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This week, Kyle Sheridan, owner of Sunny Gardens VT, joins the Cannabis Equipment News podcast to discuss why he makes seeds, his role in the wholesale market, and the current state of Vermont's cannabis industry.
When Kyle Sheridan was 13 years old, he suffered a tragic medical accident. At the time, he was battling chickenpox when he fell down the stairs and fractured his hip. After the break, his body created a septic infection inside his hip, which combined with the chickenpox virus to form an extremely rare disease, Purpura fulminans, a blood disease that can be fatal. Sheridan had caught the virus just before the chickenpox vaccine came out in the mid-1990s.
Sheridan had to undergo multiple skin graft operations and suffered nerve damage that caused immense pain. He was treated with an experimental medicine that saved his life, but when he was discharged from a rehabilitation facility, he had to be weened off pain killers. His mother, a nurse, managed to lower his morphine dosage gradually without his knowledge.
Shortly thereafter, Sheridan started using cannabis with his friends. At first, he thought he was using it recreationally, but he soon learned of the plant's medicinal properties, and now he has been a cannabis consumer in the Vermont market for more than 30 years. When he first started, he says the market had two types of cannabis to offer: good and bad. But now, he says the quality of products, people, dispensaries and access to the market is amazing.
For many years, Sheridan was a car salesman but he recently retired and jumped fully into the cannabis industry. He started in delivery for Vermont's wholesale market, building relationships with growers and dispensary owners that has opened up his network and provided more opportunities. Sheridan is also a regional rep for Organic Mechanics soil.
His passion is home growing, including creating new genetics and making seeds. Sheridan is soon starting a new role with one of the largest dispensaries in Vermont which is currently in the process of opening a grow store.
Sheridan admits that Vermont's market may be too saturated. However, he says the state has always protected the mom-and-pop shops from getting pushed out, and limited the amount of MSOs operating within its borders. Still, the market continues to struggle with consumers buying solely on price and THC percentage.
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