High Science & Legal Lines: Inside Tennessee's FlowGardens

Join Cannabis Man and delve into the green revolution with Erich Maelzer and David Miller from FlowGardens, a trailblazing indoor cannabis cultivation company in Tennessee. Discover the legal labyrinth of THC levels, where even a fraction over .3 percent crosses into illicit territory. Erich shares groundbreaking work with cannabinoids like CBG and THCA, offering a glimpse into the future of cannabis effects. Plus, my review of FlowGardens' aromatic Paradise Gardens OG and the zesty Lemon Cherry Sherbert flower. Don't miss my thoughts on an Artisan pre-roll that marries CBD's calm with THCA's punch. We also dissect a Gallup poll's revelation that a 70% majority of Americans are in favor of federal legalization, contrasting with a contentious American Heart Association study linking cannabis to heart health risks. Tune in for a blend of science, society, and sensory experiences – only on Cannabis Man. 

Transcript

0:01
hello hello and welcome in to another episode of the Cannabis man podcast
0:06
thank you so much for clicking on the show I'm your host Don kleppen and if it's your first time here welcome this
0:11
is a show where we're taking a journalistic look at all things cannabis that's what I like to do anyway I'm a broadcaster in Chicago I do news on WG
0:19
and radio you can hear me Saturday mornings during house smarts with Luman ferini and uh during Home Sweet Home
0:25
Chicago afterward with David hawber I also do traffic for iHeart media you can hear on stations around the Midwest just
0:32
given some traffic information that's kind of my day job and eventually I decided to uh take my broadcasting
0:37
skills and move them into this uh Booth I have at home and try to change a little bit of the conversations that I
0:44
saw and heard around cannabis once it became legal not just here in Illinois
0:49
back in 2019 recreationally that is it had been medicinally for longer as it
0:54
had been in many other US states but uh even though this Patchwork legalization movement has been moving forward for the
1:01
last decade plus um we're still very much dealing with the lingering stigma
1:08
against cannabis the propaganda of Reefer Madness from the 1900s it's still
1:13
very much alive and well today and so even though cannabis is something that it's a plant people have been using for
1:19
so many reasons for thousands of years there is still this resistance um and
1:25
and as I'll talk about later in the show uh support for legalizing can across the
1:30
country here in America is higher than ever uh there's a new Gallop pole out
1:35
which has a figure higher than it's ever been before but that does not mean that
1:41
there is not still an equally negative reaction to that on the other side and
1:47
we saw ample evidence of that as well earlier this week in a story that I'm going to get to later on this episode I
1:55
also want to share with you my strain of the week something I always like to do tell you which Canabis products that
2:00
I've been sampling and kind of give you my review of those and of course I have a wonderful interview with two lovely
2:08
gentlemen from a Southern state where uh as we kind of delve into cannabis is
2:14
legal up to a point and then uh illegal after that in terms of percentages of
2:20
various cannabinoids so I'm going to be talking with a few gentlemen from flow Gardens uh in Tennessee and they have
2:27
some really really fascinating ins into the kind of work they're doing down there and to how those limitations of
2:35
what THC percentages they're allowed to have in Tennessee how that has led to
2:41
some real world innovations that they have created uh because they had to work
2:46
within those limits of legality so that is a bit of what I've got coming up for
2:51
this episode and if you haven't subscribed already go ahead and scroll down and hit that subscribe button
2:56
support the show if you like there are links down in the the description notes however you're listening to this on uh
3:02
Spotify on Apple wherever you get your podcasts if you scroll down into the description notes you can see links to
3:10
the buzz Sprout page where you can become a subscriber and support the show it really means a lot to me it helps me
3:16
continue doing this week to week because as I've mentioned before this is just something that I'm doing on my own and
3:22
it really really helps to have some support from listeners like you of course you can always follow the show as
3:28
well at cman podcast on X and Instagram and YouTube and search the Cannabis man
3:33
podcast on Facebook you can also just reach out to me at don.com kle p p i n
3:40
uh and if you want to reach out about the show or any voiceover work you might need or anything else uh feel free to
3:46
reach me I'm I'm always happy to hear from listeners to the show so with that let's get into this episode of the
3:52
Cannabis man
3:58
podcast
4:09
[Music]
4:17
[Music]
4:24
this is Tommy Chong and you're listening to the canopis broadcast
4:31
[Music] yes indeed this is the Cannabis man
4:36
podcast thank you Tommy Chong for reminding everybody if you haven't had a chance to listen to my interview with uh
4:43
the The Godfather of pot himself Mr Chong listener uh do yourself a favor and uh go back to April of this year and
4:51
listen to that episode uh he has some amazing insight and perspective because
4:56
this is somebody who's obviously been in the game for so long and he's experienced such a shift in Attitude
5:02
some of the stories that he tells from back in the 70s and 80s when him and cheich were just kind of getting up and
5:08
going uh I was just glued to the edge of my seat and I'm sure you will be as well
5:14
listener I've got my cup of coffee right here in front of me if you haven't heard before uh I'm a big fan of the
5:20
combination of cannabis and coffee uh I just love the way that those two substances dance kind of together in my
5:27
system and uh everyone has their own kind of combination of of things that they like to lean on I think to get us
5:33
through the days and uh this is something that whenever I have the opportunity which is not every day but
5:39
whenever I do have the option to partake in this that is something I always like to do so cheers whatever this is morning
5:46
evening uh afternoon whenever you're listening to this thanks for listening and cheers to you have a great
5:54
day I hope that doesn't bother anybody by the way when I'm slurping my coffee into the mic uh I haven't gotten any
6:01
messages or negative feedback about it so if it is something that bothers you feel free to let me know uh cman podcast
6:07
on X and Instagram but it is something I I just like to uh to reinforce uh that I do have the cup of coffee here and I'm
6:14
I'm just starting my day getting in the booth before work starts and I'm recording this episode the morning of
6:19
November 9th this is a Thursday it's about 9:30 in the morning and uh I'm here and I wanted to share with you my
6:26
strain of the week now the cannabis products that I've been imbibing this
6:31
week the the stuff I've been smoking on and trying all are courtesy of flow Gardens uh from Tennessee and that's the
6:38
company from which my guests today are joining us I wanted to sample some of their products before I spoke with them
6:44
and I wanted to give you a little insight into what my review of those products are now one of the stipulations
6:52
that they deal with in Tennessee and you'll hear more about this in our interview but what they do in Tennessee
6:59
is they are under the umbrella of the farm bill which means that they have the threshold of that. 3% of THC that they
7:07
need to stay under in order to comply with legal laws down there and as you'll
7:13
hear Eric and David talk about that has led to some fascinating Innovations on their part they ended up focusing on
7:20
other cannabinoids rather than just the THC and I think that that really is an
7:26
exciting development and it's something that I do think other companies are going to start focusing on as well as
7:32
legal cannabis moves forward you and I know listener right now that there is a focus on THC and there are several
7:38
reasons for that not the least of which is the financial incentive that these
7:44
businesses have when they can charge you and I a higher premium for a THC product
7:50
that's over 25 or 30% which is what they're legally allowed to do in every
7:55
state with recreational adult use cannabis that's legalized they are allowed to charge us a premium for
8:02
higher percentage THC and because of that you have these businesses that are fixated on high THC products the other
8:11
side of that the ugly truth and and something that we're sort of dealing with right now is that when you jack up
8:17
that THC percentage that's where you kind of run into these panicky and
8:23
anxiety inducing strains that are getting people into these problematic
8:28
situations where you know you might have you've heard me talk about on this show people going to emergency rooms in
8:34
different states and complaining about these problems when they're trying cannabis for the first time in a state
8:40
like maybe like Ohio that just legalized cannabis and congrats by the way
8:48
Ohio yeah we got the 24th state in this Union now is legally allowing adults to
8:56
recreationally use cannabis there so Bravo Ohio voters for joining the ranks
9:02
of the Midwest states and all the states in the union here that have legalized cannabis for adults I think it's
9:07
wonderful and so anyway getting back to the topic at hand these people that are
9:13
newly trying cannabis in states that have just legalized it like Ohio there
9:18
are going to be people that have never tried cannabis there because they never wanted to dabble in an illegal substance
9:24
now that it's legalized there are going to be a whole wave of people trying this for the first time and those people are
9:31
likely going to be exposed to a product that has high THC percentage because
9:36
some company wants to put that on the shelf and charge a higher percentage and
9:42
then their profit margin goes up the problem for that unsuspecting person is they have no idea what they're getting
9:47
into and they're likely going to be sitting in a corner panicking talking to themselves you know waiting until this
9:54
uh unexpected roller coaster ride ends that's the kind of stuff that that
9:59
they're avoiding at flow Gardens by fixating on these other canabo and you'll hear them talk about that in more
10:05
detail what I wanted to share with you was my thoughts on their product and I'll start with the product that I'm
10:12
smoking right now which is Lemon Cherry sherbet and I'm a big fan of the name
10:18
big fan of the taste as well and I'll give you a little bit of my thoughts about that right after I take this first
10:25
hit so cheers to you
10:38
yay yay great stuff Lemon Cherry sherbet
10:44
this is an indicia it has more of an earthy smell uh it's also fresh and Lemony but but Earth is kind of what
10:51
stood out to me off the front which was unexpected based on the name I was really expecting kind of a fruity uh
10:57
smell and again you do taste and smell the lemony uh when you get that limine uh turpine in there but the feelings
11:04
that I had mostly are Spacey from this and uh you kind of first feel it set in
11:09
behind the forehead at least that was my experience another product that they sent and I was able to try was Paradise
11:16
OG this flower was piny a clean smelling almost like you could feel the pine
11:23
needles underneath your feet as you were walking through some Forest Grove or something it was great
11:29
this gave me up energy uh not like an indicia this was more sprightly positive
11:35
upbeat I found this to be mostly clearheaded for me that's how I stayed as I em bibed and uh I found it I found
11:43
the high kind of setting in by my temples and the center of the head also
11:48
kind of the sinus areas a little bit uh the sinus Pockets that you've got in your face I kind of felt the buzz in
11:55
those from time to time nothing that that stuck around sound like that and it wasn't anything that was like bothering
12:02
me but I did kind of notice like the the buzz or after a while I did notice the
12:07
high sort of like behind my face or like under those sinus cavities there and
12:12
they also sent me an artisan pre-roll uh a nice joint pre-roll that was a gram in
12:18
there and that was a thca CBD blend and this was definitely
12:24
my favorite I felt it most in the temples and behind the eyes and it led me to get some wonderful sleep I can't
12:32
stress that enough the sleep I got that night was just absolutely wonderful I
12:38
I'm definitely looking forward to getting more of this stuff and and and getting myself some good night sleeps
12:44
I'm going to try and stack a few nights of great sleep as many as I can before this baby comes and uh those go out the
12:50
window so uh that's kind of what uh my thoughts on uh flow Gardens products
12:55
were as I mentioned the thca CB D blend that Artisan pre-roll joint was my
13:02
favorite I love the paradise OG and the Lemon Cherry sherbet and I am very much looking forward to trying out some of
13:08
their other products you'll hear them mentioned a little in the interview coming up but man what they're cranking
13:13
out down there at flow Gardens is fantastic and I wanted to know what is
13:19
your opinion about Blends let me know at camman podcast on X and Instagram you
13:25
can hit the show's website cannabis man. buzzsprout.com or the Cannabis man podcast on Facebook
13:32
any way you choose to reach out let me know uh I really really love hearing what you're enjoying out there in terms
13:39
of cannabis products listener strap in we have a lovely treat this afternoon or
13:45
or morning or evening whenever you might be listening to this but uh my guests today and I am doubling up as I
13:50
sometimes like to do my guests uh have a very interesting story uh they both uh
13:56
sort of did different paths in life life they walked different paths doing different things in businesses like a
14:02
lot of us do trying to you know find some some meaning in this you know in this uh waking simulation we all got to
14:09
go through and uh at some point they were introduced through a family friend and it was sort of one of those uh right
14:16
place right time Serendipity moments and the two of them came together to create
14:22
a wonderful cannabis business called flow Gardens and they're doing this
14:27
growing cannabis products and they're making uh great things for all of us to try in a state where cannabis is still
14:35
illegal fully not like here in Illinois where it's medically and recreationally legal uh they're doing this in Tennessee
14:43
where there is no legal cannabis market yet uh when we're recording this in October of 2023 so here to tell us a
14:50
little about flow Gardens and how they're able to uh make such wonderful cannabis products in a a state that's
14:57
still prohibiting it is Eric meler and David Miller of flow Gardens welcome Eric and David thanks for having us yeah
15:05
thanks for having us on oh my pleasure thanks uh for taking the time really appreciate it and uh you guys uh you do
15:11
you have an interesting story and I'm I'm so fascinated uh with with flow Gardens and and what you're able to do
15:18
in a state like Tennessee uh which is obviously you know not not welcoming at
15:24
all to to cannabis right now so far it's illegal there so um you know if you can
15:30
just just tell us briefly about you know yourselves and how you got this business started yeah yeah I'll start this is
15:36
Eric um I'm the founder and I'm the grower over here at flow Garden so I've
15:42
been growing cannabis now um I guess close to 30 years on a hobby scale up
15:47
until about five or six years ago when uh the federal government they wrote The
15:52
Hemp Bill uh to where now uh we can grow what's hemp everything under .3 Delta 9
15:59
legally in the state and that's how we're able to grow cannabis in this state uh so about five years ago it
16:06
started growing indoors because the genetics were there and ever since then we've just worked hard on quality and
16:11
genetics and um different types of flour with different alternative cannabinoids and so that's our main focus is U the
16:19
things that that the people in the marijuana industry really don't focus on most of it's high THC we kind of took a different Road you
16:26
know and we we focus on cbdc CBG a bunch of different canab Andoid so
16:32
that that's that's the space that we live in I appreciate that and and how about you David uh Eric mentions he's
16:37
been growing for 30 years how did you kind of come into this uh what became flow Gardens yeah definitely a little
16:44
bit different a path I've always uh enjoyed enjoyed the plant um I'm
16:49
originally from Knoxville Tennessee like like Eric born and raised or raised here
16:55
and uh I moved to Atlanta after I graduated from college I was in a completely different industry uh finance
17:01
and and accounting and sold my business to pursue something that I was super
17:07
passionate about being being a cannabis and as you mentioned earlier Eric and I had linked up through a through a family
17:13
friend and uh the the rest is history and just to kind of highlight what you were saying it is very common in the
17:20
industry where people are saying that cannabis is illegal in Tennessee There's
17:25
um a lot of people don't understand a lot of the laws going on specifically the the farm bill and a lot of the
17:32
regulations so cannabis is completely legal here in Tennessee if you understand the laws if you have the right genetics if you're doing things
17:39
correctly with your your R&D so happy to we're happy to dive into a lot of the
17:45
the nuances of that but we're happy to be in a in a I guess quote illegal State that's forced us to do things a lot
17:51
differently than your your States like uh California Colorado you know the whole handful of them where it is
17:57
medicinal or recreationally legal as far as marijuana's concerned yeah absolutely and and thank you for kind of clarifying
18:04
that because I'm I am interested I'm here you know in Illinois where it's just sort of you know they they
18:10
legalized recreationally in 2019 so um but I am familiar with the farm bill and
18:16
one of the the the things I love so much about it and as as you had kind of mentioned David by keeping your THC
18:22
threshold for Delta 9 under that uh 3% you're able to send products in the mail
18:30
anywhere which is which is amazing and it obviously does sort of put you guys
18:35
in a place where other cannabis businesses right now a lot of focus is on THC percentage and I've talked about
18:43
it on the show before I know a lot of why that is it's unfortunate but the
18:49
incentive because they can charge a higher premium for higher THC products
18:55
that incentive is there for a lot of businesses but for you guys working in Tennessee it allows you to focus in a
19:02
different way on different other qualities of the plant rather than just the bottom line of the THC percentage so
19:10
uh maybe maybe Eric first I suppose you know talk a little about what what
19:15
growing and and cultivating you know product and keeping it under that limit you know entails and and what else you
19:21
focus on and then David maybe you could pick up on the business side of what that allows you guys to do in terms of
19:27
sending products and stuff like that yeah so um on the growing side it's definitely forced me to look at the
19:34
plant differently and uh focus on different canabo I work with a bunch of different
19:39
breeders around the country that'll send us seeds that we test out and along the way I've found a type two flower which
19:47
is equal parts CBD and THD are close to equal parts either way and what we found
19:53
is uh smoking this flower or uh any way you want to take it it it kind of
19:59
alleviates any of the anxiety or paranoia that high THC tends to have for a lot of people especially older people
20:06
um it's it's something that's very new and U premature in the industry that I
20:11
think is probably going to take over uh in the future so that and then
20:16
CBD flow in general it does it's not psychoactive so it's not going to get you high per se it will give you a head
20:22
change but it's great for anxiety it's great if you're you can't sleep you know
20:27
there's a lot of a lot of good medicinal value with CBD flour as well so you know
20:32
like you said it it caused us to kind of take a different path and look at the plant differently and it's been a
20:38
blessing in disguise because we've learned quite a bit and collected quite a bit data over the last couple years
20:43
right on and and uh and I appreciate that it definitely sounds uh cool and I've I've having now tried some of flow
20:50
gardens's products uh really loved the The Lemon Cherry sherbet by the way big
20:55
fan of that I also like the paradise OG uh and I'm I'm looking forward to trying
21:00
more um David uh for in terms of the business side of this you know we we
21:05
were just kind of talking about like the semantics or the specifics I guess of you know THC and high THC in fully legal
21:14
states but as you point out it's a Nuance to talk about legality in
21:19
Tennessee where everything's legal up to that threshold but then beyond it it's
21:25
not in terms of business what opportunities or limitations do do stuff like that offer flow Gardens yeah that's
21:33
a it's a great question it's uh from a business aspect it's really drilling down on those nuances from a compliance
21:41
standpoint and understanding not just THC but breaking that down with Delta 9
21:49
THC uh thca what those different cannaboids
21:54
those two specific cannaboid levels are at a certain stages of growth and what
22:00
the states allow federally and from Municipal perspective for those two cannaboids and how they can be
22:06
distributed so we have chca products
22:11
that are below the 3% delta9 as you know and probably a lot of listeners that thca after heated or decarboxylated
22:19
converts to Delta 9 and you know in a lot of cases and so so there's there's
22:26
that piece that gives us advantage over the recreational and
22:32
medicinal States but also what I Eric had kind of mentioned with the CBD is
22:38
his genetics that he has bred here in-house and done in-house crosses of
22:44
not just CBD and THC but you know also CBG chcv
22:51
cbdv um CBC a lot of these alternative canabo that don't have the you know
22:57
popular are psychoactive change but do have a lot of medicinal benefits um it it gives us a more
23:06
well-rounded product and I guess kind of an easy way to describe it is we're not
23:11
just chugging moonshine we're being very specific in finding uh you know Pino
23:17
Noir from wamit Valley that has you know divver more diverse profile right I
23:23
gotcha and and I love that exactly you guys you're I I think that paints Vivid
23:28
picture the way you say it where you're not just you know chucking moonshine down there it's like it is a lot more
23:33
scientific and you kind of you know you got into that with the sort of alphabet soup of these new canono like you're
23:40
talking about which the the thca and and CBG which are very exciting and I do
23:46
think that as you pointed out uh both of you that this does seem like it's poised
23:51
uh over the coming years to really become big in the Cannabis industry um because we've always known
23:58
I think that we've oversimplified our classifications of cannabis because of
24:04
so many reasons but um a plant with hundreds of compounds uh being classified into all right uh it's either
24:12
uh an indicia or a sativa or a hybrid only um obviously an
24:18
oversimplification and then even just just only saying THC and CBD those are
24:24
two of hundreds of compounds so I'm really excited for the future of this I do you know you we were just talking
24:30
about these Eric on these medical benefits that we're talking about here
24:36
you know some of these new uh or the compounds not new but newly discovered let's say um and the ones that with
24:42
which you guys are working so intently like CBG and like thca what are some of the benefits of
24:50
those specifically compared with like a THC you know the
24:56
Baseline right uh so I guess CBG I'll start there that one H it's the mother
25:03
of all canabo so that's the first canabo it's the stem cell and then it it spins out in the plant through flower into all
25:09
the other ones but the the CBD your CBG dominant plants don't do that almost like a mutant so when that flower's
25:16
done um they get kind of technical instead of having like sticky resiny tricomes they're powdery and they're
25:23
really white so they fall off the plant easily and uh when they're on your hands almost like a lotion it's not even
25:29
sticky uh when you when you smoke the CBG I compare it to drinking a cup of
25:34
coffee or Red Bull it's a immediate like energy boost and so people yeah like a
25:41
like a really heavy sativa without all the anxiety so we have a lot of customers that'll mix that with their
25:47
you know THC flour and they kind of do a blend to give them a more heightened
25:53
effect um so that's that one and then CBD like I said like a type two flly
25:58
when you when you put CBD and THC together they interact and the
26:04
CBD dumbs down that paranoia that really intense effect of it but you still get
26:09
the high that you're looking for it's just more of a levelheaded uh smooth sailing high and
26:15
then the new canabo that we run it's a we have a string called skunk butter and
26:20
it's high in CBC which is around 4% which is the highest I've seen we have a
26:26
lot of customers that love mixing that with their THC flower and they say it just intensifies it uh dramatically so I
26:34
mean those are just you know 30,000 foot view just like easy effects that we've heard from our customers um so yeah
26:41
there's there's a lot of benefits to all of them you know mixing them together uh we have one strin called a Racer V that
26:47
has 11 different canabo including like thcv which is the bar in the backside of the cannaboids and then
26:54
cbdv and uh people absolutely love it because you put all those together in
27:00
one flower when you smoke it it's like an effect it's an Entourage effect that that you can't experience with just THC
27:06
flower alone then you throw your turkey on top of that Eric and it just expounds it even more exactly so yeah man I I I
27:14
love this so much I mean just this is some of the the really exciting stuff about you know cannabis as it's moving
27:19
forward and and being you know thankfully and and slowly but but surely normalized and destigmatized is this
27:26
ability to put together um you know to learn more about specific canabo and
27:31
what what effects they have on you and then the ability to customize exactly the feeling that you want and then go
27:39
and get products that can elicit those exact feelings being able to as you were
27:44
just describing um you know kind of dial in on like a CBG or or a CBD flower
27:50
that's even and just knowing that that is the kind of feeling you're after you
27:55
know as opposed to just grabbing what whatever's on the shelf and then feeling panicky and anxious when you get home
28:01
because the THC level is so high um I I I love what you guys are doing I think
28:07
this is great I I do want to mention listener the he uh Eric just mentioned skunk butter which sounds amazing uh in
28:12
2022 you guys were the High Times Cannabis Cup first place winner with blue cheese number 12 so uh obviously
28:20
getting some accolades early on here very exciting um David you know you came from a different space you came from
28:26
business Finance very different vibe uh from the the Cannabis industry I I've got to imagine um what as we move
28:34
forward to destigmatize this you know cannabis is still the patchwork legalization and and the attitudes you
28:41
know are are still very much there there's still some lingering stigma from
28:46
all the propaganda of last century from The Reef for madness and when I talk about it on the show a lot but how from
28:52
a business standpoint um and and with your background coming from a place of like finance and much more buttoned up
28:59
and and sort of like an official business capacity how do we go about killing this stigma and and how do we
29:06
move this forward so that cannabis is more normalized yeah well I think first of all that's a great question first of
29:12
all the the Cannabis Market is still in its infancy stage so there's that element to having that wild wild west
29:19
component but we're gonna have to address things and by we I mean the industry and that's where Eric is
29:25
leading the way with his genetics than flow Gardens is is that like take for example you have a a medical pharmacy
29:34
and a legal State why is it Don that they will not buy flower that has a and
29:44
this is in every single case but it's in almost every single case why will they not buy flow if it has a low THC content
29:51
and it has has a higher CBD content why do they not care that there's no CBC in
29:56
the plant why why do they not sell CBG flour this is medicine I get research
30:01
has to evolve you know we need to get better studies and I believe all that's coming given we are in our infancy like
30:07
I said but like it's all like the all the cynic and the naysayers and the Reaper Madness creators like that gives
30:14
them ammunition to say that cannabis is a farce when it's clearly not it's clearly medicine but like these medical
30:21
pharmacies they need to start carrying these alternative canabo so people can't say oh they're just walking in there to
30:27
get high and they don't care about anything else because it's you know that that's probably the biggest thing I was
30:33
able to take from a coming from an industry where you know the compliance just way way way too out of control
30:41
meaning there's a lot of it to where in in the you know cannabis industry like it's still got a long ways to go so yeah
30:48
and Don just to add to that I have a question I or not even a question just a statement I always say like because
30:54
we're we're from an illegal State and so I look out at these states that are considered medical medicine right why
31:01
would you if it's medical not want as many cannabinoids in that flower is
31:06
possible doesn't that just it makes no sense why you would just want one that's not medicine you know what I mean right
31:13
right you guys both bring up great points I mean that that's a great question uh in terms of the the high THC
31:20
why why these medical facilities aren't interested in higher CBD than a THC
31:26
percentage and as Eric pointed out at the end why only a single compound why
31:32
fixate on the THC versus all these other cannabinoids and I I wonder if it's if
31:38
it's not ignorance it's certainly a lack of understanding I think on the part of so many people who are now in positions
31:46
of making policies you know and and legalizing these things and you know David mentioned that we are the research
31:52
is coming there's more on the way I was just speaking with uh someone from from normal and he was talking about the
31:58
research that that's um you know that has been done that that is being done and it's it is exciting but it is
32:05
something that I think it's a it's a troubling Trend in the Cannabis industry right now and and we're still in our
32:12
infancy as you guys have mentioned it it's it's problematic to me that there's this fixation on THC because it almost
32:20
is like it's a setup for a fall down the line where THC is the end all be from
32:27
like legal businesses and yet so many people media you know Publications who
32:33
want to perpetuate the reform adness and the stigma they can point to all the problems from high THC products and say
32:40
see this is what we told you when in reality the problem is an imbalance of
32:46
those cannabinoids is that is that fair to say yeah not a not a poo poo on on
32:52
THC I'm I'm a big fan of it it's just you know there needs there needs to be a balance there kind of the whole
32:58
moonshine Peno Noir example it's like it's you don't need to go to one extreme
33:03
find something in the middle for some moderation yeah especially in a medicinal State I mean recreational I
33:09
get it even still though I enjoy type two flowers because I don't like sitting in a corner with paranoia thinking our
33:17
heart's gonna explode you know I think we've all been there I think we've all had that time a bad high and it's just
33:24
of course it's not fun you know it's nobody wants that and certainly not from something you're turning to as medicine
33:29
you know and and right exactly yeah so I I completely agree with you there um you you mentioned Eric before that you you
33:36
do the indoor growing now um can you just walk us through a little bit of of the grow philosophy that you have at
33:43
flow Gardens and you know why indoor you found was sort of the way to go yeah of course so I've always been an indoor
33:50
grower I tried an outdoor grow back in the mid 90s and realized that wasn't my especially in Tennessee we've got
33:55
terrible weather for outdoor growing so I converted the indoor and uh you know I love building grows and just as much as
34:03
I do growing the plant it's just designing trying to recreate mother nature and so you know last three year
34:09
I've done I've grown everything from an attic to a basement to a closet to cross B as you name it and then uh now this
34:15
facility I have a chance to really we turned it into an R&D facility because I
34:21
want to find the best way to grow this plant and do it efficiently and then do it with the highest quality so in flow
34:28
Gardens we have multiple different types of grow rooms we have a organic living soil room we have a top feed drip room
34:35
we have actually three of those a flood and drain room and then even a recirculating deep water culture room so
34:42
those are all different forms of Hydroponics and then we run the same genetics through all of them and kind of take data and see what the different
34:49
intricacies are with the plant uh one one interesting thing we found in deep water culture the plants tend to be four
34:55
to six% higher canabo uh which is pretty crazy but uh yeah you lo you lose a
35:02
little bit of the uh the flowers it doesn't grow as big but it's definitely the highest quality so that's kind of
35:09
what we do here we're just uh trying to figure out the best way to grow this plant most efficiently until finally we
35:15
can uh grow everything here legally yeah that that is fascinating I
35:21
I I the hydroponic uh style of growing I'm definitely curious I've been
35:26
interested about that you know comparing it with with sort of traditional grow setups uh and and I'm that that's very
35:33
fascinating that you found that there was sort of a higher concentration of cannabinoids you know in that percentage
35:39
range just from hydroponic versus uh versus traditional grows um David uh in
35:45
terms of selling these I'm just kind of wondering I I mentioned the the blue cheese number 12 I mentioned the uh
35:50
Paradise OG as well as the Lemon Cherry sherbet I love all of those what are um you know Eric just mentioned like the
35:56
Hydroponics and stuff are you are there any products that people can get from flow Gardens right now that are some of
36:04
these hydroponically grown or um you know what are you excited about in terms of products that are coming down the
36:10
line anything that you can talk about I mean yeah I mean as far as what's doing
36:15
really well right now and it's a staple with um with our genetics is Eric's Bob
36:22
it's called boob body odor berries um and it it smells like it sounds it has
36:29
you know it's some people are turned off by the uh by the name of it but when you smell it's got such a unique smell and
36:36
that is one of our you know type TW so it's got equal parts CBD and and
36:42
thca and um that is that has been a huge fan for for a lot of the uh the Reddit
36:49
Subs that actually understand the canabo and tarpine profiles for the plant so I think Bob has around three and a half
36:56
percent tpine um which is probably three to four times the industry average of
37:01
tpine levels yeah and as far as what's coming down the line I mean as far as
37:07
new crosses are concerned there's there's a handful of one to ones that we
37:13
have and some other alternative cannaboids that we have we've got to continue growing them out and testing
37:19
them and letting our you know customers try them and get surveys and feedback
37:24
from them but we we definitely don't have a shortage of new things coming out because that's what that's where he D
37:31
yeah one of my favorites is a type two we have is called it's Point Break uh which is a THC strain cross with ozk and
37:38
it's it's a beautiful purple flower it's gling but it the flavor on it is like a blueberry peanut butter and jelly
37:45
sandwich which sounds crazy but everybody I say they smell it and they're like oh my God you're right and
37:51
another thing I look for they can they can look great and smell great but the last check box is if it tastes great if
37:57
you get that same flavor that you're smelling when when you smoke it that's what I look for when I have a keeper oh
38:03
man yeah that's that's huge and very well well said too because I that's something that I've talked with a lot of
38:08
people about is that that difference between what you smell when you open the jar and kind of you know the taste and
38:15
you know it can be tough I know some people have talked about the combustion element but it's like I I I'm fully
38:20
there with you if I can if I can taste what I'm smelling I I'm so on board for that I love it um so on that you know
38:27
David mentioned the tpin and kind of the profile of some of what you guys have um I'm not you know I'm not super well
38:34
versed on some of the differences between them but something I have found over the last couple of months trying to
38:39
pay more attention is that I'm a big fan of lemon um I I for whatever reason the
38:45
the strains that that highlight that that smell kind of and that feeling of them that kind of speaks to me um Can
38:52
can you just maybe pick one or two tpin that you Vibe with and maybe if you can
38:57
tell us about what's unique about those or if if any of your strains have high
39:03
turpine concentrations what can people feel from those what what's what's good about them uh so we've kind of doped out
39:11
that path now we're dissecting them all as we try them to see the different effects and how they interact the limine
39:18
and the pining are are big favorites of mine I just love those flavors but they're also very
39:24
energetic um when you when you smoke it in the FL those two are probably my favorites and
39:30
and David I I want to be sure I can listen I can I can cut this out if the if you can't but I'm just wondering you
39:36
know because you guys because of the the THC threshold can anybody uh like go
39:41
online and order flow Gardens products to be shipped wherever yeah yeah we Shi
39:46
to all buy States and with the new laws yeah like that Lemon Cherry sheret you had I think is around 20% thca under3
39:54
Delta 9 so we can sh it right through your door that's amazing where uh where can people go to try some of these uh
40:02
excellent quality products that flow Gardens is churning out you can go to our website slow gardens.com beautiful
40:10
and uh and listener let me just recommend that highly because uh you really owe it to yourself to try some of
40:16
these things uh I I I have some other ones uh other products that I I can't wait to get to as well and I really look
40:23
forward to uh to what Eric and David have coming down more with with flow
40:29
Gardens uh in Tennessee I think you guys are focused on the right stuff and it sounds like your approach is is
40:35
excellent and I think that um uh not before too long the brand is going to be
40:40
synonymous with this with this quality and um you know people will be excited about it as uh the Cannabis industry
40:45
continues to uh to become more normal and legal and and all of that so uh really appreciate you guys taking the
40:51
time today and uh keep doing what you're doing I hope we can talk again yeah thanks for saying that Don we appreciate
40:57
it and uh we we'll take that to heart and try and uh keep reach your
41:02
expectations yeah yeah thanks for having us on here Don we really appreciate it just trying to get the word out trying
41:08
to educate people on this beautiful plan and there you have it listener I really want to thank one more time my guests
41:14
Eric and David from Flo Gardens what they're doing down there is fantastic and I I can't wait to try more products
41:20
and head to flowg gardens.com if you want to order some of those yourself like they said wherever you are in the
41:25
good us OFA uh you can order some of those and they'll be shipped right to your door and I really can't recommend
41:31
it enough and this is an unpaid endorsement I was able to try some of their stuff but uh they are not paying
41:36
me to say this this is just a product that I really enjoyed as much as I did and I I hope you try it yourself
41:42
something else I wanted to bring to your attention today support for marijuana legalization reaches record high of
41:50
70% including strong majority of Republicans this is according to a new
41:55
gallop poll I found this on marijuana moment a publication if you've listened to the show you know I rely on for their
42:03
excellent news coverage about cannabis developments and they're saying this article by Kyle joerger that was put out
42:09
this week the survey was put out Wednesday so just yesterday from when I'm recording this it shows the support
42:15
for legalization is at its highest level since Gallup started tracking public opinion on the issue in
42:22
1969 overall 70% of respondents say they back legalization which is a 2
42:29
percentage bump from last year meanwhile just 29% of Americans think cannabis
42:34
should remain illegal and something important to note Gallup found no difference in support for legalization
42:41
between people living in states that have already enacted the reform and those living in states where cannabis is
42:47
only medically legal or altogether still criminalized 70% of adults in both
42:53
groups are in favor again according to Gallup and I won't read the rest of the article but I will link it in the show
42:59
description notes and as I always encourage you to do feel free to scroll down and read it for yourself and check
43:04
out the Gallop poll as well go to the source their findings are very very interesting but I also want to bring up
43:11
to your attention that note there the 29% of Americans that still think it
43:17
should remain illegal as I mentioned at the top of the show the stigma and the
43:22
attitude about this the the push back against cannabis even though 70% as we
43:28
just found out are in favor of this which is a majority That You Don't See politically in this country if a
43:35
president ever got 70% approval rating they would parade nude in the streets I
43:40
promise you there would be just an an exorbitant celebration because that is a
43:45
ratio you never see somebody can't get 70% of America to agree on anything just
43:51
because of all the different opinions and you know it's a great country with so many different groups people don't
43:56
agree as a monolith there's just too many people and too many different you know sort of walks of life they've had
44:02
different experiences so 70% is major but the 29% that are against it they
44:07
still fiercely vehemently oppose this and what I wanted to bring to your attention is something else that came
44:13
out this week and it's related to my discussion with Paul armano of normal
44:19
last episode if you haven't heard it highly encourage you to go check that out but but Paul and I discussed um
44:26
these media narratives that come out from Publications as I've mentioned before like CNN but as Paul said there's
44:33
plenty of other examples uh maybe none so loud or with such an audience as like
44:39
CNN but there are many many examples of Publications that almost gleefully run
44:45
with anti-cannabis slant and one of those that I found out this week uh at
44:51
least in my opinion now you can form your own opinion about this but um the American Heart Association released a uh
44:59
an article that screamed on the headline marijuana use linked with increased risk
45:04
of heart attack and heart failure and it goes on to cite this study which I I
45:10
went through and I'm going to try and find someone to talk about this more deeply uh the study itself specifically
45:15
because I do have some problems with it one of those being that all who took part all the authors self-reported any
45:23
potential conflicts of interest with no independent review of that and that always leaves me feeling a little bit uh
45:31
skeptical because who would self-report a conflict of interest uh I just don't
45:36
think that that is going to happen so when you kind of scroll down to the bottom of the study and you look into
45:42
potential conflicts of interest and you see all the authors just with none listed in their box uh and there's like
45:48
30 some authors or whatever of this so my point being that that's one of those the other part of it is that they did
45:54
not distinguish in the study between um those who reported who were in the group that consumed cannabis those that that
46:02
they're saying had an increased risk for these you know problems in the in the heart they did not distinguish between
46:10
Edibles and smoking the Cannabis they didn't distinguish as to how the Cannabis was consumed and that to me
46:17
obviously would play some kind of role so that to me is another sort of factor
46:24
that would speak to maybe a saly data collection or a flaw in the study but anyway I I just wanted to bring this up
46:30
because again Paul and I were discussing just last week as to how some Publications seem to so consistently
46:38
come down on one side or the other on the issue of cannabis and as soon as this American Heart Association study
46:45
came out of course CNN was blaring that headline and sounding the alarm again the next day and so this is just kind of
46:53
what I want to leave you with listener is that even though as exciting as it is that this Gallop poll shows 70% of
46:59
Americans are in favor of this and on that note uh a republican Nancy mace she
47:07
filed a bill last month to federally legalize cannabis and and it's it is
47:12
different in some major ways uh to other recent Bill submissions to do the same
47:18
thing uh so it is interesting to see all this support and the momentum is there
47:23
and there's a lot to be excited about but this stigma is still out there and
47:29
as Paul pointed out last week and as I always say on the show what matters in terms of how we can end this stigma
47:36
eventually what matters is how we talk about this plant what matters is how
47:41
this topic is discussed and the kind of cultural baggage that was strapped to it
47:47
during the reform Madness years and with all the propaganda those negative connotations have still trickled down to
47:53
today and this negativ on the part of CNN or or any of these other
47:59
Publications that you see always kind of sounding the alarm about cannabis and
48:05
always seeming to come down on the negative side that is kind of what we're talking about that that still is the
48:10
lingering stigma that's not neutral and unbiased reporting that is very much
48:15
sticking to one narrative that is very much pedling one side of the story and
48:21
trying to keep in your mind The alarmist View of hey this plant has its all risk
48:29
and no reward and we just know that that's not the case but it is something to be wary of going forward in the
48:35
future and that's why it matters so much how we talk about this plant that
48:40
affects our thoughts that affects our actions that affects what ultimately is
48:45
done in Washington DC from a top-down political policy level at the federal
48:52
level that's where that ultimately changes how we talk about it changes how we think changes how we act so that's
48:59
how I feel about that but let me know what you think do you agree with me or do you think that I'm completely wrong
49:05
reach the show at cman podcast onx and Instagram or YouTube you can find the
49:10
Cannabis man podcast on YouTube Facebook and the new show website is cannabis
49:16
man. buzzsprout.com and if you're able go ahead and scroll down and hit that support the show link and it'll take you
49:22
to the buz Sprout subscriber page become a support order and I will shout out your name in the episode credits uh
49:29
because it makes you a part of the show just like I am and I can't do this without you so thanks so much for listening I'll be back again next week
49:36
I'm talking to somebody from Cresco labs and uh I got a lot of great stuff uh talking about their vast array of Brands
49:44
here in Illinois and around the country all of that coming up on the Cannabis man podcast
49:51
[Music] bye-bye
49:58
cannabis man is 100% originally crafted by myself Don Kleen original theme music
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written and composed by Yu Kim AKA [Music]
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