Calm Peak on Synthetic Cannabinoids, Heart Attacks, & Building an Award Winning Brand |HempList #61|

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In Summary

James Thompson, CEO & Founder of Calm Peak, joins Chase Nobles the Founder of Kush.com on this HempList Podcast!

After James survived a serious heart attack he found himself first using CBD and eventually getting into the business with his brand Calm Peak. Now Calm Peak has become a well established health & wellness company known around the industry and even caching in multiple awards.

In addition Patricia, Calm Peak’s lawyer, joins in to talk about what is happening in the industry and where the future of hemp might lead with minor cannabinoids. Everything from the saturation of Delta 8 products to what constitutes a ‘Synthetic’ cannabinoid, and even Terpenes.

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Transcript (Auto-Generated)

hey everybody chase nobles here founder
of kush.com we’ve got james thompson
here with calm peak how are you james
i’m doing great thank you i’m honored to
uh be on this interview thank you
it’s a pleasure to have have you on the
show uh it’s it’s it’s been a little bit
of the making we both had a little bit
of life going on and uh glad to make it
finally happen now you’re based out of
alabama
alabama yes an interesting state from an
agriculture perspective but also from a
cultural perspective
but it sounds like y’all have a lot
going on tell us a little bit about what
you do what you’ve been working on and
how the business is going
well um i started uh com peak uh in 2018
on i started a website um i hired a
company to come up with an e-commerce uh
you know website and i wanted to
get into the uh
the cannabis industry through him and um
and and cbd had just the farm go ahead
pass
and so uh one of the uh there was a
business here in town that actually was
one of the first to start and uh so i
was doing some research i studied
uh i said you know is it something i
might be interested in because of my
background uh seven years ago i had a
heart attack major heart attack had five
blood clots
and uh you know i’m very blessed to be
here uh to be alive today
because i almost died and you know and
it was
i was in itu for about uh two weeks
and i was in a hospital about a month so
i recovered uh but i was still you know
of course they prescribed me
prescription meds uh blood pressure med
and you know your normal you know blood
thinner to to be able to you know
survive and cope daily
so i was on uh for about five years the
meds kept getting you know one after the
other they would prescribe another pill
another next thing you know i was taking
about 11 pills a day i counted i’ll
never forget i woke one morning i was
like just i was very depressed and and i
wasn’t getting any better i just felt
like i was putting on a lot of weight
and my energy level was low um just
depressed i started having nightmares
dreams about i’ll be honest with you
dreaming community
you know and i knew something wasn’t
right so i was like so i remember
counting opening up all the bottles put
it on the counter and that’s helping 11
pills a day this is this is not working
for me so i just made a conscious this
decision to take over
and uh do a little more research on
these pills i was taking i said you know
i’m gonna i’m gonna get off these bills
and uh so
i decided code turkey to stop
and when i did i was down to like two
pills a day i started feeling a little
bit better i started working out you
know getting on a diet and just
everything you know just my whole life
changed my lifestyle uh and i saw some
alternative medicine i started taking
cbd
uh and and with the holistic doctor you
know prescribing some other natural
remedies so it started working for me
and with that said started doing some
more research cbd that’s how i
got to you know to to motivation to do
that so and i said you know what let me
let me look into this further and so
when the farm bill passed i decided to
open up my own business and try to help
other people that might have been in my
predicament or going through the same
thing that i did so that was kind of
like a motivation for me and i remember
i hadn’t been on social media forever
man i finally got on social media i
first opened up my e-commerce i launched
the store i did like a testimony of what
i was going through i was very
transparent and man you should have saw
my dm after that it was like and then i
knew at that moment i was on the right
track like i knew this is what i needed
to do
i want to back it up you know just just
quickly because i think there’s a lot of
people that deal with similar issues you
know that try that are looking for
alternatives
you’re you’re not i don’t you’re not an
old guy you’re 53 years old and yeah you
had a major heart attack almost died
and then i can’t imagine the anxiety of
is this gonna happen again you know what
what is my timeline here realistically
right and you’re you i would imagine
that all those thoughts are going
through your head
plus you’ve got all these medications so
who the unknown side effects and the
known side effects of all those
it sounds like you were in a really
rough place what what made you turn to
cbd was it just research was it just
kind of desperation how how did you
you know fall on cannabinoids in the
first place that you know to help you
get out of whatever you were in there
that’s a great question um so you know i
come from the health and fitness
industry i was a bodybuilder i was uh
you know i used to have a smoothie shop
back in the day and i would make
smoothies for all the athletes and
bodybuilders and so i kind of had a
knowledge i was a personal trainer i had
the knowledge of you know health and
fitness and supplements and all that so
with that said uh coming from that type
of background
i went to a really bad divorce and i
just let myself go and not be straight
up honestly i didn’t live a good
lifestyle you know smoking two packs a
day
so i kind of destroyed myself i just i
was so depressed and all that
accumulated to what happened with a
heart attack i had like five blood clots
so um you know after i finally had an
awakening after i came out of the
hospital you know i i i want to turn my
life around i want to get better and
you know do better and and plus my
daughter you know born and so i wanted
to make a good example of myself so with
that said you know after the five years
gone by and my health deteriorating not
getting any better
um
when i made that constant decision to
take over my body and and you know
actually enough’s enough you know i
don’t want to commit suicide
but when things started getting better
uh like when i found out about the farm
bill that’s what kind i was
watching the news one day and i noticed
you know this before the farm bill
passed somebody that was brave enough to
start a business here you know they
arrested arrested him they thought you
know this was illegal
and they come to find out like three
four months later the farm bill passed
so they let him you know everything he
was good right they released them and so
they uh it was all over the news and
that kind of motivated i caught my
attention and then i started digging
more about cbd and you know with
cannabis and all that i knew
that there’s a reason why that’s on our
you know it’s been helping a lot of
people through the years you know for
anxiety and sleep and pain and number
one inflammation and i had a lot of
inflammation in my body so and you know
the inflammation is start it’s the root
of all evil that’s what causes all these
major diseases if you don’t take care of
yourself that inflammation gets worse
and then all these diseases start to
form so
i reached out to a buddy of mine in
atlanta
and i told him what was going on with my
health he said i told him i was getting
off meds he said man that’s the best
thing you could do a smart decision he
you know he’s some alternative medicine
he recommended so i got on that so this
is this is what i
this is a true testimony my my left
kidney had blockage
it almost shut down that’s i almost died
because of that i made it completely
almost shut down it had blocked because
of the five blood clots so when they
finally to blocked in my blood out and
say you know my kid my left kidney
uh it was like just kind of give you an
idea of how far the the kidney function
was at like 34. it was in the low 30s so
that’s almost like you know dialysis so
it was like that around the 30 40s ever
since the hospital
so when i started my
treatment with my friend you know the
holistic doctor
with this with the supplements that he
told me that i should take and also with
the cbd
i noticed i did that for about a year
and i went and got my daily checkup my
yearly checkup so i went in the office i
never forget i did blood work uh he
comes back he says uh
what have you been doing i said i told
him he said man
he said my gfr for my kidney was 70. it
went from four to seventy he said i had
a little wiggle room there normally
sixty seven you know so it was beyond i
mean
you doubled the function of your kids
yeah exactly yes and you know from a
holistic perspective i i just can’t
imagine you know
not only the physical aspects of this
but the mental health aspects of this as
well and i think that’s just so ignored
in a lot of cases
of like there’s something about feeling
good and not only were you starting to
feel better but you found a purpose in
starting a business and yes you know a
purpose that has a lot of roadblocks you
know there’s always the challenges of
starting a business
now you add on him and all the issues
with that and then you add on you know
kind of the health factors as well
and it just kind of
and you’re in alabama of all places
which i know it
regardless of what the law says you know
you might get messed with a little bit
on top of being a minority it’s just
it’s like
you know one two three you have to stay
motivated and feeling good and having
that purpose and that mission must have
been really empowering in that moment to
be you know feel like you’ve been down
so long to
have something really important that
you’re working on tell us a little bit
about business because
you know you look healthy you look like
you’ve really overcome a challenging
time
business
must be something that you absolutely
love what are what are the things that
you’re working on and how has that you
know grown and shifted and changed and
pivoted based on what you’ve learned
within the market over the last year
well you know i’ve learned so much
you know i’ve never been so passionate
about something in my life and i you
know being 53
you know having a business about 20
years ago
you know it’s like a reawakening you
know like god’s given me another chance
and to use my testimony to help other
people i’ve noticed and it just happened
i don’t say by accident but it was like
it was like i feel like it’s you know
maybe it was meant to be but with with
everything that’s been happening and the
growth of my business it just it’s crazy
man like i’ve been so blessed this this
year alone like
you know we won three wolves back to
back you know i come out of nowhere uh
the products that we have we have are
just amazing oh there’s a lot of great
companies out there and we’re all you
know to me i feel like we’re all in this
together it’s not a competition thing
you know and i feel like you know we can
all learn from each other and what i’m
doing i’m trying to learn from other
companies and what they do best and
incorporate with mine i was just very
lucky to to partner with somebody that
did that’s
brilliant uh came out with some products
that was just for my company you know
with the formulations
and i just you know i i’m a go-getter
you know i’ve always been
you know before my heart attack i’ve
i’ve always been motivated you know i
like to an entrepreneur at heart and uh
so my brain never shuts off man i’m
almost thinking about what’s next what’s
next and now it’s even more so because
of my company the way it’s taken off i’m
looking for the next big thing and what
can i do to help people you know the
next minor cannabinoid or whatever
that’s coming out you know and but at
the same time you are you’re right this
is the most challenging business i’ve
ever been in because you don’t know
what’s going to happen tomorrow you know
uh and i want to make sure i do the
right thing like
you know i was told that and when i went
to my first expo in indianapolis back in
february
that’s when i won my first 101 best
edible
and this is when i was just getting into
the day
uh but before we were just a tac-free
company all of my products were ta
yields broad spectrum i and i didn’t
want uh you know my customers my
clientele to fill a drug test you know
and at that time i i was like okay well
we’ll just provide a tac-free brand and
make sure we work on these formulations
and it was we started out with six
products a little well it was okay with
you like to say it was the mark was so
flooded with so many cv companies very
competitive and uh of course you
couldn’t advertise
so i was like and i really didn’t know
what i was doing um you know i had a
marketing company and that didn’t work
that didn’t go right i was spending a
lot of money with them and
i didn’t have one sale for three months
i was getting really discouraged and so
i decided to take it over you know when
i got i got on social media i think then
i learned that customers want to make a
connection with
you know me the owner and when i was
starting to do my testimony of what
happened to me and why i’m doing this
and why i’m using the products it just
it connected and the next thing i know i
started
just blood of people being messaging me
about their experiences
you know and then they would try my
product and how it helped them and it
just kind of grew from there and then
going to the expos and this is what i
really love i love being in front of my
customers and
educating them about cannabis and hemp
and just the whole industry you know and
my products i love doing that i love
connecting with my customers that’s the
reason why i travel i’m i’m outside of
town every week and i’ve been going to
so many expos this year i can’t name
like we’ve been through three original
cbd expo tours one in indianapolis
denver
and colorado and i’m so proud of it
because we won we took on i mean it was
a lot of leading brands
and we took and we won three awards back
to back this year so i’m very proud of
that you know we won best edible uh best
delta a tincture for our pain and sleep
formula and which i’m that it’s amazing
i love it and uh we also won best minor
cannabinoid formulation
so and then hopefully maybe we’ll win
another one before the year is over so
we’re working on that that’s amazing you
know i
i think there’s something to be said
about
what you’ve done so far but it sounds
like your your mind is focused on the
future and what’s coming down the
pipeline i imagine that you have all
kinds of different plans but whenever
you think about
what the future holds how do you think
about this industry and and what your
role is in it um whether it’s you know
connecting with the customers
going you know more directly to
customers or all the different minor
cannabinoid variations or some of the
risk factors like the fda or you know
larger pharmaceutical companies how do
you think about the future
and what would it what advice would you
give to other businesses out there
asking themselves the same question
um
chase do you mind if i introduce i want
to answer you but i want help i want to
bring to help me by all means
thank you we have a guest on the show
today
she’s actually part of my success you
know she’s been with me on the road she
was my lawyer at first and we we
started dating and now you know we are
she’s helped me in so many ways with
this biz i i can’t incl i cannot include
her so i’m going to bring her in
this is patricia patricia we’ve got a
lawyer in the house say hello
that was quite introductive right on
patricia great to meet you
it’s a pleasure to have you on this show
um
that’s why i was like you know she’s
we we’re definitely gonna
bring that topic to that i’m glad you
asked hold on hold on patricia i gotta
say
i asked about the future and he brings
you here so i don’t know what’s coming
around the corner but that was uh
he says that i gave you the introduction
that’s an intro
well you know uh since we’ve been
traveling alone learning and seeing
other companies and what direction is
going in she’s been
i’ve been seeking her advice on a lot of
things like you know as far as like i
know delta 8 is a gray area right now
it’s becoming illegal in a lot of states
you know and i was a little hesitant
about you know
putting that product in my but notice a
lot of companies okay let me back up we
went to vegas the first convention they
ever had back you know pandemic they
didn’t have it for a while so went to
the very first one and i’ve never been
to a convention you know like that size
in that scope i’m i won’t mention which
one but i went there and i saw
primarily almost 60 70 percent of
companies were having delta eight on the
market i noticed
it was it was kind of marketed
differently than then we we market it
you know i wanted to be medicinal you
know i wanted to have make sure it had
cbd
some other cadaver noise in there that
helps with anxiety and sleep and pain
not just for the feel of the you know
what i’m saying so we that’s why we
formulated and we’re a health and
wellness company first and fore first
and foremost and so i wanted to make
sure all of our formulations
with the delta eight notice a lot of
companies that just had delta eight and
that was it you know so that and then
that just didn’t that’s not what i
wanted to do and i think that’s another
reason why that we kind of won a lot of
these awards especially for the delta
attention and the minor cannabinoid
formulations because we do put we take
pride and make sure all of our
formulations have some meaning to it you
know what i mean like it’s going to help
you in some way so and then that’s where
she comes in and she would tell me you
know she would give me advice and i
value her because i know all the
decisions that i’ve made i couldn’t know
without her you know so with the future
you know i
i know
i i want to bring something that nobody
else in this industry and we’re working
on some things now but i know that you
know
it has to be natural you know i don’t i
don’t want to be synthetic i want it to
be natural derived from him and she’ll
she says it best tell them tell them
about the natural law well one thing i
really see just in this industry in
general that’s going to be really
important is more focus on the minors so
not extracting and making something
that’s synthetic because that you know
it’s
well technically yes it may you know
skewed under the radar so to speak
according to the farm bill it kind of
violates the spirit of the law so i
think that we really want to focus on
things that are naturally derived and
naturally extracted and really focus on
the different minors that can be used to
help people with a lot of different
things i mean we’re actually working i
like what you’re saying patricia and
since we got you on the show and and i
think i already know the answer
when you think about all the delta
variants and different things like that
regarding minor cannabinoids not
coronavirus but regarding minor canada
um
how do you how do you look at those from
a legal perspective because
yes they you know may be legal in a lot
of states but they’re also getting
outlawed in a lot of states and then how
do you mesh that
uh with with the business james based on
the advice that you get from a legal
perspective how do you look at those two
things and blend them and then make a
business plan
go first yeah go ahead you’re right it’s
a gray area because
they’re legal they’re illegal who knows
you have the the farm bill that says it
has to be naturally derived so nothing
very little precedence from a legal
perspective right there’s not there’s
really none it’s a it’s a wild west so i
think one thing we want to make sure we
do is if if the hammer ever does them we
want to make sure that we’re above and
beyond
any kind of liability whatsoever so
making sure that it’s those things that
are extracted
but not then taken to a lab and changed
into something else so you add this and
this and this and then you have
well i don’t want to say anything out
locks i don’t want to throw any you know
any extractors under the bus so to speak
that’s not the intent whatsoever right
but it’s really all about keeping it
to its truest form compliant directly
derived from him not then altered in
many different ways he saw our packaging
our labeling you know it’s so like we
died all the eyes cross the t’s we make
sure we don’t sell under 21. but we try
to com we go we we
every little dot you know we cover it
all the the the warning labels the the
dosage down to how many exact milligram
party lab reports you know
a lot of great companies out there that
are doing that and i think that makes us
look more legitimate you know if we’re
going to present this type of you know
cannabinoid to the market we know
there’s a lot of risk factors involved
but like i said
you know as well as i do i think that’s
what happened with the cbd industry was
kind of it’s kind of going down it was
just so many companies out there and
everything was kind of like private
label so everybody was kind of getting
the same product it really wasn’t
anything special you know and it was
you know what i’m saying and so now you
know what if people feel it they think
oh it must be working you know it’s kind
of like that mindset but at the same
time we all know that cannabinoids do
help you know we’re actually
concentrating more on terpenes now the
more than anything terpenes you know
we’re working on the profiles and and
you and that’s the reason why we won
that award for the
formula because we added we actually
concentrated more on the terpenes in
there than we did anything else and so i
think i think it’s very smart and you’re
correct the oversaturation of the market
has led to some amazing innovation but
it’s also led to some hard times for you
know many businesses um differentiation
is so important this market i think
terpenes is a great direction to go
focusing on the miners but you know
maintaining legal compliance and doing
your best to to stay above the law which
is right always changing so
um constantly constantly
patricia james it has been an absolute
pleasure to have you on the show and i
really appreciate you guys joining us
being a part of our platformcush.com and
i can’t wait to see you guys down at the
texas show coming up soon yes i know and
i have a care package for you
right
i can’t wait i will i’m looking forward
to that we’ll see you at the texas ham
convention patricia james pleasure best
of luck with the business can’t wait to
see where you guys are a year from now
all right thank you chase thank you
congratulations on you congratulations
on your daughter thank you i appreciate
it
we’ll talk soon
all right bye



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