Senate Votes 61–32 to Keep Hemp Delay in Funding Bill

The Senate voted 61–32 at 2:36 a.m. to preserve a proposed 29-day hemp delay in its pending federal funding bill. That delay is not law: November 12 remains operative unless the House concurs and the President signs.

If enacted, the Senate text would move the date for most hemp products to December 11. Converted and synthetic cannabinoids would remain on the November 12 track. Thomas Howard and Miggy break down the vote, the scrambled coalition, the state-law consequences, and the payment processor that may close hemp stores before Congress acts.

GUESTS: Freedom Grow and Bill from Bill Bros join us in the second half.

Free CLN newsletter: https://bit.ly/3VEn9vu

THIS WEEK

• Senate votes 61–32 to preserve proposed hemp-delay language
• Dr. Oz asks senators to protect Medicare-related CBD flexibility
• 35 attorneys general oppose any delay
• Square plans to cut off CBD and hemp merchants October 15
• Verano challenges New Jersey labor-peace requirements
• Texas Rep. James Talarico attacks the proposed THC ban
• CDC tracks cannabis hyperemesis emergency visits
• Wisconsin police use Flock-camera data in a marijuana investigation
• New York changes cannabis showcase rules for microbusinesses
• The VA launches a Phase 3 psilocybin trial for veterans

FULL WRITE-UPS

Senate vote and proposed hemp delay:
https://cannabislegalizationnews.com/...

Dr. Oz Medicare hemp letter:
https://cannabislegalizationnews.com/...

35 attorneys general letter:
https://cannabislegalizationnews.com/...

Square CBD/hemp cutoff:
https://cannabislegalizationnews.com/...

Verano v. New Jersey CRC:
https://cannabislegalizationnews.com/...

Talarico and the Texas THC ban:
https://cannabislegalizationnews.com/...

CDC cannabis hyperemesis data:
https://cannabislegalizationnews.com/...

Flock cameras and marijuana searches:
https://cannabislegalizationnews.com/...

New York microbusiness showcase fix:
https://cannabislegalizationnews.com/...

VA psilocybin trial:
https://cannabislegalizationnews.com/...

PRIMARY SOURCES

Senate Roll Call 227 — motion to table S.Amdt. 6747 (2:36 a.m.):
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LI...

Senate Roll Call 228 — passage of amended H.R. 6500:
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LI...

S.Amdt. 6747:
https://www.congress.gov/amendment/11...

H.R. 6500:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

House Roll Call 272 — separate H.R. 9770:
https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2026272

Chapters will be added after the live stream so every timestamp is exact.

Cannabis Legalization News is hosted by Thomas Howard, a cannabis and business attorney, and Miggy. New episodes every Sunday.

Legal help for a cannabis license, deal, or dispute:
https://cannabisindustrylawyer.com

DISCLAIMER: This program is for information and entertainment. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Cannabis remains federally controlled. Laws change quickly; consult a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction before acting.

#cannabisnews #hemp #cannabislaw #cannabisindustr

Transcript

Late Night Senate Surprise

SPEAKER_01 0:01

I can't tell if I'm on. Oh, I am. Hey everybody. Guess what happened at 236 on uh guess would have been Saturday morning. The Senate voted 31 to 61 to 32. So that means that 93, seven people weren't there. One's Mitch McConnell, obviously, uh, to delay enforcing certain aspects of the hemp law for 29 days. Doesn't mean that it's over yet, but it is our lead story. We have several stories about it. And uh even draft legislation, we've already circulated to Dr. Oz or the CMS and also Howard Kessler or the Commonwealth Project, and that's our lead story on cannabis legalization news for this week. Hope that you had a good week, and let's kick this one off. Hey, what's going on? Tell ya, did not see the uh 236 in the morning coming, but they they really wanted to get out of there for a few weeks, the Senate.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Yeah, no, that was uh uh well what is uh uh this this constant hemp dude is like um uh the Monty Python skit. I'm not dead yet, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Right, you know, I mean it's gone.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Empty your pockets, keep paying, keep paying the um consultants.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Early in the morning? Why why was this like a midnight vote? Like what happened

Hemp Loophole Debate

SPEAKER_02 1:36

here?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Uh they were all midnight votes, and so like it's not just the hemp bill that was a midnight vote, and you know, seven senators were not present for the vote, but it is a um everything else had to get done so they could approve Todd. Nope. Who is it? Scott Bessant, Todd Blanche, they're the same guy, no Blanche, slightly different, yeah. So Trump's former lawyer is now the attorney general. Great. Uh and and so like Trump was also coming out against the hemp ban so they can have more time, more time for what? I'm assuming they they need to drop in a definition for full spectrum CBD and be done with it. Like, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Is this for Susan Wilde? Is that who this is for?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

I mean, this this well, Susan Wilde's kid, um, you know, Brett Orley, who's peddling most of these. Um, no well, uh to the extent that he's doing anything semi-synthetic, he can still do it to the extent that he's doing anything synthetic, he can't after November 12th.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

I but I mean this is all just a semantical extension, though, man. Like, like I had a very lovely conversation with uh I was on the call memo and Brian Debowski. Dombrowski. Sorry, bro, if I kill your last name, but like I find the hemp people funny just because, like, uh, you know, he's like, Oh, here comes the hate, whatever. I have no hate for I mean, I know you have a little frustration with the business, being that we have a business, and then you have that's a it's really the shitty competition, along with the uh black market.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Like if I owned a bar, yeah, and you were selling bootleg liquor, I'd have a problem with you. Same thing.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Yeah, no, it's and again, we've been championing talking about, and honestly, I think this is gonna be one of our bigger conversations and podcasts because we are gonna have a guest later. I just got a confirmation that they'll be coming on. But uh uh uh you know to me, this is we've been trying to champion for a law that's fair for everybody, right? Like, like like a legit just we won't how how you say, you know, they're not the pothead you are, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

They are not they're not even close to the pothead you are, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

And that's all of Congress, that's all of like pretty much society, just like probably a lot of the world's not the drunk you are, or whatever it is, but like depends on how much you drink, yeah. You but everybody might be doing it, but we don't have a full understanding of this uh this plant nor the rules for people to have a a relationship

Full Spectrum CBD Draft

SPEAKER_02 4:00

with. What the fuck is up with like Dr. Oz like like trying to like like he's trying to stop it, right? He wants his CMS program to go through.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

So he wants a CMS program to go through, and so currently it allows three milligrams per serving of THC, but the dosing isn't just three milligrams of THC, and we we uh adopted that in um the full spectrum draft that will why isn't there it is, and so there's that full spectrum draft that I I came up with yesterday, and we'll go over that after we do some of these stories, but uh so it's more of a medical-based one where it's topical or oral, and then it's three milligrams of THC per serving, but has to have at least 15 times that of CBD or another cannabinoid. So you aren't supposed to be able to get in you know high from it, it's supposed to be medicinal. You're supposed to be taking it for the CBD or the other cannabinoids and not for the trace amounts of THC that are in there. Uh, that's what they want, and so we just drafted it for them. And like, why isn't anybody nobody not if you even read like any pending hemp bill, I haven't seen fucking one that says here's a definition of full spectrum CBD. And then also the hemp bill or the current definition is stupid in that it doesn't really allow for processing, and so like once you go over the line, it's no longer hemp. I'm like, well, you should be allowed to process it until you have put it into a finished good. And then while we're at it, let's just kick the total THC up to one percent. Because if you're gonna do 0.3%, that's really hard on the genetics. But if you do one percent and it's a 20 to 1 uh CBD to THC ratio, you're fine, but then it just gets it's not about that, it's about selling units of THC outside the regulatory uh structure of your state.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Well, all of this in the in the end, you know, it's funny. I I think it's funny the conversation where people were like uh hemp has enabled small business, blahzy blah, small business. In the end, we're still talking about business, right? Like, there's no uh uh uh small mom pop dude selling uh uh a little bit of pounds out of his trunk. No, we're talking about legit business, and this is why we need like the rescheduling part, like like that needs just confirm, lock this plant in as medicine, but we still have much more to do with it. Like, also what you're talking about with the dosages, right? This is uh so a uh a doctor can prescribe and say, Okay, look, try one uh unit milliliter of uh RSO, right? You know, add that to your food, or you know, because I don't really see them in the future going, Hey, try 10 cookies, you know, it's gonna be about just actual, you know, the actual oil they can. This is no shit, what what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Well, that's why I think we need a definition of full spectrum CBD, so that the definition doesn't get in the way of the CMS program, creates a federal subsidy for the hemp farmers, because now they can actually move their units of CBD, and it does not prevent uh somebody who needs it from having a trace amount of THC in that, but nobody's gonna take a bottle of full spectrum uh CBD for the THC, especially if it's at a 20 to 1, 25 to 1, or even 15 to 1. Like, you know, it one milligram would come with 15 milligrams and times three, and so we're already up to 45 milligrams, uh you know, 48 milligrams of total cannabinoids per serving. And then in a bottle, you know, you're gonna have quite a bit more than that. But if it's created that way and there's a lane for it and it's certified for it, then you don't have this uh whole industry hiding behind farmers when it really isn't the farmers, it's the processors because they take the CBD and then they they prevented semi-synthetic from being stripped, so they kept in the semi-synthetic, so the CBD becomes a THC, which becomes the units that they sell at uh the liquor stores.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Sure. And and you know, this conversation I have with with Cole, though, you know, one of the things I I like, like I think people need to like assess when it comes to this thing of legalization that we all want, is with the medical side, right now at this moment in time, a doctor wants like to give you like a ratioed prescription slash proportion size, right? Like this is legit the start small, and again, that's like the recommendation of edibles, right? Smart start small, work your way up. But like there's also the holistic side of things where like with the the consumption of the plant, uh the combustion, right? Like we you know, you you get a plant tested and and and it's like the person who's looking for a medicinal effect or or just the effect, uh you know, it it's kind of hard for them to like wrap it, right? Like you have to have the experience with the the plant itself, to the variety of what you're gonna experience, like because it's all not gonna be the same, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Like that's not what they're trying to do with the full spectrum CBD, they're trying to make it a like more of a drug, where like you know, if you're gonna take Lipitor, it's not like suddenly you need to get full spectrum Lipitor, which is one of the reasons why it's kind of silly that we have this drug classification at all for the cannabis plant. But there are billions of dollars already flowing and and 40 state programs already entrenched, and the states have their hands out, and now once the feds get their hands out, feds haven't figured out how to get their hands out yet, but they will.

Industry Lobbying Reality

SPEAKER_01 9:36

However, even like any of these other hemp bills that you read, um, they're all written by the industry that wants them, and none of them have written CBD, full spectrum CBD oil, which makes me think there is no industry for full spectrum CBD. Otherwise, we would have that definition. There's clearly an industry for beverages, uh, because like all the new updated versions of the hemp bills provide for those definitions of beverages and also exempt the um adulterated food, food, drug, and cosmetic act intersection that you have with the Controlled Substances Act and the Scheduled Drug or CBD uh or THC from being placed into the food supply and try to fix that. Uh, as a result, you can just be like, look, this is another example of an industry that becomes a lobby that buys for their interest.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Yeah, well, that's a funny thing, though. With the CBD topic, as you're bringing it up, I I I I I I think it's funny how now big money is whatever they're looking at it, but you're kind of 14 years too late, right? When the Farm Bill happened, that's when like the the new uh CBD craze happened where everybody was jumping in. And I believe now we're at the point of saturation where your consumer understands C B D. Like you say though, like there's no room for the C BD drinks, and I'm sure there is. We just need to come consumer to understand, like, it's not always about the high THC. It's like, what am I looking to experience? Because I I smoke C BD joints, I'll smoke uh CBD.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Well, it's a higher ratio, it still has THC in it, but this this vape has got 10 CBD, but you know, they uh it's nice to have that type of variety, however, if you map the data of what goes out our vault fastest, you're gonna see a correlation between price and THC.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Oh, you know, 100%. And that's just the fortune of an education with the consumers. What's up with this attorney general? Uh oops, wrong one.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

No, wrong one. You have to remove that one and then add that one. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

I did a you. I did a

AGs Push Back

SPEAKER_02 11:43

you. Attorney General Griffin Leeds letter with 34 AGs urging Congress to preserve federal hemp reforms and prevent the return of intoxicating hemp. So, like now, the attorney generals are fighting this uh change as well. Oops, hello, how am I doing?

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Yes, yes, they are. The attorney generals are also fighting it because it makes the law enforcement job coupe bananas. And so, like, you know, in Illinois, it's a great example, uh, according to the Supreme Court. It is not probable cause to search your car if they can smell burnt weed. It is probable cause to search your car if they smell raw weed and hemp under uh is completely legal uh until uh the November 12th or now December 11th deadline in this state. And it's too bad because like uh one of the guys who owns like green growth CPAs, they got a dispo in East St. Louis, and so he's asking how stuff's going, and I'm like, oh yeah, I mean we work together. Um, and and I'm looking at East St. Louis and it's just smoke shops. There's like two dispensaries that are real, and there's another one across the river because it's like a border town, but um and like oh man, that sucks. Yeah, well again, it's like you're you're selling into uh a saturated market with uneven rules.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

100%. It's a it's it's on the level, but also I think that's an eventual, like I know we frown upon it, like the whole kit gas station weave, you know, but you do get aspirin. And the thing is, I people do smoke cigarettes, right? Like, like eventually we just gotta shape the world. I think we've gone so far than what we've been as far as uh uh perception goes, you know. Uh but square still hasn't gotten a lot of it.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Well, you know, we we should beat some other dead horses. Like we really glossed over the main story, and I think we lost the lead on that. But it's 20 minutes past the hour, which means that it is 420 somewhere. Wish I had time for this to warm up. Where are the I'm not putting that as the outro, remove that.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Um, we're

AMA Plans and Invoices

SPEAKER_02 14:01

gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

We're gonna start doing our uh AMAs, hopefully on Wednesday. Now I have cleared my schedule reasonably for litigation. It picks back up again toward the end of the month, and September will be busy. But um now I'm gonna start doing, hey, I'm a cannabis lawyer and a owner dispensary. Ask me anything, and we'll do uh decks. I'm gonna do some slide decks with whatever AI makes them the best. I remember Notebook LM was good, but I'm gonna see how good the other ones are as well. The first one's gonna be about uh invoices, because some of you guys like I'm not gonna say it's some, I'm gonna say it's 90% of the invoices that I read from uh our uh our inventory process or our inventory partners, yeah. They are suggestions to pay. Wait, what? Like suggestions to pay. Like, you know, the one for our security guard was laughable. And so, like, like and then I'll explain how small claims work, I'll explain how collection works, I'll explain how all these things are usually. You can't really get away from not paying your bills, but uh, you can put it uh in such a fashion where you have the best leverage to get your bill paid, and only one of our uh customers, vendors, um, suppliers has a really nice uh invoice. And I'm like, man, I'm gonna call them. I we actually drove past his uh his uh grow on the way back from Wisconsin. That's why I was out last week. Uh, and so they're in Rochelle, Illinois, called Legacy. They do their invoices nice, and we're gonna work with them.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

You're gonna get it.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

So like uh, I mean, there's there's a fine line between inventory financing and just not paying.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

It's all the sexy stuff that you're gonna be getting into, huh?

SPEAKER_01 15:52

All that uh yeah, AMAs, and then uh we'll also go over the the software that we use to run the shop. Uh it's a combination of Dutchy and custom shit, and then of course uh QBO. Um, those are those are the things we used.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Do you own a store out there? Like, like I'm always curious. Like, I know we got a lot of growers that watch it for whatever reason, but like you know, like where are the business people? What do you do?

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Oh no, they they they hit me up, they'll call like a couple of people called earlier, yeah. But uh, you know, but now I want to drill back into and I've I've I've shielded my business a little

Who Voted With Who

SPEAKER_01 16:27

bit. Uh we're gonna go over the Kakakuskoo bananas voting. You know, when you're voting in the Senate and it's almost three in the morning, and you're in your 70s, you can do crazy things. Let's see. Uh, there was the vote to table, and then there was the vote against. Uh, the to vote to table was to protect the delay. So we have the following people voting together. Anachronisms scrabble right here, senators. Uh Ted Cruz votes with Ron Paul, not so crazy. Uh, and also, I'm sorry, it's Rand. Ron was his father. Uh, Bernie Sanders joins in thing. And so does so does Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer and John Thune, uh, which is interesting. And then uh you have those people, they usually don't vote together, like John Thune, Corey Booker, you don't see them, but in this case you do. Uh, and then voting against uh that was Bud, obviously it was his, and then Cornyn, Grassley, Blackburn, Britt, Caputo, Cassidy, Collins, just a murderous row of conservatives. But also Dick Durbin. Thanks, Dick. Uh Gillibrand, Merkley, which is interesting that Merkley would vote for it, Padilla, Schiff, but you know, you know how much uh he probably just did it because he hates Trump. Uh Ted Cruz and Boney Bernie Sanders voting the same way. Schumer and Rand Paul, same way, crazy, isn't it? And that's that's just because, like, and then of course Amy Klobuchar, where in uh Minnesota they codified the hemp loophole and created a system. Uh, and and she's just taking money from brewers and hempsters that are selling it, but they at least neutered their hemp to a certain extent. So, like, if you wanted to get like a hundred milligram uh beverage, you'd have to go to the dispensary, uh, you know, because the the hemp beverages are limited in how much they're allowed to have.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

I mean, all of this, I I ever how are people voted for for this? Because this is for the the spending bill, right? So, like it's an amendment of whether or not like do you want to go through it and argue for like it's so important that I just don't think it's worth people's time, you know? It's always the low-hanging fruit and in in business or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

But well, it's also politics, so any sensible reason could just be nonsense. Yeah, they didn't they voted against it, not because they didn't support it, but because they hate that guy.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Well, and again, it's not gonna help

Banking and Loopholes

SPEAKER_02 18:46

in the end, like right now, like like you talked about earlier how banking's gonna be pulling out slowly, right? Like, people aren't the wrong one.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Oh, yeah, banking will be pulling out slowly, and uh nothing but net on that one. Stripe was it stripe, stripe's already shut you down. Stripe shut years ago. Now Square's saying, get out of here, buddy. Quit doing that. And and the reason is textbook money laundering. Oh my god, I can't believe I didn't have that queued up for me to say textbook money laundering. Yep, uh, that's literally what it is, and skating on a loophole. And so, like Jim Higgins, the guy who's like you know, playing into cornbread hemp because like brazingly being illegal and adopting the cornbread mafia while hiding behind the guise or the suggestion of federal legality. He's like, Well, we need the post office to be able to do our business model. And I'm like, Oh, god, it'd be a shame if the banks also pulled out because you're doing textbook money laundering and sending controlled substances through the mail. Well, and again, the rules welcome to open rebellion of federal law. Join us, quit trying to say that what we do is a federal crime and what you do is legal when it really isn't that legal, but you know, laws are are written in such a way that the people that make them don't read them and they don't really appreciate how they might turn out down the road.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Nobody reads the rules, dude. That's why the end of the world's coming with open AI. Like, all I do is upload documents and give me a summary.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Well, they won't just give you a summary, like they didn't you can give it a PDF, compress this, and then go save it to the file in which it belongs and use my uh naming protocol for organizing that file. It's fantastic. I I uh uh you know the amount of software and law and and design and everything else is great, uh, but then people tune in for us being humans. So let the robots do what they do good, you know. Do you think you want to do your taxes?

SPEAKER_02 20:51

I know you don't, they'll do shit. But like I wake up every day because I

Texas Grandstanding

SPEAKER_02 20:56

have to. Uh, you know, uh what's up with it? You got a you got an opinion on uh everybody's uh uh like you see James Talarico's speech?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Oh, that guy's that guy's just husking for or busking for votes, and so this is a uh a wedge issue where if he comes out in favor of it because it's extremely popular, the other guy has to be against it, and they can say that he's a trans, queer, weird liberal, because like it's Texas, and they're gonna just throw every type of uh derogatory term for being not conservative at you. Uh they called him a vegan, you know, for example. Yeah, and and and that's that's just what Tal Rico has to deal with. I how we I would have liked him, I would have loved if he would have been less than just uh um surfing for votes, and he would have actually put forth some legislation that says, you know, we're going to have medical cannabis be this and we're gonna have hemp or you know, whatever be that, and and given guidance, but I don't think he he did that, and then none of That passed. It was just whether or not they were gonna ban it or not. And then it turns out that they actually have now banned it. And so how many more dollars are they gonna the hemp going to be able to have to throw at the uh the delay further past December?

SPEAKER_02 22:15

You know, you know what you know what it is, is Texans are really good at grandstanding, right? Like like uh Cruz did his speech, the longest speech said it. And then you got uh uh uh uh Telarico who you know, like I I mean, like I I hope that they get he gets a seat and everything, but like um yeah, man, it's a uh uh a lost cause with the uh uh hamp there, you know,

Flock Cameras and Stops

SPEAKER_02 22:38

unfortunately. But now we got Wisconsin in news too.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

What do they do?

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Oh the flock. Are you you uh paying attention to flock cameras these days?

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Oh, that one was um kind of silly, wasn't and also I don't have that on there. Um that's okay, that's story eight. You can skip seven.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Did I skip one?

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Which one was it? I don't care, it's all right. We can get to the guest later, but um yeah, Wisconsin cops use flock cameras to track trips to Michigan then search car. Uh I thought this guy was actually off of papers though, as well. So, like he there was like some type of arrest warrant out there on him. It wasn't just oh, was that what it was?

SPEAKER_02 23:15

See, I didn't dig deep into it, but I also saw that uh in Michigan there was a flock camera in front of uh called Jars, the the pot shop, and uh Jars' answers to the flock camera was to uh put a sign that says Jars and block the flock, which you know they they are watching still regardless. But hey, we got the guests showed up. Holy crap, dude!

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Yeah,

Freedom Grow Introductions

SPEAKER_01 23:36

yeah, and uh one of the things that we do at our shop is that we don't deal with change because who wants that? We round up, and so when we round up, we have a beneficiary, uh a charity, and so the roundup typically is Freedom Grow. That's our default roundup. Uh in the month of July, uh one of the business owners' kids across the street got sick, so we rounded up to benefit uh that little boy, and now we're back this month to round up to benefit Freedom Grow. So, Mickey, why don't you introduce and bring on the guests?

SPEAKER_02 24:07

Yeah, yeah. No, I honestly, this is one of the like most important things I think I've ever done in my like what I've been doing. Uh, as I've been cleaning my office, I'm going through like marijuana memorabilia, dude. Like uh, I have letters from prisoners, right? Like when you know you've made a difference, like like people got my address without even me knowing it, which is like whatever. Because you know, the most important thing you have is time, right? Like, like, like, like the the time, and that's what they take away from you. You know, that's what prohibition has done. You know, Kristen Floor, who uh you guys will have to correct me because I I was gonna look it up before I uh we we did this, but like Kristen, I believe you're the uh like the vice president, right? And then Bill is gonna be the the president, but hey, please correct me your positions, but she's been the backbone.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Go ahead and introduce the guests and turn them on, yeah, and then ask them questions.

SPEAKER_02 24:57

I get all choked up talking about these two, plus what they do, you know, putting on uh collecting uh uh money for prisoners who are locked up and then helping their families uh uh at the same time. So I'm gonna bring on Kristen Floor and Bill Levers. Here we go. Hey guys, oh see, did she freeze?

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Uh she it may be an inch shoe of her uh okay, she's back. Oh, there you go. Hey guys, thanks for joining us. You know, we really appreciate it, and we have a wonderful um charity to discuss. And Kristen, uh is your mic on? Is it working?

SPEAKER_03 25:36

Can you guys hear me? I can hear you, Bill. Doing great, Bill.

SPEAKER_06 25:41

Can you hear me now?

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Thank you guys for having us on. Uh I want to thank you for rounding up for the prisoners. Um it's an important thing to do. And uh, you know, as we get every year further down this uh this legalization that we have going on, it seems like the prisoners get a little bit more and more forgotten about as it becomes more normalized as people get into the industry and don't even know that there's still people serving extended sentences and in some cases life. So I appreciate you guys.

SPEAKER_04 26:10

Can you guys hear me?

SPEAKER_03 26:12

I can hear you guys.

SPEAKER_04 26:13

Oh, okay, okay. I just want to uh to introduce myself and Bill.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

Uh oh. Oh, this is a Wi-Fi cut now, honey.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Yeah, it's probably a connectivity issue if uh they don't have the the best Wi-Fi at um uh try some jerky jerky. Well, you know, we're we're happy to do it. Dutchy makes it really easy for us to be able to round up, and and it's it's a good thing for people to do, and that's one of the other reasons why I like to give the hamster shit because they are just sidestep, they're like you are going to take the money for selling the THC shit on us and not help the prisoners, and you're not trying to legalize wheat. One plant solution, I ask.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Um, it's and I also want to thank you guys too. If I'm not mistaken, I believe you are the first people to turn on the roundup for us on Dutchy. Uh, it took us a little while to get that set up, but it makes it really, really easy. And for anybody who's listening who has a retail and use Dutchy, consider Freedom Grow uh as a Roundup solution if you're looking for a worthwhile charity. Um, I can straighten that real quick for you on who does what. So Krista's been around officially longer than I have. She's the executive director. Um, I have been involved with Freedom Grow since before it was Freedom Grow, all the way back to Human Solution, LPOP. Then it then it actually became Freedom Grow, I think in 2015, uh, with Stephanie Lando founding it. But we we had always helped them. We had always donated edibles and flour uh to Stephanie. She would go to High Times Cups and she would sell them and she would take all the money, nothing out of it for herself, and just put it right on prisoners' books. And it was literally going getting a money order and sending an envelope, very similar to what we do today. You have to literally go and get an individual money order for every prisoner. And we do that anywhere from two to six times a year uh for 200 plus uh prisoners.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

And so um Yeah, well, we're happy to help out. One of the things we're gonna need it's a very worthwhile cause and and so we got to streamline it though, because like we use DAMA Financial, which is one of the larger banking and one of the more affordable bankings for the industry. Uh, and so they don't let anybody in or out of the account. Like we have to get you on a list, and so one of the things that I need from you guys to get on the list, and I think Miggy already sent some of it, is the information and then the ACH, the ACH information, because uh I I I prefer that it the money just ends up in your account and then you can get the money order. I don't want to get checks and postage involved if possible.

SPEAKER_06 28:49

Can you just send me a yeah you look now?

SPEAKER_01 28:51

You're coming in great. Thanks.

SPEAKER_04 28:53

Okay, yeah. Um, I think I did send you guys that information.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Good, good. I'll I'll check and make sure. And if I don't have your routing info, I'll I'll uh hit you back up on the email address and then uh I can pop it in and we'll calculate what we did. It was our first month, you know. Month one is not the best month your dispensary is gonna have, but then uh month three here hopefully is substantially better.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

It's still gonna be good. I mean, uh let's let's keep in mind people are paying for toilet paper for goddamn. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Let's all right.

Commissary Explained

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Uh uh, Kristen, can you explain uh how Freedom Grow benefits the prisoners and what a commissary is?

SPEAKER_04 29:34

Well, the commissary is when someone's incarcerated for cannabis, they receive uh funding, and that funding can use to be used to buy commissary items, which are necessities like food, soap, shoes, things like that, uh phone calls to call home to their families, all those types of things. And the way we help we help them is by providing some of those funds to them. Because a lot of people that when they're incarcerated, they lose touch with family members, and a lot of times their family members can't afford to load their commissary every month or every couple of weeks or whatever the case is. So we step in and help them with that.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

That's perfect. I mean, and it's it's also the cruelty. Like once you end up in jail, like we can forget about you as a society. Uh actually, we can forget about you earlier before then, like while you're on trial or not. And so it then we we send you to somewhere where we're gonna charge us as taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, like 40, 50,000 a year for you to live, and we aren't gonna give you toilet paper, we aren't gonna give you soap, we're gonna make sure that your food sucks. I mean, what are you spending all that money on? The guards.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

Well, I think, you know, I think the problem is the the general basis around it is they work on the lowest bid. So what you're gonna get without paying for it yourself is the whoever bid the cheapest product, right? Um, I never I've never done prison time. I've been in jail too many times, but never got prison time. Uh, and I can tell you, things like toothpaste, they they give you garbage. The the the toothpaste you get without buying your own is garbage, right? Uh the underwear you might get without buying your own is garbage. Socks might have holes in them. It's it's really pretty crazy uh what what you'll get with Stephanie. I remember when Stephanie got out of federal prison when she was starting LPOP, I remember her saying to me, the only thing worse than being in prison is being in prison with no money.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Yeah, yeah, communication too, because the penthouse guys, let's yeah, let's talk about other things we do.

SPEAKER_04 31:36

We we write to them, we communicate with them, we also send them books, uh, we do family outreach. Like so if somebody's incarcerated and they have a family member who has a birthday coming up, or you know, Mother's Day is coming up, and when they when they want to send their mom something, typically somebody who's incarcerated cannot do those

Gifts From Inside

SPEAKER_04 31:54

types of things. But one of our main missions is to keep family bonds together because as you guys know, you know, even my family bonds were broken up, and you know, it really hurts the person who's incarcerated not to be able to contribute to holidays or be part of those memories. So we step in and like, hey, what would your son like from for his birthday from you? And we make it from their incarcerated parents. So they can say, hey, buy him a basketball, buy him a t-shirt. We had one guy who just recently bought his daughter, uh, well, we bought it for him, a hoodie. His daughter was just starting uh soccer practice. And so the hoodie was yellow with purple writing the color of their soccer team, and it had her initials um and her nickname that her dad, her dad calls her with her with her uh number on it, her soccer number, excuse me. So, you know, we really just try to make their memories so that they have something while they're in there to hold on to regarding their families.

unknown 32:51

100%.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

Yeah, very important.

Support Beyond Commissary

SPEAKER_03 32:54

I was gonna say, let's face it too, it's not just the the prisoner that suffers, whoever they were providing for suffers, whoever they were with, their partner suffers, their parents suffer, right? Uh, so it's you know, originally when I got involved with with uh Freedom Grow, it was uh it was about putting money on commissary. Um around 2015 or 16 or so, a friend of ours, Mickey Martin, started Parents for Pie. And that uh that then ended up after Mickey passed away, that ended up getting folded back into Freedom Grow. So we also do Christmas presents, like like Kristen said. So we also try to do when they're going back to school. You know, a lot of these children of prisoners don't have money to get the necessities they need. So we try to try to facilitate all of the damage that can happen from somebody being incarcerated for a nonviolent cannabis offense.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Yeah,

Legalization And Expungement

SPEAKER_01 33:41

and those nonviolent cannabis offenses uh lead to prison time. And and you know, that's one of the reasons why we champion so hard. We have to create a legal framework at the federal level where cannabis means compliance. It doesn't mean crime. And then once you have that, hopefully there's meant in our state and hopefully in your states as well, uh, the legislation to legalize comes with uh an expungement process or program. I know they did it really well in New Jersey and Minnesota, and and I thought they did it pretty well in Illinois. We could get that at a federal level, and then people can actually come home to their families. But you know, it people just don't care once you go away.

SPEAKER_03 34:22

They don't well, there's also another layer to this. People are not always in there for nonviolent cannabis charges. They are, but if you were moving a lot of weight, you might have had to hide money.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Now you've got white collar money crimes, and you might have had a gun, and now you have another crime, but you weren't using it violently, right?

SPEAKER_03 34:40

You had a gun with you, which many Americans do. But the problem is legalization isn't going to take away somebody's uh money laundering crime or somebody's uh wire fraud from crime. The legalization might take care of might take care of the cannabis side, but they might still have time to do. So it's it's really a layered issue.

Schedule 3 Realities

SPEAKER_01 34:58

If we if we get it to Schedule III and we make it uh legal as they've started to do for the medical, that should fix the uh the money laundering. And then the the the AML, the the KYC, that aspect of it, because the way that they structured those laws to criminalize money laundering, it's a line item where it's like unauthorized trafficking in scheduled substances. So always schedule one would be that money laundering crime. Now, if there's a federal compliance for it, by operation of the way the statutes already worded, it should drop out. That's why you see uh some rumors of credit card companies that might be coming to like True Leaf in Florida or something.

SPEAKER_04 35:38

Guys, I want to I want to mention um about Schedule three. Um, when cannabis is is rescheduled to schedule three, a person can still get up to 20 years in prison for cannabis, but they will no longer be able to serve a life

DC Advocacy Goals

SPEAKER_04 35:51

sentence anymore. And I also want to throw in there and mention that Freedom Grow has been in Washington, D.C. We are part of a coalition of over 30, 35, 40 organizations. I believe it went up to 45 organizations this past year of organizations that get together and show up in DC every year around the 420 holidays, give or take a couple days, a couple weeks. But we show up and we advocate for certain bills that we want to see passed that would that would ultimately deschedule. We also want to um one of our final goals um is to our first goal is to deschedule, the second goal is to release cannabis for preserves, and our third goal is to expunge records, and that's just you know, not cannabis cannabis um charges, but cannabis related charges. That's when we were getting into the um bank bank type of money laundering and those types of things.

Edwin Calls In

SPEAKER_04 36:39

But I want to bring to your guys' attention real quick that um when I was talking to my friend and and Bill's friend and all of our friends, his name is Edwin Rubas. He's currently serving a 40-year sentence and he's been incarcerated for 28 years. And when I was talking to him, I told him I was we're going on our friend Nikki's uh podcast here in a little bit. He's like, Oh, can I call? I said, Of course you can call. I'm sure they would love to hear you. So he's gonna be calling my phone in a little bit, and we can talk to him right directly from from his prison um that he's currently incarcerated in.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

Yeah, I hope that works. Um, are you on your phone? I'm like logistically, how are we going to mic? That's the same thing.

SPEAKER_04 37:16

I have this, so I'll just probably put it up to the phone. He he's pretty loudspeaker.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Good. We went to visit Edwin. Uh he's in Ashland, Kentucky at the Federal Congressional Institute. Krista and I got to go visit him. We were the first visitor he had in seven years. Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_04 37:34

Yeah, yeah. And Edwin, um, Mickey, Edwin reminds me of um Craig Cecil, where you know, remember Craig used to call into our show every single Sunday and advocate for himself. Edwin's a lot like that.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

We had Craig on here. Uh oh, you did cool. Yeah, we had uh Luke and Luke, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:53

Remember from Minnesota. We used to put all their signs.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Uh, since I got you guys here, uh, there's a new one today I saw this uh morning. Uh and and Tom actually knows this person. Uh uh Luke Soros. Are you familiar with it?

SPEAKER_01 38:09

And so he's from Maine.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

They're gonna be adding six years to his sentence, and they're asking for help. And this is one of the things that we did court support, right? This is important where you, as a citizen, this is your power, right? Besides uh uh jury nullification, is a show up, and that's hard, right? Most most of us have jobs and lives and are trying to like, yeah, just uh do a thing. So I can't click on the ad. I'm gonna add you let you add her.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

Oh, you you click on the grid button.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

Oh, is that what it is?

SPEAKER_01 38:39

Second button from the left, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:42

Yeah, and you know, you're not you're not right, court, you're not wrong. Court support is somebody's chance to either show show support from the community to the judge or the jury uh for any kind of court support. I remember going to the court support, I think it was uh Jay Moon. I think I last court support I went to was was Jay Moon years ago when when he had been arrested. But um, you know, it does it think about the how a judge is gonna view it. You have 30 people there standing up for you, or you're there by yourself, right? So it does work.

SPEAKER_04 39:11

Yeah, Mickey, remember going to uh Lance's court support for his trial?

SPEAKER_02 39:16

Yeah, yeah, with the Lance's, and you know, we used to, as I said, I'm cleaning memorial. Yeah, this is what we used to do. We used to hang out goddamn in a booth, and during nullification, you know, you just you have a bunch of potheads that come to your booth, and then like everybody's getting free swag, grinders, and whatnot, and you're like, hey, welcome to the most depressing side of the party. Like, everybody's in jail here, and you want to help, uh, please sign this. Uh uh, yeah, oh yeah, that guy missed his daughter's graduation and her fucking 17th birthday.

SPEAKER_04 39:45

And you know, everyone's calling me right now. Oh, here we go.

SPEAKER_06 39:50

This call comes from a federal. Can you guys hear okay? We will not be starved for this call.

SPEAKER_04 39:55

This call from okay. This call will be recorded and subject to monitoring at any time.

SPEAKER_06 40:03

So accept this call, press sign. You may begin speaking now.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

Hi, Edwin.

SPEAKER_06 40:10

Hi.

SPEAKER_04 40:11

Hey, I'm I'm on uh this podcast here with um our friend Bill and Miggie and Tom.

SPEAKER_05 40:17

Okay, well, hello everybody. Can you hear us, Edwin? Don't know it.

SPEAKER_04 40:22

Can you guys hear him?

SPEAKER_02 40:24

Yeah, we can hear him.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

Hopefully, the people in the audience can too. And I mean, if we can, he can. Thanks for joining us. Edwin, can you uh can you uh introduce yourself to everybody that's tuning in? You know, we have about 200.

SPEAKER_05 40:37

Yes,

Edwin’s Prison Story

SPEAKER_05 40:38

my name is Edwin Ruby, and I have been a prisoner for 28 years uh for non-violent cannabis crime. I have been incarcerated since 1998, and that's when I received a 40-year sentence for voting trial. And um here, I have about probably about five, five and a half years left before I'm ready. But I have been here 28 years.

SPEAKER_04 41:06

Did you guys hear them? Yeah, yeah, we heard that was. Okay, okay. Edwin, you wanna um you want to tell them some of the things that you go through every day when it comes to you know, some of the things that you have to go through that maybe somebody incarcerated doesn't have to go through?

SPEAKER_05 41:26

You know, about the difficulty of being in prison. And you know, um one of the uh greatest people that you face is uh you know, the people that are freedom course that you know you are unable to use, you know, they only allow you to be children. So um an open communication. And um yeah, and um of course there are many, many, many other things that I can let, you know, um being a person.

Family Toll And Transfers

SPEAKER_04 42:12

Uh Edwin, what about your can you can you touch a little bit about your family um and how of a hardship this has been on your sons? I mean, you've been in there for 28 years. How old were your children you were in your incarcerated? And let's let's speak upon, you know, you the you haven't speak about the family members that you have that you haven't seen in in a while.

SPEAKER_05 42:31

Well, uh my son, uh well, one one of my sons was five years old. His name is um my oldest son, he had only second son, he was uh three years old uh when I was arrested, and then my wife at the time was pregnant with uh her third son, and he was three months pregnant. So he was pregnant, and a few days we're gonna be hard on the family. I have not had a visit with the family probably for about 90 years now.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

Um and so in the in the prison system, especially the federal prison system, they move you around a lot. And so, like uh what state were you found guilty in? What state is your family in, and where are you now?

unknown 43:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 44:00

Okay, well I was uh arrested and I was convicted in Eastern Texas, and then I was sent to Poland USD, which is the United States penitentiary at the beginning of my census back in 1999, and I spent three and a half years there, and it was a very violent uh prison, and by God's grace I was able to survive, and I was transferred to a medium security prison and then to another medium security prison, and then to another medium security prison, and now I'm in a low security prison in Kentucky.

Trial Penalty And Legalization

SPEAKER_01 44:32

What was the charges that they found they convicted you of when you went to trial? And so, like, and also explain that it sounds like going to trial as opposed to taking a plea resulted in war time.

unknown 44:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 44:45

And um, you have to understand that at the time I did not understand how the legal system worked. So I they I didn't know that they were that I mean that my attorney could have pursued a plea agreement. And what he had explained to me is that the only way that I could plead guilty was to snitch on others and to agree with the government, you know, and my family agree with me and not to snitch and not to tell on others. And um, that is the reason why I proceeded to Toronto, and um, so the uh you know the charges that I was charged with was conspiracy uh to distribute um cannabis and non-violent cannabis. I mean that's a nonviolent charge.

SPEAKER_04 45:23

Um, and when how do you feel about legalization and the fact that it's so legal around the country and yet you're still in prison?

SPEAKER_05 45:34

Yeah, that it's very frustrating. Um, I mean, I cannot begin to uh you know to say, you know, how difficult that is, you know, to be able to see other people uh actually profitent from the same planet that I'm incarcerated for.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

So it can be very, very frustrating.

SPEAKER_04 45:53

Does it do you guys have any more questions for Edwin?

SPEAKER_02 45:56

I asked the audience to see if anybody had a question. Um, you know, I'm always it's so crazy because I can imagine Edwin. Do you remember like what your day was like on a federal prison?

SPEAKER_06 46:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

Yeah, yeah. Edwin, do you remember like before you were you went away? Like, like what was the last thing you remember like as far as like movie or your day-to-day like life? You know what I mean? Like, just crazy that it's frozen in time because so much shit has happened in goddamn 28 years. You understand what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_05 46:26

Yeah, I mean, the last the last thing I remember when I was out there in the streets, um, you know, uh they had uh Nokia, Nokia Monorola flip phones back in the 90s. Those are the only things that I remember. Um they tell me about all the different things that they have, and technology hasn't been so much, and you know, and to the point that I feel like um being left behind when it comes to those types of things, among other things.

SPEAKER_03 46:54

Edwin, Edwin, tell them

Education And Hope

SPEAKER_03 46:56

about the uh the continuing education that you've done, because when I first started digging into your story, that was something that was very impressive to me.

SPEAKER_05 47:04

Um, you know, like I've always shared with people, my first couple of years of incarceration were extremely difficult. Um, you know, I was depressed and I was on the verge of wanting to commit suicide, and um, I was actually put on suicide watch. Um global summit um event. Um so yes, I mean to get, you know, um take advantage of the opportunity, you know, but one of the things that I have um that I'm pretty grateful for is you know the organization that represents for uh you know we're always a primary um thing that gives me ultimately faith forward. You know, um Christine uh Bill and um everybody else across Freedom Girl are the ones that kind of have given me this um hope, you know, to be better and uh believe that one day I'm going to be released and I'm not an awesome.

SPEAKER_04 48:52

Let's talk about your plans for the future. Um when you when you get out, what what are you gonna pursue? Uh for everybody listening, he is in the process of writing his book. Um what's what's happening after this, Edwin? What's happening with the future?

SPEAKER_05 49:06

Well, the future, huh? That's a very um kind of interesting question, and I think it's a very difficult to answer at the time because you have to understand that I'm gonna be watching the world 30 years later. So I can't really answer that question with certainty. Um, but the only thing that I can say is that you know the support work that I have surrounded myself with, you know, which is and everybody else, um, I'm going to uh enable me and to uh move forward, you know, even though I'm released at the time, which is uh what happens whole time I'm gonna be 52 years old. And um so it's gonna be kind of difficult to look forward, you know, and hey, this is what exactly I'm gonna be doing.

SPEAKER_04 49:51

Edwin,

Release Paths And Clemency

SPEAKER_04 49:52

what are the chances? If you get out, how can you get what's the chances you can get out? Let's talk about what let's talk about what opportunities do you have as far as release goes.

SPEAKER_05 50:05

Well, I mean, and again, it goes back to the same question that we were just talking about. And this is the reason why I'm always asking people to sponsor me and to support me. Um, specifically the people that have um understand, you know, the ramification of prohibitions that I have suffered and that all the people have suffered. You know, so it really comes down to that, you know, I'm not gonna be able to make it unless I have people around me that are willing to help me.

SPEAKER_04 50:34

Yeah, so guys, I don't know. Edwin is currently seeking a clemency uh clemency from Donald Trump, and unless he's granted that clemency, he will probably spend the next five and a half years in prison. Um, Edwin, what um, how can people help you? What is what can they do?

SPEAKER_05 50:53

Well, one of the main things that I've always uh well not always, but uh recently over the past years, I have been asking if they would have to custom me and to partner with me when I'm published, you know, um writer, you know, and I'm about to publish my first well my first book. And uh the books that I would like to publish. I also want to continue my education with my doctorate degree in counseling, uh, which you know requires funding. So um uh with my clemency position, so whether it happens or not that happens, you know, I still want to continue on with my education and try to make the best that I can of this bad situation, you know, so that I can be ready when I get out.

SPEAKER_04 51:36

That's that's amazing, Edwin. Do you guys have any more questions? From a federal prison.

SPEAKER_01 51:42

No, I think I don't have any.

SPEAKER_04 51:46

We have about um three more minutes left before his phone is disconnected. In in the federal prison system, they only allow you 15-minute phone calls. Oh my god. So he he can't he's he's never had longer than a 15-minute phone call in the last 28 years.

SPEAKER_02 52:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 52:08

Yeah, just well yeah, yeah, tell us about your day. Like how how how was your day today, you know?

Daily Life Behind Bars

SPEAKER_05 52:16

Well, today was uh well I got up, I got up this morning, and uh when I open my eyes and I look around and I see nothing but bars, racer fences, concrete walls, and uh it's very hot because we don't really see at this institution where I'm at. And uh so I have to kind of embrace the day that this with hospital so I pray and I meditate. Um that's something that I have been doing out consistently over the years to try to keep myself in um in a good way. So that way I'll I'll last 30, 34 years that I'm interested in that I'll be able to get out.

SPEAKER_04 53:07

Sorry.

SPEAKER_06 53:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 53:08

I was gonna say, um, before you called into the show, I believe you were going on lockdown for a count.

SPEAKER_05 53:14

Yes, yes, that means they cut that they cut off the phone for 3 30 and then turn it back on at 4 30. So within the hour they have what is called the four o'clock, which is a national within the POP on them. So yes, you have to do uh basically you don't have um probably mentally. You know, we'll have the time for human and five of their freedom. So yeah, but anyway, the phone's about to hang up. Sending much love to everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to send a share in your program, in your show, and um I look forward to uh perhaps communicating with uh y'all, you know, in the near future.

SPEAKER_03 54:27

So much love and respect.

SPEAKER_06 54:30

Thank you, Edwin.

SPEAKER_03 54:31

Thanks, Edwin. Thank you, Edward.

SPEAKER_01 54:37

That's

After The Call Reflection

SPEAKER_01 54:39

Kristen, what was the thing that he said that they were going to do? Do they like inventory all the prisoners? Like is that a daily thing? Because like that's what we have to do at the store, but like we do it with our inventory so that it matches metric so that there's been no diversion of product. Is this the same thing, but with humans?

SPEAKER_04 54:58

Yeah, I think they do it multiple times a day.

SPEAKER_03 55:06

I think they do it twice a day. They do it in the morning, they do it in the afternoon. It's to make sure that they have the same number of prisoners there that they are supposed to. It's pretty great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:18

Um, you know, Edwin go ahead, Bill.

SPEAKER_06 55:22

Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 55:23

Edwin's only about one year older than I am. And it really hit me when I realized my daughter, I had a child around the same time Edwin's youngest child. That child has gone on to have her own children now. Yeah, and he's still in jail. So you you could technically say he's been put there for two generations already.

SPEAKER_04 55:42

And he just had a grandkid uh a few years ago, so he hasn't even met his grandchild. You know, life is literally going on without without him.

SPEAKER_01 55:52

Right. It's not the best. And then you see how this industry is just uh self-interested, and we're trying to get out from this criminal brand. And we've been trying to get out from the criminal brand for decades. And so, yeah, Kristen, you mentioned that the Control Substances Act treats marijuana specially in the sense that, like, for marijuana, the penalties I think they were even enhanced after it was passed so that that it would apply specifically for marijuana. So, like when it does go to Schedule Three, uh, hopefully somebody in Congress does their job and says, Hey, uh this doesn't make any sense. We need to amend this law and create a new law where we can actually regulate this plant and the THC that we used to be so scared of, and now we can go buy it target.

SPEAKER_03 56:39

Yeah, well, it's also too it's important to note that schedule three itself does nothing for people like Edwin. Nothing.

SPEAKER_04 56:47

The the it does open the door for compassionate release, but that's if the judges feel that being compassionate themselves.

SPEAKER_03 56:54

But that's if yeah, and it would help people who are able to have their case looked at again, but that requires money. And these guys have been in jail for decades, they don't have any money, they don't have attorneys on retainer.

SPEAKER_04 57:10

I will say the good news over the last um, you know, I've been doing this for I'm work I'm working on my 15th year, but I've been doing prison outreach. And the difference between now and 15 years ago is 15 years ago, I remember making a t-shirt to go to the Seattle Pet Fest, and it was just a t-shirt that had every single person on our list that were lifers. And we had over 50 people, I think there's like 52, 53 people at that time that were serving life, and literally almost all but about 10 of those people have gotten out for some reason or another over the last 15 years or so. So, you know, our life sentences are getting not quite so many people are serving those life sentences, but uh we still have at least 10 people on our outreach list right now that are serving

Clemency Denials Setbacks

SPEAKER_04 57:56

live for cannabis. And um, you know, what just recently happened is on the June, June, 10th, July 10th, I believe it was, um, the parts office went through and they denied 5,000 people and 40 for clemency, and about 48 of those people were on our list. Um, and and most of them are all of our lifers pretty much, except for Edwin, he's a de facto lifer, were denied. And we did find out a good reason. Um, one of our other lifers sent me a message. Um, Ismailera sent me a message telling me that he got a message stating that he could have been denied from the corn's office due to the fact that he applied during the previous administration. Uh, and that maybe he some of the people that applied didn't have professional clemencies submitted. So they are opening the doors for them to resubmit them um immediately, but they have to go through all that work all over again. It's just literally a setback to them. Uh and and it and it broke some of them. Some of them really um they got the initial news that they were denied clemency, and some of them just took it really, really hard. Um, and then they didn't find out until a couple of weeks later that they can reapply right away because usually it takes takes a year before they can reapply. In fact, um, I just recently got into writing some of these clemency petitions, and they're not easy. Um, and there are there are a lot of details that go into them, uh, and to just get denied just like that. I said it's it's devastating for some of them.

SPEAKER_02 59:27

Uh Edwin said it though. I mean, like that's we're working with you all these years, and we used to do a podcast with this gentleman, Eugene Fisher. He passed away, but another huge like transporting pounds. You know, we had we had the big tune on here before he died.

SPEAKER_01 59:43

We had a lot, we've had a lot of people that have passed on, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:46

But like that's the history of prohibition and everything else. But like to to what I'm trying to get at is like this is how I like Tom's a lawyer, like like Tom knows law, he's he's he's a grown-up more than I am, but like I this I've understood like trying to change norming opinions and just showing the horror of like this fucked up law, but also Eugene said like giving hope to people behind bars, right? Like, that's what what what free and go really does. I mean, like, if you want to help, you know, go to their website, get a pen pal, uh uh uh make a fucking difference. You know, I mean, like, it ain't that hard.

Eugene Fisher Legacy

SPEAKER_04 1:00:24

Let's talk about Eugene for just a brief second. Um, Eugene Fisher, guys, was serving he was serving a life sentence for cannabis. He served 25 years in that in that prison. He was like a law library, and this this was about 10 years ago or so. He got himself out. In fact, he was Randy Lanier's co-defendant. Um, he used to own so Randy Lanier, if you guys saw his uh Netflix, um, it's called Ne for Weed. It's a documentary, and in that documentary I mentioned how they used to get here. They used to bring the cannabis in these big huge shipping shipping containers, these big huge boats. Well, Eugene Fisher owned those boats. And so Randy and Eugene had this deal where they put all the weed in the boats and bring it from Colombia and ship it into the United States. And um, Eugene was a very smart man, and Eugene Eugene found a way out. He got out and he did the same tactics and helped get Randy out. And before Randy was out, um, we hosted a radio show. Maybe maybe all of us wanted to get on the show with Eugene and talk about people like Randy. In fact, uh, when Randy got out, he was on our show. So um Eugene later passed on uh due to complications of medical treatment that he got while he was incarcerated. So he's a he's a big legend to us. Rest to gene. He was a board member of the Human Solution. I mean, he did he did a lot, he did a lot for incarceration.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:49

Yep. Well, you know, as other uh people in the industry watch the program. I hope that you guys do give back to uh the prisoners and help change the actual law. Don't just sit there and codify a loophole and leave marijuana in the lurch. Like marijuana shouldn't even exist at federal law. And and we have a lot of work to do before we get that changed and get the people out of prison.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:14

Definitely.

How To Help Freedom Grow

SPEAKER_04 1:02:15

And guys, if you're listening, if you want to donate, you know, you could go into Mickey and Tom's store and make a purchase and round your change up, or you could go directly to our website. You could sign up for monthly donations of just like four dollars and twenty cents a month. I mean, if we had a lot of people doing that, we would have a lot more money. So um, you can help in lots of ways. And um, if you have any questions, you can always reach out to me at Kristen at freedomgrow.org. I'm always available.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:42

Perfect. You guys are doing it. Make it appreciate you guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:48

Yes, of course, yes, of course. So do we, so do we,

Final Thanks And Wrap

SPEAKER_01 1:02:53

and um we might wrap up. It's been an hour. You know, we really thank you for your time coming on and and for spearheading uh a way that this industry that seems so much about taking cash for itself, whether it's the government or the entrepreneurs on on either side of the aisle. Uh there are organizations in the industry that are trying to do the right thing for people that have been the most wronged by it.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:18

We appreciate you guys. Thank you so much for helping out Freedom Grow and inviting us on your show today.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:24

We appreciate you. Great. All right, the podcast will return uh next Sunday. See you next time.

unknown 1:03:31

Bye.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:31

All right, bye bye, guys.