Marijuana and Money - Episode 8

In this episode Amanda and Sarah discuss the MORE act, Marijuana and Money, the intersection of Marijuana and Racism and much more. Tune in and learn more about how Cannabis is being talked about in legislation and the history of its criminality.

Come in and listen with us as we break down everything that connects with getting your money right. 

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Transcript

Amanda Miller: 0:01

Somebody if you want to go somewhere you bet Alright, so here we go okay, all right. Hey guys, it's Sarah from forward motion. Hey guys it's me Amanda Welcome to the get your money right podcast brought to you by forward motion forward motions mission is creating generational prosperity one family at a time. And here on the get your money right podcast we talk about everything from money to career to nutrition to everything that goes into getting your money right. And today we have a really special episode for you. But before that, I think Sara, do you have something a question for us?

Sarah Schroeder: 1:19

I do I have a question for you mostly? Oh, no, because I know this is gonna be a great answer. I already know some of the things you do. I'm curious. It's a thing as to the things you think you do. But what are things that you do? Like funny old person things?

Unknown: 1:35

Oh, okay. So yesterday, I actually did. Daily Mail person. go day by day. So I am. I'm an old person at heart. I love old people. I think they're so cool. I can't I really hope that I am like an old person with zero filter. Many signals so many. We were like, very, very young. Yeah, I. So yesterday, I need some new shoes. And I'm really horrible when it comes to like going shopping for clothes for myself. And so I was like, I got a wild hair. And I was like, Okay, I'm in the mood to go get shoes. So I'm gonna go and look. And so I get to the mall. And now the mall opens at 11 o'clock. Like, like it's open. So you can like go in like Arizona mills. So you can like go in there. But nothing, none of the stores open until 11 o'clock, like what is that? And I got there at 10 thinking everything opens at 10. So I get there, I'm an hour early. And I'm like, man, like if I leave, I'm probably not going to get shoes for months. And I really, really really needed some new tennis shoes. And so I see these two old ladies and they walk past me and I'm like, walking our walkers. It's walking our so in Arizona in Arizona mills. For the longest time, old ladies has typically have been going in Arizona Mills before they open and they do laps around the mall. It's a circle. And because it's a circle, and it's a pretty big, it's like a decently sized circle. So to do one full lap, it's about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how fast you're walking. And I was like, oh my god, I'm joining like the old lady mall walking crew this morning. I'm just gonna because I because I was going to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill after getting shoes. And I was like, I'm totally going to like stay in here in this air conditioning. I'm gonna walk around this mall for the next hour and then I'm going to go into the thing so that was like my most recent old lady or old person moment is I mall walked for yesterday. And I want i i did three laps. It was just under an hour. And it was so funny because like when I started, I pass by, you know different people. And then on my second lap, I'm seeing like people are starting to open up their stores and different people are like getting there and they're waiting outside of stores for stores to open and people were kind of you know, people who saw me on my first lap they're kind of like Okay, that's interesting. And and other people were like, huh, and then on my third lap I caught eyes with a couple of store like shop people shopkeepers. See see that's how old I am. I see shopkeeper like who says that? And so I caught eyes with a couple of them and there's this this young girl and she's like in I think I don't know like the cinnamon bun place or whatever. And she like catches eyes with me and I smile smile no more I swear she like she like side with like sideways smiled like oh your mom Oh, walking is what we're doing today. So it's the only person in there under like, 5560 that was more walking and I didn't make any friends. I wish I would have been like, Hey, ladies kind of walk with you, but they're walking kind of slow. And I was like really trying to like, get this thing done. Um, yeah. I love what do you what do you do as the old person? Um, I don't I, I was like, I'm not an old person. Right now. I think I just catch myself realizing that I'm the older one in the room more than not lately, which I mean, I'm, let's face it, we're not that old. But, um, especially in my line of work. I work with a lot of younger nurses. And I just like sometimes I'll intentionally say stuff to be silly, just because I know, but like, you know, just even knowing a certain show or anything like that. But the other day I did. Just to be funny, but it just I think it showed my goofiness more than me being all that it's an old school joke. But I came into the room and I had been failing myself not going to do the motion today, because nine days out of the gym, and so I'm gonna build myself. But I came into we're gonna be one of the younger nurses on her and I joke around all the time, and I was like, Hey, did you get invited in then she was what what it was like But my fears, I had my you know, working out at the gym, and, you know, stuff like that. I think other than that, I'm, like, freaking catch myself talking about the weather. And I'm like, is this really worth talking about right now? I'm so nice outside man. Yeah. Gosh, there's just like, you know, the breeze. I had my coffee outside in the morning because it was just such a beautiful day. So it's funny. There's this. There's this viral sound on Tik Tok. I don't know if you've heard it, but it's like so to the older generation on Tik Tok, and it's all you know, those of you born in the late 90s. And hold on young people. What, like not even early 90s. Like lead generation. What am I in it? I'm not even in that group. It's like call them if they're old. Like what am I? Yeah. What is that? Oh, buddy. Prime. Absolutely. You just got back from Thailand? Yeah. Living with elephants, right? Yeah. On the beach drinking dream. 18 year olds ain't ain't gonna get her. Oh, my goodness. That's not what they say. No. We said turn. What do they say? No. What do you see that what you just did? It's an old person thing, saying what do they say? What are the kids talking to? That's basically what you just said. I don't know what they're saying is the sad. Well, text Junior Leader is still a thing. It's lit. Now. All right. But before we move on, it's 2022. Kids who were born in 22,000 are 22 years old this year. Yeah. I was calculating when you said late 90s. And I was like, Well, I mean, they're over the age of 20. That's the older generation. That's the older generation. So weird. These kids really not coming for your throat. We're moving out. Yeah. We've been out of the cool crowd for a while. Yeah, yeah. Oh, well, you know, you know, what is cool, is being aware of what's happening in the world. And today, so I had an idea to talk about the more act today on the show and what I wanted to so it's kind of so the more act and I have the the bill pulled up here is the marijuana opportunity, reinvestment and expungement act. So that's called the Moore act. And it is a bill that decriminalized marriage decriminalizes marijuana and it just passed the House. This month, just just like a week, week and a half ago, I believe maybe less but I really wanted to talk about All this Act and the history of the legality and criminalization of marijuana, what the more bill is and what it does, and then really talked about like marijuana and money, cannabis and money, because there is a real intersectionality between this industry and justice in general, right, historically, especially in communities of color and low income communities. And there is a big industry being built. Now, this is going to be more of a free form conversation, because we really wanted to talk about something that's really very much still developing. This Act passed, passed the House, it still would need to go through the Senate, the Senate. And you know, a lot of the experts are saying that it's it probably won't pass the Senate. It's, it's going to hit a lot of a lot of contention with the Senate. But I do think that there's a lot to talk about in the vein of marijuana and money. And so that's kind of what I wanted to chat about today. And, you know, just kind of see where the conversation goes. It's not something I mean, you know, we're not experts on this, currently, and oh, my Vaseline watching last episode, EPS two episodes. Um, so. So that, you know, there's a lot a lot for us to talk about. And, yeah, so I just wanted to really kind of start with talking about the history of marijuana legality, and really just kind of see, you know, where the conversation can take us. But, so one of the things so did you know that American hemp production was encouraged through the 17th century. So it was encouraged in the 17th century for the production of rope, sales, and like, both so these are both things for sit for ships, right and 17 century and 16 1600s, and clothing. So him was actually the in 1619, the Virginia, the Virginia assembly, they pass legislation which actually required farmers to grow hemp. And hemp was actually allowed to be an exchange of legal tender in Pennsylvania, in Virginia, and in Maryland. So, you know, I was kind of going through this, like timeline of the history of marijuana, and the history of cannabis, the plant, and I saw this, and it's not something that I didn't like conceptually, no, like, I knew that hemp was a was a big crop in the past. But the fact that it was encouraged and actually, they passed legislation, requiring every farmer to grow hemp in 1619, the Virginia Assembly did, wow. And domestic production was huge in the US of hemp products, until after the Civil War, when imports of other domestic materials started to replace him for many purposes. And also, you know, cotton was a big crop in the United States. We won't go deep into the cotton crops, but um, you know, that there were there was like, a trade off. Right. But it didn't. It wasn't until the 1930s that marijuana. So during the Great Depression, marijuana fears started, because in the 1900s, to the 1920s, there were a there was a lot of immigration from Mexico into the United States. And as Mexican immigrants began to come into the United States more with them, they brought recreational use of marijuana the flour, right, which wasn't a problem and it never became never, it didn't become a really big problem until the Great Depression when massive unemployment increased the public resentment for for Mexican immigrants and started to villainize the idea of marijuana for recreational use before that marijuana was was used in Um, in all kinds of different things, it was used medically, it was used all kinds of different things. But it's like, we have this history in the United States of a true pizza being like, yeah, where it's like, Okay, that's cool. Oh, it has all these, these things that we can use it for. And, you know, we can create, you know, there were clothes and textiles, and all kinds of things being created out of it. And then somehow, it seems like this idea of white supremacy creates a villainous ation of something that was otherwise harmless, right? And then, like, kind of creates a situation where now this this thing is just this, you know, oh, my gosh, I can't believe this. And then that's where, like the criminalization of marijuana started. And so we know that marijuana being illegal has historically affected communities of color, low income communities, in a really, really hard way. You know, we got millions of people in prison for simple marijuana charges, you had the three strikes rule, and you know, all this garbage that came out of the war on drugs, but we can kind of look back and see that that all started in stemmed from an irrational fear of others, right, folks who are different. And so I kind of wanted to just like, you know, plow on that. And like, you know, I know that you you've been doing a lot of research on this subject, since we decided to talk about it as well. And, you know, I, you know, I just like, What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I mean, I agree a lot of people, you know, you hear only gay, they're going to legalize marijuana, and you think it's like, wow, there's like two reactions, right? You're so excited, because you're like, Oh, yay, everybody can just smoke for free, really. And, you know, it should be decriminalized. And you know, there's a million reasons why it should be decriminalized for medical medical. Yeah. You know, for the exact reason of, you know, criminal justice. Justice, it's not, you know, any more, in my opinion, it's no more harmful than tobacco or alcohol. If anything, it's much less harmful, less, in many ways. You know, there's so many medical purposes that I've seen, just, you know, my 13 years of nursing and read about and research, so. But there's so there is almost always when something like this, like you said, has a benefit, or for a long period of time had the benefit of like persecuting a specific group group of people, you know, or, you know, I had a carpeted agenda of some sort, that, if they are going to go ahead and legalize, and they're not going to do it without it still working in their favor, you know, it's going to end so a lot of people have to be careful, because there's always these underlying agendas, or, yeah, things that are no 100%. But I like what you were, when you brought up earlier, the bill itself, like, what's actually in the bill? Yeah, so and I actually want to share my screen, and we'll read it out for those of you who are listening, but I wanted to share my screen because one thing that's, that's always important for me, whenever I kind of start looking into any type of of legislation or law is, I always want to pull up the actual verbiage of the legislation itself. And so as I pull this up, so we can see, you know, the marijuana opportunity, reinvestment and expungement Act, or the more act, and what it states is that this bill decriminalizes marijuana, so that's this the stated purpose of this bill. Specifically, it removes marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the controlled substance act, and eliminates criminal penalties for an individual who manufactures distributes or possesses marijuana, and this is at a federal level, right. So states would still be able to, to create some of their own regulations at the state level around it, but at the federal level, it would, it would eliminate any criminal penalties for anyone who grows, distributes or possesses marijuana. And manufacturers can be whether you're Farming it and actually growing it or you're packaging it or, you know any of that. And, but the bill also makes other changes, including the following, right. So it replaces statutory reference to marijuana with cannabis. So different spellings. So it has it. So it's we're not just talking about marijuana, now we're talking about all cannabis. And then it requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly publish demographic data on cannabis, business owners and employees. So this one, I think, and I'll bring it back up, but this one, I think, is is really important. So it requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly publish demographic data on cannabis, business owners and employees. So, like, when you hear that, what does it make you think of? Um, just reporting on like, top business owners, you know, is that what you're referring to? Yeah, so it's saying that, like, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is going to have to publish data saying, Who? is owning cannabis businesses? You know, what are the the areas, the locations, the socio economic statuses, you know, what are the, the demographics, right? Male, female, you know, black, white, Mexican, or sorry, Latino, other? Why does that even. So, like demographic data, like, race, you know, ethnicity, all of these things. Now, are one reason why they may want to do this is because it does establish a trust fund to support various programs and services for individuals and businesses and communities that were impacted by the war on drugs. So without the demographic data, it would be hard for this trust fund to take for them to be sure that the these funds are being properly allocated to the communities that were impacted by the war on drugs. So I believe that is why that bullet is there. But then it says that it would impose an excise tax on cannabis products produced in or imported into the United States, and an occupational tax on cannabis production facilities and export warehouses. So this is this is that money piece, right? Cannabis is already a pretty heavily taxed industry, from state at the state level. And so this is now imposing taxes at the federal level for being in, in the cannabis industry. Okay, so arguably, taxes are required. Yes, of course. But my question is, where's that money gonna go? What's it going to be used for? And speaking out? So we were talking about this a little earlier in the Okay, so according to the Arizona Department of Revenue, recreational market brought in 600? Well, nearly 650 million is that for 2021? From 2020 to 21, the well established medical market has been in existence for a decade, recorded 758 million in sales, total and 2021. With both, according to ATR, which I don't know what that stands for. Anyhow, Arizona Department of Revenue, there you go. I just read it up there. Um, so that's a huge amount of money. Basically, where have we seen that money specifically go? And it's, you were saying it's supposedly supposed to be a lot of it going back into education on here. So NBC did a. Again, I just want to pull this up. So NBC, they published, when was this just a couple of days ago, right? So on March 17, they published an article talking about how states are fighting over what to do with this marijuana money, right. And so what they're talking about is, and I'm pulling this up on the screen, so if you're on if you're, if you're on YouTube, you'll be able to see this, but only four states spent marijuana tax revenue on restorative justice and cannabis equity program. So we'll come back to that. But they have this interactive data slicer here, and it shows how States spent their marijuana tax Rev. any differently. So Arizona, so I have it slice down to education and Arizona says that they spent it looks like right around 50% of revenue on education. Now, I would love to hear from some of my, you know, connections, people who are in the education industry, because I know for a fact that one of the biggest questions is, is this marijuana revenue, this tax revenue going to the right places in education? Or is it going to, like high paid administrators, superintendents present, you know, presidents of universities and things like that? Where is this money actually making it to the students? To the teachers? Right? We're there we're supposed to recently sound like it has, it doesn't sound like it has, right because, you know, I have friends who are teachers, and you know, the the suppose it raise that all educators or folks in education got, it seems like teachers got the smallest portion of that. And I have a student who's in in Arizona School District, and as far as revenue for, for different things for our students. We're still struggling there. And so if we look at Nevada, is reporting that they spent 100% on education, and that was always their, their promise when they went through their whole legalization process. I remember, Nevada talked about it being you know, all of the tax revenues going to their education system. But when we look at, so we'll come back to the cannabis equity and restorative justice. So cannabis equity and restorative justice programs would be programs that go into correcting some of the injustice is, you know, when we have people who are in prison, because of the three strikes rule, we have people who have been, you know, communities who have been disproportionately targeted for marijuana or cannabis crimes. Only Illinois, so Illinois, California, Colorado and Massachusetts were the only four states that put any money into restorative justice and cannabis equity. Illinois says that they spent about, if we look up at this one, it's just under 25%. California and Massachusetts are the next spenders. And it looks like just under two and a half percent went into restorative justice. And then Colorado, it looks like it could be potentially at about 1%. So when we're thinking about now we have this. Now we have this big industry that is generating huge sums of money, according to according to state general funds were the biggest recipient of marijuana cash last year, according to NBC, getting 494 million in total. And then education came in second place. 405 million, but again, remember education. The largest state to give any for education was Nevada, followed by Arizona. And then the question there is where is this education money actually going. But if I look at I had a Forbes article up from let's see, this is from Forbes, April 2022. So just a few days ago, and Forbes in their breakdown of the more act, they outlined that the legal industry, the legal marijuana industry, generated$25 billion in sales last year, which was a 43% increase over 2020. And then that industry is expected to hit $65 billion by 2030. Now, a couple of things to think about and I want to bring this back to Money real quick. So there are a lot of marijuana businesses large, whether it's manufacturing or grow, or growing. Businesses that are being created and invested in and yes, there are some marijuana stocks that are on on the stock exchange. You know, if you if you were to, I can actually I'll add this yahoo finance piece that has a 420 stock watch list. But if we look at all of this money that is coming in from marijuana to production, and then we think about, okay, where does the average person have the opportunity to capitalize on this type of investment? A lot of these businesses are being funded by angel investors, or, or, oh, goodness, my brain just went, just went blank. So angel investors or hold on, this is going to have to be edited out oh my god. Another word you're looking for sorry. Okay. Peter, start back here. So a lot of this money is being put into the is being put in, by angel investors or by venture venture capital money. So these are millionaires and billionaires who are injecting money into, you know, startups, right. Cannabis Business Startups, and they have the opportunity to reap enormous benefits as these businesses grow, and then when they go public, right, because that's a lot of the time what's going to happen is they're gonna get venture capital money, they're gonna grow, and then they're gonna go public, on the stock exchange get get, ideally a huge valuation, and then folks who were early investors are going to reap gigantic benefits. But those opportunities are typically not available to the average person, right? If you don't have, you know, a million dollars or half a million dollars to put into one of these businesses, then you're not even going to be able to come to the table. And so even when, sorry, go ahead. Are there even that many of American based companies that you can even invest in currently in that market? Um, there are there are some there are some marijuana stocks that are that are US based for sure. There's a there's a good number of them. Now, are there a lot that these are, these are almost all small cap, you know, small market capitalization. So they're startups, they're smaller businesses, they don't have a lot of history behind them. And then also, the way that the way that finance is set up for cannabis businesses, because it is federally illegal, it becomes it becomes a little bit tricky for how they have to, to manage their finances. And so there's, there's a lot of risk involved, right, because there's so much turmoil around the legislation behind it. So there is a lot of risk involved right now. And so that's, that's a good question. Now, there's, there are a lot of these companies in Canada, and there are, you know, a bunch of different companies. I think, I can't remember what the name of the company that snoop. Oh, really? Yes. So snoop. So there's a medical cannabis firm that's backed by Snoop, you know, as of mid last year, so Casa Verde. So he has, so Snoop Dogg is invested in multiple cannabis startup startups, including ocgt through his venture capital firm Casa Verde. So that's one of the cannabis stocks that that Snoop is invested in. And again, as you notice, Snoop Dogg has invested in multiple cannabis startups, including ocgt through his venture capital firm, Casa Verde. So the British company which specializes in pain, alleviating cannabinoid drug development raised the gross proceeds of us $23.4 million in initial public offering, which starting with starting market value of just over 69 point 1 million, even in Canada. No, no, this is this is a London. This is a London based company. But snoop. His firm also backs plant based food companies and different stuff like that. But the fact that he's doing this through his venture capital firm is a kind of going to what I was saying prior where if you don't have a an enormous amount of funds to invest, you're not going to be able to get in on on the beginning stages. And so what I'm trying to connect here is that this is still a an exclusive club, if you will, right. So laws around marijuana have Historically, and disproportionately affected communities of color and low income communities, putting people in jail and in prison for the smallest amount of, of marijuana possession, right for a drug that, and I've got some some stats here are some facts here but has been many times over studied and proven that it is not a harmful substance. It is not a substance that leads to anything violent. And it is not a substance that leads to hardcore drug use. But now that there is a business being built, more a mainstream business, right, because it's been a business for for a long time. In, you know, a lot of you know, folks might say, well, that's that's not a business, that's illegal activity like okay, well, it's been a business for a long time. But now it's becoming a legal business. And there is a potential for the US government for big business to make a lot of money off of tax revenue. Now, there's becoming this ability and access to, to wealth, through investment in these type of businesses, access to money and capital through tax revenue, but it is still an exclusive club, where the average person is in a lot of ways excluded. And then the question of okay, well, what's happening with the restorative justice is still very much at a turtle's pace. It's kind of like when so when Arizona originally legalized recreational, well, even before that, when there's no, I guess it was in the same token, so part, there's two parts of that. First, when they legalized it, you know, they had these and I don't know all the exact details, but from what I understand, there were like a certain number of licenses that were available to be able to have, you know, a recreational shop in Arizona somewhere. And then it was originally allotted to, you know, the people that already had businesses were allowed to apply first. And then there is a light, which is good, but also bad, because then there's, like you said, a lot of those people who have the funds to do so. And that leaves out the common person down here being able to apply for a license and start their own job without having an incredible amount of money to do so in not so roundabout way, right? It will end in a ridiculously fruitful and growth industry, right? a growth industry is an industry where there is an enormous opportunity for future growth and market share. So in a business where, again, there was an exponential year over year, increase in revenue, right 43%, year over year is a gigantic increase in revenue. Huge. And so when you have that type of a business, that is a massive wealth generating vehicle, massive now, if we go back to the to the House bill, the next thing on the on the bullet is it would make the Small Business Administration loans and services available to entities that are cannabis related legitimate businesses or service providers. So what that says is, it would literally take the Small Business Administration, which is one of the largest loan making businesses to, to new to new businesses, right, giving access to capital to folks who are trying to start new businesses, but perhaps don't have access to venture capital or access to mommy or daddy's money or those, those connections through long term family ties, giving access to loans. So that's another thing that would protect that good. So now let's see, they're looking at okay, now we're looking at demographic data, then we're looking at supporting various programs for individuals and businesses and communities impacted by the war on drugs. So neighborhoods that have been historically torn down since you know, the the 1950s torn down by these these problems. When we look at a lot of the just big challenges that were or created for, for people who had issues with marijuana convictions. And then it would prohibit the denial of federal public benefit to a person on the basis of certain cannabis related conduct or convictions. So there are folks who have had cannabis related convictions, who then get out of prison after a ridiculously long and unfair sentence. And now they have trouble getting back on their feet, or actually being able to start a business or, or get access to loans access to, um, to services and different things that they might need to get that leg up because of something as silly as a marijuana conviction. And so this is where it's like, all of that is kind of wrapped up together. And and where some of the challenges with the question of well, Will it pass the Senate? Well, it'll pass once enough people are able to make enough money and the way that things are going now, the question is, how inclusive will it actually be once it makes it through? Right? Or at least that's the question that I have. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I don't feel like it's ever going to be what we want it to be, which is, I think, a lot of times why it has also failed in the past, because people do know, you know, the people that are out there helping these bills get passed, are aware of these injustices that are still that still lie within it. And they can, you know, they're able to say no, like, it's not ready yet don't pass this bill, this is going to do us more harm in the long run than it is in the future. So I mean, as in the, like, current, but I don't know how much better they'll make it. People are also tired, and it does have a lot of good components to it. So there's a part of me that feels like, eventually it's going to get passed, and they're still going to be some of these things that don't make it fair. No. Yeah. Still, no. Yeah, I mean, you know, here, a couple of other things. So it prohibits the denial of benefits and protections under immigration laws on the basis of cannabis related events, like conduct or conviction. And then it establishes, so we know this one's going to be a big one, right? It prohibits denial of benefits and protections under immigration law. Immigration is a big hot button with a lot of folks. And so that's, you know, that's one that that probably raises questions right as it moves to the Senate establishes a process to expunge convict convictions, and conduct and conduct sentencing review hearings related to federal cannabis offenses, and then directs the Government Accountability Office to study the societal impact of cannabis legalization. So this based on these bullets, this seems like a really inclusive bill. It seems like it is laid out in order to correct issues of the past, make sure that this new industry that is growing and has so much growth potential and wealth potential is inclusive. And then also looks at making sure that as we continue to go through this is looked at reevaluated to continue to make sure that it is on par with what is with what is ideal. And I wanted to but I think a lot of people are gonna let it pass because of a lot of those things because of those things because of the good things that are laid in. Right. So rep represent representative Jerry Nadler is the person who offered up this bill. And on April 1, he he mentioned and this is something that he put out on Twitter, the House is considering my bill, the marijuana opportunity reinvestment and expungement Act. This bill will reverse decades of failed federal policies based on the criminalization of marijuana. So this representative Nadler and I you know, I don't know him personally, I'm not, you know, for against whatever. But he is explicitly stating that this bill, he designed it to reverse decades of failed federal policies based on the criminalization of marijuana and he went on to say it would also take steps to address the heavy toll these policies have taken across the country, particularly among committee Cities of color. He said, For far too long we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice problem, instead of a matter of personal choice and public health. Whatever one's views are on the use of marijuana for recreational or medical use, the Chairman said the policy of arrest, prosecution and incarceration at the federal level have proven both unwise and unjust. The amount of money that is wasted pursuing marijuana convictions, incarceration, and issues can so much better be used on education on justice reform on so many different things. And, you know, am I a politician, like, Absolutely not. But I think for the purposes of, of what we talk about with forward motion, I think the biggest piece is the economic side of it. And, you know, just the money side of the marijuana industry that is growing, and wanting for, if this is an avenue for wealth building, I want this avenue to be available, if this is if this is going to be a legal avenue for building wealth, right? I want it to be available to everyone. Well, and especially available to the people that have created beneath for the business, like, you know, these people have been trying to legal, you know, like, legally do this for a long time, for whatever the case, maybe recreational or medical or whatever, like this, you know, substance that is far less like I've said, it's less harmful than alcohol, tobacco, you know, no one's out there driving a car and killing somebody. Because their domestic issues domestic violence, yeah, there's none of that going on. And yet, they've been criminalized so hard for this for so many different reasons and agendas. And now you're like, Finally, like, Okay, you guys were right, all this time. There's a whole bunch of reasons why it shouldn't be illegal, but we're going to be the ones that are going to take it over and make the money out of it, and make it completely impossible for you to have any part in it. Other than paying me now for it, and I'm gonna make money off of you for like, I just doesn't know. Or, or if you're already in the big money club, right? If you're already. Because, you know, I'll just say it, like politicians are known for, for making a lot more money in the stock market than they do, you know, as, as politicians. I don't have anything against the stock. But you know, the stock market, of course, I'm a big proponent. But if the communities that have been decimated for decades, over this plant, aren't going to be able to to have a seat at the table and a big seat at the table, right, multiple seats at the table, when it pertains to creating the reform, and the businesses that that are springing from this, and then the, the the wealth that is going to be generated for years and years and years and years, and should be receiving that. And, yeah, that's, that's a big, big one. For me. And, you know, we, when we think about this business, this this, this thing, the legalization right is creating jobs, it's creating a lot of jobs for a lot of people. It's creating businesses, where people are owning businesses, and businesses create generational wealth. And so having the but but it has a high barrier to entry or cost to entry. It isn't a low startup cost business, right? This is a business that requires like a lot of licensing, you know, a lot of regulation, a lot of all of these things that take a lot of money. So your average person who, you know, really needs the opportunity to to get ahead and might might have the mind for running this type of business may not have access to it. And so i i You know, I pulled up an article from Investopedia that was talking about the economic benefits of the legalization of cannabis. And so I want to read in just talk about from this article, the investment opportunities that they talk about. legal marijuana presents the possibility of tremendous benefit to active economies on the local and national scale. It also could help to secure the investment portfolios of investors across the country. and further afield as well. While marijuana marijuana remains illegal on the federal level, it is difficult for investors to capitalize on the growth of the industry because exactly what they're saying they're they're just what I'm saying this industry is growing at a crazy rate. But the average investor is not having as much access to capitalizing on this growth because of these legalization issues. The number of marijuana related companies trading on public stock exchanges is miniscule. While investors do have the option of working with the over the counter exchanges, many of the most successful businesses in the early legal cannabis spaces have been based in Canada or other countries, should marijuana become legal on the national level marijuana companies would be free to list their stock on all US exchanges, thereby enhancing liquidity and opening up access to many more investors. Should the growth rates for the cannabis space continue as they have in recent years, it's likely that investors would express a keen interest in the industry. So right now we have a a, an IT crazily growing market. But if you don't have venture capital dollars, or if you don't have, you know, huge access to capital, and access to being able to invest in these in these startups and early stages, overseas, across borders, or huge amounts of money to put in at these early stages, we're missing out. And right now we're in the exponential growth stage where, you know, people are taking half a million 1,000,020 5 million, whatever. And they're turning it into potentially billions of dollars over the next decade. Right. But what about the average person? And that's where this type of legislature where, you know, I can't campaign for or against, like, that's not something that as a nonprofit we can do. It's explicitly not not available, but I can't share an opinion and, and an opinion for me is, it's important that access to wealth building vehicles is available to everyone and every family in the United States. And this is a big one. Yeah, I mean, I agree with everything you just said, There's far too many reasons why this bill should pass and move forward and afford all of these, you know, companies, businesses, communities, there's benefits that they've been ripped off, people should not be sitting in a prison cell for this plant. You know, what I mean? Like, there's just no way in my mind that any of this justifies being behind bars? So no, not at all. Looks like we lost your video, Sara. But that is absolutely correct. And so, you know, I guess my encouragement to everyone out there listening is research, right? Stay on top, this is an emerging market. Emerging markets are very, very important, right? This is, this market financially is no less important than renewable energy. Right? When we look at emerging markets, and we look at markets that have exponential growth, we have to be on top of our research. So finding and reading as many articles as you can, understanding what the business landscape is in your state and across the country, understanding you know, what access to investments there are today and are there any that that after you you do a thorough breakdown, you say, You know what, I believe that based on how this is being set up, based on the landscape of what I think is going to happen, I believe that this business has potential for, for growth, and, you know, perhaps this is somewhere where I might put 1% or, or 2% of my investment portfolio for the long term. These are the type of things that as you know, the forward motion family as regular people as individuals out there, just, you know, doing everything that we can to build generational wealth for for every individual family, from a from a a stock portfolio and investment standpoint, this is definitely something to research to stay on top of and to and to begin to understand. And, you know, I'll I will make sure that in the show notes on on the on the page for where we post, whether it's on YouTube or Spotify or wherever, I'll make sure that I have some resources, some research tools available there. But outside of that, I mean, you know, we have to look at where history has brought us from. And as we start to see these changes start to happen, it's important that we're aware, it's important that we're vocal as individuals as citizens about what we want to see. Right. That's where, you know, calling your your congress people calling your Senators is something that's really really important. But outside of that letter being passed, knowing about them read on them and you know, have an informed vote. Yeah, have an informed opinion. Understanding you know, the people that you're putting in office and you know, what, where do they stand do they do they stand in line with what you'd like to see going forward for your community for for the country, right, those are very, very important pieces. So hopefully this has sparked you know, thought and sparked your your want to research and and look at this in more depth. This is something that is definitely an ever evolving, and it's still an unfolding topic. So we'll keep an eye on it. But follow us for more you can follow forward motion on Instagram and Facebook at forward motion AZ, our YouTube channel where hopefully you found this or you can find more of our resources, our videos and podcast recordings is moving forward. One family at a time on YouTube. That's the name of the YouTube channel. We have a bonfire store where you can get merchandise. You can get T shirts, kind of like like this one here. This one says it's a generational wealth thing and it has kind of a dream like you and your family on bonfire and and on Facebook, and then you can donate because we are a nonprofit. And so everything we do, does rely on donations from listeners and viewers like you. So forward motion az.org/donate And then I'm money manda on tick tock so trying to try to get the Tick Tock thing going. I'm having some fun over there and having some great conversations. So join the conversation on tick tock as well. Thank you, Sara. Anything you wanted to add? No, thank you for the conversation today. I'm Sarah. I'm not on Tik Tok. Maybe one day, but a man is the one that's famous right now we'll let her have that. I'm part of the older generation on tick tock or the ancient the ancient generation on tick tock I guess the older than the late 90s Crowd apparently. Oh my goodness, Lord. Yeah. Thanks for having fun with us today guys. Do some research. Yeah, so investing. I'm not this. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you for motion family. We'll catch you guys next time.