See You On The Other Side
Meet Leah and Christine. Busy moms and entrepreneurs just trying to balance this crazy thing called life. But we don't do surface, and we're definitely not your typical momtrepreneurs...so let's go a little deeper. Empaths, traumatic childhoods, generational trauma, people pleasers, toxic relationship patterns, anxiety, depression, feeling stuck and desperately seeking peace and happiness. And then we fell into the world of magic mushrooms and psychedelics. The catalyst that helped us break out of our comfort zones and took us DEEP into our personal healing journeys. We'll take you behind the scenes as we learn more about the holistic side of healing and all the amazing people we plan on meeting along the way. Join us as we share the good, the bad, and the ugly side of healing. With and without psychedelics. We hope to see you on the other side! Note: We are not professionals and we do not advise the use of illegal substances. For more about psychedelic support or clinical trials in your area, visit https://psychedelic.support/
See You On The Other Side
76 | A Dose of Colors with a Side of Amanita
Amid the challenges of the pandemic, their journeys mirrored those of countless others. They grappled with a decline in mental well-being which was fueled by isolation and economic strains. The resulting issues persisted long after the pandemic’s peak casting a shadow over their daily lives and connections. In their search for rejuvenation, the world of mushrooms called to them. Unfortunately, they were met with many unethical, unhealthy, and nebulous products that in many cases hid their ingredients and processes.
We venture into the world of Amanita mushrooms, where Adam and Mike help us unravel the secrets of this historic fungus. They illuminate its misunderstood nature, discussing its symbiotic relationship with birch trees and the soothing effects on GABA receptors in the brain. Their amanita gummies provide a delicate balance of blending THC with amanita to craft a unique experience that's both calming and enlightening.
Finally, get a front-row seat to the challenges and triumphs of forging a path in the psychedelic industry. The passion-fueled partnership between Adam, Mike, and their allies shines through as they tackle marketing hurdles, source ethical materials, and prioritize education. Their commitment to redefining the healing potential of psychedelics paints a future where mental wellness is accessible, stigma is dismantled, and sacred medicines are revered. Tune in for an episode that's not just a conversation but a gateway to a more open and exploratory approach to well-being.
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Everyone, welcome back to another episode of See you On the Other Side. So we have got our sponsors here today, the founders of Colors Gummies. Hi guys, we've got Adam and Mike here with us.
Speaker 2:Hey, how are ya? Hey guys Good.
Speaker 3:We ran into a couple of technical difficulties, so they are on the phone with us.
Speaker 1:You know, we're just going with the flow. Yep, yep, we're not going to be on the phone with you, but you can't see them, which is what we wanted anyways. So, for our listeners, can you guys explain what Colors Gummies are? Absolutely.
Speaker 4:But first off, thank you guys so much for having us on. It's exciting to be here. Colors Gummies are mushroom gummies infused with psilocybin-containing mushrooms. They're micro dose gummies intended for people that want to begin exploring the healing benefits of medicinal mushrooms. Love that.
Speaker 1:Love that answer.
Speaker 3:I don't like already. We're over here smiling.
Speaker 1:Well, disclaimer, we had some before this episode started, so we're feeling good, oh nice.
Speaker 3:And what did I say? I was like these are literally the best tasting gummies we have ever had. Yeah, like ever. So you guys do a fantastic job with the quality and the taste. They don't taste like dirt or shit.
Speaker 1:I genuinely look for it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there's a lot of reasons for that, but we put a lot of time and effort into developing and really making sure that our flavors stand out. I'm looking at a lot of the other brands out there prior to developing our own. It was important that we put something out that tasted good but, most importantly, functioned as intended. So we're happy that you guys enjoy them.
Speaker 1:Can you share the inspiration behind colors Like what got you into this space?
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely so. We had spent several years in the cannabis industry prior to jumping into colors or jumping into this venture, I should say and after exiting the cannabis industry, we were looking for something to do and the pandemic had hit and personally I kind of went through a bit of a difficult time and that led to trying to look for ways to get out of like the post-COVID long symptoms a little bit of depression. I'd gone through a divorce and some had some family illness. Over time I really started looking for ways to bring myself back to the old me and I had heard about mushrooms, but I was always afraid of mushrooms previously.
Speaker 4:So everything that I'd heard about mushrooms previously was being out of control and I'm a person that typically likes to be in control of myself and my surroundings and then we heard about microdosing. So I did a little bit of research and decided to try it, and to say that it was life-changing is a bit of an understatement, having had the experience that we had in the cannabis industry that led to wanting to perhaps pursue the mushroom industry. When looking at how it mirrors cannabis and where it's headed, we realized that there were a lot of similarities and that this was probably something that we could do. And even further than that, looking at other products, we were each kind of on our own microdose journey. Trying to find products that were consistent, that tasted good and that were reliable was proving to be pretty difficult, and so all those factors combined are what really prompted us to decide to take a leap of faith and start colors.
Speaker 1:I love that. Do you still have the same relationship with cannabis now that you have experienced microdosing in psilocybin?
Speaker 4:No For me personally. No for me personally. I never had a deep relationship with cannabis from a user's perspective. I had gotten into cannabis initially because I was using it a bit for recreational and therapeutic reasons. It turned more into a business for me and I started kind of backing away from using it. It just didn't. Over time I noticed that it wasn't providing me with the effects that I really needed and so I started personally pulling away from it, and now I hardly use it at all. If anything, I use minor cannabinoids such as like CBD and CBG and maybe low, low, low doses of THC occasionally.
Speaker 3:Okay, Interesting. What about you?
Speaker 4:Mike.
Speaker 3:How did you get into the psychedelic space?
Speaker 2:A lot like Adam. We were in the cannabis industry together for quite some time and after the pandemic we had started discussing things. We heard about microdosing. I personally saw the Netflix documentary Fantastic Fungi by Paul Samet and it sparked my interest a little bit more and then it just started to just be out in my world. I kept hearing about psilocybin and psychedelics and how they could help with different ailments and all sorts of things. And me personally.
Speaker 2:I've struggled with anxiety since I was a kid. Really bad, always had anxiety, had been on different SSRIs my entire life. I actually got diagnosed with OCD when I was about 17 years old and then when I moved to LA to go to art school, I actually started using a lot of cannabis to kind of I don't want to use or self-medicate, but to medicate and that kind of. That kind of I give cannabis the. I do feel that there are healing powers in cannabis for certain people, but after a while I found that cannabis was actually doing the negative to me. It was giving me more anxiety and making everything worse. So I kind of pulled away from cannabis in my late twenties after I got out of school and started working professionally and then I just was more in the business end of it with Adam. And then, you know, once I came across psychedelics, kind of like Adam, I was always apprehensive, scared to use them, always heard about the worst things possible, you know seeing things and you know just losing control and all that kind of stuff, bad trips. So I was always very apprehensive, very, very, I guess you would say, scared. But after reading more, watching the documentaries, especially the Fantastic Fungi, and just seeing the healing powers of it, I decided to take a leap of faith and, just like Adam, it was just, it was so life changing, it was just. I couldn't even put it into words, I was so excited. I told my wife about it, I told my sister, I told my mom. You know just how it changed me.
Speaker 2:It, just after, you know, just a week of microdosing, I felt so different and I felt so youthful and energized and just kind of like Adam said, back to the old me, you know, back to that, like that youthful me, I had just a just a clear vision and just a more level head about everything. And you know, I was like there's no way this could last. You know, this is just one of those things that you know, you first try something and what is it? Placebo. And then, you know, I continued the microdose and I kept up with it for about a year. I did a year of straight microdosing, three days on, two days off, and kept that up for a year.
Speaker 2:Wow, and it was just, it was. It was truly life changing. It helped, helped with my marriage, it helped with my anxiety, it helped with just so many different things in my life and I can't say enough about it. I'm just, I truly believe in the healing powers of it and I just love to tell my story to people that you know are very apprehensive and, you know, just are second guessing, trying it or not even thinking about trying it. You know I don't try to push it on people, but I also, you know, let them know the fears that I had, that Adam had. We, you know we were both very fearful of it at first and there's, you know, coming to find out there's nothing to be fearful of it. You know it's a fearful of it's just, it's such a wonderful healing medicine and I just can't say enough about it. Are we in an alternate?
Speaker 3:universe. I feel like they're us. But the guys Well and and you always say this.
Speaker 1:You always say that cannabis is like the gateway drug, but not like what people think. It's almost like you use it and you're like okay, so like they were wrong about this, what else are they wrong about? And then it opens new doors. All four of us started with cannabis even though there was some fear there, and then it was like okay, like what else is out there, and then it's almost like once we found mushrooms, cannabis wasn't as necessary. 100%, yeah.
Speaker 4:No, no, totally agree. It still has its place, you know, for a lot of people. But I just don't feel that Personally. My opinion is it doesn't do close to what mushrooms do for a lot of people, especially if you're suffering from anxiety, depression, PTSD. I think I personally had convinced myself and we did a lot of good things in cannabis. We were disabled veterans. We provided them free cannabis on a monthly basis and for a lot of those guys it really, really helped. But I believe that mushrooms are more impactful in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 2:I like to say that cannabis works until you find mushrooms.
Speaker 1:Oh, Clip Martin Matt.
Speaker 3:Yeah, anytime we have a little like somebody says something, we like it, we're like okay, that's going to be a video clip, clip, that's going to be a clip. I've never heard anybody say it that way, hey we should put that on a teaser, yeah.
Speaker 3:I love that, Because that's so fucking true Well and it's like what you guys said, like my relationship with cannabis has just changed. The intention behind it is very different. Now I will use it for a date night with my husband to stay in and watch movies or something like that, but it's not something that I go to the way that I used to.
Speaker 1:And I, even until recently, was somebody who used it more frequently, much more frequently than Leah, and I've stepped back and I think it was contributing to me maybe not sleeping as well, and then I felt dependent to use it for sleep and now that I've taken kind of a long break from it, like I feel a lot better. Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 4:That's good to hear.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we're not hating on it, no, no no, not at all.
Speaker 1:I love it still.
Speaker 2:I love to hear badmouth cannabis because, like Adam said, I think there are a lot of healing parts to cannabis and you can get a lot of benefits from it, but I think it's just like anything you can, you know there are better alternatives. Exactly, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well put.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I totally understand what you're saying. Okay, so the next question we have, because I almost feel like I'm saying it wrong too Amonita, am I saying that right? Yeah, that's the way we say it, okay, some people say Amonita Some people say Amonita.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know that's okay. So I need you guys to explain this to us, like we're five years old, especially for our listeners, because I remember the first time I ever posted about Amonita, somebody came into our DMs and was just like, just so, you guys know that's extremely toxic and you guys should be very careful. Sure, I brought it to your all's attention and you explained exactly what it was and what it was doing and I was like, okay, this makes sense.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. People love to bash it as toxic and you know it certainly can be under the right amount, and especially if you're eating raw, wild harvested. So to understand Amonita, you know, first you have to understand that it's been used for centuries in shamanistic rituals and it originated in Eastern Europe. And still the majority of the Amonita in the United States is being imported from out of the country, primarily from Eastern Europe.
Speaker 4:The reason for that is, you know, amonita cannot be grown, at least as far as we know and for the people we've spoken to who cultivate mushrooms professionally. It cannot be grown indoors, you know, through altered or artificial environmental conditions, like psilocybin containing mushrooms can. The reason for that is that it requires a specific set of nutrients that it pulls from the rooting structure of the birch tree. So you'll see them growing in nature, scattered around the roots and the base of the birch trees, and that's where you know people. Really it's a wild harvested mushroom. I know that there are people working on figuring out ways to simulate those environments indoors and to grow it indoors and bulk. But as of now at least, the Amonita that we use is all wild harvested Amonita that's been imported into the country legally.
Speaker 2:And just so all your listeners know, Amonita is the quintessential red top mushroom with the white dots that you would see, the Santa Claus mushroom, the Super.
Speaker 1:Mario mushroom. I was just going to say Mario Brothers my son watches that movie on repeat.
Speaker 4:Mario Brothers mushroom yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And is it a coincidence that Mario eats the mushrooms and then gets big and strong and has these powers?
Speaker 2:Absolutely not. Disney knows exactly what they're doing.
Speaker 3:They know what they're doing.
Speaker 4:They know what they're doing they're very smart and so. So, yeah, and Amonita, as of now it's a 49 state legal mushroom and you know your listener that did comment about being toxic. It can be toxic, but the typical toxic doses in all cases that have been reported are anywhere between six to eight grams of consumption.
Speaker 3:Oh wow, that's a lot.
Speaker 4:That's a ton. You'd have to eat six to eight grams of just the caps. The caps are where all the you know the efficacious tryptomines are located. It's all in the caps of the mushroom. It's not like typical psilocybin containing mushrooms where you have, you know, your stock of the mushroom, and the caps are, all you know, containing the efficacious molecules. In this case it's primarily the caps and you have to eat six to eight grams. So that is, that's a heavy, heavy, heavy amount.
Speaker 4:And at that point is when you can begin to experience some psychedelic. You know experiences stomach discomfort, sometimes hospitalization, stuff like that. But again, you know, like everything we do, you know, in moderation, in micro dose, it has some really really really great benefits. So you know, in micro, in micro dose, form it what it does is it acts differently than psilocybin in the sense that psilocybin works on your dopamine, amine and serotonin receptors. So it signals the brain to flood the body with all of these happy chemicals giving you that feeling of euphoria, connectedness, relaxation and all of these things.
Speaker 4:Aminida works on the GABA receptors in the brain, much like alcohol or benzodiazepines do it. It down, regulates the central nervous system and helps the body relax and calm down, and so what we? What I use it for specifically is just for relaxing after a long day. If I've had a stressful day or if I'm experiencing a little bit of anxiety, it really helps to calm me down. The grapeweed vein as well. Yeah, so huge. It can really really help increase, you know, not only the longevity but the quality of sleep.
Speaker 2:I use a whoop band.
Speaker 4:Yeah yeah, I use a whoop band and I track my sleep every night, so my band will tell me you know how many minutes I spent in REM, deep light sleep. And I do notice three dramatic changes when I, when I do eat aminida prior to bedtime.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Good, I know no, especially since I was just talking about I struggle with sleep sometimes, so I noticed that when I take it so I have, I have ADHD and and we took it one day when we were together and we were getting ready to record and we were working on on things I took it and I felt like I could focus better. What is it about?
Speaker 2:that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely why, why? Why Explain it to?
Speaker 3:me Like I'm sorry, two, two things.
Speaker 4:You know and going back to the camera's conversation here, I don't think we can give all of the credit to to the aminida here. So our aminida gummies are infused with three milligrams of THC per gummy. So that's three, three milligrams of hemp derived THC. Yep, it's, it's. And again, this is legal across the United States because we have something called the farm bill that came out in 2018 to protect hemp farmers and their products. So if there's under 0.3% of THC by weight in any given product, it is legal across the country. It's federally legal.
Speaker 4:So we we include an additional three milligrams of THC in there, and that was just through trial and error. You know we're always looking to improve our products. You know, anytime we release a new product, there's months and months, if not a year or so, of R and D behind it, and in this case, we did several iterations and different R and D batches and one of them we decided to put, you know, three milligrams of THC and to see what would happen. And you know, certainly there was a really synergistic effect between the THC and the aminida. So I think, if you're experiencing a bit of focus and it's allowing you to work through the ADHD, I think a part of that may be the very low dose of THC, but also the ability of the aminida to down, regulate and calm your central nervous system, allowing you to be able to concentrate better.
Speaker 1:That makes a lot of sense for you, christine, that does make a lot of sense yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's exactly why she yeah, anyway, and what I'm noticing is like there are a lot of sites now that sell aminida and so many people are confused, like they think that they're getting psilocybin, they think they're getting magic mushrooms, they think they're being sold as magic mushrooms and that's what they think they're getting.
Speaker 2:So I appreciate it guys. Yeah, they're marketing it, go ahead.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean I think, like Michael was just about to say, there's a lot of people just marketing it as magic mushrooms, psychedelic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've purchased many, many, many aminida mushroom gummies before we ever launched ours and tried them all. And you know I mean I'm looking at a pack right now. You know it says galactic passion fruit psychedelic mushrooms and to a certain extent you know they're not lying.
Speaker 2:Aminida can be psychedelic, but not the doses that people are making.
Speaker 4:You know these gummies people are usually doing between 300 and 700 milligrams per gummy. You know we do 500 milligrams per gummy because it's coupled with the THC. But at those doses I think it's misleading to tell anybody that you're going to experience anything psychedelic, totally for sure.
Speaker 4:You know, even if you were to eat the entire bottle which has 10 gummies in it, you're still only getting five, five grams and I don't think you're going to experience anything psychedelic. But also, not all aminida is created equal, and that's another big thing is with all mushrooms, I should say not all mushrooms are created equal. A lot of chocolate and gummy manufacturers or anybody really making any type of mushroom, you know products out there. When creating it you can always take the fruiting body. So the fruiting we call the actual mushrooms, we call them the fruiting body, and that's obviously how all mushrooms begin. It's in fruiting body form. They're then dried to remove any moisture content so that there's no, you know, any type of traditional fungus growth or salmonella or E coli or anything like that. So it's very important to get dried properly.
Speaker 4:But then a lot of companies will go straight from dried fruiting body into you know they'll mill the product into a fine powder and then they'll just introduce it directly into their body, into their gummy mix or their chocolate.
Speaker 4:And you know that's a really old school way of doing it. It's how people started, you know, making mushroom chocolate and mushroom gummies years and years ago. But you know, I think, just as with anything, you know, market evolved and people kind of pushed the boundaries to try to create better products. And it's what we did with both our Amnita product and our other, you know, micro dose and double dose product was we looked for a better way and a more consistent way of dosing and so we use an extract. It starts as a fruiting body, the mushroom fruiting body, and we turn it into an extract through kind of a proprietary, you know, extraction method, and that extract is five to seven times stronger than fruiting body mushrooms alone. But we also remove a lot of other properties. You know that can be harmful, you know, to the gastrointestinal system, making it quicker absorbing, you know, and easier on the body, especially if you prolonged usage with micro dosing.
Speaker 2:One of the A better user friendly experience. Yeah, smoother experience for sure. And, adam, maybe you should explain the difference between an extract and a synthetic that people are using so people don't get confused. But I think there's a lot of talk about this.
Speaker 4:That's a good point. Now a day as well, a lot of people are using synthetic, lab derived mushroom products. So you know, nowadays you know there are a lot of lab derived alternatives to mushroom. You know either psilocybin or amine that are being used. Have you guys heard of any of those? Maybe the 4ACO or anything like that?
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 4:No, no, okay, well, yeah, I mean, and most brands that do use these things don't disclose it, okay, and it's essentially a lab derived product. That's molecularly, you know, almost identical to psilocybin or even aminida, and what the issue with that is, you know, it's pretty clear, is it's a lab derived product, it's not, it's synthetic, it's not. We believe, you know, that the healing, the true healing, comes from other earth. You know it comes from the earth and so for us it's, you know, one of our primary core values is that if it doesn't come from the earth, it doesn't belong to our product.
Speaker 4:Love that and so and so, really, you know, we want people to become aware and really do their research and do their homework and understand that there are a lot of companies out there that are going to these lab derived products because, you know, from a production standpoint, you know they can produce their products for half the cost and a lot of these brands are just in it to make money. You know, we're not in it to name names or call anybody out. That's not what we're after. We just want to educate the end consumer and let them know that these, you know, lab drives, chemicals, I should say do exist and that we don't really know the long term effects of them. They're not studied. It's not something that's been used for centuries, like psilocybin or aminida, so people need to do their research and be aware of what they're putting into their body. As far as colors is concerned, we don't use these products, never have and never will use these products, but that was an important point that we wanted to make.
Speaker 4:I feel like I went on a bit of a tangent.
Speaker 1:Is there a way for consumers to know what the difference is when looking for products? We know that that's what you guys do, but how do they look out for that?
Speaker 4:I don't know that any of these companies do list these things on their ingredient, but if they do good for them, if they're being transparent about it, then that's fantastic. If you're using it, at least be transparent about it. But if not, then I think any company that has a product that's outward facing to consumers should make themselves available to answer emails, reply messages, dms, and we make ourselves available. So, if anything, reach out to these companies, and if you can't get a hold of someone and this is our opinion if you can't get a hold of someone who's going to answer questions about a product that they sell, you don't think you should buy that product. It's just as simple as that.
Speaker 4:Like Mike was saying, all of our products are third party lab tested. We work with a couple of different labs, primarily one up in Oregon. It was one of the first nationally accredited labs Two tests for Phil, saibin, amonita and other types of mushroom products. So they test our products for potency, shelf life stability, they check it. They even can do shelf life stability testing, and so we have these certificates of inspection that are available at anybody's request. So if anybody would like to see these, they're more than welcome to email us and request them, and we're happy to send them over to potential consumers.
Speaker 1:Love that. You know, what I love about you guys is your Instagram. You guys provide a lot of education and so I kind of want to share. So Leah found you guys and she I will never forget them just at home sitting on my couch being a pile of poo and she sends me your guys's page and she goes look at this brand. She goes first off. Their branding is amazing, like their colors, are like our colors and they're and they're literally called colors.
Speaker 4:They are. They are very simple, but it's so pretty.
Speaker 1:And I feel like and she's like, but she's like they don't just give products, they provide a lot of education, they answer a lot of questions, they're very thorough with with what they tell their consumers, and so she kind of manifested you guys, I feel like, and I'll just say we because I was just but I'll just say we, because I was like yeah, this is, this seems great, this is awesome.
Speaker 1:But she's like I followed them and I really, I really love like what they have, like what they're doing, what they're doing and and maybe we could work with them one day. And I was like that sounds amazing. And I think, like a day or two later, you guys message us.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:That's what you told us. You were like, wow, I feel like I've manifested this and you know, thank you so much. That's such kind words and we we felt the same when we came across your page and started looking through it. You know, I think what you guys are doing is is incredibly important in de-stigmatizing you know the medicine and bringing it to the mainstream public, allowing people to to see you know your everyday life, you know the vulnerabilities that you carry and and how you use these things. I think is is so incredibly important and if, if we're going to create a change in the way people see this medicine and, I think, eventually hopefully change the the legislative parameters around it, I think it's all of this is incredibly important to do. So, you know, I think you guys are doing a great job of that as well, and you know the reason we reached out to you guys. I think it was just meant to be yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Said that in our first episode back this season. We we talked about you guys and said one of the things that we loved about you so much is that, like these other brands who reached out and sent us products, there's nothing on their page about education or dosing or just being safe. It's all like fuck you mushrooms, let's get fucked up.
Speaker 3:You know, and we're not about that, like we never aligned with any other brand, because we are like, yeah, that's great, but what about the healing benefits? What about this part of the medicine? And why are we not talking about that? Yeah, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And everything we do over here, we it's very well thought out and planned and talked about before we put anything out, you know, whether it's a new product, whether it's a post, anything like that. We, we want to put out the best product possible, the best information possible. You know, just just do our best and stand behind this product. And I, you know, adam and I both believe that we don't want to put out anything that we wouldn't give to our mother or to our best friend or or to our brother or sister.
Speaker 2:You know, this is like Adam had mentioned before, this isn't about making money and this is about really really helping people and, and just you know, getting the medicine out there and getting the education out there, which is what you guys are doing, what we're trying to do, um, and just really really getting it out there, because it's been around forever. This medicine has been around forever but it's still there's so much unknown to the everyday person about it, misunderstood, misunderstood, and and and I think that's where we need to change it. And just you know when, when, when people can put faces to, oh, this person is, is, is using a microdose, um, you know, to help them with their certain ailment. You know you, you know people can really identify with that and, and you know, maybe take a leap of faith and and open, open their hearts and their eyes to it a little bit more. And you know, that's that's what we want to do, um, with colors, and that's that's our, that's our goal. Yeah, it's just to really just to move everything forward.
Speaker 1:And, at the end of the day, like these medicines are very sacred, so it's like, yeah, you can go and have fun and trip, but there's also so much more to it than that, and I love that you guys keep that in mind. Which kind of leads me into my next question is you know, being in this space, we've had a lot of amazing things that have happened, um, but we've also had some setbacks as well, and so can you guys share some of the challenges but also some of the successes that you have had being in the psychedelic industry? Cause it's there's a lot, yeah, yeah, like there's a lot of good and and, but there are some setbacks that come with it.
Speaker 4:Of course, absolutely. Um, I mean, I think our biggest success is is, you know, receiving praise from people like yourself, um, and, and, and other patrons of ours that email us, and, and you know those are our biggest successes is getting emails from people that you know expressed to us how our product has changed their life. Um, telling us that you know they've they've been off their well butrin or their pros apps for three weeks now and they haven't touched it. He's taking a color's got me like. Those really are our big, biggest successes. Um, you know, and and the struggles are endless.
Speaker 4:I'm sure you guys know it's it's been a struggle, um, you know, having going back to what, what I mentioned about being in the cannabis industry, and for me personally, um, one of my biggest regrets in the cannabis industry was never building a brand. Um, you know, we were just wholesale uh producers and you know our product would end up in other people's you know, bags with their brand names on it, and that's why, when legislation changed in 2018, it was it was hard to to move into the legalized space without a brand, and so, for us, this was, was kind of a leap of faith is saying let's, let's build a brand and let's, let's market this brand and it's it's been challenging um building something from the ground up. Um, you know, we're both not big when it comes to social media really.
Speaker 1:You're social media is great Thank you, thank, you Thank you.
Speaker 4:We do have. We do have a little bit of help. We can't, we can't say it's all us by any means.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely Um, but uh, you know it's.
Speaker 4:It's learning all of these things kind of on the go, while Simon simultaneously trying to develop um and put out quality products has, has definitely been a challenge, and also maintaining, uh, a steady flow of resources that we need to develop these products is difficult Because this industry isn't regulated to a certain degree yet.
Speaker 4:It's difficult to find reliable people to work with that will provide us reliable product for our gummies, and we have to be, because we're trying to put out a good product. We have to be very picky about the types of mushrooms that we use, the ways that they're grown and the condition that they come to us in, and so, being as picky as we are, it's been difficult finding people that can provide us reliable product, but we've managed to create relationships with really good local farmers that grow product organically and ethically, most importantly, as well. So definitely that's been some of the struggles, but we're pushing our way through it. Also, the legislation surrounding mushrooms and the way that certain companies on social media companies view this type of thing and try to regulate what we can and cannot speak about is also difficult Not being able to use certain words or certain phrases to say certain things, getting shadow banned. It's been difficult but we're pushing through it. I'm sure you guys know about that part, for sure, absolutely do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've gotten banned from TikTok and Instagram a few times now.
Speaker 4:We always manage to get it back. What happened to free speech? Honestly Right.
Speaker 3:Well, and the way that I see it, christine and I, I would consider ourselves sober, but for people that can be on social media getting shitfaced and talking about it and advertising for alcohol, why is what we're doing worse? How?
Speaker 1:Factually it's not Factually. Alcohol is the worst drug.
Speaker 3:So that's, why it doesn't make any sense to me, but it's also what keeps us going. We're going to keep fighting for this because we know in our hearts that what we're doing is the right thing. I also think it's so fitting you guys are like social media is not our thing, we're behind the scenes, we're just the people doing the things. Then, christine and I literally made a joke last week. We're the faces. What are you talking about? We are the talent.
Speaker 1:We don't want to do any of the things behind the scenes. We want to talk about it.
Speaker 3:I do think that there is a role for everybody in this. I don't know what you want to call it, this wave, this renaissance. I do truly believe that our role is to be the voices and to be the informers and to provide people with information and to provide people with connections that they otherwise wouldn't have known about. I think, where we're supposed to be, and I think you guys are right where you're supposed to be, I can't see myself.
Speaker 1:We are also the people because of we can, we have the privilege that we can. We are the ones who can do it and talk about it and share our faces, and not a lot of people want to. I completely understand that.
Speaker 3:Is it also a little bit of a delulue? We're a little bit delusional in our.
Speaker 1:That's all right. That's all right. I don't know.
Speaker 3:I don't know. Privilege and delusion, that's what we've got going for us.
Speaker 4:I do agree. What you guys are doing is super important the power of information. It can't be taken for granted. When you're educating people properly, the effect that it has on this industry and where we all hope to see it is huge. As I mentioned previously, just seeing cannabis go through all the different phases I was in cannabis personally before there was any legality to it and saw it through all the various phases and eventually through complete legalization. In the state that we're in, we definitely see this industry moving in the same direction.
Speaker 4:People, local, state government, they've all learned their lesson with cannabis. That was, cannabis was moving at a much slower pace than mushrooms is because social media and the internet in general wasn't where it is today. Information was readily shared as it is today. We expect the mushroom movement to take shape so much quicker than cannabis ever did. For those reasons, being there to help try to influence it and move it in the right direction is really important. My personal opinion is that it's just like anything else when the powers have been figured out a way to make their piece of the pie, they'll let it pass. Until then, we will be treated the way we're treated.
Speaker 1:I'm glad that this renaissance has happened after the pandemic. I think it was meant to happen that way, because I feel like a lot of people are waking up and being more open and curious to new ways of thinking, new ways of doing Absolutely.
Speaker 4:The pandemic, for me personally at least, was a real eye-opening experience. Like I said, I've gone through some things during and just before the pandemic, but I think it really opened a lot of people's eyes to how important self-care is, how important just maintaining a healthy lifestyle is. At least where we're at now, there's seemingly a trend away from alcohol. We're seeing even all these non-alcoholic drinks that are coming out, whether they have cannabis or other botanicals in them that claim to give you that same buzz without the negative impacts of alcohol. People are trying and looking for alternatives to alcohol or even some other recreational substances to be able to relax and let go and unwind that don't impact their health and impact their daily lives.
Speaker 3:I love that.
Speaker 1:I do too this renaissance where are you guys hoping that, what do you see for the future of colors, for the future of your brand in the plant medicine space? What are you hoping for the future of just the plant medicine space as well?
Speaker 4:We can count on this? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think for the plant medicine space in general, you know it's going to continue to evolve as an industry outside of mushrooms. It's huge as an industry as it relates to mushrooms. It's small now but it's rapidly growing, I mean, every day, you know, just obviously because we have our finger on the pulse. We're seeing brands emerging, even closing brands in this space emerging and it's beginning to take shape and it will continue to take shape. And, as I mentioned before I think you know where we see it going is decriminalization, legalization, just the same as cannabis is taking shape or has taken shape. And for us, our goal and our mission right now is to just simply educate without good, reliable, consistent products that people can depend on for their mental health, physical health, emotional health and just to really build a brand and kind of take our flag in the ground for now and help to drive that legislative needle in the right direction and do what we can so that when the time comes and things, move in that direction.
Speaker 4:We're already prepared and not trying to play catch up.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm clapping for that one Give us more products. There's more on the horizon, more to come.
Speaker 4:We're always debating and trying to develop Absolutely.
Speaker 3:I do want to go back to two things that my ADHD didn't allow me to like blurt out. But are those balloons? I have no idea what that was. Did you see that? What's the what? Sorry.
Speaker 1:I just did it again. I don't know what's going on, never mind. We're having weird technical issues, but on Leah's video balloons are popping up.
Speaker 4:Balloons, balloons.
Speaker 1:Leave it.
Speaker 3:Leave it. How am I going to edit that out, don't Okay. So let me go back to what I was saying. How many gummies did you guys act on? We took one.
Speaker 1:One gummy each. I swear, we just microdosed.
Speaker 3:So one of the things I wanted to say as you were explaining Amanita in comparison to the microdosing gummies and psilocybin, it kind of and I hate relating it to this, but it reminds me of the way the relationship CBD has to THC, like it's like my husband always calls CBD like diet weed and interesting.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:But it kind of reminds me of that. So it's like if you're just trying to like relax and like have a good time, but not like have any type of like psychedelic type experience or even microdose, that type of experience like Amanita sounds like that might be like the CBD to it.
Speaker 4:Okay, Absolutely, absolutely In that relation kind of absolutely. I think we can make that kind of analogous comparison there. Cbd is definitely related in a different way to THC, just because they're both derived from the same species and the same plant, whereas Amanita, yes, it's the mushroom species, but it's a completely different mushroom. But in terms of effects, I think you're spot on.
Speaker 4:It is a different type of experience and it is more geared towards deeper relaxation, allowing your I mean your central nervous system controls all the functions in your body and our central nervous systems are just barraged all day long with all sorts of things, whether it's just stress or different noises and sounds. And you know, if you have kids, if you've got coworkers at work, everything that goes we go to on a daily basis really takes a toll on our central nervous system. And Amanita allows your central nervous system to just take a break, just down, regulate and just chill out. And so you know, like I mentioned previously, I use Amanita multiple days a week, especially on days that were, you know, emotionally taxing on me. You know I have, I have a I call it a social battery personally, and sometimes, if I feel like my social battery has been heavily drained, it really allows me to just down, regulate and relax, and I'll just sit on the couch, you know, binge some Netflix for a couple hours and chill.
Speaker 4:I you know, enjoy doing nothing yeah.
Speaker 3:Amanita and chill.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you. I don't know if you remember but, I love that too. But it made me very like, philosophical, like I was getting very deep with you and like wanting to talk about a lot of things and much more open and vulnerable.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's who they are. New. Thing.
Speaker 1:Amanita and chill Amanita and chill Screw Netflix, that is so good, that is so good, I love it. New tagline. Okay, so what was the other thing?
Speaker 3:So the other thing I wanted to say. You touched on earlier how much you guys are like, how, if you're not able to reach out and ask questions, like that might be a problem, and I just wanted to commend you on the fact that, like you, have always answered our questions so quickly and so well and we I didn't realize you did that for everybody and very thorough.
Speaker 3:So that makes me feel like even better that we're working with you, because you know we'll get a product or something. And I'll message you guys and ask like I feel like stupid questions and you're like there's no such thing as questions, and here is the answer and here is exactly what it is and why it's doing this.
Speaker 3:And I was like oh my God, there's so thorough. And I remember sending Christina screenshot one time of one of your messages because I was like Holy shit, these guys make me feel safe, like you guys really made me feel safe about what I was doing.
Speaker 4:So, thank you, thank you so much. I mean that means so much. And yeah, you know we were. You know I'm not going to say always, you know we got to sleep and you know we have you know family life and stuff like that. But you know, anytime questions do come in, whether it's through DM, email, on telegram, you know we always try to make sure to get back to that person as quickly as we can and answer those questions and really it just comes from, you know we.
Speaker 4:We're not here to just put out a product and just pay people's money. That's not what we're about. We're. We're here to spread the word, educate people and we want everybody just to feel comfortable, the way that you feel comfortable. And in fact we had someone that you know referenced, reference your podcast and said was a listener of yours, that actually hit us up, I believe, yesterday, and add some really, really educated questions and needed some answers and ask for comparisons between you know other products from another, another company that they were taking and was asking how ours compare, and we had a good discussion.
Speaker 4:But love that Definitely always available for that type of thing.
Speaker 3:So another reason to check out colors and we love that. It's another reason we like love working with you guys, so yeah, Thank you, we love working with you as well, absolutely, absolutely Any other questions. No, I know I'm like we did a really good job of covering everything, Everything today and shooting the shit I was going to say you guys comfortable I hope so.
Speaker 4:This was our first podcast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my first podcast.
Speaker 4:A little nerd on this, you guys did amazing, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you guys did a great job.
Speaker 3:We did a great job. So thank you so much for for everything that you're doing in this space. You're in the right place. I love that. Your journey, where you are now, where you guys are headed. We're excited to see it and for our listeners. You know we have a link at our bio. Check it out. Our discount code is other side 15. Check out their products. We're we're big fans. I mean, we're believers, for sure.
Speaker 4:Thank you so much for having us guys.
Speaker 3:Appreciate you guys, so much Thank you. Thank you, we'll talk to you, thank you, bye.
Speaker 2:Thank you, talk to you, bye.
