In this episode, Scott and Miranda discuss the latest rumblings in cannabis legislation and regulation, such as the Federal MORE Act and Adult Use in Maryland. They also touch upon censorship in social media and how that's affecting cannabis education and accessible information.
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Transcript
[MUSIC - "You Don't Know How It Feels" by Tom Petty]
Miranda 0:13
Hello, and welcome to The Heady Conversations with Scott and Miranda.
Scott 0:18
Welcome back, folks, we are happy to be here with you this week. Wrapping up the moment in cannabis.
Miranda 0:27
Yeah!
Scott 0:29
This is that time a month when we talk about cannabis in the news--
Miranda 0:33
Laws changing.
Scott 0:34
You know, various, right, whatever's popping up on our radar, you can always feel free to send us information about things that you want to hear more about to specific questions about legislation in your state or, you know, changes that are going on nationally or internationally or whatever. Feel free to drop us that feedback and let us know we'll be happy to look into those things. But this week, we will definitely be focused on some legislative stuff, both here locally in Maryland, and then again, on the national stage, because that has been in the news lately.
Miranda 1:15
Quite a bit.
Scott 1:15
Right.
Miranda 1:16
And also some censorship that's been going on.
Scott 1:20
Yeah.
Miranda 1:20
In the media.
Scott 1:21
Which has also been in the news lately, if you're talking about Cannabis News?
Miranda 1:25
Absolutely.
Scott 1:26
Yeah, kind of first and foremost, we are cruising towards referendum here now in Maryland, that has been officially put on the ballot for November's elections. So if you are not the type to vote for anything else...
Miranda 1:44
And if cannabis is important to you...
Scott 1:45
Right? And, you know, to be fair, it's not for everybody, lots of people, even cannabis users do not necessarily support the legal market, because they don't agree with how things are being handled. And, you know, in a lot of circumstances, it ends up being, as we'll talk about in the kind of national view, a couple of steps forward in in some ways--
Miranda 2:13
But then also several steps back.
Scott 2:16
Right. In other ways. So it's it's important to talk about both the pros and cons of, you know, what's, what's going on with this stuff. Because a lot of people are just, you know, they read the headline, and they start shaking their pom poms and you know, Rutan and rah, rah and right and it is progress. But you have to pay attention to it. And as we like to remind folks, it shouldn't just be legal, it should be equitable.
150%.
Right. So, it's it's important to note when it's not, or when there are things that are being slipped into these bills, that could you know, harm folks or when, frankly, when when they don't go far enough? You know, we've we've talked before about the Maryland law, whether it's the the version that has two plants suggested or six plan, right? Whatever it is, it's probably still not enough. But obviously, there's a big difference between six and two.
Miranda 3:23
Yeah.
Scott 3:25
There's even bigger difference between six and ten. Which is what I'd like to see personally.
Miranda 3:32
It would it would make the most sense for a normal home grow to allow up to 10 plants.
Scott 3:37
I mean, I don't think most people are going to want to do more than--
Miranda 3:41
It's a lot of work. Yeah, I find gardening in general is a lot of work. Well, when you have fussy plants, like cannabis...
Scott 3:51
I don't even know if it's, the plant is as fussy as we are. We're being fussy about our expectations with what we want to get out of it. And for good reason. I mean, if you're going to spend that level of time and attention and money to, you know, grow a cannabis plant or plants, and it certainly can be just the seeds alone are expensive can be superduper expensive, depending on the type of seed you want to get. And we've talked about that before. You know, there's everything from self flowering seeds to you know, they've already been sexed. They've already been pre fertilized. I guess. I don't want to say it.
Miranda 4:39
Again. I don't grow.
Scott 4:43
Come on Maryland.
Miranda 4:46
But I also read that the DEA is not I'm worried about cannabis seeds at this point.
Scott 4:51
Well, I mean, I think realistically, they haven't been for a long time. I know a lot of people that have freaked out about ordering seeds online, but I know a lot more people that haven't freaked out about ordering seeds online that have been growing for a long time.
Miranda 5:07
Yeah, I read an article this week that was like the DEA is not looking for cannabis seeds. And I was like, Oh, cool. Interesting.
Scott 5:14
Game on! Yeah, no, I don't know. That's, that's rad. That's great to know. I, you know, this is not us recommending that you go out and order seeds. If it's not legal in your market, you're still taking a risk. Your package could get seized or, but honestly, I think that is the worst that would happen is your package would get seized? I don't I don't think anybody would necessary. And this is not legal advice.
Miranda 5:43
No, we are not lawyers. Nope or doctors.
Scott 5:47
My father went to school for that. I'm an art school dropout.
Miranda 5:50
Me too.
Scott 5:51
So we are not advising you on your rights or anything like that. But I'm just telling you from personal experience and firsthand knowledge. I think you would be fine ordering seeds. And I think at the very worst, you probably just won't get your seeds. Yeah, you know. But anyway,
Miranda 6:13
It also probably, it depends on the amount of seeds.
Scott 6:13
Yeah, well, as expensive as they are. I don't think anybody's super expensive. But yeah, if you're, if you're ordering a few $1,000 Then you might pop up on somebody's radar, I don't know. But anyway, we're moving towards referendum here in Maryland. Hopefully that means we will be able to grow. As I've said in the past, I know other states as soon as that legislation has been passed--
Miranda 6:45
And that's what it looks like here.
Scott 6:46
Not once it's been signed into law, the grow portion of it would come into effect when we would be able to grow at that point, because as as we've noted, as noted before, this referendum does not have a framework attached to it at all for what adult use sales will look like in Maryland.
Miranda 7:08
It's kind of messy.
Scott 7:10
Now there is a attached bill.
Miranda 7:12
Yeah.
Scott 7:13
That has some of the, like, clearing the records, and that being automatic and things like that.
Miranda 7:22
But it's also says limited expungement.
Scott 7:25
Right.
Miranda 7:27
Eyebrow raise.
Scott 7:28
Right.
Miranda 7:29
Eyebrow raise.
Scott 7:30
Yeah. Again, you know, some of these definitely don't go far enough. Some of them definitely don't address issues that are important to us and may be important to you. Hey, look, I'm not here to tell you that you have to support this bill or another bill. Just pay attention to what's going on. Yeah. Be aware of the changes that are made as they're being made.
Miranda 7:50
And Larry Hogan said that he wasn't gonna stand in the way of the bill.
Scott 7:55
Right. Basically, yeah, he's smart enough to know, well, this is the thing with Republicans.
Miranda 8:01
Once they know something can be taxed. It's all good.
Scott 8:04
You would think but it's so overwhelmingly at this point that people in this country support legalization of adult use.
Miranda 8:12
Absolutely.
Scott 8:13
Overwhelmingly.
Miranda 8:14
Yes.
Scott 8:15
Some polls are as high as 70%. But I think the lowest poll I saw--
Miranda 8:20
67% was the lowest that I saw.
Scott 8:22
I think I saw one that was like 62%. But that was specifically for adult use when you throw in medical--
Miranda 8:22
Yeah.
Scott 8:25
And just ask people whether medical should be available. I think that number can go as high as 80%.
Miranda 8:39
Yeah.
Scott 8:40
But when it breaks down along partisan lines, sometimes it's as low as 50% of Republican support. Yeah. Which, to me, cannabis is a microcosm, when it comes to the commercial aspects of it, you know, and how much of it is, quote unquote, big business and old boy network and the same old, same old and, you know, companies gobbling up smaller companies, and you know, monopolizing and homogenizing them, and all that good shit. But but also in the sense of the Republicans being out of touch with the country, you know, over 70% of the country overall supports this, but then when you narrow it to Republicans, it's only one and two, right? And I don't know if you know, again, to me, that just shows that we've got more work to do on the education and the, you know, ending the stigma and, you know, making people understand what the plant is and what the plant isn't.
Miranda 9:50
Right, I think I mean, a friend of mine posted on Instagram this morning, a billboard in I think it was Arkansas. Oh, it was like, "Do the math. Don't smoke grass". First of all, it doesn't rhyme. It's not even clever. Second of all, do the math don't do meth should be Arkansas. I'm like, really? We're still here. We're still at this point.
Scott 10:18
Yes. It's old.
Miranda 10:21
It's the same old song. And it's the wrong song.
Scott 10:24
I just I just read an article that was about ending the stigma and the fact that, you know, there's good work being done up in Canada to end the stigma. But then it showed some of the billboards that were involved with that campaign. And it was the same kind of thing. Yeah, it was, you know, don't drive stone by law. Well, that's, that's not ending the stigma that's reinforcing the stigma that stoned drivers are a danger to you and your family. And the reality is some people operate much better on and the effects of cannabis, right than they would otherwise--
Miranda 10:59
They're more focused.
Scott 11:00
They're more focused, they're more relaxed, you know, driving stresses the f out of a lot of people.
Miranda 11:06
I mean, your story today alone.
Scott 11:08
Yeah.
Miranda 11:09
What the hell?
Scott 11:10
Yeah. Well, the streets of Baltimore are stressful, regardless of your mode of transportation, but yeah, there was a lot of tomfoolery. It's warm. Lots of people are out there. It's a holiday weekend.
Miranda 11:21
It's a holiday weekend. Yeah, people are rushing around to get stuff done. And it's really I feel like the last two days have brought out the worst in people. So thank God for weed.
Scott 11:33
Full moons.
Miranda 11:34
Oh, yeah, that too.
Scott 11:36
What are you gonna do?
Miranda 11:37
Full moons, it's Easter.
Scott 11:40
Passover, whatever you celebrate happiness to you and yours. Or if you don't say celebrate anything at all.
Miranda 11:48
Happy? Wednesday.
Scott 11:50
Yeah, there you go. Actually, this is the 420 episode.
Miranda 11:57
I guess so. I guess Yeah. Happy birthday to me.
Scott 12:01
We just realized, obviously, we don't record the shows live people. There's some production work that needs to be done and all that good stuff. So yeah. Easter weekend, and all that good stuff has just passed, happy 420. That's funny. Make sure you celebrate safely and responsibly wherever you are.
Miranda 12:31
Please, blaze one up for me!
Scott 12:33
Personally, I feel like the commercialization of 420 in the cannabis industry has become a bit ridiculous.
Miranda 12:43
It's gotten to be like Black Friday.
Scott 12:44
But hey, if it saves patients money, yeah. And gets people good deals. Hopefully, you You took advantage of those. If you are a partaker, and a legal market somewhere. But shit, even the black and gray market. I feel like people used to have, you know, plugs used to have sales on 420 to get people to buy more stuff. But anyway, so that's what's going on in Maryland, folks, make sure you get out and vote in November, make sure you pay attention to these bills that are being talked about and get vocal about the bills that you want to support the ones that have the best aspects of equity and cottage industry. All that good stuff attached to them. Yeah.
Miranda 13:36
Just one more thing. It does say beginning July 1, if it does pass. On that day, you will be able to possess up to 1.5 ounces and cultivate up to two plants.
Scott 13:50
Beautiful.
Miranda 13:51
Boom.
Scott 13:52
Yep, I will have my seedlings ready to go. You can best believe it. I definitely have some seeds that I've pulled out jars that people have given to me over the years that I am I have been patient I have been waiting to do it legally. But the moment I can do it legally it is Game On. I will be putting in either a tent in the corner, or putting one of the sides of a room aside. I'm lucky enough to live in a whole house by myself. So I've got plenty of room not necessarily all usable grow space, but...
Miranda 14:39
It's nice to have grow space.
Scott 14:41
My backyard is only accessible to the house next door to me. So I might even you know knock on the neighbor's door and hey, do you mind? Yeah, well, I mean literally it's it's a giant.
Miranda 14:53
Oh wow.
Scott 14:54
It's a 20 foot high brick wall on the one side. It's the back of the public storage building on the backside and and it's the one neighbor, and our ally is under lock and key, you know the other two houses next to ours, you would have to jump over their 20 foot fence to get into his band. That's a locked gate. So, right, you know, I don't have to worry about I have more to worry about from rats eating my plants than I do children, or unauthorized users stumbling across my plants. So I will absolutely ask the neighbor if if they don't mind for sure.
Miranda 15:30
And you know, if you decide to grow outdoors, I don't recommend it. Maryland's not a great outdoor growth state.
Scott 15:37
If you start plants early enough, we won't have time for the legal season this year. Right? What if you started plants early enough indoors? You could absolutely take advantage of I mean, obviously, we're not doctors, lawyers, we're not growers. I'm also not even just a gardener, to be honest, I'm very amateur when it comes to my like tomatoes and cucumbers. Okay. The cauliflower from last year is doing great, though that that has been a very pleasant surprise. But anyway, it depends on what kind of sun exposure you get depends on what kind of drainage you get. Obviously, if you're growing outdoors, you have to worry about different types of pests and things like that. If you're growing indoors, but I don't know why. Absolutely. But I'm saying different types of outdoors than indoors. I think he indoors, it's predominantly going to be your like spider mites and stuff like that. But if it's maybe anyway, he will read up on all that. And you should start doing that now. Yeah, in a state that is about to legalize, or that you think legalization is coming down the road? Start looking on YouTube and all those places to find people who talk about growing and you know, give you give you a head start.
Miranda 16:56
Yeah, start with the tomato plant this summer.
Scott 16:59
Well, that's true, too. If you've never grown anything at all, yeah, go ahead.
Miranda 17:04
Tomatoes are super close to cannabis. Yep.
Scott 17:06
Get your veg on and you can do tomatoes indoors or outdoors.
Miranda 17:11
Amazingly, tomatoes thrive in Maryland.
Scott 17:15
Absolutely.
Miranda 17:17
Again, I think it's the sun exposure, etc. And they always taste better when they're in sun.
Scott 17:21
The type of soil is what I've always heard in Maryland, the silty soil.
Miranda 17:25
Is it the soil? Because we have terrible soil.
Scott 17:29
Terrible soil for for what? Yeah, I mean, it's anyway. Yes, we'll be able to grow. So that was the point of all that. Moving on.
Miranda 17:43
Yeah, the MORE Act is MORE actually more, or is it less?
Scott 17:49
It is more of something we can argue something is less of others. Yeah. So obviously we've mentioned before the MORE Act has passed the house at this point, is waiting on the Senate. The Senate just came out this week and said that it's waiting until August. We're not going to get any movement on it until then. But you know, maybe that means they think if they push it back that far, they're gonna get the 10 Republican votes they need maybe because they need 10 Republican votes,
Miranda 18:27
Because as it stands currently, I don't think it's going to pass if they need those 10 votes.
Scott 18:34
Well, that's obviously how they feel to one would think otherwise, Schumer would have gone ahead and push it through. So he's got his own bill that he introduced. And that's what they're going to be voting on in August. And I guess then if they vote to approve that, then obviously go through the different committees. And, you know, they would have to argue back and forth between the House House and the Senate to figure out, you know,
Miranda 19:06
do what they need to do, right to get it done and
Scott 19:09
put the correct structure in place. But yeah, there are different aspects that have obviously been praised by lots of people. Sure. Because adult use or recreational quote unquote, cannabis is now legal in 18 different states. I want to say yeah, for more pending on the way and then another three or four more moving towards referendum at this point. So yeah, I mean, it's going to be the majority of the states, as we talked about, it is a majority of the people. So what the hell is taking so long here is obviously the concessions that people are willing to make when it comes to things like equity, right? And you know whether things like expungement of records is going to be automatic. Whether it's going to be up to the states do those things individually.
Miranda 20:09
Because it looks like at this point, that's what the bill is saying, right?
Scott 20:12
That it would just affect federal cannabis charges, right. And then any states would have to deal with their own state level would would still be up to the states to work out and hammer out on their own,
Miranda 20:24
but only low level federal convictions.
Scott 20:28
Right. And the other thing that has obviously gotten some pretty heavy criticism, but I don't think enough attention is the RE introduction of mandatory minimums. Yeah, and mandatory sentencing. And--
Miranda 20:50
That's suss.
Scott 20:53
To say the least, to say the least. Yeah. You know, obviously, I guess, there are going to be some people that will argue, well, if it becomes federally illegal, why would you, you know, be in possession of because what we're talking about here to be specific is higher penalties, and across the board mandatory minimums on basically, the way they come at it is from the tax angle, right? So anything that hasn't been properly taxed, in other words hasn't come through the dispensary system. And whatever state you are territory, I suppose you may be in.
Miranda 21:35
Which is the problem that they're seeing in California right now. Because they're going after all of these cottage industries that haven't necessarily been going through the proper channels. Right. So I'm trying to say, and then they're trying to tax them. Right. So yeah, California is seeing quite a bit of that right now.
Scott 21:59
Yeah, and there's been a collapse in the California industry, you know, lots of people have gone out of business, the price per pound, I mean, I know, a buddy of mine, saw this coming, and switched his 80 acre grow over to it research CBD, like, like.
Miranda 22:21
Woah! right!
Scott 22:22
Hummingbird, that special license that she had to grow the you know, or that she has to grow the kind of higher potency stuff, he applied for a similar thing out here where he is, and just kind of switched his grow over from being THC focus to being CBD focused, because he saw these these taxes coming and the THC side of the industry. But yeah, you've you've had people closing down, you've had people being caught trying to take their product outside of state to the markets, so they can get a higher price to recoup. Because it's not cheap to run a large scale. No cannabis grow, you know, if you're doing things correctly, and, you know, using good clean water and good nutrients and paying your people well,
Miranda 22:34
and making flower.
Scott 23:18
Yeah. Well, and purchasing good seeds or
Miranda 23:21
Yeah, yeah, it's not cheap to start this up.
Scott 23:24
No. Especially not at any sort of, you know, large enough scale. I mean, you know, we've talked before about how expensive the licensing is, and how expensive the testing is, to go through to get your stuff tested on a regular basis, to remain in compliance with, you know, local laws. And of course, then when the feds are evolved to I'm sure there'll be a new layer, absolutely. Inspection and bureaucracy, probably present at that point, too. But yeah, so it's important to note, it's not all, you know, lots of people were, you know, oh, well, weeds legal now.
Miranda 24:04
Yeah, no, it's not.
Scott 24:06
There. There are lots of people. I think we talked about this in one of the early episodes, yeah. Where some, like kids from California were interviewed by some webcast or whatever. And they literally just were like, What do you talk? Like, weed's legal, you know, it's like, no, that's not everywhere in the country. That's--
Miranda 24:28
Or even in all of California.
Scott 24:30
It's not just like you do whatever you want. It's still weeds legal, if you purchased it through legal legal channels that have been inspected and tested and taxed and all that good stuff, right. Or if you grow yourself, right.
Miranda 24:49
If it's legal to grow it yourself.
Scott 24:52
Or you know, the places that have the gift economies, but we're starting to see some of that get rolled back. Yeah. Where DC where Right, you know, DC came out and--
Miranda 25:03
They overturn that pretty fast though. Thank goodness.
Scott 25:06
Well, they yeah. We've talked about Andy Harris before and his just ridiculous crusade to keep cannabis out of the nation's capital.
Miranda 25:15
He's insane.
Scott 25:16
Because he thinks that it's some, you know, again, Republicans being out of touch. I am certain that Andy Harri' constituents probably have no idea.
Miranda 25:32
No
Scott 25:32
Of the ridiculousness that this man, you know, perpetuates down in the capitol when it comes to his cannabis policy. It's absolutely absurd. Yeah, I mean, the guy is clearly seen Reefer Madness too many times. You know, the insinuation that allowing the legitimate, safe, clean presence of recreational cannabis sales in the District of Columbia would be some sort of, you know, symbol of the impropriety and inequity of--
Miranda 26:14
everybody's gonna lose their mind and listen to jazz music.
Scott 26:17
This is fucking Sodom and Gomorrah. Get your fucking religion out of my politics, out of my policy--
Miranda 26:27
I just think he's completely out of touch.
Scott 26:29
It is just so absurd. He's just when 70% of the country and I'm sure if you interviewed or polled the people of DC, it would be higher than that.
Miranda 26:39
And you know, all of the grow operations in his district.
Scott 26:43
It's just so ridiculous.
Miranda 26:44
He just he just needs to stop. He's so completely just wrong. The man is wrong.
Scott 26:52
Oh, yeah, they Yeah, they went after the gifting economy there. The governor of Virginia, pulled the same nonsense there. And that, I mean, that guy's just a total clown, I saw a great meme. Basically, he said, I don't know anyone who's ever used cannabis on a regular basis that's ever accomplished anything. And it was like a picture of Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps standing next to each other, you know, as the fastest man on land, the fastest man in the water, you know, 22 gold medals or whatever the hell it is between the two of them. And they are both, you know--
Miranda 27:32
Snoops got like, 40 jobs at this point. Like, the man is endorsing everyone, he is the face of everything, right. So, yeah, cannabis smokers are lazy.
Scott 27:43
Yeah, it's just so totally absurd. These people are so out of touch.
Miranda 27:48
We somehow managed to, you know, do all of this research and everything else and put together a show every week. But we don't get anything done.
Scott 27:58
Yeah, it's, it's just wild. It's, you know, and the stigma, folks and help. And the stigma, whether he's speaking about being a proud cannabis user, around your friends and family. And now if you are a legal user in a legal state, then please don't be ashamed of your cannabis. Really not, you know, if you go to a party and you don't want to drink, you know, pull out your bag of edibles or pull out tincture. And, you know, tell people what it is and, you know, don't share it with them. If it's not their medicine.
Miranda 28:34
You know, if you're not in an adult use state.
Scott 28:37
If you're not in a state where it's legal to share the product, then don't do that. But you can still talk to people about it. I mean, sure, they understand that, you know, there's nothing to be ashamed of. There's nothing wrong. There's no yeah, there's no hangover.
Miranda 28:53
Thats the best part of it!
Scott 28:56
You know, you're gonna get the munchies maybe depending on the strain you smoke, you know, if you smoke too much, or you know, it's it's all it's all part of the education.
Miranda 29:05
Yeah. And just just Yeah, talk to your peeps.
Scott 29:08
If you're a responsible cannabis user. Yeah, it's kind of your responsible responsibility to help other people discover the plant responsibly as well.
Miranda 29:20
Absolutely. Yeah. It would allow veterans to obtain medical cannabis from their VA doctors.
Scott 29:28
Yep.
Miranda 29:28
Which is gigantic.
Scott 29:30
There are lots of good aspects of the More Act. There are other parts of it and associated other legislation that that are questionable at best, but it's, again, if if the Senate passes their bill, and the House passed their bill, then it goes to the committee's to put something together to put in front of Biden.
Miranda 29:58
Which I'm sure he'll sign Well okay, he said he would when...
Scott 30:04
Yeah...
Miranda 30:07
Well, yeah.
Scott 30:11
I'm not surprised when any politician breaks they're word about anything.
Miranda 30:15
No, no.
Scott 30:17
So I would not at all be, I mean how long into the presidency now are we and I still haven't seen a ton of movement on this stuff the Democrats are in control of everything.
Miranda 30:28
Well, there's a lot going on right now in the world.
Scott 30:32
And I understand that but right i mean that's I feel like that's how they get you there's always something else go on.
Miranda 30:38
Wagging the dog.
Scott 30:41
We need movement on this as as we've discussed on this show before if you care about things like social justice and equity Yeah, and he is now an end to the for profit prison system and an end to the racist war on drugs like this stuff needs to happen. Yeah, I understand that gas prices are high and that there's a war on the Ukraine and that there's Yeah, you know, the end of a pandemic starting to flare up again with a new stupid fucking variation.
Miranda 31:17
I feel like I'm never getting out of the house again.
Scott 31:22
I've got to say I've been living pretty normally I've been you know, still masking when I go into of course, you know, busy or crowded situations but for the most part I don't know the world feels pretty but that's here. We're we're different here in Maryland. We are a highly vaccinated state. Yeah, I think we got all the way up to 90%?
Miranda 31:48
Maybe.
Scott 31:49
I think.
Miranda 31:50
I think at least 90% of one shot.
Scott 31:53
Oh no, that full I'm talking Yeah, go I'm talking full vaxx and and even boosted was really high. I know. Elderly and at risk folks that have gotten the second booster now.
Miranda 32:09
Yeah. My parents have gotten their booster. Yeah. I think are their their their booster boosters. Right. But again, I just have a neighbor who came back from New York. She's got COVID.
Scott 32:20
Oh, yeah. A buddy of mine that I used to work with just posted last night. No, it's definitely it's definitely still a thing.
Miranda 32:29
No, it's still there.
Scott 32:30
Yeah, the airport in Ohio. There were a lot of unmasked people, even their their signs at the doors of their airport saying that you're supposed to be masked.
Miranda 32:41
Anyway.
Scott 32:43
Again, Republicans out of Ohio very much a Republican state. Yeah, for sure.
Miranda 32:51
But yeah, the More Act also does a lot of good things. It removes the threat of deportation for immigrants accused of minor marijuana infractions and who are or who are gainfully employed in the cannabis industry. So that's a good thing. Speaking of which, Mexico, keeping their weed, not bringing it to us. Apparently, nobody's caught a whole bunch of people sneaking over the border with weed. Since they legalized in Mexico.
Scott 33:22
How about that.
Miranda 33:24
So interesting little tidbit there. I thought that was weird. Like, not getting Mexican weed anymore.
Scott 33:32
I haven't. I haven't really kept up on the import game.
Miranda 33:41
It's one of those things where like, I open a window and MSN or whatever, says sends me news. And that was one of the articles that I decided to read. And I was like, Oh, well, that's interesting. Yeah, they've seized less since it's become legal in Mexico than they have like, in the last month that it was illegal there. So cool.
Scott 34:10
Interesting.
Miranda 34:11
Do it up.
Scott 34:14
Yeah, I read--
Miranda 34:15
Now we just need to just get our own weed.
Scott 34:17
There's, there are a lot of different effects and ramifications of various legal markets that you would never necessarily right think about. It might be counter intuitive to some people that believe the myths and stereotypes to find out that law enforcement costs actually go down.
Miranda 34:41
Yep.
Scott 34:42
You know, because cannabis causes less incidence than cannabis enforcement.
Miranda 34:52
Right.
Scott 34:52
Causes.
Miranda 34:53
Right.
Scott 34:55
So yeah, you're you're spending less money on and the there been, you know, states have been legal long enough now that we know that there's no truth to the rumors of more traffic accidents or inattentiveness, driving or any you know, like the rates of accidents in places like Denver are no higher necessarily than anywhere else in the country.
Miranda 35:25
Exactly.
Scott 35:26
The rates of traffic accidents on 420 or no or at 420, or after 420 are at any higher, right? Yeah, you've probably got more chance of causing an accident because you drop your joint in your lap than you do. Because you were under the influence. Not recommending anybody smoke while they're driving. Just saying when we're talking about the truth of the matter, which is what we like to do here.
Miranda 35:57
Yeah, but it also says, I mean, I feel like this bill talks out of both sides of its mouth. And it makes me a little crazy, because it also says like protecting and respecting basic rights and civil liberties of cannabis consumers under federal law when it comes to public benefits. To me that just says, Hey, guys, go ahead. Right, but do it under our laws? Which mean what? Because they're also saying, again, more, you know, arrests and more, you know, charges and, and fines cetera. But then this helped me understand, government.
Scott 36:42
Well, and this is why we need the feds to get their shit together.
Miranda 36:47
Yeah.
Scott 36:48
Because when you leave it up to the individual states, you see the ridiculousness like what's happening in Texas right now. Where, you know, Texas is very anti cannabis.
Miranda 37:01
Right. As I would expect.
Scott 37:02
You know, the republican government of Texas, I should say, because the people of Texas, I feel, are very supportive of cannabis. Even Republicans in Texas, tend to be very libertarian, you know, they tend to be very Get out of my business. So, but anyway, you've had this big I don't know if you've been following but the legalization in New Mexico, right. Which has been absolutely like off the chart. I think they did $3 million in sales in the opening weekend is something absolutely nuts. But now, Texas border control. And Texas, just stateborder control.
Miranda 37:26
Bordering Mexico, New Mexico?
Scott 37:48
Well, and also border control. And also the New Mexico border control, have said it's still federally illegal. So if we stop you for something, and you've got cannabis on you,
Miranda 38:03
okay. That's interesting.
Scott 38:06
I mean, it's it's totally absurd.
Miranda 38:08
Yeah, that is absurd.
Scott 38:10
If the state that you're operating in is a legal adult use state, but then the federal agents operating in that state are saying that they still can potentially charge you with cannabis charges. Because it's federally illegal.
Miranda 38:28
If you're in that state.
Scott 38:29
Right. It's totally absurd.
Miranda 38:31
Gahhhhhh It makes my brain hurt.
Scott 38:33
It's, you know,
Miranda 38:34
yeah, that's talking again, that's, that's the government talking out of both sides of its mouth.
Scott 38:38
Which is why it's important for them to you know federally reclassify, get it off of which, which both these acts do. And now both the Senate and the House versions of they're different. Totally reclassify.
Miranda 38:59
Yeah.
Scott 38:59
But people have been very critical of Biden in saying that he could reclassify it with a executive order.
Miranda 39:07
It's true.
Scott 39:08
Ahead of that happening, which is why I kind of...
Miranda 39:11
Yeah.
Scott 39:12
That's why I scowled and rolled my eyes when you said they, they, you know, Biden would sign it. I. I think he would, I hope he would.
Miranda 39:21
I think we're we both know that we are no fans of the two party system.
Scott 39:27
So absolutely not,
Miranda 39:29
Don't take my Well, Biden could as a thumbs up towards him.
Scott 39:34
No, I am I am officially a registered green. So I vote like I smoke. I should yeah, I should make some T shirts to say that.
Miranda 39:47
But yeah, that's the More act.
Scott 39:50
That's the More act.
Miranda 39:51
I don't know if it's any clearer. Certainly not any clearer to me because oh my god, the amount of this that I read in the past few days.
Scott 40:01
Again, I think the overarching message is pay attention. Yeah, you know, and support the people that are talking about legislation that makes sense. If you live in one of these Republican states where you've got a more sane, Republican senator, write them a letter. We only need 10 Republicans to support the Senate version of the bill, to move it forward and get some progress between the House and the Senate on this.
Miranda 40:31
Exactly.
Scott 40:31
So as as important as it is for you know, us to talk about this stuff here in Maryland, it's more important for you to talk about it in Ohio and Texas and Florida. And, oh, ya know, those swing states where you tend to have legislature, legislators that are a little bit more sane, because they've kind of got a walk on middle road, you know, rather than being the super inflammatory, you know, if you're say down in Alabama, or Well, I don't know. I mean, we've had some of those southern states legalized now.
Yeah. [unintelligable]
I think Delaware is moving towards referendum.
Miranda 41:17
I think so too.
Scott 41:20
New Jersey.
Miranda 41:21
New Jersey definitely is full speed ahead. Yeah, they're not wasting any time.
Scott 41:25
I think they're shut down places they were jumping the gun a little bit and opening up pot shops before they're legally allowed to.
Miranda 41:34
New York is, New York is like the Wild West of weed.
Scott 41:38
Come on.
Miranda 41:39
I know. closed up. Bodega is opening up as like little little stores.
Scott 41:43
Sure. You know, boutiques I'm sure you've got the same kind of shit going on up in New York right now that you do in DC.
Miranda 41:52
I had a friend of mine who went into the city to get an MRI done. And she was like, I was walking down the street and have a joint. I just went into a store and bought a joint. And she was like, This is fabulous. I think you know, honestly, that's the way it should be.
Scott 42:09
Of course it should.
Miranda 42:10
But you know, destigmatize.
Scott 42:14
Amen,
Miranda 42:15
All day long.
Scott 42:16
Like we said, tell your friends. You know, don't hide it. Don't be ashamed. There's nothing wrong with it.
Miranda 42:22
Yeah, I find that people are less. They're less shocked and taken aback if you take a gummy than they are if you blaze up a joint.
Scott 42:34
Well, sure.
Miranda 42:35
Which is silly.
Scott 42:37
Well, a lot of people have just never smoked anything.
Miranda 42:40
Yeah.
Scott 42:40
And hey, kudos to you. If you've lived live that clean and wholesome life. I was a cigarette smoker for a long, long time. I smart I started way too young on cigarettes, just like I did on cannabis, honestly. But, yeah, and I still smoke joints. And I still smoke bowls. Yeah, definitely. But for lots of people who have never smoked a cigarette, or have never smoked a pipe or cigar. Yeah, the thought of combusting anything and breathing it into their lungs is just not appealing to them.
Miranda 43:15
Absolutely.
Scott 43:16
Or, you know, asthmatics or people are predisposed--
Miranda 43:20
I know a lot of people who can't smoke.
Scott 43:21
Yeah.
Miranda 43:22
But yeah, just start a conversation about it.
Scott 43:25
Sure.
Miranda 43:26
Keep those channels open. And if if you are in a place where you can legally share, you know, do it or if you want to, you know, share a little bit.
Scott 43:42
Slow and low.
Miranda 43:42
Slow and low.
Scott 43:43
The same, you know--
Miranda 43:45
And if it's your first time smoking cannabis, don't smoke a whole joint.
Scott 43:48
No, take a couple of hits.
Miranda 43:51
Yeah.
Scott 43:51
Take a hit.
Miranda 43:52
Take a hit.
Scott 43:53
Wait 15 minutes. See how you feel?
Miranda 43:55
Yeah.
Scott 43:56
There's a very good chance with the strength of the cannabis today. If you take one hit, you're gonna feel it.
Miranda 44:02
Yeah. I have a friend who always says to me that she cannot smoke cannabis because it makes her paranoid and quiet. And I said, How have you smoked your cannabis? And she said, Oh, well, you know, there's smoke like an entire joint. I'm like, that's why it's making you paranoid and you don't have to smoke a whole joint.
Scott 44:28
Even for a seasoned THC user. A whole lot of cannabis all at once can be very overwhelming for your endocannabinoid system.
Miranda 44:38
Very uncomfortable.
Scott 44:39
Can be you know, give you that headache give you that head buzz. Yeah, depending on the strain can, like you said cause anxiety or induce anxiety can make you uncomfortably drowsy, or sluggish. You know, if it's the middle of the day and you're trying to get up and do shit ya know?
Miranda 45:00
Are you have that moment where you're like, Am I dying?
Scott 45:07
I have never had that on cannabis. I don't mean to laugh.
Miranda 45:11
It's totally fine.
Scott 45:12
I do remember.
Miranda 45:14
Do you remember that?
Scott 45:15
I remember once upon a time, a buddy telling me that he had had some edibles. And he took some before he walked into some movie. And he was like, I thought I was dying. And I was like, later and he's like, No, literally, like I thought, and I've heard you know, I knew somebody once I mentioned Green Crack to them, and they were like, I will never smoke that strain again. And they said that they just had the highest anxiety, they thought they felt like their chest was going to pop through their heart was gonna pop through their chest, their heart was beating so fast.
Miranda 45:48
Wow.
Scott 45:48
And I have never had a strain of cannabis where I feel that amped up.
Miranda 45:54
I don't think I have either.
Scott 45:55
I've had stuff where I've been like, oh, I shouldn't be around this many people.
Miranda 46:02
Get a little anxious, but I'm not that amped up where I feel like my, my heart is pounding through my chest.
Scott 46:08
Right? Well, I feel like some people get that amped up when they feel that anxious. Right? Their anxiety physically manifests, because then they start thinking freaking themselves out over being freaked out.
Miranda 46:22
No, that makes perfect sense.
Scott 46:23
But yeah, I am lucky enough knock on wood. You know, I totally get those people that say, you know, they're not using cannabis anymore because it makes them paranoid. Because if cannabis made me paranoid every time I smoked it, I fucking wouldn't use it either.
Miranda 46:38
Right? I would absolutely not use it.
Scott 46:39
Absolutely not use it.
Miranda 46:40
No.
Scott 46:41
It generally continues to relax and calm and--
Miranda 46:47
Soothe.
Scott 46:48
Yes, Balance. Balance is a word that I use.
Miranda 46:52
That's a great word!
Scott 46:53
Whether it's a little pick me up from something that's more uplifting, or whether it's something you know, relaxing and calming and pain relief.
Miranda 47:04
And sometimes both.
Scott 47:05
Right? Why not both?
Miranda 47:07
Yeah.
Scott 47:07
All right.
Miranda 47:10
So moving on to some other news.
Scott 47:13
Yeah.
Miranda 47:13
And some censorship news, right. So as you know, Scott and I are both on the Instagram.
Scott 47:19
Indeed.
Miranda 47:21
And Instagram has done this little nasty thing where they just go after cannabis. I don't want to call them influencers, educators, content creators, creators, etc. And they've been taking down their profiles.
Scott 47:37
Yeah, not just Instagram. We should say meta does the same thing on Facebook as well. It just so happens that I feel like more cannabis creators create on Instagram because videos, reels.
Miranda 47:55
It's a little bit more easier to reach your your people on Instagram than it is on, well...
Scott 48:00
Well, Facebook has that stuff now. But it didn't as of like, what, six months, eight months ago? You know, so I feel like, you know, reels and stories and things like that thing for Facebook.
Miranda 48:13
Was that not a thing?
Scott 48:13
Yeah, that's still relatively new, I feel.
Miranda 48:18
I don't know.
Scott 48:18
Those are feature I'm pretty sure those are features that they integrated over to Facebook once Facebook bought Instagram, okay. And some of them, you know, some of them have been in place for a while. And like Instagram finally got like going live on Instagram after that.
Miranda 48:36
Oh, that used to be a Facebook thing, right?
Scott 48:38
And then and then all of a sudden Instagram had it. And then the reels and stories are something that Insta had that now Facebook has. Anyway, regardless, it happens all over the place. So it's something that's been going on for a long time. But this past March, the company WeedTube, which is a video sharing platform, specifically for cannabis content, launch launched a petition, which now has over 1 million signators, basically urging Meta to reconsider and update their community guidelines in regards to cannabis. When it comes to legal markets, right, you know, it's not even a, you know, you should stop policing drug content, or you should stop policing cannabis content. But the specific complaint is, you know, for instance, Miranda and I, we only talk about things that we smoke that we obtain legally. We in our medical market, right? We are both registered patients, if anybody has any questions, they can see our cards so you know, we can show them the receipts that we have for these products that we talked about.
Miranda 49:59
And my lables on my medicine right there.
Scott 50:01
They're all appropriately labeled with our patient numbers. And we don't go over our allotments and no, you know. So. Yeah, the point being, if we are following the local laws and regulations, where we are in regards to the use of our medicine, there is nothing that makes the content we create inappropriate or illegal. As long as we include the proper disclaimers as far as age appropriateness and all that good stuff, which are already present on these apps, right, you already have the ability to create adult profiles or age restricted profiles. And in a lot of cases, these accounts that are being taken down, are doing all of those appropriate thing.
Miranda 50:52
Absolutely.
Scott 50:53
You know, and these are, these are accounts that have the blue check, you know, the the coveted blue check that signifies that you are a true valid real account Weedmaps.
Miranda 51:08
I had no idea. I didn't see that.
Scott 51:10
So that was that was one of the really, that was one of the really big ones, they took down Weedmaps had a following. Now, you're gonna make me look this up.
Miranda 51:20
I feel like it's the it's the accounts that are verified that had the larger followings that are getting popped.
Scott 51:30
It's, it's totally ridiculous. And those are, you know, those are the accounts that absolutely...
Miranda 51:38
They're educational accounts, and they're doing all the right things.
Scott 51:41
All the right thing, you know, for for the most part by and large. And then you've got other accounts, you know, I mean, we've talked before about, specifically the Cookies, brands and issue those who have with their advertising, you know, feeling like he was age inappropriate using basically kids to promote their clothing, right, quote, unquote, you know, like, we're oh, we're not talking about the cannabis. This is about the hoodie. Well, if the hoodie has pictures of the cannabis labels, or if the hoodie has the same logo logo that the cannabis bags have, then I don't know.
Miranda 52:16
Kind of six and one half a dozen or the other. Yeah, in that case.
Scott 52:20
Yeah, speaking of so a Berner and Weedmaps have joined forces to create their own social media app as well called Social Club. And that's that's been their answer to, you know, this this censorship.
Miranda 52:43
Yeah. And I'm not mad about it.
Scott 52:44
Look, again, I've I've had issues with the Cookies brand in the past. I've got issues personally, here in the Maryland market with the brand that grows Cookies here right now. But otherwise, look, I think Berner operates in a gross industry. So yeah, some of the things that he does are naturally going to be kind of gross, because that's the legal cannabis market as we know it. But that's the reality. This censorship only serves to prop up that corporatization of cannabis.
Miranda 53:18
Absolutely.
Scott 53:19
Because Tik Tok, and Insta and Facebook don't, across the board, ban all cannabis content, right? They selectively and without warning. It's so weird to just an account that you follow one day will just be gone the next. I mean, you know, your buddy Tom. Yeah, yeah, he had to completely start from scratch again. I saw he's living with Boujee. now. That's hilarious. Yeah, hopefully we'll get those dudes on the show one day, just because I think they're very funny. As well as educational. Yeah, they they are, you know, doing the same kinds of things, just better. We are trying to make cannabis fun and teach you something at the same time, and focus on equity and sustainability. And is it a--
Miranda 54:14
Tom just did big post about the whole packaging situation up in Canada, which is excessive.
Scott 54:19
I have not seen a lot of examples, but I've listened to enough podcasts where they talk about. So apparently the warning labels in particular can be absurd. So a lot of companies end up even if it's like a one gram container. They have to put it inside of a large cardboard box just so they can appropriately display all of the warning information. Yeah, I mean, you know, we've talked about sustainability here before and we will continue to talk about it. I have seen you know, I think we've mentioned before the New York market is specifically talking about the fact that bags should be like biodegradable.
Miranda 55:05
Absolutely, I think New York has always been a little ahead on that.
Scott 55:09
Well, California, New York, I think California because of the hippie dippie granola aspect. And then New York just because of the waste management aspect.
Miranda 55:18
Yeah. You don't ever go to New York and see a New Yorker walking around without a bag to put stuff in. They always have a tote with them. You know, they're a native New Yorker if.
Scott 55:31
That's funny, a tote or I would say a sling back too.
Miranda 55:35
Yes, that counts as well.
Scott 55:36
I think in New York was the first place that I really saw slingbacks super popular. Like, oh, no, everybody's not a bike messenger. They're just really...
Miranda 55:46
Just really like to carry their own shit in a stylish bag.
Scott 55:53
But yeah, so something else to be aware of, and something else to, you know, maybe write a letter of support. Go find that petition, we'll put up a link when we launch this episode, so that you can find more information about this, if this is a cause that you care about. But yeah, I mean, basically, you know, if you want to talk about equity, the ability of small businesses, being able to market through social media is a big deal.
Miranda 56:26
For sure.
Scott 56:26
So if you want to see more cottage industry, I mean, I know. Personally, I wouldn't have heard of Bouqe's I would not have heard of Growf.
Miranda 56:35
I mean, I can even just speak to small business like Ricardo the Bakerman. Do you know Ricardo right? I do not. Oh my god. Best butter crunch cookies in Baltimore.
Scott 56:46
I'm not a fan of butter crunch. Maybe that's why I don;t know Ricardo.
Miranda 56:49
He does chocolate chip too. They're fantastic.
Scott 56:51
I love chocolate chips. I've been doing Otterbein.
Miranda 56:54
But he used to deliver, like he delivers. Okay, you place an order through Instagram. And he, you know, send it through PayPal and he delivers it to you. There's no other marketing that he's ever done except through Instagram. It should be a free market of marketing.
Scott 57:10
Right? Well, that's a you know, people talk about the the cannabis censorship and how it's been weaponized, because a lot of people believe that other competitors end up reporting content I mean, it's totally make sense.
Miranda 57:27
It does.
Scott 57:27
I wouldn't put it past anybody. And that's, that's certainly, if the you know, because you can't buy advertising in most regular quote, unquote, publications, you can't necessarily get advertising for your specific products on billboards or TV or radio, right. So if the only place that you can advertise your products is social media, and then somebody who's already established on social media can come along and say, Oh, look, they're you know, doing something illegal, or they're doing something improper. You know--
Miranda 58:03
it's just not like Instagram is actually going to go in fact, check.
Scott 58:07
No.
Miranda 58:07
If somebody's actually doing something inappropriate or illegal, they're just going to take it down. Probably. They're not working that hard. I would not think so none of them.
Scott 58:18
So yeah, it's an important issue. Granted, it's probably more important to us than it is to you. But if you care about access to good cannabis content and education, I would suggest maybe it's something you should start caring about.
Miranda 58:34
Yeah.
Scott 58:35
So yeah, put your name on the petition or, you know, talk to somebody, you know, at the state level for yourself. Or send a message directly to Instagram.
Miranda 58:47
Yeah, if you can find a place to message them.
Scott 58:49
Right. A sternly worded email.
Miranda 58:55
Tweet, at them. Yeah, but the last thing I wanted to say was, be proactive. Don't report your friends and their content, because you're creating content as well. That's just not a community based action. And cannabis is a community.
Scott 59:15
We should all not only be getting lifted together, but also be lifting each other up.
Miranda 59:21
So yeah, if you are a cannabis content creator, don't be that cannabis content creator and report your friends. It's a community that we have here and it's community that I would like to see us build upon as opposed to break it down. So build each other up, share each other's stories, share each other's content. And yeah, don't be shitty and report your friends content
Scott 59:46
Go sign the petition.
Miranda 59:48
And that too.
Scott 59:48
Tell tell Meta to stop deleting accounts and to reinstate the accounts that they deleted. You know, they're messing with people's money. Yeah, you know, I mean, some people we We're still not sponsored and we are not necessarily trying to be but some of these folks that put out content are generating you know, not only revenue but also...
Miranda 59:48
That's their only way of getting their word out.
Scott 1:00:12
Reviewing products, you know, doing videos. Yeah, I mean that's that's their that's their schtick that's that's that's their trade so yeah, if you want to continue to you know, be exposed to education and information that the companies aren't necessarily providing you you know, honest opinions and research and recommendations and all that good stuff. It's it's important stuff.
Miranda 1:00:40
Yeah.
Scott 1:00:41
So again, happy 420! We hope you have had a lovely day and thank you for letting us be a part of it. We so appreciate your continued support. Don't forget you can see us this weekend at the National Cannabis Festival down in DC, tell Miranda Happy Birthday.
Miranda 1:01:01
Yeah!
Scott 1:01:01
Happy birthday.
Miranda 1:01:02
Thank you.
Scott 1:01:03
I won't sing to you like I did for mom last week. But yeah.
Miranda 1:01:08
Maybe Wiz will sing to me.
Scott 1:01:10
You can find us on Instagram before we get banned or shadow banned at Your Cannabis Coach and--
Miranda 1:01:19
Our Lady of Maryjane, ummm, be kind to each other Scott. Oh, where you didn't say your thing!
Scott 1:01:27
Well, I was I was waiting for you to plug yourself.
Miranda 1:01:29
I just did!
Scott 1:01:30
Okay well you were too quick on the draw. So since she said Be kind to yourself I will say...
Miranda 1:01:37
[whispers] and each other.
Scott 1:01:40
Tschüss! And each other!
[MUSIC - "You Don't Know How It Feels" by Tom Petty]
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