Cannabis Part 1

I sit down with Rich Ferrazzano of Verano, an MSO in NJ.  We talk about THC, CBD, laws, and everything in between.  You can find Verano on LinkedIn  and to a lesser degree, Facebook.  Check out Part 1 of a 3-Part Series!

https://verano.com/
LinkedIn - Verano (Verano Holdings - Chicago, IL)
Instagram - @veranobands

Music composed and performed by V. Karaitis

Transcript

Hey!  Thanks for listening!  I’m Chris Wagenti, and this is Who Gets It, Naturally.  Music was composed and performed by V. Karaitis.    I’m not selling anything, diagnosing anything; offering any cures or replacing your doctor.  I’m just sharing my passion for natural products.  If you’re pregnant, please consult your doctor before trying anything new.  Everyone is different so you may need to tweak the recipes a bit to work for you.  Always start with the least amount of essential oils…you can always add, you can’t take away.  Remember, these remedies don’t last forever, you need to reapply as needed.  If you are allergic to any of the ingredients I use, please substitute for something you’re not allergic to.  Just because it’s natural doesn’t mean you can’t be allergic to it.

Ok, get ready for a 3-part series on a very controversial topic – Cannabis.  I interviewed Rich Ferrazzano of Verano in NJ.  For starters, we used Skype, (this was the first time I used it to record an interview for the podcast), so there may be some weird quirks you hear…apologies.  If you do miss anything, remember to check out the transcript on my website.  We talked about THC vs CBD; edibles; laws; and everything in between. Every state has their own laws, and they vary from legalized medicinal and recreational marijuana; medicinal marijuana only; CBD only; and needing a prescription, which is a catch 22, because legally a doctor can’t write a prescription for a Class 1 Controlled Dangerous Substance.

Keep listening for some really great information.

CHRIS: Thank you!  I am here with Rich Ferrezzano who works at Verano, which is an MSO (a Multi-State Operation) Dispensary, and we’re going to talk about CBD today.  And, thank you, Rich, so much for showing up today.  I appreciate this.

RICH: Oh sure, anytime.  Anytime.

CHRIS: Usually what I do is I give a little anecdote or something if I have experience with what I’m talking about, so I’m going to start off with that.  But before I do, and before we really get into it, I have to apologize now.  Pollen is, like, so high right now in Oklahoma, my allergies are freaking out. So, I may start to sound gravelly and Mini Mouse might come out. So I apologize now.

RICH: That’s OK, it’s the same here in Jersey.

CHRIS: Quick question, and I know this is a deep topic and I want to dive into it, but for now I’m going to ask you something, and I just want a basic yes or now answer, and you’ll understand why when I’m done.

RICH: Ok

CHRIS: Is there a difference between THC and CBD?

RICH: Yes.

CHRIS: Ok, now, the first thing I want to discuss from my personal experience is – back like 20 years ago, give or take, I was getting my AA.  I had an Ethics class.  We all had to this paper – he gave us controversial topics and we had to pic either the pro or the con.  Devil’s Advocate that I am, I picked, and at that time it was still just smoking marijuana for medical purposes.  You really didn’t hear that much about CBD.  It really wasn’t called cannabis, and so I did the cons of smoking pot.  I didn’t have an opinion one way or the other.  After doing my research, I was like, “WOW”, blown away.  There were so many reports and findings that smoking pot is so much worse than smoking cigarettes because there is so much more tar in pot than there is in nicotine.  However, I do have to say, I believe most, if not all the tar is in THC, not CBD.

RICH: Correct statement.

CHRIS: Ok, and that’s why I asked you about the difference between THC and CBD. And at that time, like I said, nobody really talked about CBD, nobody knew the difference, really.  I mean, it wasn’t main stream like it is now. It wasn’t as popular.  So, my opinions of medical marijuana etc, have changed and altered as more information has come up.  But, I do want to throw that out there.  My whole thing is everybody’s different.  Everybody’s going to react differently to everything.  There is no such thing as one size fits all when it comes to helping your body heal itself.

RICH: Correct.

CHRIS: So, what I do is I lay it all out, good, bad, indifferent.  Here is what I’m seeing.  Here is what research is showing.  And that’s where I’m coming from.  Especially with this.  And, too, back then, when we grew up, you could get high in the halls in high school just walking from one class to the other just from the smell.  You leave a concert and weather or not you smoked anything, you were stoned by the end of the concert and had the munchies.  And it’s so much different now.  I’ve heard so many people say that pot is different now than it was back then.

RICH: In terms of?

CHRIS: In terms of, I guess, strength, maybe.

RICH: Yes, that is a fact.  

CHRIS: Like I said, I want to get into all of this stuff.  That’s what I’ve been hearing, that it’s so much different than it was back then.  And I did want to make a point, too.  Usually when I tell the story about the tar and the cigarettes and everything, a lot of pro-medical marijuana people say “Nobody ever got lung cancer from smoking a joint”.

RICH: Correct.

CHRIS: Ok, that’s correct, however, you also have to look at it where, nobody smokes 20 plus joints a day, for 20 plus years. You smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, you’re smoking 20 cigarettes a day.

RICH: Right, and you’re also talking about the 115 different chemicals that the tobacco companies put add into nicotine, add into tobacco.

CHRIS: True. So like I said, it’s a (moving her up-turned palms up and down as in weighing the 2 options)
RICH: Yes.

CHRIS: You gotta weigh it out, and like I said the amount of the tar…the difference in the tar was way off the charts, you look at it – yeah, it’s a lot more tar, but then, like you said, you got all the chemicals and everything else.  So, it’s just, smoking it, I’m still not an advocate of smoking it, but, the other, like the CBD and stuff, and we’ll get into all of that, I know there’s a difference. There is good, just like with anything else.  I talk about herbs and spices and essential oils, and CBD is definitely up there. Again, before we jump in, I want to talk about names.  Now, marijuana, weed, dope, pot, hooch, ganja, reefer, maryjane…those are just different ways of saying marijuana.  Marijuana vs Cannabis.  Is that the same thing?

RICH: Same thing.  One, marijuana is the street name, Cannabis is the industry name, or through the industry, people will call it flower.  Because it is the flower of the plant.

CHRIS: That’s used for CBD?

RICH: That’s used for, well, it goes state by state.  Anything, the Cannabis, botanical name is Cannabis Sativa. That’s what a Cannabis plant is called. The Cannabis plant is divided of two things, one is THC, one is CBD.  One can be extracted from the other, or they can be used in a combined effort for affects of the body, or whatever have you.  CBD products will not give you a psychoactive effect at all.

CHRIS:  Yeah, that’s one thing I was going to say, the THC in marijuana will make you stoned, like the psilocybin in mushrooms makes them magic.

RICH: Correct.  THC will give you the psychoactive effects, and CBD will not.  CBD works on your central nervous system, helping to calm it down, and your endocannabinoid system, that’s in everybody’s body.  The endocannabinoid system is not part of the addictive part of your brain, therefore a lot of people use cannabis products to get off of street pharmaceuticals and heroine, and cocaine, and this and that and the other thing.  That’s why so many people turn to Cannabis, because it’s not part of your addictive body.  

CHRIS: The CBD side?

RICH: Both, actually.

CHRIS: Oh, really?

RICH: Yes.

CHRIS: Huh, I did not know that.

RICH: Yes, scientific fact, your endocannabinoid system does not affect the addictive part of the brain.

CHRIS: No, but, I mean THC vs CBD, does THC fall into that, too?

RICH: As part of addiction?

CHRIS: Yeah.

RICH: No, it does not.

CHRIS: OK

RICH: No, it does not.  Some people say, “oh, I’m addicted to Cannabis”, scientifically, no you’re not.  Psychologically, yes, you are.

CHRIS: OK.  Let’s go back to difference between…you talked about the difference between THC and CBD, is there anything more in depth…’cause I know this is so broad.

RICH: Cannabis products there’s, CBD – there’s over 100 different spectrums of CBD. Just over the last 3 years, there’s something called CBN, that people are using to, instead of taking Lunesta or things of that nature, they’re using CBN to help them sleep.  It affects your sleep, it relaxes you and helps you fall asleep.  It puts you in a relaxed state.  My company, Verano, we’re just putting out a product this year that has CBN in it, ‘cause it was approved in our state. Right now it’s very difficult, it goes state by state to where you can have this in this state… no, you can’t use that in this state.  They’re allowing us to do CBN for relaxation and for sleeping for people who have anxiety, PTSD. We recommend it to like veterans or soldiers who come to our dispensaries.  “Try this product, this will help you greatly.”  We, the Cannabis Industry, in my opinion, we have Big Pharma on the run right now and they’re scared.  They’re very scared.

CHRIS: They should be. It’s interesting you say that because I have tried some CBD cream for my hip, to get the inflammation down and stuff.  I did not find it, to me, the oils that I was using, the herbs and stuff, reduced the inflammation more than the CBD did. Now that you’re saying there’s levels and stuff, maybe I just wasn’t using the right one.  I don’t know.

RICH: My company, we make, it’s a one-to-one spectrum, meaning it’s one part CBD to one part THC; we have balm and we have pain lotion that we sell.  Anything THC topically applied will not give you a euphoric result.  It will help you due to all the elements in THC, it will just heal you.  I have a bum shoulder that bothers me all the time either that or under stress, and I use it all the time. It just, I hate to use the word “miracle”, but that’s what it seems like.  I don’t have to take anti-inflammatories, I don’t have to do anything like that, it helps.

CHRIS: That’s good.  Ok, so you say there’s like over 100 dispensaries in the US.  Can you tell me what states you’re in?

RICH: We are, Verano, we are in Nevada. We are in New Jersey. We are in Pennsylvania, Maryland.  We are in Florida.  We are in West Virginia.  We’re expanding every year.  We have, our sister company, Moove is in Florida.  We have over 100 dispensaries alone in Florida. 

CHRIS: Wow.

RICH: Yeah. It goes state by state.  Since we’re New Jersey, I’m referencing back to New Jersey because it’s state driven, New Jersey only allows a Multi-State Operator to own or operate 3 dispensaries per state. But, if we do, like, we’re part of an advocacy program for helping smaller mom & pop, we can affiliate ourselves with that dispensary and help them open and sell our products there. 

CHRIS: What else, if you wanted to, give me your pitch.

RICH: OK.

CHRIS: How’s that?

RICH: As far as our products?

CHRIS: Yeah.

RICH: I started in the industry under medical basis. New Jersey just went recreational April 21, 2022, which was, we went from zero to 100 miles an hour in 3 days, and it’s been non-stop ever since.  The profits that have been made, and the money that’s been made, and just being able to help people.  Ya know, recreational side, you wanna do what you wanna do, but, even the medical field…Cannabis has been such a taboo thing, and still is, such a taboo thing, people just don’t understand it and have to be educated.  I run the logistics end of the company I work for in Branchburg, NJ. I have, example, I have truck drivers that come in, they think, people are like, oh I smell it, I’m going to get high.  That’s false.  We have over 15,000 plants growing at time.  They smell the plants growing, oh I’m gonna get high, I’m gonna get in trouble. False. Same statement, as you walk into a restaurant smelling food, are you gonna be full?

CHRIS: Right.

RICH: Ya know, and they’re like, oh I didn’t think of it that way.  We’re having to educate logistics companies to the point where, no, your driver, they might have other stops on their route say this guy smells like weed, he was smokin’ weed.  No, he stopped at a Cannabis facility.

CHRIS: To that end, I had a job for a air conditioning company, I won’t say who.  We actually, with all the dispensaries around, they called, because, you know, you buy what you can because a lot of people don’t want to business with dispensaries, so they end up buying a unit, and then it doesn’t do what they want it to, they can’t get the humidity to the right levels and blah, blah, blah.  So, we actually set up an account for them, got approved to set up an account with them, to work them, to send a tech out and help them out and get it to where, do what they needed them to because it’s got to be a certain humidity levels and temperature needs to be at a certain level.  Yeah, my techs were like, oh my God, you walk into that place and, oh my God, do I smell like pot? Oh my God, am I gonna get in trouble? And it’s like, no, you’re good.  It is a concern, because, like you said there’s, for so long it was like, oh my God, they smell of weed they must be so stoned, but all it is, is them walking in.  There’s dispensaries, too if you drive around them, you can smell it in the air from, whatever.

RICH: Probably, they’re going past grow facilities.  There’s a big difference, the dispensaries are for the end users, the grow facilities are where everything is made and manufactured, packaged, ya know, things of that nature.  We have an extensive, a very extensive filtration system. You can still smell it outside the building, but it was cut down almost 80%. 

CHRIS: Wow

RICH: The owners of my company, they’ve invested a lot of time and effort, and they’re loyal to the business.  They’re good people.

CHRIS: That’s good!

That’s it for Part 1.

As always, If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to email me at vobyjypsee@usa.com … You can follow me on X and Instagram … @vobyjypsee; or LinkedIn…search either Chris Wagenti, Who Gets It, Naturally or Voice Overs by Jypsee.  Please download this episode, and make Who Gets It, Naturally a favorite on your preferred channel so you don’t miss an episode.

You can buy me a coffee or get a membership at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/vobyjypsee4.  Thanks for your support and for listening!  Part 2 will be published on Saturday, March 16.