How Charlotte’s Web Unlocked Medical CBD ft. Bill Morachnick

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Bryan Fields: What's up guys? Welcome back to another episode of The Dime. I'm Bryan Fields. This week we've got a very special guest, Bill Morachnick, CEO of Charlotte's Web. Bill, thanks for taking the time. How are you doing today? Bill Morachnick: Hey Bryan, great to be with you. Thanks for having me. Bryan Fields: Excited to have you here, excited to dive into the executive order, excited to dive into Charlotte's Web, excited to dive into some of the special guests we saw at the executive order — but before we get into all that fun stuff, Bill, it would be really good for our listeners to get a quick background on yourself and how you found your way into the cannabis space. Bill Morachnick: Yeah, so I joined Charlotte's Web — it's just coming up on two and a half years now. Prior to that, I came into the industry in earnest, let's say, pretty close after the Farm Bill passed, just coincidentally. I joined an Israeli company — actually a medical technology company that had developed a really interesting vaping device that uses an aqueous solution, so it doesn't use propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin. I won't tell you the whole story of how we got connected, but we did, and I started making a lot of trips back and forth to Tel Aviv. I joined the board of directors and became an advisor, and I'm still very much in contact with that group. Their technology is a very compelling platform for cannabis. So that was my introduction into the space. And then it was fall of 2023 when I joined Charlotte's Web as CEO. Bryan Fields: Charlotte's Web — were you familiar with the story before you joined? Was it a story you were maybe lightly familiar with, and then when you got deeper into it, you had a different level of understanding? Can you give us a little insight into that? Bill Morachnick: Yeah, I was very familiar with it as a result of the work I was doing with the Israeli firm. We were looking for different product manufacturers whose extract we could put into our device. CBD wasn't something we were targeting at that time, but through that research, I was exposed to Charlotte's Web. I don't think you can not be moved by the backstory of the company's formation — I don't know if you have a pulse if you aren't. Bryan Fields: No, for sure. Could you give a quick synopsis of that? I think sometimes people are lightly familiar with Charlotte's Web, but the story is so overwhelmingly powerful that hearing it again might give people a deeper understanding of just how important it is. Bill Morachnick: Yeah, so Charlotte was this young girl who was suffering from a rare orphan disease that was causing her many, many epileptic seizures throughout the day — I think it was as many as three or four hundred seizures a day. She never really had a childhood to speak of. She was hooked up to tubes and wires and largely unable to eat on her own from the get-go. Her mom, Paige, and her dad did a lot of research trying to find an alternative to the pharmaceutical products she was being given through the traditional healthcare system, because that system just couldn't solve it for her. So they went looking for alternatives through research on the web — hence Charlotte's Web, that's the genesis of the name. They stumbled upon a CBD-type treatment protocol that they thought had promise and reached out to the Stanley Brothers. The Stanley Brothers were able to grow a specific cultivar that was extracted and given to Charlotte. I believe she was actually in hospice care at that point — it was the ultimate last-resort situation. Upon receiving the extract, the seizures stopped, as I'm told, almost immediately. They went from hundreds a day to maybe one a month. The way Paige Figi tells the story, that's the day she met her daughter — she was able to speak, she was able to eat, she was able to be a little girl and have a life. She was immunocompromised from all the battles she'd been through, so she made it through to around the COVID timeframe and eventually passed, but that extract gave the Figi family their little girl back. And as a result of that, people started flooding into Colorado to receive treatment from this extract, which is still the original formula that's been helping — I don't know the precise number, but many, many thousands of people since that time. Bryan Fields: I think the most overwhelmingly positive sentiment, of course, is helping her — that's a tremendous, amazing story. But it's the medicinal properties, right? There's so much consistent debate about whether cannabis has medicinal properties, whether it can help people, and I think that story alone is one where I can only imagine the conversation with POTUS — sharing that, and how powerful it must have been in a critical moment of his decision-making, saying, 'if it has medicinal properties and this story is legitimate, we need to expand research and figure this out.' And the only way to do that is to start with first-principle examples, sadly, like Charlotte's story. Bill Morachnick: Precisely. I think for people who've been around — and Bryan, you've been in the space a long time — 2018 was the moment with the passing of the Farm Bill, where folks were anticipating that hemp would finally get its proper classification as a medicine. We have to stop with this narrative that only associates it with the criminal justice system — we should be talking about it as a medicinal protocol. It hadn't quite arrived in that form, but last Thursday was a very different time, and fingers crossed, it's the beginning of some really wonderful things on the horizon with that executive order. Bryan Fields: Did CBD being so prominent in that executive order surprise you? Bill Morachnick: You know, I may be one of the few who wasn't surprised, because this is the pathway we've been going down. We've been supportive of the TCP — the Commonwealth Project — and the incredible work Howard Kessler has done to turn that concept into something with massive impact. So no, it didn't surprise me. It was super exciting, and honestly surreal. Bryan Fields: Paige was in the room when that got signed. That had to have been just a perfect feeling — knowing everything she went through during that process of searching for medicine, finding it, and knowing this bill could now help open up access for tons of other people who might not be as aware of the story and the powerful medicinal properties of cannabinoids. Bill Morachnick: Yeah — yes, yes, yes, and yes. The hardest part was that I knew a day or two beforehand that she was going to be there, but I was sworn to secrecy — I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize her security clearance to be there. So I was wildly excited to see her there. And I've said this before, and I say it with a deep sense of emotion and true gratitude: the fact that the universe brought me together with her in some form — I feel so wildly fortunate. She's just one of those people you meet in your life, and maybe the word 'hero' is overused today, but she's truly one of my heroes. If I'm going to define heroism, it has a high element of doing something on a grand scale, but also doing something very selfless. Paige lost her daughter about five years ago, and her commitment, her conviction, her energy, her enthusiasm to make sure others get access to the botanical drug that changed her daughter's life has never wavered. She's always been about creating access to CBD for the people who need it. I don't know if you've had the chance to meet her — she's a force, and she's so wildly committed, it's inspiring. I think we all seek a cause greater than ourselves, and we struggle to find it. She's that personified, and to get to collaborate with someone like that for a common goal gives you life purpose. It gives you a sense of meaning that I don't take lightly. I feel like it's a blessing that's been bestowed on me, and I want to help her get there. So, very long-winded way of saying: seeing her up there in that moment — the battle's not over, but that was a big milestone. Bryan Fields: Yeah, it's really impactful. The first thing I thought about was the story behind that, and how moving and telling it must be, because we've all seen the anti-cannabis crowd saying there are no medicinal properties, or that it doesn't do anything, or it's a big tax scheme, or it's just a way to get your kids on drugs. And then you hear her story, and you have to think — even the people most hardened against it, what they could ask for, which I think is always a fair ask, is research, right? Research allows us to say, 'maybe it can't help with all of these things, but if it can help with one or two, shouldn't we propose it as a first or second option instead of a last resort?' And how many other people, with additional research, would feel more comfortable getting a recommendation from a doctor who might not be as familiar with these properties? It's like you were saying — this is the first day. Now is just the beginning, and her story has helped get us to the point where we can begin changing minds, hearts, and using this as a research opportunity. Bill Morachnick: Very well said, I applaud everything you just said — it's spot on. The way we frame it is: Charlotte's last option is now many people's first option. Look how far that's come. And yet it's shocking, now that I'm in this space, that it's still associated with — let alone medicine — being something quasi-criminal. It's really hard to process. I probably experience more 'antis,' if you will, than most people, being the CEO of one of these companies. I've had no shortage of people come up to me and say, 'man, I didn't think you were the kind of person who'd be dealing in weed.' And I'm like, wow, that's not what I do. Bryan Fields: Yeah, what's their normal response to you, Bill? Is it, 'we just don't think cannabis is a medicine,' or 'we think you're drug laundering, you're moving product'? What do they say to you? Bill Morachnick: The thing that comes up the most is, 'oh yeah, I don't believe in that' — like it's open to that kind of interpretation. It's like saying, 'I don't believe in headache medicine,' or whatever. The way I'm evolving my rebuttal — I don't want to alienate people, and I don't want to proselytize. Everyone's on their own journey. What I've found, Bryan, is that our products do exceptionally well with three things: they help with sleep, they help with pain, and they help with anxiety or stress. So my go-to move now, especially with someone I like and want to spend time with, is I'll ask, 'do you have problems with any of those?' And then I'll get them some sample product. I think I'm batting a thousand — everyone I've introduced it to, for whatever specific need, has come back and said, 'wow, that really helped, how can I get more?' And then I have to say, 'well, you've got to go to the website, because we've got a for-profit business here.' But it demonstrates — and I'm talking now from a commercial perspective — that this is really an education play. The better and more effective we are at education, the better served the industry and the category are, and the more the consumer will pay. Bryan Fields: That's a big lift, right? You're talking about something substantial, where there's the fear and misinformation of, 'well Bill, I don't want to get high.' And you say, 'okay, you won't.' But then, 'how do I know if I'm taking too much?' Those are genuinely difficult things to overcome. But then you take a step back — when a doctor prescribes you medicine, you don't really ask them, 'how do I know this is too much medicine?' The doctor prescribes it, and that's part of the process. Which goes back to the executive order — I think it's a really powerful day for changing hearts and minds, by having an open conversation, by having Paige in the room, by being able to say, 'look, this is a company set up for medicinal purposes, and they've helped tons and tons of people.' Her daughter is the exact use case we're talking about when it comes to medicinal properties. These are the powerful moments where people hear those stories and their entire perspective starts to shift — maybe, just maybe, I should think about this a little differently. Bill Morachnick: Again, spot on. So my biggest struggle — when you start a new position, you're trying to figure out what you have to do to help turn things around, and at the time I joined, the whole CBD category was struggling greatly, as was Charlotte's Web. What's the key? What's the unlock? How do we change the path it's on? And I kept coming back to: how do we do education at scale? And you identified it very accurately — it's not just a heavy lift, it's a very expensive lift. I can't think of any consumer packaged goods category where you have to do this much education just to get someone to trial the product, get conversion, get repeat use, get consistent use. That funnel math really doesn't work effectively. Is it through influencers? Is it through user-generated content? How are we going to do that? It's really, really hard, and I hadn't cracked it — until the pathway we started down with the Commonwealth Project, which materialized in its initial stages on Thursday with the executive order. I'm very hopeful that, if not solving it completely, we've come up with a massive solve. To build on what you're saying: starting next year, a licensed medical professional will be able to say to their patient, 'this is a non-prescription product that I'm going to recommend to you, and it will be reimbursed through Medicare.' That's validation, times ten. That's going to help people get comfortable that what we're proposing to them isn't voodoo science — that it's efficacious, it's safe, it's non-intoxicating, and on and on. I can't overstate how massive that day was. I don't know what metaphor to use, but I think it's maybe mile one of a 26.2-mile marathon. We're just getting started. Bryan Fields: Yeah, it's the breakthrough you're talking about in that funnel requirement, right? Because now you have the trust of someone like a doctor, who most people treat as close to gospel — when a doctor recommends something, most of the time you don't think twice, you just go forward with it. Now they're recommending a product, which reduces that hesitation. Maybe you try it based on those concerns, and you realize, 'oh, this helped — this helped with my headache, this helped with my anxiety.' Maybe you try it again, and when it continues to help, you think, 'this made a big difference — I'm not on the opioids anymore, I don't have to lie down, I feel like myself.' And that's when people start telling other people, and they think, 'if you felt that way, maybe I should try it too, because I struggle with sleep, I struggle with pain, I struggle with anxiety.' What was this phantom tool that most people were only lightly aware of, and maybe a little fearful of, can now go through their doctor and get reimbursed. You're talking about a massive opening-up of what's possible, which I think is a huge benefit for the older generation, and also for doctors — to see those responses and accelerate their understanding of where it helped one person and where it didn't help another. Bill Morachnick: Yeah, spot on. It's a coincidence, but there was an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday about how over-medicated the senior population is — did you see it? One in six seniors on Medicare, or in the Medicare drug prescription program, are currently prescribed eight drugs simultaneously. So it's not just a chemical experiment happening in their body, it's expensive, even with reimbursements. We always say accessibility has a few dimensions to it: one is, is it easy to purchase, can you find it; the other is the price, and is it priced in a way you can use it at the frequency you need. We're a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the cost of these pharma products seniors are dealing with. If we can help them with any one or two of those things, for a fraction of the cost, in a way that's natural and non-addictive, it's such a home run — for that population, and for the population at large, but especially for seniors. Bryan Fields: Would you say CBD is kind of like a gateway cannabinoid? Bill Morachnick: I would never say that. Look, in my universe, I don't know anyone who's experienced our products and wanted to move on to something different. It's a non-intoxicating product. You probably have a different need state than what we address if you want to experience a higher-intoxicating cannabinoid. Bryan Fields: Sure, I was having fun with the word — everyone called cannabis 'the gateway drug,' and now you're talking about a gateway cannabinoid, and there are different products for different needs. If you're looking to relax after work or kick back with your buddies, there's a different style of product. But if you're in pain, there's one geared for that. I think it goes back to the whole concept that there are medicinal purposes for it — this is a massive change. And how does this unfold? Is the industry ready for this big change? Bill Morachnick: So — 'big change' meaning what came out of the executive order? Bryan Fields: From a supply standpoint — maybe increasing demand, changing the supply chain, because there could be a big increase in overall demand, and then there has to be a supply chain that can withstand that. You want a consistent product, you want to make sure it's the same every time, you want to make sure your customers are getting consistent results on a regular basis. Bill Morachnick: Yeah, I think — take one step upstream or downstream from that question. I think the critical piece here, Bryan, is that in the world we're rapidly moving into — let's call it federal reimbursement for CBD products — we haven't even seen the published rules for the pilot program yet. I expect it's going to elevate the entire industry, so quality standards should become uniform, and consistency will have to be elevated. I think there's a whole lot of companies that will struggle to participate because they're not built for a world where the product is medically recommended — let alone prescribed, which is a different story I'll take you down with DeFloria. But in the world where it's recommended by a medical professional, I don't see those doctors messing around with products they don't have full confidence and belief in. So the bar is going to be raised. We feel great about that, because we're built for it today — we're an FDA-registered, authorized facility, so we can manufacture to FDA standards. We've got the highest quality standards, we've got traceability, all the things you'd want in place, especially if a physician is recommending it. To your exact question — can we address the demand? I don't envision this being shot out of a cannon. It'll take some time to ramp up. We've got massive manufacturing capacity and platforms. We feel really good about the near term, the midterm, the long term. We can add equipment, we can add production capacity to address far beyond what I even see this going. So I think it's more about the industry elevating its quality to address what this new world looks like. Bryan Fields: And that's really important, right? At the end of the day, that's where you get trust and repeatability. That's what consumers expect — if you try a product and have a good experience, one that alleviates a problem, you want to make sure that when you take it a second time, it does the same thing, and doesn't do something catastrophically different. Bill Morachnick: Spot on. And if you're recommending it to a friend with a similar need, and they want to talk to their physician about it, it should have — as we say — consistent pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics within the body, so it's a repeatable experience. Bryan Fields: The same way Big Pharma handles continuous manufacturing, right? There's continuous testing in-house, making sure that when they create a product, it adheres to the same standards on a regular basis, so they have confidence that when it hits the market, it's not going to be one where, 'oops, we put a little too much in here, sorry about that.' Bill Morachnick: Exactly, exactly. Bryan Fields: When the idea for reimbursement was coming up, is there anything you can share about those conversations? That had to have been an interesting moment — 'hey, this is a possibility,' or 'we think this is a really good idea to help people explore.' Is there anything you can share about that? Bill Morachnick: Yeah, and I imagine it's the same thing that went through your mind when we first had conversations with the Commonwealth Project and they were describing their vision and where they were taking it. I guess we do this as humans — it's like, 'well, here's ten reasons this won't work.' Cool idea, but how is this going to work when a licensed medical professional recommends a product that's not approved by the FDA? Hard stop, right? So I won't go into the whole litany of things that go through your mind, but to be honest, I wasn't familiar with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation within HHS. As I understood how broad their mandate is to explore new modalities, and how you could deploy a pilot program to get information — and then decide, do we scale it up, do we scale it down, do we hold until we have more information based on the pilot — it started to make a lot of sense to me. I thought, wow, this is very feasible, how do we work together to bring this to fruition? Bryan Fields: And I thought to myself, this is pretty logical, this makes sense, this sounds like a good idea. And then I thought, this isn't usually how the industry operates — usually there's not a lot of logical, sensible plans being enacted. It kind of surprised me, I want to be honest. When I heard that, I thought, that sounds like a really good idea. Did I hear that correctly? Bill Morachnick: Yeah, no, you're spot on. I give huge props and kudos to Howard Kessler, the founder and head of the Commonwealth Project. He went through his own health journey, battling cancer, and CBD changed his quality of life. Not unlike Paige, who went through her journey on behalf of her daughter, Howard's life was changed by it, and he asked, 'how do I bring this to other seniors?' I always joke — he's a very, very wealthy man, he could be buying sports teams and luxury lots and just living his best life, chilling — he's earned it. But instead he puts his energy, his passion, his blood, sweat, and tears into bringing this to fruition. I don't know the right words — when I'm in the presence of people like him and Paige, I'm humbled. I feel like, man, I should be as motivated as they are — if I'd been given these blessings, would I be as selfless as they are? They're wildly inspirational. But to your point — you took me off track a little there — yeah, Howard really drove this. He leveraged relationships he has within the government to push this forward. I believe it's been a six or seven-year journey for him to be standing in the Oval Office at that signing. So I felt very emotional about what he'd accomplished, and now it feels incumbent on me — as CEO, but just as a person within the industry — to bring that vision to life, to make sure the pilot is really successful, and that we continue to validate that this is medicine. Let's stop questioning that. Let's figure out how we roll it out to a broader audience. Bryan Fields: Is DeFloria part of that? I'd love for you to expand on what that is. Bill Morachnick: Yeah, let me walk you through, very quickly, how we view the medical category, because our strategy cuts across three different elements of medical — I'll put them in air quotes because they're all a little different. We've got an existing business — we've been doing it for six-plus years — of integrative medicine. Think naturopaths, massage therapists, any kind of natural doctor, chiropractors, and so on. We've had a substantial portion of our business, for the last three, four, five years, in that space. The way we do that is we work through the healthcare practitioner — we might sell the products to them and they resell to their patients, or they could be an affiliate of ours where they recommend our products and we pay them a bounty. That's our integrative-medical tier. The second is the one we've been working toward, and came to a starting point on Thursday — Medicare and Medicaid reimbursable products. A licensed physician can make a recommendation to their patient, the patient purchases the products, and they're reimbursed by Medicare. That's our second tier of medical, and we're building a whole go-to-market infrastructure around it — we've got the manufacturing set. The third is products that are FDA-approved, and that's the DeFloria route. We're a partner in DeFloria — it uses the proprietary plant genetics that evolved from our original formula, AJA001, the one that treated Charlotte. That product is going down the Investigational New Drug pathway, and we've got the rights to manufacture it into perpetuity. We're a very strong strategic partner in DeFloria, helping work that product through the clinical trial path, and once it's launched, we'll continue to manufacture it on behalf of whoever commercializes it. Bryan Fields: Got it. So is that kind of exploratory R&D, or is there a single drug in the pipeline, or multiple that you're working through? Bill Morachnick: So DeFloria is a strategic collaboration and joint venture between three different parties. Ajna Biosciences, which was founded by Joel Stanley, is exploring a range of botanical drugs — some in the psilocybin space, some in cannabis. The majority is within cannabis — some CBD, some marijuana. So they're doing the R in R&D on a whole bunch of different drugs. We're specifically aligned and partnered on the DeFloria project, which is one specific drug to treat the irritability associated with autism spectrum disorder. We've gone through Phase 1 clinical trials and are prepping now for Phase 2. Bryan Fields: Does Schedule III help alleviate any of the previous challenges, or is it kind of indifferent? Bill Morachnick: So Ajna Biosciences has held a DEA Schedule I drug license to do their research. What rescheduling does — it's still a net positive. It excites the investment community, it'll bring more money into the category, it allows other research to be done that could be collaborative for Ajna Biosciences down the road, either through private entities or research organizations, universities, and so on. So it's a net positive, but the direct work we're doing with Ajna Biosciences through the DeFloria collaboration doesn't really directly impact that today. Bryan Fields: Yeah, that makes sense. Part of the challenge is that research is expensive and you need someone to fund it, and with all the additional regulatory hoops from Schedule I, it hinders the investment community's willingness — they say, 'we understand it's really hard to achieve X, Y, and Z, so we're going to need double the capital, and it might take twice as long.' Hopefully with Schedule III, it alleviates some of those unnecessary burdens, so we can figure out the medicinal properties of the plant, accelerate combinations of different protocols, and figure out what's genuinely effective versus more of a placebo effect — either way, I think it alleviates the unknown, which I think we're all interested in figuring out. Bill Morachnick: Yeah, spot on. Like every venture capitalist or early-stage investor, you want it to be an ideal world that's completely de-risked, with 100x ROI potential — 'oh, awesome, let's put our money into those.' I haven't found many of those. Bryan Fields: Yeah, you and me both. That's a unicorn. Bill Morachnick: That's a unicorn, you're exactly right. With this rescheduling, it takes the risk profile down several notches. We're going to see the impact — it had a weird impact on various stock prices for different types of cannabis companies. But for a company like DeFloria, from the standpoint of giving confidence to potential investors, it's a very strong net positive. Bryan Fields: Yeah, it's hard to really put that kind of impact on the bottom line right away — it's just an executive order, there's a lot still to come out of it. Do you anticipate any research, or any initial findings you've come across, that you think the majority of the public would be really surprised to hear about — some additional properties? Bill Morachnick: Just — you know, cannabis in general, its medicinal properties. I'm in this enviable position where I hear from our customers a lot, and what it does for kids who suffer from seizures caused by a myriad of different diseases is mind-blowing, especially when they've been through multiple journeys with pharma products that didn't work for them, or that had really powerful adverse side effects — I don't want to say as bad as the condition itself, but very bad, very debilitating. So I hear about that a lot. Veterans — the impact it's had on that community. First responders who deal with levels of anxiety and PTSD that I pray I never have to deal with, and you hope you never have to either. It's so debilitating. I've talked to people — and these aren't new need states, you're familiar with them — but it's not just a sleep aid. Folks who really struggle with sleep, it's tormenting, and it affects their health, their livelihood, in a lot of cases. Folks who've struggled with attention, with focus — our CBG product, which we launched relatively recently, has had, according to them, in their words, not mine, a dramatic impact on their ability to operate at an entirely new level. So I think those stories are less about, 'does it do something I never thought it would,' and more that it does it so effectively without being a pharmaceutical, in a way I'd describe as non-intrusive. You get a good night's rest, but you wake up refreshed and can move on — you don't have to do it every single day, whatever that thing might be. That's the power. The other thing, Bryan, is when I introduce people to the concept of the endocannabinoid system, the uninitiated look at me like, 'oh God, that's not real, if only our bodies had such a thing.' I can barely spell it, but I can describe it to you, and it's real — do your own research. And the number of people who've come back to me and said, 'I had no idea our bodies possessed that, and how much of what we do it regulates' — I've heard it described as a fountain of youth. I don't know about that, but it certainly seems pivotal in graceful aging, letting you operate at a level you never anticipated as you get older. So when people hear about it, experience it, and are moved by it, that's the most impactful thing to me. So if you ask me, does it do things we'd anticipate — yes, it does the things we thought it would, but it does them in a way that people are shocked by. Bryan Fields: Do you suspect pharmaceutical companies will start calling you more aggressively, looking for alignment or interest? The executive order is a big step forward for a lot of reasons, and maybe it legitimizes some of the operations. Like, 'hey Bill' — Pfizer, just as an example — are there conversations you feel might be on the horizon, or something to look out for? Bill Morachnick: Let me frame it this way. If you go back to what I just laid out in terms of how we play in medical — if you're a pharmaceutical company and you discover there's a botanical company out there that specializes in hemp-derived CBD, that has a very attractive business in quasi-OTC medical — that's our integrative-medicine side — and they're in a leading spot for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement products, and they've got a significant interest in an FDA-pathway drug product, and they can manufacture at scale — that probably is intriguing to some major pharma companies. Bryan Fields: When you were saying that, my first thought was, this has to be a 'check the box, check the box, check the box' opportunity for them. And at a certain point, you think, we've got to pick up the phone, we've got to see what Pfizer's up to. Bill Morachnick: Yeah, I'm just going to leave that as a bit of a mystery, dot dot dot. We'll talk about that on our next podcast. Bryan Fields: Sure. What about the hemp ban — was that a difficult moment? And now, taking it all the way forward to the executive order, is it up and down from a strategic standpoint — like, 'okay, if this happens we need to adjust our business, and now with this new EO, maybe we have to readjust the whole business'? Is that how it works, or is it more, 'we're not doing anything until we get more clarity'? Bill Morachnick: Yeah, I've talked about this before, even before this came up. If you hooked me up to an EKG for my mood since I've been in this seat, it would look like mountains and valleys. It started with different state regulations, then the federal government leaning a certain way, thinking we're going to get a bill passed in Congress or the Senate, and then a certain state puts the kibosh on various ratios or THC levels for full-spectrum products. One day I'm happy, one day I'm depressed — one minute happy, next depressed. This happened on steroids with the continuing-resolution language, the ban that came out of nowhere. I did not see that coming — I don't think anyone did. It really got snuck into that Ag Appropriations bill. That stung. I won't lie to you, that really hurt. And then, fast-follow, there's an executive order — I didn't necessarily anticipate the rescheduling language in there, so it was multiple times better than I thought it would be. And now we're venturing into a pilot program with Medicare and Medicaid. Super exciting. So if you synthesize all of this — what do we know? We know the pilot program for Medicare and Medicaid is moving forward. There'll be an initial pilot in April, or Q1 of next year — could be a little earlier than April, I'm hopeful, but let's say April, that's what Dr. Oz said. Then, in Q1 of '27, it was also announced there'll be a broader — I think they're calling it a pilot too — program. The initial CMMI program is just for oncology patients over the age of 65, and then in Q1 of '27 it opens up to all seniors. They haven't defined any specific need states at this point, so I'm very excited about that. What we don't know is whether the language in the continuing resolution, which is scheduled to be implemented in November of '26, is still being contemplated, given the way the executive order signaled to Congress: do better. It wasn't the exact language, but the message was — this hemp ban doesn't make any sense when we're endorsing these full-spectrum CBD products, my language, not theirs, as medicine. You can't have those limitations in there. So, come back to me, Congress, with something that makes a lot more sense. We work behind the scenes with various lobbying efforts to promote a broader bill — a Griffith bill, something sensible. So I'm taking you down a lot of rabbit holes here, but again, what we know: pilot programs are being deployed. We're not exactly sure which products will be allowed, what THC levels, what CBD-to-THC ratios will be defined — hoping to see that language very soon. Not sure if the Ag Appropriations continuing-resolution language will be modified before it takes effect, but more than hopeful — I'd say confident — that it lands in a place that makes a lot of sense. Bryan Fields: 'Sensible' — that's a helpful term, and also, really, 'come on' — because they're saying, 'this is what we're going to do,' but you need to have the infrastructure in the supply chain to actually achieve that. If you don't, I don't know how it could possibly work. Bill Morachnick: Exactly. And you know what gives me hope too, Bryan, is looking at a state like Virginia, which started in a certain place with its state legislature going in a direction that would have been highly restrictive. Again, massive props and kudos to Governor Youngkin for what he did — walking it back to a common-sense solution for the state, where the objective was to throttle back, at a minimum eliminate, Delta-8 — super-high-octane hemp-derived THC dosages that weren't in the spirit or the letter of the Farm Bill, that's not what it was intended for. So they eliminated those, but they preserved full-spectrum medicinal CBD and kept it available and accessible. I think Virginia is one of a few models that shows states can get it right, and the federal government should be able to get it right too. Bryan Fields: I sure hope so. So, last question: what question do you wish more people asked you? Bill Morachnick: What question do I wish more people asked me? I wish more people asked me, 'what do you think your products can do for me?' — instead of me having to be the obnoxious person at the cocktail party who has to bring it up. Honestly, I don't know anyone in my age group — I'm in my sixties — that we don't have a product to satisfy. And I'm not saying it's only for older people like me — it's almost a hundred percent universal, some type of need for anxiety, calm, sleep, pain, enhanced focus, enhanced mental acuity, and we have beautiful, curated products for each of those. So fundamentally, I wish people were much more open-minded about the power of botanicals in general, CBD in particular, and our products specifically. I probably — I can't see my own reaction when someone asks me that, but it's probably like a thousand-watt bulb, I light up, because I can't wait to share it with them. I'm not trying to sell them more — maybe subconsciously I am, trying to help my company — but I just know what the impact is going to be on their life. Bryan Fields: Yeah, it's a moment where you have an opportunity to change someone's entire life going forward, change their perspective — which is hard, but at least there's an opening there. I think there's a willingness, an openness, when they ask that question, to receive some kind of change in behavior. So Bill, for our listeners who want to get in touch, who want to learn more about Charlotte's Web — where can they find you? Bill Morachnick: They can come find me on LinkedIn, or reach out directly — you've got my contact details. If not, we'll get you set up so they can reach out. I'd love to engage with them. Bryan Fields: Sounds good, thanks for taking the time, this was a lot of fun. Bill Morachnick: Bryan, thank you so much. Wishing you a wonderful holiday and the best for the new year. Take care. Bryan Fields: Thanks, you too.