Defecting Lawmaker Calls for Marijuana Legalization and Criticizes GOP Stance
Larry Mishkin discusses the Grateful Dead's June 19, 1988 show at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. He shares personal experiences of attending the four-night run of shows and highlights the energetic performances of the band, particularly emphasizing Brent Mydland's contribution as a keyboardist and singer. Alongside the music discussion, Mishkin also mentions a New Hampshire lawmaker who defected from the Republican party to become an independent due to the party's opposition to marijuana legalization, reflecting the growing importance and acceptance of cannabis in politics.
Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-show
Larry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkin
Jay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesberg
Larry:
Hello everyone, I'm Larry Mishkin of Mishkin Law and welcome to another episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show. We've got a wonderful Grateful Dead show queued up today to talk about some interesting things going on in the world of cannabis and let's see if we can get through all of it before Dan gets tired and motions at me to stop talking. We are going to today listen to the Grateful Dead from June 19, 1988 at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin and before we say anything else, let's just dive right into the opening clip. Mississippi half step uptown to the Lou. Very often during this period of time, 87, 88, maybe even into 89 and really almost anytime, but a lot during that era, we would get a great half step, feel like a stranger opener, which this show was. And you can tell right from that, the half step to Jerry's and fine voice, he's playing, he's doing great. And it's a great version of the song. I love Mississippi Half Step. It moves really well. You can learn the words and sing along with them. And the lyrics are just as funny as a lot of the other stuff that Hunter has come up with. You know, your cue ain't straight in line. The cue ball's made of styrofoam, and no one's got the time. I couldn't have said it better myself, so thank you, Mr. Hunter. And thank you, Jerry, for putting some fantastic music behind that. Today is the 35th anniversary of this show. Dan's nodding that I got my math right, so that's good. It was the first of a four night run at Alpine Valley. Interestingly, things were getting so crazy there with the crowd that they thought they would throw everyone a curve ball and the shows were Sunday night, Monday night, off Tuesday, then Wednesday night, and Thursday night. This is the Sunday show from June 19th, 1988. I was at the show, I was at all four of the shows actually. And I can tell you that they were all great. The Thursday night show is far and away in my opinion, the best of the four. But this was a tricky time for those of us who were deadheads living in Chicago. Yes, we didn't have to travel, but we had to work. And my good buddy JT was going to shows every night and I was going to shows every night. uh... the friday right before this popped on a plane and flew out to minneapolis to hang out with my good buddy mike uh... my good buddy mike who uh... took me to my first show way back in the day and we went we saw the dead play in the uh... saint paul civic center uh... great show had a lot of fun and uh... then because back in those days if you stayed over on a saturday night your flight was cheaper we stayed over saturday night flew home sunday morning and immediately got in our cars and drove up to alpine valley for this show night one of the, of the four night run. And you know, what Mark did for us was that every night after the show, we got in our car and fought our way out of the parking lot and made the drive back, which was somewhere in the neighborhood of about an hour and a half. Uh, once you got out of the parking lot, traffic wasn't too bad. We just all break up really fast. Everybody would go in different directions. Um, and, you know, we'd get home eventually. You come out and link Geneva, you got to take it all the way. local roads 50 all the way east to 94. Take 94 down into Illinois and follow it around and then eventually get home. So it wasn't that it was a terrible drive, but it was a drive that was long enough that by the time we got home, got out of the lot, got home, get situated, you're going to bed probably about 2, 2.30 in the morning, depending on what you might have done that night, it could be 3 or 3.30 in the morning. And then we had work the next day. And I'm, John had a... JT is working for a backhauling company and they had to be there at like 6, 37 o'clock in the morning. So, you know, but he's the kind of guy, man, I'm sure he was there on time every single day and I was working in a law firm downtown and I had to be there by like eight or eight thirty but it still felt too early for me. Put on a coat and tie, get on the train and take it downtown and, you know, try and be a lawyer having just come off a really good Grateful Dead show knowing that I had a few more to go. And, uh, you know, partners calling you for this or that. And I wasn't on vacation and I wasn't really taking the whole time off, but I had cleared with a couple of partners who I knew were the kind who might reach out to me at the last minute and just let them know that I was going to be visiting with some friends in the area and might be cutting out early a few days that week. And they said, well, as long as everything else gets done, that shouldn't be a problem. And you know, by about three 30 or so, I was out the door. And one of the nice things in Chicago is, uh, the public transportation of the trains and from the loop. which is where my office was located. They have a train, one train that takes you out to O'Hare and now one train that takes you out to Midway. We didn't have it back then, but I didn't need to go that way because the one that takes you out to O'Hare for some period of time runs right down the middle of the Kennedy Expressway, right as it pulls up and where it splits off to go out to O'Hare and otherwise to go up north. And one of the last stops you can get off at before it starts heading up more northwest to O'Hare Airport. Is it Addison street? Yes, the same Addison street where Wrigley field is located. Just a lot farther west. So I would get on the train. I would take it up there. Um, and my wife, Judy was my girlfriend at the time and, uh, whatever other group of people who were with us, uh, would, would pull up in a car, I'd hop into the car and, you know, literally in the back seat while we were driving, start taking off my suit and getting out one of the things that was crucial about this weekend. was in the middle of one of the longest droughts in the Midwest in a long, long time then or now. And it was horribly, horribly hot temperatures too. It was pushing high 90s every day, no chance of rain. And just to show you how things change year to year, we were back in 1989 and that was the mud bath year where it poured, especially the second night just drenched us if we were up on the lawn. until we were able to get ourselves a spot down underneath and was really wet. But this year it was just hot, hot. So by the time I would get off the train and get in the car, I'd already be sweating up a storm and, you know, try and change as quickly and discreetly as one can do in a car. And then we just hop right on the highway and take it north. And we'd get up there, you know, and we park in the Alpine Valley. Parking lot was always a disaster no matter where you parked or no matter how you tried to do it. Cause they wouldn't let you park farther in the back until all the lots of spots up front were filled and you know, they put you in and you know, there'd be a logical place to go to start going down an aisle. But that aisle may not make it all the way out. You had to know where and when, and it was just crazy. But, uh, did that. And then, you know, for each night thereafter, went to the show, drove home, got up, went to work the next day, took the train and we made it. Uh, it was amazing. We were young and we had a lot of energy and, uh, people who are supporting us both at work and those who are meeting us and transporting us up there. But enough about that, let's talk about this show some more because it really was a great one. And here's the second clip. It's a Brent tune. Never Trust a Woman, Brent Midland tune. Some deadheads referred to it as Good Times, which we were just about to head into one of those sections of the lyrics, but ran out of time on it. This was a Brent tune that came out after Go to Heaven, so it's not on any album, but it was released on a couple of The Dead's live releases, Dozen at the Nick, from the shows played on March 24th through 26th, 1990. It's also on Nightfall of Diamonds, the show release which Rob and I have talked a lot about. It's one of our favorite shows from 1989, October 16th, Bobby's birthday and there's a great version of Never Trust a Woman on there as well. The first part of this clip is a great Jerry solo and there just wasn't enough time to get everything in but if you go a little bit farther back as after the first round or second round of lyrics Brent just takes off on his Hammond B3 and it's just really a wonderful thing. He played that instrument so well and So many nights we'd be sitting there just having a good old time and you look on the stage and I can't use any of the right terminology, but it has part of its system. This thing just looks like an amp. And then on the bottom, there's this little wooden disc that spins around. And it always would seem that right when Brent was playing it at his hottest and everybody was getting up and going, that thing was spinning around a million miles an hour. And that's when we knew that Brent was on and this Never Trust a Woman, he was right there and it was just a wonderful thing. The Dead... actually played the tune about 40 times between 81 and 90. It was not revived after Brent's death. Uh, one performance by Phil and Friends in 2016. Uh, and that was basically it, but it was, it was just a tremendous tune and one of Brent's, uh, great contributions to the band along with other Brent tunes. And whenever we're featuring a show and, uh, there's a Brent's tune. I like to pull it out because we can all talk about Jerry. We can all talk about Bobby and... We can all talk about all those tunes all night long. Um, and this one's going to slant a little bit hard Jerry, but we've had the ones that have slanted hard Bobby too. And he'll have his moments in this one. Uh, but Brent was just such an important part of that band at that time. And we knew it and we knew how great he was. Uh, he wasn't, I wasn't seeing Pigpen and it wasn't seeing Keith, but it was seeing Brent and he was our keyboard player for our generation. And we loved him. We just thought he was just a tremendous singer, a tremendous keyboardist. And if you go back and listen to this show, make a point of really focusing on this song, Never Trust a Woman, and listen to the whole thing all the way through so you can hear Brent sing. You can hear him wailing on the B3, right into the Jerry solo, back to Brent. And it's a great tune and it's really a lot of fun. So a good night going on so far for us at Alpine Valley on June 19, 1988. And we will come back to that in a minute. Uh, we do have some news on the cannabis side and, uh, we'll start off first with, um, Well, actually, something that is one of those things that's hard to believe until you see the article and you realize that, yeah, this is actually something. A New Hampshire lawmaker has defected from the GOP to the Democrats. By the way, I want to... Give a quick shout out and thank you, uh, to marijuana moment, uh, for providing some of the new stories we're going to read today. And also, uh, thank you to, um, MJ biz for some of the stories we're going to see today. Um, so the new Hampshire house lawmaker says that he's defecting from the Republican party to become an independent. So, excuse me, I misspoke. You didn't go to the dumps. He became an independent. but he's doing it in part because of his frustration over the Senate's repeated refusal to approve marijuana legalization. Representative Dan Hines says he's leaving the GOP because he feels the party has lost touch with its founding principles, including promoting individual freedom. Among his specific contentions is that Republicans in the Senate almost unanimously voted against legalizing marijuana for adults this session, referencing a House-passed cannabis reform bill sponsored by bipartisan leadership. He says it's clear that they're out of touch with the overwhelming majority of their constituents and that they do not respect or advocate for personal freedom, Heinz said in a Facebook post outlining this. He also criticized Republican legislators over votes related to the budget and controversial transgender rights legislation, but in the phone interview with Marijuana Moment, the that some GOP members oppose the cannabis legalization bill in the Senate when they previously backed reform while serving in the House. So this is kind of amazing, right? I mean, we're not just talking about somebody in the Republican Party voting a certain way. We're talking about a New Hampshire lawmaker, and this is the New Hampshire House, I believe, not the federal House. But he's defecting. out of the GOP. And although he's not going to the DEMS, he's becoming an independent. And hey, I'm sure that the Democrats are very happy about that. And it speaks to the importance of where we're at with marijuana legalization, because it's hard to imagine in the past that we couldn't even get legislators to stand up and talk about favorably having the types of marijuana laws that we have today, let alone indicate that they're switching from one party to another. at least to becoming an independent status, but out of their existing party because they think that their existing party hasn't taken a more open view of marijuana. And I just think that is such a perfect piece of evidence of where we're at in this country today with legalization and how important it's become and how much a part of the fabric it's already becoming, which not that I think there's any chance notwithstanding Ross dose that opining to the contrary. that there's any chance that we're going to recriminalize and we're going to go forward with this. And so that's a wonderful thing that a lawmaker feels so strongly, really truly, not just operating on principle, but operating on principle of the highest order, sorry about the pun, because this is in fact, for some legislators, still a third rail of politics that some of them just don't even yet feel entirely comfortable dealing with. And here we have a guy who says, you know, to the Republicans, if you're not going to play ball and understand the importance of this, I'm out. And he's out. And I respect him for that. And, uh, I truly hope that, um, uh, as, as he goes forward, he can find, uh, whatever relief, uh, he can help sponsor the legislation, uh, and get it pushed through so that people who need it can find the relief they need. by having it available to them. And I certainly wish Representative Dan Hines a lot of luck and really hope that he is successful in moving things forward in New Hampshire. Here's another interesting story, also from marijuana moment, thanks guys, specifically from College Ager. A Republican congressman who's a military veteran says undergoing psychedelic assisted treatment with Ibogaine and five MEO DMT changed my life and was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. This is a federal Republican congressman. At a press briefing outside of the US Capitol, several GOP lawmakers and military veterans discussed a newly introduced bill to create a $75 million federal grant program to support research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for certain health conditions among active duty military service members. specifically representative Dan Crenshaw, also a Republican from Texas, is leading that bipartisan legislation titled the Douglas Mike Day Psychedelic Therapy to Save Lives Act of 2023. That's Douglas quote Mike close quote day, apparently his nickname, and it's meant to honor a former Navy SEAL and Civil Star recipient who died in March. The congressman is also recalling his renewing his call for reform through a separate must pass defense measure. Now, let's just stop right here for a minute, because Representative Dan Crenshaw is not the focus of this story. Representative Dan Crenshaw is very well known. He has gone toe to toe with Democrats a couple of times. And on other instances, he's actually joined up and participated in a more bipartisan fashion. And although I find myself that I don't often agree with Representative Crenshaw, I do like the way he does business. And I think that it's more indicative uh... the rose-colored past we all imagine and some of us can kind of remember uh... when bipartisan legislation was an actual thing and uh... programs got done and they didn't get set to the sideline because uh... the parties couldn't agree on who's going to get credit for it or whatever the case may be so hats off to representative dan crunch our republican from texas taking a step forward in leading this however As the story goes on to say, the most stunning revelation from Wednesday's event came from Representative Morgan Littrell, another Texas Republican, who discussed his struggles after returning from combat and the effects it had on his personal relationships. After researching psychedelic therapy and receiving advice from people he trusted, he said he went to another country to seek the treatment, which he described as horrific but profoundly impactful after all other traditional therapies had failed. If you find yourself in a place where you were lost and no other modalities of work, this could possibly be that tool, he said. And I can honestly stand in front of all of you and the American public and say, I was reborn. This changed my life, it saved my marriage. It's one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. If you find yourself where nothing else is working, this could be the way, he said. It allows you to reset a clean slate. Now, this is fascinating again. because this is a GOP congressman. And certainly GOP congressmen, as we've seen, tend to run a little bit to the right of center. It doesn't mean that they don't enjoy getting high or not GOP congressmen per se, but Republicans in general. We've already established that the drug use, for the most part, tends to be bipartisan. And so the fact that he is using it is not surprising. What's surprising is his willingness, I think, to come public with it. to speak positively to it and to lend credibility to those Republicans out there who might be a bit more skeptical if they're hearing this information from a Democrat or from a doctor who, you know, if they've lost faith in the medical community and aren't willing to accept that as good enough for them in terms of doing it. So, you know, I really have to, again, speak out here in favor of a Republican legislator and say that uh, representative Littrell, um, this is as good as, as people who are hoping for legalization or decriminalization or permitted use, uh, via a, uh, certified healthcare professional, uh, this is the best you could hope for, right? This is a guy from the party that, uh, sometimes can be very doubtful and very skeptical about things, uh, that the Democrats want to do, uh, and can also be very doubtful and very skeptical about things that tie into uh, what they may see as a more liberal community, the deadheads, the fish heads, the, uh, those people of the world, college students. Um, but again, you know, this is being pushed by Republicans. So again, more congratulations to Dan Crenshaw. Thank you, uh, representative Morgan Luttrell, uh, for being able to, uh, you know, get up and, and speak and, uh, tell us, you know, your truths and, uh, and being honest about it, you said it's a horrible experience, but then at the end of the day. uh... it provided you with relief you were looking for and i can speak to the horrible experience and i can't say that simply because you were in a foreign country uh... created that but i can't say that i think uh... very confidently that there are certainly people in the united states some that i know something i know very well uh... who have been very successful in working with people in this modality as you say uh... and i think probably have developed uh... like to think certainly an intake system where it doesn't have to be such a horrible experience. Those of us who have tried psilocybin mushrooms before know and understand that they do kind of mess up with your stomach a little bit. For some people, nothing begins until you have made it to the bathroom and gotten it all out of your system one way or the other. Then everything kind of seems to kick in as well. Um, but the, you know, the, the simple truth is, uh, said he, he trusted it and he went with it. And even though it was a horrible experience, he, he can acknowledge the relief that it provided him saving his marriage. I mean, this is no small stuff. Um, and it, it just becomes very, very important. Uh, another Republican from Michigan, Jack Bergman, uh, indicated his support saying if we're going to get anything done in Washington's AC or anywhere else for that matter, somebody's got to step up and take the lead. So he's paying Congressman Littrell a big compliment there. And they thank the veterans who shared their stories and Representative Crenshaw for sponsoring the bill. So it supports the overall efforts to study breakthrough therapies and psychedelic-assisted therapies. We've got our work cut out for us. Do my colleagues in the House vote for the bill? For those of you who are on appropriations, Appropriate the money asked for this year. to get the research going at the federal level, he said. And number three, authorize it so that we as a Congress can let the medical community do what it does best, which is research in an open way, without bias, without discrimination. And let's begin to help in a positive way, not just talk about it. So this is a wonderful thing. This is a wonderful thing. This is language of cooperation. This is language of bipartisanship. This is language of putting the American public first and setting aside political differences and biases. and anything else that you might come to the table with and being willing to say, uh, for some people, this certainly isn't for me. And for others who have had the experience being brave enough to tell everybody, uh, why it was such a good experience for them. So I consider these, uh, a couple of really, really great, uh, cannabis stories today to, to dive into the cannabis side of things. And because they're so great, uh, let's pause there for a moment. We can stop with a smile on our face and I want to dive back into our show. I hear it and we're going to play the next clip and there's a lot of significance to this one so listen carefully. Mark it down, Deadheads, June 19th, 1988, Alpine Valley, Jerry breaks out Foolish Heart for the first time. Uh, this was his breakout in concert and fittingly, it was the second set opener. They went into playing in the band out of it, which was great. Um, but we were all sitting there saying, wow, okay. Another new Jerry song. Um, it was ultimately released on their built to last album, which was the dead's 13th and final studio album. recorded throughout 1989 and released on October 31st, 1989. So we were a year in advance of that, hearing them break it out and give it a ride. And for new songs, we really liked it. We think that it, we thought it, the guys in my group and all of us who were all hanging out together, thought it had some really good jams in there. Jerry's voice is sounding fairly good at this point in time in 1989. Excuse me, 88, Jerry was, in relatively good health that he was kind of in between his two health scares and really belting it out. This was a great night for him and it was very, very enjoyable. We knew it was the first time we had ever heard Foolish Heart and I'm sure when we called 1-800-RUN-DeadUSA, Run Dead or whatever the number was, and they gave us the monotone song and then of course if you missed one you had to call back and try to get in again. Sometimes they would say if it was a breakout and I don't recall if they said it that night or not but we certainly knew we hadn't heard it before and through the grapevine figured out relatively quickly that was its breakout moment. So it's always fun to be there to hear a new song. It's always fun to come out and start off a set with it. It'll show a lot of confidence in it, really give it a good effort and I'm not going to lie to you folks there's other parts of the song where Jerry kind of muddles with the lyrics. which on the one hand you say well it's a new song, on the other hand you say for god's sakes it's a new song, how could you already be forgetting the lyrics? But I'm giving Jerry the benefit of the doubt on this one and so I'm focusing on the tracks we focused on. And again this is a great version of the song, if you want to check out, find this album on archive.org or anywhere else you go to download your live Grateful Dead music. Don't miss any of these tunes. It's just a great one. Foolish Heart obviously became a key part of the Dead's repertoire and was played pretty consistently thereafter right up until the end. Just another Jerry song, typically for the first set. Once it kinda got its place in the pecking order, that's where it wound up. And we all liked it. It was definitely, you know, had... There was a new song, Bias Against It, initially, just because any new song, we had to be won over. But this was definitely one that we all got to pretty quickly, liked it a lot better than, say for instance, Day Job or some of the other ones that may not have hit quite as hard. But people pretty much really liked Foolish Heart. It had a nice beat, it had a nice melody, and Jerry really seemed to like it. So we got that, and let's dive right into the next one. This is an oldie but a goodie. Nobody ever went to a Grateful Dead show and heard Uncle John's band and didn't like it. It's a classic, Working Man's Dead. So during that absolutely breakout creative period as they came out of their psychedelic dead air, primal dead as we like to call it, and into their more Americana style of playing. And from the moment it came out, Uncle John's Band was a hit and it's always a hit. It's a tune they could probably play every show. and the Deadheads would love it. Everybody knows the words, everybody sings along, the band always forgets the words, the crowd tries to correct them, and of course then it's very fitting at the very end, oh what I want to know, how does the song go, we all get a good laugh and they go on with it. But it's a tune that can take an average set and instantly make it a really, really good set. It didn't get played all of the time, but it did have a pretty good regularity, I think, on most of their tours and I find it hard to remember a tour where I saw multiple shows and didn't hear it at least once, but it's just fun and it probably gets skipped over a lot when we're featuring Dead Shows just because it's in some respects such a common tune, but it's really not and the musical interplay in there, it goes in so many different directions and the verses just kind of interweave in. Anytime you can listen to it, it's always fun. And you can hear differences in it from one version to another, especially across larger gaps of time. But that's, you know, just the song growing with the dad or the dead growing with the song or a little bit of both. And, uh, it's something really, really cool. So, yeah, uncle John's band, we were happy that night. We were having a good time. And, uh, that was a great tune that just kept things moving right along for everybody. Um, veering back into. a little more marijuana news here. Let's start off right away with what's happening here in my great state of Illinois. And anyone who listens to this show knows that I have not been easy on the state of Illinois. I've made it a point to point out and really highlight what I've seen is a lot of the mistakes and mess ups and everything that's got us to the point where here we are now in June. of 2023, which now makes us three years and two months down the road from when all of this was really supposed to be happening. And there's still very, very few of these new dispensaries that have opened up yet. We've yet to see a huge rush all of a sudden. One day there's 100 new dispensaries. It'll happen over time. And people are still working out all the final problems. final hurdles and anything else like that, that they need to get smoothed over so that they can open up and do what they want to do and what all of us want to be able to do, which is just here in Illinois, which is just have a lot more choice. And Illinois Governor Jay Pritzker just made that a little bit easier and good for him. He's a big, big fan and a big proponent of all of this. When he took office, he made adult use a priority of his campaign and to his credit, he got it passed. Not so much to his credit. they got a version passed that has really unfortunately been causing a lot of trouble. So in many ways, this is a very nice make-up for that and something that will hopefully provide a little bit of help, although I'm not an accountant and I don't play one on TV, but I do know enough to know that the bulk of taxes for businesses and individuals are typically paid on the federal level. But in Illinois at least, pursuant to Governor Pritzker, 280E will not be applicable on the tax level, meaning that if you are a retailer, a dispensary owner in the state of Illinois, and you are selling marijuana, that on your state income tax returns, you will be able to claim ordinary business deductions in a way that you are not allowed to do so on the federal level. And it may not be a lot, and I'm sure when it changes on the federal level, that it will financial uptick for so many businesses. But every dollar counts in this industry. And even if it's just a fraction of what you're paying on the federal level, to be able to actually deduct those items and be able to pay a smaller tax payment because of that is the underwriting basis of every other business in the world except for dispensaries. And it's very, very unfortunate and the feds will get to it one day, but at least in Illinois, uh, governor Pritzker kind of steps up to the plate and on this one, I, you know, I can be critical. I can also be a complimentary and I, and I might tip my hat to him into the state legislature for getting this done. And I hope it provides relief to the guys who are already here and up and running. And I hope it provides relief to the new folks on the block who are still just getting themselves up and moving. but at least can do so knowing that the state's bite of its tax burden has just gotten a little bit less than it was. And so good for the state, good for them, let's see it move forward. And I'm looking forward to the competition and hopefully some lower pricing and the introduction of new products that will result once these new businesses get up and get online. Now again, just so that nobody thinks that this is all... sunshine daydream all the time, we have to remind people, and I remind my clients of this all the time, marijuana is a regulated business. And it's not just a regulated business, it's a heavily regulated business. Given the fact that it's illegal on the federal level, on the state level, in most states I would basically guess that it's the most heavily regulated industry that are in the states. The states have to really be careful, they have to make sure, they have to know that things are going right. And if you're going to do that and do that in an effective and credible way, you have to be willing to call out problems when you see them. And in Maryland, we are learning and thanks to MJ Biz on this one, Chris Roberts, in Maryland, what we're learning is that the marijuana regulators in that state have suspended cookies, Baltimore license. Now, everybody knows who cookies is. It's a franchisee of one of the country. It is one of the country's best known cannabis brands. and Cookies Baltimore is a franchisee of cookies. So this June 2nd suspension comes less than a week after the medical marijuana dispensary's grand opening in Baltimore and about a month before the widely anticipated July 1 lunch of adult use cannabis sales in the state. In other words, this is a really lousy time to have your license suspended. So why? Well, the alleged violations of state law include operational failure, risking diversion or endangering health, There appears to be at least in part related to a marijuana smoke blower that's become a cookies brand staple, according to documents posted on the marijuana cannabis administration's website. What's a smoke blower you ask? I had a look too, but it's literally what it says is it's a machine that blows smoke out and I imagine it can be used to like create, um, like, you know, the dry ice smoke scenes for rock bands and stuff like that, but in this instance, It's literally blowing out smoke that's THC as if somebody were smoking a very large joint and, you know, the smoke that's coming out of the back of it, or that gets exhaled, whatever you want to, you want to do, but they have these machines in their store to kind of add a hot box element, if you will. And remarkably, they're doing this in a state where they just got their medical license, they're about to get an adult use license. And this is. clearly diversion or endangering health because just because somebody walks in your store and as an adult, 21 years of age or older, it doesn't mean that they're going to smoke. Maybe they're there to buy some marijuana that they want to give to another adult, 21 years of age or older. Maybe they want to come in and try it for the first time. Maybe they have questions and walking into an environment where marijuana smoke is blowing around, isn't really the way to achieve it and really kind of flies in the face of every business model. uh... that we've ever heard presented it right that this is not a frat party this is not a grateful dead concert even though could always be one for as far as we're concerned this is a business and it has to be treated as a business where the women of your community who are uh... ages forty and older feel comfortable if they want to buy gummies if they want to find some type of thc or even a cbd product type of product that might be helpful for them that they feel comfortable walking in. And I'm not just saying that women in that age bracket necessarily, but certainly that's a very, very important demographic that we've always learned to have a successful dispensary. That's a demographic who you have to get their support behind you. And you have to know that they're on your side because if they're against you, it's not as likely that your business is gonna be long for the world. And so. just blowing marijuana smoke randomly around while, you know, I can imagine the typical frat boy or real stoner response of, wow man, that's cool, yeah, we'll go by there and we'll get stoned while we're buying our marijuana, how cool is that? Well, it's cool if you're that guy, but you're not the primary target that these folks are reaching out to because you're gonna buy marijuana anyway. Again, this is to reach out to people who may not be THC users, or maybe from way back in the day. and are now at a point in their life where they wanna reach out and possibly try it again. But they're not looking to get baked on day one or even before day one, simply by walking in the store that sells it. So at any rate, this is what the problem is. There were some other violations and breaches of state law governing advertising and a failure to either maintain or share security camera footage, the document notes. So Maryland state business records indicate the cookies. Maryland is operated by Thomas Nafso. an attorney who is also the CEO and founder of Knox Cannabis, a Michigan-based company that also runs a cookies brand store in Grand Rapids. NAFSA hasn't responded to phone messages seeking comment, and Cookies Baltimore on the website informed its users that it's temporarily closed. The dispensary has 30 days to appeal the ruling and request a hearing. It's unclear if Cookies has done so already. David Torres, a spokesperson for the Maryland Cannabis Administration. also did not make a comment at this time. But the suspension is a setback for the brand as well as for the local operator, which did not have an adult use license, but nonetheless stood to benefit from increased cannabis sales and interest once recreational sales began July 1st. So my mistake earlier, I indicated that he had both types of licenses at the company, but they don't, they only have a medical. But that's true, and one of the main reasons why medical sales go up is because if Maryland's gonna be similar to Illinois and other states, if you're a patient, you pay lower taxes. And so all of a sudden we see an influx of people who have qualifying conditions and hadn't bothered to sign up before, but now have more of a financial interest to do so. So the medical marijuana business in the state is projected to produce $630 million in sales this year. Adult use is expected to range $275 million this year, because it's coming online late. But hopefully hitting a projected goal of 2.3 billion by 2028. But in this situation, this is really kind of a open and shut case, if you will, right? Cookies Baltimore opened for business on May 27th, the day before a Maryland cannabis inspector visited the dispensary and noticed numerous violations of state law. The inspector requested information from the dispensary that was not provided, and the dispensary nonetheless opened for business. and videos posted to Cookie's Baltimore Instagram appeared to show large plumes of medical cannabis smoke being blown from a large gun apparatus into the mouth of persons outside the dispensary. Okay, so again, if it's a medical marijuana dispensary, you can't have somebody coming in maybe to buy marijuana for somebody else unless they're a healthcare provider, in which case if they're a licensed a healthcare provider for a patient, then they could. But nevertheless, you're blowing smoke in people's face when they walk in the door. And the gun container had a sticker with a Cookie's logo on it. So the... We'll talk about open and shut case, but it gets better. The regulator asked Cookies Baltimore to share surveillance footage from the grand opening. The dispensary failed to do so and then informed the regulators that it did not maintain any of its video surveillance footage. Well, this is unbelievable. This is almost like 101 of the three stooges in what you do if you're running a dispensary. I'm sorry to Cookies and to these guys, but this just isn't going to cut it. Everybody has to have video camera. And everybody has to maintain the film for a certain period of time. And if they were a brand new mom and pop store, even then it wouldn't be acceptable. But for cookies, for, for any dispensary that's operating under the cookies banner to behave in such a slip shot, slip shot fashion is tremendously disappointing. Not just because they're breaking the laws and ruining it for everybody, but yeah, because, you know, we always say we, we in the marijuana industry, it's competing against, but it's nice if you make more money than they do, but not at the expense of them going under or going out of business or doing things which puts the industry in a negative light. For cookies at Baltimore, cookies, if they're going to show up in your neighborhood, people who are the moms and pops in that neighborhood or that state are very, very excited because if cookies is going to open in your state, that's sending a message that this company that's a national brand has decided that your state is worthwhile. uh... in which to invest its time and money in its products and that does bode well for everyone and it's really a shame uh... that this is very uh... disappointing there's a whole nother list of other problems with their ads and everything that goes on and on and i'm not gonna sit here and beat up on cookies anymore than that but i will say that it's very hard in this industry uh... to pretend as though that you're part of the industry and you're everybody's good friend and they're your good friend. And you wanna be treated with respect and be an active part of the marijuana community of which you're a part, whether it's medical or adult use. And I imagine at some point cookies will find its way into an adult use dispensary license in that state because that's what cookies does. They're big and they move out. All the multi-state operators do it. And again, whether in the long run, a multi-state business model is ultimately going to work and be able to establish a national following remains to be seen. But if people want to try it and do it, that's their business. And as long as they're not in violation of state law, then it is their business. But if they're going to be in violation of state law, then it kind of becomes everybody's business a little bit. Because again, it's a black eye for the community. And let's find out. Let's allow cookies, you know, play by the rules, go forward. And it helps people. gauge the interest in the market if cookies is successful, if cookies is making it happen. So it really does everybody a disservice and it is a black eye for the community and that's all we're going to say about it and hopefully cookies will pull things together and very soon we'll be touting them again for the quality products that they put out and the fact that they're hopefully setting a good example by cleaning things up and getting their Baltimore franchise back up and running in good standing. So yeah, right. We've got all sorts of things going on in the marijuana world, some good, some bad, but I think overall we're hearing some positive things and we're seeing politicians moving in a way that's beginning to recognize the desires and in some cases the needs and the wants of the citizens of the states that we've been talking about who enjoy cannabis, whether it's marijuana or hemp or CBD or Delta. eight or whatever other products are being sold in your state, pretty universally we've seen that it's a hit and that people want it. Some people are willing to try it for the first time because it's such a popular thing. We've talked about all the studies out there, so we won't run through all of that again, but we will talk about the fact that hats off to any of these states. Thank you for doing this and thank you for taking a step towards normalizing. You know, even if it's a state that's ultimately not going to go as far as we want it to go, any step forward is a step forward. And any positive we get out of that is positive. That's good. And overall for everybody. And we will get to the point where it will be normalized enough that, uh, we won't have to keep having these conversations. It will just be what it is. And we'll, oh yeah, back in the day when this was all getting started, but we're not there yet. Let's keep moving in the right direction. And hopefully most politicians are keeping a clear mind about this. and are gonna continue to support the cannabis industry in a bipartisan fashion for all the good that it is and all of the bad that it isn't. And we'll see, we'll follow up with it and we'll see where it gets us. Enough pontificating for the day. Let's go back to a very, very excellent Alpine Valley show and here the next musical clip we have again, another dead favorite. What a great song, another one of these songs that if you hear them play that, everybody's just going to be happy. Going down the road and feeling bad is uplifting, it's traditional. The dead started playing it almost from the beginning and it survived all the way through, sometimes not played quite as frequently as the deadheads would like. We've talked about its golden age in the early 70s when it would be paired in the middle of a not fade away sandwich. oftentimes to close out shows. And it's just such a fun song. You could just tell at the end there when they just keep mounting it more and more and more and knocking it up one more notch more and more and Jerry yelling into the microphone and jamming and playing. And you're in the middle of that and you're thinking, what the hell? What do I care if I have to get up early tomorrow morning? What the hell do I care if I have to ride the train out to Addison and take a... There's no way I'm missing this. This is happening and this is my time to see it. And you know, deadhead, deadhead show up. We find a way and, and we did. So that was great. And we still have one more clip from that show in a minute. Just a couple of other things. Last week I gave a shout out to my wife and a good friend of the show, Andy Greenberg and some other friends of theirs, Amy and Lori who all made their way out to. George Washington, a few hours east of Seattle to see the, um, Joni Mitchell, Brandy Carlisle jam. And it's such an amazing show. I've, I've now heard all the stories now that they're back, uh, seen my wife's pictures, heard the stories both about the concert and all the other experiences and cool people that they met. And so, uh, we haven't had Andy Greenberg on the show in a while. Maybe we can, uh, get her to come on for a few minutes and share her story. Don't know if that's the kind of thing my wife likes to do or not, but if she wants to. What the heck we can bring her on to and let her talk about that for a little while. Cause the truth is, uh, they were part of a very, very small group of people, you know, who, who got in on a very unique show that really, uh, a generational type show, Joni Mitchell coming back and singing and playing guitar and all of these other amazing musicians. Some men, a lot of women, uh, just coming out and, and turning it into a really special night or a couple of nights. And how wonderful is that? I've always been a huge Joni Mitchell fan after when I was dating my wife. And after I married her, she was a big Joni Mitchell fan too. So I knew I was doing something right. Good buddy Blake took me and Jeannie took me to see Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan one year on my birthday in October in the United Center. Kind of a strange place for them, such a large, huge place. But we were sitting very up close and it was wonderful. Joni kind of informally opened and Bob kind of informally closed. I can't remember if there was any overlap, but it was just wonderful to see her and to hear her music and the songs that really defined a big part of my college life. Very, very popular albums in the dorm rooms and off-campus apartments after that. And how wonderful to get to see her. And I'm glad that they had been talking about singing this show for a long time, and they made it, so hats off to them, that they got out there and they got to do that. Hopefully we will get some more very good stories from them. Uh, otherwise on the musical front, I'm very excited, uh, because when you hear this, I should be saying, uh, two nights ago, right. Uh, but for when I'm recording this, it's three nights from now, I'm seeing my first Billy strings concert. And I'm, I'm very, very excited about that. Uh, I haven't seen Billy strings before and I'm, I'm really looking forward to this guy, my good buddy, Mark and St. Louis saw Billy strings down there and said, it was one of the best concerts. If not the best he's seen in the last 20, 25 years, which I winked at him because that's very strategically designed so it doesn't go back so far back as to interfere with potential Grateful Dead shows. But sure, he's a tremendous musician, he's a tremendous showman, he sings a lot too, he plays some covers, he plays a lot of his own stuff and we're going to see it here in Chicago out at Northerly Island which is the outdoor venue that sits out near the planetarium and where... Migs Field Airport used to be where all the big CEOs would fly their private planes in when they wanted to have meetings in downtown Chicago and didn't want to have to hassle with traffic coming in from Midway or O'Hare. But Daley didn't want it and he was concerned after 9-11 because he thought that terrorists could use it as a launching off point if they wanted to attack the city, but he couldn't get the federal government to agree to shut it down. So in true Chicago fashion, one night in the middle of the night he sent... bulldozers out there and they literally bulldozed out chunks of concrete and formed large X's all the way up and down the runway so there was no way a plane could take off or land. And the federal government had a fit about it, some of the businessmen had a fit about it, but it was Daley, he got what he wanted. And they turned it into this really great venue. It's a little bit of a pain in the ass to get out there to get to it, but not terrible. And once you're out there, it's great. It's got a lot of room. a lot of places to stand. They've got seats ranging from almost the equivalent of high school gymnasium stands to like everywhere else. They've put in a few really nice boxes for those that enjoy the boxes when they're watching a show. But it faces back in towards the city. So you get the city skyline at night and if it's a nice night out, you get everything. It's really a beautiful place. My wife and I are going with good friends, John and Marnie, had a chance to spend some time with after the Dead show last week. Always great fun to hang out with them. Always great fun to go to see shows with them, whoever it might be. And certainly Billy strings is a great one to go to a show with, with good friends. And I will be talking about it next week, even though it'll be over a week removed from when the concert happened, but I'm looking forward to be able to give a review on it and share my thoughts and experiences. And quite frankly, I'm very much looking forward to him living up to the hype because the hype has been tremendous. but it's been consistent and that can only speak well for what we're gonna get out of him. So, looking forward to Billy Strings and that brings us to the end of today's show. On the way out, I just wanna give you a quick heads up about what we're playing here. It was the encore from the night. And it's a Dylan tune, Knockin' on Heaven's Door. And it is a song by Bob Dylan, written for the soundtrack of the 1973, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Now I was alive in 1973, I don't remember the movie. I don't know if Dan remembers it or not, but we'll have to ask around to see if anybody's ever seen it. It was released as a single two months after the film's premiere. It became a worldwide hit, reaching the top 10 in several countries. The song became one of Dylan's most popular and most covered. post-1960s compositions, spawning covers from Eric Clapton, Guns N' Roses, Randy Crawford, and more, which would also include the grateful dad, Jerry Garcia. The song is described by Dylan biographer Clinton Halen as an exercise in splendid simplicity. The song features two short verses, the lyrics of which comment directly on the scene in the film for which it was written, the death of a frontier lawman who refers to his wife as mama. It was ranked number 190 in 2004 by Rolling Stone magazine and their 500 greatest songs of all time. And in 2010, when they did it again, it had moved backwards only two spots to 192. That's good staying power. It's a great song and a great way to end a night. Jerry turned to it often after he started playing it. And quite frankly, I don't remember the first year, but by next week, I'll know the first year when Jerry played Knockin' on Heaven's Door. But it was one that we grew very used to and was always a great way to end the show. Send you home in a more relaxed state with a smile on your face. And so it's a great way to go out. Thanks everyone for listening. Please tune in again next week when we will have more great music and marijuana talk. Until then, thanks. Have a great week. Be safe and enjoy your cannabis responsibly.