Speaker 1: It's say forty here fifty five Carsey Talks station around
Speaker 1: Thomas Fish and everybode a very happy, happy Monday, and
Speaker 1: welcoming to the fifty five KRSSE Morning Show. We're Ohio's day.
Speaker 1: Representative Tex Fisher. Tex Fisher represents District fifty nine. Happens
Speaker 1: to be the youngest selected official in the state of Ohio,
Speaker 1: at least from the House of Representatives tax Good to
Speaker 1: have you on the fifty five Carson Morning Show, My friend, welcome.
Speaker 2: Oh thank you for having me twenty nine years old.
Speaker 1: Have I got that right? Yes, sir, well, it's an
Speaker 1: amazing accomplishment and congratulations on reaching that lofty goal at
Speaker 1: such a young age. And you are fighting to protect
Speaker 1: what we voted for and overwhelming numbers here in the
Speaker 1: state of Ohio. That was an issue too. November twenty three,
Speaker 1: fifty seven percent of Ohioans voted yes to legalize recreational
Speaker 1: cannabis use in marijuana use in the state of Ohio,
Speaker 1: and immediately it was actually mostly driven by the Republicans
Speaker 1: side of the ledger, although you may know some Democrats
Speaker 1: who are trying to change the law, but this wasn't
Speaker 1: a constitutional amendment. So the legislative brand can make changes
Speaker 1: to what we passed by overwhelming majority. What are they
Speaker 1: trying to do? You're in opposition to some of these changes.
Speaker 1: What are the proposals? What types of changes are being
Speaker 1: thrown around in Columbus right now?
Speaker 2: Tex Yeah, I think so. The bill has made admittedly
Speaker 2: a lot of progress, I think in the right direction.
Speaker 2: So we're talking about a Senate Bill fifty six I
Speaker 2: was introduced at the beginning of the year and moved
Speaker 2: pretty quickly through the Senate, and then as I got
Speaker 2: to the House, a lot of changes have been made.
Speaker 2: So I still have not seen the most up to
Speaker 2: date version of the bill, but I do know that
Speaker 2: has moved in a pretty significantly positive direction in terms
Speaker 2: of respecting the world of voters. And I think the
Speaker 2: goal of what myself and some of the other folks
Speaker 2: working on this is we really want this to be
Speaker 2: more of an implementation of issue too, because there are
Speaker 2: a lot of language in the BAT initiative was kind
Speaker 2: of insufficient, It was a little bit vague. It didn't
Speaker 2: give I think the proper guardrails to the administrative folks
Speaker 2: at the Division of Cannabis controlled really implement the legal
Speaker 2: cannabis market in a way that makes sense and is
Speaker 2: pro business, So that's what I'm looking for. I think
Speaker 2: it's making a lot of progress in that direction, but
Speaker 2: ultimately we weren't entirely there. I think there are definitely
Speaker 2: some folks that want to see things more restricted, and
Speaker 2: I certainly you know, understand where they're coming from, but
Speaker 2: that's not what the people voted for. So I think
Speaker 2: our job is to try to find the right balance
Speaker 2: of making sure we're protecting the intent of what the
Speaker 2: voters passed an issue too, while also making it a
Speaker 2: little bit easier for those folks to do business, and
Speaker 2: also addressing the hemp issue in a smart and reasonable way,
Speaker 2: because I think that was another big sticking point for
Speaker 2: myself and some other folks on the Republican side of
Speaker 2: the legislature that we want to make sure that whatever
Speaker 2: we do on these is the right thing to do,
Speaker 2: and not just passing something so we can say we
Speaker 2: passed something and then end up just you know, and
Speaker 2: ending up with a constitutional amendment that we can't change,
Speaker 2: which is just going to waste a whole lot of
Speaker 2: everyone's time and money. And I think we can do
Speaker 2: this the right way and so respectable of the voters.
Speaker 1: Well, now is there a division or like a distinction
Speaker 1: being drawn between hemp and marijuana? Is that one of
Speaker 1: the things that's being bandied about and argued over because
Speaker 1: you know, hemp, to me is is just an industrial product.
Speaker 1: You can't get high on it. And I remember one
Speaker 1: politician saying, no self respecting dope d would even be
Speaker 1: caught smoking hemp. I mean, it's an exercise and futility
Speaker 1: to get high off of it. So, but it has
Speaker 1: great industrial You can make any literally anything out of it,
Speaker 1: clothing and play plastics, and make wood products out of it.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of industrial uses for it. I
Speaker 1: mean that even is there even a need to regulate
Speaker 1: it just because it looks like marijuana? I mean, what's
Speaker 1: the story on hemp relative to marijuana?
Speaker 2: Text? So the issue there is sore familiar with, like
Speaker 2: the Delta eight or the types of intoxicating THHC products
Speaker 2: which are hemp derived. Sometimes in some cases they're synthesized.
Speaker 2: You know, there are some fairly intoxicating products that are
Speaker 2: very accessible to get right now in gas station's convenience stores,
Speaker 2: okay and the like.
Speaker 1: So they're concentrating. They're concentrating the low level hamp it's
Speaker 1: like less than three percent I suppose in hemp, and
Speaker 1: they're taking that in constant trading it into something that
Speaker 1: is well obviously much more capable of getting someone intoxicated.
Speaker 2: Correct, So that under the Farm Bill past several years
Speaker 2: ago in DC, it actually legalized all these different hemp
Speaker 2: products with the standard you know, you can't have more
Speaker 2: total THHD than point zero three percent by dry weight.
Speaker 2: You know, there are a lot of technicalities technicalities involved
Speaker 2: in that. But the issue that we're seeing is there
Speaker 2: are intoxicating products that are readily readily available, but under
Speaker 2: federal law, the recreational adult use cannabis products and any
Speaker 2: of these intoxicating hemp rite products are two totally different products.
Speaker 2: So these are federally legal. And I think we all
Speaker 2: agree there are issues. We don't want kids being able
Speaker 2: to walk into a gas station and buy like a
Speaker 2: THHD evate, But I think some of the proposals to
Speaker 2: address that we're also kind of an over correction and
Speaker 2: when end up harming a lot of small businesses that
Speaker 2: do want to play by the roles and accept that
Speaker 2: there is a need for regulation. And some quality controls
Speaker 2: and to make sure kids aren't getting these things. But
Speaker 2: finding the right balance between addressing the safety issue and
Speaker 2: also not putting a whole lot of people out of business.
Speaker 2: That's that's another another area where it's easier said than dons.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what Tex sexless pause if you
Speaker 1: don't mind, will hold you over and bring you back
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit more about what's being proposed
Speaker 1: and why you know in some cases you're against it
Speaker 1: or in favor of it more with Representative Tex Fisher.
Speaker 1: We'll take a break care but back in just a
Speaker 1: few brief few minutes. Hang in old dot com. Let's
Speaker 1: say forty here, forty five care City Talk Station round
Speaker 1: Thomas Fish and everyone are very happy, happy Monday, and
Speaker 1: welcoming to the fifty five Carrece Morning Show for Ohio's day.
Speaker 1: Representative Texts Fisher. Tex Fisher represents District fifty nine. Happens
Speaker 1: to be the youngest selected official in State of Ohiot
Speaker 1: least from the House of Representatives. Tex. Good to have
Speaker 1: you on the fifty five cares In morning show. My friend, welcome,
Speaker 1: oh thank you for having me twenty nine years old.
Speaker 2: Have I got that right, Yes, sir.
Speaker 1: Wow, it's an amazing accomplishment and congratulations on reaching that
Speaker 1: lofty goal at such a young age, and you are
Speaker 1: fighting to protect what we voted for and overwhelming numbers.
Speaker 1: Here in the state of Ohio that was an issue too.
Speaker 1: November twenty three, fifty seven percent of Ohioans voted yes
Speaker 1: to legalize recreational cannabis use in marijuana use in the
Speaker 1: state of Ohio, and immediately it was actually mostly driven
Speaker 1: by the Republicans side of the ledger, although you may
Speaker 1: know some Democrats who are trying to change the law,
Speaker 1: but this wasn't a constitutional amendment, so the legislative brands
Speaker 1: can make changes to what we passed by overwhelming majority.
Speaker 1: What are they trying to do? You're in opposition to
Speaker 1: some of these changes. What are the proposals? What types
Speaker 1: of changes are being thrown around in Columbus right now?
Speaker 2: Tech Yeah, I think so. The bill has made admittedly
Speaker 2: a lot of progress I think in the right direction.
Speaker 2: So we're talking about a Senate Bill fifty six. I
Speaker 2: was introduced at the ginning of the year and moved
Speaker 2: pretty quickly through the Senate, and then as I got
Speaker 2: to the House, a lot of changes have been made,
Speaker 2: so I still have not seen the most up to
Speaker 2: date version of the bill, but I do know that
Speaker 2: has moved moved in a pretty significantly positive direction in
Speaker 2: terms of respecting the will of the voters, and I
Speaker 2: think the goal of what myself and some of the
Speaker 2: other folks working on this is we really want this
Speaker 2: to be more of an implementation of issue too, because
Speaker 2: there are a lot of language in the battle initiative
Speaker 2: was kind of insufficient. It was a little bit vague.
Speaker 2: It didn't give I think the proper guardrails to the
Speaker 2: administrative folks at the Division of Cannabis Control to really
Speaker 2: implement the legal cannabis market in a way that makes
Speaker 2: sense and is pro business. So that's what I'm looking for.
Speaker 2: I think it's making a lot of progress in that direction,
Speaker 2: but ultimately we weren't entirely there. I think there are
Speaker 2: definitely some folks that want to see things more restricted,
Speaker 2: and I certainly understand where they're coming from, but that's
Speaker 2: not what the people voted for. So I think our
Speaker 2: job is to try to find the right balance of
Speaker 2: making sure we're protecting the intent of what the voters
Speaker 2: passed an issue too, while also making it a little
Speaker 2: bit easier for those folks to do business, and also
Speaker 2: addressing the hemp issue in a smart and reasonable way,
Speaker 2: because I think that was another big sticking point for
Speaker 2: myself and some other folks on the Republican side of
Speaker 2: the legislature that we want to make sure that whatever
Speaker 2: we do on these is the right thing to do
Speaker 2: and not just passing something so we can say we
Speaker 2: passed something and then end up just you know, and
Speaker 2: ending up with a constitutional amendment that we can't change,
Speaker 2: which is just going to waste a whole lot of
Speaker 2: everyone's time and money. And I think we can do
Speaker 2: this the right way, and so respect to all of
Speaker 2: the voters.
Speaker 1: Well, now, is there a division or like a distinction
Speaker 1: being drawn between hemp and marijuana? Is that one of
Speaker 1: the things that's being bandied about and argued over, because
Speaker 1: you know, hemp, to me is is just an industrial product.
Speaker 1: You can't get high on it. And I remember one
Speaker 1: politician saying this self respecting dope d would even be
Speaker 1: caught smoking hemp. I mean, it's an exercise and futility
Speaker 1: to get high off of it. So but it has
Speaker 1: great industrial You can make any literally anything out of it,
Speaker 1: clothing and play plastics and make wood products out of it.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of industrial uses for it. I
Speaker 1: mean that is there even a need to regulate it
Speaker 1: just because it looks like marijuana? I mean, what's the
Speaker 1: story on hemp relative to marijuana tech.
Speaker 2: So the issue there is so familiar with like the
Speaker 2: Delta eight or the types of intoxicating THHD products which
Speaker 2: are hemp derived. Sometimes in some cases they're synthesized. You know,
Speaker 2: there are there are some fairly intoxicating products that are
Speaker 2: very accessible to get right now in gas station's, convenience
Speaker 2: stores and the like.
Speaker 1: So they're they're concentrating the low level hemp it's like
Speaker 1: less than three percent I suppose in hemp, and they're
Speaker 1: taking that and concentrating into something that is well obviously
Speaker 1: much more the capable of getting someone intoxicated.
Speaker 2: Correct, So that under the Farm Bill passed several years
Speaker 2: ago in DC, it actually legalized all these different hemp
Speaker 2: products with the standard you know, you can't have more
Speaker 2: total THHD than point zero three percent by dry weight.
Speaker 2: You know, there are a lot of technicalities technicalities involved
Speaker 2: in that. But the issue that we're seeing is there
Speaker 2: are intoxicating hemp products that are readily readily available, but
Speaker 2: under federal law, the recreational adult use cannabis products and
Speaker 2: any of these intoxicating hemp drive products are two totally
Speaker 2: different products, so these are federally legal, and I think
Speaker 2: we all agree there are issues. We don't want kids
Speaker 2: being able to walk into a gas station and buy
Speaker 2: like a thhcvate, but I think some of the proposals
Speaker 2: to address that we're also kind of an over correction
Speaker 2: and when end up harming a lot of small businesses
Speaker 2: that do want to play by the roles and accept
Speaker 2: that there is a need for regulation and some quality
Speaker 2: controls and to make sure the kids aren't getting these things.
Speaker 2: But finding the right balance between addressing the safety issue
Speaker 2: and also not putting a whole lot of people out
Speaker 2: of business. That's that's another another area where it's easier
Speaker 2: said than dons.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what tex Sexlist pause if you
Speaker 1: don't mind, will hold you over and bring you back
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit more about what's being proposed
Speaker 1: and why you know in some cases you're against it
Speaker 1: or in favor of it. More with representative text Fisher,
Speaker 1: we'll take a break care, but back in just a
Speaker 1: few brief few minutes.
Speaker 2: Hang in fifty five KRC.
Speaker 1: Beauterbul company that provides quality roofing and repairs. Call seven
Speaker 1: seven four ninety four ninety five one more time with
Speaker 1: the Jena nine weather forecast. A mostly cloddy, partly clotty
Speaker 1: day to day, isolated swarms most likely to the south
Speaker 1: of the Ohio River from the city. Eighty six for
Speaker 1: a high overnight lowis seventy but he partly cloudy and muggy.
Speaker 1: Partly cloudy, muggy again Marrow, it's scattered afternoons showers eighty.
Speaker 2: Eight for the high.
Speaker 1: Overnight lois seventy two, again partly cloudy and muggy, and
Speaker 1: on Wednesday, showers are possible. To remain humid. It'll be
Speaker 1: a high of eighty eight seventy four. Right now, time
Speaker 1: for final traffic chuck.
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Speaker 3: most complex brain tumors. Learn more at U see help
Speaker 3: dot com cruise continue to work with an accident on
Speaker 3: southbound seventy five at the ramp to Sharon Road, right
Speaker 3: side of the highways blocked off. You can still use
Speaker 3: the ramp northbound seventy five. Prankvides continue above seventy four
Speaker 3: through to Town Street. There's a wreck on Glenway and
Speaker 3: Muddy Creek. Chuck Ingram on fifty five KRC, the talk station.
Speaker 1: Hey forty nine, come er E fifty fifty five KR
Speaker 1: City talk station. Greg Thomas with represented a text fissure
Speaker 1: here from the state of Ohio. Republican at a District
Speaker 1: fifty nine with some ideas about protecting our rights to
Speaker 1: access marijuana pursue into the twenty twenty three issue too.
Speaker 1: Fifty seven percent of US voted to legalize marijuana. One
Speaker 1: of the things that sounds like they're going back to
Speaker 1: our hemp discussion, the idea that yeah, hemp is hemp,
Speaker 1: and you can't get high on it. But they know
Speaker 1: they back and behind the scenes they can process this
Speaker 1: into something that is intoxicating, and it's being sold in
Speaker 1: you know, places outside of licensed marijuana dispensaries. You know,
Speaker 1: you got your state licensed you know shops, and then
Speaker 1: you've got your grocery stores, your smoke shops and all that.
Speaker 1: Isn't there an age limit already in place? Text fissure
Speaker 1: that prevents young people from buying it, assuming that the
Speaker 1: various shops that it's sold at are karting or otherwise
Speaker 1: following the law, so not necessarily.
Speaker 2: So that's the issue that we're dealing with here, And
Speaker 2: is this is just it's sort of a wild last
Speaker 2: right now. Yeah, And I think that's that's an area
Speaker 2: of cause, an area of concern for pretty much everybody.
Speaker 2: For us the aisle, the issue is, you know, are
Speaker 2: we going to overregulate these products to the point where
Speaker 2: you put a lot of people out of business? Because
Speaker 2: of course, like any industry, there are bad actors in
Speaker 2: this space, but there are also a lot of good
Speaker 2: people that are following the law, that are invested a
Speaker 2: lot of money just trying to make a living. And
Speaker 2: I think whatever we need to do needs to try
Speaker 2: to strike the appropriate balance of safety and also being
Speaker 2: pro business and respecting the fact that if we were
Speaker 2: to ban these products at the state level in Ohio
Speaker 2: put these people in Ohio out of business. People just
Speaker 2: go on the internet by the exact same stuff, and
Speaker 2: we'd have no ability to control it, no ability to
Speaker 2: test it, to regulate it. So it's you know, it's
Speaker 2: the reality of you know, we may not like something,
Speaker 2: or some folks may not like something, but if they
Speaker 2: can get it, why don't we just accept that we
Speaker 2: want to push them into a market. Kind of similar
Speaker 2: to the conversation about legalizing marijuana. Is if people were getting, buying, smoking,
Speaker 2: and jesting marijuana before it was legal, we all understand that.
Speaker 2: But now that we have a legal market, I think
Speaker 2: they have a lot of good people in that space
Speaker 2: that are making sure these products are as safe as
Speaker 2: they can be and have a lot of quality controls
Speaker 2: and safety controls, And I think that's the appropriate balance
Speaker 2: we need to try to find, is the reality if
Speaker 2: people get these stuff this stuff on the internet. But
Speaker 2: whatever we do, we should also encourage people to buy
Speaker 2: Ohio based products and sport ohio hemp farmers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if there's a reason to buy an Ohio
Speaker 1: based product, for example, it's been tests that it doesn't
Speaker 1: have any you know, funguses or things growing in it
Speaker 1: and it is safe. I guess maybe part of this
Speaker 1: conversation about this delta eight which is derived from this
Speaker 1: low level THCHC hemp, is is it the same thing
Speaker 1: as marijuana in terms of the dangers or harm it
Speaker 1: might present. Is that a separate discussion that's going on.
Speaker 1: Is it sort of a horse of a different color
Speaker 1: as compared to marijuana and the intoxicating THHC marijuana.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. And I think the big issue
Speaker 2: we have is quality control. And I think that there's
Speaker 2: some folks in the marijuana industry, and I think their
Speaker 2: right to believe this is that there are some of
Speaker 2: these retailers and not necessarily the faults of the retailers.
Speaker 2: So some of these producers that are selling these products
Speaker 2: labeled as Delta eight and they're just not there's probably
Speaker 2: access marijuana from another state that they process and pass
Speaker 2: off because they can sell it to a much larger
Speaker 2: market outside of dispensaries. So I think number one something
Speaker 2: that we need to do is make sure that whatever
Speaker 2: testing regime we include for these HEAP products is to
Speaker 2: be able to ensure that these are in fact he
Speaker 2: derived THHC products and not marijuana prepackaged or a different label.
Speaker 2: So that's one of the things that I've been pushing for.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's a whole lot of opposition of that.
Speaker 2: It's just a matter of, you know, what does the
Speaker 2: retail regime look like, and how burdenson is this regular
Speaker 2: regime going to be? And you know, we still want
Speaker 2: to make sure that we're allowing these people to stay
Speaker 2: in business with just you know, the common sense guardrails
Speaker 2: we all agree on. Kids shouldn't be able to buy it,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe you shouldn't be able to go into
Speaker 2: a gas station and buy a pre roll joint or something,
Speaker 2: and things like that. Maybe that's the starting point and
Speaker 2: the common ground that we all have. But there's a
Speaker 2: lot more to it, and session a tricky issue.
Speaker 1: So much and so much more as being learned each
Speaker 1: and every day about marijuana it's impact on society. Is
Speaker 1: it really less harmful than alcohol? Because every time we
Speaker 1: have a discussion like this text Fisher, I just keep
Speaker 1: thinking of alcohol. Hell, you can go literally anywhere and
Speaker 1: not literally, but there's beer is for sale, wine is
Speaker 1: for sale all over the place. They do it in
Speaker 1: convenience stores, they do it in you know, liquor stores.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, if you can manage, that's why is
Speaker 1: this so extra complicated? Doesn't something it should be? I
Speaker 1: got a real quick for part company day tex fissure.
Speaker 1: The tax revenue was specifically defined and broken up to
Speaker 1: four different categories where the money goes right, Social Equity Fund,
Speaker 1: you know, to help people disproportionately impacted by marijuana laws,
Speaker 1: to host cities that have dispensaries, the state's Mental and
Speaker 1: Addiction Service Department, and three percent goes to the state's
Speaker 1: Cannabis Control Department. Is there an effort to change that
Speaker 1: where the tax dollars the generated dollars go or is
Speaker 1: that going to stay the way it is in the law.
Speaker 2: So the tax dollar the tax dollar provisions. That was
Speaker 2: another point of contention. I think the original bill as
Speaker 2: introduced in the Senate, would have removed any any share
Speaker 2: for local governments to the local communities that host these
Speaker 2: dispensary is really remove their stake in their tax revenue.
Speaker 2: So while the rest of the categories this did get
Speaker 2: resolved in the budget, we were thankfully able to retain
Speaker 2: that thirty six percent for the host communities in perpetuity
Speaker 2: in the operating budget, which was a big win for
Speaker 2: I think a lot of us in the House that
Speaker 2: really felt strongly that we shouldn't be taking these dollars
Speaker 2: away from these local communities, and a lot of time
Speaker 2: and a lot of senses, these folks agreed to have
Speaker 2: the dispensaries on the sole condition of, well, we're going
Speaker 2: to get revenue and that's going to be enough for
Speaker 2: us to put the squad car or you know, another
Speaker 2: hire another firefighter, real important stuff. But we were able
Speaker 2: to preserve that the rest of the money moving forward
Speaker 2: will be just directed in the states general revenue find
Speaker 2: but the local dollars. That was a big point of contention,
Speaker 2: and that was another thing that I was fighting for
Speaker 2: and really grateful a lot of the other folks in
Speaker 2: the house. We're able to get that done for us.
Speaker 1: State represented tex Fissure. That makes perfect sense. The reason
Speaker 1: we have a dispensary in our neighborhood is because we
Speaker 1: were promised thirty six percent of the revenue. So yes,
Speaker 1: appreciate you moving to protect that one. The text has
Speaker 1: been it's been great having on the show, and to
Speaker 1: the extent you make any further progress or have more
Speaker 1: developments on this, you have an welcome spot here on
Speaker 1: the fifty five KRC Morning Show. So keep up the
Speaker 1: great work. Tax Fisher. It's been good having you on
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 2: I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, sir. Take fifty six fifty five
Speaker 1: Krcity talk Station Smith Event. When you can't listen live,
Speaker 1: go to fifty five krs dot com to the podcast.
Speaker 1: We talked with Brian James Money Monday, the tariffs and
Speaker 1: the inflation and what Jerome Powell gonna do. He's in
Speaker 1: a bit of an undrum's my conversation there with Tex Fisher.
Speaker 1: Thank you Sean mc mann for covering for the vacationing
Speaker 1: Joe's director today. Brother. I appreciate the work that you
Speaker 1: did today, folks. I hope you have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1: Tune in tomorrow for the Daniel Davis Deep Dive and
Speaker 1: the Bright Bart Inside Scoop, and don't go away because
Speaker 1: Glennbeck is next. President Trump made clear that a peaceful
Speaker 1: resolution was possible if I Ran agreed to give up
Speaker 1: its nuclear weapons ambitions. Another updates at the top of
Speaker 1: the hour. Fifty five KRZ the talkstation.
Speaker 2: This report is sponsored by RAP