In this episode of the Highness Podcast, hosts Diana and JR delve into cannabis, discussing personal choices, industry dynamics, and political challenges. Diana highlights a stylish vape battery from Cake, while JR talks about using Kanna extract for better sleep after a break from THC. They feature Frankie Green Thumbs, a local business assisting in cannabis cultivation. The topic turns to the impending new administration and what that means for the industry. They address political impacts such as Jeff Sessions' rescinding of the Cole Memo, the contentious Farm Bill, slow federal legalization progress, and challenges from figures like Trump, along with monopolistic trends in states like Florida and Maryland.
In this episode of the Highness Podcast, hosts Diana and JR delve into cannabis, discussing personal choices, industry dynamics, and political challenges. Diana highlights a stylish vape battery from Cake, while JR talks about using Kanna extract for better sleep after a break from THC. They feature Frankie Green Thumbs, a local business assisting in cannabis cultivation.
The topic turns to the impending new administration and what that means for the industry. They address political impacts such as Jeff Sessions' rescinding of the Cole Memo, the contentious Farm Bill, slow federal legalization progress, and challenges from figures like Trump, along with monopolistic trends in states like Florida and Maryland.
The hosts also explore the rise of popularity with psychedelics like psilocybin and their potential influence on cannabis. They emphasize the need to reassess economic, legal, and social barriers for genuine cannabis reform, providing insightful commentary on the industry's future.
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00:16 - Diana (Host)
Welcome to your Highness Podcast. It's been a while.
00:20 - JR (Co-host)
It has been a while. Do you want to introduce?
00:21 - Diana (Host)
yourself. I do. I'm Diana. It's been so long. It's been so long. It might be your first episode, so if it is. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, I'm your host, diana, and this is my co-host, jr. It has been a while. We took a beat, yeah, so A sabbatical.
00:44
That, and this constant weather change has made it so that our voices are a little grovelly. No, I've been recording. We've been recording, yeah, not this particular podcast. So, anyway, we're going to do our regularly recurring bit, that we do every episode. But since we have been gone for so long, we're going to do it a little differently. Usually, we do our fave pot, fave not pot, and we each talk about our favorite cannabis-related thing at the moment or our favorite non-cannabis-related thing or and not or. But this time for a couple of reasons. The first one I already told you, the second being that JR is taking a sabbatical from THC. Correct, this is going to make a lot of noise, sorry, but for those two reasons we are going to do I'm going to do two fave pots and he will be doing two fave not pots. So I'm going to start with my fave pot.
01:51 - JR (Co-host)
Awesome.
01:52 - Diana (Host)
With one of my fave pots. I was sent this. What do you call it? Battery?
02:00 - JR (Co-host)
I mean it's like a full-on cartridge. It's a full-on cartridge Cake.
02:05 - Diana (Host)
This company Cake. It says Cake, she hits different. I didn't bring the vape because I'm not at my house.
02:12 - JR (Co-host)
Yeah, I hold it up so that the camera can see it. There we go.
02:18 - Diana (Host)
The packaging is even super cute. The vape itself is so cute. It's hot pink, as you can see. You can turn it to different temperatures, which I really like, and it holds a charge for a really long time. And when it says she hits different, they are not joking.
02:36 - JR (Co-host)
There you go.
02:37 - Diana (Host)
No, they didn't send me the cartridge. The cartridge was different. I got a cartridge.
02:41 - JR (Co-host)
Oh, so that's just the battery then, yeah, this is just the battery.
02:43 - Diana (Host)
However, I got a cartridge. Oh, so that's just the battery. Then, yeah, this is just the battery. However, they did send me a cartridge and I kept the packaging for that. There you go. It's called Designer, distill it, okay, pink acai.
02:56
Oh all right, which I'm really into. I love it. I love the branding, I love the way it hits. We're just going to keep these short and sweet because otherwise we'll go on and on. So I'm going to do that with this and say I recommend it, I love it, love the company Cake and that's my first fave pot. So what's your first fave not?
03:19 - JR (Co-host)
pot. My first fave, not pot, it's actually canna extract, one of the things that.
03:23 - Diana (Host)
I always oh, canna extract. Uh, one of the things that I was, is it canna or canna? Because we don't want people to get confused, because we just said, yeah, pot, yeah this is k-a-n-n-a.
03:32 - JR (Co-host)
Um. One of the things that I was using thc for was helping me fall asleep, um. But the problem with that is thc it kind of restricts your ability to dream. It kind of takes that away, and that's something I love to do. So it was a bummer. So, with taking that away, it was a little bit hard for me to go to sleep. So I started taking this canna, or canna or however you pronounce it. I said canna. I mean, that's what I originally said Was that what you said.
04:00
I think. So I don't know, I don't know, I don't remember. That was like five seconds ago. Who can remember that far back? But anyway, so it helps kind of quiet the thoughts and relax me so I'm able to fall asleep and it gives you the most vivid, wild dreams. So it's like a double win. So not only does it help me fall asleep but it enhances the thing that I was missing from the THC. So yeah, k-a-n-n-a, I get it in extract form, but they also have it in vapes and you can get in other kind of forms as well.
04:34 - Diana (Host)
Amazing so we'll have the link in our show notes yes for the from the one that I have, yeah um, so what is your second pot?
04:45
fake pot, okay? Well, it isn't a product, it's a person and services. Um, so, as I mentioned earlier, we are still recording regularly our other podcast, called getting personal with plant medicine, and we recently filmed an episode of that. We're in the time machine now so it will probably come out after this, but anyway, we like to go on local adventures, you and I and I was really excited to see a seed store.
05:23
Well, I don't know if it's called a seed store, but Frankie Green Thumbs is the name of the company, I guess you know. He sells seeds, right, and so he does other things too. He sells clones and he trains people how to grow on their own, he does in-home training and he also offers virtual training. And he also offers virtual training and he just has a variety of really awesome educational materials and he makes it super easy for you to grow at home. And why I like this particularly is because he's local. I mean, I have yet to see anything like that, and most of the people that I interview who grow are in other states Not most all of them are in other states. So it was really cool to talk to somebody and find out that this service services. These services are available because that's a really empowering thing right To be able to successfully have a home grow and have that autonomy.
06:27
So that is my second fave pod. What's your second fave? Not pod?
06:33 - JR (Co-host)
Okay, this is more entertainment based. So I just finished reading the book Dune. It's an amazing book. I definitely recommend reading it, but it's 900 pages long. I'm not going to talk about the new Dune movie because it's not like that needs any more shine. No one's all like we need to hear more about this new dune movie, but there was another dune movie that came out in 1984 by david lynch was the director and it's a hot mess. It makes zero sense. The movie itself is like a very beautiful fever dream and it's amazing. Has sean young come mclaughlin? Is that his name?
07:07
I think so yeah, kyle mclaughlin sting is in this. Um, all right, yeah, it's. No, it doesn't make any sense. If you've never read the book, it's just. It's just completely incoherent nonsense. Uh, if you did read the book, it doesn't. It's. It's like like taking small little bits that happen and just piecing them together to try to make a coherent story. So it's not by any means a good movie, but it is such a delightful watch. So I would say it's more of an experience than an actual movie. If you want to feel like you're tripping but not actually consume anything, watch Dune from 1984.
07:48 - Diana (Host)
That's my second. I will not concur because I have not read or watched any of that and I will not. So, uh, I'm glad that you're excited, I love that for you and um anyway. So that didn't really segue into what we're going to talk about, did it?
08:01 - JR (Co-host)
I mean the home grow aspect probably would have been a better segue that.
08:04 - Diana (Host)
That's true.
08:06
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10:07
No or the landscape or anything like that but I have been doing a lot of research about what this industry thinks about what's about to happen because of something else I'm working on, um, so we figured, why not talk about it? Let's yeah, let's talk about it. Um, things are going to change and, as the author of cannabis musings newsletter says that there is there's a lot of opinion about whether or not trump will be good for cannabis, but trying to claim that you have any level of confidence in predicting his actions is someone who's out of their senses. He's's basically paraphrasing what is said, and that's so true, even though we have kind of a blueprint or a template, for I don't know what we call it, because it's not really a template, because he throws all the rules out. Yeah, but we have something to reflect on, right?
11:09
Yeah, we have a footprint of what he did previous yeah, so let's talk about that, right, um, lest we forget jeff sessions. Um, who rescinded the coal memo, or memorandum? You want to talk about that? You're better at talking about that than I am. Oh, the coal memorandum you want to talk about that? You're better at talking about that than I am oh, the coal memorandum?
11:32 - JR (Co-host)
yeah, well, that was basically it was it was designed. Uh, so, while not legalizing or decriminalizing cannabis, it was basically stating that the federal government was not in any way going to take any of its resources into going up against any of these legally run cannabis operations. As long as everything was above board, they were just going to leave you alone and just kind of stick out of it. Jeff Sessions, on the other hand, was very much against that thought process. He very much did not like the cannabis industry and did want to use a lot of resources to go up against it. Thankfully, got distracted, like that's pretty much the slogan of the Trump administration. Oops, we got distracted, and this time it was actually beneficial for the cannabis industry, because he wasn't actually able to really do anything.
12:30 - Diana (Host)
But he did rescind that memo and state that he was given the opportunity to start going after cannabis companies on a federal level and some people might see the farm bill being passed as a move forward, but a lot of people have a lot has happened, I should say, in that regard, since then with the Farm Bill and people have speculations that it's going to. There's going to be a new version of it passed.
13:02 - JR (Co-host)
Most likely. I mean, there's always been states that have gone up against the Farm Bill, maryland being one of them. They attempted it in California and Florida, where they're actually using the cannabis industry itself to weaponize against aspects of the Farm Bill to try to rein it in and pull it back. And that's not just something that is a a Trump thing, this is just a political thing that both sides seem to uh be going up against. Mm-hmm Is a destruction of of this, of the farm bill.
13:40 - Diana (Host)
So I don't know what do you think that means for the future JR? Oh, for the future JR. Oh, I'll start by saying that it seems, by all accounts, that largely the industry doesn't think it's going to change all that much.
13:59 - JR (Co-host)
No, I don't think. I really don't think anything is going to change in a drastic level.
14:13 - Diana (Host)
I think a lot of the change people want they don't understand the steps and the nuance behind it, we'll state the obvious the federal legalization isn't going to happen?
14:19 - JR (Co-host)
It's not going to happen. So when people view federal legalization, they're assuming that there are going to be interstate commerce available, all these other things, and while we do have RFK Jr, who is basically in charge of our health services, stating that he does want to forward legalization, there's other things that are involved that would actually allow it to become an interstate commerce situation where you're able to actually go across state lines without being considered trafficking, but to have that happen you would actually need to have FDA approval. So if you're looking at who we have picked coming in to basically head the FDA, marty McCary he's already stated that he views cannabis as a gateway drug, has very little faith in the plant and has zero interest in actually approving it for interstate commerce and approving it to be basically federally legal properly through the FDA. So in that case, rfk Jr for as much as he says that he wants to do things without having that backing, it's not really going to create the legalized atmosphere that a lot of people are expecting when they hear these things.
15:37
At most, what's going to actually happen is going to be some deregulization, primarily with other psychedelics, including psilocybin With that involved, which I'm actually personally very excited for. But it's going to do horrible for the cannabis industry itself. You're going to see almost like a crippling, because right now the cannabis industry kind of has basically its own share of the market. That is going to be basically decimated once people have the option of other forms of psychedelic treatments and therapies outside of cannabis. You know a lot of psilocybin and other mushrooms, on a health benefit, show greater promise than cannabis and on a recreational benefit, more so as well.
16:22
So you're really looking at a hurt industry if that does come to pass. So really, in any way that you look at it, you're not really seeing a lot of shine happening for the cannabis industry. What you can really hope for is a maintaining of the status quo, which isn't good. So it's a continuation of this monopolized atmosphere. So with that, trump himself has been very pro-state rights, not really doing anything that's going to move anything on a federal level. If you kind of create a federally legal atmosphere for cannabis with state inter-transfer, you basically disrupt a lot of the monopolies that are being held by a lot of these large corporations. So I very much doubt that.
17:12 - Diana (Host)
Trump is going to go against that.
17:14
And not to cut you off, but one strong prediction I've been seeing repeatedly is that, speaking to the states, we will see an uptick in the anti-intoxicating hemp bills on a state level, which further emboldens monopolies. Yeah, because, like you said, if we allow interstate commerce, people like people I'm saying people, I'm generalizing here you hear a lot of the bigger names in the industry saying that they want their pro-legalization and I know you can speak to this a little bit more but in reality they're not, because their business would be ruined.
17:59 - JR (Co-host)
You want to look at the pro-legalization that they're looking at. Let's look at Florida, for example.
18:05 - Diana (Host)
Which Trump did say he was in favor of this last one, this last time. Just to put that on the record From the Florida one, mm-hmm.
18:11 - JR (Co-host)
So with that, you did have the legalization of cannabis for adult use, but that also took away your ability to grow. That wasn't made legal, which is something that a lot of these cannabis companies do not want, which, if you want actual, true legalization, you want to be able to have the access to grow so that you can rely on yourself. If you're talking about self-reliance, you're talking about home grow. You're not talking about just another monopolized situation when you're going to a retail store and purchasing your medicine. So it took that away and it also yet again worked to cripple the farm bill. It's the same thing that happened here in Maryland, where we got our legalization passed. What was originally supposed to happen is the bill was supposed to also include regulations to help with hemp-derived products. To kind of help legitimize that atmosphere. What they did last minute was they actually crippled the farm bill on a state level. So even though hemp-derived products, especially things considered THC, are legal on a federal level, it's actually illegal now in the state of Maryland.
19:19
So a lot of these companies these larger companies that are very pro-legalization— To sell it in Maryland. To sell it in Maryland, yes, not to consume it. So what you're seeing is a lot of these companies that are pro a lot of these works to kind of legalize it. What they're actually working to is legalizing to build their monopolies. You know they do not want interstate transfer or interstate commerce. They want things to maintain on a statewide level so that way they can monopolize inside that state and crush out small independent companies who it would benefit who would benefit and eliminate things like home grow.
19:57
So if you actually wanted to see a promise for the future of the industry so that you would actually have the ability to take things into your own hands, you would be looking at more of a removal of things like seed to sale and allowing of interstate commerce. You know, those are the only things that are actually going to kind of create a legitimate cannabis industry that is beneficial to anyone outside of top conglomerates. But until that happens we're not going to have that and we're not going to get that with the Trump administration at all. He's never really done anything that has been pro-health and safety for the public. All of his things have always come to bottom dollars of corporations. He didn't remove regulations from the EPA because people were crying out that they wanted to be able to drink not clean water and breathe not clean air. So the things that he does is never really for the benefit really any politician at that.
21:01
I'm not just going to point fingers at one person. We've created a movement and we're tracking towards the completely wrong direction that people were expecting the cannabis industry to go into and we're basically just building another monopoly. So we're losing that autonomy yet again to be able to medicate ourselves and use the plant as we see fit, and we're basically just creating an atmosphere where these large companies can produce whatever they want to. If you eliminate seed to sale, you have something what Colorado had in its original days, where people were able to grow independently, take their products to dispensaries, sell them to the dispensaries so that the dispensaries could then sell them to the people. When you have situations like that, you build more of a free market. That's the dream that people have, where the people that were actually putting a lot of integrity into what they were growing were selling more and building themselves. But now, when we have this monopolized situation like we have here in Maryland, where we have a handful of grows basically controlling the complete output of what people can consume, they can really put anything out.
22:06 - Diana (Host)
And they surely do, and they surely do.
22:08 - JR (Co-host)
And then they'll change the name.
22:09
After they get a bad enough name, rinse it off, yeah, they're called this, and next thing they're called that.
22:14
Or you have one company that has like seven different brands and it's all the same exact flowers in a different looking jar and they just keep varying degrees of dryness exactly and they just build themselves up and there's nothing that you can really do to go against it.
22:30
Because, with seed to sale and also heavy licensing as well, if you want full legalization removes a lot of these licenses.
22:39
You know. Allow people to be able to go into business for themselves. Allow people to grow because they love to grow, because they love the plant, not because they have enough money to be able to put down for a payment for the government to allow them to have a license. Because in cases like that, you're taking licenses away from people that actually have a passion for the plant and want to do good with the plant and you're giving it to these large companies that really just see things in a monetary level. So, when it comes to the actual outlook of the cannabis industry, yeah, there may be some regulation lifts from the federal government, which is actually, in my opinion, going to hinder things because it's going to open up the door for other psychedelics, which I think is going to be a lot more beneficial and a lot more shiny and new to a lot of people that are thinking of cannabis as old news now at this point, and it's just going to further embolden the corporations to build their monopolies.
23:33 - Diana (Host)
And also put out dangerous products.
23:35 - JR (Co-host)
Yes.
23:36 - Diana (Host)
Let's be honest about that, because that will definitely happen. Yeah, I mean, that happens now.
23:41 - JR (Co-host)
It happens now and that's the thing Like while in certain situations I am pro-regulation because you do have companies we've seen it in Maryland where they've had situations where hard metals were found inside of their vapes and their cartridges and these companies are still around. Nothing happened to them. They just got a slap on the wrist because they had enough money to basically say, oh, this is my, my bad government, hand over the money. And then they're still on business, they're still running grows that people are dying of carbon monoxide poisoning in. You know. So it's an incredibly toxic industry as it stands now.
24:20
So anything that is going to further embolden and highlight and move forward the industry as it stands is going to be a bad direction because really, what needs to happen is a complete reworking from the ground up, and until that happens, no one is going to get the legalization that they think that they're going to get.
24:38
They hear RFK say that he wants to decriminalize cannabis and people think that overnight people are going to be able to go anywhere and buy cannabis wherever they want to and grow it, and that's not what's going to happen Really. Even concerning RFK, due to the fact that he's in charge of health and human services, the HHS, he's looking at things on a medicinal level which ultimately could actually build more restrictions towards states with adult use, because he's not looking at things in an adult use aspect. He's looking at things in a medical aspect which, while I'm more pro the medical side of cannabis, I do believe in the right to be able to use it as an adult use. But those things will actually have the possibility of getting even more restricted in allowance of a furthering of a medical program. So these are other things that you need to think of.
25:37
Also, the social equity initiatives are built into, if they're even built into the legal Before just pulling it on a level, not just my opinion, just on a level of things that need to happen prior to a complete federal legalization. For one, you need an actual beneficial way of being able to test intoxication with the plant. For one people are driving under the influence, just like alcohol. It impairs your judgment. I'm not going to sit here and say that cannabis is this miracle plant that doesn't have any drawbacks. It impairs your judgment and it impairs your motor skills and people drive worse when they're on it. So without an actual true testing measure to be able to test if someone is driving under heavy intoxicants of it, it's never going to go federal on a legal basis. They need to actually find a way to properly test that, and that's just one aspect. You also have the aspect of the fact that a large portion of our economy, unfortunately, is built upon the prison system. Are you telling me that overnight they're just going to release all of these people that have been arrested?
26:51 - Diana (Host)
Not with Pam Bondi in charge, exactly so not that I'm saying that this shouldn't happen.
26:56 - JR (Co-host)
I believe that it should, but it's not. You know, especially under a Trump administration. You're talking about the law and order president that we had in 2016. He wasn't trying to release a large amount of people from their prison system. He cherry-picked some people, one of them being someone that was actually in prison for cannabis. That was actually a good thing that he did, but it wasn't on a large scale. It was a photo op.
27:20
So you're risking the elimination of a large chunk of our economy that we are not prepared to lose that chunk off of as a society.
27:28
If you will and basically put everyone back out in the streets, completely remove all restrictions so that everyone is allowed to grow, produce and purchase and have the ability to test when people are driving at a too heavy of an intoxicating level, All those things are not in place or are prepared to be given, and without all those things, they're never going to allow a full federal legalization. If anything, they're going to create loopholes for large corporate donors so that they can continue to monopolize themselves just like they have been. This is why everyone thought, with the Democratic leader, that we would have this massive legalization, and it never happened, even when they controlled Senate and Congress. Trump already had the moment when he also controlled Senate and Congress in his first term and no legalization happened. This is not something that's going to happen, and the best that we can actually hope for, if you like the industry, is for status quo, and what you can really hope for, if you really care about the plant, is a dismantling of the industry and starting fresh.
28:40 - Diana (Host)
I agree 100% Because, like you said, there's a lot to consider. You know, beyond even a business standpoint we still have the family welfare laws how people will be treated if they're using it openly when they have children. How is that going to go? Will there be any custodial intervention? Because even though alcohol is legal, I mean it can also that can also be a situation where someone is dependent on alcohol and they might be in an unsafe situation. I mean that can happen with any substance.
29:20
So how are the laws going to change for that? Because they haven't been updated at all since these medical precautions at all. There are some local ordinances and things like that that have happened, but on a large scale, on a federal level, there haven't been any significant moves as far as protecting parents and caretakers, people who have to give the medicine to their children. But then you know also, how do you go forward with the grows, like you said, I mean when you touched on it briefly but are you going to allow everyone to grow it from their home, people that have children? There's so many different things that have to happen. It's not like, oh, overnight we're going to have it legal and everything's going to be fine.
30:10 - JR (Co-host)
Yeah, you have to think about it. Let's use alcohol as an example, because if you want full legalization, you want basically an atmosphere. That is the alcohol industry. So with alcohol, people are able to basically brew and distill their own alcohol at home if they want to. It's difficult, but they can do it. With cannabis, it's a lot easier. It's a lot easier to grow a cannabis plant than it is to fully brew and distill your own alcohol. So you're basically you need to build some kind of regulation around that because, just like with alcohol, you have child safety and there's just so many things. It's it's, there's so many nuance, so much nuance to talk about irs very quickly as well the irs.
30:57 - Diana (Host)
The irs has to change the 280e code because just because it's federally legal, that doesn't mean that that doesn't still apply. How is the IRS going to approach even Schedule 3? Will it change the way that people are able to operate when it comes to taxes and finances?
31:17 - JR (Co-host)
Yeah.
31:18 - Diana (Host)
There's no guarantee.
31:19 - JR (Co-host)
There's no guarantee. Yeah, there's no guarantee. There's no guarantee. And without a home grow it's not fully legal, because then they're just building more money into the pockets of large donors. Have everything set up in place as not just a country but as a society, to move forward with the full opening of home grows. There's no regulation already built or written. It's a complete wild west scenario. So, while that could be fine, it's not the direction that the country is going and that the government is prepared to create. So, while there's things that I'm saying that I don't necessarily agree with or agree with the opposite of, I'm just stating like this is where we are as a society, as a country and as a government they're not prepared to completely just hand over home grows to people and allow them to do as they will.
32:25 - Diana (Host)
I mean, I didn't even know not to cut you off, but you think home grows are legal, you can grow anywhere. I mean I'm saying you think Again, generalizing I thought, oh, you can grow two plants in Maryland. I didn't realize, though, that they have a rule that if it's in public view you can't grow it, and that includes aerial view. So really, you can't grow it outside.
32:50 - JR (Co-host)
No, you can grow it indoor hydroponically, but yet again, you're looking at issues with safety. Like I said, there's so much around it. If you legalize it without home grow, all you're doing is creating an atmosphere in which you're more heavily policed for what you're doing in your own house, because I guarantee you they're going to come after you a lot quicker if they think that you're growing, a lot quicker, if they think that you're growing, not because they don't think you have the right, but because you're actively taking money away from the corporations that they are designed to protect. So that is the future you're looking at being policed as what's going on inside your home.
33:34
The larger legalization occurs without the ability to grow at home, and that's a lot of what's being pushed. That's what was trying to be pushed in Florida until it got crushed. And now look at all the companies that were supporting that legalization effort in Florida, all those companies that said, oh, we'll get to home grow later, knowing that they were not going to get to home grow later. You know California, maryland we got home grow, but we got our farm bill completely decimated. So now we lose access to other aspects. There are people that prefer hemp-derived over cannabis-derived products, myself included, I lose the ability to access them as easily as I was able to because of large corporations, because, while hemp does need to be regulated, it was more easily sellable because you didn't need such strict licensing that you need with cannabis. The state itself wasn't getting the money that only large corporations can afford to hand over also.
34:35 - Diana (Host)
I just want to interject something. These bills that are taking this away are also taking away medicine for children.
34:44 - JR (Co-host)
Yes.
34:44 - Diana (Host)
Like in California. So you know, that is a major travesty really. It's something that people don't consider. They think like oh well, yeah, we don't have such easy access, but when you eliminate these products, you eliminate a lot of medicine for people yeah, and primarily just to leave you off.
35:06 - JR (Co-host)
I mean it's. This is one of those situations where people are getting excited because it sounds so easy. But if something is that easy, it's nothing worth getting excited about. If they they're saying, oh, I promise you on the first 90 days in office, these are things that are rolling out, things that need so much to happen prior to then what you're going to get is not what you're expecting and it's not worth getting excited over. And it's not worth stop fighting for Right and that's what they want. It's not worth stop fighting for Right and that's what they want. They want people to stop fighting for what really needs to happen with this industry, placating them with this idea that we're going to get this legalization, and then what we're going to end up with is a heavier monopoly on a state level from the same six companies that have basically been destroying the industry since it started in 2017.
36:02 - Diana (Host)
Absolutely. So don't take the line that it's practically legal, because it's not. No, and as we go further we go backwards as an industry. So you know in time we go backwards, and the only time you should get excited about any campaign promises in regards to cannabis is if you go into a time machine and go back yeah, 50, 60 years before and I mean the war on drugs began get excited on a local level.
36:30 - JR (Co-host)
You know, if you have local ordinances that are voting for things, get excited about that. Push for that push for home grows in your own state. But if it comes on a federal level, if you got some federal level politician telling you that they're going to promise this, it's not going to happen.
36:45 - Diana (Host)
And support people who are really continuing to do the work. I just want to say quickly I've been reflecting a lot about how long the show has been on and how long we've been doing this because of something else I'm working on and it is both disheartening and heartening because there are so many people who have been pushed out of the industry since we began this podcast. But there's also people who are still working and doing hard work, and one of those people is Whitney Beatty, who is on the board of Supernova Women. So support groups like Supernova Women, which is a 501c3 nonprofit organization founded in 2015 by black and brown women, and they work to empower black and brown people to become self-sufficient shareholders in the cannabis and natural plant medicine space through education, advocacy and network building. So, you know, find these people because they're still out there and they're working so hard to shape legislation to make it more fair, regardless of the downfalls that they encounter Not downfalls, but you know what I'm saying the barriers to entry.
38:05
So you know, that is what we can do right now, but that's pretty much our opinion on that. Yeah, right, do you have anything else you wanted to add?
38:14 - JR (Co-host)
No, no, I'm parched, I could go for a sprig. One of our sponsors.
38:21 - Diana (Host)
Yes, and we don't have our Sprig drinks with us, as we usually do, but, yeah, definitely check out Sprig, speaking of products that we love. Anyway, until next time, stay high and beautiful, bye, bye. This podcast has been a product of your Highness Media. 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.