memo

Mike Lucia owns a federally-legal hemp business in Illinois, KindCannaCo. You can find them at KindCannaCo.com. They offer high-dose beverages with 10mg of THC & 25mg of THC at local liquor stores near you. You don’t even need to go to a dispensary!

During the conversation, he talks about how he feels about regulations on the hemp industry, why hemp is fair, Mike also teases that they plan to roll out HIGHER-dosed products in the future (100mg, my kind of dose!).

• Watch the full episode on Patreon here
• Watch the episode on Youtube here
• Stream the episode on Soundcloud here
• Stream the episode on Spotify here
• Stream the episode on Apple Podcast here

Read the auto-generated transcript below

this is the Cole memo I am your host Cole Preston every episode is released
in audio video and transcript format to find the transcript audio or video
version of any episode please refer to the description of the episode that you’re listening to within that
description you can find a link that will take you to our website which will display the transcript for this episode
and the platforms where you can find this episode in audio or video formats
if you’re unable to locate the episode description on whichever platform you’re listening from I get it every platform’s
different simply note the episode number and visit the memo.com from there you
can find the corresponding episode then you’ll be able to find the audio video or transcript version you might also
find any links that we reference during the episode so that you might be able to do your own research or purchase some
tasty products that we’re trying today if you’re not listening to this episode of the Cole memo on patreon then you’re
listening to this episode a little bit later than our patrons to become a patron go to the memo.com
patreon once again that’s the coal memo.com
Pat o n it’s a great way to support our show but of course one of the best ways to support our show is absolutely free
subscribe follow share with your friends all of that good stuff your engagement
and support is appreciated today is November 20th 2023
and I am joined by Mike who makes delicious cannabis infused beverages uh
I don’t want to speak on behalf of you Mike I’ll go ahead and allow you to introduce yourself to my audience Mike
go ahead uh when you’re ready and you’re muted by the way from uh there you go thank you uh
first off thank you for having us on the show Absolutely exciting for us we’re um
we’re the manufacturers a kind canico we do a kind beverage and our goal is is
pretty simple we want to spread we think the world needs a little bit more kindness and we’re here to spread it one can at a time right
now absolutely and tell our listeners uh I just took my first drink drink very
tasty this is the raspberry lemonade drink that you have tell our listeners where they can find you online so right
now you can find us online at kind canico um at this time we we don’t ship to
customers uh we do have a couple relationships with liquor distributors and right now you’ll see us in about six
states uh Chicago land’s being rolling out pretty fast pretty hard um you’ll
see us through some of the armanetti stores our store locator is a great way to find a location where you can
purchase near you um it’ll be getting updated periodically about every month
going forward what’s happened this last last month is not reflected yet but will
be uh after the holiday week we’ll be starting to get some depletion lists and
great news we have for everybody is anybody looking to share some kindness with their relatives this Thanksgiving
you can stop by your local Benny’s and pick up a can today so those are in stores at all Benny’s locations now wow
that’s a big one that’s a big one um is it Benny’s is that a is that an Illinois thing or am I just it’s uh Illinois they
have one in Northwest Indiana but it it’s a Illinois exclusive chain yeah gotcha for some reason I thought it was
bigger than that still that’s huge Benny’s is a very well-known chain here in in Illinois and to know that your
beverages are stocked there that’s awesome I’ve got a Ben’s near me so yeah most locations they’re they’re easy to
find they’re uh right up near the register there’s a white THC display and you can find all our cans available
singles or four packs depending on the store locations there yeah and break it down for folks that that um you have a
few different product options and they may have seen me display some of them when I was displaying your website but
can you can you break that down for folks I like the different product offerings you have so right now we offer
three flavors um in two strengths and our three flavors we
wanted to have a little fun with it we have something that’s kind of you know Common raspberry lemonade little bit
that’s something for everybody and then we have two very opposite end of the spectrum with caramel apple and orange
dreamsicle and where those came from was I picked my favorite you know snack as a
childhood which was those little Push Pops you chase down the ice cream man for and my girlfriend Michelle who who
designed all actually does all of her design work runs the facility with me um she loved those caramel apple suckers
you get as a kid with a little wrapper on it and so we both tried to make one flavor that gave us some
for like a better term some kind memories uh something to reflect on while we were relaxing we thought it
would be a fun way to introduce ourselves to Market um before
the end of January you’ll see two new flavors from us available in both strengths uh 10 and 25 milligrams and
that’s going to be cherry limeade in our Margarita flavor which are if you ask me
I’d say two of our best flavors we’ve put out so far we worked with some top food scientists on those now that we
have you know some of the opportunities have come and the world’s being more accepting to this it’s opened the doors
to lot of lot of experts being willing to work with us going forward so we did
the two strengths and I actually I have the 10 milligrams here so we did the 10
milligram in a standard can and our 25 is in a taller sleep can we’ll continue
that as we release um different strengths that way even if you forget to
read or or don’t remember you’ll know if the product feels right in your hand
nodally you don’t have to pay too much attention at the store if you like the milligram you like the 25 or I believe
we’re going to be doing a five and a 100 uh
soon you’re going to know something’s up when you grab a 16 ounce can versus a 12 ounce can you’re going to think to pay
or I hope pay Attention our goal is for everybody to feel well with this not uh have some repeats of some of the
experiences people have had with traditional Edibles sure sure but still like you say I get so excited when you
talk about having yeah high dose option like 100 milligrams and I didn’t think about the idea of so it’s like the your
five milligram cans are like a normal can like a 12 oun can right our fives
are going to be a in a stubby like an 8 O okay it’ll be about this big our five milligrams will be like those little
yeah yeah shot size cans you see at the liquor stores right now but then sorry the 10 milligrams are in like the 12
ounce that’s that’s cool cuz yeah it’s like you grab a regular can you know oh regular dose but then it’s like you grab
a you know kind of like one like this and it’s like you say I like that’s interesting I never thought about trying
to make that Association because I could I could understand where you come from
with your concern you may not want to have somebody accidentally grab a 100 milligram THC drink and just down it you
know what I mean but um so maybe that’ll go a long way toward preventing that
happen you know you know it it may happen and it may but you know what but
you know what the stuff they sell in Benny’s your product is the least of
their worries and that’s how we felt about it exactly is you know what it may
happen that somebody May shotgun 100 milligram can you’re even a 25 right now
yeah May shotgun one you know and we can’t stop that but we do encourage 21
plus we make sure should exclusively work with age restricted retailers um
adults can are free to make stupid decisions if they want to for lack of
better terms and you know you do stupid things you win stupid prizes is a saying
I’ve heard you know over the years it’s a true one um at least we thought that
way Our intention going into it is when you’re trying something new you
usually don’t go with you know the handle of moonshine for for example a gallon or a moonshine you might get the
Pint for your first experience and we thought that thought process that goes
with traditional adult beverages we we were hoping carried over here that a
newcomer or somebody unknowing would look at well let’s look at the smaller size the standard size for a standard
experience right just like you’re saying we did a standard uh THC dose in a
standard beverage size and then everything else is what deviates from that either smaller or larger as we go
into the future yeah that’s super cool and if you could guess you know I I’m
not aware of I know a few and we’ve had them on the show uh companies that are
selling drinks in Illinois but why do you why do you think the field is so sparse right
now it’s a great question I I think um some of it plays into what we experience
going forward with it we tried to this time last year we were trying to work
with co-packers you know mobile canning facilities we were trying to see what our options were for test runs
and they weren’t really there um they would say we could do a CBD product we
could do that oh THC they didn’t want to hear about the laws it was just a blanket statement of no we can’t work
with you and that was the end of the conversation and I spent really about two years trying to
get this product product made with local breweries and whatnot and the
uncertainty around it all prevented it and about a year ago we we uh took a leap and and went and
bought a canning machine and learned how to can we we spent three or four months with pallets of cans figuring it out um
we worked with a FDA co-packer to make sure our Water Sanitation our operating
procedures our cleanliness our preservatives all of that was dialed in but the actual canning experience we we
just took a leap bought a canning machine and and went for it and it was
definitely not without its trials and tribulations I’ll say that um but we we
believed it was a a product that was uh kind of the future of cannabis we had tried some cannabis beverages from
dispensaries in the past and really enjoyed them and I thought it would be a
great way to introduce consumers both longtime cons consumers and right I I
love the idea of being able to pack up a bong for example you know and have it
hit me right away but I I like the aspects of what
Edibles give me and having I felt the can was kind of a happy medium between those two and it’s also a great way to
introduce the newcomers and putting cannabis in a form that people are used
to consuming they’re used to unwinding and we just gave him a way to
unwind with kind at the end of the day wake up with no hangover you know no calories a lot of lot of things about
our product actually for that matter everything in our product we had the thought of how can we be kind to the
consumer yeah I like the fact I I don’t know maybe other people feel differently but I like that there’s no
carbonation so we did that I’m uh a lot of people call me kind of a health nut
or health freak with some of my diet choices I’ll just be honest um that’s that could be for another day
but carbonation is not great for your digestion and I think there’s enough Selzer products on the market even now
with the sparse Market of cannabis beverages that are that’s new I have yet to see anybody else that
does anything besides a seler and we just thought we’d try something different um yeah yeah I’ve yet to see
anybody do uh well I take that back one company we did just have on they have a 50 mgram
can but seems very few and far between where people are actually doing a dose that would be adequate for somebody like
myself yeah you know and I’m in the same boat I I’m drinking a ton right now I’ll
probably have I usually have a 25 one or two before bed yeah around this time when I’m calling a day I’m I’m an early
riser around this time making dinner I usually crack open a can and what I love about them is I can just sip them
throughout throughout the evening and I Melt Away have a great night’s sleep and
I’m ready to go at you know 4:35 in the morning every day to get the warehouse up and running and get back to canning
it’s uh somebody like me who has a lot of problems sleeping sometimes smoking doesn’t always doesn’t always cut it
it’s uh I love cannabis but there’s definitely something to be said over
Edibles versus you know smoking it
and everything yeah well well B besides yeah Wellness properties that’s a given I will also say well let’s just dwell on
that for a moment I don’t mean to Breeze past it um The Wellness properties are amazing because no matter what you know
some people will say oh smoking cannabis it’s not as unhealthy as tobacco or a
vaping cannabis that’s not as help as unhealthy as smoking cannabis well you know it’s you know what’s better than
you know any of those things is maybe not smoking at all right um I’m a smoker
but me too 100% yeah me too I smoke a joint like every pod cast but but you
know there’s something to be said about the the format and I will just also say as a user of cannabis I really feel like
with Edibles you can really dial in what experience you want so again yeah if you
want to Crank It Up start on these 25 milligrams you know especially with the water soluble you can you can really
dial it into a a very precise refined feeling of exactly what
you’re going for that night and that’s that’s what we love about making at water soluble in the first point is um
right you know where you stand you can pour a glass on the Rocks you can drink it right from the can five or 10 minutes
later you just like a mix drink traditional adult beverage you know you
want to have another one or not you’re not you’re not guessing and I think that’s the biggest thing I want to I
want to get back to the business conversation we were having in a bit but I think that’s a thing that is so true
and it’s going to I think it has the potential to normalize cannabis more than any other form factor because just
to give you an example um I was recently given samples from a different soda
company and they were lower doed so they just didn’t really do it for me to be honest and but they were still fine and
you know what I took it as an opportunity for is I said hey well they’re low dosed I’ll bring it over to my family’s house and offer them up to
the family you know because it’s real hard to talk grandma or my aunt in taking a hit off a joint or a vape but
when I give them a can they’re like well I’ll have a sip and they did like I my grandma literally and my aunt tried a
cannabis drink they tried a few sips and they were like H it’s not not it’s not bad you know so it was interesting and
um but but more to your point I’ve had another friend who stopped smoking for quite a while so he was a little nervous
about trying it and I said but try this drink you’re going to feel it faster than you feel any other edible and
you’ll be able to gauge your experience would you agree with that like it kicks in it seems like much quicker I’d agree
100% I I think you feel in my experience and I think it just like normal Edibles
I think science will will show just like they did with traditional Edibles the stomach what’s in there what
you’ve eaten plays a huge aspect in it and we all know that yourself being an
avid edible consumer I think you’ve experienced that one day it’s 30 minutes one day it’s two hours right I think
with our drinks it’s it’s very consistently I would say 90% of the effects you’re going to feel are 10 to
15 minutes from consumption you’ll still get maybe a little uptick effects you
know from the 15 to 30 minute range but 90% I think is right in that 15 minute
window and makes it a lot less scary for people um one of the things I know you
mentioned your grand Grandma I was on I’ve been on a mission for seven years to make a cannabis product that my
mother would try I haven’t got her to drink indulge
in a whole can yet but she has tasted it so that that was a moment for me was many years I heard from her of you know
I don’t need to use it I’ll I’ll try it if I need it because she know all the things we’ve helped people with Wellness
over the years and we weren’t new to the Cannabis space we’ve been in it for I’ve been in it about 18 years at
this point for as young as I am I but it started in the traditional space I like
to call it and then transition over to where I am now many years ago
yeah very cool very cool and yeah like you say that’s that’s cool to hear that you at least got your mom to try a sip I
don’t I think it’s cool that your grandma tried it that’s even better right right but you know on with both
those people like you I think we can both agree it would be much harder to talk them into taking like a little hit
off of a joint versus the drink you know I I don’t think she’ll be alive the day
yeah right until die before she tries that and you know and I think that’s that’s fine I don’t think smoking is for
everybody I know we already agreed I I think even all of us do smoke cannabis can probably agree we know smoking is
not healthy for us the Cannabis put it aside but I don’t think smoking anything is the best choice you can make uh
but I think within everything moderation is key you’re not harm anybody you know
doing it occasionally and I like the idea that we found a way the laws permitted us to do
so we found a way found some distribution Partners to open up for those that may be curious give them a
great way to try it their first time yeah and that’s what I wanted to get back to that’s a perfect transition you
know the law like you said allows you to do this I’ve been looking at other cannabis operators in the space and I
read a really interesting perspective they said I just talked to a bank that will take deposits from and
providing and provide funding for Farm Bill authorized businesses including
those that sell you know thca hemp or you know THC uh yep products H yeah hemp
derived products thank you between that the farm bill extension and state prohibitions on hemp being decimated in
court the hemp space is almost irresistible I think the hemp Act of
2018 was a beautiful thing for everybody involved in the Cannabis space and and
even those who maybe don’t know it’ll benefit them one day down the road I my
favorite part about it is that it made everything from the hemp plant which
is everything in cannabis for lack of better terms on however you want to refer to it cannabis is cannabis and it
made everything not a controlled substance and I think that was a massive
step forward for everybody in the industry and all those people that may have never consumed but
one day May greatly benefit from it I think it’s it’s pushed the industry forward in so many ways
and what I love about it is they’ve recognized it it’s hard hard much harder to go backwards prohibition didn’t work
and I think that’s one thing everybody can agree on um I’m excited to see the
future we’re actively working with some people I I I won’t bring it up publicly
now but we are actively working with a handful of groups and and hoping to see some of the steps we took
voluntarily um come into regulation I think regulation would be a great thing
for the hemp space but copycatting the way cannabis I I’ll call Illinois out
here I I don’t think Illinois has made the best cannabis policies for example and I see you nodding I don’t think I’m
Stranger in saying that half the people that wrote it admit they didn’t write the best policies um so I I hope they put a
little bit better forward and and so far what I’ve seen is most legislators are trying to put trying to I know you
mentioned some that have been stricken down in court but I think most are recognizing that that they need to
understand the product better the industry better and and importantly what the consumers want um to write better
legislation that’s actually enforceable and I think that’s a key part with some of the states that have
done things like Minnesota is a great example I talked about this with some
individuals regulating potency of products on a serving and package size
but it differs on the type of edibles well why can a beverage have 5
milligrams per serving and 10 milligrams per can but an edible can have 50
milligrams per package well what if we sell syrup
packets as additives for our beverages now we can still sell 60 milligrams it just I think the goal from legislators
is they want to eliminate some of the loopholes they created but I think some of the loopholes just truly allowed
cannabis through the hemp industry to start becoming what it we all knew it
always could be those of us that have been involved with it either as a consumer or in the business side for
many years we’ve started to see the the beginning stages of what cannabis truly
can become in the future and I think the hemp law has been an awesome entry way for that but some things are needed I
think like age restricted sales I think product testing is important
um you know accurate labeling truth and dosing I I think there’s a lot of things
that frankly every other industry has that that the hemp industry could benefit from it would give all of
us with retailers Merchants a lot more comfortability moving forward when they
could see that it was crystal clear yeah and I I uh hosted a panel
with you know people that are in the hemp space in the Cannabis space and there are actually a few people that
were in both they had a license in the Illinois cannabis Market but also were
practicing in hemp they were a really cool perspective to hear from We’re actually one of those um oh really I
have two two social Equity Justice licenses here in Illinois I have a transportation license and an infusion
license and we’re coming on as partners for a cultivation license for the craft
grow side and I think that’s one of the things some of those that we’ve talked to found an interesting perspective is
we we originally built behind Cana was originally built for the our infusion
license to go into dispensary products and how that changed was we
were a hemp extraction company for the last five years and I never understood why but one
of our biggest requests was can you take the THC out for me can you remove the
THC for us and nature has a great way of
putting things together I believe that that work and I think a great example of
that is you can look at a full spectrum hemp extract people that use it report
awesome reviews people that use CBD isolate usually say yeah it’s a gimmick right and I don’t blame him I I
agree with him so we had started down that route and we saw this
opportunity not just for a quick Buck but we saw this as a way to potentially
advance the industry forward and so we we’ve put off using our uh recreational
Cannabis licenses here in Illinois short term uh we do plan to bring them into
operations before the end of next year and to temporarily work on what we saw
is such a synergetic industry the adult beverage world give them a Kinder way to
indulge at the end of the day unwind and do it with a product that you don’t wake
up with a hangover you’re not consuming a thousand extra junk calories per night
and doesn’t have as nasty of long-term consequences for just trying to get the
peace of mind or relax from your day we all need it sometimes and I think there’s nothing wrong with that it’s
just we thought that the world gave us a a better way to do that and we wanted to share that with people now yeah and I
feel like that’s the consistent story with people getting in the hemp game as especially in Illinois you know recently
a government official was asked actually at that panel that I told you about um
with Senate Majority Leader lightford I believe uh one of the idfpr representatives was asked if you would
like to open up a cannabis business tomorrow how would you do that and he
basically said you C you can’t you know you can’t and so that’s I think why a
lot of these people have gotten in to hemp because I mean yeah you’re able to sell these drinks in bennies yeah you
can and I love that you touched on that there’s other states that have done
great programs sure maybe not everybody can open a 200,000 square foot cannabis
facility right costs forget even just the feasibility of running it costs are a big prohibit
Factory but some of the states that did an awesome job you know California and
it’s early days with the caregiver program Michigan Colorado it it’s really given a lot of
these Legacy families that made cannabis what it is today made it gave it some of
the awesome Wellness properties that we all know of or familiar with cannabis
wouldn’t be cannabis without those families and giving them a way to share their work and what they’re passionate
about I think they did a great job at that I Illinois like you said if if you
want to open a cannabis business the fact is you can’t just go open one and I don’t think that can be said
for many businesses in in this country you know we’re we’re a country of freedom and just about any other
industry in this entire nation sure maybe money is prohibitive
but right you get the money you can open just about any other business most other businesses that I would say are related
to this um even cannabis and those other
states the money is not the prohibiting Factor you can open as a caregiver for
very little resources for what people have in their savings and you can get your start in the industry that way but
Illinois is one that that unfortunately I think for the ultimately for the consumers and the patients yeah didn’t
give has never given that opportunity to people it’s even if you have the money
to open a very large facility it it’s still you can’t even just put together the
right business plan to justify spending the money you have to win the lottery
for examp and they literally called it that the lottery in Illinois and I think there was some irony in that because
even to partake in the lottery it was for most people not just thousands it
was hundreds of thousands of dollars to even get a maybe get a chance to participate right in and be the lucky
winner and I think there’s we could do a lot better I think as a state yeah yeah
and I just think that you know so it it like you said earlier you’d be willing
to be regulated I’ve heard that from several other honest operators in the uh
in this space and it’s interesting like I said I I hosted a panel which actually included a lot of the same people that
were on Senator lightf for’s panel I don’t know if she stole that idea or what um but uh I’m just joking a friend
I wish I got to go I I was unfortunately had plans but I heard it was a good night so maybe I’ll have to Shar some
more about it yeah um well but anyways in in my panel uh you know one of the
solutions that I suggested actually falls in line with something that you suggested I said I’m aware of
legislation that would require these hemp products to be labeled uh uh 21
plus I think there was a tax requirement and there was definitely a testing
requirement and I said so they’re because because they were saying the Cannabis operators were saying that it’s
unfair that people like you Mike were able to just open up a open up a company
and you don’t have to comply with all of these testing regulations which I disagree with but I’m G to just put that
to the side for a minute yeah here here you are saying I will play by the same
rules that you’re playing by and what they said at least on my panel is no
because because if we were to let you all in that would dilute the value of
our licenses right do you get that make a better product exactly there’s uh you
know look at States people like to talk about California is now I think California is
going in the wrong direction now but I I’ll bring when you hear me talk about legislation I’ll talk about them a lot
because I did work for five or six years in California’s market
and you know there’s it is a saturated Market when you look at States like
California Colorado Michigan Oklahoma but the people who really put
out a quality product a boutique a designer product um they still get $60 an e all
day long they still get the price that they set whatever that price may be on
whatever product it may be and most people still can’t keep them on the shelves so I think opening the doors
like you said I I don’t think that’s I think they use the excuse of
they don’t have to test that’s not fair most of us test and and do all of those things that they have to do voluntarily
because it’s just it’s just good business practices you know you should about what your consumer’s putting out
you should care that you’re putting the the best quality and accurate product out because ultimately that’s for the
customer sake not for any business and so most of us I’d say the large majority
of us do it voluntarily because we care about our consumers because we know that’s what’s important at the end of the day and I think some of the cannabis
companies particularly here in Illinois like to use as an excuse but it it’s not really about that it’s about just the
value like you said and unfortunately for Illinois I don’t
think Illinois companies compete in some of these open market stes I don’t think
they would do as well um because they don’t they they only operate in
restrictive States they don’t operate in free market States and I just think it’s
um what other business there’s not many businesses you could say that that’s
that’s true that having more players would dilute the value I actually
thought it was great Benny’s had two other brands in their store we were talking about today actually that we’re
so happy to see them have other brands in their store because it actually gives enough choices to make a category in
their stores instead of us being in a non-alcoholic section there’s there’s a thankfully enough cannabis beverage
companies out there that are compliant with the farm bill that make a quality product have the practices and can build
the relationships that we’re not hidden away on a bottom shelf next to non-alcoholic beer I I welcome the I
wouldn’t even call them competitors I’d call them peers there’s this industry is
truly in such its infancy of the legal side of the Cannabis industry there’s so
much room for many many more peers to join partake in similar businesses and
beautiful thing about cannabis is an edible product it has a bit of an art
form but but the flower side that ultimately these antagonistic uh views
are coming from that’s where your art can truly shine through is a producer
and B up being in business in other states having friends and traveling to
dispensaries in other states there’s some amazing work and you can see the love and care that people really bring
through to the plant some of the live hash rosins that are out there and even
some of the atable products that come out to the market using essentially a commoditized ingredient you know a
distillate deriv from hump or what have you I I’m one who I may be unique in
this sense because I even hear this from the hemp guys they don’t want everybody in it I’m one that says the more the
merrier I I think everybody should I think that’s true of every industry if I
want to open a bar there’s a form I fill out to go get my liquor license I put
together a business plan and I can go to a normal bank and and it’s up to my hard
work to make it successful the passion I’ll put through
in communicating with my peers at the bar the love that goes into the food the
quality of the products that it determines the success not that nobody else can
compete right it feels like they’ve removed most or they’ve tried to remove a lot of the competition from the
business and instead placed it in like the application SL license seeking part of it so you have to really compete to
even get a piece of paper but then after that you’re like well I know my numbers
you know it’s not that you don’t have competition but you know who you’re stacked up against you know yeah that
the application process was ridic it was a lot a lot and a lot of it didn’t
really actually have to do with showing you knew how to actually
manufacture produce Canabis Mo the majority of it was with unrelated
aspects I would say yeah and just um you know I kind of
get where they’re coming from when they say oh you know we have to test we have to label we have to do 21 plus but like
you say most of the operators I’m aware of do that anyways here here’s where I truly think the it’s unfair thing falls
on deaf ears for me okay it’s completely Fair Nothing is Stopping them from
getting in the hemp space right so they they’ll say like well they don’t have to pay 280e they
don’t have to pay the state tax on cannabis it’s like if you got in the hemp space you wouldn’t either and nobody’s saying you can’t nobody’s
making them participate in a lottery to get a hemp license or is many people are
aware to extract it to cultivate it you need a hemp license to distribute
products or retail products you don’t even need a license nobody’s stopping like you said I think that’s perfect
nobody’s stopping them from participating that’s the most Fair aspect of this whole unfair
Fair he said she said that’s going on especially in this state and among other
states right now you couldn’t have said it better myself yeah and I just have to say you
know some people wonder um are bigger people getting into this industry
absolutely I think the biggest name I am aware of is cookies they’re in the hemp space um GTI which is a cannabis company
here in Illinois is they are so they have a cannabis drink that I believe is on sale in Illinois called can you can
also find that in Minnesota yep I’ve seen them can they’re a great example they did it they did it um Snoop Dogg he
just announced a week or so ago that he’s dropping his dog pound Vapes which
are TCA Vapes has nothing to do with his quitting smoking Announcement by the way
but I was gonna say I saw his quitting smoking but I I saw you’ll have to maybe
you’ll know the brand name I saw him putting smoking but he’s also launching an edible line I know Mike Tyson and
Tyson Ranch out on the west coast Ty yep chich and Chong another one I’ve
seen them as far east as Massachusetts with the liquor distributors yep 1906 which is a company that’s in
Illinois they’ve dropped a hemp derived THC pill that strips directly consu to
Consumer I believe oh that’s cool I haven’t seen that one it’s new I I think
that’s one of the coolest things is I’ll be honest every day I see a new product
in this every day I see a new big name like you were just talking about
we can complain and try to regulate and obliterate opportunities or why don’t
just take the opportunity in front of you that that’s what’s awesome about the hemp space right now is it truly does
give a Level Playing Field for everybody everybody and anybody can join can get
involved in it right now and it’s awesome it gives consumers a
way to get it at a place they already frequent and save a few dollars at the
same time A lot of times yeah and you know some of these people um a some of my listeners I mean
to say ask you know why did do people get so passionate about this
issue and I want I’m curious on your perspective but I’d like to just first
say something that I learned from a defense attorney which is that you know with the way that we enforce cannabis in
the state state of Illinois it’s not like if I start selling
cannabis like cannabis flour for example with high levels of THC that I’m GNA get
uh you know like let me let me start without cannabis for an example okay um if I start selling liquor out of my
house I will get like probably a pretty serious fine for Distributing liquor
without a license but if I start selling weed out of my house get some serious
criminal penalties so on one hand it’s a business fine on the other hand we’re using the criminal law when people ask
why is it so personal I say you’re trying to turn honest people into criminals I’m curious what your take is
on this I I would agree with you you’re trying to myself and the others in this space
we didn’t write the laws and I don’t believe we’re exploiting them at all
we’re just following them and that that’s all it comes down to I’m
happy to help them write ways to regulate this there’s a lot of things they missed the first go around
that if they had done it with regulation when they made hemp I think the Cannabis
industry as a whole would be way larger than it is I’m but I I can relate very
much to what you say because I that’s how I qualified for a license is um you
you know in the past I was criminalized I I wouldn’t say victimized
but criminalized by the war on drugs and and I lost my freedom over it and it’s
it I feel personally about it for I think one reason most importantly
is I got a felony we’ll just say it for what it is I got I have felony charges
in convictions for cannabis um back over 10 years ago
now was a senior in high school and got caught with a large amount I was selling
there’s no nothing hiding it I was convicted and was this in Illinois I’m
sorry this was in Illinois it was in suburbs of of Chicago land yeah and it
wasn’t just like you said a fine because I was making money and not being taxed
or whatever like liquor the liquor example you gave it was a lot more serious than that I I was sentenced to
three years in Illinois prison um but you know what makes it most personal for me is I did my time I
learned my lesson I followed all of the rules I didn’t violate parole I I got a
job I actually worked in pharmaceutical industry while I was on Parole and uh
that was a good story for another they they didn’t believe I was being truthful
and but still to this day I I now have a cannabis license here in illo the same
state that determined I would be a felon and the worst part about it I think for
the the people that are were a victim of the War on Drugs
is they they always brag about it we expunged records look at how many people
we cleared well you only pardon the people that you know maybe smoked a joint want
it it didn’t impact them but the people who actually were impacted with this were
the felony of mountain Illinois was 28 grams plenty of people cons buy that
just to consume it even for medical reasons back in the day but that felony even after you do your punishment serve
your time that still impacts you in many ways throughout your life for the rest of
your life and it the War on Drugs became a lifelong punishment for many and I
think that’s why I can say that’s why myself I feel so p passionate about it
is is I have a lifetime black eye for lack of better terms with the state with
insurance with driving everything across the board that’s regulated and it’s not
just as simple as oh well you can do it now I I can but that doesn’t
fix some of the penalties that are are still prevalent as a result of you know
what the state and what the governments did to people that now they say oh just give us a little cut we’re we’re uh
we’ll forget about that right right well and one of the things that I think is uh
interesting I’m just stepping over here to turn my heat off um one of the things that I think is interesting uh and I’ll
bring up something that an attorney wrote um that law that you were charged
with was likely the 1978 cannabis Control Act and it is still largely in
effect to this day so if these let’s call them protections even though
I’d call them protections actually it’s it’s a way in which the federal law is a is ahead of the state law some people
might not agree with that but I think I think if the federal law is what’s protecting you right now it could easily
be argued that federal law is ahead of state law in this case i’ I’d agree with you as well there’s some contradictory
federal laws on cannabis but in many ways because of the hemp law federal law
is light years ahead of most State cannabis it cannabis as a whole I’m talking about any form of a plant right
now yeah absolutely absolutely I’m going to step over here really quick to turn off this heat um it is getting hot in
here um I was just telling you after I turned off my heat I’d love to have you back on the show and and I know that I’d
have to make it happen when my friend comes back on he found your drink he was
in he said he was just stopping by a local liquor store I think I ended up telling you which one it was but I can’t remember off the top of my head now
permanet near the city I believe thank you for mentioning it because we’ got Chicago listeners so they’re going to be
wondering where they can find it and and once again folks you can go to kindan co.com and they’ve got a store
locator um so you know find your local store and get some drinks but anyways he
said he was just thinking while he was there you know I should really tell them that they can do this there’s no reason
they can’t and he said he literally turned around and saw your drink it’s as if the stars aligned so it
sounds like it and that’s it’s still a hurdle we’re getting over today even
with their Distributors and and suppliers is that especially here and in other states
oh cannabis can only be sold in dispensaries and I think that’s we’ve gone away from
it and back towards it and that’s one thing I haven’t mentioned is the cannabis laws are
so odd and yeah if you look at cannabis like the government like
likes to refer to marijuana MH the recreational Cannabis markets in hem
you’re talking about two of the same products and regulating them in totally
different ways in an analogy I always give to people as like do we re regulate red wine and white wine
differently that’s a good point right we don’t regulate people by color either we
don’t regulate cherry tomato and Sweet Tomatoes differently on an agricultural level they’re both agricultural crop
simple as that tobacco whether it’s going into cigarettes or cigars it’s
regulated consistently across the board and cannabis and hemp are somehow some
way we we split the same product into two different categories and have and I
think that’s what resulted and such odd restrictive in some senses in
truly what America’s about freedom in other senses with the hemp act yeah and
we get such a two polar opposite ends of the spectrum because of
it absolutely yeah if I could the way I like to explain what you just laid out
is you know you’ve got the scientific term right cannabis and just to take us
back folks to to uh biology binomial nomenclature
you would have like Cannabis sativa or Homo Sapien or in the case of a tiger
panthera Tigris right so that’s the scientific term that’s science but then
you have this thing called law over here and we’ve defined what is marijuana and
what is hemp right and like you said that is the legal definition some people
are like don’t use the word marijuana and I agree typically I use the word cannabis because that is the scientific
term for the plant but the legal term for the plant that has more than 3%
Delta 9 THC is marijuana and the legal term for the plant that has less than 3%
Delta 9 THC is hemp and I for folks that just it doesn’t still make sense I love
this graphic from box Brown who’s been on our show in the past he’s got this comic called legalization Nation it’s a
perfect thing that kind of sums it up I feel visually you’ve got a gummy here
and most of it is the CBD gelatin sugar and corn starch but the 3% here is the
THC and that is completely legal I that’s actually a great great visual
representation right there in my opinion and just to talk about your drinks for a
second because you were telling me I think it was you maybe it was somebody else actually on my show it’s
interesting that so the the um this doesn’t really say it in this
comic but I believe that the law actually says 3% THC by dry weight so
I’ve heard that with drinks since it’s a wet I mean it’s a drink the way you guys like or at least
I’ve heard of other companies the way that they will try to make sure they comply with this is they make it so that
you can like boil the drink down and it’ll still be three or something or what that would be true for our drinks
um I know I saw some of the guys that like first came to Market with some of the smoke shops last year around this
time uh and most of them have kind of phased themselves out so I won’t name names sure but they
were just calling it since it and I’ve heard different opinions I’ve even heard this from testing Labs accredited
testing Labs if you make the THC water soluble and put it in the drink well
it’s with the water you can’t separate it but I I haven’t tested it I think you’re right if you boiled it down would
be separated and that’s one of the reasons we make our drinks very sweet is
it gave us the flexibility to go into higher doses in the future with some of the same
flavors and I I think it’s important that to us that we found a way to be
consistent with federal law or the dry weight basis everywhere we potentially
operate and and that law is true for other countries as well so I I hope that we could be a multin brand one day that
would be very cool I think to open what’s been done here in the United States which we know you talked about
some huge names getting involved cookies is in it chichin Chong Snoop Dog Mike
Tyson um I haven’t seen that or heard about it as much in other countries but the laws are the same it it I think we
should be able to bring this to the people in other countries and I I think
like the liquor store own ERS have would say to us is they were pleasantly surprised they didn’t realize as many
people did like cannabis and just didn’t talk about it there’s still such a stigma around it but and I and I agree
there there still kind of is I go over to my grandma’s for Thanksgiving she’s not gonna she doesn’t smoke her
generation it was a common thing but she doesn’t she’s probably not GNA welcome me sparking a joint in her house I don’t
blame her she probably doesn’t want smoke around her kitchen table but I know she’s not going to have any
issue if I open a can and want to enjoy myself just like everybody else is doing
there because you’re this gives you a way myself the others you’ve had on the
show we’re providing a way that you can do it without impacting anyone else
around you for example and I think that’s one thing the Cannabis industry
needs to advance itself right I I recognize some people just don’t like the smell of smoke for example
and we have no smoking laws I well I kind of greed to cannabis as well I’m
I’m not a kid anymore I’m not gonna HotBox my room and enjoy it like many of us probably have over the years but I
think you grow out of that phase yeah and I’m actually going to grab another uh can right now folks this
is something that is never been done on this show before but hey I just need and I think I want to just say that
um I think your statement about not affecting others is mostly true the only
thing I will say is that when I open up this can I opened up one of these at a friends over this weekend and he said
hey can I have one so it did imuse some jealousy
well sometimes you gotta maybe you wanted the whole thing but sometimes you got to pour pour half on the rocks for
your bu to that’s what I that’s what we ended up doing I had one left I said hey we’ll split it we’ll split it oh I’m
glad to hear it that we inspired you to be a little kind while while you were indulging yourself so you’re slick with
that with that being a little kind I like that well we’re we’re still um we’re still trying to find ways to be
kinder to the community with this brand and we have some ideas and it’s
something that I hope we can share with the people next year something we’re working on I’ll just say that well cool
you heard it here first folks well once again I just want to say kindan co.com
you can also find him on Instagram it looks like kind. canico uh we follow
them you f you should follow them too look for them in your local stores they’ve got the dose for you uh correct
me if I’m wrong you got the once I once again you’ve got the five milligrams the 10 milligrams and the 25 milligrams in
the future you might have more yeah right now just 10 and 25 um oh sor I
keep saying five the five is a new thing yeah right five is what I think what most people are doing most of the peers
out there I know a lot of people have lack of better terms kind of thanked us for putting out a 10 and 25
milligram because most people are doing two three two and a half yeah maybe a
five if you’re lucky and and I was like you I I’m not a heavy consumer anymore
but like to at the end of the day and I I don’t really want I have to drink four or six cans before I go to
bed just to get the relief I might be looking for right so yeah yeah it’s
literally you know it is the main reason I reached out to you besides the fact
that you’re another one of these businesses the fact that you had the 10 milligram and the 25 milligram got it
that time um since it was higher dosed I was like this is my brand this is the
brand for me well I hope I can convince them I I think we will soon we we would
have had a hundred by now but we had a a distribution partner that us put the braks on that one hey that’s okay you
know we’ll get there we we did the 10 and 25 real simple the 10 is the standard dose in the Cannabis industry
it’s what everybody familiar with and and for the newcomers just like a gummy we would recommend you to start with
half a can but unlike a gummy you you won’t forget what time you took it or anything like that you’ll know you can
go grab it out of the fridge or save it for tomorrow and we thought the 25
was the most responsible way to put out a higher dose for people that do have some
tolerance or know where they want to be right it was most responsible way to
start in our opinion we’ve all all know have those buddies that can drink a few hundred milligrams and longterm we don’t
want to leave them out either yeah so I love that I love that like you said with
some of these other drinks you know respect to them they’re tasty and they’re good for some they’re good there’s definitely a market for them um
but this this is my market right here higher dosed cannabis Beverages and um
yeah like I say I’m really glad glad we we found you it sounds like actually
rather than you found us we your friend finding it in the store I’m really glad
to hear that that’s that’s how you found out about us that means we’re accomplishing what we
set out to do and just give people a convenient way yeah the more kind way
like better terms there you go and I just gotta say you know um my listeners
will will know this in the future but you know you’ve got you’ve got a a fan
in me I mean and I know I’ve made that very very obvious so far but it’s it’s I’m just trying to really Le in you know
everybody says support local and I feel like this is one of the best ways you can do it you you are literally from
Illinois right near near Aurora is where I’m from
but even so you you you work and live here in Illinois TR to the uh you
contribute to our economy and I think that this is a great way to support local um you know it goes It goes right
to the source so um even the ingredients are outsourced from Illinois hemp
extractors as well um very cool some of those from Illinois Farmers I I will say
the extractors that we work with a lot of them are sourcing from other states throughout the Midwest including
Illinois but it’s uh thank you for the the kind words and we appreciate it
because we’ve run all our businesses here I want to keep them here love the team that we have we could never do or
or be as far as we have been so far without the team that we have be behind us supporting us manufacturing and
canning and doing all the product development there’s there’s a lot of teammates that go into this so it’s not
just myself there’s more than a handful of us involved in this product so it’s awesome to see it start hitting shells
delighting consumers nonetheless that’s the most rewarding part for all of us yeah and I just got to say that you know
it’s kind of a last thought on this this whole thing uh in a weird way I’d like to thank you you and others that have
taken the lead because you know I’m a consumer I’m a fan of these products but
that’s obviously not a very powerful argument for some people and I just feel like when you’re talking about taking
away somebody’s livelihood which is exactly what some of these people are proposing it’s such a powerful argument
I mean you’ve you’ve started a freaking company you and all these other people and so I just want to thank you for
putting yourself out there and and you know doing what
what you’re doing because there’s no reason you can’t it’s it’s all
clearly part of federal law and it’s very interesting to hear some of these attitudes oh it’s unfair oh this or that
it’s like but you can get in it too like that’s what’s so great about this like I could
I could start a coal memo soda company today tomorrow right what flavor you
want to make you should come by the facility yeah let’s make a co co memo like a strawberry some sort of
strawberry drink you know maybe a strawberry margarita yeah yeah that or
yeah stra yeah that sounds perfect the co memo strawberry margarita drink we’ll
pop one open at the beginning of every show here you go we’ love to be a part of that and uh yeah the hemp industry’s
done some amazing things it’s glad to be a part we wouldn’t change it and you know what we’re
uh regardless of what happens with legislation we just going to keep a positive attitude and and keep doing the
best we can for for everybody that uh appreciates what we do and maybe those
that don’t know they appreciate it yet I think that’s the awesome thing about doing the beverages is seeing how many
new people are willing to try this and realize it’s not so scary for example
it’s a just a choice is that an adult I
think should be free to make yeah very well said well before we go um was there anything that you had
wanted to mention today that I didn’t give you the space for I wanted to be sure to give you space if if you didn’t get the chance to say anything no I
think I rambled plenty with cool but uh thank you for inviting me to talk about
frankly what our whole team’s accomplished here in Illinois and I hope we could do it again sometime oh
absolutely this is not the last time I’ll reach out to you but if something comes up before before that happens you
reach out to me and we’ll make it happen okay sounds great man really appreciate the time and the opportunity to be here
yeah well once one more time folks it’s kindan co.com kind canano get it at a local
store near you take care everybody