In the Weeds with Women in the Cannabis Industry

Anney and Samantha delve into the history, legalization and decriminalization of cannabis in the US and highlight women in the industry.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and welcome to Stephan'd
ever told you production of iHeart Radio. So listeners, today
we are talking about women in cannabis, and because of that,

(00:26):
we did want to put a disclaimer at the top,
just you know, content warning. But also there are a
lot of conversations happening right now around terminology when it
comes to to cannabis. UM, a lot of people discussing
whether or not we should call it all of the
terms that we have for the many many slang terms

(00:49):
that we have for it and um. If you want
to hear more about that conversation, then you can check
out this episode of Savor I did where we had
local Atlanta then friend of ours Becca Grimm of Dope
Girl Zene. She came on the show and talked to
us about all of that kind of thing and also edibles,

(01:10):
and it was a really great conversation. And then on
top of that, you can see the past episode I
did with bridget on this very show about this like
whole attitude around for twenty that is ignoring incarceration and
just especially of black men and those aspects of it
where it's like people are like yeah, for twity but

(01:31):
you've got to remember all of these other things that
come with cannabis in this country, and then there's also
the whole medical aspect. There's a lot to unpack here.
So it's just that disclaimer at the very top. And also, um,
if you're an adult that is legally allowed to partake,

(01:51):
be responsible. We always are big proponents of that, right right.
And also if you don't want your children to listen
to this one, yeah, go ahead and shut it off.
Click click click. Yeah. I mean it's our usual very
educational take, but you know, the right. So in honor

(02:11):
of four twenty, which was yesterday, as I was working
on this yesterday, we thought it would be a fitting
time for us to look at how attitudes towards the
weed industry, marijuana industry, cannabis industry, however you want to
call it, is quickly changing, and how it might have
an impact on women today and possibly even in the future. So, Anye, yes,
I think we've mentioned it before, but we have never

(02:34):
actually told the story of us and our experience in California,
which was my first time going to California when weed
has been legal and marijuana has been legal. Obviously, myself
who was in a government job. I was drug screen
so I was very very cautious, also up very religious.

(02:56):
I did not touch any of those things that are
all kind of foreign to me, and of course, in
my mind, I don't know about you. Growing up, it
was definitely instructed to me about how dangerous it could be. Yep,
as well as the fact, you know we had dare
Did you have dare? Oh yeah? Yeah, of taking that

(03:16):
lion home for the weekends. So good. I think of
us a lion. They just told us don't do drugs kids.
Essentially we got to we got to trade off the
lion every weekend. It was awesome. Okay, Okay, Well, in
honor of that, I thought we might revisit yours and
my experience of going to illegal dispensary. Yes, and the

(03:41):
they're after yes, yes, okay, So just on my end
before we get into this story, which is legendary among
our friends and among our California coworkers. They had a
good laugh. Oh they did as they should us fair.
I was trying to think about this when we were

(04:02):
working on this episode, and I can't actually remember the
first time I smoked weed. I have. I think I
did it in college, but I think I did, like
the very presidential thing if I. I also was very
nervous about it, and so I'm pretty sure I really
didn't inhale like legitimately did not and was like pretending

(04:26):
that keep pulling. I pulled a w I'm pretty sure
because I don't I don't recall any specific experience. Um.
The first time that I remember doing it was in China,
and I have very funny stories around that that perhaps
I'll share one day, because it's also was illegal there
and I ran into a police officer but police, yeah,

(04:53):
it was. It's quite the tale. I have to say.
We bonded maker. I was quite the troublemaker in China,
not intentionally really, But I also have a very funny
story about like the first time I made brownies hot
brownies um with a friend of mine. And then that

(05:14):
said friend is somebody who will randomly text me like
four twenty, just four twenty in the afternoon and she'll
text me okay, but this story in l A, this
is actually what are Samantha and I was our last
trip before quarantine. What about last tip yip? Yeah? Together,
we went to l A for this podcast conference and

(05:35):
we did get to meet up and hang out with
the l a crew of I Heart Media, and yeah,
we went to illegal dispensary. That was my first time
being at illegal dispensary. It was nerve wracking to like
just having to process how to do this. It was
a whole thing. And the way you go with show

(05:56):
your I d get in the weight room and then
you realize there's another route. I wasn't sure what was happening,
which ended up having officers, police officers sitting there I
guess as security, but it wasn't security guys. They were
actual officers within the dispensary. And I remember being really
really nervous, but very excited because again it's like I'm

(06:19):
living out my college days in my forties essentially, like
thirties and forties, and so that's what it felt like.
It felt so sneaky and naughty, even though it was legal. Yeah,
because you did. You had to go through these like
two rooms, and I was also very nervous because I
don't really have a lot of experience, and so you know,
you getn't you. We had to go down these stairs

(06:41):
into like a basement. They were the police officers, and
then you got ushered towards a bud tender and we
all went together because we were like and we clearly
didn't know what we're doing, not at all, and they
were very kind of bud tenders as they were called,
were very kind and then like okay, like what's your

(07:01):
level of tolerance? What are you looking for? Here are things?
But we couldn't have said it like we don't know
we could write right, And I will say they were
very patient and they were also very obviously aware we
were out from out of state and that we probably
came from a very staunch, uh conservative state, and they
weren't wrong. I remember our little attendee who checked our

(07:24):
ideas and take everything was so sweet about it. I
was really appreciative of that because she was like, oh, welcome,
you know, so kind. And then as we're going down
there ended up being a dude who was like, okay,
you know, this is what this is. And I'm sitting
here looking wide ied. I'm pretty sure I stuck out
like a sore thumb, like people were staring at me like, oh, yeah,

(07:46):
she's never done this before, and the dude was trying
to be so kind and telling us, well, this is
what this is. The type of weed this is, and
it's so technical, and of course I don't know anything
about this, and hearing him going through all these descriptions
and like, okay, okay, well let's do it this way.
I don't know for sure, and he was just like, Okay,
we're gonna do this. How much of this do you want?

(08:07):
And then also you and I had the complication of like, okay,
when are we going to do these? Yeah, because we
were all staying there for a week, which was a
lovely vacation, of course, and I was so excited once
again that I was like, why did I do it immediately?
And You're like, Samantha, yeah, we have to do a panel.
Stop it. Yeah. Well that was the funny thing about

(08:30):
our comrades are friends in California, because we were telling
them about this, and I would say it was half
and half where one person was like, definitely, do not
do it before your panel, and the other person kind
of like I will say, almost a troublemaker, was like,
oh no, definitely. I think it was excited to say
what would happen if we did? It would have been

(08:52):
a disaster listeners because we did not take we took
gummies and We did not take them before the panel.
We took them after, immediately after, immediately after, and then
we went to go get what was supposed to be
a small snack at this sushi roll restaurant, which to
set the scene, like, imagine already a restaurant that you

(09:17):
probably be a little nervous in because it's small, like
you have to order before you sit down, and the
chairs are high, and it's like a curved table where
you're all facing each other. Imagine that you're highness is
setting in right when you have to order, you're realizing

(09:39):
very quickly, Oh no, this could have been a mistake.
So a couple of caveats onto this A is a
Valentine's Day yea. So Annie had planned our trip from
day to day to day, two different restaurants, because of
course for me, if I go on a trip, it's
all about the food I want the and of course

(10:00):
we had to have at least one experience with a dispensary.
We are so excited so Valentine's Day, we hadn't eaten
that day. We were just going to get a small
amount of food. This was recommended to us one of
the best sushi places, best hand rolls all these things.
We were told by the bud tender that if you
are a novice, which I said I was, don't take

(10:22):
more than half of these gummies. And by the way,
now that if I were to take them, I know
I wouldn't only take a third like this is this
is the level that it hit me me forgetting this
in my anxiety of just getting on panel, because I
have a lot of anxiety in public speaking and I
kind of black out essentially when I do these events. Afterwards,

(10:44):
was to eat a whole gummy not thinking about it,
and not because I didn't think about it. I gave
you a whole gummy. And then my partner was there
and we gave him a whole gummy, which both of us,
neither one of us really do like eat or ingest
or do any type of weed on a regular basis,
like typically at all. It would be like once every

(11:04):
few months or once a month at most, and that
would be like stretching it. So we walk into this restaurant,
which it's so popular, there's a line and the half
to people who are already outside of that, you have
to wait till people leave because what the way the
hand rolls are made, is made on the spot for

(11:26):
you and comes out in rounds and you can eat
as many as you want and then when you're done,
you leave. In the story, so it's like a diner
for sushi, so very limited seating, just just a at
the at the bar. Essentially, we walk in high schools
trying to do math. Yes, because because I didn't know

(11:51):
what a hand roll was, I thought it was like
the single piece, like the sushi piece, and so we
were like, yeah, let's get I think we got like
we got way too much at five apiece. Yeah, and
we were about to die on roll three, Yeah, I was,
I thought, because I was like frantically realizing the mistake

(12:12):
we had made. I thought we were going to have
to like beg the waitress to stop bringing us food.
And meanwhile Samantha's trying to keep she she'd say like traumphantly,
like it's the scalop. And then we have one more
of these, and her partner like drops a four something

(12:34):
and can roll and you let out a scream. It
wasn't a scream, it was a yelp, and because it
was such a loud yelp, everybody in the diner stopped
stared at me, and my only response was that was
an overreaction, my bad, which everybody at that point knew

(12:59):
we were high. We were real high. Yeah, it felt
very obvious, and like towards the end, I just remember
a level of like barely contained panic. And then again
we've got this like looming fancy meal reservation and we've
eaten way too much food, and I remember very clearly,

(13:20):
like well, we were all trying not to express how
nervous we were about getting down from those highs. I
just kept saying, you want to walk, you want to back,
because I wanted to physically walk, and I just could
not understand what was happening those stools. Who by the way, again,

(13:42):
if you know anything about me, I'm clumsy on a
normal day. This was a bad combo of the high
stool for a five ft to five ft three four
girl trying to figure out how to get down from
bar stools, as well as walk a few blocks back
to a hotel that I can't quite remember how to
get to. I feel like I remember very clearly, oddly enough,

(14:08):
when we were checking out, because it was one of
those places where you also were unsure of how to
check out and I was the one that paid for
it because it was a company card. And I remember
doing that thing where you're like, oh, I'm fitting in
with flying colors, and now I look back and like, oh, no,
definitely not. But I was sort of leading the charge
back to the hotel and I would look behind and

(14:30):
it would be Samanthatter partner, and it's just like for
video game players, you'll know what I'm talking about. But
it's like when a non playable character is sort of
walking aimlessly into a wall. That's what I felt like.
I was like, come on, here we go. We we're
following you in a single final line for no reason.

(14:50):
I could not stop laughing because we were perfectly spaced out.
I just could not figure out how you were doing this.
And also apparently when it comes to like any kind
of chemicals, altering chemicals, including alcohol, for me, I get
really dizzy and really off kilter, and the entire times,
I please don't lean on these people. And I was
so scared that I was going to lean on a
passer buyer and trying to concentrate on not leaning. And

(15:12):
the story is getting very long as we're wrapped up,
But to say the least we missed our fancy Valentine dinner.
We did because I could not get off the bed. Yeah. Yeah,
and then we ended up like much Later that night,
I was writing fan fiction and I broke my laptop

(15:32):
because I got too excited about the fan fiction I
was writing. And to this day, I know what section
that is and I'll read it and it brings a
smile to my face. You were very We survived it,
but we learned a lot of lessons and our tolerance, Dan.
I learned a lot of lessons about legal weed from
California and how powerful and potent it actually is. Yes, yes,

(15:57):
and responsible ingestion. Yeah. I mean, we only took the
one gummy, but we did learn which apparently is a
big practice in this and I I realized that now
I'm like, oh, that makes so much more sense. And
of course we did the mistake that most beginners do
when they initially take it, not realizing it takes a

(16:18):
little while m hm, and thinking that we're okay, we
didn't take more, thank goodness, but I know a lot
of beginners will, not realizing you need to wait thirty
minutes or however long. Yeah, it was perfectly time for
like right when we were about to sit down in
that restaurant, we were all like, oh, no, here we go.

(16:38):
But now that we've given you the very long winded story, apologies,
we do want to talk about actual history of marijuana
and empire that it has. So let's get some history
of weed, cannabis, marijuana, mary Jane, whatever you want to
call this. The original origins of marijuana or cannabis can
be dated as early as five hundred BC. It possibly

(17:01):
from medicinal purposes, with some usage for hemp ropes and such.
And when it was actually introduced to America, it was
used for rope, clothing and other textiles in the early
days of the colonies. Yeah, and in fact it was
such a great resource um and because it was fast growing, Connecticut, Virginia,
and Massachusetts required farmers to grow himp in the early

(17:22):
sixteen hundreds. And though we of course now know the
psychoactive properties of weed, it wasn't the main usage and
wasn't necessarily the intent. Though burned cannabis seeds were found
for priests and religious leaders, historical graves and religious sites.
But you know, hard to put meaning on some of
these past historical events in the early hemp plants didn't

(17:45):
show high levels of th HC are tetra hydro cannabinal,
but it was historically used recreationally around eight hundred c
e around the Middle East and parts of Asia, and
in the eighteen hundreds, Cannabis was used by doctors and
pharmacists to help treat stomach illness as well as for
diseases like cholera, but it was also used to help
treat pain and women from an early time and even

(18:08):
used for those who were pregnant. It was recorded that
during the same time frame in the physicians were using
cannabis to treat painful periods and mensis like that for
Queen Victoria. They would use it to not only treat
the painful cramps, but for heavy bleeding as well. It
was also a treatment used for difficult pregnancies, whether it
was placing leaves on different parts of the body to
prevent convulsions and difficult births, or using it to ease

(18:33):
vomiting and overwhelming issues due to yeah the severe vomiting
while pregnant those things that come from that. Of course,
these tactics are not practiced today since then the attitudes
toward we'd have changed greatly, so let's look at some
of the negative history as well as some myths around cannabis. Right.

(18:54):
It was in the nineteen thirties, which goes hand in
hand with the Depression era, that marijuana usage has made
a legal labeling weed as evil and again with an
overall prejudice to the influx of Mexican immigrants who were
using cannabis recreationally. And by the way, this was soon
after the Mexican Revolution and the result of prohibition all
that stuff. The Marijuana Tacks Act of nineteen thirty seven

(19:17):
was passed, effectively criminalizing all use of himp plants. The
first person to be arrested was a fifty eight year
old farmer who was sentenced the day after the law
passed to four years of quote hard labor. In nineteen seventy,
President Richard Nixon classified marijuana as a Schedule one drug,
on the same list with LSD, heroin, and ecstasy, and

(19:40):
labeled it the infamous gateway drug, meaning it would lead
to a usage of other drugs. However, in nineteen seventy two,
a report titled Marijuana a Signal of Misunderstanding that was
released by the National Commission on marijuana and drug abuse,
also known as the Shafer Commission, recommended a lesser send
tests for lower possession amounts, as well as a lesser

(20:03):
prohibition of the product, only to be ignored by the administration.
Of course, we now have a better understanding of some
of the myths of weed, including the misuse of gateway drug,
but the campaign started way before then, including the first
anti pot film that was released in the nineteen thirties,
which included stories of people like Marty who got addicted

(20:23):
to marijuana and lived a life of crime and desperation,
which led him to cutting up his mouth and throat
after opening a pop while high by breaking it against
the wall and ingesting the pup with glass. So there's
this like the film that actually shows him bleeding out
of his mouth because he was so high, and which
led to a life in and out of jail, one

(20:45):
of the many cautionary tales and using those uh marijuana
cigarettes as they like to say. And by the way,
I want to say, I think I watched something similar
to that. Of course, it would probably be like the
after school specials more so than the nineteenth thirties filmed
of when now we had dare at school. I believe
I remember something similar to this, now, maybe not cutting

(21:07):
the throat, but alleging that it was going to kill everyone. Yeah,
And for any listeners who don't know, because I'm actually
not really familiar with the history of DARE, but that's
Drug Abuse Resistance Education in the United States, which was
this program in my experience, which was aimed towards elementary
school students and middle school students about like, don't do drugs, right.

(21:30):
It was in a connection with War on Drugs. Yes,
And I don't particularly recall watching any films that disturbed me,
but I do remember, as listeners know, I loved math,
and um, there was this chart that we had to
do that I loved. But now I'm like, I wonder
what messages I was taking in from this, But you

(21:51):
would it was basically the chart was supposed to show
that cannabis was a gateway drugs. So you had like
one person, you had a bunch of people do that,
and then from there you would take a small sample
size and they would do cocaine and from there they
would do mess like so you would show that way
that it was a gateway drug. And by the way,

(22:13):
sometimes it was I believe at the beginning of last year,
I saw a group of dare people in front of
h I want to say a target. Really, I know,
it's a big nostalgic thing for people of like the nineties,
not necessarily the program, but just the like merchandise, the
shirts in the bag. I have a bag that I
didn't buy. I mean, I got it through school, but

(22:34):
I still have it. It is nostalgic. Yeah, but okay,
that wasn't the only myth being spread about cannabis. Some
others include that we can kill off brain cells, which
was discredited by government officials themselves. It doesn't also that
we leads to a life of crime. Of course, if

(22:54):
it is illegal for you to possess then yes, but
that is committing a crime. But there's no link between
violent crime and we'd use just f y I yeah.
And then there's the again, the movie Read for Madness,
which is what it was in the nineteen thirties, claims
that we would lead to insanity and even homicidal behaviors,
which again has been disproven. M um. And then we

(23:17):
can also talk about the fact that, yeah, there is
a conversation about is it addictive, and yes, it actually is. However,
the connotation is to addiction to weed is severely different
than an opioid, So just kind of put that out
there as well as can you overdose, Yes, that you can,
but again it's not the same level of overdosing on
opioids or even alcohol. There's not too many deaths connected

(23:40):
primarily with just ingesting weed, So just to put that
out there, but it is a thing. Yeah, that's a thing. Yeah.
And also like we're not a medical podcast, so don't
seek here medical or cannabis advice here. We're just trying
to present the current history. Yes, one has been research,

(24:01):
just to bring it out, and also that we know
that there is a whole big conversation about legalizing weed
in the United States, and just recently New York has
passed a law to legalize and recreational usage of cannabis,
but with a lot of restrictions. Um, and there continues
to be an ongoing debate of legalizing it as it
is still against federal mandate in federal policies. Yes, and

(24:22):
I know again there's the other podcasts out there that
can tackle this far better than we could. But like
the whole difficulty of if you're in a state where
it's legal but it's federally still not quite legal than
having to have like cash, how do you deal with
your taxes? All those kinds of things. So New York
makes the fifteenth state to officially legalized cannabis use outside

(24:46):
of medical reasons. Colorado and Washington were the first states
to legalize it in twelve, with Alaska, Oregon, California, Nevada, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois,
New Jersey, South Dakota, Arizona, Montana, Virginia, and New Mexico.
Uh And though not a state yet, the District of
Colombia followed suits soon after. Right, but many of the

(25:06):
states still have continued to prosecute to the max on
marijuana possession. But the ongoing debate throughout the years has
been a back and forth on how to legally treat
the production, possession, and usage of marijuana, and yes, the
whole idea of taxation. What to do about that. Yeah,
at least thirty three of the states have approved for

(25:27):
medical usage, and several other states have lessen charges or
at least decriminalized it altogether. But when we look at
the incarceration rates, the amount of people who with nonviolent
marianage related charges is still a massive number and they're
still incarcerated. So that's a whole big conversation, including in
states like California, where is now legal. So there's this
whole precedent on is how do we correct this? And

(25:49):
according to one report quote, as of November twenty twenty,
the Marijuana Policy Project listed twenty three states with bills
to legalize marijuana, fourteen with bills to decriminalize marijuana, in
twelve with bills to create medical marijuana programs. With growing
support in the country to legalize, we many are looking
to see how federal level representatives will work to fight

(26:09):
for or against legalization. Senator Chuck Schumer and others are
looking to put forth a bill to legalize marijuana. And yes,
I did get a chuckle out of him yesterday being like, oh,
it's the American holiday for and I was like, what
is this correct? Correct reaction? Currently, President Biden has said

(26:34):
he is in support of the States. Press Secretary Jin
Saki said the President supports leaving decisions regarding legalization for
recreational use up to the states. Rescheduling cannabis as a
schedule to drugs, so researchers can study it's positive and
negative impacts. And at the federal level, he supports decriminalizing
marijuana use and automatically expunging any prior criminal records. That's

(26:57):
what she said during a recent press briefly at the
White House. So we didn't want to look at some
of those potential positive or negatives when it comes to women.
But first we have to pause for a quick break
for word from our sponsor, and we're back, thank you sponsoring.

(27:26):
So we did want to talk a little bit about
benefits for women and possible risks. And as we said
a little earlier, we are not professionals when it comes
to cannabis, and we are not recommending these as practices
and definitely would tell you to talk to a professional
and do your research. As we have learned and talked
about earlier, we are not the best and following some

(27:48):
of these recommendations or realizing what the effects are. So
all of this is with the caveat that this is
what we are reading off of other people's research and
some of the such that has been founded and not
necessarily proven, because the research is still at the beginning stages,
and we truly don't understand the whole implication of everything.

(28:10):
And of course we know there's a historical backlog of
a lot of things that have happened in the past,
but because of the political back and forth, we've not
really gotten a true understanding of what is happening. So again, yes,
we want to talk about some of these things. We
are not professionals. Don't take this as if we're recommending
something to you, you know, absolutely absolutely not. But with

(28:33):
that being said, we are going to go over some
some research that's been done. For instance, cannabis has been
used as a way to deal with chronic pain, and
in fact, according to reporting, one in ten women in
Australia diagnosed with endometriosis used read for pain management and
preferred it to other treatments due to its overall success

(28:54):
and easing pain. In Hawaii, participants in a pain management
study reported a sixty four decrease in pain and even
noted that they slept better as well and felt less anxiety.
Right and speaking of anxiety, another added benefit could be
the use of cannabis to treat anxiety and depression. According
to one study, there were indications that those who use
cannabis once a week or less may have some effects

(29:17):
similar to an antidepressant due to the release of serotonin,
though not necessarily long term. It can also help with anxiety. However,
it should also be noted that it could also increase
risk of anxiety if large doses are taken. Yes, I
have felt that. Yes, as we often say over on

(29:38):
the podcast Saver bodies are complicated, more researchers needed, So
just because some things work for some people, it doesn't
necessarily mean what work for you. Also, again there are
risks to taking too much. As we're talking about the anxiety,
um about possible addiction, and again this addiction looks completely
different from other types of drugs, and that's why we
can't say as a schedule one level drug necessarily and

(30:01):
why there's a debate about whether or not it should
even been there in the first place. A B. There's
a conversation that you can't overdose and what that looks like,
and it is not as severe reaction that necessarily as
it is to opiates. We can also talk about synthetic
marijuana or synthetic weed, which has been proven is fairly
dangerous and can have negative reactions as well. And then

(30:23):
there's this whole conversation about what is put in with
weed and who you're trusting when you're smoking and or
taking part of that. So there's all of those other
caveats as well. So there are risks to it that
you need to understand and again, listen to your body,
talk to people that you trust, talk to your doctor.
If does not option, do all those things absolutely, and
as we said at the beginning, there have been continued

(30:46):
benefits for those who have period pains or severe p
MS when it comes to cannabis. We did wanna showcase
some women leaders in the industry as it is coming
more and more of an industry as it's legalized, and
it is a fairly new market business and because of that,

(31:07):
there's a conversation for women to come in on a
level playing field, allowing women to actually participate and thrive
within something that is a fairly new industry with its
spooming business. Organizations like Women Grow and Women Empowered in
Cannabis help organize women to make their place in these
new weed businesses, teaching other women, empowering them and helping

(31:29):
them to connect in the industry. UM, So we did
want to mention some women making an impact, right, so
we want to start with Serrita Williams, who is a
co founder and chief marketing officer of Extra Haze, which
is a media company that offers women of color space
to learn about opportunities and lifestyles of the cannabis industry.

(31:49):
She created the company with two other women to give
more opportunities and networking and a very fast growing market.
And she stated, quote there was and still is a
real lack of inclusion when it comes to highlighting black
women and other minority women working in front of and
behind the scenes in cannabis. She wanted to create an
opportunity for women of college to learn more and to
build their own generational wealth through an industry that is

(32:10):
growing in leaves and bounds, but it's still leaving many
out of the opportunities. And we need to have this
whole conversation of who was targeted when they are taking
down businesses, even though it's supposed to be legal. As
we said, there's a lot of contingencies on well how
you can run a business. And when you look at
some of the businesses that have been shut down or
some some of them that have been overly police oftentimes

(32:34):
you see it as a business that is owned by
a person of color. Yes, we also wanted to talk
about Mary Pryor, who was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and
had entered many trips to the hospital for pain and
suffering due to her illness and was able to change
her life through the use of medical marijuana. And it
was probably through this she started her journey within the

(32:55):
marijuana industry. Prior moved to California and co founded Kenna Exclusive,
which quote Foster's inclusion in the cannabis industry through marketing, visuals, consultancy, advocacy, education,
and wellness guidance. She fights to make sure that um
she can give quote consumers tangible ways to contribute toward

(33:15):
racial equity and the cannabis industry and the industry is yeah,
fairly new. It's no surprise to see that the standard
is still white sess men as the lead, while still
other people of color who are coming into the industry.
And I was thinking about this earlier, abouts of the
problems when it comes to four twenty for instance, And yeah,
when I think about people who recreationally use cannabis, I

(33:38):
do think of Seth Rogan, like white, white, straight white
new right. Prior is also part of Equity First initiative,
which quote harnesses the political power of cannabis organizers who
work at the intersection of the cannabis industry, racial equity
and reparative justice, which is so so important and we
cannot forget this when we're talking about all So we

(34:02):
do have some more women we wanted to showcase. But
first we have one more brick for works from our
sponsors and we're back, Thank you sponsor. And uh, next,

(34:23):
we wanted to talk about Bridget Hennessy, who is the
VP of Government Relations at Wheat Maps, which is a
tech company in the wheat industry. Hennessey is an expert
in marijuana regulation and is now an advocate that quote
works to ensure the minorities have a seat at the
table for a new cannabis economy and seek reparations for
those unlawfully imprisoned for drug offenses. Um, and if you

(34:44):
can't tell, we're very excited. We want to highlight the
women who are actually doing the work. Unfortunately that's having
to do the work that should have been undone a
while ago. Let's just be honest. So we think it's
really important that we talk about the women who are
making these changes. Not just people who are thriving in
these bus this is which we are so happy for,
but what we would need to do to make this

(35:04):
right for if it's going to be something that the
government was like, oh, yeah, we're gonna welcome this because
we can make a lot of money, then we also
need to talk about the long overhaul of changing the
system altogether. But she has a long list of experiences
when it comes to policy change and restructuring. And for her,
she said, we're working in one of the biggest tech
companies in the wheed industry has allowed her to work

(35:25):
on a whole new level when it comes to understanding
and advocating for those who have been prosecuted and persecuted. Yes,
and then finally we wanted to talk about Wanda James,
who is the founder and CEO of Simply Pure, a
cannabis dispensary located in Denver, Colorado. She was the first
black owner of a legal dispensary. She not only is

(35:46):
an advocate who works to fight for equity within the business,
but as a leader within the industry. She is a
former lieutenant of the United States Navy. She also was
on the National Finance Committee under President Obama. Not only
is she a small business owner, but she is a
managing partner with the Cannabis Global Initiative, which works to

(36:06):
assist political and strategic positioning to decriminalize and regulate within
the cannabis industry. Right and uh, as we are, like
said before, it's really important that we look at the
overall system and how it has been an oppression when
it comes to who they have incarcerated and who's still
incarcerated for these non violent offenses. And according to the

(36:30):
a c l U from two thousand two, ten black
and white campus users between ages eighteen and we're about
the same rate, but within this time period, black users
were on average three point seven three times more likely
to be arrested for these charges and still arrested, as
in fact one that James, her brother had been arrested

(36:51):
for marijuana related charges and was imprisoned for ten years.
That is such an absurd amount of time and being
in prison in general at all. And the fact of
the matter is people are profiting off of it. And
again when we look at the lead who's taking the money,
who's getting that money, it typically is made up of men,
white men, and so we want to talk about why

(37:12):
this is happening. And as in fact, yesterday, which was
for twenty, Ben and Jerry put out there. I don't
know if you saw their sign, they had a sign
in front of the capital talking about the fact that
we need to overhaul the system, and been has been
an advocate about we can't celebrate for twenty without acknowledging
the reparations that need to be made at this time.

(37:34):
And I think it's really important that we have this
bigger conversation as we look at who was working to
fight because a majority of the people who are advocating
are women that I have seen that they are the forefront,
ready to fight for their sons, their brothers, their husbands,
whomever it may be, the men in their lives, the
men in their communities. And it is a constant, constant

(37:55):
battle and it has been four years. Because just like
many of the ridiculous are just non violent charges that
we've talked about, this is not restoration. Nothing about this
is restoration. This is all punitive and that in itself
is a crime personal opinion, I know, No, Yeah, that's
essentially we talked about that in our our four twenty

(38:18):
episode that Bridget and I did, and I think that's
so so important because it does get kind of this
like almost kitchy funny like for twenty huh. But you
have to keep in mind if you're partaking in that
what that means, you know, and what it has meant
in all drug related arrests were for marijuana, which I

(38:44):
don't know. It is odd to me that it's one
of those things where it's like, obviously, be responsible and
no no pressure at all. But I feel like it's
sort of a rite of passage or a lot of
people just sort of try it and maybe that's it.
Maybe it's still one time, but all Chekola's number and

(39:08):
I find it really upsetted when you look at the
origins of what it was used for and why it
was grown, as well as the fact that it was
part of the U. S economy at the beginning of
the colonies and how they survived. And we talked about
again the profiteering, and there's back and forth arguments about
losing money, whether they lost money because it's not as

(39:29):
well regulated or whatever whatnot. There's this whole back and
forth or how who's regulating it and how it's being
bought because there's a lot there's a couple of states
where you're allowed to have it and use it, but
you're not allowed to sell it or buy it. So
it's kind of like, how does that work? As well
as for many places that in Colorado, they saw a
boom in their economy because of the level of businesses

(39:53):
growing and the level of purchasing, so it was actually
a great thing for them. But there's no real narrative
to it's one or the other yea, which is kind
of surprising to me. I would have thought it would.
But you have examples of both. And again it could
absolutely be about who is advocating for it, who's doing
it in a way they're being supported by their government,

(40:15):
and who's being held back. Again, very political, It is
very political, uh, and it has been. With all of
that being said, listeners, we would as always love to
hear from you. Um, if you're from a state where
it's legal, tell us what it's like. Also other countries,

(40:38):
like please tell us what it is in where you are.
And um, if you have any people you feel like
we should have spotlighted and we didn't send those to
us as well. You can email us or email is
Stephanieia mom Stuff at i heeart media dot com. You
can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or
on Instagram and Stuff. We Never told you. Thanks as

(41:00):
always to our super producer, Christina Champion. We're so sorry
about this episode. Thanks to you for listening, Steph, I
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