 This is St. Tech, Hawaii. Community Matters here. I'm Marcia Joyner, and this is Cannabis Chronicles, a 10,000-year odyssey. So tell me, Muse, of that plant of many resources, which wonder far and wide the ancient plant of food, fuel, fiber, cultivated for the millennia. As we venture through the past 10,000 years, we will explore and discover the planted plant, plant, Marcia, from which cannabis derives the many uses of the plant. Hemp, cannabis, ashes, cannabis and religion, cannabis and medicine, cannabis and dear old Uncle Sam. And so our odyssey begins. Today, our odyssey is not long ago and far away. It is current and in progress. It is the needless, old-age dance with Uncle Sam. And so now that Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has gone, maybe things will change. But in the meantime, let's not even talk about him. We have a delightful guest today, and his name is Tom Bolton. His company is Hawaiian Choice. And I just met him a couple of weeks ago. And his company is Hawaiian Choice, and they sell CBD and all of the related products with CBD. So Aloha, Tom. Welcome to Cannabis Chronicles. Aloha, Marcia. Thanks so much for having me. We are delighted. So tell us about Hawaiian Choice. Hawaiian Choice is an Oahu-based business. We make CBD products, principally tinctures and topicals at the moment. And what we do is we combine premium CBD, U.S. grown, with Hawaiian botanicals. So some of the grapefruit and the honey and things like lemongrass and eucalyptus that are grown across the lucky islands. And what we end up with is this fantastic product with the combination of some of the older thinking around cannabis and some of the newer thinking around terpene use all wrapped up in a delicious Hawaiian flavor. And we're really proud to be made here on Hawaii, and we're really proud of the support we're getting here across the islands. Well, now what is a terpene? A terpene is a plant compound. So if you think every plant has hundreds of compounds in it and hundreds of terpenes, and for example, if you looked at the plant lavender, I think most people would associate lavender with soothing and calming influences. And the reason that lavender does that is it has a terpene in it called linole. Linole is the calming effect. It gives that, helps people sleep and relax. And so we've taken that compound and we've used that terpene in our relax product. And our relax is aimed at people dealing with stress and anxiety and things like that. But also in a full dose, it's a sleep base of people having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Relax is a really powerful tool in their box without any of the drowsiness that might come from, say, traditional pharmaceutical sleeping habits. So that's an example. There's no, some of that other crap that you take, you wake up feeling like a hangover. So this would not do that. No, there's no fuzziness. There's no kind of hangover thing. The only thing you might feel is the, you know, what it feels like to have a decent night's sleep for once. You know, it's a natural product. We're not using anything artificial in that. Oh, that's wonderful. And all of the products that you use in combination with CBD, is that correct? That's correct, yes. And we have a range of four products that are tinctures. So that's a sublingual topical. That's the one you put under your tongue? Yes. The tincture is a spray that goes under the tongue. And then we have the topical, which is a gel, which can be applied locally. And in a whole ray of products, what are the other products you have? So if I took you through the tinctures, we have relief, and that focuses on pain and inflammation. We have relax, as I just referred to, which helps you with stress and anxiety and sleep. And then we have focus, which is a mental stimulant and helps people with concentration. And then we have active, which is more like a physical stimulant. So a good energy boost, but also has a mild appetite suppressant in it. That really helps people if they're trying to change their lifestyle, get fit or change their diet. And then we have the topical, which is a gel that applies to any localized pain or inflammation. Now, tell me, how do you get, how did you get involved in this industry? In Hawaii, my goodness, it is just booming everywhere you go. There used to be a time when people whispered about this. And now everywhere you go, stores, pharmacies, everywhere, there are these products. How did you get involved in this? Well, I don't think there's many people you would talk to who haven't had either themselves or a close member of their family or friends having some kind of ill health. And, you know, modern medicine is a fantastic thing, but there are times when you go to the cupboard and there doesn't seem to be anything that's anything left to help. And I think, you know, when you start looking into these things, as I did and as we did collectively, you start kind of looking at different alternative ways of approaching the problem. And what I found is that while marijuana, as in THC marijuana, was a kind of a relatively well-known compound, CBD was actually something that was new to me. And it really worked me up that there was this huge opportunity, this fantastic product, this fantastic opportunity to help people. And what we did was we started out by looking at the products for our own family members, trying to find something that we would, you know, in inverted commas take home to mum and dad, you know, to help them with whatever they were going through. We found plenty of good stuff out there, but we couldn't actually find the thing that we really wanted. So we carried on looking, doing the research, and I ended up doing a research trip around the US, going and meeting patients and advocates and growers and people doing manufacturing and people making products. And even, you know, the Mesares as well, and building up a bigger and better picture of what was out there. And eventually we got to the stage where it became obvious that to get exactly what we wanted, we were going to have to make it. So we spent probably about a year working on the formulation and deciding how we were going to put this together. And actually what we thought was that we'd start off, you know, just a little small thing ourselves and try to make something that we were proud of and that would work for us and then worry about everything else later. And typically, once we'd opened that box, we actually found that formulating it was far more complex and difficult than we'd expected, but also extremely rewarding. You know, you open the box, you better be ready for what's in it. Yes. And so what started off as a very simple, well, maybe we could just do this, add this and this, and then we'd have something that, you know, we'd be happy to use and take. We actually found that the more we looked, there were, you know, these fantastic other opportunities to things we could explore and it's greater efficacy. And we got to the end of this and thought, OK, well, this is too good not to share. So we thought we'd, we thought we'd, you know, knock on a few doors, ask a few questions. But the take-up was being, you know, phenomenal. We'd far, far more enthusiastic than we could have expected or hoped. Well, now I have, I know that you don't prescribe however. I want to know if there, if you have arthritis, for instance, or chronic pain and you take Advil or any ibuprofen and then on the small print, it says it may harm your liver and kidney. That's in a small, tiny, tiny print. Do you have anything that would help with those kinds of pain that would not harm the kidney or the liver so people could get off of that, those drugs? Absolutely. So, well, let's start off with looking at CBD as a whole. And the World Health Organization has said that there's no adverse effects from CBD. No adverse effects. No. OK. No. So you can't, you can't misuse it. I mean, I suppose you could, you could drink or eat it until you felt uncomfortable. But we're not talking about that. I think that's true of pizza and a lot of other things. So the compound itself doesn't have, you know, according to the World Health Organization, amazing, like a pretty smart bunch, doesn't have any negative effects. And the things that CBD are really good for, if we kind of split them into three areas, there's pain and inflammation, there's stress and anxiety, and there's sleep. But there's a whole host of other effects that CBD is fantastic for. Really, if you kind of put it under the kind of tag of homeostasis, the idea of getting the body back in balance. So if you look at your metabolism as part of that equation, if you look at your pain sensory, if that's part of the equation, if you look at sleep or mood, all these things add up to kind of putting the body either in balance or out of balance. You spoke of traditional medicines and over-the-counter things like Tylenol. So they are good painkillers, but that's not really what they're doing. They don't kill the pain, they just distract you from it. They kind of put a cover over it so you don't notice it. What do you mean they distract you from it? Do they act on the brain and not the pain? Is that what you're saying? Exactly. There's nothing, I'm not bad-mouthing any traditional medicines. That's absolutely not my place and I don't think it's appropriate. But what I would say is CBD actually talks to the body in a different way. So it does help with pain and inflammation by going to the areas that are affected. So if you look at a huge amount of the pain we experience on a daily basis, it's caused by inflammation. If you can reduce the inflammation, you reduce the pain. And in doing so, you're dealing with the cause and effect, which is a really powerful thing. It is. One of the interesting things about this is that whereas an immediate fix might be to pop a tablet or something similar like that and that experience of pain either disappears or is turned down in the mix, you're not actually dealing with anything long-term. With CBD it kind of works in reverse. You'll get some pain relief straight up, but actually the real benefit is in regular dosing that reduces the inflammation. So if you had issues, you would rub it on, or you could rub it on or you could take it and then you would have a regular dosage until it had ceased. Is that the way it works? Yeah. So if you look at, let's look at the tincture to start with. So what you're really doing is introducing, so your body produces a lot of these things anyway, but you're just turning it up. By taking CBD, you're taking something that's natural. These are things that the body produces already, but you're taking them in a high dosage in a controlled way. So what we suggest to people is to take a full dose, and a full dose is 25 milligrams of CBD, and the way our tinctures work, that is one measure of one milliliter. So you take one of those every day for a week, 10 days, depending on your individual circumstances, and at that stage you'll start to see significant results and you'll start to learn how your body's adapting to this. And then you can calibrate to your own needs. We have a lot of people who feedback to us who say, actually after that first week, week and a half, they find that they can reduce their dosage considerably, even to a half dose, and still get the desired effect, whether that be mood or pain release or appetite. And from our point of view, it's, you know, if the correct amount of CBD is the correct amount that works for you, doubling that up doesn't have a huge benefit to it, and bringing it back by half, if you can get by on that fantastic, that means your product, your bottle will last twice as long, and that's going to be good for everybody. Now, we have to take a break and we will be back in 60 seconds. So then we will talk about all of the different products, okay? We'll be right back. Thanks, Marsha. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Choose to improve your health without the risks of opioids. Choose physical therapy. I'm DeSoto Brown, the co-host of Human Humane Architecture, which is seen on Think Tech Hawaii every other Tuesday at 4 p.m. And with the show's host, Martin Desbang, we discuss architecture here in the Hawaiian Islands and how it not only affects the way we live, but other aspects of our life, not only here in Hawaii, but internationally as well. So join us for Human Humane Architecture every other Tuesday at 4 p.m. on Think Tech Hawaii. And we're back. I'm Marsha. This is Cannabis Chronicles. Today, we are talking to my new best friend. You know I only talk to best friends. And this is Tom Bolton from Hawaii Choice. And we're back. Hello again. Hello again. So now tell us more about, let's start with relaxing. What does each product have a name? What would you call if I came into you and said, I wanted CBD for relaxing, what would I get? Well, we try to keep it as simple as possible. That's something that carries across all of our products. So if you want a product that helps you relax, we've got one that says relax on the bottle. If you're looking for one that's looking at pain and inflammation relief, well, we've called it relief. Similarly, if you're having problems with focus, guess what's on the bottle? Focus. And if you want to be more active, again, we try to make it pretty simple. It's called active. How smart to say just what it is. Now, the relaxing, what is it mixed with? The CBD, what is it mixed with? That you mentioned local products. What is it mixed with? So across tinctures, we use natural Hawaiian grown produce. So that's lily-coi, hibiscus, olayna, noni, and big island honey. Noni. And part of the reason for us to say, yep, absolutely. How do you keep it from... Anyway, it just smells so bad. Yep. That's the part of the delicate balance of putting a product like this together, is that you have to get things for their taste and for their kind of their scent, but also for their efficacy, what they physically do for you. So it took a long time of calibrating up and down to get noni in for health benefits, but not having the, say, slightly cheesy side to it. But we've got there and the result is, if you look at a normal CBD product, CBD on its own, generally the feedback is it tastes like grass and dirt. Which is great if you happen to be a cow. But for most of us by-peds, we fancy something a little more pleasant, aromatic. Even enjoyable. And that's where the Hawaiian-grown fruit really comes into it. So obviously there's plenty of enthusiasm out there for noni and for alana and for lily-coi because of the advantages they have in the health-giving properties. But they also happen to taste pretty good as well. And so the outcome is that all our products, all our tinctures have a really good, fruity, delicious taste. And that's hugely important. It's not just a kind of a window dressing piece. You know, personally I'd rather take something that tastes nice than tastes awful, but it's more important for people who are actually going through serious ill health. I'm sure most people are aware of how your palate can be affected by things like chemotherapy and things like that. And when you're in that situation, the last thing you want to do is take something that's actively unpleasant. Okay. Well now, chemotherapy, people that are taking chemotherapy, would they use CBD to help them get through the thickness that comes with that? Can they use CBD? CBD is open to everybody. But one of the things I think is really important is responsibility. And that's personal responsibility and also responsibility of companies. Could that calm them? Because, you know, I don't know, but I heard that that makes you very sick. So is there, could they use this as a tincture or a topical to calm them, to make them ease through that process is what I guess I'm asking. Absolutely. So CBD is known for its anti-inflammatory properties, for its health with pain release, for its moods, for its anti-nauser properties. So all of these things, you can see how they would apply to somebody going through a serious medical process such as chemotherapy. One of the things I would always advocate though is that people don't look to replace one thing with another without doing proper research. And one of the things we do to try and help people really manage their own health is that every bottle, every single product of ours has a batch number on the side of it. And you can go to our website and use that batch number to download the independent lab report for that product that you're holding. And that lab report is done by Steep Hill Hawaii. We're really proud that the level of testing that we undergo with them, they have complete autonomy on that. And that's important, not just so that you can know, have faith of what's in the bottle, purity posts and seeing, are you avoiding heavy metals, are you avoiding pesticides and herbicides? All of these things are important. But it's also crucial for people who want to be able to go to their physician and say, I'm taking this, what do you think, how will this play into whatever I'm trying to achieve? So you can print out that report, take it to your doctor, and have a well-educated conversation with your healthcare professional. We think that's really important. Do you have many doctors? Now, I know there are a lot of doctors that are prescribing that, you know, in order for you to get your card, your 329 card, but are there physicians that are selling your products in their office, in the doctor's office? Absolutely, we're really proud that we have the support of some excellent doctors around the island. And that includes, on top of that, there are pharmacies and chiropractors and all kinds of areas at the medical professional world. And if anybody wants to see where the nearest place to them is, we've got a full list on the website where you can type in where you are and it'll tell you exactly where and what's nearest. We're proud to be stocked in over 65 places across the island, and that's growing every day. So if anybody wants to have a look online, they can see the where to find us. Okay, now, since you said that, tell us the web address. It's all the W's. HawaiianChoice.com HawaiianChoice, one word. HawaiianChoice, one word. HawaiianChoice, one word. Dot com. And there you can see. I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah, down there you can, sorry, down there you can see all about the products. You can see what we do and how we do it. You can have those lab reports that I talked about earlier, and actually you don't even need to buy a lab report, buy a product to check those lab reports out. We've put one in the box so you can look it up anyway and just have a dig around. And that's kind of a really useful thing I think as well, but it's not just, you know, this isn't just let's make some money. This is let's help people, let's try and do something positive. So regardless of where people are getting their CVD from, we hope that they can use our website as a resource. So we've put an education section in there so people can go in and learn stuff. We've got contacts. So if anybody wants to know more, if anybody has any questions, they can let us know and we'll come back to them with anything we can. And then of course, you know, we do have the list of places that were stopped around the islands. And that's 65 and growing. Wow. And then of course, people can also buy online. And what we do to try and make it as simple as possible again is we have no minimum purchase online and we do free shipping and the free shipping is not just across the islands but across the entire US. So you are... Because we just want to... You're in other places across, not just Hawaii, but other locations. Other states. We're just starting out across the... We're just starting out across the mainland. We're in a few places, but our absolute priority was Hawaii. We think, you know, we're proud to be made in Hawaii and we're proud to be focusing on Hawaii first. I would think that just Hawaii products that are included in your CBD would make... People love just the word Hawaii and it conjures up such wonderful thoughts. It seems to me that that would be quite an adjunct in the sale. It doesn't hurt, I can tell you. There are certain places that capture the imagination and people are... The enthusiasm for Hawaii doesn't end at the end of the edge of Hawaii. It's the global thing. Anybody anywhere in the United States of Hawaii, they're probably smart. Now tell us of some of the other products you have and what they do. So the topical we have... So the topical we have is we spoke earlier about relief, which is focused on pain and inflammation and you can think of our topic as part of the piece for that. Yeah, and then... Locally applied? Locally applied. Yeah, and that contains Arnica, but also we're really proud that it contains Big Island eucalyptus and lemongrass. So one of the first things we have when we send out the samples to the health food stores and the like is you get feedback saying, fantastic, we're probably going to need some more of this because it's kicked off an argument within everybody working here who gets the sample pop. Yes, of course. So good smell, it's a good effective product and it's something we're really proud of. Now what about... You said relief and rest. We talked about... What about focus? That was the other one, focus. Focus is interesting because it's trying to help people get more out of their day. You don't actually have to have something actively wrong with you or have an ongoing illness to want to just be a little bit better, be a little bit happier, be a little bit more productive. Focus was... we came up with because the amount of people I know who do have that difficulty concentrating who lurch from a sugary snack to a highly caffeinated drink and back again and they're up and down like yo-yokes all day. And I personally... I have to stay clear of caffeinating because it does not make me a happy chap. What really? So folks, it tends to make me up and down. I have a good caffeine kick and then soon afterwards I'm back down. I'm probably tired of what I was before. Oh, dear. So focus was our way of combating that, something that's a completely natural product that you can take and whether that's... you're cramming for exams or you've got a tough meeting at work or the kids are playing up or you just fancy having a bit of a sit down and a proper read or a think. Whatever it may be, focus is a really useful way of helping you with that. And again, because it doesn't have the caffeine side of things because it's not reliant on, you know, a huge stimulus, you don't have that up and down thing. Similarly with the relax unlike a sleeping tablet it doesn't do that kind of... we have the expression you don't need a sledgehammer to crack a nut. You have the right tool for the right job. Well, this has been a real pleasure visiting with you and hopefully you'll come back and visit with us again. I'd love that. I'd like that very much. Thank you so much for having me, Marsha. Thank you. Aloha. And we'll see you next time.