The Path Continues
By James Bridges
“That was a long year.” How many times have you heard that? Usually in a negative tone it seems. Well, it has been a long year. A year is a long time. 365 days to be exact. Each and every one of those days are long too. Each day. Each Minute. Each second. Soak it up, buttercup.
What are you going to do with it?
There was an abundance of, what seemed like, magic in the air starting from the moment SQ788 passed. It seems so long ago. However, sometimes it’s a blur. There have been so many shifts in the industry as it matures. 2022 may have been the ugly pre-teen years, if you were to compare to what I believe is to come.
You need to remember why you wanted cannabis to be legal in the first place. That, my friends, is your own personal choice as well. Medicine comes in many different forms. No one has the right to tell you differently.
I’ve witnessed the market in Oklahoma shift from a territorial atmosphere into what has now become more of a collaborative effort to navigate not only the market trend, but also the constant changes tossed down from our governing bodies. This, in my opinion, is key. If there ever were a plot to kill legal cannabis, then this idea of collaboration could indeed squash it.
Now I go to my creative mind. I like to imagine dark,angry, and dried up individuals sitting around a boardroom table and pounding their fists out of anger and frustration. One of them stands and screams, “Why must they fight together!” The dark “overlords” smoke their smokey cigarettes and discuss ways to split the damn pot heads up. I digress.
The simplest way to kill something is to gain its trust. It is a shady way of doing things. It’s a way of doing things that we all must look out for. It’s ok to listen to your intuition… Unfortunately many businesses in the cannabis industry have failed. That’s not uncommon in most industries, to be honest. However, the way that it has come about is a tad tacky in my book. I don’t speak much about politics publicly, but I do love my community.
There are mom-and-pops in this great state that feel robbed. They feel that the system which was put in place during the first years of legalization in Oklahoma was a money grab. They blame many players involved in the governing bodies. They feel that those players would benefit the state rather than the industry itself. Some feel that this grew into an even more greedy situation. Major players within the cannabis industry itself have been accused of having a hand in the pocket of some of those benefitted.
It’s been interesting to observe to say the least.
I won’t give you a BS promotional speech that makes you feel that there is a pot of gold waiting for us all. What I will do is encourage you to keep moving forward. Make a more collaborative effort to accomplish your goals. Stick together and create your own ideas. Have fun doing it. We are in a cannabis industry.
That’s supposed to be fun right?
Those that oppose our lifestyle and understanding of what good medicine is are waiting for us to trip up. Make sure they trip first. They want this to fail. When it all comes down to it, this is about money. The blanket of fear that is covering the eyes of justice must come down once in a while. At times Justice needs to look the liar in the face in order to gain access to the truth.
