Welcome friends, it’s Catherine Sidman, @Sidco_Cat and this is my podcast. As a cannabis industry professional for the last decade, I have unique access to the experts, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts who make this industry great! Join me and my guests as we dive into the people, processes and products that make up this wild ecosystem of cannabis, psychedelics and emerging medicines.
I know my audience. My tribe is cannabis extraction heavy and comprised of some of the true OGs in the concentrate space. There are lots of opinions, heck, I have lots of opinions, about delta 8 and the minors. And frankly, it is easy to live in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado even ALASKA with all the access to retail shops and all the finished goods and top shelf weed and get all snooty pants about CBD derived cannabinoids. I want to remind my listeners in legal states, that they are privileged with access that others aren’t. I have been disappointed by my cannabis industry peers who are dismissive and even vocally antagonistic to CBD derived cannabinoid markets. That’s a little bit like someone in a really nice neighborhood with clean tap water looking down on someone from Detroit who has lead-tainted water. Really? Would you shame someone because their local government has let them down and they are doing their best under crappy circumstances? You see, this isn’t about D8 and the minors. This is about prohibition which is ALWAYS bad for people. Prohibition never reduces demand; it only reduces safe access. So, in the absence of safely accessible cannabis medicine, we have derived cannabinoids. Are there any pitfalls associated with the minors? Yes. If that bothers you, fight for deregulation of plant medicine before you fight against those synthesizing from CBD. In my experience, the voices that are loudest against synthesized cannabinoids aren’t concerned with safety as much as they are concerned with their pocketbook. Legal THC is bent out of shape because these products are sold without the crippling taxes piled onto cannabis. CBD producers are bent out of shape because this stretching of the rules is bringing unwanted scrutiny to their market. Until the plant medicine is descheduled, this infighting is so counterproductive to our cause. We, the greater cannabis industry which includes THC, CBD, terpenes and all the minors, need to be aligned until we are fully emergent as a legal industry with access to financial institutions and tax breaks. Until then, we need to stick together. Take a listen to the case for D8 from Greg Hensley, Alternative Health Distribution and a bit more about finished products from Jeff Dale from Trinity Hemp. I enjoyed these conversations and hope you will as well.