Utah in the Weeds Episode #63 – Tim Wins Best Medical Cannabis Doctor in Utah Award

What to Expect in This Episode

In this episode of Utah in the Weeds, Tim and Chris discuss what it is like for Tim to be a Physician Assistant (PA) and qualified medical provider (QMP) under Utah’s Medical Cannabis law. Tim recently won the ‘Best Medical Cannabis Doctor in Utah’ award, even though he is not technically a physician.

Tim has had a year-and-a-half to get acquainted with legal Medical Cannabis in Utah. [01:28] Along the way, he has been persistent about studying the topic. He mentioned he is really enjoying the clinical side of it; being able to work with patients to teach them how to use cannabis for their particular conditions. He is learning as much from patients as he does from his own research.

After talking about some things Tim was doing in Ogden, the conversation turned to a brand-new group Tim helped to found. [09:48] The group is called the Utah Medical Cannabis Advisory Group (UMCAG). The UMCAG is working with other parties in Utah toward facilitating changes to the state program. For example, the group is working on increasing existing patient caps.

Tim mentioned that the UMCAG is also working on developing best practices between QMPs and pharmacists, for the purposes of making sure patients get the help they need in figuring out which products to use and how to use them. [11:09] Even increasing the number of qualifying conditions is on the table.

Chris and Tim eventually transitioned the discussion to some questionable products now making it to market by way of legal loopholes. [18:39] They cautioned listeners to be very careful about what they purchase and from whom they purchase it. Medical cannabis users should keep their use strictly medical, buying their medications only at legal pharmacies and under the supervision of their QMPs and pharmacists.

Resources in This Episode

Podcast Transcript

Chris Holifield:

All right, and we’re going, doing things a little bit different today on episode 63 of Utah in the Weeds. First of all, let’s introduce ourselves so people that are listening, they’ll know who’s talking on the other side. My name’s Chris Holifield.

Tim Pickett:

And I’m Tim Pickett. Can I just jump right in here, Chris? Apparently the best cannabis doctor in Utah, that’s yours truly. I won the award, thank you.

Chris Holifield:

Dude, this is a pretty big deal, Tim, and this is what I’ve been trying to tell you I like. And I think you know how big of a… And cool, it is that you win, what is the actual title? It’s the best… You sent me a link to that.

Tim Pickett:

Best Medical Cannabis Doctor in Utah. Now, I mean, I’m not a doctor, okay? I’m a PA, some would call me just a PA, that’s totally fine you can call me whatever you want. You can call me a Pot Doc, representative ward called me that one time on TV. Well, he called all of us that, he didn’t call me specifically that, but you know what I’m living, right? The Gen Z-ers, the millennials, they’ll say, “You’re living your best life,” right? I literally teach people how to consume cannabis for a living, and apparently, people think I’m really good at it, which is awesome.

Chris Holifield:

Are you enjoying it?

Tim Pickett:

I am enjoying it. I’ve been in clinic lately, a lot. We’ve had a lot of days where I’ve been able to go in and see patients and man, I really like it. I like teaching people how to tweak their use a little bit and how to get more out of it, and learning from patients and talking to them. And lately, it’s just been really fun.

Chris Holifield:

What are some things that you’ve noticed now, okay? So now that you’re the best Pot Doc in Utah? You’ve had this whole year and a half, you’ve really gotten into it, you’re studying, you’re discovering all these things, you’re meeting with patients, what are some things that you’re finding out now that you’re like, “Man, I wish I would’ve known that a year ago.”? Even things, regimens with patients or ways to use [crosstalk 00:02:18] I guess that’s such a huge question to ask you, but I’m curious [crosstalk 00:02:25] things you now that you didn’t know then.

Tim Pickett:

Well, first of all, I mean, I vividly remember seeing our first patients and the fear of recommending a federally illegal product was just… It was a little overwhelming for a little while. So, that we’ve got through and I’ve gotten much more used to talking about it, talking about it with patients, being okay with different things, right? There are a lot of people who smoke and just want that experience of the flame. So I guess part of me really likes this idea that Utah hasn’t allowed the flames, and part of me is coming around to the idea that we’re probably just not going to get rid of flames.

Chris Holifield:

People get really hung up on that.

Tim Pickett:

They really get… Yeah, and they want to use it like they’ve always been using it. New patients are more receptive to using it in a way that they’re taught, and they want to be a little more healthy about it as far as their lungs. It’s that sort of thing, the other things that I think are very interesting are, we spend a lot of time, sometimes we go down the rabbit hole about different cannabinoids, like CBD, and CBG, and CBN. And we try to… We essentially overcomplicate it, right? Look, we’ve been using this plant for thousands of years, really, medicinally, a lot of it really isn’t rocket science, it just helps people feel better and that’s okay, right? Sometimes we don’t need to make it rocket science, we just need to use it wisely.

Tim Pickett:

Another thing that I find very fascinating about the way I’ve been teaching people and learning is, I was thinking about cannabis, this is an evolution of my feeling about how to use it better. And in the beginning, I was having a lot of discussions about just using what you need and keeping your tolerance really low, but I found I’m educating patients to use smaller doses more consistently. So maybe the same amount of total THC per day, or per week, or per month, but using it much more consistently in small doses, so I’m becoming an advocate of different types of products like using low dose edibles and then vaping flower on top of a low dose edible.

Chris Holifield:

Interesting.

Tim Pickett:

Because I feel like you’re getting more consistency. So yeah, I mean, my knowledge and my experience with it is definitely getting better. And every conversation I have is just another, like I say, another way to tweak the use or to learn more myself, and it’s been really fun.

Chris Holifield:

I want to go back a little bit. You were mentioning how talking about cannabis, right? You’re finding it’s a little easier to talk about. Are you finding the same thing with patients, people coming into the clinic? Are they having a little bit easier time talking about it versus when it first opened up? Again, back to… We’ve [crosstalk 00:05:47] talked about this.

Tim Pickett:

Totally anecdotal here, Chris. But I [crosstalk 00:05:50] was in Ogden yesterday, and I was in Millcreek the day before. And in Millcreek you would see, there are, I guess on average, it’s totally stereotyping here, but in Ogden it seems like people have an easier time talking about weed than in Millcreek.

Chris Holifield:

Okay, that’s what I was wondering.

Tim Pickett:

Right. There’s different pockets of people. Certainly, we’re starting to see more people on the much more conservative side. I’ve seen people who work in the temple a few days a week, the LDS temple, and they’re using really super low dose gummies to keep their neuropathy at bay while they’re on their feet. Just some really interesting stuff, right? With the church and our culture, and people starting to accept this a little bit easier. People who… Still it’s just so surprising to me that, because I work in this all day, every day, that people still don’t know it’s legal. I mean, yesterday I had two people that they were like, “Wow, I didn’t even know I was going to qualify,” or, “I didn’t even know this was legal.” Like flower, people still come in and talk about how you can’t… “Oh, no, I thought you couldn’t have flower, you can only have oil.”

Chris Holifield:

Because people, remember when it first got introduced, I guess to Utah, the possibility is there was such bizarre ideas, the blister packs and all of that.

Tim Pickett:

Oh yeah, I remember the blister pack discussion.

Chris Holifield:

Yeah. Where in Ogden is your clinic located? Is it on 25th Street?

Tim Pickett:

It’s 2385 Grant, so if… Downtown Ogden, there’s Roosters, we’re right around the corner from Roosters, we’re right down the street from WB’s, I think WB’s is on 24th.

Chris Holifield:

We had a listener send us a message on our Instagram and they were wondering, “Hey, do you record up in Ogden?” And I’m like, “Why?” I guess there’s a Utah in the Weeds thing in a window, on some businesses [crosstalk 00:07:56].

Tim Pickett:

There is. That’s my… Well there is in my… There’s a Utah in the Weeds and in our location, Utah Therapeutic Health Center [crosstalk 00:08:04].

Chris Holifield:

So maybe that’s what it was, because they’re like, “On 25th,” or something, and I’m like, “Oh, I wonder what business that is.” I wasn’t quite sure.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah, we get a ton of people who are going to the farmer’s market who walk right past us.

Chris Holifield:

Okay.

Tim Pickett:

And so we put out the Utah in the Weeds sign, right? We put it in the window.

Chris Holifield:

Well it’s working [crosstalk 00:08:21].

Tim Pickett:

Ogden is a really fun place to work, I like Ogden.

Chris Holifield:

Well, let’s talk about, so the Weed Social’s actually next week, in Ogden.

Tim Pickett:

Right, in WB’s, and we want to go.

Chris Holifield:

Yeah.

Tim Pickett:

I was texting with the owner yesterday. We should go up and record our podcast. WB’s Eatery in Ogden, it’s next Wednesday, 6 23, 5:30 PM, the Cocktail and Cannabis Club. You know what I was really… Did you have one of the dry cocktails while we were up there?

Chris Holifield:

I didn’t, no.

Tim Pickett:

Because they were so good.

Chris Holifield:

Really?

Tim Pickett:

Yeah. They have a bite to them, a little depth to them. So if you’re somebody who uses cannabis, right? We don’t use, we try not to mix alcohol and cannabis, not really a good idea to mix THC in cannabis, but-

Chris Holifield:

Well, I had some bad experiences mixing those two back in the day. Oh man, I got some stories.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah, so they make dry cocktails up there and they’re really good. And you sit there and have a dry cocktail. I mean, you can’t consume cannabis in public, but…

Chris Holifield:

Yeah, come on up and hang out with us, and hang out with Tim and I and the rest of the cannabis users here in Utah at WB’s at the Weed Social. I want to talk about this medical advisory group that you started.

Tim Pickett:

Oh yeah, so we started a [crosstalk 00:09:42].

Chris Holifield:

Because you were like, “Chris, I started this medical advisory group. We could talk about it on the podcast.” Well, let’s talk about it, here we go.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah. Okay, so we formed Utah Medical Cannabis Advisory Group, so it’s a small group right now. The founding members are a group of pharmacists. Usually the pharmacist in charge of a couple of the pharmacies and a few QMPs who are really involved in the system. Laurel Krupski out in West Jordan, and Dr. Andin up North, and some of the best pharmacists, right? Mindy Mondeo, Kevin Baumgardner from Dragonfly, Josh Fitzgerald and Kylie from Wholesome. Anyway, we’re building this group with help with the Utah Cannabis Association and the cannabis co-op, trying to get a small group of us to help prioritize a couple of things that we want to see changed. Now that we’ve been a year in the system, right? we know that we need patient caps increased for good providers, right? I mean, if you want to bring, well, I mean, if you want to bring your aunt and see somebody like me, we’re going to need those patient caps increased because I can’t see a lot more, very many more patients.

Tim Pickett:

We need to figure out what the best practices are between the QMPs and the pharmacist. Right now, there’s not a lot of communication between the two groups, which is fine for most people. Most people learn to use cannabis and they’re okay, and they can talk to me, they can talk to the pharmacist, and they navigate it, right? We talk to Chrissy, or we talk to Mr. King, Zach King, right? Like they’re going to navigate it themselves, but there are the people who need… We need to close that loop, right?

Tim Pickett:

If I change a medication, the pharmacist needs to know, so how can we do that? So we’re trying to just start somewhere and talk about what the needs are of the group. Here, I got my… I even got my notes right here from our meeting, right? We’re talking about the Compassionate Use Board, we brought up smoking, should we prioritize? What do we think about smoking? We know that there’s a lot of people who are still going to be smoking cannabis, and that’s the reality, should we lie and just say that’s not happening, or should we just be honest and allow it and just educate around it?

Chris Holifield:

Well, and that’s what’s lame, right? You got all these people that they’re trying to be legal, they’re getting their cards, and then they’re like, “Oh, screw it. I’m at home, I’m just going to use a flame.” And it’s like, aargh.

Tim Pickett:

Right. Which is right. The other thing is qualifying conditions, right? So pain lasting longer than two weeks, well, that’s pretty much, there’s a lot of people who have pain that’s recurrent that lasts longer than two weeks. And you end up… A lot of, not all the time, but we end up having a guy who had ankle surgery. Okay, they come in, the woman comes in, she’s got anxiety, depression, she wants to use cannabis. Well, those don’t qualify, [crosstalk 00:13:06] but she had ankle surgery, right? And she can’t sleep, right. So then you’re talking to them and well, they had ankle surgery two years ago and that causes a lot of pain and okay, well that’s the qualifying condition, but primarily the patient is going to be using THC for the anxiety and the sleep. So the system is built… The legislators built the system in this way, but the reality is there’s a lot of people out there with pain as their qualifying condition, but they’re using, I mean, they’re really using THC for something else.

Chris Holifield:

I can’t believe sleep isn’t a qualifying condition in Utah, because sleep, especially, the sleep drugs out there are so bad for you when you have such a beautiful thing like cannabis to help you get a good night’s sleep.

Tim Pickett:

Right, I mean-

Chris Holifield:

Why isn’t that not legal? Why is that not a qualifying condition?

Tim Pickett:

Exactly. And do you want to just, I don’t know, we talk about it on the podcast too, we’re not being honest with the way the system is working or not working, and that’s…

Chris Holifield:

That’s Utah though, Utah sets things up for that, man, that’s loopholes. Remember loopholes back in the day, private club for members, it was so we could smoke in clubs and do all this stuff, and it was just these loopholes. Utah’s famous for that man, that’s what we do.

Tim Pickett:

Right, the beer garden [crosstalk 00:14:37] up at Snowbird, right? You’ve got this little “beer garden”, you can’t go out, you can’t go in. Yeah, and so maybe they like that, maybe that’s okay. But our group is going to put a report together and say, “Here is the reality.”

Chris Holifield:

Yeah.

Tim Pickett:

Right? Here’s what people are actually using cannabis for, regardless of what the law says, these are legal cannabis users, but their primary qualifying condition might be pain or PTSD, but they’re also using it for sleep, they’re using it for anxiety, they’re using it for… Yeah, the two big ones that they want to add are anxiety and insomnia.

Chris Holifield:

See, my only thing with anxiety though, is I see so much. The stuff I see out there when I’m reading about cannabis, you get this one side saying, “Oh, if you smoke marijuana, it’s just going to cause more anxiety, blah, blah, blah.” So that’s what I worry about, is that people on the hill are just going to be like, “Oh, that’s just going to cause people more anxiety.” So…

Tim Pickett:

I see both sides for sure.

Chris Holifield:

Yeah.

Tim Pickett:

I mean, it’s what’s called biphasic, so at low doses, it might help your anxiety. At high doses, it might cause it to be worse. Chronic users that stop, they tend to have a little more anxiety sometimes when they are going through the washout period. So I get both sides. The Cannabinoid Review Board is another board that we want to influence, they’re a group of professionals in Utah who make recommendations on whether or not a condition should be added. And so, but they’re not really asking us to weigh in, and we think… The pharmacists who see the patient at the dispensary, they really know, they should be involved in that discussion and those recommendations.

Tim Pickett:

So we’re going to try to put together some reports and be helpful, and if people have, if our listeners have issues with the program, reach out to me at utahmarijuana.org and we’ll put it on the list and we’ll bring it up in the meetings. We’re going to meet every couple of weeks for a while and try to get a good voice for the patients in Utah. It’s kind of a cool group, I’m glad we’re putting it together.

Chris Holifield:

Growing at home, no, we don’t need to get into that topic. Home grow, I mean, that seems like such a far stretch, and I know that’s what everybody wants, but it’s just… To me, that just seems like the last thing they would ever allow.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah, we didn’t even bring it up last night, it’s not even on anybody’s radar just because we think it’s not feasible to ask for, there’s no way we’re going to get there for a while, and the industry doesn’t want it either. These pharmacists, they work for the dispensaries, and the dispensaries don’t want you to grow at home. I mean, I’ll be the first to tell you, they want you-

Chris Holifield:

They want their money, man.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah. I mean, their investment’s not paid back yet. They got to get that revenue first, which will take a while, I guess. How are prices out there too? Bloc’s Pharmacy opened, on 103rd, I heard they’re selling 45 or 50 bucks an eighth for some of their, I think it’s the popcorn buds.

Chris Holifield:

32… I want to say even 32 is some of the prices I saw on their website there, Tim-

Tim Pickett:

Oh, wow. So people are, I mean, I think prices are getting pushed down a little.

Chris Holifield:

Actually, yeah. And I think they’re having, speaking of Bloc, they’re having a grand opening this weekend, the June 19th for customers to stop in-

Tim Pickett:

Oh, for Juneteenth?

Chris Holifield:

Yeah. I wish I would have that in front of me, but I don’t.

Tim Pickett:

Did you hear that’s going to be a federal holiday?

Chris Holifield:

Yeah, no, that’s kind of cool.

Tim Pickett:

That’s kind of cool.

Chris Holifield:

Tim Pickett:

We should probably mention, I know we talked about this a little before we started recording, but we should just probably mention the fact that there are some products out there that people… One of the other things this board talked about was products that really aren’t supposed to be on the market, but they are. There’s these products, there’s these CBD products that have THC in them that you can buy at the vape shop or at the CBD store, and they’re getting to be a little more popular. And I’m not going to mention any brand names or any people in this, but there are…

Chris Holifield:

This goes back to loopholes, man.

Tim Pickett:

This goes back to loopholes. There is a loophole in the law, apparently where the department of agriculture has approved some CBD products and they have a bunch of Delta-8 THC in them, which will get you high, it will get you high. And we don’t- [crosstalk 00:19:34].

Chris Holifield:

From what you’ve heard though, you haven’t personally tried them.

Tim Pickett:

Okay. I’ve used Delta-8, I know Delta-8 will get you high.

Chris Holifield:

Okay.

Tim Pickett:

But it’s different than Delta-9, it’s more of a body… I can’t, it’s hard to explain. It’s not the psychoactivity of the Delta-9, and it’s already controversial because people don’t, some people really don’t like Delta-8, because it’s not produced in the plant. They have to… You have to… It’s not synthetic, but you have to derive it from the plant with this strong acid conversion, so it requires a significant amount of processing to get it done. And then you put it in CBD and then they’re selling these CBD products that are essentially getting people high. And they’re not tested the same as the products in the pharmacies, okay? We’ve looked at the certificate of analysis, they’re not easy to read, and they’re out there, but it’s this loophole in the law that allows this product to be sold. And apparently, it’s completely legal, and they’re flying off the shelves, of course.

Chris Holifield:

Well, of course, because once word gets out there, one person tells another person, so on and so forth. But I think this is such, it gives the whole industry such a bad name because it just… I just don’t like it, it looks trashy.

Tim Pickett:

I feel like you’re right. I mean, it just, I mean, it’s out to make a buck.

Chris Holifield:

Yeah.

Tim Pickett:

I don’t know that it’s really that, is it medicinal? I don’t know. I guess I have a hard time really arguing totally against it, because my line of what I think is right and wrong is here, and your line might be a little bit different, and maybe the owner of this product is like, “Hey, we got to get this product out. It makes people feel better and we’re doing our best to make it clean.” But it’s not, it cannot be really legal, right? Getting people high…

Chris Holifield:

Well, I think there’s more to medical cannabis than just getting high. That shouldn’t be the end goal of medical cannabis, just to get high.

Tim Pickett:

Right. And [crosstalk 00:21:55] okay so, let’s compare it. Let’s compare it to, I mean, you wouldn’t go out and buy an over-the-counter, or a pill, right? Compare it to a pill. You’re not going to go out and buy some pill, you don’t quite know everything that’s in there. It’s just [crosstalk 00:22:12].

Chris Holifield:

… black market for all the…

Tim Pickett:

All the pills.

Chris Holifield:

And then all that of that. So it’s like, “Well, okay, yeah.”

Tim Pickett:

Yeah. It’s just, there are… Anyway, I guess the bottom line is, be careful what you’re buying out there, know what’s in it. If you’re taking a CBD product and it is getting you altered, take it into your cannabis pharmacy, take that and the package into your cannabis pharmacy and show it to the pharmacist, and get their opinion of what that is. That’s what I would say, because they’re going to know.

Chris Holifield:

Back to these gummies that we’re talking about here, Tim, are they cheaper? Would they be cheaper to buy than versus going into a Utah pharmacy to buy gummies there?

Tim Pickett:

I think so. I think they are 35, 40 bucks a package. And I think [crosstalk 00:23:09]. I don’t know.

Chris Holifield:

Because I was going to say, I’d rather just get something at the pharmacy. So this is more for people that don’t have a car?

Tim Pickett:

Yeah, this is, what is a package of gummies at the pharmacy?

Chris Holifield:

Because I was going to say those, how do you pronounce it? Heikki? Haeji? Or something.

Tim Pickett:

High Chews, [crosstalk 00:23:25] that guy knows how to build gummies too. I mean, those gummies are really good.

Chris Holifield:

And I think depending on what milligram you go, they’re anywhere from 30 to 50 bucks for those. So what’s the difference? I mean, I’d rather go get those.

Tim Pickett:

I’d rather just, I think people should, I agree. [crosstalk 00:23:44] Just go get the deal that was tested, approved, no controversy, you know what’s in it, everybody agrees it’s a clean product. Do it, just do it in a way that you’re not really risking your own health, I guess.

Chris Holifield:

Because we don’t know the long-term things, because even going back to, I know I brought this up a couple of times when we haven’t recorded about Spice, right? I’ll admit it here on the podcast, I smoked plenty of Spice back in the day, but I didn’t know it was horrible for you. And then you find out a little bit later on like, “Oh, you shouldn’t be doing that,” so you’re like, “Okay.” And again, for people listening, this was 20 years ago, this isn’t like I was doing this last week, this was stupid me 20 years ago.

Tim Pickett:

Right. And this is just, it’s the same type of thing. In New York, they outlawed Delta-8 for this type of product, just because of this, because it’s a loophole all over the country apparently. Oh no, yeah, mango peach, dragonfly, a 10 pack of 20 milligrams, 32 bucks a block, down on 103rd.

Chris Holifield:

Yeah.

Tim Pickett:

This is, you’re not saving any money.

Chris Holifield:

Yeah, [crosstalk 00:24:52] why not, why would you even, why not just go get the good stuff?

Tim Pickett:

Yeah. Just go get the real deal, and you know what’s in there, and it’s labeled. That’s the other thing about these gummies, I mean, I’m looking at the label and it does not say THC Delta-8. It doesn’t say anything about, other than at the bottom, it says, “Contains THC, keep out of reach of children and pets. It’s against the law to operate motorized vehicles under the influence of this product. [crosstalk 00:25:21] Do not mix with alcohol.” I don’t know. Oh, this business we’re in Chris, it’s the wild west.

Chris Holifield:

Anything on a national level going on? I know Connecticut just legalized recreational, today as we’re recording this, I know that’s going on.

Tim Pickett:

They’re dropping like flies, seems like, right?

Chris Holifield:

So I didn’t know if you heard anything more about any of the more [inaudible 00:25:45], [crosstalk 00:25:45].

Tim Pickett:

What I did do is I met with Hypur, so after our conversation, if anybody wants to listen to that podcast that we did with Tyler, the CFO of Hypur.

Chris Holifield:

Yeah, go back last episode.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah, last episode. I went back to Hypur and I met with them because I wanted to figure out exactly how to sign up, what the hiccups were, and learning more and more. And yes, apparently those cashless ATM’s are going away, like he talked about, like we saw in, I don’t know, maybe you saw one in Denver, I saw one in Vegas when I was there.

Chris Holifield:

Yeah. [inaudible 00:26:25].

Tim Pickett:

So those are going away, and then the same-day ACH payment. And a lot of people were bashing on Hypur, but I signed up, it was easy. Connect your bank, took about two minutes to hook up. Yeah, I’m thinking about just taking Hypur payments in my clinic and helping people get signed up, right?

Chris Holifield:

That’s not a bad idea at all, and then they would already be signed up, and then they’re [crosstalk 00:26:51] on the phone. Because I mean, I found Hypur again. I was using Hypur in Denver, when we were out in Denver. So it made it really nice to already have it on the phone.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah. I’m interested in making the process more and more seamless for people, and maybe that’s a good thing, we should just start taking Hypur in my clinic.

Chris Holifield:

And hey, we could take Hypur here on the podcast. If anybody wants to Hypur us a donation-

Tim Pickett:

Hypur us a donation. Hey, and Chrissy put together a sponsorship. We’re just all over the place today, but the sponsorship… You want to sponsor the podcast? We now have… We got a little pricing structure, I filed with [crosstalk 00:27:28].

Chris Holifield:

… Tim and myself, and let us know you’re interested and we can hook you up with all the info.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah. We need to promote good products, and so we’d be happy to do that. Yeah, there’s tons of, I’m just looking at the menu right now, there’s tons of gummies for 35, 40, 50 bucks.

Chris Holifield:

Are you on the Bloc website?

Tim Pickett:

Yeah. [crosstalk 00:27:48]. Oh yeah [crosstalk 00:27:52].

Chris Holifield:

Because it’s 32 bucks for some baby buds.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah. 3.5 grams, let’s see, if I go by sort by price, low to high, $32 for Popcorn Ice Cream Man Tryke, Tryke’s all there, 32 bucks.

Chris Holifield:

Ooh, wow, got to go get some of that.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah, the potion Space Monkey Riesling, all that Tryke stuff’s 32, Dragonfly’s 35 for 3.5 grams. You want to go to the, let’s see, the standard, I haven’t even tried any of that, 53 for an eighth of that. Lava Cake and Do-Si-Dos, oh, that’s a quarter, so they do have one product that they’ll sell on a quarter, seven grams for 95. It’s [crosstalk 00:28:37].

Chris Holifield:

… going to work, Tim? Let’s say listeners, they’ve been a patient here in Utah, they’ve already been going to like Dragonfly and Wholesome and stuff. Now they want to go check out Bloc, are they going to have to go meet with a pharmacist in that Bloc?

Tim Pickett:

No, this is one of the other things we’re talking about in the medical advisory group. So you do have to register at every pharmacy you want to buy product at, you have to register as a patient. So you go online to their website and you register as a patient, but you do not have to meet with a pharmacist. You really don’t ever, but, especially if you’ve purchased product somewhere else, you just need to register as a patient. They verify your card, you just tell them, “Hey, I’ve already met with a pharmacist,” and I think the system might know, they just take you at your word and they’ll let you come in and purchase product. It’s pretty simple. They just have to make sure that you’re a patient. And I think you can go in to most pharmacies, if they’re not super busy, and they’ll register you right there, or you can get on your phone and register right then and there, and you don’t even have to do an appointment.

Chris Holifield:

Good to know, just because I know that’s one of the things that holds me up sometimes with visiting some of these pharmacies, right? You’re like, “Oh, I don’t want to schedule an appointment and do this and do that.”

Tim Pickett:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). And now that things are opened up with COVID, I know that was an issue with, well, it was an issue, I think, with Beehive and Dragonfly of course, was so busy. But now, I mean, man, if you look around, there are some pharmacies that aren’t that busy. For example, right? If you want to take a drive up to Park City, just take a drive up to Park City, they’re not that busy up there. And you don’t have to register for an appointment, they always have a good selection.

Chris Holifield:

That’s right. I remember when they opened up, they had all that product sitting up there and they’re like, “come up here…” [inaudible 00:30:33]. They probably still have it sitting up there.

Tim Pickett:

Well, nobody knows about the reciprocity deal, where you can come in from out of state. We still need to get an out-of-state person who’s had a card here and tell us about the process. If you’ve got a relative out there who has a medical cannabis card, have them come to Utah, get a card, they have a 21-day card, I want to hear about that process. Because [crosstalk 00:30:58] I want to know long-

Chris Holifield:

… contact for that card? The state of Utah?

Tim Pickett:

Yeah, you just go to the Department of Health’s website, the cannabis… What is it? Medicalcannabis.utah.gov. Medicalcannabis.utah.gov, you apply for an out-of-state card. If you have a card out-of-state and you’re coming to Utah, you are eligible for a Utah card for 21 days, and they just verify your card exists and they will issue your card.

Chris Holifield:

You ready to get mind blown though here for a second, Tim?

Tim Pickett:

Yes.

Chris Holifield:

Okay. So let’s say a person has a card in another state, right? And in this other state, let’s just make up a state, for example.

Tim Pickett:

Well, California.

Chris Holifield:

California, right? Let’s say they’re a medical patient in California, but the reason that they have their card is for a qualifying condition that’s in California, but not in Utah.

Tim Pickett:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Chris Holifield:

But they’re like, “Well in California, I’m using it for my glaucoma,” or whatever, I don’t know, right? If they come to Utah and use it for their glaucoma, is it… You know what I’m saying?

Tim Pickett:

No, they’re [crosstalk 00:32:03] supposed to have-

Chris Holifield:

Where’s the consistency there? Because [crosstalk 00:32:05] get a card, because they’re going to get a card here in Utah and be able to legally use for 21 days for a qualifying condition, that isn’t a qualifying condition in Utah?

Tim Pickett:

I totally agree. The [crosstalk 00:32:18] statute says… I wrote this down, I tried to make an argument for this because I totally get it. This is where Utah residents, in my opinion, should take precedent over out-of-state residents. That’s, I mean, [crosstalk 00:32:34].

Chris Holifield:

… but out-of-state is taking precedent-

Tim Pickett:

Exactly. It’s easier for them to get the card because all they got to do is submit that they have a card, that they’re from California where they have a card system, and that they… Now-

Chris Holifield:

California [crosstalk 00:32:49] anybody.

Tim Pickett:

Exactly. So as long as you have that card you can come to Utah and use, but you’re supposed to have a qualifying condition according to the Utah statute. But that’s not part of the verification system that I know of, right? We’re not involved, QMPs are not involved in that. We don’t [crosstalk 00:33:08] get to talk to the patient. I feel like that was my argument, just let us talk to the patient, we’ll, one, we’ll make sure they know how to get the card and get them through the process, which will be helpful, number two, we’ll be able to verify their condition, because how does the state know what they have? They’re not providers, right? How do they know that they have a qualifying condition? Nope, you can just apply. But on the other hand, it’s probably very difficult to find the link at the Department of Health website, it’s very difficult to get the card, maybe it takes seven days to get your card and you’re already done mountain biking in St. George, or you’re already done skiing in [crosstalk 00:33:50] Park City, right?

Chris Holifield:

… carry it in your pocket like you’ve been doing for the last 20 years, right? Nobody’s going to know it’s in your pocket, right?

Tim Pickett:

How do people travel with it? I mean, I don’t know, I think TSA will take it out of your bag and dump it all over your clothes.

Chris Holifield:

Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I know a lot more people are traveling with it though, and I know a lot more people are, I think, yeah, I don’t know. That’d be an interesting discussion, but it’s also kind of, I realize it’s a discussion that not everybody wants to have.

Tim Pickett:

Right? Yeah, we don’t want to talk about traveling with cannabis at all. We want to keep it. We know what to talk about and what not to talk about, right? Well, it’s going to be a fun… This is turning out to be a fun summer. It’s fricking hot, but…

Chris Holifield:

Yeah, no, it’s a fun summer. Actually, hey, did I tell you I went down to the farmer’s market? I ran into Cole down there, with Salt Baked City. So he’s down there every Saturday.

Tim Pickett:

So does he have a little booth?

Chris Holifield:

Yeah, he’s got a booth, so stop by there and say hello if you see Cole down there.

Tim Pickett:

Oh, yeah. And check out, they have a new magazine coming out, I think it’s in print right now. So when this releases it’ll be probably out and we’ve got another ad in there, Utah in the Weeds.

Chris Holifield:

Very cool. Yeah, go check that out. Yeah, he offered, he said, hey, if we ever want to record the podcast, we can join them down there at the farmer’s market. So, I don’t know, I mean, it could be fun. I’ve also tried to record podcasts down at the farmer’s market and let me tell you, it gets hot down there on Saturdays, and just having to stand outside and just… I’m like, “Man, I could be recording this podcast in air conditioning,” like right now, right? [crosstalk 00:35:31] air conditioning.

Tim Pickett:

Yep.

Chris Holifield:

Let’s get this episode wrapped up though, Tim. I think we’ve talked about some pretty cool stuff this episode, [crosstalk 00:35:38] a lot of stuff going on. Again, congratulations for your award, I mean, that’s awesome.

Tim Pickett:

Oh, thank you.

Chris Holifield:

Awesome thing [crosstalk 00:35:45].

Tim Pickett:

… set out to be good at this, and it is very, it’s nice to be noticed, and to know that we’re doing good things. Thanks to my team and to everybody that’s really involved with me in getting good information to people, that’s really what we want to do. If you want… If you don’t know if medical marijuana is right for you, if you don’t know what the qualifying conditions are, if you don’t know how to get your card, utahmarijuana.org is a good place to go, and call, text, do whatever you’ve got to do, because if it is right for you and it helps you feel better, then by damn you deserve it.

Chris Holifield:

Absolutely. Hey, and if you’re on the website, just go to utahmarijuana.org/podcast and that’s where all the podcast episodes are. You can listen to them right there, I mean, we got a lot of episodes, we’ve got, let’s see, 62 episodes up there now.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah, and so [crosstalk 00:36:46] many patients…

Chris Holifield:

Yeah, so many patient stories. I mean, then you got Discovered Marijuana, you got so much content that you can absorb right there on the website.

Tim Pickett:

Yeah, and it’s all just legit, it’s like this, it’s conversational. Try not to be intimidating about it, try to just talk about it like it’s just something else we talk about.

Chris Holifield:

Hey, and if you want to check out some other podcasts, go check out the other podcast I do, I am Salt Lake, I am Salt Lake Podcast. Tim was actually on episode 420, so that’s where I’d start people at, now go back to start with Tim.

Tim Pickett:

There is no podcast before 420.

Chris Holifield:

There is… Yeah.

Tim Pickett:

Only the eight years before that.

Chris Holifield:

Eight years before that, yeah. So go check that podcast out. And I think that’s it for this episode, Tim.

Tim Pickett:

This was fun, Chris. We should do these more often.

Chris Holifield:

Absolutely.

Tim Pickett:

All right everybody. Stay safe out there.

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By UtahMarijuana.org
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Published June 18, 2021

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