EP 227: How to Increase Price Per Gram

In this episode of the Cannabis Accounting Podcast, host Raymond Guns sits down with @jessejredmond (Jesse Redmond), Chief Strategy & Investor Relations Officer at LEEF Brands, to unpack a supply chain problem most consumers never hear about, and how it shapes the way LEEF builds its concentrates business. Jesse spent two decades running hedge funds before pivoting into cannabis, building his own dispensary from the ground up before joining LEEF.Jesse breaks down:🔬 The hidden pesticide problem: More than half of the cannabis biomass LEEF sources from outside farms fails pesticide testing, not from bad practices by cannabis growers, but from overspray drifting in off neighboring wine, blueberry, and strawberry farms.🌱 Why concentrates make it worse: Cannabis is a bioaccumulator. Concentrate it and you don't just multiply the terpenes and cannabinoids 3 to 4X, you multiply the pesticides right along with them.🌍 What a national cannabis market could look like: Cannabis can't cross state lines today, but Jesse thinks it's headed where wine and beer already went, most volume coming from scaled West Coast growers, with local and craft options still holding their own. LEEF has already applied for a DEA export license.📊 Where the market's actually headed: Concentrates now make up 54% of products sold in California, and vapes have overtaken flower as the state's top form factor for the first time.📦 The "Intel Inside" model: LEEF built its own farm to feed its extraction labs, then wholesales the concentrate to brands like Kiva, Jetty, and Heavy Hitters rather than putting its own name on the shelf.💰 Debt vs. equity, done right: Jesse breaks down when to take on debt, why he favors preferred stock structures over cheap dilution, and the lesson every cannabis operator should take from watching companies lose their license to lenders.Jesse's optimism isn't rose-tinted. He's watched cannabis stocks fall over 90%, watched companies lose their license to lenders, and spent years solving a supply chain problem most of the industry doesn't talk about. But two decades on the inside of institutional investing and cannabis alike have him convinced the fundamentals are turning, clean supply, real demand data, and a real path toward a national market. If you want a grounded look at what actually goes into a clean cannabis concentrate, this is the episode.Subscribe for deep dives on cannabis business, accounting, regs, and growth! 🔥📧 Jesse Redmond: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesseredmond/