Happy Cannadate

A POST-MORTEM

By Stu Zakim

Happy Anniversary to Munkey Biz! Congrats to David Hernandez and his team.

In the “I’ll take what she’s smoking” world, at this time, the current administration hasn’t accepted reality, we won! Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will become President and VicePresident and hopefully, Georgia’s Senate run-off January 5 will give the new administration a majority in both houses of Congress.

The other piece of good news for the Munkey family is that legalizing either/ or medical and adult use Cannabis passed in every state it was on the ballot. Soon, residents in states like mine, New Jersey, especially those who are black or brown, will not only not be incarcerated and have their lives destroyed for minor Cannabis offenses, those that were in the past will have their records expunged and that’s the first step towards social justice and equity. Also, the NJ law contains a component very important to those of use who loved the Munkey culture and experience – public consumption lounges. Although the voters have spoken, there’s still a ways to go before everyone takes the PATH Train to Hoboken to score their weed. Pre-Covid, there were many towns in the state that had already voted to not allow legal Cannabis businesses in their towns; now with the tax deficits and unemployment caused by the pandemic, let’s see how quickly those same towns pivot to welcome us with open arms.

The Munkey family as well as the Cannabis community as a whole, represent a large voting block and as the legalization wave continues, politicians must see us that way and reach out to leaders like Vlad and Ramon to really understand what matters to our industry. As NY moves towards it, let’s leverage that strength to create a bill that addresses features important to the community. Check out our weekly newsletter and website to stay updated about this. AND, THANK YOU FOR VOTING!