Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
From the WA and M Studio on the campus of
Florida A and M University.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is Mary Forum Radio, a weekly conversation on the
education and research of the medical marijuana being conducted to
at Bammunion.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Hi, I'm HEIGHTI outway. This Conversations on Cannabis Virtual form
brought to you by the Medical Marijuana Education and Research
Initiative at Florida and M University. In this conversation, we're
talking about Florida and federal cannabis laws and the consequences
if you break them. So let's talk and learn about
(00:33):
this subject with our guests. Mutaki Akbar is an experienced
trial attorney and the founder of Akbar Thomas Law Firm,
focusing primarily on criminal defense. He earns his Juris Doctor
from the University of Miami School of Law and has
handled over one hundred and fifty trials throughout the state
of Florida. He has defended clients in a wide range
(00:56):
of criminal cases, from traffic offenses to serious violent felonies.
Our other guest is David Kennedy, the founder and senior
partner of Kennedy and Associates, a law firm based in
South Florida, specializing in cannabis law, corporate litigation, and real estate.
He previously served as an assistant state attorney in Broward County,
(01:20):
where he prosecuted complex criminal cases involving rico, firearms, and
constitutional issues. Thank you both for participating in this form.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Thanks for having me, Thank you having.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Us, Thank you to everyone watching. Please share the link
to this form on your social media channels so others
can learn about this topic. We also want you to
tell us what you think about this form by completing
the survey that'll be posted on Mary's social media pages.
Your name will be entered into a drawing in July
twenty twenty five to win a one hundred dollars gift
(01:55):
card provided by one of Mary's partners. Now let's start
this conversation on cannabis. So let's start off by giving
some context here. David, can you provide an overview of
Florida's cannabis laws, both legal and illicit use.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, that is a very broad question, Heidi, so I
will keep the answer broad. So currently, as of twenty fifteen,
Florida is a medical marijuana state, meaning that individuals in
the state who have the appropriate credentials in medical conditions
(02:36):
are able to obtain a license. In twenty twenty, excuse me.
Twenty twenty to twenty twenty four, excuse me, we voted
on a constitutional resolution to go recreational or adult use,
which is called in many states. It failed. I believe
(02:56):
it failed. We needed sixty percent. I think it got
fifty seven percent. More likely than we'll be back on
the ballot during the presidential election or that election cycle
in approximately three years, and then we'll have an additional
opportunity to vote that into our constitution as being a
(03:16):
right of the citizenry to possess and consume recreationally commercially cannabis.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
And talking to you when in providing an additional context
to our laws because they are pretty to me, I
feel like they're straightforward. But to the person at home, well,
anything you want.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
To answer to that, no, I mean, the only thing
I think I will add is what sometimes confusing is
this hold the CBD in the help and because they're
so closely related to cannabis, it's just it's a reduced
amount of THAC that's in it. But that's something that
is legal, that's something that you can buy at smoke
(04:00):
shop or different, and you'll see a lot of advertisements
and a lot of people are confused because they go
in too convenience stores and see these jars that look
like cannabis flowers that's on sale at the convenience store,
but that's actually CBD or help.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, And are there any other myths or misunderstandings that
people have about cannabis laws that you've seen or heard
in your in your practices.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So I will expand on when we talk also in
answering your question, so that I call it the cannabis industry,
right because everything comes from the flower being a former
prosecutor and also criminal defense a turney now in conjunction
with what we do on the corporate side for our
corporate clients in drug trafficking, when they get into these issues,
(04:45):
we're really dealing with what Mutaki knows and the citizen
our listeners you know to be.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Delta nine.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So that strand, Delta nine is the strand that is
considered to be illegal. All these other things, Delta eight,
Delta send, CBD, CBG THHCA, all these exotic things are
actually legal. How do they become legal? It's federally legal?
How is it federally legal. It came out of twenty
(05:16):
seventeen twenty eighteen farm bill. That farm bill is passed
by again the federal government, that's state government. State government's
the government that allow for medical marijuana in particular state
to pass. Which goes back to my answer from the
first question as relates to versus recreational super talking hit
the nail on the head when he said going to
(05:38):
smoke shops and seeing these things that are in bottles
and having even similar titles like ooji, cush or whatever
it may be. It's accurate. However, hemp, which is what's
in a farm bill. Hemp, which is I mean zero
point three is what the farm bill speaks to. The
(05:59):
zero THC delta nine in it is what makes it
legal versus illegal. Now, Florida and other states including Texas
have engaged in various litigation. It as relates to weight
of it versus actual of the of the entirety of
(06:19):
the plant itself, any particular litigation versus how much a
lab tests within that particular flower.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Yeah, and and and I think other when you say
myths or things that kind of confuses the community. Is
a lot of people think that marijuana is legal. You know,
they know that it's medical. I mean, so they hear
the debate but not really engaged. So I have had
people to say.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Well, isn't it legal now?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
There were times there was a period of time, like
especially right you know, like Dave said, right after that
farm bill passed, where there was confusion as to whether
law enforcement can distinguish between actual marijuana and CBDA HIMP
because they didn't have the test at the time. So
(07:13):
a lot of law enforcement agencies and state attorney's offices
were not charging for marijuana because they couldn't test it
to determine the difference between the two.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
That has changed now now that they do have the test.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
You still can get charged for it now, so you
just kind of make people aware of that as well.
Another thing that that I've seen is that people have
gotten their medical marijuana license and they think that they're
okay that they can That means that they can just
have marijuana, they can buy it off. They still get
(07:44):
street marijuana. They can and they'll get a pass because
they have that license.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
That's not true. You know.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
You the database not only shows that you have a license,
but it also shows when the last time.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
You feel your prescription.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Let you feel just prescription for how often you get
your prescription field?
Speaker 5 (08:06):
And so law enforcement.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Will look to see when was if you ever got
a prescription field, and if you did, when was the
last time you got a field? And they also look
at the package and how it's packaged and everything as
well to determine whether you have legal medical marijuana if
you have your license, or whether you still have street marijuana,
which is not.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
Legal even if you do have your license.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
So I do want people to be careful of that
as well.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Right, And can you talk a little bit about the
federal laws when it comes to all forms of cannabis,
because you can't even take medical marijuana. I mean, what
I've learned in my work with Mary is that you
are safer without having you know, any issues if you
do it in your home, but you can't take it
at a school, you can't take it on federal property.
(08:51):
Can you talk a little bit about the federal laws
when it comes to cannabis, all forms of cannabis.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
It's illegal.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
All forms of cannabis, it's illegal in federal law. You know,
the medical kind of like cars kind of cars out
an exception for it is obviously not being enforced. But
you know, for example, I have I represent people in
federal court, and so if they're on federal probation, they
cannot smoke even medical marijuana because it's still a federal
(09:21):
offense to have marijuana. On the other side of that,
in state court, if I have a client that's on
state probation, if they have their medical marijuana license, they
they can't get in trouble for testing positive for smoking
marijuana because they have their medical marijuana license, so it
gives them a pass. So like so whenever you're dealing
(09:42):
with both systems, like when you're dealing with the federal system,
it's still illegal.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
It's still a schedule.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I keep confusing the schedule, but I'm sure yes.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
So so little background on this because I think it's important.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
So prior to the nineteen sixties, cannabis.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Marijuana was legal, but President Nixon came in as a
part of his campaign and having a political background as well.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I used to work in the White House.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I used to work in the US Senate for President Obama,
President excuse me, and a Senator rolland Burris, and also
worked in Florida's Policy and Budget Committee.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Budget office for now.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Senator Rick Scott was governor at the time. That's important
because everything in context gives you where we are currently
at right now. So, prior to the nineteen sixties, it
was legal. Nineteen sixties ahead for political reasons, Nixon came
in and created the schedules, the schedules Schedule one to
(10:50):
Schedule five, Schedule one being the highest, Schedule five being
the lowest. Schedule five meaning that there are acceptable medical
uses of the particular drugs. Schedule one saying that there
is no acceptable medical use of this drug and you
actually need to.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Get federal.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Clearances to not only hold it, research it, and only
certain people can use it or even inject it. And
we're talking about things like heroin are below, what cannabis
is on a Schedule one, fitting all even is on
a scheduled one. Obviously they're not the same things, know that.
(11:32):
At this time, so it was used as a political
prop to then scare away a reefer madness, which they
were associating with. Unfortunately, as you know this nineteen sixties
right the highled civil rights movement. So they would show
pictures of dark skinned black people like raping or roping
(11:54):
white women and wow viirables. So it helped individuals politically
get into office, not only in the South but throughout
the country. This these myths, as we spoke about, grew
even as recently as.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Probably a decade ago.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
My mother was like, I'll never take cannabis in my life,
but my now is a it's somewhat of an advocate
of the non delta nying type because she kids who
in a nonprofit who use these cannabis subsets or cannabis.
(12:38):
I would even say in I forget what the the diseases,
I'll think about it. Ta bos has it from tlc uh.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
So these are qualify These are qualifying conditions you're saying
or they're using this.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Some of these are qualifying conditions not only in Florida,
but and why sop of it federally though different states
have different things because Mutaki is one hundred percent correct,
it's illegal period in the story, federally illegal. How different
presidents in different administrations it is how they engage in
(13:20):
the execution, because again the executive branch executes the laws.
Right acution of these laws as it relates to going
into states and doing particular things, because they're no longer
just burning up the large cannabis grows in California to
(13:40):
due back in the nineties and the early two thousands.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah. Wow, that's interesting, went TALKI did you want to
add on to that? That was pretty loaded?
Speaker 5 (13:48):
No, no, a load and background.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Yes, very interesting. So I want to ask, you know,
I really appreciate it when you all were sharing real
life stories of what could happen if someone is caught
with cannabis. They're caught in their car, if they're caught
on school property, so cant and even in the workplace.
You know, we have that as well. Can we talk
(14:13):
a little bit about the what you all have experienced
where people may have used their medical cannabis and didn't
even know that they couldn't use it. I mean, because
we just talked about people just don't know enough. So
I want to make sure that we make it clear
to those listening and watching, here's what you can and
can't do.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
I think most of the restrictions, like dealing with the
medical marijuana is just where you get spoke it. So
you have some people, you know, for example, like in
public houses that can't necessarily smoke marijuana. Can't they're not
allowed to smoke and they need their medical you know,
their their medicine, so they might go out in their car.
(14:54):
So that could call so concern even if you have
your license to be smoking like in public anywhere. So
the restriction from my understanding for the medical marijuana is
like you can do it within your home, but you
can't do it like in the public space or in
the public area.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
So and that I think that's mainly towards the smoking
part of it.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
But as far as the possession part of it, if
you have your license, if it's like in a canister
like for like properly packaged, then I don't believe like
simply possessing what's prescribed to you will cause you any trouble.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Right, So that means if they go to the dispensary,
dispisery gives them a product in a particular packaging, do
not remove it from that packaging.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
I would keep it in that packaging.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, yeah, David, did you want to add on to.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
That, Uh? Yes, the.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So I deal with a lot of so I represent
cannabis companies in a very nuanced way. So, for instance,
I represent a company called as their lead council. Viola
viola is a cannabis company started by Al Harrington, former
NBA player played for the Indiana Pacers in New York.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Next he.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
It's from New Jersey. New Jersey and New York laws
are different Florida laws. However, Viola has a.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Contract with the Flowery.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
The Flowery is one of the twenty somethings companies in
Florida who have a license to sell medical marijuana.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Right, go get Viola from the Flowery.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
They have like two or three locations Miami, Jacksonville, I
think another one in now Florida. So possessing it once
you get it, you can possess it. You could take
it out of the store, right, And it's going to
have a package, So it can even be like the
Iverson package, right, because they sell something Iverson in two
(17:00):
thousand and one with the collaboration with Alan Iverson and
then their own Viola og cush or whatever else.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
The stuff that they do.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
So it's going to come in that package, but it's
also going to come in a larger package that is
going to have a white seal that says cannabis on
it and then they can pull it out.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Now, if you are.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Institutional commercial establishment, this is why bring it up from
the business perspective. If you go to a coffee shop,
for instance, and the coffee shop allows you to smoke
cannabis there, you can't do it, which goes point you're
not out in the open just doing it all crazy, right.
Addition to that, you can't smoke it in your car.
(17:47):
If your car smells like weed, they are going to
stop you. Now we're talking and I, prior to hopping
on this hop you on the live had a brief
conversation too, because back when I was a prospers, when
they first started Florida Highway Highway Patrol in the AG's
(18:08):
office came out with a statewide statement saying that they're
going to start engaging what's called smell plus, meaning that
they won't be probable cause just because there was smell
in your car, or there was because of the changing
marijuana laws. So we're talking about twenty nineteen when this
(18:29):
came out and was propound that was by the AG's
office at that point, though you needed something else to
show that. Now, the evolution of that in the next
in the last four or five years has been really
law enforces could do whatever they want to do. Now
you have to prove that in court one way or
(18:50):
another if it's legal to do what's happening or not.
But again, but statewide it's excuse me, federally it's illegal.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
State wide's legal. Little means contexts, yes, And.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
I think the transit it has been a transition pretty
much like getting more liberal towards like marijuana charging it,
like he said, searches based off the smell. It's going
back more conservative now and dealing with it. And you know,
I see a lot of police reports where the problem
cause to search the car starts from the smell of marijuana.
(19:29):
And and honestly, law enforcement is not looking for marijuana.
They're not looking for people that would a joint to
lock them up, and they're not even looking for people
with like small personal use of marijuana.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
To like to create this big case.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
But they used the smell of marijuana in order to
search a vehicle in order to look for bigger and
those bigger things than usually like guns, of the drugs,
anything that's showing that somebody is participating in the selle
of marijuana. But the catalyst for that search is typically
the spell of marijuana. I'm seeing more now, like they're
(20:07):
saying that they smell like cathodones, which is another type
of drugs, in order to be the catalyst for that search.
But it's it's it's an advantage for a law enforcement
to be able to keep that smell test in order
to initiate a search.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Does this involve jokes sniffing dogs?
Speaker 4 (20:26):
It can, it can also, And just to give some background,
just so people can have an idea what we're talking
about when we're talking about searches of vehicles, they're like
pretty much like three ways that a law enforcement officer
can search a few. One is is an arrest obviously,
and it can be a search incident to arrest as
long as there they can show that there is evidence
(20:49):
of a crime, I mean evidence of whatever you're being
arrested for. So, for an example, if they're arresting you
for the possession of marijuana, they can search your car
as a result to see if there's more marijuana in
your car. But if they're arresting you for like driving
on a suspended license, they can't search your car because
it wouldn't be evidence of you driving under suspended license.
Speaker 5 (21:10):
To do that.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Another way they can search your car is what we
call like an inventory search. Is they're about to toll
your car, they can do an inventory search of the vehicle.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
So I guess it's four ways. The third way is.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Of course, if you give them consent to search your car,
then they can search your car at that point. The
last one is what we're talking about is probable cause.
So if they have probable calls that evidence of a
crime is in your vehicle, then they can search your
car at that point. So when it comes down to marijuana,
the courts have said that the smell of marijuana is
(21:42):
probable cause that there could be marijuana in your vehicle,
and so that gives officers that the right to search
a vehicle just based off the planes what they call
the plane.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Smell doctrine of marijuana.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
The other in addition to that, so not only can
the officer have a plane smele, a canine or dogs
a drug stiff and dog if they alert, if they're
trained to alert on marijuana, and if they alert on
that car for marijuana or any other drug, then that
gives officers proba call to search a buil quite that
(22:16):
point as well.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah, so medical cannabis and recreational cannabis.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Spelled correct CBD in Delta A everything else.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
Yeah, Yeah, so what happens to that that legal medical
marijuana patients right in that situation.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
So that that has been a controversy, and like there
at least there was at least one court in Florida
in the Fifth Circuit down I think in Daytona that
actually ruled that it wasn't enough for a dog to
for a drug sniffing dog to have It wasn't enough
probable cause just to get an alert because you have
legal Mariquejana, you have other smells that smells like like,
(23:05):
you know, actual marijuana, and so that just said that
it was not probable cause. The Florida Supreme Court then
came and reversed that and said that it is probable cause,
and they said that it is probably cause. One reason
is because it's still illegal as a federal crime. And
so just because the state might not be investigating it
as a state crime, it could still be illegal as
(23:28):
a federal crime. So that still gives officers PROBA calls
at searching.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
So right now.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
It's still provo calls based off the plane smell and
for a drug sniffing dog to alert on a car,
but law enforcement officers have stopped training dogs to alert
for marijuana because they are concerned that with the shift
in the laws, those dogs would be obsolete if they
(23:55):
trained to sniff marijuana.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
But did you want to add anything to that?
Speaker 1 (24:02):
No, I think JOCKI hit it on the head.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Yeah, yeah, So I want to shift gears and talk
about youth cannabis consumption. We kind of touched on a
little bit earlier. But does the law treat cases involving
youth differently from those involving adults when it comes to cannabis.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
It's very interesting. So being a prosecutor, former prosecutor down
in South Florida and also working in the juvenile justice unit,
I would say, no, they don't treat them differently. One
(24:40):
of the things that kept me in the prosecutor's office
at the time when I was a prosecutor was I
saw I was only planning on being prosecutor for like
a year maybe two max, even though we're going to
do it with them. But the thing that kept me
there is because I kept seeing our youth, black youth
(25:01):
in particular, chain from hands to feet with the chain
in between walking through the hallways, and I do then
cattle call of black kids coming into a courtroom, and
the majority of them would come into the courtroom with
small pieces of cannabis or a paraphernalia or something simple
(25:23):
as a grand The stealing a cell phone or something
like that didn't make me sensitly, and then when I
became a prosecutor for adult cases, I saw very similar things. Nowadays,
I think that they're a little more hard on juveniles
than adults because they understand that if it's not here now,
(25:50):
it will eventually come and it is going to be legal.
So in South Florida, we have community court right the
Broward County, we have community court which is is held
by a wonderful judge down here, and she deals with
individuals who are first time or sect down defenders who
(26:11):
didn't have possession of marijuana, or they have cases, or
they had old drug cases or something like that, and
they give them community service, educate them, and then their
record expunge. However, on the other side, I've seen judges
(26:31):
be pretty heavy handed with our youth, in particular because
studies have shown that it affects their brains, their youthful brains,
and they impart that on them. And there is research
as it relates to recidivism that they some judges want
(26:53):
to keep out of systems. Some judges think that being
hard on them in the first part, on the first
and will prevent them from being in this system. And
there's some competing research research as it relates to that.
But what I've observed, especially in the last couple of years,
is that they're pretty hard on our youth and they
pulled back of the adults because they see the winds changing.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Talking so up here in Beion County they have civil
cization program. They have like drug court and juvenile court.
So I do see especially the first time offenders, I
think is what David referring to as well, a lot
of the first time offenders like kind of get diverted
out first time officiers for possession of marijuana gets diverted
(27:40):
out of court subsequently offenses. I think they do try
to address it a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
On it.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
One of the.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Concerns that our State Attorney's Office has had because there
was a time and I think twenty seventeen to you know,
during the time where these ships has been.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
Going on, that they were.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Being you know, marijuana cases were less severe, like everybody
was getting a diversion. Nobody was going to jail, even
for felony amounts, and so that shifted back to we
need to be harder on these cases because what they
found out was that a lot of the armed robbery cases,
(28:26):
home invasion cases, a lot of them led to murder
cases were people that were robbing the marijuana guy. Not
the guy that's selling cocaine, not the guy that's selling fittol,
but it was the guy who was selling marijuana.
Speaker 5 (28:41):
It would be like a robbery or of marijuana selling.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
So their theory was that, Okay, we need to get
harder on cases involved in marijuana. We need to like
do something about this demand because maybe that will kind
of you know, temper down the violent crime because they
all that they was directly related. So so they started,
you know, like I said, like just being a little
bit harder on them after they you know, after that
(29:07):
that shift of like less kind of soften up a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
I think that leads into also the broken glass theory,
which is which was back in what I forget when
he was the mayor of uh New York, but Rudy Giuliani.
When Rudy Giuliani came in, he had the broken glass theory.
He kind of used that to say that if you
(29:32):
can smell marijuana, if you are sitting on the curb.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
And you're littering, or you're.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Like small crimes, right, small crimes bring upon big crimes,
And kind of what Utaki is saying is that these
smaller crimes mean I've seen this, saw this in the
juvenal courting and saw some cases regarding this where young
kids were selling marijuana to adults, right, and then in
(30:02):
doing that, the adults are like, y'all, are kids anybody
paying you any money for any of this stuff? And
then they would pull out a gun and put it
to their head and say you're gonna pay us for this,
and it's like, I'm not paying. Then they pull the trigger.
They got a murder. This is just a drug deal
gone wrong right over some cannabis. So if you're not
cutting down on these smaller crimes, or even which will
(30:24):
never be illegal, which is or never be legal, which
is an establishment having cannabis and alcohol at the same time,
it's not likely to be legal to sell both of
them or consume both of them at the same time
because they're getting cross faded or they're getting cross they're
(30:45):
getting high and the one is enhancing the others high.
So cracking down as we are learning because again Schedule
one drug, they could never research it. I've sat with
doctors that have said, we were unable to even.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Research this drug.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
This is as recently as twenty twenty two, and they're
still they're still.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Getting to know it.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Which is also why in the Florida statutes, sam you
is slated or mandated to research and do things like
this for the social portion. But UF actually at this
moment is researching the plan. So Florida has the mandate
(31:32):
from the state to research the plant per statue. So
not only are we learning more about it, law enforcement
is shifting their tax their tactics as well because of
the crime.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Coming out of it.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
And then politicians are implementing different strategies to offset certain things.
And if you as you saw in Florida, there was
a big gap there police officers coming on in two
thousand floor saying we want this because we can regulate
it recreationals where it's that the then you had also
had a police officers saying that you already smell weed
on the street. Do you want this to be California.
(32:07):
Every corner you turn, do you want there to be
smell weed? And then have our kids do it? This
is a moral issue. So the tides are shifting, and
the tides are turning, and this is going to affect
our political our law enforcement, as well as our commercial
use of cannabis.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Mataki, did you want to add anything to that?
Speaker 5 (32:30):
No, I think it's covered, okay.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
I wanted to kind of wrap up with a question
because Florida is a destination and we have people coming
into and stay from all over, So can we talk
about the laws when it comes to bringing their cannabis
into Florida?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
So that's very interesting and I definitely want to know
Mutaki's perspective on this, especially since he is engaging in
criminal law of pretty vigorous So Florida is typically pretty
sealed off right, And when I say that, and one
(33:11):
of the examples I always bring up is one is
conservative to as lawyers, we can we don't have reciprocity
with other states. I mean that when you come here,
you have to take the bar, and when you go sales,
you gotta take the bar too. But when it comes
to cannabis, at the beginning, you could only use your
license in the state in which you obtain the license,
(33:31):
right But since then they have not only lacked on
the laws, but they've actually propounded laws saying that if
you have a valid license, then you can obtain cannabis
in those shops.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
And some of the shops have been engaging in that
as well.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
So you and then there are people that travel in
and out of the state with cannabis that that is illegal.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Let me be very clear.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
You cannot ship cannabis from one state to the next
like that is illegal. You cannot do it. Bring your
pain even though you have a license. You are testing.
You are stress testing the federal system and the TSA
by having any of your stuff in your bag. And
I wouldn't instiare doing it. But the appropriate and legal
(34:18):
consumption of cannabis while in Florida as a destination is appropriate.
But the question becomes if I am a non license
holder or a license holder of another state and I
am able to obtain in a legal way cannabis here
(34:40):
in Florida, am I able to either one from a
recreational perspective, enjoy it, or two from a medical perspective,
take my medicine while I'm in Florida. So that's where
the rub comes comes into play too. And you asked
the unemployment earlier, it's the same thing.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Now.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Laws have federal laws as well as state laws have
been propounded as it relates to uh, the use of
medical marijuana and firing somebody because they have their medical
marijuana license, we can't come right, but there needs to
(35:21):
be regulations surrounding that. And there are regulations saying that
you can't fire somebody just because they have their license,
but you can penalize somebody if they are coming to
work high and affecting their their their work product. But
also Florida's a right to work state as well, So
(35:42):
there's a lot of nuances to this, not only in
the criminal laws side, but on the civil side and
employment side, the recreational enjoyment side.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
That being able to.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
In the in the commercialization of cannabises Florida that they
our listeners need to be aware of.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Yeah. But but the bottom line is is illegal to
smoke recreational marijuana and Florida, I mean bottom line. So
if you come to Florida with your weed, you can
you can be a residence to jail. Oh yeah, that's
the bottom line.
Speaker 5 (36:18):
On that one.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
And and that's and and and that's the part I
also like as far as bringing in another a license
from another state, I wasn't and I think David just
answered that that there is not reciprocity, right if somebody
bought in a Georgia license or another state, Okay, And
so if it's not reciprocity, then yeah, even if you
have your license, then you can you can be charged
with it. And I think a big reason for that
(36:43):
right now why they don't have reciprocity because then they
would have to have, like this a database that covers
the whole country at that point. Right now, they have
the Florida database so that they can look it up
and see, you know, and look up all those things
just to see if the persons licenses is still updated,
if when they got the prescription and all those things.
(37:05):
So that could be a reason why it's not.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
Any kind of reciprocity right now.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
So so yeah, so if you if you do come
into state, don't don't go to the beach thinking you
could just walk walk down the beach smoke of marijuana.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Yeah, And we have a lot of people, I'm sorry,
we have a lot of people that are actually commenting here.
I want to bring up this comment from Compassionate Alternative
Care saying seasonal residents with proof of residency? Can you
all bring that up? Team? So she said here she said,
seasonal residents with proof of residency are eligible for a
Florida Medical Marijuana card. Otherwise we don't offer any reciprocity.
(37:42):
So I wanted to bring that up just to provide.
We have some other folks in the in the industry
that are watching. So thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
Yeah, so yeah, so yeah so she yeah, So she
answered that question as far as how it works, if
you come.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
In, David, did you want to add anything. I'm sorry
I cut you off a little bit earlier.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
No, I think that when I when clients hire me,
one of the biggest things that I say to them
is if you're not willing, if you're not willing to
work in the gray, this is not the industry for you.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
It's mild West.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
And now we've gotten past some of like the organ
trail portion of it, right.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
But people are still.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Being affected and not number one thing is in criminal laws,
like not knowing the laws, not an excuse like you
can if you don't know the laws or you you'll
you'll be.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Penalized in something.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
But on the commercial side as well, on the commercial side,
there are a lot of people pushing the limits as
to what is or is presumed to be legal. So
things that have a little more than point zero three
thc in it, right, delt denin in it.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
I've seen folks push the limit.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
I've seen mobile cannabis, especially down here in South Florida,
and some folks go this Saint Himp, this is we
and people can tell the difference. And then there are people.
I have clients that come in and say, I want
to sell, we want to sell we out of my
(39:24):
shop or my dispensary or online or this, can I
do it? I know these guys over here are doing it.
How are they doing Just because you see someone else
doing it doesn't mean it's legal.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
I'm going to say that again.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Just because you see someone else doing it doesn't mean
it's legal. So again, federally it is illegal. And you
test your luck, especially in the commercial side, if you
are selling it and you aren't following the regulations that
are laid out.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
As the Partment of Agriculture.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Yeah, So closing thoughts and talking on this topic, just
making sure that people understand Florida's laws when it comes
to medical and recreational marijuana.
Speaker 4 (40:09):
Well, first, I want to thank you for having me
on the show and having this conversation, because I do
think it's important. I want people to understand. You know,
one if and I tell my clients this all the time,
if you're going to smoke weed, go get a prescription.
Go to a doctor, and the reasons why they can
(40:35):
prescribe it. It's a long list of things that are there.
So go have that conversation, Go get your license, because
if you do not, and if you are caught with marijuana,
it's still a crime. It's less than twenty grams as
a misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year.
You can get on probation. You got to hire an attorney,
you gotta pay court fees, and even if it's diverted,
(40:57):
it's still a hassle. More than more than two twenty
grams is a felony. And so that means that if
you got an ounce of marijuana, then that's a felony
and that's up to five.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
Years in prison.
Speaker 4 (41:09):
Again, it can be probation even if it gets diverted,
you still got to do a lot of stuff. And
even people I get people to say, I'm gonna just
sell marijuana because they don't care about marijuana, and I'm
not gonna get that much time. I just had a
guy that got ten years in federal court for selling
marijuana because of how much he was selling. But if
(41:31):
it's traffic in marijuana, if it's more than twenty five
pounds in marijuana, it's a three year mandatory minimum for
traffic in marijuana. And it's trafficking doesn't mean that you're
taking it across state lines or that you're traveling with it.
Speaker 5 (41:45):
It's just the weight of it.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
So if you have twenty five pounds in marijuana, then
that could be three years mandatory also, and to go
back to the regular felony.
Speaker 5 (41:56):
It's not just that. So it's less.
Speaker 4 (41:59):
Than twenty grounds more than twenty grounds, and then it
also could be possession with the tend to sell. So
if you have some people keep different types of marijuana
because they got all kinds of types now types of marijuana.
But if you have say you don't want to mix
your cush with your og or whatever it is, I
know there's a bunch of different names. But if you
keep them in different bags because you don't want to
(42:21):
mix them, or different jars because you don't want to
mix them, law enforcement can say that you haven't packaged
in a way for intent to sell, and so it
could be less than twenty grounds, but it's because it's
in separate bags and separate jars. Then they could say
that that's probably also possession with the tend to sell,
which makes it a felony. Don't you dare be by church?
Don't you dare to be by school? Because that enhances
(42:43):
it even more. So say all that to say that
it's still illegal. There are legal ways to consume it.
If you do be to consume, there are legal ways
to purchase it. Go that route, so you don't have
to come see me, David.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
So, I love what Nutava said because a lot of
times our conversations, especially within our community, surround the legal
or illegal use of it or possession of it, and
that legal or illegal is a criminal designation. What I
(43:20):
want to discuss is the civil portion. I personally think
that cannabis is going to be the biggest boon for
the South period. End of story. This is a commercial industry.
This is now regulated. A lot of folks talk about crypto,
and crypto is good, right, the crypto not regulated. The
(43:41):
only really big one is like bitcoin and bitcoins, like
out of here.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
It's like one hundred thousand dollars per coin.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
It's on the stock exchange, and it's extremely faltal, extremely fluctuating.
And the irs, the federal government and all these different
other numerical entities, excuse me, alphabet boys in the in
the federal government are still trying to figure out what's
going on with it.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
But cannabis.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
Cannabis has clear lines and regulations in every state is
doing what they're going to do. This will be legal
at some point. Now, I'm gonna give a couple of
quick points because I know we got to go number
one in Florida. To be in the cannabis industry, you're
going to need sixty million dollars to show the state
government that you can even be a part of a
(44:32):
vertically integrated company or own a vertically integrated company to
get these to obtain a license to commercialize it. But
there are different parts of the cannabis industry that just
don't have the license, right, So I was a part
of the Pickford license, which is what call the Black license, right,
(44:53):
which was one of the last licenses that was afforded
in Florida. My team was a part of the team
that got the license for the black Farmer due to
a federal farm bill that was discriminatory against black folks
in the state of Florida.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
So it's a very limited amount of people that can
get it.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
But these farmers got it and they're millionaires now frankly
based on that. But there are other parts of the
industry that have a lower threshold of getting into that
you can now commercialize and make money. That's also on
the non Delta nine sides or the hemp side. But
(45:36):
also don't be afraid to go to other states and
start companies. As I said, Violin's aren't the only company
that I represent. Also represent a company called in Florida
called The Plug The Plug Delivery. This company is owned
by a number of athletes who who are engaging in
the commercialization of cannabis in the industry, but through delivery,
(46:01):
so they're going too. They're the they're the door dash
of CBD and smoke shops. There's the when it becomes legal, uh,
they will be recreational legal.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
They're gonna be first of mine.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
This is there in the medical space, is that right?
This is medical?
Speaker 2 (46:17):
No, no, no, they're doing it at smoke shops commercially. So
if you want to if you want to get HEMP
or CBD.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
Okay, so this is this is yes.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
And in that home and you need some pre or
some some paper or whatever, you go on the phone,
just like Doordas will come and they'll drop it off
and they'll even seven eleven and get your other stuff.
But the reason why I bring that up is because
when it becomes recreationally illegal and you can commoriize it,
(46:48):
who's going to already have the database to go out
there and then position themselves in the market as first
to go pick it up from that smoke shop that
will have it, or if you own a smoke shop
like a Bernies or another company that we represent called
World smoke Evade, where they're gonna be the first licenses
(47:11):
because they are establishments and they're already established. So when
it comes in the next three and a half years,
when it's up for election again or we're up for
election again, and it's gonna be on the ballot.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
We are already put in place.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
You do not set your business up at the time
it becomes legal. You set your business up in anticipation
for the legality.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
We're talking about transportation trucking.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Don't believe that Tesla's gonna have trucks going all over
the place unmanned and delivering stuff. No, there's gonna be
waste that's gonna need to be taken care of. So
you become like a waste manager. Right, it's gonna be
to be on the top of the floor to the
bottom of Florida. You need to really think and innovate
inn id eight as to how to enter the industry,
(48:02):
even though the industry currently doesn't exist. I agree with Mutaki.
Do not step outside the minds as it relates to
the criminal side, but the civil side, but the commercial side.
We as a community need to start thinking about these things,
and especially economics or money or securities, which is money
(48:24):
as the new civil rights fight in conjunction with criminal
don't stay away from that, but the new civil rights
fight that will take us to the next point in
our evolution as Black Americans and brown Americans in this state,
in the state to ensure that we not only have
a place politically, we have a place socially, and that
(48:45):
we have to increase our community's foundation so that we
can affect upwards as we grow.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
Okay, well, David, thank you for those closing comments. And
it sounds like that it can be a whole show
by itself, so thank you so. Attorney Akbarn Attorney Kennedy,
thank you both for being guests on this Conversations on
Cannabi's Virtual Form, brought to you by the Medical Marijuana
Education and Research Initiative at Florida and M University. Thank
you to everyone watching this program. Tell us what you
(49:17):
think about the forum by completing the survey posted in
the comment boxes on Mary's social media pages. If you
complete the survey, your name will be entered into a
drawing in July twenty twenty five to win a one
hundred dollars gift card provided by one of Mary's partners.
We also want to encourage you to go to the
Florida Department of Health Office of Medical Marijuana Use website
(49:39):
to learn how to obtain a legal medical marijuana card
in the state of Florida. We also encourage you to
go to Florida and Muniversity's Mary website to learn more
about this initiative, it's educational programs, and about cannabis use
in Florida. Thanks everyone, saveil's and opinions of our invited
(50:00):
guests are not necessarily the views and opinions of Florida
Agricultural and Mechanical University or the Medical Marijuana Education and
Research Initiative
From the WA and M Studio on the campus of
Florida A and M University.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is Mary Forum Radio, a weekly conversation on the
education and research of the medical marijuana being conducted to
at Bammunion.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Hi, I'm HEIGHTI outway. This Conversations on Cannabis Virtual form
brought to you by the Medical Marijuana Education and Research
Initiative at Florida and M University. In this conversation, we're
talking about Florida and federal cannabis laws and the consequences
if you break them. So let's talk and learn about
(00:33):
this subject with our guests. Mutaki Akbar is an experienced
trial attorney and the founder of Akbar Thomas Law Firm,
focusing primarily on criminal defense. He earns his Juris Doctor
from the University of Miami School of Law and has
handled over one hundred and fifty trials throughout the state
of Florida. He has defended clients in a wide range
(00:56):
of criminal cases, from traffic offenses to serious violent felonies.
Our other guest is David Kennedy, the founder and senior
partner of Kennedy and Associates, a law firm based in
South Florida, specializing in cannabis law, corporate litigation, and real estate.
He previously served as an assistant state attorney in Broward County,
(01:20):
where he prosecuted complex criminal cases involving rico, firearms, and
constitutional issues. Thank you both for participating in this form.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Thanks for having me, Thank you having.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Us, Thank you to everyone watching. Please share the link
to this form on your social media channels so others
can learn about this topic. We also want you to
tell us what you think about this form by completing
the survey that'll be posted on Mary's social media pages.
Your name will be entered into a drawing in July
twenty twenty five to win a one hundred dollars gift
(01:55):
card provided by one of Mary's partners. Now let's start
this conversation on cannabis. So let's start off by giving
some context here. David, can you provide an overview of
Florida's cannabis laws, both legal and illicit use.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, that is a very broad question, Heidi, so I
will keep the answer broad. So currently, as of twenty fifteen,
Florida is a medical marijuana state, meaning that individuals in
the state who have the appropriate credentials in medical conditions
(02:36):
are able to obtain a license. In twenty twenty, excuse me.
Twenty twenty to twenty twenty four, excuse me, we voted
on a constitutional resolution to go recreational or adult use,
which is called in many states. It failed. I believe
(02:56):
it failed. We needed sixty percent. I think it got
fifty seven percent. More likely than we'll be back on
the ballot during the presidential election or that election cycle
in approximately three years, and then we'll have an additional
opportunity to vote that into our constitution as being a
(03:16):
right of the citizenry to possess and consume recreationally commercially cannabis.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
And talking to you when in providing an additional context
to our laws because they are pretty to me, I
feel like they're straightforward. But to the person at home, well,
anything you want.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
To answer to that, no, I mean, the only thing
I think I will add is what sometimes confusing is
this hold the CBD in the help and because they're
so closely related to cannabis, it's just it's a reduced
amount of THAC that's in it. But that's something that
is legal, that's something that you can buy at smoke
(04:00):
shop or different, and you'll see a lot of advertisements
and a lot of people are confused because they go
in too convenience stores and see these jars that look
like cannabis flowers that's on sale at the convenience store,
but that's actually CBD or help.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, And are there any other myths or misunderstandings that
people have about cannabis laws that you've seen or heard
in your in your practices.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So I will expand on when we talk also in
answering your question, so that I call it the cannabis industry,
right because everything comes from the flower being a former
prosecutor and also criminal defense a turney now in conjunction
with what we do on the corporate side for our
corporate clients in drug trafficking, when they get into these issues,
(04:45):
we're really dealing with what Mutaki knows and the citizen
our listeners you know to be.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Delta nine.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So that strand, Delta nine is the strand that is
considered to be illegal. All these other things, Delta eight,
Delta send, CBD, CBG THHCA, all these exotic things are
actually legal. How do they become legal? It's federally legal?
How is it federally legal. It came out of twenty
(05:16):
seventeen twenty eighteen farm bill. That farm bill is passed
by again the federal government, that's state government. State government's
the government that allow for medical marijuana in particular state
to pass. Which goes back to my answer from the
first question as relates to versus recreational super talking hit
the nail on the head when he said going to
(05:38):
smoke shops and seeing these things that are in bottles
and having even similar titles like ooji, cush or whatever
it may be. It's accurate. However, hemp, which is what's
in a farm bill. Hemp, which is I mean zero
point three is what the farm bill speaks to. The
(05:59):
zero THC delta nine in it is what makes it
legal versus illegal. Now, Florida and other states including Texas
have engaged in various litigation. It as relates to weight
of it versus actual of the of the entirety of
(06:19):
the plant itself, any particular litigation versus how much a
lab tests within that particular flower.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Yeah, and and and I think other when you say
myths or things that kind of confuses the community. Is
a lot of people think that marijuana is legal. You know,
they know that it's medical. I mean, so they hear
the debate but not really engaged. So I have had
people to say.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Well, isn't it legal now?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
There were times there was a period of time, like
especially right you know, like Dave said, right after that
farm bill passed, where there was confusion as to whether
law enforcement can distinguish between actual marijuana and CBDA HIMP
because they didn't have the test at the time. So
(07:13):
a lot of law enforcement agencies and state attorney's offices
were not charging for marijuana because they couldn't test it
to determine the difference between the two.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
That has changed now now that they do have the test.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
You still can get charged for it now, so you
just kind of make people aware of that as well.
Another thing that that I've seen is that people have
gotten their medical marijuana license and they think that they're
okay that they can That means that they can just
have marijuana, they can buy it off. They still get
(07:44):
street marijuana. They can and they'll get a pass because
they have that license.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
That's not true. You know.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
You the database not only shows that you have a license,
but it also shows when the last time.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
You feel your prescription.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Let you feel just prescription for how often you get
your prescription field?
Speaker 5 (08:06):
And so law enforcement.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Will look to see when was if you ever got
a prescription field, and if you did, when was the
last time you got a field? And they also look
at the package and how it's packaged and everything as
well to determine whether you have legal medical marijuana if
you have your license, or whether you still have street marijuana,
which is not.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
Legal even if you do have your license.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
So I do want people to be careful of that
as well.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Right, And can you talk a little bit about the
federal laws when it comes to all forms of cannabis,
because you can't even take medical marijuana. I mean, what
I've learned in my work with Mary is that you
are safer without having you know, any issues if you
do it in your home, but you can't take it
at a school, you can't take it on federal property.
(08:51):
Can you talk a little bit about the federal laws
when it comes to cannabis, all forms of cannabis.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
It's illegal.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
All forms of cannabis, it's illegal in federal law. You know,
the medical kind of like cars kind of cars out
an exception for it is obviously not being enforced. But
you know, for example, I have I represent people in
federal court, and so if they're on federal probation, they
cannot smoke even medical marijuana because it's still a federal
(09:21):
offense to have marijuana. On the other side of that,
in state court, if I have a client that's on
state probation, if they have their medical marijuana license, they
they can't get in trouble for testing positive for smoking
marijuana because they have their medical marijuana license, so it
gives them a pass. So like so whenever you're dealing
(09:42):
with both systems, like when you're dealing with the federal system,
it's still illegal.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
It's still a schedule.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I keep confusing the schedule, but I'm sure yes.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
So so little background on this because I think it's important.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
So prior to the nineteen sixties, cannabis.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Marijuana was legal, but President Nixon came in as a
part of his campaign and having a political background as well.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I used to work in the White House.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I used to work in the US Senate for President Obama,
President excuse me, and a Senator rolland Burris, and also
worked in Florida's Policy and Budget Committee.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Budget office for now.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Senator Rick Scott was governor at the time. That's important
because everything in context gives you where we are currently
at right now. So, prior to the nineteen sixties, it
was legal. Nineteen sixties ahead for political reasons, Nixon came
in and created the schedules, the schedules Schedule one to
(10:50):
Schedule five, Schedule one being the highest, Schedule five being
the lowest. Schedule five meaning that there are acceptable medical
uses of the particular drugs. Schedule one saying that there
is no acceptable medical use of this drug and you
actually need to.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Get federal.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Clearances to not only hold it, research it, and only
certain people can use it or even inject it. And
we're talking about things like heroin are below, what cannabis
is on a Schedule one, fitting all even is on
a scheduled one. Obviously they're not the same things, know that.
(11:32):
At this time, so it was used as a political
prop to then scare away a reefer madness, which they
were associating with. Unfortunately, as you know this nineteen sixties
right the highled civil rights movement. So they would show
pictures of dark skinned black people like raping or roping
(11:54):
white women and wow viirables. So it helped individuals politically
get into office, not only in the South but throughout
the country. This these myths, as we spoke about, grew
even as recently as.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Probably a decade ago.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
My mother was like, I'll never take cannabis in my life,
but my now is a it's somewhat of an advocate
of the non delta nying type because she kids who
in a nonprofit who use these cannabis subsets or cannabis.
(12:38):
I would even say in I forget what the the diseases,
I'll think about it. Ta bos has it from tlc uh.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
So these are qualify These are qualifying conditions you're saying
or they're using this.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Some of these are qualifying conditions not only in Florida,
but and why sop of it federally though different states
have different things because Mutaki is one hundred percent correct,
it's illegal period in the story, federally illegal. How different
presidents in different administrations it is how they engage in
(13:20):
the execution, because again the executive branch executes the laws.
Right acution of these laws as it relates to going
into states and doing particular things, because they're no longer
just burning up the large cannabis grows in California to
(13:40):
due back in the nineties and the early two thousands.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah. Wow, that's interesting, went TALKI did you want to
add on to that? That was pretty loaded?
Speaker 5 (13:48):
No, no, a load and background.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Yes, very interesting. So I want to ask, you know,
I really appreciate it when you all were sharing real
life stories of what could happen if someone is caught
with cannabis. They're caught in their car, if they're caught
on school property, so cant and even in the workplace.
You know, we have that as well. Can we talk
(14:13):
a little bit about the what you all have experienced
where people may have used their medical cannabis and didn't
even know that they couldn't use it. I mean, because
we just talked about people just don't know enough. So
I want to make sure that we make it clear
to those listening and watching, here's what you can and
can't do.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
I think most of the restrictions, like dealing with the
medical marijuana is just where you get spoke it. So
you have some people, you know, for example, like in
public houses that can't necessarily smoke marijuana. Can't they're not
allowed to smoke and they need their medical you know,
their their medicine, so they might go out in their car.
(14:54):
So that could call so concern even if you have
your license to be smoking like in public anywhere. So
the restriction from my understanding for the medical marijuana is
like you can do it within your home, but you
can't do it like in the public space or in
the public area.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
So and that I think that's mainly towards the smoking
part of it.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
But as far as the possession part of it, if
you have your license, if it's like in a canister
like for like properly packaged, then I don't believe like
simply possessing what's prescribed to you will cause you any trouble.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Right, So that means if they go to the dispensary,
dispisery gives them a product in a particular packaging, do
not remove it from that packaging.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
I would keep it in that packaging.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, yeah, David, did you want to add on to.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
That, Uh? Yes, the.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So I deal with a lot of so I represent
cannabis companies in a very nuanced way. So, for instance,
I represent a company called as their lead council. Viola
viola is a cannabis company started by Al Harrington, former
NBA player played for the Indiana Pacers in New York.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Next he.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
It's from New Jersey. New Jersey and New York laws
are different Florida laws. However, Viola has a.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Contract with the Flowery.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
The Flowery is one of the twenty somethings companies in
Florida who have a license to sell medical marijuana.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Right, go get Viola from the Flowery.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
They have like two or three locations Miami, Jacksonville, I
think another one in now Florida. So possessing it once
you get it, you can possess it. You could take
it out of the store, right, And it's going to
have a package, So it can even be like the
Iverson package, right, because they sell something Iverson in two
(17:00):
thousand and one with the collaboration with Alan Iverson and
then their own Viola og cush or whatever else.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
The stuff that they do.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
So it's going to come in that package, but it's
also going to come in a larger package that is
going to have a white seal that says cannabis on
it and then they can pull it out.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Now, if you are.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Institutional commercial establishment, this is why bring it up from
the business perspective. If you go to a coffee shop,
for instance, and the coffee shop allows you to smoke
cannabis there, you can't do it, which goes point you're
not out in the open just doing it all crazy, right.
Addition to that, you can't smoke it in your car.
(17:47):
If your car smells like weed, they are going to
stop you. Now we're talking and I, prior to hopping
on this hop you on the live had a brief
conversation too, because back when I was a prospers, when
they first started Florida Highway Highway Patrol in the AG's
(18:08):
office came out with a statewide statement saying that they're
going to start engaging what's called smell plus, meaning that
they won't be probable cause just because there was smell
in your car, or there was because of the changing
marijuana laws. So we're talking about twenty nineteen when this
(18:29):
came out and was propound that was by the AG's
office at that point, though you needed something else to
show that. Now, the evolution of that in the next
in the last four or five years has been really
law enforces could do whatever they want to do. Now
you have to prove that in court one way or
(18:50):
another if it's legal to do what's happening or not.
But again, but statewide it's excuse me, federally it's illegal.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
State wide's legal. Little means contexts, yes, And.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
I think the transit it has been a transition pretty
much like getting more liberal towards like marijuana charging it,
like he said, searches based off the smell. It's going
back more conservative now and dealing with it. And you know,
I see a lot of police reports where the problem
cause to search the car starts from the smell of marijuana.
(19:29):
And and honestly, law enforcement is not looking for marijuana.
They're not looking for people that would a joint to
lock them up, and they're not even looking for people
with like small personal use of marijuana.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
To like to create this big case.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
But they used the smell of marijuana in order to
search a vehicle in order to look for bigger and
those bigger things than usually like guns, of the drugs,
anything that's showing that somebody is participating in the selle
of marijuana. But the catalyst for that search is typically
the spell of marijuana. I'm seeing more now, like they're
(20:07):
saying that they smell like cathodones, which is another type
of drugs, in order to be the catalyst for that search.
But it's it's it's an advantage for a law enforcement
to be able to keep that smell test in order
to initiate a search.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Does this involve jokes sniffing dogs?
Speaker 4 (20:26):
It can, it can also, And just to give some background,
just so people can have an idea what we're talking
about when we're talking about searches of vehicles, they're like
pretty much like three ways that a law enforcement officer
can search a few. One is is an arrest obviously,
and it can be a search incident to arrest as
long as there they can show that there is evidence
(20:49):
of a crime, I mean evidence of whatever you're being
arrested for. So, for an example, if they're arresting you
for the possession of marijuana, they can search your car
as a result to see if there's more marijuana in
your car. But if they're arresting you for like driving
on a suspended license, they can't search your car because
it wouldn't be evidence of you driving under suspended license.
Speaker 5 (21:10):
To do that.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Another way they can search your car is what we
call like an inventory search. Is they're about to toll
your car, they can do an inventory search of the vehicle.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
So I guess it's four ways. The third way is.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Of course, if you give them consent to search your car,
then they can search your car at that point. The
last one is what we're talking about is probable cause.
So if they have probable calls that evidence of a
crime is in your vehicle, then they can search your
car at that point. So when it comes down to marijuana,
the courts have said that the smell of marijuana is
(21:42):
probable cause that there could be marijuana in your vehicle,
and so that gives officers that the right to search
a vehicle just based off the planes what they call
the plane.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Smell doctrine of marijuana.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
The other in addition to that, so not only can
the officer have a plane smele, a canine or dogs
a drug stiff and dog if they alert, if they're
trained to alert on marijuana, and if they alert on
that car for marijuana or any other drug, then that
gives officers proba call to search a buil quite that
(22:16):
point as well.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah, so medical cannabis and recreational cannabis.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Spelled correct CBD in Delta A everything else.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
Yeah, Yeah, so what happens to that that legal medical
marijuana patients right in that situation.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
So that that has been a controversy, and like there
at least there was at least one court in Florida
in the Fifth Circuit down I think in Daytona that
actually ruled that it wasn't enough for a dog to
for a drug sniffing dog to have It wasn't enough
probable cause just to get an alert because you have
legal Mariquejana, you have other smells that smells like like,
(23:05):
you know, actual marijuana, and so that just said that
it was not probable cause. The Florida Supreme Court then
came and reversed that and said that it is probable cause,
and they said that it is probably cause. One reason
is because it's still illegal as a federal crime. And
so just because the state might not be investigating it
as a state crime, it could still be illegal as
(23:28):
a federal crime. So that still gives officers PROBA calls
at searching.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
So right now.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
It's still provo calls based off the plane smell and
for a drug sniffing dog to alert on a car,
but law enforcement officers have stopped training dogs to alert
for marijuana because they are concerned that with the shift
in the laws, those dogs would be obsolete if they
(23:55):
trained to sniff marijuana.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
But did you want to add anything to that?
Speaker 1 (24:02):
No, I think JOCKI hit it on the head.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Yeah, yeah, So I want to shift gears and talk
about youth cannabis consumption. We kind of touched on a
little bit earlier. But does the law treat cases involving
youth differently from those involving adults when it comes to cannabis.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
It's very interesting. So being a prosecutor, former prosecutor down
in South Florida and also working in the juvenile justice unit,
I would say, no, they don't treat them differently. One
(24:40):
of the things that kept me in the prosecutor's office
at the time when I was a prosecutor was I
saw I was only planning on being prosecutor for like
a year maybe two max, even though we're going to
do it with them. But the thing that kept me
there is because I kept seeing our youth, black youth
(25:01):
in particular, chain from hands to feet with the chain
in between walking through the hallways, and I do then
cattle call of black kids coming into a courtroom, and
the majority of them would come into the courtroom with
small pieces of cannabis or a paraphernalia or something simple
(25:23):
as a grand The stealing a cell phone or something
like that didn't make me sensitly, and then when I
became a prosecutor for adult cases, I saw very similar things. Nowadays,
I think that they're a little more hard on juveniles
than adults because they understand that if it's not here now,
(25:50):
it will eventually come and it is going to be legal.
So in South Florida, we have community court right the
Broward County, we have community court which is is held
by a wonderful judge down here, and she deals with
individuals who are first time or sect down defenders who
(26:11):
didn't have possession of marijuana, or they have cases, or
they had old drug cases or something like that, and
they give them community service, educate them, and then their
record expunge. However, on the other side, I've seen judges
(26:31):
be pretty heavy handed with our youth, in particular because
studies have shown that it affects their brains, their youthful brains,
and they impart that on them. And there is research
as it relates to recidivism that they some judges want
(26:53):
to keep out of systems. Some judges think that being
hard on them in the first part, on the first
and will prevent them from being in this system. And
there's some competing research research as it relates to that.
But what I've observed, especially in the last couple of years,
is that they're pretty hard on our youth and they
pulled back of the adults because they see the winds changing.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Talking so up here in Beion County they have civil
cization program. They have like drug court and juvenile court.
So I do see especially the first time offenders, I
think is what David referring to as well, a lot
of the first time offenders like kind of get diverted
out first time officiers for possession of marijuana gets diverted
(27:40):
out of court subsequently offenses. I think they do try
to address it a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
On it.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
One of the.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Concerns that our State Attorney's Office has had because there
was a time and I think twenty seventeen to you know,
during the time where these ships has been.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
Going on, that they were.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Being you know, marijuana cases were less severe, like everybody
was getting a diversion. Nobody was going to jail, even
for felony amounts, and so that shifted back to we
need to be harder on these cases because what they
found out was that a lot of the armed robbery cases,
(28:26):
home invasion cases, a lot of them led to murder
cases were people that were robbing the marijuana guy. Not
the guy that's selling cocaine, not the guy that's selling fittol,
but it was the guy who was selling marijuana.
Speaker 5 (28:41):
It would be like a robbery or of marijuana selling.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
So their theory was that, Okay, we need to get
harder on cases involved in marijuana. We need to like
do something about this demand because maybe that will kind
of you know, temper down the violent crime because they
all that they was directly related. So so they started,
you know, like I said, like just being a little
bit harder on them after they you know, after that
(29:07):
that shift of like less kind of soften up a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
I think that leads into also the broken glass theory,
which is which was back in what I forget when
he was the mayor of uh New York, but Rudy Giuliani.
When Rudy Giuliani came in, he had the broken glass theory.
He kind of used that to say that if you
(29:32):
can smell marijuana, if you are sitting on the curb.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
And you're littering, or you're.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Like small crimes, right, small crimes bring upon big crimes,
And kind of what Utaki is saying is that these
smaller crimes mean I've seen this, saw this in the
juvenal courting and saw some cases regarding this where young
kids were selling marijuana to adults, right, and then in
(30:02):
doing that, the adults are like, y'all, are kids anybody
paying you any money for any of this stuff? And
then they would pull out a gun and put it
to their head and say you're gonna pay us for this,
and it's like, I'm not paying. Then they pull the trigger.
They got a murder. This is just a drug deal
gone wrong right over some cannabis. So if you're not
cutting down on these smaller crimes, or even which will
(30:24):
never be illegal, which is or never be legal, which
is an establishment having cannabis and alcohol at the same time,
it's not likely to be legal to sell both of
them or consume both of them at the same time
because they're getting cross faded or they're getting cross they're
(30:45):
getting high and the one is enhancing the others high.
So cracking down as we are learning because again Schedule
one drug, they could never research it. I've sat with
doctors that have said, we were unable to even.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Research this drug.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
This is as recently as twenty twenty two, and they're
still they're still.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Getting to know it.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Which is also why in the Florida statutes, sam you
is slated or mandated to research and do things like
this for the social portion. But UF actually at this
moment is researching the plan. So Florida has the mandate
(31:32):
from the state to research the plant per statue. So
not only are we learning more about it, law enforcement
is shifting their tax their tactics as well because of
the crime.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Coming out of it.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
And then politicians are implementing different strategies to offset certain things.
And if you as you saw in Florida, there was
a big gap there police officers coming on in two
thousand floor saying we want this because we can regulate
it recreationals where it's that the then you had also
had a police officers saying that you already smell weed
on the street. Do you want this to be California.
(32:07):
Every corner you turn, do you want there to be
smell weed? And then have our kids do it? This
is a moral issue. So the tides are shifting, and
the tides are turning, and this is going to affect
our political our law enforcement, as well as our commercial
use of cannabis.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Mataki, did you want to add anything to that?
Speaker 5 (32:30):
No, I think it's covered, okay.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
I wanted to kind of wrap up with a question
because Florida is a destination and we have people coming
into and stay from all over, So can we talk
about the laws when it comes to bringing their cannabis
into Florida?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
So that's very interesting and I definitely want to know
Mutaki's perspective on this, especially since he is engaging in
criminal law of pretty vigorous So Florida is typically pretty
sealed off right, And when I say that, and one
(33:11):
of the examples I always bring up is one is
conservative to as lawyers, we can we don't have reciprocity
with other states. I mean that when you come here,
you have to take the bar, and when you go sales,
you gotta take the bar too. But when it comes
to cannabis, at the beginning, you could only use your
license in the state in which you obtain the license,
(33:31):
right But since then they have not only lacked on
the laws, but they've actually propounded laws saying that if
you have a valid license, then you can obtain cannabis
in those shops.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
And some of the shops have been engaging in that
as well.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
So you and then there are people that travel in
and out of the state with cannabis that that is illegal.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Let me be very clear.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
You cannot ship cannabis from one state to the next
like that is illegal. You cannot do it. Bring your
pain even though you have a license. You are testing.
You are stress testing the federal system and the TSA
by having any of your stuff in your bag. And
I wouldn't instiare doing it. But the appropriate and legal
(34:18):
consumption of cannabis while in Florida as a destination is appropriate.
But the question becomes if I am a non license
holder or a license holder of another state and I
am able to obtain in a legal way cannabis here
(34:40):
in Florida, am I able to either one from a
recreational perspective, enjoy it, or two from a medical perspective,
take my medicine while I'm in Florida. So that's where
the rub comes comes into play too. And you asked
the unemployment earlier, it's the same thing.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Now.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Laws have federal laws as well as state laws have
been propounded as it relates to uh, the use of
medical marijuana and firing somebody because they have their medical
marijuana license, we can't come right, but there needs to
(35:21):
be regulations surrounding that. And there are regulations saying that
you can't fire somebody just because they have their license,
but you can penalize somebody if they are coming to
work high and affecting their their their work product. But
also Florida's a right to work state as well, So
(35:42):
there's a lot of nuances to this, not only in
the criminal laws side, but on the civil side and
employment side, the recreational enjoyment side.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
That being able to.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
In the in the commercialization of cannabises Florida that they
our listeners need to be aware of.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Yeah. But but the bottom line is is illegal to
smoke recreational marijuana and Florida, I mean bottom line. So
if you come to Florida with your weed, you can
you can be a residence to jail. Oh yeah, that's
the bottom line.
Speaker 5 (36:18):
On that one.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
And and that's and and and that's the part I
also like as far as bringing in another a license
from another state, I wasn't and I think David just
answered that that there is not reciprocity, right if somebody
bought in a Georgia license or another state, Okay, And
so if it's not reciprocity, then yeah, even if you
have your license, then you can you can be charged
with it. And I think a big reason for that
(36:43):
right now why they don't have reciprocity because then they
would have to have, like this a database that covers
the whole country at that point. Right now, they have
the Florida database so that they can look it up
and see, you know, and look up all those things
just to see if the persons licenses is still updated,
if when they got the prescription and all those things.
(37:05):
So that could be a reason why it's not.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
Any kind of reciprocity right now.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
So so yeah, so if you if you do come
into state, don't don't go to the beach thinking you
could just walk walk down the beach smoke of marijuana.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Yeah, And we have a lot of people, I'm sorry,
we have a lot of people that are actually commenting here.
I want to bring up this comment from Compassionate Alternative
Care saying seasonal residents with proof of residency? Can you
all bring that up? Team? So she said here she said,
seasonal residents with proof of residency are eligible for a
Florida Medical Marijuana card. Otherwise we don't offer any reciprocity.
(37:42):
So I wanted to bring that up just to provide.
We have some other folks in the in the industry
that are watching. So thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
Yeah, so yeah, so yeah so she yeah, So she
answered that question as far as how it works, if
you come.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
In, David, did you want to add anything. I'm sorry
I cut you off a little bit earlier.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
No, I think that when I when clients hire me,
one of the biggest things that I say to them
is if you're not willing, if you're not willing to
work in the gray, this is not the industry for you.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
It's mild West.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
And now we've gotten past some of like the organ
trail portion of it, right.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
But people are still.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Being affected and not number one thing is in criminal laws,
like not knowing the laws, not an excuse like you
can if you don't know the laws or you you'll
you'll be.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Penalized in something.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
But on the commercial side as well, on the commercial side,
there are a lot of people pushing the limits as
to what is or is presumed to be legal. So
things that have a little more than point zero three
thc in it, right, delt denin in it.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
I've seen folks push the limit.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
I've seen mobile cannabis, especially down here in South Florida,
and some folks go this Saint Himp, this is we
and people can tell the difference. And then there are people.
I have clients that come in and say, I want
to sell, we want to sell we out of my
(39:24):
shop or my dispensary or online or this, can I
do it? I know these guys over here are doing it.
How are they doing Just because you see someone else
doing it doesn't mean it's legal.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
I'm going to say that again.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Just because you see someone else doing it doesn't mean
it's legal. So again, federally it is illegal. And you
test your luck, especially in the commercial side, if you
are selling it and you aren't following the regulations that
are laid out.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
As the Partment of Agriculture.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Yeah, So closing thoughts and talking on this topic, just
making sure that people understand Florida's laws when it comes
to medical and recreational marijuana.
Speaker 4 (40:09):
Well, first, I want to thank you for having me
on the show and having this conversation, because I do
think it's important. I want people to understand. You know,
one if and I tell my clients this all the time,
if you're going to smoke weed, go get a prescription.
Go to a doctor, and the reasons why they can
(40:35):
prescribe it. It's a long list of things that are there.
So go have that conversation, Go get your license, because
if you do not, and if you are caught with marijuana,
it's still a crime. It's less than twenty grams as
a misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year.
You can get on probation. You got to hire an attorney,
you gotta pay court fees, and even if it's diverted,
(40:57):
it's still a hassle. More than more than two twenty
grams is a felony. And so that means that if
you got an ounce of marijuana, then that's a felony
and that's up to five.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
Years in prison.
Speaker 4 (41:09):
Again, it can be probation even if it gets diverted,
you still got to do a lot of stuff. And
even people I get people to say, I'm gonna just
sell marijuana because they don't care about marijuana, and I'm
not gonna get that much time. I just had a
guy that got ten years in federal court for selling
marijuana because of how much he was selling. But if
(41:31):
it's traffic in marijuana, if it's more than twenty five
pounds in marijuana, it's a three year mandatory minimum for
traffic in marijuana. And it's trafficking doesn't mean that you're
taking it across state lines or that you're traveling with it.
Speaker 5 (41:45):
It's just the weight of it.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
So if you have twenty five pounds in marijuana, then
that could be three years mandatory also, and to go
back to the regular felony.
Speaker 5 (41:56):
It's not just that. So it's less.
Speaker 4 (41:59):
Than twenty grounds more than twenty grounds, and then it
also could be possession with the tend to sell. So
if you have some people keep different types of marijuana
because they got all kinds of types now types of marijuana.
But if you have say you don't want to mix
your cush with your og or whatever it is, I
know there's a bunch of different names. But if you
keep them in different bags because you don't want to
(42:21):
mix them, or different jars because you don't want to
mix them, law enforcement can say that you haven't packaged
in a way for intent to sell, and so it
could be less than twenty grounds, but it's because it's
in separate bags and separate jars. Then they could say
that that's probably also possession with the tend to sell,
which makes it a felony. Don't you dare be by church?
Don't you dare to be by school? Because that enhances
(42:43):
it even more. So say all that to say that
it's still illegal. There are legal ways to consume it.
If you do be to consume, there are legal ways
to purchase it. Go that route, so you don't have
to come see me, David.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
So, I love what Nutava said because a lot of
times our conversations, especially within our community, surround the legal
or illegal use of it or possession of it, and
that legal or illegal is a criminal designation. What I
(43:20):
want to discuss is the civil portion. I personally think
that cannabis is going to be the biggest boon for
the South period. End of story. This is a commercial industry.
This is now regulated. A lot of folks talk about crypto,
and crypto is good, right, the crypto not regulated. The
(43:41):
only really big one is like bitcoin and bitcoins, like
out of here.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
It's like one hundred thousand dollars per coin.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
It's on the stock exchange, and it's extremely faltal, extremely fluctuating.
And the irs, the federal government and all these different
other numerical entities, excuse me, alphabet boys in the in
the federal government are still trying to figure out what's
going on with it.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
But cannabis.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
Cannabis has clear lines and regulations in every state is
doing what they're going to do. This will be legal
at some point. Now, I'm gonna give a couple of
quick points because I know we got to go number
one in Florida. To be in the cannabis industry, you're
going to need sixty million dollars to show the state
government that you can even be a part of a
(44:32):
vertically integrated company or own a vertically integrated company to
get these to obtain a license to commercialize it. But
there are different parts of the cannabis industry that just
don't have the license, right, So I was a part
of the Pickford license, which is what call the Black license, right,
(44:53):
which was one of the last licenses that was afforded
in Florida. My team was a part of the team
that got the license for the black Farmer due to
a federal farm bill that was discriminatory against black folks
in the state of Florida.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
So it's a very limited amount of people that can
get it.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
But these farmers got it and they're millionaires now frankly
based on that. But there are other parts of the
industry that have a lower threshold of getting into that
you can now commercialize and make money. That's also on
the non Delta nine sides or the hemp side. But
(45:36):
also don't be afraid to go to other states and
start companies. As I said, Violin's aren't the only company
that I represent. Also represent a company called in Florida
called The Plug The Plug Delivery. This company is owned
by a number of athletes who who are engaging in
the commercialization of cannabis in the industry, but through delivery,
(46:01):
so they're going too. They're the they're the door dash
of CBD and smoke shops. There's the when it becomes legal, uh,
they will be recreational legal.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
They're gonna be first of mine.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
This is there in the medical space, is that right?
This is medical?
Speaker 2 (46:17):
No, no, no, they're doing it at smoke shops commercially. So
if you want to if you want to get HEMP
or CBD.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
Okay, so this is this is yes.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
And in that home and you need some pre or
some some paper or whatever, you go on the phone,
just like Doordas will come and they'll drop it off
and they'll even seven eleven and get your other stuff.
But the reason why I bring that up is because
when it becomes recreationally illegal and you can commoriize it,
(46:48):
who's going to already have the database to go out
there and then position themselves in the market as first
to go pick it up from that smoke shop that
will have it, or if you own a smoke shop
like a Bernies or another company that we represent called
World smoke Evade, where they're gonna be the first licenses
(47:11):
because they are establishments and they're already established. So when
it comes in the next three and a half years,
when it's up for election again or we're up for
election again, and it's gonna be on the ballot.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
We are already put in place.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
You do not set your business up at the time
it becomes legal. You set your business up in anticipation
for the legality.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
We're talking about transportation trucking.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Don't believe that Tesla's gonna have trucks going all over
the place unmanned and delivering stuff. No, there's gonna be
waste that's gonna need to be taken care of. So
you become like a waste manager. Right, it's gonna be
to be on the top of the floor to the
bottom of Florida. You need to really think and innovate
inn id eight as to how to enter the industry,
(48:02):
even though the industry currently doesn't exist. I agree with Mutaki.
Do not step outside the minds as it relates to
the criminal side, but the civil side, but the commercial side.
We as a community need to start thinking about these things,
and especially economics or money or securities, which is money
(48:24):
as the new civil rights fight in conjunction with criminal
don't stay away from that, but the new civil rights
fight that will take us to the next point in
our evolution as Black Americans and brown Americans in this state,
in the state to ensure that we not only have
a place politically, we have a place socially, and that
(48:45):
we have to increase our community's foundation so that we
can affect upwards as we grow.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
Okay, well, David, thank you for those closing comments. And
it sounds like that it can be a whole show
by itself, so thank you so. Attorney Akbarn Attorney Kennedy,
thank you both for being guests on this Conversations on
Cannabi's Virtual Form, brought to you by the Medical Marijuana
Education and Research Initiative at Florida and M University. Thank
you to everyone watching this program. Tell us what you
(49:17):
think about the forum by completing the survey posted in
the comment boxes on Mary's social media pages. If you
complete the survey, your name will be entered into a
drawing in July twenty twenty five to win a one
hundred dollars gift card provided by one of Mary's partners.
We also want to encourage you to go to the
Florida Department of Health Office of Medical Marijuana Use website
(49:39):
to learn how to obtain a legal medical marijuana card
in the state of Florida. We also encourage you to
go to Florida and Muniversity's Mary website to learn more
about this initiative, it's educational programs, and about cannabis use
in Florida. Thanks everyone, saveil's and opinions of our invited
(50:00):
guests are not necessarily the views and opinions of Florida
Agricultural and Mechanical University or the Medical Marijuana Education and
Research Initiative
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