I need to know everything, who in the what in the where I need everything. Trust me. I hear what you're saying, but allegiance. Know what you're telling me. I'm Curious George. I happen to pause for five and a horse. I'm ready for war. I'm coming for throws to turn it with ghosts. I need to know everything,
how low and welcome to the counter narrative show today we are exploring the lack of diversity in the cannabis industry. I am joined by two guests, Tyrone Russell and Denise the dot. I should have asked you that ahead of
time. Oh, good. At least you didn't say, Didi, it's veto.
It's veto. Yeah, that's definitely a thing that I typically check okay. So I'm joined by Tyrone Russell and Denise Vito to help us to really kind of explore, explore this topic. So to really, just to get us started, I really want to share with everyone just a few statistics on some of the things that I have come to see, really, in terms of, like my research with the cannabis industry. And then what I want to do is I want to hand it over to our guests to introduce themselves, and then after they introduce themselves, we're going to dive right into the content. So some of the things that I've gotten from looking at some of the cannabis industry statistics is that one of the things that came up for me is that 12% of Americans are active marijuana users, According to a Gallup poll from 2019 I feel like that number is probably significantly higher than 12% honestly, nationwide cannibals cannabis sales increased 67% in 2020 I think that's telling us something. Support for legal marijuana is at an all time high of 68% the US cannabis industry is worth $61 billion in the worldwide cannabis capital raises decline 67% in 2020 and senior level salaries increase. So that's also giving us a bit of information. So enough of that background information. I'm going to go straight over to Denise. And first, Denise, introduce yourself to us. Let us know your name. Give us a little bit about your background. What is your familiarity or interest in this topic of the cannabis industry?
Well, hello. First of all, thank you so much for having me here today. I'm very excited, and this topic is extremely important, so I'm even more excited to be engaged in the discussion. But I am Dr Denise, Christina Vito, I am a cannabis epidemiologist at the University of Miami, School of Nursing and Health Studies. And what that basically means is that I am a scientist. Epidemiologists are those scientists who collect data on multiple diseases, usually when I think of it, when I'm trying to explain what it is that I do to people I think of especially now in the middle of COVID, you know, Dr Fauci, or those people in CDC who are counting all the cases, that's typically what I would be doing, and people like me. So how am I involved in the industry? Well, I am a cannabis epidemiologist, so that means every study that I work on is trying to provide evidence on how cannabis influences human health. So I'm very excited. And one of the things that I am most passionate about is making sure that we are leveraging the voices of underrepresented populations that use cannabis to enhance their health in any way.
I love it. I love that connection between looking for for ways, or looking to demonstrate and show to for folks like the ways in which cannabis is a health resource, and that that is actually something that is like codify into an actual profession. I think it's really interesting too, now that Dr Fauci can actually be a reference for something so I'm probably going to ask you a little bit more about that, just the connection between an epidemiologist and something like cannabis, like, um, I'm going to want to know more about what exactly an epidemic epidemiologist does, because I really thought it was just infectious diseases. Am I? Am I right about that?
That was the beginning. That was kind of like, you know, that's what the history of epidemiology really is. But since then, now you can really translate epidemiology to even Community Health Research prevention. So it's really an important topic, but I'm very biased, very biased.
We're all biased, if we honest. You know what I mean. Thank you so much for sharing that. So Tyrone Russell, I want to go over to you same question. What is your background or connection to this particular topic and what brought you to this particular topic?
Yeah, appreciate it. Like Denise said, thank you for hosting this conversation, and you know, more importantly, thanks for inviting us on here, right? You couldn't invited a million other people. You chose us. So we definitely appreciate that. My name is Tyrone Russell. I am the president of the Cleveland school. Cannabis, which is the second state approved institution for cannabis education in the country, in the first east of the Colorado, east of Colorado, and we're essentially a Career School for the cannabis industry, right? We looked at the industry and we said, there's going to be something missing, right? Everybody's creating this brand new industry, but no one's talking about, who the hell is going to work in the industry. And I'm sorry if I if I wasn't supposed to say, hell on the radio, but we haven't had that conversation about who's going to strap up and get to work to get this industry moving. Right? We're thinking on this level of who's going to be the bosses and who's who, who's, you know, who has the money to get in, but we haven't done a good job at building the workforce to enter into the industry, right? So I have a history in education. I went to school to get my masters in higher education and counseling, right? So the idea of developing post secondary institutions is something that I studied in school, and I had a long history working, you know, in community colleges and private schools, state schools. And then finally, when the cannabis industry came on this on this side of the world, you know, I started to think, how could I contribute to this growing industry and make sure that folks have access to it, and education was the way. From my perspective,
I love it. I love that there is such a thing that exists called Cleveland School of cannabis. Because I feel like cannabis actually opens up multitude of industries, absolutely not just the folks who are growing it, but people who are investing in it, business enterprises, health professionals, people who are blogging and talking about this topic. I'm really curious to learn more about what are some of the main jobs or professions that people are taking on in connection with this industry. With cannabis,
for sure, I mean fresh, fresh out the gate. Everyone that comes to the school and then leaves, most folks are going to what I call now, right? The traditional route. They're hitting it. They're hitting your horticulture facilities, processing facilities, dispensaries. That's the primary, primary line of work. But then we have a bunch of other folks who come in and say, Look, I already got skills, right? I've already been a salesman, I've already worked this, I've already worked that. I just need to add cannabis on top of it, and then enter back into the field and occupy that space with the cannabis information, you know, on my book bag. So we're seeing a wide range of people who are coming through the school and to enter the industry from where, you know they've already grown and developed
nice so a lot of people, because they've been in horticulture, horticulture, or have some background with like growing, or even, I don't know, EcoLog ecology, they probably have some of that. So the Cleveland School of cannabis, how long has it been operational? And I'm asking that in connection with this recent rise right of cannabis being something that is now accepted, like, how long has it existed that people have taken it so seriously that they've decided to establish an entire school? Yeah, so
we started, we started it in 2017 when it when Ohio said, Hey, we're going to open it up here, because our founder, who had no history in education at all, he just, he was in the cannabis industry back in California, lost a ton of employees, folks. He's like, I'm a master grower, and they have a certificate that gave them two hours worth of, you know, knowledge and growing cannabis. And they were coming in realizing what it was like to grow on on a larger scale, and couldn't do it. So he was like, Man, I need to go back to where I'm from and start this school, because people are going to need solid employees. So he brought us in to help get it off the ground. But it was really just looking at industry and seeing that immediate need and saying, What can I do to get in, to get into the industry and witness it from his standpoint? So we're Career School. Our goal, our goal is to get people employed first and foremost, right? Our goal is to get you a job. It's not to just teach you, you know about cannabis. It's not just to bring people together who really love the plant and want to talk about it. We have a goal to say, once you finish here, we need to get you employed. So we from from start to finish. That's what we're working on when people
walk in our doors. Awesome. So Dr, Denise Fauci, I'm really curious about some of the most common uses, particularly as it relates to health with cannabis. What are some of the most common ways in which people are able to use cannabis to heal themselves?
Yeah, that's a great question, and it really depends on what state they live on, live in. So that's, you know, multi layered question. So if you're talking about it from a an access perspective, that's one thing. But then from medicinal perspective, there's data that shows that cannabis is helpful in many diseases. One of them, for example, is HIV, and I can speak to that from my personal research that we're conducting in our lab. So for example, HIV patients, they consume cannabis, and we're finding evidence that their symptoms are being managed better, which increases their quality of life in the long term. Also, some studies that we've been running show that those, those who have access to cannabis, who are managing like their HIV, for example, also. Use less opioids, so we can always have a large discussion about that, and you know, the risk mitigation that we're working with when we have this evidence on cannabis, but as far as other health conditions, again, it's really by state of what's available as far as medicinal routes. But I'll stop there, unless you'd like to go deeper.
I'm really curious more about in connection with what, what you should with what you shared, how were how was that? How was epidemiologist connected to cannabis, and how was it presented? Or how successful has it been in being presented as a viable solution and cure to some of the things that yield us?
Yes, so epidemiology, in itself, if you were to Google or research the word cannabis epidemiologist, I probably is, am one of the only ones that is there. So I don't know if I'm creating a term, or am I trailblazing a industry. I'm not sure, within the industry, but so that's kind of to answer that question of what you know, it's epidemiology is open to cannabis in that way. Typically, the research, usually with epidemiology, there's layers to it. So we're starting off with getting, you know, preliminary evidence, and then rigor increases to then eventually impact policy. The problem with cannabis research, and especially epidemiologic research, is that the federal government does not allow us to conduct research in the OR, let's put it this way, there are many barriers to conduct research in a rigorous way, and that's providing some challenges to getting that medical information and evidence needed for patients.
Could you tell Could you speak more to those barriers, like, are those barriers related to a lack of people taking it seriously, people just putting in their mind that? Yo, people aren't sick. They're really just trying to get high. What are some of the barriers to people accepting this as a viable solution towards healing?
Yes, so actually, I have data to back that up. I have we connected a survey, actually, of some healthcare providers to see what the barriers were to communicating with their patients, and what the number one, of course, was lack of evidence, lack of education. So just not understanding in medical school, medical school, cannabis is not taught. The endocannabinoid system is not taught if cannabis is spoken about for the majority. And this is based on the class curriculum that I see sit on the admissions committee at University of Miami. So I've seen the curriculum, no one's really talking about the endocannabinoid system. So if you think about the down regulation impacts, it's really you have physicians, healthcare providers, that are unaware of the medical impacts due to a system that's already in our body. So that, to me, is number one. So I'm excited when I see schools like the school of cannabis, you know, educating, because that's number one. We need that for industry.
Yeah, fantastic. So you just definitely said a word that I'm not familiar with. Can you tell us what is indo? How do you say endocannabinoids? What is that? What's its function? How does that show up?
I'm sorry for my big smile. What's my favorite topic to talk about? I am obsessed with the endocannabinoid system, so I'm going to so I actually enjoy kind of helping people pronounce because I didn't know and I actually embarrassed myself at a conference. I'm here all knew I was a student working on my cannabis research, and I pronounced it and was embarrassed, but the way I go, so it's endocannabinoid system. So usually, if it's in a crowd, I have everybody doing it together. So I would love it. If we can three together, we could say
it endo cannabinoid
system got it for sure. So
this system is something that's already in our bodies. It is like, you know, we when you were in school, you probably heard of the respiratory system, the skeletal system. We know about these things. Well, endocannabinoid system is one of those systems that all vertebrates have, including dogs. So I have a pit bull, she has an endocannabinoid system. And the reason why that's so important is because this is the reason why cannabis phytocannabinoids are able to help our bodies through the system that already exists in our body. And what I like to really tell people is that even if you've never consumed cannabis before in your life, you have cannabinoids in your body, and they're called endocannabinoids. So I can go for decades about talking about the endocannabinoid system. So I don't know if you want to stop me now, or do you want me to keep going?
Well, I have just one more question on that, and that is, what what is the function of it? What is the function of that system?
Yes. So this system is responsible for keeping our body at balance. We call that homeostasis. So we want to keep things regulated at the right balance. And that's what homeostasis is, and that's what the system is responsible for. How do we not, how are we not teaching physicians and right?
The question,
no, I mean, at minimum, that that really like, you know, I have never heard of it, so I appreciate you. Sharing that and sharing that breakdown it, it's obvious that there's so much more education that needs to happen. Um, and some of that is happening gradually as the industry expands and more people, it's not just expands but becoming more acceptable in mainstream. For example, see, CBD is a broad category, and it's recently hit mainstream since becoming federally legal, but many of us still doesn't really know what those letters stand for or exactly what they mean when we're referencing CBD. Tyrone, could you tell us what exactly is CBD? What are those letters stand for? You're
gonna ask me that question on the president of an institution. I am not a cannabis student. I am not a cannabis student.
Cannabis student, no, but, but the
thing is, the thing is, even, you know, I've been in a lot of our courses, and when we, when I refer to CBD, I really talk about it as kind of that, that that, uh, I was gonna say material, but the cannabinoid, right? Or the cannabis, cannabidiol, right? It's cannabidiol. What CBD, for me, and my perspective of it, of it really, what it does is really brings you to that homeostasis, that homeostatic however you want to say, that point in your body. So always tell people when they say, What does CBD do? I say, CBD clears your body up to do what your body is supposed to do. That's what I always tell them. So when I when I'm addressing CBD, and they say, so if I take CBD with a vitamin, what is CBD going to do? I say, what the CBD is supposed to do is clear your body up so that vitamin can do what it's supposed to do, right? So, so we could take vitamins, and, you know, people take vitamins and they don't treat their body the way it's supposed to. So they're like, I don't have a reaction when I take, you know, that that supplement, it doesn't do anything for me. What I always tell you is, if you take that with some CBD, then CBD should clear up, you know, some of those receptors that allow you to then access those vitamins. But I would always turn that over to people who actually study, you know, the plant. Really, when we talk about CBD, we're talking about a major derivative from hemp, you know, a low THC plants, but I would love people who actually study it on a day to day basis to do that. My job is to get those folks in front of people. It's like when Henry Ford said, I don't have all the answers, but I know how to get the people who do have the answers in front of the people who don't. And that's my primary goal as the president of an institution, is to make sure I'm doing the research to find those people who get to tell people exactly what they're looking for. Like Henry Ford said, I didn't build a car. I'm not smart enough, but I was smart enough to say I don't know, but I know the people who can, and I was smart enough to get them in the same building and do it together, right?
Makes total sense to me. Absolutely. Um. Doctor. Venice bedla, would you be able to shed more shed more light on that term, CBD? What exactly does do those letters mean? What is the function of CBD?
Yes. And actually, I'm going to share my screen, if you don't mind. Not at all. Fantastic. All right, so I love to show these photos. So first, I want to first, can you confirm that you can see my screen? Fantastic. Yeah. So this is a visual representation that I always like to show when I'm talking about the endocannabinoid system, in particular when we're talking about CBD and cannabinoids and THC. So before we even talk about the cannabinoids, let's talk about the system. So as I was talking about our body already has the system inside of it. This is showing us all of the organs in our body, right? So we have our brain, lungs, heart, etc, so you see CB one, CB two. Those are the two main receptors within the endocannabinoid system. There's other receptors too, but let's just focus on those two for now. So those two receptors, CB one and CB two. They're found on different parts of our body. So here you can see, for example, the brain has both CB one and CB two. This is extremely important, especially when we're talking about CBD and THC. Because of this reason right here, the cannabinoids interact. I want to say react, but interact, but they combine. They adhere to receptors based on where they fit. So if you look here in this picture, THC can fit into CB one receptors. So if you remember the picture of the body that I was showing you, anywhere you see the word CB one, that means, if you consume THC, it has the opportunity to impact that organ. Mm. Now if we look at CBD, however, CBD does not have that structure that binds perfectly to CB one or CB two. However, there's lots of evidence that suggests that it impact like it interacts with other cannabinoids such as THC. So here is why. And you know, it's kind of in between the two. So when you're talking about inflammation and things like that. That's when you're really looking at the CB, CBD. So that's just a big picture. Any questions before I go into a little deeper?
I mean, I got so many, but I'm also curious to hear about what more you have. So it sounds like CBD has less, like operates in less spaces than, for example, THC. Because THC are. Operates everywhere where CB one can be.
Well, CBD operates in a different way than THC, with different organs, and that's one of the reasons why medicinal properties are really enhanced with it. And it's really it's really complex, so I'm giving a very basic overview, but the important thing to note is that it matters what type of cannabinoids and and even more so, terpenes. But we're not going to go there right now. But the reason why it matters is because of this system, this system here, can, you know, engage with certain cannabinoids, but it has to have the right one
about THC and some of the differences, for example, between CBD and THC and how it impacts the body. It
really again, it depends on number well. Number one, it depends on the patient to the parts of the body. Because all of our bodies, since we have an endocannabinoid system already, some of us may have a well functioning endocannabinoid system without any phyto cannabinoid supplementation. But some of us, particularly patients who have fibromyalgia, some evidence is suggesting patients with lupus, they are already have a deficiency within this endocannabinoid system in their body. So depending on the deficiency, that's which cannabinoid you you'll supplement it with. So I started with that because it's really hard to just say, What's the difference between THC and CBD. We've kind of gone beyond that now it's more of, what is the difference between a cultivar that has THC CBD ratios, you know, etc, versus one that's maybe an isolate, or one that's only CBD or only any cannabinoid. Okay, I'll stop my shame screens, because I know we're not in class here, but I told you, I get crunk about the Endocannabinoid.
I am here for it. We've been joined by another panelist. I want to make sure that that we bring them up and give them a chance to share. Right now, on your at the bottom where your name should be, it says, Wayne at farms, just go ahead for a moment, if you don't mind introducing yourself. Your relationship to the topic and what brought you to the cannabis industry.
What's going on? Everybody? How y'all feeling today? Good. What's going on? Hey, Shaggy. Hey, how you doing, Doc, I hear you dropping some outage. About the Indo cabinet cannabinoids? Well, I'm shaggy brown. I have a brand shaggy snacks. I've been I've been in the cannabis industry for, like, I say, about 20 years. I'm very much so into the medicinal side of things, more than the recreational side of things. I've lost so many friends and family to different illnesses and different sicknesses and different things that I know could have been, you know, could have been helped if they would have known more about cannabis and understand the benefits of it. So, you know, my, my reason for even, you know, tapping into to this, to this panel, or whatever we want to call it, is that, you know, I feel that there needs more knowledge to be put out. There needs more people who actually are, you know, connected to lifestyle, to be talking about lot of this kind of stuff, or understanding this type of stuff, so they can tell it to their friends, or they can, we can, we can spread the word to the right people, or to people. Maybe I don't know the right people might be, but, I mean, I think more people of urban and from, from, I guess the hoods should have more knowledge about, you know what these CB one and CB two receptors are and understand more about the Endocannabinoid systems. Understand more about, you know, the health, health is wealth in general. That's the That's the mindset I push and that's the mindset I live for, is, is health is wealth. You know, don't, don't, don't look at smoking weed, or don't look at just weed in general as just some way for you to just get away from reality. It's for, it's for you to be able to tap into a understanding and understand how to be able to, you know, keep yourself healthy, keep yourself happy, keep yourself focused, keep yourself on point, like, I like, like, like I stress. You know, health as well. So you know, I'm here, you know, just to learn more, to be honest with you, I'm here to learn more, to hear more insight. You got? Doc, Doc, Doc, Doc, is it? Denny. Nice, yes, okay, got doctor. I always see her in different rooms speaking the truth and the knowledge and, you know, give, giving as much information as she can, give out to the right people that are, you know, are listening and tapped in and wanted to hear these things, this information. So I, you know, I want to actually keep pushing for the medicinal side of things. And if I can help give, you know, I, like my brother, DMX, always said, If I can help, if I could change one person's life, then I've done my job. You know, that one person might, even might go out there and tell the next person, or tell the next person and the next person or the knowledge that they was trying to get might help them or people around them, you know, give, give, give knowledge back to the we got the youth. We got the future people that's, you know, coming up in this world, in this day and time. So I think they need they don't have too many big homies or big brothers or, you know, OGS that's actually giving them the right information. So if I could be one of them, kind of big brothers or them OGS, and that's what I'm striving for as I grow into my legacy in my life. Love it.
I noticed Tyrone, as Shaggy, was sharing a bit about the need for people to be educated in urban communities and that sort of thing, you were nodding quite a bit in agreement, which makes me curious about what are some of the things that you are finding that you are having to help folks learn or unlearn as it relates to understanding cannabis? I think
the first thing is, is, is dispelling the myths and tearing down the myths that scare a lot of our people away from the industry. You know, the government has done a number on us when it comes to this plan, right? We've, we've, we've get, we've gone through the ringer trying to understand our place with this, right? So there's some fear in folks when it comes to to them bringing their their history to light and saying, Yeah, I've been in the industry because we're not quite sure yet. We've seen, you know, in our history, folks kind of set us up for failure in many spaces. So I think one thing that we that we have to do, the first thing that we have to do is start to let people know that this is a real industry, and there's room for us at the table, and that's one of the things that we continue to do, even in our partnerships, reaching out to communities that that have been broken, right? And have been have been targeted and locked up and thrown away over this plant, and then bringing them out and saying, We can't lose out on weeds twice, right? We can't lose out on marijuana twice. We can't lose out on cannabis, whatever y'all want to call want to call it. We can't lose out on it twice. So educating them about just the existence of the industry in general. And then the other things is, is, you know, understanding where education fits in the lives of a lot of folks, right? Because some folks have been miseducated about cannabis. So I could have been in the industry for 30 years, but then when it gets turned over into the legal space, they're just concepts about entering into the space and in that market that I'm not fully aware of, so making sure people unlearn some of the bad habits they may have developed in terms of getting them to enter the space. The other thing that we're trying to do is, without making too many enemies, is understand how institutions, historically, institutions have left us out of those doors as well. So if I'm talking about, if I, if I allow these large institutions to undercut cannabis and undercut what we're trying to create. So start telling students that we offer the best education. So come here for four years, you know, give us that money, and we'll get you in the industry. Then I felt our community, you know, horribly. Because when you really start to think about it, these schools are only graduating black and brown folks at, you know, the at the best when you think national 48% now, there's schools that are doing better, right? Like you look at Harvard, they have like, a 94% graduation rate for black folks. But overall, the national scale is a 42 44% graduation for black and brown folks on a national scale of four year institutions. If you look at community colleges, it might be a bit worse. The community college I worked at was graduating black men at 10% so if I allow those schools to grab hold of cannabis and then tell my people they have to go through their admissions process to access this market again, we've already lost so part of part of our creation of the school is to let people know you don't have to go through that to enter into this industry, but you do have to go through some portions of education to get into the market. So when you ask me, what does our community have to have to learn in order to get into the industry? It's just that it's real, and there are some non traditional ways of accessing that industry that can get you through those doors from the ground level, and you can begin to work your way up in the budding industry, right? The other thing is, everybody thinks they could just open the dispensary tomorrow, like, Hey, I'm going to open a dispensary. Oh, they got the market. I, you know, I got 15,000 I'm open up the dispensary. And I'm like, yo, slow down, right? We're not there yet. It's not that easy. And there's some work that has to be done on, on, you know, our advocate sides and. Our allies and our accomplices, accomplices decide to break that barrier, but until then, 15,000 gonna get you in the game the way you thought it was before. So I think educating them on the realities of what this industry looks like, um, is something that we got to continue to do.
You brought up, I feel like a lot of good points Tyro terms of, oh, go ahead. Did you want to say something Shaggy?
No, no. I was just agreeing with him. It's true. We need, we need to get more knowledge. Because I've been telling people about what it costs to get in this industry for years. And I tell them, cost about 200 300,000 just to get started, right? And they're like, Damn what can what can I do for 15,000 What can I do for 20,000 now? I got 50,000 I said, bro, get your money up. You gotta get more money up. And I don't want to. I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to push people away from it. I just want to get them the knowledge so they understand the truth and the realism behind it, and understand that it's not it's not just I open up a corner store or I just open up a food truck and just start doing business. It's a lot of knowledge that goes into it. It's a lot of relationships that go into it. And it's a lot of it's a lot of insight, like, if people don't really understand the true value of the cannabis industry as a community. So if you, if you're not working to build as a community, you're not really trying to get into this. You're just trying to make a couple bucks and stick to selling weed out the back door like you've been doing. And don't try to get in this industry. And it up for the people trying to do it the right way. That's how I look at it, you know. And
then pass the alley oop over me to medical side. Then once you have people like that getting into the industry without the proper intentions, then you get patients who are having negative health impacts, and then they're blaming it on cannabis, not realizing that probably the people who are growing the cannabis may not have known how to do it properly. They're not getting cannabis properly. So it's just a cycle that is just a systematic cycle, and Tyrone hearing you talk like I wrote in our chat here, that it makes me want to go and roll, but just to support because it's true, like, you know, like, I can't even my own family. It's hard to communicate with them about cannabis, and I do this for
a living, right, right? And I'll just add to that, right? It's not just folks that look like us, who really don't know what they're doing, or who don't have the who don't have the the liquid assets to get in the game that can destroy it. It's also, you know, rich white folks who are getting in the game and just throwing money around, and they don't even have respect for the plant, the way some of our folks who don't have, you know, the bread to get into it, do. They don't. They don't care about it. They're looking to make a quick buck, and they are destroyed. They can destroy the industry just as quickly as as our folks who may show up and say, I got 15 grand. What can I do? I want to, I want to make a quick dollar, because that person that got 13 million and wants to make a quick buck can be just as detrimental to the growth of industry as that person could. And I would argue that they would probably, probably be more detrimental to the game, because they have immediate access right now and the ability to destroy it. And have patients running around here, you know, upset we have folks right now mixing up CBD. So CBD is federally legal. Mixing up CBD that can get you higher than any THC that you can put in your body, right? And they have access and money to do that. So now we're going to be arguing about certain aspects of CBD that are, that are getting people high because they're learning how to mix that up. You understand what I'm saying? We're not. We're not doing that. They are? Yeah,
no, I feel like there's so many good points that were brought up. I really like Shaggy, you introducing the amount of money that it takes to get into the industry. And then also your point that you brought up Tyrone in terms of, like, you know, there's two sides to the coin, wherein there's folks who have the money and they're just throwing out around the money. Don't really respect the plant. Haven't even been in connection with the plant prior to knowing that this is a business venture, and all of these ways that that could complicate and muddy the waters. I want us to talk for a second about the barriers to entry in connection with 200 grand there, there. I feel like there are people Tyrone that are familiar with this plant and have been working with it for a while and growing it, who even have background in horticultural, who have a horticultural background, who just grow shit. You know what? I mean. Um, that don't have 200 grand. What? Like, where do, where do those folks go? Or it, are there angel investors? Like, how can people get connected with such a high barrier to entry? When previously, this has been, in addition to the to the health benefits and the So, the recreational and the medicinal benefits, there was also an economic benefit to people who were in this industry that it's kind of, it's starting to, like, carve them out. So I think that they're starting to feel that. And not only feel that they're being carved out, but also recognize and see that something that they were penalized for previously is now being praised accepted, and because Brett has the 200 grand to make it happen, Brett can not only not go to jail, but Brett can make tons of money off of it. I feel like in having that conversation, we have to really speak to that part of it as well. Any takers?
No, I mean, I think you're talking my language, right. This is what, this is what this is why I'm involved in the cannabis, you know, the cannabis space, because I know the majority of my people aren't in licensing yet. They're on the ground floor, trying to enter into the space, because we don't have years and years of wealth building to where on that license, on that application, we can say, hey, you know, I got, I got 10 mil in the bank, right? You can check my bank statements right now. So you know, I'm never going to crash the industry, because I don't have the money to continue to run my business. So part of even you know that setup of of of it being so expensive, I understand particular aspects of it, right? It's because if I come in here with the last of my dollars to open up the dispensary, and a first year, I don't get those customers and clients, then I have to close my doors. So they're trying to see if you can sustain not getting any funds in your door for a certain amount of time. So I kind of understand some aspects of that. But then you have folks layering over social equity projects and saying, Hey, if you have, you know, X percentage, or if you have a person of color on your license, you're more likely to get it. So then you have folks looking for people of color to be like, Yo, I'll give you 1% or let's put it in your name and you sell it to me immediately. So there are people being sued, you know, in states for for pushing the idea of social equity and or taking advantage of some of those loopholes and just putting people of color in front of the license so that they can, so that they can fund it, and then, once the license is accessed, you know, saying, hey, you know, we're the real owners of this. You don't own enough all the way to, like, New York trying to implement a plan saying like you, if you do have a person of color on your license, they have to own 70% of that company, which offers its own set of issues. Because if I own 70% that means people are going to expect me to put up 70% of the bread, right? So imagine what type of things I'm writing on the back end and say, hey, I'll pretend like I own 70% you give me the money, and then I'll hook you up on the back end. So the idea of social equity is something that people are playing around with, because they understand that Brett, you know, might have two Miller who he can just come in the game, but then Tyrone doesn't, and they want, you know, more tyrones involved. But the money that folks throw around to prevent that stuff is huge. Like they'll sue the state and the state of backtrack quick, because they don't want to get sued for something that they're, you know, trying to create a social equity space rather than standing your ground. So there's a lot going on in the industry, and I would love to hear from, you know, my man Shaggy, who's growing and doing that work, and even, even doc, who is at a major institution, right? And how places like that are trying to make, you know, education more accessible for people who want to get in the industry too. Because I think it's critical that we're hidden from all angles.
I think that there are people, and I think some of the the work that you're talking about, that people are doing Tyrone, is to kind of combat this history from this like war on drugs. Before I get I have a question for you, Shaggy. But before I go into that, I want to read this a snippet and that it this is so it's according to this research article written by Dwayne Stanton, and then, like four or five other folks, called the effects of marijuana legalization on jail populations, and it's specifically focused on Washington state, it says in 2012 Washington State legalized the production sale and possession of marijuana through initiative 502. Advocates of legalization argued that it would decrease the jail population and reduce the disproportionate incarceration of minorities, reasoning that the police would refocus their resources on other matters. In order to evaluate this assumption, these researchers examined the jail bookings data use set of uninterrupted time series regression models, their findings indicated that jail population trends differ among counties across time with respect to impacts on minorities and women, with regard to ethnic and racial disproportionate impact, there appears to be little positive change. Shaggy, do you have any background on the legalization or decriminalization? Let's start there. First. Could you share with folks, what is the difference between the legalization of marijuana and the decriminalization of marijuana? What is the
difference? You're talking to me. Yeah, I'm talking to you. Okay, my bad. I'm I'm just jumping back and forth to watching this funeral and tapping in with you guys at the same time. Saw, I
saw some clips out of DMX funeral. Some people that I know that that are in New York right now, posted some video. Yeah,
now they doing a lot. They're doing it live right now on YouTube. But what was your What was you saying? I
was asking if you could share with us, what is the difference between legalization of marijuana and decriminalization of marijuana.
Mm, in my eyes, decriminalization was is more. See, decriminalization is more for the for the for the recreational side of things, and the legalization is more for the medicinal side of things, because this what I think about it. Because decriminalization, you're thinking about decriminalization so you don't have to worry about nobody messing with you smoking there you want to smoke, and you can just kick it and hang out, and you could just, you know, nobody's messing with you for smoking and all that kind of legalization. Mind you, this is where we can get more medical research. This is where we can get more, you know, insights to understanding, you know, what, what strains work best for people and stuff like that. What? What, what terpenes work best for people and stuff like that. So when I think about those two different things, they kind of mean the same, but they're completely different. And when I say they kind of mean the same, you want to, you want to get the decriminalization out the way so we we don't have to be living in fear or living in stress while we enjoying our medicating. But we also want to take it a step further, to get the legalization all the way out the way, so we can actually find out how to heal each other and keep our keep us focused and doing right, um, vice versa. You know, taking pills or taking farmers, Big Pharma, pharmaceuticals, and all this type of stuff we can We don't need no pills, no none of that big pharmacy to live our life and to heal ourselves. We can do all that stuff naturally and and I'm very, very strong believer that cannabis is a great start to that. If people that people, you know, older? Let's say our older people. Let's say people like 6070, 80 years old. Sometimes they may not have a good appetite, or sometimes they might not want to feel like moving around and doing things. Sometimes they may not feel like it's it's certain things that cannabis helps for certain people, it's not. It doesn't affect everybody the same way. This is what I'm starting to really hear more people talk about lately. It's more so, you know, finding out the type of cannabis that that works with your medicinal ailments, not just, I mean, even a lot of these people who just sit smoke weed and just watch video games, or watch play video games, watch basketball, watch TV, they don't know, they don't know what they said, that they're healing themselves. Um, they may have mental trauma and mental pain and PTSD and PTSD, and they like, man, gotta just go play some video games, smoke my weed and I'll be cool. Yes, that's called medicating. And a lot of them don't really understand that. They just think that they're smoking weed and they're, you know, they're good, but if you actually pay attention to what you're doing, you're actually healing yourself. And like, like, like, like, gentlemen was saying earlier, Tyrone it's about the unlearn and relearn, and the one, the one strong and really valuable way to do that is plant medicine. I 100% stand by it on all forms plant medicine, from cannabis to mushrooms to Ayahuasca to combo, to to toad. I mean, it's all kind of different plant medicines that help people out, that that can give you good feelings, good understanding of of what's going on with our bodies. So I think plant medicine is the future, and I think everybody should use cannabis on a regular and I'm not saying just once a day. I mean once, twice a day, just like you would go drink water, just like you would go eat your eat your eat your salad, eat you something like at the end of the day, all that stuff is giving you your healthy regimens, but cannabis is something that helps you with your receptors. Cannabis is something that helps you with things that you can't see on the outside, that you don't know that's wrong with you until you go see the doctor. So, you know, I, I really believe that i. Uh, more more than to get towards legalization, we'll be able to heal more people. But if I'm just speaking, speaking honest and straight up, I don't think they want to heal us. I think they want to keep us, you know, in at bay. Because if you got more people that, you got more people that that that that that don't understand this, they're not gonna go out there and try to heal themselves. They just gonna keep on just going drinking and eating fucking fatty foods, and, you know it's and smoking a blunt, like, yeah, you smoking a blunt, but you're still also putting putting meat in your body. You're putting dairy in your body. You're drinking fucking beers and and drinking champagne and all this type of I'll be honest, we tried to cut off a lot of people in my life because I felt like they wasn't going to where they had no future and they would they wasn't trying to get their self together. They were just they thought, I'm getting money. Yeah, I'm gonna go get some steak and lobster and give me a big bottle in 1942 and I'm like, Dude, you're killing yourself. But I can only say so much, because, you know, a person is like, he's getting money, and he's eating his big steak, and, you know, he's got his big old bottle of 1942 he think he's doing right, right. And that goes back to to the unlearn and relearn. If you go back to the fact that unlearn and relearn, yeah, we were before we thought that was doing right. If you watched that movie, game changers, they put it out there to say eating meat was supposed to be the thing to make everybody strong and healthy when they said they suffered a movie, it was a lie. It was a lie just for the meat industry. It was a lie just for the the milk industry. Like it was all alive. Like, what are we going to use these cows for? Yeah, milk and beef and all this stuff. So we got to get people to eat this shit on a regular and drink this shit on a regular. So that's why I 100% believe that in order to heal and unlearn and relearn, you need candidates, because it's going to make you sit and think like, Damn, what am I doing with myself? Damn, what am I like? This is not right. I'm not doing something right. It took me. It took me, like, 1015, years to really start waking up and understanding the true nuances of what's really, really being pushed down our throats and really being pushed in our heads, of not to heal us, but to get rid of us. And, you know, I believe that, you know, having conversations like this, and having conversations with more people like this, I talked to my my hustler homies, I try to tell them, man, you know, you ain't doing you. You get money. I get it, but you're not doing a service to your body, bro. You put on the Gucci, you put on the Louie, you put on the fly outfit, the big chains, but your insides and shit, most of you, most of these dudes got diabetes. Most of these dudes got fucking intestine problems and colon problems that they don't even know nothing about until they go to the doctor. The doctor say, Oh yeah, you, you, you're six months from living
so I feel like some of the things that I'm hearing, and I'm also, I'm curious about how huge is your house, because I feel like you've been walking this whole
time. I'm walking back and forth.
Okay. I was like, is he facing mansion? He's gonna have a destination at some point. But no, it sounds like what you're saying is echoing what other folks are saying in terms of, like, the importance of the education of the piece and the use of it in terms of, like, the healing qualities and just having better information with that. I want to go over to Dr videau, and I really want you, I don't know if you have one of those fancy charts again, but I'm a fan of fancy charts to talk about the differences of indica and sativa and how those strains are used. Is there one that's more popular for medicinal use and one more popular and used for recreational if you have that insight. But if you could give me any background on the the healing qualities, or health related qualities of those two, yeah,
actually, I'm actually happy you asked that question, because in the science, especially in the industry, we're kind of moving away from the indica does this the TV. So that question is pretty loaded, and I think I may need to yield it, because the evidence there is none, because of that reason, it's no longer just indica, just sativa. So I think I'll yield to Tyrone. Actually, no,
no, no, you're right. I think folks
are folks. Everyone is like, don't yield to me.
I mean, I think, I think that was it. Historically, folks would say, you know, so. Teva, you know, get you up, gives you energy, where indica also can be said for in the couch. So you get this body high, and you you lean back when you own that indica. But to Doc's point, there are so many cross there's so many cultivars out there, and so much breeding and mixing that a lot of that has lost his his pizza. As you think about something that's been illegal for so long we haven't had the opportunity to do the just research that we need to do. So a lot of this stuff that people are talking about, you know, it's just old folklore from a long time ago, or it existed before, but now it's kind of like, yeah, that's not true anymore. That may, that may have been true when they first, you know, start allowing us to research it, but now we've done enough to realize that we were so far, you know, beyond that. So Doc is right. We we've been trying to throw that out. Even though we presented in some of our horticulture slides, we just let people know that that was some of the classifications that folks would have out there before. I
have found that a lot of the dispensaries, at least the one in Maryland where I live, every everything they offer is a hybrid safer to
say that I Yeah,
more layers to challenges for research and understanding the impact on patients, because just when we thought we had it under control and we had an idea, then we have all these hybrids coming. So it's a little harder for us, from a clinical standpoint, to be able to help the patients when and not only that, for example, I always like to use the example of wedding cake, because that's one of the profiles that I really like, just like the clinical properties. But a wedding cake that you purchase in Amsterdam is not the same. It may not be the same wedding cake that you purchase in Miami versus Colorado versus Cali. So even like following names is not really best standard anymore. Sure,
I remember. I remember my favorite used to be Luke Skywalker, right? I was like, I love Luke Skywalker. But then I had Luke Skywalker again. I'm like, what that Luke Skywalker didn't do with the first Luke Skywalker. I know if I drink, if I if I was drinking vodka, vodka is always going to have that impact on me if I'm buying the same vodka, right? But for some reason, that Luke Skywalker that I, that I bought from a dispensary in San Diego, you know, the one that I bought from a dispensary in Michigan, just didn't have the same impact in and I was like, What is with that, right? So I couldn't even stick to that type of cultivar, because it didn't do the same thing that I was looking for, you know, from the first point so, mm
hmm, how has the evolution of the use of edibles impacted the industry? Has that increased it significantly? Doctor videau, are you finding that people who may be adverse to smoking are more willing to ingest cannabis differently, like, what are some of the impacts of the the the explosion of cannabis, I'm sorry, of edibles to the cannabis industry?
Yeah, that's actually a great question. And from a patient perspective, that's actually opened up the doors for some of the medicinal patients. So as shaggy talking about earlier with like the older women, or like the older, you know, population who may want something for pain management, but can't imagine themselves on learning what they've been trained about the stigma of cannabis. So the smoking may not be, you know, an option for them, but an ointment. Maybe, I know that's not an edible, but to me, I'm thinking of it from a scientific perspective. It's like, you know, smoking edibles tincture, you know. And I also think that from an industry perspective, that also gives opportunity for those who may not want to touch the plant in particular and maybe be more like on the baked goods. So you're seeing, like, a lot of infused foods. So although that helps the industry that also adds opportunities for misuse in the terms of Miss infusion, like just doing it improperly, perhaps adding health, you know, impacts in the wrong type of way. But, um, to answer your question, shortly, it's it's definitely opened up the opportunity for us to provide options for patients one and then also, it's also opened up the opportunity for us to do more research, because now we can see that, oh, well, for IBS, which is irritable bowel syndrome, perhaps it's good for them to take a pill or something and go straight to the gut, versus something that bypasses the gut. You know, there's just or vice versa, I should say, speaking of if you really want me to show you pictures, I can show another picture from a COVID study that's pretty relevant. About changing routes, it's up to you with time,
yeah, if it, particularly, if it's connected to this, if, if not, I want to go to there we go. Let
me show you. I'm going to own it, don't you? Gave me. You gave me the opening
on my screens. Listen, I'm an academic, so I love a good chart and a precursor, yes.
So the reason why I want to show this to you all is because this is a preliminary study that I've done with some collaborators. So the COVID. Cannabis study that we're working on, but right here, we looked at some medicinal cancer patients. And what's great here is that you can, or I'm gonna say great, I'm getting too excited. I'm a scientist. It's very interesting to note from this chart here that you see is that before the pandemic was declared, the majority of the patients that reported cannabis use. We're using it in a smoking format once, after the cannabis the pandemic was declared. You can see by these numbers here that smoking was no longer now. You'll see the orange, which is a new and that's edible. So that's exactly to your question. You know, with the increase of edible, so you'll see that you they're reducing the smoking increasing edible. You also see picture here. So what we get from that is that the patients are listening to health, you know, caution about the COVID pandemic and respiratory issues.
Absolutely. That's, I mean, that's, that's it. That's a great chart. That's, that's regarding cancer patients, right? If you look at the entire market, right? So cannabis from 2019, to 2020, look at what the pandemic did. It grew 54% so everything was shaking. Cannabis market grew 54% right? Edibles grew 60% which outpaced the entire market. Because folks are like, hey, I can take an edible. Nobody has to know I'm taking it, right? Folks don't want to tell people that they're using cannabis all the time. They can take it in their home. They can take it around. Their kids and not have an impact. They can take them like medicine, there's there's taste, right? And then, and then, in many cases, when people smoke, you really don't, you really don't have the ability to control how much you're inhaling. If you, if I, if that makes sense, right? You inhale, and you just wish for the best, right? You take a little bit. But when you take an edible, you're like, you know what? I'll take this piece and I'll sit on this for a while, right? And then I'll take another piece and I'll sit on that for a while, so you're able to kind of micro dose a lot better than if you were just taking flour or if you were if you were vaping, vaping, which is probably going to see as major make continue to see a decline because of all the other options that people have for engaging with cannabis. So beyond the cancer, you know, folks with cancer like edibles are on the rise across the country in general, and outpacing everyone else. Say that again, that's all I buy. If I because I don't partake often, but if I do, I'm saying, you know, I'm going to grab it, grab an edible for myself, right? Yeah.
Um, I have, like, smoke issues, like, I just have issues with smoke in my lung. It automatically dictates how I ingest. Um, so it's so interesting, Tyrone, that you said that in terms of smoking, I hope for the best, and maybe it's because, you know, some of us have multiple resources in terms of whether we get from a dispensary, or we get or we get from the homie. And one of the things that I have found that is helpful with the dispensary is that they are consistent about dosage. Yeah, the homie is not consistent about dosage, and that is a situation wherein that could be a challenge. What has your Oh, it looks like Shaggy is froze. I went frozen. I wanted to go to him to ask him a bit about his some of the experiences that he's familiar with. But before we go today, I'm going to, I just want to share a few stats. How is it nighttime? Where you are okay? His house is huge. Let's just say that he has an elevator in it. He walked for an hour and never stopped.
Shaggy, I'm visiting. That's it.
Can we just all agree to go to Shaggy? Yeah? That's, that's the turn off spot. So I'm going to go to some to some information that I found. And it's really around that legalization and decriminalization, and it's the ACL ACLU reported in 2010 import, I'm sorry, reported that in 2020 10, black people were four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people, even though both groups consume marijuana at the same rate. Nine states and Washington DC have legalized the record the recreational use of cannabis, and 29 states allow some of the medical marijuana San Francisco recently dropped 1000s of marijuana related convictions. Seattle plans to do the same, but it doesn't change the federal restrictions. How do you imagine the industry this more acceptance of it generally, to impact that? So we talked a bit about like, how it's impacting entry to the industry. $200,000 to enter. A lot of people don't have that level of loop. Talked a little bit about some of the other barriers in terms of education to entering the industry. I'm really curious about the ways in which it could potentially. Actually impact legalization, decriminalization, also, folks who are using, we're seeing some of the stigma being it's being destigmatized and more accepted. How do you imagine that that might impact the justice system?
Clearly, clearly, when you decrim something, right? When they, when they decrim it, they're essentially saying, for me, I always say that still doesn't make it legal, but what it says is, look, you'll get a fine for for smoking. You're not going to go to jail for it anymore. So they'll find a way to get their money on even on a decrim market, where, when it becomes legal, then we don't get in trouble for it at all, unless we're doing something illegal with it. You know, think about alcohol. It's not illegal to drink alcohol, but it is illegal to drink alcohol, then get behind your coat, right? So, so the decrim idea is just like, what? Hey, right, right. Now we'll give you a fine. You won't get a fine for drinking alcohol unless you're drinking it somewhere that says you'll get a fine for drinking here, right? So when you start thinking about legality versus decrim, it's really about what happens to you if you're if you're caught with it, right? Decrim, you'll get a fine, right? You're not going to jail with a slap on the wrist. When it's talking about legal. You're not even getting that fine or slap on the wrist, right? You're good to go unless you're doing something you're not supposed to with it. But I think, essentially, you know, drug convictions carry, really hold the fort for the prison system drug conviction, and the majority of those being marijuana conviction. So they hold the fort for it. It's easy to grab somebody, throw them in jail. Now we're getting that money for them, right? So, so when that happens that the criminal justice system is going to have to find another way to sustain itself, and I have no doubt that they will, right? That's what scared me, is that I have no doubt that the criminal justice system is going to find a way to recreate itself and still exist in the United States of America, because they're not going to be be able to do it on the backs of cannabis. So they'll find other ways to get black and brown folks back behind bars. And I just don't know what that is yet, right? In the 80s, it was the war on drugs. We got you right, right? So they're going to find a way, in 2025 to say, how do we get these folks back in here? We'll figure it out in a second, because we can't watch that implode, because it's like the top two or three employers and or maybe top one next to education, is our, is our? Is our justice system in terms of employers. So when applicants defaulter, imagine the folks who don't have work. So imagine how many people are still rooting for us, locking folks up, because they understand that when that's going our jobs are are at stake. So I think it's going to have an impact on how we begin to pass legislation, legislation surrounding other issues in our country, which can impact us just as well. That's my perspective. Mm,
hmm. Anyone else want to add to that? In
addition to all that, he said, I agree. You know, I agree. I agree. I just want to bring it from a clinical perspective as well. When I was a student, I actually studied at Morehouse School of Medicine, working with some incarcerated youth, collaborating with studies that they were doing there. And that's actually one of the first places I saw marijuana. I'm going to say marijuana, because back then, that's what I used to call it, back 10 years ago. So now we're 10 years ago, and my first interaction with cannabis research was with incarcerated youth, and just hearing Tyrone what you were talking you know, this is the reality, and then you know what's going to happen also. So some of the things that we were studying is the mental health outcomes of being incarcerated or, you know, so if you're thinking about these, these people who are locked up for cannabis or marijuana, you know, what are the mental health implications, especially seeing that the that now it's like cute if you're consuming cannabis. So imagine if you lock up looking on TV right now, and people are literally becoming millionaires off of something that you literally had a little bag and you may be in jail for. So I am personally thinking of how my collaborators can help impact that by providing the evidence that this is a problem so that we can give resources to improve the mental health. This is a cycle, a cycle of struggle. Yeah, absolutely.
And I think to Tyrone's point, there are people who are benefiting from this cycle that are not going to take too kindly to cannabis being decriminalized. Kind of impact impact them. So I have something that I want to share about the impact of racism on the cannabis industry. And then I have a follow up question to that. I will tell you that I am reading an article that was published in Business Insider. The title of the article is, how racism contributed to marijuana prohibition in the US. It has a full video of it. Um, if folks want to use the look at the video. It was published this year, March, 31 2021, I don't readily, easily see the author of this particular article. But anyway, they're talking about the history of marijuana and decriminalization, and it starts by letting us know that as early as the 1800s there were no federal restrictions on the sale of possession of cannabis in the US hemp five. Fiber from plant, from the hip. Hip fiber from the plant was used to make clothes, paper, rope. Sometimes it was used medically, but as a recreational drug. It wasn't that widespread. In fact, a New York Times article from 1876 first of all, I didn't know you. New York Times was around for that long. New York Times article from 1876 sites the positive use of cannabis to cure a person a patient's dropsy. Basically, the swelling from accumulation of fluid is dropsy. In the early 1900s an influx of Mexican immigrants came to the US, fleeing political unrest in their home country. With them, they brought the practice of smoking cannabis recreationally, and it took off. The Spanish word for the plant started to be used more often, which was marijuana, of course, because we're American, we took the word and kind of bastardized it, and because we don't like the fact that J's aren't pronounced, we put an h in it. Apparently, this was then more sensational headlines about the drug began to appear. It also talks about, in 1936 a propaganda film called reefer. Yeah, it was released in the movie teenagers smoke weed for the first time. It leads to a whole bunch of bad stuff, rape, murder, and it was portrayed as a gateway drug. I've seen several people in jest. We it never makes you want to, I've never seen them want to do anything remotely close to anything that I saw in the video, like not even, I mean, alcohol will bring people closer to some of the things that I saw mentioned. Um, so with all of that, I want to ask the question of, what do you feel has contributed to the shift in acceptance of marijuana, like, how did it go from being a gateway drug to being considered acceptable anybody could handle that one.
That's dope, to guess, a dope question. I mean, you bringing up, you know, the history of it, dating it back to, you know, Harry Ann slinger and William Randolph Hearst, who, who wrote articles about why, you know, in his yellow journalism, like writing articles about why weed is the devil's the devil's grass or whatever, right? But I think what made it more acceptable. To be honest, I'm gonna tell you one thing that I think we can't overlook is the the globalization of hip hop music, right? When you when you ask about, how come it's more acceptable? Now, I would say that the globalization of hip hop music and how hip hop music had taken down the barriers of talking about, you know, cannabis as this thing that that you should be afraid of, right? In the way that they emcees introduced it to the market, and the way folks started to accept it as something that was okay. You look from Snoop to Bone Thugs and harmony, right, so on and so forth. And them kind of telling the world that this is okay, and I'm still an okay person, Snoop, still, Snoop came out made smoking weed so cool, and yet he's still in the limelight of the world, and people love Snoop, right? So I think that that, that the upbringing of hip hop in our familiar, you know, understanding of that music and what they were talking about, I think, made it more acceptable in the mainstream for people to begin saying, You know what? Maybe this is something that we can commit to. I also think that folks started seeing the dollar signs, like, you watched the market move, and you're like, we're arresting a lot of people for for for weed, for marijuana, for candles. We're arresting a lot of people, right? So the government is like, if we're arresting all these people for this. And deep down, we know it's not a big as, as big of an issue as we think that maybe some of these states that are having, you know, larger prison populations need to enter into the market about establishing our presence theory. And if I was into, you know, I don't want to call it propaganda, but if I was into conspiracy theories, I would say that, you know, the government was involved from the beginning, and now they find it found their way to enter into the market on a legal you know, the legal scale. It met the end of its bell curve, where we arrested all we can for cannabis. Now, now it's back down. Now we get to get in from from the other part and earn our keep for it. So I think there's so many reasons, but I would say one of the number one reasons is, is the normalization of hip hop in people's households, reaching into the suburbs, and how we talked about cannabis usage and those in that music to the point to where folks started paying a little more attention to it. But that's just my perspective.
Woman, right? No, I appreciate it. Dr videau, what would you say?
I would say that I'm to be 100% honest. I wasn't expecting you to be quoting that Mexico the history of cannabis. So I had, I have a little bit of like PTSD, because that that makes me very angry as a Latina woman, you know, and I, and, you know, I have, I'm not going to share my screen, I'm gonna take my hand off the mouse, but I have PowerPoint. I have slides for this, because I talk about this. This is, I. So this is why I'm here. You understand? Like, yeah, why I'm here and, and it's, I think much, of course, of what Tyrone was saying, I also think it's because of it's almost to the point where education, although we say education, is needed, at the same time, education is increasing about this plant from a medicinal perspective. So it's getting a little harder for us, or not us, before whoever is blocking the legalization or whatever, to do that, because now the evidence is you can Google it. You know, the world is shrinking as far as information is concerned. So where we could have gotten away with avoiding the facts about cannabis or the evidence regarding cannabis. Now it's a lot harder to hide from evidence, because in America, they may do something, but you may find it from Israel. For example, a lot of the research that I look at is coming out of Israel, and it's actually informing some of the work that we can do here in the States and in Jamaica. Some of my research there is in Jamaica too. That's
a good point. I think
it's so interesting the ways in which a thing can be stigmatized so easily by attaching it to a race of people. It's like black people in Mexico use this. So it's probably bad, right?
I mean, I mean, it's on the same, it's on the same drug scheduling as as heroin.
Yeah, we really, right, right? It's that easy. Yeah, it's, it's crazy. I feel like the thing that makes it even more crazy for me is because I have seen what alcohol does, right? You know what I'm saying? Like, I have seen a complete transformation in personality of people from the use of of alcohol. So it's really interesting. I I've got you guys way over your time, I'm going to try to, oh man, um, Okay, one more question, and then I'm going to switch to the wrap up questions. And this is I'm going to go to Shaggy, because shaggy looks like he wanted looking at us now, um, so my question is, um, important to have diversity in the cannabis industry? If so, why or why not? And you have to unmute before you
walk. Now, I was listening to the funeral diversity. Hmm, that's a that's a good one. The way I think about it, diversity, I'll be honest with you, I don't really, I only think the I don't really think it should be when you say diversity, Explain that. Explain that question. From your perspective of what you feel diversity is, yeah,
so, um, primarily, I'm saying, Do you think that there should be any a proportionate amount of black and brown people at different levels of the cannabis industry, Owner, ownership, owning dispensaries, making it, writing about it, those sort of things. Okay,
when you say that now, I think about from that perspective. I look at it from that perspective, I don't think it should be I don't think it should be the divided. I think everybody should have a chance to be able to make money in the cannabis industry, because that's how it's been. It's been that way. It's been everybody's been making value in the cannabis industry for the last 4050, years, even 60 years, that has been popular. The popularity has been in there's been white folks making money off of it. There's been Asians making money. It's been Jews, they've been Armenians. There's been Mexicans, like, so like, when I really think of the depths of it, it's not to be singled out to be urban or suburban or white or black or Mexican. I think it's, I think it's something that's for everybody. Think this plant, this plant, the value of this plant, and how valuable it is to so many different people. Just imagine, you think about it might be an Indian. It might be an Indian person from India who's really good at understanding the bio chemistry of cannabis. Um, but once they understood about the biochemistry of it, then they start smoking, and then they're like, man, it's never been bad. It was just been outlawed by the wrong people. So I don't really think it should be broken down to where blacks Browns Latin, I mean blacks Browns as well. I don't think it should be no color lines when it comes to cannabis. Just be honest with you. I think it should be if you you know you got to understand the plant. You got to learn the plant. I don't care what race you are, what creed you are, what religion you are, you understand the plant and understand the value of the plan and how I. See how the plant can help you and us and everybody else, black, white, Asian. I mean, we all get sick. It's not a it's not a when a person gets sick, it's not a color, it's not a race, it's not a religion, it's they're sick. They're human. They get sick. So I feel if we're gonna, if we're gonna, we're going to, like, work together. It should be about the plant, not about who I'm working with, because it can help all genres. It can help all, all races, all creeds. They think about. I look at it like this, um, you know, you know, the smartest man in the world is Stephen Hawking, right? He passed. He passed recently, um, in the last what, five years, or whatever, whatever it has. So when I look at his legacy, his legacy of being the smartest man on the earth, he never knew nothing about cannabis because it was outlawed in his country where he lived at so he was never had, he never had a chance to study it, and he never had a chance to understand and realize that cannabis can help ALS, and he has ALS so with him living in a country that was outlawed cannabis, he could, we could have saved the smartest man in the world, If he would have got a hold of cannabis. You hold of Candida, he would have been able to live to be 80 100 or whatever man you know. Look at. Look at, look at Prince Phillips. This motherfucker is a child molester, kind of weird shit he does. And he literally be 9999 or however old he was, and they kept trying to keep him alive, because they was doing heart transplants and heart mummers and stuff and stuff like that. They was doing different different stuff to keep him alive. But the natural way it would have been to keep all these people alive is just let them understand what cannabis can do for them. Let them understand how the value of cannabis can do for them. And that's why I feel that it's not about color. It's just about the value of the plant. And plants don't see no color lines. You know, that's how I look at it.
Okay, thank you for sharing that, Tyrone. I see your mouth position, yeah,
yeah. I mean, I would say plants don't see color lines. What people do, right? So, so when we don't, when we don't, I'll say the word force a diverse perspective in this game. Then when we when you don't, force a diverse perspective in the United States of America, you boil down to whiteness. The lens becomes a white lens, as you can see in this industry. If we aren't going to force this diverse lens and perspective into this industry, then it's going to be a white LED industry once again. So then those folks that are creating the laws and those folks are creating the rules are going to reflect rich, white male values. And if this plan is for everybody, that everybody needs to be ball involved in a growing and a processing and the selling of the plant, and just the idea of, if for nothing else, understanding that the plant deserves multiple perspectives at the table. But if we look at it from a social justice lens, we look at it from a lens to say, you've just disenfranchised so many people because of this plant, and now we have an opportunity to give access to those folks will be disenfranchised. We need to go ahead and do that so while the plant may not see the color people do, and they continue to get rich off the backs of people that look like us, and if we're not intentional and saying, yo, we need to be at the table to make those decisions, then this industry is going to look just like all the under other industries, where people are making billions of dollars of dollars of folks like us sit on the sideline and watch it happen, because they found found ways to just reflect and transfer their values to other art to other areas of the world. So I think we have to demand that there's more diversity in this game, because if not, we're going to boil the plant down to a rich, white male perspective that once again, overlooks the black and brown folks in this country who continue to get the bottom of the barrel of things once it hits the market. So I'm all for diversifying this industry, because I do not want the folks in my neighborhood to continue to get the short end of the stick and not show their brilliance at the table where this plant is being talked about, discussed and created.
Let me tap in on that a little bit real quick. Um, I 100% feel you, and I agree with you, but I also feel there's like, I feel like, yeah, okay, yeah, we, we do want to give everybody the opportunity to be able to make value up this. But I can be honest with you, I've been in this industry for 20 years you deserve, and I could kind of count on my hand and maybe two hands, but I can count on my hands how many black cultivators I know that are really good at what they do, and they're making the value of the plant. Like, like, my Jewish friends, my white friends, my my Mexican friends, and stuff like that. So it's like, I don't, I want everybody to learn, but why not learn from some people who really know what they're doing, instead of trying to say, Oh man, I don't you know you're not black, or you're not from this community, you're not from the community. You're not from the where I'm from, so you don't know what you're talking about, or I don't want to get knowledge from you, because that's how some people look at it. When we say that, that diversity of
but that's what, but that's it. That's what. That's what those people that you're talking about, that you just named, that's what they're saying to people like me, we don't want your information, we don't want your expertise. And that's what I'm saying. Those people who think they know should be saying, yo, we want your expertise at our table, versus like you may see it as like a black man saying, I don't want the white folks teaching me anything. No, I'm saying white folks should be saying, I need some of those black and brown voices at our table. Because, if not, my perspective is limited, so I'm looking at it from that other perspective, and
I agree with that, and I agree with that. That's why I say, if you can, if we could get knowledge from certain people, and don't get Culture Vulture. Or the other word I use is predatory investors. If we don't have predatory investors or culture vultures, or if you have those guys, they go through the proper channels before they come directly to the to the person who they want to get the money to or give the knowledge to. You have to go through the proper channels of of network, like, like, I'm creating the, I'm creating a company called Legacy agency. And legacy agency, it basically it started from clubhouse with with chervin ski, but he's more of a geneticist, and I'm more of a actual business person that'll figure out how to make deals happen and stuff like that. So I created the legacy agency to be that middleman, or to be that conduit between people like these, these predatory investors or these, these culture vultures. I'm not, I'm not saying, I'm not saying, What about and pushing them out, but I'm saying you gotta come to the right people. We gotta make sure you don't go after our people and take advantage of them, and, you know, lead them down the wrong path, or, maybe even worse, not giving them their worth or their value of what they bring to the industry. And I feel that more like, like me creating this agency, it's like, it's like CAA for cannabis. Anybody y'all know about CAA? Or William Morris? William Morris is an agency that actually deals with all the actors and and all the studios and all the, you know, the directors. And you know when you want to go, when, when these big people want to go put a movie together, they go to CAA, and they'll say, who you got in your rock, who you got in your rosters, or you got Will Smith, or you got you got, what's the big director? You got Mark Scorsese or and you know, you got, you got, you got, whoever the big names is. You got these big names. And we want to put together the new Captain America seven or whatever. So we're going to go to CAA, and we're going to go, I gotta, I got 200 million to shoot this movie I want to do. I'm gonna go to CAA. Can you help me put this together? That's what CAA
I'm gonna ask you. I'm gonna ask you to wrap it up so that I could get Dr videos insight on that question. Real
quick, yeah, yeah. Real quick. Just, how I'm saying is that you want to be able to spread that knowledge amongst the right people who want to learn that knowledge. I don't want to keep it away from people who want to learn it, but I do want to keep it. I want to protect both sides. I want to keep the predatory investors away from our people that really know what they're doing. I want to keep the people who don't know what they're doing, who's fucking up crops and saying they know what they're doing, away from the real investors, so we get the money to the right people to actually learn and do it right. So that's what I just wanted, the insight on that it's like, yeah, we definitely need diversity, but it needs to be kind of, kind of protected, kind of preserved. The diversity needs to be preserved. That's what I'm trying to get to and, you know, that's, that's, that's the, that's the insights that making sure we are diverse and getting the right knowledge amongst everybody.
Thank you for sharing that. Dr BUDEAU, your perspective should, should the cannabis industry be diverse? And if so or not, why or why not? Yes.
As I've been listening to this discussion, one of the things, of course, my answer is always yes the beginning, but I think after hearing this discussion, I can see Shaggy. Perspective and the different perspectives. But one thing I want to note is thinking about it from a scientific perspective, even the National Institute of Health finally, not finally, but now we have, there's funding mechanisms particularly put to the side to increase diversity. So for example, the very first funding opportunity I ever received to do research on the diversity supplement. So if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't, I wasn't able to apply to a diversity supplement to conduct substance use research. I don't know if my if my qualify. I don't know. I don't want to talk bad about myself, but I don't know what would have happened, would I still have been able to do that research if it wasn't, if they didn't have that diversity lane. For me, so I read, the reason why I share that story or that example is because thinking about that in the cannabis industry, applying for grants, whether it's to conduct studies or to grow medicine, you know, there's only a certain amount of applicants that are going to be funded, so if you don't have a way to kind of differentiate by some type of disparities. And in this case, we're using race and social, you know, racial, ethnic disparities as the example. Then you have the opportunity for voices being drowned at the legacy market being taken advantage of, as Jackie was mentioning, absolutely you're on mute. Yeah,
it has to happen at least one time. I want to thank all of you for your time and attention. I use way more than an hour. It's like a whole 30 minutes out. I don't take lightly one that you dedicated a Saturday night for an hour with me, and then even after that dedication of that full hour, still gave me 30 additional minutes. So I appreciate that, and do not in any way take that lightly. As we close out, I want to give everyone opportunity to share. What are you up to? How can people follow connect with you? People might want to know about the Cleveland School of cannabis. They might want to know about cannabis and epidemiology. They may want to know about some of the things that Shaggy is doing it. I think it's went farms. But he's going to tell me what it is you're muted right now, I'm going to come to you one
of my it's went farming. One of my company, my company now is shaggy snacks.
Snacks. There we go. All right, Shaggy. You know what? You can start us off, since you already started. So where can people find you? What's your IG, all of the ways to stalk you socially in a respectable manner.
Stalk me. Please stalk me. You can follow me at shaggy snacks. Dot Canada. That's my that's my brand page. My personal page is Shaggy. Underscore, brown, 420, that's my personal page. And also have went farms with wind farms, is dedicated to the cultivation companies that I'm working on. I'm working on a cultivation company that I'm I'm going to start trying to, you know, raise money to actually get, get people, well, get people involved on the cultivation side of things. So I can also give some knowledge to people who need it, and give opportunities to people who need it. From my perspective and from my agency's perspective, wind farms is going to be under the agency. And then I'm also creating the agency, Legacy agency. And I got an NFT out. I got a electric grinder out with Otto. The electric grinder I did with auto it grinds the weed, it mills the weed and it and it combs the weed within 30 seconds, so you'll have your nice joint rolled in 30 seconds. I got that available on my page and on my website. Shaggy, Shaggy snacks. Dot shop is my website. So I'm just trying to create some things and give people opportunities to see other things and just yeah, you know, we can sell weed. It's other things we can do too. And like I tell people all the time in this industry, let's compare it to the gold rush. The Gold Rush, the people who made the most money due to Gold Rush was the people who sold the picks and the shovels and the pens that was digging for gold, that was that was going for gold, not the gold miner, the gold miners, they made their money, but they was always coming back to the to the to the hardware store to get their picks and shovels and their their pens. So I tell it from people like this, there's, there's, like, like, like, Dr Denise, like, she's, she's, she's, she's a doctor in it, and she's like, she's heavy into the cannabis center. She's always in the right room. She speaks on it. So it's not just about smoking weed or selling weed. There's so many, so many other lanes to make, to make value for the cannabis industry, not just selling weed like you know, I mean, so I'm really trying to create tech opportunities, other things, other ways for people to see that there's there's diversity in other areas of this, other genres of this cannabis industry, not just selling weed. So that's my my take. I appreciate you for inviting me. Appreciate you for letting me come through and speak my talk. You know, this industry is very. Very, very, very special to me. It saved my life, saved so many people I know around me life. And this is why I push for the medical part more than the recreational part, because I don't, I don't smoke blunts. I only smoke really, OG Kush or some strong OG that's helping with my, my, my, you know, sometimes I go through mental stress or mental problems or whatever. And, you know, like you got, I heard you guys talking earlier, saying sativa and indica and this, and that was sativa actually makes me sleepy. It doesn't, it doesn't wake me up. I get more amped and excited and thinking more when I smoking some real good OG Kush, and it affects people differently. And I was having a conversation with somebody earlier today. They was talking about how different blood types can they got. They finding weed to match different blood types and stuff like that. So I really want to be a part of the when they look at me, 2030, 4050, years from now, he was a pioneer to help push the culture the right way, not just to put the push the culture and you know, and that's where I stand on it.
Thank you. I love that. I love that shaggy snacks and all of the stuff that you're making to go with this shaggy snacks, I feel like you brought up so many good points. That makes a perfect segue for Tyrone in terms of the amount of careers or jobs, or all of the different avenues and tracks in this industry, and sure, quite a few of those are probably offered at Cleveland School of cannabis. If you could tell us a little bit about how to follow, connect and follow, connect with you, and then also, if possible, the school, if folks are interested in enrolling or checking that school out, where do they go? For
sure, so I guess, for me, just on Instagram, if you follow on the gram is Ty Russell 365 I don't, I don't do much. I'm on every now and then Ty Russell 365 and then LinkedIn. First Name, Last Name, easy to find. Um, Cleveland School of cannabis is you can find us on on Instagram as well CSC education, or if you want to check the website out to enroll at CSC education.com we also just launched a partnership with industry experts and folks in the industry, and it's called cannabis hub. And what it is is really outward facing educational opportunities. So our school is a 150 hour to 300 clock hour school, which were approved by a state right. And we're applying to the Department of Education now for the United States to certify our education so that we can say the United States recognizes us as an institution that's doing the work. So you look at major four year institutions, and they're all accredited regionally or nationally, and we're going for that sort of accreditation. But cannabis hub is an opportunity for people who may not want to go down that path, but want to ask questions like you, what's the difference between CBD and THC, right? Or what CBD or, how do I cook with cannabis? How do I measure out, you know, my dosing and stuff like that. So we have courses like that that range from one to two hours that you can take that are self paced if you don't want to dig as deep into the industry to get a job, you know, and go to our school. So you can check that out at cannah, hub edu.com, that's c, a, n, n, a, h, u, B, E, D, u.com. You can get on there and start checking out some courses right away. And then the other thing that we're creating is is, actually, I won't even share that now. I'll just tell you we're really looking to mobilize around the educational aspect of the cannabis plant, so we'll be reaching out to some some institutions to do that work. But education builds nations, and that's the work that we do as an organization, so we appreciate it.
I know that's right. Education builds nations. You better put in that tagline. That's what it is. I'm here for it. Dr videau, how can we follow, find you and connect with you beyond this space?
Yes, you can follow me at Dr Vito at Instagram. On Instagram, I'm Doc Dr, dot, v, I D O T, that's probably the best place to follow me to see what I'm up to, because I share a lot of things with my studies. My lab has its own IG as well, the VITO cannabis lab. V, I D O T, cannabis lab. Also, if you're on clubhouse, I talk a lot in different rooms there. I enjoy being around cannabis like space there, so you can follow me at the Cannabis doc on clubhouse, but yeah, and also, if you happen to be in South Florida and watching this, I'm getting ready to launch a new study, the first NIH study, funded to conduct a cohort from 18 to 30 year olds that consume cannabis, and I want to follow them their whole life. That's my goal. I'm only funded for four years right now, but either way, if you're interested herbal heart study.com, and you can find out more information. We
all supply the cannabis for those four years, not this time the next, the next study I read that, you know, anyway, I'm not I'm not under 30. Oh. Okay, got it? Oh, awesome. Thank you all again, so much for participating, being here if you're watching live, thank you so much. Please feel free to share, follow, like, subscribe, do all those things. It makes me feel good about myself when you do that, and I appreciate it. This has been a counter narrative show, and we have been exploring the lack of diversity in the Canvas cannabis industry. I could work, I could talk. I got words. Good night.
I need to know everything. Who in the what in the where I need everything. Trust me. I hear what you're saying, but allegiance. Know what you're telling me, I'm Curious George, I happened to Porsche five and a horse. I'm ready for war. I'm coming for froze to turn to a ghost. I need to know everything you.