GEORGE BRIKHO

Last week, it was announced that Rep. Jim Lilly would be retiring from the State House of Representatives.

It was an abrupt announcement that took everybody by surprise. As of July 1, Lilly will be out of Lansing and working as a lobbyist for supermarket giant SpartanNash, serving as their vice president for government affairs.

“This is a great opportunity to help move this entire country forward on issues related to labor shortages and supply chain challenges,” Lilly said.

Lilly said he is leaving office because “this is the right time to make the transition to work on these issues in the private sector,” but everyone knows this is a lie. Lilly was likely tipped off that he was photographed snorting a line at a lobbyist-funded party next to Lee Chatfield, the incestuous party boy who once ran the show for the GOP in Lansing, or saw video of himself balls deep in one of Detroit’s finest strippers, a time-honored tradition for Republican lawmakers on the take.

Nevertheless, for whatever reason that Lilly is gone, it is great news for the registered caregivers and medical marijuana patients throughout the state. The Michigan Caregivers Association, a group of which I am proud to serve as President, would always go out of our way to take a big fat shit on Lilly. Not because he was noteworthy, talented, intelligent, charismatic or otherwise worthwhile, but it was because Lilly was the personal champion of the legislative package, HB5300-02, bills designed to annihilate the medical marijuana industry in Michigan.

Lilly has fallen victim to the Brikho Curse. This is what happens when karma bites the ass of these losers who thought that they could steamroll over the medical marijuana industry. I am proud to be part of the most righteous industry in the state of Michigan.  The forces of the universe are definitely on our side, even if the money and the power is not. When you fight against medical cannabis that sustains thousands of patients and allows them to live with dignity through the use of a cheap, bountiful, highly-effective medicine, there will be severe karmic repercussions against you in this life and the next.

No doubt the dirt about Lilly will be coming out in the near future, and he will join his buddy Chatfield in the Hall of Disgrace of reviled Republican predators hated by the people and live his life in permanent shame forevermore. But Lilly is far from the only man who has suffered from the Brikho Curse. Take my favorite punching bag, Steve Linder, as another example. Linder, through his immense arrogance, thought he could come in and muscle through the “Big Weed” monopoly legislation while everyone was sleeping. Instead, he was greeted with a massive spectacle that put him and his seedy reputation in the limelight.

Linder’s clients thought they were hiring a smooth professional who could quietly and effectively grease the wheels of the legislature in order to enact their sinister cannabis monopoly with little fanfare. However, what they got was a man way past his prime, an individual who peaked decades ago. They got a man tarred with scandal, who molded Lansing into a den of iniquity. What the Michigan Caregivers Association did was transform the debate from being about patient safety from being about a massive lobbyist power-grab. Our narrative resonates with the people. The public knows about the orgy of Dark Money that runs in our state Capitol. They are not naïve. They may not have known Linder by name but they know there are villains out there regularly undermining our democracy for profit and payouts.

But after the Michigan Caregivers Association’s successful education and outreach efforts, more people knew of Linder’s name than ever before. A messy battle behind the scenes and in front of the cameras resulted in a stalemate, with “Big Weed” monopoly legislation HB5300-02 stalled. Too many lawmakers knew what the underlying agenda was going into these bills, or they feared retribution from the organized and effective and ruthless cannabis community that were out to prevent yet another corporate gangbang, this time at the expense of the caregivers.

The Michigan Cannabis Manufacturing Association (MCMA), the wannabe monopolists, eventually grew tired of Linder and his ineffectiveness. At first, they allowed him to bow out in a manner as to avoid disgrace. The MCMA gave a Democrat-affiliated lobbyist Mark Fisk (learn more about him here) the title of co-Executive Director with Linder, relegating him to subordinate status. Linder was meant to sit down, shut up and know his role. But having already been disgraced in this fight, he could not do so. Linder took his wounded ego to MIRS where he said his final act as a lobbyist would be to defeat medical cannabis. This has clearly become personal for Linder, and his own personal legacy is now tied to destroying the caregivers system. Linder made it clear that this is his hill to die on, and pissing in the faces of medical cannabis patients across the state of Michigan will be his last crusade before retiring.

“When I was asked to do this, it was very strategic. I was the General Consultant for the Senate Republican Campaign Committee…This is the first new industry Michigan has created in 100 years…I needed permission to do this because the general consultant of the caucus couldn’t be on the other side of the issue…I was allowed to do this as long as it was done in a way that would provide cover…We are reverse-engineering the marketplace,” Linder said while appearing on MIRS.

As Linder was blabbing, he was inadvertently revealing how destroying medical cannabis was a top-down mandate from elitist controllers. Linder plotted in secret with Senate Republican leaders and their financial backers to receive the blessing to take over the cannabis industry. It is as bad as it seems, with major Lansing players plotting in backrooms, the same individuals who urged for decades to throw cannabis users in cages, to take control over the industry that they tried to stifle at every turn. It is a naked, egregious example of the worst type of government-corporate collusion imaginable, and Mr. Big-Mouth-Little-Man Linder owned up to it in a public forum.

And apparently Linder’s masters were outraged by his display, because shortly after the MIRS interview, they cucked Linder even further. The MCMA took away his ceremonial title of “Executive Director,” forcing Linder to resign, and demoting him to the title of “senior adviser,” meaning that he’s a little bitch who they can call on to run errands for them every now and again if so needed. This is a damage control mechanism. They are just keeping Linder around for everyone to save face, but the façade is rapidly crumbling.

In actuality, the corporate cannabis industry in Michigan is self-immolating. Their greed has gotten the best of them, as seen with Terrapin’s operations shuttering in the state. They saw cannabis as a cash cow and thought they could come in and gobble up all the profits, but cannabis patients are too smart to allow that. They preferred to grow their own or receive their medicine from a trusted caregiver rather than sell out for an inferior product. The outlaw nature of the industry has taught many lessons to cannabis patients. They know which growers are bringing the fire and reward them accordingly.

The times are tough, but karma is clearly on our side. More will fall to the Brikho Curse, and the last men standing will be the tough, the righteous, the resourceful, and the innovative. We will survive, just like we did through prohibition, and our enemies will be brought to their knees. Watch out, Matt Hall, and others who are standing in line to serve this corrupt system. Justice is coming, and you will be next to circle the drains with other enemies of the caregivers who thought they were untouchable but learned a hard lesson otherwise.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” 

Martin Luther King Jr.

Keep growing, my friends.

Sincerely,

Your Friend
Big George