In this episode, Scott and Miranda discuss vapes, blunts, sleep, and spotlight some more Black-owned cannabis businesses in the DMV.
Music: "Work It" by Missy Eliott
Links mentioned in the episode:
Transcript
[MUSIC: "Work It" by Missy Elliott]
Miranda 0:10
Hello, and welcome to The Heady Conversations with Scott and Miranda.
Scott 0:15
Hello again, friends. It is the question and answer episode of the show this month and we have some great questions from you that we are looking forward to addressing.
Miranda 0:28
Some of you guys sent in a lot of questions about vapes.
Scott 0:32
Yes.
Miranda 0:32
Which is always an interesting topic and not one that Scott and I are super, super experienced. I mean, we both smoked vapes, yeah, we know what our preferences are.
Scott 0:45
I don't smoke vapes on a regular basis now, but at a certain point, I was smoking vapes a lot.
Miranda 0:53
Really?
Scott 0:53
Yes. When I first discovered though, I feel like a lot of people go through this, when they first discovered vapes, like, oh, take my weed everywhere, not just anywhere, where everywhere. And so, you know, I talk about tolerance breaks a lot. We've gotten questions about it. But I also just in general, think it's a decent thing to practice with yourself, just to help control how effective your medicine is for you. Not only that, but also the money you're spending on at the time you're spending with it, and under the influence, etc. Anyway, one of the reasons that I started taking tolerance breaks, in hindsight, and it's funny, this just came up in conversation this past week with a friend of mine, is that I was taking my vape pen everywhere. Yeah.
Miranda 1:40
I feel like people generally build their tolerances up with vapes.
Scott 1:45
Well, and that's the thing, right?
Miranda 1:46
And then they're like, why is my tolerance so high?
Scott 1:49
Right, so what you have to realize is, you know, we've talked about percentages, we've talked about what the percentage of THC means, we've talked about what the other percentages as far as terpenes, and the other cannabinoids mean, to different extents--
Miranda 2:05
Right.
Scott 2:06
As well. The weakest vape pen that you're going to find for for most of these brands...
Miranda 2:14
Maybe 60%?
Scott 2:15
I was gonna say, you know, somewhere between 60% and 70% is generally the weakest thing you're looking at.
Miranda 2:21
Yeah. Which is really high.
Scott 2:23
That is very high. Now, of course, that's relative, right, because you're talking about percentage per part of whatever it is. So if we're talking about flower, we're talking about how much of that plant material is THC.
Miranda 2:36
Right.
Scott 2:37
If we're talking about a vape cartridge, we're talking about how much percentage of that oil or juice whatever you want to call what's cartridge is THC. So yeah, if it's a one gram cartridge, and it says 60% THC, that means 600 milligrams.
Miranda 2:57
Right.
Scott 2:57
That liquid inside that cartridge is THC, that's a lot. That is a high concentration.
Miranda 3:04
I would say even I mean, essentially, vaping is just dabbing. But sipping instead of doing major inhales.
Scott 3:13
Well, but that's relative too right because, right, I feel like you watch a lot of people hit their pen and it's like a gravity bong. When they exhale, you know, if you're lucky enough to not know this, I'm sorry, I'm about to pollute your mind with this image. But there is such a thing as competitive vape competitions. Just these people, okay, and I say that as someone who has some very strange hobbies that I compete in. Some of you know some of you don't I you know, I travel around playing laser tag, I played bocce ball with people that are twice my age. I've got some strange hobbies. Competitive vaping these guys get together. First of all, they're called dragons. And that just Yeah, it's okay. You can't I wish we were doing video right now. So, you could see how hard Miranda's containing her laughter.
Miranda 4:11
It's not easy! [unintelligible squeeky laughter]
Scott 4:13
It's It's pretty wild stuff. And these guys literally you can look this up on YouTube, folks. I'm not making this up for the show. I swear to you. This is an actual thing. And Miranda is now looking at this.
Miranda 4:25
I sure am!
Scott 4:25
Now I feel like but yeah, so some people when they hit their pen are sipping. And that's honestly what I recommend. For you know, you still don't know everything there is to know about vaping you know, for whatever you want to say about smoking joints or smoking bowls. We kind of know the effects that that smoke has on the lungs at this point. Vaping we still really don't. Some people say it's definitely better. I say you know, well, we'll find out in--
Miranda 4:55
In about 20 years.
Scott 4:55
Yeah, probably. Yeah, we'll find out but regardless, I would recommend taking smaller hits because I recommend taking smaller hits of your medicine in general. Oh, I can tell by your face that you just found video a vape competition.
Miranda 5:11
I just found a video of a guy blowing smoke through a smoke ring.
Scott 5:15
Yep.
Miranda 5:15
Wow.
Scott 5:16
Uh huh.
Miranda 5:17
That's, uh, yeah, that's like, you know, competitive competitive like, bubble blowing.
Scott 5:21
I listen, vapers, she said it not me.
Miranda 5:27
I mean, I'm not mad about it. But it's it's a little it's, it's Wow. It's kind of creative, actually.
Scott 5:33
It's very creative.
Miranda 5:34
It's much more creative than I would have thought. I just thought, you know, big vape clouds and what I mean? Sure that's part of it.
Scott 5:41
Oh, it's definitely part of it.
Miranda 5:43
But there's also tricks and shit.
Scott 5:45
Yeah.
Miranda 5:46
Which I didn't realize.
Scott 5:48
So there you go, folks. That is courtesy of The Heady Conversations. You are now aware of competitive vaping. But back to the matter at hand.
Miranda 5:59
Yes. So I feel like everybody when they start to get their cannabis is like, oh, vapes are great. I can take them everywhere. But there's a lot of different types of vapes out there.
Scott 6:12
Right? So we got a ton of questions about vapes. One of which was just what is in my vape cartridge aside from THC and the cannabinoids are our they made what are they made from? And
Miranda 6:29
so, it can vary depending on what you buy. If you buy a live liquid resin vape you are going to get I what I think is the purest form of extraction.
Scott 6:43
I don't think there's any debate about it. Yeah, be honest with you. So generally what you're talking about, they're from live resin or live rosin extraxtion--
Miranda 6:56
That flash frozen flower.
Scott 6:58
Yeah, and what they're doing is applying enough heat to basically loosen the cannabinoids off of the plant. This is, okay. We're not growers. We're also not extractors.
Miranda 7:14
Right.
Scott 7:14
I think this is the first time we've had to say that on an episode, but we are also not extractors. I hope to one day learn how extraction stuff works, specifically this process that I'm about to talk about live resin? live rosin extraction. A friend recently called me up from New York, where they're getting ready to or are in the process of legalizing their industry up there. He's got a you know, connection, who has offered him plant material and he is interested in making solventless cartriges, right and and I feel like this is the the trend in the industry right now. With these, you know, some of these brands that we follow here in Maryland are national brands. But I follow just California brands and brands and stuff just to see what and Canadian brands and now starting to be European brands just to see what different companies are doing anyway with the different products but yeah, I feel like more and more people are starting to now talk about solventless cartridges
Miranda 8:34
Right. Because in the, in the olden days, it was a co2 or distillate. Yeah, so you would be dealing with.
Scott 8:43
Predominantely. I feel like butane was the best one that you know BHO...
Miranda 9:09
BHO is, I feel, like the most common solvent use, which is butane. And I don't know I've got some feelings about that. I don't necessarily want to smoke anything, that no matter how hard they've scrubbed the butane out, there's still going to be some of that in there.
Scott 9:34
Right. And that is the claim right when when they're using these different solvents to do the extracting. So basically, they put the plant material in a giant vacuum vacuum chamber. They put the plant material in a giant vacuum chamber and then they use the gas blown through at some some pressure level, right? You know, that's ungodly and, you know, causes all of the fun stuff, the good stuff, the cannabinoids, the THC, the CBD, CBG, et cetera, to get blasted off of the plant, and then collected in whatever way to then be reclaimed and turned into, you know, your vape. Yeah, either your vape or I mean, this is also the same way right?
Miranda 10:28
Shatter or right, butter, etc.
Scott 10:31
Yeah. However, they decide to then allow it to reconstitute and be packaged for resale. Anything from THC isolate to vape cartridges.
Miranda 10:43
Right, and when we talk about distillate, I feel like that's like the very bottom of it, is you're getting like the bare minimum of everything.
Scott 10:52
Right. And I, well, there's debate about how much of what you're keeping regardless of how you process but logically speaking, it would seem to make the most sense that doing something like live rosin press is going to be closer to that, you know, like with the CBD oil, we talk about full spectrum--
Miranda 11:21
Right.
Scott 11:22
Is going to give you you know, the least filtration, the least additive, or whatever version of that oil. And this is the same kind of thing.
Miranda 11:34
And it's not also it's also going to be like a co2 extraction is going to be more viscous and sticky. So the more potential for clogging, I would think.
Scott 11:44
I don't know I I really don't. But yeah, but that would make sense. I suppose.
Miranda 11:52
But your liquid live resins are going to have your high terpene profiles. Not necessarily the super highest THC, but sometimes it can vary. Where I've seen 90% and above, in liquid live resins.
Scott 12:09
You know, not being a huge vape guy like those numbers aren't really jumping out at me. I don't I don't remember to be honest with you.
Miranda 12:18
I think the highest one I ever saw was 97%.
Scott 12:20
I know, I know here. That's ridiculously insane.
Miranda 12:25
And it was an indica.
Scott 12:26
Okay.
Miranda 12:27
And I was it. I want to I don't even remember the strain. But it was one that I didn't really I didn't think tested super high in flower on a general basis. But there it was sitting at 97%.
Scott 12:42
Yeah, that's still a mystery to me.
Miranda 12:46
Oh, yeah.
Scott 12:47
How the, how the percentages are created?
Miranda 12:51
Yeah, same.
Scott 12:55
I mean, I guess it's just a matter of how much additive you put in as far as the delivery system. I mean, you can dilute something down to 60% just by adding more...
Miranda 13:09
Terpenes...
Scott 13:10
Whatever...
Miranda 13:10
Or anything, really.
Scott 13:14
So yeah, I mean, I guess certain strains, they just decide to leave more uncut than others.
Miranda 13:20
Right.
Scott 13:21
For whatever reason, whether that be flavor profile or, right, so yeah, I mean, that's, that's something. So a lot of these cartridges that you see that claim to be, you know, let's say, AK 47, or Green Crack, or, you know, whatever it is, and you go, Oh, I've never I've never been had that strain of flower before. Well, if no one is growing that strain of flower in your market, then it serves to reason that that cartridge is not being made by that strain of flower.
Miranda 13:56
Exactly.
Scott 13:57
So, in that case, what they're doing is they're taking this in our just general distillate oil that they've made, you know, via one of these extraction practices, whether it's the BHO whether it's solventless, you know, live rosin, whatever it is. They've you know, taken well no, not the live rosin stuff.
Miranda 14:18
Right, that's a whole plant.
Scott 14:21
Generally. Yeah, at least I know. Like that's how you know Cresco here in our market, which Cresco is a national brand. I don't know if they have the live rosin/ live resin cartriges everywhere, but they definitely do here in Maryland and--
Miranda 14:36
It's all they have in Maryland.
Scott 14:37
I know their big thing is that you know, nothing added nothing taken out right? It is just whatever flower it is. And they buy flower from other people because some of the strains that we have here in Maryland, are like Grow West strains. Right? The Southwest Stomper Willie's Wonder.
Miranda 14:59
I'm trying to think about Cresco Nurse Jackie and something else was which is also a Grow West
Scott 15:05
Grape Stomper don't they do...
Miranda 15:07
I think it might be a Nurse Jackie, Grape Stomper cross.
Scott 15:10
Yeah, I don't know. But they definitely they're definitely growing you know, or using stuff that by several different people than I and then using their you know extracting process extracting equipment these machines at the so I was looking at a bunch of the different manufacturing techniques you know when I was looking up stuff for this episode the the biggest baddest of these machines that I saw it looks like something out of a Terminator movie. And maybe I can figure out how to put that video up on one of the sites whether send it to me. Yeah, well, we'll figure out how to get it up for you. But basically, it looks like it's making like grilled cheese sandwiches from the future. Oh, did you see this too?
Miranda 15:57
I haven't seen the really big one. But I've seen a small like at home one, at home press. And it's pretty much the same thing.
Scott 16:04
Well, this one looks like so like, what is it? Sky Dine, what was the name of the company and Terminator that game? Oh, sorry. It's, I want to say it was like four or five different compartments where you load in like plant material. And then it like rotates and lifts up into the air and then points itself down. And that's when it applies the heat and the pressure. And essentially just like is squeezing like toothpaste.
Miranda 16:36
Wow. Yeah.
Scott 16:39
Like I've seen the old school presses before. And watch out when you're looking at some of that video online. Sometimes it's like, olive oil. Press that. Yeah, we're passing as? I don't know, it might work. But yeah, I'm just telling you, you might get fooled by some video of some old men making some crazy looking stuff. That's not actually THC. But yeah, this thing was, it was wild. It definitely looked like it was the press of the future. Yeah, just squeezing out good stuff.
Miranda 17:12
I went on a dispensary bus tour, once like the Maryland market was bumping, and yeah, one of the dispensaries that we stopped at they had like this room where people could just hang out. I don't think that dispensary is there anymore.
Scott 17:29
Okay.
Miranda 17:32
But a group of people were there. And they had a rosin press, and they were pressing flower for people.
Scott 17:38
Nice.
Miranda 17:39
Which was kind of cool to watch and experience. Because I had never seen anything like that in my life. I was like, Oh, it's just weed. I'd had no idea of the world of concentrates or vapes and everything like that. And it was really fascinating to me.
Scott 17:52
So was this just a hand press or a hydraulic press?
Miranda 17:55
It was a hydraulic press, but it was portable. And really, it was like a tabletop.
Scott 17:58
Nice.
Miranda 17:59
Yeah.
Scott 17:59
And what were they making? Essentially?
Miranda 18:02
I think it was shatter.
Scott 18:03
Okay.
Miranda 18:04
Yeah. That's pretty cool.
Scott 18:06
That's dope.
Miranda 18:08
But getting back to vapes, because Scott and I get distracted.
Scott 18:12
Well, I mean, in fairness, question kind of applies to both, you know, I'm sure sooner or later somebody would have said, how do they make my concentrates? Right? This basically covers both of those things.
Miranda 18:24
Right. But yeah, I would if I'm shopping for a vape I would definitely look for a liquid live resin vaporizer. Or Vape.
Scott 18:34
So the difference is cost, obviously, first and foremost, generally, your your live stuff, whether it's concentrates, or whether it's vape cartridges is going to be significantly more expensive. You're also going to have a much more limited selection.
Miranda 18:53
Yes.
Scott 18:53
Because there aren't as many companies that take the time and have the equipment to do a live extraction. Or they just don't choose to because it's you get less product out of it. And because of the price point and I would argue because of a lack of education.
Miranda 19:13
Yeah.
Scott 19:13
There's less of a desire or call for it. You know, I think if more people understood the difference in the cartridges, maybe they would, you know, cough up the extra $10/ $15 bucks.
Miranda 19:26
Most definitely.
Scott 19:26
Now, obviously, you know, the cost of this medicine is an issue just in general. So I'm not you know, judging anybody for, you know, getting the medicine that they can afford. That's you know, and there's certainly decent cheap options out there for people to use.
Miranda 19:44
It's a little classist.
Scott 19:46
Yeah.
Miranda 19:47
I'm gonna say it.
Scott 19:48
Well, I mean--
Miranda 19:48
I'm going to go out there and say it.
Scott 19:50
You would hope that more companies will start to produce better quality products just because it's a better product for patients to use, you know, and that as competition in the marketplace increases, then cost of those processes will come down.
Miranda 20:17
So you'll also see a bunch of terpene. Enriched, right vape vape, cartridges, which isn't a bad thing, but they are just essentially food grade terpenes that have been extracted from flowers and plants that are then added.
Scott 20:35
Or in some cases from cannabis.
Miranda 20:37
Yes.
Scott 20:39
Right, like the Select line, which is another national brand. You know, we're not here to promote or talk about dispensaries in general rates. But when it comes to brands that are available nationally to a lot of you and a lot of different markets, and soon, I'm sure internationally as well. Because that's just unfortunately, the way that the cannabis industry is going already. And I just read an article this week that 40% of the Maryland cannabis companies are out of state companies at this point.
Miranda 21:18
Yep.
Scott 21:18
And that was before a couple of different buyout deals went through within the last few weeks. So that number is even higher. Now, probably 50%, or 60% of the dispensaries in Maryland that we have is options are actually owned by out of state companies, which, you know, again, we're not here to tell you that any company or another is necessarily a bad company, per se. But yeah, you can decide for yourself, whether you think that more options for people is a better thing. Or, you know, like I said, there are definitely certain things to be said about a product line being available.
Miranda 22:06
Definitely.
Scott 22:07
You know, to lots of people in lots of different markets, if that product line is a good quality product, that cares about what it's made with and, you know, so it's we're not here to tell you that every national brand is a bad brand or that any--
Miranda 22:23
I don't think we've said that about any national brands.
Scott 22:25
You know, I just don't, I don't want people to get the wrong idea.
Miranda 22:28
We're not here to promote promote specific brands. But we like what we like.
Scott 22:33
Yeah, and we may end up talking about brands just because we know that they provide a specific product that may be available to you in your market.
Miranda 22:43
Exactly. 100% Yeah, nail on the head.
Scott 22:46
So yeah, like, like Select offers three different tiers of their product. They offer just the regular cartridge--
Miranda 22:55
Which is a co2?
Scott 22:56
Which is yeah, just a distillate base.
Miranda 22:59
Yeah.
Scott 22:59
And has botanical terps, right added to it to create a different terpene profile. So basically they say, okay, most of the time Blue Dream has lots of and don't come at me cannabis nerds, because I'm just as an example of three terpenes that might be in Blue Dream. If the Blue Dream you get in California usually doesn't have caryophyllene in it. I'm sorry.
Miranda 23:29
Right. But pinene, caryophyllene and limonene.
Scott 23:33
Sure, yes, that sounds good.
Miranda 23:34
There we go.
Scott 23:35
Right. So, Select says Blue Dream, to us means it's going to taste like grapefruit. And it's going to have limonene and pinene and caryophyllene in high amounts. And then because we know people look at terp counts, we're going to put a little bit of everything else in there to to amp it up. Just a bump that up from like, 3% terps, to like 5% or 6% terps. But they're getting those terps from wherever.
Miranda 24:05
Yeah.
Scott 24:05
You know, they might begin that limonene from lemons, or they might be getting that pinene, from...
Miranda 24:09
Exactly.
Scott 24:10
From pine cones, like literally, yeah, you know,
Miranda 24:14
but they're definitely coming from a natural source and they're food grade--
Scott 24:18
Right.
Miranda 24:18
Which is super important.
Scott 24:20
Yeah. So it's not it's not junk stuff. You may have seen from a street dealer or to some cartridges that are available on the street and you're rolling the dice. Yep, you know, who knows where those distillates are coming from who they're being made by what's in them, the people that you deal with may know those people and may know the practices they use, or they might not you know.
Miranda 24:47
I can, I mean, I can speak to way back when...
Scott 24:51
Yeah.
Miranda 24:52
Pre, pre medical market in Maryland. I went down to DC to a pop up and came home with a with a pretty sketchy looking vape cartridge.
Scott 25:04
Yeah.
Miranda 25:05
Yeah.
Scott 25:06
So, you know...
Miranda 25:07
Don't just...
Scott 25:08
Buyer beware.
Miranda 25:09
Yeah.
Scott 25:09
If you're in a legal market and have the chance to get legal cartridges, you're probably better off unless you know.
Yeah.
You know.
Miranda 25:16
And there's nothing wrong with vaping your medicine.
Scott 25:19
No.
Miranda 25:19
I know plenty of people who only vape.
Scott 25:23
Personally, I just felt that I was abusive of the ability to use my medicine anywhere, anytime.
Miranda 25:32
Yes.
Scott 25:33
So I personally chose to take vaping out of my regimen, except for very rare instances, if I get a new product to try or something like that.
Miranda 25:46
Or if I'm going on a trip, and know, I won't be able to access my flower.
Scott 25:50
Right.
Miranda 25:52
But I always generally go and buy a vape wherever I am.
Scott 25:56
Right. If yeah, if I'm traveling to, and most of my trips in the recent past have either been within the state, you know, or to an area where there was adult use as well.
Miranda 26:11
Exactly.
Scott 26:11
Vegas, Colorado, California.
Miranda 26:14
So we're not saying take your medicine across state lines. That bad, bad, bad thing.
Scott 26:19
Always follow the local laws and regulations in your area of regarding medical cannabis.
Miranda 26:25
Yes.
Scott 26:28
Thank you. We appreciate you. You probably signed a document wherever you are, that says that you will always follow the local laws.
Miranda 26:37
Absolutely.
Scott 26:38
If you didn't read that attestation when you entered the dispensary for the first time...
Miranda 26:43
Yeah, that's what you signed. Yeah.
Scott 26:45
As the folks that used to hand those to you to fill out trust me, that's that's what you're saying. You're saying that you understand that you can't share your medicine, that you can't travel with your medicine...
Miranda 26:55
Yes.
Scott 26:55
We know all of you that are in adult use markets get to do all these fun things that we don't get to do here in Maryland. But yeah, we have to be--
Miranda 27:05
Just be safe.
Scott 27:06
We have to be responsible and smart and all that good stuff.
Miranda 27:08
Yeah. But um, yeah, I mean, if you get a highly flavored vape, like if you get something that's super like strawberry tasting or--
Scott 27:18
Yeah.
Miranda 27:18
Or grapey, etc. That's probably going to be from botanical terpenes.
Scott 27:25
Yeah, more than likely, that is not--
Miranda 27:27
That's not your flower that they've extracted from.
Scott 27:30
So, yeah, kind of your next level up that would then be your cannabis derived terps.
Miranda 27:34
Yes.
Scott 27:35
That are actually coming from different cannabis plants. So I guess you could argue that's, you know, another step closer to, you know, a real flower experience. And then they also have their live resin line as well.
Miranda 27:52
Which I love. I love just the terps on the live resin.
Scott 27:56
Sure, yeah. So tend to be higher terps also tend to be more likely to have been made by the thing it claims to be right.
Miranda 28:08
I think that does it for vapes for me.
Scott 28:11
Yeah. Just Just be aware of your THC levels. Look at your terpene levels don't, don't let the fact that something is necessarily called a sativa strain convince you that it's going to have a sativa effect for you
Miranda 28:27
Right. Strains in sativa also have different effects. Like we were talking earlier about Trainwreck and AK 47.
Scott 28:35
Sure.
Miranda 28:36
Where you see them as super sativa, I'm fine with smoking them because they actually kind of relaxed my brain a little bit.
Scott 28:44
Yeah.
Miranda 28:44
So...
Scott 28:45
Different, different strokes for different folks.
Miranda 28:47
100%
Scott 28:48
Always take your time and tell your budtender, how you're trying to feel. And if there are any terpenes that you know, you're trying to if myrcene makes you super sleepy, or if you know, pining makes you way too talkative or feel anxious, or, you know if limonene is going to keep you up at night because it gives you that creative buzz and you don't know how to turn your brain off. You know, when you have something that's got too much limonene in it. share these things with your budtender.
Miranda 29:17
Yeah.
Scott 29:18
Let them know. Because it can keep you from having an uncomfortably high experience in a way that you don't want.
Miranda 29:27
None of us want those.
Scott 29:29
Yeah, so that's, that's your that's your cartridge info. If you have any additional questions about specific products or anything else regarding vapes feel free to let us know but in general, yeah, I think that about covers it. They come in half gram, they come in full gram. Sometimes you can get disposables. Occasionally you'll see ratio products like 1:1 or high CBD products. And if that's something that you're looking for, you know, make sure communicate that with your budtenders. Well, you know, if you don't want that 90% THC...
Miranda 30:05
Definitely communicate that as well.
Scott 30:07
Yeah, communicate that as well. So. So another question we got this week was about sleep.
Miranda 30:14
Yeah, there's a whole bunch you can do for sleep.
Scott 30:16
So specifically this person, and this was Henry right here in Baltimore. Wanted to know, he's tried a bunch of different strains that he thought were supposed to be good for sleep, and he's still not having any success sleeping in regards to cannabis use. So what what gives basically.
Miranda 30:37
Well, there's a whole lot of things that factor into sleep. And it's not just based on that myrcene number that everybody seems to think is going to be that one thing that puts you out for the night.
Scott 30:47
Right. It is absolutely not that simple.
Miranda 30:51
We wish it were.
Scott 30:54
Well, I mean, sleep is never that simple. Anyway, right?
Right. Just like anything in regards to cannabis. How much exercise if you had that day? What did you eat? You know, what kind of stressors are triggering you right life right now work, social life, whatever, you know, global pandemic. Whatever it may be.
Miranda 31:17
Climate change.
Scott 31:18
Right? There's any number of things that could keep one up at night. But yeah, in regards to cannabis use, and I can speak about this--
Miranda 31:27
I can as well.
Scott 31:27
Quite personally. And I feel like a lot of cannabis users can. So there are different claims made about different products.
Miranda 31:35
100%.
Scott 31:39
So the if you tell your budtender that you want something to help you sleep, they are more than likely going to either, a. steer you towards something that's high THC and high myrcene. If we're talking about like a cartridge, or flower or something like that, or if we're talking about edibles, they're probably going to steer you towards something with high CBN.
Miranda 32:03
Yes. Which is not necessarily a good thing.
Scott 32:07
Well--
Miranda 32:08
And I can speak on a chemical term about but go ahead,
Scott 32:11
I would love for you to do that. But what I can tell you through the things that I've read is there has been no clinically proven link between CBN, and any sort of sleep aid. Now, that does not mean that there's no link between the CBN and helping you get to sleep or stay asleep with cannabis. That's not what that means.
Miranda 32:38
Right.
Scott 32:38
It just means that we don't know for sure that that's the thing that it does.
Miranda 32:44
So, in this and I like to I like to use this sort of explanation for it. I'm a person who cannot take melatonin.
Scott 32:53
Okay?
Miranda 32:54
Melatonin to me is like speed.
Scott 32:56
Okay.
Miranda 32:57
So, it amps me up. It pumps me up because my body's already making enough of it.
Scott 33:01
Okay.
Miranda 33:02
So, if your endocannabinoid system is already making enough CBN whether it's related to sleep or not, and you're adding more to it, it's not necessarily going to make you sleepy, it's probably going to do the opposite.
Scott 33:14
Interesting.
Miranda 33:15
Yes. So in that case, I kind of don't like the use of CBN for sleep. It's fine that they're getting it out there. There needs to be more research done.
Scott 33:27
So yes, always there needs to be more research done. You will hear us say that time and time again. In regards to everything related to cannabis, for sure. I will tell you personally, I have used products that contain CBN. Here in Maryland, we have access to the Incredible Edibles. Yep. And those edibles are available in other markets as well. They're produced by GTI, Green Thumb Industries, and they contain their snooze berry all the names are incredibly cute and ridiculous. They're snooze berry contains CBN a fairly low dose.
Miranda 34:15
5 milligrams right is generally the the dose
Scott 34:19
Right so I think it's five milligrams of CBN to 10 milligrams of THC so not an exceptionally high dose of either THC or CBN. At least 10 milligrams isn't an exceptionally high dose for me.
Miranda 34:35
Little Miss light lightweight over here with an edible.
Scott 34:37
Yeah, I saw the way Miranda looked at the high dose so yeah, I mean, it's important to note that if you're inexperienced with edibles or if you just have a low edible tolerance 10 milligrams could be high. But yeah, I I have used those before for sleep. Now, that could just be the THC. You know, that could be placebo. Fact of me thinking I'm taking something that's going to help me with sleep, because our bodies do work like that too, right? Either way, you know, they've been effective for me, for the most part, the only real negative that I've ever read about CBN, other than what you've just said, you know about, you know, overdoing it with CBN. Right, is that in some people, it can cause an upset stomach.
Miranda 35:26
Yes.
Scott 35:27
I have had a few people mentioned it to me before, I did find that there was one time in particular when I took some CBN edibles that I felt like I did get an upset stomach.
Miranda 35:39
Is it more like a reflux situation?
Scott 35:41
No, it was just, it was just like a weird stomach pain.
Miranda 35:45
Oh, interesting. Okay.
Scott 35:46
Like I just didn't feel good.
Miranda 35:48
Okay.
Scott 35:49
Not even like a rumbling or anything like that. Just like a stomach pain. Yeah, it was unpleasant. Okay, so I definitely did not sleep well that night. But whether whether that was the CBN fault, I don't necessarily think so. I think I probably just hadn't had enough to eat otherwise, or what have you. But yeah, so just important to note that there is no scientific link to CBN--
Miranda 36:15
Right.
Scott 36:16
And better, deeper, more frequent or easier asleep when it comes to cannabis. But that doesn't mean that you can't use cannabis to help you get to sleep
Miranda 36:27
100% I, as I've said in many of these podcasts where I guess now number six, I smoke flower. I generally keep joint by my bed if I wake up in the middle of the night. Usually a little little mini guy. But for me, oddly enough, the science is pointed to terpinolene which actually gives a restful sleep, pinene which gives you a prolonged sleep. I mean, nobody wants to smoke a sativa before going to bed. But sometimes a little bit of sativa I use concentrate in mine to give it that extra piney thing. Or if you've got like a blueberry OG that generally has a decent amount of pinene in it as well. We'll give you that long restful sleep.
Scott 37:21
Yeah, that's important to know, right? They're different. When we talk about sleep, there's I can't get to sleep, then there's I can't stay asleep.
Miranda 37:30
Right.
Scott 37:30
Cannabis in general, will give you a deeper sleep.
Miranda 37:36
Yes.
Scott 37:37
Cannabis actually takes you past the rapid eye movement stage of sleep very quickly, if not entirely, yes, it's a pretty common thing for frequent smokers to either not remember dreams at all, or remember dreams very infrequently. Because you're not spending a particularly long time in the stages of sleep where dreams normally occur for people, right dreams can occur. I'm not a dream scientist. But from what I've done reading up on not only this, but just sleep troubles in general for my own sanity over the course of the last five to seven years. You can dream at any stage of sleep. Yeah, but it tends to happen most during the REM sleep. Yeah. Which cannabis tends to take you past right. But what Miranda is saying is there are different Terps there will steer you towards or...
Miranda 38:41
Yeah, your different kinds of sleep,
Scott 38:43
Right? Yeah.
Miranda 38:43
I'm also I know this isn't cannabis related. But look at your sleep hygiene. Like your are you watching television? Are you looking at your phone? Are you playing video games? Any of those things can seriously fuck up your sleep.
Scott 38:57
Absolutely.
Miranda 38:59
Just gonna be honest.
Scott 39:01
I think most sleep studies or such will tell you turn off the screens and hour before bed at Yeah, at least
Miranda 39:10
Yeah.
Scott 39:12
If you've got the blue light filter on your phone, use that. I use mine all the time. But you can set your phone
Miranda 39:20
Right to just do it at night when the light hits a certain point or whatever. So that it's not giving you that eyestrain and stimulation. But yeah, in general, when it comes to cannabis, I would say if you're trying to get to sleep unless you just need to be knocked out because you're trying to fight through pain right or something like that. I would stay away from high THC.
For sure.
Scott 39:44
Because high THC regardless of terps tends to be stimulating for me.
Miranda 39:49
It increases your heart rate.
Scott 39:50
Yeah.
Miranda 39:51
It increases just just your entire body's faculties.
Scott 39:57
Yeah.
Miranda 39:58
It's it's not good. I would Honestly, not smoke anything above 25% to go to sleep. I know that there's lots of different thoughts about that. But...
Scott 40:08
It's those numbers are so personal that I'm not here and put a number on it personally, because I don't I don't know that there's a number for me on any. I don't know that there's a set number for me there for you know, like some days are different than others. Yeah.
Miranda 40:27
But I know that I've never smoked. An indica Kaviar that has put me out.
Scott 40:32
Oh, they knock me the hell out.
Miranda 40:35
I'm always like, let's go do something. Let's sing bedtime karaoke, where I'm gonna sing to the dogs and jump on the bed. Whoo.
Scott 40:42
So, I don't, I don't buy Kaviars anymore. Now I make them because I've got all these concentrate samples that I need to get rid of basically, right, right. I got another sample this weekend. It's like, okay, I'm not dabbing, but sure. Cool. I'll put that on the outside of a wrap and roll it in some keif or on the inside of a wrap on top of some flower. That's totally cool. But anyway. Yeah, no, they knocked me out. They they like a guaranteed knockout for me. That's what I did when I got second COVID shots both times around. Because, you know, you hear some people had really bad reactions, whatever. I just wanted to sleep through it as much as I could. So both times I did indica Kaviar and some pho. Had a nice big hot bowl of soup. And got really, really high on some super-- Kaviars are typically, anywhere. I think the lowest one I've ever seen was like 33% or 34%.
Miranda 41:44
Yeah, but generally 37% to 40%.
Scott 41:46
I was gonna say, generally, I would say 36%. It was, you know, the lowest I regularly saw but generally 38% or 39%. Sometimes, 41%, 42%.
Miranda 41:59
I've seen a sativa 42%. And that just scares me.
Scott 42:02
I think the highest Kaviar ever saw was 44%. We had a long stretch where we had that batch like 38% of people were going nuts for but anyway, yeah, yeah.
Miranda 42:14
Anyway, high THC does not necessarily mean you're going to be knocked out. Yeah, it just be the opposite. And again, here we are speaking from two different platforms, and indica Kaviar makes me crazy. And well not crazy, but want to have a good time. Meanwhile, Scott can smoke one and go right to bed.
Scott 42:32
Yeah, no, they are super super sedated. For me, at least they always have been. But yeah. CBD, once again is your friend when it comes to sleep. Because it's got that super, for me. It's got that super calming effect. It's also got that little bit of pain relief, too. So, you know, when combined with some THC flower, it's gonna give you that nice, warm, fuzzy blanket around the shoulder and cloud underneath your feet. So you're feeling you know...
Miranda 43:04
But anyway, Henry, getting back to your question. [LAUGHING] We are Yeah--
Scott 43:09
I um, these are all the things that I would say. Yeah.
Miranda 43:13
I mean, I take a low dose edible at night. Like it's I mean, low dose for other people, high dose for me, between five and 10 milligrams.
Scott 43:21
Sure.
Miranda 43:22
And then if I'm having a bad pain night, I'll go to bed with the Puffco. And dab. But I'm it funnily enough, I'm dabbing, like a pink lemonade, or something that's high in terpinolene and pinene.
Scott 43:40
Your Yeah, absolutely. That's all I would say. Yeah, that's yeah.
Miranda 43:48
But also they also have a high myrcene content.
Scott 43:51
Oh, Yeah, I mean...That's I mean, the concentrates while I so when when there's a little bit of everything, versus a lot of everything. It's really hard to say what these things are going to do. And that's you know, I think we said when we went over the glossary, right, sativa is going to be your uplifting, right? But that depends on you. Your indica is going to be you're relaxing and you're sedated, but that depends on you.
Miranda 44:15
Right.
Scott 44:16
The reality is most things these days are hybrid. So whether you're looking at cartridges, whether you're looking at flower, certainly when you're looking at edibles, because most edibles if the information on what they're made from is there, it's not necessarily easily available to you as a consumer.
Miranda 44:34
Right.
Scott 44:35
It's probably just telling you, you know, they might tell you that it's a sativa or an indica or a hybrid edible. And that's generally going to mean that they have just like with the cartridges introduced terpenes after the fact.
Miranda 44:51
Right.
Scott 44:52
Right. It's not that your sativa edible from Wana or select or whoever Verono Do Drops. Yeah, whatever Yeah, yeah who it does not mean that those edibles were made from Durbin Poison.
Miranda 45:08
Right
Scott 45:08
Or from Cindy 99 Or from Maui Wowie.
Miranda 45:12
On the contrary, if you're lucky enough to live in a market where you have capsules of RSO--
Scott 45:18
Right.
Miranda 45:18
That could possibly be where you're going to get some really good medicine for sleep. Because it's super well rounded. It contains all of your cannabinoids and plant matter. And you're going to get the full spectrum of the flower.
Scott 45:31
I will give a shout out on this one because I was super excited to see this week I picked up a super high CBD RSO.
Miranda 45:41
OOhh, which one?
Scott 45:42
So Nature's Heritage and it has I want to say it was close to 70% CBD. And like 5% THC,
Miranda 45:53
Was there a strain attached to it?
Scott 45:55
I, you know, to be honest with you, it was in a demo bag, and I just picked it up. And I have not had a chance to look at it in depth
Miranda 46:06
Gotcha.
Scott 46:07
Beyond the numbers. Yeah, they're their packaging is so pretty on that stuff. It's a little odd that they use the male plant on those packages, when I feel like most of the medicine--
Miranda 46:17
Is from the female.
Scott 46:18
Is coming from female plant. Yeah. But anyway, it's a beautiful package. It's got the like botanical, you know, like scientific style, drawing the cannabis plant on it. But anyway, yeah, you'll hear us talk about getting demos from time to time in the industry. That is a thing that happens.
Miranda 46:36
Yes, you do.
Scott 46:38
That's one of the perks, is you do occasionally get demos from these companies to check out their product. Because they I mean, they don't know that we have a podcast necessarily. But hey, if you're listening from the brands, we've got a podcast.
Miranda 46:53
Yeah. And it's a great way for, you know, the industry folks to find out, you know, what they like, what they don't like about a product, how they can better sell it. And their experience with it. Because what we're really working with in this field, is experiences, because none of us 100% knows the science behind what we've got in our hands.
Scott 47:14
Right. And I mean, the situation is there are so many products on the market that any of us in the industry would go broke, trying to try them. I mean, literally, in any given week, there can be a dozen new products that come into the dispensary
Miranda 47:29
A dozen new strains. Oh, well, yeah. I mean,
Scott 47:32
The flower itself is a whole different story. And the companies are really starting to, you know, now that they've been established here in Maryland for several years. They're starting to dig deeper into their catalogs, and they're starting to get into in house genetics here in our markets specifically.
Miranda 47:53
Yeah.
Scott 47:53
So we're starting to see a ton of new strains on a regular basis from everybody. Yeah, every single really not to mention, you know, new companies buying into the market and all that good stuff. So...
Miranda 48:09
But yeah, I mean, if you have more questions about sleep, if I can help you as an aroma therapist combat, sleep, send us an email, because there's more to sleep than just medicating to get there.
Scott 48:22
Absolutely. Absolutely. So I think the last thing we wanted to touch on this week, right, Black History Month, and one of the questions that we happen to get was, what are some of the black owned businesses here in the Maryland market that I can support?
Miranda 48:41
We would love to tell you that there are many, but unfortunately, there are not.
Scott 48:45
Yeah, sad trombone.
Miranda 48:47
Yeah.
Scott 48:47
Not to be, you know, glib, but unfortunately, what minority contracts went out here in Maryland. And I shouldn't say unfortunately, we're happy to have women in the business.
Miranda 49:02
Absolutely. 100%.
Scott 49:04
We support female owned businesses as well. But it's really disappointing that minority contracts in Maryland seem to not have included very many...
Miranda 49:15
Black, indigenous, people of color.
Scott 49:18
Yeah.
Miranda 49:18
I mean, it's it's kind of like they were just glossed over and forgotten about.
Scott 49:23
It's, yeah, it's more than strange. I would argue that it's probably criminal. But I think--
Miranda 49:29
Agreed.
Scott 49:30
I think it's actually been fought in court. I know that there are some organizations here in Maryland that are fighting to make sure that there is more representation as the industry grows, right. There's a group down in Annapolis, the Maryland Minority Cannabis Business Association, I believe, who is you know, I think both helping black cannabis businesses get organized and apply for licenses and things like that. And also just raise awareness of the, the issue, right?
Miranda 50:12
I mean, considering we don't even have a black grower in Maryland.
Scott 50:15
Right. So yeah, I mean, you know, we talked about in the last episode, we had to go down to DC in order to support a black grow for a Black History Month and do our strain review about a black grower. And that's really, really a sad circumstance.
Miranda 50:32
It's disappointing.
Scott 50:34
You know, I mean, we're talking about Baltimore City is, you know, 70%--
Miranda 50:39
Yep.
Scott 50:40
Upwards of 65% black and we don't have a black grow in Baltimore City. That's, that's just absolutely criminal. Yeah, it's just, it's just really, really unfortunate, to say the very least, but there are a few black owned businesses. You know, we did talk about District Growers last week, and you can take a short trip down to DC and support them and get some of their fantastic flower.
Miranda 51:08
And we also talked about Mary and Main. Yeah, and we talked about
Scott 51:11
Mary and Main, which was the first black owned dispensary here in Maryland. We went there. As part of our DC road trip, the service couldn't have been better. They really greeted us with open arms. They were super pleasant.
Miranda 51:24
You know, beautiful dispensary inventory.
Scott 51:27
They do a ton of educational stuff. They've got an event coming up--
Miranda 51:32
With Mr. Gary Chambers Jr.
Scott 51:34
With our buddy Gary chambers, Jr.
Miranda 51:35
I wish he was our buddy.
Scott 51:37
You know I'd like to think that we're all in this together, Gary. I don't need to take liberties my friend. Right? Yeah, no, man, I can see you our buddy. I think we're fighting the same fight.
Miranda 51:50
Absolutely.
Scott 51:51
So yeah, they're doing a fundraiser for him. They are, you know, black female owned. She has been featured in articles all over the place as far as kind of the face of young black entrepreneurship and has been a great spokesperson for you know that cause and you know, definitely helping to destigmatize and all that good stuff. There's also Jova which we know is black owned as well. And they are located
Miranda 52:27
Are they also in Montgomery County?
Scott 52:29
They are located in, Temple Hills is what it technically is.
Miranda 52:35
So,College Park-ish?
Scott 52:39
You know that area better than I do.
Miranda 52:41
It's it's down around DC.
Scott 52:43
Yeah.
Miranda 52:43
I'm just... There it is. Because I played a rugby game in Temple Hills a long time ago. But um, yeah, it's down around DC. So again, you're still not in Baltimore.
Scott 52:56
Yeah, unfortunately--
Miranda 52:57
That's no blame on them but just in general.
Scott 53:00
Absolutely not. And I mean, really, I wish these businesses were easier to find because from what we understand there are additional black owned dispensaries in Maryland.
Miranda 53:13
But the information is so vague in the internet
Scott 53:16
So and I don't want to you know, incorrectly identify anyone as being black owned when they are not. So Mary and Main, we know for sure. And we have personal experience with. Jova Wellness Center is down down there as well, Allentown weigh in Temple Hills. So if you want to support a black owned business and you've got a Maryland card, you can go to one of those places if you want to support a black grow and black run business. As far as the actual flowers concerned.
Miranda 53:54
Go to DC.
Scott 53:55
Yeah, you can go to DC and there are also a bunch of black owned dispensaries in DC
Miranda 54:00
Absolutely.
Scott 54:01
Kinfolk is one that I know of that I've heard really good things about but I know that if you Google black owned dispensary in DC--
Miranda 54:11
There is a mess of information.
There are a bunch of them DC makes it easy. So Maryland, please step up your game. Yeah, our black owned, make sure we know about it, but also Maryland Minority Cannabis Business Association. I would love to see a listing of these things on your website if that's the thing, because I know I would love to spend some money with these folks and I never sure other people are asking about it as well. Another business that I do know about that you can support is Bouqe'. That's a another DC black owned business and they are organic hemp papers. I have tried them myself. Their whole thing is that they are quote unquote simply natural. Really kind of a stylish package if you're looking for them online and of course we'll link to this stuff you know on the web page and on Instagram, all that good stuff if they were featured when I did the the strain review last week on the the Sugar in My Bowl, but it's B-O-U-Q-E, bouquet, right. So it's a little bit different, but it's definitely got its own style. I met the gentleman who runs that company at the Leaf Christmas party where he was giving out some samples and I just recently read an article about you know, them being a local black owned cannabis business so I was excited to try them out and yeah, they were great, you know, no, no flavor, burn really smooth and really well--
Nice!
Scott 55:51
Kingsized papers which is what I like.
Miranda 55:54
Yeah, I'm if I'm buying papers there kingsized papers.
Scott 55:58
Additionally, you know, if you're in the market for CBD products, there are a bunch of CBD black owned businesses in and around both the Maryland and DC markets as well.
Miranda 56:10
I ordered a little, little, little little jar of some raw hemp, Reishi, dark chocolate, immune tonic, and it's vegan hot chocolate.
Scott 56:21
And?
Miranda 56:22
And it's from District Herbs. Okay, so when I say that, and it is delicious. It is amazing. And after my cup I felt I felt energized but relaxed. Okay. I felt like I had energy like a cocoa high. Have you ever experienced I don't know if you've ever experienced a cocoa or cacao high.
Scott 56:45
I don't really. Like that's one of the reasons that I don't really drink coffee. Like uppers don't affect me. Okay, in the same way that they affect and I'm I feel blessed that that's the case, frankly, but yeah, like caffeine and chocolate and stuff. Like I don't get like all buzz.
Miranda 57:02
Oh, right on.
Scott 57:03
Um, even when I was a kid, I don't really remember that being the case. But But anyway. But yeah,
Miranda 57:08
So this product from District Herbs, delicious. Mixed really well with just water because that's all it's recommended. And I hadn't felt energized. I noticed that that pain or maybe you know, that the forefront of my brain. Well, that's his movement was moving it away.
Scott 57:30
So, that's what I was just thinking when you were mentioning that that thing that Jen talked about, when we interviewed her about, you know, the Hummingbuds flower was that she felt like the CBD and enables you to get that clarity. And for me, you know, when you said energized, I don't feel like I'm energized as much as I'm just not weighed down.
Miranda 57:51
Right.
Scott 57:52
Right.
Miranda 57:52
Right.
Scott 57:53
Is what it is for me. Like I'm not like jazzed up per se. I'm just not slumped here.
Miranda 57:59
Right. Right. Right.
Scott 58:00
That's how CBD I feel like makes me feel more often. But that's that sounds great. You're gonna have to check that out.
Miranda 58:06
I'll have to brew you a cup.
Scott 58:07
So that's in DC?
Miranda 58:08
DC. Yeah. And I also they sent along a little, a little sample of their pain salve too, which is delightful. It smells amazing.
Scott 58:17
Nice, what's the base for that?
Miranda 58:21
I'm not...My glasses are coming in two weeks. And at this current time, I want to say it's I want to say it's coconut oil, right? No, cocoa butter. Okay, and coconut and hemp.
Scott 58:37
I'm just always curious about the different delivery systems because I feel like personally, I've noticed different effects from different delivery systems. And I don't know I feel like certain people are really picky about specific things that they do or don't want, right. And then tinctures like, I really don't like alcohol based necessarily or even learn even with Yeah, just too many bad experience. No offense, if any of my old homies are listening. Anyone that blessed me with different you know, green dragon tinctures
Miranda 59:15
There's still alcohol tinctures in the market.
Scott 59:17
Oh, but yeah, I mean, I'm just talking about the OG the Everclear like yep, you know, I mean, you would feel medicated but the top layer of your tongue was gone. Yep. Has that Everclear would literally just hate your tongue and I mean, I guess I could have been a little smarter and put the tincture in something too but I used to just yeah go right in with it.
Miranda 59:43
But yeah, the pain salve has 300 milligrams of CBD in it and it's it's just delightful.
Scott 59:48
I want does it say full spectrum? Does it say anything?
Miranda 59:52
You're asking me to read something that's like,
Scott 59:55
Like I'm the one, Oh wow. Even with my laser eyes this is still very tiny.
Miranda 1:00:02
It is sample sized product.
Scott 1:00:04
So it was nice of them to give you the sample. Yeah. Okay, look, we're gonna have to get out the loup about the...
Miranda 1:00:14
But it's it works. Yeah. If I ever feel like a little bit of inflammation, I've got two wicked shoulders. Yeah, just a little bit goes a long way. And it works.
Scott 1:00:29
I'm into.
Miranda 1:00:29
So thank you so much District Herbs for for sending off the product really fast.
Scott 1:00:36
Again, not paid.
Miranda 1:00:37
Yep, not paid. We ordered all of this on our own time, but we love it. Or I love it.
Scott 1:00:42
So there you go. There's there's a handful of black owned businesses here in the market. Of course, just generally, something that you can support that we've mentioned here in the past. And I wanted to mention here again and on on this episode is in the present, is the Last Prisoner Project.
Miranda 1:01:04
Yes.
Scott 1:01:05
And if you're not familiar with the Last Prisoner Project, we had talked about the B Noble joints at one point where a percentage of the proceeds go towards the Last Prisoner Project. We have also I think, mentioned that District Cannabis, who is not black owned, but does give money to the Last Prisoner Project as a percentage of sales from at least their pre rolls.
Miranda 1:01:33
I think it's their pre rolls.
Scott 1:01:34
If not, well, it's I know, it's definitely their pre rolls. I'm not sure if they do it for anything else as well. Because each of their pre roll packages has the last Last Prisoner Project, like little sticker on it as the seal that seals the package. And they used to even have the the little cards inside of the digital pack. That would tell you about some of the specific cases that the Last Prisoner Project has highlighted over the last X amount of year. They've been around since 2018, I believe. Yeah. And it's a project that was created to draw awareness to the inequity of cannabis. What do you call it sentencing? Basically, you know, these these ridiculous sentences that I think in episode two, we talked about, you know, having the unfortunate circumstance of knowing people that have had their lives ruined for decades, if not still presently, you know, by cannabis convictions that were just absolutely ridiculous.
Miranda 1:02:51
And what was it Bernard Nobles sentence of what, two to four years for carrying, like a joint?
Scott 1:02:57
A joint. The man had a joint in his pocket. Basically. Yeah, you know, the amount that, you know, really, cops these days in almost any market won't even stop you for--
Miranda 1:03:07
Right.
Scott 1:03:08
You know, used to just ruin people's lives.
Miranda 1:03:12
And they offer so many like really wonderful things to people who are being released from prison as well, like housing and like, you know, family support, reentry support, essentially, because most of these people have been in jail for so long, that they do need some reentry support.
Scott 1:03:31
Yeah, right. If you know if you know anything about rehabilitation, if you want to call it that, you're familiar with the term recidivism. And that means, you know, the likelihood of someone who's been in jail, going back to jail when they come out of jail.
Miranda 1:03:48
Yep.
Scott 1:03:49
And the reason that tends to happen is because, you know, social skills have degraded and, you know, I mean, depending on where you're locked up, obviously, you're dealing with...
Miranda 1:03:59
Trauma.
Scott 1:04:00
It's trauma, inhumane conditions. I mean, just any number of things that we could get into about the criminal justice system here in this country. You know, this is why the issue of social justice and social equity is so important to us when we're talking about the cannabis industry. Because, you know, for profit prisons, you know, it's modern day slave labor.
Miranda 1:04:27
It really, it's.
Scott 1:04:28
it's absolutely disgusting. So, yeah, I mean, these folks have been around since 2019, actually. And they are made up of a wide variety of people from all different kinds of backgrounds. They've got any number of celebrities who speak out on their behalf on a regular basis. I know Willie Nelson, and Willie's Reserve as a company have been super active with them nationally. The D'Angelo brothers Yeah. you watch any of the cannabis or programming that's on anything you've probably seen Steve DeAngelo the the dude with the pigtail braids.
Miranda 1:05:08
Yeah.
Scott 1:05:09
You know the godfather of cannabis. He's it every I never, you know, like I met him when I was 18 at the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam and I feel like I've seen him like at three other different weed things throughout my--
Miranda 1:05:20
I'm sure he said every single one.
Scott 1:05:22
Yeah, right 25 years of cannabis usage. But yeah, Jim Belushi and Melissa Etheridge, and all all different kinds of people, the Marley brothers Damien and Stephen Marley. So yeah, I mean, they've they've really been a phenomenal organization. In getting the word out about getting people out of prison, like Miranda said, helping people once they're out of prison. They've got a whole program and they've done different things during like national expungement week and things like that, where they provide people with resources and information about how to, you know, clean their record so they can go on.
Miranda 1:06:05
Absolutely.
Scott 1:06:06
And live a normal life again, without the stigma of having been arrested. Because, you know, again, it's ridiculous that people are out here. And in general, let's just say it rich white men, for the most part are out here. Getting exceptionally rich off of legal cannabis, whether it's medical, whether it's adult use, whether it's here in Maryland, whether it's in California, or Nevada, or Mississippi.
Miranda 1:06:34
Mississippi, just as a medical program.
Scott 1:06:37
Yeah. Mississippi just became the 32nd. Yep, I believe state. Wow.
Miranda 1:06:43
And they're pushing hard for federal. Yeah.
Scott 1:06:47
Schumer said that this week. And of course, we'll be talking about all this. And the next episode of The Heady Conversations, because the next episode will again be our like, cannabis in the media. And in the news. If you have any topics that you want to hear more about. Before those drop, let us know. But yeah, they're pushing both on the Republican and Democrat side. Now, finally, since you've got a majority of everthing...
Miranda 1:07:14
Speaking of rich, white, men.
Scott 1:07:15
Right. Anyway, yeah, anyway, it is being worked on. But yeah, in the meantime, if you want to support an organization that's doing very important work with all of this, I posted up a link to their page to directly make a donate it donation as well to the Last Prisoner Project on our story. And we'll be putting up a post that has more information about all that as well. So we encourage you, if you're in a market like Maryland, where you don't have these black owned businesses that you can support directly. Something that you can do is look for maybe a company that supports a program like Last Prisoner Project, and point your money in their direction or buy products where you know, a percentage of the proceeds goes specifically to that program as well.
Miranda 1:08:09
Yes.
Scott 1:08:10
So don't lose hope, even if it seems like you don't have a direct way. You know, there are companies like True Growf that we talked about last year. And our friends Bouqe' down in DC, which I think is rolling bouquets is the the website, but we'll, we'll link to them. Yeah, they've got some really cool and True Growf as to they've got some really cool like T shirts and I know True Growf has one that says like practice safe sesh, which I think is super cute.
Miranda 1:08:43
Oh my god, super cute.
Scott 1:08:43
I definitely, yeah.
Miranda 1:08:44
I kind of need one.
Scott 1:08:45
Imagine you roll up to your first date with a new like, cannabis cutie that you're talking to. And you're wearing a shirt that says practice safe sesh. I think that's some bonus points right there.
Miranda 1:08:54
Definitely.
Scott 1:08:56
But yeah, thank you.
Miranda 1:09:12
I just want to give another last shout out to District Herbs and I will also link to them in the blog. And Last Prisoner Project, True Growf, Mary and Main. Hey, support your black--
Scott 1:09:27
Jova Wellness.
Miranda 1:09:28
Support your black business owners!
Scott 1:09:30
For sure. Yeah, so that does it for this week's episode. Next week. We'll be back with that media and Cannabis News round up. And then we'll have another fantastic guest for you to wrap up black history month on episode eight.
Miranda 1:09:49
Yeah. Wow.
Scott 1:09:53
Of course, once again, thank you. Thank you. Thank you keep the feedback coming. Please continue to send Any questions you may have--
Miranda 1:10:02
Comments, concerns...
Scott 1:10:04
Any brands that you know about that we missed? If you know of any black owned dispensaries, send them over in Maryland or in your market. We are happy since it was hard for us to find a listing of Black-owned businesses. Yeah, we could put up a list of black owned cannabis businesses that we know about as a resource on the website or make a post about it and list those all or a subheading on the Insta. We will totally have that coming to you now that I think about it. But yeah, in the meantime, be well to yourself and each other. Yeah, enjoy your medicine.
Miranda 1:10:41
No justice, no peace!
[MUSIC: "Work It" by Missy Elliott]
[laughter]