Cannabis legalization in Oklahoma creates Cherokee-owned businesses – Cherokee Phoenix

TAHLEQUAH – Before medical marijuana became legal in Oklahoma in 2018, some users learned how to utilize the plant for medicinal purposes, whether to medicate themselves or others, and have now turned that knowledge into a business.

Cherokee Nation citizen Joseph Gibson learned how to turn marijuana it into a concentrate known as Rick Simpson Oil. The oil was coined for a man of the same name who created the concentrate to heal his cancer, Gibson said.

He said in years past he had people come to him with different ailments.

“So I knew how to use alcohol to be able to extract the medicine from the marijuana itself then distill out the alcohol leaving me with just the liquid form of marijuana,” Gibson said. “It would help them with their pain, with their shaking, with their plaque psoriasis, any type of stuff like that.”

When State Question 788 passed, he became licensed, and with his knowledge of marijuana and its uses, his business Potent Processing was born.

“I knew tons of dispensaries and I knew tons of growers, but none of us knew any processors at that point in time. I was just like well, I’ll be a processor,” Gibson said.

Now in the wholesale business of the medical marijuana movement, he processes plants into concentrates, sends them off for full-panel testing and distributes them to dispensaries. The processing takes place at locations other than his business, which creates two types of concentrates: oil-filled tinctures and vaporizer cartridges.

“We started making really high-quality concentrates like diamonds, batter, shatter and crumble, which are all form of concentrates. I sell them cheaper than anyone in the state of Oklahoma,” Gibson said. “What it’s about is with concentrates you get a quicker more instant relief of your pain or your symptoms that you need. That’s why the concentrates are very important. Some people can’t smoke the bud.”

Gibson said people can smoke an oil-filled vaporizer or purchase a tincture filled with one gram of pure marijuana, equivalent to about 14 grams of flower. “This is really potent stuff. We take out the physical constructs of the plant itself and this is a liquid equivalent.” He sells his products at $1 per gram.

Potent Processing is at 1205 S. Muskogee Ave., in Tahlequah.

Ganulv Gardens

CN citizen Chris Taylor, of Peggs, has also been a long-time user and believer of marijuana’s medicinal properties. He’s learned more by studying its genetics as a grower. Along with business partner RayChelle Wilson, they co-own and operate Ganulv Gardens near Peggs. Ganulv means weed in Cherokee.

Taylor and Wilson are also in the wholesale business – growing, drying, curing and packaging cannabis to sell to dispensaries. Currently, they grow 41 cannabis strains.

“Different strains, each one has a different make up,” Taylor said. “They’re similar but none of them are exactly the same. There’s a lot that goes into the medicine of it. A lot of people just think THC. That’s just a very minimal part of it.”

Taylor and Wilson said they focus on a plant’s terpene profile, which consists of chemicals that determine smell and have healing properties. For example, they said cannabis plants have terpenes called myrcene and limonene.

“The terpenes are important and it’s just a new study for us,” he said. “There’s tons of research. Marijuana plants, some of them have high concentrates of limonene and that’s more of an anti-depressant. Some of them have myrcene and that’s a pain reliever.”

Taylor said a terpene profile can be obtained for different marijuana products at a dispensary and people can “dial in” on what they are trying to treat based on that profile.

“All growers should have a good understanding of the whole plant to be able to properly sell it,” he said.

Taylor added that he and Wilson want to open a dispensary in Peggs, sell their products and create a breeding facility to study marijuana genetics and create new medicine.

“I eventually want to have a breeding facility out here,” he said. “I want to create new medicine. I think with the knowledge I have about genetics and things, I think I can create some really good medicine.”

Now that medical marijuana is on the rise, regulations and testing seem to be the difference between it and marijuana bought on the street.

“When you’re talking about the difference between the black market and the medical market, when you go into a dispensary legally, and this is the law, everything in there has a full panel test on it,” Gibson said.

He said with buying marijuana illegally, a consumer may buy a gram contaminated with glass particles or pesticides, causing harm.

“You can guarantee that if you’re getting it legally, you’re getting clean medicine. It is not allowed to go retail if it’s not clean,” Gibson said.

Wilson said because medical marijuana is clean, it’s better quality than street versions.

“You know if anybody’s spraying anything bad on or adding something that’s getting into it that you’re going to consume. That’s taken away now. Nobody has to worry about that. And the quality is better,” she said.