What happens when adult learning, government regulation, product shortages, and real-world retail experience collide? Kirk’s Western Canada road trip continues through Alberta and British Columbia. At Spiritleaf in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Kamryn explains how working as a budtender turned her curiosity about cannabis into a passion for learning. Her self-directed learning includes researching terpenes, cannabinoids, the endocannabinoid system, the entourage effect, cannabis products, and cultivation. This hands-on learning helps her better understand what customers are asking about. Kirk returns to Marlee’s Den in Hope, British Columbia, where Lorraine describes the retail fallout from a British Columbia cannabis strike, including inventory shortages, direct-delivery complications, competition between independent and corporate retailers, and the challenges facing local growers. She also explains her experience with cannabis SKU's and why popular flower, pre-rolls, and infused products can disappear overnight from store shelves. This is a ground-level view of Canadian cannabis retail dilemmas, budtender education, government regulations, and those who are navigating legalization one customer, and one SKU, at a time. Listen now for cannabis stories you rarely hear from behind the counter.

Kirk travels back to familiar territory. The master of the cold-call finds opportunity to bring listeners a couple Cannabis stories while visiting his Alberta family. Canadian listeners will remember how the hamlet of Lac La Biche helped the citizens of Fort McMurry after the great fire of May 2016. During his visit to this beautiful lake side community, Kirk spoke with the owner of Equilibrium, Lac La Biche’s first independent retail cannabis store. He then happened upon the grand opening of Spiritleaf, where he spoke with the happy owners of this franchise store. In this episode we learn from these front-line retailers about the Alberta market place and how a small town Alberta is not going without.  Alberta is kicking butt and taking names when it comes to legal Cannabis Retail.  Hey Ontario and BC, maybe you need a lesson from Wild Rose Country?