Pharmaceutical Companies Fighting Marijuana Rescheduling? Here's Why

DOJ just filed a brief telling the D.C. Circuit to deny the anti-rescheduling stay motion — and the argument is brutal: the drug-testing lobby and cannabinoid pharma challengers are not protecting public health, they are protecting “pocketbook interests.”

This week on Cannabis Legalization News, Tom and Miggy break down the DOJ’s new marijuana rescheduling brief, the live DEA hearing where the government is now arguing FOR Schedule III, Illinois’ new SB 3222 cannabis and hemp law, and the latest legalization battles across Arizona, Pennsylvania, and beyond.

Transcript

Welcome And Headlines

SPEAKER_00 0:02

What up, everybody? It is another episode of Cannabis Legalization News, the number one podcast for cannabis law, policy, business, and wherever you get your podcasts, which is catch-all you always throw in there. What a word salad to start this day off. Uh, happy 250, America, and happy birthday to you, Jimmy, who never watches, my younger brother. Um, okay, we have 10 stories. One I just did a deep dive on, and uh people are checking it out. They didn't like my AI, like it wasn't me as AI, but then I have this DJI thing that tracks you on a gimbal. And they were like, oh, it's too much, too much camera movement. So check out that uh that new one that I did about the DOJ. Uh they are our top story. I mean, we live in such a parallel universe now that the Department of Justice is defending marijuana legalization uh to a certain extent, at least Schedule 3 marijuana. Uh that's where we're gonna lead off. And then we have nine more stories. And if you want to get these stories emailed to you, and then uh also notice of when we offer to other like YouTube or we have other things going on at the store, uh, hit us up on that QR code. It'll take you to a form, fill it out, and we will start sending you some emails. So let's get into Canada's legalization news. That is July 5th, 2026.

Store Opening And Vapes

SPEAKER_00 1:30

What are my delicious memos?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Hey, those things are really good. Uh, I left mine somewhere. I'm sad. No, that's how you can tell it's a good vape pen. You forget it. Well, no, I was gonna take one with me on my flight back. Uh uh uh because I had the delicious coffee one, and uh uh I was gonna take that risk, right? We had first again. Wow, dude, we opened a store, it's been a week since uh uh we had the last show going live, and there was so much still to uh uh digest and put out where, like uh, you know, you asked me uh while we were trying to do some little footage for later and stuff. Uh, what was I most surprised about? And it really the quality of the weed and the price where we're able to sell it at. Like, that was because Illinois didn't start off like at a regular man's price point, you know, like and I didn't know I don't know about the quality because I never smoked at that time. There, that was me. The first time I came up was for the store. So uh uh yeah, I think that was the most impressive part. Plus, you know, uh uh you mentioned birthdays, dude. We also have uh uh uh a birthday for uh one of our butt tenders, Justin.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Shout out to Justin with a day off, but he'll be uh serving people across the street from the courthouse tomorrow. I have a ticket right here because Pekin is so they have such ability to enforce their traffic laws that if you're texting with your phone in your hand, they will give you a ticket. So we have a short coming up on that, you know, courthouse pot shop. But uh the main story, check out that video that I did on it. It's the real deep dive where I it was good encrypted. Yeah, did you like the because like no, it was around it was it was yeah, and so everyone's just like everyone's just moving, and like I'm not even I'm just sitting down, and so like I'll turn it off. But like when we were fucking with the gimbal, um we would turn it off and like it would just like stroke out. So hopefully I don't need to turn that on next time, and I'll just do it and use it as my holder, but still I think good views. Uh, they they tried to say that you couldn't, you know, have it uh get monetized, and we appealed and we won. But uh, this had to do with nothing about the plant and everything about the law, which is bizarre when you think about where we are in cannabis legalization in 2026.

DOJ Defends Schedule Three

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Like hemp is being put back in the closet, and then cannabis is being like kind of paraded out as the new uh even the federal government will defend it as being legal. Uh, and so like they they had this wonderful brief that the Department of Justice uh wrote against uh Sam and the NADSA, I believe. I think that's the National Association of the Drug and Alcohol Screening, or maybe the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association. So, like, you know, yeah, their profits from you peeing in a cup is not why we have the Controlled Substances Act. We have the Controlled Substances Act to regulate dangerous drugs, and um the the Attorney General has the right to ensure that we are okay with our uh treaty obligations, which is hilarious that for the past 65 years, so for 100% of the DEA's and the CSA's you know tenure uh uh with this drug treaty uh that we have from 1961, schedule one was fine, but now schedule three is fine according to them, and they're gonna defend it and they're gonna say we're gonna have the we have the right to do it, uh, which is great. You know, you're reading this and you're like, man, the United States government is uh advocating for like more legal weed in a court filing.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

What a time to be alive. Well, and I thought when I was watching your video with with the spasm, uh uh that's what gave me great insight, dude. Was uh uh you're pointing out that the government is saying, like, we made this rule initially for the betterment of everybody overall. It wasn't to like private prisons, right? This has just been a a continuous, like a domino of profiteering off of a bad law.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

It's similar to what happened in the hemp industry. And so, yes, I shouldn't be comparing the drug testing industry to the hemp industry, but it's essentially the same thing. There's a regulatory moat that's paraded out and uh business interests that you know cling to that moat. And provided that moat doesn't change, that the law doesn't change, you have a pretty stable, predictable cash flow. Um, now, like I I don't like that for the drug testing industry or for like the hemp industry that's going to just say, like, well, we get to sell all this stuff online without any restrictions, and oh, marijuana's still schedule one. But now that it's getting into schedule three, marijuana is uh great, and that hemp's going back to being rope. Great. Like, we're going to see policy changes for cannabis users over the next decade, similar to how they now have gun rights. In the future, they should have even more rights, and eventually truckers will be able to use it. They oversee their Tesla bot that's doing the driving.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Shit. But this is this is the path to legalization, right? This is like, you know, I as I like I always say, you know, I as I was championing when I had hair, I didn't know what that what I was asking for or how to get there, you know, like like like these are nickel night be nice if Congress decided to like give healthcare and legalization, but yeah, you know, this rule process, and and and it's just crazy to to it is the upside down right now, where you know we are the worst people, I guess. As it's weird that we celebrate the 250th, but like you know, as I think about our store and the uh the significance of that town, like it's a historic town of early Americana, right? Of all the right and wrong that we have to acknowledge, and like they're embracing us, man. Like they asked us to be a part of it, like to run a business, and you know, uh, it's fucking progress. But um, and again, thinking about what you were saying, how the DOJ uh is arguing for like you know, uh the law wasn't intended to create jobs.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Well, not those jobs, the law wasn't intended to create like uh a regulatory cash flow for the drug testing industry, and then there's another one, like MMJ is one of the other plaintiffs that's trying to sue to stop it. They don't have any patented drugs, they don't have any FDA-approved drugs. Um, they just have like a novel drug uh application that's pending, and so like it that may or may not get granted. And so, like these people are saying, like, hey, I now have to compete with state licensed marijuana medical marijuana companies. Well, what drug are you selling? Well, I'm not selling any drug, I I have my my application in to sell it.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Okay, the uh MJ MJ MJ holdings, you're talking about the ones that always have like the fire press release, always bitching about like the law.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Maybe, but it was like uh the MMJ party in that filing. Oh it's one of the plaintiffs to stop uh the states and by the federal government, I mean the state, to uh enact their their uh April 23rd scheduling order, which you know uh they're listing them on the stock market, uh they're the medical companies, Georgia's moving forward. I think you're gonna see more liberalization, maybe Safe Banking Act passes, but maybe it doesn't need to, and then you have schedule three, and then hopefully Congress does something, but like they might not because they haven't done it for yet. So if they haven't done it yet, why would they do it next? But again, the the DEA is protecting fucking scheduling three, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Like it's just what the rescheduling hearing is it's defending how this new like legalization essentially, because this is the path to it, you know. Next will be descheduling, no shit. That's what we all want. But like you're gonna have this uh something that has existed with with the past hundred years under this like stigma and these uh uh you know just misunderstandings of the actual like what the plant does. It's like the law itself. When everybody I see people in the chat talking about like, oh, I just ordered from an online dispensary. I'm sorry, bro. You did not. I mean, because there's no transportation, there's no state doing any of these, like well, New Mexico. I stand I they do deliveries, but like I haven't seen any other states that have this like crossing state line type scenario, except for him. And you're buying now, probably someone's stock that they're trying to get rid of, right? Like baseball's already had issues when it was like good, supposedly, right? Now you're trying to get rid of like, oh shit, November's coming up four months, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Well, the online dispensaries you can buy online at our dispensary and pay with your bank card, but you have to come pick it up at our dispensary, right? It's but like the those types of payment solutions will continue to ease. The the interesting thing about schedule three, as it's not an FDA-approved drug, is you're gonna have this federal compliance, non-compliance, and so you still won't be able to do like we won't be able to put it in order from a grower in come Humboldt County to stock our shelves, right? Like that goes outside the bounds of the statute, and then also you can't put a schedule three drug into interstate commerce unless it's been FDA approved and cannabis hasn't, and it's not gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Well, and isn't the the hemp game now gonna be shifting to the CMS shit, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Like this it's gonna be go back to CBD. And so, like, remember when like they had the CBD boop, yeah, bomb. And so, like, that's that's what gave birth to Delta 8, because the they had the oversupply of the CBD. You might see the same thing. CBD Slack might get taken up because of the CMS, but I don't know how successful, I don't know how much CBD they're gonna move because of

Rescheduling Hearings Timeline

SPEAKER_00 11:17

the CMS. Still, the the the more important story on this one, though, and this unfortunately comes from like uh firsthand um witnesses uh because they have not released the transcripts and they have not like live streamed this at all. However, uh the government's first witness, FDA scientist Dr. Chiapperino, totally butchered that, and that's what you get. You don't open it up, so we can't understand how these people pronounce their names. Then they walked through the 2023 eight-factor analysis, testify the cannabis is fewer overdose deaths and competitors and withdrawal symptoms similar to tobacco, which I find to be um inaccurate. Uh, anyway, and then they explained why they tried to drop the old five-part Camove test down to its two-part, and they had a whole hour on that. Uh, and the DEA objections that his witnesses were speculative or outside that FDA's witness TUI authorization. So, yeah, the DEA is just as supportive as the DOJ uh as to their Schedule III marijuana, which is quite welcoming. So are we done now until we wait for the uh decision? No, it there's gonna be more hearings on it, and so like all the evidentiary hearings will wrap up in 10 days, and around July 15th, they may wrap up a little earlier, they may wrap up a little later, and then they uh will as expeditiously as possible write up their findings, present them to the DEA administrator, who then should, as expeditiously as possible, uh you know, authorize a final rule rescheduling marijuana and sending it out to the publication in the federal register.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

I mean, in meanwhile, states are shaping up, like you know, and I think people are gonna get mad at us, but uh and actually we probably should talk about that in about after the following minute because uh we have to probably like you know understand that they also testified that weed is safer than alcohol and opioids. Oh, yes, yeah, that was pretty sweet. That's pretty dope. And uh ALJ Julius is gonna be the one that's there. Um, seeing whether the two part or the five-part fight is correct. But uh again, that Camus aspect has to do with uh the DHS's findings, and that science is binding on DEA. Where is my pen? It's time for another delicious memo. It is 20 past the hour. Well, one thing I'm really stoked about is I actually was able to have enough time to do a video this week, which I hadn't had in weeks. But now that the store is open, I don't have to like I was painting a sign today. That's what I was doing before I got here, I was painting a sign. But um, I'll have more time to do uh more videos, and what are the bits that we'll be able to do on that has to do with the business collateral base and the the uh uh consulting services that we can help provide to your dispensary.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Look at me putting some uh applause. I'm excited to do this. Store's amazing. I think I think you're gonna do well. Uh, you know, this is just part of the PAP and what we have to work with right now. Uh yeah, it's not fair.

Illinois Hemp Law Changes

SPEAKER_01 14:48

But with that being said, Pretzard has uh you know signed the uh bans that still intoxicating hemp to miners, bolsters equity and oversight in the cannabis. So, I mean, it doesn't really ban sales though, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:01

In Illinois overall, it doesn't, it doesn't, and so it's in line with the feds, and so it bans underage sales right now. So now all the hempsters do have to card you, and you have to be 21. But then after November 12th, uh it changes the definition of hemp to be what the federal definition of hemp is going to be. And then you'd have to buy intoxicating cannabinoids from licensed vendors.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

You know, I want to feel bad for these folks, but it's just again, you've been selling it as Aza and like TAC full spectrum, wink, wink, nod, nod. You know, that's it's bad enough. We got to do it already with our regulators as it is, let alone you know again. Make your bag as I always said, but that bag was closing, that was inevitable because there's one plant, and so if you're making it for consumption purposes, people think it'll want rules, you know. Like it's an agriculture product, right? It's not it's not a vitamin, it's it's uh it's more corn and tomatoes, right? And then, of course, the the fun time.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

That's that's what it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be an agricultural commodity, not a finished good product that you consume. So, uh, next like how many people are just you know, you saw that corn and soybeans where we're at. Nobody just goes into the farms, like you know, the the our uh agricultural commodity farms and just pulls out some corn and starts eating it, or soybean. No, it's inputs, it's it's something that then becomes a finished good, uh after time, but you know, agricultural commodities.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Well, we're gonna be talking about like the the the hemp still busts that are happening. I mean, uh my point being is the rules so far, the farm bill hasn't made it safe and and good for all. I mean, it it it might have helped some really smart people who push the edge, but then if you didn't say, if you didn't, if you didn't uh you know uh plan, uh this is what you're getting. But uh yeah, because the FDA approved cannabis,

Pharma Grade Hype And Compliance

SPEAKER_01 17:08

right? This is a this is a opinion piece. Why schedule three means operators must prepare for pharmaceutical grade MMJ. Now, I think you know, people are scared by words, like no, you know, psychoactive, but and again, pharmaceutical grade, you know, it's still an agriculture product, it's still gonna be grown in dirt, and you know, it's gonna be the cleanliness of the process, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:29

An advertisement, but this is an advertisement for um her business, and so like yeah, it's uh well I just think it was just like it popped to my feed of like it's coming, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Like nothing, nothing to delay the the the trying to like uh they already got CMS, they don't they don't care about your your Friday night, and this is why this these rules are so important, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Every state had a buy-by medical, it's but it's hilarious that like look at the bring that bring that report back up and look at they're selling thca while they're selling her consulting services to create more of a uh medical regulated you know area of what schedule three is gonna be. You got that back up, and so then scroll down and then see like it's like you know, here's this person who's gonna say that they think it's going to be more like uh a pharmacy and less like you know, going to buy regular, keep scrolling down. I want you to see that national holistic you know healing center, that's great, but there it is, and that's what this is really about. Uh quarter bound 99. Um, uh you know, they really care about you, they do, they care about whether or not you are getting good policy. No, they don't. They they're selling you hemp, calling it the THCA. So they're selling you weed, calling it hemp, and somebody else is probably the sponsoring content to explain how you need to get ready for a hyper-regulated future schedule three world where bud tenders are actually pharmacy techs. Uh, it's not that there's any big difference between the two. Uh, so that's the you know, GDP compliance. That's probably a GDP compliance. How much can we sell a GDP compliance product for? That's really the thing that you should try to operationalize and then sell it to 15,000 dispensaries and approximately that many producer-processor licenses nationwide.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Well, you know, the thing about compliance, dude, because you know, this is the industry I work in, it's it's not cheap, and and you just gotta be willing to like like unfortunately in some states, auditors aren't like trying to help encourage the business. I believe that's part of the the ID FR's like statement, right? Aren't they supposed to like help the actual industry?

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Well, Missouri definitely does, but um, but right there's you can't create a regulatory scheme designed to fail. That that's just too cruel and arbitrary and capricious.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

But this is I would think like you would want success in all your markets, right? Like what what what who wins in in like stimming the the the industry, right? Or styming, I was gonna say stimulating. I'm just saying we're slowing it down though, right? Like who who who who wins? Nobody, you know, besides the the people that we were arguing about before who uh don't need uh you know of importance, the the PP people, uh prisons, you know. Uh uh, there's so many organizations that have benefited from prohibition from ignorance that uh you know, we're getting there, and it needs to be identified as medicine and rescheduled.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Well go ahead. The the the edibles and the other things, perhaps, but there's a way that a an FDA approves a drug, and the novelty on these cannabinoids just isn't there. Uh, and so I I think it's not going to be as pharma, big pharma style as people think. I think it's going to I think it's gonna be regulated, I think it's gonna like you know, purity and testing. So the the flower that we have in Illinois, where that stuff had to pass, like you know, and it's very highly controlled. That's what I think the future is.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

More than you know, we have a patent on this, you're not gonna get 100 stuff

FDA Approval And Interstate Commerce

SPEAKER_01 21:20

that's I mean, when are we gonna get so like you know, here's the Justice Department release from April places FDA approved marijuana products, but where are these FDA-approved marijuana? You know, like when is FDA gonna come through? What's it how many months have you been past the the deadline?

SPEAKER_00 21:35

The FDA has to that that's a different deadline. That deadline was from the November bill where we're supposed to get a list of cannabinoids and their understanding of what a container is and where you can get like intoxication from it. We haven't gotten anywhere close to that. Okay, and then there's how you approve an FDA approved drug. Um, that is uh somewhat of a novelty to the cannabis industry, uh, and the people that have done it have. Done it successfully, as far as I'm aware.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Like what what what's successful for you?

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Is it just the writing of getting an FDA approval for a drug? So, like epidilex is that actual plant derived C D right? Um, marinol that I know isn't that's not from the plant. That's that is a synthetic THC. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

But well, I mean again, we've we've discussed how like the bio is a new kind of like under their governance, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Like they have to create new rules for this plant for the flower, where organic it's it's two different laws, and so like there's a controlled substance act, and that's how we are trying to legalize it, and then there's the food, drug, and cosmetics act, and that's how you uh approve drugs to be able to place them into the food supply or into interstate commerce. But like that, what I mean is like so, like this is medicine, right? This is right, but I think the best way forward for that being recognized by that other law is amendment, like the the thing that they have set up where the FDA we could always revisit the FDA and what a drug is. I mean, that that law is technically older than the other law, that's also like pretty arcane, the Controlled Substances Act. So that's from like 54 years ago. The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is like from like a hundred years ago and then like revised in their 30s, I want to say. So it's still like older than the 70s. Um, we don't pass drugs like that really anymore. Like we didn't we didn't have the ability to like simulate tens of thousands of drugs like we did for the COVID vaccine and whatnot. So if we want to update the FDA and like fix the marijuana issue for interstate commerce, all for it.

How Cannabis Should Be Regulated

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Well, my my my my question really being is so like how do we get to the point where like K hemp they bypassed all these rules, they were able to be in gas stations, right? And like there needs to be new rules that for legit like an aspirin, but like for a plant-based flour, that like how do we get to the point where because it's gonna be new that FDA government typically dietary supplements, like is that what it would be like considered uh no, because you have the the controlled substances act that says it's a scheduled drug, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:07

And there's this many penalties, and so like this really is something for Congress to fix. Uh, but then would it be a controlled drug, like a you know, schedule three? Is it ketamine? No, it's still not really ketamine, but uh it's more it's more similar to like you know, if you had um an herbal supplement, it's usually like a root or or some type of plant, right? That's powdered or maybe extracted. I mean, that's what kratom is. And kratom became that 07 where they took the active ingredient that was in the plant and said very same. Um, that's what you have with cannabis. You have a natural plant that has particular elements that are in there, and then you know, how do you regulate it? Would you regulate it like an herbal supplement? Probably not, because it's psychoactive.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Well, I mean, isn't there like levels to dysregulation too? Because you got the plant itself, but then you got the possibility of like if I squeeze it really, really hard and I had super heat strength, I could like make rosin, right? Like, and then, or if I was chemically inclined, I could drop into a machine after it was all grounded up and then get some sort of extract. So, like, aren't those post regulation as well? Like, that's easier to there's none of that

Federal vs State Rules

SPEAKER_01 25:19

though.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

There's no there's no rules on it. There's rules on it at a state level, but there's really no rules at a federal level. This is one of the reasons why, like, you can see what the limits of Congress's and the the um administrative powers are, so that you know you can really see the interplay of like Article I and Article II of our constitution in in the federal uh cannabis policies.

Who Makes Federal Policy

SPEAKER_00 25:42

There's there's no rules there, but then the states have a lot of the rules, and so who's going to try to make the rules at the federal level? Well, right now it seems like it's gonna be the administration through the rulemaking process of DEA. But at any time, Congress could be like, you know what, we let's do our job here, and we're going to move this to here, we're gonna redo how the FDA does its drugs, but I just don't think they have the appetite or the ability right now. I mean, it's July 4th. Every single one of them was walking in a parade yesterday, every single person running for Congress.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

I mean, I mean, for that to happen though, you would need somebody with like deep, deep, deep pockets. Uh uh, hey soros. But like you would need someone around the country, yeah. Right, right. But like, like, like as I'm saying, that that makes that phone call and be like, hey, today we're just gonna talk about the you know, working on the the path to legalization. Like, let's let's get a rule for the GMP certification. It's like, hey, look at corn and just make it like that or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

But like no one, I think too much benefit. You need a lobby. I think

Schedule III Tax Relief

SPEAKER_00 26:43

like getting getting it to schedule three so that you don't have tax liability out the ass. All right, so you get it to schedule three, the tax liability drops off. You get hemp out of the way so that it becomes extremely regulated. Hemp becomes like prescription drug style regulated, where you have full spectrum CBD or something like that, but that might need to be a statutorily defined, not a um, you know, I mean, you said maybe

Hemp vs Cannabis Definitions

SPEAKER_00 27:10

chance.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

I mean, like I I just consider it all cannabis, like that's I think where people get confused as well, thinking some people are pushing limits and packing in the mail, right? Or they did, and and now it's been accepted, but but you know, other people who don't even want to go through any testing to like prove that they're doing the right thing, uh, are still gonna do it, you know. And then and I think it's kind of like how you said about the corn. It's like I was thinking, like, I don't see any like none of my friends moonshine or whatever. I don't know anybody that fucking you know, craft beer. I just go to a store and buy it or coffees. I mean, I actually knew one guy who roasts his own beans, but like that's a thing that's an option, that's esoteric, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

Yeah, you know, you know, like brews his own beer or or roasts his own coffee or like distills his own moonshine, that esoteric thing, and then like why would you do it? Because it's gonna take time and equipment, uh, and and you're probably gonna suck at it, or you can go buy a bottle, or let's buy some eighth, you

Consistency and Quality

SPEAKER_00 28:13

know.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Yeah, it's gonna be consistent. I mean, again, when I sold weed, it was Mexican brickweed, so it was I don't really have the integrity of going like, I'm not gonna sell bad weed. It's just I am fortunate enough that we don't sell bad weed. Like, I was everything I smoked at the shop, was was it was delicious.

Ballot Rollback Campaigns

SPEAKER_01 28:28

In the meantime, though, Arizona though was trying to uh Arizona anti-marijuana campaign drops effort to put legalization roll back on the ballot. So uh again, they're fighting every you know, they're every once in a while. Uh, who's the other state, Rhode Island?

SPEAKER_00 28:41

That uh sample state was Massachusetts, yeah. But there's easiest states to become a ballot initiative, and a ballot initiative is a wonderful press release opportunity. Uh, it's therefore you get on the ballot and then you send multiple press releases, and then you take your donor money, you say, Thank you. We are gonna stop this terrible, terrible thing called marijuana that's dangerous and brain damaging, brought to you by a pea in the cup, pee in the cup, your at-home weed testing solution. Um and and that's that's kind of like the the problem. And right, so right now you have this, and that's like our lead story was with the Department of Justice defending against Sam and NADSA, like the uh the pea in the cup people, saying, like, this was never like your slush fund, this was never designed to be uh guaranteed profit cash flows for you. Uh this was designed for regulating uh public health. And and so then it's just it'll be very, very interesting to see that play out.

New Lobby and Compliance

SPEAKER_00 29:42

But if that lobby goes away and a new lobby comes to town that is no longer being onerously taxed, and it's schedule three and it's cannabis regulated, safe, clean, healthy. Okay, fine. We can't, we won't, we won't put the word healthy on there, but safe, clean, and regulated, we will. Uh and and then if they have like clear definitions, like this is full spectrum done, you know, that that's what goes into CMS. Everything else they they would consider marijuana. Now it's the only and so like at Congress they could fix that, but I don't know if DEA could make up the term full spectrum CBD or full spectrum hemp and and schedule it or or or or create it out of whole cloth like that.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

I just wish the perception was this is one plant, and then like you know, the the the hemp debate is just like that is low TAC, uh not grown for its cabinoid purposes, but meant for industrial strictly, you know. But that that's it, and that would be great because that would save the planet opposed to like the bullshit we got now. Uh, you know, it's it's

Raids and Consumer Safety

SPEAKER_01 30:48

not good. Well, and again, as these rules shape, we have this uh this news story about a raid, it just ruined my life, Phoenix Man Seuss after MCSO raid claims constitutional rights are violated. So, you know, this these hemp rules and and even the present legalization is not helping anybody, like like we need federal, uh you know, flat, even, straightforward, and people are gonna bitch again, just like uh uh that the ad, right? Because there's big words being used, but compliance is the the key, right? Like, like compliance is just you have the best intent for your consumer, right? You're gonna have recalls, you're gonna, you're gonna uh uh there'll be recourse for things, not so much for him, you know. I'm looking at you, base folks, right? Like they legit sold shitty shit, like uh, but that's kind of the drop shipping thing, even like the Chris Four pointy blazer was like, he commits, he's like, I'm a drop shipper, whatever,

Dispensary Ops and Shipping

SPEAKER_01 31:46

right?

SPEAKER_00 31:46

Like, right in the end, even like we are drop shippers as a store, we're not a drop shippers, like drop shipping implies that like you don't even you don't even have a warehouse, you just have an online checkout form to a certain extent. Like, we have a location, we're a brick and mortar. You can if you buy online, you still have to pick up in store, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Right, we can't ship it.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Nothing's getting mailed to you, bro. Nothing getting mailed to you, bro. Was my second choice for the dispensary's name.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

But we don't agree with this. This is why we we need real rules, so we can like send it to you, or you or we can take your credit card, which right now we can only take your bank card, right? Not not the credit card. Uh, but like this is what we got. You and I in Pekin, Illinois, you know, drop to you how much to renovate and be in accordance with how many cameras?

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Yeah, 32.

Store Growth and Tourism

SPEAKER_00 32:44

But I mean, that's that we'll we'll get more people to come out. Uh, you know, it takes time to build that uh audience. It was strange today that a lot of um people that came through were from out of state, which was weird. Well, make it the next station. I think right now is a travel, and so right now is travel because it's the end of the July 4th holiday, so a lot of people were going north or south or east or west. And as a result, we had you know some people in from out of state. I'm like, good news, limits doubled. Ask your butt tender through that. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Well, again, just being across in the courthouse, too. I love people watching out front, like uh, just sitting at the the little lobby area. Um, it's a neat spot, man. I I

Medical Claims and FDA

SPEAKER_01 33:30

dig it. Uh next story coming out of normal is uh a study on cannabis inhalation associated with long-term pain relief, opioid sparing effects in patients with treatments, resistance, and lower back. You know, it's a it's medicine.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Well, yes, but it's not up to you approved medicine. And so when you have medicine versus when you have herbal supplements, you're not really allowed to make any claims about an herbal supplement. But medicines very often have, you know, camus, which is commonly accepted medical use, uh not necessarily for its efficaciousness, but typically because it works. And so they they don't have a way to make marijuana medicine really under the law, even with the schedule three shit. Sure. Like, you know, now it's just it's a schedule three drug, but it's not FDA approved, so you still can't put it into the uh interstate commerce. They've they've still created this uh conflict of federal law policy, which would be great if Congress would do its job and just create like a medical marijuana rubric that it has the interplay for all of these.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

What is the issue for not fitting under Cambu? I mean, like I was thinking at first it's because it fits so many elements, but thinking in regular commercials, uh you know, I'm sure there's like specific, like like Botox, you know, it has many purposes.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

So, like, how do you label use? And so, but then if it's already approved for something else, off label use can happen a certain way. Maybe I should just become an FDA like regulatory lawyer. I bet that's probably pretty lucrative, more lucrative than selling weed.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Yeah, does it have to be proven that it works like for one thing?

SPEAKER_00 35:16

It's already been proven for lacoma has to be FDA approved, and the FDA approval process is a particular regime. But even under what's the uh the program from the 70s that uh uh LV Musk was part of that uh oh that that got shut down in the early 90s, but that was another congressional act and the innovative novel drug therapy or something like you know, that experimental plan, yeah. They shut it down uh in '91. And so they can make laws more restrictive. Can they make them better? That's that's the one thing, you know. Can we make our tax laws better and easier so they aren't like ridiculous? And then can we make our uh our drug laws better?

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Well, again, there's federal patients, so doesn't that go for anything? Doesn't that account for uh the status? But uh anyways, hey

Swing States Stall Legalization

SPEAKER_01 36:06

uh Pennsylvania Democratic Senators put pressure on GOP to allow a vote on legalizing marijuana. Those guys are just behind the mark, dude. I thought Pennsylvania was way better.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

Nope, they are a swing state. Uh swing states is where legislative cannabis legalization goes to die. It's true. Like all the swing states that have legislative legalization um measures. For example, uh, you have Pennsylvania, you have Wisconsin. Uh those two in in particular are swing states. And and so the Republicans, it's them this time. Sorry, uh Democrats who, you know, like may not want to legalize it, uh, are the ones that are usually obstructing it. And then they can never agree on how to do it.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

That's it's so funny though. Like, like maybe we should do a campaign about how cannabis is the most American thing out there, right? Like we just did a 250, but the cannabis industry in America specifically, right? There are no being in state markets, there are no like uh out of country products, right? It's grown locally, uh uh local workers, you know, uh local transports. Uh I imagine like your packaging on the probably a lot of guys people about China, but the the the main complainers are American.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

So like well, except for curly, but you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

Is that the Russian oily girls? Maybe that's not the one we have in our store, are they?

SPEAKER_00 37:38

No, we have none of their products. Okay, so we can talk shit. Not that there's anything wrong with their products.

Rescheduling Lawsuit Fight

SPEAKER_00 37:46

No, that's all you got.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

A uh marijuana companies seek to defend Trump's rescheduling move by intervening in opponent's lawsuit.

unknown 37:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

So is that what you're talking about from the beginning, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:57

Where this actually might be the exact same lawsuit. Uh I didn't dig into I didn't have the capacity uh to dig into this story uh with the week that I've had, but maybe next week I'll dig into it. But uh, if that is the same lawsuit now, the like one of the reasons, and we talked about this, you know, when it happened uh a few months ago, I said, watch these people, and by these people, I mean these medical marijuana companies are going to fill out this form because then I think they would have standing to prevent anybody from trying to enjoin. And so the the the normal, uh not normal, the the SAM and the NDSA uh, you know, a petition to enjoin the Schedule Three, I could see that that means that's the only thing it could be. And so I'm assuming that it has to be the same lawsuit. Sure. So and then you get them in there, and so they also oppose the injunctive relief being sought by SAM and NADSA. Uh they want to continue the laws because now we've been uplisted as well, and so we've been uplisted. So, like, you know, you're gonna clearly harm us as opposed to I might get a drug approved, somebody in our roles might decide to not do drug testing if this happens.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

You smoke a lot of weed in law school, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 39:09

I did smoke a lot of weed in law school.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

I'm just saying the way the rules work, it's fucking so asinight of me, but you know, and I think like once so, like I think rescheduling is the first step to re-legalization, right? This is the the path to like the deschedulement,

Smuggling and Weed Valuation

SPEAKER_01 39:24

and and and when we get to that point of like uh real legalization, we won't have stories like this where the Coast Guard recovers bell of marijuana from Gulf waters, right? We're not recovering bells and whiskey, you know, off the gulf.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Is that going in or out? I mean, that's the thing where with because like the cannabis in America is much better like than the cannabis worldwide in Canada uh and like other countries, Canada and maybe like you know, uh Colombia would be like, Oh, I don't think so. But you think Florida's kind of like that, they're shipping top five. You think Florida's hustling out? I think that's what it is, you know. Like they come in with their square grouper full of cocaine, and our square grouper is full of you know, OG Kush.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

I mean, like they didn't say the quality, they didn't say the bell was worth 10 bajillion dollars, so I don't know what you know, right? Because they overpriced the cost of working.

SPEAKER_00 40:18

Well, now like the cops really have the ability to to have a spot price. Whereas so if the cops ever try to like say, ah, you were doing all this much, this much in marijuana, and you'd be like, Your honor, no, like that that that is just completely speculation. Uh, here's the spot price of this this fungible agricultural commodity. In this area, it would go for this much, they've overstated it by five times. How much more can you believe of them if they are going if they're willing to lie five times about the value of what was at stake? What else would they uh exaggerate or um embellish upon?

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Dude, we are a long way from the high time stock market. They used to come out once a month. You know, like to actually know like what and those prices are pretty good. I ain't gonna lie, like they're pretty like that was most people's negotiating rate, right? Like, yeah, uh but not anymore. Now you can walk in a store, look at the menu in the back wall, uh that's right across the street from a courthouse or a certain county, and we're not even the problem on the block.

SPEAKER_00 41:22

The bar behind us.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

That's a lovely people. That was a lovely bar. Very rough crowd, but like it, you know, the the city. Of course, I when I was there, dude, you know, the the fact that like God focused all his hate on just that area for the heat. So damn, you know, coming from Seattle in humid. And we solved issues

Operator Perspective

SPEAKER_01 41:47

too. Like, like that's the thing about like legalization that we have now. Uh you know, being the brick and mortar, you know, you you're going through these aches and pains. You know, this is real time. Tom's coming at you, not from somebody who who read about it, but as someone who's doing it. That's kind of the hard thing, too, right? Like, you know, you're living your story.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

Well, yeah, most most lawyers um are operators, and most of them also don't have like a following. Uh, but uh some do, and then they they do very well. Uh and so sometimes when I'm up at night, I'm like, well, I could have just been hustling on the law. Probably probably would have been easier to make the money, and there might have been more of it. But this is pretty cool, like you know, when it comes down to um having the ability to see the the business running and then understanding your clients from a better perspective. But uh we got that sign painted, so it's gonna go back up. I I did that before I came over. So like uh we'll we'll soon have the the rear signage, and then once all the signage is up, we'll do a post on the channel uh of the of the shop.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

I can't wait, dude. I

YouTube Censorship and Parity

SPEAKER_01 42:57

can't wait.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

Is it we have so much but we really don't show the the the because because like YouTube hates like they're probably gonna 18 plus this one, they shouldn't. This is complete education, it's a freaking master's course. It is an educational aspect, but still, um yeah, they they might they might 18 plus it, but then uh if we put up like pictures of the shop, uh they probably totally then because like you showed people where to buy the stuff, yeah. But then if we had a bar and we took pictures of our bar and put it up, would you give a shit?

SPEAKER_01 43:30

That's the hard part about this this uh plant. It's always about someone else's opinion, too, right? About the law, the shadow banning, the well, you know, it hemp blew up so fast just because it's legal it wasn't in that, it wasn't in that trap, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

And so, like they they were able to blow up that fast. And hopefully, as our trap gets like walked back, we at least get per uh parity with like the alcohol industry. Yeah, I mean that's that's the only thing that's gonna happen, even though we're gambling. I want parity with gambling, those people run shit because like they can say basically say whatever, they have online ads, they're just driving people to bankruptcy, and we are gladly allowing it.

SPEAKER_01 44:11

Nah, but you know, you can't really associate or because can't cannabis is safer than all that, you know. So, but hey, canvas safer than uh fireworks. I hope everybody had a great fourth. I hope everybody had a great fourth, yeah. Yeah, did you blow anything off? Uh maybe no, we went downtown to uh uh top of a building to to uh see fireworks, but we're disappointed because our plan didn't go as well, but it was still a lovely day. Uh you know, right now we're getting a reprieve from the weather, uh, so it's nice. So 70 degrees, perfect. Yeah, that's perfect. Not 90, feeling like 105.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

Let's see what we got out here in 85. So it's like 10 degrees cooler. Uh we're still I can stay there. The the AC is much better, uh, and it's much more comfortable in the dispensary.

Shop Upgrades and Education

SPEAKER_00 44:59

The lectern comes tomorrow for additional signage. I mean, like, people are like, why does your dispensary have a lectern? Well, it needs one, and and we we have this large space, and so um, I think next we'll be uh building out the educational area, and then we could do um recipes for cookies with uh you know full spectrum hash oil because like we sell RSO. So instead of like doing the magic butter machine, no, buy a gram of RSO and then we'll uh do some math with it, uh, put that on special. Let's see, with the other like how to roll a joint. Like maybe like if somebody's like really good at rolling joints, we could have that person come in and like give us a clinic, and then we would record it and put it on these here YouTube, and then watch it get 18 plus. It's like, why? It's educational. The whole video was called how to do this. It wasn't like we put, I mean, the the dispensary's so large and shit. We get like Ben and Cam there, which they would never do, and and then we could like have my dis I built a secret room in my dispensary because like if any dispensary you can build a secret room on, it's one that's 12,000 square feet.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

Dude, I think it's a beast. Yeah, no, it's a pleasure. Can't wait to share the journey more with more people, you know.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

Like right. You're doing it. Right. Yeah.

Wrap Up and Next Week

SPEAKER_00 46:13

Um, so once again, if you want the stories, there's a QR code, hit it up. Uh, thanks for watching. If you made it this far, clearly subscribe to this shit, and we will be back next week.