-
Greg Daniel and Andrew Blade
CO-
Mushroom Supplement Source
Interview conducted by:
Bud Wayne, Editorial Executive
CEOCFO Magazine
Published – April 17, 2023
CEOCFO: Would you give us a little background on yourselves, how did your relationship develop to where you are co-
Mr. Blade: Our relationship goes back all the way to our birth. We are first cousins, but more than that we were born in the same 24-
In 2018 Denver passed Ordinance 301 decriminalizing psilocybin mushrooms in the city of Denver only. I started doing my own hobbyist cultivating and research. I read several books and listened to countless experts on growing and personal use and dosing. I was learning as much as I could on the whole thing. When the state passed Prop 122, Greg and I talked about how we could make this a state enterprise in a way that we can help people maybe be more creative and help people with addiction or PTSD, or just try to part of changing the culture around natural medicines. That is the idea as far as the origin for me.
Mr. Daniel: Having the experience that I had when I was in the army, it is a subject that is near and dear to me. When you consider that we ask these people to go do these awful things for our country and then they come back with this post-
On a personal note, in 2017 I lost my younger brother who was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident, it was a devastating ordeal to go through. Shortly after that when Andrew had been involved with doing his grow operations, he shared with me and that really helped me work through that grief.
After getting out of the army I got a degree in biology and secondary education, so the whole scientific part of it and the education part of it really seemed to fall into place for the goals that we had in creating a supplement source.
CEOCFO: How do your roles break down? Is one of you more business and sales and the other product, or both active in all areas?
Mr. Daniel: It is very difficult to tease apart what it is that we do because we are working an hour or hour and a half every day, just brainstorming ways to stay ahead of the competition. This goes back to being lab partners in high school, working together for a shared vision which has never been a difficult thing for us to do. Although we may set apart some tasks that I get started on in terms of maybe an education component or part of a presentation, there is a constantly back and forth type of a thing with pretty much every endeavor we have gone into. It is a constant brainstorming session to stay ahead of what potential competition we may have and then trying to anticipate what direction things are going to go in. It is an evolution.
CEOCFO: Proposition 122 allows 21 years and older in Colorado to grow and share psychedelic mushrooms. Before we delve into what you are doing, could you give us a little history on psychedelic mushrooms, their uses and the fight to get them legalized in Colorado?
Mr. Daniel: One of the first experiences that I had was on a trip and I got an audio book and that book was Food of the Gods by Terence McKenna. I was mesmerized by this book and he came up with Stoned Ape Theory or hypothesis that consumption of these psychoactive substances led to an expansion of consciousness and a greater capacity for abstract thought. This, in turn, led to the development of language. He suggests that these mushrooms were a catalyst for improving cognitive function, increased creativity, and a greater spiritual awareness. So potentially the use of psychedelic mushrooms reaches back as far as humanity.
Since then and up until now, somehow its knowledge was lost to western culture and then of course our counterculture was counterproductive in terms of just the general public perception on what was happening with these substances when they placed them on this Schedule-
We have now started to see articles coming out of Johns Hopkins and we have started see clinical applications with actual data that has been coming out. Therefore, it has been very exciting to see that this is getting the attention that it deserves.
CEOCFO: Why is Colorado a good place to be for what you are trying to accomplish? Are there any other states that offer the same opportunity?
Mr. Blade: Colorado has a history of being very progressive when it comes to issues like this, and we are Coloradans and native Coloradans. Oregon has legalized it in a different way than Colorado has. Part of what we are dealing with in Colorado is the Department of Regulatory Authority, which has partnered with an advisory board on natural medicine to come up with these regulations around authorized Healing Centers, which is going to be the future of therapeutic application of natural medicines within the state. We are trying to prepare for and position ourselves for when that happens, so we can pivot to that business as well. What we are starting now is the education and cultivation side of it, which is what we can do legally. However, our goal is to get into the therapy side of it and the therapeutic ceremonial side of natural medicine as regulations change.
CEOCFO: Tell us about Mushroom Supplement Source? What kind of education are you offering in magic mushrooms and psilocybin; is it heath, is it information on the laws and regulations?
Mr. Blade: At this point we are only selling education about cultivation. We are also going to give seminars to give general education about the use of psilocybin, recommended dosing, and more about the history and therapeutic uses of it. We are developing kits that people can easily produce their own product within a couple months, which has already been done in places like Holland. It is going to be similar to that model for now. As the regulations come out, we want to be able to develop further ideas. However, at this point there is not legal selling of psilocybin per se that is allowed. All we can do is basically empower and give people the tools to produce their own for personal use and that is what we are into.
CEOCFO: So you are basically educating and empowering people?
Mr. Blade: Empowerment is part of our goals and mission.
Mr. Daniel: Our approach is a very dynamic approach and right now as Andrew said, it is focused exclusively on the education component. Forthcoming we are developing the production of kits that will allow people to cultivate their own.
Just to touch back on why Colorado, when you are looking at the history of say the legalization of cannabis, our state was a leader in that and we saw what changes took place in regards to the medicinal approach to cannabis and then up until when things were legal. We do not anticipate things will ever be legal the same way that cannabis is in Colorado, so we just want to stay on what we can do within the confines of the law.
CEOCFO: You offer a Colorado Cultivation Seminar. Would you tell us about the seminar? How often would it take place? Are there guest speakers? Tell us what people can expect to experience at your seminar?
Mr. Daniel: Right now, our plans are quarterly for the cultivation seminar. We are just gathering inquiries through our website mushroomsupplementsource.com to extend invites to people who express interest. We have extended invites to prominent guest speakers that represent areas from ethnopharmacology, cultivation, and mental health aspects. We really want to run the gambit on this so we can provide a really good comprehensive overview regarding cultivation and the use and guidelines of psilocybin.
CEOCFO: Will your seminars be virtual, live/in person or both?
Mr. Daniel: We are thinking of an in-
CEOCFO: Do you have your first one scheduled or is there not a date yet set?
Mr. Daniel: There is not a date yet set for that but we are looking for July.
CEOCFO: Who would come to you for your services and to your seminar? Consumers, patients, therapists, wellness practitioners, business owners, someone looking to start a business, all of the above?
Mr. Blade: All of the above. If anybody is interested and thinks that they might know someone who can be helped or can help someone else. Our goal is to expose as many people as we can and to help change the culture around these medicines.
CEOCFO: How do people signup for your seminar and what has the response been so far?
Mr. Blade: We have a website mushroomsupplementsource.com where people can join our cultivation subscription. We also have a link there to contact us via email. We would ask people to email there your interest level and interest in the seminars or some of the other education benefits we talked about. We are also looking to partner with people who want to get into the business. If we can find the right partnerships, we are looking to expand and make this a bigger thing.
CEOCFO: I had one CEO tell me about the difficulty he had finding a good merchant services provider. Did you find the same thing and what were some of the other challenges you faced as you developed?
Mr. Blade: For us now regarding merchant services we are not moving or selling anything illegal. We sell grain or tubs or substrate, so nothing in there can keep us from using traditional merchant services. We are set up with one of the regular merchant service companies for now.
When things change and new regulations are in place, it may get more complicated at that point, but for now we are doing everything above board with no problem.
Mr. Daniel: The challenge is with a hobbyist type of a grower, there are things you can and cannot do. It is fun to share the fruits of your labor with your friends and the people who need it. Our kits are modeled after culinary and medicinal kits. We are using it from that perspective. Until regulations change, we are not able to develop into some of the other areas that quite honestly, we have ideas about, but we cannot address at this point.
CEOCFO: Where will future growth come from for Mushroom Supplement Source?
Mr. Blade: The long-
CEOCFO: Would you be open to meeting with potential investors, VCs or partners at this point?
Mr. Blade: We do want to meet possible investors and people interested in our mission to help in this way. We want to partner and even possibly talk to venture capitalists that are interested as well. Please contact us at (720) 432-
Mr. Daniel: In the meantime, our immediate future goals are really building up our supply lines and everything so that we can provide all of the kits. We really envision that once these things hit the market that they are just going to fly out faster than we can put them together. That is an ongoing effort where we are trying to build up our level of supplies and options. We want our fingers in all aspects of education, cultivation, and healing centers. We want to be the source and we understand that our best resources are our people and the people can be their own source as well and provide their own products to assist in their own mental health and well-
CEOCFO: Why is Mushroom Supplement Source important to the future of magic mushrooms and psychedelics in Colorado and perhaps throughout North America or even the world?
Mr. Blade: Mushroom Supplement Source wants to be at the forefront changing the view or culture about natural medicines, from this banned counter-
Mr. Daniel: I will echo that. We want to be involved in all facets of promoting natural medicine alternatives. This is a psychedelic renaissance and we want to be at the leading-
mushroomsupplementsource23 | Mushroom Supplement Source | Greg Daniel | Andrew Blade | Mushroom Supplement Source – Leading the Way in Cultivation and Regulatory Education for Coloradans in the New Psychedelic Revolution | CEO Interviews 2023 | Psychedelic Companies