Oaksterdam University is on Clubhouse every Thursday at 2:20 p.m. PT to discuss Mentorship for Equity Cannabis Business Success. Here is a transcript of the room on Sept. 9, 2021, attended by Dale Sky Jones, Mama Clark, Adolph Ward, James Silva, Shaun Salvaje, Requita Grant, Todd, Kelly, Chiara Juster, Junior, Amber, Tucky Blunt, Sam, Ke, Deft, Sara Frank, Oooyee, RJ Cooper, Dal, and Sara Frank.
Keywords: cannabis, industry, interning, brand, business, sacramento, years, california, clark, product, tucky, good, equity, store, find, mama, companies, people, conversation, internship
James Silva 0:06
This is probably one of the few times that I’m glad to hear that we are recording this conversation, because throughout the history of Cannabis law reform in California and the country, especially through, the evolution of the Internet and text messages. My mantra has always been, do not record anything you say. And even though we still, you know face a federal legal threat, and everyone needs to be aware of that, you know the enforcement in jurisdictions like California, you know, and other states that have a general use platform or medicinal platform are really targeted by the federal authorities for licensed activity or activity that’s in anticipation of gaining licensure or permit so it’s really refreshing to be able to have an open and informative conversation in the space of Cannabis with everybody, those who are familiar with the, with the, you know the infamous history of prohibition and those who are new to the conversation. And so thank you again, Oaksterdam and Dale, for you know for hosting this room for everybody for contributing your knowledge.
Dale Sky Jones 1:24
And, you know, I also just want to say that the moderators in this room will have edit access to this transcript. So, you know, we’re, we’re always going to put the safety of our community first. For many years, for instance, we took class photos. You did not need to be in the photo and you did not get a photo unless you were in the photo. And we, you might notice. You know, having been posting them. There were so many folks that it was about protecting your privacy. In order to protect your security, and that is the biggest difference now is that, you know we can come out in fact I asked people to not always not in every situation it is still not safe for everyone. But my point is that we will be editing, we’re not recording the voices to put back out there like a podcast if we decide to do that we will certainly like you know, this is more about transcripts, this is more about capturing the knowledge, and some of these really important points and experiences that are coming out, and if you do accidentally say something dumb, we’re happy to edit it out of the transcript. In fact, I’ll do it anyway. I did so last week we tried to do this in our courtroom. And towards the end, someone said, Gosh, I hope nobody’s listening to this and I stopped recording, so you know we’re going to do what we can to honor you know privacy in those situations we don’t have to put people’s names on it necessarily the mods will name ourselves I just used first names on the rest of the speakers in the courtroom because we are trying to honor, security and security starts with silence. Many, many times as James just said it’s what we’ve been teaching so yeah it’s taken me six months to get to the point of recording for transcripts because I was so conflicted. Shaun, go ahead.
Unknown Speaker 3:27
Oh my gosh, so I just came from the state of Cannabis room where we were talking about media bias journalism and what we can do as an industry, and one of the things we had discussed was, how we need to put the education out there so then when you guys had mentioned that, we’d be getting the transcripts, as the moderators to create content and education, you won’t believe that we just had a conversation about how necessary this is for the (sorry for the break-in transcript, it picks up a minute later)
Kelly 0:00
cardholder, so I do work and then grow plant touching, and I’m also like canna-mom as well. And I wanted to speak on being a canna-mom, and the importance of not being silent here in Missouri. There’s a road called State Line Road. I can see State Line Road from my window. And then it’s Kansas. So that being said Kansas is one of I think five states. I think five now, that does have has no legalization whatsoever. Well, My son was born in Kansas, and is considered to have Kansas residency, I live in Missouri, right by State Line Road, and I’m in a custody battle right now. I had to in my son’s father warned me that he would push this as something to use against me in court. My son was taken away from me for four months. In the family assessment, I was asked, What if there were concerns that you were, what if I said do you work in a Marijuana dispensary. And my answer was, I don’t work in a dispensary, I work in cultivation. And then I was asked, well, what is their concerns that say you have overused and you have, you know, you have a problem with Marijuana. I said I have no problem with Marijuana. And I spoke with my husband, who I had to make a conscious decision, I was going through a custody battle I wanted to get into the Cannabis industry. I knew that if I got into the Cannabis industry, and I worked in a grow, going through a custody battle that it would come out. I feel good people and moms in Kansas, and moms in Missouri mean friends and not really family because I am the black sheep as well. And so my message that I am stating is coming from a point of. Here I am being recorded, and I am fine with that. It’s something where I made that conscious decision and someone asked me in another room. How did you feel about that, once you made those statements to, you know, this person who’s analyzing me head to toe, and surprisingly I said that I felt liberated, and so do I. Yesterday I were short a shirt to a Kansas kindergarten, elementary school to pick up my son. Was I nervous about it. Hell, yes, hell yes, but the court knows where I work, and my father knows where I work and I want my son to know where I work, and when he asked me what my new job was I said that I’m working, I’m working with plants. So I think, just to wrap up the you know, my story is that I want number one for people to understand that there are people like myself. There’s another, She goes, under Cincy mom, I believe that, and I believe her name is Leah, she’s on clubhouse. And she has even. I felt even liberated but she’s the one who asked me I believe her children were taken away as well. But that’s where she knew the same thing she said yeah, you know, I had already gone through this, and so what do I have to lose. And that was exactly the same question that it came down to you. And when you’re saying that about your children. And what do you have to lose. Well, I’m already losing that. And so if I can bring awareness with my story, then, is it is not about winning or losing it’s about educating and why are we picking on this plant. My name is Kelly and I’m done speaking. Thank you so much for sharing that Kelly. You’re not the only cannonball on the stage here and I’m so sorry about what you’re going through what you’re going through, often isn’t talked about in the Cannabis community, but it is really happening. It happens in legal states as well, although your situation is incredibly unique, given that you’re on the border, and, and your son is not and he resides in a completely illegal state where I’m sure they have all the stigmatization going on that we’ve had, during Prohibition, and women of course mothers take it the hardest.
Chiara Juster 4:48
Good luck to you, and thank you for bringing an awareness to this. And when I mentioned that this is an issue that’s been brought up in states where they do have state legal Cannabis. It’s often brought. It’s brought up in a way where it’s often over involvement. Involvement in illicit industry, as well as consumption, that are raised, and it’s also been raised by people outside of of custody disputes it’s been raised by children protective services on their own and stakes. There are still states where they mandatorily test you after you’ve given birth, and will take away your child. And this is something we really need to explore because for some women, it is the most effective medicine, and it is not fair to have to fear, fear for your rights as a parent, and for the trauma of your child. When people are making the best decisions for them as patients, I think Dale can shed some light on this particularly what’s been happening in the day I know that in certain areas they still test women in the hospitals on Chiara and
Dale Sky Jones 6:07
thank you Chiara, I invited Requita, on to the stage, because I know that your, your story really resonated. Oh, did we lose Oh Kelly, You must have dropped yourself back to the audience because you’re so polite, please raise your hand at any moment. If you’d like to respond, but I’d like to. Yes, absolutely. I’d like to turn it over to Nikita and then I’ll follow up after.
Requita Grant 6:32
Hi, Kelly. Hi everyone I do my alley shapes or yarn shop. We, I was like that. But yeah, Kelly, listening to her story. It really took me back, like 20 years in my life to a situation that happened to me, and, you know, it made me think about all the stigmas. And growing up, that have to do with Cannabis, not really understanding that for some people that it is medicine. You know, and how do you bring that discussion up, and I just want to apologize. As a mom, for wanting to say, you know, if you’re a child, that, you know, I work in this industry with plants, and you’re not ashamed, that’s the one thing that we as mothers have to be is not ashamed of where we work and how we work, and it should not affect other people. So I just really wanted to apply to you and say your story really greatly resonated with me and thank you so much for sharing.
Kelly 7:39
Well, thanks everyone for allowing me the platform to speak, and as many of you know I think that my husband told me about clubhouse and he’s like, Why did I tell you about clubhouse. Like, I just being in my situation is, and I represent myself as well. So, it’s, I have learned so many things about how the system, I’ve never been in quote unquote the system if you want to term me as a waspy kid who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and then ended up in Chicago when was like, wow, there’s all these different types of people and this is great, and I live in Chicago for like 20 years. And it’s about not judging people, and so I know that one that maybe can take us back to the topic about not judging people. And it really it is about that education. So thank you all for taking the time to listen to my story because it’s one that never in the world but I think that I wouldn’t be sitting here speaking to a platform like this. At the same time in a virtual world but I think that I would be in a position like this with my five year old son, you know, is something to wear honestly with the way in that, in the system thing that’s even worse, that I’m battling is pretty much going to leave my job, because my son started kindergarten, the courts, allowed him to go and decided for him to go to school in Kansas, it would take me 45 minutes to drive one way from my job, to see him for maybe four hours. So I think it’s just extremely important. I’m not going to stop with cannon moms, but also it just starts with the education of deal. Let’s talk about accredited, you know, accreditation as well, I mean that is something that is not a no, in terms of looking at where we need to focus things you know the thinking system, I will say one thing about Kansas, and then I’m gonna leave it at that for now unless anyone has questions I could talk for days, but the one thing that I find extremely interesting and I brought it up as well, is I said well Kansas just passed the safe Banking Act. So although you don’t have any legalization, it was a unanimous vote for the safe being king act. And that’s where it comes down to simplicity and its simplicity, it’s hard for me, as you all can tell in terms of breaking the message down. I do want to give a shout out to last prisoner project, and sorry if I have, but they have a wonderful social platforming kit, and they think that that is where it comes down to is that my company, I can go in and educate people about the prohibition. I’ve taken the activism course at Oaksterdam which was great. It allowed me to even think in terms of okay clarity. So that’s where I just want to share my story because I do feel I’m in a unique situation. And if it does resonate with others as, you know, Requita thank you for sharing your story as well and I mean 20 years, I can’t even imagine how it was back then. But there’s also a we need your story as well. I’m telling. Thank you for listening.
Kelly 11:32
in Kansas, I wouldn’t be alive would have been tested to have there been as I hadn’t smoked but just so you know that they do testing tmfs
Dale Sky Jones 11:41
I’m so glad that you finished with that because what I was about to underline is, it’s important to come out and tell our stories and educate but it’s also important to realize that doing so still puts you and your family and your future at risk that the five year old who does not at all, understand the gravity of prohibition in the history of criminalization when they’re melting off in class, saying that, you know mommy grows weed, and then that teacher calls the sheriff in your county to come, eff with you. That happens all the time. And while there are, you know, 1000s of years of of women, utilizing Cannabis in and from all research, there’s, there’s really no indication that it does damage, especially not like the damage that these prescriptions that doctors regularly give off label to pregnant women that have been shown to cause damage, but nonetheless, if a doctor or a nurse or a teacher finds out, they are legally required, we say that again, they are legally required to report you. And that’s when shit goes bad, that’s when, what should have been an otherwise law abiding citizen or not, citizen, God forbid, because now we’re talking deportation. So I just really want to caution people that they’re you know, if, if your kids are out of the house he talked about it all you want are grown up Hell yeah, you know, but if you’re still in that situation, where they can be taken from you. Be careful. Just please be careful. We get very excited and very passionate about our advocacy, and like I have three kids 10 and under. And I, for two years after the raid, I don’t think I ever slept past 4am Because I just kept waiting for, like, the jackboots to come through the door. And it’s it’s a really unsettling feeling, and that didn’t happen to me. It has happened to a lot of people, and I still sometimes wake up like that, like, well that would be one way to shut me up, and even someone, you know, I’m, I’m a spokesperson I was pregnant. I became pregnant after I agreed. Well, agree is a strong word, after I accidentally became the spokeswoman for the first statewide campaign, and I came out on Fox News on CNBC on on nightly news like all these things that everyone watches, and I had nothing to lose. At first, because Jeff and I lost our first pregnancy. So I was like fuck it, I’m coming out, I’m gonna go legalize Cannabis, and then all of a sudden we were pregnant again, and I’m in the middle of the campaign to legalize weed, waiting for whatever threat they can bring to shut us up, and make no mistake, Richard Lee told me those times that he was being interrogated or harassed or asked that I was who they threatened him with. If you don’t turn so and so over if you don’t talk about so and so we’re gonna go. We’re gonna go get Dale and Jeff. We were the threat. They were going to come break us up to try to get Richard to talk about shit that didn’t even happen or didn’t exist. So it’s it’s still going on and I just really want to make sure that we understand and bring it back to equity, because if you’re black or brown you’re more likely to get fucked with. And yes, there in California, was a ring of, like most folks that do this or I believe trying to do the right thing, but there were several counties where it was shown that individuals that work for Child Protective Services. They got bonuses if they placed babies. And it was easier to place white babies, and they would go into poor communities, and basically you just take the children of people doing drugs, so that they could get their bonus for placing that child somewhere. It doesn’t matter what fucking color you are, it, it is. We’re breaking up families here and taking children, and we’re still doing it, even in legal states. And if you are the child of someone who goes to jail. If you are a child of someone taken over drugs. Now, there are certain situations where it is the safety of the child, and I’m not questioning those situations, but Cannabis in and of itself is not a danger to that child, it is not going to leap out of the pocket is growing with and throttle or strangle that child, in fact they could sit down and eat the entire plant while it’s growing and it still will not kill them. And if they eat that whole bag, all that’s going to happen is a really long nap. Unlike the bottle of aspirin. But none of that matters in the eyes of the law. And so, equity describes families of people that experience this, because being the mother, the Son, the brother, the sister, the immediate family member, experiencing this loss. That also is described in a lot of these social equity programs. And I’m curious how some of you affected.
Kelly 17:19
If I may say one more thing. In terms of equity, even though I am waspy. The legal system is completely mind blowing to me, representing myself. I have documentation because unfortunately there is, there are concerns that are not related to anything that I am doing. And, you know, I have documentation, going back five years, and I wouldn’t be up at night and my second job was basically representing myself I write my own motions. I have all of this documentation, and none of it was taken into, even as, as, when I presented my 36 exhibits, none of them were taken into account. And so, Matt, I mean, in You I shared my story with you. Imagine, imagine how many kids that are in these positions that I mean, I’m, I’m sorry to say that but I I’m in a position to where, you know, I am thank God able to write a motion. Thank God I can put things I mean someone asked me if I had a lawyer and I said no I’m doing this myself. Think of how many people can say that not many. I don’t think you know I am that is where another thing from my voice comes from is that when things settle down a little bit I’m going to be an advocate I want for families to know what you need to do in order to be able to not to be in the system of the artists, a system that unfortunately most people are already in when it gets to this. And that’s really where the equity comes down to it, and it isn’t a you know, it’s the family, and, you know, I said to the judge when because this has gone on for so long. When I represented myself. In one instance, I started off by listing out my taste number, because I said to you that’s what that number is, but to me that’s my family and to you is the number. So, with that being said, my name is Kelly and I am complete.
Shaun Salvaje 19:52
Kelly, you know that actually opens the door for, for us to. I mean it’s our experiences that really define who we are and what we know so much of us. We intel we think we have everything perfect or wait until we have like a certain credential. Before we get started with our way of contributing or what we want to do to help change the world. And what I’m finding is the people who are most successful are the ones who started with a problem that they were experiencing, and found solutions or creative ways of thinking, and they documented it and cut a written, you know, log of what they did went back and then analyze their process and shared it with others and I think that’s where we can start to change this is because so often we look for change to happen in a trickle down effect. But we know trickle down doesn’t work. So it’s got to be a little more grassroots and I would really encourage you to take the next step with that and see where that takes you. Thank you for that feedback. I appreciate it, Shawn.
James Silva 21:12
If I could make a couple of comments I’d like to first, obviously thank Kelly for sharing her very unfortunate experience with the legal system. And Requita and, you know, of course tail shot all your input all the input of, you know, mothers, who’ve had to be especially silenced because me as a man. You know what are the consequences if somebody finds out that I smoke Cannabis, they’re not going to take my children away necessarily. Yes, they might but I’ve never seen it done from that side. Kelly when you say you know you’ve done all this work. You’ve written these motions and your exhibits weren’t even considered in my history as a Cannabis defense attorney. We call that Tuesday, I could write the most brilliant motion, supported by the most credible and probative evidence that demonstrates that, you know Cannabis has is has there’s no rational basis for Cannabis to be scheduled the way it has been for the continued prohibition. And it may not even be read or considered. That’s a consequence of attitudes. Now, I am especially proud to know, Dale, through that time when she put herself, especially in harm’s way. And, and, you know, could have been used as a pawn in a much larger federal prohibition game. That was an especially brave thing to do with no real certainty as to the outcome, because at that same time, I was representing a young lady and Tammy county who she gave birth. During the trial, not during the actual proceedings, but she had a baby before the case actually went to trial, she’d become pregnant after she was arrested, and the case went on so long she actually became a mother during the trial at that same time, in Butte County Butte County became I believe the first county in California, to start taking children away from mothers who were using Cannabis for medicinal purposes pursuant to prop 215. And this became a crisis, and it also became an opportunity, but the platform wasn’t really developed we have more voices now, and I’m really proud to be in this room and hear the voices of the mothers as ambassadors of change and tell you I would encourage you when when Sir When Sean says, you know, let’s take the next step. There is so much power in your voice, and even to monetize that voice on this issue as an influencer, I would encourage you to blog about this, I would encourage you to even even try and you know partner up with different, whether it’s Cannabis companies or other companies to try and monetize your, your message, Because we’ve seen how other oppressed communities have been able to leverage the power of the Internet, whether it’s on Instagram Tik Tok whatever base maybe leverage the power of the internet. I noticed that especially in hip hop to to amplify the voices monetize their, their grievances and overcome, but I’ve been fond of saying, Here’s the fun but I’ve been known to say for decades now that Cannabis prohibition is law of the ridiculous, and it has really no faces in, you know, a real concern for harm. It’s completely based in fear and purpose for a particular demographic who is more interested in power than it is in protection. So, I give you a lot of credit for coming on clubhouse to speaking your truth, sharing your story, and I encourage you, if there is a next step to, you know, to maybe research, how to become an influencer, because your circumstances can be converted to your prosperity, and this is James Silva.
Chiara Juster 25:44
Thanks James, and on that I would say definitely think about it, consider the next steps, but as someone who’s supposed to be a parent, and an attorney in the space. I had say advice someone recently who was fearing termination of their custodial rights because of psychedelics and as well as professional fo pas so to speak on the, on their records because of therapeutic use, not even being involved in activism or involved in the industry but just use, and they were considering going very public and monetizing a blog and a blog about their experience, and I said, Hold up, slow down, like, nothing wrong with you know recording it for your own purposes. Right now, as a way of journaling, but when you’re still going through the process. When you’re still fearing losing your child and that’s the real fear, like I can’t eat I mean I am a parent I can’t even imagine. I, as a parent would say, do everything you can to protect your chances in the in family court because your child is the most important thing in the world. And sure, go ahead document your story make up, you know, record a journal video style if you’d like, but hold off on monetizing in some sort of way, because in family court, that is something that can be used against you and it really really fucking sucks because we’re talking about doing what’s best sometimes for our bodies. And also being a parent, and there’s no more important things and taking care of ourselves and taking care of our children. So that’s just something I’d always keep in mind, I’m Chiara, and this is not legal advice but if you want, you know, depending on what state you are we can talk, but not your state, because I kind of stay away from the middle of the country
Kelly 27:55
too much and that will, in that is exactly where I am right now speaking, you know, Sean, Jr. Jr. I’m sorry, to mispronounce your name and James is, I know that, and I’m in a holding pattern, but let’s add one more thing to this because it is about, you know, equity, mental health, see there’s an aspect to where my son’s father, literally told me what he was going to do in terms of my mental health, in terms of my medicinal use of Cannabis, and other things. And so that’s the reason why I’ve gotten this far. But yes, I, I’ve thought about I’m going to go to the, this is ridiculous. You know I’ve had my just like the moments that I’ve had, it’s I can’t monetize my feelings right now. Because documenting things brings up like PTSD really, I mean, going through something to where my son tells me that this happened, you know, on day one, and then dates to I have to write it down and documented. You know, so to everyone’s point I agree on. Thank you for, you know, thank you for insights into what you have experienced in the past and I understand that, you know, no one is representing me just for recording here I am not taking any legal advice, simply voicing my opinions to others who agree with me. Possibly, but I’m not putting words in their mouth, nor are they helping me to make decisions. I just wanted to make that clear. Thank you.
Shaun Salvaje 29:49
You know it, you illustrate so well is that it’s so it is so important to know where you are, because sometimes in entrepreneurship, and especially when we’re talking about equity, it’s the, it can be a difficult hurdle. And you have to know where you are before you start adding more hurdles right you have to take care of ourselves, so we’re not pouring from an empty cup, it’s so key to our success to make sure that we’re perfect we’re able to be optimized and performing optimally so I have so much respect for you knowing where your boundaries are and respecting them and that’s just a sign of maturity, don’t you day.
Dale Sky Jones 30:28
Indeed, so let me quickly relight the room to remind everyone that we are transcripting this conversation, we’re not going to replay your voices and we will be editing out. If anybody says anything stupid, but we do definitely want to capture some of the amazing advice and start putting it out in searchable, blogs, we’re still trying to figure out the best way to get this information because these conversations are so powerful and so helpful, and it was just killing me that they were going, poof, in the night. And so I want to acknowledge the folks that have joined us on stage during this powerful conversation so that we can start inviting the folks especially the ever patient to UI as well as deft welcome mama Clark. Hi there, Amber, I did see Adolphe went off mic while the conversation was happening so I’d like to give you your chance to weigh in and then I’d like to go to OooYee, and then Deft and then mama Clark and then Amber.
Wonderful. Adolph, Were you good did you have anything you wanted to say before we give the mic to Oooyee.
Adolph Ward 31:44
No, I just briefly want to say, I’m loving the conversation, I’m loving what my fellow moderators are giving, and please continue to give such excellent advice to these operators.
Dale Sky Jones 31:59
Right on Oooyee it is great to see you again. I feel like you’re you’re a new friend, seeing all the time right now. What’s on your mind. Kind of what the beginners are experiencing. Yeah, I did ask what you’re experiencing when you enter in before you respond. Will you do me a favor, Oooyeee and those three little dots at the very top right kind of across from Oaksterdam club, the little green house, all the way to the right of that, if you click on the those three dots look down at the bottom you’ll see audio quality, drop that from normal to low, and that should improve. The, the quality of your voice as you’re sharing your experience and that’s for anyone out there. It sounds strange. Yeah, it’s a little better but if you have a good spot to move to I think folks want to hear what you have to say and it’s easier if it’s a cleaner signal.
Oooyee 33:22
Research on where I was going to speak upon my extreme incidents previously. I came in here in Missouri, belly. I have found that it seems to be a little known for anyone that’s serious as I, as you mentioned you kind of see me on here quite often. That’s because locally. There’s not a lot of, there’s nothing to really be a part of you don’t find any information if you’re looking to actually get into any city situation, actually in the industry, I’ve actually spoke with Kelly because she’s when you please like and find that actually respond that people are actually working. I just said that.
Adolph Ward 34:28
I would think that things don’t know you know literally you would be able to go to a some type of place on website and look up something and find out where people are accepting applications, pretty much whenever you Google opportunities in the industry. I feel like you come up with a lot of third party companies that want to charge you for lists, or want to charge you for a class and this class doesn’t say that they’re going to get you a job after the class. I just feel like there’s a lot of people kind of taking off the industry but not really giving people opportunities to get into it.
Dale Sky Jones 35:07
Boy, did you just touch on some well several important topics their UI. So we might take them separately. One is merging states. Missouri is, you know, really from scratch here just in the last year, year and a half. So, it is a, it’s, it’s hard to find your tribe, and folks are also just trying to find their way, they’re trying to figure out their place in the world, and because the ethos has been conjoined the gold rush, they’re all looking for their shiny object. And you know it’s fair you want to have a good living and make a good wage and feed your family and have dignity. But this is not a get rich quick scheme, and unfortunately, There are folks out there that are willing to capitalize on people that that think that way, taking a class. I can’t tell you how many times people have taken a class and then put out a shingle saying I’m a consultant, like you are absolutely not a consultant. It’s, well I guess you are, You say you are, and you take somebody’s money. It’s just what kind of advice, are you getting. Look, no one can promise you a job. That’s probably a bridge too far to expect from from any business it’s educating because there are so many other components involved in being hireable, and sometimes it goes beyond what you know about weed. It’s are you going to show up on time, you know, do you practice good hygiene Do you play well with others, there’s a whole host of things that go into being hireable that sometimes somebody who’s highly educated still isn’t a good fit for a company, but by and large, if they are convincing you to give them money under a guise of promising something that seems too good to be true. It is, and go for the ones that promise to to get you to where you are trying to be not just I’m going to teach you what you want to know but I’m going to focus on what you need to know to make sure that you understand not just how to set yourself up for success. Lots of folks will teach you that. But who’s going to teach you how to prepare for the worst. How to wing it in the tough times how to navigate the gray area, and then also help you find your tribe of like minded people, because that’s what’s going to help get you that job is the networking, and you already know that and you’re coming here same cut to the network with that. Yeah no I feel Yeah, I feel you, so just wanted to make sure you knew I heard you too. Um, I think that there there are, I know at least two groups operating in Missouri. And I also know that that they, a lot of the members don’t look like you. And that’s also, you know, kind of hard to break in. Yeah, yeah, I’ve been there. I know.
Oooyee 38:13
I don’t know, I know that excuse me I’m gonna work with sometimes with buddies and we’ll go to the dispensary and these are not my people, they don’t look anything like me, in fact I feel like the people that are getting entry into the industry are all niche, like it’s like they all fit a certain cookie cutter, cut out by design.
Dale Sky Jones 38:39
Yeah, yeah, it’s so the good news here is your hit of hope, UI is, you do have people there that are just like you, that feel the way you do that care the way you do and that are trying to get to the next level, or they are trying to find someone like you, because they are trying to scale. There are local companies and businesses that did get licenses in Missouri, and you know they’re trying to hire within their community. They’re trying to ensure that their management teams look like the communities that they’re serving. And so part of it, you know, maybe there’s not yet, that easy group that you can just show up at, but if you have genuinely looked for that group and you don’t see it. I see your opportunity. I see something you can do to bring because you are not the only one, my brother, I promise you that you are not the only one, and and Roz with minorities for medical Marijuana did a boot camp in April of 2019 that brought together quite a few folks that think like you, that want to focus on, you know, people of color, women veterans which is finding your tribe just finding people that, that give a shit that want to do good while they do well. So hang tight and also realize that you’re talking to other people from in Missouri in these rooms to. So what you’re doing right now already is working, and it will continue to work because, as I start thinking about it and realizing where you are and what what side of Missouri. Which part.
Oooyee 40:26
I’m in, I’m in Kansas City,
Dale Sky Jones 40:27
okay so you Okay, yeah, so you’re, You’re, you’re not as far as you think. Alright, let’s go to Deft and then mama Clark. Hi Deft
Deft 40:40
great day, great rising everybody. Great. and again. First of all, I’m coming from California young creative director, artists, and appreciative of the space well aware of the space. I don’t have too much to give informative right now to get back tonight and listening.
Dale Sky Jones 41:06
Right on Deft, I love that you are a creator as well we just stepped into the intersection of artists and NF T’s and are trying to promote drug policy reform and education and see if we can put it all in a mixing pot and come up with something beautiful. So welcome to our community. I’m glad you’re here. Mama Clark, I believe you have a story to tell and I have been waiting breathlessly for your turn.
Mama Clark 41:37
Thank you so much. Thanks for allowing me in this space. So, I’m mama Clark. I’m the mother of Stephon Clark. Stephon Clark was killed by Sacramento Police Department in his grandmother’s backyard. March 18 2018 here in Sacramento, California where I reside. Since then my family is mobilized to get justice for Stefan and other families impacted by police violence. We have turned his legacy his Stefan’s life, and his legacy, into something big, something powerful. We have to step on Clark long here in California. The California act saves lots, save lives. Assembly Bill 392, which allows officers to be charged with murder. When using excessive violence, which is new. That’s a law that has not been changed since 1872. So we rallied for that we got that into effect here in California I stood next to the governor. Newsom when he signed that into law. Right now, underneath the Stephon Clark Law three officers are being charged with murders were in San Diego, one in San Leandro, and one in Modesto so I’m in contact with those families, they are just so full of gratitude towards our family for pushing for legislative change. So we also have a foundation and Stefan’s name is called the I am stack foundation Stefan’s initials are sat Stefan Alonzo Clark so we have the foundation, which bridges the gap between law enforcement and at risk of underserved, underrepresented communities. I believe that if we bridge that gap if we open up the hardest dialogue of all, then we can get some change going we look for actionable items at the foundation we inform and educate our communities on legislation and policy change. We also offer healing spaces at Stephon’s house which is our 24 hour rec center, library and justice Museum. That’s my doing that on the nonprofit side of things, in honor of my son Stefan, in the business part of things I have created justice tree, which is the only Cannabis brand in the industry that bridges the gap between social equity and social justice. So we encourage people to light up for the Congress, the money that proceeds from Justice trickle directly to burn the foundation, and help us with this fight that we’re in. My question in this room, I’m so glad that you have this room because it’s mentorship, which is why I entered the room for business success I do have my brand out, I am in a few cookie stores, I’m looking to get into eight off zip delivery systems real soon Kikis store that just opened up in LA so I’m in a few spots that I just can’t on my way home from the gym I stopped at a Cannabis dispensary here in Sacramento, which is what I do daily I stopped at these dispensaries introduce myself and try I’m trying to get my brand into other stores but I recently acquired complaisance certificate of completion for the Cannabis core, and the core program here in Sacramento, it’s the Cannabis opportunity we investment equity program. So I just completed the program. So I have been recognized as our verify social equity now, I would like to obtain my license in distribution, and also events here in Sacramento, because I think with those two licenses, I did not only could reach the the community in Sacramento and use my influence in Sacramento to, to, you know, rally up the communities, but I could also further my brand. And so my question is, what should be my next steps in obtaining my license because even though I’ve completed the program, even though I’m in the process of applying for the Elevate impact loan, they leave you there, you know, the pro of this program that I thought would help me get the license. really just taught me things that I’ve learned here in the club. So I don’t know what steps, I should be taking to pursue my and surely become a licensed social equity distribution, distribution, or events plan.
Adolph Ward 46:15
No one will mind that I’ve definitely played this one Hey Mama, this has been awesome. What I would definitely recommendis that I think that you’re kind of going down the right path, Even though you are now qualify, you know, as well as I know that the city of Sacramento moves at a very slow speed. The truth of the matter is, is for you to obtain a license there, you would have to still obtain a building and endure the CU P process, which is a very time consuming process. Even prior to COVID It was like an eight or nine-month process. After you’ve obtained to see up then you would go through, which is actually an abbreviation for the conditional use permit, which is a license that basically stays with the building, it is not transferable and it cannot be removed from the building once it’s actually issued. Once that’s completed and granted, then you’d have to actually go through the bo P processes, which is the business operating permit, and so we’re Sacramento is a little different from some jurisdictions, specifically Oakland, is that you have to obtain both of those actual licenses before you can even apply to the state, which is on average could easily take roughly about a year. So what my recommendation would be, is is to continue going down the path that you’re going down with with the, with, with Justice tree, and to try to expand its market share into additional retails like you’ve been doing and really they kind of try to ramp that up. And then what that can give you the luxury as is is you can continue to penetrate the market and build your market share, while you’re going through those very time consuming processes in Sacramento, and hopefully also bring in an additional income stream to help pay for that process in Sacramento, and then also be able to utilize some of the core funds that will be available to you, so it can kind of soften the blow and allow you to progress, while you’re kind of waiting out the process that takes, You know, just a considerable amount of time.
Mama Clark 48:19
Thank you and I appreciate that it’s so hard. It seems it’s so hard to just get direct answers to the questions that I have I have one more question. With that being said and then I’ll leave the stage to the other people. So how easy is it to because we’ve been talking about the incubator spaces. So, when I started to go through all these before going into the incubator space, or does from having to do the licensing, how does that work.
Adolph Ward 48:56
Incubation works a lot different in Sacramento because Sacramento didn’t actually mandate a one to one like a city like Oakland, and it didn’t have the clear system like a city like LA. So incubation as far as I recall, is kind of almost something that general applicants in Sacramento, can do but they’re not obligated to do so. There just hasn’t been a lot of incubation in Sacramento that I’m actually aware of. Now what to come back to the special event permit, you actually don’t need any of that that I mentioned before, to actually obtain especially event organizers permit, which is what you have to obtain before you can actually throw an event, you actually don’t actually even need to address the applied for those licenses because you are quintessentially a party planner or an event planner with that permit so we can actually work at obtaining especially events permit, which I think is a great idea for you. And that shouldn’t take very long, it’s not very expensive depending upon the amount of events that you plan on doing annually. That’s kind of a separate scenario where they’re kind of fast tracking those events at my last count there was I think less than 100 150 of them statewide, and most of them have not been utilized so we can really help you obtain a special event license really quickly. And then pretty effortlessly, but actually obtaining the Distribution License in Sacramento is definitely going to be time consuming.
Mama Clark 50:15
So it seems like for me and for. I do the special event organizers license would be the best, I just was thinking of a distribution because of how the distribution. The distributors get all the money, they can’t pay for like the print and so I was like well why not become a distribution, but I would be fine with especially event organizers license which is what I do anyways with the, with the foundation we have so many events that we throw. And so yeah, we can definitely make up, I would love to sit down with you, or do a meeting with you and anyone else who would love to be a part or helped me get this, get this, get this cracking. Thank you for allowing me to ask my questions and being the space you guys.
Adolph Ward 50:57
Wait, don’t don’t go because I don’t want to monopolize the answer either. I’d love for my fellow moderators to to weigh in, they may have other ideas or opinions, different than mine. Okay.
James Silva 51:07
Hey Adolph The only thing that I would really contribute this to James by the way, Mama Clark. I’m an attorney and a real estate broker for the Cannabis industry. The only thing that I would really add is that mom o’clock you obviously first of all, my heartfelt condolences for everything your family has been going through. You are obviously an unstoppable force for social justice, and you know the memory of your family’s loss. You have a lot on your plate, and that’s that’s apparent. The pathway the aid office is describing for you if you were to go forward with a see up a conditional use permit for a distribution license or something like that. That’s a very delegable duty. And if you have it in your budget, you could hand off it’s relatively mechanical, you could hand it off to a competent, whether you know it’s an attorney’s office or or, you know, if you, you had to contact your Oaksterdam, or if you knew somebody that you trusted you can hand that off to them. And that process will just require your tangential participation is a longer term, it’s like, like buying into a future of something. So while that opportunity is maturing for you instead of trying to handle it at the same time, you can you can focus your energies on, you know, more front and center priorities for you. That’s really all that I would contribute, and I wish you all my heartfelt, you know, gratitude for being in the space.
Mama Clark 52:39
Thank you James.
Adolph Ward 52:45
I’d like to add that one thing that we can all do collectively, as an industry and as a community is is that, you know, when we hear stories like we have the opportunity to support, you know, products like like mama Clark’s as as as operators and As consumers we have to collectively wrap our arms around you know individuals and brands like hers and so I would implore anyone listening right now, if you see justice tree in any retailer whatsoever, please support it. Quite often, a lot of us, you know, it’s easy to watch the news or to see what’s happening on television and to want to support you know the cause, a righteous cause, specifically a cause that that’s so front and center. Very seldom do we actually have the opportunity to really support those causes and this is one in real time so I would invite any and everyone listening to please support this brand and support stories and individuals like mama Clark when you have the opportunity. That’s how we collectively moved the needle, you know in slow but steady capaces.
Dale Sky Jones 53:47
Let me ally oop you Adolph, and also just add if you go into your favorite dispensary, ask, do you have this product because that’s also going to get the owner like Well, wait, I haven’t heard of justice tree. Oh, you haven’t heard of it. Well let me tell you it’s actually supporting a social justice caused you hear about what happened in Sacramento, it takes you 30 seconds to tell the story, and you might get a new procurement person interested in these brands so yes we speak with our dollars that is how America works so put your money where your mouth is and make sure that you’re asking where are the women owned brands, where are the black owned brands where are the bipoc the LGBTQ plus, what is your heart, your passion is it Americans with Disability, then ask for where those brands are in the shelf that you shop in that is what will bring power to these people that are grinding the grind the hard way. So I really appreciate it, and I appreciate what you said as well James My heart goes out to you, Mama Clark. And it is not just inspiring to see you turn your pain into action. But it’s especially heartening to hear how you’re going about it. I think that your approach to not defund but educate the police to bring police back to community, to realize that we are not one another’s enemy we are one another’s neighbors, brothers, sisters, and to know you, is to value your life. And so the best way to bring us back to where we really need to be is to have those conversations and that you are making that happen in your son’s name is, is just truly inspiring Mama Clark. Thank you. Hard to follow that I know, but Amber, you’re up and then I want to also work okay and RJ to the stage, it’s great to see all of you. Go ahead,
Amber 55:53
say exactly what can I say after five o’clock, congratulations on you, turning your tragedy into such an amazing, amazing victory that we’re all in this room, rooting for you definitely I’m so pleased to learn about your organization and what you’re doing with it that it makes me smile,
Dale Sky Jones 56:11
she’s gonna save other people’s babies like that’s what like, you know, it’s one of our dumb ass teenagers whose lives she’s gonna save for what she’s doing. I’m sorry to interrupt you, Amber, but yeah,
Amber 56:25
it’s exactly that, you know, I haven’t gotten justice for Stefan, but the fact that those other families it because of Stefan have gotten just as lots of Demise with their family members, is just, it’s, it’s an indescribable feeling, It’s an indescribable feeling, that’s what has me so excited about the Cannabis industry I was never involved in Cannabis, Stefan was a true pothead and so for me to be able to, to, you know, commemorate his legacy his life through Cannabis has seen, perfect, but since I’ve been in this industry since I’ve met and and bumped elbows with the people in this industry, it’s a community, and I know all about community, so. Right on. Thank you. Well we’re glad you brought me a community but is an industry so that’s my suit I want to caution all of the minorities and the women in the industry. It’s an industry. It’s a burgeoning industry, and it’s an industry with a lot of money flowing through it and around it. Therefore, it’s a corrupt industry that that’s just kind of had corruption in the industry. So what I see happening in the industry and I just got involved in the industry as an attorney, I’m a civil rights attorney equal employment opportunity by trade for many years but minorities and women. The east coast were the law in Virginia is very new saying how can we legally get into this industry and so I’m serving the legal landscape, and it’s to me it’s just a clusterfuck and what I mean by that is that it’s in such a legal gray area, that there are so many holes for people to fall into after they’ve put all their hard earned money on the line, and there are so there’s so many cards and there’s so many crooks who are looking to go after minorities, they see them as low hanging fruit so it’s an industry with a lot of corruption in it, because how would I see the industry type, trying to do to itself is how American views are. Let’s have five really rich people controlling everything. There’s top out all the small time players, but especially the minorities and the women because that’s, it’s the easiest it’s the easiest This is the easiest group to type, and to crush so I say all of that, not to be discouraging, but to say that if you are a woman or am I free, you’ve got to be really smart, you’ve got to be aware that you aren’t going to be targeted, you got to understand that people are coming for you in every conceivable way. They’re they’re coming for your real estate. They’re coming for your clients, they’re coming for whatever they can come for I mean crooks are everywhere, and doing all sorts of things to make in the state of Cannabis, and I think this is so true. Rico said, logistics and data are going to be critical products in this industry, or services in this industry that that can be monetized. And the data is it’s, it’s like, who is selling the canvas what ran what does it do all of that data is, is worth something, and it can you know in this day of data theft, it can easily be stolen because we keep so much of our information online in places, so these are the kinds of things that you have to think about how am I going to protect that which is most valuable to me. But you got to be thinking about all kinds of ways to super super super protect yourself, that you need to be consulting with attorneys because this, the laws are made to trap you specifically. So you know if you can get a platform like where it’s obviously doing such good things and she’s got, you know, all she’s got people power, and that’s valuable. So those are the kinds of things that you need to be doing to build yourself up and to protect yourself in the industry. And, you know there’s there’s other capital, besides actual capital. You can start movement and get people behind you, that is protection you need. You just need protection, is what I’m here to say with regard to everything that you’re doing because when you’re in an industry, you’re doing a lot of things just not selling one product you’re doing a whole lot. And you need protection with regard to all of it, I’m Amber and I’m done speaking.
James Silva 1:01:02
Wouldn’t important ever quick question from you, for you from, you know one attorney in California to an attorney on the East Coast. When you’re speaking about, You know those types of protections. Our Department of Insurance has been relatively aggressive in trying to encourage indemnification of Cannabis businesses what infrastructure is being put in place in Virginia. At this time, Just very briefly if any. And what opportunity do you think that represents to people in the industry who don’t want to be plant touching
Amber 1:01:40
James, the fact that I understand your question but I think that asking is, in Virginia are is the state of Virginia, encouraging insurance for people who are in the industry is that
James Silva 1:01:53
correct, I know that that sounds like a foreign object over 25 years, the idea of my clients indemnifying anything that they were doing besides doing anything but you know, wrapping what they were carrying in tin foil, and trying to keep, you know, trying to keep things off the text messages that was insurance in the past. Today, which was somewhere in the room, you can actually indemnify against certain business risks in California is that emerging on the East Coast.
Amber 1:02:25
Virginia is brand new, you have to realize that a governor of the state of Virginia issued its report on Cannabis is like a 500 page report about how he is going to legalize so technically the sale isn’t going to be legal until 2022. So they’re trying to figure out all of the logistics behind it and from what they’re doing, from what I read in that report, it seems like they’re you know getting big agriculture ready to come into play because it is highly, highly agricultural anyway. With our why we grow stuff here. So, in those so the infrastructure is already in place that way. So they’re like getting that that infrastructure ready to do hemp and Cannabis. I know, same thing, but you know, that’s what they’re, they’re getting ready to do but they don’t have a whole lot of details on on No they’re not. They haven’t drilled down to that degree I don’t believe, but you know that’s just
James Silva 1:03:17
reach out to the to the partment of insurance and let them know and I know the insurance industry out here in California is enthusiastic, economically speaking about indemnifying the Cannabis industry. It was it was a, you know, a big wall that came down in California when the insurance commissioner, you know, had the first Cannabis insurance policies written in California. That’s an enormous opportunity you know people, the premiums that could charge. The, the, the potential for for careers. For people who you know aren’t necessarily savvy with the plant in ancillary industries, and I applaud Oaksterdam for you know, educating people as to the opportunities and industries outside of the plant touching parts of the industry. You can be become an agent, you can become a broker, really great opportunity for people to elevate in the ancillar
Amber 1:04:17
Thanks for that James I had not thought of that at all, you’re right, there’s a lot of work to be done, and insurance and Cannabis Okay, all right, I like that. Thank you.
Dale Sky Jones 1:04:27
Well thank you, Amber because, you know, For those that didn’t. Peep Amber’s profile. She is a civil rights expert, and something that you said Amber about just, you know there are predators out there, and oftentimes, we are their prey. they’re looking to take advantage and there’s absolutely. You know some of the first that jumped on the Gold Rush were, were those types because they had already worn out their welcome in the industry that they had just fleeced and here is a fresh new group of victims. What’s ironic, as I was listening to you talk about the or the, the conversation over the last 20 minutes about how it is to be treated like a minority. We’re in this interesting moment in time where otherwise like privileged white people who are trying to jump into the industry first and then coming up against their pastor, their school principal, the local sheriff and they’re like wait what do you mean I’m less than, it’s like, yeah, because not only do we take advantage, generally, in situations where people are disadvantaged. That includes the Cannabis industry entirely, we’re still a movement, we’re not really an industry folks until we are D scheduled. And so it’s a little bit of taste of the medicine as well and I think that that’s part of what has opened people’s eyes, that this is in fact not about legalizing weed that unwinding the drug war, starting with D scheduling Cannabis. Moving on to other plant medicines and silicides and things that got put in a box, back in the 60s because it was counterculture and hippie and dirty and therefore just not okay that it’s opening people’s eyes that this isn’t in fact the most important social justice and civil rights revolution of our time, because it’s finally affecting white people trying to make money. And so, look, nothing against white guys I’m married to one I’m raising two I hope they do well but it’s not who needs the hand up right now to figure it out and I just find it interesting that folks that have never experienced institutionalized racism are finally seeing institutionalized discrimination against what we choose to do for a living or what we choose to use as medicine, in a way that really can speak across all types, all religions, all political affiliations, because ultimately cancer don’t care, and the cops don’t care who you voted for, You know, so it’s just it’s kind of thoughts that go through Dale’s head as you guys speak that I thought, some might find valuable as a bridge to talk about this with folks that here too for had not seen it for themselves because they were not the only woman in the room, the only black chick in the room, the only person with a disability in the room. So with that, I would like to welcome Ke to the stage. I saw you pop up when we were talking about mental health and you are, in fact, not only a mental health worker and community advocate, but also with a BS in criminal justice. Forensic Psychology, so I’m so glad that you jumped up and I hope I don’t distract from what you were going to say but I would love for you to also touch on that a bit, if you would be so kind to Ke.
Ke 1:08:00
I don’t know. Thank you so much. I also was like You brought up a lot of things that also I want to bring up and Amber touched on a lot of it too and some other previous people. But yeah, I’m a mental health worker I’ve been in residential case management so mostly working with like victims, homeless people who are homeless, and young adults. So that’s what I primarily work with and now I work with young adults with autism. So I started like my journey with Cannabis after my experiences with like lifelong trauma and abuse, and then I experienced cancer in my family, with both my aunt and my grandma within like within like a month of each other, they both passed away from cancer. So I got really into like holistic health and Cannabis in herbalism during that time because I also got really sick. So more of like what I was also going to talk about is also, I think you brought it up with people with disabilities so like brands are owned with people with disabilities or people who may be LGBTQ, or other marginalized identities that may not always get – I guess the front platform. I do speak to a lot of black women in general and it seems like a lot of black women in the Cannabis space we’re all under like the same idea that we’re all like fighting for our lives to exist in this space. So I just wanted to know like in terms and we may not have an answer but like other resources out there because I am an emerging state so resources, especially like for disabled people and chronically ill people or people like What’s more, I would say the habilitated mental illnesses, it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of resources that also help them get in the space of Cannabis maybes because people don’t think we should be in the space of Cannabis but also thinking of Cannabis also as a healing plant. And the reason that a lot of people do turn to Cannabis is because of their own experience with sickness disabilities and chronic illnesses so I think in terms of accessibility we, we would think we would see more resources in terms of that. So basically I got started with my brand and it was just an idea and then our state legalized Cannabis, just recently in July so I’m in Connecticut. And so we started having events where people, local people would meet up and so like I was able to get positive feedback on like my brand, but because of the lack of like resources and mentorship. It’s, I just don’t know what I’m doing I don’t think so. It’s just kind of hard because I’m trying to find that mentorship, and I don’t know if I should just relocate to a more resource abunt state or… Yeah, so my name is Ke and I’m going to speak.
Sara Frank 1:11:42
Speaking of mentorship and the places to look for it I know you’re in a great place right now you’ve already started that journey, but if you have like certain organizations or companies, or like grocery grassroot like operations that you want it to be a part of, you can always reach out to them find their contact and ask if they’re looking for you know a part-time intern. I know interning is a you know where you’re going to find your money, but it may be where you find your network and your connections, how I found my way into your day I was interning but it was through like connections and it’s really you know who you know. So I just wanted to offer that thought.
James Silva 1:12:22
Solid Sara
Shaun Salvaje 1:12:23
That interning thing. It’s an I am going to say this, in the hopes that the panelists will have more feedback on it because for a lot of people, interning is not a possibility, especially the people we were just talking about minorities, women, people of color, and mothers, because we got to pay the bills and make bread. So, I would be really interested in hearing feedback on how we can do both, because interning, I do agree it’s great to find somewhere where you can apprentice, but we have to get to a space within the industry where we’re paying people, if they’re showing up, that I never understood interning, From the beginning, people have to continue to live.
Sara Frank 1:13:18
When you find someone to intern, you have to be very careful about going about it and that means you know coming to the table with your boundaries with your terms and looking for a path of promotion from that and working the hours that you feel like you can work if you are interested in interning because an intern, is a very slippery slope because you know you can work a lot of hours for you know what seems like you know very little return. And so, if you are a busy person I would definitely say come to the table with your boundaries, and then work on that from there.
Requita Grant 1:13:55
I have a suggestion, just really quickly while the child quiet. There aren’t paid internships as everyone should know, but then there’s this thing called the externship and a lot of time people are willing to provide to an externship and that offers a stipend, and it does offer payment so those are things that you can check into especially within the – I want to say, disabled, special needs, network type of organizations they do offer that because I do work for a lawyer and as attorney in Los Angeles that offered me a externship. And so if you’re looking for something like that in being in a more friendly state, she I think it is great, but I also think you have opportunity in a state where you can change and make change with laws and legislation in that arena as well but externships I think are really great for people because five things are available and you can negotiate a lot.
Sara Frank 1:14:58
Bottom line, networking and connecting is so powerful as you’re growing
Dale Sky Jones 1:15:02
well and there is a structure for internships, and frankly externships, internships, does not mean they get to work you to death, and then they throw you away when they’re done. The whole point of an internship and this is something that we started out with Oaksterdam for years because we had interns and I don’t think we always got it right. But we, we absolutely felt a responsibility to not just, hey go clean the bathrooms and take out the trash. The point of the internship is not to have free labor. The point of the internship is to exchange knowledge, and yes that means I learned from my interns too because they helped me build a better program as we moved along, but importantly, it wasn’t just, hey answer phones all day every day, do you learn a lot. Yes. Are you going to need to do it quite a bit to get to where you need to be for experience. Yes, but that can’t be the only thing that they have you do. They’ve, the whole point of an internship, is that you walk away with knowledge and experience that you can then put to use. So I think internships are great, be aware that internships are often regulated by law, California has very strict internship rules, and you need to know them because Good lord, you do not want to run afoul of them if you are an employer interns should be paid. What we did was we refunded your tuition if you came and worked, it was usually an average about 10 hours a week for 12 weeks. And when you were done with your internship. You got your entire tuition refunded so it was basically a way to work off your your class for free. We are unable to do it remotely right now we’re still looking at different ways that we can do these internships or place interns with other companies, but it is really a complicated legal situation. So understand for your personal situation that you are your advocate and what Sarah said was so important to have boundaries, to understand your boundaries, but importantly to clearly state those boundaries at the beginning of the internship so that reality meets expectation for both of you, because you want this person who is mentoring you or offering you this internship or externship to then connect you with other people to offer you a job to give you that leg up later. And if they didn’t get their expectations met because you didn’t have this discussion in writing. At the beginning, like this is a way for reality to meet expectations in a way that you both benefit. And when you don’t, that’s where the gap happens, that’s where, not just hard feelings but sometimes actual, like, abuse of people’s good good nature and goodwill takes place, and oftentimes it’s not even the employer wanting to take or trying to take advantage, it’s just really easy to happen when they have an eager free worker sitting there smiling saying What else can I do, so just be aware of the ins and outs of those they can be really beneficial. They can also be a little predatory, so make sure that you have that open line of communication, and that you agree going in how many hours are you going to work, what are your responsibilities and what things are you going to learn while you’re there, it can be a one-pager, it doesn’t have to be complicated just an agreement on what this is for. So we’ve got to go ahead, Shaun.
Shaun Salvaje 1:18:40
That was such a great answer because she can also apply that to her business because when you’re having that conversation for yourself. Regarding an internship that’s what conversation you have to have as a entrepreneur in every contract or a situation that you’re about to partner up with someone else. So it’s actually learning by doing, which is why the internship and apprenticeships are so valuable, because that’s, you learn by going through the motions.
Dale Sky Jones 1:19:11
Indeed!
Todd 1:19:12
if I could if I could expand upon that and a key you had a number of really I think wonderful contributions to the room, ranging from, you know, why isn’t there more research. Anybody that has longevity in the arena knows as the DEA has stifled any positive research for Cannabis that’s a whole other story I want to thank you for being somebody who has the heart to do the kind of work that you do. I’m not just an attorney, I’m a real estate broker and as a broker. I’ve worked with agents, and what I frequently tell agents who are interested in working with me is that I’m not interviewing them for the job of being my agent, they’re interviewing me for the job of being their mentor or broker, and on the whole idea of an internship, I would encourage you two things, number one. Who are you interested in learning Trump. And number two, what are you going to do to interview for interview them, the job of being the person you internship with. So you can really turn it on its head and say you know you bring value you bring you bring a lot to the table. And a lot of work. So, who, who is worthy of the opportunity to be the person that has you as their intern. And then what is your goal. After interning for a certain period of time. If you go into an internship like you go into any goal, open-ended without an endpoint, it becomes a trap or dead end. But if you say, I’m only going to interview intern here, or work with this person, this company for X month times six months whatever whatever the time may be, because this is specifically what I want to learn. That’s how you get the most value out of that experience. And ask yourself, Who do you want to meet as a consequence of having that experience. So, James Silva those are my contributions.
thanks for doing that for Mama Clark because that was one of my comments – you know okay so I’m a white guy and I’m with you, like I’ve been driving too long it’s somebody else’s turn it goes up to me in Congress, there would be no, no white guys, we would still be represented, I bet that that would be absolutely fantastic, but okay I was gonna say, somebody comments and I’ll just cut it down to 30 seconds and that is I always listen to Amber, you know, she’s in Virginia but I know she can help anywhere so there’s so much that she says, and about the protection is always important So Amber Hi, nice to see you, and I was gonna say now I’ve turned into a big James fan. I’ve only heard him here in this room, but I was gonna say I like the guy you know but I certainly got to be in rooms when he speaks again so James. Thanks for your comments and then here I was talking about when you get involved in legal disputes they and family court and kids are involved, the kids are the absolute priority, she said that she made it clear and it’s because the laws that are still on the books and these these judgments that are coming out of these family courts. Obviously the stickable but I’m saying they’re still scary for everybody. It doesn’t matter who you are when kids are involved, it’s scary and it’s still going on so I’m glad to hear have mentioned that she mentioned something about monetizing, anything related to Cannabis Be careful because it can be held against you in court. And I was thinking she’s, I look forward to hearing more from her but, you know, I was thinking she said she wasn’t giving legal advice. Yeah, she was just giving good advice, meaning the kids come first, even if you get it but if you are monetizing, I’m sure there’s some counselors, you could probably give the say. Be sure to, you know, give it this type of charitable or we’ll hold it in this type of funder some things because sometimes you are really supporting the movement that you’re trying to, you know, break free from last night I was like mama Clark yes she knocked me out so I’m going to be reaching out to her mama Clark I was gonna say if she’s even here do I wish she was, I was gonna say please tell her what she’s done for the last few years has been wonderful. She’s wonderful untied, I’m done. Thank you Todd, this is my Mama Clark I’m still here. I appreciate it.
Dale Sky Jones 1:24:24
Right on. And thank you, RJ.
RJ Cooper 1:24:28
Hey, Dale, how are you, Jeff. I just wanted to, again, they always say a closed mouth doesn’t get fed but these rooms get kind of exciting and then you want to speak up and jump in thinking that the person may leave and appreciate mama Clark coming back in and I think we missed, who we just didn’t ping on him close enough to be able to, to respond to a deal you did mention to him minority for medical Marijuana was another organization that could help him get started and I wanted to shout out mentioned, the Urban Design Center with Sheree, Sheree, as well, and some other couple other but we try to track them back down but really shout out to you. One of the coolest persons I’ve ever met in the, in the clubhouse room and you do bring people together and I keep coming back and of course you working with our organization down in Southern California, was just totally awesome so shout out there but for those are in Virginia Key. I just wanted to mention and people were talking about watching who people trying to rip off the black women women taking advantage of women, There’s some strong black women hear from strong women. Not necessarily of color but they’ve got color and soul and there’s so Dale being one of them is that you can connect with these organizations as well. I want to mention again, Roz McCarthy minorities for medical Marijuana. They do have organizations all over the country and they would welcome places for people that are just getting started. Once you get involved with the organization they wouldn’t be willing to even have you become a chapter members or if you were in Massachusetts or Maine and just feel like you’re the only one there, they will work together to get you a part of the group with minorities for medical Marijuana Roz McCarthy. The other strong woman that I’ve always had as a mentor, out of Denver, Colorado. Wanda James simply pure, another person in the Cannabis space, an advocate, all across the country if you have not heard. Something’s not right but if you’re a beginner into the space, everybody that knows anything about Cannabis knows about Wanda James and her husband Scott Dora. They’re powerful in the industry and they’re willing to help anybody out there wants to be laughed off the last person that is my mentor right now in California, Southern California, Sheree Franklin, the Urban Design Center. She’s got an incubator. So if you ever felt like you didn’t know anybody or you couldn’t feel comfortable with somebody that you could not relate to urban design center.com She works in different spaces across the country as well. This has helped me as well. So last but not least, I want to speak again on mama Clark, I was fortunate enough to meet her about a year or so ago, and I watched her blossom on a fucking spoke about content planning and distribution. I’m a veteran I’m working in a distribution space, it’s a slow process you’ve accomplished so much in such a little bit of time, you probably don’t even realize it because you’re continuing to support everybody else in an unselfish way but I just want to say to you, all those bases that you want to accomplish just stay patient. I’m going to reach out to you again on the distribution side because I’ve been traveling and transportation and distribution for the longest wait for this schedule one to clean up. But, you know I’m in Sacramento I’m in Los Angeles, so I’d be glad to kind of still connect with you and just work together patiently, because this stuff doesn’t happen overnight but I just want to shout out to you, Mama Clark, so proud of what you’re doing and Hank and yours could all come to this is RJ and I’m complete
Dale Sky Jones 1:27:56
right on RJ, it first off it’s always great to have you in these rooms and RJ has got a couple things going on, congratulations on the USDA grant, working with veterans with hemp, and we are really looking forward to supplying education for your endeavors, and your shout out of some of these strong women of color, held to the Yeah. Both. All three have really gotten out there and just connecting people connecting people with policy with progress with ideas, Wanda has. Gosh, I remember, I think, I think we got pitted against each other for a, it was all in good fun it was for one of the original MJ biz cons down in Florida and they decided to do debates, and they found all these like heads of industry, and we did not know if we would be pro or con, on any subject until we got there and I wound up having to go against Wanda about pesticides. It was a thrill. So, I appreciate you bring them up yeah minorities for medical Marijuana. That’s m4mm.org. They are all over the country doing workshops and boot camps. And yeah Shiree is also working on actually finding the money as well so cheers to that, and I appreciate again your patience earlier RJ, Junior, I’m glad you made it to the stage we were struggling to bring you up. But technology allowed as Mercury slips into retrograde. I also want to welcome Sam and Tukey blunt to the stage so we’ll start with Jr, go ahead.
Junior 1:29:51
Appreciate you thank you, everybody. I had my earpiece. You have just checking out checking out good convo. If you can just check out my, my, picture. We’re getting ready for black cannabis week here in Philly. We have some stuff going on, I’m still getting the lineup on that. So pretty excited about that. And, you know, so if any of you folks will be in Pennsylvania. Make your way to Philadelphia, or you’re going to be in Philly. Reach out to me and then we’ll be able to connect, but um yeah appreciating all the conversations and wishing everybody you know, good day. And I’m Sherry cookies. I’m enjoying this I listen to this conversation so appreciate everybody, and thanks for bringing me up to speed.
Sara Frank 1:31:00
Yeah, Jr, please make sure your clubhouse app is up to date I DM’ed, we would love to support your event. I know it’s coming up right around the corner so please check that and get back to me.
Dale Sky Jones 1:31:12
We’ll do. Thanks. Yeah, we’d love to promote that out of our newsletter and our social media for sure JR We want to support you and Hakko Philly. We’ve also got some, some good friends and graduates in your area. Sarah, this is where we’ve got, there’s, I don’t know if you’ve gotten in touch with Hollywood smokes Kim is an ambassador for us and has worked all over the world frankly, on our behalf for education and one of her two stores one’s in New Jersey that others in Philly she’s a Philly girl so if you’re interested if you do reach out to Sara, we can connect the dots with Kim budtending and see if we can get more word out and then you’ll have a probably a future sponsor to their junior. Alright, cheers. Hey Sam, how you doing.
Sam 1:32:13
Thank you, appreciate. Yeah, cheers Jr. I’m doing well. I just want to say key the advice that I’ve got from this verb in the past has helped me to the point where I realized I didn’t have to leave Cannabis. So that was one of the Cannabis it to go when the Cannabis, and I found out that there’s a whole bunch of other opportunities with my technical expertise that I’m able to skip the intern process. So I’m going not to intern but more as an advisor for the time being and then once a couple sales come through then coming in as a developer. So there is that route as well on the advisory boards, typically they give you shares for that.
Dale Sky Jones 1:33:05
No, and that’s that. I remember you coming in Sam and we back channel a little bit and if I’m not mistaken, you, you met someone in this room that wound up connecting some dots for an interview, you bring up a really good point, like you don’t have to change yourself. To enter or be a part of this. You just it’s it’s more about finding your space in place and just recognizing what you’re already good at, and how to interface and ancillary, meaning not plant-touching you’re not actually growing it or selling it, but maybe you’re marketing, maybe you’re educating, maybe you are helping with real estate or, you know, legal advice CPAs, you know, we need janitors, like there’s all kinds of needs, add and you know I, I’ve been saying janitors for a long time but there’s an amazing opportunity to really look at recycling, because there are so many, you know it is unfortunate that the regulatory regime has made it so tough to be green, we are trying to be green and yet our processes, our packaging. Our requisites are definitely not eco-conscious, and it’s getting worse and worse. Even just requiring only indoor grow requires a much larger carbon footprint. So, finding ways to affect that policy, but also finding the gaps in what’s there, finding the opportunity and the pain points because it, it doesn’t exist yet. You know, there’s so many things that would have existed for this industry, how did it only been legal, and you have that opportunity now to take those next steps, and it is really top of the list for many companies, with respect to our needs. I know it’s, it’s something I talk about every damn day in one level or another is our it and how to connect it and how to get it to talk to itself and each other and that over there. So it’s yeah it’s good times, good fun. I want to welcome someone who I don’t know I think we trade mentorship techie. I know I learned a lot from you, and some of the experiences we’ve been in, or through or witnessing together. Just stick with me, and I appreciate you being in the room with us, husband, father, first ex-felon for Cannabis sales to own a retail facility under the Oakland social equity program and my Oaksterdam alum, Tucki Blunt.
Tucky owns Blunts & Moore in Oakland. Could be he’s doing business. Tucky, he’s usually doing something. So we’ll give you a chance if you want to let us know when you’re ready to talk Tucky. One of the reasons that it was so powerful and one thing that I want to share is during the protests over George Floyd’s murder back in the main June weekend. Last year, there were not just protests, we all know, but, you know, flat out riots and in some cases, criminal enterprises taking advantage of our moral outrage to crime. And while yes there are absolutely some just dumb ass youths they got caught up in the excitement. Make no mistake, this was organized crime that came in and decimated. Many businesses not just in Oakland in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, but also in Chicago, Illinois, around the country, this happened, and we wound up on a phone call, together with city council members, and city staffers, the director of the Cannabis program, as well as a couple of Oakland, law enforcement, PD that was supposed to be protecting these businesses that pay all these taxes and extra fees, because of the extra work we’re allegedly bringing to law enforcement, and law enforcement didn’t show up. And we wound up on a call asking Where were you when I watched my store get looted for six hours over that closed-circuit television that you require us to have is everything that I had worked for just got taken smashed stolen destroyed for almost a year he was out of business, not able to restart because of all the extra you know you still owe for that. There’s small businesses that gave you that product on contingency and they still need to be paid, it’s not even just the businesses that got hit themselves. It was the small businesses that supplied them. And I watched, listened as the law enforcement officers introduced themselves that one of them, one of the two was in fact the officer that made Tucky equity in the first place, It was Turkey’s arresting officer on that call, defending the Oakland Police to now the businessman, expecting the police to do their job to protect public property. I’m sorry private property from a public danger and Tucky anytime you’re ready, and want to jump in please flash your mic, but it was really powerful to watch and listen to that conversation of law enforcement and an equity individual that he had arrested all those years ago, and the respect and caution and consideration shown in that conversation. And what Tukey shared with me after is that that officer has in fact become a friend that they talk about a close friend owner you all smoke weed in the end of the day together. Not yet, but you have conversations about security about how to make it better about how to make it safer about how to protect your staff, your employees, your customers, your community, and just seeing the progress and turning it around. I used to get high fives from uniformed cops on the street when I was always walking back and forth between the Oaksterdam businesses because they knew that it was the tax dollars from the Cannabis community that got them hired that kept them employed, that bought them body armor that bought them body cameras, and that educated them on how to treat Cannabis consumers with respect
Tucky Blunt 1:40:02
back Dale sorry.
Dale Sky Jones 1:40:04
I did a little dance a jig. I kept everyone entertained.
Tucky Blunt 1:40:12
Order some tires earliest for my car, and they got shipped to the right address but the place rejected them, and now I got away from again another four days so I was getting that taken care of so hello everybody. Yeah, that she says all correct and crazy. But do you mind if I mentioned something that is not kind of like if this Cannabis-related but it’s not on topic. Can I mention that please? Okay, we have is (cranking) people right now for representation on their website and I’m talking about with no, no Vaseline no nothing just absolute optioning off the number one spot, and is getting quite irritating so I just wanted to put that out, don’t know why they’re doing it but they want 7200 For the number one spot in the opening, two years ago it was only $2,500
Shaun Salvaje 1:41:11
It sounds kind of like the Wedding model, if you think about it, the wedding industry is when Wedding Wire started to monetize the US started to pay if you were like a wedding, if you were in the wedding industry, it didn’t really matter if you were good or not. If you paid enough money for your advertisement they made it look like you were great. And it was interesting, that’s part of why the wedding industry is the way is which is kind of a whole social thing. And so we’ve met, doing this, that’s interesting. Thanks for that information.
Tucky Blunt 1:41:49
And then two more like since I’ve been very open, I got my own partner I’ve been learning more and more stuff about, like, a lot of people stuff they did and what was going on, if anybody got robbed. Doing all that robbery stuff between where they’re made 30 up to like two first two seconds whatever you’re in the Cannabis space, and you got your insurance didn’t cover that and you have vendors hounding you for some of that money. You may be able to get out of pain. By having a conversation. I’m working on that now. We owed over 46,000. After you have come to find out 35,000 of that product within the store robbery have peace of mind with a product, herbal didn’t know anything about a lot of that stuff happening they kind of herself, they never talked to me they were just talking to my you know my staff my team. I’m like, You know what, now let me go actually talk to some higher-ups and herbal to kind of get the owner here and get the second to the owner. And let me talk to them, and let me understand some things because a lot of these, we’re not going to tell you a lot of y’all probably don’t know. So, in December of 2012 has come December of 19, all the way through to May June of 2020. And if anybody’s in here that can vouch for this I’m pretty sure there’s somebody here that could the Cannabis distros were based just throwing product to dispensary I’m talking about giving away giving away, Donut donut donut and I get no money. I didn’t know this at the time because I wouldn’t my part of the business but this is what’s going on as I’m finding out, and in those six months, a lot of Cannabis businesses racked up a lot of debt, where a lot of distros, because they were just given a product, and wasn’t taking money. I don’t know if it wasn’t they weren’t asking for and it was just like oh, we’ll just keep coming or people working deals, I have no idea. But that was going on, and then you flying all that up to where you get robbed in May. Now all those products have gone through all these people are coming back asking for money and it’s like dude who gave us so much like they literally I have at least seven vendors gave us upwards of anywhere from 30 to $60,000 worth of product and never got any money over a six month time span, it was coming in dropping off every two months like clockwork. You’re setting us up for failure. You understand, so I had to have a real conversation with him like Look man, I get y’all in business y’all might not understand how the street shit work, but I understand both sides. Ain’t no fucking way in life I’m letting my, my plug or whatever you want to call. Give me three times a man on the payphone and don’t collect no money and then I get robbed, and he don’t need somebody my plug in some of that because he’s in the game you’re in product hasn’t had a guy and go, go out the car like make them understand that from a side of y’all, y’all on his business ship with his business unit gets off but because you’re doing it the wrong way. And I’ll be the one to call y’all on that and I did, and it worked out. They changed the deal that we had in place, and it set a precedent to knock and go talk to these other companies, and now I can empower other people to go talk to these companies who are there I’m talking about out and this down for money that. Let’s be frank Josh and ever gave was like why are you running around spoken Hello clothing Hello store and given them all this book because it was like it was a COVID Cheap. People don’t really trip or how COVID affected the Cannabis space, effectively good with also frequented bad and that was one of the bad things he’s bad distro so leave my will comment and everybody want to talk about them properly. I want to get that out there and talk to a lot of people know that that’s been going on at all in the space.
Mama Clark 1:45:39
Can I respond to that. Please, This is Mama Clark – Tucky, so I hear recover from myself as well I’m true social equity, just like you okay I can you know I’m saying. And so, being the store I hear you, the district was dropping all this time, like I said, but that’s a whole nother story. But now I want to ask you from my perspective as the brand owner right, I had to deal with a dispensary right for an event that they were having we were all going to this one event, and I won’t use names because I’ll just keep it. Piling that right, but they asked me for my product so I gave them $10,000 worth of my product. Okay, and after the event. There, they were so we have to give voice all legitimate invoice dispensary, I mean distro dropped it off, they received the invoice, we went over and all that. Everything okay copacetic right so the plan was that they pay us the Monday after the event. Well, they said, Well, we didn’t sell out. We didn’t sell as much as we thought we would at the event. So we’d like to drop the price and I’m like well no. Once you have it in place. The deal is set. So, then they’re ones tell me that they wanted to renegotiate the price. Okay, then they said, Well, how about that we buy back. They wanted me to buy back my own product, that they’ve never even purchased and I’m just like, This is not how the game goes bro like you just don’t get to get my weed, and then now I see you selling it now you’re selling it as a part of a promo in your store and it’s selling out, and you still haven’t paid me, I’m ready to ride up to the store, but I can’t because I’m mama Clark, and I’m a business. And it’s like my time, and then I can’t make, I can’t sue them. Right, because then I’ll get blacklisted in the industry. So, I’m asking you as a store as a retailer, because you have the insight that I don’t. What should I do how do I solve this problem.
Tucky Blunt 1:47:54
To me, and I’ve only just begun just what I’ve noticed, whatever you’re fine, or whatever is in that country and agreed to whatever those times were has to be okay and both times are upheld. Every power within your legal right to contest that. So, the agreement was to pay this amount per pound, opposed to pay that, if that’s legally documented with both y’all fine. That’s what I should uphold. Now for me personally on the store side, I have had a product come in, that we bought for our price didn’t fail because either they didn’t promote it or whatever the case may be didn’t sale, and then we go back to the, to the table, and we asked her to negotiate for price, but we keep blood for that. We already pre established that within the first contract when we signed up to sign the deal, it says whatever do you know whatever we have in place, we’re talking about like a long ass contract, we talked about this a regular invoice agreement, hey, this doesn’t feel about this and so today we make contact to to go in about trying to set the price difference are we able to make a sale because that’s what we have to do as a store if it doesn’t say, Oh, we got to figure out where to move it that means lower the price. That means lowering the price, but we make sure we take care of that up front, in a sense of letting you know that this may happen. I doubt that happened in your case, you know what I’m saying but this is stuff I’m learning just on the fly, being in the on the store side for three years in the freezer, nine o buyback I know it didn’t sell show up all day. Oh well, but on the store side which do is and don’t sale market down and get rid of it. Now, if you got the market down under price you need to sell it. I mean it’s bought it for, take a loss, but the store doesn’t want to take that loss, so that’s why you incorporate that initial conversation we find – Hey Dog, just in case you don’t promote it or just the case, it also like you think it would. We don’t come back and want to do a little cheaper different price we want to do it, like you can really be that technical before you find anything. You know if and but we don’t know that from Jim, you know, we’ve all feel like we’ve
Mama Clark 1:49:51
got to somewhere, a good business practice I get that part, and I get you know you’re one of the first people I heard, I heard first. I first knew about you not my sister told me about you. And then you do my tribe, of course, is how I connected with you that I knew about you from you venting about this very topic on Instagram. And so that made sense to me that the brand owner, the brand needs to promote where the work what stores are holding the brand, and then that way you know I’ve tagged these people in everything I do. I’m consistently giving their shouts out you know I’m saying consistently driving traffic to the store, because it will help sell my product. Now, now they’re at a point where they’ve almost completely sold out of my product.
Tucky Blunt 1:50:44
Excuse my language but, and they tend to do that with one
Mama Clark 1:50:47
I dont know how to respond
Tucky Blunt 1:50:52
I’m telling you how to respond. Whatever was in that document legally that y’all saw the invoice whatever you’re putting that invoice. It got to be held to. So, if it was a vague invoice and it was just like a rural, like, and they do it to us on purpose because we don’t know, you’re not saying so your best recourse may be to just be like fuck it and eat it, and then just know what to do for next time because we do have to do that. I’ve had to eat a whole damn near bankruptcy and eat it and come back. So, it can be done, but it just, it just sounds like typical should they do to us, they do it more sort of people of color and they do it more so to women in this race. So, rocking up angled like that would make you look like you’re angry black woman blackballing young fans suing them shouldn’t blackball you, but it’s sort of gonna work it was just an invoice transaction you don’t offend it may not even be worth going down that debt. It just may be just an extra monster list, you know, saying that just cannot be domestic or foreign leather store domestically. You know what I’m saying. It’s gonna be a lot of stuff we’re going to encounter that we could rock up about, but it won’t even make it won’t even get us nowhere. And you know what I mean.
Mama Clark 1:52:02
I appreciate your frankness and thank you and I appreciate the room for allowing me to, I have not been able to get that all the things. Thank you.
Adolph Ward 1:52:11
I want away real quick on it because I too have felt exactly what both of you guys are coming from being all perspectives, and the truth of the matter is that we don’t discuss often enough is that the Cannabis retail system in the state of California is broken. It has been broken and part of it is because it’s the truth of the matter. The truth of the matter is is that the whole way that we’re getting down all the way around is not how other retail industries work, like the truth of the matter is, and it’s not gonna be good to those of us that have brands, but let’s use like the biggest retailer in the country, Walmart, if Walmart takes your product. A they don’t pay a dime of front, everything’s consigned beat when they have to do like Tukey said they have to do at times, which is actually liquidate the product, the vendor pays for that Walmart could do that because they’re so big they want that shelf space. But the fact of the matter is is that retailers and suppliers are supposed to work together. Lucky does not market and advertise for Lay’s potato chips Lay’s potato chips markets that advertise for Lay’s potato chips, and the average consumer could give a shit lesson if it’s lucky Safeway Albertsons Riley’s whatever that they’re known that they’re getting the product that they want, hopefully, at a price point that they can live with. But it is not Lucky’s lucky simply puts lays in their, in their, in their circulations when they send out sales ads, they don’t market for that brand. And what we’re seeing happen to touch on what Tucky said what we said happened and Cannabis, because I too as a retailer got caught up in that exact same timeframe, he’s talking about. They weren’t giving product. I was beating people off with the sticks and I don’t want to talk about. I’m not sure I could sell it like I had people come to me trying to get me to buy stuff I’ve never sold in my retail life and I’m saying, I don’t have a market for this No, no, just take a little bit, You’ll be fine and I’m saying wait a minute. No, because you asked him you kicking the cat two weeks with 30 days does kick in the cat. I still, you know, a cancer diagnosis today, or next week is still cancer, so it doesn’t matter if you’ve given me two weeks to come up with the money if I can’t sell it now I got a problem two weeks down the road. So, the problem that I’ve tried to express to vendors, often is is you have things twisted in thinking that the relationship and the transaction we have is your sale. That’s not a sale. It’s a sale when I sell it to a customer, because if I purchase one time for you $1,000 2,000 to $10,000. If I never saw this product I’m never coming back. You’ve gotten one transaction. If you helped me sell the product. Now you got a three fold $1,000 transaction every month, which one do you want, but everyone was so caught up in being focused on themselves, because again, not only is the retail portion of the industry broken, the whole system is broken, so everybody’s so focused on themselves and trying to justify that everyone’s doing things that they don’t want to do. So Mama Clark, more than likely not knowing the brand, or I do know a little bit about what happened but more than likely what might have happened with that company that owes you money. The product got cannibalize they sold it kind of slow didn’t sell it all at one time and then looked up and said oh shit we owe this money and they’re trying to probably rob Peter to pay Paul to take care of the fact of the matter is that people aren’t doing what Turkey recommended, which is just be honest, just keep it 100 – tell anybody that you have an issue with what the issue is and try to resolve it then you can try to pursue it or go further, but the fact is is that everyone is kind of standing close to the chest. A lot of people run around talking about how to kill it. And the facts are very few of us are killing it and those of us who are, are probably killing it through the back door. So, the truth of the matter is get the whole retail system is broken, and we have to all collectively look at how we fix it, how we actually work more similar to other retail industries, and our markets now one of the reasons that we’re having the problems that we’re having is in a lot of other industries, there are third party entities who actually fund your inventory. It’s not brand, and it’s not the retailer, it’s a third party, factoring your inventory which allows you that flexibility to pay it when you can’t. So we need to actually fix part of the broken part before we actually get to the solutions.
Shaun Salvaje 1:56:31
Yes, I love this, this, this is part of the history that is being written y’all, this is when you’re saying, oh thank you for letting me vent no thank you, thank you, because you are illustrating I’m sitting here as a journalist, just like my god, this is unfolding right before us and we’re here figuring this out in this new, a very, you know, disruptive industry. At the beginning of something new. So, Thank you for sharing because really you’re giving us all wisdom.
RJ Cooper 1:57:04
Hey Mama Park I wanted to just say to you this is exactly how you get the experience, and no detail apologize because you are real time success story, Adolph is a real time success story Tucky is a real time success story wouldn’t with real knowledge, which is, which is Black Power knowledge to say, we’d learn and learn the rules of the game. We don’t fall apart. We don’t go out and compromise ourselves you ask the right questions that term roll up, you know, they happen. We don’t roll up, you just have a strategy on the front end, or you fail your way to success as Michael Jordan would say, and then we learn from and we keep moving to be better than next time, all the way to the success story
Tucky Blunt 1:57:50
with the topic, but I knew that was an important topic because Herbal literally said to me, I didn’t know nothing about the whole industry doing that for that time frame I can’t know for y’all that don’t know, more was the face of the brand moving around doing the interviews, and my former partner was in house, so I didn’t know that vendors was coming to the store, you know abnormally hot drop off. We had hella products and I always complain about that like why do we have so much inventory. That was wide, herbal people put it on and they would like do in about a six month timeframe between the end of tournament, all the way down to like Mega June of 2020 I mean 1819 Going into 2020 In May, where vendors was just pulling up like unannounced here take this divided by this because everybody was panicking because of COVID. It was like a thing being being moment I’m like, Damn, that really happened and nobody’s talking about it, and it’s a lot of us that are in debt. You know we’re in debt in general. A lot of us are in debt, a lot of businesses that popped up in that error are specially equity are in debt because of that, that whole period.
Dale Sky Jones 1:59:06
I can’t tell if you’re in the matrix or in a sock drawer. Okay. Yeah, go ahead.
Shaun Salvaje 1:59:19
both of you to kind of, honestly I really want to write this story because it’s really part of the history that we need to record this, you know, we, there have been histories before that were raised, and we need to record it this time, so we don’t get played the same way, next time you know what I’m saying. So I would love to connect with you guys, and really tell the story because, honestly, it is a reflection of the industry as a whole, and you’re, you’re telling it in a way that is so unreal, because it’s so real. Like I don’t think you, I’m not sure if you fully recognize the value of both of your stories.
Tucky Blunt 2:00:02
So for me I do, I do. It’s different, but like, just in that conversation I had with them on Wednesday, I could see their faces like when they had their aha moment like, you know what we are turning like that wasn’t fair business practices Why were we doing that like why do we just all of a sudden just don’t, I mean like, so I know in like you know whatever you want to take on guy, they’ll tell you I don’t mind talking at all. I’m gonna give as much free game as I can because we got to teach each other about what’s going on, you know what I’m saying. So, let me know I’m available
RJ Cooper 2:00:37
This is RJ. I heard that I know Mama Clark I met her personally and I’ve heard about you, but I always want to shout out with Dale again bringing this this this information to light and give us an opportunity to share some real stories and the people that I’ve seen in this business 30, 40 years successfully have ran through the same things and I can’t I want to do this announcement of Wanda James Simply Pure because not only is she a success story, but she’s a strong business that is probably, I’m not even gonna say probably everybody has. That’s in business have been through that scenario that you guys just mentioned, but she’s been through it and she’s, she’s learned how to survive it to where her product in her product team and people’s teams, they’ve managed it they have the contracts in place you have to be able to move that kind of revenue over the years, so I’m going to try and get with you guys, if I can hook in there and get with Wanda she’s just a personal friend of mine, and then connect to just make your brands he wanted to come to San Francisco. She’s from California she’s over in Denver, but she loved to be able to come and continue to help you guys successful that her business her business strategy business plan her business structure is geared up if something like that was to happen, she that she would have had them in court or she wouldn’t have them in court because she would have got paid on I wouldn’t understand that I’m contractually on the front end so people try to take advantage of us, not knowing or we feel like we’re starting like with Mama Clark said, I don’t want to be blackballed, hell no, you’re not blackballed your product is good what you did was right. They need to be blackballed for not doing what they’re supposed to do contractually. This is RJ
Adolph Ward 2:02:14
a whole brand all the stuff I think with this is, this is no disrespect to anybody in the space. A lot of us are talking about teaching each other about a close friend or whoever can but a lot of like a lot of respect and respect for when I was talking about. So I’ve kind of been talking about like if we come across those who can benefit other people. We need to notice because if we did was to hold on to it and then we just never know we keep making the same mistakes over and over and over, like ourselves.
Dale Sky Jones 2:03:01
I don’t know anyone that is in this business for any length of time that hasn’t been burned by someone at some point, and, and look, you know, good people do dumb shit do bad things bad people do good things and then you trust them and then you get taken to the wash. So sometimes, like legit, it’s not even intentional, but these times that it is clearly the, the way that they are doing business. I want to underline what you just said that they’re the ones that did wrong. And if you feel ashamed for making the mistake of trusting them. No, this is not about shame or blame we have all been there and it’s called life and learning, and you only fail if you fail to learn from it. That’s probably how Wanda got so freakin smart is because she got burned and burned and burned and she said I’m not doing this anymore. I’m putting these safety protocols in place, I’m making sure I’m checking reputations, I’m making sure that I’m going into business with people that are like-minded that think like me, that aren’t just trying to take a piece of me. But that came through, “falling for it”, that came through being taken advantage of being lied to, or just having someone who genuinely thought they could do it, and failed themselves, and now you’re left holding the bag or their responsibility. I mean good Lord if people would just do what they said they would do. But this is a learning process and I don’t want you to feel a bit of blame or shame for falling for it. This is fuel for your next steps this is the knowledge that will get you there and not fall for that again, because that’s the other mistake you could make is continuing to make the same mistake and not learning from it. So it is just fuel, it’s just fuel for your tomorrow.
Adolph Ward 2:05:00
I want me to add real quick to it as well. Make no mistake, it’s still happening, Like what we’re talking about, well, Mama Clark is talking about is still happening because of, as I mentioned before the system being broken, and the time they took you mentioned, when COVID began, that was not when it began. These kind of practices, again, I’m gonna say like 2008 thing. So to briefly just touch on it.
Dale Sky Jones 2:05:24
Oh, honey. 25 years ago, look, this has always been going on. It’s just we’re finally allowed to talk about it out loud.
Adolph Ward 2:05:33
Exactly, but we saw it happening really from a weird space in regards to delivery because make no mistake, I’m very honest and upfront that delivery was the redheaded stepchild of the industry and it kind of still is, there was a point in time that very few companies actually did business with delivery right, even after licensing, we saw the speaking slowly get turned on and more companies opened up to delivery and obviously relationships that that work and played into what you can get at that point in time terms were 34 letter word, you know, we were still kind of quasi St. But what we saw happening. I don’t know maybe the summer 2018 or so is is that there was such an influx of product that everyone started receiving all the emails from F rebrand and every company, and then the actual payment terms actually started getting established. You will see things even like some companies talking about 3090 day 60 day terms, which, you know, prior to that I’ve heard. Again, that’s when they started really front loading retail with this product that in most cases retail cut. So, this is an industry wide product but I also wanted to build just briefly before I end, all what Dale said, some of this has done nefarious some people have have have motives in mind when they actually take this product or, or they sell the product to that they know that you can’t sell this data, the other. The majority I would like to think though, are people who just got caught up, you know, the fact of the matter is this is hard. This is still new, the rules keep changing, and the majority of everyone participating is under capitalized, so I like to think that most people just find themselves in this shift, and then they do something that they didn’t necessarily didn’t mean to do. I think in the next couple of years, we’re gonna see a lot of evidence of that because I think that probably 80% of none of us are paying their federal taxes so we’re gonna have real problems on the horizon. But either way it goes. I think that people are caught up doing things that they normally wouldn’t do, where they don’t realize that they’re doing because they’re so desperate to stay afloat. So, even though there’s a lot of shitty business practices. We all have to use a little bit of empathy, because a lot of us have been there and we know how tough this shit truly is.
Dale Sky Jones 2:07:40
I’m glad you said that and before we go to Bianca, Eric and Brittany who I want to welcome to the stage and appreciate you’re already – friendly reminder we are recording for transcripts in this call so that we can bring forth some of this information and have it searchable and readable after the fact. So I’ve done my legal duty there. And when you do screw up, because you will too. Like, each one of us, like, I, it’s that, that feeling of like, oh I could have done better. Then go tell that person, you know, sometimes these, these giant rows, it turns into – the only people that make any money or the lawyers, if you know you’ve made a mistake or you know that there’s a problem or you see the problem coming, and you’re like, I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to make this bill next week, call them up and say, I have a problem. I don’t want it to become your problem. I want to try to figure it out with you, because maybe they know something you don’t know that they can maybe lateral it to a different situation or give you different terms and if you approach them and say, let’s work this out instead of blindside them later with a sorry I didn’t pay Oh I’m just not even gonna answer your call and not pay you, like, we are often just doing the best we can and we don’t always get to where we’re trying to go, and so if you made a promise you can’t keep. Then go approach the person you made that promise to and talk it out. Look, if they’re gonna see you they’re gonna fuckin sue you anyway. If you make that kind of mistake. Same on the other side if someone comes to you and says, I eff up. I know I owe you this money, find a way to work it out, because you’re gonna wind up having the loyalty and the good business practices with that person that’s somebody you want to work with because they are trying to do the best they can and maybe you learn, they’re not the best fit for you. But then you can go your separate ways and it’s, you know, just, dude, do no harm, kind of principle.
Tucky Blunt 2:09:45
Laughter. So, when we run a store in my lawn chair just sitting in front of us just literally sitting in front of my store chillin. I see a car pull up, it’s the two dudes up in the mean, they don’t notice I’m sitting here. So when I get out the one dude who is our rep, Brad, he knows me he was he was the one who made sure we had to meet. He told me to do, we’re gonna meet we wanted to hire up Drew and drew kind of like the attitude and God they’re like, how are you know why the fuck are we here like, you know it is what it is, they know they owe the money, why are we here, he was like he was playing for a while, no one was there. So, just think, just remember that right. That’s the energy he was coming in with what was done out of pain lunch for me, a follow up meeting and adjustment to the original agreement, August from having a fucking conversation, Jesse. Definitely.
Mama Clark 2:10:44
Yeah, we’re all damaged. The moral of the story is communication is key. And, you know, we can, like you said Mark from the mistakes I’ve learned, I’ve definitely learned from this mistake to treat it like the game for real money upfront or No Deal, but had they come to me. We could have sat down and renegotiate. No problem, I don’t have a problem with that, I’m an empathetic person. I believe in good business, and so I’m, you know, a little background about me I’m the mother of eight, and you know there’s some life lessons that I’ve instilled in the eight different human beings that are walking this earth that have proven to be good values and that is you know, say what you mean, mean what you say and if you did something wrong. It’s okay. You’re bigger than your mistakes and you’re better than your circumstances, you can always go and find a solution to a problem so kudos to everyone’s input on this. I love you guys.
Dale Sky Jones 2:11:44
All right, Bianca and Eric have both been very patient and also I’m always so thrilled to see Brittany on stage to RJ you’re always bringing it. Bianca, you have the floor and then we’ll go to Eric, can you skip me and go to Eric I have to get my kid into his kung fu call when you’ve been waiting so long you got it. No, clap when you’re ready, Bianca and I love that your kid is in Kung Fu, good for you right on, Eric.
Unknown Speaker 2:12:12
Hey, I’ll try and do your proud. So, Hey everybody, are here. A couple things. Number one, I kind of raised my hand with Tukey talking about that that run of stuff you know I have a software company that’s been quiet, but we’ve been working with some big brands like Flo Cana we’ve integrated with Leafly and we’re running humbled farms and some other people and we got a chance to see what was happening firsthand because I’m also on the logistics operations inventory and compliance and finance side so seeing it at those levels but I want to echo, you know what it all said it, you know, everybody that I know twos, they’re all just people trying to do the best that they can with what they know or the situations they get themselves in. And this, this whole concept of trust. I think it’s a wonderful ideal, I have a mentor of mine though who said you know in business you don’t need trust that’s what contracts are for. But the problem is, it’s difficult man, I mean having, having the attorneys or the, you know, the follow ups and all that other stuff. Anyway, I’m gonna wrap this up by saying I got an open offer to you. Anybody in here actually but, you know, Tukey and, and a few of you that have talked about these challenges were building an open source product right now to really democratize this stuff. I actually produced a video on this in 2015, predicting that all the big companies would come in and in conjunction with the governments would create a system that was so difficult to navigate. The average normal guy could never deal with it and that the big corporations doing I mean Weedmaps WCC has been my customer that with those guys. And I’ve seen the underneath the hood of that engine, if you will. And it’s interesting how just say that especially since it’s being recorded, so if anybody wants to talk to me directly. We actually have a great design group putting together these, these, like handheld contracts that can be between brands and distributors or be doing between anybody, and we’re gonna release it as a free and open source tool for people to try and help help a little bit with some of these problems and a few others so anybody wants to reach out to me we’re always looking for more good people that are trying to get this done right and bloom stack is being launched as 100% free and open source platform for the industry. So, Anyway, DM me or, or whatever, somebody is interested in moving for I’ll help you.
Dale Sky Jones 2:15:06
So Eric, I’m really intrigued with what you, you guys have going on, and I’m curious how does bloom stack make its money.
Unknown Speaker 2:15:17
Well, first of all free and open source, free as in freedom, not so much free as in beer, you know, there’s the concept of having something free like a free website, you know you can have WordPress for free if you know how to, you know, load it up onto a server and and write, you know, whatever you need to get up your, your website, of course, if you don’t know how to do that either go to school to learn how, or you hire somebody to do it. So there’s an ecosystem of course of service providers that help companies, configure their systems do trainings, do customizations, things like that and that’s typically how the open source community works. We also run a cloud platform, so you can take our software for free. Run it on your own, or we also run the infrastructure for companies and they can just pay us a monthly fee to host all the stuff and then they do what they want with it. So those are a couple ways that you can monetize without charging without charging licensing fees or seat licenses or annual maintenance contracts that people don’t need, which is what enterprise software has been doing raping people for years. Thanks Eric. Go ahead and check your DM I also reached out to you. Cost Causton calls her.
Dale Sky Jones 2:16:34
Yeah, this is a, I, I appreciated the way you described it in your bio the cluster F of it in the Cannabis space it is absolutely an ongoing issue, and
Unknown Speaker 2:16:48
it’s hurting companies, yeah and the stuff that that Fran well did was metric and then licensing it out to these companies, or to the States. I mean it’s criminal, so I mean we have a we have an alternative platform that we’ve been building to give to the states for free called Bloom trace. So we’re a metric certified Integrator as well but, you know, eventually I want to just give something to the states that they don’t have to pay millions of dollars for and that everybody can use it for, you know nothing next to nothing. So, yeah, it would be great to have something free and functional. Right. Yeah, Exactly, yeah. I’m calling you guys from right now from India, I’m in Mumbai, India. It’s 218 in the morning here, but I couldn’t sleep and I just jumped on clubhouse. And one of the things I’m doing here is we’re actually lobbying to try and get them to use a free and open source system for the whole country at one time. So that all these states don’t have this hodgepodge of systems, which is just creating chaos back in the States, I mean, all the different taxation districts and all the different compliances from I mean frickin Graham’s are different between Colorado and California. Whoever thought grams would be different. How many, how many grams are in a pound and Sam, you know, in metric compliance it’s different between Colorado and California and so the most asinine thing I’ve ever seen. But anyway, sorry provincial.
Dale Sky Jones 2:18:13
Oh no, if we want to go down the list of asinine things we’ve seen we would be here the rest of the year. So yeah, no, Eric, you’re bringing up a lot of important points and the, you know, for those that don’t know the history behind metric metric used to have a different name, and it was implemented in Hawaii in the pineapple. You know, there’s, there’s an interesting and deep history around this track and trace system, and they already bankrupted an industry with the failure to perform. And then they basically dusted that program off changed its name, and sold it to California, there. When, when Eric says that it is costing businesses money, you are not even joking. It is, it is costing jobs it is costing businesses it is costing licenses, it is costing profit margin. And it’s costing just a lot of human hours trying to deal with the dysfunctionality, the lack of training, the inability to communicate as a company with, with, you know, outside folks that are even trying to connect like we tried to do training on metric and found it nearly impossible. So we just kept focusing on other things. And, and yet you companies are supposed to be able to figure it out on your own, so hurry the hell up.
Unknown Speaker 2:19:44
What’s worse is then you have, you know, everybody’s trying to do something so they run out and they cobbled together 567 different pieces of software, and none of them talk to each other, and it just makes the whole thing even worse, and bring them home, metric socks here in Ohio metric goes down to companies that don’t have a third party software that talks to metric there now. Like metrics sometimes. I just got into Cannabis attack Eric, so I’m doing kind of similar over at regrow Coleman, all the help we can get.
Dale Sky Jones 2:20:32
Yeah, that’s the truth, and it’s you know there’s probably not going to be a single solution software. This is America after all there’s always competition. But some of that healthy competition sure would be nice. Now, we’re dealing with two different issues because we have software that is required by law. At this point, and so you’re, we have two different places where we have to apply torque first and foremost we have to have a viable alternative that works at least as well as the current, which shouldn’t be too hard to do, you’d think. But that does less damage, certainly, but then we have to attack the policy and the contracts behind it, some of these contracts, they were put out as like single source. They didn’t even scope it, they just gave them the contract. And so, we really need to open up, state by state. How metric is there, and look for those opportunities to replace it. When we have that viable replacement.
Sam 2:21:42
I think Ohio’s his metric or metric equivalent. So not only is it metric ran its metric equivalent. That’s what I fuckin hate about some of this legislation, because that’s how I disagree with politicians writing issues on tech when they don’t understand. Same reason why we just need to be scheduled because they don’t understand Cannabis just schedule it, don’t worry about it.
Dale Sky Jones 2:22:09
And also educate, because that’s you know for tech for instance I’ve noticed that Senator Amy Klobuchar seems to be one of the few senators that get tech, I’m not gonna say completely but more so than really any of the others that I’ve heard conversate about it in the Senate. And so, you know, leaning in to those that do get it and making sure that the language look the language matters. I remember, we, we started educating in Michigan. In 2008, we went there right after the law passed because we actually saw some of the exact same mistakes that California made for instance calling the growers caregivers that one word caregiver is actually defined by the federal government by state governments by Social Security Administration’s by health departments, it has a definition of someone responsible for not just getting you weed, but you actually have to be a person responsible for their health and safety, you have to do like five different things in their life and you know it might be shopping for them or with them or doing other types of care, growing their Cannabis plants is not does not fall under the definition of what a caregiver is and that’s how caregivers got struck from the medical part of the law in California, and then Michigan turned around and did it. So, finding ways to note those things of like, oh that oh yeah no, we shouldn’t have done that, and then reaching out to these other communities other states, other countries that are contemplating this because this is a rolling revolution, and what’s going on in Mississippi is what California was grappling with 20 years ago. So, do you want to be California Mississippi, no, we recognize that. But can you learn from our successes and our mistakes, and then find your own way.
Oh hell yeah.
And that’s part of the reason for this room because equity is even the concept of social equity is even newer than the concept of Cannabis policy reform for medical or for adult use this, didn’t have a name. Up until recently, and it’s still a very new policy, it’s still a new concept, and those that started it didn’t always get it right. In fact, I dare say we rarely got it right, except that we were trying to do it. And so as we can learn from one another as we meet in these equity mentorship rooms, sometimes we’re learning about real estate transactions, sometimes we’re talking about contracts and how to beware the predatory contracts. Today, wow, we arranged a lot of different topics of conversation, and I’m really grateful for my co moderators, Allie muffin Sarah Chiara, eight off, Sean Rokita for all of the hard work and time and attention you give Miss Priscilla, my wing woman, along with Chiara, in many of the nonprofit activities that we are working on, Sarah, our manager of marketing if there’s anything that you want to make sure we’re putting out to our alumni, or our community please make sure that you contact her. Sean, not only a life coach but also a veteran herself and living in the state of Texas so living on the edge, I’m not going to sing but it’s true. You have an odd edge okay I sing. Amber. Bianca Eric RJ, everyone down in the audience I know many of you come back and visit week to week and lurk down there. You are always welcome to join the stage with your experience with your questions, but also we just appreciate your time and attention. We do this room every single week at 1120 Pacific every single Thursday. Make sure that you hit that little green house above le muffins, right above that little muffin touch that, make sure you’re following it so that the week to week shows up in your calendar. Also, if you look at my bio, you will find the Cannabis Education Club.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai. Please excuse typos and grammatical errors in this raw transcript.
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