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Speaker 1: So it turns out the government shut down a couple

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Speaker 1: months ago ended up being about a lot more than

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Speaker 1: just hey in the bills, and when it reopened, there

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Speaker 1: was some legislation that could be very damaging to Indiana.

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Speaker 2: Let's get into it. Ninety three WIBC.

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Speaker 1: It's Kennel and Casey Show, joined in studio by Justin Swanson.

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Speaker 1: He is, well, he's a big wig over there, Bo's McKinney.

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Speaker 1: And it turns out, in the government shutdown, what's the

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Speaker 1: bill to reopen the government shut down? Hemp is going

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Speaker 1: to be banned in this country. Yeah, that sounds crazy,

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Speaker 1: doesn't it. Hemp is going to be banned in this country?

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Speaker 1: So how will this affect Indiana, Indiana industries, Indiana, Indiana farmers.

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Speaker 1: Nobody knows better than Justin Swanson. As I said, he's

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Speaker 1: an attorney with Bo's McKinny. You're kind of like the

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Speaker 1: like the hemp czar. You someone has to he hempzar.

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Speaker 1: I think that's what I would call. Yeah, So tell

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Speaker 1: us a little bit about because this came out late

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Speaker 1: in the bill that essentially they made hemp illegal.

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Speaker 2: What happened? So really you.

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Speaker 3: Got to kind of know how this all came about

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Speaker 3: to begin with in the original Farm Bill in twenty fourteen,

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Speaker 3: and Senator McConnell stepped up and led the hemp industry

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Speaker 3: in a big way to you know, basically decouple hemp

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Speaker 3: from marijuana and allow American farmers to put it back

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Speaker 3: on their family farms and you know, have a nice

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Speaker 3: rotational crop.

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Speaker 2: Seems pretty common sense, right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, since then, the markets certainly evolved, right, And

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Speaker 3: the way the language is written, I mean it essentially

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Speaker 3: allowed for a lot of different products to hit the marketplace,

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Speaker 3: but not just the language.

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Speaker 2: Everyone forgets.

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Speaker 3: The FDA was required to regulate hemp products in this bill.

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Speaker 2: And hip is not weed, that's correct, Like people think

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Speaker 2: that him.

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Speaker 1: It is not like hymns and all sorts of stuff

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Speaker 1: that we use every single day.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. You basically have three end markets for it.

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Speaker 3: You have the fiber, so that's the variety that grows

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Speaker 3: real tall, you know, fifteen foot plants. You have the

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Speaker 3: grain which is three four foot plants, and you're growing

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Speaker 3: it for the seed. And that's really good for farmers

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Speaker 3: because you can have a domestic supply chain of animal

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Speaker 3: feed right there on your farm. And then the last end,

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Speaker 3: which is the largest right now, which is the cannabinoid industry.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So Indiana farmers were all over this, right, a

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Speaker 1: lot of people doing this. It seemed to be working

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Speaker 1: pretty well. Who didn't want this and why did Why

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Speaker 1: is HIMP now no longer legal?

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Speaker 3: Well it turned out, you know, the evolution of the marketplace.

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Speaker 3: Senat McConnell wasn't a big fan of it, so he

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Speaker 3: was leading it. Yeah, so he doesn't like the quote

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Speaker 3: intoxicating aspect of it. So maybe you see in the

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Speaker 3: grocery stores around here in Indiana on premise at bars

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Speaker 3: and restaurants, we now have these THHC drinks, right, and

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Speaker 3: those are making a big dent in the marketplace. I

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Speaker 3: think you've seen the headlines and the data all. You know,

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Speaker 3: alcohols being consumed a lot less than it was in

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Speaker 3: the past, right, people are shifting their consumption over to

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Speaker 3: cannabis products or hemp products, like the drinks.

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Speaker 1: So this was about special interest being mad that the

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Speaker 1: market was shifting.

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Speaker 2: Well, like, that's such attorney speak that you didn't be.

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Speaker 1: Like, there's a shift in the marketplace. No, no, no, we

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Speaker 1: speak directly her Swanson. A bunch of special interest people

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Speaker 1: were mad that they're monopolies on things were going away.

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Speaker 3: Well, and what is what is the state of Kentucky

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Speaker 3: known for?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, bourbon, right, that's right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So we had a big dip in the marketplace,

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Speaker 3: and over the weekend, in that big beautiful bill that

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Speaker 3: was designed to you know, open the government back up,

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Speaker 3: there's language inserted there that literally makes even the act

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Speaker 3: of processing hemp into whatever oils, no matter how many

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Speaker 3: THCs in it, illegal again.

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Speaker 1: So okay, so let's re recap this for people. So

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Speaker 1: there's this whatever forty day shut down, however long it went,

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Speaker 1: and it's about reopening the government. But this is what

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Speaker 1: always happens in government stuff is there's a bunch of

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Speaker 1: stuff that didn't pertain to you know, paying service members

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Speaker 1: or making sure FEMA can get resources to people. Then

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Speaker 1: they sneak in. Now him's just poof illegal. Is that

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Speaker 1: the way we're down?

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Speaker 3: That's right? I mean, there's a backdoor ban. And I

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Speaker 3: think every American should be concerned when policies passed in

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Speaker 3: such a way.

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Speaker 1: Can they do that? So are all these people, these

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Speaker 1: hemp farmers, are they've just done?

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Speaker 2: So that's a great question.

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Speaker 3: So what we've been working on the band doesn't actually

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Speaker 3: take effect until November of this year, so they delayed

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Speaker 3: the ban a year. I'll let you guess on why

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Speaker 3: that was, but it might have something to do with

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Speaker 3: setting up a regulatory structure right at the federal level.

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Speaker 3: But in the meantime, what that ban has done is

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Speaker 3: at shield to capital markets. Right now is when American farmers,

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Speaker 3: including who's your farmers, are deciding what their planning season

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Speaker 3: looks like. They're making decisions right now, and now they're

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Speaker 3: forced to make a decision with no certainty on whether

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Speaker 3: they're going to have an end market come November.

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Speaker 1: So this sounds by the way. Justin Swanson from Bose

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Speaker 1: McKinney is our guests. We're talking about hemp, which will

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Speaker 1: soon be illegal in this country. So all these farmers,

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Speaker 1: these people put millions of dollars into their their crop,

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Speaker 1: their you know, their resources a decade they're just done.

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Speaker 2: That's right, and this we've got the America. I feel

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Speaker 2: like I'm missing something here. That's it.

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Speaker 3: I mean, the American farmers built this industry, right they

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Speaker 3: were told to grow it again. Right now, it's about

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Speaker 3: a thirty billion dollar industry across the country and So

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Speaker 3: what we've been working on now with Congress is an

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Speaker 3: extension of the ban. Right, so we're asking Congress for

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Speaker 3: another two years starting in November, to not ban him

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Speaker 3: and give us time to work with Congress to this

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Speaker 3: is crazy to me, it is, And think about it

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Speaker 3: from a farmer's perspective, rob they already have to have

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Speaker 3: a background check to grow this this commodity, right, They

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Speaker 3: have to get fingerprint fingerprints, they have to get it

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Speaker 3: tested before they even harvest it. And now they wake

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Speaker 3: up and their market's gone in November.

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Speaker 1: That is just nuts, Okay. So art is the Congress

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Speaker 1: responsive to this? Like the idea that if we're going

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Speaker 1: to shut down an entire industry, there should probably be

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Speaker 1: more than a oh, I don't know, you know, one

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Speaker 1: year unwine period for it.

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Speaker 2: That's right.

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Speaker 3: So we are getting a little momentum on the on

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Speaker 3: the extension. So particular Congressman Baird's been really helpful to

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Speaker 3: work with on this issue, not just now.

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Speaker 2: But really he's up for re election, so it's a

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Speaker 2: near time to get him well.

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Speaker 3: He's always been a big supportive Hemp and more particularly

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Speaker 3: you making sure our farmers are taken care of and

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Speaker 3: have options on the farm.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so what what there's always the reason which we've

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Speaker 1: hit the reason, which is our special interest that didn't

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Speaker 1: want it, But what like, what is their publicly espoused

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Speaker 1: thing to humanity? These politicians saying why this thing now,

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Speaker 1: after ten to eleven years, is suddenly a plague on society?

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Speaker 3: So I hit on earlier FDA failed to put forth

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Speaker 3: regulations to regulate these products.

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Speaker 1: So in the meantime, shouldn't they yell at the FDA

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Speaker 1: for that rather than the farmers?

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Speaker 3: That's right, But our market competitors have framed this as

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Speaker 3: as we're selling we're marketing intoxicating products and selling intoxicating

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Speaker 3: products to kids. I see, So how could you be

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Speaker 3: against that? Got to think of the children. So that's

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Speaker 3: the way the issue has been framed on the hill,

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Speaker 3: and frankly, our strongest I think point is our story

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Speaker 3: and it's turned into our weakest point just because we

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Speaker 3: don't we're not as well organized or politically connected as

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Speaker 3: our as our competitors.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so you guys, there's a poll that came out.

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Speaker 1: The HEMP people did a poll on how strongly people

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Speaker 1: in Indiana support HEMP.

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Speaker 2: Tell us about it. That's right.

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Speaker 3: So this was directed at six hundred likely primary Republican

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Speaker 3: voters in Indiana and done in response to this backdoor

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Speaker 3: band to make sure that we are heading down the

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Speaker 3: right way.

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Speaker 1: And this is not this is just for people that

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Speaker 1: you targeted people in Indiana.

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Speaker 2: This is an Indiana based poll.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and Republican primary likely voters. Yeah, we're a very

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Speaker 3: specific demographic.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So for all of our people who may be running

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Speaker 1: for reelection and or challenging those running for reelection, this

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Speaker 1: is this is right into your wheelhouse, right, So what

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Speaker 1: to say?

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Speaker 2: So?

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Speaker 3: I think probably the biggest takeaway is by nearly a

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Speaker 3: three to one margin, nearly four to one margin, three

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Speaker 3: to one margin, sorry, a Republican primary voter is more

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Speaker 3: likely to support adate candidate that votes to regulate hemp

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Speaker 3: and hemp products then recriminalize it.

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Speaker 1: So three to one, three to one. So if you're running,

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Speaker 1: you should be running on hemp.

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Speaker 3: Well, or at least you don't even have to support

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Speaker 3: the marketplace for the products. But we can support is

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Speaker 3: clear regulations not just for the consumer and the farmer,

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Speaker 3: but also for law enforcement. I mean, law enforcement in

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Speaker 3: this state is confused on what's legal and what's not legal,

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Speaker 3: and so are consumers and small businesses.

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Speaker 1: How much did Rokeeda screw this up by basically going

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Speaker 1: after those local merchants?

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Speaker 2: So reset this for us? This was a year or

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Speaker 2: so ago.

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Speaker 1: Rakeeda basically told the law enforcement you can go in

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Speaker 1: there just raid these little gas shops and stuff.

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Speaker 2: Did I am I remembering that properly?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: I think that was back in the start of twenty three.

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Speaker 1: It all runs together now, but he was the attorney

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Speaker 1: general when that went down, right.

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Speaker 2: That's right.

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Speaker 3: And unfortunately what happened here is not unique across the country.

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Speaker 3: This is the same playbook state by state our market

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Speaker 3: competitors take. And so the irony on this is when

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Speaker 3: you go against the HEP industry, you're actually supporting kind

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Speaker 3: of big marijuana right in other states.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because that was Roketa's excuse is we got to

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Speaker 1: get these guys out of here, and basically what they

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Speaker 1: were doing was, in a weird way, emboldening big marijuana.

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Speaker 2: That's right.

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Speaker 1: Does it make me a bad person that I just

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Speaker 1: want people to do what they want to do? And

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Speaker 1: then it's like, if it doesn't harm me, just just

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Speaker 1: leave me out of it, Like I think that's where

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Speaker 1: most people are.

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Speaker 2: And in the case of the hemp.

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Speaker 1: Farmer, it's like who are they harming? The answer is

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Speaker 1: they're harming no one. That's the answer, right. So what

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Speaker 1: can people do if they're sympathetic to our Indiana hemp growers?

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Speaker 2: How can they help?

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Speaker 3: I think, well, first, we're not going to have a

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Speaker 3: market unless we can change the.

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Speaker 2: Course at the federal level.

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Speaker 3: So reach out to your congressman, your senators and ask

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Speaker 3: them to support, you know, a two year extension on

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Speaker 3: the hemp band. That way, it gives the market time

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Speaker 3: to work with Congress to set up a market structure

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Speaker 3: and more importantly, make sure our farmers have certainly on

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Speaker 3: where their crop's going.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and in my case, you'll want me to be.

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Speaker 1: For getting rid of the him because they'll do the

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Speaker 1: exact opposite whatever I say, So I'll tell them it

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Speaker 1: probing me justin Sponson Bose McKinnie, Thank you, Thank you, Rob,

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Speaker 1: And that is going to do it for us today.

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Speaker 1: Thank you as always to you the listener. Without you,

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Speaker 1: there is no US stick around. Tony Kats coming, I'm next,

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Speaker 1: kentle Casey Show ninety three WIBC