This week Scott and Miranda discuss social equity and social justice in the cannabis industry with a focus on US Senate candidate Gary Chambers, Jr. "37 Seconds" ad and how Strain Genie can help a person find the right cannabis strain using DNA.
Strain Genie (note: not sponsored, we just like them!)
This episode features the Louis Armstrong's classic "Muggles" and Fab 5 Freddy's "Down by Law."
Transcript
[INTRO MUSIC: "Muggles" by Louis Armstrong]
Miranda:
Welcome to The Heady Conversations with Scott and Miranda.
Scott:
Hello, again, friends.
Miranda:
So, week three of all of this.
Scott:
It is indeed. Thank you again for all the support all the feedback, all the encouragement, heard from quite a few people again this week.
Miranda:
Right on:
Scott:
Definitely everybody being very kind with their words, and forthcoming with things that they want to hear more about or things that they're confused by. So we'll definitely get to some more of that stuff in next month's Q&A. When it comes down to that. There was a bit of a programming change this week, we had mentioned last week that we were going to do our first interview of the series, but our friends that we want to have come on and talk with us weren't going to be available until this Tuesday to do that interview. So we'll have that for you next week.
Miranda:
For sure. It's gonna be a great interview to lots of fantastic information from a really fantastic group of people. So we're super stoked.
Scott:
Yeah. Closing out CBD month with some rock stars of the Maryland CBD community.
Miranda:
Right on.
Scott:
Yeah. So what we're going to do for you this week, then is bring you kind of a roundup of current events, things that we think are interesting that you may have heard about in the world of cannabis. Yeah!
Miranda:
Yeah, just like a little news update, because there's a lot going on in the world of cannabis, both nationally and internationally. So we're gonna get started with just some some little news that's popped up in the past weeks.
Scott:
Yeah, you may have heard. You know, I guess it's been about a week and a half now. So it's not hot off the presses at this point. But people are definitely still. I'm seeing dispensaries talk about it. I'm seeing brands talk about it. People are trying to get some marketing motion...
Miranda:
Oh, definitely
Scott:
Out of some fairly misleading headlines.
Miranda:
Yes, and that's the thing. That's the issue that I have most with this is that the headline itself was very misleading.
Scott:
Right. Most of the articles I think if you opened it up, actually had some pretty good scientific information in them. But the headlines themselves. Were you know, basically you probably saw, "Does Cannabis Stop COVID?".
Miranda:
"Cannabis Does Stop COVID", that was the one that I saw. And I was like, hold the phone.
Scott:
Yeah, I guess I'm trying to, I'm trying to be nice. But But yeah, there were definitely some people straight up saying that smoking pot would keep you from getting COVID.
Miranda:
Or, cure it.
Scott:
And we all wish that were the case as cannabis consumers. But I can assure you I know enough heavy cannabis users that have gotten COVID. Thankfully, most of them mild cases, but some of them so yeah, hospitalized. Yeah, smoking cannabis is not going to stop you from getting COVID.
Miranda:
I can speak to my own experience with that. I've had COVID twice, in 2020. And I consider myself a fairly I don't know heavy is the word?
Scott:
Regular?
Miranda:
Extraordinarily, regular, user and it's it didn't stop me or make me better, maybe the RSO that I was taking while I had COVID Both times helped with inflammation. But I can't speak that it helps with anything else because I was very sick the first time and pretty sick the second time.
Scott:
I remember the second time for sure. And you were definitely not having a good time. Yeah, so the the science of the articles when you break it down is that there are cannabinoid compounds that have shown success in blocking COVID from getting through. But those are chemical compounds that are changed when you-
Miranda:
Ignite them!
Scott:
When you ignite your cannabis so something like a tincture or maybe some like cold pressed hemp juice I even saw somebody say would be high in CBGa and CBDa but your regular flower or your vape cartridge or really anything else that's been decarboxylated like we talked about last week. And you know the those cannabinoids have been that THC has been activated, those chemical compounds that that article talks about are no longer present.
Miranda:
Exactly. It changes the acids into non acids. I'm guessing. I'm not a chemist, I do not claim to be one nor am I a doctor. Um, however, there's quite a bit of science and those forms of T- I'm sorry, not THCA, CBDa and CBGa are not found once cannabis has burned off.
Scott:
Right. And so basically what it means is, there could be some research in the future, you know, derived from this knowledge that increases the use of cannabinoids in fighting against COVID or helping people recover from COVID or something like that. But more research needs to be done. And definitely what it does not translate into is smoking cannabis will prevent you from getting COVID Cure Your COVID quicker, prevent you from having, you know, long COVID it's yeah, it's just not the case. As is with just about everything with COVID. We don't know the answers to most of those questions. Yeah.
Miranda:
No truer words. Than that one for sure.
Scott:
So, sorry, folks, if you know you, you've picked up your usage in the past week and a half since you read that headline, but read the article, click through, make sure you're getting good information, not just being used to promote a website, or a product or, God forbid a dispensary.
Miranda:
Or even up your usage in general. Yeah, that's if you're upping your usage to combat COVID. Just stop. You're spending unnecessary money that you don't need to spend.
Scott:
That seems. That seems silly. Speaking of better ways that you can spend your money.
Miranda:
Yeah, so we, on our first episode, we talked about the cannabis DNA kits that were available in Canada that some of our Canadian friends were talking about on their platforms. And I thought that was pretty interesting. So I did a little bit of a internet deep dive and found that in the United States, you too, can get a cannabis DNA kit.
Scott:
And I will!
Miranda:
Me too! I'm really super excited. And there's a bunch of ways you can do it. Um, they do look at 400 genetic biomarkers to identify genetic predisposition for medical conditions.
Scott:
Okay.
Miranda:
And different cannabinoids and terpenes, as well. So it pretty much just checks out your entire body and goes through your entire system. And then you'll get back a little report that says, hey, this is how fast or slow you metabolize THC and or CBD. And, you know, whether you're predisposed to cannabis induced psychosis or or could possibly experience cannabis dependence. I mean, all of these things are going to be on your report as well. That's why I think it's fucking fascinating.
Scott:
Does it say anything specifically about edibles?
Miranda:
Um...
Scott:
Because I know you know, there are different conditions that can affect...
Miranda:
Right.
Scott:
Whether edibles work on someone or not. I've heard different people, you know, talk about, oh, well, I've got this so they don't work on me. They I've got that. And I always wonder if that's scientific knowledge or just anecdotal evidence. But I wondered, you know.
Miranda:
It doesn't really... in my poking through the website. It didn't say anything about edibles. It was more focused on your endocannabinoid system and learning what kind of strains and terpenes will work for you.
Scott:
Word, I mean, that is more than enough. And you said, if you've done one of the like, genetic family tree kind of things before, not only is it cheaper, but also probably quicker, right? I would imagine.
Miranda:
I would imagine that it's quicker. It's definitely cheaper. So, if you've done a 23AndMe or a ancestry.com, you're definitely going to get some raw DNA information that you can sort of copy and paste into strain genie's, it strain genie.com. s-t-r-a-i-n-g-e-n-i-e.
Scott:
And we'll put that information up on the website.
Miranda:
Absolutely.
Scott:
All that good stuff. They're not a paid sponsor, by the way. We're just trying to give you some information that we think is interesting and potentially helpful. I know we're both stoked.
Miranda:
Yeah, I'm super stoked.
Scott:
Check it out. So yeah, maybe well, we'll talk about our results when we get them on the air.
Miranda:
Yeah. But yeah, it's, uh, it seems like it's gonna be just pretty much focused on getting you the right medicine, as we are in Maryland and it's a medical state.
Scott:
Right. With terp info.
Miranda:
With terp info. So a, a full non ancestry or 23AndMe kit is $200, 199.99.
Scott:
Yeah. Okay.
Miranda:
Which is, I feel like if you're getting that sometimes more than you pay, or less than you pay the doctors to get information from them.
Scott:
Look, we have no idea how reliable this information is yet, we will happily give you open and honest opinions about how valid the information we get from these tests are.
Miranda:
Yeah.
Scott:
After we take these tests. But in theory, if this test is effective in telling you the types of cannabis that will be effective for you, most effective for you, I guess you should say, or you know, or or what your endocannabinoid system is kind of predisposed to, then you could end up potentially saving a ton of money.
Miranda:
Oh, my God searching for that perfect strain.
Scott:
Yeah. Or even worse, you know, strains that that aren't going to, Yeah, I guess we'll have to see what kind of information we get back, when we do the test.
Miranda:
Yeah. They're very privacy oriented, which as they should be, if they're collecting DNA from you.
Scott:
Yeah. I've never done any of those family tree things. You know, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I don't necessarily think that anybody's trying to recreate me in a lab or anything, but I don't know-
Miranda:
Maybe they should! [cackles]
Scott:
It's. It's always been, it's always been a little weird to me to think about, like swabbing my DNA and sending it off in a box somewhere for somebody to then analyze and record. I don't know why. I'm sure I'm not the only person that feels that way. But yeah, so privacy is definitely a big deal for me.
Miranda:
Definitely. And yeah, you'll get a swab, which you'll swab the inside of your cheek, an envelope to return it. And in three weeks, it'll all come back to you.
Scott:
[sings]"It's all coming back to me!"
I'm excited. Maybe, maybe we, maybe we make some videos. Yes. swabbing our cheeks for you.
Miranda:
I mean, I already did my ancestry because-
Scott:
OH!
Miranda:
Because my family drops off at a certain point, after two generations, which is a big fat fucking question. So I did my ancestry so I can just it's $24.99 if you've done 23AndMe or Ancestry.
Scott:
Super cheap.
Miranda:
Very cheap.
Scott:
I don't know why anyone, frankly, would not do that. If already your DNA is already out there. Yeah. If they've already gotten over whatever weird hump I have of like putting my DNA, you know, out into some database or whatever. Yeah, 25 bucks to potentially find out the cannabis that's going to best work for me in dealing with the issues I have. Absolutely. That's cheaper than Reiner and eighth of mediocre weed.
Miranda:
It's kinda cheaper than an eighth of really shitty weed too.
Scott:
Yeah. [snickers]
Miranda:
I'm just gonna say it.
Scott:
I guess it depends where you get your weed. And it deals your dispensary as are. Yeah, 25 bucks is nothing folks, we would highly. Again, like I said, this is not a paid sponsorship, we have no ties to this company. This is just something that, you know, when we mentioned things on the show. If you have questions about them, please send them our way. But if I have, like, you know, I immediately was like, wait, can we do that? Can we find out more about this?
Miranda:
And as far as I know, it was only a Canadian thing until I did a little deep dive. And I really I had to dig on the internet for this, honestly.
Scott:
Wow.
Miranda:
It was it was not an easy find. But all of the links will be provided to you in the in the blog. I just checked here and it says what happens to my data and it says that all reports are generated on HIPAA compliant servers.
Scott:
Okay. So, so basically, you're not being any more compromised than your information sitting at your doctor's office.
Miranda:
Exactly, so fairly safe. So if you feel like doing that and not spending a ton of money on pre rolls, that first year is a patient. Yeah, spend that $200 and just get this done and see what see how it works for you and actually let us know to reach out if you do have it done.
Scott:
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, obviously no need to share your individual results or anything like that. But just did you find the the information useful? Did you not? I would be really interested. Like, what if it tells you that you've got a greater chance for cannabis induced psychosis?
Miranda:
I know!
Scott:
That would be a little scary.
Miranda:
But also really helpful.
Scott:
Of course, of course.
Miranda:
You want to definitely prevent that!
Scott:
For sure!
Miranda:
Every day! [laughs]
Scott:
Yeah. You know, again, we talked about last week, this is a drug folks, as much as we enjoy using cannabis ourselves and effectively use cannabis to treat various, you know, pain, whatever related issues that we have. Yeah, it's a drug. And it's not for everybody. And it affects different people in different ways. So, yes, knowing that you're at a potentially greater risk for something like that would be very helpful. I mean, the same way knowing that, you know, your family has a predisposition to alcoholism.
Miranda:
Absolutely.
Scott:
Or, you know, schizophrenia, or something like that.
Miranda:
Any number of, of difficult things to navigate. Yeah. But especially since we don't have hard science, regarding cannabis and cannabis usage, it's helpful to know where you should be going, instead of even if it's just slightly steering you in the right direction, as opposed to just sort of, I don't know, throwing something at a wall and hoping it sticks.
Scott:
Right? No, absolutely. I mean, as prohibition walls come down, and various states and the federal government hopefully loosens up its restrictions, we get rescheduled, blah, blah, blah, all those things and people can do more research. Yes, will have greater knowledge overall, but this is still you know, one on one specific to you. Which is, yeah, absolutely invaluable.
Miranda:
Yeah.
Scott:
Speaking of legislation, changes and things opening up. We had a really, really cool event in the news this week. I think you were the first person I saw post this video-
Miranda:
Yeah!
Scott:
Actually. And of course, we're talking about Gary Chambers, Jr., the Senate candidate for Louisiana, came out and recorded a little 37, 38 second video of him smoking a blunt.
Miranda:
Yeah, sitting out in a fancy leather chair smoking a blunt. And this ad gave me life! I have never, I just I felt so good after watching that.
Scott:
Yeah, you know, I use the #EndTheStigma pretty often. Because I really honestly, I've always tried to be fairly open about my drug use when it comes to cannabis. It's not something I'm ashamed of in any way. I use cannabis responsibly. I at points in my life, have irresponsibly use cannabis. But I'm not at those points now. And I practice responsible use. I encourage responsible use. I have no problem with anyone knowing I use cannabis. Do I talk about it with my you know, preteen nephew's? No, of course not that's not gonna place you know, I don't talk with them about my alcohol, you know, drinking wine either. But as far as everyone else goes, I'm pretty pretty out there with it.
Miranda:
Yeah, there's no reason you shouldn't be. He uses the #JustLikeMe.
Scott:
Right!
Miranda:
Which I think is fierce.
Scott:
Yeah, he is. He is out there and and he has made it known that he is willing to take a stand to get a point across and make it clear that there's there's nothing wrong with cannabis. You know, as long as you're being responsible and and respectful and all those good things.
Miranda:
Yeah, he wanted to just destig- destigmatize the use and also force new conversations that create a pathway to legalize and forgive those who were arrested for outdated ideo- ideology.
Scott:
Right, and that's the reality of the situation right? 20 years from now we're going to look back and it's going to be so absurd that cannabis was prohibited worldwide...
Miranda:
Worldwide!
Scott:
For hundreds of years now, I guess. Well, I don't know. No...
Mirannda:
We just we we scheduled it 193-, 1937.
Scott:
Yeah. So yeah. Not not even hundreds of years.
Miranda:
Yeah.
Scott:
It's not even, like, generations of tradition that we're breaking here. We're really, it's just been, you know, a generation of ridiculousness.
Miranda:
Yeah!
Scott:
That we're now about to break hold of the clutches of, I think.
Miranda:
It needs to happen. It's time.
Scott:
I mean, the culture war was was not won by the right people. If you asked me, and yeah, definitely, that is reflected in the war on drugs. And the way they the United States drug policy has influenced cannabis policy worldwide for this this past... You know, amount of time, would you say since 37, is when it was classified 37 as schedule one, so, I mean, yeah, that's, that's absurd. totally absurd. But yeah, the ad is great.
Miranda:
It's impactful.
Scott:
Yeah. And we'll play it for you now, in case you haven't heard it.
Gary Chambers Jr.:
"Every 37 seconds, someone is arrested for posession of marijuana. Since 2010 state and local police have arrested 7.3 million Americans for violating marijuana laws. Over half of all drug arrests. Black people are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana laws than white people. States waste 3.7 billion dollars enforcing marijuana laws every year. Most of the people police are arresting aren't dealers but people with small amounts of pot, just like me. I'm Gary Chambers and I am running for the US Senate and I approve this message."
Miranda:
And I love the fact that he calls it, "37 Seconds," because every 37 seconds someone is arrested for possession of marijuana in the United States.
Scott:
Yeah.
Miranda:
That's a lot.
Scott:
If you haven't seen our pictures. Miranda and I are both very white. Our skin is pale. We are Caucasian. Yeah. So I don't know. Some people might think it's odd how much you're probably going to hear us talk about social justice and equity and things like that on this show. But it's something that we both feel exceptionally strongly about.
Miranda:
I would, I would say honestly, because of how we grew up.
Scott:
Sure.
Miranda:
This is a big deal to us. Because Scott and I both grew up in Baltimore City.
Scott:
Yep.
Miranda:
We ran the streets of Baltimore City, like wild children in the 90's.
Scott:
Without without getting into too much detail. Yeah, I mean, we've we've both been around people who were, you know, not on the legal side of cannabis. You know, this, this industry is only a few years old here. And we're both very experienced cannabis users. So yeah, that tells you that once upon a time, we were not dealing with dispensaries and lab tests and things like that. And yeah, you know, people that end up on the wrong side of the law.
Miranda:
Or just friends who have a gram-
Scott:
Yeah.
Miranda:
On them.
Scott:
Just the dumbest things, you know, people that did got stopped and searched, because they had, you know, an odor of cannabis about them-
Miranda:
And then consequently picked up a charge because of it.
Scott:
Right. You know, absolutely ridiculous and it used, as it's, you know, if you're a younger listener who is growing up in this wonderful world of cannabis, you know, becoming legal in the United States. I know if you're in a state that where it's not legal, or if you're in a country where it's not legal, it might sound gloaty for me to talk about this wild world, but I guarantee you, you know, we're going to be talking about next all the different places where cannabis legislation's in the works, but yeah, I mean, you you know, people that have been negatively impacted in the past-
Miranda:
At some point.
Scott:
It's ridiculous how impactful something like cannabis could have been to you back in the mid 90's. You know, for for relatively small amounts. You know, transporting an ounce from the dispensary to your house is not that uncommon for a lot of people to do, but if you got caught with an ounce back in the 90's I mean, you could be looking at intend to distribute...
Miranda:
Oh, absolutely.
Scott:
All kinds of silly things.
Miranda:
And going and lots and lots jail time, especially if you are not our particular shade of of white.
Scott:
Right. You know, and I mean all for just driving home from your your buddy's house with your with your cannabis or from a party with your cannabis, or what have you. I mean just total ridiculousness people getting thrown out of apartments and losing jobs and losing the ability to get good jobs. And, you know, the the ways in which the War on Drugs can negatively impact people's lives is truly never ending, you know, for, you know, if you live in a ridiculous state that had three strikes laws and things like that, I mean, you could end up with serious federal jail time.
Miranda:
Yeah. Or even small amounts of cannabis too, which is absurd.
Scott:
Yeah. So yeah, it's, it's, it's an important message, it's one that we're going to continue to talk about. You know, I know, I intend to bring up a number of different subjects and topics during Black History Month for us to talk about things like, The Last Prisoner Project.
Miranda:
Absolutely.
Scott:
And, you know, really let you all know, how you can get involved, the brands that you can support to help support these causes, if they're important to you, as well, which they should be, you know, you really, not to be preachy, but if...
Miranda:
Go ahead, Scott! [laughs]
Scott:
If you're enjoy this, this medicine-
Miranda:
You should know the history.
Scott:
There's a certain amount of culture that comes with it, and there's a certain amount of, you know, togetherness and unification. And you know, I mean, it's, it's a plant that we can all grow, we should all be able to enjoy, right? Yeah. It's, yeah, they, you know, so you should care about the fact that somebody might be locked up in jail for this very thing that we can sit here and enjoy and have a podcast about and work in an industry and make, you know, a living from, while people are still, you know, facing felony charges, not able to get jobs, you know, being stigmatized, so, yeah, yeah, you're right, we're not afraid to get on our soapbox, oh, and we're not gonna, we're not gonna stop doing that. And we encourage you to get on your soapbox about it to with your friends and your family and most importantly, your politicians.
Miranda:
Oh, call them up, bother them.
Scott:
It's not good enough to live in a place where you can go get cannabis and enjoy it. You know, you should make sure that everybody has those rights and that nobody's being punished. Or being you know. Yeah, yeah. criminalized for for something that no one should be punished for. Yeah, it's really just that simple.
Miranda:
It's like being penalized for growing peppermint. I mean, if you really want to get down to it, it's just a weed.
Scott:
It sounds funny to say that, but you're absolutely correct.
Miranda:
Yeah.
Scott:
It really is no different than growing rosemary, or grows or oregano or...
Miranda:
Yeah, it's, it's a weed.
Scott:
Yeah, you can you can smoke those things, too. We'll have to talk about that in depth because people people do do that people put herbs and flowers. And with their I have done it in the past. It's not something that I regularly do. But it's something that I've read about several times in the past year. And I I saw a post of somebody rolling up a lavender joint that just looked lovely.
Miranda:
Yeah, I find my, I call myself a generational herbalist because I don't have any actual training.
Scott:
Yeah.
Miranda:
But I've got generations of women knew what every plant did.
Scott:
Yeah.
Miranda:
In some way, shape or form. So I've I mean, I grew up with herbal medicine. And yeah, I mean, I've rolled mugwort, I've rolled, I can go on and on with the list, lavender, roses, all sorts of things. But that can definitely be another another topic for another day.
Scott:
For sure.
Miranda:
We don't want to interrupt the social justice hour, because it needs to be talked about. It needs to be out there and people need to know what they're buying and who they're buying from and what their politics are. Because politics in this industry does matter.
Scott:
My grandfather told me when I was a very young boy, you vote with your wallet.
Miranda:
Yep.
Scott:
You can say whatever you want. You can even vote for people who say things that you agree with. But if you want to be sure that you're getting your point across, you vote with your wallet, you either spend money supporting things that you support, and you also don't spend money in supporting things that you don't support or supporting people that, you know, exhibit traits or practices that you don't believe in.
Miranda:
I think thankfully, and this is I'm going to climb a little back down from my soapbox after this. At the beginning of the pandemic, I think we saw a lot of people really, really voting with their wallet in regards to businesses who came out as racist, sexist, all sorts of things. Sure, you know, once a business, makes a name for themselves, and then does some shady business. People are going to talk people are going to find out about it. And if you don't agree with those politics, you should not buy their product, you should not patronize their business.
Scott:
And that's, I'm sorry, that's not cancel culture. That's accountability.
Miranda:
Absolutely.
Scott:
We're, we're adults. This is 2022. Now, as much as I hate to admit it, and I'm not really ready for it, we're almost done January already. Yeah, it's, it's it's time to own your shit people. It's time to be responsible. It's time to start, you know, realizing the impact your decisions have and make on the world around you. And yeah, absolutely.
Miranda:
I think it's just it's a simple vote of conscience.
Scott:
For sure. So speaking of voting, yeah. You know, I think we talked about last week, and alluded to, you know, earlier, if things aren't legal in your state or in your country, there's a good chance things are heading that way. And we have a little bit of a round up on what's going on with some of those things for you.
Miranda:
Yeah, a lot of places are looking like they're going to legalize within the next year. I think 14 states including Maryland.
Scott:
and we say legalize we mean anything from medical all the way to adult use.
Miranda:
Yes.
Scott:
Right.
Miranda:
I don't like to use the word rec.
Scott:
Right.
Miranda:
I find that it's I don't know. Because alcohol isn't recreational. We don't, but it's adult use.
Scott:
Right.
Miranda:
So as long as you have to be 18 or 21 and over to purchase, that's, anyway...
Scott:
I've never thought about it until just now. I don't I don't think I have an issue with the term recreational because I definitely do occasionally use cannabis recreationally.
Miranda:
We all do.
Scott:
But to say that I you know, I've discussed in the past, I think of alcohol as a medicine or as a drug as well.
Miranda:
Absolutely.
Scott:
Most people don't use it that way. Most people don't use cannabis that way, either, regardless of what the card in their wallet says. You know, and when I say that, that's not to be pretentious or condescending. It's just to mean that they don't necessarily have the information required to use cannabis, specifically medicinal. Yeah, they don't know what's going to help treat their lower back pain or what's going to help treat their depression or suppress or stimulate their appetite. You know, they just don't have that knowledge. Not that they don't want to use cannabis more medicinally or in a more informed way. But they just don't have that knowledge necessarily yet.
Miranda:
So yeah, a bunch of states are heading towards adult use this year. Delaware's on the list, Oklahoma, Mississippi, as well, medical, Maryland.
Scott:
And when we say headed towards we mean, likely for at least a referendum.
Miranda:
Right.
Scott:
Right, if not some specific proposed legislation already because some of them are a little more like Maryland. A little more nebulous at the moment, but definitely moving towards some sort of expansion of the program already present, or, you know, a new program entirely, whatever it means in whatever state.
Miranda:
Can I be slightly critical of the Medical program real quick?
Scott:
Sure.
Miranda:
And whatever. Um, I just think it's, it's like a stepping stone at this point.
Scott:
I totally agree.
Miranda:
With the nixing of the photos on the IDs and everything else, it's just sort of like, okay, we're ready. Let's just do this.
Scott:
Well, that, yeah. So what Miranda is referencing is Maryland here in the last year went to a photoless card for our medical cannabis patients. Yeah, I totally do not understand why that move was made. I really don't I to me It's just a backward step.
Miranda:
Yeah.
Scott:
I don't think it makes any sense. I don't necessarily think that THAT is any sort of stepping stone towards adult.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, it's absolutely not a stepping stone.
Scott:
But I definitely feel that in general, medical programs are a way for a state to get their people more comfortable with the fact that there are pot stores in the state. And then they can do it. We saw the same stuff with gambling, right? We saw states that adopted slot machines, and then they adopt...
Miranda:
Table machines. Table machines... [laughs] It's a tabletop games.
Scott:
It's all the same stuff. It's all this outdated, puritanical, you know, moralizing behavior, and associating good or bad, two different activities. And, um, you know, again, I'm not encouraging anyone to gamble or anything like that. But if you choose to gamble, you choose to gamble. You know, it's, it's silly, right? In my opinion for the government to say, No, you can't do that on that football game.
Miranda:
Yeah, you can't use your money to do that.
Scott:
I'm not doing it. You know, the same way. Other people aren't going to enjoy cannabis. But I would hope that people would have, you know, if we're gonna allow alcohol, if we're gonna allow tobacco if we're I mean, sugar. Come on, man. You know, we got plenty of high fructose corn syrup in this country. Nobody, nobody seems to be concerned about what that does to people's brains or waistlines or whatever, you know? Yeah, come on. It's it's all. It's all silly. So, hopefully, the government gets more out of the way.
Miranda:
They need to get out of their own way.
Scott:
Yeah, it's, well, they're broke. Right? I mean, that's, that's the whole thing I keep telling people is at this point, they've got no choice even. Even the states that want to still keep pretending they, you know, too moral too upstanding to allow the sale of cannabis in their state are broke.
Miranda:
Very.
Scott:
You know, some of the the most morally posturing states, I would say, are some of the brokest, in fact. So yeah, I mean, I think regardless, liberal, conservative, it really doesn't matter. Now, what it does matter in is how the bills in those states end up being structured.
Miranda:
Absolutely.
Scott:
And the way we start to see these programs being implemented in different places.
Miranda:
Right, because we also have a list of states that are doing away with their social, social equity bills, or the parts of the bill that has social equity covered under it. And there are also a bunch of states that are adding that to their bills.
Scott:
Yeah, it's it's definitely lots of moving parts. There's definitely plenty that we could talk about on a super microscopic level on what's going on in all of these states every single month. You know, we both follow a million different cannabis personalities, Cannabis News aggregators, and things like that. And there is no shortage of headlines in any given day about financial news, about legislative new,s about you know, mergers and acquisitions about different science coming out about cannabinoids, whether it's delta-8 delta-10, you know, CBD, CBG, yeah, there's there's no shortage of information out there by any means.
[MUSIC - "Down by Law" by Fab 5 Freddy]
Miranda:
So getting back, after a brief smoke break...
Scott:
Talking about the importance of equity and social justice in markets, you know, supporting what you believe in and all that good stuff.
Miranda:
There's definitely Bnoble that you can support. Yeah. Which is owned by Curaleaf. But is providing contributions to The Last Prisoner Project.
Scott:
Right, which we mentioned earlier. And that is something that District Cannabis here locally does support.
Miranda:
Right.
Scott:
If you buy their pre rolls, there's like a little sticker on there that mentions that a percentage of the purchase is going towards Last Prisoner Project. But yeah, the Bnoble brand is, if you're of a certain age, if you're Gen X, like Miranda and I, you probably remember Fab 5 Freddy from Yo! MTV Raps. Or maybe I think he was a DJ in New York.
Miranda:
Yeah, he's a DJ in New York.
Scott:
Where he came from originally the New York hip hop scene. But yeah, Fab 5 Freddy and I think it's Bernard Noble. Yes, that's why it's Bnoble, right?
Miranda:
Yes.
Scott:
Have paired up to along with Curaleaf. Bring you these pre roll. I think it's just pre rolls. I haven't seen any-
Miranda:
Right now, it's just pre rolls. In the New York market they have eighths.
Scott:
Oh, wow! Actual bulk flower as well.
Miranda:
Yeah.
Scott:
I mean, that is the one cool thing about national brands, is you can get, ya know. Larger exposure for some projects and situations and and causes like this when they partner up with good people.
Miranda:
And, I mean, Last Prisoner Project is a fantastic mission.
Scott:
Absolutely. I I haven't had the Bnoble joints myself.
Miranda:
They're good.
Scott:
But I've heard, I've heard decent things. And the price point on them is pretty good as I recall. It's like a two pack. Like...
Miranda:
About 15/20 bucks.
Scott:
Yeah, I don't know, something like that.
Miranda:
But the reason he started this is because he was sentenced to 13 years of hard labor for carrying less than two joints worth of cannabis.
Scott:
Right, I mean, we mentioned before how you know even super small amounts things like, roaches things like a dirty bowl in your pocket or papers in your pocket can end up, you know...
Miranda:
Or a lighter with some ash on it.
Scott:
Yeah, totally ridiculous things people would be charged with paraphernalia charges and just ridiculous absolutely ridiculous stuff. You know, the type of thing where today literally the cop doesn't even want to fill out the paperwork wouldn't stop you in the first place, let alone try to charge you with something. But so many places, even if there's no sort of medicinal program or adult use program. It's, you know, marijuana has still been decriminalized in a number... because that's talking about the senator again that's the big thing is in Louisiana, I think in New Orleans especially the cops have come out and said okay, we're no longer going to use this as a stoppable offense-
Miranda:
Right.
Scott:
To to, you know, harass or intimidate or bring these people up on other charges or whatever else. A stop might end up leading to. But yeah, so Bnoble is definitely one of those brands you can support. Anything that you see that supports the Last Prisoner Project, there were those pins that were going around that you could buy and rock. Supporting things like prop 215. And yeah, you know, it's it's important to spend your money on good things.
Miranda:
And seriously, if you are passionate about cannabis and want to see reform in your state, do write your senators, do write your delegates make it known. You're not willing to stand for just whatever they're willing to hand you, work for it.
Scott:
Right, We talked about Virginia. And Virginia had recently passed cannabis legislation and then an election happened, a Republican governor comes in, and he basically says, Hey, cannabis, not so bad, but....
Miranda:
We're just you know, not gonna do any social justice work.
Scott:
Yeah, all that stuff about cottage industry, all that stuff about home grow, you know, it starts to, I'm not super familiar with the Virginia situation. I haven't read a ton of articles about it. But it starts to sound like it's just more business as usual.
Miranda:
Of course, put money in the pockets of the big man leaves a little man screwed on the end of the road.
Scott:
Yeah, you see, you see the same brands popping and, look, some of these brands might be great brands.
Miranda:
Yeah.
Scott:
They might be brands that I like and support in other markets. But we shouldn't be seeing all of the same names all the way from one end of the country to another, you know.
Miranda:
Absolutely.
Scott:
One of the things about cannabis should be using the land and enriching the people, you know, that are there to use the land and crops. Yeah, there's, there's certainly enough money to go around.
Miranda:
You should, there's more than enough.
Scott:
Yeah, you should definitely be, you know, supporting local stuff. And, you know, obviously, the local guys need to compete, you need to be able to put out flower that's as good as national brand, X, Y or Z. But at the same time, the licensing process has to be such that other brands have an ability to compete.
Miranda:
They're working on that in Canada right now really hard. Because a lot of there are a lot of big brands, but they're also trying to usher in smaller brands and more like, cottage industry.
Scott:
And I've seen some of that in California as well, where I just read an article this week, that was about grandfathering in growers from the Emerald triangle, if you if you're familiar with your like California lore, or where products came from, before we had these legal markets in different states. Obviously California has different regions that are kind of famous for growing you know, Humboldt County, blah, blah, blah. But the Emerald triangle is this very specific place that's been growing, I guess specifically high quality THC cannabis for a long time. And, and they're trying to get, I guess, almost like a, you know, "Champagne" or "Chianti" kind of, you know, domain recognition, where there would be some sort of stamp or whatever that says, you know, grown in the the Emerald triangle or what have you. And that stuff's important. You know, it's there, people that have been... medicinal cannabis didn't just become a thing, because medicinal cannabis was legalized in this state or that state, right? People, people with cancer, people with nausea, people with trouble sleeping people with anxiety, whatever, have been using cannabis to treat these different things, obviously, for for some time now and the people that have been legacy into industry miles. I mean, I know, you know, it might sound funny to say that way. But it's, it's the truth. You know, there are really people that have been out here, taking care of patients, educating people, and those people should be recognized in some way their expertise shouldn't be cast aside, you know, obviously, we're not advocating for any illicit activity, but we're saying people who have experience doing the things that are now making people millions and billions of dollars should probably be involved and get a little piece of that pie, regardless of where you are. And most definitely people that have been stigmatized, criminalized, locked up, or what have you should be cut into a piece of that pie
Miranda:
100%, Just to go off on a little tangent here for all of you cannabis professionals out there, Flowhub closes a $19 million in funding including a personal investment from Jay Z. If you don't know Flowhub is what we use in the industry to sell cannabis. It's our tracking system, it keeps track of, you know, all of the weed that we have with the store.
Scott:
Everything.
Miranda:
It communicates...
Scott:
Communicates with the state, metric, is the you know, what the state uses to track your allotment, how much of it you've used, how much you've got available. And that information goes out to all the dispensaries. Basically, if you've ever worked in the restaurant industry, then this is your Micros, this is your Aloha, this is your Toast, I guess is the the newer one now. But yeah, whatever. Whatever you're familiar with, this is the point of sale software. But there's also a little more to it than point of sale, because again, it has to communicate with whatever governing body controls, you know, your your amount, your allotment, as we talked about last week, at the top of the glossary, the amount of cannabis you can consume, because even in adult use states, there's still tracking that goes on, it's not an unlimited amount of cannabis. You can purchase some some states, it's a pretty large amount of cannabis that you can consume on any given, you know, month or whatever it is, but it's still tracked and recorded-
Miranda:
Absolutely
Scott:
Communicated. So yeah, I mean, it's, you know, it's just interesting to know, we don't want to bore you with too many, like technical details of the industry or what have you. But it's an it's an interesting article to know, because it seems like Flowhub is kind of setting up to be the only, you know-
Miranda:
That's what it seems like, um, it definitely seems, yeah, it definitely seems like it's, it's going to be THE way.
Scott:
Right, which, you know, it's if, again, if you've ever been in the service industry, you know, kind of all the different systems do something a little bit better than the other. There's lots of different ways to present information and sort information. And, yeah, I mean, not that there's anything wrong with Flowhub, but definitely, if there were more companies, there might be more innovation and more, you know, so it's just, it's a little odd. It's a little interesting to note that somebody is kind of monopolizing the industry so quickly. But yeah, it's also interesting to note, I guess that cannabis companies are getting investments from people like Jay Z.
Miranda:
And it's not just a cannabis brand.
Scott:
Right. Right. Yeah. Well, that's, you know, picks and shovels. Right?
Miranda:
Right.
Scott:
That's your if you've ever heard that saying before. What that means is, it wasn't just the people that actually found gold during the gold rush that made the money. There are only so many people that are going to actually grow cannabis, and sell cannabis or make cannabis into edibles, right, but there's a million different products, you know, surrounding cannabis, that, that people can get involved with being involved with.
Miranda:
Also, just to highlight on our trip down to social social equity land today, they will actually accelerate their expansion into emerging markets and further develop the product line and grow their social equity program. So there's Flowhub started investing in social equity last June.
Scott:
Oh!
Miranda:
So now they're going to further further that with this investment.
Scott:
Well, hit pause on me saying that maybe it's not good. Because if they're doing good social equity work, then maybe I don't have no, I wasn't saying anything bad about Flowhub to begin with. Yeah, no, just that, you know, more players in the market means and if I'm wrong, you know, if you're in a different state or a different country, and you use a different program, to budtend, or to run your dispensary, or you know, whatever your experience is, please reach out, let me know.
Miranda:
Yeah. And Flowhub, the equity program offers business owners that are eligible for the social equity program, a discount, which I think is pretty sweet.
Scott:
I wonder what's involved with that. And if any Baltimore or Maryland dispensaries are involved in that program.
Miranda:
That would be interesting to find out.
Scott:
Well, guess what? We've got more homework. Yeah, well, we'll figure that out, folks. We'll let you know because that definitely sounds interesting. Right? Like we said, spend your money on good things right. If this is a situation where individual dispensaries can get involved even in a small way through somebody else's program-
Miranda:
Especially, if we're going into adult use.
Scott:
Right, yeah, for sure.
Miranda:
That'll be a big help.
Scott:
Yeah, well, I mean, we would hope. Normally, what happens when a state goes from medical to adult use in my experience is a lot of new licenses are issued at that point.
Miranda:
Right.
Scott:
And a lot of times, that is when social equity, social justice stuff has gotten on board, you know, right. I think you said earlier, right, like medical is kind of a stepping stone or first step for a lot of states. Right. So I feel like it's a harder pill for a lot of voters to swallow, that everybody's getting their record expunged, or, you know, whatever, is a part of, you know, getting getting social justice stuff in line with where it needs to be. But it's easier to say, we're going to help cancer patients, you know, what, you know, yes, yes, absolutely. Yes. But also, as we say, in the improv world, but also and, yeah, people should also just be able to relax or get, you know, relief from their bad back or, you know, whatever. Yeah, so....
Miranda
Up to date, they've awarded more than $1 million worth of software products to eligible cannabis entrepreneurs via the social equity program.
Scott:
Go Flowhub!
Miranda:
Boom!
Scott:
Big ups. We give you a shout out officially.
Miranda:
Just make the product better.
Scott:
Well...
Miranda:
It's good, you know, but it just it could be better.
Scott:
As we talked about last week, sometimes that communication between Flowhub and the state system over interrupted and the whole dispensary world comes to a screeching halt. If you can't figure out what your allotments at, if they can't figure out what you're allowed to buy what you've already bought, then they can't send you...
Miranda:
They can't sell you product.
Scott:
They can't send you home with any good stuff. I guess is maybe where my brain was going with that. But yeah, so interesting stuff. Yeah, Flowhub. Yeah, if you're, you know, if you're a stock person may want to look at it yeah pay pay attention to cannabis stocks, talk to your money guy or your money person, rather about cannabis stocks, you know, if if, again, you you want to put your money where your mouth is and support companies that that you really like and that you believe in, check out the green stocks. There's a lot of money being made for sure. Lots of different companies. You hear about going public on a pretty regular basis these days. Yeah, anyway, getting back to legalization efforts, you know, I think well, I know actually that we've had some international listeners because I've heard from some friends in Germany and Sweden specifically that have listened in shout out to my friends overseas. Can't wait to hopefully get back to traveling and see you all again soon. But yeah, we've definitely had some cannabis legislation around the world make movements in the past few years as well. Both Canada and Mexico decriminalizing to different extents. Canada going to an adult use program Mexico kind of has been slowly moving, area, yeah it's it's a weirdly moving toward like, medicals, okay, but I don't really think they've got a structure in place kind of like a DC thing going on. But not really like legal dispensaries all over the place or anything like that yet, but Germany announced this past year a place that's near and dear to my heart where I've been a bunch of times and I've had an awful hard time finding medicine when I'm over in Germany so maybe this will be some progress for my my personal efforts to stay medicated while I'm overseas. But yeah, Germany has announced that they're going to be legalizing in some way. It's still a little bit but yeah, they you know, they are not the US when they say they're gonna do something...
Miranda:
They'll do it.
Scott:
Really, Yeah, typically happens pretty quickly. So we can probably expect some sort of movement on that. It looks like they're eyeing up maybe a model where they deal with pharmacies, even potentially for adult use. So just as a way that's I guess, you know, like we're talking about metric here in the States right, so I guess they've got some sort of state system.
Miranda:
I'm sure.
Scott:
Keeps track of medications and whatnot. So I guess they're saying, Go ahead, treat cannabis the same way, plug it into that existing system, have those same pharmacists-
Miranda:
Which make sense.
Scott:
I mean, it makes sense, I think you're, you're probably asking a lot of your pharmacist at that point. I mean, they've already gone through a lot of school right? I know some people that have gone to pharmacy school they do a decent amount of schooling to learn about different drug interactions and how to weigh this stuff and process the stuff...
Miranda:
And then just throw weed in the mix.
Scott:
Right but hey, you know...
Miranda:
Whatever it gets it done.
Scott:
That's on them. They make better wages in Europe anyway, so maybe they won't mind.
Miranda:
Italy is on the list.
Scott:
Italy, Portugal, Spain.
Miranda:
Yeah.
Scott:
Greece. Malta.
Miranda:
Yeah, Malta did!
Scott:
Malta did. The first country, my guess they were like, all ready. Germany, watch this, Hold my, hold, hold my stein. [both laughing] So, yeah, Malta went ahead and said, yeah, don't use Let's go. Let's do it. I don't know if I could point to Malta on a map to be honest with you. But I'm going to look it up now. I have I've already been to Amsterdam a couple of times, I will definitely go check out Malta and enjoy their, their local customs. As my mother put it, the first time I went to Amsterdam. I called her from Amsterdam because it was over Thanksgiving. And I called to wish her a happy Thanksgiving. And she said, Are you enjoying the local customs? And I assured her that indeed, I was legally enjoying the local customs as an 18 year old American over in Amsterdam, as a judge at Cannabis Cup for the first time. But anyway, yeah, Malta has gone ahead and adult use. The Swiss are doing that pharmacy style. Yeah. as well. I mean, obviously, Portugal has been I don't want to say lax on their drug laws, I would say sensible with their drug laws.
Miranda:
I think that's fair, sensible is very fair.
Scott:
Portugal, Portugal, treats, even things like opioids as as an addiction rather than a crime. And, you know, allows people to have safe places to use and recover from using and things like that. And they've really tried to again, I guess, destigmatize Yeah. And, uh, going back to the first word of the day, the the use of any drug, regardless of what it is, and really just tried to, you know, make sure people are safe and smart with the way they do things.
Miranda:
Which, I think in a perfect world, we would see here, a perfect world. We'll never see it. We'll never see it here.
Scott:
Yeah, right. I mean, we're here in Baltimore, Kurt Schmoke, kind of got laughed out of politics.
Miranda:
Yeah.
Scott:
Because he said back in the 90s, he threw up his hands, he saw the violence in Baltimore, surrounding the drug trade, and the, again, the social inequity of treating drugs as a crime as a social issue and what it did to this city, just like it's done to many, so many cities and countries all over the world. I mean, some, you know, I mean, you talk about the opium fields in in the Middle East, talk about, you know, an island like Jamaica, you know, I mean, they're different places where an entire identity and culture and entire industry is wrapped up in a drug trade that's been treated as a crime, treated, you know, instead of treated as a medicine because even opioids do have medicinal usage, obviously.
Miranda:
Absolutely.
Scott:
Again, it's not, you know, it's not the use of any of these drugs, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. We're not encouraging anyone to go out and use, you know, but don't get me wrong, but all of these things can have medicinal usage. If, you know, you're, you're educated and safe and, and all of that. So, yeah, I mean, interesting stuff. Interesting stuff.
Miranda:
Very much so.
Scott:
We can we can only hope that we continue to see progress around the world where, you know, the stigma goes away from individual use, as the legal realities change to match. You know, I read an article this week that 41% of Australia supports adult use in Australia. I was surprised that it's that low.
Miranda:
Yeah, that's actually quite suprising.
Scott:
Because I think the the rates that I've heard in the US now for a long time are significantly higher...
Miranda:
It's defintely above 60%
Scott:
60%-70%. When you take away the, the, the stigma, when you ask the question, as just a like, personal liberty question of should people be allowed to, you know, enjoy this thing or that thing? Most Americans supported so I don't, I'm a little surprised to you, Australia, but you know, who knows, maybe you'll you'll loosen up soon. Luxembourg is another country that, technically, has been talking about legalization since 2018. Hey, Luxembourg. I'm not here to judge. You know, we talked about last week the US has been doing this since 1996. So, you know, take your time. Figure it out. That's what I say. You know, the Dutch are always going back and forth with their laws. But yeah, you know, I think is as more large countries like, the US, Canada, Mexico, start to loosen the reins. Costa Rica is another program that I've heard...
Miranda:
Brazil? No, not Brazil.
Scott:
I don't know. I would be shocked if Brazil was on that list right now-
Miranda:
Just because of everything that's going on there.
Scott:
Their government is maybe not very controlled.
Miranda:
Maybe I'm thinking Costa Rica right now.
Scott:
Costa Rica, I have definitely heard about. Yeah, and I mean, Costa Rica, I've heard about because Costa Rica, you know, we talked about different areas, and where you can grow cannabis efficiently and effectively.
Miranda:
Costa Rica is like perfect.
Scott:
Places like Costa Rica, Southeast Asia, you know, places that are warm and wet and sunny and windy. Yeah, good, good places for cannabis to grow quickly. And well, if you know what you're doing. So I've definitely heard about like, national companies that are eyeing up setting up some pretty big grow operations in places like Costa Rica. Yeah, it's exciting stuff. But that's our wrap up for the week. You know, there's always a million things that we could talk about, but we don't want to bore you to death. Yeah, but if if there's something you would like us to talk about that you see in the news, please. We love the feedback, guys. Keep it coming.
Miranda:
Yeah. And as always, like, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, The Heady Conversations. Scott is Your Cannabis Coach, and I am Our Lady of Maryjane. And we'll talk to you next week with our special guests.
Scott:
Yes, our friends from Hummingbird Farms and Sunny C's will be here to talk with us about CBD.
Miranda:
So, gonna round out that CBD month with a little, little one on one education.
Scott:
If you have questions for them, go ahead and hit us up and we might be able to get in a question for them from one of our listeners as well.
Miranda:
Yeah, and you can send those questions to theheadyconversations@gmail.com.
Scott:
Yeah, gmail.com for the email, www.theheadyconversations.com to find those transcripts and all that good stuff. We are streaming now on all the major platforms for sure. Like I said, if you find one that we're not on, let us know. But I think we are locked and loaded. Good to go. Thanks again to Jill for doing our logo. www.JillBlum.com if you need a designer, but that's the only sponsorship you get this week. All right, y'all, we'll talk to you soon. Have a good one be well, be well, and be good to each other.
Miranda:
Yeah, you need a hand off that soapbox, Scott. [both laugh] Deuces!
[OUTRO MUSIC - "Muggles" by Louis Armstrong]
[Miranda laughs]
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