The Good Cannabis Life Q & A Blog, Part 1
We had the opportunity to sit down with The Good Cannabis Life founder Georges Brandan to learn more about him and ask some initial questions potential customers may have about his business and products.
Let’s begin by finding out about your background in this field…and why you started The Good Cannabis Life.
My background is in Biochemistry. Initially I was in the pharmacy industry when I finished college, and I worked as a biochemist formulating specialized enzyme products used for identifying RNA sequences. Then I moved to Florida, and I started in the cannabis industry. My first job was in the extraction lab at Columbia Care when they only had 11 people on the staff. Within a year, I was running all of production and we had grown to over 170 employees. By the time I had 2 years under my belt, I was head of labs and running a small-scale R&D lab. Then, after some time had passed, one of the largest Medical Cannabis companies in the world offered me the position of head of R&D and I moved up to take that job. That was fun, but it got me out of the lab and stationed me at a desk doing endless teams meetings all day on the computer. I wasn’t enjoying myself anymore, and all my projects were getting caught up in the corporate red tape. By that time the R&D department lost funding and was disbanded, so I was ready to go my own way. I have had a medium-sized lab of my own I have been using for years doing home R&D on projects that were outside of the scope of what I was doing for my employers. It was easy enough to scale up my lab for higher production, but I just needed to decide what products to focus on. I moved to Tennessee because I have family here and the laws are more favorable to my industry.
When people hear the term ‘cannabis’, they are likely to have many different initial impressions, and then questions. Let’s start with the first question many may ask; is this legal?
Yes, The Good Cannabis Life products are 100% legal. I abide by both Tennessee and Federal Laws. For the edible products such as CannaSalt, F.A.N.T. sugar cubes, or sour dreams, the legal limit for THC-delta-9 (viewed as THC (triangle) 9) is 0.3% by dry weight (section 10113 of 2018 Farm Bill). When it comes to pure isolated THC delta-9 (which is the compound that institutes a ‘high’) that can potentially be a lot of THC if the product is very heavy or large. But I also abide by Tennessee state laws that limit the amount of THC delta-9 to 100mg per serving. All my edible products do contain more than 100mg of THC delta 9, but there are several servings per container. All of my edible products can be sold in every US state except for Idaho and can be shipped right to a customer’s front door.
The hard concentrates are a different type of product and are subjected to different legal regulations. Hard concentrates (Live Shatter, Live Diamonds, Live Resin, and Live Sauce) are products that are not activated (as in the THC is still in the THC-a form and has not been decarboxylated into the active THC delta-9 molecule). This gives the product a more stable structure. The cannabis plant produces THC-a naturally, and this compound does not make a person ‘high’ in any way. It’s when THC-a is “activated”, as in enough energy is input into that molecule to cause decarboxylation, that it becomes THC delta-9, and that is what gives a person the ‘high’. The energy required for this reaction is 398 kj/mole of THC-a and can come from any source from a pressure press to simple heat from a lighter. This is how burning cannabis makes you ‘high’.
In the state of Tennessee, the laws are only concerned about the active THC delta-9 form of THC, so I am able to produce and sell the hard concentrates in the state of Tennessee. But other states have varying degrees of regulations about the strength or format of THC-a concentrates, how they can be sold, or if they are allowed at all. This is especially difficult in states with reactional or open medical cannabis laws, because those laws usually make the importing of concentrates difficult within those states. I find it easier to just keep all my hard concentrate sales exclusive to Tennessee rather than try to abide by different and varying laws over multiple different states.
What are the legal limitations for not only you, the manufacturer, but also for the customer, and do these limitations vary by state?
For The Good Cannabis Life edible products, all state regulations are the same except for Idaho who have their own 0.00% THC laws.
For our hard concentrate customers, keep those in the state of Tennessee and there will be no issues.
The main issue involves the difference between THC-a and THC delta-9: THC-a is what is grown in the plant (perfectly legal) decarboxylated into THC delta-9 makes you ‘high’ (illegal over 0.3% product weight).
The Good Cannabis Life concentrates are all in the THC-a form and when “dabbed” (inhaled using a high heat source, such as using a blowtorch on a glass banger then dropping the concentrate into that glass banger and inhaling the resulting thick vapor) the vapor produced and inhaled is in the THC delta-9 form.
Is this safe, and what makes it so? Are there instances where customers should be cautious where product usage could pose a danger?
This is pretty safe. As with any mood-altering substance, there are circumstances/opportunities to make it dangerous. An easy tip is to treat it like alcohol. It can be fun and a great time with friends, but don’t drive or operate heavy machinery while under the influence. One of the biggest dangers often faced when using these products is the late-night munchies. I have heard quite a few stories about individuals over consuming some products then getting caught up in a TV show or movie. Before they realize what’s going on, they have already eaten a whole box of doughnuts or a whole pizza by themselves.
In our next The Good Cannabis Life blog, we’ll continue our discussion with company founder Georges and learn about the specific science behind how TGCL products are made, and why Georges feels that TGCL products are the best on the market.
