Video Creator’s Channel Chris Williamson

It Is This Stupid Situation Where Youve Got 38

state legalizing medical and then we have 17 with recreational and you have all these businesses and billions of dollars being generated, but it’s federally illegal. It’s the dumbest situation. I’ve ever seen that we can’t do anything about. I mean it’s so it’s so ridiculous Chris Walsh welcome to the show thank you for having me on excited to talk cannabis what is someone with an MBa doing working in the cannabis industry well. I was finishing it when I got involved back in 2011 and definitely got a lot of questions about what the hell I was doing um.

I Was.

I was finishing my Mba and was had a background in journalism. So. I was a business reporter and editor at newspapers in the Us and in South Korea, so what is a person with an MBa doing. You’re seeing more and more of people like me come in, but it’s It’s a massive business opportunity and it’s it’s in the us.

Its In Canada, Its In Europe, Its In

South America. It’s all over the world now so I i’m in it because first and foremost. It was a fascinating industry that I wanted to be part of I don’t come from the campus culture but from a business perspective. I thought there was a lot to like here into helping develop a new industry and also you know cannabis helps people in a lot of ways, so it’s not like we’re making you know cups or whatever you know like we’re doing something we’re making a product we’re helping an industry that relies on a product that’s actually helping people and that’s important to me personally too so a lot of unique aspects about cannabis that. lured me into it What makes the cannabis industry so interesting well.

I Would Say That The Rapid

speed at which cannabis has gained support all over the place. You know this was something even when we started that was really taboo still and so this again. We started 2011 and even then it was like what is my aunt who’s a nun on the East coast going to say and what is my dad? A serious political journalist going to say and so you know what we’ve seen is that the rapid acceptance of this industry has has has been phenomenal way faster than I thought so there’s just excitement around it. People are embracing it they’re accepting it it’s an industry that has come out of the darkness Very quickly. It’s existed for a long time right but not in a legal fashion and people are interested in.

It Its Its Its Fun Its

cool and you know there’s not a lot of industries that offer this level of excitement and opportunity The people in it are different there’s great people there’s um not there’s. In some cases there’s not a lot of business sophistication which is changing, but what you have this industry crop up especially here in the us where you know the average everyday person could get involved and that is changing you know but initially the regulations were really low. The cost to enter was low and so you had kind of this American dream type industry where you didn’t have to you know have 15 years of experience or have started three other companies or have a million dollars in funding to get involved. So a lot of these are some of the aspects about it and and just the massive video. When you bring this up at a party that you’re into it that you’re at um no one.

Even Over The La Ten Years

I’ve been in it Most people are not like Oh. I can’t believe you’re doing that or they don’t like kind of turn up their nose and walk away if anything they’re interested even if they don’t support it they’re just interested so for all these reasons. I think it’s it’s a really fun exciting industry. It’s challenging. Though it’s really hard.

Its Harder Than Anything Ive Ever Done, But

it’s um it changes so quickly right and and first of all I’ll just start with this it’s really difficult to learn the industry because in the Us and this is a microcosm of what we see internationally including in Europe, every state is handling this differently and every city is handling it differently and so. They use different terms and jargon and they they view it differently and there’s different regulatory structures. There’s no there’s no commonalities, so you just to learn about what the heck is going on and so you feel like you can hold your own in a conversation even at a base level takes a long. It takes a long time because just when you think you got to figure it out there’s some whole other area of the industry. You’re like Oh I didn’t even know about this or it worked that way and so the the international industry is that way too the global industry you know the Uk is handling it different from you know Greece and they’re handling it different from Denmark and all of them are handling different from Colombia and South America.

You Know So You Have To Really

it’s it’s constantly evolving it. takes a long time to get a handle on it and um and then it changes and you don’t know how it’s gonna change. You have no idea how it’s gonna change both in positive, immensely positive ways and also in in negative ways that can hurt your business and because you don’t know what to expect so these are the reasons it’s challenging and I’ll go back to what I said a minute ago. The people in the industry now are different and that’s often a very good thing, but if you’re used to regular business norms and and ways of conducting business. It’s different here so that takes a while too to learn.

You Know Theres A Lot Of People

who who won’t do business unless they know you it’s not like you can come in using all this Mba Jargon right and sell them on something they’re. Going to you know smack you and tell you to go away So there’s just a lot of unique aspects of it. You once get accused of being an FBi agent at a an expo at some point because you were the only guy there in a suit and tie yes very very close. When we first started in 2011. I was doing research trying to understand the industry myself, which is much different than it is now, but at the time it was only legal for medical purposes in Colorado, where we were based and and some other states still illegal.

You Know Federally Then And Now

so there was a lot of the people who were forming businesses. Then came from the cannabis culture. They were maybe growing in their basement or buying and selling on the illicit market, and so they didn’t know if someone. was going to come in We didn’t know what the federal government was going to do. Even though it was legal in in the states.

It Was Not Um From From The Federal

government and they were operating businesses that you could find on sea on the streets. They weren’t underground hidden and so I went to an industry trade group and yes. I actually went to the bathroom and there was a guy in there and you know they’re kind of awkward when two dudes are kind of there going to the bathroom and he’s like you know what you seem you seem pretty cool but you’re not an FBi agent are you and he really felt that i wasn’t just to ingest because they didn’t know if this meeting of professionals in the industry was going to get broken up and they’d be hauled off to jail that’s. That’s the situation these people started it can you explain what on earth is going on when you have something that’s legal at the state level, but illegal at the federal level. How does that even work I hey if anyone can answer that for me please do because I’ve been racking my brain to figure it out over all these years basically, the government just turns its head away and says this is a low enforcement priority and that’s what really changed the industry is you know.

In 2011 2012 There Had Been Crackdowns

because the government was going in and raiding dispensaries when you say the government are they deploying is that the FBi federal agents right in different agencies and they were going in and and there weren’t regulations really around the industry. Then the states weren’t regulating it they were just people saying hey it’s. Legal in my state, so I’m going to open up a dispensary or cultivation operation and I’m just going to do this until someone says so that it just built from that and expanded and then there was crackdowns by federal government agents and and there was a point where after we started where we almost got out of the industry because we’re like I don’t know if it’s gonna make it as a real business um but then the federal government basically under Obama said okay we’re gonna look the other way. This is gonna be a lower enforcement priority. They didn’t say we’re gonna look the other way, but they said look we got a lot to deal with so you know Don’t Don’t worry about this especially if there’s regulations behind it that was the key.

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So All These States Started Regulating The Industry

and establishing. You know this is what you got to do you got to get a license. You got to operate under these um rules and regulations and you got to be a legit business. When we started there were there were people on the corners.

You Know For Their Dispensary And Theyd Have

a big sign with a joint on it. They’d be spinning it around and and you know pointing this way and you know you’re on major thoroughfares and and there’s kids and and and there were billboards and that people didn’t like that like the community didn’t like that lawmakers didn’t like that so you have this move to start excuse me regulating the industry and I’m sorry and that really started making it more acceptable and so to get back to your point. The federal situation it just developed on its own in all these states, and it eventually reached a critical mass and there were enough people that supported it enough people involved enough money coming in in taxes and enough startup activity and job growth that it just dominoed and snowballed and then you had more states legalizing and starting industries and more and the federal government really at one. You know it got to the point where they couldn’t really do anything about it and so they they didn’t consider a priority and with that basically pathway forward by saying hey we’re not gonna this isn’t gonna be a top priority for us the industry just ballooned and so it is this stupid situation where you’ve got 38.

I Think We Just Had 39Th

state legalizing medical and then we have 17 with recreational plus our you know the capital. of our nation, Washington, DC has legalized both and you have all these businesses and billions of dollars being generated, but it’s federally illegal. It’s a It’s the dumbest situation I’ve ever seen that we can’t do anything about I mean it’s so it’s so ridiculous when you step back and that’s.

Summary

Chris Walsh was a journalism reporter and editor at newspapers in the Us and in South Korea, so what is a person with an MBa doing? “It’s the dumbest situation.& I’ve ever seen that we can’t do anything about. It is this stupid situation where you’ve got 38 state legalizing medical medical and then we have 17 with recreational recreational . It is a massive business opportunity and it’s it’s in the us.& It’s in Canada, it’s . It’s all over the world now so I i’m in it because first and foremost . It was a fascinating industry that I wanted to be part of I don’t come from the campus culture but from a business perspective. I thought there was a lot to like here into helping develop a new industry and also you know cannabis helps people in a lot of ways, and that’s important to me personally too. It’s not like we’re doing something like we’re helping an industry that relies on a product that…. Click here to read more and watch the full video