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State Level Symposiums On Hemp Throughout 2019

State level symposiums on hemp throughout 2019 with Christie Lunsford, The Hemp Biz Conference. Christie has been involved in the cannabis and hemp movement for more than a decade and provides consulting and education. She is currently holding state level symposiums on hemp throughout 2019 and hosting an add-on workshop called NCIA’s Hemp Biz Conference at our upcoming Cannabis Business Summit. Christie has also served as a consultant during the licensing, development, and formulation phases of multiple cultivations, medical cannabis centers and infused product manufacturers in California, Colorado, Illinois, and Washington State.

Recently, Christie successfully guided a client through a complex regulatory process to obtain one of the five medical cannabis business permits awarded in New York State. Prior to launching Endocannabinoidology, Christie distinguished herself as an industry leader by focusing on cannabis industry product standards. She served on the 2013 American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) Cannabis Committee, and currently sits on the Standards Creations Committee for both Infused Products and Cultivation of the Foundation of United Cannabis Standards (FOCUS).

 

Transcription:

 

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Hello, thanks for joining us on another episode of NCIA’s cannabis industry voice on cannabis radio on your host Bethany Moore, the Communications Manager at the National cannabis industry association. today my guest is back on the show, I’m happy to have her back. Its Christie Lunsford she’s been involved in the cannabis and a movement for more than a decade and provides consulting and education as well, and on top of that, she’s hosting state-level symposiums on hemp throughout the year 2019 and most exciting hosting and add-on workshop to “ncia summer conference, it’s called NCIA’s Hemp Biz Conference, that’s the add-on workshop and it’s going to be at our upcoming cannabis business Summit and Expo in July. Christie, welcome back to the show,

thank you so much, Bethany. It’s great to be on, absolutely, so let’s catch up a little. You’ve been on the show before. It was a couple of years actually, but for those who didn’t get a chance to listen to that episode, I encourage you to do so, but let’s tell our listeners a more about your background and your experience even before being in the cannabis industry.

Sure, so, so if you go way, way back. I grew up in my father’s coin store in Grand Junction, Colorado which was a lot of fun being around all kinds of different coins and medals, but after I graduated from college, and came to Denver, I worked for a couple of different interior design firms, and I’m a bit of a fiber junkie. So my first experience with the cannabis plant professionally, was with have fiber.

Cool, yeah, as window coverings upholstery even hemp rugs that we put into high-end homes all over the US, but primarily in mountain towns in Colorado.

I wouldn’t mind a hem rug myself, the the test, yeah.

Okay, cool, well, thanks for taking us through that. But as I mentioned, you’ve been in the cannabis and hemp, world for quite a while. So, what’s your reason for working in the cannabis? And he move it movement. And what kinds of things have you been doing in this space, over the years?

Sure, so I migrated from into your design into cultivating marijuana under-House Bill 1284, back in the late teens and I loved to grow was my favorite thing.

But as the laws change I grew my business along with them, I held some of the first licenses with the City and County of Denver for cultivation and product manufacturing because I could not get a bank account. I became a founding member of national cannabis industry association, and I have that. Yeah, well I, I absolutely and I… If you’re in A or cannabis and you’re having banking problems certainly look at the only organization which really has a foothold in DC at working on being access and of course that’s in CIA. But having lost my big account, and I remember calling 30 different banking institutions, both credit unions and banks in 2010 trying to just obtain the basic services.

Yeah, I ended up selling those businesses due to a lack of banking and went to work for one of the major infused product manufacturing companies in Colorado, and that is where we launched the first CBD product line from hemp in 2012.And I found myself in a space where a lot of people knew what the where it was and they were very passionate about THC for all the wonderful medical benefits and relaxation … relaxation.

I was gonna say mind-expanding, but I like relaxation but benefits of THC, but literally only a handful of people in 2012 really understood the benefits of CBD as a health and wellness constituent of the cannabis plant. So I developed a course of study called endocannabinoid log and I was honestly just in the right place the right time with the passion and the skill set. But we were doing a weekly, monthly webcast for chiropractic and the naturopathic community back then.

Oh wow, teach them about the endocannabinoid system, how CBD worked, and then to place the CBD product, line in their offices.

So yeah, I’ve done a lot of different things. Cannabis has really been my life for the last decade. I do a lot of writing, I’ve been published twice my history of hand in the Kaiser magazine. It was a 5-part series in 2013 to 14, and then they used it in their national launch as an ad-free 12-page insert. So that was very cool I…

Yeah, and then, having such a broad base of understanding, I do a lot of consulting and application writing in emerging states. We want a New York license one of the five for our clients. Oh, congrats, thank you, thank you. That was … a long time ago, it was And you know, mentoring and just education so industry growing the cannabis industry through either one-on-one, or different educational courses that we do.

That’s awesome, thank you so much for everything you do. Oh that’s great. And of course, now that the Farm Bill has passed and now everybody seems to know what CBD is. It’s great to have somebody that has background on it and isn’t.

You can sort the truth from the falsehoods that are out there pretty quickly. I’m sure, absolutely and honestly Bethany, I don’t know what happened in February, it was like the CBD part of the industry just exploded over night and there was a lot of siting that needs to be done. But yes, as you were very… Where or watching the marijuana industry grows, you were right there in the mix when the site happened on the HC side of the plant. So we we’re five to six years kind of ahead of what this looks like in our knowledge base. Having just gone through that plant, so I… So true. Okay, so we’ve got a couple of minutes before our first commercial break, so let’s bring it back to the present. Yes, you’re hosting the state level. Had business symposiums they kicked off earlier this year in the state of Kansas, and I understand there were more than 300 farmers at this event plus plus the workshop that’s coming up at our event at our national conference. I’m sure it’s gonna be big as well. Tell me more about the symposiums and the workshop and what you can expect to learn at those events.

Sure, so Sue although I’ve been working both in cannabis, and in hemp for quite a while now, I really, I had a gut feeling that the Farm Bill would finally pass in 2018. and so I’ve transitioned a lot of my education over to The amide of things and after doing an assessment, of what was in the market there was no real there were lots of panels there, were lots of general conversations about what people were doing, but no real place for someone who was wanting to come into the industry as an investor.

So we start a new company to really learn the basics.

The Kansas symposium. And that was really tailored to what that market needed which was agricultural education and due to the vast network of professionals that I’m in touch with, I was able to find a farmer who had experience in two different climate Stones who had a three years of experience or in Hans.

And when you look at it in the “mindscape of prohibition of Hal has been in place for 81 years. No one knew had it, no one knows how to grow up, no one knows really what it needs, what it’s nutrient needs are, how to harvest, “what’s the best planting methodology? So we have taken a really cultivated program from Kansas to Michigan to Illinois and now we’ll be doing something similar with “ncia a cannabis at this summit, but it is really, it touches on so many things.

What are the implications of the Farm Bill?

How will it affect your business, if you are a cannabis farmer or looking to transition into hemp or soy being farmer sunflower farmer? I’ve learned so much about other crops like alfalfa.

The use Congress or at who knew these forms are all transferring their knowledge into growing Industrial Hemp and CBD. So we have a hemp segment on agriculture, we have everything from best practices. So that would be how to transport your crap. What are the extraction methodologies that work best product development for the CBD side of things? We have developed a module on FDA labeling and marketing to keep you in compliance there so you don’t get a letter or worse. Have your company shut down?

Absolutely, we talk a lot about market data, how to acquire new customers, basically everything you need to know to run a successful… And profitable hemp company, and there’s a lot to it. It’s not like you can roll out of bed and say, “I’m gonna make this happen. There’s a lot of knowledge that needs to be transferred.”

Absolutely great. I’m really looking forward to it at the cannabis business Summit, and Expo and again, if you’re interested, that is an add-on workshop called NCIA’s Hemp Biz conference and that’s on day one, of our cannabis business Summit and Expo.

Alright, we’re gonna hop on a quick commercial break, here, and then we’ll be right back to chat more with Christie Lunsford about Hemp and everything in between. Stay tuned

Alright, we’re back on NCIA’s cannabis industry voice podcast, on cannabis radio, and we’re chatting with Christie Lunsford who is a hemp expert and is hosting business symposiums and workshops this year that if you’re interested in getting involved in the humor CBD industry this would be very valuable for you so Christie do let’s do a little background in history on hemp, how it’s been used historically I think you said it’s been 81 years since hemp was a part of our culture, more entrenched in it, anyway. And of course all the way to the present where the farm bill recently passed, which includes hemp production here in the United States. So, what does all that look like?

Sure, so I think it’s important for listeners to understand that hemp has been part of human kinds, culture since at least 3000, BC. He was regarded as one of the five grains in China, and it was formed as a major food crop.

The first paper was mashed. Hemp and Mulberry wood pulp and that literally was the first recorded paper, and that was in China as well.

So it’s not a new food it’s not a new medicine. And that becomes really important in the FDA conversation that I’m sure we’ll be having that it has been part of our culture. So, if you speed up to today, what are the implications of the Farm Bill? So basically the Farm Bill has been in the works for over 10 years. It was the 2014 Farm Bill.

Before it became the 2018 Farm Bill was signed into law on December 20 of 2018, and basically it legalize him for agricultural production, for both fiber and anything else, we’d like to make out of it. Primarily health and wellness products from CBD cannabis I… And it’s really a re-awakening of another industry. And I can’t tell you how lucky I have always thought I was that I got to be part of the emergence of the marijuana industry and I thought, “Oh box checked. We’re good to go. But this, the hemp industry is so much different because you can cultivate outside there. Are I assess manufacturers like Proctor and Gamble?

And Cover Girl, Estee Lauder. I’m not saying those specific companies are getting into hemp industry, but they are companies like that of larger, status and financial backing are all looking at how to access cannabis isles, and be part of a brand new market that we’re able to launch that is not just the minority which is the marijuana market, it is the majority. ’cause literally anyone can take advantage of the health and won benefits from CBD.

I can only imagine all the marketing teams of all the major companies across the country sitting around a board room, saying what’s missing.

I got it.

What’s that? Some CBD into it, the…

Put a Bird on it.

Yeah, I call it the… Just add water, affects… Yeah, I Agree

It’s great to take advantage of a trend, but it is not always appropriate for every product line. So we’re seeing it’s like an ocean really, like an ebb and flow, but it’s happening really fast, and of course it’s not that easy. There’s problems, there’s challenges to the hand CBD industry similar to cannabis. Do you think we’re gonna see that much of the loophole or maybe not loopholes, but barriers to entry banking problems unfair tax. What’s that gonna look like for him? It’s gonna be a little different, right, it is absolutely. So I would say for the main problem right now is there is no industry infrastructure. There’s no place to get seats if you are getting seeds and you’re planting. Are they… How many males are you going to have? How do you call your mails? There are significant issues surrounding the supply chain which is not built out transistor.

Yeah, how did dry… It’s not like in marijuana cultivation where you have a consistent crop that you are harvesting and drying huge batches every four weeks in most of the US Farm one hand crop at a time in the southern areas. You can squeeze into maybe three. So how do you drive tons of hemp CBD before, it’s processed? And then how do farmers find the extractors, and how do they transport the hemp as well?

So we’re seeing a instantaneous build-out of infrastructure and a lot of people are making money, but a lot of people are losing money, which is a huge concern of mine.

And then, in things like banking, access I was just in touch with probably 20 different farmers and CBD product manufacturers. Just yesterday having a conversation about banking access, right?

The banks are hesitant to bank him money, even though it’s federally legal, and they are waiting on communication for the communication from the federal government to clarify what the banking is.

Well, this is Mitch McConnell’s baby. So yeah, I’m sure he’ll help expedite that to the floor, but yeah, we’ll see.

Yeah, so it’s… We are in this gray period, where that responsible business people who are in it for the long run, can get their businesses set up and make a great deal of money before a lot of regulation comes in.

And the way you do that is you already build out your system to be in compliance of the regulation.

A couple of things I really wanna make people… Make sure people understand though is if you are farming crop insurance is very difficult to find right now, financial institutions are hesitant to bank ham and CBD money, the Department of Agriculture is waiting on all of the states to turn in their industrial production plans for hemp, so not… It may be legal for you to grow in every state, but you may not be able to obtain a license to grow.

Yeah, even though the Farm Bill removed him from the Controlled Substance Act. There are a lot of caveats to be paying attention to.

And then I have something that I like to call Mind the gap because this is… These are the gap years, so state-level regulation hasn’t caught up the Food and Drug Administration, we’re seeing a lot of conversation in this question and answer exercise that the FDA is doing with the industry and I’m very thankful to “ncia for having a voice in that. I was able to speak with Andrew just this morning about his work in having that conversation and he is actually one of our speakers at the hem is conference that is being held a cannabis business Summit, and that’s Andrew Cline, he’s the CIA Director of Public Policy. And then popping back into the mind gap conversation, the… I’m sorry, the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Administration, they have not yet officially… Rescheduled. HEB and I don’t know what the hold up is. So the inconsistency with the 2018 Farm Bill, the DEA is not formally on board yet to a… There are with a lot of questions comes a lot of opportunity. So if you are a legitimate business owner wanting to take advantage of getting into the hemp industry this is the time to do it. And I will say a lot of our friends who have done really well in the marijuana industry, they are looking for a safer place to place their money, and invest. And I’m seeing a lot of people who really understand creating a culture of compliance, doing really well in the CBD industry, they understand banking, compliance, they understand packaging and labeling the packaging, labeling and they understand how to run a business that is basically supporting that health and wellness conversation that we were talking about.

Right, right, absolutely. So yeah, interesting opportunity where the slowness, the glacial pace of the federal government, and all of their bureaucracy, it is. This is this opportunity to get a head before those rules roll out.

And you did write a really great blog post recently. I’d like to point out it lives on NCIA’s website, it’s called “How to build a successful CBD successful hemp CBD company. So I would definitely encourage readers to, check that blog out and there’s more information about how to get in touch with Christie and attend her conference in that blog as well. Well, we have to jump to a quick commercial break, here, but we will be right back to wrap up our conversation with Christie Lunsford. Stay

 

Alright, we’re back on NCIA’s cannabis industry voice on cannabis radio, talking all things and CBD with Christie Lunsford. And in the last segment we talked a bit about NCIS involvement in providing public comment and testimony to the FDA when they put out a request for it on the topic of Haven CBD products. So as you mentioned, are somewhat new Director of Public Policy and Drew Cline led a coalition of dozens of individuals experts medical experts business experts to come up with testimony and recommendations for the FDA. So that’s really exciting and we’re glad to have Andrew for sure, and looking forward to on seeing what happens after the FDA kinda digest all that information for sure.

I would like to take a moment to look to the future look into our crystal ball dream of all the possibilities of him. It once provided humanity, all kinds of products, textiles here. He creates the future, but there’s all kinds of businesses and products that could pop up for people interested in investing.

We’ve already talked about all the CBD products at just a CBD health products. And create is such a cool idea. I think the uses in possibilities are kind of expansive. Can we talk about that for a minute?

Absolutely, I think from the root up cap was planted at Huron, Russia after the nuchal nuclear plant melted down as as to remediate. So … cannabis plants, have this remarkable ability to draw toxins from the soil. So hemp is not only going to be a food and medicine for the future. It also adds this other layer of sustainability to business development, which I find incredibly exciting. But I had it split up into three categories: flour, food and fiber.

So flower is CBD, and their manufacturing opportunities basically anything that touches the plant extraction, machines knowledge cannabinoid fractionation knowledge, product formulation quality consent and compliance and that’s the flower side of things, and food is delicious, but there’s a lot of technology that is needing to be developed there.

When you harvest hemp seeds, they’re very fragile and they need to be gently harvested and then drying the dealing. There’s so many things that we could add. ESET products for human consumption, seed cake and Amol, for animal consumption. And when I say So, point in pre-Very important point here, CBD oil is the medicinal Health and Wellness derivative hemp oil is the cooking and nutrition derivative of the absent the very different things.

So we’ve got flower food, and then the really exciting things that are happening in fiber amazing innovation.

So everything from the cortical on machines to break up the very fibrous, most bandit stands of industrial hemp, processing those fibers fast and core fiber development, and then taking these things into industrial applications, and that would be micro-fine Graphite for batteries, using the HEB plant as biofuel.

There are so many different opportunities, which exist in just making clothes, an oil and Kevlar like for law enforcement. I read a very interesting article on how we close our armed forces and the lowest bitters materials and how we fail them when they’re in the field because they’re cotton clothes just disintegrate in say a desert setting where the tensile strength of a had fabric would last for 10 times longer than… So there’s a lot of benefit to be added from utilizing happens.

So maybe you have a defunct paper mill in your town and there is no jobs and all of your teenagers are going to college and then not coming back to your community. Why not find an investor to start manufacturing have products at that mill?

And then from the supply chain of things there’s all that knowledge going into farming opportunities certified seeds understanding germination rates harvest opportunities in different farm equipment, they’re doing very well with the re-emergence of the hemp industry transportation and logistics, and then that conversation about supply chain management, banking, finance, insurance, the marketing companies really love Him because where a lot of them were not a more cautious, not wanting to get involved, they’re a very interested in, he and then education, government affairs. So the opportunities are numerous.

If we have fix a couple of things that are holding us back, which is this conversation around banking and finance, and then not being able to promote our heaven products on popular social media sites.

Totally, alright, yes, it sounds like here, no matter what your background is, you can probably apply it to this next new industry.

So how… That’s the cousin of marijuana? Awesome, well, we only have about a minute left here, but let’s wrap just first of all, mentioning our cannabis caucus event series is happening throughout the month of June, I personally will be at our Northeast cannabis caucus on June 27th in New York City so I look forward to seeing NCIA  members there.

And finally, in July is NCIA’s three-day conference, the cannabis business Summit, and Expo and as I mentioned, Christie is hosting the add-on workshop called The Hemp Biz Conference.

In the last few seconds here, anything you’d like to tell our audience about the Hemp Biz Conference certainly. So the best way to find out more about the have conferences on the cannabis business Summit, dot com website, go to the agenda and there’s a drop down button for pre-Summit workshops you can find all about the learning objectives that we will go through in our full day have education, and then get to understand who some of the experts speakers are who are coming in to educate with us and help you develop the hub industry.

Awesome, yes, if you’re at all interested in him and CBD add that workshop on to your ticket at the conference for sure. Alrighty, well thank you so much for coming on the show today, and really taking that deep dive into the human CBD world that’s emerging here, re-emerging, and I really look forward to the workshop at the cannabis Summit. Thanks for being on the show today, absolutely thank you Bethany for having me on, I really appreciate everything. National cannabis industry association is done for the industry.

We appreciate you, and thanks everybody for tuning in to NCIA’s cannabis industry voice until next time.