JR and Diana talk about the elitist attitudes prevalent in the plant medicine arena. Angie Willoughby shares the current mood of the cannabis space in the Sunshine State.
JR and Diana talk about the elitist attitudes prevalent in the plant medicine arena. Angie Willoughby shares the current mood of the cannabis space in the Sunshine State.
Timestamps:
0:16 - Welcome to Your Highness Podcast
1:01 - Fave pot
4:05 - Fave not pot
8:28 - Main Segment
26:08 - Closer Look
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Speaker 1 0:15
You're listening to your highness podcast. I'm your host, Diana crash and
Unknown Speaker 0:22
your co host Jr. Crash.
Unknown Speaker 0:25
Hey Jr. How you doing today
Unknown Speaker 0:26
doing pretty good. How are you doing Diana?
Speaker 1 0:29
You know I'm always good when I'm with you. So we're going to start this episode as we do every episode with our fav pot in fav not pot. And in case you have never listened to an episode before this. This is our segment where we talk about our favorite cannabis related item at the moment and our favorite non cannabis related item. So I'm going to start because I'm a Leo and that's how we do things. So my fav pot right now is from the healing rose, which is a deep friend of the pod. It's their CBD bath soak. Laura beaner, the founder or the co founder of the healing rose generously donated a bunch of these CBD bath soaks in their summer Oasis Limited Edition sent. And if you are in the Harford County area this Friday, October 27, you can stop by the Jhapa rise dispensary. And the first 25 People that come by will get a free, small sized CBD bath soap from the healing rose. So please stop by and see us. We'll be there from 12pm to 2:30pm. And we'll have a lot of other fun things to give away. And you get to meet me in real life. That's pretty cool. It's
Unknown Speaker 2:03
pretty exciting. Pretty exciting meeting Diana.
Speaker 1 2:07
Some may argue with that. But you know, anyway, what's your favorite pot right now,
Speaker 2 2:12
my faith pot is actually not a product of any kind. It's actually the representation of cannabis in the media. Just because it's spooky season, I was reflecting back on like the old horror movies of the 80s. And really the startup period of like, you know, the, if you're consuming drugs or having premarital sex that you're going to, you're going to die, you know, so generally speaking, whenever cannabis popped up in a horror movie, it was generally just so a character could say some funny slash really annoying things, and then die relatively quick. That's all it was that was kind of turned on its head a little bit with the movie cabin in the woods, where they actually played on that trip a little bit, but instead made it so that the cannabis user was actually the one that figured everything out was the one that was most instinctively understanding the situation and how to get through the situation. And really, from there on, you've been starting to see it more normalized on television programs and movies, where you may have characters that do consume cannabis, but it's not their entire narrative, you know, not they're not just there to say something dumb, and then die. They're just regular characters. And that's just one aspect of their life. And just that normalization in the media, not making it so outlandish. And cards cartoonish, I think is a positive step in, in, in the direction of cannabis culture.
Speaker 1 3:37
I like that. And I agree, we need more of that. I guess in horror, but I don't really watch horror movies.
Speaker 2 3:45
And dramas and comedies too. They make people consume cannabis without them just being like the butt of every joke, right and not murdered. Not a lot of murder and comedies but like, you know,
Speaker 1 3:57
well, I agree. And I'm happy that you found that in your horror watching experiences. So my fav not pot right now is the soft power collective. And I will link to it in the show notes, but they host a soft power virtual choir. It's a decolonized trauma informed Virtual Choir community. So you can actually catch the choir I don't want to say practices because that's not what it is. But they have it on YouTube so that you can catch it as a replay if you didn't get it on in the live when it's when it's live. So anyway, what's your favorite part right now?
Speaker 2 4:48
My favorite pop is is goosebumps. Your feet
Unknown Speaker 4:52
not pop that pop?
Speaker 2 4:53
Not pot because it says pop. This is pop coffee all the way myself. I goosebumps I like how yours was something that was like very deep and healing. And I'm like, I like RL Stein's goosebumps. Yeah, but that can be healing it can be healing and actually that's why I like it you know that that very low stakes horror, you know, when I was a kid, you know that was something that really ignited the flames of imagination for me was those low stakes horror, it was just pure imagination nothing It didn't have to be firmly standing in any form of reality. And you know, I just fell in love with it you know as a kid with Are you afraid of the dark you know, that TV show and then reading the Goosebumps books and I tell you what, last night we were watching the new ghost bomb show and not only does it have an overarching narrative throughout the entire season, but each episode also kind of highlights one of the books a certain aspect of the book whether it be the predictive camera that shows a curse future or or the Haunted Mask, you know, the dummy the night of the dummy is coming up in a in a future episode, you know, but still has that overarching you know, storyline and you know, being able to like hang out at night, the air is getting crisp, you can look outside and see the the changing leaves and wet leaves on the ground from the rain and you're just watching some low stakes horror where you don't have to worry about anyone's head exploding at any given minute. You know, the worst thing that could happen if someone breaks their arm is just it's so nice inhaling, especially in this October this October month. Yeah.
Speaker 1 6:34
Right if that's your type of Yeah, that's your type of escape.
Unknown Speaker 6:38
You want to heal the world. Goosebumps.
Unknown Speaker 6:40
Yeah. Very Caorle Stein's
Unknown Speaker 6:42
goosebumps
Speaker 1 6:44
I never knew when I was in middle school reading those books that they had they had the secret. Oh, yeah. to world peace. And then
Speaker 2 6:52
that's that's what it all when, when Dan Brown was was writing his books about the Holy Grail. He didn't know this at the time, but what he was really searching for was an aural Stein Goosebumps book. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's the that's the let the
Speaker 1 7:07
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Speaker 1 8:27
Switching gears a bit, we're going to continue the conversations that we've been having about how attitudes about other people's drug of choice is the antithesis of a harm reduction mentality. Put simply, there are a lot of opinions out there about what people should be consuming and how they should be consuming it and where they're sourcing, what they consume, where it's coming from. There's a lot of discussion about all of that. And so we've, we've had these conversations, and we'll continue to have them, especially as we see people talking about it online. And one of the biggest things I've been seeing is now that there's a rise in psychedelic use, there is there is there are these attitudes in the psychedelic space as well. And I'm of the belief that we can't really compartmentalize because these are all alternative methods. And also they're all considered drugs, right? Because even though people don't like that term, that word, a drug is any chemical substance that affects the functioning of living things and the organisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses that infect them. Yeah.
Speaker 2 9:45
Also, a lot of a lot of these arguments are sprung up almost from from a tribalism of inflating the importance of their drug of use of lack of a better word. You know, a lot of people Thinking that the drug that they are deciding to consume for medicinal purposes, is grander and more healing than it actually is for everybody. And then they impose that on other people, just because they'll feel something from it, they assume that everyone else will automatically feel something from it, which is actually why, you know, we have things like dis che, you know, the CHE being the dietary supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. It was originally designed so that supplements and stuff like that didn't have to be as heavily regulated by the FDA for good manufacturing to be sold. But on a counterpoint of that, it also keeps them from being able to essentially say whatever they want to say, you know, coming back from, you know, you see in the old movies of the snake oil salesmen riding into town and selling bottles of elixirs and saying you can do whatever that person needs it to do. And that's a problem that you can run into sometimes with supplements because they're not fully tested and regulated by the FDA, as purported facts that they can cure or treat something. So you have to stay away from that verbiage in that language by saying like, it promotes things, you know, it can't say that it cures or treats anxiety or depression, but you can say something promotes, you know, a more uplifting attitude.
Speaker 1 11:27
Yes. And while we recognize how unfair this can be to a lot of small businesses, because, you know, I just spoke about the healing rows, and I love their products, and I will shout off, you know, shout off the rooftops, how much I love it, if
Speaker 2 11:45
it can come across as D legitimizing, right, you know, by saying like, Oh, this only can promote things, you can't actually see a tree. So it can actually, you know, go the opposite direction of what we want by D legitimizing it and making it harder to speak about it.
Speaker 1 11:58
Yes, it can make it harder to speak about it, because you want to say, Okay, this, this really could cure your sore muscles. But what you don't want, or at least what I am getting tired of hearing is, I just pop one of these in my mouth, and I'm good for the whole day. That's great for you, if that's the truth, honestly. But
Speaker 2 12:21
exactly. So that's where it goes on with the show. That's why I can't say it actually tastes and cures, because they say that means that it would have an overarching effect on everyone that does it. But it doesn't, whenever you're dealing with something that's natural, it's going to affect different in everybody, it depends on how they metabolize it, how they absorb it, there's so many variants set and setting, you know, exactly. So you can't just say is does this. So you may take something that is great for your anxiety, but give it to your friend, and it's horrible for them. And then it will be in an intern, they do find something that's a different plant that helps them better. And then you're going to judge them for that. Yeah, you know, that, that that takes away from everything that promotes healing at all, you know, by by dictating what healing looks like for everybody
Speaker 1 13:11
absolutely couldn't agree more. And I'm just going to read some quotes here. So I mentioned earlier that this is happening in the psychedelic space as well. It's happening in all of the spaces of alternative health, and Sophie Nikolova. I'm so sorry if I'm butchering your last name, but she is the host of Sophie land and also an excellent writer, and she has a publication called True town on substack. She wrote an article called what is psychedelic exceptionalism. And she speaks on this often. But she has some really great points in this article. And I'm just going to read a couple of quotes. Drugs have been are and will continue to be a part of human life. Psychedelic exceptionalism goes against the principles of harm reduction, decriminalization, and legalization of all drugs will save lives. I urge you to think about this in the context of your life. If you were a psychedelics user, what makes you so different? What makes you so special? What is really the difference between your micro dosing protocol and someone else's recreational cocaine habit? And why harm reduction is the work of reducing risks around drug use. And this looks like education, advocacy and policy reform. It is not only about changing the conversation around psychedelics, but removing the stigma and advocating for the decriminalization of all drugs and the people who use them from recreational consumers to those with dependencies who need access to rehabilitation programs.
Speaker 2 14:54
Yeah, you know, that's that's a huge thing, especially, we know a lot about that firsthand. Just coming from Florida you know where it's very much segmented have this this drug is okay this drug is not I used to work for a kava bar. And kava can give a very calm, relaxed feeling. And it's very nice for me, but it isn't for everybody. But you did hear a very undercurrent, you know of, of negativity towards things like like cannabis, you know or or alcohol it became like a holier than thou attitude. You know, when people aren't realizing that they're still consuming something, though it may be medicinal for them, you know, but then understanding other people consuming things that would be met, you know, medical or therapeutic for them. You know, it was a very much you know, only on my playground kind of a feel.
Speaker 1 15:56
I'm glad you brought up the kava bar, because the other items sold at the kava bar that people were very holier than thou about was kratom. And I found the perfect tweet to encapsulate the issues I find when I talk about kratom amongst other cannabis users who have never tried it. This tweet says I use kratom for chronic pain and the amount of elitism I see from the medical cannabis crowd is infuriating. They're both plants. Kratom has minimal harms compared to the impacts of my disability without pain relief. I cannot tell you how many times I have had a conversation with someone in the cannabis community and mentioned that kratom is really what helps me with my pain, my chronic pain. I mean, cannabis does a lot of things. But it doesn't touch my pain in the way that kratom does. And they'll just do a cursory Google search if they don't know anything about it and go oh, well, that I don't know it's a controversial topic, or I don't know, that looks dangerous. I don't want to really want to associate myself with kratom.
Speaker 2 17:05
And it really comes down to are you going to be a plant medicine advocate? Or are you just going to trot like just push your thing of choice? Yeah. Are you going to be a spokesperson for cannabis? Are you actually going to be an advocate for for natural healing for holistic healing and plant medicine? Because you can't do both. Going back to the cannabis and Kava. You know, cannabis, you know, with alpha pining, and it can have the effect where it helps promote that sense of safety, I'm saying promote the opening of the of the air pathways in the lungs of the bronchioles making it a little bit easier to breathe. But a lot of times people will actually have was perceived as asthma attacks due to high stress and panic attacks or high anxiety. So more so than that pinene a lot of the times it could just be that relaxation, of thought that calmness that will help kind of slow down and lower that sensation of an asthma attack. But you can get the same thing from Cava. Now, what's going to be more beneficial for your lungs, something that you just drink, and then get that effect or something that you have to inhale through a combustible you know, which is not in any aspect good for your lungs, you know, so when you're talking about lung health, something like kava would be more beneficial. But neither side really needs to be going after the other because some people don't have that same effect to cover that relaxed, relaxing effects. So they're going to need more something along the lines of cannabis. Some people can actually get panic attacks from cannabis which could exacerbate that asthmatic behavior. So they're needed to go towards something for kava, so he had to stop this whole Oh, mine can do everything. And yours is a drug at that you're dependent on and need to go away or shamed. You know, we're all standing in the crowd is Sherm shame. You know, it's like, yeah, or we can come together and be like, hey, different things will affect people differently. Let's use plant medicine overall, and not just pick one that we're picking our favorite Pope came on to battle with. Okay, you're gonna poke a mic?
Speaker 1 19:16
Okay. Well, I can't talk. I can't speak about Pokeyman. But I also would encourage us to go a step further and try to change the words that we use when we're discussing these things. Dependency addiction, yes, those are very real words, and they have, you know, serious meanings. But what does that actually mean to you? Are you dependent on pain relief? Does your body start to shut down if you don't have all of the things that help your system reach that homeostasis? You're physically dependent on something if that's the case, right? Yeah. Let's be honest about it. If you If you don't like the word addiction and it makes you bristle, well think about this. How can can you get through the day without smoking a pre roll or taking an edible, if you have to do it every day drinking kava or drinking kava or taking kratom, whatever it is, that is defined by many as an addiction. So, it's to me, it's like, let's stop making these words. Bad, like have negative connotations, you know, because we really should be looking at it from a harm reduction viewpoint,
Speaker 2 20:35
we could just look at it like it's a point of, of life, there's an addiction towards everything, people are addicted to healthy things, they're addicted to exercising, they're addicted to drinking water or milk. You know, some people are addicted to driving fast. Someone in college once told me that, you know, everyone chases the devil in their own way, whether they're smoking cigarettes, or drinking a lot of alcohol or speeding down the street. Everyone is like built inside of them that they just have to have one thing that drives them to kind of go on to that side of things and to look down on anyone, for their choice in that is, is horrible. You know, I used to smoke cigarettes, that was horrible. For me, that was disgusting and hard destroyed my body. Yeah, but they would
Speaker 1 21:24
just tell me about that. Nobody could tell us to quit when we were smoking. Exactly.
Speaker 2 21:29
And I was just allowed to do it, I was just, at some point I'd to go outside before was led to even do it inside myself everyone else's day with it, you know, and that was perfectly fine as a society and then and then it stopped, you know, but on the same hand, if I was at that same time to go outside, and to hit a vape pen, even though they didn't exist, and they probably think of the time traveler or smoke a pre roll, then they will lose their minds. So as time change, perceptions change is like so why do we have to wait for that perception to change? Why can't we just change it and realize no, everyone's gonna have their thing some people find healing in certain aspects. Some nine is really something that needs to just be toned down that negative annotation of Oh, acid addiction. just tone it down. Tone it down and down. That's my new catchphrase. Tone it down. Okay. Go put it on a t shirt. Tone it down. Tone it down.
Unknown Speaker 22:26
Okay, well, then you'll really be
Speaker 2 22:28
able to make it it's called tone it down with with Jr.
Speaker 1 22:32
Don't be like your grumpy, grumpy man era about grumpy old GRUMPY MAN era tone it down
Speaker 2 22:38
down? Yeah. Come with a broom that I can knock on ceilings. Yeah, there you go. Noisy neighbors.
Speaker 1 22:45
So coming back to the reason why we're discussing this. We will be doing a special creative episode in the next episode. So the cranium episode won't be in our regular format. It will be a special episode and we will continue to do special episodes that are not in our normal format. For instance, we are continuing our media member spotlight. However, we will now be calling it higher minded media, we will have special discussions such as how to approach giving CBD to your child or should you give CBD to your child we will have things like that that will be standalone specials that are not in our regular feed, so to speak, but it will show up in our feed. So if you're subscribed, you will see that and if you have no interest in kratom, feel free to skip over that episode. But we will really be doing a deep dive into the plants into the history of it the legal status. We'll have Dr. Grinspoon speak about the medical applications. So I think it's going to be very interesting. And the reason why we're putting it in the Your Highness feed is because Kratom is really the reason why we're in cannabis. And that's one of the reasons why we're so hung up on this topic about people having an elitist attitude about the plant because it's really what woke us both up and and made us realize that plant medicine is a much more viable alternative for us. And it's really the reason why we changed our whole lifestyles to devote to plant medicine access for everyone. So stay tuned for that. Before we end I'm going to end it on a quote that I'm actually pulling from Sophie's piece that I mentioned earlier, she ended her article on this quote, and I think it's a really good one. It's Dr. Hart by the way, we have to guard against drug elitism, the thinking that Your drug is better than someone else's drug. Whatever works best for you is fine. Okay, so stay tuned for a closer look into the Florida cannabis scene with Angie Willoughby, aka the green Baker.
Speaker 1 25:19
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Speaker 3 26:19
I am good. I'm amazing and sweaty. It's Florida.
Speaker 1 26:24
Well, you're always amazing. And probably always sweaty because you live in Florida.
Unknown Speaker 26:29
Exactly. So as usual here in the Sunshine State.
Speaker 1 26:36
So Angie, let's start by taking a snapshot of the Florida cannabis scene. And I know that's a lot to ask because I was there at one point and I know it was a mess back then. So what is the current attitude among consumers and small business owners right now?
Speaker 3 26:54
You know, I think the attitudes and you know, please, this is just my humble opinion from being in this industry for five years now here in Florida. You know, the consumers are, you know, the, the register, you know, the registered medical marijuana patients have steadily been going up here in the state of Florida over the past, you know, two to three years, right and nothing super significant. But it is a steady upward movement. So we see that there are a lot of medical patients kind of coming on board still, even this is now like six or seven years after the medical marijuana program has started here in Florida. And so we know that there is still a huge need. The sentiments have not really changed the public sentiment, I think people are really wanting adult use. I've heard from a couple of very entrenched sources that that's going to be coming about sooner than later, you know, adult use here in the state. And so I think that that's something that a lot of people are really looking forward to. And you know, as a small cannabis business, of course, it's still a David and Goliath kind of thing here in the state, you know, we're, you know, not really fighting but we're just kind of making our peace with vertical integration here with the MSOs. And, you know, and then just, you know, trying to kind of carve out our space here within our state. And, you know, so it's, it's kind of a live and let live kind of thing. We have a new Commissioner of Agriculture, Wilton Simpson, who took over for Nicki fried, who, you know, Nicki was very vocal, very active within the cannabis industry here in Florida. Mr. Simpson was kind of tight lipped about it and his running, and really have not said anything really about cannabis, except for taking a very large and significant donation from Trulieve. And then standing behind the amendment that was made to, you know, kind of put more constraints on packaging. You know, they're very particular about making sure that especially edibles are not attractive to children, or they can't be seen or made into like attractive shapes or colors. And so, you know, he did take a very significant stance against that, which, you know, I think we all can kind of agree we want, you know, we want things to be safe for children.
Speaker 1 29:38
But it makes it difficult, right, for the small business owners, for sure.
Speaker 3 29:43
Well, it does make it difficult because now you're having to re label right, you're having to relabeled you're having to repackage if you you know had any sort of significant packaging that add any sort of colors or, you know, whatever, you know, as a small business It's it's harder to pivot in that way. You know, the MSOs can kind of do that a little bit more strategically because they deal in volume. And, you know, but if you're a small operator, kind of like myself, or many others that I know, you know, trying to stay up on these regulations, it can be very costly, and time consuming. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 30:21
So what do you wish that people outside of Florida understood about the cannabis industry there?
Speaker 3 30:27
Um, what do I wish, I wish that they knew that we were a part of the South, I think, um, you know, I know that it is very significant, you know, having to come here and create things here in Florida, just because of the travel time, right, the distance is really challenging for people. But we need a social equity, we need advocates here within our state. And there are a lot of really incredible organizations that are doing some incredible things in many different parts of the United States. And sometimes I kind of feel like we kind of the bus kind of just keeps going, you know, and kind of misses us at times. And, and so yeah, so I want people to know, like, as the third most populous state, in the United States, and with a, you know, couple billion dollar, you know, cannabis industry here in our state, you know, we need those types of resources to so don't forget about us here in the, in the little peninsula, do Dangal of the United States, it is
Speaker 1 31:38
weird how people don't really like put Florida in the south, like when they're talking about Southern states, they don't really consider Florida, it's really strange.
Speaker 3 31:49
It's like, it's a little University here in the States. And it
Speaker 1 31:53
is very populated. When I was living there, I was living in a very small part, like worth, but that was more populated, then. I don't remember the exact city. But I remember reading that it was more populated than a lot of the bigger cities in other states. Yeah, it's only like a seven square mile radius.
Speaker 3 32:14
Now, Lake Worth is a tiny, little, little city, you know. And they're, I mean, I'm pretty sure if you came here, you'd be like, Wow, I don't even recognize it. Because there is a lot of gentrification happening and Lake Worth, right. And, and then, you know, the, the advent of, you know, COVID, and people working remotely and working from home. So that is only dumped more bodies into our state, you know, and these are people that are coming from states that may have a medical program may not have a medical program, or maybe a rec, rec state. And so they're coming here to Florida, because they have the advantage of being able to like work from home now. Right. So they can like work from anywhere. And they're choosing to get away from the horrible weather and, you know, maybe, especially for the New Yorkers, you know, the more expensive living doing air quotes for the more expensive living, you know, other states to come down here to Florida, you know, so we're also having to contend with that, you know, a lot of the people that live here are, you know, snowbirds is a huge Snowbird population that still lives here. And a lot of them are coming from Canada, which Canada has a fully, you know, legalized cannabis, you know, program in Canada, and they're coming here, you know, four to six to eight months out of the year, to live here in Florida, you know, so, there's a lot of this kind of, like melting pot, you know, that's kind of happening. And it's like, who really is taking responsibility for these things here in Florida, right, because it is such a kind
Unknown Speaker 33:46
of transients big rains,
Speaker 3 33:49
migrate, you know, migratory state, you know, and so it's really like, so that's why I'm like these, these significant initiatives and these significant, you know, organizations that are working to get social equity and all these kinds of really important things, they kind of miss up, you know, and, and it's understandable why but, you know, I want people to know that we're here and we need help, and we need, you know, to galvanize and be able to set these things in motion here in Florida.
Speaker 1 34:16
Yeah, absolutely. People need to take Florida seriously as a state. More so than just a vacation place or somewhere to escape for half the year because I know that is I met more people from Maryland, when I lived in Florida, and I'm living in Maryland.
Speaker 3 34:35
I believe it, I believe it. Yeah, it's it's that kind of thing. You know, it's that kind of bait. So it's, there's the blessings of it, you know, that we have incredible weather we have an incredible ecosystem for agriculture and growing, you know, but there's also that like kind of migrant, you know, gypsy lifestyle that lived here in Florida. So, and then the fact that you know, it's such a large piece Have of land, you know, it's so difficult to get from the southern part of the state back up to the northern part of the state, you know, and even out of the scene. So it just, it just, there's a lot of things that make it a bit of a challenge, but it's so worth it. Because there are, you know, I feel like, if we can get things here started in Florida, then it can influence so many other states, right, because we have so many people from so many other states, you know, so it feels like if we can galvanize and get things rolling here, it would kind of plant that seed for a lot of people. And then when they go back home, or when they're talking to their friends are they're talking to family, and maybe other states that don't have a medical program or don't have an adult use program. It'll kind of plant that seed, you know, it's I feel like, I always say like, Florida is the gateway, right? We're the gateway to the Caribbean were the gateway to, you know, your Europe and all of these different places. And so it's like, if we can kind of figure out how to plant that seed here in Florida, it will inevitably affect so many other places. So yeah,
Speaker 1 36:00
and also just a little extra mention that the rehab population is so big in Florida, like there's so many rehabs and to think about how, yeah, to think of the difference to have that as a safer alternative for a lot of people who are in rehabs, for whatever the reason, you know, but if those rehabs would embrace cannabis as something that was a therapy instead of, you know, but anyway, so that's another discussion altogether. But there's I think Florida, Florida has a lot of untapped potential, especially when it comes to cannabis. And so piggybacking on that a little bit, what are your hopes for the future of the cannabis scene in Florida?
Speaker 3 36:47
Oh, my hopes I have so many hopes for Florida. You know, really, I think one of the main things and one of the biggest things, and especially as I've been dialed into much more significantly to other states. You know, I was just able to I had the fortune two just finished like a six week course with the BCB mastermind, which is minority CEO like cannabis mastermind. And so it was like all these minority businesses from and we were the seventh cohort, but we had a lot of people from New York, tons of people from New York, 10s of people from Jersey, we have people from Atlanta and Michigan, and just being able to like work with them and see kind of how things are flowing within their states. It gave me so much hope for Florida and like what we are capable of doing. And I think, you know, one of my biggest hopes is really that we're able to one holistically integrate our agriculture, our you know, because people always think of Florida kind of as a tourist state, right? They're like, Oh, it's Disney. And it's, you know, it's tourism. But at the heart of Florida, we are an agricultural state, right, we supply more than 50% of the agriculture during the winter time for the United States, right. So, so at the heart, like yes, there is that tourism, that hospitality, it's always going to be there. But at the heart of our state is this agricultural spirit, right, and this agricultural, like roots that we have here in Florida. And so I really hope that we can holistically figure out some way to integrate hemp and cannabis, into our agricultural system here in Florida, in a way that's equitable, and accessible for, you know, the farmers that are here, especially minority farmers. So that's one thing that my hope is really, you know, like, I'm really thinking about and meditating on and how can I help? And how can I assist and, you know, support that. And you know, and then the other component is the social equity, right, we have no social equity, or even the whimpers of a social equity program here in Florida. And so that's my other hope. You know, there are so many people that are in jail because of cannabis. And now we have significant, and some of the largest multi state operators making money here in Florida, in the same exact game, that they're better have people in jail, you know, and so, I really hope that now that we kind of have this medical program up and running, and it's running, you know, I wouldn't say completely efficiently, but it's a system, you know, and it takes time. But, um, but now that we have that up and running, and people are now looking towards adult use, those are my two really big hopes, because to me, you know, so many people are like, Oh, they should just make it right. They should just make an adult use, they should just let people do what they want. And I'm like, Do you not understand how, like entrenched that is, that's not an easy tasks, like, how do you account for finance, right? Like we know that safer Banking Act has been passed through, right. So that's really great on a federal level, but that doesn't say anything about on the state level. Well, you know, we have people that are in prison because of cannabis, how do we account for those people, like, you can't just open the floodgates and be like, Oh, just let people do whatever they want, and not have some sort of significant mechanisms in place to right the wrongs that have already happened, right. White farmers are still fighting to get licenses to be able to become MTCs here in the state, you know, so these are significant things that we have to address or have to understand and know how to overcome before we just open the floodgates and go, Oh, yeah, it's adult use now, right? Because it's not really going to help anybody, you know, and if anything is gonna make it worse, right? Because now there's gonna be other players coming into the scene, trying to capitalize on that adult use now. And you know, we've seen this in California, right, California has had the longest programming in place, since the 90s, late late 80s, early 90s. And we've seen some of the backtracking that they've even had to do right, as they've brought different segments of the cannabis industry on board and their state. So I'm really hoping that we can kind of learn from them, you know, and kind of maybe not stumble or have those those same blocks, and, you know, social equity. And really getting back to the heart of agriculture, I think are, you know, two really big, big stumbling blocks or big hurdles that I think we have to address, before we can fully go over adult use here, you know, that so those are my two hopes, really, that we're able to really address those things.
Speaker 1 41:30
Those are good hopes. So where can people find you? And how can they support you?
Speaker 3 41:37
Hey, you know, you know,
Speaker 1 41:40
specifically, we'll link it in the show notes. But you know, just talk about what you got going on.
Speaker 3 41:47
We have a love hate relationship, it and I. But you know, it is always great. I'm trying not to use that as much. But you can always follow my website, www dot the green Baker. And that's th e g r e n bkr.com. That's my website. All of my contact information is on there, all and my socials too. And people can get in touch with me that way. If they have any questions, I'm all about educating. I'm all about helping people to understand how best to use edibles in a much more accessible way. And you know, not to let that fear of your bad edibles trip get in the way of you, you know, maybe expanding that repertoire of consumption that you you know, may have So yeah, that's, that's the way that you can, that's the best way to get in touch with me and all my numbers and everything is definitely on there. So
Speaker 1 42:42
yeah. Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and experience with me today.
Speaker 3 42:50
Thank you, thank you for allowing me to be sweaty, amazing here on on your podcast, I so appreciate it. And, you know, as much as I can bring attention back to Florida and kind of let people know that, you know, hey, we're still here, you know, we're still fighting then I'm gonna do it, you know, because I think it's more important So, and I appreciate you for giving me the platform to do that because
Speaker 1 43:17
Thank you for listening. Until next time, stay high and beautiful. This episode was produced by Your Highness media, audio editing by Jr. Crash. intro music by your mom likes my music. Subscribe to our substack Your Highness newsletter for the latest announcements and event updates.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai