Jim Marty reports on his meeting with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and his belief that the cannabis Safe Banking Act will pass the Senate this year. Larry Mishkin applauds the power of cannabis to bring together a divided government. They finish the show with excitement from Bob Weir joining Wynonna Judd on stage to record Ramble On Rose. Produced by PodCONX https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkin https://podconx.com/guests/jim-marty https://podconx.com/guests/rob-hunt
Jim Marty reports on his meeting with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and his belief that the cannabis Safe Banking Act will pass the Senate this year. Larry Mishkin applauds the power of cannabis to bring together a divided government. They finish the show with excitement from Bob Weir joining Wynonna Judd on stage to record Ramble On Rose.
https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkin
https://podconx.com/guests/jim-marty
https://podconx.com/guests/rob-hunt
Jim Marty: [00:00:00]
Jim Marty: [00:00:35] Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Deadhead Cannabis show. Jim Marty here from Longmont, Colorado. I've got my partner in crime, Larry Myshkin, on the line.
Larry Mishkin: [00:00:45] I always, always makes me chuckle when you say that, but I'll accept it as it is. I think it's absolutely true. And I'm here and not just in Illinois.
Larry Mishkin: [00:00:54] On a lovely Sunday evening. I'm excited to talk about all things Deadhead and Cannabis where we have on tap tonight.
Jim Marty: [00:01:03] Well, we can start with the most recent experiences I've had here in Colorado. I went to Oyster Head last night and I haven't seen primas or Oyster had maybe in a dozen years or more, maybe. Do you think Bonnaroo 2006, 2007. But it was really good to hear less claypool's guitar again and hear and play that bass that is so unique. You know, here, that big curve, you know, guitar that he plays and one foot up on the amp and it was shoulder to shoulder. They did two nights Friday, Saturday, I got to Saturday and they played Mr. Royster head. That was one of my recollections. That was very good. And late in the second set, we got a first tube. So Trey got to stand out a little bit. But I have to say, Wooster Head is really less claypool's deal. It was almost like Trey was playing second fiddle. But I was telling the young people around me, I was there with my son Jack and some of his college friends. I said, oh, this is a powerhouse, you know, a three person band with Stewart Copeland on drums. I said much like much like cream. Back in the 60s and early 70s. And no sooner did I say that than they finished the first set with lightening the cream song White ROOM.
Larry Mishkin: [00:02:23] Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Of course it's wonderful. And they killed it. They just killed it. Very nice.
Jim Marty: [00:02:28] But yeah. So we had a wonderful evening and we got invited to the afterparty. And then I was doing some political things on Friday with Senator Rand Paul, Republican, of course, from Kentucky. And he was out here doing some fundraising and talking about what's going on in Colorado and nationally. And he's he's been a great friend of Cannabis. You know, he's very libertarian. Not sure if you're a Democrat or Republican. We all have to embrace our libertarian friends because no Cannabis is a libertarian issue. Do what you want. Right. And anyway, he thinks that the stars are aligning, that we might get the Safe Banking Act out of the out of the Senate this year. The House passed it. I think back in September, right?
Larry Mishkin: [00:03:16] That is correct. They did. And they they sent it up and it did. I remember when it hit the Senate. You know, there was some question back and forth where it was going to go. And I noticed that you and I have touched on this a little bit, Jim. The lowest first date, as does it, might break from Indiana. The guy who's the head of the banking committee who first came up indicated that since it had received a strong bipartisan support in the House, that he was sure that the banking committee would hear it. But needless to say, the Senate got tied up with some other matters. Those other matters are over and hopefully as they get back to regular business. Now, what this will be a topic that will come up and that they will address. And like you say about Rand Paul, it his libertarian roots. You're absolutely right about that. You know, I agree with him or disagree with him on other issues. He is a friend of the marijuana industry. And if he could help push it forward, all the better.
Jim Marty: [00:04:09] Yeah. So I was invited to two Rand Paul events when I was a guest host and we had a afternoon fundraiser for him at the National Cannabis Industry Association in Denver. And that's where he told us, hey, the stars are aligning because, you know, Cory Gardner, Republican, Colorado, isn't going to be in a tough race to keep his Senate seat, which in turn means that the Republicans will keep the Senate. And Cory Gardner is a big co-sponsor of the Safe Banking Act for simplicity. We'll call it the Safe Act, which would normalize banking for the Colorado industry and for every state where receives was a program.
Jim Marty: [00:04:56] So they're thinking, hey, you know, let's get this thing out of committee. You know, there's definitely some anti marijuana Republicans, Chuck Grassley and Crapo from Indiana, as well as Charles Grassley from Idaho.
Larry Mishkin: [00:05:12] Mcconnell's not a big fan of the two states that don't have any even medical marijuana right now. Right.
Larry Mishkin: [00:05:18] Right. And Idaho just has voted down their industrial Hemp statute a couple of times. They can't get it passed.
Jim Marty: [00:05:24] Yeah, but, you know, it might be the year to get this thing out of committee, because if we get it out of committee and get it to the Senate floor. It would likely pass the same. Banking. And then we believe President Trump would sign this bill because, you know, love him or hate him. Marijuana is not President Trump's issue. He's somewhat of a libertarian at somewhat MJBulls. He's got other fights, he's got other priorities. I don't think he would mess with marijuana. I'm saying that based on the 2018 farm bill that he signed that basically legalized Hemp took it off Schedule 1.
Larry Mishkin: [00:06:04] Got it. I agree with that. And I think that at the end of the day, if you look at it as a practical business man and you know, Lord knows he's nothing if not a businessman. It's a win win all the way around. It provides revenue for local governments and for the state governments, provides jobs. It provides all sorts of great benefits and tenure rights other than the fact that he had appointed Jeff Sessions as the attorney general for a while. He's probably one of the most antique marijuana people around. But on the other hand, Jeff Sessions didn't really do anything while he was in that position to jeopardize the industry. And I think that that was more of an overall strategy. And you know, Jim, you and I have talked about this before. You and I come from slightly different sides of the political spectrum. But we've always been able to find our common ground in the marijuana industry and what it means for us and what it means for everybody, what it means for the country. And it's always remarkable to me that even even in these New York Times that many people talk about as big as divisive as they've ever seen in the country over some really, really big issues that we've had to face lately.
Larry Mishkin: [00:07:10] People have the ability to kind of push all that off to the side for a minute when it comes to Cannabis, because I think people across both sides of the aisle see it as a winning issue. They see it as something that we should be going forward with. It can be a benefit to the country. There are states that are democratic in states that are Republican, in states that are both that are very, very strong in the cannabis industry. As you were just pointing out, Colorado with Gardner. And it's really a win for everybody. And to me, it's it's it's a wonderful thing that, you know, this is this is the issue that can bring both sides together just a little bit more. You know, who knows where we can go from there and whether we're going to other, bigger, more pressing problems can be solved as well. But I always feel good about that, which seems to always go forward with bipartisan support.
Jim Marty: [00:07:57] Yeah, it's not really a Republican or a Democratic issue, in my opinion. Right. And the real wildcard in all this is that the Hemp in the CBD, as I've been saying, not everybody wants to have the get high marijuana put it in the course of your lifetime. Everyone is going to deal with pain. And I mean, little old ladies in their 70s who swear by their CBD for their M.S. or their aches and pains. And so I think the tipping we reached the tipping point in the last year or so with Hemp and CBD because his basically the same plants. The only difference is the level of THC. I'm working with extractors here in Colorado. And they go for something called T free THC, free Hemp oil that they can ship all over the world because it doesn't have any THC in. It looks like a big jar of honey.
Larry Mishkin: [00:08:55] You know, you're you're absolutely right about that, Jim. And you know, it's the Hoban law. group. We've been we've been preaching that for a long, long time as well. You know, there's a lot there's a huge side of some. It's going to have an upside. This ultimately really for marijuana. Marijuana, you know, I I I certainly wouldn't turn down the opportunity to hold a dispensary or a cultivation center in the state of Illinois right now. Is it that it break sales records week after week, you know, heading into this very successful adult program we've established? But I think that a lot of people in the industry looking down the road say to themselves, you know, you just that there's only so many people that like to get high. There's only so many people that are looking for that. But everybody is looking for healthful benefits. And if you can get that from CBD, you can get it just as effectively from Hemp as marijuana. That's a that's a great thing for everybody.
Jim Marty: [00:09:44] Right. We haven't even touched on the industrial uses of the fiber for making clothing and cement. Concrete.
Larry Mishkin: [00:09:52] Well, everything five-person grb and some of the European companies have announced they're going to start testing programs with site body panels that are going to be manufactured out of generated plastic parts. And you know that if it's industrial, America buys into it on that level, there's no telling where it can stop. And what were we saying last show that in the last year there was about 250000 acres of Hemp being grown in this country compared to 10 million acres of corn. But you start getting industrial America involved in this and that number is going to change very, very quickly.
Jim Marty: [00:10:29] Yes. Yeah. So we talked about what I've been doing politically as well as musically. What you got going up there in Illinois, Larry Ball work.
Larry Mishkin: [00:10:38] You know, dab smack in the middle of the application period for cultivation, manufacturing and transportation. And as is typically the case now where within the last 30 days. So all the. Nobody is really starting to heat up. Certainly good for business, but long hours and a little bit stressful sometimes. Everybody is fighting to make sure that they are in complete compliance with the multitude of requirements that the state of Illinois has put forth. But we're we're very excited about where things are going with the adult youth program. And the level of sales has just been off the charts and much greater than anyone anticipated. Now, the question is just finding a way to keep up with that demand. And there's even some hope that these extra these applications for cultivation might be expedited at some point in order to get people out there growing even faster to see if they can keep up with it all. In the meantime, the Illinois Hemp program is doing remarkably well. I was at a meeting today for the Illinois chapter of the Hemp Industry Association. And the numbers that we're seeing in Illinois in terms of farmers who are going to be planting Hemp crops this year is hugely up from where it was last year. We're very excited about that. And you look at it, it seems to be a very good time in the Cannabis industry. You know, I'm no forecaster essentially where prices will be at this time next year. But, you know, certainly what we've seen up to this point is that it's been steady growth and not a whole lot of issue with with products falling off in those places, especially with the new markets are being created.
Jim Marty: [00:12:17] Very good. Very good. Now, how much is an ace up in Chicago?
Larry Mishkin: [00:12:22] Ok. I hate to announce that a medical dispensary is selling, you know, on average for $60. And at an adult use dispensary for $80. Wow.
Jim Marty: [00:12:32] That's very hard. It's expensive. Oh, yeah, it is. But there's still a shortage of products.
Larry Mishkin: [00:12:40] Yeah, well, look, we've created a very restricted market in Illinois. And I'm sure that, you know, the reasoning behind that is to maintain a reasonable price for the industry and all of that. That does seem like a very high price. And I suspect it is time to go forward. And then you would know better than I've seen how things have happened in Colorado. But like any other industry, you eventually reach an equilibrium, right, in terms of where the product can go and what people are willing to pay if they want to come to you instead of going to the black market. And, you know, the hope is, is that, you know, it might at some point, some time here will will begin to reach that in some of these adult whose prices will become a little more manageable, because we certainly want to avoid more or less the debacle that was created in California by slapping so much excise tax on that, that basically pushed people dove back into the black market, you know, and then you have the other extreme of Oklahoma where they were turning around license applications in two weeks.
Jim Marty: [00:13:35] And now they seem to have more dispensaries than they need for the medical program.
Larry Mishkin: [00:13:39] Right. And they showed no signs of slowing down in terms of licenses that they're issued, which is really amazing that, you know, so many people, I guess the idea these are the allure of having a marijuana license. Sometimes clouds people's business sense is because. But I try to explain to people, as you know, there are states you can go to and you can just get a license.
Larry Mishkin: [00:14:00] You don't have to go through this process like you do in Illinois. But in those states, you better look around really carefully and make sure that there is a market that's big enough to be able to successfully support one more cultivation center or one more dispensary. And a lot of these states, Oregon being a great example as well. You know, you've got an open if you want, but the prices have become so depressed due to the huge supply that they have. It's no longer becomes, you know, a big profit center that everybody hopes it will be when they dove into the industry.
Jim Marty: [00:14:32] Yes. As I've said many times on this podcast, there's a very narrow path to profitability in the marijuana industry. There would also be true of Hemp and extracted products with CBD and CVG. You can make a lot of money, but. In my experience is the exception. The people who make a lot of money, other people seem to make a lot of mistakes. Case in point, we were just talking about Oklahoma. Very difficult to make money in Oklahoma when there's more retail outlets than the medical patient list of patients would support.
Larry Mishkin: [00:15:13] Right. Yep. That is a problem. I agree. So, you know, look, we'll see. We're very excited here. It's a fun time for everyone in Illinois to feel like we're only breaking into the into the big time of the marijuana industry after kind of suffering along for a while with our medical program. So we'll see where it goes. But it does appear to be moving in the right direction. We've got these applications sales and we'll get some more dispensaries and cultivation centers where they're going to take a quick break.
Dan Humiston: [00:15:45] Thank you for listening to today's show and to invite you to listen to all the other great and JPL's Cannabis podcast like Raising Cannabis Capital. The show which features Cannabis entreprenuers and are raising money to expand their organization. Tune in each week on Thursdays and Sundays to hear founders of Awesome Cannabis company talking about their business and their fundraising plans. Who knows? Maybe you'll discover the future Amazon or Apple of Cannabis and the Raising Cannabis Capital podcast.
Jim Marty: [00:16:17] Ok, well, we have a little bit more time left in the summer, tours are looking very good and promising for debt and company and fish. A lot of opportunities for people to see them all over the country. What are your plans learned?
Larry Mishkin: [00:16:32] Well, you do one thing that's disappointing for me while we have debt and company again coming to Wrigley Field in July. I got to say, even though I'm a Cardinals fan, it's always hard to go into Wrigley Field when the debtor there. It's a great place. And it's about as much fun as you can have in this baseball stadium dab smack in the middle of the north side of Chicago. And it's it's just fun from start to finish. And we really, really enjoy it when it's there. The fish is not coming to the Chicago area this year. And I was really surprised to see that. You know, there's kind of alternated on years, either playing all the way down town on the lakefront at this big outdoor venue. They have fair or up in Wisconsin at Alpine Valley. And this year, we're not getting anywhere. The fact the closest they're gonna come to Chicago is Deer Creek and Indianapolis. So a whole group of us are already making our plans to travel down there for a day. I haven't been to Deer Creek since back when the dead were, you know, always was part of their regular tour. So it's trying to be nice to go back there and and see it again. But I was just a little surprised about that fish. It's tremendous support in the Chicago area. And so, you know, we're hoping that it's just a precursor for, say, a big stop on the fall tour where maybe they'll come through for a few nights and try to pay us back.
Jim Marty: [00:17:46] That's right. Yeah. We get a lot of people lining up to head to the gorge in Washington. Yeah. The shows there. And then down to Lake Tahoe. And then official do think. I think the end of the tour is one show at the L.A. forum.
Larry Mishkin: [00:18:03] Wow. That would be a lot of fun too. That's it. Yeah. Look, there's just in your part of the world out there, there's so many wonderful places to see shows and, you know, just beautiful natural venues where you can go and see them and hear it. It's you know, it's typically some big shed pavilion out the middle of a cornfield somewhere, which is fine. I'm happy to see you anywhere. But, you know, if you go into Red Rocks or, you know, some of those other locations, like the gorge that you're mentioning, you know, that just adds to the experience and makes it makes it that much more fun. I think so. That will be a lot of fun for you guys. But what I really like, Jim, is that, you know, while all this kind of downtime, if you will, is going on. No, these guys are sitting still. You just sort waste your head. So treys out there, you know, cranking around at full speed. Phil's 80th birthday is coming up and he's got a bunch of shows that are planned, including a big show at Lock in the summer, which is going to be in June instead of August out in Virginia. And Phil is going to be playing with his original quintet of Warren Haynes and Jimmy Haring and John Modell on drums and committed to Barack Obama. I can't remember his name, Barack Lowe, who plays the keyboards for them. Originally, I guess he was in the dissent. Rob Rocco, Rob Rocco, thank you. Yes, originally with the Zen tricksters from way back in the day. And they're also going to have Joe Roussos MJBulls dead playing. And the rumor is, with John Mayer coming to play with Joe Russo's almost dead. So that to me is a very tempting thought. So I think we're going to try and get out there and take out the and festival as well. But meanwhile. Our producer Dan Humiston was kind enough to send around a clip that he found of that has Bob Weir recording a new version of Ramble On Rose with Window to jump. Have you heard that yet, Jim?
Jim Marty: [00:19:59] I have. I guess it was last Thursday night was the show and it went about truly comes through the big sea of our that, you know, Bob couldn't have been more excited, as we all know from our Grateful Dead experience, that Bob Weir loves country music, loves country Western. Merle Haggard and, sure, Johnny Cash and all the covers the dead did over the years. And he was so excited to be able to play the full country set with Wynona Judd. And yeah, it was very, very good. Very nice ramble on. Rose and I saw a video clip a little I was handheld from the audience from the Fillmore in San Francisco. But yeah, very nice version.
Larry Mishkin: [00:20:47] Got such a beautiful voice. And she really hits the notes. And no, Bobby, I was I thought, you know, played it well. And you're kind of restrained himself in some spots, but then filled in very nicely. So check it out on YouTube. And there's even been talk, I think that they may be putting it out as a single. And then meanwhile, Bob and Wolfe brothers are touring. They're going to be coming through here in March. So we're all scrambling to get our tickets for that one, too.
Jim Marty: [00:21:11] No, very good. And I think my next outing, we've bought our airline tickets and hotel rooms for the first weekend of Jazz Fest with the Who and the Beach Boys. And I'll miss dad and company because that's again.
Jim Marty: [00:21:28] And that just cuts it a little bit too close to our son's college graduation. But dad and company is starting their summer tour at two shows at Folsom, which are like I believe the capacity is like around 50, 60 thousand.
Larry Mishkin: [00:21:44] And it's kind of fun because let's practice for your backyard.
Jim Marty: [00:21:48] Yeah, 20 minutes from home. But what's fun about it is driving around Denver this week, the billboards are up for dead and company, I think is July 9th and 10th. And then the sports channels on TV are running dad and company ads showing clips from last year's show.
Jim Marty: [00:22:06] So they're little promoting these to get try to get some sell outs. I think they've come close or maybe sold that one or two, but it's hard to sell 60000 calls called a lot of. That's a big show. But yeah, we're looking forward to that.
Larry Mishkin: [00:22:19] It is a quite frankly, I'm glad that they don't, you know, hold it in a big stadium like that is hold 16. You get 40 to me.
Larry Mishkin: [00:22:27] That's perfect. There's a big crowd. Everybody's having fun. And you can you can find elbow room and you can find a little bit of space to dance and do your thing. And now, you know, it's just not shoulder to shoulder.
Jim Marty: [00:22:37] And anybody who wants to go can go. Right. You know, one of the other big shows on the summer tour for Debt and company is I believe they're doing the big stadium in New Jersey. What is that one calls?
Larry Mishkin: [00:22:52] Oh, he's beautiful. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Larry Mishkin: [00:22:55] Meadowlands, Netherlands. And that's like 80000.
Larry Mishkin: [00:22:59] You know where the Giants play football? Yeah. They're gonna go in there and they're going to do a show knowing New York. Probably draw a full house because, you know, New York fans are nuts and they go out to support him everywhere stuff. You know, that's that's very cool, too.
Larry Mishkin: [00:23:12] But yeah, I mean, if you stop and you think about that for a minute, writes, think back to the like. You know, the early 1990s when the dad finally reached the point where they had to start playing stadiums for their summer tour in Chicago, always took them to soldier fields instead of Alpine Valley or other places. And we were all just amazed at the idea that the dad had reached such a level of popularity to take command, that kind of crowd. Now his dad and company, right, which is the dead without Keary, without still playing with them, without, you know, any of the original keyboardists or anything. And they the demand for Grateful Dead music is so great that these guys could be selling out from close to selling out these huge football stadiums. It's just it's amazing to think the level of which this music remains, you know, on everybody's list of love of summer shows that they want to see.
Jim Marty: [00:24:03] Right. Right. Well, along that line in Vienna. It really felt good being out last night. And again, with all our folks and all our all our peeps who love Fish and the Grateful Dead and least her head. But I was telling some young people some stories in my heyday. And, yeah, the Grateful Dead and Fish both out grew red rocks in Colorado as Red Rocks holds nine thousand five hundred and has a little historical note. I was at the very last Grateful Dead show at Red Rocks, which was August of nineteen eighty seven. And it was also at the very last Phish concert, which was in the summer of nineteen. Five or six, maybe ninety six, when they also outgrew Red Rocks and then another show. I'll tell a couple of stories of why those bands got asked not to come back now has to fill in the blanks. Fish did get invited back for four shows at Red Rocks post hiatus while settled in 1995. They were asked not to. In 96, they were asked not to come back, as were the Grateful Dead back in 87 when both of those bands outgrew their venue. And I got some great stories about those days, but that's interesting that I was at the last Grateful Dead show at Red Rocks and the last fish before they got asked not to come back.
Jim Marty: [00:25:29] So I have a little bit of music history under my belt and a very quick closing to all this.
Jim Marty: [00:25:36] The last song The Grateful Dead played at Red Rocks was Knocking on Heaven's Door, August of 87. And there was so many people outside, they couldn't get in that. At the top of Red Rocks, there's a circular parking lot where all the limos kind of drop people off and stuff. And all the young people, the hippies with their tight eyes and their dresses couldn't get into the show. We're all dancing in that circular parking lot in the headlights of the cop cars.
Larry Mishkin: [00:26:05] Well, it's fun like that. You know, that's what's great about it, that has these rights all dance anywhere. If they can even just hear a little bit of it that they can't pretend that they do. Adults dance up a storm. Right. It's always fun to ride.
Jim Marty: [00:26:17] Right. But I remember walking out of that show and just seeing all the hippies dancing in the headlights of the cop car. Right.
Larry Mishkin: [00:26:24] After all, like, it was like, if they behave themselves, we're happy to. We're happy to provide the light show. So, yeah, that's fun. It's a great place. And there's a lot of, you know, memorable concerts that were played at Red Rocks both by the study and session. You know, part of just, you know, in my way, I always like to think if I was that they they were aware of where they were. They rose to the occasion to, you know, to play to that. And most of the time they did. Every now and then they might slip a little bit. But it didn't matter. Right. Was on the nights even when they slipped. If you're watching the big red rocks with the health care is so beautiful when you're having such a good time anyway. It's all good.
Jim Marty: [00:26:59] Well, I think we're coming to the end of our time slot for this broadcast, this podcast. So I will say goodbye from Longmont, Colorado.
Jim Marty: [00:27:10] Larry.
Larry Mishkin: [00:27:11] Yeah, absolutely. Jim Marty. And my understanding, next time you and I talk, you will be on the East Coast. Is that correct?
Jim Marty: [00:27:17] Yes, I have my bag path. I'm heading to the National Cannabis Industry Association Cannabis event in Massachusetts.
Jim Marty: [00:27:27] And I'll be seeing some clients in Massachusetts. And so I will be doing a podcast from that event either Wednesday or maybe I think we settle on Thursday morning this week. So I'll look forward to reporting about what's going on in Massachusetts, another place that has 60.
Larry Mishkin: [00:27:44] Wonderful. So I really think prices need to come down. Yeah, that would be nice.
Jim Marty: [00:27:50] You know, $60 and it keeps the black market in play.
Jim Marty: [00:27:55] You know, true. True. Free market like Colorado, R-E are twenty twenty five dollars as a point of. But we'll pick up on that from Massachusetts. I'll give you a report on prices in Massachusetts when we meet again this coming week.
Larry Mishkin: [00:28:08] Wonderful. We'll look forward to it. Thank you so much. And safe travels, OK? Over and out from the dead Cannabis show over the next week.
Larry Mishkin: [00:28:16] But by.
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