In this episode, Tim and Chris learn from the get-go that Jilu’s Beverly Astin is the exception to the rule in Utah’s cannabis industry. Not only is she one of the few female business owners in the space, but she also came to the industry without a cannabis background.
Astin did not use cannabis as a youth. [03:28] She got into it almost by accident. At the time Utah was first developing its Medical Cannabis program, her daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy. Another friend was diagnosed with glioblastoma around the same time. That motivated Astin to start researching cannabis as a medicine. [04:36]
Through her research, Astin realized there was a business opportunity staring her in the face. Already a successful business owner, she began applying for a variety of Medical Cannabis licenses. [05:12] The only one she succeeded in obtaining was the processor’s license.
The conversation with Astin touched on a number of topics. For instance, the trio talked about CBG (cannabigerol) and combining it with CBD and THC at different levels. [13:31] Expanding on that topic led to talking about creating products that offer relief without completely diminishing function.
Astin’s company focuses a lot on CBG because it directly addresses inflammation. Better yet, it does so nearly instantly. Astin believes CBG has a lot of untapped potential worth looking into. She said her company is also looking into CBN (cannabinol) as it seems to help with sleep. [14:33]
Perhaps the most important part of the discussion focused on how both the state of Utah and business owners are working awfully hard to fully develop the medical aspects of cannabis. [22:40] They talked about research, different products (like balms) [37:46], and educating the public. Overall, this is a very interesting discussion with a business owner who looks at Medical Cannabis from that perspective.
Chris Holifield: Let’s welcome everybody out today to episode 56 of Utah in the Weeds. My name’s Chris Holifield.
Tim Pickett: And I’m Tim Pickett, a medical cannabis provider in Utah and somewhat of a medical cannabis expert, I guess. Chris?
Chris Holifield: I would consider you more than a somewhat of a cannabis medical expert.
Tim Pickett: I think we’re all just learning still. It’s like the tip of the iceberg with what I think is available.
Chris Holifield: Very true.
Tim Pickett: As far as knowledge goes, but this is an exciting interview with Jilu. Literally, it took me. I’ve been in this, and I’ve used their products, and it took me ’til this interview for that to click.
Chris Holifield: To figure out how to pronounce the name.
Tim Pickett: Yeah, and that it was about healing you. Yeah, it’s creative. I love it.
Chris Holifield: I love it, too. Beverly Astin, the owner of Jilu and then Life Elevated Processing — we talked about that. I mean, this is such a fun conversation. She had so much energy and such a passion for cannabis and kind of trying new things in the industry and talking about the CBG:CBD combinations for sleeping.
Tim Pickett: I also like that she comes from outside of the cannabis space. She doesn’t have a background in the cannabis space. She has a background in people and her business.
Chris Holifield: She loves people!
Tim Pickett: She really likes people. So she has really embraced this medical aspect of the Utah program. So I think she fits really, really well in here. She’s a woman business owner in the cannabis industry, which is not very common. So it’s exciting to get to talk to her and to watch these companies kind of enter and grow in this space.
Chris Holifield: What’s been going on with you, Tim? You got a new location opening up here in like a week or two, right?
Tim Pickett: Oh, yeah. So soft opening of Provo. So we’re back in Utah County. We tried it. We had a little bit of some logistical and legal stuff that we had to work out, but we are in the same building as Deseret Wellness. We’re at the front corner of that building. Grand opening on May 11th. Come on down, taco trucks, taco truck Tuesday.
Chris Holifield: Yeah!
Tim Pickett: New patients will get a voucher, of course, for free tacos. Come down, hang out with us. We’ll be there at least 12 to 6. The pharmacy is open 11 to 7. So we’re just trying to coordinate so people can get a better experience right there in Utah County. Super excited about that location.
Chris Holifield: Dude, I’m excited, too. Utah County! I mean, that is awesome. And then, don’t forget, you can go to UtahMarijuana.org/podcast to listen to all the podcast episodes. They’re all there right online, and then easily shareable. Share some of those episodes out on Facebook and Twitter and stuff, and let’s get the audience built up here because I’m sure there’s a lot of people here in Utah and beyond that would benefit from listening to this podcast.
Tim Pickett: Absolutely.
Chris Holifield: Anyway, let’s get into this conversation with Beverly. I enjoyed chatting with her, so I think you guys are going to enjoy listening to this one. Here we go.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Chris Holifield: With you, I think a good place to start, I think a good place to start with most people we chat with is kind of share where their cannabis journey started. When did that happen for you? When did cannabis get introduced to your life?
Beverly Astin: I’m from the south. So I’m the youngest of seven children. So my brothers, in the 70s, they were growing cannabis in my mom’s backyard, and my mom was a gardener that made Martha Stewart look like an amateur. So I had a few older brothers that grew cannabis. So it was just there. I was never a cannabis user. So now it’s really funny. My younger brothers think it’s so funny that their baby sister is now in the cannabis business. So…
Tim Pickett: What did mom think about cannabis growing in the backyard?
Chris Holifield: Yeah, like a lot of it or a couple plants?
Tim Pickett: Or where they were hiding it…
Beverly Astin: I think they were just sneaking a couple little plants.
Chris Holifield: Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Beverly Astin: I think they were just sneaking a couple plants in for their friends and their own use, but that, I just really didn’t know much about cannabis at all except me and my girlfriends in high school, we snuck a few of my brothers’ from out from underneath their mattress. Something just to give it a try, but that was my only, really, experience with cannabis.
Beverly Astin: I had no experience with cannabis, and when the medical cannabis program, I heard that it was coming to Utah, it was about the same time that my daughter got diagnosed with epilepsy. Then another one of our friends got diagnosed with a glioblastoma. So I started researching all these cannabinoids. And I had used CBD a little bit. Actually, felt really good with some of the things that I had done just with CBD islet. Just nothing even really full-spectrum, but noticed a little bit of a difference.
Beverly Astin: So once you, as a mother, you have a sick child or you have a dear friend that cannabis could help, boy, you really dig in and you research it. At the same time, I thought, “Wow, this could be an amazing business opportunity, as well.” My daughter started using some of the CBG, CBN different combinations for epilepsy, and we’re working with a neurologist, and it just went from there. So I saw a business opportunity, as well, and I’m never one to turn one of those down. So I started applying for the licenses. Did not get a pharmacy license.
Tim Pickett: But you applied for a pharmacy license, too. Okay.
Beverly Astin: I did. I applied for a pharmacy license and a processing license. And we didn’t make it to the next round because our traditional business is car dealership. So we had a lot of regulatory experience, but no cannabis experience. So we did not get granted any of the other licenses, but we did get a processing license. So hence our journey now, we are Life Elevated Processing. We’ve joined up with our partner, Darren Long, and it’s been really exciting to get going. We’re only about six months in with our Tier 1 processing.
Chris Holifield: So you had no prior cannabis anything.
Beverly Astin: No.
Chris Holifield: You weren’t growing in other states or anything.
Beverly Astin: No. Nope. None at all. So they had a processing facility down in Vineyard, Darren, my partner, that they were doing hemp. And then we’ve just kind of collaborated and started doing… We have some really wonderful people that have been in more the traditional black market side and know how to make really great product. Our formulator, Kevin, his wife has a glioblastoma as well, and he’s been treating her with a lot of CBG. She’s not responded really great to traditional methods of treating her glioblastoma. So she’s been doing really well with a lot of the minor cannabinoids with THC, as well.
Tim Pickett: It’s kind of one of those cancers that there seems to be a lot of attention paid to the cannabinoid therapies.
Beverly Astin: Exactly.
Tim Pickett: Before we started recording you — you know Blake Smith.
Beverly Astin: Yep.
Tim Pickett: Right? We, all three of us, know Blake Smith.
Beverly Astin: Amazing person.
Tim Pickett: Yeah. He and I have been talking about this, actually this type of cancer and cannabinoids lately.
Beverly Astin: Yeah. There’s a really wonderful company out of Carlsbad, California that I think they’re a London-based company. They’re called Greenwich Labs, and they are producing the only FDA-approved cannabis drug for limited treatment options like glioblastoma and a few of the really — Tourette’s — really incurable — epilepsy — those really hard to treat things. So that’s a really awesome company to look into, as well. They’re doing some amazing stuff with FDA approval of cannabis.
Tim Pickett: Of these cannabis therapies.
Beverly Astin: Yeah.
Tim Pickett: What was the first product you guys made six months ago?
Beverly Astin: The first product that we came out with was our vape carts because right now, we feel like in the market in Utah, we are still in a market in Utah where people are being educated on all the minor cannabinoids. Right now, I think we’re still seeing people chasing high THC levels.
Chris Holifield: Because that’s all we know.
Beverly Astin: That’s all…
Tim Pickett: That’s all anybody knows.
Beverly Astin: That’s all anyone knows right now. And as we are starting to make products now that have one to one to one ratios like CBG:CBD:THC syringes that people can cook with and bake with and put under their tongue, I want to create more products where people can really use them in olive oil, in their cooking, for kids with epilepsy, kids with autism. But our first product was a vape cart, but a lot of our vape carts and all of them have a ton of minor cannabinoids. And just like you said, Tim, we just started one that’s a 1:1 THC:CBG combination for people that want to have relief from their pain and anxiety but still be able to function at 100%.
Tim Pickett: Yeah, it’s definitely a more… It’s got to be designed with that much CBG in it. It’s got to be designed for the medical market.
Beverly Astin: That’s right.
Tim Pickett: Somebody who wants a little bit of an uplifting kind of attitude. Excuse me. And then pain, there’s some good research about CBG and pain. So it is. And that particular vape cart’s only available in Bountiful, at the pharmacy in Wholesome.
Beverly Astin: Yeah. At Wholesome. And so what some of the pharmacies are wanting to do is have their own kind of strain, their signature. So we’re letting Beehive choose one right now, the strain that they like that’s one to one, and Dragonfly is choosing a strain. So they can have their own kind of signature, “Oh, this is our brand of that one to one.” But what is great about educating the Utah market on those minor cannabinoids is you can still function at 100% but have some relief.
Beverly Astin: I don’t know about y’all, but I don’t have all day to… I mean, I’ve got to function. Most people still have to function, but it will give you some relief, that CBG, even from the anxiety that pain causes, cancer patients that have so much anxiety from their pain levels or back pain, chronic pain, but it just takes that edge off their pain where they can still go throughout their day and function at 100%. So we just don’t want people to be chasing that high THC because those minor cannabinoids, even if they are looking for a high, even those minor cannabinoids can give them a better entourage effect of really feeling that sense of wellbeing, that sense of, “Oh, okay. I’m going to be all right.”
Tim Pickett: Right. That is something that’s just, I think, at the beginning stages. I think that there’s just so much more to learn about that.
Beverly Astin: Yeah.
Tim Pickett: So it’s interesting from a business and a medical perspective, and we’ve talked to quite a few people in the Utah market that are really into producing medicine.
Beverly Astin: Absolutely.
Tim Pickett: Right?
Chris Holifield: Which is cool. I mean, [crosstalk 00:12:17]
Beverly Astin: That’s right.
Tim Pickett: It’s pretty cool.
Chris Holifield: So you make vape carts and syringes, right? Is that what…
Beverly Astin: Yeah.
Tim Pickett: Concentrate. It’s the same…
Chris Holifield: Syringe. Yeah.
Tim Pickett: It’s the same stuff that’s in your vape carts, but a different delivery form.
Beverly Astin: It’s a little bit different delivery form, and we call it FECO, which a traditional RSO is created a little bit differently in those vacuum ovens, and if Rick Simpson was around today, he would really be happy with the new technology that’s going on. We’ve gotten a little flack for not doing it the old school, traditional, Rick Simpson way, but it’s our version. Our full spectrum, FECO is our version of Rick Simpson oil. It’s just a cleaner version. It takes out some of those plant particles, that chlorophyll, where it gets into the body and your body uses it a little bit better. We clean off some of that stuff with our wipe film process that gets rid of some of that junk in the oil, that dirty stuff that your body’s not going to use anyway. But some people still think that plant matter does some good. And there’s two sides to every story to that.
Chris Holifield: Tell me about that, you have a 1:1:1 of THC:CBD:CBG.
Beverly Astin: Yes.
Chris Holifield: I’ve never seen that. How does that… Does that work pretty good for people?
Beverly Astin: It’s amazing for people who are looking for relief from pain, anxiety, just inflammation in general. CBG is kind of the mother cannabinoid, and sometimes CBD takes a few weeks to really see some of the effects of CBD. CBG automatically goes in and starts fighting inflammation, which, in the medical community, inflammation is kind of the root, people are finding, of so many different diseases, especially autoimmune.
Chris Holifield: Yeah.
Beverly Astin: Autoimmune disease like RA, MS, so many are inflammation-driven, and it gives people immediate — they can almost feel immediate relief with CBG. So we really want to hit some of those.
Beverly Astin: And another one, CBN, that is really big right now for sleep. That’s one that you’re going to be seeing Jilu, our brand, do a lot of CBN. People need… I’m just going to tell you. It’s replaced my husband’s Ambien.
Chris Holifield: Okay.
Beverly Astin: And he was a nut job on Ambien. He would online shop on Ambien.
Chris Holifield: We’ve talked about that! [crosstalk 00:14:55]
Beverly Astin: We have all these…
Tim Pickett: Online shopping, walking in the neighborhood.
Beverly Astin: Yeah!
Tim Pickett: All kinds of things, and it’s one of the things we talk about in clinic all the time because we’re kind of becoming this #deprescribe specialty clinic, and Ambien, Gabapentin, opioids, Benzos, you’re talking about cancer patients with pain and Benzos. And the chronic pain causes so much depression.
Beverly Astin: Yep.
Tim Pickett: And people are on both. And those medications just have bad long-term side effects. So CBN is a great alternative.
Beverly Astin: It’s a beautiful alternative.
Tim Pickett: For those types of things. Do you have products out right now that have a lot of CBN or are you working on those?
Beverly Astin: So right now, what’s exciting about the state of Utah and what they’re doing with the medical program is everything that the processors do is test it three different times. When we get biomass from the growers, we have to test it. Once we turn it into that next stage oil, it’s tested again. And then when we make our product, our products are tested before they go into the pharmacy. So what’s nice about this, we don’t always like it because it takes a little longer to make product, it’s a little more expensive to make product, but what the consumer can feel really good about in this state is you’re getting a pure, tested product with C of As, just like you would if you were going to your pharmacy. You’re going to know what’s in that product. So you can go on even Zion’s products, they’re making the products. You can go on all of our websites and see our C of As. When you go into the pharmacy, you can look on the back of our labels, and you can see all those minor cannabinoids in there and how much is in there.
Beverly Astin: So what’s exciting is we’re pulling these natural terpenes off, so cannabis-derived terpenes. We’re doing all this natural medicine that have a range, a big range of these minor cannabinoids, CBD, or CBG, I mean, all of them. And you can kind of see how much of each one is in there. So yes, we’re putting tons of these minors in. So yeah, we do have a lot of products with smaller levels of CBN right now, but we’re going to be doing some with higher levels of CBN in them, too, just for sleep.
Chris Holifield: That’s awesome.
Beverly Astin: So it’s exciting.
Tim Pickett: What’s it like regulatory-wise? So getting into this without having the cannabis experience, you knew you were getting into a heavily regulated industry, and you did, I’m sure, hours and hours of research, hired attorneys who did hours and hours of research, all of the above. But then you get into it. Were you undereducated?
Beverly Astin: Yes. Very much so. To be nice, we’ll just call it a crap show.
Tim Pickett: Yeah, yeah.
Beverly Astin: But it really was just the regulations, but in a way, you know… I can’t imagine anyone getting a vape cart made in someone’s kitchen. That’s just not okay. It’s just not okay.
Chris Holifield: Yeah, like the whole vape cart craze, when everyone was getting sick or stuff like that from that? Man, that was scary.
Beverly Astin: All the fillers and all the things that were being put in that were fatty, that were causing people to have all these lung problems and die from inhaling all these fatty agents like MTC oil, all these things that they were filling with. So what’s nice is, when you vape something from the state of Utah, you know what you’re vaping is the cleanest form of medicine that you could put into your lungs. Are there maybe cleaner forms to use? That answer may be yes for some people. Are you going to get immediate relief like you would from vaping? Not that fast.
Beverly Astin: So the tinctures are great for under the tongue, the edibles, they have to go through the liver. So you’re 45 minutes before you get some real relief with an edible. So the vaping is such a great thing because you’re going to get almost immediate relief. And I feel like it’s such a clean product because it’s been tested thoroughly in the state that people who haven’t even thought about vaping… I’ve never considered vaping before ever, but Kevin, our formulator, has made me a vape pen for CBG:CBN, where I can sleep at night, and I can have some inflammation relief even without the THC.
Beverly Astin: So now we’re coming out with some products that if you don’t want THC, great! Here’s a CBN pen that can just help you sleep at night. Are you going to have a better effect with a little bit of THC? Yes. Do you have to do a lot of THC to activate those? Those cannabinoids are meant to work simultaneously together. They work better in conjunction together. So you’re going to get a better overall effect, even just with a tiny bit of THC. So it’s exciting medicine. It’s really awesome.
Chris Holifield: Tell me about the name Jilu. I love that because it’s different spelling. It’s different. Where did that come from? What’s the motivation, inspiration behind that?
Beverly Astin: We wanted to kind of give something someone to talk about when they said, “How do you pronounce that? What is that?”
Chris Holifield: Well, yeah, that’s what I ran into.
Tim Pickett: Yeah. Every time, right?
Beverly Astin: Yeah. People are like, “Jilu, J-I-L-U, how do you pronounce it?” And so we just took that J in there and…
Chris Holifield: Had a little bit of fun with it, huh?
Beverly Astin: Yeah. Jalapeno, Javalina, something, Javalina, whatever, however you want to say it. But we thought the J may be kind of a fun play on, “Oh, let’s give people something to talk about on how do you pronounce your brand.” And now it’s kind of catching on. Everyone’s, “Okay. Oh, it’s Jilu! Oh, I get it.” It’s a little just play on words.
Tim Pickett: Yeah, I mean, you definitely have to say it a few times when you go into the pharmacies, and you’re like, “Oh, that’s a Jilu cart.” And you’re like, “What?” I mean, it’s great because yeah, you’ve got to say it three or four times before you even pick up the product.
Beverly Astin: Exactly.
Tim Pickett: So everybody knows about it. You make great vape carts. They’re very, very effective. As a processor, you don’t grow your own. So where are you getting the biomass?
Beverly Astin: Well, what’s been really wonderful is I have to do a big shoutout, and I did this. I wasn’t a big social media person before, but now, on our Instagram, I’ve kind of been in charge of our Instagram. So I respond to everybody’s comments, and I’ve gotten to know the patients really well, what they like. “Tell us what strain you would like to see,” or “What combinations you’d like to see,” but I just did a big shout out to our Utah growers, and I have to just say, Randy [Gleave] at Tryke, he has been wonderful in getting us biomass. Now Blake at Zion’s, they’re getting enough. They don’t have enough flower for us yet. I’m begging them for it. So come on, you guys. If they hear this, give Jilu some flower.
Beverly Astin: But they are giving us some really good trim to work with. Harvest has just started to give us a little bit, as well. So the Utah growers, they’re doing their best. So give those guys a little bit of a break. I know that people want more flower immediately. We’re trying to grow this program as fast as we can, but in the defense of the state of Utah, no one expected it to grow this fast. No one expected to have this sort of a response. And I feel like, Tim, like you, that people are looking for alternative medicine. They’re looking for something different than a crappy opioid that makes them feel sick, that makes them feel constipated, that has all these side effects, the yucky feeling and side effects you get from Ambien, just all of these pharmaceutical drugs that have just been shoved down our throat. People are sick of that. They don’t want it.
Tim Pickett: It’s twofold, too. In my opinion, you say “shove down people’s throats,” which essentially is true, right? We sit there, we listen to patients talk and complain about their ailment, and then we write a prescription, “Here, take this twice a day. Or take this at night,” or whatever. And people don’t really have a lot of choice.
Beverly Astin: They don’t.
Tim Pickett: At least they didn’t feel like they do. And cannabis does those two things. It gives them the choice to experiment with their own health and to make choices on their own about their medicine and access to things that, in the long run, could be less harmful in a lot of ways. So it’s a fun industry to be a part of, and it’s fun to see the growth of the marketplace, of the patient growth. It’s fun to hear people’s stories.
Chris Holifield: Oh, absolutely.
Beverly Astin: Yeah.
Tim Pickett: Right?
Beverly Astin: And what’s exciting to me, too, is educating the state of Utah. And I feel like, as a woman, if we educate the women of Utah, we educate Utah. Women usually are the ones going to the doctor, calling for their husbands for their prescriptions, calling for their kids, and I feel like losing that stigma of just THC or cannabis for getting high. I want that to be gone. Yes, there are people who need it that are suffering miserably with anxiety and depression that that stony effect, they need that to relax and to unwind, as well, but it’s not just for everyone. Everyone doesn’t like that stony feeling. So if we can offer both, that’s great. But I think if we can lose that stigma of cannabis just being around for people to get high, that’s not the only purpose for cannabis.
Beverly Astin: So I feel like women’s job in Utah will really be to… Let’s back up three steps here and look about the history of cannabis. It’s our oldest medicine on the planet. And it was demonized mid-century, 50, 60 years ago. And now we have to retrain people on a different way to approach cannabis as a healing drug instead of just a get stoned…
Chris Holifield: Something to buy in the back alleyway.
Beverly Astin: That’s right!
Chris Holifield: Just a sack of…
Beverly Astin: Yeah, and I think we’re doing good, though. I think Utah, I see a lot of people putting their feet forward to try to debunk all of that garbage and say, “No, this is something that saves people’s lives, whatever you’re using it for.”
Chris Holifield: Now, is Life Elevated Processing, are they processing carts for other people, too?
Beverly Astin: We’re just starting to do that. So funny that you should ask that. We just met with a really awesome group of women this morning, Acrely Farms, and they’re two women that started their own farm up in Logan, and they are doing wonderful CBD:CBG products. And then, of course, some of the growers who do not have processing yet, we’re really trying to do some work for them as well.
Chris Holifield: Right, like why process? Why not just do it here?
Beverly Astin: Yeah! Exactly. So we’re doing that, and a big shout out to the other processors. Boojum is an independent processor like us, and also Wasatch, Steve at Wasatch. So they’re doing a great job, as well, just really trying. I love Boojum’s marketing. They’re really good about trying to educate people in a way of medicine, as well. So I feel like there’s not a lot of processors yet in the Utah space, but what I’ve loved so far about meeting with everyone in Utah is it really… And I attribute the growers to trying to create an environment of let’s all help each other. Yes, we are competitors. We are all going to have product in the pharmacies that compete against each other, but what we really want to do is join forces together because we want to educate the state and work together. We have so much more in common than we have to be divided.
Beverly Astin: So I really have to commend Utah and some of the growers for really… Randy at Tryke has really done that. I feel like, just Chris, at Wholesome, I was talking to him the other day, and people are really trying to work together in way that doesn’t feel like, “Oh, I can’t be friends with you because you’re my competition.”
Tim Pickett: Yeah. There’s just not enough patients in the state to even need to compete.
Beverly Astin: That’s right.
Tim Pickett: Right? I mean, I guess, you could compete later when there’s…
Chris Holifield: When there’s a lot more out there.
Tim Pickett: Yeah. When there’s 100,000, 150,000, let’s get the information out there.
Chris Holifield: Yeah, right now we just need to get the medicine, we need to get the information.
Tim Pickett: Yeah, instead of worried about that, right?
Beverly Astin: Absolutely.
Tim Pickett: And I think the growers are doing a pretty good job of that.
Beverly Astin: They are.
Tim Pickett: You would know that better than anybody because you’re reaching out to all them saying, “Hey, next month, I’m going to need some biomass because I’m going to run out of stuff to do.”
Beverly Astin: Yeah, you can just ask the growers. I call them. Cooking is my hobby. So I’ve even made lots of them biscuits and gravy, homemade. I bring them in lunch. What can I do for you? I mean, I owe the guys at Beehive across the street some breakfast burritos. I feel like right now, you’re exactly right. Whatever we can do to help each other out in the state to really just get the program up and running, and get it running well where it has a really good reputation, and working on the hill with legislation, that’s something I just recently joined both Utah Cannabis Association and the Co-op because I feel like we want to work together. And we want to keep this a state that is Utah medicine. We don’t want it to become overrun and have it become all recreational before we even get people educated that, “Hey, this is real medicine for people who need it in the state.” I feel like people are really working really well together, and that’s a big shoutout to everyone in the business so far. I feel like we’re doing a good job of that.
Chris Holifield: Seems that way, from what I’ve seen at least.
Beverly Astin: But I have had to beg Blake and all the… like, “Hey Blake, please, can I get some?” And they just laugh at me. “Okay, Beverly, okay.”
Tim Pickett: So of anybody who complains about not enough flower and not enough growing going on, I mean, you probably have the best argument to make. Right?
Beverly Astin: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Tim Pickett: The individual that can’t get enough flower is important, but you make a lot of products and need a lot of material to do that.
Beverly Astin: That’s right.
Tim Pickett: So there are growers that just haven’t ramped up yet, right?
Beverly Astin: And they’re trying. They’re doing their best. So we’ve gotten a little bit of backlash on social media and stuff that, “Oh, nobody’s making anything good yet, and there’s not enough good this.” But my answer to that is “just be patient.” It’s going to just keep getting better. We are just now doing a product that we’re doing R&D on right now, just some good research and development on. We’re buying some CBG, and we’re doing fresh-frozen, right into our subzero, 80 degree below zero freezers.
Beverly Astin: So we can add some of that CBG:CBD in when we do get this flower from the growers to do some really nice live rosins, some really great medicine for people that just has nothing. It’s solventless. It’s beautiful that we can put right into a rosin press and get people just that whole product. And when you freeze it at that level, a lot of the trichomes and all of the cannabis-based terpenes, the smells, the flavors, everything are just true medicine from the plant. I mean, it doesn’t get any more true. We do CO2 processing in our facility, and a lot of people are doing ethanol extraction and different methods, but really it’d just be beautiful to do a lot of that solventless where you have none of those involved in the plant process at all. You just get pure plant.
Chris Holifield: See, and I’m not very familiar with any of that.
Tim Pickett: I know a live rosin is a fantastic product, though. It’s a very pure product, and it’s an experience on its own. People like certain types of strains, certain types of flowers. When you get into the concentrates, a good live rosin is…
Beverly Astin: Yeah. And it’s great natural medicine without any of the solvents involved in the extraction process. So it really is just pressed, hot pressed into, it’s called a rosin press, and you just put those right in and just press out. It looks like a…
Tim Pickett: Just oozes out.
Beverly Astin: Yes. Yes.
Tim Pickett: It is like the consistency of honey.
Beverly Astin: Yes.
Tim Pickett: But then it hardens up to where you can roll it in your hand.
Beverly Astin: Yep. And people can use it in different methods. That’s what we want people to be able to… We want to offer them the method of choice that they like to treat. Some people just like to use it in different ways, and whatever way you like to use it, we want to offer that for you. But I want the Utah patients to be patient with us. It’s going to get better. It’s just going to keep getting better, and the growers, they’re already growing better than when we came on board six months ago. We’re already getting better at stuff from the growers. It’s just getting better every time. So I just urge people just to be patient with us all because we’re all getting a little bit of flack. But be patient. It’s going to just keep getting better.
Chris Holifield: Tell me about your daughter with epilepsy. I’m not very familiar with epilepsy. What was she using before cannabis, before THC and all that?
Beverly Astin: Well, she still is working with a neurologist, and she still is on a seizure medication, as well, but when she feels a seizure coming on or when, they call it…. When you start to get a seizure, when you feel it coming on, it’s almost like a deja vu, and you go into a state before you get into that seizure, and if she can kind of catch it right before she goes into a seizure…
Chris Holifield: She can stop it.
Beverly Astin: She can stop it. And that’s the beauty of cannabis. I don’t know if you guys have seen Charlotte’s Web, what it’s doing for people who have multiple seizures a day. It’s bringing like hundreds of seizures, and a lot with young children, those multiple seizures, it’s cutting them down to maybe just a few a week instead of maybe a hundred a day. So CBD and all those minor cannabinoids are doing amazing things with just epilepsy. So I really would like to see end-of-life patients have a better option than morphine where they can enjoy their families in their end of life. I want people to start to open their minds up to cannabis for that instead of being drugged out on morphine where you can’t even really enjoy your family in end of life.
Beverly Astin: So there’s just so many different… My mother-in-law who has MS, she was our R&D test guinea pig, or rat, I guess you should say. She was our test patient for our REB, our balm that we just created, and we started out with the CBD, and then started with 100 mg of THC, and she’s like, “Eh, don’t really see a difference.” Then we bumped it to 200 mg of THC, and she was like, “Oh. Maybe you’re getting somewhere.” Once we got to 400 mg of THC with about 1,000 mg of CBD, she’s like, “Now, you have something.” And she rubs it on her body, her MS, she’s in late stages of MS. So she’s had it for about 30 years, and it’s giving her so much relief that it’s been life-changing. And that, she won’t vape it. She won’t ingest it, but she will use a balm.
Chris Holifield: And relief without the high for people listening that have never used any of the rubs or the creams or the balms or anything like that, it’s so awesome for that.
Beverly Astin: Exactly.
Tim Pickett: Yeah, and I’m always surprised at how well they work.
Beverly Astin: It’s amazing.
Chris Holifield: Can you get your balm at Beehive?
Beverly Astin: You can get our balm at Beehive. Now you can get our balm everywhere.
Chris Holifield: Yeah, yeah, I was just going to say. I’ll have to get some of that sometime.
Tim Pickett: So that’s a strong balm.
Beverly Astin: That’s a strong balm.
Tim Pickett: Yep. 400 mg of THC in one container.
Beverly Astin: In a 2 ounce container.
Tim Pickett: Yeah, that’s going to be a strong balm.
Chris Holifield: So somebody with a little more pain, somebody a little more…
Tim Pickett: Yeah because you’ve got Zion, that cypress, sage that they have, I think is 100 or 200. I think yours is probably the strongest.
Beverly Astin: It might be the strongest, but I know I’ve used Zion’s and it works great. Theirs works great, too.
Tim Pickett: My experience is yes. It’s these topicals that drive. They work for migraines. We have people with migraines, especially hand and feet, arthritis and arthritic pain, dis-inflammation in pain. But then I’ve been even surprised, and I didn’t think this was going to be the case with deeper tissues, like back pain and this muscle pain. And for some reason, it shouldn’t be penetrating that deep, but for some reason, it just works, and it’s penetrating really deep. I only have met a couple of people who get, they do get a little psychoactivity with high-dose topicals.
Beverly Astin: They do.
Chris Holifield: Oh, really?
Beverly Astin: They do.
Tim Pickett: Yeah. I’ve met. I mean, I have a specific patient that I can think of that definitely…
Chris Holifield: Like what happens?
Tim Pickett: They just get a little high.
Chris Holifield: Really?
Beverly Astin: Yeah, they just feel a little bit.
Tim Pickett: Yep, they feel a little off.
Beverly Astin: And I can relate because that’s me. I’m not a cannabis user on a regular basis. So I don’t need it for much, but I have some joint conditions. So I use the healing balm, and I can attest to you that if you’re not a THC user, like a vaper or a gummy user, that you will feel a little bit not so much like, “Oh, I can’t function,” but you’ll feel a little bit like, “Oh, okay. Something’s happening.”
Chris Holifield: That’s good to know.
Tim Pickett: It’s just a little head change.
Beverly Astin: Yep, a little head change. You will notice that.
Tim Pickett: If you use enough. Now, I would say that’s pretty rare, still. I think most people that we take care of are not getting any psychoactivity from the balms. And we usually recommend that they can use it liberally. I mean, these are things, other than the cost of the balm. It seems like the cost of the balms is a little high.
Beverly Astin: The cost is about $100 for an ounce to two ounces, and we were trying to get those costs down. That’s been another big complaint in the Utah market is getting the cost down, but as the growers really start growing, that cost is going to come down a little bit. Right now, we pay $700 to $1,000 per pound for biomass. So that makes it expensive when you have to… That’s before even you start making the product. So as that price starts coming down, things will become more affordable. But back to the balm. If you have joint pain, and you have chronic back pain, headaches, migraines, the back of your neck where you feel that migraine coming on, people swear by the balm.
Beverly Astin: And if you’re not a cannabis user, this is a great entry to cannabis. This is a great way to say, “Okay, I’m going to try cannabis without ingesting it.” And then, when you feel a little more comfortable with it, like I now will use a 5 mg gummy to help me sleep at night with CBN. So a 5 mg THC is very small amount, but I wasn’t a cannabis user. So to me, that was a great entry place to get some relief, put me to sleep, take away some pain and start slow. And our syringes that we just came out with that have the 1:1:1, one part of each, they’re a lower potency. We have a high, for more pain, people who are heavier users that have higher pain levels. We have a high 80 to 90% potency in our high — we call it our lightly distilled cannabis oil.
Beverly Astin: And then our full spectrum is a 70 to 80%. And then once you get the one to ones, we have a 1:1 CBG:THC. That brings it down a little more. And then the 1:1 to one brings it down to about 30% to 50% THC, depending on where our potencies are at the time in the lab. So if you are chasing higher THC, we have those products, but if you’re looking for an entry-level, just a small amount…
Tim Pickett: First timer’s club.
Beverly Astin: That’s right!
Tim Pickett: It really, and we talked about it kind of at the beginning where we’re talking about to grow the market here and not just from a business standpoint, but to grow the acceptance of cannabis and the de-stigmatization, so to speak, of cannabis, we might have just hit the sweet spot with the topicals.
Chris Holifield: Yeah.
Tim Pickett: Because you could get the mom, you could get that person who is outwardly doesn’t like the smell, is not going to vape anything, but has something that they’re like, “Man, I want to try this in a legitimate way. I don’t need a grinder and flower and have all that.”
Chris Holifield: Big bong.
Tim Pickett: Get a big bong. That’s just so intimidating to a lot of people.
Beverly Astin: And even to me. I had no idea what dabbing was or…
Chris Holifield: Oh, yeah. All that stuff can get so confusing.
Beverly Astin: I mean, I had no idea about all of that, but that’s how some people want to use it. And that’s okay, too.
Tim Pickett: But it’s usually not the first introduction to cannabis.
Beverly Astin: Right. It’s not.
Tim Pickett: Unless it’s a strictly recreational introduction, and that’s how you got introduced was somebody with a dabber at their party or whatever. This, we have got to find ways to introduction cannabis to people that is completely non-intimidating.
Beverly Astin: That’s right.
Tim Pickett: We have to go what we think is too far, I think.
Beverly Astin: I agree.
Tim Pickett: And I’m somebody who’s… We’re all neck-deep in this cannabis. So we talk about that we have all the lingo and we know all the terms. So we can walk into a pharmacy and feel fairly comfortable with the people and with the pictures on the wall and with the products in there, but I think for most of who we want to expose cannabis to in Utah.
Chris Holifield: You figure, most people go in, what, once a month. They buy a couple of things, maybe, if even that.
Tim Pickett: If even that.
Chris Holifield: And they’re in and out, and they don’t have the time to talk. So they’re not learning anything.
Tim Pickett: Right.
Beverly Astin: Yeah.
Tim Pickett: Yeah, and those first-timers…
Beverly Astin: They’re really nervous.
Tim Pickett: They are so nervous, and so we’ve got to figure out ways to do it. God bless the people at the pharmacies, but they’re all neck deep in cannabis all the time, too. So it’s normal for them to say, “Well, do you usually smoke? Do you usually use joints?”
Chris Holifield: Yeah, but they have to watch what they say, though. They have to be careful.
Tim Pickett: They do.
Chris Holifield: So they can’t really sit there and probably have all the conversations with patients because they can’t really sit there and…
Beverly Astin: What’s nice is, another thing I’ll commend the state on is it’s really nice for someone to come in and meet with a pharmacist first, and they can talk about. I’ve seen so many older people in the pharmacies as I’m delivering product to the pharmacies. I’ve seen so many… I talked with a man the other day who has prostate cancer, and he’s never used cannabis. He’s probably 80 years old, and I had a 30-minute conversation with him about, just “Hey, this would be a great starting place for you.” And it was so nice to have conversations with people who really want to try it for relief and want to try it to feel better, but just don’t really know where to start. So I love that they’re meeting with a pharmacist. They’re getting familiar because a few of these patients, they look like deer in the headlights when they’re walking in. They’re like, “What in the hell did I just walk into? What am I doing? I don’t know anything about cannabis.”
Beverly Astin: And I can say, I’m pretty much the same. I didn’t know a lot about it. So the education and the research and the meeting with the pharmacists, it’s a great place for people to be able to start and really ask questions and sit down and not be so scared of, “Oh, a tincture. What’s a tincture?” People don’t even know what a tincture is, but we just came out with our one to one to one CBG, CBN or CBD tincture with the THC, and that’s a great place to start. It’s just a wonderful place to start is one drop under your tongue, see how you feel. If one drop doesn’t work, okay. Tomorrow or this evening, I’m going to go to two drops, and just play with it a little bit and see where your relief level comes in. And cannabis works on each of us so differently.
Beverly Astin: That’s another thing that we really haven’t… I mean, it really affects every single person so differently.
Chris Holifield: Well, then depending on the day, too, because one strain might work on a Monday, but then on a Friday, it might not work as well.
Beverly Astin: Or if you eat…
Tim Pickett: Depends on what you eat.
Beverly Astin: And if you’ve eaten. If you have eaten or you haven’t eaten.
Tim Pickett: I think your perspective is unique in the Utah industry because you come from a place that’s not cannabis-heavy. So I think our discussion, we’ve talked a lot about these products with… You talked about a one to one to one, that’s a 30% THC product. That is not what a lot of these, frankly, a lot of the growers and the processors came into this to do. They came in to…
Chris Holifield: To grow weed.
Tim Pickett: To grow weed.
Beverly Astin: Absolutely.
Tim Pickett: Because that’s what makes money.
Beverly Astin: That’s right.
Tim Pickett: In the short run, there’s a play there to just load this market with high THC products, and there’s going to be a lot of people who want that, but coming into it from a non-cannabis, essentially, non-cannabis user space, you’re more open, it sounds like, to making products that aren’t just knock-your-socks-off get you high. However, you know that you’re going to have to have a broad range.
Beverly Astin: Absolutely.
Tim Pickett: So you’re really starting in a good place, already to see these vape carts with the 1:1 CBG:THC, I think is pretty impressive in Utah. I don’t know that you could find a lot of that stuff out of state because that’s a very medical product.
Beverly Astin: It is a medical product, and we want, and those syringes, I think, look really medical, and to educate people that you can cook with them. You can put them in a brownie recipe. You can put them in an olive oil. You can mix that with honey butter for a piece of toast.
Chris Holifield: How much would you mix, for people listening? Like say they don’t know where to start.
Tim Pickett: You’ve got a one milliliter syringe… No, no, no, ten milliliters.
Beverly Astin: Yeah. So one gram.
Tim Pickett: One gram.
Beverly Astin: So one gram, and we’ve made five different products in our syringe line. So for the higher users, and for the lower users, and we want you to start, if you are not a user, with 1:1:1. And start with a low and just start with a half of a milligram. And on the syringes, there’s lines so you can dose a half a milligram on there. And you can say, “Okay, I’m going to start there.” I can add it to my coffee or my tea. I can add it to my honey butter. I can add it to something where I… Because you’re right. Vaping is intimidating for people that have never used cannabis. They’re not going to just start vaping even though a cancer patient really may need that.
Tim Pickett: Sure.
Beverly Astin: For more immediate relief. They’re not going to be comfortable starting there. So mixing it in, half of a milliliter at a time, and then you kind of play with it. We also want to educate people. We are providing a full spectrum CBD now into all the pharmacies this month because for people who are first time users, if they take too much, they can back out of that high a little bit and get some relief from that high if they get too stony, and they’re nervous about that. They can take some of that full-spectrum CBD or CBG, and it brings them back down from that. So if you’ve taken too much THC, it’s a little bit of a rescue for you where you don’t get that paranoid, that “Oh my gosh, I’m going to die! I’m going to have a heart attack!”
Chris Holifield: Take me to the emergency room right away!
Beverly Astin: Take me to the emergency room right now!
Tim Pickett: That’s exactly what it feels like, too.
Beverly Astin: So we want to…
Tim Pickett: Remember, calm. Calm yourself down.
Chris Holifield: Calm yourself down.
Beverly Astin: Yeah. And CBN and CBG and some of those minor cannabinoids, in a full spectrum CBD, is a good rescue for that if you felt like, “Okay, I’ve crossed the line. Okay. I’m going to back it out a little bit.” That’ll give you some relief with that full-spectrum CBG with those minor cannabinoids in it. But one thing you said about… Oh, you said something that I just forgot. I was going to mention for the new users in the Utah market.
Tim Pickett: Gosh, I don’t know about your perspective of not being involved in the cannabis space before, and you have these new users who want to try it. What I was going to say is I think when you get a syringe like that, if you have 300 mg of THC in it, then you can measure, “Okay, if I put 100 mg into this recipe, and I divide it into ten servings, each serving would have 10 mg of THC.” This is something people really have a hard time with calculating how much THC is going to be in their product. And at the end of the day, it really is just you know the total that goes into the butter. You know how much butter you have. Divide the butter up before you eat it, right? You divide it up into each individual serving, and you’ve essentially made yourself some gummies, some edibles, whatever.
Beverly Astin: That’s right. And you can start slow. Just start slow because you can always see where your tolerance level is and add to that. You can always add to it. There was something I was going to add to you with the Utah market. I think, too, in the state of Utah, and I’m from the south so I can say this about the south as well, a really highly populated religious culture. And so I think it really helped, just recently, that the LDS Church came out that they are on board for people using medical cannabis. I just want to shout out to them a big thank you because I feel like the Utah market now will be a little more open minded to using medical cannabis as a treatment option for different ailments.
Beverly Astin: So I’m really happy that that happened. On the hill, it passed with a majority of the vote. People wanted cannabis in Utah, but I feel like Utah’s about half LDS, no LDS. So to have that okay to, “Okay, you know what? It’s okay to try it and to see how it works for you.” A lot of people needed that validation and that okay to, “All right, you know what? My leaders, my…”
Tim Pickett: Yeah, my community is okay with it if I do it under the rules, if I follow those. And I don’t need to use it. People don’t need to use it forever. If they have something that’s bothering them for a while, maybe it’s reasonable when you talk to your provider, maybe that’s reasonable to try.
Beverly Astin: That’s right.
Chris Holifield: Well, and I’m sure you were nervous as a processor. It’s like, “Hey, they could either make or break this program here in Utah.” If they endorse it or not, if they talk out against it, it could put this whole thing under.
Beverly Astin: It’s very true, and it just shows you, I think, that the whole world, at least our nation, is moving. It’s not going to go backwards. It’s only going to move forward. So we want to move it forward in a direction that people will use it for medicine, but I will say, I come from a family of addicts. And there was just a really great news story, and I want to shout out Wholesome and the people who did the news story in a recovery center just recently, people who are recovering from addiction. Marijuana is not a gateway drug. I’m sorry. I hate that connotation of Marijuana. Cannabis is… I think Marijuana has such a negative connotation, and I think we are trying to change that by using the word cannabis.
Beverly Astin: But I come from a family of addicts that cannabis has literally saved two of my brothers’ lives from alcoholism. So I think it was Channel 2 that just did a really great news story, and Wholesome is working with this facility that’s a recovery facility to give them… I’m not sure exactly what they’re doing to work with them, but it’s not a gateway drug. It is a rescue drug. It’s a drug that will help you to find a balance where you can live a nice, calm, anxiety-free, freeing lifestyle without heavier drugs like heroin, cocaine, alcohol. Too much alcohol, in my opinion, leads people down a path that really is, I’ve seen it over and over again, really destructive.
Beverly Astin: So cannabis is such a great alternative to alcohol. It’s such a great alternative to higher, heavier drugs that kill people, and that’s opioids included. Opioids, in my opinion, can lead you down a road that leads to death. So I’m excited about cannabis for saving lives.
Chris Holifield: What’s the best way for listeners to find out more about your products, find out more about what you got going on with Life Elevated and with Jilu and with everything going on?
Beverly Astin: Go to our Instagram. We are Jilu Premium on our Instagram, and we’re Life Elevated on our Instagram. And our website is almost done. I wish I could tell you guys to go right to our website.
Tim Pickett: Totally fine, but follow you on…
Chris Holifield: And Jilu is spelled J-I-L-U, right?
Beverly Astin: J-I-L-U.
Tim Pickett: Yeah, and I’m sure you’ll announce the website on social when you get it all up and running.
Beverly Astin: We will. We will. Our website’s been really slow. So we’re hoping to have all of our… On our Life Elevated side, you can go and see our C of As, but right now, our Jilu side isn’t totally up and going. So we’re working on getting our website up and going. But go to our Instagram, follow us, know that we are, and along with the other processors and growers, we’re doing our very best. And I can say this from everyone I’ve met in the industry that are making products, they’re really doing it with a Utah patient in mind. And yes, people are going to always chase high THC. Some people are always going to do that, and some people need that. I don’t have any judgment on that either. I think if that is saving you from using a drug that could be potentially deadly, I say “Bravo.”
Tim Pickett: Yeah, go for it. Absolutely.
Beverly Astin: Go for it. If that’s going to be your form of medicine, I say, we need to lose that judgment as well because you are never going to die from cannabis. You’re never going to overdose. You might be stoned for three days, but…
Chris Holifield: You might just need to lay down and take a nap.
Beverly Astin: You might need to lay down …
Tim Pickett: Watch Ferris Bueller or the Back to the Future series.
Beverly Astin: Yes. Yes. I have a really funny story with my nieces and nephews with trying cannabis in brownies, and they had that experience. But that’s a whole ‘nother segment.
Chris Holifield: Lasted for a couple of days, huh?
Beverly Astin: Yes.
Chris Holifield: No, I’ve had those, too. I’ve had those, too.
Beverly Astin: But I just think we do need to open our minds and put our judgments aside on why people are using cannabis and what they’re using it for and think of it in a different way and embrace it because it’s here to stay, and it is a beautiful, beautiful plant that can help a lot of people.
Tim Pickett: Way cool.
Chris Holifield: Way cool. Anything else you want to talk about, Tim? Or Beverly, anything before we wrap this episode up?
Beverly Astin: Do you think we covered everything?
Chris Holifield: I mean, I know it’s hard to cover everything in like an hour. We’ll just have to talk down the road.
Tim Pickett: I mean, down the road, we’ll bring you back because you’re going to be a brand that people really like, and all these products, I think we’re just going to have to talk about all these products again and again.
Chris Holifield: More and more products. I mean, I’m sure you got a lot of stuff coming out the line.
Beverly Astin: We’re going to do a lot of fun products. We’re going to do products that appeal to everyone, and I’ve talked mostly about our medicine products, but we just did a higher cartridge, our Acapulco Gold is our high potency.
Tim Pickett: Ah, it’s a classic.
Beverly Astin: Yes. Our Acapulco Gold.
Tim Pickett: Strain doesn’t even exist anymore that they know of, right?
Beverly Astin: Yeah. So our Acapulco Gold is always going to be in conjunction with our high potency. So our syringes, we just did… That won’t have Acapulco Gold in it, but we just started with a little bit of a one gram gloss bucket on a high potency that has the Acapulco Gold added in. So that’s excited for people who want that higher THC, and we have an Acapulco cart. So that is our highest potency. And then most of our other vape carts are anywhere between I think about in the 70 range, 70% range. So as we get going, we probably will have some higher potency stuff, too.
Chris Holifield: Would you eventually like to get a grow license?
Beverly Astin: Oh my gosh! Yes! Of course we would.
Chris Holifield: I mean, I guess that’s kind of a given.
Beverly Astin: It would be so fun. And every time I go into a pharmacy because I’m such a people lover, my husband’s like, “Oh my gosh, Beverly.” We were just on vacation. He’s like, “Do you have to get to know every single person we meet?” And the answer is yes because I love people. I can count on one hand people that I don’t like. So the pharmacy, I love being in the pharmacy with all the pharmacy owners and talking to the patients. I like that even better than the processing and making the products because I am a people lover.
Chris Holifield: So you would like to even maybe eventually have a pharmacy.
Beverly Astin: I would.
Tim Pickett: Or the 15th. Or the 15th, right?
Beverly Astin: I know! I know, we’re all going to be going for that 15th.
Tim Pickett: I know. Everybody, start your engines.
Beverly Astin: We’re all going to be trying to go for that one, but it’s exciting. And hopefully, as Utah gets really growing, we’ll have more than 15. I just feel like there’s probably going to be a need for more than 15.
Chris Holifield: Oh, absolutely.
Beverly Astin: As we get going.
Chris Holifield: I already see a need for more than 15. Really.
Beverly Astin: Yeah because look how far people have to drive.
Chris Holifield: There’s a lot of places out in the middle of nowhere that need one.
Tim Pickett: There’s a lot of places that you could have a smaller retail setting, especially.
Chris Holifield: Even Moab. Does Moab have any plans to open one, do you think?
Tim Pickett: No. You would think that the 15th, they would go to Moab.
Chris Holifield: Moab needs one. Anyway, all the cities need one.
Beverly Astin: Moab, Vernal, just a lot of those…
Tim Pickett: Yeah, Vernal’s really growing. Vernal could use one.
Chris Holifield: A few more down south even because I know St. George and Ceder City…
Tim Pickett: Well, you’d think, I mean, St. George, I would think, needs two.
Chris Holifield: At least two.
Tim Pickett: There’s going to be Justice in the south.
Beverly Astin: And we want to welcome Justice. I just met with Justice. I’m working with them to help get stuff in their pharmacies, and they’re going to be a wonderful addition to the state. They’re amazing people. They worked with Randy at the Tryke company for…
Tim Pickett: Yeah, they were close with Tryke.
Beverly Astin: Yeah. They worked closely. I think they’ve both, several of their employees that are coming here have worked for Tryke. So just they’re really knowledgeable, great people, really excited to work with them. We love working with all the pharmacies, though. I mean, and be patient with the pharmacies. I mean, they’re doing such a good job, and they’ve been patient with us. We’ve given them stuff. We’ve made mistakes. Poor Deseret. They’ve been so patient with us down in Provo on getting MJ Freeway. We can’t ever get our stuff right in MJ Freeway. Everybody’s had MJ Freeway problems, and that’s the platform that we all have to do business in with the state. So the pharmacies have been really patient.
Beverly Astin: Nothing’s been real easy so far. Everything kind of feels like this, “Oh my gosh. How are we going to do that?” So everybody’s had to make lots of apologies. I’ve had to eat crow on so many… I thought I understood something, and I’m like, I didn’t even have a clue what that was talking about. So the pharmacies have been really patient, too. They’re doing a great job. They really are.
Tim Pickett: Well, Chris…
Chris Holifield: Should we wrap this episode up?
Tim Pickett: We should wrap this episode up. You can always find us at utahmarijuana.org/podcast where all the episodes are.
Chris Holifield: Subscribe on any podcast player you listen to other podcasts in. Leave us a review on iTunes, Apple Podcast and maybe we’ll read it on a future episode.
Tim Pickett: Absolutely.
Chris Holifield: And subscribe. Yeah. I think I said that already, but we got a new episode every week. Thanks again, Beverly, for coming on the podcast.
Beverly Astin: Thank you guys so much for having me, Tim and Chris.
Chris Holifield: Yeah, absolutely.
Beverly Astin: I really appreciate it.
Chris Holifield: We’ll bring you back on.
Beverly Astin: Awesome!
Tim Pickett: All right. Everybody, stay safe out there.
Chris Holifield: Awesome.
Beverly Astin: Thanks!
