BETTER BETTER THAN NINE IS COMING…

Hi everyone!

This is part loco ocho diary, part company update. These legal delta 9 gummies are legit. I have to cut them in half because a whole can make me feel uncomfortable. So, it’s technically not a loco ocho, it’s a nutty nine? I’m gonna have to white board this before I decide on the words, but that’s not now.

Some of yall have been getting products from me since 2012. This is when I founded Halcyon Organics. This was the south’s first ‘legit’ medical cannabis company. I brought medical cannabis extracts in from california and made products that were compliant with GA’s Haleigh’s Hope Act. The rules are similar to now – no flowers, oils up to 5% THC, only people with cards, etc. While we never operated legally, we operated openly and had the GA Department of Public Health giving our website to patients after receiving their GA Low THC Card, so the state legitimized us because we were necessary in making their unworkable law work. Unfortunately, once publicity and money got involved, the main people around me were more interested in selling product to everyone, putting us in serious legal jeopardy, so I decided the smartest thing was to shut down and quit when I was ahead.

Then came Halcyon Essentials. This was a cleaner vision, but I made a few poor business decisions that turned out to be really big. I’m not going to give details because I don’t want to say anything that could be interpreted as bad mouthing other people. To some it up, I made a decision without doing my due diligence that ended up in me walking away from my association and equity with Halcyon Essentials. Regardless of what others did, I made the decision that led to a difficult situation.

I started Better Than Nine as a quick side project to supplement my income because I wasn’t earning enough to live from Halcyon Essentials. That’s why our website and packaging looks ‘homemade.’ I did this one the side, and since it was legally separate from Halcyon Essentials, I had to be careful not to use some of Halcyon’s resources so that Halcyon could never have a legal claim against Better Than Nine.

Last month, I finally got legally divorced from Halcyon Essentials and can begin developing Better Than Nine into the next evolution of hemp and cannabis.

I’m just not sure what it is yet.

Because Better Than Nine was thrown together very quickly, I never thought about brand identity or anything. I have my blogs that show my personality and that shapes an identity, but it’s blurry and undefined. Probably because I’m blurry and undefined right now.

I’m a very different person from who I was in 2012. Back then, I was a stoner and cannabis legalization advocate. I was also 10 years younger, single, and kinda wild.

I’m not a stoner anymore. I still use cannabis, but not like I used to. I still think cannabis should be legal, but I don’t care enough to go to the Capitol and lobby legislators. I’ve been trying to figure out why my attitude towards cannabis changed and I think it’s a combination of factors:

1. Since I’m not a flower snob and seller anymore, I don’t care to be able to have a weed store. I feel that people can get all the cannabinoids that they need using products that are legal everywhere per the 2018 Farm Bill. Would I like to grow a few plants for fun? Sure, but it’s not my dream anymore.
2. I realized that the way the cannabis industry is going, I’d have to become one of the corporate goons that I hated being, and probably an employee, because my dad isn’t a U.S. Senator or founder of Wrigley’s gum.

So, I’m not a stoner activist anymore, but I’m still 100% positive that cannabinoids have amazing therapeutic and medical value and that people need them like any other vitamin – maybe just fewer mgs than the ‘stoners’ use 😉

The changes are going to be fun. Better Than Nine is getting upgraded to represent the evolution of my relationship with cannabis. It’s going to be more subtle, sophisticated, and lifestyle oriented.

Don’t worry, it’s not gonna be soft or lame because I still say and do stupid things.

When we were having a kick off meeting for the website rebuild, the developer said, “I’m looking at your blogs. This content is good, but some of the language and tone may be a little coarse.” She was politely saying, “Sometimes your say, “Bullshit” on the company website.”

I told her that’s okay because you’re allowed to say “Bullshit” at Better Than Nine. I said that I’m not gonna tolerate racism, sexism, or any type of hate, but you can say, “This country’s marijuana laws are bullshit.” because that’s the truth. I continued by explaining that we’re not everything for everyone like wal-mart and I don’t want to live on Mars with Jeff and Elon, so I don’t need everyone in the world to by my products.

I just would like 1 million cool people to use Better Than Nine products every month and I’ll be able to play golf and relax one day.

So, one day, yall are gonna come to betterthannine.com and it’s gonna be a whole new website that looks awesome. It’ll be a few weeks, but it’ll be cool.

Daniel