7 MAY 2018 · John Newmerzhycky was travelling through Iowa with his friend William Davis after playing some poker at a casino when they were pulled over by a member of the Iowa state police interdiction team. With reports concerning a red vehicle, the police officer followed John and William for ten minutes before pulling them over for failing to signal when passing another car. After being pulled aside and questioned by the officer, John began to show signs of breathing rapidly and fidgeting, which increased the officer’s suspicion. After telling John he was free to go with a warning, the officer asked if there were any drugs in the car. Without a direct response, the officer called in a K-9 unit. John and William told the officers there were no drugs or currency in the car. This would turn out to be untrue when the officers found Davis’ $85,000 packed inside a locked briefcase. The police also found a grinder and a very small amount of cannabis, but enough to charge John with a misdemeanor. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The state of Iowa then confiscated the money, called California authorities where the men are originally from, leading to both of their houses being searched. Despite both John and William having medical marijuana cards, the searches led to felony charges in California. Jump to today, and every charge has been dropped, and the original sum of money confiscated has been returned. There was more of a reward for John and William than just money however. Hear John’s full story when he sits down with Chip on The Real Dirt Podcast.

30 APR 2018 · Matt is the founder of Bickel Consulting and oversees cultivation facilities in Alaska, Washington, Hawaii, Oregon, New York, Maryland, and Colorado. He was the Chief Operating Officer and Master Cultivator at Maggie’s Farm in Colorado Springs with responsibility for 8,000 plants (outdoor grow on 10 acres) and 40 employees, growing cannabis organically from seed. He has worked with industry-leading companies like Silverpeak Apothecary in Aspen, Natural Remedies in Denver, Green Stop in Fort Morgan, Top Hat Cannabis in Juneau, Etain in New York, and others. Matt has deep expertise in cultivating indoors, outdoors, and in greenhouses, and he has experience as a project manager in all phases of construction, equipment purchasing, permits, licensing, and operations. Matt graduated from Baylor University with a degree in education.

24 APR 2018 · While studying Nuclear Engineering at a college in Upstate NY, he also learned to grow marijuana in a spare room of his apartment. He read everything about growing marijuana he could get his hands on, but he was especially interested by Robert C. Clark’s “Marijuana Botany”. He sent a letter to the owner of the Super Sativa Seed Club in Amsterdam and after weeks of discussing breeding and genetics, they offered him a job. Mr. Soul became their USA seed distributor to their American customers in 1987. This opportunity provided Mr. Soul access to cannabis seeds genetics and information that allowed him to rapidly advance his cannabis cultivation and breeding expertise in his own grow spaces. He used his engineering skills to design hydroponic systems and climate control systems for his own growing operations. He organized the garden work flow; scheduling and performing all phases of cannabis production; seedlings, mother plants, clones, flowering, harvest, manicuring, drying/curing and seed storage. These projects became increasingly larger and cultivation was soon Mr. Soul’s full-time occupation. He became known as “MrSoul” to the online cannabis community, after he started sharing growing and breeding information. He was reliably producing 1 pound per kW and delivering 2 pounds of high-grade cannabis per month, when he founded The Brothers Grimm Seed Co. in 1996. Mr. Soul’s breeding projects produced strains from cannabis seeds that are now world-famous, such as Cinderella 99 (C99) and Apollo 13. These strains were featured in High Times magazine articles among the top 10 most favored varieties of all time and have also been used by other breeders to create numerous award-winning hybrids. Chip sits down with Mr. Soul on this week’s episode of The Real Dirt Podcast to discuss cannabis seeds genetics, the current standing of the cultivation industry and more.

3 APR 2018 · His journey with cannabis started like a lot of others; he moved to Denver in 2012 during the heat of the Amendment 64 movement looking for any way he could get involved. After finding a job with a Colorado public interest research group that had him signing students up for photo ID on college campuses, Andrew realized it wasn’t the job for him. Andrew ended up leaving his first job after a couple of months, and joined Students for Sensible Drug Policy where he would work on the legalization campaign. “I worked on that campaign, it was awesome, and that’s how I got to know Josh and Mason and Brian Vicente and Christian as well who was keeping the law firm afloat at that time” Through his work on the Amendment 64 campaign, Andrew met Christian and Brian of Vicente Sederberg LLC. With his work in public policy, specifically related to cannabis, it was a match made in cannabis heaven. Andrew’s policy experience and love of numbers led to multiple job opportunities with the firm, eventually resulting in a full time position. After the passing of Amendment 64, Andrew’s work increased. With a regulated system that could actually be tracked, more statistics than ever before began to mount. More people were willing to admit to their cannabis use, which revealed new and changing trends. “The ball is not going to roll down the hill by itself. Even though we think it is, we’re going to have to keep pushing it. There’s friction.” Despite the vast changes and awesome advances the industry has seen, it is always fighting. With only a few states having full legalization, the rest of the country is watching those states with a microscope. As more states recognize the monetary and societal benefits of legalization they may move to do the same. When that happens, differing laws may arise, to different effects. Listen to Andrew share his story about the legalization movement and where the future of the industry lies on his episode of The Real Dirt Podcast!

3 APR 2018 · On this episode of The Real Dirt, Chip hangs out with three of the managers from Cultivate Colorado, the largest indoor horticulture supplier in the galaxy, based in Denver, Colorado. Listen in as Darryl, Jay- J and Jacob discuss the industry, where it has been,...

19 MAR 2018 · I Heart Jane aka The Amazon Of Cannabis is a revolutionary new cannabis marketplace where consumers can search for specific cannabis products and get local results within seconds. Whether it’s terpene hunting for the perfect taste or finding the best deal on that edible you want, I Heat Jane gives you control over what you want, and how much you want to pay. It’s a Mary Jane revolution. “When the team and I are were looking at building this a couple years ago we were asking ourselves, how do we shop online for everything other than cannabis?” One of Socrate’s teammates was in the process of looking for a new bike helmet on Amazon, when the idea struck. When we shop for everything online, we type it in a search bar and get dozens of results from different sellers, at different prices. Apply that same online shopping experience to cannabis, and you get I Heart Jane. Now, finding that sweet Mary Jane is as easy as a couple clicks. “I’ve never run a brick and mortar dispensary, but I’ve worked in retail before and it’s tough.” In order to make their online marketplace as easy to use for both consumers and dispensary owners, I Heart Jane makes an effort to make joining their marketplace as simple as possible. With their platform’s technology, dispensaries can update their menu daily or weekly, and Jane handles the rest. I Heart Jane integrates in real time to the point of sale systems of cannabis businesses, giving them access to inventory and pricing, enabling the platform to act as a turnkey digital storefront that connects the products on their shelves with customers in real time looking for those products in their local area.

12 MAR 2018 · Just like people are ok with drinking cheap, low-alcohol content domestic beer, people are ok with smoking low-quality, less potent, but mainly cheaper, marijuana strains. However beer has much stricter standards to ensure the same product every time, meaning cannabis has more risks to not knowing what’s in it, or if it is even the strain that was advertised.

5 MAR 2018 · Heather Moore is the unofficial head grower/plant watcher of Earl’s in Leadville, Colorado. She is in charge of five greenhouses, hand watering all of the plants, and keeping an eye out for any issues in the grow. After moving from Georgia about five years ago, Heather got a front desk job at a local dispensary, checking IDs and guiding customers to the dispensary area. After a grower for the dispensary left, Heather was offered his spot as a grower. With no prior experience, Heather asked tons of questions and figured out how to grow high quality cannabis through trial and error. After leaving her first job, Heather was offered a grower position at Earl’s, one of the ‘highest’ elevation grows in the country. At over 10,000 feet, Earl’s is in a unique location to grow quality cannabis year-round with their greenhouses. All of Earl’s greenhouses are hand built, saving piles of money while still having some of the most high-tech environments. If you’ve already heard Joel’s story, check out this episode of The Real Dirt Podcast with Heather and hear her point of view.

1 MAR 2018 · Dave Perkins is the former Cultivation Manager of Artizen Cannabis in Washington. He sits down with Chip to discuss craft cannabis, cannabis branding and the future of the cannabis industry.

28 SEP 2017 · The fast and the furious on the Phish lot. Well not the Phish lot, but the parking lot High West cannabis. This was our first joint podcast with Mindful Millennial. We dive into Phish present past and future. Fish on!