Diana and JR discuss how the cannabis industry can be more accessible to neurodivergent individuals, with practical measures like remote interviews and advanced scheduling. Special guest Jahmila Edwards of Stash Queens talks about challenges in New York's cannabis market, including illegal shops, slow regulatory responses, and medical cannabis access disparities in less affluent areas.
Diana and JR are recording in a studio for the first time! They start with their signature icebreaker, "Fave Pot/Fave Not Pot," where Diana highlights the Purple Punch strain and Vegamour's vegan dry shampoo, while JR discusses Dr. Solomon's balm and the TV show "Channel Zero."
The conversation shifts to the importance of making the cannabis industry more accessible to neurodivergent individuals. The hosts discuss practical measures like remote interviews and advanced scheduling to help neurodivergent employees thrive in a rapidly changing retail environment.
Special guest Jahmila Edwards of Stash Queens joins to offer insights into the current challenges and changes in New York's cannabis market. Topics include the proliferation of illegal shops, the slow governmental response to new regulations, and the disparities in medical cannabis access in less affluent neighborhoods.
(00:16) Fave Pot/Not Pot
(08:53) Neurodiversity in the Cannabis Industry
(22:18) Cannabis Industry Challenges and Changes
(32:00) New York Cannabis Industry Priorities
(40:46) Supporting Diversity in the Cannabis Industry
This episode is sponsored by Spendr. Join over 50 dispensaries already using Spendr. Getting started is easy and takes just a few days, not months. No more fees, no more ATM lines–just rewards for buying their favorite products.
00:16 - Diana (Host)
Welcome to your Highness Podcast. I'm your host, Diana.
00:19 - JR (Co-host)
And I'm your co-host, JR.
00:24 - Diana (Host)
This is our first episode in a studio.
00:27 - JR (Co-host)
Look at it, it's amazing.
00:29 - Diana (Host)
So if I'm acting a little awkward, it's because I'm trying to get used to this.
00:34 - JR (Co-host)
Yeah, we're not so used to this. Normally I'm wearing pajama pants, even while we're recording. So getting fully dressed and actually being in camera is a little bizarre.
00:43 - Diana (Host)
I was going to say I'm not always wearing pants because I usually wear a dress, but I don't always like fill it in with that part. People just think I'm not wearing pants.
00:51 - JR (Co-host)
Yeah, think you're just walking around bottomless Sometimes no, I'm kidding, maybe in the earlier days, you know, anyway.
00:59 - Diana (Host)
So again, welcome to your Highness Podcast. So if this is the first time you've ever listened to the episode, we begin every episode with an icebreaker called Fave Pot, fave Not Pot, where each one of us talk about our favorite cannabis-related thing and our favorite non-cannabis-related thing, and we don't really have visuals.
01:21 - JR (Co-host)
Today I have one visual, but now that we're getting used to the video thing yeah, we'll, we'll get there, we'll have some visuals right.
01:29 - Diana (Host)
So, um, I'm going to start, as I always do, my fave pot right now. It's a strain called purple punch and, um, jr is really good at talking about why I like the strain.
01:45 - JR (Co-host)
Well, no, it's just a very. It's a nice strain, I mean it's, it's an indica it gives a very nice uh body feel.
01:52 - Diana (Host)
But I feel like I can do it during the day, not to cut you off. Well, because it's also a mood uplifter.
01:56 - JR (Co-host)
So like, if you're in a bad mood, it's actually a go-to strain. Um, if you're having a bad day, um, if you just got in an argument with somebody, if you feel like you're in a place where, if you were to start talking to somebody, uh it could escalate into an argument, purple punch really does kind of help, uh, stabilize that if you're about to go to the pool with a bunch of screaming kids around you, okay, yeah yeah, that too, yeah, so it's a very nice strain.
02:28
Some people actually use it to help them go to sleep, but I've actually found it's more appropriate as a mood uplifter, in my personal opinion.
02:36 - Diana (Host)
Is that how you feel? That's just how I feel. Oh, okay, what's your favorite part right now?
02:40 - JR (Co-host)
Mine is actually. It's not as exciting. It's a Dr Solomon's bomb and it was going to be something different. Up until I woke up this morning. We started playing tennis again and granted not like we are pro tennis players nor have into my bedroom last night and started beating me with baseball bats. I was like that sore.
03:21 - Diana (Host)
So you know, times like this, it's a weird place to go with it.
03:25 - JR (Co-host)
It's where it went. That was my thought when I woke up in the morning. Yes, so days like this Dr Solomon's bomb, it's a topical. It's not exciting, it's kind of. Oh, it's a topical.
03:37 - Diana (Host)
What? Yeah, no one gets excited about topicals.
03:40 - JR (Co-host)
I love Dr Solomon's, by the way yeah but you're not going to go to a party and be like, oh look what I brought and pull out a jar of Dr Solomon's.
03:48 - Diana (Host)
I mean, I wouldn't bring anything like that anyway. People think I bring things like that, but I don't.
03:53 - JR (Co-host)
Yeah, but we have to think of like younger people. Not everyone's old and boring, like us. Like some people like to bring things to parties.
04:01 - Diana (Host)
Okay, some people like to go to parties. I think that's a nice party gift I would. I'd be happy if somebody brought me some.
04:06 - JR (Co-host)
Yeah, but we are old like if you go like a 20 year olds aren't going to a party, being like dr solomons, you know it's all right. Well, anyway, this is not my fave pot is dr solomons this isn't fave party.
04:22 - Diana (Host)
I I didn't say it was.
04:25 - JR (Co-host)
I said it wasn't exciting.
04:28 - Diana (Host)
All right. Well, my fave, not pod, isn't that exciting. It's exciting for me, okay. I mean it might be exciting for a lot of people. This is where we have a visual.
04:37
Oh, so I was sent a whole set of hair products to try, which you know. That's like really my jam. Yes, for those who don't know, I used to be a hairstylist and one thing I can say is that it is really hard to find a dry shampoo that is not going to make your hair have like a coat of white on it if you have dark hair or dry your hair out or have like a chemical kind of spread, you know, smell to it. So anyway, I was sent these products by vegemore and I hope I'm pronouncing it right. I might not be vegemore, I should have looked into that before we began, but anyway, they are a vegan, it's a vegan uh company and they have a bunch of plant-based hair products and this dry shampoo.
05:30
I mean you'll be hearing about more Trust, because I really love this line, but it's their Grow Dry Shampoo and it just absorbs so quickly. I don't get that really weird film and it smells so nice and it's made with mineral oils. No, it's not made with mineral oils. It's free of mineral oils. Scratch that.
05:52 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
That's what.
05:52 - Diana (Host)
I meant to say Anyway, and it gives you a nice little volume without giving you, like a halo of frizz, which always happens when I use dry shampoo. So I'm a fan.
06:03 - JR (Co-host)
Very nice.
06:06 - Diana (Host)
What's your fave non-pot right now?
06:08 - JR (Co-host)
Mine is. It's a television program and it is called Channel Zero. Now we are now after the 4th of July, which officially marks the start of spooky season, because most people view spooky season starting after 4th of July because the next major holiday coming up is Halloween, outside of socialists who still celebrate Labor Day, or very rich people who don't understand the concept of Labor Day and get off while actual workers still work. But I digress you never. So spooky season started up, so I'm watching channel zero.
06:45
It is an anthology show where every season is based off of a different creepypasta. Uh, creepypastas, if you don't know, um, are essentially like short flash fictions on on the internet. You know they're not going through editors and and publishing houses and stuff like that. They're just posted up in these creepypastas. A lot of them are fake rituals and stuff like that. Where Slender man actually came from was creepypastas. And I'm on the first season, which is based off the creepypasta Candle Cove, about a program that the author remembers watching as a child with these marionette puppets and it just evolves into into madness, you know, the longer uh the show goes on and then reflecting back and talking to his mom about it. At the end you find out that. You know she would just go into the room and he actually wasn't watching a program, he'd just be watching static on TV. So this first season is based off of that. It has fake Dane Cook in it. Um, I don't know his name.
07:51 - Diana (Host)
I can't think of his name. We call him fake Dane Cook, and that is not fair. People don't know that inside joke. So anyway, we should have looked him up on. Why don't we look him up on IMDb right now? Because I feel like that's.
08:06 - JR (Co-host)
He's been in other things. He's a very I'm sure, very stand-up. He was in parks and rec for anyone who watched that show in the first season he was in parks and rec for the first season, um, and then he was in some other things and, granted, he doesn't necessarily act or look or anything like that by like dane cook, but we just know him in the earlier days, paul schneider. Okay, so if you're watching or listening to this, paul schneider- I do deeply apologize for not knowing your name off the top of my head and calling you fake.
08:35
Dave cook, we actually prefer you over dane cook.
08:38 - Diana (Host)
Well, much, much, much more so especially now. Yeah, this is back when we didn't know as much as we do now and, yeah, your hair kind of looked the same anyway yeah, we don't need the same color hair and that's all we needed to run with it uh. So if you can't tell by this conversation, we're neurodivergent and um, which is why we talk about it a lot on this podcast and we talk about being accessible and you know we haven't gotten really granular with being accessible for neurodivergent people, yet no, no we haven't, which is an oversight, because unfortunately, neurodivergence is often overlooked and I think we all just get kind of used to saying, well, well, I have this, I have ADHD, I have it.
09:27
Some people even say it as a joke, but the reality is it's very common and I wouldn't say it's very common nowadays because that's not the proper wording it is becoming. People are becoming more aware of how to diagnose properly and with that we're starting to see some workplaces become more accessible, and now cannabis is a new industry. So some people say, well, we're still still new, but there are so many things that you can do that are free or next to free, very easy that to accommodate, you know like yeah, no one's asking you to to rewrite your operations or anything like that, but there are some small things that you can do, um, that will help.
10:22 - JR (Co-host)
I mean, it's not going to solve everything. You know, with cannabis being a very new industry, things are constantly changing, which in and of itself can be difficult for neurodivergent people. But there are certain things that you can kind of set into place that will kind of help ease the situation. I know one of the biggest ones you wanted to bring up was interviews.
10:43 - Diana (Host)
Right, I mean just to begin with the interview process. First of all, going remote, which I know we'll touch on, but even from the start, having the ability to do interviews remotely is a big deal.
10:56 - JR (Co-host)
It's a big deal and even though this isn't just strictly a cannabis thing, some of the things that do pop up are the excessive amount of interviews. You know these interview chains that you can be interviewing with five to six people, each interview lasting up to a half an hour to 45 minutes, if not scheduled out properly, can be very difficult for someone that is neurodivergent. If you're having a block of interviews back to back to back to back which I've gone through myself it can get very, very taxing and very difficult for you to carry on.
11:34
Much like you know once originally bringing someone on and onboarding them the way the training is held. You know making sure that someone isn't just sitting in a room for, you know, two days for their entire shift just doing online modules for trainings and watching videos. You know a lot of times. You know not just the fact that everyone learns completely different, but everyone needs to be able to take that, that break.
12:03 - Diana (Host)
And it's a good time to ask somebody what do you need?
12:06 - JR (Co-host)
Exactly.
12:07 - Diana (Host)
Let's normalize that part of it the employer asking the potential employee. How can I make this interview process easier for you?
12:15 - JR (Co-host)
Exactly, and a lot of that comes down to just open communication. Having that open communication, just open communication, you know, having that open communication from employer to employee, employee to employer of how someone can best thrive in the atmosphere. Like I said, cannabis is new and constantly changing. With that, it can be very difficult for someone that's neurodivergent, someone that kind of needs to have their life scheduled out in a very specific way. That's kind of how I am. Even though a lot of people view me as like this very carefree kind of energy, a lot of my life is actually very scheduled out.
12:53 - Diana (Host)
It's called masking. We're both very good at it. Yeah Well, you're better at it than I am.
12:58 - JR (Co-host)
We were children of the 80s. But no, like my, life needs to be very scheduled out. But with cannabis, with everything constantly changing, the rules and regulations can change week to week and with that hours of operations can change and you know we're constantly having new holidays, new busy days that we need to schedule up for. So with that you see a lot of change in people's schedules which could affect their sleep schedule and just their daily life schedule. So really making sure that you know those communications are had well in advance, you know if there's going to be an hour change, letting people know the moment that is discovered, giving them at least a few weeks to be able to adjust to it, to be able to kind of preemptively start changing their sleep schedule.
13:49
You know making sure that schedules because in cannabis, if you're in the retail end of it, especially if you're in adult use market, it's just retail, you know you're so you're essentially living under the parameters of retail retail. You know you're so you're essentially living under the parameters of retail. So with that schedules are constantly needing to change depending on if someone is taking PTO or needing off, if there's a holiday coming up, if there's end the month inventory coming up. So making sure that those schedules are done well in advance, giving them at least two to three weeks beforehand to know what their schedule is so they can prepare for it, so they're not blindsided with it that week.
14:26
You know the thankfully the the company I work with they standardize having early um schedules. But I've heard from other people that the companies they work for they'll get their schedule on a sunday that is reflective of that next monday forward and you can't do that to people. You can't do that to people that are neurotypical. You know you need to make sure that people have advanced knowledge of when they're working so that they can make those adjustments. And making sure that you have that in place for people that are neurodivergent and rely on a steadier schedule is key to be able to allow them to thrive in an atmosphere.
15:05 - Diana (Host)
And one thing I would add to that because, as I mentioned, I was a stylist, but a big part of that was being a salesperson and trying to sell retail and the way my brain works. I tell the truth and when people ask me, which one do you like, which one would you actually recommend? And that often got me in trouble. So I would say something like prioritize training around products, around that mentality, instead of, you know, trying to put the customer in a place where they're necessarily comfortable.
15:40
I mean, I know we're supposed to say the customer is always right, but a lot of the complaints I hear about bud tenders are that they're not, you know, being personable enough or they're not telling. You know they're not saying like what they prefer, but they're probably afraid to do that and they don't really know how, because they're being trained to. You know, recommend one product over another instead of saying like, maybe I don't really that one, this is what I would use, you know absolutely.
16:05 - JR (Co-host)
And then if you're starting to view going into the cannabis industry and you're thinking, well, that sounds like me. I don't necessarily want to be a face selling anything. Um, and you might be thinking that you want to go into a grow or a processor, that brings us own areas of difficulties for neurodivergence, primarily with stimulation, especially when it comes to lights and and and odors smells, especially in the processing department. You know those oils and those cartridges. You know they're not just extracted without anything that is odiferous. So you really have to make sure that the place that you're looking at working has an area that is calming lower. You know dim lights without a lot of those heavy smells, for if you do get overstimulated, or rather the grow.
17:04 - Diana (Host)
The company running the grow should provide some type of less.
17:07 - JR (Co-host)
That's what I meant not that you do the work yourself, right, you know. But it should be offered to you and you should be allowed to enter that space and take those breaks without reprimand. You know, having time where you can go and take those 10-minute breaks without worrying about getting written up or yelled at, you know that's key. Yeah, that's very key. It is very key.
17:33 - Diana (Host)
So I mean, those are just a few things that people can do. I'm trying to think of some others, but I feel like there are a lot.
17:42 - JR (Co-host)
There's a lot. There's so many, you know it's hard.
17:44 - Diana (Host)
Beginning with asking the people that work for you where can we start? I mean, that's a huge step in itself. Yeah, I feel.
17:52 - JR (Co-host)
Absolutely.
17:52 - Diana (Host)
Getting a survey out there asking people how can we make you feel more comfortable? Because when you do that, it makes people loyal to your company. So, anyway, do you want to add anything to that?
18:08 - JR (Co-host)
No, Like you said, it's hard to kind of space this down into just one singular episode, because neurodivergence is very broad and the cannabis industry itself is very broad and very changing. So this is something that could be a full series that takes weeks on end. So to try to act like we're doing all that we can in this one episode, you know that's impossible.
18:31 - Diana (Host)
Right, because we still have a lot more to go. We're going to have our local segment, following this, with a local look at New York, at New York City, more specifically New York. No, specifically New York.
18:46 - JR (Co-host)
No, no, I'm breaking out. This is where I'm going to break out to be a singer, just you wait.
18:52 - Diana (Host)
But yeah. So before we get into that segment, though, I just want to make a quick note about a podcast that I think you all should be listening to, and it's called how to Do the Pot. Now, we don't really get into the science of the cannabis plant on this show, really at all.
19:12 - JR (Co-host)
No, we're more industry-based.
19:15 - Diana (Host)
Yeah, we examine the industry and obviously we just talked about accessibility Plants is our other podcast.
19:21 - JR (Co-host)
Yes, Getting Personal with Plant.
19:23 - Diana (Host)
Medicine is our other podcast where we do get a little bit more scientific about all different types. And on that note, really quickly, be sure to check out our sub stack because our your Highness Media sub stack we've been doing a lot with it, I mean there's a whole chronicle of my plants.
19:40 - JR (Co-host)
Yes, we are. You want to read that right?
19:42 - Diana (Host)
It is and we're chronicling. You know kombucha fails and I mean it's all related to plants, but it's going to be a good summer content, and so definitely subscribe to your Highness Media on Substack if you haven't yet. Okay, haven't yet Okay. So now back to my recommendation, which is a podcast that is really. It's such a wealth of knowledge. Honestly, three out of four women in the US have access to legal cannabis and most of them have a lot of questions.
20:18
How to Do the Pot is an award-winning cannabis podcast sharing joyful stories and useful advice about cannabis for health, well-being and fun, especially for needs specific to women. The show covers everything from the best weed for sex to how weed is helping women with cramps and with menopause. How to do the pot's essential strains series will help you find your favorites, including why women love strains like Harlequin or Gelato I like Gelato, yeah. You'll hear women across the country share stories about their first time buying legal weed and learn how they talk about cannabis with their families. How to Do the Pot is hosted by Ellen Scanlon, whose mission is to inspire women to make more informed choices about their health and well-being. Join Ellen as she talks to medical professionals for practical tips, experts for cannabis recommendations and listeners for funny and intimate stories.
21:23
And before we end this, we really would like to hear from you, because we want to hear about how your company that you're working for is being more accessible to your neurodivergence. So please email us at yourhighnesspodcast at gmailcom. Send us stories of you know. If you're seeing that it's not doing that where you work, tell us about that too, because we're really interested to see how companies and brands and things like that are being more accessible and flexible, because we want to support those people. So reach out to us.
21:58 - JR (Co-host)
Absolutely.
21:59 - Diana (Host)
All right, so stay tuned for our local look segment. All right, so stay tuned for our local look segment. Payments. But also highlights your deals to recent shoppers to ensure they keep coming back for more. Your customers will love paying for free with their phones and earning Spender-funded rewards. Plus, you'll enjoy the risk-free 90-day money-back guarantee with no long-term contracts. Spender seamlessly integrates with your existing dispensary tablets through our browser-based merchant platform. No new hardware to install. Spender is also non-exclusive, so you can offer it alongside other payment methods to give your customers more ways to pay and earn rewards. Join over 50 dispensaries already using Spender. Getting started is easy and it takes just a few days, not months. No more fees, no more ATM lines, just rewards for buying their favorite products. Ready to join? Visit spendercom forward slash business to learn more. That's S-P-E-N-D-R dot com. Forward slash business, forward slash business. And now to join us for our local look. We have Jamila Edwards of Stash, queens, and she's going to talk about the scene in New York. How are you doing today, jamila?
23:37 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
I'm great, I can't complain.
23:39 - Diana (Host)
So far you haven't, and I'm like blah, blah, blah, I'll complain. So far you haven't, and I'm like blah, blah, blah, I'll complain. Um, anyway. So, jamila, let's start by just getting a little snapshot of the cannabis scene there. I know that's kind of a big ask because there's a lot going on, but can you give us just kind of an idea of like what this, what the what the scene is amongst consumers and business owners in the cannabis industry?
24:05 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
yep, for sure. Um, as a consumer, it's an it's a super exciting time. Um, the airs of new york are filled with a fresh fragrance of green bud everywhere you walk around. It's interesting that when they pass the laws here in New York, anywhere that you can smoke a cigarette, you can smoke herb. And so, walking down the street, people on their lunch breaks, people stepping outside of the nightclub for a little break or whatever, everywhere that you literally would normally see a cigarette smoker which actually has probably declined over the past 20 or so years living in New York, anywhere that a cigarette is smoked, herb is smoked, and so I think that there is a sense of freedom that everybody feels both in terms of this isn't something that is illegal, this isn't something that I have to hide from even my workplace, and even as a patient, some of the stigmas that may have been attached to it are slowly starting to ease up.
25:11
So I think, as a consumer, it's exciting. You have access to new products that we didn't have before. For example, you know, my, my legacy guy was not coming through and rolling out eight different types of live resin vapes for me to sample. You know, it was some of the best flower that I've seen. But you know so as a consumer, we're getting excited about the products that we're seeing, about the opportunity that we have, and I think there's also, at the same time, a lot of confusion.
25:49
There are I think the last count was over 1,500 to 2,000 illegal shops in New York City alone. So, as a consumer who is maybe who's new to the market or who is excited to return to the market and thought that this was presenting an opportunity for them to purchase legal, safe, tested cannabis, they are going into stores and dispensaries that are selling to them, but it is, and they might be thinking that it is a legal dispensary and it is not, and that's not only hurtful to the consumer and unfair but also to the hundreds of applicants who have already been awarded licenses and those are the card licenses here in New York. It's creating an unfair marketplace for them. Right, because now you're competing against somebody whose product is cheaper because there's no tax involved, and that isn't standing up to the same quality and testing and rigor as the products that you have to carry in your store, and I think that's really frustrating, especially when people have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars just to have their license up and running here in New York.
27:16 - Diana (Host)
You know, it's not.
27:18 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
it's not fair to them and it's a challenging place to them and it's a challenging place. So, you know, in this year's state budget there were provisions passed which allow municipalities to have greater enforcement over shutting down those illegal dispensaries. But at the same time it's slow. This is government and as somebody who worked in government for nearly 15 years, you know I think people get frustrated. Well, why can't you just fix it? Why can't you just stop? Why can't you just do this? And you know government is slow.
27:52 - Diana (Host)
So slow, so slow. When I used to interview more politicians, it was just going through the process of creating a bill. I mean people. It's like they teach you things in school, or maybe not. But, you really have no idea of how much work goes into something that probably won't pass, or, if it does, it's not going to be the way you wanted it to.
28:19 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
Yeah, there's always a tweak. There's always somebody who's getting in somebody's ear and was like, well, you know, you should just change this and this one little section here and the switching of three to four words in a piece of legislation. It has more effect than people realize, and so, no matter how hard you lobby, sometimes you're going to get a watered down or shifted version of what was the original intent of that bill, and so you know, if you worked in government, you know, if you know, you know.
28:54
But I think for a lot of folks who were just like you know, finally I can, I can be legal. Finally I have an opportunity to break into an industry that I've been excited about. They were sold a little bit of a dream that we weren't ready to deliver on and there was a rush to get to market and to get us up and running, but there wasn't the infrastructure behind it to kind of support the industry yet behind it to kind of support the industry yet. And yet, at the same time, I feel that they've done a great job. And people would kill me for saying that, but I don't.
29:32
I understand because of the experience in government, like how, how challenging it is, like how much different would have this rollout been if there weren't 80 lawsuits from people who don't even live in New York? Yeah, like, how much different would have this rollout been if there weren't 80 lawsuits Right From people who don't even live in New York? Yeah, you know. Yeah, exactly so I think it's an exciting time, it's a confusing time, it's a beautiful time, it's a frustrating time, and all of the above.
30:01 - Diana (Host)
And luckily anybody can get something anywhere.
30:04 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
Pretty much to feel better about all the frustration.
30:08 - Diana (Host)
Smoke it anywhere you want to. You know it's funny. I just recently went up to Maine for a visit and I was expecting, when we drove through New York, for it to smell.
30:18 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
But honestly it was Connecticut.
30:22 - Diana (Host)
We were through Connecticut and I was like whoa, what's going on in Connecticut? But I think it's exciting. I don't live there, but I think it's exciting. I'm excited for the people I know that live there and they're able to access things that they never could before. But I also can understand how frustrating it is for the businesses, and so you already touched on it a little bit, but what are the biggest changes you've seen over the last several years?
30:52 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
I mean it took right. We've only had a legal market for three years now, so we're not talking about a lot of time. And I would say that first year you're going to cut it short because the law wasn't passed until the late spring and then you know we weren't had, we didn't have our first dispensaries up and running until even later that year Technically I think it was the December of 2022. So the biggest changes have been access and I think, just meaning access to purchase safe products, tested products, regulated products, and. But I think that comes with a caveat where it's like not access for all.
31:48
There are still so many medical patients who are frustrated because they don't have the same access that a adult use consumer has. At this point, the medical cannabis locations that exist have been predominantly in well-off neighborhoods. If you live in central Brooklyn like me, or even farther out in parts of Canarsie or Far Rockaway, you know you would have to travel pretty far to have uh prescriptions filled and I think that's that's sad to see. You know it's frustrating that folks can get delivery, get some gummies delivered, but if you're a medical patient who has a prescription that needs to get filled, you have to schlep into manhattan wow so I think that they.
32:50 - Diana (Host)
That's bonkers.
32:52 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
Yeah, maybe not Manhattan, to be fair.
32:54 - Diana (Host)
Maybe not Manhattan.
32:56 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
There is one in downtown Brooklyn, for example, that I've driven past, but they don't deliver.
33:03 - Diana (Host)
Yeah.
33:05 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
So I think there is a missed opportunity, and I think because the OCM is such a small shop right now and hasn't been able to beef up to kind of roll out the industry all at once, you know, like you're doing it in segments and you're doing in pieces and trying to get so much accomplished in such a little time period that we've kind of forgotten a little bit about the medical patients, and that's unfortunate.
33:36
Um, I know the question was what changes? As I've seen, but I mean the change has been in the, in the attitude and the energy, and we're, you know, excited and people are smoking on the street and it's cool and everybody's chilled out lives and you know, young black and brown kids aren't getting arrested for smoking weed on the street, which I'm here for. All of those things are great, and I think that there's a little bit of a sad side to it too that, like you know who can benefit the most from this, not in a financial gain but in a care sense, and that we have kind of left those folks. That's usually the case, though.
34:08 - Diana (Host)
I mean in any industry that's supposed to be about healing in any kind of a way winds up somehow forgetting about the people who need the healing the most.
34:19 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
Lest we forget.
34:20 - Diana (Host)
Yes. So what do you wish people outside of New York would understand about the cannabis industry there?
34:30 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
That we're New York and that we're going to do things our way. We get so many folks, particularly West Coast folks and you're sitting in the East Coast, so it's a different vibe but West Coast folks who have a certain way of doing business and what the brands are and what they look like, and blah blah, and I'm like this ain't that, ain't the vibe here, bro, like that is not how we operate. So I think that, um, just respecting that new york is gonna do things the way new york wants to, whether, whether you like it or not, whether it's wrong or not, we're gonna be wrong and strong, okay, and we're gonna stand by it because we're going to do it our way and not your way yeah.
35:14
A lot of folks talk about. Well, you know, why didn't they do it the way they did it out in Chicago? And what about how well how it was handled in Massachusetts? And there is a certain attitude that New Yorkers have and that we carry, and you know it's just going to be how it's going to be.
35:42 - Diana (Host)
I love that, though it's just going to be how it's going to be, like you know find somebody to be your translator here, because this is how we move.
35:53 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
We move different, our politics are different from other places, events are different.
35:58 - Diana (Host)
I get invited to so many events in New York and I wish I could go to all of them, but even just reading the descriptions that I get sent, I'm like this is not happening anywhere around here, that's for sure.
36:14 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
Yeah, absolutely not. I mean, I've even I've gone to quite a number of these, you know, as we get the brand up and running, uh trade shows, just to kind of figure out. You know well what kind of packaging do we like and you know who are the consultants that we want to work with and you know what are the, what are the funding opportunities. And Stash Queens is a hundred percent self-funded, thank God, because there was nothing but sharks out there swirling around waiting to grab on to something, to anything, to anyone who had some connection to new york, um.
36:51
But I realized so much that the the industry in the more established parts of the country, um, it has not. It has not diversified itself, really in some of the most basic ways. Your listeners can't see this, but I have gorgeous fingernails. I pride myself on getting my nails done every three weeks. You know sometimes they're too long for me to roll a joint, and you know what else. I can't open your stupid little child-proof containers because they weren't tested with women to show you how, like, my nails get in the way, and it's excluding a whole like thought process of uh consumers that are on the rise.
37:45
We are on the rise, if not like already taking over in certain states as being the majority um of the demographic of the consumers. But it was amazing and you know a lot of to their credit, a lot of the packaging folks that I had met with um at these trade shows, when I when I was like get me your top three selling boxes, because I was interested in the box at that time and I showed them how my, how my nails got in the way they were blown away and they were like you know what. We never really thought of that We'd love to like we have to go back and take some tests, do some testing and like blah, blah, blah. And so they were open to it?
38:20 - Diana (Host)
Did they say they wanted to pick your brain? They sure as fuck did. No, you don't have to Sure, I bet they did.
38:28 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
We'd love to send you some things to try out. I'm like, cause you ain't got no women with nails around your part of town, but but so it's like, even from the most basics of things, like the mindset around it, you know like we're creating a vape. I want to know that how the how my lipstick might stick on the tip of the thing that's. These are things that I'm thinking about as as a woman and as a consumer.
39:00 - Diana (Host)
Almost lighting your hair on fire with a hemp wick, like I did the other day.
39:05 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
Like, what are we thinking? And so you know when I say that New York is going to do things New York's way, like there is a, there is also a culture here that is very different from the West Coast and even parts of the East Coast, and I think that folks wanting to come out here like come join us, like by all means, the more, the more, the merrier, but don't tell us what to do. We don't like it right same.
39:33 - Diana (Host)
Okay, that's why, when I lived in florida for a short bit I got a lot of people saying did you live in new york?
39:40 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
you have a new york vibe yeah, and you're like, actually it's just northeast but we're kind of all one of the same like let's rock with it so what are your huge?
39:51 - Diana (Host)
So what are your hopes for the future of the cannabis scene in New York?
39:59 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
I hope that it continues to be as bold as it has been. As it has been. The decision to prioritize the justice impacted folks in society as the first in line to be awarded licenses was a bold decision that got challenged up and down in court and that has been upheld, and I just want New York to continue to making those efforts to really make sure that we are an inclusive state that is providing opportunity for all. I don't want us to lower our standards when it comes to supporting farmers. There's been a lot of discussion about who gets to do indoor grows and when and how and how much canopy space, etc. And I think the fact that the majority of flower you'll find in New York right now is sun grown as a beautiful thing and it's kind of revitalized some of the agriculture industry here, and I think that is something special that we should hold on to and continue to support. So I think really it's like I want us to keep on continuing to make space for people other than white men, because they have a space too.
41:32 - Diana (Host)
They do.
41:34 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
They definitely have a space, but it doesn't have to be the majority of the space, that's right.
41:40 - Diana (Host)
So can you tell people have a seat at the table.
41:42 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
Don't take up the whole bench bro.
41:46 - Diana (Host)
You can have a stool. I'm just joking. So tell people how they can support you and where they can find you.
41:54 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
Well, we are excited to be launching this summer, so the number one way to find out when that happens is to be following us on Instagram. Our Instagram handle is Stash Queens and you can go onto our website, wwwstashqueenscom and sign up for our newsletter, the Stash Box. And you can go onto our website, wwwstashqueenscom and sign up for our newsletter, the Stash Box.
42:15 - Diana (Host)
Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me today. I really had so much fun talking to you.
42:20 - Jahmila Edwards (Guest)
Anytime.
42:22 - Diana (Host)
This podcast has been a product of your Highness Media. Each episode is written, produced and edited by your Highness Media. Thank you for listening.