00:00Now it's time to re-educate our communities of color with the truth about how cannabis
00:06became illegal in the first place, why it became illegal, why is it important for us
00:12to have a position in this industry as business owners, as entrepreneurs, as employees, and
00:18or as investors.
00:19It's very important because this industry was built on our backs.
00:29There's big business there, there's opportunity there, and especially for the people who have
00:34been most affected by the war on drugs, the failed war on drugs at that, that's still
00:40failing today.
00:41So when I first introduced the bill at the very end of 2013, New York City was arresting
00:5550,000 people a year, primarily people of color.
01:01And it was astounding to me how large the numbers were and how racially biased the numbers
01:09were.
01:10So we want to literally expunge and clean their records of these so that they are not at risk
01:17when they try to get certain kinds of jobs, including possibly working, if they choose,
01:22in the legal marijuana business in many different places and ways.
01:26The reality is, people who have passed in cannabis, illegal pass in cannabis, get into
01:32the industry, they're building roadblocks in the legislature, right?
01:42So I would say step one is fight wherever there's new laws.
01:47You have to make it so that there's a clear bale to bud kind of pathway.
01:52Because we have communities that have a lot of buying power, a lot of voting power, they
01:55don't know it.
01:56And I think it starts with us re-educating them and rebranding this plant, putting a new
02:01face to cannabis for them.
02:02And I figured if I'm the weed head, then that hopefully will change any of their perspectives
02:07on what a weed head is.
02:09Our goal is really to help minorities who are seeking to enter the cannabis space, sharing
02:15this information with people of color especially.
02:18I like to share with them that we missed out on the alcohol opportunity.
02:22I like to share with them that, you know, we did not want liquor stores in our neighborhoods.
02:28But guess what?
02:29They're there, and they're not going anywhere, and they're not even owned by us.
02:33The same is going to happen with the cannabis industry, period, whether we want it or not.
02:41And dispensaries will eventually be in our area.
02:44And they won't be owned by us if we don't do something about it right now.
02:59They have now attached 280E to all of the owners in the cannabis space because we are selling a Schedule
03:051 illegal drug.
03:06So what it does is it takes everything that I do here, as you can see, we sell cards and
03:11we sell all kinds of stuff here in the dispensary.
03:14The federal government takes 100% of my profits for the most part.
03:18We have no profits in this industry.
03:20If we sold $2 billion in Colorado last year, the federal government got 80% of it.
03:25So let's think about that for a minute and understand why the federal government is not in a big hurry
03:30to end cannabis prohibition.
03:43800,000 people a year, that's why we do this.
03:47Privatized prison systems and locking up black people, that's why we do this.
03:51Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, the young man, Baltham, that was just shot.
03:56What's the first thing the cops put out there?
03:58Oh, there was weed in his apartment, there was weed in his system, there was weed in their car.
04:03They had an empty bag of weed with them.
04:06I want to end that stigma because that is some bull**** from top to bottom.
04:11Right now, it's not about money.
04:13I would hope before I retire, maybe there's a little bit to let me retire so I'm not doing this
04:17at 85.
04:18But goddammit, if I have to do this at 85, I will be here at 85 screaming about what is
04:23wrong with cannabis and this industry.
