Sha: yes, and often we try to do that by grabbing their attention with some type of captivating content and then educating in a fun yet enriching manner.
Ari: Some people hear the word cannabis and think there’s something illegal about it or it’s not right for them. There are many opinions which are based on wild misconceptions, despite new studies showing the benefits of the plant. With a divided congress we all suffer – including traditional medical research into cannabis.
Carol: Are there any other misconceptions that we should address?
Sha: One major misconception about cannabis is that it’s just marijuana or we prefer weed. Cannabis is a family of plants, just like the varying melons in any garden. Most fundamentally, cannabis can either be weed or hemp. They are both cannabis sativa, but they are very different from each other. We’re having a lot of fun just explaining this basic fact to people. One of our recent podcasts (Potcasts) is uncovering the historical conspiracies of cannabis. Once you listen to that, you will truly understand how cannabis has been set up.
https://www.arishaland.com/podcast/episode/1d35cef4/arishaland-historical-cannabis-conspiracies
Ari: There’s so many technologies we could be using with this plant that people haven’t had access to since the 1800s because it became so illegal, but our first President George Washington was encouraging people to grow the Indian hemp seed. The first Ford Model T was made of hemp and was supposed to be run on hemp fuel.
Carol: I didn’t know that one.
Ari: Yeah, that’s really interesting. Those are the types of things that we get to study and learn. Then we present it in our weekly podcasts which are hosted on a separate website (www.arisaland.com). They are more entertainment and education based and less product based. Of course, you can also cross over and shop the store. We just felt like it should have its own home.
In addition, another common misconception is about terpenes. A lot of people only associate terpenes with cannabis. They think it’s the flavor profile of the cannabis. They don’t realize that while there are 200 great terpenes in cannabis, there are over 80,000 in nature. Nor do they realize that terpenes are so fragile that they are getting burnt up every time they light up their cannabis flower. We solved that problem with the aforementioned NING. It’s a disposable temporary terpene infused nose ring that rests comfortably onto the septum part of your nose. The Ning allows you to get the full effects of the terpenes while you’re enjoying your cannabis.
Carol: I have found that there is also a misconception concerning essential oils and terpenes. Comment on this please.
Sha: Terpenes are pure and are found naturally in nature. An essential oil is a combination of many, often countless different terpenes. When we put our terpenes out there and our names, you’re going to get the purest terpene and you’re going to know exactly what it is.
Ari: For example, there are hundreds of different strains of lavender that exist in nature. You don’t know what specific strain of lavender you’re getting when you buy a lavender essential oil, but when you have a terpene, you’re looking at that specific chemical compound that the plant is producing. You’re not getting a whole group of different lavenders because someone decided like oh, let’s make the lavender essential oil.
Carol: You’ve shared some amazing stories with me over these few months. I’d love for you to share one that I feel totally exemplifies your characters, creativity, desire to help others, even as in this case, someone you had never met before, yet came up with an ingenious way to assist him and change his world for the better.
Sha: Yes, of course and thank you. So last week, at a big trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada we met a man who works there daily. He’s a shoe shiner. I haven’t seen anyone in his occupation in a while, but he worked there every day and we had a great connection. The second day that we were there, he ran right up to us and we gave him a big hug. We were thinking what can we do for him to help him ramp up his revenue? We pondered: there’s only so many people nowadays that are walking by with leather shoes. Most people have sneakers. One idea was we would love to give him a foot cream or rubs that would complement his work and help others benefit as well. A lot of people walking around the Convention Center get enormous pain in their feet. This would be a product that he could sell with his own label, promoting his business as well as ours. He could also give them one of our catalogs for our entire ecosystem of products.
Carol: Wonderful idea. That’s a really good representation of your heart and character and what you’re doing out in the community to help other people with their lives and business too. It’s authentic. It’s so personalized as in your story.
What was his response when you initially suggested this to him?
Sha: He was so happy. His smile lit up because he knows he’s going to work with us. Understanding how a random meeting has now grown many more legs and might be a pivotal moment for him in his business and for us too. I believe it shows that anyone out there in the world can find cooperative partnerships with anyone if you open up your heart to see how you can help each other. It really lets you create more friendships and lets you create a bigger, more productive community.
