Amid the COVID-19 global pandemic Heylo released a brand-new cannabis hand sanitizer called HIGHgiene. While we have received tremendous support from our community through this release, we’ve also encountered a fair number of people upset with this release. For the most part, their concerns were relieved when they learned more about this product, what it does, why we’re making it, and what Heylo is doing to help people in this time of need.
We didn’t do a great job clearly expressing those points during the release, so we’re here to emphasize them today.
Heylo is selling HIGHgiene at cost. This is the lowest possible pricing allowed per Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board regulations. Factoring in the cost of production and materials, our margin on HIGHgiene is $0. As we discover ways to make the product cheaper through this crisis, we will reduce our pricing accordingly. We’ve asked our retail partners to take similar measures, and most are pricing the units around $6 each. This price includes a 47% tax to the State of Washington. (Meanwhile, companies are selling $20 “CBD hand sanitizer” on the internet.)
We've gone as far as producing our own aloe vera gel from raw inputs to reduce costs on this product as much as possible. As we experience further cost reductions you can expect the price to come down further through the crisis.
Heylo is using reclaimed ethanol - a byproduct from producing our RawX cannabis oil. This reclaimed ethanol contains terpenes and cannabinoids, which some research suggests are antiviral and antibacterial. But because it contains greater than 0.3% THC, it is not legal to sell or giveaway outside of the i502 marketplace in Washington State.
There are two reasons we can’t give HIGHgiene away. The first is the law. The Washington LCB does not allow Heylo Cannabis to sell items below the cost of production. The second reason is that selling these units at cost allows Heylo to continue operating and paying our small team during these difficult times. Faced with laying off members of our team or delivering a product that could help people, we chose the latter.
Heylo cannot give away profits from the proceeds of HIGHgiene, as it is sold at cost. By law in Washington State, we are restricted from selling below cost. Instead, we are committing to donating 5% of the profits from our vapes and topicals through April 20, 2020 to Washington healthcare service providers.
We covered this common question in our blog last week, "Why Cannabis Hand Sanitizer Actually Makes Sense". The nitty gritty? Terpenes and cannabinoids are compounds that exhibit antiviral and antibacterial properties. While further research must be done, we speculate synergistic protective effects when combined with a 65%+ organic ethanol base.