Grower Stories #116: Gaye Watanabe

Tia Moskalenko

Tia Moskalenko, author of the AskGrowers blog, brings a unique blend of content to her readers. She is known for conducting insightful interviews with key figures in the cannabis industry, including brand representatives, manufacturers, and experts. In addition to her interview skills, Tia has a keen focus on CBD. She expertly curates product selections and reviews, offering her readers detailed insights into the various effects and benefits of CBD. Tia's ability to combine in-depth interviews with comprehensive CBD analysis makes her a valuable asset to the cannabis community, offering a well-rounded perspective on the industry.

Published

Sep 08 2021

Updated

Nov 12 2023

Interviews

552

6 min

4 A Higher Good Develops CBD Products for Both Humans and Pets

The AskGrowers team sits down with Gaye Watanabe to converse about the ethos behind 4 A Higher Good. Gaye talks about how her CBD-based products are helping pets and humans alike and about the true full-spectrum nature of her products. She tells us how her all-natural and organic products stand out and why pets can benefit from them too. She also mentions the efforts her company takes to be more sustainable and why’d she like to share a CBD joint with her late brother. #growerstories

Tia (AskGrowers) : How does your brand differ from others similar to yours?

Gaye Watanabe : We are pretty unique because we have Asian-fusion formulations. I don’t know of any other brand that may be doing similar. I can only stand for all the ingredients in our stuff which is all-natural organic, and I stand by our full-spectrum extract.

Tia : What are your top-selling products?

Gaye : My number one seller is my Yoga Sports Balm.

Tia : Speaking of the company’s sustainability, are there any steps you follow to be a sustainable company? What are those?

Gaye : I’m not actually growing the plants here because I’m a manufacturer of tinctures and topicals and all of our products. But I have some customers that like to give back our containers. We clean them out and then fill the product in and give it back to them. So, it’s back and forth. We just use them for the same person and a lot of times they order in bulk like maybe six containers at a time so they come back, we wash them and six go back out to them. So, that’s one way, and I love doing it that way. And now I’m recently, from last year, working with some refilleries. So, you can use your own containers or you can buy containers at the refillery. And then the idea is that you go back to that refillery and fill in your containers and they keep going back and forth so you’re not adding to the amount of trash that’s already been created.

Tia : Out of the list of your products for pets, what would you recommend for the first-time buyer? Why?

Gaye : It has to do with the size of the pet and what’s going on with the pet. So, we have the low-milligram tinctures - 125mg, 250mg, and we have 420mg. We also have a 700mg and 1800mg. So, basically, all of our tinctures just have a different label on them. The lower milligram ones are of course just for pets - we have a pet label - but for 700 and 1800mg as well as the 420mg, we have the human label, but it’s basically just the same ingredients inside - we just put a ‘pet’ label on it. For the 700 and 1800mg, they’re usually for pets who are, say, 50 pounds or more.

Sometimes, 40 pounds or more if something serious is going on with them like severe pain or anxiety, then they can take the higher milligram to calm down. And you can always regulate your dosage because maybe there’s a 40-pound dog that maybe just needs a quarter-drop that you can shoot it right in their cheek or put it on their food or on your hand, even to have them lick it off. So, it just depends on what’s going on, and I have had experiences for three years being in this business that it’s about how are you dosing them. Is it consistently? How much do they need? Do they just need it in the daytime and not at night? Or is it twice a day, morning and evening? You kind of have to figure out your dosage, even humans.

And it’s really helped a lot of pets. I’ve been into some homes where they’ve invited me in, where there was a Lab or a Golder Retriever was laying on the ground and I, honestly, didn’t know what I could do, you know, to help the dog. And I’d say well it cannot hurt to just start giving them the CBD, like, right away. And the 700mg sells a lot with pets, and you get a text the next half hour or within the next day or something like, “My dog’s now getting up and wanting to go out for a walk.” Or, you know, maybe their dog was laying there not eating so, “oh my dog’s eating now and is perfectly fine.”

Tia : Are there any brands in your state you appreciate and follow? And in the USA in general?

Gaye : I wish I had enough time to read about all the CBD companies out there. Sometimes, when I was out at events, there would be more than one CBD vendor out there or company, and then we would exchange ideas. I normally gravitate more towards companies that are true full-spectrum and there are fewer of us around than the ones that are using the lower-grade CBD or lower-grade CBD extract formulations. I just smile at them and say, “good job”. I don’t agree with what they’re doing but that’s their thing.

Tia : If you could have a chance to smoke with anyone on this planet, who’d that be and why?

Gaye : It would probably be my brother because my brother was a weed person. He smoked pot from that generation, you know late 60s and 70s when pretty much almost everyone was smoking. And in his later years, he liked that. But he passed away recently, and I would love to share a CBD joint with him. I’m sure he would’ve just felt the chill in his body and went, “Wow this stuff is great!” and I probably could’ve shared that with him, and he might have not smoked so much THC but switched to CBD.