Nov 162022
 

Friends,

I am proud to announce the formation of House Bill 6474, legislation that would ban attacks from municipalities against the medical cannabis system.

The bill stops local communities from passing any ordinances that would do the following:

  • Restrict caregivers from hosting/receiving patients
  • Require permits to grow at one’s residence
  • Restrict outdoor grows if they are in compliance with the requirements of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act of 2008
  • Restrict square feet of an indoor or outdoor grow
  • Require an inspection
  • Require any fees
  • Restrict limits on plants or possession of product that is fewer than the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act of 2008
  • Restrict grows to any accessory buildings, detached garage, barn, any other building on the same or adjacent property of the residence of the caregiver from having a grow
  • Restrict or imposing a fee to dispose of organic material specifically from a cannabis plant
  • Restrict caregivers or limiting caregivers as to the right to grow for patients at their residence
  • Classify caregivers as a “home occupation” or similar designation

Thank you to Representative Steve Carra for stepping up and doing the right thing and getting this bill introduced. We are building the foundation for pro-caregiver legislation to take hold in Lansing. The Michigan Caregivers Association (MCA) has been toiling behind the scenes to get this legislation introduced.

We pushed for it to be introduced this year to upend any scheming and plotting that may be going on with corrupt lawmakers and lobbyists during the lame duck. We wanted our vision known for how medical cannabis and the caregivers system should be regulated. It should be regulated to help the medical patients and their caregivers above all else. Government officials and law enforcement cannot go backward to the days of prohibition. These policies have failed, and prohibition cannot be rebranded with the caregivers and medical patients demonized.

Unfortunately, many Hydro stores and other industry organizations have not had our backs throughout this fight. The Michigan Caregivers Association has largely been funded by me, and I have continued to fund the MCA even as we have hit a recession. Hydro stores are hurting because of various economic factors. Big corporate weed is coming out to stomp on the small growers. Caregivers are living in fear as law enforcement are encouraged to raid more small grows due to the lobbying efforts of villain groups like the Michigan Cannabis Manufacturing Association (MCMA).

Through our hard work and dedication, the MCA has tossed out Steve “Little Dick” Linder from his position within the MCMA and forced him to essentially resign in disgrace. Mr. Tiny Dick has been in the news as a disgraced dark money lobbyist connected to coke-and-whores incest fiend Lee Chatfield, the former GOP House Speaker. He has been flushed like yesterday’s shit, but the MCMA is still very dangerous. They have former LARA regulator Shelly Edgerton running them now, in a clear conflict of interest that makes a mockery of ethics and transparency, as well as Democrat spin doctor Mark Fisk, who is directly tied to Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

The MCMA is still dangerous and still plotting to destroy the rights of the caregivers and create their Big Weed monopoly. If they are not plotting their takeover during the lame duck, then they are certainly lobbying newly-elected lawmakers to get them on board with their sinister agenda. The fight will continue onward through next year and beyond. Those who care about liberty and justice need to be willing to fight alongside us. We cannot roll over and let the cannabis industry become like every other monopoly in Michigan, run by corporate greed. You can donate to help the cause here.

Additionally, feel free to check out my deals at Edenz Hydro. You can buy your Hydro supplies from providers who don’t care about the caregivers and have given up on the cause OR you can buy your supplies from me at better prices. The choice is clear. Check out the best deals I have available here. Buy online or join my webstore. These are tough times and we all have to support each other. Support small businesses. Support good people who care about the community. Don’t let your hard-earned money go into the pockets of corporate vultures who will happily sell you down the river. Keep our communities strong. Keep the fight going. Daddy has got your back.

Shop Edenz Hydro!

Support the Michigan Caregivers Association!

Sincerely,
Big George

Jun 142022
 

This weekend, Terrapin, a national marijuana giant, announced that they will be closing all of their operations in Michigan effective immediately.

Terrapin was one of the wannabe cannabis monopolists operating under the umbrella of the Michigan Cannabis Manufacturing Association. They are one of the many big money firms who thought they could waltz in, take over and rake in the cash while putting their competition out of business with government force.

They thought wrong.

Many individuals with business sense (or common sense) who have been in the cannabis industry for longer than a cup of coffee could see this coming a mile away. If the corporate cartel had any foresight, they could have taken simple supply and demand into account. Instead, they were too busy trying to gangrape the industry at warp speed to take a second and think straight.

When I founded Evergreen Management along with my partners in 2015, we fought the good fight to stabilize the medical marijuana industry. There was an attempt to regulate the caregiver system out of commission, and it was rapidly gaining momentum. We were able to insert ourselves in the process and throw a wrench into it. It’s what we do best. We gummed up the works, and the problematic bills in their initial form were killed.

The legislative process is never perfect, as a matter of fact it is always ugly and muddy. We eventually landed at compromise legislation that enacted some rules and regulations on the medical marijuana industry but none were too onerous and the industry could remain intact. That was a huge victory for us, and one that is often unheralded. We do not like to brag, but we put up the time, money, effort and capital to save the industry. We stepped up when it mattered most.

Another major project for Evergreen was  proposed legislation that would have capped Class C licenses. Some accused us of trying to institute protectionist measures and control the industry. But what we were really doing was trying to save the industry. Too many Class C licenses would allow for an overabundance of product, putting everybody in jeopardy. Without a cap, it would free up every greedy interest to come in and overproduce in an attempt to maximize their profits without taking anything else to concern.

If the proposed Evergreen reforms had gone into place, the caregiver system would have been protected, and there still would have been room for the big money players to come in and make money after legalization as well. Only, they would have had to innovate and provide products and services preferred by the consumers. They preferred the government-granted monopoly route. We remember what lawmakers dropped the ball and folded to the pressure. Shame on you for what your weakness has wrought on a noble industry.

While it would be easy and fun to shit on Terrapin and laugh about their immolation in Michigan, the unfortunate reality is that many people lost their jobs amidst a recession and massive inflation because of their failure. Many more will lose their jobs because of corporate greed and how it is enabled by our reprehensible and soulless elected officials of both parties. Lawmakers in Lansing refuse to pass legislation protecting the caregivers and putting caps on corporate raiders who want to come in and swallow up the industry. It is beyond sickening.

The Michigan Caregivers Association has sent a caregivers’ rights survey to all elected lawmakers and prospective lawmakers during this 2022 election cycle. The MCA wants to make sure that we get individuals into office who care about individual rights and want to save a sustainable industry from being cannibalized by Big Business. The MCA knows the recipe that will get Lansing to break: sustained public pressure and the possibility of losing their cushy jobs in the Capitol.

We learned during the Evergreen Management days that treating lawmakers like they are human beings, talking with them, educating them, supporting them, holding their hands, giving them pleasure rather than pain, is largely a dead end because there is always someone with a bigger checkbook coming in from down the block, and these political whores will get on their knees for whoever has the most money. This is the nature of politics, and every elected official in Lansing, with only exceedingly rare exceptions, falls into this category.

This is why caregivers, medical marijuana patients, and other advocates for this industry need to have the correct mindset. Our lawmakers do not want to learn about the healing nature of the cannabis plant and its transcendent power of the mind. Our lawmakers do not care about the negative aspects of prohibition and why it is a failed public policy that must be stopped in order to save lives. They only care about campaign contributions and getting re-elected. We cannot win the money game, but we can sure as hell make it more difficult for them to get re-elected by lobbying the public with the facts and the hard-hitting information that is being suppressed by the establishment.

The MCA’s tactics have worked at getting monopoly bills HB5300-02 stalled in the State House. The lobbyist agenda was exposed. The issue went from being about “public safety” to being about a crony corporate takeover. No mercy should be given while operating within this den of vultures. Only once we are feared will we be respected. Once we have cultivated that fear, the lawmakers will fall in line, and the caregivers shall be protected. This is the only model of success that is achievable. This is the only path toward victory, and I hope you will walk it alongside me.

Remember: These corporate cannabis kingpins will take down every small grower in their pursuit of the almighty dollar if we let them get away with it. They will blow the whole thing up because their indulgence is limitless. They will not stopped until there is a law in place stopping them, or if the public forcefully says no more. There is absolutely no reason why we should be gentle with these monsters, and the lawmakers who they control. We can sleep soundly at night only knowing that we used every tool at our disposal to win this battle. There is no honor in accepting defeat to the forces of pure evil. The time for war is now. Let’s be smart, let’s be cunning, let’s be ruthless, and victory shall be ours.

 

Viva la revolución,

Big George

Oct 222021
 

Friends,

I know there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty within the caregivers community due to the Linder monopoly bills and the threatening aspect of this cartel legislation that intends to wipe us all out.

I know you are worried about going back to the dark ages of prohibition, of being scared that a uniformed goon will show up and put a gun in your face for growing medicine. This is very understandable.

But we cannot give up.

The caregivers are the backbone of the Michigan economy, providing independent wealth that spans across many industries. It is not just the hydro stores like mine that rely on you to put food on our family’s plate. It is electricians, plumbers, carpenters, HVAC technicians, and so forth, and this money spreads into many other industries. 

Our economy is suffering, due to the pandemic, due to corruption, due to many reasons that I will not get into right now. By slowing down or shutting down due to fear, we not only give into the bad guys but also kill the engine that is keeping our country afloat during tough times.

This is why I implore all of you to continue your grows and continue producing medicine. They cannot come after us all. The people are on our side, and they are being alerted to the real problem. 

The real problem is Big Weed, the marijuana cartel, that would corporatize marijuana products. The caregivers system is based on relationships, sustained by the compassion of the grower. As everyone in the industry knows, there is an abundance of caregivers who will give marijuana away to cancer patients, epileptics, the pain stricken, and others who desperately need it FOR FREE!

Will that happen if the caregivers model is destroyed? Of course not, despite their assurances otherwise. They are trying to buy off medical patients with a proposed government subsidy, one that can be cut off at a moment’s notice, but that pittance is not worth selling out our freedom, our dignity and our self-respect.

I want to let the homegrowers know that myself, other business leaders, and the entire cannabis community are fighting for their rights. We are going to war with the monopolists everyday in Lansing. They know we are serious. We are hitting them with billboards, ads, calls and constant pressure to expose them. We are not lobbying the lawmakers, we are lobbying the PEOPLE against this takeover and the people’s eyes are opening. Nobody wants a corporate cannabis cartel.

We will come out victorious at the end of this. They were expecting that we would be celebrating post-legalization and relax, take our eyes off the ball, and allow this takeover to happen without much resistance. They have found that they were dead wrong. 

In the meantime, keep doing what you are legally allowed to do in our democracy through the Medical Marihuana Act of 2008. It is your constitutionally-protected freedom to grow medicine under the sensible regulations approved in overwhelming margin by the voters. Exercise your rights freely. We got your back.

Sincerely,

George Brikho