Howie:

All right. K r t 93 9 in the lake. Let’s do it right now. Good morning. You are the 97th caller. Congratulations. You win a free autographed bong.

Cody:

Oh, man. Signed by Cheech himself.

Howie:

Yeah. It’s gonna be a, Hey, I actually worked with Tommy Chong in Albuquerque at the last Comedy cafe. That guy was a trip man. He sold bongs after the show and sold out every single night.

Cody:

<Laugh>. Yes. That’s great. You know, and, and he ended up, actually Tommy Chong is such a cool guy, but you know, that he got like, I think nine months in federal prison. Yes. For, for exactly that, for selling bongs the feds. I forget that it was like operations something. They, but they went after him. It was for selling bongs. And that wasn’t long ago. I wanna say it was like maybe seven or eight years ago. That sounds

Howie:

Familiar. I’ve, I’ve got one. I should give it to you cuz it’s got a collector’s item. I, I’ve only used it like twice. I just can’t, I keep spilling it. But it was nice that <laugh>, it was nice that I just thought, what a cool thing to sell it. A comedy club. There’s your demographics right there, <laugh>.

Cody:

Yes, definitely. That’ll connect you with all the right people. It

Howie:

Was like folks laughing the line right now for our segment called Toke Talk with CNH is Cody Bass, the proprietor of Tahoe Wellness Center. Man. And man, you guys have a lot going on today, wearing your other hat as far as the city council guy. But man, it’s gotta be, it’s gotta be interesting in your position because I don’t, I don’t know how many city council members actually get, have their own dispensary. It’s gotta be rare. Do you know any others in this whole country?

Cody:

Well, you know, actually that there is now, when I ran you know, I was really kind of one of the, the first that Right. Was actually fully elected. But there, there are now at this point, we’ve got, well, besides somebody like John Boehner. John Boehner, right? That’s true. Yeah. Yeah. But he actually wasn’t part of cannabis. He decided to drop out of politics to become part of, you know, in the cannabis industry. I, of course had been in cannabis for a couple decades before I ever ran for office. And, and honestly never imagined myself even five to six, seven years ago that I would ever, ever be on the other side of the diocese. I was constantly in city council having to remind them of the law and how to be good to business people in their community and this and that, but, right.

In talking to somebody you knew fairly well at, at the time. But anyways, I, I, you know, it’s been a good thing. You know, honestly, I, I’ve learned an incredible amount of stuff and, and I feel like we’ve kind of been able to turn the ship around a little bit. Of course, we still have quite a big, you know, set of challenges always in front of us as the city goes. But yeah, a lot different than I, than it was when I joined it. I mean, we’ve literally kind of changed the course of the city. We have all new, all new department heads all the way across the board. Of course, the city attorney, city manager, the only people that city council directly hires, but Right. The city manager is directly responsible for hiring every other person. Oh.

or every other department head. So, pretty cool. We, it, it seems, you know, we literally have a new police chief, fire chief Development services director, the most recent hire parts and rec director, new public works director, new finance director. Oh. And, and that’s really was needed. I mean, there, there was kind of a for, for decades the same old way of running the city which was really the same good old boys club for, for quite some time. So it, it really needed you know, fresh perspective, which takes the, the leadership you know, and, and again, we still are faced with serious amounts of challenges. But again, at least it’s not kind of run as the, as the same old group of guys that Right. And, and gals that that honestly had their thumb down on so many different people and businesses and this and that. So, anyways, yeah. Such a good change. And who knew? I mean, I never knew myself, so,

Howie:

Okay, here’s what cracks me up. Is, is weird. The only thing inevitable in this life is change and dying, you know? But the, the although I’m gonna be resurrected as a canine, so here’s the deal it cracks me up to, to think that politics back in the day and weed were there were like, you, you was like oil and vinegar, you know, vinegar or whatever, the two that don’t get along, oil and vinegar. And so the thing that cracks me up is now when I think of politics, I, I can’t think of anything better than they have to smoke something just to be able to deal with it.

Cody:

Yes. No, it’s exactly what they need at Capitol Hill <laugh>. And, and honestly, it’s probably one of the biggest you know, bipartisan issues on Capitol Hill. We have a lot of Republican support, a lot of Democratic support. We also have, you know, the, the people that are set against it on both sides, right? Yeah. So it, it’s a very interesting kind of issue that that is probably one of the biggest bipartisan issues of the day as it should be. Now, if we could just get them to all smoke one before, you know, each committee and before they actually take on real issues, God, the world would be a better place. I was

Howie:

Like, okay. So I get all these questions from people all over the country, man, this just cracks me up. Here’s one ironically in Maryland, they go, has Cody ever thought of being a lobbyist? And then here’s one, this one’s local, this one’s outside of Sacramento. Where’s Ron Roner Park that’s outside of Sacramento. And she’s asking, have you ever thought about teaching a course at, at the university level on this? Because gosh, talk about changing people’s, you know, views or mindsets. There’s not enough people who know enough about it, both on the selling it and on the political side of all the politics behind cannabis.

Cody:

Yeah, no, most definitely. So, you know, as far as being a lobbyist, that’s something that like, I, there’s no way I could ever spend, you know, no. All that time in the belly of the beast. I mean, yeah, understandable. I do, as I’ve talked about a few weeks ago, we go to Washington DC at least once a year. Sometimes I’m out there twice a year. Right. And, and we’re lobbying on a grassroots, kind of activist level where we’ve, we’ve got hundreds of meetings over a few days scheduled in the Senate buildings and the Congress buildings and different congressmen and, and, you know, senator’s office because our industry hasn’t matured. And often a sense, I don’t wanna say it’s actually matured, but we don’t have the, the kind of money basically that it takes to lobby through the normal channels of lobbying. So we still are doing it at a grassroots level, meaning, you know, our national association has the kind of ends to be able to set these meetings up, but we get operators and licensees from all around the country and we make those meetings ourselves.

And I honestly feel like that’s so much more effective than, you know, one of these firms that you pay hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars a year to go into these offices where yeah, they’re connected and they know the people and they know who they are, but the staffers in those offices just know that this is a paid lobbyist that they’re talking to. Oh. And yeah, they don’t listen to ’em, they get time of day. But when you show up as an actual person that is a licensee, that your day-to-day job is to operate at dispensary or a cultivation site, right. You kind of catch a different, a different tone, I guess you would say from some of these guys. Now, some of them if especially, you know, and still recently would be kind of like, wait, you’re with who? And like, oh man, when are you, they, they wouldn’t even ask a question.

They just kind of constantly look over you. Like, are you done talking? Oh, okay. Have a great day. Here’s my card. And yeah. Forget, you know, call us next decade. Yeah. but anyways, that, that’s been but that’s changed. You know, we were just there and in the last, I’d say even two years we are starting to see major engagement. You know, I was in a meeting with a senator outta West Virginia that they’re actually asking questions from West Virginia, you know, from places where just five years ago Wow. West Virginia, they were not willing to talk would. Right. So that would it, it, it’s getting, it’s getting much.

Howie:

Okay. Now here’s a question I’ve always wanted to ask you, because God, I have so many questions I always wanna ask you, man. And then all the, I gotta give you some of these questions. I’ll just send ’em over to you. But, so, okay. Now it’s always been where you have a dispensary, people come to the dispensary. Have you had marketing campaigns where you take it outside of the comfort zone outside of your campus there to other places to try to introduce, you know, introduce it to to other folks? Or maybe even have, I’d love to see that guy from Hell’s Kitchen partner up with you. Like, well, we’re going to mix something with that I normally don’t mix in that you could try over at our restaurant inside Harvey’s, how about this, you know, have a scratch and sniff menu. Like, oh, that’s a, that’s a good one. I’ll try some of that weed into this normal, normally you wouldn’t put that as an ingredient inside a, a main dinner, you know?

Cody:

Yeah, no, absolutely. So in time, so right now you have a, a few kind of, let’s just call ’em like popups. Okay. More or less chef that that will come into, oh, either your house or maybe they rent you know, a a a restaurant or commercial kitchen where they can kind of prepare this or do it more as like a catering thing. Oh, cool. And, and they do, they have medicated menus. That’s good. To where a chef really does pair the genetics with the course and the flavor. And, and honestly has to also understand not to overmedicate the, the, the dinner party, because, you know, you don’t want people’s face down in their you know, medicated turtle cheesecake. So you kinda have you, you’ve got this starting, but it’s not something that you’re starting to see quite yet at like a just walk in level now that is, is set to change.

You do have in West Hollywood, a couple places that have started that at a more of a you know, micro level serving it at the coffee bar. Oh. Having a couple of drinks that are medicated and maybe a few desserts. Oh. but nothing that’s kind of mainstream Yeah. All the way to, to the level of like a full on restaurant now. Right. Give that like a year. And I think you’ll start to see that change quite drastically. And I think that’s gonna be, in my opinion, one of the best things for cannabis. Like, we’ve talked about it many times, like changing this social consumption of how you kind of get together with friends or during a family holiday. And, you know, we always call it like a head change. You know, you need, and generally that’s done with like alcohol and you break bread and have a glass of wine and Oh, right. But as we’ve always known, and all of us do know, some people really don’t need alcohol and that same person generally using cannabis is such an easier person to deal with. And so Right. Having it as an option is gonna change. That would be man the society as a whole. You

Howie:

Know what, like I love going to Sprouts a lot because Tyler’s a real cool guy and he grows all his own grass. Have you seen on the back there, you know, in his, in his place, I’m thinking like, man, I could see the chemistry between Cody and Tyler and literally have sprouts of your product growing over there. Now. I can’t think of something more organic and kind of vegan ish than your stuff over there. Man, that’s just kind of cool vibe already. Why not add to it? You know, that would, that’d be a cool thing right there. You would sprout to be. Yeah. That’d be a great combo right there, you know?

Cody:

Yeah, man. No, I, I would be all about it. Tyler is such a good guy and honestly runs a spectacular, amazing business. And yeah. Sprouts is such Oh, such a cool spot. And yeah, they grow wheat grass. Yeah. They freshly juiced, which is so, you know, one of the best things you could ever right. Put in your body. I mean, it’s amazing. But yeah, I, you know, I do think Awesome that we’ll get to a day so cool. Where, you know, we could provide a place like Sprouts with you know, the necessary ingredients to medicate different dishes that they have now. So, cool. Now again, it’s gonna take a while. I mean, right now in California in particular, we are at such a place with the, the overregulation and over taxation. Oh, yeah. That, that we need to, to almost, you know, not restart, but we need a, we need a new law that Right. Will allow for cannabis to thrive beyond it being treated like plutonium actually treated and regulated more than plutonium. Wow. Which is pretty unbelievable.

Howie:

That’s really intense. Well, that’s intense. Well, I’m, I’m looking forward to that. That’s gonna be cool. Before, before you go hours, your hours are still the same. Is it still exactly what it was, or has it changed at all? No,

Cody:

We, we, it’s 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM Okay. We used to be 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM and we just, we moved it back a little bit. You know, it’s the slower part of the year. Yeah. And you know, honestly, as many people don’t really realize that the cannabis industry is in a very, well, California’s cannabis industry is in a really difficult time. We’ve had a fair amount of companies even go out of business here the last like six months. There is, and this is purely due to, to the government’s overreach the overregulation and over taxations course, man of the legal market, and the fact that there is still a, a serious traditional market that has no tax or regulation. And when you tax something to the tune of, you know, in South Lake Tahoe, 29.75% tax rate, wow. To the consumer crazy man there is no other product taxed at that level that’s ridiculous on the planet.

And, and definitely not in this country, but no, no other country that they even know of. And what they’ve done is fueled the traditional market that they thought they were gonna be able to, to kind of fade it into the legal market. Right. But instead it’s through the opposite. The law was created that Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s interesting. I mean, the law has made it to where like, you know, basically only people that have a serious amount of money can play, or like myself, been here for almost 15 years with a serious activist and had to fight people like Nancy Carey for, for years and years to get through. I know. Being considered, I mean, and Tahoe Wellness is history. You know, we watched them locally, and again, this is before we replaced everybody, but they selectively zoned us. They drew a circle around the Biju Center and said, you know, this is the only place in the city that dispensaries that are, that are not only medical will not be allowed.

Yeah. So, everywhere else, we’re gonna allow a dispensary, except in this little area where the only dispensary’s been for the last 15 years, but we’re not gonna allow ’em here. You can stay as medical, but we’re gonna, we’re gonna permit four people that have never had a dispensary and actually have never been in this industry to open all the way around you in this small little town. And, and, sorry, you get to stay medical. I know. And that happened. And if I didn’t go and fight and, and, and, you know, go hit the streets and literally do a referendum against the law that they passed, which made the law go back to the voters we would not be here today. And so many people that were in my position that were true activists that really started this industry. I mean, 15 years ago when we opened this, you were looking at federal prison time of 20 plus years for doing what we did. And so, you know, fast forward 10 years after we open and they’re trying to, oh, yeah. It’s legal now, and it’s been it’s been legalized, but we’re gonna, as a small town, and this wasn’t just Southlake, this happened and successfully happened in many places, but we’re gonna use this new law to shut you out. Yeah.

Howie:

That was

Cody:

I, and it was really terrible. It was. But

Howie:

Yeah, I, I can’t see how many times I tried to get my ex-wife, Nancy, Carrie High, and then get a video of her go Look, if you’re gonna shut him down, I, I gotta, I gotta post this, you know,

Cody:

<Laugh>. Yes. God. Well, who knows? I mean, if she would’ve got high, she might still have her job. So I’m glad

Howie:

She might be more cool

Cody:

About that. You know, I’m glad the way the cards turned out, she couldn’t take her things off Yeah. For anybody. So anyway, she’s gone. And what a greater day we have

Howie:

<Laugh>. Oh my God, right now, Connie’s probably cringing. Are you talking about your ex-wife? Hey, man, you know what? Hey, Cody, man, it’s always a blast. I know you have to go to a council meeting, but it’s, thanks for making my Tuesday. It’s very optimistic.

Cody:

Oh, man. It always is such a good day. You know what, today is actually, city council starts at five 30, so oh, five 30. Okay. We do a night meeting on every other meeting that way people that are, you know, school teachers or somebody that has to get to work at 9:00 AM Right. At least once a month, they have an opportunity at 5:30 PM So yeah, tonight’s five 30. Okay. A later meeting. But yeah, check us out. We will, we will be there.

Howie:

I definitely will. Hey, Manam, be well. You’re always a, you’re a good soul. And I, I’m proud to call you my friend, man. Thanks, Cody.

Cody:

Yeah, man, you too, Howie. It’s always great. All right.

Howie:

Later, dude.

Cody:

Bye. Later.