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Speaker 1: Do you want to be an American idiot?

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Speaker 2: All right, here we go on this very interesting Thursday morning.

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Speaker 2: We got lots of go on, a lot of moving

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Speaker 2: parts today. First and foremost, of course, what's happening in

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Speaker 2: Minnesota as we speak right now with a protest going on.

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Speaker 2: Of course, the ice agent shooting a thirty seven year

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Speaker 2: old individual during a stop, and we still don't know

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Speaker 2: all the working pieces and what actually happened and what

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Speaker 2: really transpired. Of course we want know that for some time.

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Speaker 2: But the rush to judgment on this whole thing by

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Speaker 2: both the left and the right has been incredible. Getting

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Speaker 2: too this more after nine thirty five here on the

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Speaker 2: Scotsland Show on seven hundred WLW, I wanted to circle

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Speaker 2: back though, kind of handle some old business here, something

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Speaker 2: that happened over the holidays. And typically that's the way

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Speaker 2: things are set up. When you want to do something

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Speaker 2: that's controversial or will upset the appal karta, so to speak,

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Speaker 2: you tend to do it like on a Friday, a weekend.

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Speaker 2: You do it when many people aren't paying attention. I

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Speaker 2: would say doing it a Friday when it's the holidays

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Speaker 2: is not going to as much attention as it should.

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Speaker 2: I'm talking, of course, about what happened to the CBD

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Speaker 2: infused beverage ban that Mike de Wine single Bagley took

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Speaker 2: his line out of Veto powers and killed an entire industry.

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Speaker 2: And this, of course are beverages that are sold were

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Speaker 2: sold anywhein Ohio that contained THC small amounts of it too,

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Speaker 2: derived of course from CBD, and a lot of people said, hey,

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Speaker 2: this is pretty good. We're taking this product. And technically

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Speaker 2: it was, yes, a loophole, but a whole industry started

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Speaker 2: in what used to be the craft brew industry, and

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Speaker 2: a lot of puer veyors were switching over and saying, hey,

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Speaker 2: there's a market for this product here. People clearly like it.

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Speaker 2: They want more of it, they demanded. And yet the governor,

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Speaker 2: in some sort of I don't know what, self righteousness

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Speaker 2: or knowing better and being in the Naty State killed

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Speaker 2: this whole thing. Joining the show this morning on seven

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Speaker 2: hundred WLW is the CEO of Ryan Geisberg right here

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Speaker 2: in Cincinnati, Adam Bankovic, Adam, good morning.

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Speaker 1: Welcome, good morning, Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I've talked about a lot this with Steve Hoffman.

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Speaker 2: Of course, you know Steve as well and talk to

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Speaker 2: other industry leaders like yourself, Adam, and as far as

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Speaker 2: you're concern from Ryan Guis's perspective here, because you guys

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Speaker 2: are first and foremost the biggest pure veyors of micro

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Speaker 2: brief you want to call the micro brew at this point,

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Speaker 2: it's probably not the missing seeming how you've grown over

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Speaker 2: the last few years that that's entirely accurate. But how

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Speaker 2: much of this is impacting your business or will this

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Speaker 2: impact your business?

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Speaker 1: Sure, absolutely happy to talk about that. I would very

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Speaker 1: much still classify as the craft brew or the Brew's

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Speaker 1: Association definition put this squarely in there. In the craft

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Speaker 1: beer industry, while it's grown rapidly over the past few years,

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Speaker 1: to your point, has started to slow and cool off dramatically.

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Speaker 1: Specifically within the state of Ohio. For the past year,

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Speaker 1: craft beer as a category has been down around eight

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Speaker 1: to nine percent. And it's not the first year we've

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Speaker 1: seen the climb in the craft beer industry. So, as

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Speaker 1: you pointed out, this is an emerging segment that we've

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Speaker 1: seen grow rapidly across the country and becoming a real

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Speaker 1: part of the marketplace here in Ohio. More recently so,

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Speaker 1: Ryan Geist, among many other crap breweries in the state

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Speaker 1: of Ohio have looked to it as we know that

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Speaker 1: we've got lots of consumers in the marketplace that are

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Speaker 1: asking for these beverages and wanting these beverages, and very clearly,

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Speaker 1: not only do those consumers want those, but crap breweries

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Speaker 1: are very well set up and established to be able

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Speaker 1: to produce them safely, responsibly, and effectively, which is something

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Speaker 1: that we're huge advocates for that there is smart, responsible

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Speaker 1: regulation of this industry, of this marketplace, of these beverages

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Speaker 1: to make sure that we're clearly communicating to customers what

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Speaker 1: they are, they are only being served to adults twenty

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Speaker 1: one and up, and that there's clear regulation in place

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Speaker 1: promoting all of that, which is what the Ohio General

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Speaker 1: Assembly and Steve Huffman worked so tirelessly on, in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: a very great job with SP fifty six creating clear

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Speaker 1: responsible regulation, and that's what changed when Governor DeWine chose

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Speaker 1: to line at in veto specifically the intoxicating Beverage section

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Speaker 1: of sb fify.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know there are some other craft brewers

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Speaker 2: that are leaning into this more heavily than others have

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Speaker 2: as well. And you know it makes me sad because

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Speaker 2: you know, you talk to people are like, wow, I

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Speaker 2: really like this stuff. You mentioned how the craft beer

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Speaker 2: segment itself and craft beer is declining, and we're seeing

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Speaker 2: a rapid as you know, gen zers coming along and

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Speaker 2: they're just not drinking at the rates. Older millennials and

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Speaker 2: certainly Gen xers like myself and baby boomers who are older,

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Speaker 2: are consuming alcohol to the point where we've had a

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Speaker 2: I was just talking about this yesterday, Gallop, a ninety

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Speaker 2: year low. As far as alcohol consumption goes, it's incredible.

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Speaker 2: And yet I think that's also true because there are

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Speaker 2: so many options in order to well self medicate if

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Speaker 2: you or make yourself feel better. I know a lot

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Speaker 2: of people that enjoy the THHC slash CBD and fused

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Speaker 2: beverages and go. You know what I don't feel is

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Speaker 2: maybe as bloated, I don't feel as I feel different

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Speaker 2: the next day. I feel actually feel better than I

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Speaker 2: do after drinking alcohol, and people are moving towards that.

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Speaker 2: Why not satisfy that sector, because that's just true. Do

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Speaker 2: you have someone to tell us so heavily invested in

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Speaker 2: in graft Room?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the thing I'd like to point out there that

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Speaker 1: you mentioned is the beverage category as a whole has

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Speaker 1: faced or has realized a lot of diversity, and that

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Speaker 1: can be nontoxicating beverages to you name it. And really

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Speaker 1: it's the prevalence of choice that the younger generation, to

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Speaker 1: your point, has grown up with and now that they're

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Speaker 1: of legal drinking age, they're continuing to experience thingsplore that.

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Speaker 1: But I'd also point out that everything that we're seeing

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Speaker 1: and learning, it's not only the younger generation that are

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Speaker 1: interested in the intoxicating HEMP beverages. It's really expanning all

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Speaker 1: demographics as everyone's just enjoying the benefits of these low

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Speaker 1: test beverages. It'd be really clear when I'm talking about

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Speaker 1: the benefits, we are not advertising or marketing these as

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Speaker 1: healthy alternatives to alcohol. We're speaking about anecdotes we receive

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Speaker 1: from doing consumer studies and panels and talking to those

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Speaker 1: that are participating this beverage category. And I think that's

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Speaker 1: a really important point that this entire industry is aware

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Speaker 1: and acknowledging of, and SB fifty six is also doing

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Speaker 1: a good job making sure that there's no unproven health

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Speaker 1: claims on packaging as an example, because it's important. Just

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Speaker 1: like alcohol is regulated, and I'm not trying to draw

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Speaker 1: a direct parallel or make these categories analogous, but there's

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Speaker 1: queer governing rules for alcohol and what you can and

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Speaker 1: can't do and say about benefits or lack there or

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Speaker 1: lack there of of known benefits and alcohol, and that

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Speaker 1: makes sense, and it is logical, and a lot of

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Speaker 1: regulation and guidelines can and should exist in the intoxicating

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Speaker 1: beverage category as well to make sure that we're communicating

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Speaker 1: responsibly and effectively to consumers. So when I'm talking about

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Speaker 1: those who are choosing to drink less alcohol or abstain

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Speaker 1: from alcohol entirely, and maybe they are finding great use

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Speaker 1: in the intoxicating a beverage category, we're talking about anecdotes

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Speaker 1: and real consumer feedback on learning what they're looking for

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Speaker 1: and why they're looking for it, and that's really really different.

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Speaker 1: I want to make it really clear that I have

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Speaker 1: not seen any actors in the state of Ohio. Certainly

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Speaker 1: our intent to falsely advertiser represents these products, but at

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Speaker 1: the same time, we do know why the consumers are

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Speaker 1: turning to them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, And it makes a lot of sense and

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Speaker 2: you know, I'm a big believer, propared owner of giving

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Speaker 2: the people what they want. And not only that, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's seemingly grossly unfair to yourself and other peer veyors, Adam,

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Speaker 2: that you invested a lot in that technology and infrastructure

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Speaker 2: to ramp this up, only to have that karpo pulled

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Speaker 2: off from und you has the Dwine administration Mike Dwine

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Speaker 2: himself addressed this to your satisfaction and yeah, I've talked

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Speaker 2: to lawmakers like Steve Hoffman and others, and there's seemingly

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Speaker 2: no answer for the line. I'm as to why he

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Speaker 2: struck this down. Are you getting satisfactory responses from him?

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Speaker 2: Is what the reasoning was?

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Speaker 1: You know, we're still looking for it. And to be clear,

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Speaker 1: we do respect the governor's role and what we're advocating

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Speaker 1: for here is clarity and consistency going forward. And we

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Speaker 1: spent a lot of time working with the High General

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Speaker 1: Assembly and feel like they took all you know, proponents

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Speaker 1: and opponents of this issue in the consideration in crafting

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Speaker 1: SP fifty six. So yes, it was very disruptive and

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Speaker 1: shocking when the line Audam Vita specific just toe in

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Speaker 1: toxicating hemp beverages was introduced and signed all at once,

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Speaker 1: and so we're still to your point when we open

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Speaker 1: the segments that was right around the holidays, and we're

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Speaker 1: all as an industry collectively, and I'm talking about manufacturers

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Speaker 1: to distributors to retailers, all of us, which are the

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Speaker 1: three tiers of the system here to get this out

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Speaker 1: to market. We're still kind of gathering and understanding exactly

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Speaker 1: what happened and what can be done about it so

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Speaker 1: that all the investments that have been made can be

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Speaker 1: sustained going forward, and honestly, more importantly, in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: this is also about supporting Ohio business and making Ohio

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Speaker 1: business competitive with other state manufacturers or even national companies

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Speaker 1: who are finding great success with these beverages and states

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Speaker 1: that have created very smart, very responsible regulation. And I

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Speaker 1: think the General Assembly was doing a great job looking

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Speaker 1: at what other states have done, who were ahead of

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Speaker 1: the curve in this category than we were, and trying

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Speaker 1: to get to Ohio up the speed because there's other

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Speaker 1: commentary happening where federally. In November of twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 1: not only will intoxicating HEMP no longer be allowed, which

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Speaker 1: was passed as part of the reopening of the federal

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Speaker 1: governm in the Appropriations bill related to Partment of Agriculture,

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Speaker 1: but also CBD beverages and CBD products are also going

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Speaker 1: to be limited in November of twenty twenty six, and

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Speaker 1: that's an even larger category than the intoxicating hemp, CBD

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Speaker 1: being a cannabinoid from the same plant that is non

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Speaker 1: intoxicating and lots of people turn to for health benefits.

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Speaker 1: So really, what Ohio, in my opinion, should be doing

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Speaker 1: is using the smart responsible regulation from Sub sixty six

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Speaker 1: to allow Ohio business to continue to prosper. And then

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Speaker 1: in SB fifty six there was also a consideration acknowledging

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Speaker 1: that when the federal government provides more clarity prior to

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Speaker 1: November twenty twenty six, Ohio will look at that and

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Speaker 1: then adapt as necessary. Whereas right now we're in a

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Speaker 1: situation that the industry will have to shut down in

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Speaker 1: March if nothing changes, and that will leave Ohio businesses

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Speaker 1: behind other states who continue to regulate and support this marketplace.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we want no one suggesting that companies

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Speaker 2: like yourself say there's no regulation. Of course, there should

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Speaker 2: be regulation. Health health departments oversee you there's you know,

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Speaker 2: all sorts of regulation has involved in that industry as well,

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Speaker 2: should be if you're infusing something with cannabinoids. Okay, I

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Speaker 2: get that, But to simply strike it and say we're

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Speaker 2: not doing this anymore is rather insane because you know,

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Speaker 2: one may say, well are you getting you know it

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Speaker 2: is the wine getting lobby money from big alcohol?

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Speaker 1: Well?

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Speaker 2: Probably, I don't know, because it's you know, if people

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Speaker 2: aren't consuming the product like they once did, and there's

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Speaker 2: all their alternatives out there. You mentioned non alcoholics Adam

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Speaker 2: Bankovich from ryan Geist that you know, that's another big

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Speaker 2: sector right there. Mocktails are huge right now. Nan alcohol

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Speaker 2: beers are fantastics. I've tried many of them, and it's

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Speaker 2: certainly not like the when oduels rolled out back in

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Speaker 2: the day, it was it didn't taste very good. Now

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Speaker 2: they taste really really good, and so there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of diversity in those products that you offer as well.

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Speaker 2: But simply banning entire sector here doesn't seem to be

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Speaker 2: a good idea because people are going to people demand it,

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Speaker 2: but they're going to find a different alternative to this,

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Speaker 2: which might be even more dangerous, which is is the

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Speaker 2: scary part. Is there a hope that legislatively speaking, this

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Speaker 2: is not dead.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, We've been working almost every day, honestly, including over

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Speaker 1: the holiday break. We again being kind of this collective industry,

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Speaker 1: and not just craft brewers in Ohio specifically, but again

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Speaker 1: the distributors and retailers also. So there's already a referendum

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Speaker 1: that's been submitted, and so that effort is ongoing. It's

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Speaker 1: been turned in in my understanding, already to Franklin Rose,

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Speaker 1: the Secretary of State and Devostate Attorney General, and so

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Speaker 1: that timeline is that they need to review the referendum

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Speaker 1: magic was submitted by January thirteenth, to approve the signatures

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Speaker 1: and verify it. And if and when that happens on

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Speaker 1: the thirteenth, then the deadline becomes a date in March

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Speaker 1: to be named where two hundred and forty eight thousand,

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Speaker 1: ninety two signatures would be needed across the eight counties

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Speaker 1: of Ohio, and there's a certain number needed within forty

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Speaker 1: four of the eighty eight counties. And if that referendum

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Speaker 1: were to pass and be approved, then this issue would

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Speaker 1: actually end up on the November ballot and voters would

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Speaker 1: decide what they want to happen. Separately from that, we're

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Speaker 1: also having conversations with the General Assembly as we did

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Speaker 1: as they were crafting se fifty six. Lots of members

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Speaker 1: on all sides, both political parties, House and Senate have

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Speaker 1: been listening, which is really really encouraging, and I've been

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Speaker 1: very appreciative of all those efforts. So we're still talking

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Speaker 1: to them to see if there's any interest within the

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Speaker 1: General Assembly on a legislative override, but that would require

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Speaker 1: a two thirds vote approval in both the House and

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Speaker 1: the Senates, and those conversations aroundgoing, I'm not sure if

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Speaker 1: there's enough interest there or not.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, as upset as I am, and even you more

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Speaker 2: so about this whole thing, I think there's hope and

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Speaker 2: a since you've got a lame duck governor, you've got

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Speaker 2: to do administration coming in, and I think they're going

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Speaker 2: to set the record straight because clearly they're a mindset

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Speaker 2: in Ohio that hey, we've been using these products responsibly.

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Speaker 2: People clearly enjoy them, the market, the sectors growing. Why

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Speaker 2: would you try to take that away, especially if you're

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Speaker 2: someone who allegedly is pro small business in business growth,

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Speaker 2: why would you limit that It doesn't make much sense.

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Speaker 2: Adam Bankovic is the CEO of Guys, joining the show

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Speaker 2: this morning with Sloani here on seven hundred WLW. Kind

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Speaker 2: of revisiting we'll get in the Minnesota stuff on this

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Speaker 2: a little bit different topic entirely obviously, but this is

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Speaker 2: something that happened over the holidays, and generally when stuff

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Speaker 2: happens over the holidays or a weekend, it's something that

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Speaker 2: you know, the establishment really doesn't want you to know about.

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Speaker 2: They kind of downplay it. It's a huge issue because

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Speaker 2: so many people enjoyed it and going, wait, what they're

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Speaker 2: taking this stuff away?

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Speaker 1: Why?

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Speaker 2: It's really good? And I'm a big proponent and you know,

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Speaker 2: if you're an adult, you should be able to choose

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Speaker 2: what it is that you put in your body for sure,

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Speaker 2: and as long as there's regulation involved there and some

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Speaker 2: oversight to make sure you're not getting sick. I say,

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Speaker 2: have added, have ad all you want, because tastes indeed change.

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Speaker 2: Hopefully in the next year we have some solution to

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Speaker 2: this whole thing, Adam, because you know, to think of

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Speaker 2: how much money you yourself invested in. Other individuals I

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Speaker 2: talked to involved in the craft brew industry in Cincinnati.

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Speaker 2: You know, you don't want to see those investments simply

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Speaker 2: just evaporate as they have so far in the interim.

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Speaker 2: How you holding up? You're painting a picture saying, Wow,

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Speaker 2: you're the craft brew thinks kind of fading. We're kind

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Speaker 2: of leaning into this, and you know, maybe not for

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Speaker 2: you guys, because the scale in which you guys operated

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Speaker 2: much bigger than a lot of locals. But the craft

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Speaker 2: brew industry and know locally internationally, tends to be a

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Speaker 2: close knit group of people who are, yeah, competitors, but

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Speaker 2: at the same time you kind of pull for each other.

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Speaker 2: How are some of these smaller operations doing do you know?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, fuk with lots of them that think it impacts

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Speaker 1: all of them differently. You're one hundred percent right. It's

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Speaker 1: a very cordial community within craft beer where we have

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Speaker 1: the Ohiocraft Brewers Association meeting in a couple of days

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Speaker 1: of conferences coming up here not too long from now,

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Speaker 1: and this was a large topic last year. The Ohio

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Speaker 1: Preppers Association did a great job bringing in national experts

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Speaker 1: to talk with the ohiocraft brewers about it. And I

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Speaker 1: know there's some that are reeling from this more than others,

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Speaker 1: I think the answer for all of us is that

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Speaker 1: we need to find whatever can possibly work to just

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Speaker 1: make sure that we're staying competitive within the marketplace. And

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Speaker 1: it's really hard to do. When we spent a lot

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Speaker 1: of time here today talking about the diversity beverage. I

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Speaker 1: agree with you, non alcoholic beers have come a long way,

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Speaker 1: but the rallies they're very expensive to make. So if

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Speaker 1: we're looking at the areas where craft brews can invest

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Speaker 1: and make some things safely and effectively and responsibly and

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Speaker 1: support our businesses that we've established, of craft beers declining.

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Speaker 1: Since we are not able to control the general trends

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Speaker 1: of the craft beer marketplace, there's very few things that

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Speaker 1: we concerned to and look to do. And this is

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Speaker 1: one of those emerging segments like the early days of

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Speaker 1: the craft beer boom, where a lot of Ohio craft

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Speaker 1: brewers are looking at this saying, hey, we can make that,

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Speaker 1: we can make it taste great, we can have it tested,

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Speaker 1: we can follow all the responsible labeling requirements. So if

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Speaker 1: it's not this, we're going to have to learn what

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Speaker 1: else we can do. And you're right, we ryn Gus

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Speaker 1: is a larger craft brewers in the state of Ohio.

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Speaker 1: But you're also right that we've spent a long time

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Speaker 1: developing this product and for the marketplace to go away

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Speaker 1: in Ohio is very disappointing, and we're really hoping that

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Speaker 1: something will change to allow it to exist as we

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Speaker 1: wait for the federal guidance.

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Speaker 2: How much you on your list as a CEO, your

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Speaker 2: plate is always overflowing, right, How high up on the

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Speaker 2: list is this for you? Of concerns?

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Speaker 1: Very high, very hid. It took us. We spent two

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Speaker 1: years learning about this marketplace and developing Fuzzy Bones, which

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Speaker 1: is our brand of in tox getting hemp beverages, and

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Speaker 1: we're really proud of the brand, and we think we

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Speaker 1: did a great job with the liquids and all the

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Speaker 1: characteristics of that product. And so to spend two years

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Speaker 1: on something and then for the marketplace to go away

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Speaker 1: overnight when we worked so hard to make sure that

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Speaker 1: the iiO generally assembly was informed about the category and

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Speaker 1: writing regulations to allow and promote business to exist in

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Speaker 1: Ohio was disappointing. So you're right, there's lots of things

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Speaker 1: on my priority list, but this has been up top

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Speaker 1: the priority list for a long time and it's going

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Speaker 1: to remain there.

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Speaker 2: Well, this is something I strongly advocate for, Adam, and

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Speaker 2: keep me in the loop on it and how things

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Speaker 2: are going. Lawmakers on all the time, people like yourself.

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Speaker 2: It's senseless to think that just on the whims of

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Speaker 2: an individual, that this stuff all goes away and then

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Speaker 2: there's no accountability for the action whatsoever, no reason as

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Speaker 2: to why you would eliminate an entire growing sector that

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Speaker 2: clearly adult. OHI ones want. I wish all the best, Adam,

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Speaker 2: thanks for joining the show this morning. Take care, Thank

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Speaker 2: you to all the best. Ana Binkovic, CEO at RANG

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Speaker 2: guys here in Cincinnati. You know want you want people

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Speaker 2: not to pay attention to do it during the holidays.

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Speaker 2: You know, I'll be equally as hard on conservatives as

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Speaker 2: I will liberals in the sense that you know, look

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Speaker 2: at holding the feet of the fire the pure Vaul administration,

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Speaker 2: for example, when it comes to transparency and accountability. I

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Speaker 2: will turn that towards Governor DeWine here too. There's no answer.

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Speaker 2: I've talked to lawmakers and people like Adam that there's

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Speaker 2: no reason as to why Mike Dewaine decided who's gonna

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Speaker 2: kill this entire sector doesn't after to answer to anybody

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Speaker 2: in that regard to and we still don't know why

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Speaker 2: that should trouble all of us listening. Quick time out,

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Speaker 2: we'll pivot, we'll get to the very latest. What's going

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Speaker 2: on in Minnesota, me and you talking this one out

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Speaker 2: as to what you saw in your reaction coming up

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Speaker 2: next year. And something that I think was missed in

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Speaker 2: this whole thing in our fight over who's right and

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Speaker 2: who's wrong in America, I think we're missing the big

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Speaker 2: picture on something. I'll touch on that right after news

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Speaker 2: update here on seven hundred ww