NORML is the oldest activist cannabis organization in the world.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Now it's time for Cannabis Talk one oh one with Blue,
Joe Grande and Market Greg Washerman, the Pop brothers in
law with special guest Ian Rassman from Los Angeles Normal,
the oldest civil activist cannabis organization in the world.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hello, welcome to Cannabis Talk one on one.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
My name is Blue.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Alongside of me as mister Joe Grande. As always, thank you.

Speaker 4 (00:20):
It's always good to be here next to you and
not afraid and making up excuses that I have to
zoom in. Yeah, as I book a guest and I
leave and don't show up for my buddy.

Speaker 5 (00:28):
Oh quit, you know, shaming me like.

Speaker 6 (00:33):
You said those who aren't afraid to say, who's that talking?

Speaker 5 (00:36):
One who went to a super Spreader event?

Speaker 7 (00:38):
No, and now you're calling it the super Spreader event.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
I can't go to any grounds. I can't go, can't
be with my family.

Speaker 5 (00:43):
You were at it looked pretty, you know.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
I never you know, my dad's been dead for almost
twenty years, And the other day I get a text
messager Dad Instagram and I have an old Jewish father
by the name.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Of Craig Washerman that goes I love you.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
Where are the mask at me even he even had
the nervous call me me hof.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Fantastic and then.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
He hits me up when we get to the office, Joe,
please stay away from me.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
You were at a what's it called again.

Speaker 5 (01:09):
Super spreader.

Speaker 7 (01:10):
You're at a super spreader events COVID spreader.

Speaker 4 (01:13):
So that is why Craig is not here in the
office and smoking in his beautiful office.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, I Ian just joined us right now from cal Normals,
probably thinking well, why'd you guys let me join? Like
he's backing away.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
It's fine, Craig would have been six feet away.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
Two, he's not as he's not as old as me.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Oh that is true. That's what many people are. And
Mark should be joining us. So if you hear somebody
abruptly come in, Mark's just coming from courts and Mark
will be zooming in as well.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
So it should be a fun time.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
And on the show today, you guys like Blue just mentioned,
we have Ian Rassman and he's from La Normal.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
We're gonna get into him real big.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
But thank you guys all for listening to the podcast
and make sure you follow us on Instagram at Cannabis
Talk one oh one at pot Underscore Brothers Underscore at
Underscore Law, Mark's Atlaw, Craig's at Washlaw, Dog Blues at one,
Christopher Wright, and I am at Joe Grande fifty two.
But before we get to you, Ian, I was told Craig,
you have some very important news that you want to

(02:11):
share with everyone.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:12):
Two two items.

Speaker 6 (02:14):
One is just really a statement about our current president
and how he really feels about weed, because he's to me,
he's lied in the pass about his stance and what
he was going to do. And I think he got
a lot of swing voters the first time when he
said leave it up to the states. But his director
of press communications, his director of press communications tweeted House

(02:37):
dims more worried about pot dealers than providing relief for
the American people. Because in the next coronavirus package, the
Democrats have been trying to get in there items that
deal with cannabis and cannabis relief that businesses that need
relief in the cannabis space, and all the Republicans keep

(02:58):
saying that they care more about cannabis than they do
about the American people, and they're trying to turn this
into we're more worried or Democrats are more worried about
pot dealers. Is that how he's describing legitimate, licensed cannabis
businesses in the States, and it's from who.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
I don't know that that's where are you reading this
or you ada libbing this? Because it's not like you
were ad libbing this, bro, No, it.

Speaker 5 (03:24):
Was what this was the press community.

Speaker 6 (03:26):
This isn't a tweet from the press communication the director
of press for the president's re election campaign.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
It's funny how something like that they always.

Speaker 5 (03:39):
Get around this.

Speaker 6 (03:40):
He is against weed at its core, no matter what
he says.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
It's just terrible to always think when we hear something
like that and then he tap dances around it and says, no,
that's not what we meant.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
That's not what we said.

Speaker 4 (03:54):
When it's like, why would you let this go out
if you're the leader of this department, right and you
run it all you okay everything, And then he's gonna
flip flop on this again, which is just either I.

Speaker 6 (04:06):
Agree, So I just wanted to get that out everybody.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
That's not what I meant.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
What was that?

Speaker 4 (04:11):
All the supporters will say, that's not what he meant,
when like you can read it verbatim and it's like well,
this is what they said.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
How is it not what he meant?

Speaker 5 (04:17):
Well, that's easy.

Speaker 6 (04:18):
That's all he has to do is say I didn't
say it, and you play, you play what he said
right next to him.

Speaker 5 (04:22):
He's gonna say, that's not what I said.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
And then the media is sending fake information. It's like, no,
they're not sending fake information. They're sending it. They're reading
exactly verbatim what you just said, Craig.

Speaker 6 (04:32):
Happens all the time, Craig, fake news, Craig.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
And that's what we get all the time.

Speaker 6 (04:37):
You read this here in California, how the DEA served
a subpoena on the Bureau of Cannabis Control to get
certain information about licensed distributors. In the subpoena, they wanted
unredacted cannabis licenses, unredacted cannabis license applications, and unredacted shipping manifests.

(04:59):
That's what they DEA was going after the BCC for.
And remember the only way now the DEA can spend
money on investigations, but if a business is compliant in
the state that they're in, then the DOJ can't use
money to prosecute them. So let's not get things twisted
that the federal government is no longer still investigating cannabis

(05:23):
crimes that fall outside of legal businesses. Now, we've been
informed and we've heard that there's certain licensed companies, distributors,
potential cultivators that are selling licensed, legal weed out of
the back door. And we heard this a couple of
weeks ago, and I think the subpoena against the three

(05:43):
distribution companies, the BCC fought it. The federal court literally
just came down. I'm going to read the excerpt. US
Magistrate Judge Linda Lopez sided with DEE on Monday, finding
that the agency subpoena meets requirements for an enforceable request,
which I guessed what happened. The court finds that the
United States has sufficiently established the relevancy of the subpoena

(06:07):
to meet the quote not especially constraining standard, the judge
wrote in her order. The court does not find that
the subpoena is too indefinite or broad. The Court finds
that the record sought in the subpoena all documents, including
unredacted cannabis licenses, licensed applications, and shipping manifests, are relevant

(06:29):
to an investigation into importation or transportation of marijuana crude
oil from Mexico by specific licensees. Court finds thus that
the subpoenas and the communications between the agencies together are
sufficient to establish the relevance of the requested records to
the investigation. They ended it with it's not clear if

(06:51):
the state's going to appeal, so they're going after and
it being federally illegal. I didn't think that the state
was going to win. So the fact that they're asking
for manifests tells me huge that they're going after the
licensed entities that aren't in compliance and still slinging stuff

(07:12):
out the back door.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
Can you put that in a little more Layman's terms, Craig,
is because what I'm interpreting and what I hear from that,
first of all, can you break that down a little
more Layman's terms before I give you what I think
it says, can you please?

Speaker 5 (07:24):
Sure?

Speaker 6 (07:24):
So the dea issue to subpoena, that's a request for
records on the Bureau of Cannabis Control, which is the
where which is where all the applications for distribution are filed,
all your papers, all your documents, manifest which is the
document showing who picked up where the weed came from,

(07:47):
with the licensed number from the cultivator, who transporting it,
and who's buying it could be could be a retailer,
but it's all track and trace with license numbers in
the whole nine yards. So that's what that's one of
the things that they want to an aster are the manifests.

Speaker 4 (08:05):
And why are they shaying it's coming from Mexico? Did
they they got a hunch, they got a lead where
they could be.

Speaker 5 (08:11):
I have no idea.

Speaker 6 (08:12):
It doesn't say whatever the you know that that's big
brother we're talking about. So we we always tell people
that say, you know, if they're in the wrong side
of the of the of the market, we tell them,
you're gonna it's gonna happen. You're gonna get caught sooner
or later. And this is what's happening. Sooner or later,
they're gonna get caught, whether it's a small percent leading

(08:32):
to the rest of them packing up and not doing
it anymore, or people will still do it because they're
let's you know, let's let's call it.

Speaker 5 (08:39):
Uh, let's let's.

Speaker 6 (08:41):
Call it as it is that Uh, some people are
criminals and they're gonna keep doing it until they go
to jail.

Speaker 4 (08:47):
So is this a circumstance where you're in the game
and you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar?
Because now the federal government's cracking down on the BCC
and whatever information they find out, they're gonna find out
that if you were slaying packs out the back door,
so to speak, like you just said, they're gonna be this.

Speaker 6 (09:05):
So they're gonna come in and they're gonna go over
these manifests. And we've heard of this happening as well.
And it might start with a cultivator selling to a licensed.

Speaker 5 (09:15):
Distributor, and it could be.

Speaker 6 (09:16):
Thre at a price that far out, that far exceeds
the regular, the regular wholesale value because from the distributor,
it's not going to a license retailer. It's disappearing somewhere
into thin air. And whether that's going out the back
door or not, Uh, we believe the DEA is going
to be cracking down on that. And it could be

(09:39):
people importing it in and out of Mexico or or
Mexico could just be one of.

Speaker 5 (09:43):
The reasons that they're using.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
So the cartel cartel might have their hands in it
somehow somewhere they've been from Jump Street, right, but of
course so wouldn't it be almost idiotic? Or is it
people trying to get some books to show money being
moved legitimately, but they're trying to bring the black market
into the legal market when it's like no, no, no,
you can't do no.

Speaker 6 (10:04):
So no, they're not trying to bring the black martin
to the legal market. I mean, things kind of turned
around with a lot of black market grows cultivations shutting down,
so everybody there's a little shortage of weed, so a
license distributor can actually make more money selling it to
a black market retailer or a black market distribute That's.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
What I mean. I don't understan why wouldn't want to
do that? It's go off book.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
Why wouldn't they want to just do that off the books?
It's like, okay, why would I want to put this
on the books when I know I'm, you know, grabbing
some weed that's not tracked to trace, so I can't
really do this that way. Is it just the stupidity
of people or is it?

Speaker 5 (10:40):
I believe it is.

Speaker 6 (10:41):
I believe it's it's I mean, some of it's greed,
some of it's survival. I mean a lot of licensed
companies have been doing both sides of the illegal and
legal market. But with all our clients, they're spending hundreds
of thousands of dollars on these licenses.

Speaker 5 (10:55):
You can't take a risk.

Speaker 6 (10:56):
You got to just you got to just put your note,
you know, to the grind stone.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
And you know, I'm afraid to tell you will end
up making money.

Speaker 6 (11:03):
Right now, the margins aren't there like they were in
the black market, and people are just doing both sides
or think it's lax and they're not going to get caught.

Speaker 5 (11:10):
And it's that simple.

Speaker 6 (11:11):
And distributors can sell it for a lot more to
a black market customer than they can to a someone
in the regulated market who just can't simply can't afford
the prices that they're selling to the black people.

Speaker 7 (11:24):
How much did the government give you for this information?

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Yeah? What was that?

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Did you did you guys get paid to give them
this information or did you just do it free willingly?

Speaker 5 (11:34):
I'm just reporting the news.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
No, yeah, you know you reported it months ago, my friend.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Before this, right and now look what happened. What happened.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
It's amazing. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 5 (11:48):
So that's it. I just wanted to follow up because
that was an ongoing s on tips everywhere about.

Speaker 6 (11:52):
The subpoena and about whether or not the court would
find in favor of granting the subpoena, because I think
the BCC was also to break it down. They were
trying to argue was overbroad. They want everything, just just
what reason do they want it for? And I guess
the disclosure that they wanted these certain items and the
reason why was enough to uh, it was enough justification

(12:16):
for the federal court to hold that.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
I got a question for you.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
With your experience, and I believe you have well, I
don't know about the most well, I would say the
most experienced Craig has a lot as well.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
What's the work around man here?

Speaker 4 (12:29):
How do you maneuver if you're one of those companies
that that did that. They've been doing it everything, they've
been doing it, but now you got caught with the
head of.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
The cookie John No, So they can lose their license.

Speaker 5 (12:41):
They're gonna lose their they can very well.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Then they're probably gonna.

Speaker 6 (12:43):
Get major civil finds under the BCC regulations and potentially
face criminal definite criminal violations at the federal level. Because
we know a lot of people are are are exporting
to other states. So that's gonna come up and that
guy can be found and that's felonies at the state anfel.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
So here, here's the here's the workund The guys that
are selling it here locally, they're not selling it to
other states. Other states are coming here to get it. Okay,
so it is going to other states away, but that's
not but you're not.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
You're not.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
You're not breaking that law. So that that eliminates most
of the.

Speaker 8 (13:17):
Guy you are you are you sell it to somebody
who's coming from another state.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, but you have a license from California. No, no, no, no,
no no. So here's here's what I'm saying. Is is
that you meet Bill in the bar. Bill's like, hey,
let's go down here and buy it.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
He doesn't.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
You don't know if they're coming or they're going where
they're from. You didn't check their idea and say, oh,
this guy's from Chicago, I'm selling him.

Speaker 6 (13:39):
When they get caught put in Chicago, going to Chicago
with your weed, you're going to be part of a
criminal conspiracy.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
And trust me, So where this conspiracy goes, you don't.
It turns into a rico, It turns into it turns
into conspiracy, it turns into and I know all about this.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
How can you prove you got it for me? Right?

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Because I've been I've been named in one of these,
in one of these rings. Okay, I've had the FEDS
allegedly said send me in a whole ring of this.
And and back in twenty ten, I'd say I got
a letter from the FED saying that, hey, look, you
were part of an investigation. Your phone's been tapped. You
were part of We had to we have to let

(14:21):
you know because you were. Your name was brought into it.
So we were listening to your basically your phone calls
and doing something. And then they what they said is
the ring was coming from uh, Canada. They were bringing
in apart from Canada to to California. California was then
packaging it, sending money to Mexico. Mexico was then buying

(14:44):
cocaine and sending it back to Canada. And it was
just and it was this whole ring, right, No, this
is this is you were might you were a mentor
rank like you.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
Plug? Yeah, I was the mule.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah no no, so so you know, and somehow or
another my name got dropped into it and I and
I had to get my uh you know, I got
my little letter in the mail. But I've seen this,
this story happen in a in a big way in
two thousand and like eight twenty ten area, and you
know it's it's just happening and again now with licensed facilities,

(15:20):
because now these same guys that we're doing in two eight,
two oh nine, two ten, you know, they're just now
licensed facilities, and so they're trying to figure it out,
you know, and Ian jump in, what are your thoughts.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
On all this? Oh this?

Speaker 9 (15:35):
You know, I really have to defer to the attorneys
over there on you know the implications of doing that.
But certainly there's a massive disparity between the regulated market
and the illsted market.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Sure well, guess what, guys, when we come back, we
have Ian from cal normal patent holder, lifelong entrepreneur. We'll
be right back after this break. Welcome back to Cannabis
Talk one on one. My name is Blue. Alongside of
me is Joe Grande, Mark and Craig Wasserman are joining

(16:11):
us today.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
HII guys via zoom as much.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
As Hello, Mark just dropped his joint on his lap
live from court. He's smoking in the courtyard in the courthouse,
is that legal.

Speaker 8 (16:23):
Mark, Well, I am not in the no smoking zone.

Speaker 5 (16:29):
My motor vehicle is not.

Speaker 8 (16:30):
Operating, and I have my California physicians recommendation. So I'm okay,
and I'm celebrating because we just had a nice little
victory in court for a cannabis patient who shot the
fuck up.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
Fantastic, Joe, tell us what's going on the show?

Speaker 4 (16:46):
But well, you guys Ian Rassman, as you said, Blue
is an inventor, a patent holder, a lifelong entrepreneur with
over twenty five years of experience in tech startups since
senior management. He's lived in Los Angeles for over thirty
four years. He was a huge fan of Joe Grande
on Power one oh six, KISFM ANDAM five seventy. He

(17:06):
is worked in over a dozen countries and when he did,
he used to always listen to Joe Grandi. I'm just
reading his bio, you guys Ian is also a cannabis
advocate with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws otherwise known as Normal.

Speaker 7 (17:22):
Capital and Capital O Capital R Capital M Capital l.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
That's Normal, you guys.

Speaker 4 (17:27):
Holding the role of executive director and president of the
Los Angeles Chapter NORMAL, he recently specialized in complaint baking
and payment solutions services the regulatory cannabis industry. He provides
onshore financial solutions for cannabis related businesses, as well as
traditional merchant services for non cannabis businesses.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Thank you, Ian for being a part of the show.
It's always good to run across you again.

Speaker 9 (17:51):
It's honestly great to be here and see you guys.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
No doubt.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
I'm glad Mark and Craig can book you and then
you know, stiff you and not be here with you.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
It's very nice.

Speaker 4 (17:59):
Again, fantastic guys with lawyers. It's just like the washerman's
to do. But let's start with Ian. Tell us about Normal.
What's the story about Normal in the Los Angeles chapter?
Break it all down for us.

Speaker 9 (18:11):
Sure. Yeah, So we're one of the oldest chapters in
the country. We were founded in nineteen seventy three by
Bruce Margolan, and as you mentioned, we're a regional chapter
of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
So we support normal's mission to repeal the prohibition of
marijuana at the local, state and the federal level by
educating those in our community about marijuana, HEMP and their

(18:33):
potential medical and industrial benefits, while promoting the use of
responsible use by the responsible use of marijuana by adults.
Thanks for the great example over there, Mark, And we
represent the interests of consumers of Los Angeles and importantly,
we are an all volunteer organization.

Speaker 7 (18:52):
Really, so you're not getting paid for this gig.

Speaker 9 (18:54):
No, but I do get to hang out with cool
people like you guys, So.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
That's pretty nice right there.

Speaker 9 (18:59):
I would have to say, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
What led you into it?

Speaker 7 (19:01):
We're getting involved in this organization, you.

Speaker 9 (19:04):
Know, I sort of as you mentioned for my bio,
and thanks so much. It sounds great coming from you.
I was working in the banking sector doing merchant services,
and in twenty seventeen I recognized that things were going
to change substantially in cannabis in California, and so I'm
going to be part of that, and I jumped in,
and I quickly realized what a true disaster the financial

(19:28):
industry is as it relates to cannabis. Because of the
ambiguity of cannabis being you know, legal in California, illegal federally,
so anyway, it's it's a mess for banking. So I
kind of got in it to push forward on the
industry that I wanted to be part of. Like I
was not going to be the guy to show up
maybe like gimme, gimme, gimme, Like I wanted to find

(19:49):
something that I could do to help push this all
forward and feel good about. You know that I was
pushing the industry forward, an industry that I expected to
make a living from. Sure, So that was sort of
the motivation to get All but Normal. I met Bruce
Mark Goole and Keith Strap and some of the real
og founders of the organization, and I found that my values,

(20:11):
my core values, really lined up with Normal. You know,
it's a consumer advocacy group advocating for patients'.

Speaker 4 (20:18):
Rights, and not only that, you guys stick up for
a lot of minorities. I've read that and seen that,
and how does that tie in? And I love the
fact that Normal does that.

Speaker 9 (20:27):
Well, you know the history of cannabis has got incredibly dark,
racist to overtones. Even the word marijuana itself we all know,
you know, was devised to separate people and label people
and say, basically, you know, these Mexicans, it's the Mexican
word coming up from across the border. Yeah, coming from

(20:50):
across the border to do bad things here. So you
know we've been right from day one, we've been Cannabis
has been weaponized against my communities right from day one.
You know, I wrote down a little quote. I hope
you don't mind me reading. This is so President Nixon's

(21:11):
So this is nineteen sixty eight. President Nixon's advisor John
Erlickman later admitted Nixon's true motivations for passing the bill.
This is a quote. The Nixon campaign in nineteen sixty
eight and the Nixon White House after that had two enemies,
the anti war left and black people. Do you understand
what I'm saying. We knew we couldn't make it illegal

(21:32):
to be either against the war or black. But by
getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and
the blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we
could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid
their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night
after night on the evening news.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
I mean, I was like what we're gonna hear from
the government today.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
It's exactly what's happening right now, and so you better
be careful with how you vote.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
No, And that's how they're doing it right now. That's
how the administration is right now. No, I feel like
that's how the media is right now. What are your
thoughts on a current events right now? I mean, as
you state back to be honest, Yeah, be honest, what
do you.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Think do you feel like it's very similar exactly?

Speaker 9 (22:15):
I think cannabis has never stopped being used as a
weapon against our minority communities. You know, I grew up
here in this in the eighties and nineties and two thousands,
you know, when the war on drugs was raging through
Los Angeles and it was fierce here in LA. I mean,
there's no doubt about it. We have We're well known
to be a large melting pot here in Los Angeles. Therefore,

(22:38):
we have a disproportionate number of minority people of color
and they were arrested at numbers that are staggering when
you consider our population. We just locked up tons and
tons of black and brown people and this had devastating
effects on our communities. On the family structures on these

(23:00):
families opportunities to uh, to advance economically and socially.

Speaker 10 (23:04):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (23:05):
You know when you break up the family unit and
throw a mother, father, sister, brother in jail, that's devastating. Uh.
And this this was routinely done across the country, but
in numbers in the Los Angeles that are staggering.

Speaker 5 (23:16):
And it's still going on. Oh yeah, it's still going
on to this day.

Speaker 6 (23:20):
It's still disproportionately impacts the minority community.

Speaker 5 (23:23):
Marijuana enforcement.

Speaker 6 (23:24):
It's just it's it's continuing, and it's it's it's actually
disgusting that the leaders of our country have not changed things. Uh.

Speaker 5 (23:33):
When we have a plant that over and over and
over and over.

Speaker 6 (23:36):
Again, we know the health benefits from it, let alone
the economic benefits that could come from reasonable regulations of cannabis.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
You know, I and I I've actually had some some
really good experiences for myself. Uh, you know, back in
the days when you know, normal was around. And Bruce, Bruce,
you know, has been in my life for for a
long time. You know, I would say in my twenties,
he used to come out to the Cottonmouth Kings events
in Hollywood and we would be on stage with a

(24:09):
bunch of our boys and stuff that were wrapping and whatnot.
And there was a group you know called the Cottonmouth
Kings at the time in Cypress Hill and Bruce would
come out to those events and preach, you know, about
Normal and about the movement of cannabis and how you
know it can help people. And if anybody needed his card,
it was Bruce Margolan and really yeah. So so you know,
I'm known Bruce for i mean many many years.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
And one of the.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Things that that kind of was was shocking to me
is is I had a store here and you know
called Village Flora in Orange County and and I opened
that store up and you know, I was told that
I was going to get raided and and I remember,
you know, they were saying, well, two things happened is
you know, contact Normal and tell them the moment it's happening.

(24:54):
And you know, they came out and you know and
did a whole you know protest in front of my store.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
Normal yeah, oh oh.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah, you know, and then and then you're yeah, years later,
you know, I you know, I met Candace here in
Orange County. And Candace, I believe is probably the running
normal hero part of it.

Speaker 9 (25:11):
She's my She's honestly truly my hero. She really helped
to bring me into the organization, showed me the path
and showed me how to be a proper Actice. Hurt
and Bruce really truly my my direct personal heroes in
helping get it.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Suit involved in this so so Candace and I, you know,
we met my Cannabis Talk one on one's first studio
and you know, and I was trying to explain to
her like, hey, you know, I think I was here,
blah blah blah, and she actually, uh, she was talking
to me about how, you know, they needed space to
do their meetings and whatnot. So I just literally was like,

(25:45):
here's the keys, and she's like, well, you're not going
to be here, and I'm like, nope, go ahead, and
she's liked, well, you know, here's the here's the password,
the alarm coade, you know, run your meetings and set
up shops. So she ran Canada out of Cannabis Talk
one on one. She ran the normal meetings for probably
i'd say six months or something.

Speaker 9 (26:03):
Yeah, I didn't I didn't know that. Yeah, she's awesome.
I want to say. She's been running Orange County Normal
for like seventeen years or something, and and the things
that she's accomplished here in Orange County, I've been really
truly staggering.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, she's a great person. And like I said, for me,
you know, she ended up linking up with I think,
oh see something else Dispensary or something like that, and
doing it her meetings there. But you know, we we
gave her the floor for several months to just do
a thing here.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
Creature. I had no idea.

Speaker 9 (26:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:33):
But the one thing he didn't say was when he
went to go watch those bands, the cotton Mouth Kings,
he was also there to see Imperial Stars. I mean,
don't cut the band, short dog.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
Come on.

Speaker 4 (26:44):
Those who don't know, Okay, that was Blues Group, Imperial
Assassins one or the other, but that you know, google
the name and you'll see the clowns that shut down.

Speaker 7 (26:53):
The one on one freeway and Blue on top of
that bus.

Speaker 4 (26:56):
But you know this is true. I mean that's the
dope part when you think about things like that. You
were performing with those guys, so Normal has been around
for a long time.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
You get involved. Fifteen years fifty year.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
Was the sniff that made you even smell this corporation
or this this organization not corporation, Like, how did you
even find him?

Speaker 9 (27:16):
Canvas? Honestly, how did.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
You find Candas?

Speaker 4 (27:18):
And what led you to finding let's take up for
people with cannabis and let's you know, be on this crusade.

Speaker 9 (27:23):
It's hard to even remember where I'm at Candas now,
but it's probably some cannabis events somewhere along the way.
And and I recognized what she was doing, and I
and I saw her passion. And she's a volunteer also,
but she's, like I said, they've accomplished some amazing, amazing
things here in Orange County. So so I joined her organization,

(27:44):
joined the board down there and learned, you know, just
got involved and started learning.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
So as we were talking to it, we're talking to
Ian Rassman, and he's the la you know, head of
normal as we're heard in eighty six different countries. And
someone's sitting here, let alone in the United States. How
do they get.

Speaker 7 (28:02):
Involved in the normal in their area?

Speaker 9 (28:04):
It's a great question. So there actually are normal Normal
was really started as an American thing to change our
laws here, but there are actually chapters all around the world.
I am connected up. I'm irish, I connected up with
a chapter in Ireland. I'm like, wow, this is great
really and you know their laws are just terrible over there.
So you can go to normal dot org and you

(28:27):
can find all the chapters that are around the country
and even around the world, and there's contact information and
reach out to your local chapter. But it's really important,
I think, to get involved, to do something. If you
want to support this injury as a consumer and you
want to see it grow, then you should get involved,
because we're not things are not settled yet, right, Oh.

Speaker 5 (28:49):
How far from it? I mean, And if anything, at
a minimum followed nor go to.

Speaker 6 (28:54):
Normal's page and they have pre written letters to your representatives,
whether state federal. You put in your zip code and
it comes up with who you're supposed to send it to.
They have pre written letters and support of cannabis and
cannabis laws and bills. And at the minimum, go on
and take that move, I mean, And that's such a
minimum thing to get off your button do and support

(29:16):
of this plan. If you don't want to go out
and do stuff and go to meetings and get like
that active, at least do that. And it's so simple
to go in there and support with the resources that
are on Normal's website. It's just ridiculous that that's available
and so easy. We just need more people to do it.
As Dana Warbacher told us years ago, that the only

(29:40):
thing politicians understand is getting reelected. So you add in
the form letters that are written for you. You don't
vote how I want you to vote. In my area,
We're going to.

Speaker 5 (29:50):
Vote you out. You know what I like about Normal?
Going back to the beginning.

Speaker 8 (29:54):
You know, you can talk about Margolan and Keith Stroop,
one of the uh Ian correct.

Speaker 10 (30:01):
Me if I'm wrong.

Speaker 8 (30:02):
I believe one of the one of the founding board
members was a fellow name Hunter Thompson.

Speaker 9 (30:07):
Yeah. I believe he was on the advisory board of
directors with Keith.

Speaker 10 (30:12):
Yeah, and he's a guy who believed in the legalization
of all drugs and in fact, now up in Aspen
when they have Normal meetings, you know, they do those
twice a year, well before COVID, and they have that big.

Speaker 8 (30:29):
Party up at Hunter Thompson's ranch with his wife, and
I'd been there a couple of times if you had
a chance to go there.

Speaker 9 (30:36):
Ian No, but that sounds pretty awesome, Mark.

Speaker 8 (30:39):
Well, and the cool thing about it, and I still
have a picture. If you've seen the movie Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas. Of course, Thompson and they got
that convertible red car. That is his actual car. And
that car, yep, that car remains in his shed that

(30:59):
he has on the property.

Speaker 5 (31:01):
His wife keeps it.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
And I wasn't supposed to go in there.

Speaker 5 (31:06):
All the heads of normal when.

Speaker 8 (31:07):
I was like three or four years ago that I
went stay out of that garage. I went in there,
I sat in there, I took some pictures of the car.

Speaker 7 (31:13):
I'm sure after a few drinks, I'm sure you did this.

Speaker 9 (31:16):
Absolutely an iconic car, no doubt.

Speaker 4 (31:20):
Mark saw I'm just gonna go in there a little tipsy,
I'm high, I'm drunk, whatever not, Mark Ian, I want
to talk about the More Act. I mean, you know,
the More Act is there on the table. Of course,
Mark Washerman is gonna crap on it like he always does.
What are your thoughts as he's shaking his head and
going crazy in his car right now? What are your

(31:40):
thoughts on the More Act and how people support this?

Speaker 9 (31:43):
Wow?

Speaker 4 (31:43):
I wish you would right now. I wasn't talking to you, Mark,
I'm talking to Ian please.

Speaker 9 (31:49):
So the MORE Act, Actually it's really important. If this
legislation went all the way through, it would easily be
the most substantial piece of reform that we've seen in
the last fifty years of Normal's history. So MORE what
A stand for Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement Act. Very briefly,

(32:10):
it decriminalizes marijuana and specifically removes marijuana from the list
of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act. And it
eliminates criminal penalties for individuals who manufacture, distribute, or possess marijuana.
This is very critical. There's a critical distinction here in

(32:30):
descheduling rather than rescheduling. And I don't think any of
us are interested in a reschedule of this. To go
from Schedule one to Schedule two. I mean, that really
doesn't push us forward. It needs to be descheduled. It
needs to be more like alcohol and tobacco and you know,
regulated and whatnot, but you know, not not scheduled like
a like a dangerous drug.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
I think it's a it's you're very right about that.
I think what's happened is they've categorized it with the
most powerful rugs on the planet, heroin co heroin cocaine.
These are manufactured. These are manufactured chemicals put together to
create a high. Whereas this is a plant that is
very organic and you can.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
Grow on the side of the freeway and it literally.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
Is in a lot of places. I mean a lot
of people don't know this, but when you're driving through Kentucky,
you know there's there's cannabis right there on the side
of the road.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
It grows like a weed, just grows like.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
A weed on the side of the road.

Speaker 9 (33:25):
And you should be one of their biggest exports.

Speaker 5 (33:28):
Yeah sometime.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, And a lot of people don't even know that.
Like I was actually a funny story. This is a
legit story. Driving through there one time years ago, dude,
and I'm loaded up with something I don't know what
it was, and I'm looking over to the side and
I'm like, dude, that I was like weed right there.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
Your stories And we're.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
Looking at the side of it and I'm going there,
no way, and my buddy's like, that is weed right there,
but I'm like, no, it's not weed. I literally pulled
over and I'm thinking, well, should I be pulling over
with leading the car, you know, I don't want to
pull over and look at this way. And I'm pulling
over and I'm walking up and sure enough there's nugs
on a plant thing and I'm like, no way, dude,
we just grab a few at least. Yeah, And I
was gonna grab some of my buddies like don't touch it.

(34:05):
And I'm like why, It's like it's trash, bro it'll
you know, you'll get a headache. It doesn't get you high,
and this and that. It's mainly for this and that,
and they actually created they grow it. There's farmers out there.
They're growing it all along the freeway and they're growing
it for like different purposes. But they they take they're
they're extracting all the TSG out of they're using it.
And I'm sure for whatever, CBS whatever you know there

(34:27):
there's yeah, yeah, it's really right there on the side
of the freeways.

Speaker 6 (34:31):
The problem with the More Act is this tell me,
unless we flipped the Senate, it will die on the
floor of the Senate.

Speaker 5 (34:42):
It's already happened. It's already happened with.

Speaker 7 (34:45):
Marijuana year old guys about because.

Speaker 6 (34:50):
Flipped the house and even then we may need the
supermajority to overcome a freaking veto bib If Biden wins,
which I hopefully he will, you know, he's not pro cannabis.

Speaker 5 (35:02):
He wants people to get rehab. Still he's got his
head up his ass.

Speaker 9 (35:06):
I can't believe all the all the candidates that rose,
all the candidates him. At the end of the day,
the House of Representatives have already moved. If we flip
the Senate, I think Biden's gonna have no choice but
to sign whatever is put in front of him. And
if they don't, I think they might be able to
come up with the majority, hopefully to override the veto.

(35:28):
But if he vetoed some kind of bill like that,
I think that would be hell to pay. So of course,
Kamala Harris is from California, so she's you know.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
She's got it.

Speaker 6 (35:36):
She's got his ear, but he's still he's still got the.

Speaker 3 (35:39):
Old She's from Oakland, Dog.

Speaker 4 (35:41):
I think she's gonna represent the town and you know
she's gonna represent California.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
That's her past. But she's wrecked.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
When she was doing her job, she did stow the
hammer down, but she's really loosened up on. Yeah, she
was doing her job and hopefully she does her job
and represents.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
For the people.

Speaker 9 (35:58):
Has signed on, she sponsors do her job.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
She has do you hear this? Do you do you
knuckle aheads here?

Speaker 9 (36:04):
And she she is a supporter of the More Act.

Speaker 6 (36:08):
Oh, I understand absolutely no. Since she's you know, since
her time as a prosecutor, she's become more progressive as
far as legalizing cannabis and things like that, which I
understand that, and I think she's far ahead of the game.
She's much farther ahead of the game than Biden is
as far as her thoughts on decriminalizing completely and taking

(36:29):
it out and descheduling it and letting the states decide.

Speaker 9 (36:32):
Isn't it sad though that we have, uh today greater
than sixty six percent of the population supporting decriminalizing and
and just stop making a crime and only cannabis. Yeah,
sixty six and one or two points every year. So
it's continuously climbing.

Speaker 6 (36:49):
The representatives aren't listening. Why don't they listen to the
people that elect them?

Speaker 2 (36:54):
Well, you know what, every state. I think it's more
than their their thought process. I think it's that Uh,
the world's got to catch up. I mean, you know
there's a lot of elder folks out there that they no, no, no,
that's what That's what I'm saying. The we're almost like
a bumper car. We're pushing them out of position, do
you know what I mean? Like they're sitting in there
and they're in the front seat, still driving, and it's

(37:15):
like no, no, no, no no, and it's like you bump
them and they always don't just pop off.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
You know, you physically got.

Speaker 5 (37:21):
To this train right now and it ain't gonna stop.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
You know, I agree, the train is coming, but the
train hasn't got derailed yet. You know, to put the new,
the new folks in in the Senate, in the in
the places where anybody out there and.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
Vote, yeah, we're working on that.

Speaker 6 (37:38):
Or very simply, you could probably go to normal I know,
I googled it just candidate the favor of marijuana.

Speaker 9 (37:44):
Or the vote. A whole campaign called smoke the Vote.

Speaker 7 (37:48):
And what does that explain a little morean go to
normal dot vote.

Speaker 9 (37:52):
Yeah, go to normal dot org and you can follow
along and smoke the vote and you can see who's supporting, uh,
the legislation in different areas, and you know who you
can vote for. I want to stay on the More
Act for a moment if we can, because this so
and Craig, to go back to something to what you
said about the form letters that we put out on
our website. So I'm going to talk for a minute

(38:14):
specifically about what the More Act could mean for Los Angeles, Right, Okay,
So the More Act, as it may affect Los Angeles
due to our large population. The passage of this bill
may release federal money and assistants disproportionately to LA County.
There are eleven members of Congress in LA that could

(38:35):
have influence in the passage of this legislation. So we
wrote letters to these representatives asking them to sign on
to this legislation and support it, and we gave them
the bullet points that I'm about to give you here
to explain why they should do so. And we also
reached out to our community, Craig, with those letters that
you're talking about, the pre formatted letter that they could
send these eleven representatives like this is your representative copy paste,

(38:58):
tell them that you support this. So what could this
do for LA Expungement? Number one? The More Act would
expunge the records of those with prior cannabis convictions, and
a study by the Government Accountability Office found that Los
Angeles County had the most per capita cannabis arrests of
any major county in the United States during the period

(39:18):
of nineteen eighty to twenty ten. Los Angeles County residents
would thus disproportionately benefit from a policy that would expunge
cannabis convictions, which often functions as a significant barrier to
obtaining employment and other critical benefits. So at the time,
at a time of pressing economic need, the More Act

(39:40):
would provide a boost to some of the county's more
vulnerable residents. That's expungement. Immigration. We all know what a
sensitive topic that is nationally and here in Los Angeles.
It's the core part of our story. Right. Let's not
forget that the More Act would also protect immigrants from
being denied citizenship because they work in the cannabis industry
and remove the threat of deportation for those immigrants involved

(40:02):
in minor cannabis violations. Immigrants make up more than thirty
five percent of the population of Los Angeles County, higher
than any other major county in the United States and
the More Act would thus provide critical protections to a
substantial percentage of county residents and help ensure that they
can participate in the growing cannabis economy without fear of
reprisals by the federal government.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
You know this, this, you know, this is directly affects
me because what you know, I know plenty of my
friends that I grew up with that have gotten little
little charges that were you know, they've got caught with
you know, five or five pounds of weed back in
the day, and they're trying to deport them even half
ounces forgot, you know, I mean less than that. The
half bounce is not not so much unless they had

(40:45):
criminal records with that. But you know, four or five pounds,
I think it was over three pounds that they would
they were trying to deport you you know. And this
is somebody that was not like that didn't just hop
to the border. And he was born here, bro like
his whole family was born here. I mean his parents
weren't born here, but I mean him and his brother
were brought here like an age of like, you know,
two years old, where they you know, they've been their

(41:07):
entire life there they've graduated high school, they're going to Collegeulous.

Speaker 6 (41:12):
I had a story I was going to post the
other day and never got out of posting it. But
it was called a puff too far And it's a
DACA resident, someone who's eligible for the DACA program had
to go back to Mexico for some reason and during
the pandemic and all this other crap that happened. I'm
we're not immigration attorney, so I don't know the exact details.
But on his way back in he I don't know

(41:34):
if he had to go back to Mexico to fill
out certain papers in order to come back here, he
had to answer whether he smoked weed or not. He
admitted that he did, and that kills the immigration process
standing in Mexico now. How critical that people are making
millions and millions of dollars and this poor kid who
took admitted to taking a puff, is now precluded from

(41:57):
coming into the United States.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
We hold how, asked back?

Speaker 2 (42:00):
Is that hold that, Doc Craig.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
We'll be right back after this break.

Speaker 8 (42:14):
Welcome back, Welcome back to Cannabis Dot one oh one
with Blue Joe Brande, Marky Peg Washington and the Place
Brothers at.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
And we are here with Ian from.

Speaker 8 (42:26):
Normal and you know, right now, before we get to
the big high five, we got got to get back
to Ian because we were a discrigore on cannabis and
specifically it's impact on Los Angeles.

Speaker 5 (42:41):
Ian, what else you got to say about it?

Speaker 9 (42:43):
Yeah, so this is really a core part of our
story on who Los Angeles Normal is. So Number one,
a couple of things about Los Angeles as the most
populous county in the United States, with over ten million people,
LA has a population greater than forty one individual states,
I know, right, So, and we are arguably the largest
cannabis friendly city on the planet, right, I mean, that's

(43:05):
nobody would dispute that. So today a significant portion of
the California cannabis industry considers LA home. And there's no
doubt that significant cannabis dollars are flowing through our streets, right, I.

Speaker 7 (43:17):
Mean in the Bay Area as well.

Speaker 4 (43:18):
I mean, of course it's coming from Yeah, you know,
the trifles for sure, but yeah, Los Angeles is definitely
the ports too. They're putting on there, get rid of
it whatever, Yeah, they use.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
The ports show.

Speaker 9 (43:30):
However, when it comes to cannabis, there's a great dichotomy
between lost the Los Angeles of today and the Los
Angeles of the past. Right So, LA is well known
around the world as this large melting pot with people
from all over the place. And due to our large
numbers and diverse population, we have a significant population of black, brown,

(43:53):
and minority residents in LA. Right So, the war on
drugs in the seventies, eighties, nineties, and two thousands ravage
these community, these locking people up in massive numbers. Today,
with all the cannabis dollars flowing through Los Angeles, it's
vitally and morally important to consider social equity measures and
criminal expungement that specifically address these communities. Right, So, opportunity

(44:18):
must be created to ensure that the community's most negatively
negatively impacted by cannabis criminalization will now benefit from this
new regulated market. So this is really an important part.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
And how does that happen?

Speaker 4 (44:31):
And I love the stats and facts about it, but
how does the execution happen? How do the black and
brown get to benefit from this?

Speaker 9 (44:39):
Well, so, we do have a social equity program in LA,
and I'm glad that we have one, but I think
it's yeah, I know, I know, So short there's no doubt.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
Tell the truth about it. What do you mean, don't
fall short?

Speaker 2 (44:52):
Okay, I'll jump in. And just because I'm a minority,
it's probably easier for me to say this is that,
you know, there's a lot of unsophisticated people that have
gotten these licenses, that don't know how to operate businesses.
So when you have are the minority Oh no, no, no,
just now with the social No no, the social acty
program is different than that.

Speaker 6 (45:11):
These people don't even aren't getting anything because the system
was set up unfairly well, hold on how people and
how people applied for social equity in the first place.

Speaker 5 (45:20):
We're not talking.

Speaker 6 (45:20):
About so the people who were already you're in, they
were in on pre icos.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
They were talking about the people that got them, and
then and then now that they have them, you've got
so me and you. Let's see, you're a multimillionairere investor.
And and I'm sitting here with this but being a
minority black and the minority right, and I'm saying here, less,
let's go into business.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
I have to put the money up.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
I have to own fifty one percent, which means I
have complete control of your money, your business everything that
you're throwing at me. Okay, so, which is very difficult
for someone that just you.

Speaker 4 (45:50):
Know, I give you two million dollars and say you're
going to take fifty one percent of it.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
Yeah, and then I that's minority.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
It's not that's not that you know, no, no, you
know so.

Speaker 7 (46:02):
And you can also do a third and then and then.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
That though the actual the actual stuff that went down
inside of Los Angeles, I mean we're talking Los Angeles minority.
You know, there was there was a lot of the
portals opened up early. People knew about that, they were
utilizing it, that other people heard about the So now
you've also got some kind of a sneaky like you know,
I would say, suspicion of foul play and and and

(46:26):
so you know, and and then people. Yeah, they gave
everybody an opportunity to.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
To what's the outcome.

Speaker 6 (46:32):
They know they're giving out an extra hundred licenses. They
did a whole research and report by some guy who
said that the people that got in early were normalized.
So whatever that means that their number was put where
it should have been if they had logged in at
the right time.

Speaker 5 (46:50):
And uh, that's what they found.

Speaker 6 (46:52):
There was a lawsuit against the city because of all
the early sign ins a an alleged potential fraud, and
got settled on the eve of a restraining order hearing,
and that's when the city allowed one hundred more in.
And they're gonna give that, I believe the next round.
They're changing the next round from first come, first serve

(47:13):
to a lottery system, so it won't matter as long
as you apply within a certain window, you're gonna be
up for a lottery. And then no one can complain
they got in early or you know, there was fraud.
There still may well be allegations of fraud every turn
in any type of situation like this, But they're turning
it into a.

Speaker 5 (47:34):
Lottery from a first come, first serve.

Speaker 6 (47:36):
But they are giving out an extra hundred in what
was Phase three, round one of social equity retail.

Speaker 5 (47:43):
And they're furthermore not going to give.

Speaker 6 (47:45):
Out any licenses I believe, until twenty twenty five, only
to social equity applicants. They're coming down more stringent on
the social equity applicants deals in paperwork with the incubator
or the person who's funding them.

Speaker 5 (48:01):
I mean, it is brutal, it's brutal that.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
You know, in Oakland they put.

Speaker 6 (48:05):
Up all the money and there and they have to
be fifty one percent in control of the business.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Well, in Oakland they were giving out grants as well,
you know, and the.

Speaker 5 (48:12):
Oakland's a different animal.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
I have not.

Speaker 6 (48:14):
I actually got a client that a potential client that
I got to look into the Oakland program. I'm really
not sure exactly what that program's like. But here in
LA it's it's brutal because there were a lot of
big companies coming in trying to circumvent the rules on
the social equity applicant.

Speaker 5 (48:32):
Being in control.

Speaker 6 (48:33):
And I represented several of the social equity applicants and
my response was, they want to get in if they
want to wait till twenty twenty five, where you don't
need to be a social elect applicant anything. Anybody can
apply if you can find the property in his zone
that's not undue concentrated. If you want to get in
now on the back of somebody who was arrested, gone

(48:53):
to jail, incarcerated, you know, that's what it's going to cost.
But I mean, I understand the issue though with man,
I'm giving this person fifty and you.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
Know, it's a tough field as well.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
I I I set with some of these these applicants myself,
and and to be honest with.

Speaker 5 (49:10):
You, just don't try to screw me.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
No, I well, I had to walk away because I
knew that they just didn't have the ability to operate
the business that I was looking to move forward to.
And so in that situation, and I could just have
the conversation with them and go, no, man, you know,
you know, there's no way I'm gonna pony up a
million dollars to give you know what, But I'm I
could have found one. But but there were several out

(49:33):
there that didn't have that ability to operate. You know.

Speaker 6 (49:36):
You know what's nice in this in this what they've
done is in the next round is because everybody in
the first round have already secured property, because that was
the requirement when you filed for your life to get.

Speaker 9 (49:49):
Into very expensive requirement.

Speaker 5 (49:51):
What was that?

Speaker 9 (49:51):
The very expensive requirement?

Speaker 5 (49:53):
That very expensive took that out, So they took that out.

Speaker 6 (49:56):
So in the second round, you're gonna have, if you
if you get the picked as a lottery recipient, you're
gonna have up to a year to find property, right
because because now, I mean people are fucking I had
a lot of people that had to bail out because
you know they're already.

Speaker 9 (50:13):
Holding properties for a year.

Speaker 6 (50:14):
Yeah, I tell of that money tool, that property lottery
or no lottery, you're gonna be after carrying property for
quite a while until you get you know, you've better
budget that in and carrying the property.

Speaker 9 (50:24):
It's prohibitively expensive to go through the process.

Speaker 6 (50:27):
Right, So at least in this round, they are getting
rid of that requirement, which I think will help a
lot of applicants. You know, they'll be worth a lot
when they get their authorization if they're picked in the
lottery to be able to go market or go find
the partners that aren't that aren't going to screw them.

Speaker 9 (50:44):
So there's no doubt that there were a lot of
questions over the last round of licenses that we're given out,
and some irregularities and people getting in first and whatnot.
But let's let's be honest about the number we're talking
about here. We're talking about one hundred licenses. You guys like,
it's not.

Speaker 7 (51:00):
Grand number one one one hundred.

Speaker 9 (51:06):
Let's let's put that into perspective. Let's I wish I
was sitting in front of Google right now. But let's
put that into perspective. For some of the other states
that have cannabis programs, places like Oklahoma, Colorado, they're per
popular per capita access to cannabis in terms of retail locations,

(51:26):
dwarfs are access to cannabis. Here in California.

Speaker 4 (51:29):
So there's so many liquor stores everywhere, exactly, there's liquor
store in every freaking corner.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
Why can't throw a cannabis.

Speaker 4 (51:38):
Store in every corner and lower prices and let people
do what they need to do, Let.

Speaker 9 (51:42):
The market sort it out.

Speaker 8 (51:44):
All the criminals rings in the criminals, they say, isn't
that crazy that that's the out like the criminals.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
And not only that, you hear all.

Speaker 6 (51:53):
The studies said, All the studies have clearly showed the opposite.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
Yeah, opposite, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Well.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
I think what's gonna happen though, is that I think
a lot of these new operators that are getting in
now will suffer later because there is going to be
that time where it does become into Walmart's and liquor stores.
It's gonna be sold, I believe, just like a pack
of cigarettes, and when that happens. You're still going to
have your dispensary owner.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
That's like, man, what happens?

Speaker 7 (52:21):
Just like the liquor store owner. Right because the liquor
store owner.

Speaker 4 (52:23):
Now you can go to Costco and by the bottle
of Kirkland that's that bottle of gray Goose one.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
Hundred percent of it. Yeah, so I think, yeah, that's
the cup right here. Player, look at up what oh
backpack boys eliminates the backpack boys.

Speaker 5 (52:38):
I think it's time for the high five.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
Yes, yes, I would agree with you.

Speaker 4 (52:42):
So many things we could talk to Ian about, but
it's now time for the high five with Ian Rassman
from Los Angeles Normal. It's so great to hear everything
you have to say, and I appreciate you doing what
you do yes for the community and representing that black
and brown like you do. I mean, I just really
want to say that I appreciate you for doing that
and sticking your neck out for folks like us and

(53:03):
appreciate you.

Speaker 9 (53:04):
Thank you you guys. You guys have been such great
supporters of Normal right from the get go, so I
really have to thank you for your support. I brought
a small little gift to get you guys caught up
with Mark. I see Mark's representing, always representing. Yeah, there
you go, brother, Oh, Mark is always representing. So I
brought you guys a pen. Also, now you're going to
struggle to represent as well as Mark over there because

(53:26):
he's got some fancy duds. But Joe, you've lost some weight,
so I know you're going to represent.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
Thank you, Thank you for noticing you never.

Speaker 9 (53:34):
Lost a decent amount of eight since I saw you last.

Speaker 4 (53:36):
Yeah, it's because I've been carrying Mark around the show
so much that it's, you know, helps me lose.

Speaker 9 (53:42):
Craig, Craig, here's one with Joe's fat. No, Craig, here's
one for you. Who can I trust to give it
to you?

Speaker 3 (53:49):
Here?

Speaker 2 (53:49):
Just stick it to No, no, no, give it to the
black guy.

Speaker 5 (53:54):
He said, give it to I trust him the most.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
See that Pinocchio. Here we go.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
Question high five. Question number one with Ian Rassman from
the Los Angeles Normal. How old are you the first
time you got high?

Speaker 7 (54:08):
And where'd you get it from?

Speaker 9 (54:11):
Let's see, I was nineteen in college. I was fairly late,
and I.

Speaker 3 (54:16):
Suppose what school did you go to?

Speaker 9 (54:18):
I was up at questa question?

Speaker 3 (54:19):
Where's that?

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (54:21):
Oh, nice. Okay, a little bit up.

Speaker 9 (54:22):
North, yeah, cool, right up in central coast.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
Question number two of the High Five.

Speaker 3 (54:28):
I guess what is your best what?

Speaker 5 (54:30):
What?

Speaker 9 (54:31):
What?

Speaker 3 (54:33):
Oh my god, to use cannabis.

Speaker 9 (54:40):
I suppose back in the day it was a traditional flower,
like a joint, just a joint. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (54:46):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (54:47):
Thanks for joining us, Greig.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
Number three, question number three of the High Five with
Ian of Normal Los Angeles chapter Craziest place You've ever
used or smoked it?

Speaker 9 (55:03):
Oh my goodness, going back, you know, you've sparked a
memory about the standing on the bus. I was in Australia,
I think in two thousand or two thousand and one,
doing a tour along the East coast, and you end
up in Byron Bay and suddenly you're like, oh man,
I'm like thirty minutes from Nimben. Nimben is like the
Venice Beach of like off the books, you know, back

(55:25):
as it was in the eighties, off the book sort
of place to go, and it was well known that
the police didn't crack down on it or anything there.
So headed off to Nimben on a little, you know,
ten person shuttle bus with a bunch of other tourists, backpackers,
we get up there. There's there's a two dispensaries in town.
It's small town. It's one street, maybe one intersection, two

(55:47):
dispensaries and a Hemp cannabis museum with the claims of
the world's biggest joint. So I go into dispensary, get
what I was looking for, and I go out and
consumed a little bit right there in the dispensary, and
then I head out to go check out the museum.
I come out of the museum and there's police cars everywhere,
like oh no, oh yeah. So the police showed up

(56:10):
with dogs and went in to raid the dispensaries. I
swear to God on the this was like tolerated and
nimben and the one freaking day I go there, the
police decided to make an example of it and crack down.
And they went into the dispensary and arrested mostly tourists.
I don't think they actually arrested them, but they sort
of processed them and brought them out. I come out

(56:31):
of the museum feeling pretty good. I see what's going on.
I'm like starting to get the shakes going.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Shit.

Speaker 9 (56:36):
I was just in there five minutes ago, and they
brought drug dogs in and if the dog sat down
next to you.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
Just watching from a distance car, Oh.

Speaker 9 (56:46):
Yeah, I don't know any of those one. So anyway,
but they did release all the tourists. We get back
on the bus. The tour guide's like, okay, that was
That's not the ruble tour that week. So we're going
to go to a little park and unwind, and so
we did. We headed off to this little hill overlooking
a lake and sat down and everybody talked about how

(57:07):
they got busted by the police on their tourist visit
to Australia.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
Wow, what a high and a low guy.

Speaker 9 (57:14):
So the bus thing, this guy and a whole bunch
of counter protesters showed up for this thing too. So
you have this bush like a hippie old school bus
converted and painted rainbow colors all of the place in
this guy and like a green one piece jumpsuit like
the Riddler from Batman gets up and he starts with
this microphone on the top of the bus and he's
rallying people and like there's this chant when the dog

(57:37):
when the police dogs got out of the car, they
start this chat who let the dogs out? And like
the crowds shot back exactly. That was That was absolutely
probably one of my more wild cannabis experience because I
was on the more or less the good side of
that experience.

Speaker 7 (57:53):
Oh yeah, if you're not getting cuffs on, you're always on.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
The good side.

Speaker 9 (57:57):
By by minutes, by literally just minute. I missed that one.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
Fantastic.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
That was a blessing.

Speaker 8 (58:02):
Definitely one of the crazier stories we heard. All right, Ian,
we are on question number four of the Cannabis Talk
one on one high five. What go too, Munchie when
you get hot a.

Speaker 9 (58:18):
Crowd? Ice cream? I suppose ice cream?

Speaker 3 (58:20):
What kind of ice cream? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Species?

Speaker 9 (58:22):
What kind of ice cream? And ice cream is ice cream?

Speaker 2 (58:25):
I had some last night.

Speaker 3 (58:26):
I had what kind you have?

Speaker 2 (58:28):
I had the strawberry shortcake, the delicious yeah from the
ice cream chuck.

Speaker 6 (58:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 4 (58:39):
I like, you know, you know, it's funny because I
just got my son for the first time. I got
on one of those taco ice creams, and he's Choco Taco. Yeah,
Chaco Taco. And at first, I'm like, let's get a
taco I. He looks at me sideways. I'm like, no,
I go, They're really good. But he's looking at the list,
and he's allergic to red dye. So he's like, he's
very limited what kind of ice cream you can get?

Speaker 2 (58:57):
Right?

Speaker 4 (58:58):
So he finally the size on the this is about
two weeks ago he had it. He goes, I give
my daughter a bite of it. Oh my god, They're
like hooked.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
Where can we get more?

Speaker 2 (59:07):
What if I got the UFO is good too?

Speaker 1 (59:09):
Though?

Speaker 2 (59:09):
Oh yeah, UFOs specially those are all bombed right there.

Speaker 4 (59:12):
Okay, question number five with a high five Ian, if
you could smoke cannabis with anyone.

Speaker 9 (59:19):
Lie, you know, I think I'm gonna go with Stephen
Hawking or Copernicus or Galilee or somebody that really had
that was responsible for some profound discoveries about our place
in the universe and really how small we are in

(59:40):
comparison to the scientist. Yeah. I'm a huge cosmology fan,
just a big nerd when it comes to space, and
I think that would be cool to sit down and
have a philosophical conversation. You know, why are we here
with with some of those.

Speaker 4 (59:54):
How did you come up with the theories and how
did you figure out all this?

Speaker 2 (59:57):
What is your theory?

Speaker 8 (59:58):
Now?

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Though? Real quick, let's just go to that. That's by
taking another show, I know.

Speaker 4 (01:00:03):
And it's so you know, it's funny as you say that,
I can trip out on that sometimes too. Not only
like when did they figure out it was round? When
did they figure out space? When did you guys figure
out the different planets? And there's a new planet in
this and that it's just like it's so baffling. Sometimes
you feel like your stones.

Speaker 9 (01:00:18):
Yeah, you know, you have to sort of think about
that sometimes when you look at what's going on in
the world today, and you know, just just try and
keep it in perspective. You know, we're just on this
tiny little rock in the corner of the universe that
nobody knows about, spinning around this hot wall of fire,
and you know, and there you have it. So try
and do some good each day and you don't feel
good about yourself.

Speaker 4 (01:00:37):
That was a great way to wrap it up. Brother,
anything else you want to plug before we let you.

Speaker 9 (01:00:41):
Go, please do come support us at Los Angeles Normal.
I mean, we are an all volunteer organization, so we're
definitely looking for people in the community that have energy
to give and want to join us. Please come check
out l anormal dot org. We do regular public monthly

(01:01:01):
meetings where we bring in educational speakers, celebrities. Are you
guys came on to our show? That was fantastic appreciated
having you guys on our show a few months ago.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Just the Pod Brothers No All for you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
Was that there were we there. You guys don't even remember,
see they don't.

Speaker 8 (01:01:18):
They just put it on when.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
You're no no.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
That was the actually pre recorded. That was pre recorded.
That was a pre recorded show.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
Mark I remember we came.

Speaker 9 (01:01:27):
That was the Tommy Chong show. We had Tommy.

Speaker 11 (01:01:30):
That's right, Okay, now the group yeah and so so definitely, look,
we're definitely looking right now for volunteers in our marketing.

Speaker 9 (01:01:40):
Government affairs, membership, and community aren't reach departments.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
So please, if you.

Speaker 9 (01:01:44):
Have some energy to give to pushing this industry forward,
please do reach out to us. These public monthly meetings
that we do are free and they're on the third
Wednesday of each month at four pm and you can
check us out on Facebook. It's Los Angeles Normal, LinkedIn
l A Normal and Instagram at Los Angeles Normal.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
There it is there. It is guys.

Speaker 8 (01:02:08):
Let me let me say one other thing really quick
to Ian I recently had a quick conversation with Keith Stroup, who,
as you mentioned, the founder of Normal years ago. He
is going to be coming on Cannabi's Talk one on
one shortly.

Speaker 9 (01:02:25):
At Fantastic Yeah him. Goodness, that guy has got some stories.
I mean he has he has the stories. Oh my goodness. Yeah,
that's gonna be an epic, an epic episode of Cannabis
Talking one online.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
Well, guys out there, if you're listening and we we
do want you to go out to cow normal and
make sure you go to normal dot com. That's n
O R M L spelled Normal tom org dot org
dot again and make sure you do support. Just donate
a little time donated, a little of your energy, a
little bit of your mind, maybe a little bit of
your money. It's Cannabis Talk one one. Remember this.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
If no one else SHU loves you, will you.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Thanks for listening to another podcast of Cannabis Talk one
oh one, the world's number one source for everything cannabis,
featuring Ian Rassman from Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
Normal