Cannabis Legalization News Podcast
🌿✨ "Cannabis Legalization News" 🌿✨ - Dive into the latest on cannabis laws with hosts Tom & Miggy, Illinois dispensary owners! 🎙️ Each episode, we unpack state regulations, discuss impacts on consumers & businesses, and share expert tips on navigating the cannabis legal scene. 📈🌱
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Cannabis Legalization News Podcast
From Prison to Prosperity: One Man’s Cannabis Journey
Get ready to navigate the complexities of cannabis legalization with us! Discover the significant developments that unfolded after the June 20th rescheduling deadline and hear from a lineup of influential voices, including state attorney generals and former DEA leaders. We'll bring you deep into the political and legal battles shaping the future of marijuana policy, with insights from Kelly Fair of Dentons on the procedural intricacies of securing a public hearing. Former Attorney General Bill Barr's controversial support for SAM and its impact on rescheduling efforts adds another layer of intrigue to this unfolding saga.
Meet Travis Collins, a Minnesota store owner and advocate for prisoners, who shares his remarkable journey from incarceration for cannabis trafficking to owning a licensed business. Collins' story is a testament to Minnesota's progressive stance on low THC hemp products and offers a glimpse into the real-world implications of evolving cannabis laws. We'll also unpack the inconsistencies in state regulations, examining loopholes that have allowed products like Delta-8 THC to flourish and the harsh legal realities facing individuals due to these disparities.
As we explore the broader implications of rescheduling and de-scheduling cannabis, we'll emphasize the urgent need for consistent legal frameworks and the release of those incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses. You'll hear about the passionate advocacy efforts pushing for reform, the influence of political figures, and the economic dynamics at state borders that complicate national cannabis policy. With a mix of serious analysis, personal stories, and a touch of humor, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the current landscape and future possibilities of cannabis legalization.
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Cannabis Legalization News. We had some huge news that happened last week. A deadline for rescheduling actually expired on June 20th, and so we have a story out of that. Our lead story has to do with state attorney generals, and former DEA leaders are asking that the agency allows them to have a public hearing. Will or will that not happen? We're going to kind of discuss a little bit of that, and then we have a lot of news from all over the states. We also have a guest that will be on reporting live from Washington DC. So you are going to want to stick around until after. It's 420 somewhere, and now let's get the show going and bring on our co-host, miggy.
Speaker 2:We're back here, I am.
Speaker 1:Oh, there you are here. I am Slight little interlude there with the Wi-Fi, it does happen, but yeah, hey, if you are here and joining us, thank you so much, especially if you're one of our members. We really do appreciate it. And don't forget to subscribe for more information on cannabis legalization. The state attorney generals and former DEA leaders I think I actually have a copy of the regulationsgov public comment that they've filed that we can begin to share or we can go over this for right now and then we'll discuss it more but these aren't necessarily. Let's see who signed all this. Former DEA uh, former dea administrators, like going back to 1976, so dea administrators from 1976 through all the way up to 2021, and it's pretty interesting. And so honorable peter ben singer from 76 to 81, and then everybody all the way through honorable timothy Timothy Shea, who is the DEA acting administrator from 2020 to 2021, all signed on to this letter requesting a hearing.
Speaker 2:Doesn't seem to me too, though the also with that self-assessment, also South Carolina AG, a lot of ours that signed on to this right.
Speaker 1:There's a couple, and so there were several that came in before the deadline, which I believe was June the 20th, and so this one is listed as June 19th. Let me go share this screen if I can. I can't. I have to share this tab because I'm going to try to give you guys some information audio later, but this is a copy of the public comment. The public comment period is still open for about another month, july 22nd. We just did an email blast to the people in our email list on our public comments and I did a video on it, but this is them requesting a hearing on the proposed rulemaking and that deadline expired this week on the proposed rulemaking and that deadline expired this week, and so one of the deadlines in the rulemaking process for Schedule 3 marijuana, is gone, and this one is the request that they're saying.
Speaker 1:Third, it is important to assess how this major change in drug policy could impact the ongoing and devastating drug abuse crisis facing this country, country as a 2024 national drug analysis highlighted, united states is battling the deadliest drug threat it has ever faced. That is fueled by fentanyl. I love how they continue to conflate the opioid epidemic with the cannabis plant, which makes no sense, but then signing on it's sincerely the honorable. And it starts with peter uh, and he was a dea administrator from 1976 to 1981. He's probably the only one that's still alive. They just went back until then and then they just have all of them. There's Asa Hutchinson, there's Karen Tandy, michelle Lionheart, robert Patterson, timothy Shea, all the way through. Everybody except for the current one. Ann Milgram did not, but all of the people that came before Ann Milgram, they did.
Speaker 2:It just seems to me like fear-mongering where it's like, hey, we want this hearing to show you how bad it is. We want this hearing to pull out families who blame their kids' suicide on cannabis, their use on dabs or whatever they're. So I mean, I'm for it, though I say bring a hearing. We can talk about the wellness aspect of it, the, the people hurt by the law. You know there's many aspects. You can attack this situation when it comes to like a hearing if you want to present good evidence, right, like this perhaps there's a video that I want to share.
Speaker 1:We may get a copyright strike on it, but this channel has got how many subscribers? Like 105. So the only thing that will really happen is like the Zuanic and associates will get a lot more subscribers. But they had a Kelly, fair on, and she is a partner at Dentons and dentons is like a you know, am law 50 law firm, so it probably has like it's like dla piper oh, okay, you're talking about like right now you're talking about 136 people's above their heads, right like I don't know who's legal, okay and so, like dentons, or like dela piper, or, these are huge law firms that have, like you know, 4,000 lawyers in them.
Speaker 1:They're extremely powerful. They're some of the top, like you know, 50 in size law firms in the world, and she is a partner over there at the Cannabis Healthcare Practice and she is going to provide us with a little bit of backstory regarding what you need to do to be able to get one of these hearings. And so let me go ahead and share this tab, because that should also share the audio, and I'm going to hit play on it.
Speaker 3:Here in 10 days we will have your opportunity to request a hearing. Will have to be in and thereafter the director of the DEA will decide who is granted a hearing. To qualify or to have standing to have a hearing, you must state with particularity that you are an interested person. An interested person means that you are adversely impacted by the proposed rule in some way and you must state that with particularity. And you also must state with particularity the issue of law or fact that you think merits a hearing by an administrative law judge.
Speaker 1:All right, and let me try to take that out Will get us out of there. Take that out of the screen and put us back up there. Now, how does that square the circle as to what they actually wrote? And then, going over, I want to share this tab. Now I'm gonna have to just reshare my whole screen because, like now, I want to go to the actual public comment and then we can use that aspect of what it means to have standing to go through it to determine whether or not they should even have a hearing about it, because what is the injury in fact to law enforcement? They can't arrest you anymore. That's not an injury like you are injuring the person you're arresting. That is impacting their lives. We're gonna have a guest on later on, after 4 20, somewhere. He has an injury in fact, and so like, if you are like, oh my god, I'm gonna lose my prosecutorial somewhere, he has an injury in fact, and so like, if you are like, oh my God, I'm going to lose my prosecutorial discretion, that's not an injury, you know.
Speaker 2:But Please don't, they can't arrest you, oh no, they can't arrest you. You said it right, though how in that letter, how it's like they mentioned fentanyl, right, a lot of this like, like is inflated gaslighting. You know this situation is worse than what it is. Uh, but who? Who is it harming? How has this plant hurt you?
Speaker 1:you still have that doll in your office uh, not in this one, it's, it's, it's in my house, but, like you know, the hearing would enhance the dea's evaluation, the importance of psychological and scientific issues at stake. Yeah, and so like, how is that a hearing, in fact? Where's your injury? And then, third, all right, conflating with fentanyl and first changing marijuana is consequential rulemaking the DEA has ever attempted. Yes, that's right, it is history Good, it is undeniable that it will. In the international treaty obligations, most significant relaxation of narcotics restrictions in the history of the CSA. Does that include OxyContin? Because OxyContin I think was the most significant relaxation of narcotics restrictions in the history of the CSA. Of purdue pharmaceuticals, that, how they were able to not have their schedule to substance black boxed warning labeled, I think was the most significant relaxation it killed hundreds of thousands of people unlike me well, as we know.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's kind of like how we were here in this situation, where we're like how laws are made, it's made with deep pockets and people who know how to do the paperwork. The fact that we're at the part where we're now rescheduling is monumentous when it comes to legislation and process. As someone who's been trying to figure out how to free all the prisoners and get this shit done with and have parity with Again, I go to the store, I buy an ounce of Obamacush and walked out and no, no care, you know, like there was no high quality, product, good prices, convenience, nice selection.
Speaker 1:Not sure if we'll have that at our dispensary, but hopefully we'll have a location for our dispensary in the next month.
Speaker 2:Well, right now, it's all territorial politics, right, it's all territorial business when it comes to, like my state, your state, the state I'll be doing businesses. I don't want to be crying. I am feeling guilty to tell people that they have to charge $80 for an eighth, like I know that's just it'll, it'll be.
Speaker 1:It'll be cheaper than that, but out the door it might be close to $80 because of the amount of taxes on it.
Speaker 2:As I was saying, it's not bad?
Speaker 1:Yes, but we're going to be one of the low-priced leaders, and so price compression starts at our dispensary, because then we want additional production to come online. Washington State has one of the highest tax rates for adult-use cannabis in the country, but your prices are still really good. How much was your ounce of Obamacush?
Speaker 2:Oh shit, dude, this was. If I remember correctly, it was $140.
Speaker 1:$140 for an ounce Out the door.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all taxes paid $5 tip and your tips, yeah, nice, and, like you said, it's good quality bud. Like I opened the jar, it's a good sniff. Gives me reminiscent notes of like childhood. But it should be like this everywhere. Right now, how people are getting their weed is Delta 8, delta 9, loophole People willing to take that chance and people fearing the hemp. Shit is wrong, like it's going to make a baby.
Speaker 1:Right. So that's the thing. Like schedule three means medical marijuana is coming nationwide, all that Delta 8 and that THCA stuff that you think that you need so that you can actually buy weed no, you don't. You need nationwide Schedule 3 medical camps.
Speaker 2:They'll be quality, even though I see on the social medias where people are like oh, growers, we follow a lot of growers and whatnot and people in traditional markets in their state are always like look at this shitty weed bought at this store. That's a rec store and maybe it has mold, maybe it has spider webs, maybe something bad production-wise. But here's the thing In a regulated market, I have someone to complain to. I have a course of action. In a uh, traditional black market, you know that's that's. That's it, buddy. I mean you got a bad reputation right like there's no recourse for the consumer, and that's another part of regulation is like it's just better in the end for the consumer, more importantly than what you know.
Speaker 1:Right, you know. Back to our lead story. It wasn't just the former DEA heads that did that. One letter that we shared with you, which was an actual public comment, and you should put yours in too. You can't request the hearing anymore, but that's all right. I don't think you would have had standing to get it. I don't think these guys do either, but they may still get it. Anyway, a former attorney general got in on the mix, and that is Bill Barr, and he's backing a prohibitionist group urging the DEA to delay marijuana rescheduling. Guess what prohibitionist group that is.
Speaker 2:It can't be smart. Maybe it's dumb.
Speaker 1:Nope, it is. It is Smart approaches to marijuana, sam. They're also requesting an additional 30 days. A deleterious. They're not deleterious, deleterious, what is the like? Just a dawdle and delay that ends in OUS. Okay, fine, a delay tactic for Sam to try to run out the clock and see if Donald Trump can win, so that he would say we're going to stop all this shit and we're not going to reschedule.
Speaker 2:Fucking nuts and this is. But this is how politics happen when there is one side that has an agenda. Right, the whole project 2025, getting rid of schedule. These are things that help everybody, citizen, wise. And why is it that these people pull your bootstraps up? Whatever you want to stop this progress, because this is going to come because they get paid every time you get arrested.
Speaker 1:bro, Do you think that prisons don't have a profit motive?
Speaker 2:Well, I just I don't get how this one party just wraps their around controlling people Right Like there's. This is about freedom. This is about uh options, because not just last month the other attorney uh ag, uh jeff sessions was like this is a bad idea like you know, yeah, but jeff sessions has said, good people don't use marijuana.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like that's fine. If jeff sessions like judge me as a bad person, cool, you know. Whatever I really I'm well-rounded enough to not give a shit about what Jeff Sessions thinks about me, and I hope that you are too, and if you're joining us, there's a good likelihood you also don't give a shit about what Jeff Sessions thinks about you because you're using weed.
Speaker 2:Well, you're here with us. I mean, it's in your behavior. This is not the sexy part of legalization. That lawyer lady that you just identified with being in the backbone of legislation. These firms are the ones that are helping create policy. The farm bill coming up is all about policy. These are things that affect people who are in the business, whereas if you just want your weed, you're going to find a guy, you're going to find it. None of this shit's going to matter to you, no matter what.
Speaker 1:But if you can go to Walgreens or Walgreenies whatever new fucking pot shops out there, If you can take the stigma away from it and make it not a taboo thing that people think they want to do, because you tell them you can't do it. But here we don't tell you that. Here we say, oh, it's 20 past the hour, which means it's 420 somewhere. We'll be right back after this short commercial break. I was updating the Collateral Base website and we will have a rebrand of that. You guys can check that out over at collateralbasecom. Mickey, why don't we bring out our guest? Can you introduce him?
Speaker 2:Yes, we have a guest, travis Collins. He is a store owner in Minnesota, right, but also he's advocating for prisoners. He's worked with Freedom Grow and you're out there in DC right now, in this moment, driving a bus, a van. It looks like here I got your. If you could get my share screen out there, nice.
Speaker 4:It's so hot out. If I don't have to get out, that's better, oh good.
Speaker 2:Here you go. No, this is your van right here, so, but he's pretty, pretty cool like you're out there in dc parker coleman yeah, is melira.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it feels good to do something, you know. It feels good to be part of society. Oh shit, that's right you were locked up too. Yeah, I did eight years when I was 21 for cannabis. I spent, uh, 21 to 30. I got caught trafficking 700 pounds from California to Minnesota. Well, my driver got caught and he turned it off, you know what's messed up.
Speaker 1:You're over the line in Illinois. So, like Miggy and I were able to win a dispensary there because he qualified for our definition of social equity, he would also qualify in Minnesota, but you would not qualify in illinois for that arrest, and that because it was too much you went too hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which of course makes no sense. That's my only gripe that I really have. I'm like wait a minute. So you want them to be impacted by their cannabis arrests, but just a little bit. You know, if they're really impacted by their cannabis arrest and they go to prison, that's too much for you.
Speaker 4:Like what the hell yeah yeah, yeah, I'm grateful to be in minnesota. I've learned a lot to appreciate, uh, minnesota politicians in the politics that we have up there. We were a little late getting into the rec market but I believe the way we got into it and the people that were behind the bill, the legislators, I think they did it right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys, it is the exception again, and I told him this when I saw him up in Minnesota earlier this year, about three months ago. I said it ain't a loophole if you codify it. And so Minnesota got into the low THC hemp licensed unlike all these other states markets. And so why don't you tell us a little bit about Freedom Soda and what you're doing with? Because you're on a license, a real license in Minnesota, right?
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, I have a low dose edible license and it's a good feeling. Yeah, freedom Soda. So Minnesota said if you're 10 milligrams under for every serving, you can create products, basically. So it just went gangbusters in Minnesota and actually our hemp low-dose edible model of what they created is going so well in Minnesota it's probably going to go national, I would imagine once all this up.
Speaker 1:I think they need to catch and so, like that's the thing, you just can't say it's thca, which is wheat, and then that it's hemp, which it's still not. I mean, like you're, you're making delta eight. The reason why delta eight wasn't in the total thc is because the plan don't make it and so they're regulating the plant and it's growing and so it's the usda, it's not the fda. So they're saying, hey, you're growing that, all well, we can't test for this Delta 8. And they just ran with it. But with Minnesota they said, okay, here's an edible at this milligram, with this license, you can have it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's interesting. And then you go to South Carolina I was just in Charleston, South Carolina. You can buy like a 200 milligram gummy that will send you straight to the hospital and these are like strict weirdos with their laws on cannabis and it's like you guys just don't have a clue what's going on.
Speaker 1:damn that's right, they exploited the loophole for all they can and then. So then it's like guys, you hate weed. Like it's south carolina, like we know, you hate weed nancy mace is the only one here that likes weed. And then, and then you still have like this hemp loophole that comes in and they because the edibles I mean, like this is a beverage but it's like a 16 ounce beverage. There could be like a gram and like a third in this and it would be considered hemp under the current definition and so like.
Speaker 1:But then they got to regulate the hemp cannabinoids and so I think what's going to happen with a schedule three and then the prohibition on hemp or whatever they're going to do with the farm bill or the appropriations bill? They're going to like hook it all in. It's like, okay, like this is hemp, you're growing it for this. This lane over here. This is not intended for human consumption. This is like for bird food industry, clothing, like you know, hemp, and then everything else that's going to be intended for human consumption. I hope that there is a DEA approved low dose hemp THC license that they can get. That would that, in theory, regulates the plant uniform.
Speaker 2:Well, I think what they'll do is they'll look at your state. Perhaps you know states who are doing this, like trying to, because in Washington state we have only one market but they have hemp laws. But for you guys to actually having a hemp consumption, you know, I think there's a way that you are ahead of the game, dude. I didn't realize that you had a low THC service down there, like where you're at. I didn't know you're part of it. I thought you just owned like a vape shop, yeah, like where you're at.
Speaker 4:I didn't know you're a part of it. I thought you just owned like a vape shop. Yeah, it was amazing what happened. So I got out of prison in 2013. I started a granite countertop business self business, basically having a felony and not being able to get a job. I had to do that. And then I saw in the paper that they were selling gummies at the state fair and I'm a big weed smoker and I was like, well, it, well, it's legal again and this is what I love, and I threw my hat in. And then the second I started making money, I automatically remembered all my brothers and sisters inside federal prison. Still, you know cause I went to federal prison for eight years and that's kind of like what's important. We're not remembered in this life for our triumphs financially. We're remembered for what we do to help others in positive ways and what positive impacts we can have. So that's what this has turned into for me well, is that also your activism?
Speaker 1:because you are in a van down by capitol hill in washington dc. Uh, trying to get other people that are locked up for this plant out? Yeah, what's the? Have you been meeting with any legislatures? Or what's the boots on the ground that's happening with your activism over in Washington DC?
Speaker 4:Well, yeah, it's just amazing. So back to Minnesota and the legislator, the Democrat legislators there passed a very significant bill and then they brought me I was able to like meet them and talk with them. So they're very supportive of me at home and they, you know, I get I get references to like Ilhan Omar. And then I met with Senator Amy Klobuchar's office and they know that cannabis policy is good for politics and the Democrats from Minnesota are very honest and they're willing to listen to me. So you know, and they see that I'm trying to be like proactive and be and I can raise this issue because I I walked the walk. You know, I was in federal prison I Tara HUD, indiana, for a long time and like I just seen it all and it's like there's not a lot they can tell me about the federal system at all, especially cannabis Terrible.
Speaker 2:That's a joke, by the way, like, like for people who are listening that. That's the. That's where Craig Cecil was at for like 20, 20 years and shit Like that was. Yeah, he had diabetes medicine.
Speaker 4:You know all kinds of issues, dude it's terrible and they're only treating the inmates inside worse because of covid and the funding's down on the bop. When I went in the bop bureau of prisons I'm referring to when I went in the bureau of prisons in 2004 it was like kind of pristine still. They were coming off the tough on crime 90 years and they still had a lot of funding and now the guys are. You know, it's pretty bad and it's just in in another verse. When I went in 2004 is when I went and got arrested with my cannabis.
Speaker 4:That's when I was big in the industry black market. We were bringing it down from canada, bringing it from california to minnesota. We were doing all that stuff. The legal industry was just a not even a thought. So now, yeah, now I haven't been involved in this. I've been smoking my weed, I'm not trying to get involved in conspiracies and the price on cannabis is so down compared to when I went so I haven't been bothering with it. But now that I see this legal industry, it just breaks my heart, knowing what I went through is going on with somebody else and we have an opportunity to get them out, because America is built on capitalism and there's no way these politicians can deny the the size of the industry and the money, the tax resident, the tax revenue we're making and keeping these people still in prison black white brown, all of us, you know, I got a list of guys on here life sentences everyone and it's like that's.
Speaker 3:All of us, you know.
Speaker 1:I got a list of guys on here life sentences everyone and it's like that's what they. It's, it's so political Like they.
Speaker 4:it's all I love the video about it.
Speaker 1:But then, like you know, you got Rhonda Santus leading over there in Florida and he, he makes, he just he hates weed so much He'll veto him, which is the same stuff to make them vote against the legalization of weed. So then he could probably ban it, like if legalizing weed was not on the ballot in Florida this year, he would not have vetoed that hemp ban. This was just the enemy of my enemies, my friend. And so instead of like regulating the stuff how Minnesota started, but now actually Minnesota has news that's going to be kicking off tomorrow.
Speaker 1:The Office of Canvas Management is going to open the social equity verification process tomorrow, on the 24th Travis. I hope you're filling out that paperwork. That was easy, you need any help, like give us a call. Oh, that was easy.
Speaker 4:It was easy finding that case when you go to federal prison. For eight years they got a record of it my I had a very clean marijuana case.
Speaker 3:I caught another marijuana case in idaho carter lane, idaho but I only did 90 days on that we're not even gonna mention that you know, wait, wait, let's mention it for a minute.
Speaker 1:Did you get popped in idaho or wyoming idaho, bro?
Speaker 4:so I got into the cbd in 2020 with my same business partner, but we stopped us. We got a long relationship of trying to make it and there's no money in cbd. It's very, very tough business that's why they made.
Speaker 1:That's why they made delta 8. Duh, that's they made the delta 8.
Speaker 4:They made the cannabinoids get you high because there's no money in cbd no, so I, so I started in no no ever and like anymore has nothing to do with it, like it was all hype and then people got the supply and they're like, yeah, but you guys remember like there was like scams, like early on, like like back when my hair was black, like like cavigold, I think was one of them, or canna, something like you know.
Speaker 2:There's all these like it's cbd, it's not weed, it's gonna get you uh, you know, not high, and then people were buying this shit up, not realizing that the plant self right, I think this plant, when it comes to like the ignorance of people in a wellness situation, right, like like, even though there's always this like we need more studies bullshit. But it really should be up to the person to consume this plant and be like yeah, I don't like how that makes me feel, or makes me feel a lot better. I think I can, you know, versus oh yeah yeah, yeah, morally.
Speaker 4:So you know, that's the whole de-schedule, reschedule conversation, and I totally agree with you that it should be growing in the yard and giving away. But while we touch on that, I gotta say this is the first time in 54 years that we've had any federal legislation changed on the actual laws of cannabis. So we need to kind of give it to the people that are doing that for us to try to follow up.
Speaker 4:And then on the delta, on the thca, I got an interesting thing I learned in washington inside the capitol talking to one of the aides mitch mcconnell owns a huge uh hemp farm in kentucky. Like I heard, he's making money and I heard that from somebody that's in the know. So I don't think we're going to be seeing any federal bans on any of that stuff anytime soon. Just judging from politics, because cannabis is a politic issue with enforcement it's all politics, it's not a ban.
Speaker 1:Again, like I said, you should have this dea like license there, that's cleaned it up and approved it, and so if you just take his operations and then you bless it through the system, so there's no loophole, like I said, like there's no loophole if you codify it, so you kind of do minnesota, but like nationwide he's fine he's gonna be making that money with.
Speaker 4:He'll be making money.
Speaker 2:No, matter what.
Speaker 4:If he would let the people out of prison, I wouldn't think he's a complete scumbag.
Speaker 1:That's the double standard of it all. That's one of the reasons why I get pissed off at the hemp people. I'm like, but it's not legalizing it. The hemp, especially the Delta 9 and the loophole, the THCAca, that version if that's what you believe the law is, which I don't, but you know some people do like that is like so absurd and like terrible, because it says it's a defense to the cops, like arresting you unless they catch you doing it, and then it's a complete crime and so. Or, like you like, leave it in the car like the sun or just denatures and like it goes over the line and it's hot. Or like our next story out of colorado, for example, you know, uh, colorado sues business that allegedly market marijuana as hemp and this is your attorney general, this is out of like. This week in colorado the attorney general is suing hemp companies saying like, hey, you knew that wasn't how. You knew that was weed. You just said it was hemp so you didn't have to play by the rules yeah, that's all cop stuff.
Speaker 4:I'm not ever going to get involved in any of that.
Speaker 2:I just wish every I just like you guys are saying, though I mean the importance of rescheduling. It like de-scheduling is the end game for all of us, right like?
Speaker 2:yes, yes, you know as activists, as, uh, consumers right, we all have the same, I would hope, belief, belief and faith. But here's something here I'm going to share with you guys, a story here. So I'm a Reddit troll, I've been on social web medias, whatever, but there's this one post that caught my attention and it's on the marijuana page, and it's this woman. She's like driving on the first day of vacation from San Antonio to Houston, we were pulled over by a canine. My husband had 17 grams in total moon rock, uh, in guadalupe county. Uh, she did jail. She spent six months, right away, you know, and then her husband's still facing the case and so, like the fact is, rescheduling would help these people right, but that situation a load of hemp shops.
Speaker 1:There's a fuckload of hemp shops in.
Speaker 3:Texas. It's a label game.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's why I don't like the loophole bullshit. I'm like you haven't given these people a legal defense. Yeah, you have. All you have done is like what do they call that? Like a trapment. That's all you've done. Hey look, this is fucking legal. Go buy it. Oh, you tried to use it.
Speaker 3:Well, hey look this is fucking legal.
Speaker 1:Go buy it. Oh, you tried to use it.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a crime. What the fuck is that? Let's not forget that medical cannabis is still not in your state Subterfuge Subterfuge.
Speaker 4:It seems like the hemp is the Republicans' way of making money off cannabis and they're going to lock us up still. I wouldn't even bother talking to them. I wish they would talk to us about clemency, but they don't. And then the Democrats are trying to legalize it through um like real recreational marijuana, and then they're trying to fight. I don't know if they're trying to fight the hemp, but not really, because Democrats aren't, don't have the appetite to shut down the farming. So you know it's just like. And the Republicans fight a lot nastier, from what I'm learning.
Speaker 1:Well, they don't believe in facts, but we do, and that's why we're going to actually play some Name that Strain, because this plant has parents, by the way sour diesel it is not, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:And so like we're going to help uh, because we like to give some hints, we like to tell its parents, uh about it and, like you know, kind of like the effects, the flavors. This one is a cbd dominant strain, a crossing of mk ultra, which is a reference to this 19-year-old shit, and G13 Haze, which is a reference to some movie from 1999 called American Beauty, and it's supposed to produce a relatively short-lived, mellow high that is uplifting and relaxing. Medical cannabis patients choose this strain to treat pain, muscle spasms, anxiety and migraraines. And because it is a mostly cbd dominant strain, uh, they usually like hemp. Before it was just weed called hemp.
Speaker 2:Uh had like slightly earthy uh smells to it you know, before american dream, you know, I think this was like a legacy the, the g13 thing, the, the mother's dream, acdc no acdc is a classic hemp strain.
Speaker 1:Acdc is a classic hemp strain like again, like before hemp was just weed and like whatever. And so, like the thca flower, I'm like I never remember any of them seeds back when I did some hemp work uh, it is not sure. Blotto um, ultra and g13 I'm not sure it's. It's it's breeder is? I don't have that in the description.
Speaker 4:Super Silver Haze.
Speaker 1:No, no, it's not Silas Webb. It's closer to that, but it's still not that.
Speaker 2:The name implies that you want to be knocked out.
Speaker 1:Right, it is a play on the word, but yeah, I can't even say the word If I say the word that's a know play on, you give it away, right, but it kind of means to be like, um, you know, out of it, zonked out.
Speaker 1:Uh, you know, really zone there we go black forest, black forest garden, shout out to you T-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-C-D-H-to-one, kind of like a thc and cbd that are pretty balanced. This one has about a two to one. So nine percent cbd, four percent thc. That would still produce a really good effect. That's when I think cbd actually matters, when it's blended with thc. But you need more thc than you're allowed to have and that's why the flowers yeah, good, you know totally.
Speaker 2:We have cb flowers in our market. You know it's one of our skews, so like I'll purposely buy a, an infused joint with cbd you know, rosy, I just love the name cbd.
Speaker 4:So back to ido, that's what I said I had, I got pulled over I was like I got cbd and uh, you know they didn't really go for it, that's they're like whatever.
Speaker 1:I've never heard of that strain.
Speaker 2:I said spread them but this goes back to the defense thing, right, because now cops are still looking for it, right, like you can still tell them it's him. But they don't care, because you gotta prove it, they don't yes, but it's all you know.
Speaker 4:It's just all bad. You gotta mail it. You know that's your best shot at not going to jail.
Speaker 1:No, I hate to say it if you're gonna do from your state anyway, like the, the post office has, you know, fourth, fourth amendment protections ups, fedex and guys shit. They're private and so you know, if you want your government actors delivering your package that you care about, by the way uh you're, you're gonna want some fourth amendment protection on that package of course you're not allowed to smell weed Correct, and then coffee makes a wonderful gift, yeah yeah yeah Go ahead, mickey.
Speaker 2:I was going to say they're still busting people in recreational states like the New Mexico border thing. Right yeah, once it comes rescheduled if it does which I hope you know it happens within this year the world will be a better place for the cannabis consumer and even for people in the industry. You know, overall, that's all I just you know there'll be some pathway for people not to get fucked with because, like with medical you're, it's only in affirmative defense, it's not an actual like, it's the law well, man, medical gets you busted.
Speaker 4:Those people that get caught with medical weed in non-medical states. I got a medical card. That's the worst thing you can say to a police officer in a non-medical state. It's like, yeah, it's a trick then. Well, they don't care and that's no well, they're gonna schedule three.
Speaker 1:So much because now we have nationwide medical cannabis just everybody who's like got a hard on for him and I'm sorry if you do just kind of consider that for a minute like yeah, oh my gosh, you might not be able to do that stuff you're doing in tennessee right now. Yeah, but you're going to be able to do this, at least what you're doing in tennessee. But now you're going to have like legal protections in case they fuck with you. Yeah, but now you're going to have legal protections in case they fuck with you. Lawyers like me, because I sue motherfuckers that I think are going over the line and I can't wait to sue those motherfuckers. Usually it's rich people trying to exploit social equity guys. But now, if it's federally legal and you have states that are just holding out and continuing to arrest, well, let's get creative and figure out how we can, you know, short circuit that and make sure that those court cases are thrown out or the people that are sitting in prison get out you know that's.
Speaker 4:That's what we need to do, that's what the cannabis company, everybody, if you're selling cannabis, if you want to store it legally, you need to say right now okay, we got schedule three, that was great. I mean, it might not be great, but this is all they're giving us. Biden is, they're strict. I don't know he looks at it.
Speaker 1:Congress, you need congress like that's the thing like biden had, like the way that the congress wrote this fucking law that he's doing, and so like the, and they wrote into it international law, like from 1970, back when we gave a fuck about what the international law said, I guess, and so they put that international law into our own laws. So for us to follow our laws, we have to follow the international law, or congress can do its job and change the law, but they don't care.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we got the trump card, though, so they're so concerned about Trump winning. The Democrats are that to play the angle for my inmates right now all of our inmates inside for cannabis there's about 3000 people. It's like that's what this needs to be about. We're going to be fighting about marijuana, marijuana laws for years to come. They say this all the time. In minnesota, liquor's been legal 120 years and we're, however, 50 years or whatever, and we're still changing the law. So it's like right now, the immediate problem is is the people in prison, because their their years are still just going away?
Speaker 2:I love your energy with that. But, like you know, the problem is it needs more advocates like like this democrat republican to wipe their ass with fucking marijuana legalization. They don't care because it doesn't affect their constituents. But when it comes to these individuals locked up right, there has to be organizations advocate for them, because there's no yeah, there's no, though.
Speaker 2:Uh, like a frank rogers, you know, it just occurred to me the other day. It's like because he got locked up in New York when he got arrested. It's like why don't you ask your governor who's promoting her cannabis legalization? You know, bill, to help you get Biden's attention right, because that's what you need to do in this administration process. It takes forever to be recognized right. Like that's why, like the Justice Act happened, when I saw like all these names get signed that I recognized it's because of people like Candu Clemency and Freedom Grow, who you know. That's where I got this hat. At events, we would get signatures and get people's names and then send that packet to the White House. That way, some scrub has to receive all that. You know there's still a human process to this thing.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Did you see what Westmore did this past week?
Speaker 4:Yep, maryland $175,000., oh, yeah, yeah, maryland. Yeah, I think the Freedom Girls Can Do Last Prisoner Project. All these people, 40 Tons, all these organizations have got us to the point. I think the signal by the administration to Schedule 3 is just so huge that, if things work out right because politics you know this is politics and they are talking about it in a lot of big newspaper articles that cannabis vote is about the youth and I can see the administration and the people here in washington dc love that I'm talking about a domestic issue. This is a great domestic issue for the administration, so I don't know what's going to happen in six months after the election. I'm concerned about these six months right now before the election and and that's we have positive things to build off of. The schedule three is a positive thing for the people in prison.
Speaker 1:100 yeah, see what else we got positive to build off of. Uh, there's some north carolina news, but let's, let's go to the. The federal news, though. This came out this week. The federal congressional research service puts out press releases, and this one came out on June 17th and they explain that now, like here's how Farm Bill is working and here's how that's regulated. And here's the House Agriculture's Farm Bill for 2024. And hemp is going to change and how they've said they want to change it. And then here's the subcommittee for financial year. That's what FY 2025, which, by the way, is approaching. I know you think 2025 is, you know, about half a year away, but the federal government 2025 is three months away.
Speaker 3:They have a different budget year.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And so this is for the change of the definition federally. To say that hemp it's the most, it's the most like government bullshit thing you've ever read and it's just so appropriate for like the cannabis industry and so like. It does not change the definition of hemp. It makes exceptions to the definition. That hasn't changed.
Speaker 4:I would say there's a lot of people with a lot of money hoping that fails.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of people with a lot of money hoping it passes Maybe Mitch McConnell, maybe not and so that's one of those things where the people that have been putting these out are in Mitch McConnell's party.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but again, it's not a red-blue issue, right? If you make a political, no matter what, this is an American issue, right? We have 50 different industries right now. Some are still traditional markets, some are recreational and regulated, some are just medical. But we got 50 little fiefdoms and until we get some uniformity you know there's not everybody Marijuana is the goddamn same plant and it's going to happen, no matter what. Whether you like it or not, consumers are going to pull the wool over your eyes. It's not one party or not, it's just the bullshit language that people are gaslighting you with most of the time. Right like, it's not. You know it's the danger of like why we had vape gate where people were like. You know we don't know because they're all buying illegal stuff. When it turned out to be a component in the vitamin e acetate. Right like, if you don't have checks and balances in your market, you're enabling bad shit into your market. Then more things can be traceable Accountability type shit.
Speaker 4:It's interesting the red state are like South Carolina, for example. It's a red, super straight, strict straight. You go to jail forever and they got the worst products on their shelves. It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 1:It's like the entrapment they know and they want you to get caught with it. Yeah or they don't really know what's going on?
Speaker 4:and they don't?
Speaker 2:they just I don't understand well, it empowers bad policy, right, the more you keep this individual. Until there's one blatant way to like because like you in your, in your state, right, like you decide to go into this low hemp licensing product and it's working well for you, it's great, like, like that's cool. And eventually other people in other states, like in tennessee, kentucky, I can like just, you know, alabama, you know, and I hate to use these like the ding ding, ding ding type mentality, but that's, that's how your policies, your peoples are. I can't. Ohio gets a bad rep because of jim jordan. If you ever see that guy speak like I just there's some blankets of stupid out there. You're like, how are these people in charge? But I know people who live there are good people, so you know the world's ran by people that show up.
Speaker 2:Yeah exactly, exactly it, man. And again the scheduling comment period. Who's got harms? You know who's really going to be able to qualify for a hearing? You know we're on the bottom, it's done.
Speaker 1:Like, if you didn't request a hearing, it's too late, but that's okay. Even if you did request a hearing, it's too late, but that's okay. Even if you did, you may not have had standing to get one, and so now we'll see if there's going to be a hearing or not. I hope that they they close, because now, like, the biden administration should be playing the clock, the shot clock of oh crap, are we out of here on january 20th? Yes, provided that they publish the final rule before January 20th, the Trump administration that comes in has to undo the whole thing. They have to do the press release where it's like that was stupid what he did. I signed this and I said that's going to put it back. We're putting it back to schedule two or like whatever. Like yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think if they let enough people out of prison and get enough good headlines, they can win the election. I truly believe it. I think that's what Biden and the rest of the Democrats have at stake. They're sick of the attack on the young people and that's what putting people in prison for cannabis and we have a lot of really good cases. You know, edwin Rubis, parker, coleman, mission Green works on a lot of great stuff. Well, I know he's in touch, you know, and it's just like when you see guys that been in prison dealing with the White House, there's hope. There's hope. When you don't have somebody that's been in prison, it gets a little weird.
Speaker 2:Part of the problem is also, though, like the argument you talk about the youth Right. That's been a long argument, since I had here. You know what I mean. Like the argument you're talking about the youth right, that's been a long argument since I had here, you know. I mean like it's not about the youth, no more man, it's about I'm all individuals and people. It's it's a you know the layers of decades of this bad law being in effect, and who can racism, racism. It's all part of the origin story, right, but how do we, how do we end this? How do we?
Speaker 4:and that's why I showed up to vote blue right now, and it starts, I think, in like minnesota, so I would never be doing any of my activism if they didn't pass social equity and I didn't know the people in charge were behind my movement as long as it was peaceful. And you know I I was doing activism. I just came up with all this stuff off of paying it forward from how I was treated because the system kicked me so hard. I never thought. I never thought social equity, I never even heard of that stuff before. So I'm like this is great.
Speaker 4:I think the people that have been harmed the worst are going to end up coming forward and trying to help the others that have been harmed and trying to fix this and tell society it's okay, let's look. And this is just one of the harms. I'm in Washington DC right now. We got a lot of racism in this country. I hate to say it, but we got to address it, and a lot of that's through our drug policies that incarcerate people and it's just like I'm not with any of that stuff. It's just not the way to be and our drug policies and cannabis policies are traced to that and you know you got older white guys making the rules for real and they're enforced that way.
Speaker 1:We have a lot of data. The data shows, like the selective enforcement, you're like, okay, yeah, so you're selectively enforcing this. You're infringing on people's rights, you're taking their shit, you're throwing them in a hole for years on our die and and you let fentanyl and not only fentanyl, and then purdue pharmaceuticals gets to kill hundreds of thousands of people.
Speaker 4:Here's the thing about fentanyl too. Because fentanyl is so new, they didn't schedule it as hard as they did the drugs back in the day, so it's like fentanyl is not even as strict as cannabis is. You know what I mean? It's a joke. The federal system is a joke. They should abolish the whole federal drug laws and leave it to the states, because they missed and they need a lot of help.
Speaker 2:Well, that's where we're at now, with the states. You know, that's how we got to where we're at, because the states have been doing this experiment. You know, like I said, the whole youth thing, right, it's the youth that got us where we're at you know, prop know the in the homosexual community with the aids epidemic. You know there's different things that have tumbled this thing forward and rescheduling it can help complete that. But we're yeah so close. Just I wish the other 70 million, you know just come over here.
Speaker 4:It's happening. We're winning the war, we're winning.
Speaker 1:We're winning the war on cannabis legalization we're winning our next, our next story kind of like highlights that north carolina senate approves medical marijuana legalization. I don't know about that, but they have tried previously to get this going. And then nine republicans joined uh, which I guess would be 24 democrats, and there are 33 to 9 vote voting in favor of the bill, and the bill is scheduled for a second senate vote on monday, uh, when north carolina gets to being close to legalizing medical cannabis. I mean kentucky, arguably more liberal than uh tennessee. Well, they've now maybe I'm not sure you know, but kentucky has a round that's opening in about a week, and so the the medical cannabis program in kentucky is just rolling right along the south, is starting to break, at least for medical, and then, if you have schedule three nationwide, I think we can just bring that down like a vice against these 12 states that are just holding out like even idaho, even all the eyes, the terrible idaho iowa, indiana, wisconsin.
Speaker 2:For some reason well, you know the travis's point. It says tribal influence. The bill comes as a native american tribe already the first and only seller of medical cannabis in the state lays open sales to a 21 over. The east band of cherokee indians voted legalize it on its koala boundary last year. So yeah, man, I mean that's. They launched a 420. So competition. You know, here in washington state, before we got the rec law in place, they actually negotiated with the tribes. They had like a treaty, like please don't outsell us, don't don't under sell the taxes, because they knew they were gonna tax the the shit out of this. This is not fair, state by state. It's all getting fucked individually. Somebody corrected me earlier. They said 51 of 5 of them is included in our nation's capital.
Speaker 1:It's different markets. There's territories we have a store out of Missouri as well Interstate traffic kind of. So Missouri has this store near the Arkansas border and they're making a crap load of money. And so now Flora Farms State Line Dispensary is getting a shakedown A little bit of a shakedown from the Missouri side. It's the closest city, jane, missouri, and the major city that's closest is Joplin, missouri, and then there's a web of rapidly growing cities within a 20 to 30-minute drive on the Arkansas side, which.
Speaker 1:This is a smart. This is how business is currently in the cannabis sector, and so, like in real estate in Missouri, illinois used to suck Missouri's commerce up from the border when it was medical, but now it's the other way, because Missouri has cheaper weed and lower taxes, and so you'll see people from Illinois going to Missouri if they live in that area, but then they're in Arkansas, which has a medical program, but it's very restrictive, and so all the people in Arkansas are driving to Missouri. This is an interstate market, one state at a time. I mean. That's the problem though. It's an interstate market, one state at a time. And so even in Washington State, you can put your dispensary on the border of Idaho and you'll do all right, we can put our dispensary on the border of Iowa and do just fine.
Speaker 4:I got to say say that is one of the biggest changes of culture. From spokane, washington, to quarter lane, idaho, it's like you can do whatever you want right at the border, at the city of spokane, and then there's another city called quarter lane where you're gonna go to jail for a long time quarter lane also had like uh, militias and shit they're trading, oh yeah, there's, that's an interesting place that's where I went to jail. Yeah, did you?
Speaker 1:oh, yeah militias and shit, like we are here fighting for your freedom. Then can you let me out of my cell? No, you're caught with a joint. It's like then how am I free? God, these damn druggers, they don't get it. But uh, it reminds me of one of the reasons why we had the shit I wasn't expecting segment, because cannabis is just a nonstop, like you gotta be fucking kidding me. And so we have some stories like that. You know, civil Perpetual, yeah, civil Perpetual.
Speaker 2:Mike's kind of going out.
Speaker 1:You've seen that coming. The Philly Glass Company makes bongs, gets into liquor business with new vodka, and so a company was not doing enough shit selling their bongs and so now they make liquor.
Speaker 2:Man down. We lost Travis. He was on our mobile phone, but yeah, so these guys here share my screen, if you can. These guys made this bong a bottle of vodka. That's the picture. Right there, baby, I would buy one, I would.
Speaker 1:Where am I supposed to put the carb? That's my question. How does this bottle of vodka turn into a bong?
Speaker 2:I can see how I need to put the carb somewhere. Yeah, maybe it's just for. Well, there's plenty of fucking people that do stuff at home. There's so many people making bongs on Reddit already out of bongs that uh, uh, no, I mean it's. Uh, I would buy it just to see. Heck. Yeah, but shit, we weren't expecting. We lost you for a second. We saw trash. Yeah, it's dc. Are you? Are you gonna be petitioning at all this week, or?
Speaker 4:are you when you leave? I love it'm just going to tell them that they're great and let the people out of prison, then you'll be more great. That's all I want to say to them. We're shocked. My guys in prison are so excited because we have a real law and even after it goes through let's say it goes through quick then if they don't let everybody out, then we have somebody in court. But it'll be very disappointing if we don't get clemency before the election. I'll be extremely disappointed personally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I would like again what I think it's about the votes, and so what I think you're going to have before the election is you're going to have a rule and then you're also going to have a clemency type of grant that would force this issue where it's like do you want this policy to continue or do you want to see this policy walk back, Because they force the issue? There you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it's a no brainer. You know, I remember during the Obama years, right, we used to think like, ah, this is it, yeah, but the thing is, you beat a president's fucking world geopolitics, no he dropped the ball.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I mean, there was definitely a lot that was like a magnifying glass for the first black president. Right, like I can imagine the pressure and everything. But, like you know, just overall people think like running in America is kind of like running a business and it's not. It's you know, like the schedule f thing. The reason why you have people who do jobs as career people is because they have a passion for it. Right, like for me, it's been measurement. Right, that's been my lifeblood and how I can figure out how to like survive it for someone who's 50 and not skinny, no more. Right, like, like I haven't missed a day eating, I do okay, but like I want to do this business thing with tom. It's the next step.
Speaker 2:But everybody finds their own thing and it's why it's important that people don't have this like pressure of like politics bullshit, like, uh, to do a thing you know. Uh, the fda, I see they all serve their purpose, like, even though the fda is not perfect, right, let's. You know how many times I see a commercial where they tell you at the end if it causes anal bleeding. You know, like I, why is that a fucking disclaimer? You know why is death.
Speaker 1:A disclaimer it's a reported side effect I have.
Speaker 4:I have a theory about all the institutions. It's just like you learn when you go to federal prison like you scream. They put you in a room you keep screaming. They strap you to a bed you keep screaming. They shove a food down a tube down your throat and feed you, you know. So it's just like you can't challenge these institutions. This is america, the greatest country on earth, and you just. We have to embrace it and work with them and try to get it a better place for us and future generations.
Speaker 1:You know it's a lot of work, especially considering you have guys like the Veranos out there, uh, just terminating contracts left and right. Uh, so, yeah, let's do a pot stock story because, oh yes, so um, verano is trying to get out of an $861 million lawsuit for terminating an agreement to have a merger, and so, on June 20, verano rejected the damages claims and said it filed a notice of the application that a court would seek a full trial instead of summary determination. And they must be in canada, because I don't recognize that, yes, it is supreme court of british columbia which is known to be in canada I mean, it's still court, it's still policy.
Speaker 2:Right like, this is gonna be argued. Like there's lawyers just drooling going oh, I'm gonna get a boat this summer right like like, right now there's so much money to be not just lawyers.
Speaker 1:The guys who run verano are drooling as well, and the guys that wanted to sell them that shit from verano were also drooling. This was a definitive agreement, which, miggy uh, you may get to see one one day, and eventually you have to find certain things, and if I do my job, you're going to see some definitive agreements biggie anyway, from january 2022.
Speaker 1:They had a contract to acquire minneapolis-based goodness growth in all stock for 413 million. However, goodness growth told verano that it had given that way. Goodness Growth announced that Verano gave them a notice of termination, stating that it believed Verano had no legal basis for doing so, which, again, if I was Verano's lawyer and if you want me to help call but I would challenge subject matter. Well, of course it's in Canada, so it's a legal transaction. But who's the regulators? Because can you buy all their shit without regulator approval? And so, if it's regulator approval, it's the original jurisdictions over there and then see if you can get the complaint dismissed.
Speaker 2:That'll be $1,000. That's an argument of process, right?
Speaker 1:I mean, this is the whole legal spiegel stuff no, when you don't have subject matter jurisdiction, it doesn't matter what the court says.
Speaker 2:I mean as far as Toronto being a subject matter, because I would imagine you're the grow, You're being bought by it is a contract to buy cannabis licenses, so we can't get Travis.
Speaker 1:He won the lottery. This is going to come in handy because you cannot sell that cannabis license. In Minnesota, it's three years before the social equity can be changed. It is different, though, in Illinois. We just have to get operational for our dispensary and then you can change it, but do you know who has to approve it? The licensing authority has to approve it, and so the court might not have jurisdiction to enforce the the contract that Verano terminated in this.
Speaker 2:And again, this is rich people, money, business stuff, I mean who?
Speaker 4:owns dispensaries. Does Goodness Growth have in Minneapolis?
Speaker 1:I don't know. It says it's Chicago-based and then you're trying to acquire this Goodness Growth, which was a Minneapolis-based all-stock transaction. Goodness Growth said that trends. I'm not sure who Goodness Growth is, but if they're also in British Columbia, great.
Speaker 4:Green Goods.
Speaker 3:Green Goods Because there's not very many, if any growth is, but if they're also in british columbia great, because green goods green goods is that like, because there's not very many, if any right.
Speaker 4:They're getting nervous because the green goods in minnesota they're going to have competition, you know they didn't get an ms.
Speaker 1:They don't have much that's a few locations and so like. Why do you think Verano is like we're dipping? We outsee, we outsee $5,000. We ain't giving you $413 million worth of shit. We ain't getting shit, you ain't getting shit. I hope you didn't buy that boat, bitch, you know, and that's why you always lease a boat.
Speaker 2:Lease the boat Rent before you buy. Good shit, man Buy the plane ticket.
Speaker 1:That's the industry, because you don't know. And so, like verano, saw minnesota legalizing and thinking that they'd get one of the, they'd get the green. Whatever it's called, it's not called green. Uh goodness, growth, it's called green growth. Is that what they call them?
Speaker 4:yeah, well, and they lobbied so hard to just do their big business stuff in our bill and our state legislators didn't let them win, you know. So it's probably just like wow, let's get out of here.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah I don't know. So, ronald was was lobbying your guys minnesota as well then yeah every time.
Speaker 1:They all want the ms, they all want the illinois style illinois is terrible, and then that.
Speaker 4:So I'm like a democrat because of my minnesota politicians, but like how could democrats, democrats let something like that happen in Illinois?
Speaker 1:I'm like whoa.
Speaker 4:I'm spoiled in Minnesota. Yeah, we're not like that in Minneapolis. We're very morally sound, oh no.
Speaker 1:Chicago is a very moral place, provided that you have a certain flexibility with your morals and the ability to say yes. So did you know that Illinois is essentially just a meandering casino and wherever you go that serves beer? There is a better than 60% chance they also have some slot machines that you could play. Really, there's almost like 50,000 slot machines in the state of Illinois Wow, yeah, bars like.
Speaker 1:If you're doing a business plan in the state of Illinois and you are going to open a bar and you think that pizza and beer will keep the lights on, no sir, you need a video gaming area like. One of the things that people tell me to do with the development of the cannabis dispensary is make sure that you put a gaming salon into the adjacent bay if you've got too many square feet. Uh, and I'm like huh, interesting, but that is since 2009 that they legalized video gaming in illinois and it creates more money than weed, even though it's legalized for 10 more years, but every it's. I think the state of illinois collected 250 million in taxes in just december of last year is there, crazy, the soulless?
Speaker 2:business well, I I mean business in general, Everywhere.
Speaker 1:I don't know of a place that I could go to for a beer and a sandwich that doesn't have them. That's interesting.
Speaker 2:Do they pay out? The same day in Montana there's another. You head into Illinois, you go to a different machine. You swipe something.
Speaker 1:You swipe it. It's pretty much like going you have a barcode and crap and so you would play the slot machine. They'll give you a ticket. You take the ticket over to the thing. It'll kick you out money.
Speaker 2:I just think it's funny how a state will enable something. I'll give a rule like that Like, like Montana, you can gamble all you want, they have them all over, but you don't get real money. It's the stupidest, like, why are you going to let these people play with money, but not actually? Just it doesn't ask you to do what is the gaming?
Speaker 1:commission. Yes, they blessed it. You don't understand this is. It is a comprehensive statutory rubric. That is a scheme, the actual law like. If you read the supreme court cases, they call it a scheme. That is not a common law or equity. And so they vested the illinois gaming commission with jurisdiction to award these video gaming licenses, just like they've vested a different jurisdiction to give licenses to miggy and me, uh, or minnesota, soon to to travis and um. Yeah, it's a very interesting, like cannabis law is interesting in the terms of jurisdictional aspects as well yeah, it's interesting and they write it.
Speaker 4:You know you got to keep the people in power that write the laws and it's just interesting how they do it. It's interesting politics, especially for me, because I've always been going to court in the judicial system, and then if you look at things through a political lens especially with cannabis, because it's always changing you see things a little differently, and that's what I do now. You know, it's all political and you just got to figure out what works for you and try to do the right thing at all times by the plant.
Speaker 1:You know, and that's why I'm in washington yeah, it's a it's a pragmatic thing, it's not. You really can't do uh idealism too much in politics. You have to do. What can we do now? What do we have the uh power to get done today, like, and so right now, what we have the power to get done is schedule three through executive action. Anything more we're to need both parties to come together and they have to make some and they, they just, for whatever reason can't seem to do it.
Speaker 4:And then he follows that up with more executive action of clemency, because the court system and the feds is a joke Like none of the guys want to go through that crap and that's what all the organizations that deal with these people and have the keys to the gate that can get their statements out there, you know, the big organizations nationally have to all, and even the cannabis dispensary, have to come together and say schedule three is OK, thank you. First change in 54 years, thank you. Let's now get the people out of prison that have been locked up under these racist laws, because that's what we want. We're cannabis people. We love, we care about our society. We don't get drunk at NASCAR rallies and beat each other up.
Speaker 1:That's right and that's also why we're going to need to have the FDA amend the FDCA's rules to give some exceptions to certain provisions that still make the industry illegal, even with Schedule 3. But that's for a different broadcast travis.
Speaker 1:thank you for joining us and shooting the shit with us for the past hour thank you guys I appreciate you how I appreciate what you're doing and thank you for being a nation's capital, and then again, you have the personal knowledge that I lack, so you are a much better advocate than me. How can people get in touch with you and find out how they can help support you in a small way by purchasing some of your hemp products?
Speaker 4:Yeah, freedom Soda and Freedom Gummies, and then they'll all be available on the website coming soon. My advocacy work is paid through hustling. I'll never accept donations. I don't want people to try to control me at all and I'm just trying to hustle, sell weed and be a legend, get people out of jail. Man. That's all we can do in this life. Oh yeah, and you got a website coming up. Yeah, freedthccom, and then Freedom Soda. We're real big in Minnesota already, so we're trying to go national and then part of the sales like a big portion of every sale goes directly to inmates and incarcerated and then they're going to get out. Like Edwin Rubis. He's coming to Minnesota when he gets out and it's like there's all sorts of people we can help through selling you know, thc products and giving back to them.
Speaker 1:Right on Awesome. Thank you so much, and if you guys are a member, we'll even put your name in the credits because we appreciate you that much. We'll see you next week with more cannabis legalization news.
