I talk with Tyler Tetrault about living his dream at Rocky Mountain Cannabis in Golden, some results from a recent survey with Island Health that shows less cannabis use by youths, on Cultivar Corner, brought to you by Up In Smoke, a tasty indica from Rocky Mountain Cannabis – we taste some Blackout Bobby.
I talk with Tyler Tetrault about living his dream at Rocky Mountain Cannabis in Golden, some results from a recent survey with Island Health that shows less cannabis use by youths, on Cultivar Corner, brought to you by Up In Smoke, a tasty indica from Rocky Mountain Cannabis – we taste some Blackout Bobby.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;08;29
Ian
From a studio high above the clouds of the Okanagan Valley. This is the cannabis potcast.
00;00;09;01 - 00;00;19;11
Ian
Exploring the world of Canadian cannabis culture. One toke at a time. Now is your host and Bud tender Gary Johnston.
00;00;19;13 - 00;00;37;03
Gary Johnston
Thank you so much for the introduction, Ian. I appreciate it. And that means it's my opportunity to welcome you back to the Cannabis potcast. Or maybe I'm welcoming you here for the very first time. In either case, let's make it a very warm welcome for the next 30 or 40 minutes. We're going to be talking about a plant that I am absolutely passionate about.
00;00;37;10 - 00;00;58;11
Gary Johnston
And that, of course, is cannabis. Now, before we get too much further, let me remind you this podcast is intended for those of legal consumption age in your jurisdiction and is intended purely for entertainment and perhaps educational purposes. You should always consume your cannabis responsibly. Well, today in episode 192, we're going to have a conversation with Tyler Tetro.
00;00;58;14 - 00;01;17;01
Gary Johnston
He's the owner and the founder of Rocky Mountain Cannabis, which we've been sampling over the last month. We have a great conversation with Tyler, so make sure you tune in for that. Some results from a recent survey with Island Health that shows less cannabis use by youth on Cultivar Corner. Brought to you by Up in Smoke at 258 West Broadway in Vancouver.
00;01;17;03 - 00;01;33;05
Gary Johnston
We are going to Rocky Mountain Cannabis and we're doing Blackout Baby, a really nice indica that's coming up on Cultivar Corner. All of that and more on episode 192 of the Cannabis potcast.
00;01;33;08 - 00;01;52;00
Gary Johnston
And as always, thank you for being here. I truly appreciate the fact that you are a listener, the cannabis potcast, and that you come by each and every time. I'm so thankful for that. I also want to thank my patrons on Patreon. So thanks to Tony, Rob, Gage, Lloyd, Roger, and Justin. I appreciate your support each and every time.
00;01;52;02 - 00;02;17;08
Gary Johnston
And in fact, a special shout out to Tony. Tony is off on a world excursion. He's spending the next few months traveling around the world. In fact, he just sent me a note from Tunisia in Northern Africa because he was so shocked with an earlier episode where some conservatives spoke about making cannabis illegal, and that kind of sent a Asuna army of concerned through to Tony having a blast.
00;02;17;08 - 00;02;40;01
Gary Johnston
Tony, and keep enjoying yourself. I'm assuming that you're not able to grab some cannabis because you're in a whole bunch of different countries, but you can still think about it, and we're hoping you're having yourself a blast out there. And also, if you like what you hear and you feel so inclined, you can go to buy me a coffee.com/cannabis potcast, and you can buy me a doobie or 2 or 3 or however many you like.
00;02;40;01 - 00;02;56;26
Gary Johnston
Or perhaps you want to buy me a bunch like Clarke did. So thanks to Clarke as well, Clarke sent me a bunch of dubs. I truly appreciate it. And, his comment was so scary. I think he was one of my favorite hippies. And please take that in a positive way if possible. Why would I not take that in a positive way?
00;02;56;26 - 00;03;16;20
Gary Johnston
Clarke. Of course I take that positively. Thank you so much. We all know you had a long career as a radio DJ. Care to merge the two and share with us a short list of top hippie playlist? We could listen to while stoned? I'm going to have to give that one some thought. There's a couple that just roll off the tongue right away.
00;03;16;23 - 00;03;36;23
Gary Johnston
And that, of course, would be One Toke Over the Line by Brewer and Shipley that I just love that song because it is one talk over the line and another one that I really liked listening to when I was stoned was Eric Burdon and War. Spill the wine. Put some headphones on. Put some big speakers out on the floor and get that tuna rolling.
00;03;36;23 - 00;04;05;05
Gary Johnston
After you've smoked a joint. You'll enjoy yourself. I'll give it some more thought as well. So thanks again, Clark. I appreciate your support as well. And now let's get to today's interview. We've had an opportunity to try a number of cultivars from Rocky Mountain Cannabis over the last month or so. And in sharing the joy of what we have smoked, I thought it was an appropriate time to have a conversation with a guy who's been growing it all and find out what's happening at Rocky Mountain Cannabis.
00;04;05;08 - 00;04;18;18
Gary Johnston
So we did. Tyler Tetro and I sat down the other day after he got his flat tire fixed, and he got back home and we had a great conversation. We pick up the conversation right after I welcomed Tyler to the Cannabis potcast.
00;04;18;20 - 00;04;20;25
Tyler Tetrault
Thanks for having me, Gary. Pleasure to be here.
00;04;20;28 - 00;04;29;03
Gary Johnston
Absolutely. I'm thrilled to have you on board, Tyler. My first question to everyone is where did your cannabis story begin? What what brought you to cannabis?
00;04;29;05 - 00;04;51;04
Tyler Tetrault
Well, I used to be a real square. I didn't really be into cannabis at all. People used to make fun of me because my. My dad grew weed when I was a baby and was kind of like the family and community drug dealer, and I was a, you know, pretty naive to that whole situation. So, you know, when I grew up and I said, all my parents told me they smoked weed once or twice.
00;04;51;07 - 00;05;08;22
Tyler Tetrault
Everybody laughed at me and said, no, the truth is. So I was always kind of adverse to it. And I think even through high school and stuff, it never really jived with me. I feel like I was a bit of a maybe. I like to stay in control too much. So it just it just didn't it didn't really work for me.
00;05;08;25 - 00;05;28;24
Tyler Tetrault
But, you know, I had a couple tragic experiences of my life in my later teen years. My best friend died, and, you know, a little bit while after that, you know, broke my heart. And and I think it was in, a state of release and surrender to life's tougher moments that a bong was half and passed to me one day, and I,
00;05;28;26 - 00;05;46;20
Tyler Tetrault
And they're like, oh, sorry, we forgot you don't smoke. And I was like, why not? Like, you know, like, this seems like a good time. And there was great music on. I was in an artist's basement with beautiful art and music all around, and that was already in a state of surrender and, cannabis. Just, the.
00;05;46;22 - 00;06;19;12
Tyler Tetrault
For the first time, I felt a peace that I hadn't felt before, and I was I suddenly became interested and curious and, you know, a few weeks later, I, I came home and I smoked a joint with my mom, and, it was while smoking a joint with my mom that I got a call that my other best friend passed away, and, and it was literally within two years of my other best friend passing away, and, and I can tell you the experience I had coping with this cannabis in my heart was a much different experience.
00;06;19;12 - 00;06;46;15
Tyler Tetrault
I, I still feel it in my heart to this day, but I was able to live and transcend the moment and, and, also, you know, like I have on my website, I grew up with ADHD and put on Ritalin as a kid and stuff. I, I all of a sudden started to find, in cannabis, something that was, a tool to help me navigate all these things that life has to throw at you, which is, the longer the longer you live, the more plentiful it can be.
00;06;46;17 - 00;06;49;28
Gary Johnston
So tell me about it. Yeah, yeah. The older you.
00;06;49;28 - 00;06;51;06
Tyler Tetrault
Know, the more you know. Yeah.
00;06;51;08 - 00;07;07;00
Gary Johnston
Yeah, absolutely. And it's one of the reasons why I love doing this podcast and talking to people tighter is because everybody has a different way that they came here. You know, they they took a different road. They took a different corner. And in some cases it was a happy accident. And in other cases it was it was designed to go that way.
00;07;07;00 - 00;07;21;03
Gary Johnston
So thank you for sharing. What brought you to here. So now here we are. We're living in Golden. Obviously you like living in Golden. And you originally went there because you were doing some, of some supply for, for growers.
00;07;21;06 - 00;07;50;08
Tyler Tetrault
Is that correct? Well, we when I met my wife and business school and, Red deer, Alberta, and, we were both entrepreneurial in spirit and, we were looking for where we were going to start a business together and what type of business we were going to do. We were thinking about going to Calgary and wear suits and drive Porsches and living condos and, and somehow that transformed into getting in the horticulture industry and moving to the mountains and, raising a family in a mountain town.
00;07;50;08 - 00;08;07;24
Tyler Tetrault
So we kind of did a 180. And I'm glad. I'm glad we did. I had a lot of friends and family, friends in the horticulture industry, and they had a really nice family lifestyle. And that's ideally what my wife and I wanted. We wanted a place where we could raise our family, and a job that afforded us to be close to our family.
00;08;07;27 - 00;08;27;21
Tyler Tetrault
So we opted to move to a small town that needed a garden center that didn't have what we were thinking of doing. Golden was also equal distance from both of our mums, so we're far away, but not too far away. I grew up working in Banff every summer, so Golden was just, you know, a couple neighborhoods away on the on the warm side of the Rockies.
00;08;27;21 - 00;08;52;00
Tyler Tetrault
So we, we came here for a third anniversary and, fell in love with the place and moved here with our, our, our two year old son. And we've had two kids since then and raised, raised them here. And we opened a garden center that we've run for over 20 years. And during that time, we, I started to have guys come up and buy five bales of soil, ten bales of soil for their tomatoes.
00;08;52;02 - 00;08;53;15
Gary Johnston
Of course. Yeah. So.
00;08;53;18 - 00;09;19;20
Tyler Tetrault
So then I started asking these guys, hey, I really like tomatoes. I would like you to bring me some of your tomatoes when you bring, when you get some soil. And that's kind of how my relationship with a lot of the growers in the valley, it was a it was, it was tomato talk. And and then I that I then I started growing some tomatoes and, and, and then we were able to get a prescription with the ACM PR license, and then we could start to talk a little bit more loose about what we're what we're talking about.
00;09;19;20 - 00;09;36;23
Tyler Tetrault
And, you know, over the 20 years, I gleaned as much knowledge as I could from all of my customers that were, you know, pretty scaled up and in the black market side of things. You know, I grew a little bit on the PR side, but I'm, I'm a pretty, pretty square guy. I'm afraid of breaking too many rules.
00;09;36;23 - 00;09;56;29
Tyler Tetrault
And, when legalization came an option, it was the transition from landscaping, which was another horticultural thing we were doing. I need to give that up and, find something to replace it financially that I knew and loved. And this opportunity for cannabis and a micro cultivation license arose. And so we, we put an application in for that.
00;09;56;29 - 00;10;14;22
Tyler Tetrault
And I was I think we were the fifth application in the province for, for micro. Our intention was to be in the first 100 micros. And I quickly realized that was maybe going to be like getting off being first off the boat at Normandy. I mean, maybe, maybe not the best.
00;10;14;22 - 00;10;17;07
Gary Johnston
Place to make that, you know.
00;10;17;07 - 00;10;37;12
Tyler Tetrault
So we so we delayed we had our we had got what was called a confirmation of readiness, which means our application was approved by the government. And, and we could build knowing that we were approved and most other businesses after that, they changed the rules where you had to build your facility and then you could apply which is a big risk for people because you just don't know.
00;10;37;12 - 00;11;07;10
Tyler Tetrault
Are you are they going to approve you? Right. So we had a little bit of confidence that we could build, and we were going to be approved. And we we applied and I think 2018 and we we've officially got operating in 2022. So we took our sweet time and I think we were in the first 1000, not the first 100, but we learned, like, you know, a lot of information was shared, with people that were, you know, that had started and mistakes and problems and realities.
00;11;07;10 - 00;11;27;07
Tyler Tetrault
And so we, we we got the benefit of, learning from you know, all the first people that got in there. And I think that helped us design a little bit better building than we were intending. And, and we came at it a little bit more prepared. And when we heard some horror stories, we, we came we came with, you know, prepared to face any challenges that would come in.
00;11;27;10 - 00;11;29;04
Tyler Tetrault
And we've had to face a lot. So.
00;11;29;06 - 00;11;37;25
Gary Johnston
Yeah, I'm sure you have. It's a challenging industry for everybody who's in it. No different for you. So where did you get the genetics that you started with?
00;11;37;27 - 00;11;59;21
Tyler Tetrault
Well, I had a collection of, stuff that I had gotten from all the different growers in our, in our valley. So, you know, the strains that that that you've got to experience. Fantasy Island was, brought to me from, from a guy in our local community. Our red Congolese was, a group of guys that, were breeding the Red Congo, like, a whole bunch of years ago.
00;11;59;21 - 00;12;19;15
Tyler Tetrault
And I got the. But I got the best phenotype out of everybody. And, all of those guys are all retired. So there's not one black market guy in our valley that I know of anymore. And nobody has that strain. So I collected, you know, those strains to those guys. And but a lot of them are, low potency when you, when you measure them.
00;12;19;17 - 00;12;40;14
Tyler Tetrault
And, that's not what the market was looking for right now. So we, we've, we've had to shift and acquire some genetics from different nurseries that have, some of the numbers that the market's looking for. But as our brand, gets a little bit more recognition and people are curious about what we're growing, they're more willing to try, the strains that we brought into the market.
00;12;40;14 - 00;13;00;17
Tyler Tetrault
And when they do, they, they're, they're quick to discover that, like, say, with our red Congolese at, you know, 20%, it's got that high CPG good terpene profile. It it it it can make you feel it's not a light weight if it if it hits you in the right way. Same with the fantasy island. Like, it's, that was my number one black market strain.
00;13;00;17 - 00;13;17;09
Tyler Tetrault
That all the old fellas that just wanted to get stoned. At the end of the day, they'd say, just give me Fantasy Island because it gets you really stoned. But it doesn't have a high THC, it has a high tripping or it has a high MercyMe content which which, people describe as the heroin of the Europeans. So.
00;13;17;12 - 00;13;19;25
Tyler Tetrault
But you don't write that on. You don't write that on a bag.
00;13;20;00 - 00;13;21;03
Gary Johnston
So. No, no, of course.
00;13;21;03 - 00;13;29;18
Tyler Tetrault
You know, if people don't understand about that and they're just looking at THC, they're they're slow to give it a try.
00;13;29;20 - 00;13;37;11
Gary Johnston
Been really impressed with what we, we've sampled so far. Really like what you're doing. You're obviously having some fun and, and you're enjoying what you're doing.
00;13;37;13 - 00;14;09;20
Tyler Tetrault
Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's we we do have fun. I, I love growing and we, you know, we built the. This is a playground that we built. I spend a lot of time in the facility and, you know, watching the plants grow, seeing the effects that you can, manipulated them through temperature or nutrition lights and then see how that plays out in the experience of the users is really it's, you know, like, I grew up in the restaurant business, and when I used to cook food and then I would see people eat my food and be satisfied, like it made me feel good inside.
00;14;09;20 - 00;14;23;28
Tyler Tetrault
So the, the quantity of people that are out smoking our cannabis and, and commenting on Reddit or on Instagram, and you get to see that or you meet people and they just tell you and they, they, they blame you for their good feelings. It's,
00;14;24;00 - 00;14;24;19
Gary Johnston
It's.
00;14;24;21 - 00;14;32;26
Tyler Tetrault
It's it's, I'll take credit for that. I don't, when, when you, when people say you help them feel good, it's, that that's that makes it worthwhile. All the challenges. Right?
00;14;32;28 - 00;14;49;12
Gary Johnston
Absolutely. It does. Yeah. When when something comes back to you and what you've been doing has an impact for people. Absolutely. It's it's it's well worth it. There was something that I was just going to ask you and of course, I smoked a joint before we started, so it now disappeared. Let me see. I'll wait for that to come back.
00;14;49;15 - 00;14;53;19
Gary Johnston
Oh, that's what I wanted to talk about. Direct delivery. How is that working out for you?
00;14;53;22 - 00;15;17;17
Tyler Tetrault
Well, I mean, a lot of people complain about the quantity of paperwork that's involved, and it certainly is. I mean, I'm I'm doing 99% of the paperwork that's going along with it. The big difference for me, though, is that I'm I'm that stores pay me before I ship the product. So I'm starting to see the, the, the debit column in my, in my bank accounts with some more activity in it.
00;15;17;17 - 00;15;35;02
Tyler Tetrault
So, you know, I, I appreciate the little, little bit of challenges that come with the work, but the fact that I can make a relationship directly with the store, they're interested in, we can turn that into a transaction is, it's it's game changing in my life right now, so I'm glad I get the opportunity to do it.
00;15;35;02 - 00;15;47;19
Tyler Tetrault
And and the stores that are supporting us are they're they're valuable beyond recognition to me. And we just want to. There's 500 stores in the province. It's. I'd love to visit them all, but it's a very big place.
00;15;47;25 - 00;16;00;16
Gary Johnston
It is. And it's a huge province, and it takes a long time to get from one corner to the other, and you need to spend your time talking to your plants. So yeah. What are some of the challenges that you've overcome? That's that's worth people knowing about?
00;16;00;19 - 00;16;22;10
Tyler Tetrault
Well, I would say number one is financial challenges that we've, this is it's it's the most heavily taxed industry in, in, in the country. So there's, a major burden on that. As we get on to do our own packaging and we've taken on the costs and expenses that that come with packaging, which is a lot which is a lot.
00;16;22;12 - 00;16;50;19
Tyler Tetrault
You begin to realize that, you know, all our original struggles were getting paid by people packaging our products. And I think, I think, most of their biggest problems is that they came to the game undercapitalized. And when they didn't have enough money to operate their business, their solution is to not give the cultivators their portion and so, you know, I'm engaged in some legal battles and lawsuits right now.
00;16;50;21 - 00;17;08;03
Tyler Tetrault
That's the privilege of being in the cannabis business, I guess, is that you get to work with some, some big players that, you know, we're swimming in shark infested waters, so, but but we knew that when we got into it. So, you know, I've got a spear gun and I'm ready to go, and and I feel like we've got righteousness on our side.
00;17;08;03 - 00;17;24;24
Tyler Tetrault
We we do what we say. We pay our bills. I think we're good people. And I think you know, I, I do have faith in our country and our system. So I think it's just the process. It's it's the challenge in the process. And you want to be in business. You you may have to encounter stuff like that.
00;17;24;24 - 00;17;45;24
Tyler Tetrault
So, you know, that's been our biggest challenge is, is is moving from relying on other people to handle our product for us and paying us for their service and the money coming back to us. So now that we can do it a little bit ourselves, and control that, I appreciate the hard challenge that they had. But you know what?
00;17;45;27 - 00;18;04;14
Tyler Tetrault
I figured it out with my team and my wife, and, you know, packaging is not that hard. Business is pretty easy. You know, you pay your bills on time, you buy low, sell high, and you just do a good quality, product. So this is this is this is what we focus on. And now we have the opportunity to make a living.
00;18;04;16 - 00;18;31;12
Tyler Tetrault
So now it's just about refining our process and figuring out ways to do paperwork more efficiently, package more efficiently so that we free up time to, to grow the cannabis. Because, if you turn your back on your plants for a week, without giving them attention, they'll, they'll they will not forgive you. They're they're very they do most of the work themselves, but they do want you to love them and show them that you care.
00;18;31;14 - 00;18;38;29
Tyler Tetrault
Right. So that's that's part of it. I, I live 45 steps from my work. So it's, it's it's pretty.
00;18;38;29 - 00;18;39;17
Gary Johnston
Good.
00;18;39;20 - 00;19;00;09
Tyler Tetrault
Yeah. I don't get lost in the commute. I, I'm able to come here and, you know, I, I have a mountain view, and I walk through snowy mountains to get here. So it's all in all. We don't, you know, I, I bring a happy, I come to work happy, and the place makes me happy. And, if we can get paid for our hard work, then the world, then the world goes round, right?
00;19;00;09 - 00;19;05;04
Tyler Tetrault
So that's starting. That's starting to happen for us right now. So it's, It feels good.
00;19;05;07 - 00;19;18;20
Gary Johnston
It is a beautiful spot to live in. I mean, golden is is it gorgeous? Part of the province. And I've never spent too much time there other than passing through. But I see lots of views of of the area and I'm always impressed with anything bc I just love everything about our province.
00;19;18;22 - 00;19;21;19
Tyler Tetrault
Yeah, well, you'll have to stop by and I have a post.
00;19;21;21 - 00;19;31;03
Gary Johnston
Next time I compile all different samples and then take a view. So do you have any politicians that are helping you along that are listening to to your struggles?
00;19;31;06 - 00;19;39;26
Tyler Tetrault
No, I wouldn't say that, I don't think I don't think any politicians are genuinely interested in this subject. Yeah, I.
00;19;39;26 - 00;19;41;29
Gary Johnston
Think that I think that's a very accurate statement.
00;19;42;01 - 00;20;06;17
Tyler Tetrault
I think, you know, our, our, soon to be former government used cannabis is, is is a way to leverage themselves into power. And they just didn't do a great job. I mean, we're all benefiting from maybe the opportunity to not work in a stigma stigmatized environment. And, I think it's neat that as a consumer, like the variety of products that are available and, you know, that's all very neat.
00;20;06;17 - 00;20;34;15
Tyler Tetrault
It's it's fantastic. But I think the government knew that they put on too many regulations at the beginning with the intent of improving it over time. And I don't think they have the stomach to do it. And, I don't I'm not sure the conservatives are. They're all about no tax and such. But you know, I'm, I'm concerned that within the Conservative Party that there just may be too many people that are still feeling that cannabis is stigmatized.
00;20;34;17 - 00;21;00;12
Tyler Tetrault
Right. And, and so that that makes it as a politician, it makes it hard to say, hey, I'm going to put some effort into a subject, if you may marginalize your political stance with with other people. So I think, I think cannabis still has a long road. My, my opinion is that, we need to be part of, like, lobbying, like there's an Agriculture Council of BC that's a lobby lobby group.
00;21;00;14 - 00;21;28;00
Tyler Tetrault
I think it's more important that they include us in that group because we're, you know, I, I farm, I run a greenhouse, garden center operation. It's farming. I ran a cannabis operation. To me, it's the same, but to other to to the government, it's two different things. Even though I'm. I'm doing the same thing. So. So that's you know, I think I think having a lobby group on our side, such as, is the BC Agriculture Council, maybe there's one of Canada, I think us becoming part of a bigger group.
00;21;28;08 - 00;21;54;04
Tyler Tetrault
So we're not just, the stepchild anymore, but actually, you know, you know, is a valuable is corn and soy and, you know, milk and all the other things that are produced in this country because, you know, cannabis has been with humans and civilization since the dawn of time. We've transported cannabis all over the world, and cannabis and and humans have co-evolved together.
00;21;54;06 - 00;22;04;11
Tyler Tetrault
And, I, I think that this transition back to where it's not stigmatized has been fantastic. We just got to continue the process. Right? Yeah.
00;22;04;18 - 00;22;21;16
Gary Johnston
And we still have to deal with the stigma because as as you clearly pointed out, it is still so much there and in how people express. And the one concern I have, I've heard a couple of concern that I can't remember who they were, who has said that they consider putting it back on the bill of of making cannabis illegal again.
00;22;21;19 - 00;22;36;20
Gary Johnston
Now that's a step that I wouldn't want to see happen, so I won't we we don't go up there. So okay, that's that's some of the challenges that you've had. What fun of you. What fun have you been having? What's really been inspiring you and infusing you? And in heading out to the greenhouse every day.
00;22;36;22 - 00;22;42;11
Tyler Tetrault
I get to grow weed and not go to jail. It's just that's.
00;22;42;16 - 00;22;43;29
Gary Johnston
All. That's helpful.
00;22;44;02 - 00;22;49;25
Tyler Tetrault
I don't have to even say anything more than that. But I mean, if I want to, if I want to take it beyond that, I mean, it's,
00;22;49;28 - 00;22;50;20
Gary Johnston
Like.
00;22;50;22 - 00;23;13;05
Tyler Tetrault
As challenging as this has been, you know, like, you wouldn't you wouldn't celebrate climbing to the top of a mountain, of climbing a top of a mountain wasn't wasn't hard. And I've, I've, I've a, you know, I've never surfed a 100ft wave, but I've imagined if you're surfing 100ft wave, it'd be terrifying. But if you thought for one second that you didn't deserve to be on the top of that 100ft wave, you shouldn't be here.
00;23;13;11 - 00;23;33;08
Tyler Tetrault
So I'm on a 100ft wave as as a lot of growers that are in this situation. And I think we all feel like we deserve to be here. So we're just riding the wave now, right? And, you know, we've got to do some neat things like meet you, you know, at the Strat count events, different grow up events that we've been to.
00;23;33;10 - 00;23;45;16
Tyler Tetrault
We went to the Unicorn Cup this year. We we, you know, we won second place. I don't do you wait a second. Do you win second place or do you lose second place? I'm not sure. Either way. We got it. We got a trophy for.
00;23;45;23 - 00;23;46;17
Gary Johnston
Nice.
00;23;46;19 - 00;23;48;12
Tyler Tetrault
For the banjo. At that one.
00;23;48;16 - 00;23;50;12
Gary Johnston
Yeah. That was really nice, I love that.
00;23;50;13 - 00;24;07;21
Tyler Tetrault
Yeah. So, you know what? And and the people that we, that we camped with, you know, Matt and Sarah from Up and Smoke. This is this is where we met them. This is where we met them. And, a whole bunch of other people that we're all camped with that I feel like, you know, those people are now my my, they're my new family.
00;24;07;29 - 00;24;28;02
Tyler Tetrault
And, you know, it's I feel like everywhere I've gone in this cannabis industry, I've made some new friends. Jeff from Smoker Farms, Kevin from Whale Harvest. You know, Bill over at Pure Fire, you know, it's like. It's like we were all brothers before, you know, Tyson, I think, Prince George at Kush Mountain. Like, I feel like, you know, we're all guys that have skin in the game.
00;24;28;05 - 00;24;40;04
Tyler Tetrault
We're all. We're all, we're all in rolling. All the chips are on the table, and, there's there's nobody helping us along where we're we're we're bootstrapping was flip flops on, you know.
00;24;40;05 - 00;24;50;07
Gary Johnston
So but but the the part I love about the industry tighter is that, that you're all helping each other. You know, it's not a competitive game from that perspective. We're all here trying to achieve the same things.
00;24;50;09 - 00;25;09;13
Tyler Tetrault
Especially in BC. I mean, I've gone to some other places in other provinces and it's it's funny how, you talk with some people and they're like, oh, you're you're a same as me. So we're in competition and, it just doesn't that feeling just has not persisted in BC at all. It's been, an extremely inclusive, community.
00;25;09;13 - 00;25;17;14
Tyler Tetrault
And, yeah, I've, I've enjoyed just, I think just about every person I've met in B.C. in the cannabis sector. Yeah.
00;25;17;17 - 00;25;25;22
Gary Johnston
Very nice. So you've brought processing in-house as well. Now, any plans for, for the rest of this year and some other things on.
00;25;25;22 - 00;25;44;09
Tyler Tetrault
On the way? We just want to get back to work. We, you know, with this, you know, with our hiccup that we had with our original processor, we we ramped up production really big. And, and then we had nowhere to sell our cannabis. So the last year was a big scramble trying to figure out how to, how to sell it ourselves.
00;25;44;09 - 00;26;02;17
Tyler Tetrault
So we've we've figured it out. We're back on track. And, we were just doing a maintenance plan on our facility here. We just took down a pink kush, a couple of weeks ago, but we just had one crop growing, and now we're we're completely empty, and, we're we're just scheduling ourselves up because, the future looks good.
00;26;02;17 - 00;26;26;23
Tyler Tetrault
We've we did, a really good collaboration with Woody Nelson on our Mandarin sunrise and our country club. We did a collaboration with, wild card extracts and our grapefruit. They extracted it and infused it into its own pre-roll, and, you know, so finding partners like Woody Nelson and Wild card extracts to partner with and just do interesting product projects.
00;26;26;25 - 00;26;48;29
Tyler Tetrault
It helps get our name out there. It helps give new ideas on how to do things. And now that we have some different ways to move product and different people to work with, our goal is to never shut our lights off. Right? So it's it's it makes me sad that we're not full, full blast right now, but at the same time, it gives me some time to sit and have a conversation with you.
00;26;48;29 - 00;26;52;11
Tyler Tetrault
So, you know, we're okay taking a little bit of a rest.
00;26;52;13 - 00;27;07;25
Gary Johnston
Yeah. You got to reset. Sometimes you have to you have to give yourself those moments where you can, you know, love what you've done so far and realize that there is a lot more coming in the future. So it sounds like there is a lot more coming in the future. You're you're at that stage now where your your past, all of those initial struggles are tough.
00;27;07;25 - 00;27;12;06
Gary Johnston
The rest of this is going to be easy and smooth. Got time for my two questions?
00;27;12;09 - 00;27;13;10
Tyler Tetrault
Sure.
00;27;13;12 - 00;27;17;13
Gary Johnston
What's your favorite cultivar now? This could be a real challenging one for you.
00;27;17;15 - 00;27;22;20
Tyler Tetrault
I I'm sorry, I got a quote Tommy Chong. Haven't found it yet.
00;27;22;22 - 00;27;24;17
Gary Johnston
See, nobody's ever given me that response.
00;27;24;24 - 00;27;49;14
Tyler Tetrault
That's the best answer I've ever heard. I haven't found it yet. I you know, it's I've had some, you know, when when I used to sell weed and balm when I was a younger person, there were some strains that came through there that I'm still trying to find because they were they were amazing, you know, some white rhino and some juicy fruits and, you know, some just some different stuff back in the day that were just, you know, just made your heart sing on, on every single level.
00;27;49;14 - 00;28;05;10
Tyler Tetrault
So, that's one of the that's what I love about cannabis, you know, it's this entourage effect, as I try to explain to people, you know, it's, cannabis is a key and you're a key hole. And, you know, this key may not turn you. It may turn me, but every key turns you a little bit different.
00;28;05;10 - 00;28;26;15
Tyler Tetrault
So it's, it's very exciting. Trying. I just like trying new cannabis. And what works for me may not work for you. It just makes it, it's that's one of the things that makes us exciting. I like to learn and grow and not stagnate in this industry. And cannabis together is, I got years of learning in front of me.
00;28;26;18 - 00;28;29;00
Gary Johnston
Yeah, absolutely. Jointer, vape.
00;28;29;00 - 00;28;43;10
Tyler Tetrault
Tyler, I smoke joints. I've got, I have, I have a little, rosin, rosin vape that I carry around for me when I don't want to be stinky. I, I, I like to roll myself nice, big, fat joints.
00;28;43;12 - 00;28;49;08
Gary Johnston
Okay. Yeah. And there's nothing wrong with that. Your favorite munchie.
00;28;49;10 - 00;29;03;17
Tyler Tetrault
Oh, boy, I don't know. I'm. I'm kind of digging a lot of fruit lately, and I have a lot of cola bottles in the last, probably three years, but I think I, I think I'm making myself sick of cola bottles. But if you had asked me a month ago, I would have said cola bottles. Okay.
00;29;03;17 - 00;29;08;11
Gary Johnston
Yeah, I can see that with a lot. And edibles are flower.
00;29;08;13 - 00;29;19;21
Tyler Tetrault
I like flower, I like edibles, but, you know, my wife takes, one Pearl's gummy every single night, and it puts her through the roof, and I'd have to eat about 50 of them to put me through the roof.
00;29;19;21 - 00;29;20;20
Gary Johnston
So same thing with me.
00;29;20;20 - 00;29;33;02
Tyler Tetrault
I think I'm gonna. I think I've got a lot of old material from Asian days. I'm going to whip up and do some cookies, and I'm not gonna measure the potency. So I like, I like, I like those edibles.
00;29;33;05 - 00;29;51;21
Gary Johnston
That that would be interesting because I have the same problem. Edibles do absolutely zip for me. Only one time I went actually to a dinner, where the chef was infusing the oil. And that just got me ripped. But that's the only edible I've ever had any success with. Yeah. So what's up for for the rest of your day?
00;29;51;26 - 00;30;12;21
Tyler Tetrault
We're transplanting. We, we've we've we have a lot of red Congolese in the market in pre-roll form. And, and we have a lot of people, Matt. Customers from up and smoke that are really want to see this flower. And, I've struggled releasing the flower because we it's just it's been growing. The bud structure looks funny under these LED lights and I'm not used to it.
00;30;12;21 - 00;30;28;19
Tyler Tetrault
I've grown up for ten years and it I, I, I have an expectation of what it should look like. So I might have to get used to the way it looks under LED lights and just let people have it, let them judge it for themselves. But but I've also found this some pretty funny looking weed out there, and people seem to love it all.
00;30;28;19 - 00;30;37;11
Tyler Tetrault
The scent, all the same. So yeah, it's, it's so that's what we're working on. We're going to be transplanting that up today and and getting that going. You.
00;30;37;13 - 00;30;42;10
Gary Johnston
Wonderful. Well, thanks for spending some time with me on the cannabis potcast starter. I hope you enjoy the rest of day.
00;30;42;13 - 00;30;45;12
Tyler Tetrault
Yeah, you as well. Thanks for having me, Gary.
00;30;45;14 - 00;30;50;10
Ian
From the cannabis infused studio In the clouds. This is the Cannabis potcast.
00;30;50;13 - 00;31;19;14
Gary Johnston
And we're picking up this story from the outside AKA which is some good news on a recent survey. Cannabis use is declining among kids in school on Vancouver Island. A report from Island Health shows. In 2023, fewer youth reported that they had ever used cannabis compared to 2018. And over the past 20 years, the proportion of youth who have reported ever using cannabis has decreased by 1.6 times since the report from Chief Medical Health Officer Doctor Rekha Gustafson.
00;31;19;17 - 00;31;53;04
Gary Johnston
The report challenged and change a public health response to our perplexing relationship with psychoactive substances. Reviews consumption and health outcome data for Vancouver Island residents related to use of substances such as tobacco, alcohol, illegally manufactured opioids and cannabis. The majority of respondents approximately 70%, said they had never used cannabis, while approximately 7% reported they use it daily. 50% of young adults use cannabis in the past 12 months, the report said, and 28% of youth in school reported having tried cannabis.
00;31;53;07 - 00;32;15;24
Gary Johnston
Cannabis use decreases with age, with 95% of those 80 and over reporting they hadn't used in the past year, those in the 18 to 29 age group use cannabis most often, with 12% reporting daily use. Nearly three quarters of females, 74% had not used cannabis in the past 12 months, compared to approximately two thirds of males at 65%.
00;32;15;26 - 00;32;38;09
Gary Johnston
Cannabis use increased during the Covid 19 pandemic, the report found. The highest proportion of respondents who reported increased use were in the 18 to 29 age group, followed by the 30 to 39 and 40 to 49 age groups. Hospital admissions related to cannabis are substantially lower than hospital admissions related to alcohol, opioids, stimulants or tobacco, the report said.
00;32;38;12 - 00;32;59;22
Gary Johnston
However, cannabis related admissions have doubled over the past ten years, although the report says it is not known if this increase is due to an actual change in hospital admissions or a greater willingness to disclose cannabis use after legalization, or both. In 2023, the rate of cannabis related hospital admissions was highest in the 19 to 29 age group.
00;32;59;25 - 00;33;22;13
Gary Johnston
Hospital admission decreased between 2018 and 19 and rose during the pandemic. The rate of cannabis related hospital admissions has since decreased, but is not yet back to pre-pandemic levels, and the report highlights other topics where tobacco and alcohol consumption on Vancouver Island is higher than in the rest of British Columbia, tobacco remains the top cause of substance use related premature death.
00;33;22;15 - 00;33;42;17
Gary Johnston
Alcohol is the leading cause of substance related hospital admissions, and unregulated drug poisonings are the top cause of death in people aged 19 to 59. So some interesting information in Island Health and some recent surveys that they have done, showing that the use of cannabis is declining in some areas and unsurprisingly, growing in others.
00;33;42;23 - 00;33;52;00
Ian
You see CBD tipping profiles. What to me? Oh, please explain to me. Go to the.
00;33;52;03 - 00;33;58;13
Unknown
The go to local level. Yeah, go to the corner.
00;33;58;13 - 00;34;02;13
Ian
Please explain this stuff to me.
00;34;02;15 - 00;34;34;07
Gary Johnston
Welcome to Cultivar Corner, brought to you by Up in Smoke at 258 West Broadway in Vancouver and online at It's Up in smoke.com. Check out today for some direct delivery exclusives like we're sampling today for making another stop at Rocky Mountain Cannabis. This is direct delivery, exclusive and indica to knock your socks off. This is Blackout Baby at 28.3% THC just released 000.
00;34;34;10 - 00;35;02;02
Gary Johnston
And what do we got here? This is a cross of gelato and rainbow chip. Let me pull out one of those beautiful buds. I o delightful aromas coming off of that. We got gassy, we got pepper, and we got a little cream. My THC sitting at 28.3 by total terp sitting. It's 2.77. And they are in order of appearance mere seen carry off clean and d limonene.
00;35;02;04 - 00;35;23;21
Gary Johnston
I think this is going to be a pretty heavy indica. So let's get the jeweler's loop out. Let's take a peek at some of the flowers we've got inside the bag. I picked up seven grams of it and that's what we got in the bag. Always nice. This was actually, packaged on December 17th, so just a little over a month ago.
00;35;23;24 - 00;35;46;05
Gary Johnston
And that's the other thing I'm really liking the the stuff that's coming through to the right delivery channels. It's so fresh. I have a picture on the episode artwork, and in that picture you can see that there's a lot of really nice bright red flowers, a red pistols in here. And that is true. I've got it under my jeweler's loop now.
00;35;46;07 - 00;36;10;10
Gary Johnston
Very frosty. Oh, and very gassy. Oh, there's some definitely some gasser elements coming on that. And as I say, a lot of nice red hairs sprinkled through that and lots of trichomes as well. Let's see what happens if we start to break that flower up and we get a little bit more aroma in here. Let's see if I've got some sticky.
00;36;10;13 - 00;36;39;11
Gary Johnston
And I do and I break that flower up. I got nice and sticky. And I'm getting definitely some mirror scenes. There's some, there's some earthiness to it. Oh my goodness. Wow I just crushed that flower in my hand. And holy moly it just burst out with more of those aromas. More of that gas in this more gassy more pepper.
00;36;39;13 - 00;36;59;16
Gary Johnston
I'm surprised of the pepper actually, because for me pepper often comes from caryophyllene, and maybe it is one of the ones that's not listed on the label on the carry. Awfully. Oh, my fingers are getting really sticky, so break this up to I just love sticky weed. I don't know why I have always been enamored by it.
00;36;59;18 - 00;37;36;15
Gary Johnston
And it continues to this day. So again, this is the lineage is gelato and rainbow chip my cultivator. Not a surprise, Mr. Title tetra, but Rocky Mountain Cannabis. It is grown grown in golden hand trimmed hang dried. December 17th, 2024. The package date on this one and a three week cold. No one month cold here. And I think for me, that's what makes these flowers just absolutely gorgeous is is they go through that one month cure and they pump up that here.
00;37;36;20 - 00;38;02;17
Gary Johnston
The moisture gets perfect inside of them. Being looking forward to trying some black out Bobby and looking for something that's going to give me a bit more of a kick at 28%, this is going to be an indicator. This could send me on my butt and we'll see where that goes. All right. The Rocky Mountain High, that's what I stole as the title for this episode, because it seemed appropriate to me as I was putting the artwork together.
00;38;02;19 - 00;38;33;11
Gary Johnston
And there's a picture of Tyler, in the greenhouse and in the Rocky Mountains and I'm sorry, I couldn't resist calling this episode Rocky Mountain High. And let's start with the joint. So this is black out, Bobby. A cross of gelato and rainbow chip THC at 28.3% THC. And here's the first hit.
00;38;33;14 - 00;38;52;28
Gary Johnston
Oh, that's nice and smooth. I'm always impressed that first hit I have in the joint, where it doesn't start making me off with, which I know happens to many of us. But I'm always loving it when we eat. It's just really nice and smooth.
00;38;53;01 - 00;38;59;02
Gary Johnston
The ash that just fell off of my joints, nice and gray.
00;38;59;04 - 00;39;17;01
Gary Johnston
Found its way down to the side of my table, and now I am up to speed it up to temperature. This is black out, Bobby. To a cross of gelato and rainbow chip. And let's see how this tastes.
00;39;17;03 - 00;39;25;15
Gary Johnston
Oh, heavy on the gas.
00;39;25;17 - 00;39;41;26
Gary Johnston
Oh yeah. When you bring that into the vaporizer it is heavy on the gas. There's a bit of cream on the exhale. And some peppery notes I guess, hanging in there somewhere. But really a nice taste.
00;39;41;28 - 00;39;55;18
Gary Johnston
Oh. Oh lovely. I really like the gas nose on that. Especially on the inhale. Definitely some gassy components.
00;39;55;20 - 00;40;19;12
Gary Johnston
Oh, yeah. Really gassy. Well, that's what's coming through for me on the vaporizer is definitely some gassy notes. A bit of peppery kind of a hint of pepper. And then I guess on my exhale there's a bit of that creamy texture that comes out of that. Let's go back to the joint. I'm starting to feel it in my endocannabinoid system as well.
00;40;19;14 - 00;40;49;16
Gary Johnston
Which is always good. I always like that part of Cultivar Corner. And remember, Cultivar Corner is brought to you by Up in Smoke at 258 West Broadway in Vancouver and online at it's Up in smoke.com. If you are 19 years of age or older and you live in B.C., you can go and check it out on the online menu, picks him up for yourself, have it sent to you and I will also remind you that, of course, apologies again if you're in a different province or country.
00;40;49;18 - 00;41;02;00
Gary Johnston
As a true Canadian, I will say I'm sorry we can't send anything to you, but if you live in BC head you can go to it's up in smoke.com. You can take care of that for yourself.
00;41;02;03 - 00;41;24;16
Gary Johnston
Oh and I am taking care of this for myself. I'm going to put my other dosing capsule in. I'm going to turn the heat back on in the mighty as I finish the joint. And here comes the euphoria. Now this is going to be gelato and rainbow chips so heavily heavy on the indica. This is going to be a really nice indica.
00;41;24;16 - 00;41;29;29
Gary Johnston
I'm thinking.
00;41;30;02 - 00;42;08;13
Gary Johnston
Oh, and here they are. So my happy eyes are. Bam! Hello. Where did you come from? And, beautiful feeling in my body. I love a good stone. I love a good indica. The kind of just wraps me up in a little blanket of of comforting, euphoric high. And that's kind of how I feel right now. A little euphoric and a little high, which is good.
00;42;08;15 - 00;42;17;00
Gary Johnston
That's what we're here for. That's why we are here doing Cultivar Corner once more.
00;42;17;02 - 00;42;37;05
Gary Johnston
You growing some nice weed up there at Rocky Mountain cannabis, Mr. Tyler? Excellent job. See, now, now you can hear me rambling. And we all know that when Gary starts to ramble, he has achieved his goal.
00;42;37;08 - 00;42;53;21
Gary Johnston
Oh, really? Gassy. Only when we put that through the vaporizer. The gas genius just. It's like you're sticking a nose in a gas tank. Okay, I use a bit of hyperbole there, but still, that's my point.
00;42;53;24 - 00;43;21;03
Gary Johnston
Oh, yeah. This is just starting to chill really nicely for me now. I've been looking forward to this. This is a new release from the folks at Rocky Mountain Cannabis. It is out now, and it's becoming a little more difficult for me to speak. So I think this is the time where I say, hey, blackout Bobby, I am going to enjoy this day.
00;43;21;06 - 00;43;52;26
Gary Johnston
And this is one of my favorite moments when we come back. It's been rolling around in my endocannabinoid system for a few minutes now. It's really feeling nice. I am liking the indica side of blackout, Bobby. Just really nice body relaxation. Just some really nice chills going on. Really, really high. Really, really enjoying the day. And and I'll just leave it there.
00;43;52;29 - 00;43;55;01
Ian
Sharing stories about good weed while.
00;43;55;01 - 00;44;18;10
Gary Johnston
Trying good weed. This is the cannabis potcast. Thanks for being here. I'm appreciative of the fact that you're here each and every time. And I also want to remind you, if you have a comment on anything you hear, please send a note to info at Cannabis potcast.com. And if you truly like what you hear and you would like to show some support, you can go to buy me a coffee.com/cannabis potcast.
00;44;18;13 - 00;44;42;08
Gary Johnston
And if you like what you hear and you feel so inclined, you could buy me a doobie. Well, I'm making a bit of a difference in what we're doing at the end of the show. I know I've been pulling off a bunch of cannabis puns, for lack of a better phrase. I got a gift at Christmas, and for the next few episodes, at least, you're going to be subject to this gift that I received at Christmas.
00;44;42;11 - 00;45;02;13
Gary Johnston
I am a dad as well as a grandfather, and that gives me the rights to tell puns. And so they may not be cannabis related. Maybe I'll throw cannabis in once in a while if I can, but I'm just going to pull up a card and we'll see where we go. So here's the first one. How do you get help for someone who stubs their toe?
00;45;02;15 - 00;45;35;01
Gary Johnston
You call a tow truck? I'll apologize for these right off the bat. Which side of a duck has the most feathers on the outside? And two more. We'll do two more. What did the dad say when he saw his first universal remote? Wow, this changes everything. Why were people so disappointed to receive a book as a gift from Cheap Michael?
00;45;35;03 - 00;46;00;17
Gary Johnston
Because they were due back at the library on Friday. This is a game called The Worst dad jokes, that I was given by my son and daughter in law for Christmas. We shared a number of them, and I will continue to share those with you as we go along. And from the guy in the clouds. That's it for episode 192 of the Cannabis potcast.
00;46;00;20 - 00;46;16;25
Ian
From the cannabis infused studio high above the Okanagan Valley. This was the cannabis potcast.