state trivia. Sure. Wait, what? State trivia? What is the state
fossil? Probably some sort of mosquito.
That was good. You know this one? I've asked you this before.
There is a trial. Right. There you go. That's a legit thing.
You have a good book at this reason. I've caught you on that
before. All right. So talk to me. Okay, during what's the
peanut gallery? Sounds good. Let's start with explaining the
technicalities here. I'm sure a lot of people are going to be
confused. Just the idea of Delta eight, Delta 10, Delta nine.
And why is it look like you're selling something that they
think is illegal in Wisconsin? Sure. So basically in 2018, when
they came up with the farm bill, we realized that they
specifically said a certain percentage of Delta nine was
what's, you know, not allowed. As long as you're under that,
you're good. Well, at the time, I don't think too many people
were aware of all the different forms of THC or that or how you
could convert it or readily get it. And in finding, hey, wait a
second. So we can grow hemp, which is legal, and then infuse
it with Delta eight THC. And that's legal because we're still
under the Delta nine THC. But I think a lot of people didn't
realize that Delta eight could actually give you very similar
effects. And if anything, just a little cleaner of like a
headspace, but still that calming, relaxing kind of vibe that
you would get from your traditional marijuana. And I
think they just tested the market to say, Hey, we think we
can do this. We can try it. And when the first store in
Appleton took off the way it did, it was like, okay, we got a
ramp up production, get a few more locations, and it just has
kept going and going and going. So what is behind you? What's
that? What's in these jars? So you are going to be looking
here at Delta eight THC flower. So it's grown as hemp, which has
no very minimal and legal amounts of trace amounts of Delta
nine THC. So normally it wouldn't give you any psychoactive
effects. But we're able to infuse that with Delta eight THC,
which is simply CBD converted to Delta eight. And then you can
get those similar effects. So it looks tastes smells exactly
the same. But it is legal in Wisconsin.
Because when the bill is being passed, the line that everyone
uses, you have to smoke a whole bay on the hemp right? Right.
Right. And that's still true. Literally. Yes, literally
correct. But when it comes in here, right, you're able to
almost combine elements of the law. Correct. So essentially,
in this works very well for Wisconsinites, unfortunately.
So we can't sell Budweiser, but we can sell Bud in a that's
infused with alcohol eight or 10. And then you can get that
very similar effects, same taste, just like you would with the
nonalcoholic, if you could alcohol to it, if you will. So
so in effect, do we need legalized weed in Wisconsin? How
would that be different from what we have? I would think so
just because like you see how well it does in the medical
senses and that's but like our big thing would be we'd want to
see like a lot of the other states that we're in, we're
running into they were doing really good our Delta eight,
even in legal states where Delta nine is medical or
recreational. We still do very well and actually our best
store is in a medical state. But the fact that they think they
can't go ahead and offer Delta eight to if we're Delta nine,
we want to be hey, this plan has a lot to offer. Here's the
different. It's it's almost like a whole lineup. It's like
what exactly are you looking to feel? You can already do that
pretty good with traditional marijuana. But that's very
psychoactive. Where with your Delta eight can be a little less
psychoactive Delta 10, you can get that more of like a focusy
effect. So it's really kind of opening the doors to a couple
different options. But we want to see kind of rolling all those
all out as options. So it's like, here's everything. What did you
want? Not specifically this kind of this kind of this plant has
all this to offer. How can we help you? So for the people that
are your customers, before you existed, were they largely
buying illegally? Yeah, yes. I'm sorry, guys, but yes, they
were. And unfortunately, that's what you have to do. And I
think even like I think back quite a ways I know it was less
people consuming than when it wasn't even like available in
Michigan or Illinois. But now especially with that, I mean, I
grew up going up North every weekend. And now when you're up
there, like almost everyone, because I talk about what I do
for a living. And I always get all that ain't I know about
that stuff that don't do nothing. So there's also that
stigma too of people that just are like, well, to get the real
stuff, we got to drive to Michigan or so you have a lot of
people, but we do have quite a few that will convert. Then
sometimes you'll get a crazy deal up there in Michigan, because
I have some crazy blowout sale or whatever. But it's like, that's
still technically not legal here. So we do have a lot of people
that are still like, a this works, I might have to smoke a
little more to get the same effect for some people. But
still the fact that it's legal. And if I get stopped, I got the
receipt, I got the proof. Obviously, you can't be open and
toxicant. But so we do get a lot of people that are slowly
working their way over this way. I mean, what percentage of
people, I guess, are, I don't want to just hung up is probably
the wrong way, but more worried about the legality versus the
regulation and like where it comes from. That's a pretty good
split, I would say, because I mean, especially, we still get
some people that'd be like, Well, I tried your stuff and I
really liked it. But now I found it for $20 at a gas station. So
there's some people that aren't worried. But I would say for
the most part, it's people that are kind that know the
difference in product like, you know, especially if they
compare, if you could compare them side by side, our job would be
really easy because I think everyone would be coming here in
Wisconsin right now. So we get a lot of people that'll kind of
test the waters, they come at wall, you guys are a little more
expensive. But when you explain like you're getting a pure
product, so you might only need half of a joint or whatever it
may be to get that same result. But we definitely get a lot of
people that are trying to figure out the balance. And that's
what's hard without regulation to be so easy if we could kind of
get to a bigger group of people. But it's really just word of
mouth, we can't promote on social media. Everything gets
shut down, because it's about cannabis and sales of cannabis.
So it is a lot of word of mouth getting people in here and
trying to network through our customers. And I think we do a
really good job of that. But it'd be great to just see kind of a
broader message of it is safe. And we want to help you do it
right, we don't want you coming in here just, what's going to
mess me up or whatever, like that's why we don't sell just
online or we don't wholesale the like a gas like we want to know
who's buying the product what they're using it for and help
them know what they're getting into and helping them find that
sweet spot and how to work it.
So when you look at from the Apple scenario, so I'm sure you
know, all the billboards on 41 going north advertising for
Michigan dispensaries. Yep.
Are people driving that far? I mean, they must think it's
worth their money to be put up those billboards.
Definitely. And I couldn't believe it actually real quick.
There was just a bust. I guess is what they call right when
they took the cops take the picture and everything's on the
table. And I just saw that in Marinette. So just north of
here, it was a whole it was like the table where you'd see like
pounds of cocaine and stuff and they're all the cops are showing
like what they did. And it was all packaged and legally bought
product. But they had for whatever reason, I don't know, I'm
sure there was a legit reason they had stopped a coach bus.
And it was people going to the casino. And the casino was
right next to the dispensary. So a lot of these people brought
stuff to get bring it back. So I mean, you run into a lot of
this like, it's just a crazy that you can buy it legally. But
here, you can't you can't even going bring it back or you could
get in trouble. And I'm sorry, where did you start with that?
Oh, I just did the billboards that are on 40. Oh, yeah. I mean,
just driving through there. That's a few hours. That's not
just, you know, come on down. And I think they do a good job.
So like, you'll see they'll put out some crazy deals. So they
might be and you know, I like to check out competition. And
around here, there's not a lot that offer like we do like with
the with the flower jars or the selection. And we like to
present this clean atmosphere. There's not a lot to look at
around here. So I definitely, you know, my parents are only
about a half hour from Michigan, the closest dispensary. So I
always like to see that's actually where we got the idea for
the charcuterie board. And so pick out their ideas, but they've
always got some crazy sale like 25% off everything today. So a
lot of people will go there. And when I go there, you can see
it's 95% Wisconsin plates and the lines out the door to our
weight. And but we got to go there to get it. So unfortunately,
there's still a lot of people that have to make that
sacrifice of, yeah, it's not legal, but I'm going to head up
there, get some stuff, come back. So for for some people, if
they're going to make that trip, and from what you heard, are
they more concerned about buying it legal, even if it's illegal
to bring back? Yeah, that's sort of appear to be I mean, like, I
can't remember last time, like I had to hit somebody up to buy
something, you know, obviously in my college days or whatever,
that was a thing because there was no anywhere legal to get this
kind of a product. But I think it's just mainly knowing what's
in it, you know, because you could there's still sources to
get it. And you know, there's a lot of farmers and stuff to
that like, well, we don't talk about what we're growing back
there type of stuff up north. And to know that they're it's
got to be just you know what you're getting. And that's what
we really pride ourselves in with our own product. And that's
kind of the aspect we're going for. Yeah, we could just we could
slash our prices, not have to make anything which would
relieve a lot of headaches. But A, we don't even know for sure
what it is if we buy it somewhere else. And then B, it's
just that quality, the quality's there. And if it's not you
talk to us, it's not Oh, somebody else's. So you definitely
get a lot of people like, I want the good I want to know what
I'm getting. I think it's the main reason they'll drive up
there, knowing that they're coming back and it's illegal.
What is it? I mean, you talked about experience buying
illegally, but that was the way to procure marijuana. Now
you're in the parking lot of a mall next to like a fast food
joint, and you know, a domino is it right? Does it feel like I
mean, is this the kind of place you would have driven to to do a
transaction? No, at the storefront? It was definitely
usually when it was dark out. And that was the thing like so
when I quit smoking back in the day, because there was no
edibles or stuff that I was aware of, there's all flour. So
when I it was smoking or no kind of marijuana. So then I
kind of went back to drinking because I started get
paranoid. And you know, you can look into it, you can see
there's some people report paranoia. So when our stuff,
when I tried it, I didn't get it. Well, I didn't know if it
was because it's different cannabinoid in Delta A THC, or
what was actually getting back then because there is no, it
was, you know, little ziplock bag. Sometimes it was zipped
all the way. Sometimes it wasn't. You know, you really
wonder, it's kind of scary to think about like, what did I
actually consume? And thankfully, it wasn't like a 10
year, 10 years straight of like buying every week and keeping
I mean, ingesting something all the time, it was a, you know,
like a weekend thing, weekend treat or whatever. So, but it's
still like, man, what did I do? Or who knows, you know, it's
kind of crazy. So here's a question that you may or may not
want to answer. But could someone purchase something from your
shop, keep the receipt, purchase something across the border
legally, and then use your receipt to, to show that or to
trade and prove that it's legal? They probably could, but it
wouldn't work when it once they got tested, like if the officer
was at all. So we definitely make sure that we put we got like a
sticker that goes on as a seal. So you can tell if it was popped
open. Now the officer probably wouldn't know that obviously
because he might not know who we are, how we do things. We do
let municipalities know and police organizations that we go
to, we let them know ahead of time like, Hey, here's how we do
it. Why it's legal, that kind of stuff. But yeah, that would be
a little bit of a something that you hope that people, and we
also staple the bag shut. So like, if you were to get stopped in
Weston, or like where our stores are, we have that good
relationship with the police officers. So I feel like they
would know like, Oh, that ain't from the dispensary, because
we always you leave here with a bag, whether you like it or not
some people. I don't need it. I'm going to use it for safety
purposes were staple in the receipt. The moment you open it,
you better not be in your car, because that could be considered
open and toxic. And so that again, is where that information
getting that across to the customers, we're trying to keep
that smart. If you had any issues with law enforcement? No,
and actually, I was really so when I first started here, I was
like, I wonder what some other people think of this. And my
main thing is like cops probably hate us. And like second
weekend, and they were talking about how a county that we work
in, an officer actually stopped in and say, Hey, I appreciate what
you guys are doing, because people are going to buy this
either way. And I'd rather them know where it's coming from
than be buying it on the streets. And then that's just kind of
been the general mindset that I keep too. That's like, yeah, we
are doing what I think is the right thing, especially when it
is dosing it correctly. Yeah.
Anything else that you want to add? What we've been talking
about? Not that I can think of at the moment, can I get you to
say and spell your name in your title? Yeah, yep. So Bob
Hickey, B-O-B, H-I-C-K-E-Y, junior, and then regional
manager of Northern Wisconsin.
The dispensary? Yeah, the dispensary. Yeah.
Let me give you my car. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Definitely.
I would