Is there only ONE Way Forward?

Candid conversation about the success or failure of 'medical' cannabis debate in SC legislature with military veteran and small business owner Cody Callarman, launching first-ever Festival for non-profits like SC Compassionate Care Alliance. Take a listen! For concert line-up, click here!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is the Kelly Golden Show podcaston a big veiled Friday. All Right,
Cody Callerman, military veteran. He'san owner of Carolina Dream. It's
a low country CBD company. Cody, how are you. I'm doing pretty
well. I'm overly excited for Ithink the event we're about to talk about,
so Saturday. One Way Forward,this is the first ever festival of

(00:24):
its kind that I know of,is coming up at Refinery and that is
on Upper Meetings Street, basically inthe neck in Charleston. What I find
interesting I want to get into oneWay Forward in this festival is that the
proceeds one hundred percent we're looking atgoing to nonprofits in our community. One

(00:44):
I know a lot about is SouthCarolina is Compassionate Caroliance, their parents' rights
advocacy organization because of mom Jill Swinghere, she has a special needs mom.
I've seen y'all stumping on the stepsof the Capitol in Columbia. You've
already got the Passionate Care Act throughthe set and on the House floor.
So we are here and I haveto ask what are we waiting for?

(01:06):
The longer we wait, our legislatorsare playing politics with patient and veteran lives.
The truth that if you support medicalfreedom but not medical cannabis, that's
not a definition of freedom. Thetruth that if there's thousands of medical studies
on cannabis proving its benefits and uses, what are we waiting for? The

(01:29):
truth is that cannabis is medicine andit helps people. The truth that there
is over seventy six percent of registeredRepublican voters in South Carolina want to see
this bill pass, and that overseventy five percent of veterans either use or
want to use medical cannabis. Thetruth is that South Carolina wants this,
and we should have done this andbeen a clear cut issue years ago.

(01:52):
If they want to continue the waron cannabis in South Carolina, that's fine,
But can we at least agree toget the sick, dying, and
ill off a battlefield. I amjust curious, Cody, where in the
world we even sit when it comesto medical cannabis in South Carolina. It's
a optimistic and hurtful the two wordsthe best say. What's going on?

(02:13):
Jill Swing, She's probably the reasonwhy I'm having this festival. She's been
doing this for a decade now.Last year with our medical cannabis Bill,
was the first time we've ever gotit voted on a two to one vote
through the Senate and through the MedicalCommittee in the House and onto the House
floor, where unfortunately it died ofa language error with like attacks in there.

(02:37):
This year, there's a lot ofother social issues which kind of took
precedence over the Canvas bill, andunfortunately it didn't get onto the Senate floor
this year. But I mean thatat this point last year we made history
and we're really looking forward to nextyear. And the main reason I want
to have this festival is I feelthere's a lack of grass advocacy for cannabis

(03:00):
and its state of South Carolina.The latest winter a poll that came out
this year said that over seventy sixpercent of South Carolinians approof of medical cannabis
and the still and I think thedisconnect between what we the people want and
our legislators is wider than it shouldbe. There should have been a clear
cut and done issue years ago.And I just want to get really South

(03:23):
Carolinians out together to look less andright at each other and go hey,
I never would have thought that thatperson would support cannabis, and I'm glad
we're here. We can start thisconversation and really look forward to next year.
Kind of all the musicians are beyondexcited to do this again next year.
Well, and I want to getinto again one way forward festivals coming

(03:43):
up of the Refinery on Saturday.We'll get into the axe here coming up.
Like you said, people who feellike they don't want to speak up,
they certainly can by showing up thisSaturday. You can check out the
refineryhs dot com for tickets. Iknow they start general mission at what thirty
five bucks. We just want tofill the place out. We're not looking
to make a lot of money.We want to get what we can,
I know, the vendors area andbe getting kickbacks, and we just want

(04:05):
to throw a celebration to show that, Look, cannabis is not this bad
thing and we want it. Sowhat's the biggest misconception you think? You
mentioned the lack of knowledge and educationwhen it comes to lawmakers in South Carolina.
What's the biggest misconception when it comesto medical Mary Jane, I mean
it's a gateway drug. I don'tknow, that's the hard ones. It

(04:26):
really depends on who you're talking to. I think the biggest misconception is this
negative stigma since we've been essentially wewere lied to through the thirties and seventies.
And I'll gladly be the first personto tell you I was wrong,
right. I thought there was nomedical value. I thought this was just
people wanting to get high. Andit wasn't until I use it for myself

(04:46):
for my PCSD and my back paintI have when I was living in California,
and I went, this isn't dangerousat all. I mean, last
year there was over four thousand scientificand medical studies on the benefits of cannabis.
It's not addictive, it's not habitforming. There's not been a single
overdose ever recorded on it. It'ssafer than talentaw so it's it is a

(05:10):
knowledge thing because people don't know becausewe've just been listening to what we've been
preached about for the last decade.Given those comments, what's the percentage of
you seeing medical marijuana passing in SouthCarolina? It's only a matter of time,
you know. We're at thirty eightstates in the country now have additional
cannabis program including Kentucky, Alabama,Mississippi, come on, and I don't

(05:34):
think South Carolinians really deserved to belast in this in terms of the percentage
for next year. Unfortunately. Ido think it's going to be pretty difficult
next year because it's the reelection yearfor the House and the Senate, and
I know it's a very quote unquotesicky and touchy issue for them, but
they want to speak out about onthe reelection year. But I'm always confident.

(05:56):
You know, the first year Imet Jill and started helping out,
that was the first year through theSenate ever, So there's only one way
forward, I guess you could say. So here we are to the concert
coming up on Saturday. Though,one way for our concert walk us down
the lineup. It's a pretty impressivelineup. Like I will admit, I'm
not the biggest local music scene personand I feel ashamed now thing that the

(06:19):
talents that we have coming to thisevent. We have over nine bands with
some at largest, so I'll justI'll go down the list. So we
have Runaway Gin which is a fishtribute band, the you know jam and
a punk punk band. We gotBabe Club, which is a three piece
in the wave group. It's verydreamy sounding, and the way they perform,

(06:42):
you can be in a crowd ofhundreds of people and you feel like
they're singing just to you. Wehave the Mo Bros, which are two
brothers. They're a dynamic duo,very Lenny Lenny Kravitz type of a vibe
and sound. We have Leon andthe Extensions, which is a like I
could say, like a retro band. They're a bigger band, and they're
kind of like the seventies to thenineties type of almost like a hint of

(07:04):
swing to it. I guess youcould say. We have Mike Lives and
his B Boy Crew, So hecovers a lot of like nineties style hip
hop and does a lot of crowdinteraction. And he's going to have his
breakdancers there and I've seen them beforeand I don't know how their heads support
the waiter than spinning on top ofthat, so it's definitely a experience.

(07:25):
We have Slim Soul. He's alocal rapper here and he's very free flowing
improv style and he brings guests onto perform with him, which I'll get
suit in a minute. And thenwe have starting off as Ben Whitney,
who's a local singer songwriter, abig voice, probably playing acoustic. We
also have Sounds of the Black Box, which is a indie rock. They

(07:46):
can swing from romantic to get upin dance songs. And then for the
singers at large, we have MikeQuinn from Doom Flamingo. He's going to
be joining us. We have CampbellBrown from Broken Speakers, a fantastic guitarist
and singer. Probably my favorite atlarge is Bill Wilson. He's a one,
a national treasure and just an amazinghuman being. He's a Charleston legend.

(08:09):
He's eighty two years old and hestill gets up on stage and performs,
and he's just one of the happiestpeople to be around. And I'm
really excited for not just him,but all of these artists to take part
in this. So tickets again.The refineryhs dot com line up there too
again Saturday, So looks like theweather is going to be fantastic. Raynersheine,

(08:31):
hopefully we're going to see you there, and people like Mom, Jill
and many others who can maybe canbe concerned about speaking out, but you
certainly speak out by showing up.Tickets are available at the door, and
you know what, Frankly Cody,people can just go make a donation there.
You can buy the tickets whether youcan show up or not, absolutely,
or you can head over to Jill'sat the Compassionatecare dot com and to

(08:52):
make a contribution. I mean,I hate harping on how much of a
great person Jill is, but whenwe past November, we took a lot
of freshmen legislators that got elected upto May and to tour medical cannabis facilities.
Should show them how clean, safe, professional the security. And you
know, I was offering to helpher out and I found out she's putting

(09:15):
a lot of those expenses on herown personal Saint cards. And that's where
I really got mad and decided todo this because she you know, you've
met her and you've had her on, an amazing woman, and she did
not deserve to be doing this alone. And that's why again we need everybody can