EPISODE 36: MICHAEL PATTERSON, CEO AT US CANNABIS PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Michael Patterson is the CEO of US Cannabis Pharmaceutical Research and Development LLC (US Cannabis), a privately-held developmental consulting firm that was established in 2014 with the mission of moving society forward through legalized cannabis. US Cannabis develops the legal cannabis/hemp/CBD markets globally across all platforms (education, cultivation, production, dispensing, research and development, management operations and compliance, and physician services). US Cannabis currently works with national, state, and local governments, sovereign nations, and public/private companies in all aspects of the cannabis/hemp/CBD industry throughout the United States and Internationally.
Mr. Patterson is a board member of MGMC-Pharma, an international medical cannabis pharmaceutical corporation with cannabis cultivation, production, and export/distribution licenses in 5 East African Countries (Lesotho, Tanzania, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda).
Mr. Patterson is also a board member for the Medical Cannabis Society, Tourette’s Syndrome Awareness Foundation, Cannabis/Hemp/CBD industry writer for Florida MD Magazine, Orlando Medical News, and licensed Occupational Therapist and Nursing Home Administrator in 4 states: NJ, NC, VA, FL).
Episode’s transcript
Julio Martinez: 0:00
Welcome to the Latin MedTech Leaders podcast, a conversation with MedTech leaders who have succeeded or plan to succeed in Latin America. Please subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform. Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast. Amazon Music is teacher Tune in iHeart Radio, Pandora or deser . Welcome back to the Latin Med Tech Leaders podcast today. Our guest is Michael Patterson. Hey Michael, it's great to have you here today. Welcome to the show.
Michael Patterson: 0:29
Thanks, Julio. Great to be on.
Julio Martinez: 0:32
Awesome Michael. Well, listeners Michael Patterson is the CEO of US Cannabis Pharmaceutical Research and Development, LLCA consulting firm with the mission of moving society forward through legalized cannabis, US cannabis develops the legal cannabis hemp CBD markets globally across all platforms, education, cultivation, production dispensing, research and development management, operations, compliance and physician services. US Cannabis currently works with national <laugh> , state and local government serving nations and public and private companies in all aspects of the cannabis hem CBD industry throughout the United States and internationally. Michael is a board member of MGMC Pharma, an international medical cannabis pharmaceutical corporation with cannabis cultivation, production and export distribution licenses in five East African nations countries. Michael is also an international , uh, recognized speaker, subject matter expert in the global cannabis hemp CBD industry and a published author Michael is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Acres Bioscience, a subject matter expert for Gerson Luman Group and editorial board member for the American Journal of Endocannabinoid Medicine, which is the world's first peer review printed scientific journal dedicated to the study of endocannabinoid science and medicine. Michael is also a board member for the Medical Cannabis Society, Tourette's Syndrome Awareness Foundation, cannabis Hemp, CBD , industry writer for Florida MD Magazine, Orlando Medical News and licensed Occupational Therapies and nursing home administrator in four US states. So listeners, I'm really, really excited to have Michael Patterson here in the show Today we're gonna speak about a topic that having talked about in this podcast before cannabis hem , CB, D , all things related to this new industry. So Michael , uh, let's get started. Great. Could you please tell listeners, Michael, about your journey to Latin America ? In other words, how do you get involved with the region?
Michael Patterson: 2:46
That's great question. So , um, with cannabis, it started with, I've been in cannabis now over seven years. Um, and it started when Uruguay legalized recreational and medical cannabis. Um, I think it was back in around 2015, so it's been over five years. And then shortly after that Columbia legalized medical cannabis. And so both of these countries are starting to move forward with cannabis programs and being into industry, we started getting calls from Uruguay as well as Columbia about potential investment and we wanted to start to learn more because if we could bring investors down into Latin America to move cannabis forward, we definitely wanted to to do that. So we've been in discussions with multiple companies within Uruguay as well as Columbia. And Brazil is a new market . It's getting ready to to start up. So we spend a lot of time between those countries as well as Argentina, Argentina's another one we can discuss as well.
Julio Martinez: 3:46
Excellent, Michael. All right . So what major political, socioeconomic, or even a epidemiological trends do you see in Latin America that are relevant to our discussion?
Michael Patterson: 3:59
The big thing that people in Latin America need to realize is the cost of product. So all around the world, cannabis , uh, if most people are not aware is Canada was the first G seven country to legalize cannabis , uh, medicinally. And then now it's recreationally legal. And recreational is adult use over 21 years old like alcohol. So when Canada did it, they did everything indoors and the cost was extremely high compared to doing it outdoors. Well, as we know, equator countries, specifically Latin America as well as Africa, are very good long term for growing cannabis and hemp outdoors. So that's where we see most of the r and d or research and development is going into large scale production in Columbia as well as Uruguay. We haven't seen a lot of research and development yet, but I don't think that's because of anything that Latin America is doing wrong. I just think that other countries are starting to take the lead with research and development. And so we try to work with the Latin American medical cannabis providers to say, look, you need to focus on your ability to ramp up production because as of right now, that is your advantage in the global market.
Julio Martinez: 5:12
All right , Michael, interesting. So what's making all these countries to start legalizing cannabis in your opinion?
Michael Patterson: 5:22
That's a great question. I think what we're starting to see is, the main reason I think is the times are changing. Um, also these countries are looking for a way to compete in a new market on a national or an international stage. Because what we're looking at for cannabis right now is the two major markets are Europe and Canada. And the third tertiary market right now is Australia. So with the Latin American countries, I think they were smart to say, you know what? We need to get in now because we know this is gonna be an industrial commodity that's going to be used all over the world. And so if we can assert our dominance now, then we have a better shot of bringing in tax revenues for each of our countries. Um, and I think that's the main driving factor is the ideology of cannabis is bad, is starting to fade away globally. And we're starting to see people realize that if you want to be in this business, you have to start with passing a law and then you have to put a regulatory structure in place to make commerce successful on the global stage.
Julio Martinez: 6:27
All right . So in other words, it's about money. It is about receiving more revenue, it is about competing with other countries. And is it also because government are starting to recognize the value in medicine of this substance?
Michael Patterson: 6:43
Absolutely. So we see more and more research coming out around the world , uh, regarding cannabis and its benefits. And one of the countries that is leading the way is Israel. So Israel has put out a tremendous amount of research on the cannabis plant. And so what we're seeing is more and more data coming out. For example , um, medical cannabis use for PTSD shows on average a 95% decrease in symptoms which is astronomical and the side effects are extremely minimal. And so as a physician, you want to be able to use the best types of medicine for your patients. And so cannabis, we feel with the research that continues to come out is a very safe and effective medicine to use for multiple ailments.
Julio Martinez: 7:28
Hmm , interesting. Alright , so the research and development is happening in countries like the US Canada, I guess in some in Europe and in Israel of course as you just uh mentioned, but none of that is happening in Latin America. What's happening in Latin America is the actual cultivation and production. Am I correct to exports to these big countries?
Michael Patterson: 7:53
Correct. That is the main focus right now. And to be honest, that's where they need to have their focus because in countries that are outside Latin America, it's a lot easier to get approval for a research study than it is to legalize an entire industry. So that's where the research is done outside of Latin America right now. But then the implementation of that research is actually done in Latin America as well as Africa and Australia right now, as well as Canada of course. So the long term goal for Latin America is to have that window into the United States. So for those who are unaware, 90% of all legal cannabis sales in the world are in the United States. So the United States will be the predominant market for the next 15 to 20 years. Within this timeframe, we expect the United States to legalize cannabis 100%. And so that's where Latin America is in my opinion. They're working on the infrastructure now to handle the massive supply of cannabis and cannabis related products that the United States and others are going to need over the next 20 to 30 years.
Julio Martinez: 9:00
And where do you see the biggest growth , uh, recreational or medicinal
Michael Patterson: 9:04
Medical cannabis is the future. And so let me explain. What we're seeing with the passage of medical cannabis laws globally shows us that you have to have the public support. And so the public support is not going to be there for a recreational cannabis product because it's the same as legalizing alcohol. You're not gonna get your soccer moms and your moms who have children with DT syndrome, which is a rare disorder similar to with dealing with seizures. Um, you're not gonna have your senior citizens who are interested in recreational cannabis. You do have the most of the majority of the population interested in in medical cannabis. The reason being specifically in the United States is the average US senior citizen takes over 13 prescription drugs a day and they have to deal with all the side effects of those prescription drugs. So we see the global market over the next 10 years will be 80% medical and wellness. And wellness is defined as a nutritional supplement. So think you go to the health food store, you buy a nutritional supplement with CBD, and then you take that on a daily basis and that decreases inflammation, makes you feel better, so forth and so on. Um, and then only 20% will be the adult use market globally. So we see medical and wellness being the primary market globally for the next 10 years.
Julio Martinez: 10:24
Interesting. Michael, and in what specific medical conditions do you see cannabis having a big role or, or being effective based on the research so far?
Michael Patterson: 10:36
Well, I can tell you research and data. What we're seeing in the United States and other countries is the most commonly prescribed reason for medical cannabis is chronic pain. The second most prescribed diagnosis is post-traumatic stress disorder and a close third is anxiety or sleep. You can kind of put those in the same category 'cause there's a lot of challenges with a lot of , uh, people who have a lot of sleep disorders. And interestingly enough, the University of Michigan did a study of people using recreational cannabis and they found that 40% of people using recreational cannabis were using it for a medical reason. And the number one reason they were using it for was sleep. So people are trying to self-medicate and uh , who are doing it recreationally, but medically we find it's a very good alternative to opiates and benzodiazepines to be able to have a less harsh drug, so to speak, to be used for specifically chronic pain. It has a very extremely low addiction rate. The surveys, or excuse me, the research is showing somewhere between seven to 9% addiction rate on cannabis. To put that in perspective, opiates are closer to 15 to 20% and alcohol is the same around 15%. So in our opinion, it's a lot safer drug and a , a good tool in the toolbox of a physician to use.
Julio Martinez: 11:56
Hmm , fascinating. So the thing that I see happening here, Michael, and correct me if I am wrong in my perspective, is Latin America is producing the raw material and the wealthy countries will manufacture, will commercialize these medical innovations. We wanna give it a a more serious name or new drugs in their markets. I mean, so the thing that I , I don't like about the dynamics now is that the Latin American population is not really gonna take advantage of these innovations in the short term , I guess. Am I correct?
Michael Patterson: 12:34
Well, it just depends on what you're looking at as progress. To me, where we are in the market is you have to look at the age of the legal global market of cannabis. It's literally less than five years old. So you can't put the cart before the horse. You can't expect these Latin American countries to go out and spend $20 million to do a research study where that could be done in Germany or it could be done in the uk. But that research now is going to flow down into Latin America to do production. So what we see is the innovation can't happen fast right now just because there's no infrastructure. Once you put in an infrastructure of research is done in outside of Latin America and production is done inside of Latin America, eventually those two will fuse and you'll start to see more money being pumped into Latin American universities through big pharma companies as well as medical marijuana companies because that way the research will be cheaper to do. So to me, it's moving in certain phases and just because Latin America is not the hub of both production as well as research is not a problem right now. And I think it's an advantage because it puts Latin America on the map and in the conversation because there's other countries who haven't gotten into this game specifically China is kind of in, but they're only in on industrial hemp. They're not in on medical cannabis. And so when China gets involved, then it's gonna put pressure on Latin America because there's only so much demand right now, and there will be a tremendous amount of supply.
Julio Martinez: 14:04
Okay. Alright . So let's talk a little bit more in depth about Latin America. Let's kind of go country by country and discuss what's happening in each of the leading , uh, countries where you see a big activity happening. So could you please name the , the top three or four countries?
Michael Patterson: 14:24
Sure. So right now the number one country in Latin America is Columbia. So Columbia has come outta the gates and they're really working on getting rid of their image, the Pablo Eskimo image with illegal drugs. And so with medical cannabis right now there's, I would think about 50 different licensed holds in Columbia country. And they're in different phases of actually getting product out of the country. So currently they're only exporting CBD, they're not exporting THC or the cannabinoid that gets you quote high , um, that will happen over time. So they are now starting to take the lead, but they will be the dominant country inside of Latin America. Now the second country would be Uruguay. Uruguay, as I mentioned, legalized many years ago for recreational and medical cannabis. But in my opinion as an outsider, Uruguay is having a little more difficulty because they're just a smaller country. They have less people. But there is a company there now who is technically the leading exporter of medical cannabis in the world. They just recently exported one ton of medical cannabis flour . And flour is the marijuana bud or the plant that everybody's used to seeing. The the technical term is called flour . It was the largest international shipment to date. So they're technically in the lead. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep that lead long term . And then we get into the other countries such as Chile, Peru , uh, medical cannabis is legal in both countries. They have, right now they have some domestic production. They're doing a little bit of imports, but not a ton. And , and these markets are still relatively small. And then the next big player that can be coming on the scene is going to be Brazil. As we all know, Brazil is in a covid crisis right now. It's slowing the progress of medical cannabis industry starting to take place in Brazil. Brazil just passed medical cannabis legalization in uh , I think it was late 2019. So they're just kind of getting started. And when we find a country that's just getting started, they have a lot of issues to work out with their law. Um, people who don't follow the cannabis industry may not understand that when you convert something from illegal to legal, there's not a template to do that. And so you could look at other countries and what they've done, but something that's been done in Canada may not work for a country like Brazil. Also, another country that's in the game is Argentina. Argentina legalized medical canvas in 2018, I believe. And so they're just getting their program started. And so Uruguay is farthest along the track of international trade, but I see Columbia in 2021 coming on very strong with imports going into the eu.
Julio Martinez: 17:05
Alright , excellent. Michael, very interesting stuff here. What about competition? I mean, you mentioned something about, I mean your bio , uh, about East Africa. Is Africa competing somehow with Latin America for a piece of the pie here?
Michael Patterson: 17:22
Theoretically, yes. So right now Africa is behind Latin America right now in regards to legalization. So we currently operate in five different countries in Africa. And the most, the one that's pushed the farthest so far , um, and has been doing it the longest, is Otto . And if you're not familiar, Otto is that little country that's inside of South Africa. So at the bottom of Africa, they legalized medical cannabis in 2017. And so our company was the first one on record to ever export cannabis product out of La Soto. That was , uh, a few months ago and we shipped into Australia. We're currently working with a couple companies in Columbia to do some sample cannabis shipments from Columbia to the Sotu . So we , Africa is, they're a little bit farther behind in regards to regulation and legalization. However, where I see Africa playing a huge role is their governments are, there's not as much bureaucracy in a lot of these governments, which is good and bad. So you can get different policies, move forward a little bit faster. And so there's a race right now to get to the global markets. And so where I see Africa and Latin America working together is in regards to capacity. So I want to develop my relationships in Latin America and eventually buy a location in a Latin American country so then I can dominate the ability to supply raw product. And so also I wanna build those relationships with Latin America. So if I can offer that product to my customers, for example, if we're growing two tons of cannabis and we need seven tons and I have my partners in Latin America where I can source that material and then make it go through Africa to an end user , I wanna be able to do that. So I think it's where , where we can work together. But I think Latin America, in my opinion, has a better advantage in getting out regulated product than Africa right now because Africa, as I mentioned before , it's less regulated, but that can create a lot of problems. And between you and me , uh, Latin America is a continent where I think it has a lot of promise and cost of production is definitely in line with Africa. So I think it still has major advantages 'cause it is closer to the United States and when we go into a legal law in the United States or a hundred percent legal cannabis, Latin America is definitely gonna have an advantage over Africa due to distance.
Julio Martinez: 19:47
Okay, sounds very interesting. Michael, what about the next step in this legalization of these substances, so to speak? Cannabis was first. Is there anything in the horizon like mushrooms or something like that? What do you think?
Michael Patterson: 20:04
Yes, and so mushrooms or psilocybin, we're starting to see municipalities in the United States, specifically Denver decriminalizing the possession of psilocybin or mushrooms. Some people, if you do , um, psilocybin could be uh , actually LSD. Some people consider it LSD or acid to be used as as psilocybin, but the psychedelics is the kind of what they're going into the category. But I see , um, psychedelic research starting up specifically in California as well as Oregon and Washington. I do expect a state in the next four to five years to legalize psilocybin for use. We're starting to see very good research done out of Johns Hopkins as well as Harvard in regards to dealing with traumatic events in healing those events through the use of psilocybin. So I see that kind of moving forward. Ironically, psilocybin was chosen as one of the , the most safest drugs on the planet to use, although it can produce a lot of psychedelic effects. That's where I think we need to get to a happy meeting from a western medicine perspective is yes, these substances seem to work, we just have to get it into a quote safe zone and we need to understand more about it and how it can work so we can put it out to mass population and give these doctors the ability to have another tool in their toolbox.
Julio Martinez: 21:24
Yeah. Team Fer and Michael Poland are big supporters of this , right?
Michael Patterson: 21:29
They are. And so what we see is cannabis was not the Pandora's box, but it kind of let out all the things that we're thinking. And a lot of this, what I'd like to tell the listeners is when you're thinking about cannabis and psilocybin, it's really more of a sociological and psychological issue than it is a medical issue because we have this idea in our head of what these things are supposed to be. And most of the times it's a negative aspect. But if you look at the hard data, these drugs are so much better than some of the prescription drugs we have out specifically with opiates because they're less addictive. They find better relief with less usage. For example, the psilocybin researchers that they're seeing is the average person in the study did psilocybin less than four to five times, and they found some of them were actually cured of their suicidal thoughts. Some were cured of depression. So they're finding better results in a shorter amount of time and almost zero case of addiction because they have , don't have, really have the ability to get that medication. But yet there's no desire because if you're not familiar with psilocybin, it's a commitment, okay, if you're gonna do this, it's gonna be six hours to up to 24 hours in your system. And so it's not something that should be taken lightly. And so that's why under physician supervision, you definitely want to have that. And so the studies they've done so far are showing people where they stay in one room under supervision for up to 24 hours, they make sure they're gonna be safe. Um, nobody's going to get hurt. And so these are the things we have to figure out as a society and from a medicinal aspect to see how can we assimilate psilocybin into our western medicine culture.
Julio Martinez: 23:08
Yeah, there's something going on. I'm not an expert on this, but uh , I've seen the , uh, topic of the shaman ceremonies in Peru and Columbia and other countries in Latin America being more commonplace now. I mean, people are talking about having ayahuasca trips and people are coming from all over the world. I mean mainly from uh, wealthy western countries , uh, Europe and the US coming to South America to have these experiences. So there's gonna be something here that we're just starting to understand, right? With all these substances
Michael Patterson: 23:46
And what I look at of these substances, this is a whole area for ecotourism for Latin America. I've known people to gone down primarily Central America and Costa Rica, but I think Latin America, it's an exciting opportunity not just for these substances, but for cannabis. Imagine having cannabis, medical cannabis resorts so people can come in tourists . We'll have a physician in Columbia and Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and you can come for cannabis medical vacation. And so imagine going to a place for two weeks and starting to get used on the , the medicine and have physicians supervise you. Then when you go back home, they can get you on some sort of regimen where it's legal in your country, whether it be CBD, whether it be the minor cannabinoids that are legal, C-B-G-C-B-N, there's over 100 of them. Or if you go back to an area that does have medical cannabis, then you understand what your body can tolerate as a dose. One of the challenges with cannabis is dosing can be different for everybody because our bodies have what we call as an endocannabinoid system. Well then cannabis or marijuana has cannabinoids, so the body treats it as a lock and key system in order to help decrease inflammation throughout the body. So that's one of the reasons that cannabis can kind of benefit lots of different diagnoses because it decreases inflammation throughout the entire body. And more and more research is coming out that inflammation is the cause of a lot of neurological disorders in in the long term .
Julio Martinez: 25:10
All right , Michael, is there any other , uh, substance that is also in the horizon beyond cannabis, mushrooms? Something that we haven't talked about ?
Michael Patterson: 25:19
Um , ayahuasca, as we mentioned also I see the , uh, increase of ibogaine. Ibogaine is another natural substance that people have used to get off , um, heroin as well as opiates. And they find it actually works well with drug treatment. And then , uh, LSD, which is in the psilocybin category, I start to see , um, um, you're gonna see a lot more talk about LSD coming out because in low doses, LSD is found to do very good things for mental health. So I see over the next five years the fact that cannabis has come out and the world has not ended , um, I think a lot of people are looking at these other drugs to say, well, maybe there's something to these other drugs as well. So this is not just a shift in medicine. I think it's a shift in thinking and psychological and sociological in our society as a whole. And to be honest, I think it's something to where we need to start going down different roads because the roads that we've done as a society in general have led us to these very tumultuous times we're living in now. And so we need to start thinking differently to move into this new genre of unity and hope. And I think cannabis and these other types of substances can definitely be a part of that conversation.
Julio Martinez: 26:29
All right . Michael, going back to Latin America, have you seen the conversations starting to happen about all these substances beyond cannabis? From the regulatory standpoint, what is already forward looking country that is seeing the future and is starting to , uh, organize its legal system to be more competitive
Michael Patterson: 26:55
Only with cannabis? No Latin American country that I'm aware of has strayed away from cannabis yet I think the main reason is they're a little bit behind in the fact that they've just legalized. And what I find and and specifically in cannabis is it takes a couple years for the government and the population to get comfortable with this new legal product. And once that happens in more mature markets, for example, in Colorado, Colorado's had legal cannabis now for over 10 years. They were in medical, they converted to recreational cannabis adult use in 2012. Crime rates have definitely gone down. Issues with domestic violence have decreased since cannabis has been legal. So the sky didn't fall there. So now once they had enough time in illegal market, now they've moved on to psilocybin. So then now they realize. So I think Latin America is still getting the feelers out or kind of feel the way through legalizing medical cannabis. But I do think , uh, once they feel comfortable with that, a country , country like Uruguay I would think would probably move forward on a, a substance other than cannabis like psilocybin or ibogaine or ayahuasca. I would see them moving forward quicker than another company or another, excuse me, another country because they've had medical cannabis legal the longest and they realize that it's not this problem for society that people have made it out to be
Julio Martinez: 28:13
Very interesting. Michael. Hmm . Alright . And who is setting the trend in the world? Um , the US but but more specifically where in the US Colorado?
Michael Patterson: 28:25
Well, if you're talking about cannabis legalization, you're talking that the entire United States has moved forward. You've got 33, we're not almost everybody. You have 33 states. We're medical cannabis is legal in the United States, and you have 11 states where adult use or recreational cannabis is legal. So there's a big push in the United States. Of course, Canada has already legalized, Europe is now coming on very strong. Um, right now Germany is the largest market in Europe. They have over 100,000 medical cannabis patients and medical cannabis is covered under their socialized medicine program. With that legalization and socialized medicine program, then you're starting to see more acceptance. And so we're starting to see the UK has just legalized medical cannabis. So you're seeing a lot of push in this from a societal aspect because it's been done in the United States for so long. And something that I've learned now dealing a lot with international businesses. A lot of these countries look to the US for guidance, whether it be business, whether it be trending. And so they start to see this trending move forward. And I think CBD has really helped that because CBD is non-psychoactive , uh, CBD is now legal in over 50 countries. Medical cannabis is legal in over 40 countries. And so as we see this progression, I think you're gonna see more and more countries moving forward. And then Latin America will continue to play a bigger and bigger role in the whole global market.
Julio Martinez: 29:49
Okay. Let's talk a little bit about hemp. I've heard great things about that plant , uh, or that, again, I'm not an expert, I don't know if this is the right word. That variation of the the plant , uh, of the cannabis plant. I understand they're related, but they're not the same. So hemp is more for industrial production, right? You can make paper, you can make plastics a whole bunch of stuff. I understand. Is that correct?
Michael Patterson: 30:17
Yes . So the legal definition is hemp is less than 0.3% THC . So THC is the cannabinoid, which people know gets you high. Um, so hemp is an industrial product, absolutely, but every country defines the definition of hemp differently. For example, in the eu, hemp is defined as 0.2% or less of THC . And then in Switzerland it's 1.0% of THC or less. So you really have to know the country that you're going into. So a hemp is primarily used as an industrial crop, but also you can get C, b, D or cannabidiol from a hemp plant as well as a marijuana plant. So some people grow hemp to be able to process CB, D and sell it. And then some people grow a different variation of hemp, which is more like , uh, wheat that grows really tall, like 11 feet tall and very close together, has a large thick stalk. And they use that from primarily paper, a building material such as uh , hemp creek instead of concrete. So we see a huge, huge ability and value in growing industrial hemp. And I think Latin America is going to have a major role in that because imagine converting all of our hu factories for paper to hemp factories and they bring in hemp and rather than cutting down trees so we could save the Amazon. So imagine planting , you know, thousands of acres of hemp instead of cutting down trees to be able to, to use it as decreasing global warming because then you grow hemp, it grows in about four months , uh, you can grow at least two crops a year in Latin America. And so then converting that into , um, biodegradable plastics, you can convert it into , uh, fuels. Anything that is can be made with petroleum, it can be made with hemp. So we could have gasoline, we could have plastics, we could have polymers, we could get rid of the entire plastic population on the planet , you know, the oceans filling with plastic. We can get rid of all that by using biodegradable hemp and that could save the planet just in one fall swoop . So to me, the future of our planet is going to be dependent on hemp and really being a catalyst to moving into biodegradable products that are not gonna kill our planet.
Julio Martinez: 32:22
Wow, that's fascinating. It's bigger than I thought. <laugh> impressive. And and what country in Latin America do you see having a role here with hemp production?
Michael Patterson: 32:30
Again, Columbia is taking the lead because what we see Columbia doing is about half of their cultivation they're currently using for what I call THC or medical products and the other half they're using for hemp and hemp products. And right now those hemp products are primarily around CBD. There's an issue right now in industrial hemp, I call it the chicken or the egg syndrome for example, do you want to buy hemp T-shirt that costs double the amount of a cotton T-shirt? So how do you get the pricing down to be able to have a demand? So we can make the machinery and we can grow the hemp and create the hemp based T-shirts, but if there's not a demand for those shirts, then there's no reason to create the factories, if you see what I'm saying. So we're at this point in the world and the point in society to where okay, we have to facilitate that. And so what we see is facilitating that is what I call the Tesla effect. So where I'm se starting to see is these big designers of clothing and jeans and so forth and so on are starting to move into a , some sort of hemp-based materials so they can start selling them at higher prices. Well , when they sell 'em at higher prices, it's a brand name product, then more people will buy that product, then more people will get interested in the product. And then you're gonna be able to do a cheaper model and that will go out to the mass. It's kind of like how Tesla started with their sports car and then they moved into the products that were 35 or $40,000 the cars, and now they have mass appeal. And so we kind of see that with hemp clothing also, we're gonna start to see that with hemp plastics as well when the price starts coming down. And then more governments are going to facilitate or incentivize for , uh, private industry to use biodegradable products. Um, we start to see hemp starting to take off because it , it clicks all those boxes. It helps protect the environment, it helps decrease global warming. It's something that can be grown relatively easily and it can be grown twice a year rather than cotton being only grown once a year and requiring a lot of pesticides. You can literally grow hemp if , if you have the right growers with very limited pesticides and herbicides. And so it's a win-win all around.
Julio Martinez: 34:37
Fantastic. Um , Michael, well Michael, we are approaching the end of the show. So a couple more questions for you. One is, it's Latin America fun place to do business. What do you think about the culture and the way people do business in the region?
Michael Patterson: 34:54
Well, I have to tell you some , having many Colombian employees over the years, I love the culture and how inviting and welcoming it is. Um, I love the fact that everybody I've met from that area, I absolutely love, I wish I could speak better Spanish, my daughter and my mother and my sister are fluent in Spanish, but me umto . So very little <laugh> . But , uh, I think the best thing I would say is the people. And that's where I think this is the biggest asset for Latin America is the people and be willing , uh, to try something new and work together in the spirit of unity to be able to help people and make money.
Julio Martinez: 35:30
All right . Michael, what , who is your ideal client? Please give us a profile. I mean, who, who you serve.
Michael Patterson: 35:37
We serve a lot of different clients. We , uh, we do a lot with venture capital firms. We do a lot with private equity funds. We do a lot with , uh, new companies , startups . So what our company does is we consult, collaborate, and invest. And so it's runs the gamut. So we deal with companies , uh, right now we're involved in the company that's getting ready to get a , uh, a no action letter from the SEC for cryptocurrency. Uh , that's basically carte blanche to move forward with a , a legal form of money, so to speak. And that's gonna be used to pilot the cannabis industry to decrease the amount of cash that goes along in the cannabis industry to partner. We did a joint venture with, in Africa , as I mentioned, where we have five uh , licenses there to dealing with companies who are looking to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into companies and, and let them understand is that a good move, is that a bad move? So we do our , our ideal client would be a venture capital firm or a private industry that looks to either want to invest in new markets or they want to bring us on as a partner to handle operations of a medical cannabis facility anywhere in the world. So we can kind of do anything , um, all the above depending on what they need. And so one of the things I tell people a lot is we're becoming a large general contractor for the industry. So we can source pretty much whatever you would need, whether it be money, equipment, people, regions, licenses, permitting. So we deal with a lot of different types of those industries. And so one of the things I see in the cannabis space is just kind of hard to figure out who can you trust and who do you go to. And so we try to fill a lot of those holes for companies 'cause we can source so many different areas of that space , um, that it, we make it kind of an easy choice to pick us.
Julio Martinez: 37:20
All right , Michael, so before we sign off for today, do you have any final thoughts, more source of wisdom or other museums for our listeners? In terms of the Latin American region?
Michael Patterson: 37:31
The biggest thing I would say is, is start following. If you're not, start following the rules and the laws with medical cannabis in your country and Latin America because you have the ability to get it on the ground floor. One of the things that I notice is it's difficult for outside businesses outside Latin America to be involved unless they have an inside source, somebody on the ground. Uh, we as a company make a rule. We never go into a country unless we have , uh, locals on the ground. So start figuring out a way if you wanna get into the industry, start understanding a certain market or multiple markets there and start educating people on those markets. And what you'll find is you'll have a lot of people who start coming to you because they now know that you know the information about that country. And then it , it , it's enables you to start working out and making a living in this new industry if that's something you would like to do.
Julio Martinez: 38:22
Fantastic, Michael. Alright . How can people get in contact with you?
Michael Patterson: 38:27
Uh , the best place is LinkedIn. So you could just type Michael Patterson and put in US cannabis pharmaceutical research and development. Or you could reach us on our webpage, which is U-S-C-P-R d.com , which is US as in Sam, C as in Charlie, P as in Paul, R as in Randy, D as in dog.com.
Julio Martinez: 38:47
Awesome. Michael. Well, thank you so much for being on our podcast. I really, really enjoy our conversation and I'm sure listeners , uh, got a lot from the wealth of knowledge that you have about this industry. And , uh, I look forward to being in touch.
Michael Patterson: 39:03
Okay. And if any of your listeners have questions, feel free to reach out to me. I'd love to answer those for you.
Julio Martinez: 39:09
Excellent, Michael. Bye-Bye. Take care.