Things You Don't Talk About In A Bar
Pull up a virtual barstool. A place for honest talks on Franklin County, IN issues. We discuss local politics, listen with respect, ask questions, and focus on real solutions that move our community forward.
Things You Don't Talk About In A Bar
Cannabis in Indiana
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Things You Don’t Talk About in a Bar returns with a conversation that’s guaranteed to get people talking.
Hosts Trevin Wade and KL, joined by special guest Victoria Martz, take a deep dive into one of Indiana’s most debated topics: the legalization of cannabis. From medical marijuana and recreational use to tax revenue, public safety, personal freedom, law enforcement concerns, and how neighboring states are handling legalization, no angle is off limits.
Whether you're firmly for it, strongly against it, or still making up your mind, this episode explores the facts, the opinions, and the real-world impacts legalization could have on Indiana communities.
Pull up a chair, grab a drink, and join the conversation about the things people usually avoid discussing in public.
Things You Don’t Talk About in a Bar — where politics, culture, and controversial topics meet honest conversation.
Hey!
SPEAKER_03Welcome to Things You Don't Talk About in a Bar.
SPEAKER_00Politics, religion, and why is the floor sticky?
SPEAKER_04Hey guys, this is KL.
SPEAKER_00And this is Trevor Wade on Things That We Don't Talk About in a Bar.
SPEAKER_04On today's episode, we have Victoria Marts with us.
SPEAKER_00Yay! What's up, Victoria?
SPEAKER_02Hey everybody. Thanks for having me on, you guys.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so KL and I thought maybe we should do something a little bit interesting. We've talked about data centers. We talked about the gas tax or excuse me, the wheel tax. So we thought, let's do something really cool. Let's talk about cannabis. And I thought, who wouldn't be better than Victoria Marts here? Uh, she knows a lot about subject matter, especially when it comes to cannabis. So we are so excited to interview her for today. Um, Victoria, if you don't mind, tell us a little bit about yourself, the office that you're running for, and um we can we'll just ride right into the conversation.
SPEAKER_02I love it. So I grew up out in Mylan, Indiana. I'm one of a big family, grew up homeschooled, one of six kids, and I live in Batesville, Indiana now. I'm a criminal defense attorney, is my day job. I work as a public defender and I work as a private criminal defense attorney, about 50-50. And I'm a mom. I got a three-year-old toddler at home who's just the absolute best human being that I know. And I'm running for Indiana House of Representatives. So the way that I talk to this when I'm talking to somebody at the door of what this means, we have our two branches of government, right? We have our federal government and we have our state government. Our state government is considered a separate and sovereign entity from our federal government. So we have our own house of legislature in the state as well. And I'm running for the equivalent of Congress, but at the state level. So somebody who would serve a two-year term in the Indiana House of Representatives, somebody who will be there to write and vote on whether or not we're going to pass laws and propose laws of their own, and also just be there to listen to their constituents and pass resolutions sometimes when we need to make a public statement on what Indiana and Hoosiers stand for in our state.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Awesome. And so I I think what this subject is it's something that maybe we haven't seen. We haven't legalized marijuana in the state of Indiana, but it's so convenient that we look around on a map and we see Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and some area, some areas of Kentucky that have moved to legalize cannabis. And we're starting to see some tax revenues from that. And I've got the data here, but I wanted Victoria to talk a little bit about what, how she would like to see recreational marijuana move, or even legalization of marijuana move through the state of Indiana in terms of how she wants to see the tax dollars go, where, how they get distributed, and you know, what kind of uh certain public funding that we could do with like a legalization of marijuana?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I and every state around us has done it a little bit differently. So I think it was Michigan was actually the first state to legalize marijuana that borders us here back in 2018. And they set sales tax on marijuana sales at 10% from the outset. Now that's changed a bit over time. Their sales tax now, I think, is more like 23 or 26%. Wow. Um, I think some of that it looks like has come from the fact that they had a huge influx of people who went into the cannabis growing and distributing industry. And so maybe it's a way of like trying to kind of get the cream of the crop, yeah, to be the businesses that continue doing business up there. They do consistently, though, bring in the most sales tax revenue of all four of the states that surround us who have legalized cannabis.
SPEAKER_04Which is insane. And that just goes to show, because let's face it, like we said, all the states around us are legal. And pretty much at any point where you're at in Indiana, it's just a short drive across the border. You're not gonna stop people from doing it, but now we're just bleeding money into other states revenue that could be used for our own. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02I actually was talking to two young guys out in Blooming Grove uh about two weeks ago now, and we were just chatting about the policies that I'm running on and legalization of cannabis being one of those top priorities. And they were asking me, they were like, Have you ever been to Michigan? And I was like, uh yeah, but not for a long time. Like, not since I was a kid. And they're like, Well, I'm telling you, the roads up there are so smooth.
SPEAKER_00Totally intent us. Totally intent to us.
SPEAKER_04That's an old wound, Victorian. You're telling me, I was just you're born and raised here too, so she feels like Right, right.
SPEAKER_00So that's a Michigan and those beautiful roads.
SPEAKER_02Oh no. So, like I said, every state around us has done it differently. Something that I really and okay, first off, we gotta break it down. Why has every single state that borders Indiana legalized cannabis in some capacity already? And Indiana has not. Do you know, Trevin?
SPEAKER_00I do not. I was gonna make a guess. I mean, uh, just they see the revenue and they see like the, you know, the crime situation going on, and they're like, you know, this kind of looks like a better idea, raise the revenues, get people out of jail, win-win, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean, I think that absolutely is a very popular argument out there for legalization of cannabis. But what happened in these other states is they actually have a procedure available to voters in their states that we do not have available to us here in Indiana. And that is the referendum process. So, in those states, if a certain percentage of voters say, hey, we want to address this issue on the ballot in this November's election, they can do that. And so the voters in Ohio, it was actually about a 50-some to 46 some percent split in the pro-legalization of cannabis vote, but the yeses had it, and that's what led to the full legalization of recreational use marijuana in Ohio. Here in Indiana, we do not have any referendum process that is built into a state's constitution where it does exist. And here in Indiana, if we wanted to create that process in our state, we actually would have to make a constitutional amendment proposal, and that would have to pass a majority vote in both the House and the Senate chamber before it could actually be passed. And I believe if I remember correctly, it has to be passed by a majority in those two houses for two years in a row. It can't even be just one year. Wow. So it's a very lengthy process to create something like that in Indiana. It just has not been an issue that our legislators have been persuaded by the voice of the people to move it out of an actual committee and bring it to an actual bill that makes it to the House floor or the Senate floor to be voted on by the legislators.
SPEAKER_00So you're what are you what are you saying? Are you saying that there's two legislative ways to get there? One being if we reformed a referendum process and two by natural passage of the Indiana House and Senate signed by the governor. Is that a correct statement?
SPEAKER_04Yes, that is.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so so if if the referendum process, because let's let's face it here, the state of Indiana it is one-party rule. They're not trying to give more voice to the other to people because they've got it locked sealed. Uh, so I don't know if the referendum argument would ever even work, just to contingent on the the way the house is set up and the senate is set up. Now, I do think that there might be some legislative sway potentially. I mean, you know, say we peel off a few of the Republicans here, a few of the Republicans there, maybe go after some of the libertarian leading Republicans that are maybe make up a little bit portion of the Indiana House and Indiana Senate, that maybe we can legislatively move something, but we have to have a willing governor to do so, correct?
SPEAKER_02Yes, absolutely. And that's the thing that's really interesting in Indiana right now is that Governor Mike Braun has actually been openly expressing his favor of legalizing cannabis. He says in some capacity, he does not say full recreational use or medicinal use. He leaves it up in the air, but he says he is in favor of it. But the reason why there has been nothing brought to fruition is because the majority in our Senate and our state house are against legalization of cannabis in any form. And they won't even bring a bill to him to sign off on. And so that's the issue. I think there could be some real sway in the future with our fellow rural caucus members of the state house and the state senate. Because when I look at what Ohio did, so when the Ohio voters voted on legalization of cannabis, they also set at the beginning how those funds were going to be distributed back to the communities that they came from. Did you take notes on this today?
SPEAKER_00It sure did. Tell us about it. Oh my gosh. So I just more or less looked at like how what is going back to the community. So I looked at the how Ohio set it up. It was interesting. I think it's based on like zip code, right? If they sell a certain amount at that specific area that the the revenues from that sold stream goes back into the community. So I it's funny because I actually have it written right down here or took a picture of it, is that um 35 million in excise going back to local communities. And then it has examples, you know, like Columbus, obviously the largest city in Ohio, $4.7 million going back to their community from legalization, Cincinnati about $2.5 million, Dayton $1.2 million. So the idea is like, all right, so we're gonna try to find some money to come back to the local communities. I think that setup is very beautiful because it the skin in the game goes to the cities.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I hear that for sure. So what I found, this was just from, I believe, the original language of the past law by the voters, it said 36% of the proceeds from sales tax revenue produced by cannabis would go to social equity and jobs fund, 36% to host community cannabis fund, which I believe is the one that you're referencing that goes to those cities and that's where those amounts are coming from. 25% to substance abuse and addiction fund, and 3% to Division of Cannabis Control and Tax Commissioner Fund. What I find really interesting is that host community cannabis fund. I think that's a great idea. But I do think that a lot of voters, especially in rural communities like ours, tend to feel like the cities already get a greater share of our tax revenue from the state level because they have a higher population density.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02And so we are missing out on getting as much of our share because we have a lower population density. We're all scattered across the countryside out here. But our roads really need that money very bad. Our public schools need that money so bad.
SPEAKER_00I say schools.
SPEAKER_02They're consolidating all the time down and down to, you know, closing one school where kids had more access to a teacher, to sending them to a bigger school where they have less access and less opportunity.
SPEAKER_04I have actually preached that recently. This is gonna deviate, but I mean around here recently there was talk of closing one or two of our local schools. And one of the big arguments that I had of that was one of those school locations has a population that I like to refer to as like more at risk. Like those kids need a little bit of extra attention, and they were looking at closing that school. And I'm like, that is such a disadvantage to those kids because they need with they're going to get lost in a larger school population. Um, what it sounds like though, like what you're explaining, is the biggest way to persuade the people that vote on these bills is to have literally everything laid out and how this money is going to be shuffled into what direction instead of saying we should just legalize the money. Here you go. Here's all the money.
SPEAKER_00The state should have the power to figure out where it goes. I don't trust that. And so I think having some structure of like, hey, this percentage has to go to this, that, and put that in statute because we have all seen the federal government tap their hands into the Social Security Fund, and we've seen state governments do very similar things. So it has to be legislatively locked down. Like this is the money that's getting allocated, and we cannot deviate from that unless there's an emergency of some sort, which can be kind of ambiguous in itself. But that's besides the point, because we're looking at that right now with the gas tax suspension. That's the situation where you're like the gas when you go to pay a pump, uh, the state of Indiana cut out their taxes out of that because of the cost and how much it would burden the consumers. So that was an emergency. So I guess in this situation, I don't know if that's what constitute that, but I do want to make sure that it's like this is going to here, this is going to here, this is going to this fund, and it's not mixing. They're not deviating from that. Um, because the purpose of this is to fund areas where uh they haven't been funded, right?
SPEAKER_02Exactly. And that's why I really like the the title, the host community cannabis fund. But in Ohio, what they described that as being was the communities where dispensaries were located. What I think we should say in Indiana is that the host communities should be those that are growing the cannabis and sending it out. Because when you think about what mass producing an agricultural product like that does to the community, it generally is going to mean that we're going to have to have more heavy vehicles coming through, like semi-trailers, to pick up and transport the product to the areas where it will be distributed. And you also can make an allocation for the general tax revenue fund for the state as well. So I think it would be a good idea to create a percentage distribution that goes to the community host funds, but those communities being the communities that are growing it, so that we make sure the roads can keep up with the increased wear and tear. And then also making sure that an equal distribution goes to the general tax fund for the state, because that fund will make sure that cities get their fair share of the income tax that comes from it as well, based off of those denser populations, like we were talking about before. And I think it's always a good idea to have some amount going into substance abuse and addiction funds.
SPEAKER_03Sure.
SPEAKER_02Because I think it will be very important to do campaigns across the state that raise awareness with the general public that operating while intoxicated on cannabis is the same as operating while intoxicated on alcohol. It still impairs your abilities just like alcohol does. It delays your reaction time, it dilutes your perceptions in real time. And so it's really important that we remind people to not be operating vehicles while they are using cannabis. But other than that, you know, people are gonna use it.
SPEAKER_00That's very interesting that you brought that up because I was I had a good friend that was like, well, what about crime? What about crime? And I'm like, thinking about crime in a sense of, yeah, if we legalize marijuana, we're gonna get people back in society that was arrested for petty things. Um, but you know, brought up the point on the the public safety side as far as you know, driving under the influence. Is there gonna be any property like property damage data, things like that? So that's what I've been trying to find, but it's very early and the the statistics haven't got there yet. I I was reading something from like Oregon, um, which I forget even when that they legalized marijuana, but or legalized cannabis rather, but they didn't have enough data to kind of make say you say, yes, this did help, or no, it didn't. Of course, there's the immediate, you know, when you legalize and you throw those people out of jail, that doesn't really count as a crime anymore. So there's that immediate result, but over 10, 20 years, what does that look like? So I feel like that's something that we need to look at a little bit more closer, but the data's just not there. But if we're looking around at all the other states, I think there's 24 states plus DC legalize cannabis for recreational use. So it's half the country, guys.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, and then so then you have the issue of recently Indiana's attorney general sued the Trump administration for their reclassification of the schedule of marijuana. So how do we approach that at a state level? Because we're talking about trying to, you know, legalize or de even decriminalize, however you want to phrase that. But then we have our attorney general who's literally suing our federal government for the declassification.
SPEAKER_02I think this is just my perception of things, you know, take it with a couple grains of salt. But so I have to, in my line of work, I have to go to these classes that are called continuing learning education classes in order to keep my bar license active and be able to keep practicing. And so I actually went to a seminar last year that was put on by the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, and they actually were telling us that they were like the attorney general's office was doing everything he could to even reduce access to currently legally available forms of Delta. This is tricky. I think Delta Eight is the only one that's actually legal technically in Indiana. But you see, like every corner shop sells all these kinds. They got Delta P, Delta V, Delta 9, Delta 8. They have all kinds of different forms. And they were actually telling us last year that the attorney general wanted to reduce access to all these broad arrays and try to get attorneys to argue that, you know, all these forms of legal hemp technically should fall under the controlled substances that are not allowed to be used in Indiana and try to reduce people selling those and possessing those. So I say all of this to say in my experience as a criminal defense attorney, a common way that people's vehicles become allowed to be searched without a search warrant is if an officer has probable cause to believe that there is going to be evidence of the crime that they're investigating inside the vehicle. So if somebody is operating while intoxicated, they smell alcohol in the breath of the person. Generally they're going to say I did a probable cause search of the vehicle because I had reason to believe that there would be evidence of the alcohol intoxication in the vehicle. And then I found a bottle of what have you inside the vehicle. Um, when they smell marijuana, that's often a reason for them to then search the vehicle without a warrant. And they say I had probable cause to believe that I would find marijuana inside the vehicle, which is a crime to possess marijuana in the state of Indiana. And so I searched the vehicle. So I think that prosecuting attorneys and law enforcement officers feel pretty strongly about not wanting to see cannabis legalized in the state of Indiana because I think they have some fear of it's going to reduce their ability to investigate crimes. And sometimes getting into a vehicle with probable cause for marijuana can lead to the discovery of evidence that leads to a higher level charge. Like maybe the person's vehicle smelled like marijuana, and in searching the vehicle, they actually found cocaine or they were searching for marijuana and they found altered firearms or sawed-off shotguns or something like that. And I think they're afraid of losing access to the ability to better regulate crime in their society. But I think we all need to agree that our constitutional rights are incredibly important, especially the one that requires somebody to either be able to verbalize probable cause that a crime has been committed before they search something or someone without a warrant, or have enough information to get a warrant. And when it comes to people operating while intoxicated, you're still going to be able to find probable cause, even if cannabis has been legalized, if you're smelling burnt marijuana, because you've got reason to believe they were smoking in the vehicle and it's illegal to operate while intoxicated still.
SPEAKER_04Well, and then so like one of the arguments that the AG used was that there's not enough information, like there's not enough studies on how marijuana affects people. Well, de like rechanging the schedule of that opens that up to medical research because with it being as scheduled as it is right now on the level of heroin, you can't fund that. You can't research that ethically. So you're saying you want these things, but blocking the very path to get us there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it's and again, like I really think it has to do with this law enforcement concern of just it's going to reduce our ability to enforce laws and regulate crimes if we don't have the ability to say I smelled the odor of raw marijuana, different from burnt marijuana, and so I conducted a probable cause search. I think law enforcement officers should have more faith in themselves. I have a lot of faith in law enforcement officers, and I tell you, you know, a lot of those cases where they mention the odor of marijuana in searching a vehicle for probable cause, they're generally there for another reason in the first place already. And there usually is already probable cause based on that first reason that brought them there. So I think they they deserve to have more faith in themselves. I have a lot of faith in them, and I have a lot of faith in our ability. If we all get more civically engaged in these coming years, like we as a people, we need to be boosting our civic engagement. Um, some of our counties were in the single digits of how many of the registered voters actually voted in the primary election this year.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_02And I know a lot of our counties out here in District 55 were below 20%. We were lucky if we had maybe 15 to 18 percent of all registered voters in our counties come out to vote. And that's just a shame. Um I know it's because of a lot of reasons for most people. You know, a lot of everyday people they don't know about early voting and they oftentimes don't think about how they're going to vote until election day is actually upon them. And then, you know, you gotta work. In this economy, nobody can afford to not work.
SPEAKER_00And so it what I think what she's alluding to is, you know, when you're talking about like primary voting, you're allowing 20% of the people to dictate the entire election in November. So think about that. You know, you're only 20% of the people, less than 20% of the people are deciding who your leaders are, guys. That's it's your job to stand up and use your vote as your voice. Um, and I think that's what she was alluding to on the primary count. Now, general election numbers here it depends on if it's a presidential election and gets more people out and things like that. But the idea is things are done behind in the dark on these off years that are not presidential elections.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, important things. Well, and then you have a lot of, like you said, it n I don't want to use the word uneducated, but uneducated voters in the sense of they don't know who their candidates are and they haven't taken the time to research. And around here, especially we have a bad habit of straight ticket voting. Like just because it's easy, you just go in there and click a button without them even taking a chance to read into what this person stands for, you know, what platforms they're running on, or who is supporting their campaigns. So things like that, like that is a huge, huge issue.
SPEAKER_00And it's it's like it's the monster hiding behind the thing. You do you vote straight ticket, but you didn't know the monster behind that straight ticket. So uh I guess that's more of just a civic engagement, you know, kind of a point to make. But when it we tie it back into like marijuana, you the idea is you have to send the people to the state house that's going to do that bidding. Um, you if we keep sending the same people back and back and back to the state house, it's not gonna get done, guys. It's pretty obvious, pretty apparent, you know. Uh we continuously do the same thing multiple times. What's that? Is that like the definition of insanity, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. Just making sure that we're clarifying that. Um, but yeah, we have to send different people, we have to send different ideas to the state house to do different things. If you want to see marijuana legalized or cannabis legalized in the state of Indiana, you have to go to the ballot box and send people there that are going to do it, like Miss Martz here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I tell you too, so like my point earlier, too, is that I think that AG does what he does because of his close ties to the fact that law enforcement officers fall uh into cases as witnesses for cases that he represents on appeal, oftentimes, making sure that their interests are well represented, uh, that law enforcement is well represented. But I do think for the people in our state house and our state senate, you can take a look at who has donated to their campaigns. And you definitely can see that certain interest groups make donations to their campaigns. I always think it's a shame that it feels like a lot of our legislators have maybe sold out the people's actual voice and interest for so little money. I like to imagine it would take more money.
SPEAKER_01$5,000, wow.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm expensive and I'm nobody. Like you had mentioned you're a criminal defense attorney. So I imagine you have represented cases like this in abundance. Um, I would think to me, I have always been a huge advocate that what I refer to as victimless crimes shouldn't be clogging up our jail systems. If you get a possession charge and you get caught with a joint, you're not actively smoking in the car, you're not inebriated, you have hurt no one. To me, that is not somebody that should be in our prison systems.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Because you have not hurt anyone. So, from as an attorney perspective and somebody that's running as a representative for us, kind of how do you feel about that?
SPEAKER_02Um, I definitely agree on that point for sure. On this crime in particular, I mean, that's that's what I'm getting. Yes, yes, because there's so many crimes out there, and a lot of them are status crimes, but some of them are for a good reason. Right. But in the point of cannabis in particular, yes, there are so many people out there that are in our jail systems and in our prison systems based on histories dealing with cannabis or current offenses for cannabis-related charges. And I think if there's no act of violence involved, no threat of violence involved, and that's the only thing that's got them in there, I think we need to take action to get those people out of our system, alleviate the cost on our criminal justice system, and return them back to society because they seem like they must be otherwise productive citizens. If that was their worst offense, was either possession of marijuana or dealing in marijuana, we have bigger fish to fry. You know, we got we have murders, we have robberies. And in fact, when you think about it, the nature of marijuana or cannabis being illegal is kind of a crime drive in and of itself, because there are people out there that will rob somebody because they want to take their marijuana or commit an act of armed robbery or something even worse, just trying to take something of value for themselves out of some selfish desire. And if we make that legal, that substance legal, then I feel that would greatly uh alleviate the drive that some people have to commit greater criminal offenses just to obtain it. So in Indiana, if somebody is charged with dealing in marijuana for the first time uh and below a certain weight amount, it's a class A misdemeanor. But then the second time, if they're charged a second time with dealing in marijuana, it is a level six felony just due to that one prior conviction for dealing in marijuana. And while counties in Indiana are getting more progressive these days in ways that they handle possession of marijuana charges and dealing in marijuana charges, there still are so many people in the jail systems and the prison systems who are facing harsher penalties, maybe if they come to the courts on a different charge in the future of maybe criminal trespass or theft because of that prior history showing a level six felony conviction. And because this progress and the way that we handle these charges is only happening in a spot few counties in Indiana and only in the more recent years as well. And I definitely agree with what you were saying, uh, Keisha, about how it is burdening our society as well when people end up imprisoned or convicted of charges like this. Because when somebody gets a level six felony charge, I don't know how many people know this, but they actually can be refused housing at many places where you actually have to apply for housing. A lot of those places will ask you to report. If you've ever been convicted of a level six felony, it does not matter what the actual charge was itself. That is oftentimes considered a reason for them to just straight out deny you access, even if you were otherwise able to pay the fees and be a productive resident in their complex. So I'm very, I always try to be very vocally advocating for my clients if they're facing level six felonies because of that issue right there. It's like so many people end up unable to access housing because of level six felony convictions. And I'd like to see that done away with for people who are otherwise productive citizens and wanting to give back to the community in the form of their labor and paying their taxes into the system like we all do.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_04Instead of drawing off of our tax money by being in prison for correct tax producing rather than tax burdening.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So uh, you know, it's a good segue too, because I did, like I said, we talked a lot about Ohio. So I did some other research too on like Michigan as far as like their government and what they do, and Illinois. And I think it was a good one because Illinois actually they create the cannabis regulation oversight or operate oversight office. And then subcategory Department of Human Services, Department of Public Health. It goes to the India State Police, Adult Use Cannabis Advisory Committee, and it even goes back into local communities. So, like the state of Illinois is already acknowledging, you know, hey, we're gonna go ahead and get it back to public health and the fund, get it a a restart of a reform of some sort for these people in the sense that what you were talking about, which I just wanted to kind of highlight that because I thought it was very interesting that they're uh putting it back into uh the hands of the public in a sense of public health and reorganization. You know, it it's really it's it's really just about being able to go to a place um that sells cannabis and being able to buy it from a rel-regulated facility that wouldn't have you know potential for uh uh issues as far as fentanyl or any other substances, like it is purely regulated for that reason for the consumers to buy cannabis legally. Uh so the black market doesn't give us that, but safe places to purchase cannabis does. Um so you know, uh a lot of folks feel a little bit more comfortable about that. And you know, even let's talk about like the benefits though to marijuana itself. I mean, obviously people use it to feel good, yay, but there's also some things as far as you know, mental health or even like nausea, sick, cancer, KO. Can you elaborate a little bit more on that?
SPEAKER_04I mean, recreational, ideally, if it came to the floor and it passed recreationally, yay, everybody wins. But even if we could get it just medically, there are so many uses. And not like I I know cancer is like usually the go-to. RSO oil, which is a compound of it's like a refined cannabis that has been pushed through like ethanol, so it is like pure. It has been proven to shrink tumors. But outside of that, I mean it's it's insane. And it goes back to that whole like reclassifying to be able to research these kinds of things. But it, and I know like everybody thinks cannabis, cancer patients, it does help with nausea. Like it in when things that don't work, like Zofrin or Finnergan or things like that, um, it helps sleep, it helps anxiety, it helps just regulate your whole nervous system. So as fun as it is to use when you're, you know, with your friends, there's a whole threat of things that you could use it for in the medical field where you're not prescribed 15 different medicines and you can sit down and eat a gummy. Like you don't even have to smoke it. You can eat a gummy. Or you're a baker, bake it into some brownies, like whatever you want to do, what other method works for you. But, you know, you have people that have eating disorders and to stimulate their appetite, it can be used for things like that. People that can't find a method of like antidepressant drugs, but this helps chills, you know, chill them out a little bit. It's a whole world that's left unexplored because we can't get the regulation for it.
SPEAKER_00Based on the classification, the schedule one.
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_00And then, you know, obviously there's benefits. I mean, we could talk about the benefits all day until we're blue in the face, but let's be real with ourselves. Some people classify it as what they would call a gateway drug, you know, something that would lead you into other drug use. Uh Victoria, did you have any insight on? You said mentioned that you would talk to somebody from Blooming Grove, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, actually, this came from a more recent conversation. And what I find really interesting, and I think we kind of talked about this off the record earlier, is you know, out here in our rural communities, you could probably ask just about any Jack or Jill in town what they think about cannabis being legalized or not. They'd probably either say, I don't really care, or they'd say, Yeah, do it. Like it's beyond time just looking at all the states around us that have legalized it.
SPEAKER_00Just drive two hours one any point in Indiana, and you'll you'll find one.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. And like I I have not been more than one time, maybe, but I went to the ND500 once, years back, and I tell you, just like going through there, there's people of all different socioeconomic backgrounds there. There's certainly a lot of what we would probably call our good old boys from the country there because everybody freaking loves race cars. I mean, this is I love race cars.
SPEAKER_04Even if you don't like race cars, the ND500 is magical. It really is.
SPEAKER_00Some people in the snake pit. Let's not forget about those people. They're having fun and partying. You're not into race cars, but there to watch the same cars.
unknownOh my god.
SPEAKER_02That's so cool. But I noticed just I always love to observe people everywhere I go, just like pick up on what is going on in the world around me. And everybody there did not discriminate.
SPEAKER_00I'm a self-admitted people watcher, and I know KL is a people watcher as well.
SPEAKER_02That's my favorite pastime.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so you're in good company on the people watching side.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So like you could observe, you can always, if you're looking for it, you can observe people using cannabis, even though it's not legal. And it did not discriminate in my observation of who was choosing to use it or not use it. Um, and so I don't, I think a lot of people at our level of society don't think about it as a gateway drug. I think where that idea comes in a lot more is people who have experience in the medical field or people who have experience from the um aspect of life of having witnessed somebody with a substance abuse disorder. I've known a lot of people from my personal background who maybe knew somebody either through their friendly relations or familial relations who had struggled with substance abuse when they were either a kid or they witnessed it in adulthood. And substance abuse disorder is absolutely destroying people's lives out here. The thing is though, it's not cannabis' fault. You know, cannabis has actually been shown by studies to be one of the least addictive drugs. There are far more addictive drugs out there like opiates. Um I believe fentanyl and heroin both fall under the opiate department. They do. Cocaine, I think, is a stimulant, but that's certainly one that's highly addictive. And just because somebody uses cannabis or marijuana does not mean that they are then going to want to go try cocaine or want to go try methamphetamine or go try heroin. What usually, in my experience as a defense attorney, I come across a lot of people who are dealing with this crossroads of substance abuse disorder and mental health issues. And what I find, and what often comes up in my discussions with people in these cases is you know, usually what you're using is a reflection of what you are feeling inside. You know, people who are using the really heavy stuff, they are they have some really heavy stuff inside. Um, when I can actually get into honest conversations with people, there's some significant childhood trauma back there. There's um significant feelings of dehumanization at this current stage of life. A lot of people, I mean, if you can't access housing, you can't get a job, you can't get a job where you're actually paid enough to pay all your bills for 40 hours a week to 80 hours a week. A lot of people start to feel demoralized and dehumanized. And it's not the drugs' fault that they've ended up in this situation, it is the lack of access to resources before this point in time where they're just trying to self-medicate seemingly with the everyday experience that they're living. And what we really need is we need more mental health care access for people in Indiana. Because if our Hoosiers are getting access to proper mental health treatment when they need it, when it's early on and things have not gone to the absolutely most eroded state, they're far less likely to struggle with substance use disorder. And things like cannabis and alcohol, anything that people like to do for fun on occasion, it can be done in regulation without becoming an addiction.
SPEAKER_04We talked about this off mic about previous governors that we had in the state, and Pence had gutted our mental health care facilities when he was in. Like he closed something like 100 mental health care facilities. Um, this is back when we were kids. Uh not really kids, but like late teens, early 20s. Hell, how long ago has that been? I don't know. I'm old.
SPEAKER_00Shh. We're old. We've had this conversation. We're not old, we are seasoned.
SPEAKER_04I'm seasoned.
SPEAKER_00Um season forget.
SPEAKER_04My brain is lagging like a 1999 Dell desktop. I can't. I'm I'm here, but I'm not. Uh we so back to the mental health care and addiction disorders. So what happens right now is there are truly not enough mental health facilities to accommodate our state right now. So what happens if you go into the ER with a mental health crisis? What happens is you end up staying in the ER for, I mean, days. And that's not even an exaggeration because they have to keep you there until they can get a bed for you. And most facilities don't have a bed. Or you might find a bed, say you're here in Braitsville, but they don't have a bed until like Fort Wayne. Who's gonna do that? Because if you do have a support system, which let's face it, many people don't, who's going to drive you up there? Drive you up there. Well, you would be transported, but then who's going to get you back? Yeah, like who's gonna be there, you know, at your bedside to support you? Um, addiction facilities, you know, detox facilities, few and far between. They're expensive, they're not covered by insurance. Um, back to the crime things, if you've had subsets of different things on your criminal record, they won't take you. Um, and just to talk about this, a lot of of these facilities or halfway houses, so you get into the facility, you detox. 30-day detox does nothing. You get to clean, it does not keep you clean. So then you go into aftercare programs, and a lot of these aftercare programs are not easily accessible, and unfortunately, they're not accessible for men.
SPEAKER_00Like a lot at risk, more at risk, because the women with children would look like that.
SPEAKER_04You don't commingle. So in I hate saying this, but statistically speaking, men are more violent offenders. Sure.
SPEAKER_00So if you have I don't think we need statistics to show us that it's pretty evident.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So if you have anything like that on your record, you're not going to be taken into any kind of aftercam program, especially if it's a residential. Um, so those are all things that you struggle with. But the big thing is usually what it all boils down to with everything is money, finances. And if you're in a position where you need to detox, chances are you've sold your soul already and you have no resources. I've had my, I've dealt with my fair share of addicts in my prefer professional life and my personal life. A person that is just starting on the cliff of addiction isn't going into treatment.
SPEAKER_01No. No.
SPEAKER_04You go into treatment when you're rock bottom.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04But I can tell you, and off of my experience, I have never had someone come to me being addicted to marijuana. Um, I have had people come to me addicted to things that are easily available by prescription. So when you talk about gateway drugs, I can tell you 15 different medications right now that you're way more risk of developing a dependency on, and none of them are marijuana, even the ones that are medically prescribed. Like marijuana in itself doesn't even carry a risk of a physical dependency. You might, if you're already struggling mentally, you might have that mental aspect of I need it, I need it, I need it. But it's a habit.
SPEAKER_00It's a habit. It's a habit, not a physical.
SPEAKER_04It's not a physical dependency. You, somebody that has smoked marijuana for 20 years, can stop smoking today and is never going to feel a physical withdrawal from that.
SPEAKER_00I'll tell you a substance that's available in the market every day that carries a lot of risk is alcohol. A person that is addicted to alcohol can die from alcohol, for one, alcohol poisoning and alcohol withdrawal. Yep. That is something that certainly does happen.
SPEAKER_04And fun fact, when you withdraw from alcohol, you have to be put on seizure precautions and you can't even just immediately quit alcohol cold turkey. You have to be put on an ethanol drip because your body will shut down and kill you.
SPEAKER_00Let's talk. I mean, that's that's I mean, that's the severity, and that's illegal. I can go to CBS. I mean, what time is it right now? It is seven o'clock.
SPEAKER_04Seven o'clock.
SPEAKER_00I mean, at eight o'clock, you know, at 7.59, I could still buy that substance that could that that could result to that that fate for me.
SPEAKER_04I mean, I'm not saying I'm addicted to alcohol, but that's well, and not just and so say you are addicted to alcohol at 35 years old. You might not even feel and say you quit, you might not even know the effects of what that's done to your body until you're in your 60s. And now suddenly you need a liver transplant because you didn't realize that you destroyed your liver in your 20s and 30s.
SPEAKER_02Or some people even find themselves in these like really high-energy, fast-paced work environments where you know you're using suppressants or accelerants all throughout the day just to keep up and suppress your energy levels enough to rest here and there. And, you know, you don't even get to 60 before you start to notice the the severe issues that it has wrecked on your body, and that really brings it all back to home, which is again, it's not inherently the substance that is the issue. The substance can be an issue for anybody when they are not having access to adequate mental health treatment because that's what drives the person to go abuse alcohol, it drives them to go abuse any number of things you can get over the counter that. Lead to real life problems.
SPEAKER_04Well, and even like you said, the it's it's the whole mental aspect because even if you removed every drug on the face of this planet or every like illicit substance, even alcohol, if a person has like that root inside them, they're gonna find something to become addicted to, whether it be gambling, caffeine, sugar.
SPEAKER_00Let's talk about the five-hour energies and the monsters of the world because I people drink those. I'm guilty of it too. I've I've been known to have a monster before work, and it peeps me up and it gets me going, and it's certainly unhealthy. We know that.
SPEAKER_04My husband slams like two Celsiuses a day and walks around, he'll go to sleep. That might be the ADD. I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_00Well, I got I got a pill for that too.
SPEAKER_04But see, same thing. There's there's all these pills. I got a pill for that, I got a pill for that, I got a pill for that. And but then something that grows from Mother Earth that you don't have to refine, you don't have to do anything with.
SPEAKER_00It's not, it's not considered legal.
SPEAKER_02And it really all comes down to do we really believe in freedom of choice and liberty for the individual at the end of the day? Because I mean, it seems like we do when it comes to alcohol. Sure. Seems like we do when it comes to tobacco and caffeine and any other one of these easily accessible things. As long as you meet the age criteria, you're allowed to access it. So, and in marijuana, it's so different from these highly addictive drugs like opiates and the um the forgetting the word, but the ones that make you go faster. Stimulants. Stimulants, thank you. Like meth, your coke, your things like that. What's so different about it is it does not change your actual neural connections in your brain. Those other drugs, they actually literally change your neural connections in your brain. That as soon as you've used it once, you now have a need to use it again because that is now connected to dopamine release in your brain. And you're not gonna feel like you did before using it unless you use it again. And it's gonna make you feel a little bit worse each time that you go without using, and that's why people get addicted to it. Marijuana doesn't do that. It's also notable that cannabis has not been proven to have caused anybody's death in the sense of overdose. Right. These other drugs, yes, they absolutely have. Even alcohol has, but there's no proven case of cannabis actually causing somebody to die from overdosing on it.
SPEAKER_04And overall, does it like cause you to change who you are as a person, or does it like cause you to want to take any greater risk that you wouldn't take if you were sober? Like the only thing usually that's at risk is moving from the couch to the dining room. Or a bowl of cereal.
SPEAKER_00Um to the fridge, you might break an ankle.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, I mean, you're gonna f that box of cereal.
SPEAKER_00It's cocoa pebbles are gone.
SPEAKER_04Like, you don't, you're not like, I'm gonna, I've never s seen somebody sit down and like eat an edible or smoke a joint and be like, I'm gonna get in a fist fight in this bar. No. Like that's not it doesn't change your inhibitions at all. It just like, I mean, you might relax a little bit more, but you just don't see like the risk taking or the recklessness with weed. I think what took us so long to even get to where we are at in America, they were trying to figure out how they could regulate it and monetize off of it, but now there's a model, an example of that. So why are we still 50 years behind like we always are in Indiana?
SPEAKER_00Well, they're gonna lose out on the potential in our own way. The other 49 states in the country outside of Indiana, they're all legal, and we're just sitting there. We're the last one to be kind of an entry into the system. So everything else is already like done, and we're just like, oh, the last ones we're not unique, we're not doing anything different, right? That's what states when they are allowed to like explore socially, you find really good policies from that. Like we look, you know, California legalization, Colorado, I believe, was the first one to legalize, and they're looking around, and everyone's looking at them, going, hey, what it wasn't so bad. Like, what are we doing?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04I mean, you could even like framework it into like other countries over in Europe that have they haven't necessarily m like all illicit street drugs legal, but they've decriminalized them and created safe spaces to use them in like their models of how low their crime is and like overdose risks and blood transport diseases. So you look at things like that, I don't think we'll ever get to their as a state as a whole. And I mean, and feel how you want to about that. Like I see both pros and cons. It's just really unfortunate that Indiana is, like I said, we're always like 50 years behind on whatever everybody else is doing. And it's like we almost cut off our noses despite our faces. Just it's like we want to be the last ones to be like, we're just not doing that.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02I a comparison I hear a lot from people who feel very strongly against legalization of cannabis is they'll say, Well, look at California. You know, look at how many people out there struggle with drug addiction of higher level drugs. Look how many people are unhoused out there. But the thing is, when we do comparisons, we really should be comparing in more similar situations. So California is a draw for a number of reasons outside of anything that draws people to Indiana. It's a coastal state, it's on the ocean, the weather is temperate, so you can be outdoors just about all year long. Housing is already effectively inaccessible for such a large percentage of the population because it's just so expensive across the state. So it makes sense that they have higher rates of homelessness out there. Here in Indiana, we'd be much better situated to compare ourselves to another Midwestern state like Michigan.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And I think Michigan makes a great comparison state because, like those boys out in Blooming Grove were telling me, look at the roads. Look at the roads.
SPEAKER_00For real. Yeah, like one city is the entire state of Indiana. It's not Indianapolis everywhere.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, Indiana is very rural. There's some very rural parts of California as well. I mean, you talk about the middle of the state, up in the northern part of the state.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah, you get up in the redwoods, and that's rural. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, just it's it's not not a fair comparison. Victoria's absolutely correct. If you're gonna look at a state, look at somebody who identifies pretty close to what we do. Like you look at Illinois, maybe you look at Ohio and Michigan, just the ones that surround us, and look at their models, look at their what they're doing. Um, Google's your best friend, you can research it, you can find out where the each money gives allocated to. Um, and if we really wanted to be bold and smart, we would create a fund that addresses the mental health issues that we see in the state of Indiana if we wanted to be bold. And you know, let's talk to Victoria a little bit about this. You know, what where do you want to see it? What kind of legislation would you bring up? Because you're gonna have a battle in the in the statehouse if to even try to get this. If you for first of all, you have to win, right? In November, always hopefully that that occurs. But but once you get there, what does a representative Marx do in order to get legalization of cannabis to the governor's office?
SPEAKER_02Well, like I said before, I really think we need to be pushing for unity amongst the representatives from the rural communities in Indiana. Because at the end of the day, there are far more rural communities across Indiana than we have big metropolitan cities. And a lot of us are feeling like we are not getting the funds that we deserve as our fair share to actually make sure we're upkeeping our local infrastructure adequately that the big cities are getting. And I really think it's something that we are all in together at the end of the day. I mean, we all would stand to benefit significantly in our roads in the city and in the country if we simply legalize cannabis in the state of Indiana. And I think it would make sense to make a percentage of that go back to the communities who are growing it and it is being distributed out of to be brought to dispensaries in other communities that might get higher foot traffic, and to allocate a percentage to the general tax revenue fund for the state of Indiana because those cities will get their fair share when that percentage goes into that fund because of their more dense population and compared to our rural populations. But we have to upkeep these rural roads. Our products can't get anywhere if we can't actually get it out of our district to the city where it will be sold.
SPEAKER_04And you're not gonna have a marijuana field in downtown Indianapolis. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Like it's it's just it's what we are built to do. And, you know, this is a topic for another day, but my number one priority if I get elected into the House is actually going to be to pass a statewide moratorium on the construction of data centers. Um, just talking about preserving the like the actual product of our land out here, like what is our actual purpose that we serve as a community out here. We are a tourism community, we are an agricultural community, we are not a growing tech district community.
SPEAKER_04I would much rather see a field of weed than I would a data center.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. And and I think if we were to legalize cannabis production, that that could be a really exciting crop to get more young farmers engaged in the agricultural industry again, to get them motivated to follow up on the family farm that's being left to them.
SPEAKER_00Which is great because I just pulled up the soybean losses for the state of Indiana. I have a paper here. $607 million has been lost because of tariff situations from the president. Um, just specifically in state of Indiana. $655 million lost from abatements to data centers. Let's let's talk about our agricultural identity. Let's go back to it.
SPEAKER_04Let's well, in I mean, I don't know how much like people know about weed, but it could growing it could be fun. Like there's buttons because like it's not just like I don't know if you've ever been into a shop before, like a dispensary. It's not just, hey, here's your bag of weed. It's got like fun names, it's got different strains. Like you can get creative. Like there's like a chemistry aspect to it.
SPEAKER_00It's identified chemistry too. They've got all the substances that make you high, tired, or ha ha ha. All that's listed in there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, like you got what we call like sativa or indica, like indica into couch, like you're gonna go to sleep. And there's an appeal for it, like you said, to bring young farmers back to that. Give them something that's not just planting, you know, that's some kind of GMO manufactured seed. Like, let's get creative. Like, while we're growing purple haze, like pine beans.
SPEAKER_00Northern lions? Yeah, like what are we doing here?
SPEAKER_02And that's the big difference, too, between the soybean crop and a cannabis crop. Is a soybean crop, we are one of the biggest exporting states for soybean product in the country that exports it to other countries. So, meaning like that crop is heavily dependent on the international market for soybeans from the United States. Cannabis is not. That would actually be an independent crop that would more likely be going within the state of Indiana. In fact, most states that have legalized cannabis in some capacity also put within that law a ban on transmitting it outside of the state. So, and I think part of that is mitigating any possible conflicts with neighboring states that have not legalized it in some capacity yet, like we are to every state that borders us. But also, it makes sure that the product is going to stay local. And I think that makes it more affordable to people who are buying it as well. You know, if it's not having to go through transit as long, is not costing as much to get it to its destination, and that can keep the product lower for the consumer as well. How is that not appealing?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I don't know how that's not appealing. I I don't because it's literally you're in you're not enriching a corporate farming apparatus. You're the little guy, you're supporting the small independent farmer. That's that's essentially what you're doing.
SPEAKER_04It's as local as like statewide. Yeah, like you're not supplying like everything that you do, your state benefits.
SPEAKER_00You can't import marijuana from China, it has to come from your state that you reside in, and the state controls it and regulates it, and it's from people that live in the state, so it's a win-win for local communities, it's a win for the independent operator, the business distribution company, the dispensary. It's all winning. Um I don't see any negatives in it. The only negative I could see is people driving high, but people do it anyway, they do it anyway. People like drinking alcohol, people are gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's honestly is a whole issue. All of a sudden, we gotta talk about it another day for sure. Because we need greater public transit access in rural Indiana. If you're in the city, you can call a lift, you can call an Uber, you could call a taxi, you could take a bus, you could take uh you can even take a little train in some places.
SPEAKER_00You sure can.
SPEAKER_02But in rural Indiana, out here in Brookville, Indiana, in Batesville, Indiana, you do not have any public rideshare options. Your option, if you are intoxicated, is call a friend, call mom, call dad, or what are you gonna do to get home? Like or hope you're close close enough where you can walk home. And if you're in a sleeping.
SPEAKER_00But if you're in a bad situation, yeah, you have to go. Yep, and what then you have no avenue getting out of it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and in Indiana, they just made it a class B misdemeanor to be publicly camping in the last legislative session. So sleeping in your car is also an issue now, too. And we should really be trying to make our societies a place where people are motivated to get home safely, not demotivated. So in the future, I mean it's a longer term plan, but I would love to see us increase public transit in our rural communities again. I want to see trains, trains in rural communities connecting rural communities again. And just think about how amazing of a tourism industry we could have out here, not only with the beautiful lakes we have to offer, the river, the kayaking, the forest we have to go hike and explore, but we have beautiful wineries, like privately owned independent wineries all across this area. We have beautiful bread and breakfasts, and if we had the cannabis industry, people oftentimes I've seen in other states like to treat that like the wine industry, and that can become a whole tourism attraction all its own. So I'm really looking forward to a flourishing, beautiful rural communities again where we all have a greater ability to access each other.
SPEAKER_00Wine and gummies by the lake.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, let's do it. I would be a nice person.
SPEAKER_02I'm a fully sober person, so I can give rides to people and I I hope they enjoy that.
SPEAKER_00She has done that for me once before. Yeah, she has yeah, she has done that.
SPEAKER_04Well, now that we've like formally met, like uh if you see a random 765 number, it's probably just me. I got you.
SPEAKER_00Well, it so Victoria, you know, I want to end it off with you because you know, you are the the woman of the hour per se. Too kind. Um Victoria is running for Indiana General Assembly for our district, and I she's convinced me, but we've got a lot more work to do. We gotta convince more voters, but here she is. Let her have the floor. Please vote for her.
SPEAKER_02We're really looking for like I'm running a campaign here where my goal is to unite people around their representative. You know, the way politics was meant to be by our forefathers who wrote this constitution and built this country was the representative was meant to represent the voice of the people. It was not meant to be that the representative chose the people that they represent, you know. And I feel like in Indiana, too often we're getting that because our current representatives are feeling very comfortable running on a letter next to their name, not on the actual policies that they are seeking to pass. And so with my campaign, my goal is to let every voter know I'm here to represent your voice, whether you vote Republican traditionally or you vote Democrat traditionally. Or maybe you haven't voted yet because nobody has made you feel inspired enough to vote. But I'm here to tell you, you gotta vote. You have to. If you aren't voting, somebody else is out there voting for you, and they are choosing who's going to represent you at the end of the day without you actually having a say in the matter. So you may as well have a say in the matter. They would not work so hard to make it difficult for you to vote if your vote was not so important.
SPEAKER_04And back to that, do not vote straight ticket. Like because you are going to miss out on some really great people just because you are afraid of the letter behind the name.
SPEAKER_00A lot of people also say that their vote doesn't matter. I want everyone to look into that Indiana Senate district up in northern Indiana. It was decided by how many votes, Victoria. Was it like two or three votes?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was a narrow window. It was like three to five. It was so small.
SPEAKER_00So think about that, guys. Three to five votes may have just decided who their future representation is. So if they're feeling like if you're the th the five side under, you're feeling if I would have got like six more people engaged and in the process, I could have, I could have that seat. That would have been my seat. So just think about that, guys. If you want your voice out, you have to show it at the ballot box. And it takes time, it's not gonna happen instantaneously. And I think people for forget that instant gratification. They feel like it's the oh, it's done, you know, we did our part, but it all has to be collective.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I mean, that's why I am running so early. So I've been out knocking doors since the winter, honestly. I've been out knocking doors as much as I can be because I need 10,000 votes if we actually want to win this election in November and win a change in representation. And that's not gonna happen just by me going out and knocking doors by myself. I swear to goodness, I am going to work my butt off to make it happen if I can all by myself. But if you are somebody who is feeling disconnected or you're feeling down on where your society is at right now, no matter what level you're looking at, I would really encourage you to come out and meet with me and my campaign and get engaged with us and come out and knock doors with us. I know it sounds kind of scary at first blush going out and knocking doors in a rural community, but I've been out knocking doors in Blooming Grove, which is a very rural community.
SPEAKER_04In the middle of nowhere.
SPEAKER_02Great. They don't they don't have a Dollar General, they don't have anything out there other than a gas station, a fire station, and a church, possibly two churches. I can't remember exactly off the top of my head.
SPEAKER_04He say Matt's like they don't have a gas station.
SPEAKER_02Oh my goodness, you're right. They don't. It's Everton. Everton has the gas station.
SPEAKER_00Nevertheless, we can we can cross that out.
SPEAKER_02You know what? I met so many nice people out there. Like I, I, and I was all by myself and I was having a great time. So I will really tell you, come out and knock doors with me. If you want to feel reconnected to your fellow human being post-pandemic, you know, it's been a couple years now, but we have taken a while to crawl out of the hole of self-isolation that we all fell into in that time period. Come talk to your neighbors with me. They're really nice people, and they want change just as much as you do. They're just waiting for somebody to come meet them at where they're at and talk to them about what's possible.
SPEAKER_00That's it. Meeting them where they're at.
SPEAKER_04And politics has gotten so nasty here. I'm and I'm gonna just be very general in this, but over the last decade, we have gotten into this habit with politics where it's there's just such a hard line when at the end of the day, the general people we all kind of want the same thing. And I want us to get back to that where people, it doesn't matter like w how you vote, you can still sit down and have a conversation with people. Um, and then you can realize that just because somebody identifies as a Democrat or somebody identifies as a Republican, there's not such this hatefulness because if you really truly talk to people, you realize we're all kind of going for the the same goal, but we've all been brainwashed that it just doesn't matter. Like if if you've got a D behind your name, I cannot vote for you. And that's a bunch of shit.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02And that's the thing. Like, I have a D by my name, but I am not over-exaggerating when I say I'm running to be a voice for the people. So at the end of the day, if my people say, hey, this is how I want you to vote on this bill, I will vote how my people want me to vote. That's what a representative should do. You work for us. Exactly. Exactly. You work for us. Exactly. You're supposed to be a public servant, you should be serving your public. And so I don't want anybody to be scared by the Democrat by my name. I'm here to represent you at the end of the day and what actually is going to be best for you. And the three things that I'm really focused on with my campaign are raising minimum wage to a living wage. Because when we raise the floor of expectation for the lowest paid jobs in society, we raise that expectation for every skilled trade job, every job that requires more experience, more education behind it as well. And we ensure that those who are working 40 hours a week in the jobs that don't require as much training and skills expertise, or I don't want to say skills, as much training and additional um accreditation and qualification that they are able to pay their bills and provide for their families, then we're raising that expectation for everybody in society and making sure we all can keep paying our bills. We also ease the reliance on public assistance programs as well when we do that. So that's my number one priority. I want to raise minimum wage to a living wage. I want to legalize cannabis so that we can actually thoroughly fund our local infrastructures, meaning our public schools, our local public roads, our emergency departments, our police departments who all rely on that money. That's a huge priority. And also my third huge priority is protecting our natural resources and protecting our habitats and our environment out here, especially in this heavily agricultural community. So if any of this is something that speaks to you, that's what you're voting for.
SPEAKER_04Nothing crazy out there. And I'm gonna put a jab in when I can, because I'm I'm allowed to. Um, we know that at least on one of those issues, the person that you are running against has actively voted against that interest multiple times.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And we're not gonna say her by name, but everyone knows who it is.
SPEAKER_02So and I'll tell you, I want the listener to know I have never mentioned my opponent's name one time in this conversation because it's not about my opponent. No, it's not about her as a person at all, it's about the policies that I'm running on, and that's where I keep my focus, and that's where I want you voters to keep your focus to. And look at where I take money from. I'm a fully grassroots candidate. I don't take money from anybody other than three people sitting around this table here right now, normal everyday people. I do not take corporate pack money, I do not take money from corporate backed interest groups, and I do not take political action committee money either. Because at the end of the day, I will only take money from those who are like who I'm running to represent, the people, individuals. I love that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean that's obviously you you see this in politics all the time. Um, as far as money and politics and the the quid pro quos. Let's not kidding anybody. They're made. They're made in offices all across the United States. And if you take yourself out of that whole situation, you're a better advocate for the people.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Like, especially as an attorney, I see it as a conflict of interest. If you take money from anyone you don't actually intend to represent the interest of at the end of the day, meaning these corporate-backed political action committees, these corporations, you bear a conflict of interest whether or not you're actually going to fulfill it or not someday. There's always that perceived conflict of interest. You should not bear perceived conflicts of interest against those who you are elected to represent.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I think this is a good time to close it up because that campaign financed shit. Oh my god, we can go in for my goodness.
SPEAKER_04We have so many beautiful future topics, and I cannot wait. Oh my god. This has been such a pleasure. Yes, and I'm so happy that you've came out, and I so look forward to the next time that we do this.
SPEAKER_02And I want to say thank you so much, Trevin and Keisha, for having me on this evening. It was so nice having this conversation with you guys. These are the kind of conversations we need to be having.
SPEAKER_00Kitchen table conversations. And they are. So thank you so much for listening.
SPEAKER_04Thanks for being on, and we look forward to the next time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Take care, guys. Bye.