Cannabis Legalization News Podcast
Cannabis Legalization News explains what changed in cannabis—and what comes next.
Each week, cannabis attorney and dispensary owner Thomas Howard and activist Miguel “Miggy” Santiago connect the laws, court decisions, policy shifts, rights issues, hemp developments and regulated-market realities that matter.
Each episode connects consequential cannabis developments and explains what they mean. Ask Thomas is a forthcoming pilot and will not be represented as an active series until it launches.
CLN publishes news, analysis, commentary and education—not legal advice. Sponsored work and related-party relationships are disclosed; coverage is not for sale.
Watch, read the sources and find current episodes at cannabislegalizationnews.com.
Cannabis Legalization News Podcast
DEA Rescheduling Hearing Wraps, 280E Refund Fight, and Cannabis Legalization News Roundup
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The hosts introduce a weekly cannabis law and policy podcast, promote membership and an emailed news report via QR code, and discuss building AI software to run their dispensary using an MCP server connected to Dutchie’s API.
The main story is that the DEA’s administrative rescheduling hearing has wrapped without an interlocutory appeal, with 50-page post-hearing briefs due August 17; they outline the ALJ recommendation process, potential Schedule III timing, and expected judicial review lawsuits by SAM and drug-testing interests.
Other topics include criticism of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act as election-year grandstanding, a TerrAscend dispute where the IRS seeks repayment of an $8.37M 280E-related refund, declining pre-employment marijuana testing, a Michigan Supreme Court ruling limiting probation bans on legal cannabis, California regulators linking local bans to illicit markets, stalled Pennsylvania legalization, a Kenyan court rejecting a Rastafari legalization case, and mention of online clone sales under hemp claims.
00:00 Welcome and Subscribe
00:19 Dispensary Updates and Weekly Report
01:28 AI POS and MCP Explained
03:29 DEA Hearing Wraps Up
08:34 Schedule III Timeline and Process
13:30 Single Convention and Break
14:28 COCA Bill Returns
17:38 Hemp Backlash and Seed Panic
19:38 Military Testing and Legal Use
23:37 280E Refund Fight
28:52 Advertising Rules and Classes
30:16 Rolling Class and Loans
30:45 Workplace Testing Debate
33:09 Military Drug Test Story
35:23 Michigan Probation Win
36:47 Why Weed Costs More
38:39 Jimothy and Name Game
43:07 Local Bans Fuel Illicit
48:05 Pennsylvania Politics
50:48 Kenya Rastafari Ruling
54:16 Clones and Hemp Hustle
55:49 Wrap Up and Disclaimer
Get our newsletter: https://bit.ly/3VEn9vu
Welcome and Subscribe
SPEAKER_02Hey, what's up? You're tuned in to the number one podcast for cannabis law, policy, and the occasional rant on the internet or wherever you get podcast, which is 100% of the time the internet. If this is your first time here, don't forget to like and subscribe, toss a super chat, or become a member. They get uh content
Dispensary Updates and Weekly Report
SPEAKER_02first. I was working on a video about us starting our dispensary and how being a lawyer really helped that. And we have 10 stories for you this week about what's going on in cannabis legalization news. If you want to get those emailed to you every week, you can use that QR code that is on your screen. Scan it, fill out the quick form, and we will send you the report that we do each week. So let's get into cannabis legalization news that was this week. It was, you know, progress is being made. So that's a good week. Let's go over it. Hey everybody. What up? Thank you and you at home for tuning in.
SPEAKER_00Shout out to the uh member Theodore Doyle, just for saying hi. We'll be a member.
SPEAKER_02All right, that's good. Yeah, we'll chic to the members. We may actually want to start and uh take questions from the audience at the end of the show, but um the dispensary is warming up so much now that I have I didn't have to like work this weekend, which was nice. So I still worked out on all my
AI POS and MCP Explained
SPEAKER_02tokens. Yeah, I mean, like the the software that I've built to run the dispensary is so good now that I need to start like another podcast on on the channel about a lawyer who runs a dispensary, ask me anything, and then just show the software. Like, you know, FlowHub right now is is beat in their chest about their MCP server. I have an MCP server that's now on GPT or or Claude for Dutchy. Dutchy doesn't have an MCP. And so if you're running on Dutchy and 50% of dispensaries are, get at us and tune into the new stuff that I'll start doing, uh, and I'll go over how we run the shop uh with with the software. And then also, I mean, it's it's just so nice to have to be able to talk to your dispensary through Chat GPT. What's what's going on? What's the trend? What's moving? What's the price? All those things.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02What's an MCP? Oh, it's a model context protocol. And so, like uh it's a standard that was made by Anthropic for connecting an AI, an LLM to a particular API or piece of data. Okay, so Dutchy was one of the only um POSs that actually would give me access to the API. One of the reasons I didn't go to FlowHub because they said they would, but then they said no, and now they're coming out with their own um MCPs. And so I'm like, okay, great. So now I can actually build software to run the firm or the dispensary, as opposed to being required to pay them and having like just a complete dependency. And so we we have a dependency on on Duchy for its relational databases and its approval through metric, but there's a lot of flexibility that comes on top of it. Hopefully, we'll be able to do a lot more work. And if you guys are watching and you have a dispensary and it's running on Dutchy and you want to hook it up to your AI, you know, hit like, hit subscribe, tune in when I do the um the AMAs about how it is to run. And I'll have an issue. One of the issues that we're going to talk about is IRC 280E later.
DEA Hearing Wraps Up
SPEAKER_02The first one is the main story. Evidentiary hearing finally wrapped up. Remember, God, I think I was going to the last time we went to Vegas for MJ Biz 2024. We we we flaked on 2025 because I was saving up cash to get the dispensary open, and also they had just banned hemp, and so I just did not want to because everybody would like see that's the guy, it's fault.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, it's not your fault. You gave everybody the uh the the loophole thing where you were just going somatically throwing shit in the air, and then like a bunch of people cling to it, you know. You were like, you know, technically, which I blame you for, but uh no, what do you what's his take on this one, too, right? So, like in the same marijuana herald saying D judge sets August 17th deadline.
SPEAKER_02I mean, uh yeah, that's uh that's a briefing schedule, but then uh genetic memory farms. We got uh QR uh QAQC, our um our QR code, you know, quality check and quality assurance. Evidently, it's not leading to the right landing page.
SPEAKER_00I've I've I've clicked in the QR, so I saw that in the comments last week, and I clicked on it and I it pops up as a news, yeah, for me on my Android. So I don't know if you're using uh iPhone, that could be a thing. Um let us know. But I tried it uh as soon as I saw it.
SPEAKER_02Well, we made that overlay, like I I troubleshot it and I thought I had done it right. The only thing I didn't get done this week, and I feel bad about it, and I blame the World Cup final, which is a tie right now, by the way. Uh I did not get the name that strain up, which sucks because we have one, and then I don't have that one, which kind of a bummer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, we can do next.
SPEAKER_02He's got an iPhone, we're selling it at the store. You can go buy it, relief the uh version of it. We'll do it, we'll just come up with one of them. Yeah, uh, he's on the we'll use the exact same, we'll use the exact same nugget we used last week, but then we'll give different descriptions.
SPEAKER_00I mean, isn't it how all these brands are doing their shit anyways?
SPEAKER_02Let's call it booty. That one that one was like black amber, and so it really has that purpling, which is not a word but should be uh genetic that's in there, so it looks really cool. But right, let's get back to the main story, and that is the DEA hearing wrapped up. There was no interlocutory appeal this time. Fucking fantastic, and so it didn't just languish and delay for oh man, like a year and a half. They did it, they knocked it out, they wrapped it up, and now the judge is calling for get your after-the-hearing briefs, page limit of 50 in by August 17th. So Sam and the other guys will spend some more money on lawyers, like me. Not like me, I wouldn't take them as clients. I wouldn't. I'd be like, I hate you. Get out of my office. Yeah, but still, that's that's one of the issues because now I'm gonna ramp back up my law practice as trying to get the dispensary open. You have to be careful when you're when you're a lawyer, like because it's obligations and duties that you have to your clients. But then if you just have fewer of them because you're getting the store open, one you have other acts spin.
SPEAKER_00You have other facets coming out again. You are ahead right now. I don't think anybody else is using AI the way you do. We are you know use it for point-of-sale systems, we've used it for uh content creation. You know, this this is the future, yeah. We use it for our daily show notes.
SPEAKER_02Well, you well, the show notes, but you remember when you were at the store, like the when you walk in the menus, the menu boards. We coded the menu boards, we coded the website, we coded the the roll it up software, we coded the MCP server. Um, I just look I now because I have a fairly complex cap. Well, it's not my cap table's really easy, but my um intercompany structures are are a little bit complex. And so I have four QBOs, and so now I've linked all those together, and you can have because the AI, like the 5.6 for Jet GBT, just scored like a 136, like a 136 on on its mensa test, and so like its IQ is 136. The people watching don't have 136 IQ because there's 217 watching, which means that like right now, two, two of them perhaps 1.3, whatever. So, in theory, it could be two. Two of them would have 136 IQ or more because it's like that rare, you're like in the top one percent already, and that's burning tokens that you can go use right now to like help run your life, dude.
SPEAKER_00It's you know, so if someone commented AI slop is not the future, but it's not AA slop. You know, we're using it for coding. Um, it's not all about just like image, you know, it's editing, it's uh you know, prop thing, it's not uh oh go ahead.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like the editing, like the the the reels that we've done for our stuff, and then that that'll be interesting. I'll put that on the AMA. Like, you know, how do you get how do you use Facebook ads for your dispensary? Because there's a way to do it, and we're we've been doing it. Uh we copied Verano that that
Schedule III Timeline and Process
SPEAKER_02got shut down, but you know, main story, August 17th, next brief. But then what happens after that? Okay, and so you have the final briefs that are due on August 17th, no more witnesses, nothing else. Uh, the central questions are gonna be currently accepted medical use. I'm pretty sure that's gonna go our way, the legalization because of what HHS said. And then he can he makes a recommendation to the DEA of adopting schedule three. I highly doubt they would have sat this judge unless they knew that he was going to give that recommendation. And then that record is certified to the DEA administrator, and then the uh final rule may be published, but it does not become effective immediately. There'll be like a 30-day after publication, and of course, then Sam and the drug alcohol testing companies will file their uh judicial review lawsuits, which I do not believe will be successful because they are this is it, this is the due process. They are giving them all the process under the statutes, they're doing it by the book, by the rules. And so I hope that by the time we close out the end of the year, schedule three will be the law of the land. Like right now, it's the law for medical, which is very bizarre. Could you imagine if heroin was schedule three if your doctor prescribed it? But schedule one, if you bought it off the street, well drug.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but my question to you so this hearing process, when it's all wrapped up, it's just only DEA stance on it, right? Is that how it's gonna be? Is that what the what this importance of this hearing is? It's how the DEA is gonna enforce cannabis.
SPEAKER_02The importance of this hearing is what was built into the Controlled Substances Act for how to reschedule pursuant to its provisions. And so that's why this is not this is not an Article III judge, this is an ALG, a J, an administrative law judge. And so this this judge is in the administrative branch of the DEA, and so his recommendation is not necessarily binding, but uh it's part of what is baked into the cake that is this large federal statute. And so now he's going to uh write his report and his recommendation and tender that to his boss at the DEA, and then he can use that and he could ignore it, or he could be like, Oh, yeah, it's very persuasive, and then uh allow the final rule to be published in the register and reschedule. And that's what I think is going to be happening. It'll take a bit because like he's got to get the briefs in, and then after he gets the briefs in on August 18th or 17th, my bad, he will then probably have to read them. I mean, like he might already have he might be writing up his stuff before they submit the briefs. Uh, and then he could use Claude or ChatGPT to really quickly read them and just put some little peppering into his recommendation to be like, see, you got your due process, we looks, we we listen to you, yeah, yeah. And and then he'll be able to write that report. Judges, uh, even in cook county, but what is his docket weight? And so, like, if I'm gonna be, and I have to argue in Chancery and Cook County in September, and so like the the reason I have to argue in September is because like I set that hearing in in June. And so, like a Cook County Chancery judge has hundreds of cases they have to deal with. I don't know how many cases he has to deal with, but he's got hundreds and thousands of pages of evidence that he has to kind of like corral and they have to certify the record and all this other stuff, and so it's still a laborious job. But if he doesn't have a huge docket and there's nothing else that's like really distracting him, and he has a decent staff to help him get this stuff to it, maybe another month. And so, like now we're into September 18th, and so they get the rule published maybe by October 1st, and then by November 1st, this whole this this arbitrary and capricious dual classification between them because by that time, like our dispensary will be a hybrid dispensary, like our form is supposed to come out in September, and we'll fill out that form in September, and we'll be a schedule three legal for all of our medical patients that come in. But then the same SKU, the same product, it different patient, different federal classification and treatment. I think that's arbitrary and capricious. I don't understand how the same thing can be two different things under the controlled substances act. That makes no sense. Like, what other substances is scheduled twice? Sure, like the same thing, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like you said, heroin, whatever. But um why? So this is is this part of the uh uh the agreement, right? Like the process of legalization, the but what is it just a while ago? Oh shit, where yeah, you got a minute, you got a minute, hurry up, but uh uh you know I'm talking about 20 somewhere, even when it's 25 minutes past, 20 422 is 422. You know what I mean?
Single Convention and Break
SPEAKER_00What's the what's the uh the agreement amongst the countries? The um oh the single convention from 1961, yeah, and how you always say, like, you know, we're trying to meet this convention, you know, like but Canada when they did it, they're like, Yeah, our bad. We know it's doesn't conform, but they still proceeded. Couldn't we? Is this part of our process, though? You know what I mean? To get to that point.
SPEAKER_02The uh and so, like that law is engrafted into the Controlled Substances Act, and so that is one reason why they were able to do it. But again, there will be more analysis after a short commercial break. We'll be right back after collateral base brings you a little break.
COCA Bill Returns
SPEAKER_02The cacao bill.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, it's in the news again.
SPEAKER_02It is, and so I'll let you uh key this one up because this thing uh hits it hits it. Remember, and this is gonna age us for a bit the Nintendo Entertainment System and one Mike Tyson punch up, and the first guy you would fit it'll meet is Glass Joe. So but anyway, you you go ahead and uh kick this story off. I'll be back in just a second.
SPEAKER_00So, yeah, cockabills in the news. If you don't know the cockabill, we talked about before. It is a uh cannabis administration and opportunity act. This one is a statement by the UFCW endorsing it coming up. Not impressed. I mean, we talked about this for years. Another try, and especially since this is uh proposed by a Democratic Party, I really don't think it's gonna go anywhere, right? Like, they are oh, this administration is nothing but petty and and just simple pandering, and uh there's another reason it won't go anywhere.
SPEAKER_02The way Congress works, and so like Congress is right now. This is this is an election year, and so Congress is going to have a new session that starts in January. This bill will never get out of committee, it has zero chance of passing. This is the Democrats grandstanding for your vote in November, knowing that what they're gonna do is worthless, and that should piss you off. The the Democrats are just taking us for a ride when it comes to legalizing marijuana. Yeah, the Republicans are legalizing marijuana while also raining in hemp, which is really, really nice. But um I don't I I don't I don't understand why. Like, why do they introduce this other than to like send uh like are they trying to get money from the marijuana people? That's an interesting one. Did you see this? This one didn't make our cut, but uh I'll slip this one over to you in the the private chat. But evidently, marijuana companies donated 11.5 million dollars last month to the Trump uh yeah. What you telling me that we get legalized medical, which Verano says is 60 of their stuff, and suddenly suddenly it's all right.
SPEAKER_00Come on, well, I mean Ken Rivers has been trying to pay everybody off since the beginning, which you know this is how the fucking cookie crumbles. I I I don't agree with it, I don't think this is awesome, but also uh I could have pulled you out.
SPEAKER_02I'm trying to say that it was a soda, I was drinking a soda with a straw. There you go, but like, and then I had a sip of my water without a straw.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, I mean, I I I I don't see any other form of legalization happening, you know. This you come here to to try and understand the landscape of what's going on, and it's crypt, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Money, please. Now you get your policy, or now you get your pardon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah,
Hemp Backlash and Seed Panic
SPEAKER_00well, what I what I think too, though, man, like when it comes to weed, marijuana, cannabis, what are you gonna call it? Pot like do you remember back in the day when you walk into a head shop and you would be like, Can I get a water pipe, please? I'm looking for your finest water pipe. Yeah, this is the same shit Hemp's been doing, right? Hey, I got uh hi, you know, stop this imagine $25 eighths.
SPEAKER_02Why are you calling them eighths? You should call them freedom quantities or something, you know.
SPEAKER_00Just you're forget to lie about what and again, I just that's that's pretty good. That's really good, dude. But like this is the frustrating part, right? We're I see in our chat and our comments all the time where people are like, uh, or even in uh uh Facebook, Instagram. I posted that one where somebody seems to be like last week they realized like hemp's closing out, and then other people finally are getting it. Yeah, but other people in the chat too were like, Is this serious? Is this for real? Like that was the big beautiful bill that was months ago. No, uh yo, how do we save the seeds? That's the question I think everybody should be asking, right?
SPEAKER_02Fucked it up. You fucked it up. Like now the seeds are dead. How do you save the clones of tissue cultures? Shh, you shut the fuck up, you know. And so, like, if the reason why you I mean, and it sucks that the seeds got it, the seeds weren't in your face, they weren't like you know, you have to do uh a lot of labor to go from seed to no bro, it's THCA.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, 100%. And you know, again, hemp originally was supposed to be able to save the world, save the planet. It was it's this beautiful industrial use plant that can replace so many wasteful things that we have that but no, you want to fucking sell the Zaza, bro. Uh it's it's it's uh you're hurting the overall cause, it's not a freedom thing because rules aren't coming about for you know, like the military. And again, this is why I say like you always gotta anticipate the worst when it comes to weed,
Military Testing and Legal Use
SPEAKER_00right? Like military warrant that Trump's marijuana rescheduling what doesn't move, uh use by certain well, no shit, because then the rules got to take in place, right?
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, this is all a process, right? But if the if everything's schedule three, if all the marijuana schedule three and they test, and then they have prescription, or well, they can't have a prescription, it's not an FDA-approof drug. If they have a recommendation from their doctor and they bought it from a legitimate entity, why those those lawsuits are years away, those are the like the 2028 lawsuits. You have to have the law change, and then they have to have standing because they've been prejudiced. So somebody gets kicked out of the military, like not now, but after it's final schedule three, and it's and their use was federally legal to the extent that it's it was bought at the right location, he's got a receipt, he's got and by he, I'm being a little bit you know, sexist, but yeah, but then they also have the medical script if applicable as well, and then they would be able to say, like, this completely followed the law. Like, why are you discriminating against this this person for lawful use? I mean, if you know, I guess they're not gonna prescribe morphine or do they not give dilotive? I mean, if you are injured at war, are you not given opioids? Has that is what other what other lawful scheduled substances are being denied? Are troops, dude?
SPEAKER_00No, 100%. I mean, you know, there's a saying in the military, dude, you fight for freedom, but you have none. And I don't think as a patient, cannabis won't be a thing for many years, at least in the military, as a prescription, because it's gonna be a military doctor that prescribes it. There's no doctor's gonna start doing that right away. But I think there'll be definitely defense in the in the civilian world for like truckers and shit like that. But like it uh when it comes to like your exact point of how fucked up it is. Like, I have a uh uh pinched nerve. So after one deployment, I got back and uh I was on oxy and morphine. Like they shot me up with morphine. Uh, I was on some oxy pills, they did some tests. I was still hurting in pain, and and was like and topped up with beer when I got home because it was like I was. In such fucking pain.
SPEAKER_02Well, I thought it was because beer's delicious, but you know, still, you're in pain. Yeah, and you're trying to avoid it. And that was prescribed by the federal government. Like that was uh right. And so this is a safer palliative care. Why wouldn't that be how come you didn't start there? Right? Why did you go to this this addictive harmful substance when you could have used these? Like you could have like a hundred milligrams of marine grade edibles.
SPEAKER_00Well, you think about it though, we have so much still to learn about the endocannabod system, right? This is where when are they gonna do the research? FDA, how late are they?
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, what's gonna get here first? November 12th, or the FDA guidelines about cannabinoids and what a container means.
SPEAKER_00I agree with uh Willem McGee says if the Vegas strip never opens up, it would be insane. No way. Yeah, it would be, but again, Vegas weed. You know what's funny, dude? One of my favorite hip hop artists is from Vegas, and he's got really great uh Dizzy Wright music for smoking, but I have yet to have good Vegas weed or Nevada weed at all. Yeah, so I don't know how lit it would be.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't know. I'm sure there are people who run Vegas, and if they don't want it to happen, it ain't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00Alcohol man, did you hear fucking big alcohol? They don't want them in.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if big alcohol runs Vegas, but there are people who do run Vegas, and if they don't want it there, it's not gonna get there. So there's there's probably like only 10 people you need to convince for that to happen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so whoever owns
280E Refund Fight
SPEAKER_00the strip. So we got the 280e back in the news with uh uh that's the irs wants their money back.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. I might do a write-up on I started working on a write-up on this, but it's interesting in the sense that this was a 2020, and so like in 2020, that was what they got the refund for. Rescheduling hadn't even been announced. That was October of 22. Remember, it's just that instead of the Kaka bill, they Joe Biden, you know, directed somebody to start the process of rescheduling, and then uh the HHS delivered their report in 2023. And that's if you're gonna try to hang your hat on when that is, like when you have a cogent argument about it does no longer fit within the meaning of, that's when I would raise it. But then did it never fit within the meaning of in 2020? And so, like, because it's a substance and that substance was then reclassified. Can you just say that that substance was never that? And and so I never should have paid those taxes, up to at least my statute of limitations for returning that. I don't think that's gonna be pro like, I don't know if that would win, to be honest, because it makes the statutes and the rules just a little um weird, like you know, a little contradictory. Uh and so, like, they not a harmonious read of how they should behave. Yeah, and and so like if I was the judge on that one, I would be a little bit hesitant to I would encourage settlement amongst the parties, is what I would do. I would encourage settlement amongst the parties so that this doesn't go to the merits on something, especially considering like why is the IRS going to continue this case after the rest of the shoe drops. This is against Terra Ascent. I wonder how much of TerraScent's 2020 revenues were for medical cannabis sales.
SPEAKER_00But weren't this money already issued?
SPEAKER_02They got the refund, they got the refund, and then the IRS is like, oops, dude, talk about that seriously.
SPEAKER_00Your books are done, you're already squared away, and then you know what?
SPEAKER_02We're you know I'm sorry, but uh that amended 2020 return where you claimed a 62 point 64.2 million in additional deductions that were previously disallowed. Okay, you can you can just you can deduct them now, and so that was 8.37 million, including interest, which the IRS paid back in June of 24. And so they amended and filed state returns covering tax years 2020 through 2022, and that's where that refund came from. The refund, according to the IRS, was processed without the review ordinarily required for a refund of this magnitude. What? Whoops, plain error, you know. What that's because you're stabbed with like 20 people, yeah. For the whole country. But if they accidentally, oops, give you back 8.3 million dollars in a refund that you just file and claim is yours, uh then they may come back and be like, hey, marijuana was illegal in 2020, you weren't allowed to do that, and that's kind of where the statue or the this lawsuit is right now. I haven't seen anything else filed in it, even though this was filed two months ago, and so the um service and all that uh the appearances hopefully are gonna start, but uh some type of motion practice on this is really what I'm looking for from Terra Send. Uh, and Terra Send, if you're watching that one is a case I would do.
SPEAKER_00Oh, there you go, dude. How is it? I mean, it's just so wild the semantics with this law and the shit that trickles down of dumb shit, right? Like was the people who are going through trial. Can you ever throw the law itself on trial? You know what I mean? Like, can you just say yes?
SPEAKER_02And so that's probably what's going to arise in this, and it'll really be interesting. There's this old case, and it's unfortunately not um Supreme Court precedent, it was from the Third Circuit, though. And so, like, and it wasn't a tax case, it was a criminal case. But if you understand IRC 280E, it really is for this criminal enterprise, which that was that was the basis for IRC 280E was to punish this criminal actions in uh unlicensed sales of these drugs, whether it's cocaine, which is schedule two, and that's actually what it was, and that's why it's schedule one or schedule two, and of course, Nancy Reagan war on drugs. You know, you have to look at when this law was passed in the 80s, and so uh a later, and so this is this is a part of that that case, but uh, let's see what was the name of that case again.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna why do Republicans like war?
SPEAKER_02The war on drugs, the war on Iran, the war on uh Iran, I guess we like war, and the Democrats don't the the Democrats still believe in good and evil, but they have just a lot more shades and abilities to like disagree over what that version of good or evil is.
SPEAKER_00It's like we have a war.
Advertising Rules and Classes
SPEAKER_00Hey, did you know we got a pot shop?
SPEAKER_02We do have a pot shop. Is this the um uh I don't think we're allowed to do this under the terms service for uh we can't advertise that.
SPEAKER_00That wasn't advertising. I was just like we can put that back up.
SPEAKER_02We can advertise, like, hey, look at this nice website. You can have that for your dispo if you want.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you know what? This was clouded by COD. You know, we're like, right? I'm putting age gating. This is all educational, educational.
SPEAKER_02Don't forget to age gate.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we can order, we can order if you connect your bank account.
SPEAKER_02It does say shop and pay online. That is according to the rules of the game. FSHO. If anybody asks us what the H is, we're gonna say honey, and we will not have any available, we will have FSHO free versions available, but uh uh Meta allows you to advertise that type of educational content, and evidently YouTube is not supposed to get mad at that type of educational content, but that's what we're doing. Next month, I want to do joint rolling classes. That would be educational. Remember? Oh, you went at my wedding. What did I do? I got married, A, but then B, like one of the things that we did for the guys was we took a cigar rolling kind of course because it's Tampa, it's the cigar city.
Rolling Class and Loans
SPEAKER_02Okay, one of the things she could do, you know, with the guys or ladies, you could take a joint rolling course sponsored by Cresco. That'd be cool. It's educational, no smoking. Again, wish I was there. We went to Hawaii right before, so I was already broke. So hey, we opened the dispensary, and the state said that we're not social equity and denied us a quarter million dollar loan.
SPEAKER_00Talk about broke. I know we're both married to commitment. Last, not less, duh,
Workplace Testing Debate
SPEAKER_00again, more about like the implications of rescheduling, right? So we'll work for weed, pre-employment marijuana tests are falling away as positive test results increase. What employers need to know? Yeah, I mean, this is just being common sense with the modern day world, don't we?
SPEAKER_02That's parody on alcohol, right? There, they don't really test you for being drunk, they blame you for being drunk. And so, if we can just not be tested for cannabis, but can be blamed for being high, I like that much better, you know. Um, yeah, yeah, and then it's like, well, how do you say what high is? You came to work, like you did a live YouTube of you doing a two-gram dab, and then you walked into the work and you were there, you clocked in 15 minutes later, you know. Like you could, it's one of those. And so, like, if you are trying to do a dab out green out challenge on the internet, and I don't recommend that. That's the type of stuff that goes past the regulator's line, and they that's not educational, might have been fun though.
SPEAKER_00Well, and and and and again, there's a common sense I think that we've been trying to advocate for to the point of society, right? Where you know, I don't question if my co-worker is high on cocaine, they might be edgy or weird, but like I don't you can't question it like too hard.
SPEAKER_02No, no, I tear if they're like this like friends and neighbors, John Hamm dancing on the dance floor high in cocaine, or is this more like full bump?
SPEAKER_00See, and again, if it was that like dancing on dance floor type shit, that would not be somebody I want to work with, period. Right, whether it's drugs or not, that is the we don't take these things into consideration. So, why do you have to worry about how much weed I smoked when and where, right? As an adult who does what they're supposed to do, I show up, I perform signs of impairment, right?
SPEAKER_02Sure, signs of impairment, so thinking, and then that's what you have to be documenting in your employment matters if you're doing a write-up anyway. And so, if you're gonna do a different write-up for a cannabis infraction on it, you don't have to have the zero tolerance policy, which can be dangerous if it turns out like your best employee is addicted to something. Uh well and again, addiction.
SPEAKER_00Not not it's it's a it's a relationship with the plant.
SPEAKER_02But like I wasn't insinuating that the best employee was addicted to cannabis.
SPEAKER_00Well, no,
Military Drug Test Story
SPEAKER_00well, I I had a buddy actually, uh, who would so we just got back from deployments respectfully, different ships, and he was staying with me. And he from his deployment did all this good, amazing shit. When ship breaks out there, you know, it's just you and duct tape, and he fixed some things, but uh at the end, he gets sailor of the year and all this stuff, and with that, they gave him a school, right? Which was a big deal, and so like because he didn't he got kicked out of school, actually, is how I knew him. But uh uh the school was in uh uh Coronado and staying with us, doing bomb grips every morning, performing, and then one day they did a random on the whole base. He got caught up in that because he was he did well at what he is.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's bull crap. That's not being that's not testing for impairment, that's just testing for presence, categorically marking somebody ineligible for presence, and so that'll be an interesting application of the Hamani case, the 9-0 decision from this this uh season's Supreme Court cases. Now, does it because it's you can't disarm them, so like okay, if it's just the presence, can you categorically fire them? Can you categorically do this to them? And then you start now, you layer on legality, and so you layer on schedule three. These are all the conversations that we get to have now, yeah. That three years ago when they put my face on Trumpweed.com and like and like it was a satire, but it's like the only million view YouTube we have is is that one, and they just ran with it. You know, first a it was a satire, and then B, those policies are no longer what we have to discuss. Like, we don't have to discuss insane policy that's absurd and stupid, and you just call it hemp, and then boom, you can still keep arresting people and denying them all their rights. Fuck those people, yeah. That it stop with the cash grab. I understand you want the bag, but I want him out of jail, and I want this to freaking make sense for everybody. The people that are clocking in, the people that are serving the country, the people that are serving time. Hampton fucking do that, and I'm glad that they are November 12th is coming.
SPEAKER_00No, that's 100% it, man. Yeah, we got we gotta
Michigan Probation Win
SPEAKER_00fix this shit. Uh, as a matter of fact, we have some good news come out of the Michigan Supreme Court. Says courts can't ban legal marijuana use as probation condition based on solely federal law.
SPEAKER_02Fuck yeah, and then not only that, Michigan has one of the reasons Michigans got such low prices and a high quality supply is because of the style of medical program that they ran that was substantially different than what we did in Illinois, which was completely corporate and like treating it like it's plutonium. So they allowed for the 72-plant rule where they were able to be caregivers, and so you could have a store, and it was kind of similar to these types of things that was also in Colorado, like this is like back in the day in the day, like when we met and I was Tom and MySpace and was a cannabis lawyer and all that, right? Writing books and shit. And so uh that was where you had the the retailer had to be the producer, like a little bit, and so like that that caregiver could be able to serve 72 patients, and then if they had additional supply, they could move that supply. Uh, and then uh you had uh in in Colorado, I believe you had to sell 70% of what you made, so like you could have other shelf space, but 70% of it would have to be yours, and that is an interesting way to set the thing up so that it's not uh well
Why Weed Costs More
SPEAKER_02you're you're talking about the business side of things, right?
SPEAKER_00Like the guy who goes to the drive-thru doesn't care about how the licensing went, they don't care that you got rejected twice for the location.
SPEAKER_02I didn't come here for a problem, I came here for a hamburger.
SPEAKER_00You know what I'm saying? They don't care that, like, uh, we're trying just to to give a fair wage and be also be profitable at the same time.
SPEAKER_02But the whole my whole point being is you know, this Michigan they don't care that you've been denied a bank loan and that you have obscene liability from the IRS if people find out about it and there's no banking, and so it they don't care about that. They're like, Yeah, but they have eights for five dollars less. Yeah, seriously, your customer will gladly put you out of business and then wonder where you went.
SPEAKER_00And then part of the problem, too, is people who do care won't speak up and and try and change the rules or advocate, but we're getting there, man. Like, so that what do you call the parody with alcohol? But it's it's beyond that, it's a societal norm where dude, I'm in my house this morning cleaning up with garbage and shit, and uh uh I smell weed, and I can't tell if it's from my house or where the fuck it's from. It's like it's just normal, you know what I mean? Like, like no, if somebody can have it.
SPEAKER_02I've noticed at the store the places where weed smell like arises is kind of like very dependent as to like whether or not it's on camera.
SPEAKER_00Now you're talking about the semantical shit, right?
SPEAKER_02No, what I'm talking about is we know where the cameras are.
SPEAKER_00Oh we're being compliant, but I'm just saying in this we shouldn't have to worry about that though, period. And just like the ham the boss, we shouldn't have to be like, hey, weak nudge, I got that.
Jimothy and Name Game
SPEAKER_00Oh, have you heard about Jimothy? I'm gonna have a string called Jimothy. You have you heard you haven't heard about Seattle's new fucking uh uh the little uh raccoon with like a spinal deformity or whatever? Freaked me out when I first saw the video, but then if you go into the threads, it's the lovable now. He's embraced by the community.
SPEAKER_02But uh uh why don't you uh go pull up that for a minute and we can work on playing some of the yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll we'll we'll do some name that strains. So you just go ahead and figure out that, and I'll forget the people. I'll cover the next story though. No, no, no. I was gonna have you pull up something on Jimothy, and then I was gonna go ahead and fumfer and then tell everybody that's tuning in right now. We really appreciate all the views and our members and everything that we we're just here trying to share legalization the right way, not legalization where I take mine and you don't get any, or legalization where nothing makes sense, right? But um, you know, right now Miggy is gonna find some weird strain, and then we're gonna find a different place to play, and then the they there it is, name that strain. So we're gonna do the name that strain that we have. The the nug might seem a little familiar if you were watching last week, and if you were, thank you so much. That's why you tune in for good news about Canada's legalization.
unknownLook at this.
SPEAKER_02Look at this little guy. This is this guy's lovable. I need to remove the overlay while we look at that little guy. Then oh, this is Seattle's new BFF.
SPEAKER_00It is, it is our uh, you know what? That can be.
SPEAKER_02And then for the the people that are listening in their community right there.
SPEAKER_00That's baby Jimothy. So, like the the that's the there's now lore. So, what happened was last week someone there's a grown version of this little guy running through the woods or going through someone's whatever big yard.
SPEAKER_02Right, and then this is for those that are that it's the small raccoon, and so it is a family of raccoons, and this is a baby raccoon that's called Jimothy, and he's taken Seattle by storm.
SPEAKER_00It is, it has it's a poor little guy, a little hunchback raccoon that people have been catching images of this thing, I guess, for years, but finally this thing blew up, it's older now, and so uh uh everybody's like documented shit now. So it's like I don't know, it's just something wholesome, but uh it's what you want. You want some wholesomeness. That's it.
SPEAKER_02Here it is. This is one of the strains best cannabis strain for the summer, uh, according to Leafly magazine. That's for this year of 26. Now, from symbiotic genetics, we do have it in stock somewhere. Let me just make sure that we aren't double branding at the same time, and we're not. Uh, and so that somewhere is maybe in Pekin, Illinois, but it's parents sour diesel crossing the boardhouse and purple punch F2. That's right, sour D and Purple Punch. Now, those are some classic strains. I mean, this is a legit, you know. This is like a Bronny James, like this is a legit kid that came out of like you know, 20 years ago genetics. Do you see the see the chair? See the chat? Uh didn't see the chat. Get a name, we'll get overlays. You have too many overlays. My brand, and then put the chat back up, see if that works. There it is. There we go. I like Kevin Sabat. That is the toad venom of names for things. Toad Venom also famously got Mike Tyson off of all those bad things he was doing. What made him thirsty for money though? Toad venom is cali, though, right? This one symbiotic genetics, and it is one of the best strains for summer 2020. Six. It's not blue nerds, it's not the Death Star, it ain't black amber. It's literally a picture of black amber, but it ain't black amber. It is I read Tom's money. Got it. Is kombucha, kombucha? Come uh the the one that we have is called kombucha diesel, it's by relief, and it's down there. You can go get it. Kombucha. There we go. Thanks for playing, everybody. That was nice. Now, what is our next story?
SPEAKER_00Megan, we got 400 people. Yo, thanks for hanging out, guys. We really do appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02And is the thanks for the hanging out. If you're here because you want good news on how to legalize it the right way. Thanks.
SPEAKER_00Got that fucking hat head now. Hey, uh
Local Bans Fuel Illicit
SPEAKER_00California's top marijuana regulators say local bans benefit illicit market with 97% of bus in counties without legal growers.
SPEAKER_02Well, well, this is bad policy, and we have it in Illinois. I don't know if you have it in Washington State, but the policy has says that you cannot uh you locally you can opt out of allowing retail operations or business operations, but you cannot override its legality. All right. So you can say, like, you can't make it here, you can't sell it here, but you can have it here. And not all the states did that. And fortunately, New Jersey, Illinois, California did, maybe your state, but uh Minnesota didn't. Minnesota said you can only regulate it to, like, I believe it was 12,500 people, Minnesotans, per region. Retail location, our retail location when it's fully there, like when there's that other dispensary that's gonna evidently try to open up and lose as much money as they want to. Uh, they can't, and that would be one per. No, we'd be less than that. We'd be like one per 11,000. So, like Illinois's policy mistakes have caused these gluts where like our city isn't gonna make magically a lot more tax dollars from this because the TAM is the TAM, like it may unlock an extra $50,000 with annualized sales, which is nothing. And so when you have selling nothing to me, say 50,000 sales. Look, I'm gonna start showing you the books. So that you no, no, I you showing the books, there's too many fucking numbers.
SPEAKER_00I don't want to see the books no more. I too want you to be like, Hey, we broke even, but like it is a lot, but like you know, that's in every fucking state, none of this shit's rolled out right, you know, with moratoriums and you know, like people want to argue about this whole like fairness thing. I know you're all about license limits and that establishes some sort of market and all this other shit, but like I want that these schedule, I want that people to buy seeds again one day before after November. I you know, this is the at least you get tissue cultures.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that that's yeah, that's nice, and then clones, and so like well, you you're not gonna be able to be a geneticist, you're not gonna be able to like make strains, which you could you think it stopped them before, it ain't gonna stop now, right? And it's really gonna depend on the enforcement. And you think that the DEA has the ability to enforce? And do you think like our regulator has the ability to enforce?
SPEAKER_00We well, you talk about enforcement, though. That's that's the thing, like like we can all agree, like the the DEA shouldn't be enforcing shit. They're like in the case, in the sense of these rates that like put people in jail who haven't who had no outlet real easy for them to do, though.
SPEAKER_02Like, if you didn't register your dispensary with the DEA, shut it down. But that's what I'm saying, though, like so easy for them to like work together, and then yeah, because they didn't like it. That's one of the things we need to like before they put out more licenses in our state, because then like it would just be even more saturated, and it wouldn't it the the regulatory load in Illinois is so high that if you're not doing like four hundred thousand dollars a month, you're gonna have a real hard time doing and that and then you have the tax issues, and so like it's it's the regulatory load that they put onto the operators over like the amount of the uh ability to sell that product. The the illicit market's not going anywhere, they don't care that you have operating costs, they care that they grow the best weed possible and they sell some of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, everybody has an overhead to me. That's the that's the unfairness, right? Like, like they get the tax-free side, but also there's the the risk involved of you want to try and be a brick and mortar, you want to try and uh put a uh a uh I'm I'm amazed by the the size of grows that can happen indoor that people allow, you know, like with real good manufacturing, nice systems. You know, I uh I was watching Neo's video recently. You know, he always cut covers the Chinaman trapper, you know, and he showed one of the grows.
SPEAKER_01They don't have licenses, they have those, those they're in the industry, but they're they benefit from our pain.
SPEAKER_00Whoa, and then the hemp thing's about to squish all this because any smell of cannabis will be able to be questioned like, is that a legal entity, right? In most places, if it's they're trying to hide behind the hemp bullshit, you're fucked in Kentucky or Indiana or what other states don't have shit because no, Kentucky has medical, uh yeah, they ain't got shit.
SPEAKER_02Wisconsin has hemp dispensaries, Wyoming well grows grows though, like actually, like some sort of like medical law because that would be the the protection that people are trying to seek once the center goes away, you know.
SPEAKER_00But hey, whatever.
Pennsylvania Politics
SPEAKER_00Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, the Democratic Sanders put pressure on GOP to allow a vote on legalized marijuana. You think they're gonna get any closer? You follow them pretty close. What was that for Pennsylvania?
SPEAKER_02Oh no, they're screwed. Pennsylvania's been screwed for years, and it and we we've covered like why Pennsylvania is screwed, but it just because they're screwed doesn't mean you don't cover the news, and and me being cynical doesn't mean that I can't like explain why they're screwed and and that they're still screwed, and so like Pennsylvania, I think, will be less screwed, but then they already have medical, and their medical is hegemic medical, so like you know, MSOs only, very like an MMTC style that was popular in uh New Jersey, not in Illinois, but in Florida, uh this ultra high net worth conservative controlled medical style, and so you have it in Georgia now, Virginia, and so like those types of styles, they want legalization on their terms. And then and then you have a swing state, and so like they can't make up their like the the Republicans can't agree with the Democrats and shit, and there's just too many. No, and then the control, like Illinois, in Illinois, it's so fucking rigged and crooked that if they don't have all the Democratic votes they need to pass the bill without talking to the Republicans, they'd never call the bill. Talk about always dying in committee. Yeah, you could only pass if all the Democrats say they will vote for it. That's the only thing, and they sit on these bills, and so this isn't unique. Illinois just is lopsided, right? Pennsylvania's not lopsided, Wisconsin's not lopsided, Indiana's lopsided the other way. Indiana is like Republican lopsided.
SPEAKER_00But isn't this isn't that how any of this happens, though, right? Like they don't put anything to a floor until they realize like both sides will go through, right? Because you got because both the house and the sense get a grill going, or maybe sometimes just people just care about one, only the house and only the Senate. I'm I'm just asking because I don't politic.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's how the laws are made. And so uh unfortunately, the people that it really appeals to are nerds and malignant narcissists, and so the nerds are usually like tabulating the data and like looking at stuff, and then the malignant narcissists are running for everything and saying, we're gonna fix all the problems.
SPEAKER_01We got this guy, not sure, and he is a freaking genius. He's gonna make the plants grow, he's gonna stop the wildfire smoke from Canada.
SPEAKER_00Shit. Sanctions!
Kenya Rastafari Ruling
SPEAKER_00Hey, we got some uh international news.
SPEAKER_02Oh, good. I like that international news.
SPEAKER_00So uh Kenya and court dismisses Rastafari case seeking to legalize marijuana.
SPEAKER_02Oh man, yeah, Rastafar wrong. Shit.
SPEAKER_00How long are you holding on to that?
SPEAKER_02I just made it up, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, no, it's a fortunate, right?
SPEAKER_02Like, like um you would hope an African nation would recognize because I mean I believe, like, but it's still it's still just that it's illegal, and so yeah this is it's laws, and so like that that's the single convention at work. The single convention made the whole planet like ban weed, and India was like one of the last holdouts, like in the 80s and shit. But um, they eventually did, and so like it's pretty much a global problem, and us leading now on on changing it because like I don't think Canada really tried to change anything, but then I don't think the global people really care about working together right now. Now it's just all grift and and what can I take?
SPEAKER_00Well, you're you're right. This tie down. Can I get this? Yeah, well, isn't the whole thing too? I I think for me, like legalization's always been about a purpose to to like uh where everybody's you know, it's just fair, and you know, you don't have to worry about going to jail, and fly jail.
SPEAKER_02That's it, and then no discrimination, yeah. No losing your job, no getting kicked off your federal benefits. Yeah, no getting evicted, you know, like don't lose your kids. I don't want to hear about this. I mean, I'm I one of the things that I never wake up from in a cold sweat is that I am not a state judge in the family law court, and I have to hear about divorces all day.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's depressing, yeah. Well, again, like like they say some like a cop meets somebody on the worst day every day or whatever. But like, you know, with this plant to get to those ways to that, and at least in our nation, sometimes it feels to the point, at least especially now with this administration, you have to like sell it to like, hey, this is what's how you're gonna make a shit ton of money. This is how you're gonna, you know, it's not even about what's right or wrong. It's just like, here, this is how it can benefit you. Uh, you know, I don't know, man.
SPEAKER_02Like this, but John Boehner tried that shtick out of Ohio 10 years ago when he got out of being the speaker of the house and he retired from Congress. And then he got hired by what the fuck was the name of the colour.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's right, one of the early fucking weed guys, like businesses.
SPEAKER_02One of the names of their flight, and it was like the dumbest. You I saw the name of their brand, and I was like, they gotta be kidding me. It was called Innocent Cannabis. And so, like the name of your brand is Innocent Cannabis. Do you have any like cannabis? Yeah, I got some innocent cannabis. Uh, I mean, that's something that fucks me up, man. But um, hilarious. But yeah, I can't remember the name of that company, I don't think they exist anymore.
SPEAKER_00No, but you know, you you got a good point though how you know there's always been these deep pockets like trying to figure out how to make money in this, like legitimize, like that's where we're getting we're almost to the point, you know, right with the federal shit. Uh uh, you know, but we still have outliers,
Clones and Hemp Hustle
SPEAKER_00you know. That we have so that's all our stories, but there's one thing like is you've been talking about clones and selling that, right? I found somebody, dude. So, like, I follow a bunch of weirdos on uh YouTube. I got the random feeds. I'm not a grower, but you know, I see a lot of these chats and I like to hang out and just see. And one guy popped up, dude, and it's uh clone to home.com. This guy's so interesting clones, yeah. Like, like, like he's legit, like pushing it. You know, he he does the whole 28 farm bill thing, uh says, but I was just impressed. Like, that's the new market, man. People need to like if you want to like find like I don't know. See, look, he's selling the clones. I got the little yeah, YouTube shit, but like, I mean, there's there's out there, that's your new hustle. If you want, if that's what you want to do, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Like, the other part though is better be safe when you talk about it's gonna be it, but then all right, how big of a uh operation? Where do you make it? How do you stay ahead of the laws? But a lot of the entrepreneurs in that area, like if they're able to put it up and like start selling it, and nobody takes it down until they realize and then suddenly this they lose their business, they'll do it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, hemp's already happening, right? Like, like, I think people are just trying to liquidate their backlog now. Nobody wants to sell a bunch of but anyway, it was acreage holdings. Oh, whatever happened to them. Didn't your Google search does it pop up of anything? Did it say anything?
SPEAKER_02They super died. No, I'm kidding. They did not super die. I guess they're still in business. They they were founded in 2011 in Maine. Neat. Yeah,
Wrap Up and Disclaimer
SPEAKER_02but hey man, it's been an hour. That's all our stories. That's all of our stories. That was cannabis legalization news that was this week. There's so much happening, and there's probably going to be more happening next week. I'm I depending on like how much time I get from back from like having to be at the store, I'll be able to do the because like I haven't even shown anybody the the software that we've been using to run the shop and how it is to run it. And I think you know, doing a uh weekly about that will it may not be on this channel. We might actually have to start a smaller sub-channel for that, but um uh I'm still gonna use this channel to like try to reach the right people.
SPEAKER_00So you're walking to walk, man. I mean, it's uh it's a long road to legalization, and you know, we're not there, but you're running a fucking business now. I mean, you always have been for a minute. Yeah, I'm saying you always have been, but now you got the brick and border. That's the side that everybody sees. No one cares about the the shit that we do on our day-to-day, man. No one cares about our personal hustles. It's more like, how do I get there? Tell me important shit now. You're like, I don't know, but this is my thing.
SPEAKER_01Sounds like you're looking for easy answers.
SPEAKER_02Okay, none of this will work, and then uh that's that's the other thing of the prophylactic at the end. None of this was legal advice or anything besides my glib opinion. My glib opinion, not legally liable. Thanks for tuning in, everybody.