Terps In The City

Maur Stringer

Episode Summary

Why the war on drugs casualties should have an advantage Maur Stringer knows first-hand the impact the war on drugs has had on the youth in America. He joins Scheril Murray-Powell, Esq. to explain how his marijuana arrests changed the trajectory of his life. He shares his opinion on New York state's current cannabis regulation's attempt to help the war on drugs causalities. Read about his experiences with Cannabis MA Jumping Jim Crow for Cannabis Executive Producer: Scheril Murray-Powell Produced by PodConx Scheril Murray-Powell, Esq, - https://podconx.com/guests/scheril-murray-powell Maur Stringer - https://podconx.com/guests/maur-stringer Shaki Green Lit - www.shaktigreenlit.com

Episode Notes

Why the war on drugs casualties should have an advantage

  Maur Stringer knows first-hand the impact the war on drugs has had on the youth in America.   He joins Scheril Murray-Powell, Esq.   to explain how his marijuana arrests changed the trajectory of his life.   He shares his opinion on New York state's current  cannabis regulation's attempt to help the war on drugs causalities.   Read about his experiences with Cannabis MA Jumping Jim Crow for Cannabis

Executive Producer:  Scheril Murray-Powell

Produced by PodConx

 

Scheril Murray-Powell, Esq, - https://podconx.com/guests/scheril-murray-powell

Maur Stringer -  https://podconx.com/guests/maur-stringer

Shaki Green Lit - www.shaktigreenlit.com

 

Episode Transcription

Scheril Murray-Powell:[00:00:00] Hello, everyone. Thank you. And welcome back to TURPs in the city. TURPs in the city is a podcast that talks about everything, cannabis, all things cannabis. This season is all about my journey. I'm Cheryl Marie Powell, Esquire. I'm a cannabis agricultural dietary supplement and trade attorney. And I have relocated back to New York.

I go between New York and my residency in Florida. And. We're just talking about hot topics. So with that said, today's guest is none other than Mars, stringer, Mara. And I came across each other at MJ impact. It was a conference in New York. It was the second staging of MJ on pact and we just instantly had chemistry and wanted to talk about, what's the future of the new.

Cannabis industry, Mar is from New York. As , on the show, New York is like always end the backdrop of the conversation for this particular season. So welcome. Welcome. Welcome. 

Well, city [00:01:00] mom, how are you today?

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: I'm awesome. I'm awesome. How are you? 

Scheril Murray-Powell: I will. I'm awesome as well. I'm really glad that we were able to connect. And , we got to have a really good conversation yesterday and I was like, no, we got to get this recorded. We got a document what's going on this energy, this buzz that's happening around not only the New York cannabis industry, but the national cannabis industry, the global cannabis industry.

So I just wanted to talk to you today and kind of have you share your perspective. You're a native new Yorker. So let's talk about your experience , being a new Yorker and being a cannabis consumer. What's your cannabis history as far as, when did you , from your start of consumption, when did you take a directions?

Take a turn into the activism area of, of being a part of the end of the.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Well, I think just being a part of a lot of industry in America, black folks. Put into the activism thing, just because it's not many of us in this space, there's only 2%. So, , if you get in, people are going to be [00:02:00] looking, they're going to be watching. And how do you represent, , I want to represent for those who have been disenfranchised, who never been accepted, you know, that's my class, you know, and I just want to correct you because I'm from New York and you're in New York now, and there's a lot of gang stuff going on. So when you say I'm a new Yorker, that means New York, New York, you understand that's like Manhattan. from I'm from long island, New York, strong ally. They'll tell you strong ally, but when they say strong island, they mean long avid, you know?

Scheril Murray-Powell: so that's so funny. Cause I'm also from long island. So I was born in, I was born in north shore hospital,

grew up in great neck.

What did you and your high school at turtle hook junior high school 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Okay. 

Scheril Murray-Powell: So I am from long island too. So in common right now, I'm in New York city. I'm here in Harlem.

Love the vibe, love the cadence of Harlem. I was just visiting family and on long island, I got two brothers who live on [00:03:00] long island. One once we're still in union Dale. And once further out on the island,

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Okay.

Scheril Murray-Powell: It's all love. It's all love between the counties all love between the boroughs.

But I, I love that you represent long island strength,

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yeah.

Scheril Murray-Powell: sort of long island.

Are you from

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Freeport long island, Nassau, Karen, right there by

Scheril Murray-Powell: What's flavor flavor from Freeport. 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: we used to see him walking up and down the streets, flavor flavor, right on I'm writing. I live on independence, independence in Rutland,

my grandfather. Yeah. My grandfather built that house in like 1960 or something like

Scheril Murray-Powell: Wow. 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yeah. My mother

was born. 

Scheril Murray-Powell: of the generational.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yeah.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Awesome. Is Eddie Murphy, is he from Freeport too?

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yup.

He's he's

Busta rhymes. Q-tip

you know, we got, 

Scheril Murray-Powell: Q2.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: yeah, we got a lot of flavor, but what happens is a lot of us go to the Burroughs and stuff. Like I frequent in Brooklyn,

I was in Brooklyn a lot coming up you know, but you know, long island was always, you know, just, [00:04:00] you know, amazing place for me to grow up.

I loved it. I loved the school. I went to Freeport, you know,

Scheril Murray-Powell: I had some friends, some people at an unfree port. So, it's good to know that we have that as well in common the long island of flavor with that said, let's talk about, In New York weather, , and having the, that cannabis experience. So when you first started consuming cannabis, was it something that you kind of hit hit from your parents or you didn't have to that?

Were they more liberal or what was that experience like for you?

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: It was, it was really weird because the older kids used to smoke in the back of my house. I didn't smoke, but I love the smell.

You know, just one day I just eventually went out there and I just grabbed the blunt, the Philly blunt from the crack that open.

And I like what you're doing. I was like, cause they were older kid and I was like, I'm twisting up. And he's like, you don't this, you ain't never smoked before. So nobody asks me to, it just, it just calls me and it

smells so good. And one day I started smoking. But it was really the definitive moment for me was my arrest after my [00:05:00] first arrest at 14.

And after I got out, I was just like, yeah, I'm still going to start.

I'm still going to smoke. And then it was like, actually, I was like, I heard like, okay, you know, this, this love affair is going to cause are you with it? And I'm like, yo, I'm with you. Do I can't live without smoking.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Yeah. And let's talk about that. So first of all, were, , one thing we're not doing on the show is condoning adolescent youth use the use of cannabis, fortunate with legalization. There's been good progress as far as really specifying that it is an adult use market. So I just want to make that clear, but being a youth , it, it does come into , your world and your environment and, you know, a lot of cannabis users it's not based on addiction that they continue to be.

Cannabis, but it's really, it's a form of self-medication and 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: yeah. 

Scheril Murray-Powell: proven that it has these medication, medical related properties. So I just wanted to clarify that, but let's, let's go back to that 14 year old you 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yeah, 

Scheril Murray-Powell: , that arrest what was the quantity [00:06:00] that you had to be arrested at 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: I had, I had about an aerosol on me. But I didn't sell anything. It was actually. A white kid came up to me. I was sitting on the bench with my friends. We was smoking over there right

next to the Freeport high school. There's a a duck pond and we was, we was smoking and you know, it was white.

K came up to us. He was 13.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Yeah.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: He came up to us and he was like, Hey, we got, we got, we even was like, nah, he's like yesterday, dude, he stopped was really badgering us. And he walked away and walked back and I was like, yo, I'm gonna give him the Dutch guts. At the time I was collecting the insides of the cigar friend of mine was, was I in juvie or whatever he was in a program where. It wasn't a jail, but it was a program like a home or something like that. And the cigar paper, they will use the guts. So I had that in a white, white boy gave him $20 and I gave him the Dutch guts and he walked off and another white guy came up to me. He's like, Hey, that kid up there. And he's, he's calling the cops on you guys. He was like, what? Yeah. He's like, he's, he's saying you guys robbed him. [00:07:00] He can call on the cops. So I was like, whatever, we didn't believe it was like, yo, this dude tried to buy weed. How's he going to call the cops? And so we sit and he sat there and smoked and chilled and next thing you know, sure enough, the cops came and that was my first arrest.

I didn't have any arrest. So to me, you know, when you're doing something in you're accepted and yourself, It's not something that's bad to you. You know, I was always a star athlete. I played sports wrestling and I'm on the wall in my school three times, three different years, you know?

So, 

Scheril Murray-Powell: were like a high achieving student. You were a scholar athlete at the time, never arrested and kind of sounds like a setup of him coming over, trying to buy. And then I'm 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: He ended up getting arrested too. He got taken to juvie. And I guess we get back to that point, you know, at what age is a, is a child and adult, because here it is, you know, Yoda dudes is the stress that I was going through that we were going through. Smoking was definitely a way for me to self-medicate and at 14, they charged me as an adult.

I was charged in adult sale to a minor. [00:08:00] It doesn't get any more egregious than that. That's a high charge.

That's like a class felony or something like that. Sale to a minor and attempted robbery. That's what the charges were.

Scheril Murray-Powell: So you, you're sitting there with your friends, minding your own business, and then this white kid comes over to you and asked to , buy weed. You say, deny and say, you're not a drug dealer at all. And he, he keeps coming back and then you're like, all right, I'm just going to give him these Dutch guts, whatever.

And then after that, he walks away, calls the police and then both of you get arrested. So this kid that just purchased. From you and then you not being a drug dealer, but just a kid high performing kid that was a cannabis user. Maybe didn't have the, I'm a little naive in the fact that what that would mean for you, for you 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Right.

And then you both get arrested at the same exact time. You and this kid and you are charged as an adult or [00:09:00] selling him, the person who approached you for the marijuana for the cannabis or ganja, you are arrested for selling it to him, he's charged, but as a minor, and you are charged, charged as an adult, same incident, same exact time.

He was the initiator. And then you had to be charged as an adult where you you were in In holding with adults at that time, or were you both held in juvenile detention?

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: So I would hope he got charged. He was taken away by the police,

you know, he 

Scheril Murray-Powell: profitable. He did not get charged.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: he didn't get charged,

you know? But yeah, I was just taken away to a holding cell. They called my mother to come get. You know, and I believe John he's in New York. I have to link up with him. He was my, he was my, my child, lawyer, John

Scheril Murray-Powell: Okay. Shout out sometime pertain, but portraying along 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: yeah, 

Scheril Murray-Powell: alone, shout out to him.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: maybe you a lawyer in New York.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Yeah. I'd love to come across him again and he can help with the justice foundation. [00:10:00]

And just to say, say, thanks. Cause you know, you were charged to a charged as an adult. It was plead down to a lesser charge.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yeah. Yeah. Four years later it was plead down to something where I just had community service or something like that. If I stayed out of trouble or didn't catch any more charges for some type of some, some time it was sealed. So I was able to get private investigator jobs. I was able to get security. In Georgia, I was able to pass a background check and stuff some years later to get jobs where I had to be, you know, you know, go through some extensive background stuff.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Okay, well that, I'm glad to hear that, but it doesn't the story doesn't always end that way. The same situation can happen in someone's charged as an adult and they end up being incarcerated in prison with grown men and being vulnerable. We saw that with the center part five. Central park five. And with other situations, that's how quickly you can go from hanging out with your friends, to being, [00:11:00] you know, a felon being, being incarcerated, losing your, your youth.

And that happened time after time after time again. So, you know, thank you for sharing that you, you indicated that was your first arrest, where there were other marijuana arrests in, in your future 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yeah, in high school alone. I had six open cases at the time. And then I graduated in quarter another two charges in 99. I was looking at 16 to 22 years behind the stuff that wasn't mine. I was in a passenger in a stolen car. But my two latest marijuana restaurants were in 2016. I had another sale charge to a undercover Boston police. In 2016 it was fairly legal and it was, it was a gray area in Massachusetts. There wasn't anything open. And as long as there weren't any dispensaries open, it pretty much was fair game. You know, the people voted that they wanted it. So, I had a community, I had about a hundred people in my community.

I was all over the place from California, Colorado, north Cal LA, you [00:12:00] know, all over the place. You know, Getting invited and getting into where I need to be.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Well that, and that's clearly makes you you legacy from the perspective of, you know, you've been involved in, in the industry you are definitely justice involved by the definition of a New York justice involved. You know, you're, you're currently not residing in the state, but now you do have ties to New York.

So, very interesting you know, history and it's a, it's a very common history just looking forward to, to now and, and to you turn into activism. , how does it feel to see this booming legal industry? When, , you were self-medicating as a teenager and your future was disrupted in that way.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: As a consumer, I think is lit. It's amazing as a consumer is amazing to be a part of that, that aspect of it. It's no longer stigmatized. It's another mass incarceration, 2.0 with [00:13:00] these taskforce, you know, you see the numbers in Colorado at the legalization. 50% increase in rest with black and brown and the same thing in Massachusetts and the rest rate increase for cannabis for disparity in Canada. For black and brown. So, you know, it's going to be like Colorado. I'm intimate with Colorado. I was dealing with a family in Colorado for years. And then when stigma, once they went legal, everything changed. Our relationship changed. We couldn't do business anymore. They were terrified. And you know, it was just a scary place for people after legalization those in the legacy market. So.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Yeah, there's two ways to look at it. We're glad that it's legal and other people don't have to go through which, what she went through. But on the other side, you know, Black and brown bodies and, and others. And, you know, there's some white people and some, some others incarcerated currently to this state or small amendments people are continuing to be arrested for small amounts [00:14:00] of marijuana cannabis to this day.

So we, we, we can't think that we've already arrived in that the fight is over. There's still a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: absolutely. You know, when you talk about, you know, the legacy marketing and what is the future for. For the industry. I just, you know, it's it, that's why I'm anti activism, you know, because to me, real activism, you would be on the front lines. They would be at the, they would take buses from state to state, to these courthouses where they're locking people up.

They're locking children up to me. That's the activism, you know? I've seen people, you know, like this whole thing, the prison school to pipeline is all about money, mass incarceration. You know, when you have an engine like this and people are getting paid and stuff. Why aren't people being activists over there? 

Scheril Murray-Powell: Yeah, I think, I think it's a complicated issue and I've gone back and forth on the issue myself. So, , myself as an activist, [00:15:00] I was that person who was like, I'm outraged, I'm getting involved. I'm going to use my privilege as a lawyer. And I did go state to state and I did testify it municipalities and, and courts and , joined defense teams and other states.

And And, and going to the legislature in different states and things like that. But , part of that is I do have a certain amount of privilege and I do to have the luxury of the flexibility to do that. So, I like to look at activism as like a multi-tiered The thing where, there's some people who can do that and the ones who can, should absolutely.

And there are some people who can, their activism is through their funding. And even if we, when we look at the end of slavery and , the people who were evangelizing against it, some people, it was just their finances that they contributed. And they hid behind a cloak or there were some people who, opened up their homes.

And, and that was their form of activism. So I think similarly in our current situation, , you have to be realistic about. What's in your realm of [00:16:00] possibility. , people with kids, they may not be able to go to their capital, but they can go to their district office when their kids at school.

So I think it's really being creative and, and showing people different ways that they can be activists because all of that effort really helps. Like the people who are just funding the movement that. , tremendous work, like the people who fund the justice foundation, like that allows me to, , be in New York and, take the train to, if I need to go to mass or take the train to DC, or I need to, that's really what helps fund that activity.

And so I can feed my kid and be that person all over the place. So, , it really depends. And I think we need to say. Evolving, , our thinking with regards to what activism looks like, because all of its welcome, all of us needed. Cause we're so far from the finish line. Like we've come really far, but there's so much longer to go in and it'll take everybody.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yeah, I believe it's needed, you know, but me, I, I feel like there's a way they use to trick people out of their spot, you know, you're not [00:17:00] going to, you know, and I've, I faced it directly in Massachusetts. I was naive and. You know, thinking, okay. You know, everybody, who's, everybody's just going to get behind me because I found something that was wrong and I'm going to be loud about it.

But also the another thing that turned me off about activism is

they didn't like the fact that we had solutions. You know? So usually you just jumping up and down and saying something is wrong

when somebody solutions, you know, and, and the solution needs to be win-win for everybody. 

Scheril Murray-Powell: Or tolerable, maybe tolerable for everyone. Maybe it's not necessarily a win, but if you can tolerate it because it's the right thing to do.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yeah. You know, when you're talking about business in America, man, you know, I like, I like to stick with win-wins,

you know, because like this other stuff, when we looking for Goodwill, it never happens. We don't see

it. I, like I said, I like to see what looks wrong, what, what went wrong and a lot of things. But you know, when you talk about equity, first friendships instance, U S equity first, but equity didn't go first, you know, you

know, big, big business, big money went first. [00:18:00] So, you know, we had to position ourselves, you know, to say, okay, equity first doesn't mean we're going to go first. We have to position ourselves and them to go at the same time so we can go. And I think that's kind of what we were focused on without. You know, solutions, you know, just, you know, bringing out solutions, you know, like we have a solution called the PI's program that talking about specifically.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Awesome. So one last question on, , growing up in New York , was that arrest the end of your athleticism in, in high school.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: No, we had choice. I had a choice. I had a choice. And I chose, you know, to me, it's, it's a deeper thing going on when you. That. Okay. By the third grade, we can see if these children go into prison and not, I think we have that our school system and, and what's being taught and I chose, you know, a sense of self and a sense of pride and a sense of self worth. And I had that on the streets. I had that, you know, I

had that, I was liberated, you know, when I was in classroom, I was being taught, you know, some things that was going against my spirit and my energy.

[00:19:00] And I li I believe a lot of these things, cause it's tribalism. We get out there in these gangs, that's tribalism,

but a lot of us get turned. By school because it's spiritual. We don't see ourselves in the message. It's the white supremacy message, you know, and anybody our age, you know, should be looking to have real solutions. That's why I don't like equity, social equity and, you know, you know, civil rights, these terms is just a loose of terms to couch white supremacy. You know, I think we need to be direct in this era of information technology and kind of talk about what it is. Are we just going to pass it? Our children are going to inherited and the white people that are alive today, us alive today, we didn't experience that gruesome style racism, but we should, we should be working together to intellectualize it. And I'm not going to close my eyes and act like things don't exist. No way am I the smartest person on the planet? So I'll be looking at people who, when. You know, institutions and stuff for solutions, but everybody should be talking about real solutions right now. I'm like, I'm not we're not with, you know, like, that's why I said [00:20:00] like with civil rights, we was doing all the activism, but we didn't get nothing. We didn't organize no businesses. We didn't get, no, we don't, we don't own, we don't control no industry out of that. We didn't get anything out of that. Asians did Jews, did, you know, groups of women's did, but we did, you know, as a group and we were at the forefront of activism being loud. 

Scheril Murray-Powell: yeah, we can talk about that. So one, one, I agree with. The conversation about having solutions it's solutions are the key. I think when we're looking, when we're talking about remedies, it's really important that we know what type of remedy, where we're interested in, what we're, what remedy looks like to us.

And sometimes it's not a financial payout. I'm thinking. The USDA lawsuit, the Pickford cases, that's a place huge suit with black farmers against the USDA. And at the end of the day, especially with the liquidated damages, they ended up getting what $50,000 per farmer lawyers made a lot of money. But , we didn't see the change, what we're realizing and [00:21:00] kind of looking at now.

And I was at a farmers not a farmer's conference, but a conference with a lot of organizations of color and a few, quite a few were farming organizations when we came together as farming organizations. And what we realized is, , that financial payout wasn't enough. It really, we needed to.

Restructure and encourage the USDA to restructure how they approach things, how they treated farmers of color, how they encouraged them to or facilitated them, getting loans. So I think you're absolutely right that, when we're thinking about solutions, it's not always the, , the payments.

It's not always that superficial thing. It's really looking at the infrastructure and looking at beneath the layers and finding out how to change things at its root. So I agree with. Your comment about social equity. I have a slightly different stance. Like I, I think social equity.

Came in as a concept when it was needed. And there wasn't, there definitely wasn't parody. There definitely wasn't a representation. And I think social [00:22:00] equity has gotten us more representation and has gotten us more equity. I think it's a, an evolving state where. One social equity program becomes a catalyst for the next social equity program, which considers all those things like to the point that where we are with you York and New Jersey and even, , Connecticut where there's their social equity council.

They're really looking at okay. There was an intention to create these social equity licenses, but we saw the straw man situations where these people weren't really in control and they were being bought out and they weren't given fair contracts. How do we approach that? So. Well, they've evolved to the point of let's start looking at ownership and control and verifying that this person who has that brown face for the application is actually in ownership and has control of the business.

, it's not that social equity is bad or, I don't have issue with the terminology. But it's [00:23:00] really looking at it as there steps that needed to take place to get us to here where we were more aware and our eyes are open to, this is where we miss the last time.

We need to make sure that , we're creating multi-generational wealth, that we're not just giving them a license that they won. We haven't given them the tools as far as how to be successful at this business. Too, they can be taken advantage of , predators taking advantage of by predators.

And three, they can lose their licenses, but with. Compliance things and forward taxing them so much that they're not making any money. So, we needed the first social equity programs we needed to Illinois. We needed the Maryland program and Pennsylvania, and we needed all the diversity language here and there to get us to the point now that we better understand we're not perfect, but we better understand the challenges facing, People of color , who are, are issued licenses, especially priority licenses.

And now we [00:24:00] can put in place the tools to help them to be the successful. So with, with that said, 

What are, your thoughts on the more recent programs? Are we getting better at then the equity conversation from a regulatory?

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: I'm in social equity programs and economic empowerment programs in Massachusetts. And

. I qualify in New York also because of my arrest and stuff

A native new Yorker. So I'm in these programs. But my whole thing was how these programs are being handled.

The definition of, of what they were trying to do should have been done a different way. It should have been done by IRS because the rest would, would have just handled everything because they did it by social equity in Massachusetts, you look at the. White folks. Got it. White folks got the equity understand you know, in a social equity and they're in the programs, but you look at mass incarceration.

This happened to two groups has happened to black and brown groups, but the the war on drugs has never been done. It's not being defined for people. So when you open up a program, of course, people [00:25:00] like, Hey, I got an arrest. I belong in there and I got an arrest, but you talking about a war that was waged on black and brown people at, from the highest seat in the land, they were talking about war on drugs, war on drugs. And then they came out, come to our neighborhoods and, and and set up camp everywhere. It's still being done and just arrest, just arrest. You know, and then you're talking about people who are, this is a monstrous thing, because that's why it's our responsibility as an adult to have these real conversations.

Because you know, you're talking about people who aren't even allowing people to become a dose before they enlist them in this war. They're going after children. They're not going after 40 old men like myself anymore, but they they're going after our children, you know, their infant out 14 year old, 15 year old boys, you look like a man, come on. You know, so that's, that's the cowardice in this whole thing, the children on the front line, and these are going to be young, new arrests. They're running a new programs on the children and I'm running the same program. You know, they're [00:26:00] doing pills or whatever else they're doing with the children. Now, in my days, it was weed and, you know, fucking and selling crack and drugs and, you know, Everything else that came with that lifestyle, you know? So the different programming, you know, the children on the front lines again, I'm always going to tell them, you know, I don't need the reparations. 

Scheril Murray-Powell: I think that's 

that's important work and that naive to tape that you experienced in your situation where it's like, , if you were an adult man outside with his friends and this white kid comes over to you, to buy , some weed, you probably would have been like, nah, something something's not right, but because you're young, you're going to make poor decisions.

And I think why. Young people across cultures make poor decisions, right? It's just, what are the penalties? And and, and when with regards to cannabis, we've gone so far down the road of a commercialization that we really need to make sure not one more person goes to, to prison , for [00:27:00] cannabis at this point.

, so we talked a little bit about social equity and then mass incarceration is, has been such a huge disruptive force, especially in black and brown communities. But so I , with New York, again, it's an evolution, social equity conversations is about our evolution.

So New York they're pioneer with this justice involved terminology. , and you're calling out the fact that yeah, justice. Is that group that was most significantly harmed by the war on drugs. So. What do you, what do we say to the other legacy folks who may not have gotten the charge, but they built the structure of the industry.

They were maybe harassed by police, but didn't get an arrest., what about those individuals? Is there a way to include , legacy that haven't been justice involved? Do you see that as something that is a slippery slope or do you see that as something that is fair and just

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: well, the whole thing that sparked the movement was people who were. [00:28:00] So it's documented, it's mad. It's enough of us. That's documented in terms of you know, legacy operators. I've dealt intimately with these individuals and if they never got arrested, then. Then they should have enough money to do what they need to do. I, my friend who printed a direct friend of mine, went from black market to open it up to doing in Calla in California. They have this thing called event planning license, and it can be a weekend warrior cannabis. At these, at these events, which is cool. I think that's like, I think that's a dope way for legacy people to get in because they got the money to pay for that license.

How much of the licenses for the weekend pay for that license? So you can pay your taxes and operate, but he went from operating in a quote unquote black market to operating in the real market. It was a smooth transition, never been arrested, had a farm, you know, everything, you know, second generation, you know, as we grow in. So they have, they, they they're operating. Oh, under a certain, you know, privileged already anyway, because more than likely than skinny. [00:29:00] You know, so I don't have anything against the legacy dudes I have. So with them, we made money with them, but it's, it's clear and defined, you know, the whole reason it sparked this movement was because of the numbers, not because of people's feelings.

So we need to get back to the numbers and the numbers are in the mass incarcerated and that that's white, Asian ENM, black, and everybody under the sun been incarcerated, so, or re arrested, which in my case, I've been arrested, you know, and I've had judgements on cannabis, you know, where I had to do. You service and stuff, but I am ever do no time.

That's it's too. Some people are too spiritual to be in that type of situation where their freedom is confined, you know? And so it's just, that's, that's just what it is. And that's kind of how I've, you know, get into this thing where, you know, people want to say that I'm an activist. Because if I see something wrong, then I'm gonna say, but I'm not gonna say nothing unless I have a solution. That's something other than that, you know, it's about business and economics and, you know, capitalism, that's America, you [00:30:00] know, I don't like how they try to hang that on. I wasn't arrested for, you know, activism. I was arrested for selling weed, you know, commerce, you know, economics, you know what I said?

So I don't come here and be no activist and be your martyr, you know, so you can get in and everybody else can get in, which happened to me in massive. I'm not interested. I'm not interested in that either we move together and, and move under the best solutions, which we have a solution or, you know, we have solutions, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm ready to move with anybody with solutions, you know, but if you ain't got mad, we gotta get this paper.

I got five children, you know, I got a beautiful wife, you know, I'm ready to make money off of cannabis and

I'm here to make 

money 

Scheril Murray-Powell: what, what, do we say to the people who may not have been arrested, but I lost custody of their kids for certain period of times their kids went through disastrous situation, abusive situations. How do we bring those people in? Yes. And it was cannabis related.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Well, I think that's when we have those people we have, that's why we have groups that [00:31:00] organizations and, you know, ideally when you join these cannabis groups, then you write to your legislators or whoever it is like, that's why I learned better than just shouting up and down. Like I learned okay. To contact people.

Who's in charge of the Susan, sorry. Let's contact these people directly.

And what a solution, Hey, we got this woman, I know in the spirit of the legislation, we don't want to throw it away. This woman who went through this, you know, and stuff like that. So,

You know, that's when you have those types of things, you know, organizations like that,

Scheril Murray-Powell: , I just like to always play devil's advocate on that. Cause I, I do think there needs to be an expansion on , just looking at justice involved. I do believe that mass incarceration was again, disastrous for the community, but I think there were so many other losses that , just like microaggressions, there were these, , these fractures in our community that came from all these different directions.

Difficult to limit it to just those who are incarcerated as far as

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: I'm not saying that. I'm

not saying that though, because everybody who black and brown went through this type of stigmatism, because they were on [00:32:00] the hunt for it. Wasn't about weed. It was, it

was, this was given to us before we is happening to us. After legalization of weed, it's going to happen to us under some other guys.

They passed a law that you couldn't sag your pants there after black. You know, anybody with black or brown skin and that brown is, is, is I loved how that gentleman in the other interview who you did, he defined it

to, to to Afro Latin X because that's. That's important because they're cause they're discriminating against people who look like us and they were over here and you, and you're joining this movement, but then you don't want to include those folks as you know, Caribbean, you know, or I mean, as a Latin, you know, so they have to be called Afro Latin any way you find black folks, they got to put the Afro in front of it. When a lot of us have, have indigenous long heritage in these.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Yeah, it's, it's very, it's really difficult to wrap your arms around what this reparations or what this inclusion should look like. I'm always looking in the periphery of like, you know, what did it do [00:33:00] to the whole community? And that. , when we started talking on social equity and we were talking about , impacted areas and, dances, zip codes and things like that over, , over-policing zip codes and, , geographies impacted by over-policing and doing it that way.

, that was one strategy, but it had a chat it's challenges to. Some people, they've already come up or some people weren't impacted, but they're in the right zip codes or they're living that zip code now after gentrification. And then there's the dormant commerce clause issue where, you know, people out of state are saying, it's not fair.

It's against the constitution for you to give priority to the people based on geography. So it's, it's something that we definitely can't solve on, on this call, but I so appreciate your perspective with regards to. , having been someone who is justice involved, having been someone who's been an activist and really has been solution minded and, , challenged regulators and in a healthy way to, to drive things forward.

At the end of the day, there's a lot that can be learned from that as far as what does forward look [00:34:00] like and really being solutions minded and not , just jumping up and down and not really talking about what the future is that you want to see because you'll be doing that every single session.

. I appreciate your sacrifice and what you suffered to get you to this point. And I look forward to you be having a successful and if not multiple cannabis businesses. Because you deserve it and you did pay the price. So we thank you for that.

Especially those of us like myself, who I didn't necessarily pay that price or pay the price the same way that, that you did. But I have to, , again, use my privilege and be an activist for those people who. Or, , don't know how to speak for themselves. Now, what I usually do at the end of my show, there's two questions.

I ask people. The first one is, what can TURPs in the city do what's in her audience do to really elevate your movement and support, you 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Well, yeah, you definitely have to protect and insulate people like myself. We are the dysfunctional class, the class [00:35:00] that was never accepted and we aren't politically correct. And there's doing, there's a lot of different language and this is deep orals, like in my program and the program that my wife created, the, the Excel part, like in my own, I'm in an equity program myself. And then I guess you would call it an equity program, but I bought my own team. I bought a, bought five different professionals to help me lift up a product, you know, product, develop people who had over 20 years experience in the field because it's over your head, it's over your head and you have to. We have to protect one another and we have to lift us up into the scene. Everybody ain't going Jayden. But we can't like my, my grandfather was in the liquor industry. He was bootlegging liquor. That's how he bought that house, all cash. My aunt told me he built that house that we live in still today that my mother lives until there's a Freeport New York or cash from bootlegging, And blacks got kind of pushed out of that, you 

Scheril Murray-Powell: absolutely. Absolutely. We want to make sure that doesn't happen. 

Yeah.

So giving installation and protection to someone who is allowed [00:36:00] voice in the community, that's 

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: And I'm going to tell you this, even though I'm talking against activists, it really I'm gonna tell you I'm honestly, it feels somewhat good. Cause when people regard me as that, that they mean, I'm saying something on behalf of other people. And I like to be regarded as that. That's a good legacy to leave, but I'm not trying to, I'm not, that's not my goal.

My goal is busy. You know, here in his face, you know, you know, but it feels, it feels it feels, it doesn't feel bad. You know, when people say that, oh, you're an activist or they see something I've done and say, okay, you're an activist in this space. You know, because I know the true meaning of mining and we've had arrests and stuff.

So maybe we all, we have been doing real activism and stuff. So.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Awesome. Well, I thank you for your work and your perspective. , it takes all perspectives to move this things forward. And I know you, you have traveled , for the movement. You have spoken out, you've sometimes been ostracized. But we appreciate all of [00:37:00] that. And my last question for today is if there's anyone in the world that you could meet, if we could facilitate that, who would you meet?

If you can meet anyone in living in the world.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: So, it would have to be like the other young ladies said, I love Oprah to death match, speak as my hero. I promise you , I, when I heard you asked the other others, I was like, oh,

I know I'm going to say, I know who I want to be. You know? And then she said, I like, she done took my win.

And I was like, I gotta think of somebody else. And I was

Scheril Murray-Powell: no, no, offers. That's a good call-out. I mean, Just as a weight and advisor, she could be on your board or she could be an investor. She could just be like a mentor, like anything, any access to, to Oprah and her knowledge. And she could be an introducer, a connector for you. So, clearly here in NYC here sirens behind me and stuff.

, that's the television sound like when people are doing things in New York. So you got it right here [00:38:00] live, but yeah, , Oprah is a great choice. Actually our producer, Dan, like when oh, and Amani said in a previous. I said Oprah. He was like, I was so surprised that no one said Oprah up until this point, because she is she's bad.

Like she she's the whole package. She has a hustle. She came from nothing like there's so much. I would just like to sit and listen to her, , even though I've heard her story, but tell her story again and just drop some, like, this is my business plan. This is my high level strategy for life. This is where my, my, 

journey. You hear what she says so that I think that's a good call out and hopefully Oprah's listening. And, and then she can actually hang out with UN and Mani based on that. But I really believe in there less than six degrees of separation. Especially in black community, especially in cannabis community.

Usually it's like one degree for the most part, two degrees maximum. , I believe in speaking things into existence and then they can happen. So I want to thank you today [00:39:00] for your time, Mar and I feel like we're going to have to catch up soon. Cause it seems like you're at a, a critical partner.

Your journey where. There's going to be so many updates between now and like in the next couple months, based on the stuff that you're doing. So, many blessings I support you. I'm looking forward to celebrating your success. I'll be cheering on the sidelines and look forward to seeing you again in person.

maur-b-stringer_1_06-24-2022_140745: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Hopefully I see you next week. I'm going to be out this way, but yet, thank you.

Scheril Murray-Powell: Absolutely. So thank you to our audience listening, or this is TURPs in the city. If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please, you can email me. The information will be in the call notes. If you're interested in being on the show, very I'm very accessible. Find me on all the socials, Cheryl Marie Powell, or on Instagram at virtue.

And with. Victory. And I look forward to doing more of this work. I am a journalist as well as being an attorney. I love elevating voices that you don't traditionally [00:40:00] here. And these people I have on the show, they're actually my friends. They're like my people. So I am very fortunate to have the circle that I have around me.

So thanks for tuning into TURPs in the city and I'll see you next time.