This episode we reconnect with Tanner Stewart founder and CEO of Stewart Farms and hear how their wellness category has grown. We wonder what’s ahead with a federal election on our horizon and what impact that may have on the legal cannabis industry. On Cultivar Corner, brought to you by Up In Smoke – we’re loving the flower from Rock Mountain Cannabis and we taste Apple Fritter – yummy.
This episode we reconnect with Tanner Stewart founder and CEO of Stewart Farms and hear how their wellness category has grown. We wonder what’s ahead with a federal election on our horizon and what impact that may have on the legal cannabis industry. On Cultivar Corner, brought to you by Up In Smoke – we’re loving the flower from Rock Mountain Cannabis and we taste Apple Fritter – yummy.
The impact of Trudeau's exit on legal cannabis
00;00;01;22 - 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;04
Ian
Exploring the world of Canadian cannabis culture. One toke at a time. Here is your host and budtender, Gary Johnston.
00;00;19;07 - 00;00;38;02
Gary Johnston
And on that note, it's my opportunity to welcome you back to the Cannabis potcast. Thank you so much for coming back. I truly appreciate it each and every time. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is your very first time. Well, if it is, here's an especially warm welcome for you. Now, I we've got 30 or 40 minutes on a plant I am absolutely passionate about.
00;00;38;02 - 00;00;59;20
Gary Johnston
And that 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. In this episode, we're going to reconnect with Tanner Stewart, founder and CEO of Stewart Farms.
00;00;59;21 - 00;01;17;19
Gary Johnston
We're going to hear how their wellness category has really grown over the last few years. We wonder what's ahead with the federal election on our horizon and what impact that may have on the legal cannabis industry. On Cultivar Corner, brought to you by Up in Smoke. We're loving the flower from Rocky Mountain Cannabis. And this week we taste apple fritter.
00;01;17;19 - 00;01;29;03
Gary Johnston
Yummy yummy yummy. All of that and more on episode 191 of the Cannabis potcast.
00;01;29;05 - 00;01;48;11
Gary Johnston
And before we get too much further, let me thank you for being here. I truly appreciate the fact that you are listening to the Cannabis potcast. Whether you come back every time or you just drop by once in a while. I appreciate it in each case. And I also want to thank my patrons at Patreon. Thanks to Tony, Rob, Gage, Lloyd, Roger, and Justin.
00;01;48;12 - 00;02;06;05
Gary Johnston
I thank you for your support each and every time. And I really want to thank to Dana Jordan has been a supporter of mine for the last 2 or 3 years. Really appreciate the support she's given. Now she's moved on to other things. So thank you so much for your time with the Cannabis potcast. Jordana and I truly appreciate your support.
00;02;06;12 - 00;02;23;23
Gary Johnston
Now, if you want to help as well, you can go to buy me a coffee.com/cannabis potcast. And if you are so inspired and you like what you hear, you can go there and buy me a doobie. And just a reminder that everything that goes through that channel, 1% of that goes to climate change research. Thank you so much for your support.
00;02;23;24 - 00;02;48;06
Gary Johnston
I appreciate it in whatever way that may be. Now let's get to our first story. Back in episode 63, we first met Tanner Stewart, founder and CEO, Stewart Farms. Back then, their bath bombs were just starting to sweep the country and make people wellness aware. That has become a bigger focus in the ensuing years. And it was a pleasure to welcome Tanner Stewart back for another visit to the Cannabis potcast.
00;02;48;08 - 00;02;57;10
Gary Johnston
We started with my usual first question. I want to hear how you first became involved with cannabis, and then we can hear the story of Stewart Farms after that.
00;02;57;14 - 00;03;30;02
Tanner Stewart
Yeah, absolutely. Cannabis has been a part of my life since my teenage years. Smoked weed before I drank. I think there was about a 2 to 3 month gap there before I smoked my first joint. And, unfortunately. And I do mean that, drank my first pint of Smirnoff vodka, which is, you know, alcohol is just, history and story of regrets in, in my life.
00;03;30;02 - 00;04;08;01
Tanner Stewart
And and it was never, it was never a good, a good friend, so to speak. So cannabis for me when I look at it retro retrospectively and I think about all of my best friends that I have today and the best experiences I had in my high school years. You know, those times when I was driving around the woods with my buddies and we were just breaking out bottle tokes and smoking hash the most disgusting way you can smoke it, which is on the tip of a cigaret and sticking it in the end of a bottle, and then and then telling yourself, oh yeah, I'm not going to get addicted to nicotine
00;04;08;01 - 00;04;56;29
Tanner Stewart
because I'm only inhaling the weed smoke with this methodology. You know, listening to music, spending good quality time with my buddies, you know, in friends garages, in the woods, having conversations. It was just this, an experience, a product that gave me an experience of deepening conversations and and I, I really view it now as a truly introspective drug, and, and and I believe that's why, so many people who will gladly drink alcohol and intoxicate themselves to either just a reasonable state or an unreasonable state, and they've sworn off cannabis.
00;04;57;01 - 00;05;32;15
Tanner Stewart
I believe that's the main reason, because when you, And I don't like comparing alcohol and cannabis because, you know, to me, alcohol is the destroyer of worlds and responsible, responsible for, you know, chaos and turmoil across the globe and within family units. And I've seen it personally and I've experienced it personally. But since since society is comparing them, you know, people who yearn to turn their brain off, which is what alcohol does, the last thing they want to do is smoke a joint and turn their brain on, or turn their brain up and go all introspective all of a sudden.
00;05;32;15 - 00;05;58;11
Tanner Stewart
And, you know, that's where the, you know, some people say, well, I smoke it and I become paranoid. Well, really, maybe what was happening is you smoked it and you were thinking about things. Maybe you needed to think about, but you didn't want to think about them. That's what me and my buddies did. We. You know, you you looked at the stars and you solve the world's problems, and you, you know, you diagnosed music and songs and and, you know, that's the that's the beautiful thing of it.
00;05;58;11 - 00;06;25;03
Tanner Stewart
So, so, so that's where my relationship started. That's my kind of high level thesis of, of cannabis from a recreational perspective. But now today with Stuart Farms, when I started this company, I saw an opportunity to use the cannabis plant and all the cannabinoids within it as a tool to positively impact as many people as I can impact.
00;06;25;10 - 00;06;52;03
Tanner Stewart
Before I leave this rock floating in space, the mission statement of Stuart Farms today is to displace opioids, benzodiazepines and steroidal creams with safe made in Canada cannabinoid based products. And that was the intent in 2018, when I was smoking a joint on my back porch and decided I was going to leave lettuce vertical lettuce farming, I was I was already doing indoor farming at the time.
00;06;52;03 - 00;06;59;23
Tanner Stewart
I was farming leafy greens, and then I moved over to cannabis for the wellness reasons and not for the right reasons. And that's who we are today.
00;07;00;02 - 00;07;18;03
Gary Johnston
And it has been an exciting journey for you so far. I was manager at Spirit Leaf for a number of years. We sold a lot of your bath bombs in that store, so it's been interesting watching you grow across the country. I know you're pretty excited about things you've got coming to market. Let's talk about the wellness side of Stewart Farms.
00;07;18;06 - 00;07;48;13
Tanner Stewart
Yeah, we are of course, we continue to stay focused on growing the if we're selling it to patients in the medical channels, I call it the medical bath category. We are just really focused on maintaining our current portfolio of of bath bombs across the country. We've got a couple new flavors. A couple single bath bomb offerings. I can't divulge what those flavors are going to be, but we've got a couple new ones on the slate here for 2025.
00;07;48;16 - 00;08;10;21
Tanner Stewart
And, you know, that's kind of our anchor product are here, hero SKUs, so to speak, that we're most known for. But what is evolving quickly here in 2025 is our muscle relief line. We've launched our to keep CBD THC balanced muscle cream, 505 hundred balanced. The reviews we've been getting from that in the rec market are unbelievable.
00;08;10;24 - 00;08;38;18
Tanner Stewart
I can't tell you how many times we've heard this is the only thing that worked for my dad. My grandma, my mom. Me. Right. And these are the eye opening stories you get from your customers that make you realize how ineffective, truly, the current pharmaceutical industry is, you know, overall. And and and how powerful cannabinoids can be in a, in a safe treatment method.
00;08;38;18 - 00;08;55;16
Tanner Stewart
So we've got our heart to keep muscle cream. We're in the middle right now. This month our new to Keep balance stick is launching. So it's just our to keep packaged into a stick because a lot of people like that format. They like the roll on format that's launching in Ontario, in Alberta in the month of January.
00;08;55;17 - 00;09;17;09
Tanner Stewart
New Brunswick will be shortly after, and we're launching in, across medical platforms with that product as well as we speak, the majority of the medical platforms, frankly. And, you know, while I'm on that, I just want to shout out to all the veterans. Thank you. Thank you to all you veterans who are choosing to use Stewart Farms in your wellness journey.
00;09;17;14 - 00;09;38;06
Tanner Stewart
We cannot thank you enough. They're they're one of our biggest medical bath bomb, customers. Gary. In the country, it's it's unreal. So we've got that, and then we've got our one skin product. But we've got some more Arctic heat stuff on the way in 2025. So really, it's just strength that really growing the medical bath category in general, because that's what we've been doing since day one.
00;09;38;13 - 00;09;44;00
Tanner Stewart
And we are, on a mission to get our two key products in as many Canadians hands possible.
00;09;44;02 - 00;09;55;28
Gary Johnston
And I got to think, with the Arctic heat in cream form and having cannabinoids of THC and CBD, both of 500mg each, that has to have some impacts on the effect, does it not?
00;09;56;01 - 00;10;22;26
Tanner Stewart
Oh yeah. Well, so what we do with all of our products and they are to keep cream, in particular as we say. Okay, what design parameters are we aiming for for the user experience. And how do we make a phenomenal muscle product based on botanical inputs first? So the product gets designed. You know, we've got camphor wintergreen, eucalyptus.
00;10;22;28 - 00;10;48;25
Tanner Stewart
Arguably it would be a fantastic formulation to put on the shelves at Shoppers Drug Mart directly against Icy Hot without any cannabinoids in it. Right. Because what's icy hot eucalyptus. Peppermint. Right. That's that's that's some of those key ingredients. But we also said it we looked at those products eight, five, three, five icy hot. And we said, what are the pain points of those products?
00;10;48;25 - 00;11;11;22
Tanner Stewart
Or what are the what are the main complaints from those users? And what you hear over and over again is the burning sensation is too much. I don't like the smell and I don't like the feel. It's sticky. Right? So that's kind of what you hear from information five, three, five and other kind of gel like products. And we said, okay, well let's make our heat smell great.
00;11;11;24 - 00;11;35;25
Tanner Stewart
Number one, let's make it feel good. And why not make it moisturizing at the same time as relieving muscles? So that's the route we went. We said it's a cream as opposed to a gel. We also toned down the heating cooling effect in the Arctic heat cream, specifically. So it's a lot milder than maybe people would expect, or some people are looking for that.
00;11;35;25 - 00;11;57;11
Tanner Stewart
But that was one of the main complaints from a five, three, five and icy hot tip products is, well, it burns too much. It kind of irritates my skin. And let me just clarify that that sensation of, you know, heating and cooling and burning, that's not actually getting that the muscle issue, that's not fixing the muscle muscle issue.
00;11;57;11 - 00;12;26;15
Tanner Stewart
What it's doing, it's it's distracting your pain. It's distracting your brain from the pain. So that's the point of that sensation. And we favor getting at the actual issue, which the THC and the CBD and the camphor and the other ingredients, they do that as opposed to having this temporary, you know, oh, my skin's burning so my brain doesn't have time to pay attention to the pain right now, because that's that's really what that does.
00;12;26;15 - 00;12;48;13
Tanner Stewart
It's just a distraction with the Arctic heat. It's actually going to help you address the issue, as opposed to just distract your brain temporarily with with a burning, heating, cooling sensation. If I compare it to ibuprofen, what's ibuprofen doing? It just turning your pain receptors off. Right. So we've we've got all these products out there that people use for they call it pain relief.
00;12;48;16 - 00;13;08;01
Tanner Stewart
But it's not pain relief. It's pain distraction. It's not oh, you're not relieving the actual issue in any, any way, shape or form. You take ibuprofen, you turn your pain receptors off. You're just your brain just you just can't feel the pain anymore. You you take a thing that's just going to heat. Cool again. You've distracted your brain from the pain.
00;13;08;08 - 00;13;30;09
Tanner Stewart
What is a cannabinoid infused product doing? Well, it's getting at the inflammation. It's lowering the inflammation. You're treating the area. That's the same thing antifungal, antibacterial. It's help. It's it's helping you relieve the pain in the short term. But you're actually going to potentially relieve the issue over time as opposed to just distracting yourself from the issue. Right?
00;13;30;11 - 00;13;39;15
Gary Johnston
Yeah. Interesting. I find it so fascinating that some people this can be so effective for and for others it has no effect whatsoever.
00;13;39;17 - 00;13;40;14
Tanner Stewart
00;13;40;17 - 00;13;50;15
Gary Johnston
Now I also see that you have some craft cannabis. I'm not sure. The last time we spoke whether you had the craft line you may have or not, but let's hear about Stuart Farms craft cannabis.
00;13;50;18 - 00;14;32;08
Tanner Stewart
Yeah. Well well I mean we're known as a wellness company and everybody knows that we have bath bombs. But what what you don't see across Canada is our craft flour. We actually have one of the most robust genetic libraries in the entire industry. And I would say globally, not just not just in Canada. I spent, a good year and a half, early on figuring out our genetic maneuver because, you know, at the end of the day, all of these cannabinoid formulations are coming from source material of genetics and and the inherent natural formulations that are coming out of these various genetics of terpenes and cannabinoid mixtures.
00;14;32;08 - 00;14;51;28
Tanner Stewart
So as a long term value proposition for Stuart Farms, when we were getting up and running, and also, I didn't know we were going to be so heavily focused on, well, on on topicals as we are versus versus growing at the time, I knew from my previous farming endeavors and vertical farming that the genetic is what matters.
00;14;52;06 - 00;15;15;01
Tanner Stewart
So I collected a very robust genetic library. We've got, you know, 500 plus unique genetics, 20,000 seeds in the fridge. And our cultivation was so small that we spent the first two years just hunting through those genetics and from that hunt, you know, and we couldn't hunt very much, but we hunted as much as we could. I said, what's the point in mono cropping right now?
00;15;15;01 - 00;15;35;18
Tanner Stewart
Because my my production is so small that we might as well dig in the library. I think that's going to be the long term value. So where we sit right now is we've got about 40 stabilized plant genetics. Five of them have been market tested and are market ready. But we only have one that we're now mono cropping out of, out of the 40 plant.
00;15;35;18 - 00;15;54;06
Tanner Stewart
You know, we we took those out of a hunt of, you know, 1500 a thousand different seeds at the beginning of that two years. And we really, really, you know, flushed out a good, a good base, out of our at of our larger genetic library. And then where we landed with sales is the daily grape was in Canada.
00;15;54;06 - 00;16;25;05
Tanner Stewart
It was in various different markets, but now almost 100% of it, let's call it 80 to 95% of it in any given month goes to Australia. So we just send all that flower right to Australia. Daily grape has a, significant following over there in the medical market in Australia. And then when we do sell some of it in Canada, some of it might hit cannabis B, which is our home province and and some of it sometimes lands on Mendo Mendo medical or so some of the medical platforms.
00;16;25;08 - 00;16;44;06
Tanner Stewart
The nice thing about that, about basically relegating our flower sales to only medical in Australia, Gary, is, is I can look anyone in the eye and I can say we are purely a wellness company. Now. We are truly, purely a wellness company. We're, we're we're really not. We sell wellness. We sell wellness products in the recreational market. I get that, but they're wellness products.
00;16;44;13 - 00;16;53;08
Tanner Stewart
And then our flower, which maybe you could categorize as recreational, it all goes to medical. So so so it really does entrench us into who we are. You know.
00;16;53;13 - 00;17;04;21
Gary Johnston
And I have always found that line between medicinal and recreational to be a somewhat wavy line, because it really depends on who's trying it. Right.
00;17;04;23 - 00;17;06;15
Tanner Stewart
Yeah. It really comes down to intention.
00;17;06;17 - 00;17;12;03
Gary Johnston
Absolutely intention that's expressed so well. And the same thing with Britney's frozen lemons.
00;17;12;05 - 00;17;33;27
Tanner Stewart
Yeah. Brittany's frozen lemons. That was in the market very popular. That listen if you're a sativa if you're a sativa head, that's your city for, man. It's just loaded with their pedaling. I personally cannot smoke it because they're bin laden and I are not friends. Sativa. Sativa and I are not friends. You know that that drives a lot of anxiety for me personally.
00;17;33;27 - 00;18;00;09
Tanner Stewart
But that is a for not it's the perfect sativa for that person. And, the daily grape is definitely middle of the road. No anxiety with that reported from the majority of people that that that smoke it. But a very, a very, heavy on high. We've had Royal Kush Mandelbrot so Mandelbrot, Royal Kush, straight from Humboldt, the cut, the actual cut that built Emerald Mountain legacy.
00;18;00;11 - 00;18;26;25
Tanner Stewart
We've had that in marketing. We still have that in plant form in the library. Hollywood og classic, hazy leaning, sativa. Again, a cut straight out of, straight out of California. We've had that in market. We have it in plant form, and la pure kush. And I'm going through our legendary cuts now. So the Royal Kush, Hollywood OG and LA pure kush, as well that that's another one that we've got back in plant form.
00;18;26;28 - 00;18;45;10
Tanner Stewart
And then one of our seed pops that we're playing with right now that may come to market is a, if at one point, is a really nice banana pudding tang, just, just a phenomenal, gassy, very, very hard hitting genetics. So we're still, we're still, you know, toying with our genetics in the background. But but I'll be frank with you.
00;18;45;13 - 00;19;08;05
Tanner Stewart
We don't we don't have enough daily grape I need, I need I need more growth space. I have I need about 100 more kgs to 200 more kgs of daily grape a month like right now. And I just I just can't do it. So we just settled. That's why we're just growing daily grape and we're under supply in Australia and I'd like to move into other markets and but I can't even supply the one market.
00;19;08;08 - 00;19;13;16
Gary Johnston
All right. Here we are. It's 2025. What are your plans for this year, Tanner.
00;19;13;21 - 00;19;44;25
Tanner Stewart
Well, our number one mission is to grow the entire wellness category in Canada. So the focus for us is from a retail level, in the rec market is to lean even harder into those that are leaning into us, and we're doing our best. We're a very small team. So resource and hours of the day are finite.
00;19;44;25 - 00;20;14;03
Tanner Stewart
And and and we're we're trying to manage that. So so we're trying to support the recreational stores that already have a topicals leaning and understand wellness. We're just we're just working on getting them more resources. And what we are doing really well as a team, I believe, is we've narrowed down the messaging and we've uncomplicated the messaging of wellness.
00;20;14;06 - 00;20;36;16
Tanner Stewart
One thing we tend to do in this industry, because we're in it is we take the things that we're interested in or that gets excited, like talking about turbans and the entourage effect. And oh, there's CBG mixed with this. And CB, you know, and we're all excited and we're over complicating it for the customer. Right. Or the patient.
00;20;36;18 - 00;20;55;29
Tanner Stewart
But the patient wants to hear is, hey, this is called our ticket. It's like I see hot use it twice a day on your muscle until further until it works or it does it right. And then this person uses that. They loved it. This person used it. They loved it. You try it and here you go. Right. Does THC get me high?
00;20;56;00 - 00;21;14;27
Tanner Stewart
Know, topically, does THC topically get me high? Absolutely not. No drug gets you high topically. If you want to dive into it a little further, you could say that, you know. So it's just it's just, you know, dialing back the amount of information we're pushing out to the front line customer patient trying to keep things simple for them.
00;21;14;27 - 00;21;36;25
Tanner Stewart
And that's what we're really focused on on the wellness side. And then also when our community is talking to the greater audience in Canada, same thing. Dial that message back. Keep it simple. Cannabis is safe. It's way safer than almost every other drug that we use today. It's a safer first option. It's made in Canada. 100% of the revenues in the cannabis industry stay in Canada.
00;21;37;01 - 00;22;00;13
Tanner Stewart
What other industry? What other industry can you confidently name that? When you go, you walk into a cannabis store and you're like, you know, 100% of those products are made in Canada. Okay, so we're heading into a trade war potentially here right now. We're looking for ways to strengthen the Canadian economy. A new conservative government is more than likely coming in hot here, as well.
00;22;00;13 - 00;22;17;01
Tanner Stewart
And, you know, our industry needs that government on side, Canada as a whole needs economic development. We need more. We we need to maintain jobs and grow jobs and go grow the economy. Well, you know, you walk into any of the 3000 cannabis stores across Canada. And guess what? Every single one of those products are made in Canada.
00;22;17;01 - 00;22;34;20
Tanner Stewart
Every single cannabis product. There's no story you can support Canada more than walking into a cannabis store. And, so those are the types of things we need to be talking about when you kind of leave the realm of the product and just to get people onside. So real really focus on messaging and getting growing the category itself.
00;22;34;22 - 00;22;50;20
Gary Johnston
And I really like your idea of a more simple messaging. We've all been guilty of making things too complicated and talking about the entourage effect and everything else, when in reality people are just interested. Is this going to help them achieve something they're about to achieve?
00;22;50;22 - 00;23;08;01
Tanner Stewart
Yeah, yeah. This is you know what I can what I say to people is, okay, our our ticket is probably going to work phenomenally better than Icy Hot or A5 35. And it's not a steroid. It's not dangerous. You don't have to worry about side effects. Give it a shot. Right?
00;23;08;03 - 00;23;22;15
Gary Johnston
It amazes me how many people are still stuck in the Reefer Madness days when they see that THC symbol and they just start freaking out about it. It just amazes me to this day.
00;23;22;17 - 00;23;43;07
Tanner Stewart
Yeah, well, to your point there, I just want to pick up on on that we've isolated cannabis as a drug and as a plant and as a product into its own unique category outside of all our preexisting categories. When people think of it from a business perspective, they forgot they were farming in the early days. As an example, it's like, well, you're farming a plant, right?
00;23;43;10 - 00;24;09;27
Tanner Stewart
You know, you're not just going to turn on a facility and everything's going to go perfect. No, you're starting a farming company. So, you know, follow the norms of all other farming companies and follow those practices, etc., etc.. When you when people talk about it as a drug, again, it leaves the realm of, of every other drug because no person has ever taken a topical prescription from their doctor and looked at their doctor and said, Will this get me high?
00;24;10;00 - 00;24;25;17
Tanner Stewart
Like no doctors prescribe prescribe a cream ever. That and you've looked at them and said, is this cream going to get me high? You know, but when but then all of a sudden when you come to cannabis, I have to answer that question all the time. I have to say, no, this cream with THC in it will not get you high.
00;24;25;18 - 00;24;46;03
Tanner Stewart
Just like the cream that the pharmacist would compound for you that has fentanyl in it. Which is the thing a pharmacist will compound fentanyl into a topical. That topical is not going to get you high either, because when you put a topical on your skin, unless transdermal, which is frankly pointless in muscle relief, I don't know why why anybody would want a transdermal topical.
00;24;46;03 - 00;25;01;18
Tanner Stewart
And if somebody is listening and they disagree with me, hit me up directly and tell me why I'm wrong. You know, you want it to go in the muscle and that's it. You don't want it in your bloodstream, right? And and, you know, pharmacists put fentanyl in creams, and that doesn't get you high people with THC.
00;25;01;18 - 00;25;07;23
Tanner Stewart
I put THC in my creams, and that doesn't get you high, but one is phenomenally safer than the other.
00;25;07;25 - 00;25;25;27
Gary Johnston
Yeah. Phenomenally safer. Yeah. I totally agree with you, Tanner. I think you and I are of the same opinion. It has been nice to see that Stewart Farms has been moving into the wellness market. More and more exciting things planned for year 2025. It's been a good ride for you. Are you ready for my emergency questions?
00;25;25;29 - 00;25;27;00
Tanner Stewart
I'm ready.
00;25;27;02 - 00;25;29;13
Gary Johnston
All right. What's your favorite cultivar?
00;25;29;15 - 00;25;32;29
Tanner Stewart
Oh, daily. Great. Stewart Farms daily great. Hands down.
00;25;33;01 - 00;25;36;00
Gary Johnston
I would have been disappointed if you hadn't had to eat that.
00;25;36;02 - 00;25;37;11
Tanner Stewart
Yeah, as you should be.
00;25;37;14 - 00;25;39;08
Gary Johnston
Joint or vape.
00;25;39;10 - 00;25;42;23
Tanner Stewart
Joints all day long. Never vape. I hardly ever made.
00;25;43;00 - 00;25;51;27
Gary Johnston
I think you and I share a number of traits to eat dinner. Now, for some reason, a lot of people think this is my most difficult question. Your favorite munchie?
00;25;52;00 - 00;26;07;23
Tanner Stewart
My favorite munchie. Ooh, this is a very tough one. Pistachios is just like hammer in me, in my brain right now. That's my favorite munchie this month. Currently, pistachios sounds good.
00;26;08;00 - 00;26;11;28
Gary Johnston
And final question. Edibles or flower?
00;26;12;00 - 00;26;14;22
Tanner Stewart
Oh, flower. Flower. All day long. Yeah. Floral.
00;26;14;22 - 00;26;23;11
Gary Johnston
Then I'm a flower all day guy as well. Well, thanks for sharing all the information with us today. Tanner on Stewart Farms and everything coming up. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
00;26;23;13 - 00;26;27;13
Tanner Stewart
Yeah. You too Gary. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
00;26;27;15 - 00;26;32;01
Ian
For the cannabis infused studio In the clouds. This is the cannabis potcast.
00;26;32;04 - 00;27;01;05
Gary Johnston
And for this story, we're heading to Business of cannabis.com. And kind of an important story for us all right. Now, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last week that he plans to step down as leader of the Liberal Party amid growing internal pressure and falling approval ratings. Well, after nearly a decade as the country's leader, Trudeau's position has become untenable over the last few months, and his party is significantly behind in the polls ahead of an election that must take place this year.
00;27;01;08 - 00;27;34;23
Gary Johnston
He's faced calls to resign from senior members of his own party, amid mounting criticism of his handling of a looming trade war with the US and his failure to bring a cost of living crisis under control. Despite his recent political wars, Gerald leaves behind an important legacy, having played a pivotal role in making Canada the second country on Earth to legalize adult use cannabis should all campaigned on a platform of cannabis legalization during the 2015 federal election, emphasizing regulation and harm reduction, and made good on those promises in the first few years in office.
00;27;34;23 - 00;28;04;24
Gary Johnston
Seeing cannabis legalized in 2018. However, Trudeau's cannabis legacy is not without criticism. Canada's cannabis industry continues to grapple with a number of fundamental issues, with an early federal election looking increasingly likely and the conservatives leading convincingly in the polls, changes are likely on their way. In December of 2024, the incumbent administration announced that it planned to explore a new excise tax system for cannabis businesses in 2025.
00;28;04;26 - 00;28;37;14
Gary Johnston
In welcome and long awaited efforts to cut red tape in the 2024 full economic statement, the federal government announced new plans to explore a transition from cannabis excise duty stamped specific to each province and territory to a single national stamp, an issue that has long talk the industry. The future of these plans is now uncertain. While the cannabis industry is thought to account for 20% of GDP from crop production and election, and a new administration could force these amendments down the list of priorities or see them scrapped altogether.
00;28;37;17 - 00;29;05;18
Gary Johnston
The Conservative Party has historically sought stricter controls on cannabis policy, focusing on restricting medical cannabis programs and imposing home cultivation. In 2013, they attempted to ban medical cannabis users from growing their own cannabis or designating someone to grow it, citing concerns about diversion into the illicit market. The party has also consistently opposed home grow rights, with efforts to amend the Cannabis Act to prohibit or limit cultivation narrowly defeated.
00;29;05;20 - 00;29;44;00
Gary Johnston
Even after legalization, conservatives have favored large licensed producers over small scale or personal growers. The Cannabis Act expanded access to the regulated supply chain, creating pathways for smaller producers with lower capital requirements. However, the resource intensive licensing process could face cuts under a conservative government focused on reducing bureaucracy, likely favoring larger companies while sidelining smaller operators. Although reducing red tape might streamline some processes, the conservatives resistance to cannabis reform suggests limited priority for advancing the industry, potentially leading to more challenges for smaller businesses.
00;29;44;02 - 00;30;13;06
Gary Johnston
The previous conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper also introduced the marijuana for Medical Purpose regulations. The MPR, in 2013, replacing the former Medical Marijuana Access Regulations. The MMR, which had allowed patients to grow their own cannabis or designate someone to grow it on their behalf, effectively banning home cultivation. The decision face significant backlash from patients and advocacy groups, many of whom argued that it limited access and affordability.
00;30;13;09 - 00;30;39;21
Gary Johnston
The decision was later challenged in court, eventually prompting the creation of the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes regulations. The MPR, which reinstated the right for patients to grow their own cannabis under specific conditions. Some commentators point of the fact that this administration introduced a regulatory system for medical cannabis that, in commonsense ways, cut red tape and ensured people had access to cannabis produced under strict quality controls.
00;30;39;24 - 00;31;06;03
Gary Johnston
So there's an interesting ideas in my thoughts as we head into an election season. The scary part is, I've heard a couple of conservative members speak about the fact that they would introduce to De legalize cannabis to take legalization away, which of course would be the absolute worst thing for any of us that have waited 45 years for legalization to finally occur, and to think that it could be on the horizon to go away.
00;31;06;06 - 00;31;24;14
Gary Johnston
Well, that would certainly change a lot of the things that I do. Your thoughts on what's happening with the current political future and where we see legalization happening in this next year. And I guess now we're going to have to wait until the elections happening, and we'll see if there's any changes that we hope go the other way.
00;31;24;18 - 00;31;35;24
Ian
To see CBD to improve. What's it? Me? Oh, please explain to me. Go to the corner.
00;31;35;26 - 00;31;40;16
Unknown
Go to the corner. Yeah, go to the corner.
00;31;40;16 - 00;31;44;21
Ian
Please explain this stuff to me.
00;31;44;23 - 00;32;09;15
Gary Johnston
Welcome to Cult of Our Corner. Brought to you by Up in Smoke at 258 West Broadway in Vancouver and online at It's Up in smoke.com. You can check them out today for some direct delivery exclusives like we're sampling today. Another stop at Rocky Mountain Cannabis. This a well-balanced hybrid called Apple fritter, with THC at 26.6 and total Terps at 3.21.
00;32;09;18 - 00;32;27;14
Gary Johnston
And of course, if you were 19 years of age or older and live in B.C., you can check it out on the it's up and smoke.com menu and have it sent to you. This is apple fritter which is a cross of sour apple and animal cookies a well balanced hybrid. Sweet, sour and tangy. Let's get the first part open.
00;32;27;14 - 00;32;49;26
Gary Johnston
Let's of the bag open and let's see what we got. What smells like a little bakery in there. Oh and and nice big bud in here. This is a seven grams of the apple fritter that I picked up. Oh, lots of nice aromas coming out of there. Let me give you the description from the it's up in smoke menu.
00;32;49;26 - 00;33;20;12
Gary Johnston
So this well-balanced hybrid is a result of a careful breeding process that combines the genetics of two classic strains sour apple and animal cookies. Now, apple fritter is a tasty treat that made the High Times 2016 World's Strongest Strains list. Consumers can be prepared for an incredibly flavorful cannabis experience with a hard hitting high apple fritter boasts a deliciously sweet and tangy flavor profile reminiscent of freshly baked apple fritters.
00;33;20;14 - 00;33;46;11
Gary Johnston
An attractive bouquet of colors with a thick, frosty coating. Well, as I stick my nose inside of that bag. I can see that there's a bit of that, that fruity, that that cakey. That's donut appeal. Sweet and tangy. Definitely some of that coming out of there. And let me pull out some of this and let's get some broken up.
00;33;46;14 - 00;34;09;03
Gary Johnston
And as, of course, oh yes, I start to break that up. I got more room. Oh now I'm picking up more of that tangy. Oh yeah. Break up that flour. And you got some of that really nice sweet and tangy profile. Let me take a look at the buds. Let's see what kind of buds we've got that we're working with today.
00;34;09;05 - 00;34;32;07
Gary Johnston
There's a fairly good sized one as I say I pulled one out and it is probably three half three grams in and of itself and under the jeweler's loop. So we've got a light green flower. There are some dark green components as well and lots of red hairs, some orange hairs, but mostly red. And as I dive into that little bit of bud.
00;34;32;10 - 00;34;57;04
Gary Johnston
Oh yeah, lots of nice try. Corn fields. And as I continue to work and break those buds out, there's much more aroma that is coming out. My fingers are sticky with aroma, so it's nice, sticky, sweet as well. And oh, the aroma is now just plastered on my fingers. Let's talk about the tour speeds. So a 3.21 is my total turps.
00;34;57;04 - 00;35;21;04
Gary Johnston
I've got limonene also mean and carry off clean. And so the oh I mean for me that's probably going to be bringing me some of those fritter notes. Oh, and some of those sweet and sour tangy. Just loving the smell of that really nice nice aroma coming out of that beautiful flower. Like how it looks. And I've got my two dosing capsules ready.
00;35;21;04 - 00;35;46;05
Gary Johnston
Let's warm up my mighty. And let's start with the joint. So this is from Rocky Mountain Cannabis grown in Golden BC. Hang dried, hand trimmed and cold cured for 30 days and this is the result.
00;35;46;07 - 00;36;13;12
Gary Johnston
Oh, that's nice and smooth. Nice and smooth. So it is across my ale. Apple fritters, across of sour apple and animal cookie. Of course, he cultivators tighter. Tetro. The area it's grown in. Golden hand trimmed, hanging dried. This is from December 11th, and we have as I say, 26.6% on this guy.
00;36;13;14 - 00;36;24;20
Gary Johnston
And I'm loving the aroma that is filling my studio today as we starts to imbibe and feel some of the effects.
00;36;24;23 - 00;36;51;18
Gary Johnston
And what we're calling this, we are calling this a well-balanced hybrid. So that would mean that it's probably, 50 5050 sativa, 50 indica. Let's check it out and see if it has anything further to say about this. So apple fritter also a hybrid I found on Leafly. So it is a true hybrid weed strain known for its powerful and relaxing high.
00;36;51;20 - 00;37;16;08
Gary Johnston
According to legally reviewers, apple fritters effects include feeling relaxed and giggly and tingly. It's a great hybrid, combining the stone of GSC with the energy of a diesel apple fritter. Cannabis has a flavor and aroma that comes off as sweet and earthy, with a light, cheesy apple pastry influence and and there's the fritter that's coming off in that cheesy apple pastry influence.
00;37;16;10 - 00;37;36;01
Gary Johnston
Now, again, that's not really strong for me, but there's a hint of it. There's a touch of that that's hanging out. And the end of that, as I bring that into my lungs and that my endocannabinoid system go to work and I am up to temp with the mighty as well. So checking the ash falling off of the joint, my ash is sitting right now in about a half an inch.
00;37;36;06 - 00;37;49;27
Gary Johnston
There they dropped, and that was a nice gray ash. Nothing non gray in that. Now let's try it out of the mighty and see what taste we get.
00;37;50;00 - 00;38;00;19
Gary Johnston
Oh, yeah. Oh, there's definitely more of those apple pastry influences. More of the sweeten, the tangy.
00;38;00;22 - 00;38;22;09
Gary Johnston
Oh. Oh, that is delicious. I'm loving the earthiness of that. And I'm starting to feel it roll through my endocannabinoid system as well. And I'm also loving that feeling. Tingly, relaxed, giggly. Negatives could be dizzy. You have some dry mouth and headache. Now, dry mouth is an issue with me with cannabis all the time. And helps with anxiety, stress and depression.
00;38;22;11 - 00;38;28;21
Gary Johnston
Let's take another hit off the mighty.
00;38;28;23 - 00;38;45;14
Gary Johnston
Oh, that is very, very tasty. Some really nice sweet notes on that hint of the fritter. Hints of the pastry kind of things coming out of the bag. Oh, really, really loving that.
00;38;45;16 - 00;39;04;24
Gary Johnston
And I'm pretty impressed with how quickly I'm feeling this in my endocannabinoid system as well. There's some euphoria coming in now because this hazy, hybrid smack dab in the middle, I'm probably going to have some balanced euphoria there and a little bit of a body relaxation to go along with that, too. Let me get the joint fired up again.
00;39;04;24 - 00;39;28;08
Gary Johnston
I'm really loving the taste of this and the feel of it. It's a really nice buzz I'm getting right now for. Coming from the 30 day cold cure, I'm suspecting, in really good conditions. This is a really nice in terms of the dryness, the moisture that's contained inside of it. Really liking the feel of that.
00;39;28;10 - 00;40;03;03
Gary Johnston
Oh, yes. And then there's the feeling that Gary really loves. And that's when he reaches a certain point of, oh, I'm getting there. And we have reached we have reached it. The arc, the arc has been achieved. My story arc, is coming up on the high end of that because now I have reached the high, and I'm just going to sit with this for a bit for really love the flavor profile that's coming out of the mighty.
00;40;03;07 - 00;40;14;05
Gary Johnston
So again, I'm getting some of those sour notes, some of those tangy notes, and even some of the earthy notes that are coming out of that.
00;40;14;08 - 00;40;24;21
Gary Johnston
Very, very nice. Really loving that and liking the, the, the the flavor out of the joint as well.
00;40;24;23 - 00;40;48;22
Gary Johnston
It's not overpowering. My ash continues to remain great off of everything that is coming off the end of that. And my euphoria has developed rather nicely. Got a teeny bit of happiness happening, got a little bit of body stone happening, and so I'm starting to feel some of that as well. I was kind of looking forward to this, looking forward to trying the apple fritter from Rocky Mountain Cannabis.
00;40;48;22 - 00;41;13;27
Gary Johnston
Tyler and his crew up in Golden, BC doing a fabulous job with the weed. And the weed is doing a fabulous job on my endocannabinoid system and giving me a really nice high. And I've achieved it. There it is. It's here. It has arrived. This is from Rocky Mountain Cannabis again. Cultivar corner, brought to you by Up in Smoke at 258 West Broadway in Vancouver.
00;41;14;00 - 00;41;42;08
Gary Johnston
And online at It's Up in smoke.com. And remember, if you live in B.C. and you were 19 years of age or older, you can pick this up off the it's Up in smoke menu and have it sent to you. And that's it for another cultivar, corner of Rocky Mountain Cannabis. I'm going to enjoy this buzz. And as I have off and want to do, while I am enjoying the buzz, I light up the recorder again and say, this has gotten a bit deeper.
00;41;42;10 - 00;42;07;11
Gary Johnston
My euphoria is still there. My body stone and relaxation piece. Really, really nice. Still getting some hints of of the apple fritters. Some of those sweet and sour apple tangy notes. This is really nice weed. And yeah, they're doing a good job of it. Rocky Mountain Cannabis in Golden, BC. Now it's time to enjoy.
00;42;07;17 - 00;42;10;04
Ian
Sharing stories about good weed while trying.
00;42;10;04 - 00;42;12;13
Gary Johnston
Good weed.
00;42;12;15 - 00;42;14;16
Ian
This is the cannabis potcast.
00;42;14;19 - 00;42;36;25
Gary Johnston
Once again, thank you so much for being here. I truly appreciate that. If you ever have a comment on anything you hear on the cannabis potcast, send a note to info at Cannabis potcast.com. And as well, if you like what you hear and you feel so inclined, remember you can go to buy me a coffee.com/cannabis potcast. And if you like what you hear and you feel so inclined, you feel free to buy me a doobie.
00;42;36;28 - 00;43;00;03
Gary Johnston
Now let's have a little chuckle to finish off our episode for this week. And these are some new ones we picked up. These are from humor rama.com jokes, smoke weed jokes. Two angels run out of weed. One angel's very upset, but the other consoles him. Fear not, he says, and he points to Jesus, for he has rosen.
00;43;00;05 - 00;43;29;10
Gary Johnston
I'm sorry, I couldn't resist that one. What do you get when you mix Scooby Snacks and weed? Scooby dooby, have you heard about the political party that's using really good weed to promote their political views and opinions? It's proper ganja. And what happened to the karma that started smoking weed? It got high and became an apostrophe. And on that note, we have reached the end of another episode from the Guy in the clouds.
00;43;29;10 - 00;43;34;14
Gary Johnston
That's it for episode 191 of the Cannabis potcast.
00;43;34;16 - 00;43;42;26
Ian
From the cannabis infused studio high above the Okanagan Valley. This was the cannabis potcast.