Jazz Samra | Building Stronger Community & Businesses | Elevate Industry Expo | Noobie & Doobie OTS #33

On The Spot with entrepreneur Jazz Samra, owner of Sativa Bliss & founder of VIP Media Group which is hosting the Elevate Cannabis Industry Expo Sep 12-15, 2023 in Toronto.

During our conversation with Jazz we discussed his vision to build a stronger community and for the community to build stronger businesses.  Jazz also shared his personal cannabis journey & the struggles he faced entering the cannabis industry as well as the upcoming Elevate Expo and the industry altering Dank Reviews.

CONNECT WITH JAZZ
Instagram:  instagram.com/jazzsamra420
GET INFO & TIX FOR THE ELEVATE EXPO
Instagram:   instagram.com/elevate420expo
Website:  elevatecannabisexpo.com

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PODCAST INFO AND LINKS:
Cannabis model Marijane Baker & non-consuming comedian Timmy Boyle have joined forces to explore the wonderful world of weed...from both sides.  Be sure to subscribe, turn on notifications, like, comment & share!  Thank you so much!

"On The Spot" YouTube Playlist /  Podcast Website  / RSS Feed (Apple Podcasts, Spotify...)

Instagram /  Facebook / All links
Email 👉 thenoobieandthedoobie@gmail.com

THE DOOBIE: Model, advocate & artist Marijane Baker  Instagram /  All Links

THE NOOBIE: Comedian, speaker & coach Timmy Boyle  Booking /  Instagram  / All links

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ABOUT THE PODCAST:
He’s from the Church.  She’s from the garden...of Weeden.  They’re from different worlds with the same goal.  To engage & explore the cannabis culture...from both sides.  

Join medicinal user, model & advocate Marijane Baker and non-consumer, former youth pastor & current clean comedian Timmy Boyle for a unique, funny & educational look into the magical, controversial and, for some, forbidden world of weed.  

Timmy & Mj (a real life “mixed” couple) bring their cannabis pillow talk into the public domain as well as inviting guests, from inside & outside the weed community, to help educate, entertain & inspire the other noobies & doobies who are tuning in.

Transcript

0:00

[Music] this podcast is for adults only should

0:07

not be used as a meal replacement and may contain nuts

0:14

[Music] hey everybody and welcome back to another episode of the Newbie and the

0:20

Doobie my name is Timmy I am the Newbie Mary Jane I am the Doobie we are very

0:26

excited to have us with us today on the spot Jazz Samra the owner of sativa

0:31

Bliss as well as the founder of the VIP Media Group which is hosting the Elevate conference coming up this week September

0:38

12th to 15th 2023 just for those people that might tune in you know a year from now you've missed it but hopefully this

0:45

will be an annual thing Jazz thank you so much for joining us here on the show it's my pleasure to be here thank you

0:50

very much for having me we uh we have been hearing a lot about uh about Elevate

0:56

um we have heard a lot about about you we have frequented sativa Bliss multiple times out where we we live

1:03

um all of that stuff we are going to uh eventually uh talk about and find out kind of all those business connections

1:11

but um as as people have been watching the show know as the Newbie um as the Newbie

1:17

and the Doobie combined we seek to break the stigma and in order to do that

1:22

um we really believe that it's the stories um connect and connected with the science that is coming out but those

1:28

people's stories about the the why that they use cannabis the how they got into it the uh um consuming with intention

1:35

and and hearing all of that is so important in uh continuing to Break Down

1:41

The Walls that are now coming down and allowing events like um uh elevates even happen in the first

1:47

place so uh MJ why don't you take it away here this is my favorite part of the show is literally the only question

1:53

that we always ask every single person and it is my favorite question because I

1:59

I love the experience behind cannabis because it changes depending on who you

2:04

are the method of consumption um where you are there's so much that

2:10

can affect it so my question to you jazz is I want to know about your very very first experience with cannabis whether

2:18

it was pleasurable not pleasurable whether you smoked it ate it topicals so

2:24

I'm just gonna I'm gonna sit back and let you go wild with your story my very first experience

2:31

was probably a good like almost 30 years ago I was like I started really late

2:37

uh I think I was like 24 years old okay it was at my friends uh getting he's

2:44

getting married I grew up in Vancouver so he my friend was getting married and we knew nothing about cannabis I never

2:51

grew up in the culture didn't even ever seen it in my life and he brought brought a joint and we just went across

2:58

the street from the house we were at and uh and smoked it I guess it all it took

3:03

is a few Puffs all the my friends that smoked it were all beginners and we uh

3:09

we had a really good time we a lot of giggling was happening uh when when the adults would come downstairs and check

3:15

in on us we couldn't stop giggling it was just a lot of uh consuming food and

3:20

snacks and and Giggles is what I remember the most out of it so if you were with you were with a group of

3:26

friends that you were all first time consumers but who was the ring leader you have to get their name but who would

3:32

be the ringleader in that group to say hey guys let's try this and everyone goes sure why not brought it I can't

3:38

remember who that person was but somebody brought it right and it was just kind of casually tried it right and

3:44

uh it didn't take much it took like a couple of Puffs and that was it and so

3:49

then that was that because like were you have you been consistent since then that started lifelong thing to be honest uh

3:56

since I got into the Cannabis industry I maybe tried it maybe four or five

4:03

times up until like 2019 20 actually when the stores open

4:09

after that where I started experimenting so I'm uh I can call myself a newbie and

4:16

maybe transferring into a little bit of a doobie but not like uh I'm sure

4:21

nothing at the level that MJ would be at right I'm getting high just looking at hers will literally that's funny I did

4:29

uh we did a thing when we were at Lyft where I asked from the stage you know if anybody can guess how much I can consume

4:35

in a week like well my average consumption is in a week will give you a prize but you got to be within half an

4:42

ounce and they'll like a couple people in the audience were like what within half pounds how much do you smoke

4:50

so I just do uh some vaping right now and maybe two or three Puffs I can have

4:57

one Vape cartridge probably last me like four months I'm probably like the worst customer for a cannabis store but I'm

5:05

living into that model of don't get high on your own Supply either right so it's nice I you know what I pre what I love

5:12

about your story and why these are the types of stories that I think really helps break down a certain stigma and

5:18

when I first met MJ and I grew up in a uh a very um conservative religious

5:25

environment um I performed as a professional stand-up comedy mostly in churches for

5:31

um at that point coming up on 12 years and when I first had kind of met MJ and we started this podcast people who who

5:39

are followers of this show know that I lost a lot of friends and contacts most

5:44

of which just assumed that now I was going to be this pothead and I think when you hear stories like yours and

5:51

hopefully stories like mine where you say you know like I tried four joints um when I first met MJ that was five

5:57

years ago and I haven't consumed anything since and your story is such a good one too to say look it's not like

6:03

you have a joint next thing you know you're sitting on the side of the road with no life Ambitions and you know

6:09

consuming all day long and I just I just think it's such a valuable story to tell well honestly I think when Jazz said you

6:16

know I only take a couple puffs and I'm good I feel like jazz you might have figured it out for yourself like what

6:22

your body needs because clearly I shouldn't have to consume three ounces

6:28

of cannabis a week there's there's something wrong there it's clearly either not the right strain not the

6:35

right in like ingestion method maybe I'm I feel like I'm doing something wrong financially for sure that's a car

6:43

payment right I mean yeah

6:48

no I I got into a very very uh lightly and I was actually nervous when

6:55

I got into the Cannabis industry a few friends who kind of talked me into it I got into the industry primarily because

7:01

of CBD I started researching it and said okay cbd's uh a good thing there's seem to have a huge

7:09

future with all the medical benefits and that's how I kind of entered the

7:14

industry I I did have to like do a lot of soul searching to see if this is the

7:20

industry I wanted to be in but because of the medical benefits uh I decided to get into it I you know had to tell my

7:27

parents uh what I was doing sharing it with some family members who I knew there was

7:32

going to be some State of Mind judgment about it I didn't really have the intention of

7:38

going into the retail space just the way that the laws and everything kind of panned out

7:43

it became an opportunity so I decided to uh to pursue it but yeah it was it was

7:50

really awkward nobody like that knows me would have ever imagined I would be in the

7:56

Cannabis industry when in fact my own uh my youngest brother who's like 12 years

8:02

younger than me I didn't even know he consumed cannabis because he was afraid to tell me and only when I opened up the

8:08

stores is when I found out that he actually consumed like regularly every night almost right so yeah I I often

8:15

have told people that I oh that MJ was the first person I met who consumed cannabis he told me he didn't know

8:22

anybody else is possible it's impossible it's it's

8:27

because nobody talks about it yeah I probably I now think backwards was sitting sitting in the church that I

8:32

grew up in with all of these elderly people who probably were taking it at

8:38

various things for for health benefits but never would he would never ever discuss it so as far as I knew what you

8:45

know who who in my life was possibly using it and now I've come to realize that there's a lot of Highly functioning

8:51

individuals highly motivated highly successful people who you would never think and uh I mean he said and CBD

8:59

being a big part of that yeah me too I'm a lifelong entrepreneur

9:05

and and most of the people that are friends of mine are you know quite successful they own businesses highly

9:11

functional people and they he like never mentioned it but now like in the last

9:17

couple years they they're just talking he goes I have a drink once in a while these gummies are pretty good it helps me relax and get to

9:23

sleep and yeah I think a lot of the people are just trying to get to sleep battle anxiety

9:28

and uh the stresses of work and then also some pain management as well too so

9:36

yeah I talk about it openly now I'm not uh Not Afraid and shy about being in the

9:42

industry I found my position as a person that advocates for the industry pushing

9:47

for positive change trying to help the industry grow and Thrive despite all

9:53

these challenges and uh doing my small little part that I can to make the industry a better place

9:59

for everybody what kind of what kind of pushback as an adult do you get from

10:04

your family I remember it wasn't too long ago it was very recent that I sat down and actually for the first time had

10:11

a conversation uh with my parents about my because as a non-consuming Advocate

10:18

like like I just sat down and talking we had been to the lift conference and they because and we stayed at their house and

10:24

so they were constantly kind of like so where are you going what is this thing yeah and it was the first time I and it

10:29

was just okay it was super interesting it wasn't just like a typical because like I've been to Karma cop we've been

10:35

to you know all these events and I always show them photos but this one his mom was like that looks different I'm

10:41

like well yeah because it's an expo and it's more like business and education and not just like fun and Community

10:49

um they're still I still I still think they have a little bit of a kind of a

10:55

hesitation but they were interested in listening and so it's interesting to me that that you as an adult have that

11:01

conversation with your parents and how what what was their what was their sense

11:06

when when they're feeling that out I actually had to take my dad to a couple of Cannabis stores and then

11:12

okay he saw them they looked okay these they look okay because it doesn't smell like weed here right and he saw a bunch

11:20

of the different types of products and slowly got accustomized to it I did get him like CBD oil in the beginning for

11:27

his knees and he refused to take it to thinking that it was going to get high and then I actually

11:34

got the cbdo but I have a guy that does Printing and labels for me and change the label to say hemp oil on it and then

11:42

he actually tried the hemp oil nice it was hemp oil and a month later he's like

11:48

can I get more of that it actually worked my knees don't hurt anymore then I then I told him afterwards that

11:54

uh this was actually the CBD that I was talking to you about that he's opened up to consuming yeah and even recommending

12:01

it to other uh aunts and uncles uh that's awesome well that's amazing so when you open so

12:09

so you're coming in to the industry not as a consumer uh but you see the health benefits of it and one as a regular as a

12:16

regular consumer um your first your first entrance into the business side of it was what opening

12:23

up a sativa Bliss no actually it was designed to get into the DLP side of the

12:30

world for extraction we're gonna have like a CBD extraction facility we're in

12:36

the process of setting one up in Quebec and also one important organ we actually

12:41

got the facility started moving equipment in we're in the process of applying for the licenses and then

12:48

uh Portland started burning down with the black lives matter movements and then covet came and just destroyed that

12:55

entire business I pretty much all the money that I had I lost it all uh

13:01

waiting for covet to finish it to kind of restart and I actually got lucky that when the

13:07

applications came out for the cannabis stores I applied for the lottery didn't win it but when it came time for the

13:14

opportunity to apply uh regularly I had a friend of mine that had

13:20

a building in Kitchener and he told me good jobs you just use my location if

13:25

you get the license you can open up a store here if you don't no big deal we'll lease it out to somebody else and

13:31

that was just the start of it and it was like okay we got one location let's just if we're gonna do this and this is what

13:38

we're involved in now let's try to do multiple locations and continue to move this business right and how many do you

13:45

have now I have six that are open now and then one new one coming in Mississauga

13:51

that's awesome applied for and waiting for like building permits and stuff so a couple months away nice uh how did you

13:58

uh I'm a big fan of branding how did you come up with the name sativa Bliss

14:03

I think it came with a lot of the spirituality and the meditation that I do so I only consume cannabis for my

14:09

meditation and uh I like the the Zen Vibe so Bliss was a

14:16

part of it and I found that you know even sativa it has like the qualities in

14:22

front of find happiness in life right so we're just trying to create that Vibe of finding your bliss and discovering your

14:28

bliss through the cannabis plant right finding your happiness and that's where the names kind of stuck

14:34

together sativa was like an easy name uh that resembles the cannabis plant and

14:40

then Bliss was just brought those two words together I designed the logo and it it felt right it had the cannabis

14:47

leaf in the back and also had the Lotus mixed into it so we just kind of stuck

14:52

with that team I have I've been regularly uh doing I'm a protect

14:58

practitioner of yoga for over the last five years which both cannabis and yoga

15:04

I preached against for years and now now both of them are like okay so but I I

15:10

have I have yet to do uh yoga with goats but now now I'm saying now you're saying

15:16

maybe I should be trying cannabis with my yoga that might change that experience I do it for meditation to be

15:22

honest I do like every night I do vipassana meditation for about an hour and I found that if I have a couple of

15:29

puffs of uh of any cannabis product that something happens where my body

15:36

opens up and it's like a guided meditation I do so there's some music behind it as well too that music seems

15:44

to sync with my energy so much better that if I have expanded my myself I'd

15:51

get I guess into that music so I just like the enhanced experience of

15:56

meditation when you are consuming cannabis I've never tried it uh during

16:01

yoga because I'm such a lightweight that I'll probably fall over and not be able

16:07

to keep my balance there but I'm thinking even with like today this morning I did every if I'm on if I'm on

16:15

my routine two of my my days are just a restorative yoga which is basically you

16:20

know you're not doing any kind of strength or balance you're just you're just doing long holds more like stretches and stretching and I was

16:27

thinking you know when you're saying that it's like that you know that entire session twice a week is just just deep breathing and just quiet just kind of in

16:35

different holds and folds you know like I'm still on the Journey of finding out we we talk a lot about the personalizing

16:42

uh of cannabis the the intention of and and me starting to understand the

16:47

science more and going I monitor all the other areas of my life in regards to exercise and sleep and diet and I'm

16:55

believing at some point that cannabis has a place like you said you found it

17:00

kind of in your meditation State and mine is now going okay so where is that space for me where where does where does

17:07

cannabis fit in to my health journey and my my my My overall Wellness yeah to

17:14

overall just enhance your life experience right yeah that's what I even preach that to people like

17:21

people say it's a medicine it's this and that I agree with all that but it can also if you don't do it responsibly you

17:27

turn into a drug just like anything else right alcohol sugar whatever you want to

17:32

do so I'm always a big advocate for responsible use and we you know me and

17:38

my wife we have two grown-up kids that live in the house with us so we got to be role models to them and not uh that

17:46

was one of the conversations my wife had he was how do I tell my kids not to do this if we're doing this as a business

17:52

as well right and again it's like we have to be responsible user responsibly

17:57

educate people responsibly and and did that conversation with your kids

18:03

um did that go well some kids are kind of like whoa like you know like I think I think I thought I was weird it went

18:11

well with me because I had like studied quite a bit of it over the last couple of years while I was trying to get into

18:17

the industry and my kids surprisingly knew a lot about it because they were in high school at the time right so

18:22

obviously they already know my wife didn't know anything about it so she still had that stigma of drug and she

18:30

always preached like don't do drugs like school is important you got to get work and all the other things in life that

18:37

are more important that you can get derailed from if you you know hang out with the wrong people and start getting

18:43

doing the wrong things at a young age right so she was more nervous about it but then she started eventually taking

18:50

CBD and all that kind of stuff and now she's come around she still won't like get high or consume or anything like

18:57

that per se in front of the kids I think the sorry go ahead I was just going to say

19:03

that's where I think Timmy um when he tried consuming before it was smoking and he's not a smoker uh and two it was

19:11

both uh both times you didn't like it where was when you actually felt it and they were both high THC strains so I

19:19

really feel just like kind of like what you're saying with your rifle like she doesn't want to consume especially around the kids yeah um it's that

19:26

feeling of I'm not myself I don't feel like myself and especially as a parent we don't want

19:32

to not feel like ourselves around our kids 100 yeah you know because we want to make sure we're there just to take

19:38

the edge off you don't want to get high or all that kind of stuff so it's yeah I

19:44

think that that's that's been one thing that um I I don't like um I've no it's why it's why I wasn't a

19:51

drinker I still I still don't drink I had seen too many people um in my life um go off the rails well

19:58

there's a difference between a glass of wine in front of your kids and then getting sloshed you know what I mean

20:03

like to take the edge off is great yeah yeah no I'm not yeah I'm not a PO I'm not opposed but my point of it was that

20:10

my fear in regards to cannabis based on misinformation disinformation and all of

20:16

that was that um you you were basically going to lose your mind like you were doing for

20:22

madness it was going to kind of you know like you wouldn't be there anymore and I and I never liked that feeling in fact I

20:28

gotta control I don't like that feeling either I like that my faculties well I like what you're talking about the

20:33

meditation because with the second joint that MJ had gotten me to smoke

20:39

um or the third no the fourth one it was the fourth one we were watching it was the last one put it that way

20:44

because it was almost 30 THC wow and it was an indica and it was we were

20:50

supposed to be chilling and just watching a movie but instead I decided to carry on a conversation

20:57

and now he's trying to focus on me while he's trying to enjoy the movie but

21:02

not be distracted by the movie but still and I was I was I was losing the the

21:07

train of thought with the conversation and that freaked me out I did I didn't like the fact that I disengaged however

21:13

now though the journey has as I've realized that weed doesn't equal weed and we get into all of the strains and

21:21

Doses and methods and you realize that what she had given me that night might

21:26

very well have been enjoyable had I been in a restorative yoga um set as opposed to having a

21:33

conversation with her or maybe it was the wrong strength you know so it's it's trying to find just just where that is

21:39

and I think some of that has to come with trial and error and some of it um has to come through through the science

21:46

and some of it has to come through hearing the personal antidotes and trying to find where that is and just knowing your limits I do like I I don't

21:53

drink much like yourself very rarely but if I am at a party I know what my limit

21:58

is I have two drinks and I stopped by a certain time and I know after dinner I'm

22:03

gonna wait two hours and I'll be able to drive home yeah and just being responsible about it right so yeah and I

22:10

think as you get older you don't need to like blast your brains out all the time like you enjoy the company of people sober right as well yeah yeah well it

22:19

depends on the company I guess yeah yeah there's only so much time you know I'm

22:24

in the I'm in section two of my life I'm gonna live to 140. so I'm in the I'm in

22:30

the next phase right now and I I need to be I want to be completely clear up here to be able to I like the feeling of

22:36

being actually clear when you're working out and healthy and yeah that you can get there's a weird type of high that

22:42

you get just from being really healthy and clean minded right yeah exactly and

22:48

that's that's where I I'm not against the we actually we just had we just

22:53

talked to somebody recently about the uh the the quote was

22:58

um it's okay just to consume and it's okay not to consume yeah like it's

23:04

almost like there's this this pull of people like if you if you believe in cannabis you should be using cannabis

23:10

it's like no no it's okay either way like I can I can be in this industry I

23:15

can be advocating for the the the changes of laws and and opening up and

23:21

the breaking down of the stigmas and it's okay to not to consume I think sometimes the pressure seems to be going

23:27

on it's like are you in the community because then you should it's just like no no no no it's okay to consume and

23:33

it's okay not to consume and most of the industry is okay with that as well too you know one of the reasons why I got

23:40

into the industry was people told me that I wouldn't be accepted in the industry because I don't consume

23:45

cannabis they're like you don't even know how to roll a joint the industry is not going to accept you you don't smoke you don't do this you don't do that and

23:52

then I was like you know what watch me right let me do something that was actually my motivation for

24:02

people are totally fine with it all the people that know me they know that you know I don't smoke at work if I go to

24:08

conferences I don't stand outside and consume and uh well there's a

24:14

misconception business and pleasure is pleasure yes right there are people out there that believe that you can't be in

24:21

the industry if you do not consume then that's that's their problem because you

24:27

can still have passion for something and not want it inside you do you know what

24:32

I mean like yeah I'm I'm huge on avocados but I don't like to eat them I

24:38

know they're beneficial I'm not going to tell people you know you have to have avocados no yeah maybe you do maybe

24:45

don't well you should I I'll stand by that yeah it's first personal choice right I think it is respecting other

24:52

people's choice I think is the main thing right yeah so so right now so you've got six stores you said for

24:58

sativa Bliss yeah but now then then though the what is it

25:04

the 420 Media Group VIP Media Group the VIP Media Group um gets started and and

25:12

um where does that come into the story had you already had a couple stores and then you started yeah I had like five

25:18

stores uh already open uh that came about last June where uh I started going

25:25

and attending events because I wanted to learn more about the industry and just learn more about cannabis and they give

25:31

them the retail side of it and we went to a few events and I happened to like run into store owners at the event we

25:38

started networking and people were like hey we should be doing this more often like store owners talking to each other

25:43

and helping and support each other rather than looking at each other as a as a competitor let's look at each other

25:49

as colleagues and help support each other because right the industry wasn't thriving either right so it's like very

25:55

very few people were doing really really well but the vast majority were just kind of like getting by and they were in

26:02

very similar situations uh as me whether it's like no Bank financing you have

26:08

your life savings on the line uh the stores don't do amazing you still got a

26:13

potentially maybe do a side job to afford your build at home and hopefully the business will continue to grow one

26:19

day and yeah uh and people started saying this is what we need in the industry and nobody

26:25

was providing it so it's like okay let's uh why not me we can do it I did an event

26:31

last September we had uh I think about three four hundred people show up

26:36

uh to it it was very well received and uh I like the networking part of the industry where we get like retailers and

26:43

uh LPS together because I think those are the two sides that really need to work together to create opportunities

26:50

and build the industry together uh you need successful LPS so they can actually

26:55

make money and then produce great quality products and do product Innovation and then you need successful

27:01

retailers as well too that can survive and thrive in this uh this industry so we just decided to start let's start

27:08

doing networking between them our September event was I was very happy with it and we decided to do

27:15

a 420 celebration Gala in in April and we did like an Arabian Nights theme Gala

27:22

that was amazing we had like over 600 people show up to the gala that's

27:28

awesome and uh already looking forward to the next year's Gala they're like oh my God this is amazing we got to like

27:33

dress up and wear it like Tuxedos and gowns and all this stuff and like really

27:38

Elevate the industry to a whole new level rather than sticking to that stigma of you know Stoners and Stoners

27:45

and all that kind of stuff so I wanted to do more stuff at like an executive level and I think it was well received we uh

27:53

we have three things that we're trying to do uh it's uh break the stigma raise the bar and have the conversation and

27:59

raising the bar is something that um we've we've begun to really start to see at the event level yeah

28:06

um and it's only been over over the last few years and obviously I mean we're still young in the whole you know

28:13

legalized realm of and people still trying to sort this whole thing out but the the events that were being produced

28:20

that I had been familiar with even early on it was you know it was it was almost fostering the stigma and now you're

28:27

starting to get these conferences and and stuff like we've we've been very very vocal on our support of of say lift

28:34

and kind and events where I think the one thing that we try to measure these events on is can a newbie

28:41

um walk in and feel safe to see what's happening you know and a lot

28:48

of that comes from from overwhelmed as well yeah it's more than

28:53

just being safe because there's a I mean anybody who's curious can walk in there and and feel overwhelmed very easily but

29:02

we've noticed yeah there these Expos they can be a lot it's it's very busy

29:07

but um especially if you're standing outside on Front Street and it's all

29:13

people smoking and there's a cloud of smoke in the front right as a movie you don't even want to go inside because

29:18

you're like oh my God what's going on out here yeah they they literally we see people all the time just just go walking

29:24

they go walk they'll almost risk getting hit by a car on the road to avoid walking in front there yeah yeah yeah so

29:31

what what's your what's your vision with Elevate when you're when you're looking at a conference this size what what are

29:38

you what what do you want to accomplish we know you've talked about you know bringing together the LPS and working together with stores and those type of

29:44

things but maybe even on a um on a wider level what do you what other things do you want to accomplish

29:50

with a conference like this I wanted uh to do a conference that was actually connected with the industry and meet

29:57

what the needs of the industry are I started in the last year traveling to quite a few events and every time I went

30:04

to an event my first goal was to always go and meet the guys that had the booths

30:09

to see if they got a good Roi and if it was beneficial for them and if they would do it again right because I feel

30:15

like those are the people that because they're paying to be there they're the ones that are creating this opportunity for us to even have this event yeah and

30:22

so they are probably some of the most important people because they enable this conference to happen they need to

30:28

get an Roi and unfortunately most of the time they're like no we're not getting Roi we are handing out hundreds and

30:35

hundreds of samples but we have no idea where they're going what's going on with them and and it started happening that

30:42

even I don't know if you went to like Lyft this year there was really no Canadian presence there was all like

30:47

American companies very very few I think OCS was like representative of Ontario

30:53

and then Bob's Better Buzz was one small company that had a small little booth

30:59

but really the whole the industry wasn't there or like Ontario or Canadian

31:04

industry didn't even participate because these opportunities weren't uh yeah I think

31:11

we we've seen one um Canadian LP and that was churro

31:17

um or blur I think blue blue yeah yeah it was there but I I know what

31:23

you're talking about um there has been looking in cannabis yeah it was right

31:28

yeah yeah no for sure and uh I think you're right in saying the ROI has not

31:34

been what it it had been in the past because I know that was that's a common theme amongst everybody who gets a booth

31:40

at any event it seems to feel like you know and that's that's a question we have when it comes to getting a booth

31:47

somewhere is like what's the ROI it has to be Roi right and I think a lot

31:53

of the conferences the people that like hosted the conferences aren't really industry people either so they don't

32:00

really understand what the industry needs like uh I personally don't know the people that live but when I go to

32:07

Lyft I think the conference was amazing five years ago when the industry was brand new but right now like you have to

32:16

be targeted to who your audience is are you going after retailers sometimes they have a booth for

32:21

retailers and there's another booth for a pre-roll making machine and some guys selling clothes and like there's there's

32:26

no purpose here and who are you feeling too so I talked to a bunch of LPS and

32:32

they told me what they're looking for uh we talk to people in the industry they told us that education is a big

32:39

thing everyone talks about education and nobody really provides it right you

32:45

keep saying we need it but nobody wants to make the effort to actually do all the learning involved for it so

32:51

when we curated our conference we were like four day conference it feels really

32:57

long in four days but we're gonna spend like one day training like store owners and store managers they they have unique

33:05

skills that they need to learn in order to run stores uh effectively there's a

33:10

lot of people uh stores are struggling but a lot of people that got into owning stores just

33:16

loved weed but they didn't have any previous business experience or anything like that and they thought oh my God I'm

33:22

going to sell weed everything's gonna be fine but no you have to know the business side of things as well too to

33:28

make it really work and even when you know that it's still a challenge of an industry right so yeah

33:34

um and we wanted to get the education done by people that have first-hand skills so one of my rules was no

33:41

Consultants are going to be teaching us how to do this we have enough experience that people within our VIP group

33:48

successful store owners can pass on the best practices and skills that they use uh to do it I have a large group chat on

33:56

WhatsApp of just store owners and I think we have like close to 400 stores represented in our group chat wow we

34:03

share best practices with each other questions that people have and you guys want to ask questions people are more

34:08

than willing to help each other out and share if we have great new products that we find in the market they'll say hey

34:15

guys I found a gem you know that's awesome we'll buy it right so there's

34:20

I'm happy to have that type of support so I think that's an important day for for retailers to learn just focus on

34:27

what they need to know yeah and then uh the second day is for Bud tenders Bud tenders also need a lot of training and

34:35

stuff that they haven't received before much more than Indica sativa and hybrid right a lot of like sales skills that

34:43

you need to learn communication skills and other skills that you can like start

34:48

implementing to grow your job and your career within the industry so you start off with a butt tender but maybe you

34:55

want to go to key holder and then to a manager and then even higher positions I want to create opportunities for people

35:01

that they can enter the industry but spend their life in the industry and be able to earn good enough incomes that

35:07

they can support a household it family with as well too well we definitely need Bud tender training because uh the

35:15

cancel was not enough well that's you that was just it's not enough I'm just

35:21

going to leave it there I took the cancel um and some people have been surprised

35:26

by that I'm technically a bud tender um and I took it because I wanted to you

35:32

know it's as part of of my growth in wanting to learn but I was and we're still gonna we're gonna probably do a

35:39

video on um my thoughts on taking the can sell

35:44

um because I I walked away from that going I like what you said there it's like I walked away from that feeling

35:50

um still very uneducated in fact the only things that I learned on there were already stuffed that MJ had taught me

35:56

while doing this podcast okay you already kind of know right yeah I go to

36:01

uh when you're a server or a bartender and you have to do your smart serve yes you're doing your smart serve doesn't

36:07

make you a good bartender at all right yep it just gives you a basic basic Foundation but there's so much more that

36:14

needs to be learned for them and I think if they the better trained that they were the better the stores would do

36:20

because these are our front-end ambassadors to the industry many of them don't even know what like OCS is and how

36:26

it works and how products get uh created and brought onto the market there's a lot of science to the industry then many

36:34

of them don't understand the business side of the industry as well too so we want to teach that

36:40

and our third day is like LP training day so we're training LP reps

36:45

LP reps I found uh weren't trained on channel marketing and B2B sales they

36:51

were just hired by LPS and say go knock on doors of stores and hand out our flyers and uh

36:58

try to get your products listed in the stores but that doesn't work either you can't just like drop into a store and

37:03

you meet one bartender and expect that that store is going to be carrying your products right there's a a system of how

37:08

you sell to to owners like for me if they want to get a hold of me they're

37:14

not the last place they're going to find me is probably at one of my stores right popping in they have to make an

37:20

appointment and then I'll be at the store and we can talk about your products or do Zoom call so there's a

37:26

system or sales so we actually have some people that are going to teach them those sales skills and there's a lot of

37:32

small LPS that are micros or just small family businesses that are amazing at

37:38

growing great products and great making great weed but they don't have the business skills to then take those

37:43

products and go to market with them and actually have the resources to get them listed in uh in stores either so that's

37:51

another business if we have time I can talk to you about it we're finding a solution for all these problems in the industry and I found that the more I get

37:58

involved in this see the more I learn about all the issues and problems from all sides I can put my entrepreneur hat

38:04

on and then create businesses and opportunities to solve problems and offer solutions to people in the

38:10

industry so I think I think what you had mentioned earlier about um

38:15

uh that the people that are running um some events are aren't in the industry

38:21

um and I think I think even what you're talking about now there's there's there's some value

38:26

in the fact that um sometimes the person outside the industry

38:31

um can see things a little differently and like like you're talking about this business sense and I think there was a

38:36

lot of people who like you said it's just it's they're running around they're they're they've been selling weed and

38:41

they've you know under under the table all that stuff and now they're just like well now I'm just going to sell it like this and it's like that that business

38:48

level and sometimes you need someone to come in from outside who says okay you know like I haven't been in the industry

38:54

so I don't know how you guys have been managing you know even Staying Alive financially but here here's how we do it

39:00

out here and um it happened to me like when I was in the church you know I I used to see all

39:06

these events put together in the church and I was like what like I used to think because I was in the bubble it's like

39:12

these are pretty good events and then I started to work for an organization and began tour managing with an organization

39:18

that put together like events and I was like I was like oh this this is what an

39:26

event should be like this this you know the the church doesn't even know they got to bring in people who say don't do

39:32

it like I know you've been doing this for a hundred years what you need to do is this yeah but but this event actually

39:37

I'm I just want to say I'm super excited because like when you said Bud tender training and that they don't know some

39:43

people some of them don't even know what the OCS is um for example I don't wanna I don't

39:48

want to name the store but I went into a store and a bud tender said they didn't have uh the product I was looking for it

39:56

was a vape cart um and I said uh or you said he couldn't get it that they don't have it that they

40:01

can't get it and I said well um you should be able to get it because it's on the OCS and they said well we're

40:09

not the OCS and I'm like okay so now I understand that you don't understand

40:16

how it works and when I when I said well can I just like maybe like leave a note

40:22

of like the product name so you could like the guy lost it lost it and and

40:27

like yelled at me and and escorted me out of the store and I was like okay so when you say just because you

40:35

know you've been in the industry and whatever like we we really need to teach these people you're working in customer

40:41

service you you are yes you're dealing with cannabis consumers so there sometimes

40:47

there is a different type of consumer that you're dealing with so all of these things need to be touched on and I can

40:53

only imagine like you're saying like for the key holder and and Retail managers the stuff that they have to deal with

41:00

with ordering and purchasing for their stores and just all that stuff so I'm

41:06

I'm super excited uh to be there for for all of it

41:13

yes so those are the three training days yeah and then the last day is uh is our

41:19

trade show day where we allow like LPS to do sampling I think 95 of the

41:25

companies that have booths are all Canadian companies we have like I think two companies that are from the states

41:31

uh it's Kaya push and and green line that provide software solution but other

41:37

than that it's all Canadian LPS uh doing it and most of them are the smaller

41:42

companies as well too we have a couple of bigger Brands but it's not the corporate big big bad boys that everyone

41:50

uh for anybody who is listening um if you

41:55

carry uh or are have you have your cancel license you are a bartender make sure you check out this event especially

42:02

on day four for samples if you want to find out what's new on the market especially like you're saying from

42:08

Canadian LPS this is when you need to go this is when you need to be there and

42:13

it's free it's free to attend as well too we're not charging people money to attend it I believe like doing stuff for

42:19

free brings more people in and the more people that come in the more it's going to benefit the industry uh we did a cool

42:25

thing with Roi as well too because all the booth people wanted Roi yeah not wanted but they were complaining about

42:31

our why so what I did was that whoever books a booth whatever money that they're

42:37

spending on that Booth I just take that money and we buy their products for sativa Bliss for them so guys guaranteed

42:44

that their products are going to be on our store shelves and they love that they love that they're like nobody

42:49

offers stuff and that's out of their way because when you ask an Roi question to

42:54

anybody else yeah you'll get this like answer that doesn't it's like a

43:00

politician speaking right you answer it with no answer and yeah you have to kind of make up out of the box thinking

43:06

that's that's great yeah and that's where I was that's where I was going with what I was talking about bringing in an outside mindset you've what you're

43:13

what you've got this what it seems to be is that balance of yes you need someone in the industry so that you can know how

43:20

to how to teach properly and educate and what needs to be done and get a sense of what's lacking and how we fill those

43:26

gaps but you also um you yourself are coming in from outside the industry after years of

43:34

being an entrepreneur and bringing in a um a business mindset that maybe

43:41

um is bringing some out of the box thinking to an industry that has been very um in the box of How It's been doing it

43:48

thinking it's out of the box but you've eventually become the box so I what it sounds like is that you've you're your

43:54

background is kind of doing this both you've got this this understanding of the industry but you're also bringing an

44:01

outside force in and it's it's looking and sounding like just an incredible balance yeah it works out well and

44:08

honestly what I do is I just make friendships with people and listen to them I ask questions and listen to them

44:14

and I'm like not afraid to ask the card questions about their businesses and just learning about their challenges and

44:20

the more you hear about what people's challenges and struggles are then you can think of solutions for that but if

44:26

you if you're like an event company you don't really build relationships with

44:32

them like I hate talking about other people and what they don't do because you know everyone tries their best but

44:38

like Lyft for example will come to Toronto they'll do their event once a year

44:44

but the moment that the event is over they're gone they're not involved in the industry until the following year again

44:50

will they come and host Dave view her for two days and we were like no we want

44:55

people that are in the industry year round that are helping support and grow

45:01

the industry together to be able to host events we can do this ourselves we don't need Outsiders to come in and do these

45:08

things for us and we have our own ecosystem and that's the way I believe it and I personally am Canadian person

45:13

mentality where I don't want an American company coming here taking all our dollars and then leaving and going back

45:19

to the States I'd rather keep every dollar within our within Canada and also within the Cannabis ecosystem right as

45:27

well too and I think the industry needs it as well too it's uh every dollar kept in the industry is a dollar that helps

45:32

grow the industry here well the one thing I've noticed that uh Jazz you do very well is kind of like an

45:39

artist when the artist stands back with their paintbrush and can see where the colors need to go in what areas it's

45:46

kind of like by listening and taking all the feedback from you know other store owners and LPS and just people in the

45:51

industry you can kind of see where the gaps are with you know the VIP media

45:57

with the Elevate conference it seems like you're you're filling those gaps with the right colors and um I just want

46:04

to say I'm super excited I'm excited to go to elevate I can't wait that's what we're doing with uh with Dank reviews as

46:11

well too is we're gonna there's a lot of holes and a lot of problem and I think the bank reviews is gonna really help

46:18

fix a lot of the problems and save people a lot of money in the industry as well he went there you went straight to

46:23

dank reviews before I could even put the topping okay so let me let me throw the cherry on top of the Elevate Sunday okay

46:30

so Jazz told you about the bud tender the stamp day this is like my my Sunday

46:36

okay so it's like the sample day because Timmy's about tender too and he doesn't consume I get double scoop of ice cream

46:43

double scoop of ice cream and then all of the education on the other days as well as the speed dating thing that

46:50

you've got going on um all of the amazing speakers on top of

46:56

all that you said the tickets were free you didn't mention over the twenty

47:01

thousand dollars in prizes that you're going to be giving away that you're eligible to win and all you have to do

47:07

is get a ticket apparently yeah oh yeah if it's fun I research it

47:14

because that's where I'm like I want to go have fun and educate and learn so like the fact that you have everything

47:20

all in once I'm like okay so now we can go on to dank reviews because like I'm equally as excited about that and I've

47:26

already applied so you can explain what dank reviews is because it definitely fills a gap

47:32

so dank reviews uh was designed to solve a bunch of different problems within uh

47:38

within the industry and I focus starting off focus is Ontario but the problems

47:44

exist the same across Canada uh in OCS uh by early next year there's going to

47:51

be 5 000 products available for us to choose from the average store carries

47:56

275 to maybe 300 of these products right so like less than five percent and the

48:03

lack of information on OCS I don't know if you've ever seen the back end what it looks like it's not good

48:10

they tell us I've seen the front end jazz in front so to be able to choose this

48:16

product you need a lot more information and the way that LPS are currently doing it if they're like giving out tons of

48:22

samples hoping people like it and then they'll order it but store owners don't really know what's good and what's not

48:28

good and they're afraid to take chances on on products uh other so

48:35

other LPS also are struggling because they have this like flow through system

48:40

where if I order something it takes me three weeks to get it and then if I

48:45

order a case of it and people like customers like it then I have to order another one and make them wait another

48:52

three weeks in the meantime they've moved on to other products already right so it hurts a brand when it can't be on

48:58

shelves on a regular basis but for me to like order this product three four weeks in a row to make sure it's consistent

49:05

I can't order it what if it's crap now I'm stuck with you know thousands of dollars worth of products so I'm not

49:12

going to take a chance on all these things uh so what we did was we created dank reviews and what I'm having is

49:19

probably a couple of hundred reviewers uh across Canada we will be doing Blind

49:25

uh product reviews of the product of uh we we're starting off with dried flour

49:30

and pre-rolls and we'll eventually go into the other categories but essentially the lp will give us uh

49:36

we have our own little bag dank review mylar bags we're gonna give them 100 110

49:42

bags they're going to fill them for us we are going to mail the samples to the reviewers the reviewers will not know

49:48

what product it is that they're reviewing all they're going to know is Indica sativar hybrid the THC range and

49:54

how it was grown how it was dried and how it was trimmed and that's it and then we've developed like a step-by-step

50:00

very easy to follow questionnaire that I've worked with a few education companies to help me develop this

50:06

questionnaire and they'll go step by step into it and then the moment they

50:11

press click and submit they'll find out afterwards what uh what product that

50:16

they reviewed okay and I wanted to do it blind because uh I'll tell you a story

50:21

I had some weed that was given to me by Tweed and I tried to give it to my butt

50:27

tenders and my butt tint I gave them the packaging they're like no we don't want to try that it's garbage wheat and I was

50:35

like no they got new drops and everything like that and I gave it to them tried it same negative feedback

50:42

three weeks later I took the exact same weed and I put it in a black bag and I said hey look what my friend grew for me

50:49

take a look and let me know what you think and they're like wow that was actually really good weed where can you

50:54

get that and I was like it's Tweed I can't swear here but I was like

51:01

umfer right this is the same product I gave you three still but because of your internal biases and uh and preconceived

51:09

notions you were not willing to give it a good review so we we wanted to give blind reviews and what we're doing is

51:15

we're giving a score to the review so we'll do like an average score and we're

51:20

gonna within the score so the scoring system is up to a hundred within the scoring system we also have a a weed

51:28

category uh code so we'll do like value weed mid-grade weed premium weed and uh

51:36

luxury weed so that way the luxury wheat if they meet all their criteria they can score a 90 and the expectations of a

51:43

value we if they meet all their criteria they can still score 90 but our code our

51:48

code is what we're going to publish to the market and tell people hey we had a hundred people that are in the industry

51:54

refer this product and give it this score it wasn't just consumers or anything like that these are people that

52:00

own LPS these are Master Growers these are people like yourself that are consumers these are store owners store

52:07

managers Bud tenders industry people that are giving credit to these uh these

52:13

products and then I'm going to take that score and I'm going to put it on my price tag as well too now sub tenders

52:19

will know what to sell and recommend because typically what's the Dank review score yeah yeah it's called the bank

52:27

certified score so oh in order for us to sell your product you got to be dank certified right with us

52:33

and for the it'll it'll really help butt tenders because now like in my store I

52:38

carry like on average like 150 pre-rolls they haven't tried all these products and they haven't been drained on how to

52:44

sell so they typically sell based on their own personal experience right and it's impossible to do that because

52:50

sometimes bartenders don't have the budget to try the luxury products either yeah so we wanted to just make it fair

52:57

so now they have a third-party validation of a product and that they can actually go online to our website

53:03

and see the review if they want to but that score will give them a good indication of what what that product is

53:10

and has to offer to Consumers and then consumers would also they get overwhelmed by just the number of new

53:15

products that keep dropping and the overwhelming choices that they have and they don't want to risk their

53:22

hard-earned dollars to try products out and what if it's not good so now they

53:27

can go off of a scoring system store owners can now buy with confidence the store owners is hey that's a that

53:33

product's been reviewed it's on flow through I'm going to order it three or four weeks in a row because I trust this uh so we wanted to make like a trusted

53:41

system and also it'll help LPS because how as an LP if you have a couple of

53:47

skus do you compete with 5 000 other products in the market especially against the big companies that have you

53:54

know tons of sales reps and they have you know advertising dollars and marketing budgets to throw at these

53:59

things how do you survive as a small guy well you make a good product you give it to me and then we'll put it on Bank

54:06

reviews if it gets a good score we will Market it to you to the entire industry for you and the industry will pick it up

54:14

and recommend it and sell it and consumers will buy it just based on the fact that it's a trusted product so

54:19

we're really going out of our way to help the small little guys uh stand out in the industry and no hopefully that'll

54:26

push their businesses to be much more successful right and level the playing field right because sometimes the people

54:32

with the most money don't necessarily grow the best products either right yeah

54:38

so if you have like a certain strain your review is based on

54:44

that batch only the next time the batch comes out the area is not applicable anymore you have to get it retested and

54:50

re-scored because I've seen Products that come out really strong and then their next batches are just horrible

54:55

right yeah I think the industry deserves some sort of standardization and a third-party validation system and most

55:03

LP owners everybody that I've talked to love the idea there's also like some of the top guys in the industry have

55:09

already signed up to be uh VR reviewers and hopefully in the next week or two we're going to be putting

55:15

their pictures and profiles on on our website as well too so that the industry can see who is actually reviewing it

55:22

it's not just people off the street that don't know what they're talking about these are people that are in Industry that have some power influence they're

55:30

doing buying they're doing selling so it's from the industry for the industry

55:36

I think it's going to be amazing I'm really excited about uh what's possible with something like Bank reviews well I

55:41

can I can honestly say I didn't know I had heard MJ mention it but um after talking here for almost an hour about a

55:48

whole bunch of things uh I can understand now why both MJ and yourself

55:53

like completely lit up into this like passionate explosion of it's it's a very

55:59

very cool idea now that I understand it but both of you the Dank review yeah the Dank reviews is I mean you both clearly

56:06

like just you've lit up as you were telling that jazz I mean I mean you were speaking with such passion there that I

56:11

was like I was like oh well this is and it's a cool idea I think I touched on it in the very beginning I was like yeah I

56:17

stopped I had like pre-pre-recording I was like yeah I stopped at one of your local stores and they didn't have a product I was looking for and like jazz

56:23

was saying we carry like how many hundreds of difference of products and like there's so many on the market that

56:30

how do you carry

56:35

it's a great system I know um there was somebody else that tried to do it when legalization first hit and

56:43

they hired I think it was five curators or something and I don't know where they are now I don't

56:49

know what they're doing but it it was a good idea and they didn't have enough force behind them so I love that you got

56:56

the hundred people that's a great way to test you know we surveyed a hundred people top 10 answers on the board yeah

57:03

yeah and giving a scoring system and making it totally like non-biased yeah

57:09

and like honest reviews that people can trust and making them fair so that you

57:15

know a value product like pink Kush which in itself is a great product for the position that it's in in the market

57:21

can score really well versus a Carmelo animal face or Volo or some of these

57:28

like luxury weeds can also score well because you don't want to be let's compare you know pink Kush to to animal

57:36

face those are two totally different products right so you have to be able to give both of them a fair chance at

57:43

standing out within the segment of the market that they're in right wow well it took us a lot of time to

57:49

think about how to do everything we did a lot of Consulting with a bunch of people in the industry to figure out the

57:55

the stuff and as we start with the company I'm sure more tweaks will be made just to create transparency honesty

58:01

and fair opportunity for everybody in the industry but I know for a fact in my

58:06

stores anytime an LP rep comes to me next year at this time so I don't care

58:11

what's on your feature sheet I don't care what you have to say about your product because your job is to sell your product right I appreciate it right yeah

58:19

and nobody nobody ever says their baby is ugly right that's part of their job mine mine was a little off mine mine was

58:25

a little wonky I'll admit that well he's good now so when they're selling me my

58:30

my products their products I'm just going to stop them say yeah are you dank certified because if you're

58:36

staying certified I trust it and I'll buy it I don't even need you to come here because I already know what the scores are right yeah oh that's going to

58:43

kill the salesman industry well I think what it's okay it's okay because not

58:49

everybody can afford the sales people no I know you know a different role in the

58:55

industry for educators and there's so many more things that they can offer help you reps to us as well well and and

59:01

you're right too I mean it's it's I mean a salesperson you know is is going to

59:06

say whatever they can to sell the product and then if they if they two weeks later leave and go to another company guess what that company now has

59:13

the best products in the world that that's yeah and it makes it easier for retailers

59:20

because right now as a retailer how do you find out what's good or what's not good you have to go on to reddit reddit

59:27

is like all blind reviews people hating on each other half the time it's LP reps

59:32

I know certain LPS that have people hire tired just to do their Reddit post for them right well it's not authentic it's

59:39

not uh real and I and I stopped looking because I can't trust it yeah I don't

59:44

know who these people are I want to be able to have recognizable people that are willing to put their face and

59:50

reputations on the line and they're they've all agreed they're like yes I own this other company but if somebody

59:56

makes a good product I have no problem saying it was good especially if it's blind

1:00:02

if it's a blind test you don't know what product whose product it is if it's your

1:00:07

competitors even if it's yours if you're an LP and you're testing it it could even be your product you don't know

1:00:14

um but I do want to take this moment Jazz to uh shamelessly throw in a plug and be like you know I do consume a lot

1:00:20

of cannabis so I mean there's no lack of of reviews that could be done and who

1:00:25

better than to have the Doobie no you'll be there

1:00:32

Jazz we uh we have so enjoyed having you on the show today thank you so much for

1:00:37

taking out so much of your time I mean I mean we're we are now as of recording this we are a week away

1:00:44

um from from Elevate happening and excited to attend excited to interview the speakers and and do interviews from

1:00:50

the floor and we're just so excited I'm excited yeah it's uh it's it's been so where um as we kind of close this our

1:00:57

time together off what um what are some final words that you want to say where can people find all

1:01:02

this information and we'll try to put links to everything you're mentioning down in our uh in our description boxes so I think Elevate cannabis expo.com is

1:01:11

our our website and uh I just request people like you're in the industry if

1:01:17

you love the industry please make an effort to come attend by you being there it's going to make a

1:01:23

difference and we're going to grow this industry together right we need the support of the industry we can't just sit back and complain hoping things get

1:01:30

better we have to get involved and play our small role each person one at a time and make the industry into something

1:01:36

that we've all like kind of dreamed about forever and something that we can live a lifetime in rather than like

1:01:43

struggling and complaining there's opportunity if you look for it and together we're stronger right that's the

1:01:49

way I look at it well and I think that's that's what I think has come very clear through through the talk with you that today is

1:01:55

is that togetherness in your your passion to to work with others to

1:02:00

collaborate to ask those questions and um there's so much there's there is

1:02:06

there is still I I feel a lot of division um especially I think legalization kind

1:02:11

of split split the industry that that used to be a little more unified and and people are trying to sort through

1:02:18

um you know the Legacy versus legal market and people still trying to kind of figure out how do we how do we still

1:02:25

embrace the other side you know and we can have a separate podcast about that I

1:02:30

have lots to say well that's yeah and removing the stigmas and oh yeah

1:02:35

removing the window coverings and how to like make cannabis more accepted amongst the the general public

1:02:44

is still there right it's probably a whole two hour special on the different

1:02:50

like what we could change within the rules and regulations to make it more accepted and more some people some

1:02:55

people I think felt that legalization was going to kind of you know be the end point and in many a lot of ways it

1:03:02

almost seems like it's just the beginning right now it's just the beginning there's so many people that are non-consumer newbies that are still

1:03:08

afraid to go into a cannabis store yeah they don't know what's on the other side of those windows right yeah Jazz I think

1:03:14

you're you're definitely um one of those people that is uh is is setting the right pace down

1:03:20

um Jazz Samra um front was a VIP uh Media Group yeah owner of sativa Bliss founder of VIP

1:03:28

Media Group and who's hosting the Elevate Canada conference which is

1:03:34

coming up if you uh if you're listening to this podcast in time or watching it on YouTube it will be coming up

1:03:40

September 12th to the 15th 2023 uh in

1:03:45

where where exactly is it it's in yeah about 10 minutes away from

1:03:52

the Toronto airport so perfect you see it's possible from everywhere the website will be in our description box

1:03:58

Jazz thank you so much again for joining us here on this box we will definitely take you up on that

1:04:04

offer about having another conversation about uh things that need to happen in the industry still I look forward to it

1:04:10

I can talk this all day long Thanks Jazz my pleasure

1:04:16

[Music] thank you

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