Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I am your host,
Speaker 1: Ramsay's job. Big shout out to q Ward, who is
Speaker 1: out of town at the moment, unfortunately for a funeral.
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen is really Hopefully you all are still taking
Speaker 1: precautions and making sure you're getting that vaccination. But around here,
Speaker 1: of course, we have to continue to push for equality
Speaker 1: for all of us, and so we're here today to
Speaker 1: do just that. Today's show, I'm joined by our Arizona
Speaker 1: members Nidia, Chad and asar Yo.
Speaker 2: Hello.
Speaker 1: Hello, Peace, Peace, that's a sar and we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about something that we've talked about on the show before.
Speaker 1: But like with many things, it's an ongoing battle. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it's also at times of struggle. But it's by having
Speaker 1: these conversations and by informing listeners like you, that we're
Speaker 1: able to coordinate our efforts and really help create the
Speaker 1: world that we all want to live in. A world
Speaker 1: is more equitable and more fair and that is more
Speaker 1: tolerant of all of us and Foster's an environment where
Speaker 1: we're able to be better brothers and sisters to each
Speaker 1: other on this planet. But for those who have not
Speaker 1: been made privy to the episodes that we've done that
Speaker 1: were dedicated to ensuring that the marijuana legislation, the social
Speaker 1: equity components written into the to the legislation with respect
Speaker 1: to the marijuana legalization has been implemented accurately and equitably.
Speaker 1: I want to give you just a little bit about
Speaker 1: what we've talked about and then a little bit of history.
Speaker 1: So I'll start there with the history, and you guys
Speaker 1: feel free to jump in at any point in time
Speaker 1: if I miss anything, or you know, of course, if
Speaker 1: I miss speak, because I don't know everything, but you know,
Speaker 1: more recently, of course, I've had to revisit some things
Speaker 1: that I've known for some time. This country has a
Speaker 1: very strange relationship with quote unquote drugs, and in recent
Speaker 1: years we found out that the criminalization of drugs, in
Speaker 1: particular marijuana, began during the Vietnam era. That's when drugs
Speaker 1: really started to you know, kind of become a legal
Speaker 1: issue that required police enforcement and so forth. And I
Speaker 1: believe the exact quote was that by criminalizing marijuana, the
Speaker 1: government was able to disrupt the hippie movement and the
Speaker 1: black power movement which was in place at the time.
Speaker 1: During the sixties, and so by criminalizing these natural, god
Speaker 1: given plants and the consumption of them, and by selectively
Speaker 1: enforcing the laws, they were able to target and imprison
Speaker 1: and recavoc on black and brown communities in this country.
Speaker 1: And that has continued up until recent times. And so
Speaker 1: the huge amount of mass incarceration rates and the disproportionate
Speaker 1: amount of black and brown individuals who were imprisoned and
Speaker 1: then introduced into the prison industrial complex and introduced into
Speaker 1: the criminal justice system, A large portion of those people
Speaker 1: were introduced into that system and then become victims of
Speaker 1: that system and the cycles that you know, it is
Speaker 1: very easy to get trapped in as a result of
Speaker 1: marijuana offenses, which at least in Arizona, are now legal.
Speaker 1: But that the fact that it's now legal doesn't erase
Speaker 1: the harm that was done to these communities on purpose
Speaker 1: by our government exactly now, because it's because it's civic cipher,
Speaker 1: and because the story is deeper than that, I do
Speaker 1: want to mention this this episode, of course, will not
Speaker 1: be that, but I do want to mention this is
Speaker 1: the same government, the United States government, that also introduced
Speaker 1: crack into black neighborhoods, specifically in southern California. I'm from
Speaker 1: one of those neighborhoods. Obviously, Phoenix is my home, but
Speaker 1: I was born in Compton, California, and my family right exactly,
Speaker 1: and my family was very much affected by those same
Speaker 1: decisions made by the government. And so you know, I
Speaker 1: opened the show saying, you know, please get vaccinated. COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen is real, and I stand by that. But I
Speaker 1: want you to also know that I do understand any
Speaker 1: apprehension when it comes to trusting the government, because this
Speaker 1: is the same government in my thirty eight years that
Speaker 1: I've seen lie to and deliberately disrupt communities, knowing full
Speaker 1: well what they were doing, and that there was no
Speaker 1: real criminal nature behind any of the activities. If anything,
Speaker 1: it was a health issue, not a criminal issue. And
Speaker 1: that's all I'll say about everything non marijuana related. I
Speaker 1: had to get that off. But you know, here we are.
Speaker 1: State of Arizona has passed a law that allows marijuana
Speaker 1: to be consumed recreationally, which is awesome because while I
Speaker 1: don't partake and have never partaken in any marijuana or
Speaker 1: any drug, or I've never drank alcohol, even I do
Speaker 1: recognize that the criminalization of that has really affected people's
Speaker 1: lives in ways that are absolutely irreparable. Absolutely, I've been
Speaker 1: in cars with friends who might have something on them
Speaker 1: and just knowing that if and when something happens, that
Speaker 1: we're all going down together. Because of you know, we
Speaker 1: obviously have a policing problem in this country as well,
Speaker 1: and again that's a bit beyond the scope of what
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about here today, but I think
Speaker 1: they all go together. I think it does. And so
Speaker 1: getting this to be decriminalized, getting marijuana to be decriminalized,
Speaker 1: certainly is a step in the right direction. But again
Speaker 1: that in and of itself does very little to right
Speaker 1: the wrongs and to correct the injustices that have been
Speaker 1: deeply entrenched into the black and brown communities, the families
Speaker 1: that have been disrupted, the cycles that have begun as
Speaker 1: a result of this, And what we're doing today this
Speaker 1: meeting is to discuss what's happening behind the scenes that
Speaker 1: that you the listener may not be aware of. Hopefully
Speaker 1: I'm educated as well in terms of things I might
Speaker 1: not be aware of, and figure out ways to create
Speaker 1: equitable outcomes from this legalization of marijuana and to ensure
Speaker 1: that corrupt individuals or individuals who would deliberately try to
Speaker 1: change the narrative or change really the funds. The source
Speaker 1: or the recipients of the funds are not the only
Speaker 1: people speaking about this. We want to be able to
Speaker 1: determine what social equity looks like. We want to make
Speaker 1: sure that we stick around until it's implemented and we
Speaker 1: are able to see it come into its full manifestation
Speaker 1: and see a world where the legalization of this of
Speaker 1: marijuana is now correcting the injustices that have happened over
Speaker 1: the past. We'll call it fifty years in this country
Speaker 1: and going back even further if you want to do
Speaker 1: the research and so, right, I think you're going all
Speaker 1: the way back. Sure, sure, yeah, twenties and so and
Speaker 1: so let's do a brief introduction of everyone. Now that
Speaker 1: you know why we're here, let's find out why all
Speaker 1: of all of us are here in the studio. So, nydiat,
Speaker 1: why don't you go first?
Speaker 2: Hello, everyone, and wherever you may be. I hope you're well.
Speaker 2: I hope you're taking care of yourselves and each other.
Speaker 2: I'm really grateful to be in this room with this
Speaker 2: group of gentlemen sharing space and time, because right now,
Speaker 2: what's happening is we are witnessing history on so many
Speaker 2: different fronts, and we have a short window of time
Speaker 2: to have an impact act. And I've been in this
Speaker 2: industry quite a few years, touching the plant, building with
Speaker 2: the plant, and when Prop two of seven took place,
Speaker 2: I was just thinking, Wow, that's epic. Right, people not
Speaker 2: in jail anymore. We're gonna start selling weed like I
Speaker 2: can pick it up in a seven eleven, like if
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go pick up a slurpie, walk in and
Speaker 2: walk out. It's amazing. And the reason, you know, I've
Speaker 2: seen the industry and I I personally I'm Latina, and
Speaker 2: I'm queer and I'm loud. I've seen in you know,
Speaker 2: I've seen the injustices in life as it is. I
Speaker 2: left corporate America and then jumped into cannabis head on,
Speaker 2: and I've been in the rooms big brands, little brands,
Speaker 2: across country, and I've seen how inequitable this industry is.
Speaker 2: And the reason I'm here today is because that same
Speaker 2: inequity is resonating throughout the state and there's so much
Speaker 2: happening that we want to share with everyone, because if
Speaker 2: we don't do something now, the community loses.
Speaker 3: Right, So that's my part. I was trying to ring
Speaker 3: on doors, trying to bring the alarms with everyone, like, hey,
Speaker 3: why is nobody talking about social equity?
Speaker 2: Why is nobody upset about what's happening? You know, it's
Speaker 2: this program promise to keep people out of jail, this
Speaker 2: program promise to promote and to implement programs to help
Speaker 2: acknowledge the harm done to disproportionately affected communities across the state.
Speaker 2: Yet we still have people in jail for things that
Speaker 2: you and I can go into that AK cannabis seven
Speaker 2: to eleven walk out, right, and where's where's all the funding?
Speaker 2: Where's this money going to?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: So I reached out, you know, to a sarign to Chad.
Speaker 2: We had just mutual synergy. We've been battling this now
Speaker 2: for quite a few months. My battle's been since twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: trying to ring the alarm. And when I, you know,
Speaker 2: we found one another. I was just like, hey, social equity,
Speaker 2: let's talk about it. And we've just been pounding the
Speaker 2: payment and trying to bring more attention to it. And
Speaker 2: you know, this law has been ridden, it's inequitable since
Speaker 2: its offset, since it's been written. And we demand better.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, Chad. Yeah, So I'm I'm Chad Digs. I'm from
Speaker 4: a Rigon. I grew up in the Maryvale area here
Speaker 4: in Phoenix. The reason why I'm here is because, you know,
Speaker 4: with proposition two seven, they spoke about the Social Equity
Speaker 4: Opportunity Program and they mentioned that it was for disproportionately
Speaker 4: individuals that was impacted by the War on drugs, and
Speaker 4: I felt like it spoke to me and that something
Speaker 4: was actually happening. Not understanding legislation or how laws are passed,
Speaker 4: I figured, that's it, right, they write the law, we
Speaker 4: vote on it, and then something miraculous is going to happen.
Speaker 4: The thing is is that the DHS is tasked to
Speaker 4: write these rules, and they can come up with the
Speaker 4: rules however they may, right, And it's not unknown that
Speaker 4: there are other parties that has the DHS's ear to
Speaker 4: make this so that it benefits them and not the
Speaker 4: Social Equity DHS, the Department of Human Resources or the
Speaker 4: Department of Health Services, right, so the Arizona DHS. So
Speaker 4: when I started looking more into this, I researched other states, California, Chicago, Michigan,
Speaker 4: and all these other places that I found had put
Speaker 4: these done the same thing. And I realized that a
Speaker 4: lot of the people that came into the Social Equity
Speaker 4: program either first it's been at least four years and
Speaker 4: they still haven't implemented it yet. People are still waiting
Speaker 4: on their license, or they put it out and it
Speaker 4: just didn't work. And all those all those individuals that
Speaker 4: did get their license were taken over by big corporation,
Speaker 4: the same people that we were trying to move out
Speaker 4: of it and allow these individuals to be entrepreneurs and
Speaker 4: create wealth for their families and their communities. So what
Speaker 4: I learned is that you have to be on the
Speaker 4: front end of it right before DHS starts writing these laws.
Speaker 4: You can have a voice and if you're gonna if
Speaker 4: you feel like your social equity right, let's take it
Speaker 4: out of the scope of this is for people just
Speaker 4: applying for a license so they can get rich.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 4: Uh, this is this is not that this is something
Speaker 4: where it's the beginning of righting wrongs. This is what
Speaker 4: it's about. You know, I mentioned where I grew up at.
Speaker 4: I've seen a lot like Ramses here and Asar my
Speaker 4: family I'm from. I originally from California, myself. San Fernando Valley.
Speaker 4: That's where I was born, That's where my family was raised,
Speaker 4: and I saw the impact. I was born in what
Speaker 4: we call the dope era, you know, nineteen eighty four,
Speaker 4: it was my birth I grew up in the nineties,
Speaker 4: so I seen many struggle with drug abuse. I've seen
Speaker 4: me myself just growing up in the neighborhood, the amount
Speaker 4: of times that I was stopped over other individuals. So really,
Speaker 4: you know, to make it short, you know, we'll dive
Speaker 4: into some of this more. But that's the reason why
Speaker 4: I'm here. I'm really a part of what the social
Speaker 4: equity program is. And I know there's others out there,
Speaker 4: and we need to lend our voices out there, talk
Speaker 4: about it, you know, and let's make it right. Let's
Speaker 4: be the first state to actually do the right thing.
Speaker 1: I like that. Sorry, So my name is a Sar.
Speaker 6: I'm here because I'm actually a cannabis professional. I've been
Speaker 6: in this industry for about eight years. I've worked in
Speaker 6: a number of different dispensaries and for a number of
Speaker 6: different businesses inside of the cannabis industry. And one of
Speaker 6: the things that I've been able to understand the most
Speaker 6: about this industry is that the same ceilings, the same blocks,
Speaker 6: and the same gatekeepers are the same individuals in this
Speaker 6: industry as almost every other experience that we've had as people, black,
Speaker 6: brown and Indigenous people. I also am from California. I
Speaker 6: grew up in Carson right next to concert, you know,
Speaker 6: so I understand when you talk about them not only
Speaker 6: you know, dropping the drugs off in our community, but
Speaker 6: also dropping guns.
Speaker 1: Off in our communities.
Speaker 6: You know what I mean, doing all types of things
Speaker 6: in order to hamstring us from being able to rebuild
Speaker 6: and trust each other and build with each other, as
Speaker 6: well as allowing that economic cycle of us being able
Speaker 6: to build businesses and then allowing those dollars to cycle
Speaker 6: into our community so that we can actually develop a
Speaker 6: foothold to have economic power for ourselves.
Speaker 1: In that process.
Speaker 6: In the eight years as I've been in this industry,
Speaker 6: I got into this industry because my grandmother got sick
Speaker 6: with the rare type of blood cancer and as a treatment,
Speaker 6: I recommend a cannabis. As that recommendation goes through and
Speaker 6: I'm seeing the benefits that it has for her, I
Speaker 6: dived head first. So I'm a patient care expert. I'm
Speaker 6: a cannabis patient care expert. I've been a class I
Speaker 6: got certifications and I've been I just have the experience.
Speaker 6: Because of that, I can tell you all the dispensaries
Speaker 6: I've worked in. I'm always the most knowledgeable individual. But
Speaker 6: when you deal with the individuals who actually get the positions,
Speaker 6: who are able to call shots and individuals who are
Speaker 6: in positions of power, they don't come from this industry.
Speaker 6: They don't come from the communities who are disproportionately affected
Speaker 6: by that. Most of these individuals come from retail, they
Speaker 6: come from construction, they come from some other ancillary business
Speaker 6: of some sort of peripheral business that has nothing to
Speaker 6: do with cannabis specifically, because they have resources in order
Speaker 6: to be able to gouge these communities of all their
Speaker 6: money and opportunities.
Speaker 1: So that's one issue.
Speaker 6: The other issue is is that I see how it
Speaker 6: affects the patience because as much as we want to
Speaker 6: talk about hint and cannabis as a drug, it's a medicine.
Speaker 6: And as a medicine it has properties that help people
Speaker 6: deal with their issues physically, mentally, and spiritually. And I
Speaker 6: don't know how you feel about your religious process, but
Speaker 6: it has more to do with how you feel about
Speaker 6: yourself and how you can see yourself as well as
Speaker 6: deal with the healing aspects of what the actual cannabis
Speaker 6: does for you. If you cannot get high quality medicine,
Speaker 6: you can turn a situation that should have been good
Speaker 6: into something that should have been really that turns out
Speaker 6: to be really bad. And I see that too often
Speaker 6: in this industry, and it's because the individuals who are
Speaker 6: in control of the industry do not care. I was
Speaker 6: on the front lines when two oh seven was being
Speaker 6: put before the actual patients, and they were coming into
Speaker 6: my dispensaries talking about, Hey, aren't you really glad that
Speaker 6: two o seven everything is going to be legal? And
Speaker 6: I'm saying, have you read have you read the legislation?
Speaker 6: Do you understand where the money is going? Do you
Speaker 6: understand who's going to be in control of it? And
Speaker 6: I had the point I had to point out businesses.
Speaker 6: It's like, we have legislation that was written by two
Speaker 6: major corporations.
Speaker 1: You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 6: A lot of the stuff that they're putting in the
Speaker 6: words are being put into words by corporations, not humans,
Speaker 6: not people who are on the front lines. Not people
Speaker 6: who use or people who deal with people who use
Speaker 6: the product, but by people who want to make money
Speaker 6: and sold the law. Yeah or yeah, crelief is one
Speaker 6: of them. So I can say this, you know, I mean,
Speaker 6: but they're part of a coalition of corporations who don't
Speaker 6: actually have any experience with the product, experience in the industry,
Speaker 6: and it puts the patience in a bad way because
Speaker 6: they can't get the proper medicine. They don't hire the
Speaker 6: people that will be able to interact with people to
Speaker 6: be able to get them the proper medicine so they
Speaker 6: can get the relief that they need so that they
Speaker 6: can go about living their lives in a proper manner.
Speaker 6: So I'm here to make sure that those voices are heard,
Speaker 6: that those people are heard who want better from their communities,
Speaker 6: that want better from these businesses, and they want to
Speaker 6: make sure that the people that are providing them their
Speaker 6: medicine are from their communities.
Speaker 1: I have a question, sure. So my understanding is that
Speaker 1: as a part of this proposition, the language was written
Speaker 1: so that the funds or some of the funds, or
Speaker 1: some of the licenses or something like this would go
Speaker 1: to restore the communities to whatever degree possible that had
Speaker 1: been disproportionately affected by that. Is it the case that
Speaker 1: you're telling me that that is no longer true? Let's
Speaker 1: talk about it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So look, when Prop two of seven was written,
Speaker 2: I remember being in the trenches, being in the you know.
Speaker 2: I remember Mike Weisner, and he's a very well known
Speaker 2: advocate in the industry who had to be in the
Speaker 2: middle of all sides, you know. And when this proposition
Speaker 2: was being written, there was a lot of turmoil because
Speaker 2: people either didn't agree on it or some people were
Speaker 2: like for it, And in the end there was victory
Speaker 2: in how they placed a specific I actually want to
Speaker 2: read from it. Sure, they put a social equity program.
Speaker 2: So actually, I'll come back to it. But there was
Speaker 2: a part specifically in Prop two of seven that said
Speaker 2: why is this being done? And it was to promote
Speaker 2: the ownership a social equity ownership program to promote the
Speaker 2: ownership and operation of marijuana establishments and marijuana testing facilities
Speaker 2: by individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of
Speaker 2: previous marijuana laws. That's huge.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sounds good.
Speaker 2: It took well, I mean it sounds good. You think
Speaker 2: it would be easy, like common sense, this is why
Speaker 2: shouldn't it be in there? But that was a battle
Speaker 2: to get that part in the prop. It was a
Speaker 2: long battle, serious battle, and when it finally got on there,
Speaker 2: then people were able to kind of be like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I can get with this now because before that wasn't
Speaker 2: in there. Then we're not even getting to the bad
Speaker 2: parts of it. So the funding piece is another area
Speaker 2: where when people were talking about, okay, well what does
Speaker 2: this prop do? You started seeing people all over the
Speaker 2: state right you'd see the easy normal, which helped promote it.
Speaker 2: There was a lot of activists around the city. Hey,
Speaker 2: sign this sign this voter initiative, initiative, let's get some signatures,
Speaker 2: let's bring recreational cannabis to the state, and they were
Speaker 2: popping up all over and it was the promise of
Speaker 2: we need to keep people out of jail, because prior
Speaker 2: to Prop two oh seven, every hour in the state
Speaker 2: of Arizona, you had forty people arrested for minor possession
Speaker 2: of cannabis. And that was the promise, let's keep people
Speaker 2: out of jail, and let's recognize social equity and the
Speaker 2: tax program. We should be able to reinvest that into
Speaker 2: our communities. It is what is today?
Speaker 1: April was Saturday?
Speaker 2: Saturday.
Speaker 1: It's twenty six. Oh no, not at all, it's Saturday.
Speaker 1: You gotta get the first.
Speaker 2: Okay, so it's Saturday. The first I didn't even know.
Speaker 2: But well that's that's another day. But anyways, to this day,
Speaker 2: you still have people sitting in jail. This law has
Speaker 2: passed in November twenty twenty. Why are people still sitting
Speaker 2: in jail? Where is the social justice?
Speaker 1: There?
Speaker 2: Now the funding piece, we can break it down. You
Speaker 2: have a good chunk of this money. You got that part.
Speaker 2: So you have the Safe and Smart Act, the Smart
Speaker 2: and Safe Act essentially what it does. You got thirty
Speaker 2: three percent going to community college and districts, which, hey,
Speaker 2: I'm all for community colleges. You know, it's not going
Speaker 2: to universities that are for profit. Are cool. But then
Speaker 2: you have thirty one point four percent to municipolice departments, departments,
Speaker 2: and that's a huge chunk, twenty five point four percent
Speaker 2: to the Arizona Highway for enforcement of impairment. That's over
Speaker 2: fifty percent to groups who have caused harm, who have
Speaker 2: repurposed harm. And why how is that or should say,
Speaker 2: how is that repairing at acknowledging the harm from the
Speaker 2: failed warant drugs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's real quick, real quick. So I see
Speaker 1: how there is a a philosophical or there could be
Speaker 1: at least a philosophical difference of opinions with respect to
Speaker 1: what social equity means, which is why an organization like
Speaker 1: Our Arizona is so important. And I do want to
Speaker 1: touch on that a bit more. But real quick. If
Speaker 1: you're just tuning in a civic cipher army host Ramsy's
Speaker 1: Ja and our guests today are Nidia, Chad and Asar
Speaker 1: from our Arizona and we're just discussing these social equity programs.
Speaker 1: And before we pause, Chad, you were going to say something.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so, so, like you know, I'm going to pick
Speaker 4: up where Nydia left off. If you have half of
Speaker 4: the half of what we're talking about is the distribution
Speaker 4: of the actual tax, so this sixteen percent tax and
Speaker 4: then the cost that is associated with getting your license.
Speaker 4: This money is going to go to basically the police
Speaker 4: and the fire department to enforce this on this on basically,
Speaker 4: so if you get pulled over some of the things
Speaker 4: that we've always had to deal with this, Hey, I
Speaker 4: smell something in the car. Are you impaired? So say
Speaker 4: you you you they smell something in the car. Then
Speaker 4: all of a sudden, now you're getting DUIs. They're gonna
Speaker 4: try to figure out a way to now heavily enforce
Speaker 4: because now they have more task force out there to
Speaker 4: pull people over. And so this is the type of
Speaker 4: games that has always been played. And as far as
Speaker 4: the social equity, there's a one time two million dollar
Speaker 4: distribution that's supposed to go out to assist this program.
Speaker 4: Everything else is on the hands of those applicants who
Speaker 4: actually received those applications on how they would like to
Speaker 4: give back to their communities. So there isn't anything really
Speaker 4: written to take care of the communities to help these
Speaker 4: applicants actually get what they need in order to start
Speaker 4: a business. You know, I don't. You know, I've been
Speaker 4: I've been in the legacy market for a long time,
Speaker 4: but I know nothing on how to establish a business.
Speaker 4: I wasn't taught that. I don't know how to get investors,
Speaker 4: how to write a business plan correctly, good contracts, yeah,
Speaker 4: good contracts, how not to get screwed out of a situation, right.
Speaker 4: So these are the type of things that we want
Speaker 4: to be able to build within this program, so people
Speaker 4: can have a resource to go to, so that they
Speaker 4: can be able to build their business plan, put their
Speaker 4: thoughts on paper.
Speaker 1: And so so I have a question, who is the
Speaker 1: person that decides what social equity means in terms of
Speaker 1: the recompense or rather the reinvestment into black and brown communities.
Speaker 1: Who's the person that's deciding that And how is it
Speaker 1: that we appeal to this person to do?
Speaker 2: I mean currently right yes, So right now, the Arizona
Speaker 2: Legislative is writing bills. There are six cannabis bills that
Speaker 2: are quietly moving through the House and the Senate, and
Speaker 2: they're the gatekeepers in the sense of if you don't
Speaker 2: really know about it, right now, it.
Speaker 1: Comes to floor and gets voted on and passed right now.
Speaker 4: So you are basically the people of Arizona.
Speaker 2: They're in session right now.
Speaker 1: So what these people are doing is shaping not only
Speaker 1: their world, but what is conceivably our world.
Speaker 2: They're telling you, Chad Asar myself, our brothers and sisters, Yes,
Speaker 2: our indigenous brothers and sisters are LATINX brothers and sisters,
Speaker 2: and our Black African American brothers and sisters, what our
Speaker 2: needs are?
Speaker 1: How about that? And they're telling us that we need
Speaker 1: more police. That's right, and there's no one black in
Speaker 1: that room.
Speaker 7: I'm assuming no, no.
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's let's put it like this. I mean, we
Speaker 4: had a meeting and we sat down with a few
Speaker 4: of these players, and the first thing that came up was, Uh,
Speaker 4: this is not about I don't want to see anything
Speaker 4: that has to do with race. I am a white
Speaker 4: man who's my father left me. I grew up in
Speaker 4: a poor h exactly. I grew up in a poor area,
Speaker 4: and you know I was able to make it bootstrapped myself.
Speaker 4: So I said, look, you didn't You obviously didn't read
Speaker 4: the bill, because we're not talking about handby being poor
Speaker 4: and and that's not this social It says social equity
Speaker 4: for people who were disproportionately impacted by the War on drugs.
Speaker 4: And I shared with my experiences of being pulled over,
Speaker 4: actually getting getting a possession charge, and how that possession
Speaker 4: charge impacted my career, how I had to fight to
Speaker 4: get my way back to the top, how I wasn't
Speaker 4: able to apply for certain UH places of residence because
Speaker 4: I had this on my record, how I lost a
Speaker 4: great job, went to the went to the interview, applied
Speaker 4: love me, love my experience. But because of the regulations
Speaker 4: that a lot of these companies have if any drug crimes,
Speaker 4: and this was actual, this is a pharmaceutical company. So
Speaker 4: they saw that and they said, hey, Chad, sorry, we
Speaker 4: can't hire you. That was going to change me and
Speaker 4: my family's life, you know what I mean. So this
Speaker 4: is what I That's what I explained to him. And
Speaker 4: his words were, oh, I've been arrested nine times from marijuana.
Speaker 2: And we had an ally in the room. Thank you,
Speaker 2: because having intersectionality in these movements is pivotal. We have
Speaker 2: to have unity across the board. And I am thankful
Speaker 2: for that white powerful woman who used her privilege to say, hey,
Speaker 2: and here you are House representative on the other end,
Speaker 2: sitting there with ten marijuana convictions.
Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say. Yeah, we wouldn't
Speaker 1: be out walking at three, but.
Speaker 2: We're out over here. But now we're on the other side.
Speaker 2: And Chad literally was looking at this man in his
Speaker 2: eyes and just like, how.
Speaker 1: So the elected representative, this person was elected to represent
Speaker 1: the interest of the people, said he didn't want to
Speaker 1: hear anything about race, as though it was a myth
Speaker 1: or something. You know what, I'm going to say something
Speaker 1: just because this is the space for it. You know,
Speaker 1: we do have a lot of allies that listen to
Speaker 1: this show. Some of those allies are white, and we
Speaker 1: have people who maybe listen to the show because they
Speaker 1: disagree with everything that I say and Q says, but
Speaker 1: they need to know what we're saying, right, And so
Speaker 1: I want to speak to everyone. And it is my
Speaker 1: opinion that white privilege is not necessarily being born with
Speaker 1: any advantage, because you can be born and be poor
Speaker 1: and your dad leave you and blah blah blah, on
Speaker 1: and on and on. Right, you can be born and
Speaker 1: be white as a ghost, and all these things happen
Speaker 1: to you. But I believe that white privilege is being
Speaker 1: born without a disadvantage, without being born with no strike
Speaker 1: against you. And so the phrasing makes it seem like, well,
Speaker 1: I was born white, so I have all of this
Speaker 1: additional stuff in my life. And no, it's very possible
Speaker 1: to be born with nothing and still have white privilege,
Speaker 1: because when you're born and you're not a white, straight
Speaker 1: Christian male who is in a healthy body, you are
Speaker 1: born with at least one strike against you, and it's
Speaker 1: going to make your go at life a bit more challenging.
Speaker 1: And I think that by clearly defining what white privilege is,
Speaker 1: it's perhaps a bit easier for folks to see it.
Speaker 1: White folks specifically, to see it and perhaps even become
Speaker 1: more comfortable with the idea that while in their minds,
Speaker 1: it's true, they weren't born with any advantage, any privilege.
Speaker 1: They weren't born in black skin, they weren't born queer,
Speaker 1: they weren't born you know, whatever, whatever the case is,
Speaker 1: whatever it is that your story is, they were born
Speaker 1: and they don't really have any strikes against them. You know,
Speaker 1: I recall like, you know, a lot of like stoner movies,
Speaker 1: and you know, stoner culture is kind of it's it's comical,
Speaker 1: it's funny. You know, we all get to laugh.
Speaker 5: At it, right, right, But you know the way that
Speaker 5: it's often framed is that when you think of a
Speaker 5: stoner movie, the person that it comes to mind is white,
Speaker 5: long haired, you know, cool dude, kind.
Speaker 1: Of like, yeah, exactly, kill means no harm. So if
Speaker 1: this guy's selling drugs or he's a stoner, you know,
Speaker 1: smoking weed or whatever, it's just hahaha, funny. This guy's harmless.
Speaker 1: He's not bothering a soul. He's not going to get
Speaker 1: arrested and go to jail and get beat in the
Speaker 1: streets and have criminal charges and that'll follow him the
Speaker 1: rest of his life or anybody else.
Speaker 2: A black man.
Speaker 1: And then I want to if you're listening to my
Speaker 1: I want you to challenge yourself and really find out
Speaker 1: does that person still get the same consideration? Is that
Speaker 1: person harmless? Or is that person a criminal? In your mind?
Speaker 1: You know, is that person harmless and you know cool
Speaker 1: and you know surfered, what a bro you know, hanging
Speaker 1: out on the couch? Or is that person up to
Speaker 1: no good? And you know some sort of societal deviant
Speaker 1: and you know, same people, same age, same you know,
Speaker 1: partaking in the same substance. But the way that the
Speaker 1: narrative has been sculpted around those two identities, I think
Speaker 1: really illuminates what white privilege can be. And it's I
Speaker 1: think it's important to say that. And if I knew
Speaker 1: the name of this representative you were talking about, I
Speaker 1: would say his name on the radio because I like
Speaker 1: to do that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I want to kind of pick up on
Speaker 4: a little bit of that when we were talking about,
Speaker 4: you know, the white privilege thing. Sure, you know, I'm
Speaker 4: a I'm a I grew up with the name Chad,
Speaker 4: and that was by design.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 4: That was by design.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: When I complained about my name because I didn't like
Speaker 4: it because it was too white, you know, to be honest,
Speaker 4: my mom said, you know what, that was the design.
Speaker 4: If you were to if you I wanted to make sure,
Speaker 4: if my son applied for a job or anything, the
Speaker 4: first thing that they would see is Chad, and they
Speaker 4: would be able to at least give you a chance
Speaker 4: and give you an interview. But if your name was
Speaker 4: a sar Jamal, you know some of these.
Speaker 1: That's my actual name.
Speaker 4: These these they would they would take your resume, son,
Speaker 4: and they would probably just put it aside because they
Speaker 4: would automatically think that you were a black man. So
Speaker 4: that's what we talk about when we talk. I don't think.
Speaker 4: I don't I've never met a met a Caucasian or white,
Speaker 4: whatever you want to call it in my life. They
Speaker 4: said that their name was picked by design so that
Speaker 4: they can have a chance in this world.
Speaker 1: And I think that's privilege exactly.
Speaker 4: Don't have.
Speaker 1: There's certain things that you just don't need to consider.
Speaker 1: They don't enter into your mind exactly. And and no
Speaker 1: matter what you are doing, who you are, what direction
Speaker 1: your life is pointed in, there is somebody at the
Speaker 1: table quote unquote that represents your interest or whose opinion
Speaker 1: represents your worldview. And that is not as often the
Speaker 1: case when you are a queer LATINX woman.
Speaker 2: Masculine and tall, like I can't unlook the way that
Speaker 2: I look. Neither can y'all. So it's kind of like
Speaker 2: I love I love my skin, and it's like, you know,
Speaker 2: it takes time, though, I feel like there's there's certain
Speaker 2: things I don't know for y'all. But it took me
Speaker 2: time to learn to love myself, and it took me
Speaker 2: time to love my imperfections and to empower myself to say, hey,
Speaker 2: how can I empower my people now? Knowing what I know?
Speaker 2: So that conversation was so heavy in that room because
Speaker 2: we didn't we're not here like social equity scares these people. Yep,
Speaker 2: it literally, that's the word he said. He said, social
Speaker 2: equity scares it. Can I cuss on here? Okay? Well,
Speaker 2: I'm glad, I asked, So social equity scares the blank
Speaker 2: out of me, and I was like, why ask a question.
Speaker 2: We're here to you ask for the community to come in.
Speaker 2: That's what we're trying to do. And social equity, when
Speaker 2: it comes down to it, everybody should start out with
Speaker 2: the toolbox, right. Everybody has certain jobs that they have
Speaker 2: to get done. But if you don't all have the
Speaker 2: same tools in that toolbox, then you have privilege. It
Speaker 2: doesn't matter what color of skin you are. But does
Speaker 2: it hurt you? Yes, it can because you know what,
Speaker 2: when I drive down the street, I actually got pulled
Speaker 2: over by the cop the other day and looking the
Speaker 2: way that I look in my nice car, probably didn't
Speaker 2: think it was my car and pulled me over for
Speaker 2: something bogus. And I don't get discriminated against because of
Speaker 2: the zip code that I live in. It's because the
Speaker 2: way we look, the way we talk, the way we walk,
Speaker 2: and our culture has been appropriated in cannabis. My god, Yes,
Speaker 2: so now you want to talk appropriate. I mean, you
Speaker 2: don't get me go down that revel, but yeah, it's
Speaker 2: been I call this culture vulture you know, or sorry,
Speaker 2: vulture culture whatever anyway, Yeah, yeah, okay, So see that's
Speaker 2: what happens when I don't smoke. But I like to
Speaker 2: try to tell people that because in this journey myself,
Speaker 2: I've had to humble myself. I have privilege as a Latina,
Speaker 2: and I've recognized that because I'm a little bit lighter complexed,
Speaker 2: I speak a certain way. So it's like, let's get
Speaker 2: the same toolbox for everybody, so now we can all
Speaker 2: lift each other up. This proposition, this law, what's going on.
Speaker 2: It's not about these twenty six people individually. It's about
Speaker 2: what are you doing with that license for your community
Speaker 2: when you get it?
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's start there. Ok Okay, there's two things
Speaker 1: that I want to ask you said these twenty six people,
Speaker 1: So let's explain to the listeners what the quote these
Speaker 1: twenty six people unquote means.
Speaker 6: So, the social equity part of this bill allows for
Speaker 6: twenty six licenses to be handed out to individuals who
Speaker 6: are disproportionately affected by the War on drugs, which would
Speaker 6: be black, Brown, and LATINX individuals. But since social equity
Speaker 6: has not truly been defined, we've had to fight specifically
Speaker 6: to get these particular amendments in to keep Backdoring out
Speaker 6: of here. So let me give you example. Sure, there's
Speaker 6: a corporation by the name of Harvest. They were busted
Speaker 6: for having a straw man or woman in the position
Speaker 6: of ownership. Right, So there was a lady who was
Speaker 6: on their payroll whose name they used to get the license,
Speaker 6: and I think it was in Ohio.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was. So there's a lot of predatory practices.
Speaker 2: Is the word we're going to use.
Speaker 1: She didn't know she was the owner of her company.
Speaker 2: No, she did not.
Speaker 6: She owned the company and she didn't even know she
Speaker 6: owned the company because they were just using her name
Speaker 6: without her consent.
Speaker 2: Yeah, her name was not on the license.
Speaker 6: But she got the benefits from it though, they got
Speaker 6: the benefits from it.
Speaker 1: So she was able to receive the license on behalf
Speaker 1: of the corporation and the corporation they got a war
Speaker 1: one that benefited from it, not the community, exactly correct.
Speaker 2: So the license was awarded and the real ownership on
Speaker 2: that license read not in that lady's name, right, got it.
Speaker 2: So when we say predatory practices, the reason why our
Speaker 2: Arizona got started is because we've been here. We've been
Speaker 2: here from when it was legal to where it is now,
Speaker 2: and it's like it has just been a world wind
Speaker 2: of different things that have been sweeping across the country.
Speaker 2: It's a copy, it's a copy and paste. What happened
Speaker 2: out in the Bay, what happened out in LA, what's
Speaker 2: happening out in Illinois.
Speaker 1: And we're not going to let it happen here right.
Speaker 2: That's why I implore you guys band together, Like there's
Speaker 2: so many things happening right now, and we have an
Speaker 2: opportunity to speak up, empower our communities, get the funding
Speaker 2: to the different places. I mean, we have so many
Speaker 2: different things that we need help with.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let me let me, let me boil this down. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if I may go for there are twenty six licenses
Speaker 1: that have been set aside specifically to benefit black and
Speaker 1: brown communities that have historically been harmed by the War
Speaker 1: on drugs and the over criminalization of marijuana. And those
Speaker 1: twenty six licenses are at risk via legislation of being
Speaker 1: perverted to benefit police, YEP, perverted to benefit HIGHWAW enforcement.
Speaker 1: That sounds like more police to me. To me, they're
Speaker 1: going to and on and on instead of actually benefiting
Speaker 1: black and brown communities. After school programs, expungement of criminal records, I.
Speaker 2: See that here, Well, that's another whole thing and then itself.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about that in one second. But so
Speaker 1: this is what we're dealing with. There's twenty six licenses
Speaker 1: that could be conceivably placed all around Phoenix or all
Speaker 1: around Arizona in communities of color. That's what it was
Speaker 1: written for. But there are people who have been hired
Speaker 1: to represent you, the listener, who are actively.
Speaker 7: Working to change the language or otherwise develop a different
Speaker 7: vantage point so that they can take those funds that
Speaker 7: are meant for your communities, for your school stree after
Speaker 7: school programs, for your roads, for whatever it is that
Speaker 7: your community needs, and basically protect their interest, which oftentimes
Speaker 7: looks like more policing.
Speaker 1: Welcome to how can how can the listeners of Civic
Speaker 1: Cipher help our Arizona combat those efforts by those elected representatives.
Speaker 1: Do we have any names? I love names?
Speaker 4: We do.
Speaker 1: If you don't want to say them, I will say
Speaker 1: them live.
Speaker 2: So we do. And right now, what you guys can
Speaker 2: do is we are trying to get together. We are
Speaker 2: trying to get together and protest, bring our voices together,
Speaker 2: and demand change by amendment to this proposition, Demand change
Speaker 2: to the funding make it sustainable and equitable. Russell Rusty
Speaker 2: Bowers is the House chair and right now he has
Speaker 2: a bill that is going through the through the House,
Speaker 2: and he is the one who has the power to heal,
Speaker 2: to acknowledge and repair the harm, to do something for
Speaker 2: the first time, be the first Arizona, because you know what,
Speaker 2: there's been so many programs out of this across the
Speaker 2: country who have gotten it wrong and had to get
Speaker 2: sued and had to get fight tooth and nail for equity.
Speaker 2: But right now you have the chance. So email, you
Speaker 2: can call.
Speaker 1: Him Rusty Bowers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, his emails are Bowers be A w ers at
Speaker 2: a z L e g dot gov.
Speaker 1: Okay, hang on one second, because I want you to
Speaker 1: say that again. Recently I had Diane post Up on
Speaker 1: the show. She's a lawyer. She works very hard to
Speaker 1: protect the interest of disadvantaged peoples and communities. She told
Speaker 1: me something I'll never forget. She said, once an elected
Speaker 1: representative receives ten emails, pieces of correspondence, complaints, visits, whatever,
Speaker 1: they have to respond. So that means if there are
Speaker 1: ten people, in fact, if you're in your car by
Speaker 1: yourself listening to our voices right now, if you're at home,
Speaker 1: if you're at work, whatever it is you're doing, and
Speaker 1: you're able to hear our voices, you can be one
Speaker 1: of those ten people. But imagine if it was one hundred,
Speaker 1: Imagine if it was a thousand. And that's really how
Speaker 1: we let the community right its own story. That's how
Speaker 1: we are able to be self determined. If you've if
Speaker 1: you know anyone who's been affected by the criminalization of marijuana,
Speaker 1: if you look around your neighborhoods and you see that,
Speaker 1: if you feel like the world has been unfair to
Speaker 1: black and brown people, you can email what's that email again? Uh?
Speaker 2: This email? You cut me off?
Speaker 1: Sorry about that. I think it was our Bowers.
Speaker 2: Here we go. You got R. Bowers, So it's our
Speaker 2: bow E R s at az l EG dot gov.
Speaker 2: If you would like.
Speaker 8: To call him, Yeah, let's talk about it. Six O
Speaker 8: two nine two six, I say thirty one twenty eight
Speaker 8: eight Again six O two nine two six thirty one
Speaker 8: twenty eight right here go. Now the other thing too.
Speaker 2: You can also call Governor Doucy because when these bills
Speaker 2: move through right now, it is in the rules committee.
Speaker 2: And if you all remember anything from six A class,
Speaker 2: they hold the most power in government once they approve
Speaker 2: this budget, and that can happen at any moment. The
Speaker 2: community loses if they approve this prop these bills as is.
Speaker 2: That is two million dollars in a one time influx
Speaker 2: of funding. How is that equitable.
Speaker 1: For twenty six licensees?
Speaker 2: That's right? Not only that, but for the communities. Let's
Speaker 2: talk about the ecosystem of what cannabis does. Not everybody
Speaker 2: wants to be a dispensary owner, not everybody wants to
Speaker 2: run a store, not everybody wants to be a grower.
Speaker 2: But let's talk about the training programs. Let's talk about
Speaker 2: building generational wealth. Let's talk about educating our younger, vibrant people.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about STEM. Let's talk about real jobs that
Speaker 2: actually pay exactly Like you know, I've trimmed, I've been
Speaker 2: in the rooms, I've done it all. I've done every
Speaker 2: crappy job you can think of in cannabis, and I'm
Speaker 2: thankful for it because every part is important.
Speaker 1: Well, with that said, yeah, we now know what it
Speaker 1: is that we need to do. We have the email addresses,
Speaker 1: we have the phone numbers, and of course if you'd
Speaker 1: like to review that, you can check the website civiccipher
Speaker 1: dot com. But for now, if you're just tuning in
Speaker 1: to Civic Cipher, I'm your host, Rams's Jah. Our guests
Speaker 1: today are from our Arizona Nydia, Chad and Asar. We
Speaker 1: got about ten minutes left of the program, and you
Speaker 1: know you were talking about Doug Doocy. I would imagine
Speaker 1: that he holds, as far as Arizona is concerned, final
Speaker 1: vtail power. Correct, So he was elected to represent all
Speaker 1: of us, not some of us. That's right, and it
Speaker 1: is up to all of us to hold him accountable
Speaker 1: to that charge. Right, all right? Okay, So how do
Speaker 1: we ensure that these multi these twenty six multimillion dollar
Speaker 1: licenses that will generate wealth well into the future, will
Speaker 1: positively impact black and brown communities. How do we appeal
Speaker 1: to Doucy so that he does the right thing for
Speaker 1: all of us.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna, I'm gonna all yeah, So I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 4: gonna just say one thing though, what I want everybody,
Speaker 4: what I want you guys to think about, is how
Speaker 4: what we've been talking about the disprofortunately impacted by the
Speaker 4: War on drugs. If you're out there, just share your story,
Speaker 4: start talking about it because right now it's a topic.
Speaker 4: And share your stories. You can share them with us
Speaker 4: at our Arizona on Instagram, and let's really start developing
Speaker 4: a conversation about some of this. I know, you know,
Speaker 4: I have a deep story to tell myself, but every
Speaker 4: I don't know anybody who doesn't, you know, So just
Speaker 4: share your stories, make it be known you have a voice.
Speaker 4: And that's that's really what I wanted to just say
Speaker 4: real quick.
Speaker 2: You guys can find all of our information. We're on Instagram.
Speaker 2: It's our so oh you are Underscore Arizona. You can
Speaker 2: find our website. We have a petition going around. Sign it,
Speaker 2: put your information in there, put your email in there.
Speaker 2: We'll keep you posted. It is www dot www dot
Speaker 2: ouras dot org. And more importantly, we need everybody to
Speaker 2: step up. Take a minute of your time. Call Doug Doocey,
Speaker 2: leave a voicemail his number six oh two five four
Speaker 2: to two forty three thirty one. Six two five four
Speaker 2: to two forty three thirty one. And if you you
Speaker 2: know you don't like to call, that's fine. I know
Speaker 2: a lot of millennials, like myself, I like the phone,
Speaker 2: but a lot of people don't you can go to
Speaker 2: our Arizona and in our link there is a website
Speaker 2: that will take you directly to Governor Doucey's office and
Speaker 2: you can write him an email. You can send him
Speaker 2: a message and voice your concerns. This is your Arizona.
Speaker 2: This is you know, the generation in the future, like
Speaker 2: the future is ours. What you guys decide to put
Speaker 2: your energy and efforts to matters now because this plant,
Speaker 2: I mean, whether you smoke it recreationally, whether you like
Speaker 2: to do it for medicine, whatever that is. This plant feeds,
Speaker 2: will house, will clothe, and will clean up our earth.
Speaker 2: Like there's so many uses that cannabis hemp will be
Speaker 2: doing for the future. So let's create ecosystems that can heal,
Speaker 2: repair and drive real, true change, because that's what matters
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 4: And one of the fears that I have, and this
Speaker 4: is why I really want to make sure that this
Speaker 4: goes to people who care about the plant, is that
Speaker 4: if you see what happened to the tobacco industry and
Speaker 4: how it's killing people, how they put all types of
Speaker 4: toxic shit and et cetera, or stuff, my apologies, don't
Speaker 4: think that the same thing can't happen to cannabis. It's
Speaker 4: already happening, and it's already happening. They're not testing, you
Speaker 4: don't know what you're smoking, and it's going to start
Speaker 4: becoming to those conversations where we talked about how we
Speaker 4: know that cannabis is not addicted. Now all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: it's addicted. People are getting sick. These are the things
Speaker 4: that we don't want to happen for a plant that
Speaker 4: has does not does not have those properties. This is
Speaker 4: this is this is a plant that cures, not a
Speaker 4: plant that cars cause us harm. The only harm that's
Speaker 4: been caused is by the enforcement of this war on drugs.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 4: I mean, we're talking about Arizona, who maybe less than
Speaker 4: ten years ago, let's talk about maybe ten, twelve, thirteen
Speaker 4: years ago, when you where you can be caught with
Speaker 4: a seed in your car. We had some of the
Speaker 4: toughest laws out here when it came to marijuana. So
Speaker 4: I know there's a lot of you out there that
Speaker 4: had to deal with that. And now, like I said,
Speaker 4: now's your time to speak up.
Speaker 1: Right if you care, you have to let them know
Speaker 1: you exist.
Speaker 6: You have to let them know that you're out there,
Speaker 6: so make those phone calls, because if you make those
Speaker 6: phone calls, then they can't imagine you away. They can't say,
Speaker 6: oh no, nobody cares about this, So we can place
Speaker 6: a straw man in your place and adjudicate for you
Speaker 6: and put our own stamp on something that's just gonna
Speaker 6: line our pockets. You have to let them know you're
Speaker 6: out there, so that they have to be responsible to
Speaker 6: their constituency. You know, there's so many things that they
Speaker 6: have dragged their feet on. They dragged their feet on testing.
Speaker 6: They just imputed the testing laws. And because they implemented
Speaker 6: these testing laws in the wrong way, there's only three
Speaker 6: actual testing facilities that can actually test all the flour,
Speaker 6: all the products, and all of Arizona. Let me tell
Speaker 6: you as somebody who's been in these pensaries, that's lessening
Speaker 6: the quality of your products. And they're only testing for
Speaker 6: certain things, so other things that they haven't discovered yet,
Speaker 6: they're still getting in your bodies. Not exactly, you're not
Speaker 6: really getting the best quality product. Since you're not getting
Speaker 6: the best quality product, and they have no incentives to
Speaker 6: compete to put out a better quality product. That's what
Speaker 6: you're gonna keep on getting So if you care about that,
Speaker 6: you need to let your voice be heard.
Speaker 2: Yo, I have something for you because you're in the industry,
Speaker 2: so I like to shop around just to see what
Speaker 2: different shops do. And every single time I've gone into
Speaker 2: a shop and I've a for my CoA for the
Speaker 2: products that I've bought. In other words, my certificate of analysis.
Speaker 2: This is the breakdown of the vital cannabinoids that are
Speaker 2: being tested in your medicine or your recreational product, whatever
Speaker 2: you want to call it. How many shops are actually
Speaker 2: giving it? And more importantly, is that batch number on
Speaker 2: that certificate? Does it match your product? Is it fully
Speaker 2: testing the full panel for metals, for arsenic, for contaminants
Speaker 2: for mold or are you just getting a potency number?
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, we're testing for potency. You see that here.
Speaker 2: I can't tell you how many places have not been
Speaker 2: able to provide an actual certificate of analysis. And this
Speaker 2: law was just passed forcing cannabis dispensaries November twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: They barely started forcing them to carry more strict testing
Speaker 2: on flour.
Speaker 6: Right, And even though it's actually it's supposed to be implemented,
Speaker 6: businesses will hide the mandates because you have to have
Speaker 6: something posting in your dispensary that says that if you
Speaker 6: want it, we have to provide it to you. But
Speaker 6: they will hide that. They'll like put it someplace where
Speaker 6: you can't really see it. Put all the rest of
Speaker 6: their advertisements, and they'll put things on their shelves until
Speaker 6: they get busted.
Speaker 2: It's crazy because you go other places and they full
Speaker 2: like you go shop in Colorado, you go shop in Cali,
Speaker 2: you go shop in Nevada. First thing that these products
Speaker 2: have on them full force that you see without even
Speaker 2: having to ask for a CoA, it's already tagged on
Speaker 2: the label. Arizona's not stepping up.
Speaker 1: So clearly there's a lot of work to be done,
Speaker 1: but fortunately it's doable, absolutely so really quick, because we've
Speaker 1: got about a minute left. One more time, let's let
Speaker 1: everyone know how they can get in contact with you
Speaker 1: all similarly, all right, and then let's plug the our Arizona.
Speaker 6: All right again. My name is Asar, last name is Roland.
Speaker 6: You can get in contact with me at at Ganja
Speaker 6: Guided on Instagram.
Speaker 4: I'm Chad Diggs. I don't I don't do social media.
Speaker 4: Get through, okay.
Speaker 2: My name is Nidia. You can find me at our
Speaker 2: underscore Arizona. My instagram is absolutely underscore hashed ova Ova
Speaker 2: and more importantly, the last thing I want to leave
Speaker 2: you all with is now that you know, what are
Speaker 2: you going to do about it? That's a great question
Speaker 2: and the answer is up to you. Once again, I
Speaker 2: want to thank you all for tuning into Civic Cipher.
Speaker 2: If you can hit the website civiccipher dot com, submit
Speaker 2: your questions any topics.
Speaker 1: You can make a donation as well. You can download
Speaker 1: this in any other previous episodes if you want to
Speaker 1: review them. Until next week, y'all is