Best way to ensure a consistent outcome and experience. Wes Burk the President of Emerald Scientific joins Dan Humiston to talk about providing scientific testing equipment to cannabis labs, cultivation and extraction facilities. He explains why educating the public about product testing is necessary to defeat the illicit market. Produced by PodConx MJBulls - https://podconx.com/podcasts/raising-cannabis-capital Dan Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/dan-humiston Wes Burk - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wes-burk-89090b7/ Emerald Scientific- https://emeraldscientific.com/ Recorded on Squadcast - https://squadcast.fm/
Best way to ensure a consistent outcome and experience.
Wes Burk the President of Emerald Scientific joins Dan Humiston to talk about providing scientific testing equipment to cannabis labs, cultivation and extraction facilities. He explains why educating the public about product testing is necessary to defeat the illicit market.
MJBulls - https://podconx.com/podcasts/raising-cannabis-capital
Dan Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/dan-humiston
Wes Burk - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wes-burk-89090b7/
Emerald Scientific- https://emeraldscientific.com/
Recorded on Squadcast - https://squadcast.fm/
Dan Humiston: [00:00:00] Today at MJ Bulls, we are joined by Wes Burke, the president and co-founder of Ed Admiral Scientific. Wes, welcome to the Thanks
Wes Burk: much for having me.
Dan Humiston: me again. Well, it's great to have you on the show.
Uh, We both started in the industry around the same time period, and I, I remember back in the day when I first started telling people that I was getting into the cannabis industry, it was strange to me that I always had to explain to people that. There were gonna be a lot of voids and there was gonna be really good opportunities for companies that figured out in all sectors how to fill those voids.
And your company is a perfect example of that. As the industry's first dedicated cannabis science supplier, what void did you see that you needed to be filled?
Wes Burk: Yeah.
that's that's true. We've found an unmet need in the scientific distribution side of things. Cannabis testing labs in particular, were really struggling with access to high quality [00:01:00] scientific products and instrumentation. So, reference material, reagents, things like that. The, the things that it takes to run a.
And, and frankly even, before up and running the things that it takes to build a lab, like the instrumentation and the, the large players in scientific distribution at that time they were afraid to touch the cannabis space so they, they simply would not sell into that marketplace.
Dan Humiston: It's crazy when an opportunity, it was just sitting there for somebody to, to jump right in. And you've gone well beyond just supplying You know, Over the last decade, you've expanded beyond that. Give our listeners an idea what other f what other areas of that sector you're in right now.
Wes Burk: Yeah, well it was interesting when we jumped into the space. A distributor has kind of a chicken in the egg dilemma. You, you, you have to have products to sell, which means you have to have relationships with manufacturers and vendors. But they don't want to get involved with anybody until there's a customer base.
And, and so you see the dilemma there. [00:02:00] In order to kind of overcome that, build a reputation and start to get our, our our feet into the industry, we did two things from the very beginning. The first was we developed a scientific conference, the Emerald Conference, and we held the first one in 2014. And, and through that conference we, we, it became apparent that there was really a, a void as.
In a platform for high level scientists to come together and to collaborate and share the work that was being done in, in this, new scientific segment. The second thing that we did was we started a proficiency test, and that is kind of a, a. Party quality assurance and regulatory accreditation element that's necessary in, in the lab industries and is common in, in other non-cannabis industries for quality assurance labs.
So we started a, a proficiency test that has since become [00:03:00] global inter laboratory comparison proficiency test, and it's certainly the the biggest and most robust offering in the cannabis.
Dan Humiston: it's sort of the gold standards, from what I understand, it's is it is that that's referred to as the emerald.
Wes Burk: That is referred to as the Emerald Test, and yeah, I mean, I'd, I'd love to hear that, that you think it's the gold standard. We certainly do. We, we kind of think of it as the, the Good housekeeping seal of approval for, for cannabis testing labs, but a above and beyond that it, it really does serve regulatory.
A regulatory purpose because I think just about every state with a regulatory framework is requiring proficiency testing for labs and also for ISO accreditation. So this is a, a, a, another accreditation level that most labs seek. And in fact, some regulatory frameworks are requiring ISO accreditation as where as well, and proficiency testing is, is a part of, of, of that accreditation process.
Dan Humiston: Yeah. I think it's sometimes hard f for [00:04:00] people that are not in the industry to really get their head around exactly how big the sector that you're supplying is. I mean, of course we know about testing labs, third party testing labs are so important and they're gonna play such a big role as the industry progresses.
But it's not just that you supply the equipment for different sectors within the industry, not just the testing labs. Correct. That's
Wes Burk: true, and the cannabis industry has really evolved. In the, in the early days, Dan, when you and I got in the business, a lot of the. Extraction and even the manufacturing that was occurring in, in folks garages and, and, make makeshift labs and such. And, and we've really seen a radical evolution to a higher level of of professionalism and scientific proficiency.
And so, yeah, any, we. We work with any lab and an extraction facility. Now is, is generally a, a, a fairly sophisticated lab environment, and that's, that's kind of, where we shine in our bread and butter. So we hold, consultative expertise, both [00:05:00] in quality assurance and in extraction manufacturing any, anything lab or science-based.
I think we've, we've got both tools and resources.
Dan Humiston: we, The industry has certainly come a long way you know, the kitchen experiments that were going on and in the garages and, and that's, I think, One of the things that makes me most optimistic about the future of the industry is because of the testing and because of , the quality level , that's more and more being enforced.
I think it's the best weapon against the illicit market. I think when people have to make a decision whether to buy something. , at a park from somebody that they don't know, or a facility that's got a, , your label , on the package or, , I think eventually there's gonna be no question I'm gonna be much more comfortable , are you feeling that throughout the industry that testing is gonna be the ma a major weapon against the illicit market?
Wes Burk: Oh,
without a doubt. And, and I think that, we're still early on kind of [00:06:00] in the in the consumer education phase, but I, I definitely am optimistic that, that we'll get there and, most most
regulated markets are requiring about five different types of, of testing. It's not just about testing for potency the safety elements, pesticides, heavy metals, residual solvents.
I mean, these are all things that it makes a lot of sense to look at as a consumer because you, you want to, you wanna be sure that whatever you're consuming is safe. But I think in terms of fighting the illicit market, it really goes beyond that. And this is, Some consumer education is, is gonna really be helpful and, and take some time to e evolve.
What we think that, the regulated market and, and testing and specifically has the capacity to bring to the consumer is. In addition to safety is the dependability of outcome or the repeatability of an experience. So once the consumer starts to understand what they're really after, , when they're consuming cannabis, whether it be for.
[00:07:00] Medicinal purposes or recreational purposes, you want a predictable outcome. No, nobody enjoys when they, they have an experience that sends 'em off the rails, spins 'em out with anxiety, keeps 'em from sleeping when they're trying to sleep, et cetera, and. Having consistency in products, that's all kind of a part of the, the scientific evolution in the space and, and, the effort to understand what's having impacts on, on outcome and experience.
And these things are starting to become more clear. And these are the, the kinds of things that the I illicit market's never gonna bring to the consumer.
Dan Humiston: Oh, I, you know, I really didn't think about it until you just brought it up, but, , you have a Coors Light in Colorado. You have a Coors Light in New York City. It's the same effect, but you could have the name of the same strain could be different in two different markets, and it could be completely different just because it was grown in different markets.
Wes Burk: Yeah,
that's a great example. And it's, and it, it holds true across many non-cannabis industries. Like, like food, food safety off the shelf. , aspirin, Tylenol, [00:08:00] these things, it, and, and beverages as you, as you've described. It's a, it's a great example. And yeah, that kind of consistency, I, I think ultimately is, is what's gonna make for better outcomes for, for the end user.
The other thing that we'd really love to see is the, the consumer. Evolve away from from really making all their decisions based on the content of the one analyte. Everybody is so th HC focused and, and that is not serving the consumer well because there's certainly a lot more to outcome and experience than quantity or percentage of, of th hc.
It's also kind of wreaking havoc on the industry in a lot of other ways. Cannabis becomes commoditized. The value really needs to, to be more holistic than just the content of one cannabinoid. And, and because that's not really the case right now because the value is so closely tied to the, the.
Content of T h c. It, it begs all kinds of nefarious activity to come into play, like lab shopping and and [00:09:00] these things that I'm sure you've, you've heard about that are, that are making it, it the, one of the things that's making it tough for the regulated market to compete with the illicit market.
Dan Humiston: . Like I said, I think it's the best weapon against the illicit market. Before I let you go, um, our listeners are a lot of investors, so they're always looking for investing opportunities. Your, your company is positioned perfectly for major growth.
Will there be opportunities in the future for investors to participate in your growth?
Wes Burk: Yeah,
well we've certainly been in the industry long enough to never turn down a conversation, that's for sure. We are not actively on a fundraise right now, but certainly I welcome conversations with investors who have, creative models that we might be interested in. And, and also, we have a pretty broad.
Customer base and there's always lots of folks out there that are looking for partnerships or or investment opportunities. So yeah, we welcome any
conversations.
Dan Humiston: I love that the collaborations with some customers there's all kinds of opportunities. If people are [00:10:00] receptive to have the the chat, you never know where it's gonna go. But it's if, if you don't have the conversation, it won't go anywhere. Well, we're gonna have links to Emerald.
Information in the show notes. So if you're out there and a, you a you uh, another supplier for your equipment, you're starting a business and you want to talk to somebody about supplying all your scientific equipment, I'm sure somebody from Wes' team would be happy to speak with you, or if you're.
Thinking about possibly, uh, looking at an investment opportunity. Uh, It's a good, it's a good group and, uh, I'm sure there's, they'd be happy to talk to you more. Wes, first of many conversations we're gonna have. I have a feeling we're gonna have, I'm gonna have you on the show a lot in the future. But thanks for being our, being on the show for the first time.
Wes Burk: I appreciate it, Dan. Thanks for having me, and thanks so much for what you're doing for the industry. I think you're having a, a very positive impact and we're grateful for all
that.