It’s been a couple of days since I’ve stumbled into your inbox, so I figured now would be the perfect opportunity to do so right in the middle of lunch rush.

Anyway, not sure if you saw on my channel, but a few weeks ago I drove out to Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee to visit a store I have absolutely no business being in, and I'd like to be clear right up front: I went there to support the CBD community. Not to procure illegal substances… I was told to say that.

Inside I found a Boomer and Gen-X duo who are best friends and business partners, a wall of products whose acronyms had to be explained to me twice (THC, CBD, THCA… I got it, mostly), and a store that was doing just fine right up until about a week before I showed up, when the state of Tennessee decided otherwise.

I went in expecting to be the old guy asking dumb questions. That part went exactly as planned! What I did not plan on was walking out of that conversation realizing that this doesn’t effect the owners of these businesses: it hurts an entire community of people who sometimes rely on these medication as their only source of comfort.

It’s showtime!

I have never used CBD, however I had it explained to me four times by two very patient women in this week’s episode. What can I say? I'm a pilot and the FAA has some rather strong opinions about my hobbies.

CBDistillery has been at it since 2016. They’ve got all the acronyms you need to wind down after a long day of doing nothing: Non-GMO hemp, no corn syrup, or artificial crap. Their massage oil is called ahhh and the sleep gummy is — you guessed it — shhh. Whoever named these is probably making twice my pension.

That said, one click costs you nothing and almost buys me a coffee, so do your part in taking care of the elderly 😉

Shhhow them what you’re offering, CBDistillery!

When it comes to CBD brands, CBDistillery sets itself apart. Since 2016, their products have been made with:

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I would like to first open this by saying that I have never smoked po- or rather, I have never violated Federal Aviation Regulations.

That said, I know plenty of people who have smoked pot, particularly in college. Playboy magazine noted Southern Illinois University at Carbondale as one of the top party schools in the nation last century! Back in the 60's and 70's, the sweet fragrance of pot smoke gently floated out the dorm windows, across campus, to the bars of South Illinois Avenue in Carbondale. But 18-year-old Robert stuck to beer, which was legal….for a 21-year-old!

Yup, pot was everywhere, even in California.

During the 80s, I had a "neighbor" (Let's call him Buddy) who grew Colombian in a big wooden planter on his second-floor balcony, but cut it down in panic when a Bakersfield police lieutenant moved in below. The policeman couldn't see the pot plant because of the balcony wall, but Bob…I mean…Bud could see the lieutenant's police car.

Another neighbor we'll call Bo…..uhh….Joe was driving around Fresno, California in his 1968 Cadillac Sedan Deville with the windows tightly closed, the air conditioner on high, and a big fat joint smoking in the ashtray, when he spotted the flashing red lights in his mirror.

"Aw shit!"

The California Highway Patrol officer dismounted his motorcycle, walked up to the vehicle, and signaled m…ahhh…Budd…no…Joe to lower the window, which engulfed the officer in a blue haze.

"Do you know why I stopped you?"

"No Ociffer."

The helmeted officer looked like he was going to yank our hero out of the car through the window.

"Your right taillight is out. Make sure you get it fixed."

"Yes sir!"

And he rolled up the window, and was on his way. The police back then, particularly in California, cared about arresting someone for pot as much as they cared about arresting jaywalkers.

And Bud-.. Joe-Bo-Shit, you know who I’m talking about, drove on and on, until her reached the 21st Century.

Here in the Roaring 20's, the federal government considers pot illegal, and recently the state of Tennessee has listed a certain form of THC as also illegal. But in Illinois, there are pot dispensaries licensed by the state.

As Mark Twain observed:

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

So, open the window, stick your ear out into the heat, and listen carefully

Kristin and Kelley are best friends and run Sister’s Natural Essentials: a hemp shop in Soddy-Daisy that was doing just fine until about a week before I showed up. Then Tennessee banned THCA and took about 75% of their income with it.

We get into the acronyms (I needed help), who might actually be influencing these decisions, and the five-dollar jar of flea market cream that started this whole thing.

For fifty years I had this whole marijuana thing filed under recreation right beside Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke. College kids, dorm windows, Buddy and his planter, Joe explaining a taillight to a cop through a cloud of blue smoke. Something you did for fun and hoped nobody official noticed.

Nobody ever showed me it’s medicinal purposes in a way that Kristin and Kelley had during our time together.

Sister’s never started with a business plan, but a jar of cream that was the only thing relieving her father’s pain on his hospital bed. And once she shared it with others, it continued to happen: People getting off opiates, neighbors finally sleeping a full night, and even others putting the bottle down — the town’s Police chief being one of the folks among them.

The part that stuck with me most however is what Kristin said plainly: The ban doesn't stop anybody from getting high.

People are going to smoke — they always have — and now they'll just buy it from somebody who doesn't lab-test a god damn thing for the sake of adding an extra dollar to their name.

WELL I'LL BE DAMNED.