Diana and JR kick off the episode by discussing their favorite cannabis products, such as Wyld gummies and High AF vape cartridges, while also touching on their non-cannabis-related interests like baking and movies. The hosts then ponder the commercialization of 420 celebrations and advocate for maintaining the day's advocacy roots and community spirit. For the Closer Look segment, Diana talks to Will Read from Cannaplanners, who provides insights into the competitive cannabis market in Vermont.
Diana and JR kick off the episode by discussing their favorite cannabis products, such as Wyld gummies and High AF vape cartridges, while also touching on their non-cannabis-related interests like baking and movies. The hosts then ponder the commercialization of 420 celebrations and advocate for maintaining the day's advocacy roots and community spirit.
For the Closer Look segment, Diana talks to Will Read from CannaPlanners, who provides insights into the competitive cannabis market in Vermont. Will explores the sense of community within the local industry, the challenges faced by new entrepreneurs, and the excitement over product innovation. He concludes by discussing how Canna Planners assists businesses in crafting compelling brand identities and digital marketing strategies.
0:16 - Welcome to Your Highness Podcast
1:02 - Fave Pot
4:39 - Fave Not Pot
8:27 - Main Segment
19:04 - Closer Look
Use code Plantpod for 10% off your next Mitragaia.com purchase!
Use code Yourhighness for 10% off your next Treatibles purchase
00:16 - Diana (Host)
Welcome to your Highness Podcast. I'm your host, Diana Krash.
00:21 - JR (Co-host)
And I'm your co-host, JR Krash.
00:24 - Diana (Host)
How are you doing today? J I'm doing fantastic.
00:28 - JR (Co-host)
Thank you for asking. And how? How are you doing? No one ever asked how are you doing, diana?
00:33 - Diana (Host)
they do ask I'm fine. I'm fine, other than my eye twitching uncontrollably. But you know what are you gonna do?
00:40 - JR (Co-host)
yeah, sometimes your eyes just twitching, yeah.
00:44 - Diana (Host)
Got that twitchy eye Right, all right. So all right, we're going to start this episode, as we do every episode, with our Fave Pot Fave Not Pot segment, where we talk about our favorite cannabis-related item and our favorite non-cannabis-related item. And so I will start with my fave pot right now. Um, as you know, jr, we recently were gifted a bunch of wild gummies to try that is correct the brand wild. Not, they weren't wild gummies I mean they were wild with a y with a yeah, they're wild gummies.
01:26
That's the brand. They're not like out in the wilds. We didn't gather them off the streets.
01:32 - JR (Co-host)
Just berry picking, some gummies.
01:34 - Diana (Host)
Anyway, that would be. I would like that reality. I could just go out and pick some gummies off of a tree. Yeah, like some Wonka stuff, but they'd have to be medicated I'm okay with them not being you know yeah, they probably really shouldn't be otherwise kids could just pick them and stuff like that oh, I mean, if we were all high, though, like we might be able to get some things done and then not everybody, not everybody.
02:02 - JR (Co-host)
I don't think that's a good idea.
02:06 - Diana (Host)
I veered wildly off.
02:07 - JR (Co-host)
You're like I'm going wild, I'm just going to take it to the extreme.
02:12 - Diana (Host)
I said we're going wild. We're getting wild with wild. Today, anyway, speaking of wild, we're getting distracted by my cat, our cat, who keeps destroying everything in the house and knocking over more plants while we record. Anyway, so back to my fave pot. I'm obsessed with their gummies, and particularly I really like their sour apple gummies, their sativa enhanced sour apple gummies. You may have heard me talk about their other flavors. I'm really just a big fan of all of them. Honestly, they're so good. So what is your vape pot right now?
02:54 - JR (Co-host)
Mine. It's actually a vape cartridge. It is from the brand High AF and the flavor is strawberry milkshake. Now, sometimes that can be a little bit basic, so it's nice to have something that's like a little smooth and flavorful and it tastes like strawberry milkshake.
03:14 - Diana (Host)
Oh, is it that one? You, that's the one.
03:15 - JR (Co-host)
Yeah, I like that one, but it wasn't really necessarily even the flavor, because even though I did enjoy the flavor, it was actually the potency. I got very accustomed because I mostly consume via cartridge and I was reaching a point where I just wasn't really feeling it at all anymore. I have a very low tolerance as it is, so I was like, well, maybe I'm just actually building up a tolerance. And then I tried this high AF cartridge and I took like one or two hits from it and felt it like immediately so Same, yeah. So now I'm like or two hits from it and felt it like immediately so Same, yeah. So now I'm like, well, what's going on with these other cartridges? I know right that like I'm just not feeling it, but this High AF strawberry milkshake, like I'm feeling immediately.
03:55 - Diana (Host)
So I also like what was it Tutti Frutti that they had?
03:58 - JR (Co-host)
It was a it was a. Blood Orange. It was a Blood Orange. It was like Blood Tiger, something like that. Blood Orange, blood Orange or something. Yeah, but the brand is High AF. In Maryland it's licensed under Vireo. So if you live in Maryland it's a Vireo brand, but I'm not sure what license is carrying it in other states, if you do have it. But if you do happen to stumble upon High AF vape cartridges, totally go for that. Jams Totally, totally.
04:28 - Diana (Host)
I'll totally go for it. I'm totally into it. I feel like it was like a fruit, like a tutti frutti, but anyway, I'm getting off track again. I'm good. So my fave not pot is basic.
04:44 - JR (Co-host)
Mine's basic too. Let's see what yours is basic. Mine's basic too. Let's see what yours is Baking.
04:48 - Diana (Host)
Oh, okay, because you know I love to bake you do love to bake. And yesterday, when I was baking my butt off, I just realized, like it's just my, that's my thing. That makes me like get back into a happy space right now, aside from you and grant, obviously. But you know, yeah, I'm, I'm pretty good at it, right.
05:12 - JR (Co-host)
So you know, I like doing it and yeah, I think the cookies are delicious if I, if I may say so myself, big fan huge oh yeah, you're gonna talk about your new favorite movie, pretty Woman Pretty. Woman, I'm just joking.
05:31 - Diana (Host)
What's your fave dot pot right now?
05:33 - JR (Co-host)
Okay. Well, it's back to me being basic. Mine is the movie Lisa Frankenstein we just watched that, what, what.
05:44
What you don't say. I don't say. So it's like you take old school Tim Burton, like original Beetlejuice, edward Scissorhands, like that Tim Burton, you mix it with the movie Heathers and you add like a nice fluorescent neon pink, like a hot pink, and you just have probably the best movie I've seen so far this year not even probably, I'm gonna say, the best movie I've seen this year. So much fun. If you're looking for it to make sense, don't, because it just doesn't. You know the main character? Well, not the main character, but the character that is dead and then alive. You know, is like replacing spoiler alert.
06:26
Well, I mean, it's you see that from the box, you know, but they're replacing body parts and making those body parts just work boiler alert.
06:34 - Diana (Host)
It's called lisa frankenstein.
06:37 - JR (Co-host)
Obviously, people don't know who frankenstein or Frankenstein's a monster. Maybe not Not Victor or Frankenstein? Oh, all right, the one that created Frankenstein's monster. It's a good movie. Just watch it. It's lovely, it's a great movie.
06:58
Well, I also had fun watching it with you, even though it's very hard for me to suspend disbelief so much, but you know my still my favorite part was so we're watching this character getting hands replaced and they're just sewing on a new hand and it's a completely working hand. And then at one point, this the monster steals a car. And then diana's like how do you learn how to drive a car?
07:27
like that, like that was, that was like the straw that broke the camel's back, not to just the replacing of body parts, not the fact that this was a dead person, just fully animated, but the fact that he was driving the car was where, where you just drew the line.
07:40 - Diana (Host)
You're like absolutely not. Yeah, because it takes a little while to learn how to drive a car.
07:48 - JR (Co-host)
But he was replacing his body parts, like obviously this wasn't like anchored in like a firm reality, she was living in like a hot pink house.
07:57 - Diana (Host)
It was the 80s.
07:59 - JR (Co-host)
The 80s actually really weren't all that colorful if you think back to it. The early 90s were very colorful, but think about when you were a kid it was like a lot of browns and a lot of muted oranges.
08:07 - Diana (Host)
I know, and it's called Lisa Frank, even though that wasn't supposed to be the thing.
08:12 - JR (Co-host)
Exactly so that's what I'm saying. You have to obviously accept that this isn't grounded in reality. Obviously, obviously. It is a movie after all. Well, yes.
08:26 - Diana (Host)
So anyway, switching gears a little bit, we're going to talk about something I don't know if we've ever even talked about it in the seven plus years we've been doing this, which is weird. I think it's because we both avoid it a lot now as adults. But you know that we do it a lot now as adults. But you know that we do. As a kid, you know, 420.
08:53
I was like all right, yeah, 420, that means after school I can go to like different cars and just have the best afternoon possible. You know, not even really go to, I didn't to class, I don't think the whole day, but just like. I was just like, yeah, this is awesome, you know, because I wasn't buying it. You know, I was just like I was an opportunist. If people invited me, I said, okay, sure, you know. But now as an adult, it's like well, it's kind of double-sided because it's like, on the one hand, if someone says something about 420, you're like, okay, I know, maybe you're cool, I guess, but then also they might be emphasizing it too much where you're like oh, are you cool? Yeah.
09:41 - JR (Co-host)
I go so back and forth on this, you know, because my original viewpoint was was like this is the cannabis version of St Patrick's Day, just a day for people to overconsume and make a fool out of themselves. And especially when we were like a medical state, it just felt very weird. It just felt very weird. You know, everyone's talking about how we need to have legitimacy and you know we're medical and this is a plant that's designed for medicine, but then everyone would act like such a fool around 420. But at the same time, you know, I do understand that there needs to be celebration.
10:24
You know, the path of legalization has been very long and very hard for a lot of people.
10:32
A lot of people put in a lot of work just to get to where we are. So it does make sense that we would have a holiday that's celebratory, that we're able to celebrate the successes that we've had in this industry. I do feel like maybe we could do more with it, instead of just using it as a day to consume and purchase, you know, making it very much more of a capitalistic endeavor, very much more of a capitalistic endeavor, if we kind of changed gears and added to that celebration what we could do for for the future. You know talking about, you know expungement programs and stuff like that, like bringing that into the mix, like making it something that is meaningful for the industry as a whole, instead of just making it as a day where you can just buy a lot. You know where all the dispensaries are having promotions, which has been getting weaker by the years, um right and I was going to ask you speaking from the retail side of it.
11:38 - Diana (Host)
You know you have a different experience, you know, um, that's your eye rolling is a lot more warranted because you're dealing with people coming in and buying a lot of products just for one day.
11:52 - JR (Co-host)
Just for one day. And granted, you know I'm about to work my my sixth 420 and they've never been necessarily bad experiences. Everyone's having fun, you know, everyone's just cheerful and in a good mood and it's a very high spirited fun time, not just for the patients and now customers coming in, but also the people working. We generally have a lot of fun with it. But we have started to see as an industry as a whole, you know, where we used to have like very heavy discounts and stuff like that, those discounts are starting to kind of shrink down across the board and it's being viewed as not necessarily a day of celebration, just like our version of Black Friday.
12:39 - Diana (Host)
Mm-hmm.
12:41 - JR (Co-host)
And that's the fear. You know where, instead of having it as a celebratory day, it turns very much into just a capitalistic-minded. This is a day in which we set profits. Let's order in an overabundance of stock, discount it a little bit and people will just buy anyway, because they're viewing it as it's just. It's turning very much into a black friday, a day of profits instead of a day of celebration. So you know it. That's why it can be a little bit more difficult for me, because I saw something at first that was, you know, over celebratory for something that was viewed as medication. You know we don't have giant celebratory days for albuterol inhalers, but at the same time I respected the celebration. But now we're starting to lose that celebration in vain of just capitalism, and that is the worry.
13:36 - Diana (Host)
Well, not all celebrations. Let's not forget that we actually are going to have a celebration well, an event on 420. But our event will be focused on education and community fostering and it will be a way for you to learn how to connect with your body while you're experiencing plant medicine, which I would like to see. I'm not saying, like you know, model all of your events after hours or anything like that, which I would like to see. I'm not saying, like you know, model all of your events after hours or anything like that, but I would, I would like to see. That's why we are kind of leaning into it this year, because we're in an area where we have adult use, but it's not a widely discussed topic. It's mostly viewed, at least in everywhere we go, all the circles where we're traveling, in which we travel, there are. It's more of a oh 420, ha, ha, ha, ha ha, kind of an attitude Like, oh, you're a stoner. Instead of let's talk about how we can change our lives with plant medicine.
14:38 - JR (Co-host)
And the thing is, and that's the direction, if you actually want to honor the heart of the origins of 420, it's not purchasing cannabis, it's building community around it. So I'm not saying don't go to dispensaries, I'm not saying don't have fun. I'm saying have your cannabis and enjoy it with community, with like-minded people. Outreach, get the message across. You know, 420 was never designed as a day for you just to spend a week's worth of income on plant medicine. It was designed to build community, to build a place of belonging for people that appreciated the plant, and I think that's the direction we need to move forward in. View it less as what kind of deals am I getting? What kind of specials am I getting? Let me hurry up and get to the dispensary and wait outside an hour before they open so that I'm getting the best.
15:39 - Diana (Host)
Let's think about who packaged these products. Let's think about how they were packaged and think about where it was grown and how it was grown and the people who made it possible for you to have that in your hands.
15:53 - JR (Co-host)
Exactly.
15:54 - Diana (Host)
Exactly have that in your hands, exactly exactly fun fact the day before 420 419 is referred to as bicycle day different kind of bicycle day than I was originally thinking well, apparently there is actually a bicycle day that has to do with bicycles, um, but this is to honor the Swiss scientist, albert Hoffman, who created LSD, and apparently I don't know I'm sure someone will tell me I'm quoting the story incorrectly but it is apparently about how he took his first intentional LSD trip and rode his bicycle. So that's fun. It's very fun. And another thing about our event is that we will be talking about different types of plant medicine and earth medicine. So that includes psychedelics, because when we're talking about plant medicine even though not everyone necessarily puts it in that terminology we're talking about Fungi as well.
17:03 - JR (Co-host)
Fungi Things from the earth Correct.
17:07 - Diana (Host)
I am hearing earth medicine used more frequently and I think that's probably the most appropriate term, but we're still using plant medicine because I still feel like that hasn't been 100% accepted by the lexicon.
17:22 - JR (Co-host)
It takes a while for language to change. I mean, we've been consistently saying cannabis for seven years now, but I'll still hear people use other terms. You know terms that have been deemed inappropriate and by people very heavy in the industry. So it takes a while for language to redirect and correct itself.
17:43 - Diana (Host)
Absolutely so. That's pretty much it for us right now.
17:49
Please do check out our sub stack, your Highness Media, for the latest updates about our upcoming event and future events and a bunch of other things that we have going on, and stay tuned for a closer look at the Vermont cannabis scene with our friend Will Reed from the CannaPlanners. Ever feel like life's stress gets to be too much? Welcome to Meet your Gaia, your natural wellness partner. We are the number one rated provider of Kratom, a 100% natural plant-based solution used in Asia for centuries to help increase focus, energy and relaxation. Want to know more? Use the code YHPOD to get 10% off. Your first order today that's meetyourgaiacom and code YHPOD for 10% off. And now we're with Will Reed of Canna Planners to talk about Vermont. How are you doing today, Will?
19:12 - Will (Guest)
I am well, Diana. Is this how we're talking now I?
19:17 - Diana (Host)
am well.
19:17 - Will (Guest)
Diana, Is this how we're talking now? I am well For your audio listeners. Diana is seeing outside of my window in my office in Vermont.
19:27 - Diana (Host)
I'm getting distracted by that window. I'm like, hmm, that looks nice. Yeah, you want me to put the shade down and all my crystals.
19:32 - Will (Guest)
You can tell how Vermont-y it is. I got my crystals right there.
19:36 - Diana (Host)
You're a sterile plant behind you, yeah exactly Fish is playing outside.
19:41 - Will (Guest)
I got the fish poster there. There are some Ben and Jerry's empty cartons in the parking lot outside my window.
19:47 - Diana (Host)
I'm sure that is very Vermont-ian. Is that how you guys? I don't know? People say Vermont-y, vermont-y.
19:56 - Will (Guest)
Okay, yeah, yeah, guys, I don't know, people say Vermontie, vermontie, okay, yeah, yeah, as I guess a adjective.
20:00 - Diana (Host)
Yeah, I never really know what it is state to state. Oh, you mean, like what's our?
20:06 - Will (Guest)
state pronoun. I guess it's like Vermonter.
20:11 - Diana (Host)
Vermonter. Yeah, well, because I'm from Maine, you know, and they call people from Maine maniacs.
20:15 - Will (Guest)
Oh yeah, well, because I'm from Maine, you know, and they call people from Maine maniacs. Oh yeah, Well, there's that too. And then I'm in Maryland. That's maybe what you guys call yourselves we all know you as Mainers, oh okay.
20:24 - Diana (Host)
And then in Maryland I've heard Baltimoreans. I mean, maybe I'm just hanging out with the wrong people, I don't know these are all some deprecating names.
20:33 - Will (Guest)
I don't know. I know I'm from Rhode Island. They call us idiots.
20:41 - Diana (Host)
That's where I was born and raised All right. Well, you're in Vermont now, so let's start by taking a snapshot of the Vermont cannabis scene. What is the current attitude among consumers and other canna-friendly folks locally?
21:01 - Will (Guest)
Yeah, I would say excitement among consumers because we have them now, like over the last, I would say so we're in February. This past October marked one year. Since we're in February, this past October marked one year since adult use cannabis, since stores started opening up here in Vermont, so I would say it's been a whirlwind. We've done it a little. Our approach here has been a little different than other states, which I would say, to use the parlance of the vernacular, we're using now a very Vermont-y way of rolling out adult use cannabis. There's no cap on licenses, so we have a lot of.
21:43
We are, I think we're the most. I think we're the smallest populous state in the country. There's only 600-ish thousand people who live in the entire state of Vermont. We have several hundred cannabis licenses right now between manufacturers and cultivators and retailers. Just outside my window here is downtown Burlington, and in downtown Burlington and this is just off the top of my head one, two, there's about seven dispensaries within about less than a mile of each other, some there's a pedestrian walkway here called church street marketplace, um, and there's maybe five on church street marketplace alone, which is a very small new england, you know, four block long pedestrian mall basically. So there's a lot happening here. There's a lot happening. The control board just announced 71 more licenses, just the other day Wow.
22:47
There's no cap on licenses and I think that this is going to be an interesting use case for, you know, true capitalism in cannabis. With it, with a, you know, as open a marketplace as you can get.
23:03 - Diana (Host)
That's incredible. I mean, I only know a little bit about it for when I wrote for Hedy Vermont and that was a while back, so I know things have changed a lot in the last few years. What is the biggest? What are some of the biggest changes that you've seen?
23:20 - Will (Guest)
Well, again, it's just the consistent influx of new products. Uh, because it's still only, you know a little, a little more than a year in the uh, and because there are, you know, the regulations on on kind of the products that can become available to the public. There's not a ton of diversity. You walk into one store and it's pre-rolls, jars, eighths in jars, and maybe a fridge full of seltzers. And then you walk into the other place and it's selection of pre-rolls you know eights and jars, and a selection of seltzers or whatever. So the the there's not a lot of variability in in terms of product diversity.
24:04
Um, but that's not shocking like it's. It's so, it's nascent, so it's still so new here people are still figuring out, uh, how to be compliant, how to build a company. I mean there's a lot of that going on where I'm seeing a lot of first time business people getting into, um, entrepreneurship through cannabis and you know I love that, diana Um, uh, so so, yeah, there's, I think there's about to be a very competitive I mean there is already a competitive marketplace because of the amount of licenses, the amount of product in state, the small kind of pie of consumer that all of these people are fighting over. Yeah, that must be difficult for business owners.
24:49 - Diana (Host)
I mean, how do you really stand out in that situation? Hold on, let me answer.
24:54 - Will (Guest)
answer that question you hire canna planners and we, we do a good job of creating a, a cannabis brand, and we help you market that product and yeah that's how you do it, okay, and and like, let me, let me, let me say that even let me be less coy like you can tell, you can walk into a store and a store and not necessarily who's worked with Canna Planners but who has kind of put the thought into, you know, air quoting for your listeners, taking this sort of thing seriously and figuring out what, beyond that pre-roll, is going to differentiate us as a company. And I, you know, not a lot of people understand that, coming into, especially such a immediately saturated marketplace, um, that they're going to have to do something very special to set themselves apart. It's not just about how fire their weed is, but in Vermont I will say we have the most fire weed in the whole country Like and that's not like straight up straight up.
25:53
I haven't had it, so I can't.
25:54 - Diana (Host)
I can't, I can't attest to that. Maybe one day.
25:59 - Will (Guest)
But it's the truth. It's the truth. I mean, that's what I've heard that barrier to entry into the marketplace is so small that there is a huge amount of legacy growers who are able to start businesses for themselves, as opposed to in other states where the barrier to entry is far greater. Um, and that you know that's why you have an. You know a saturation of msos and you know conglomerated cannabis and you know there's it's a very vermonti way of doing things here where you have like it's super farm to table is it in grocery, grocery stores, yet Cause I feel like it should be with that much.
26:49
There is a, there is a group here, the Vermont Growers Association. They do great work. They're trying to.
26:57 - Diana (Host)
Oh, yes, I spoke I, I, yeah, I interviewed. Oh, no, I'm going to blank. Yes, yes, yeah, yeah, cool, yes, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:04 - Will (Guest)
They're doing great work. They are amazing advocates for all the cannabis community in Vermont. But I would say, most specifically, you know the true farmers who are trying to get into the game and one of the things they're trying to do I don't know how this will fly, but is really create a more B2C environment for some of those farmers to go direct to consumer. I don't know if that'll fly, but I love that. Like, like that sort of thing I don't think is getting brought up in legislation in other states, but that's the most Vermont shit you'll ever hear and, of course, we're talking about it in Montpelier.
27:39 - Diana (Host)
Yeah, absolutely. So what do you wish people outside of Vermont could understand about the Vermont cannabis scene?
27:48 - Will (Guest)
There is one you know, and when you say scene I'm going to, I'm going to apply that, because that could mean so many.
27:55 - Diana (Host)
Yeah, industry, let's say industry.
27:57 - Will (Guest)
I'm going to apply it to industry. Yeah, so like there is a scene, there is a, a swath of of characters like that, like that's, that's what, that's what comprises a scene is like people, character, like actual memorable weirdos, and we are chock full of sorts of things in the senior. A lot of these people you know again coming from the legacy market, and some not just. You know love, love, cannabis, love, vermont, so it's it's interesting. I would say you know love, love, cannabis, love Vermont, so it's it's interesting. I would say, you know COVID had its impact on the social scene, for sure, as it pertained to the industry here in Vermont, as it did everywhere, of course, but it's starting to come back. You know we, we, you know we have me can comes up to Vermont, so we usually have a big and canna planners. You know we, we, you know we have knee can comes up to vermont, so we usually have a big and canna planters.
28:50 - Diana (Host)
You know for people who don't know what you mean when you say knee can, because also also side note I've been calling it any can, so I guess I'm not saying it right probably could be any can I don't know.
29:01 - Will (Guest)
I just call it knee can um any can, knee can, new england cannabis convention, whatever you want to call it, necking I guess, uh, we could, we could keep going, we can keep, uh, spitballing this, but it's the new england cannabis convention. It's a trade show. It travels around new england. Uh, they're great. If you are interested in just seeing the true cannabis community, I would say Nikan is the best representation of that. Yeah, we'll see you in Boston.
29:33 - Diana (Host)
Well, finally, I actually tried to go to that this year. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but I really did. I was trying to go to the one in Boston, but it's right before spring break in schools here, so I will actually be close by, though, because I am going up north, but they have one in Maryland this year as well, yeah, they're doing one in Maryland this year, for sure. I'm going to try to go to that.
29:53 - Will (Guest)
But it's a good. It's a cheap floor ticket, you can get in, just if you're on the outskirts like maybe trying to figure it out, I would say it was really helpful for me as an early business person trying to think like, hey, is this viable Can for me as a early business person?
30:10 - Diana (Host)
trying to think like.
30:11 - Will (Guest)
Hey, is this viable? Can I pay my bills doing this? Um, yeah, so anyway that that conference comes here to Vermont. And just going back to the community part of your question, um, it's really represented in those kinds of things where you know we come together for an industry event and then there's a big party afterwards and um, um yeah, it's great nice, so I would say that the the community here is thriving that's great.
30:32 - Diana (Host)
I'm glad to hear that. Um, this is one of the more uplifting local looks we've had in a while, because usually that's not not the uh sentiment, um, anyway, so just because so here's the.
30:46 - Will (Guest)
The character side of it is like I'm not beholden to. You know, we don't. We don't cure leafs, not here.
30:52 - Diana (Host)
Yeah, they were, but they're not anymore.
30:53 - Will (Guest)
You know, truly is not up here. Your big MSOs aren't in Vermont yet, um, but they're not here right now. So, like you have actual people with you know, actual characters running, uh, the business that make up the cannabis community. So it's interesting. You know, there's always something interesting happening, um, and and like I said earlier, a lot of us here in Vermont you know, this is our first go at running a, this is my first go at running a business Um, and it's uh, it's the same for a lot of us here in Vermont trying to figure out where we fit into the cannabis industry. Um, and it's, uh, it's the same for a lot of us here in Vermont trying to figure out where we fit into the cannabis industry. Um, so there's a lot of figuring it out happening. So it's tight here. It's tight.
31:37 - Diana (Host)
Nice, um well. So it sounds like it's doing really well, but do you have any hopes for the future of the cannabis industry there?
31:47 - Will (Guest)
Do I have hopes? Yeah, I got a bunch. I mean regulatory wise. I'm looking forward to caps being removed on products so that, like, we can be putting out the you know the great quality concentrates and you know cannabis byproducts that I know we have the capabilities of making here in the state. That's one thing, same for edibles. But again I would say, you know, it's the product diversification. As these companies grow, they're going to and then this is the same for any company in any industry. Like, you're not the same company on year two as you are on year one. So, as a lot of these companies grow into year two, year three, and they figure out who they are as a company, they might not. They might figure out that, hey, you know, pre-rolls is there's, there's a hundred pre-roll brands out there. Maybe this isn't our thing, but anyway it's, it's product diversification and think, um, that'll happen, psyched for that as am I for you, who knows?
32:54 - Diana (Host)
I mean, I I'm like trying to think of what the new innovative product would be, but I'm like I was going to say pillowcases, but that's even a thing. It's like I think they've infused, yeah, cbd pillowcases I'm just joking they don't. They don't have one for, for just for thc yet, but I'm sure they will. I'm sure they will I just saw toothpicks the other day, infused toothpicks, I'm just like those are cool.
33:20 - Will (Guest)
So I've seen like they look like toothpicks but they um, I saw this in vegas and these are like the kind of dorky, you know, uh, uh, novelty products that I love as a consumer because, like you can walk, like I said, you can walk into any store and get a pre-roll and get some good weed, like that's easy.
33:36
Um, but walking into someplace and getting like these little shatter they were like toothpicks but it was shatter, they were and they like so you could just stick it into a joint oh, I was like that's, that's really cool. Or, ryan, you know, when we're out in vegas, ryan, my director of ops, he loves these things called sips and they're like five hour energy drinks with a hundred milligrams of thc in them and they just like they work, they're quick, they're good to go. You know, if you have a high tolerance, they're good to go. You know, if you have a high tolerance, they're good to go. But you know, as caps get removed as product, you know, as product lines become a little more diverse, as companies really figure out what it is to become a brand and not a seller of weed like that's when things get really interesting here.
34:21 - Diana (Host)
Yes, and speaking of branding and figuring out what they're doing, why don't you tell people how they can support you and where they can find Canna Planners?
34:33 - Will (Guest)
Sure. So, yeah, we are a creative agency. On one side, that's a very small part of what we do. We help companies build brands. We help apply those brands to things like products or whatever things for retailers. You know things. Basically, that's a small part of what we do, but the bulk of what we do is on the digital side. We build websites for dispensaries primarily, and you know consumer brands too consumer brands too and then we drive traffic to those websites, just doing SEO and managing Alpine IQ for, or email marketing for those clients. So it's all about, you know, trying to up the brand awareness, help these companies when they look cool, and then they have someone who's like creating content, basically to promote the coolness of that brand, customers start aligning with you. So that's what we do.
35:32 - Diana (Host)
Awesome. Well, I'm so happy that you came back and gave us a little snapshot. Thank you so much.
35:42 - Will (Guest)
My pleasure.
35:43 - Diana (Host)
Thank you for listening. Until next time, stay high and beautiful. This episode was produced by your Highness Media Audio editing by JR Krach. Intro music by your Mom Likes my Music. Subscribe to our sub stack, your Highness Newsletter for the latest announcements and event updates.