"The best way to minimize disagreement is to make sure that all the stakeholders are in the room."
-Cheryl (Yeoh) Sew Hoy
Stakeholder is an interesting word. Merriam-Webster defines stakeholder in three ways:
1) a person entrusted with the stakes of bettors
2) one that has a stake in an enterprise
3) one who is involved in or affected by a course of action
According to the dictionary this word can be used to describe anything from everyone who will in any way be affected, over to anyone who has a hand or interest in the venture, firm, operation, company or business, all the way down to a single specific individual with a specific purpose. Using this magic word, statements in reference to Delta-8 laws from MRA Director Andrew Brisbo such as this one in the Daily Mining Gazette “We were proud to work with legislators and industry stakeholders to proactively address this issue and move an untested, unlicensed, intoxicating synthetic, product into our licensed and regulated system” could be used to summarize all manner of things and still be an accurate use of the term.
That could mean the MRA worked with the taxpayers and voters of Michigan, the producers of Delta-8 products, the sellers of Delta-8 products, the buyers and consumers of Delta-8 products, micro-cannabusinesses, caregivers, licensed marijuana facilities and the marijuana special interest and lobbying acronyms that represent them, as well as with state legislators, and decided to take control of Delta-8.
But it could also mean the MRA worked with just licensed marijuana facilities and the marijuana special interest and lobbying acronyms that represent them, as well as with state legislators, and decided to take control of Delta-8. Or anywhere in between. One could include, or exclude, anyone with a word like stakeholder.
It’s not unlike the phrase ‘tinfoil hat’. Time and again people who simply observe and question, as humans do, get lumped in with people who believe that aliens have placed microchips in their teeth. Questioning current events is not the same as believing in the Loch Ness monster, same as working with everyone who will be affected by government action is not the same as working with a select group of industry players.
Which is what the MRA did. They worked behind closed doors with private interest. Not the taxpayers who fund their operations and will eventually fall victim to the precedence set by their agency, and certainly not the businesses who produce Delta-8 products, the businesses who sell Delta-8 products, or the people who use Delta-8 products, otherwise known as the majority of stakeholders. Which is probably why Brisbo precedes the above quote with, “The team at the MRA has always been committed to transparency and forward thinking and this was once again the case regarding Delta-8,” because the exact opposite is true. To be fair, the ‘forward’ part is accurate, in a ‘progressive’ totalitarian sense, that is.
With such a commitment to transparency, one would think the MRA would avoid using words with such broad and vague definitions. In a world constructed on integrity, a commitment to transparency would include a list of everyone who had a seat at that table. Strange one would go to such lengths, and such adjectives, to describe Delta-8 but not put forth the same effort when telling everyone who it was that decided the licensed market should be the only ones making money with Delta-8, is it not? Equally odd are the sheer number of stakeholders who are rather unhappy with this news.
Take Anqunette Sarfoh, a well known and highly respected multi-level Delta-8 stakeholder here in the state of Michigan, for instance. “Lord knows I tried to get them to reconsider. I sell Delta 8 online and will be moving my online CBD business to Indiana on October 1st. I have so many people with MS who love it, myself included. I reached out to Rep. Rahbi and received a reply that he wanted to talk to me about it. And then they ghosted me and never bothered to schedule the conversation or meeting.” The Michigan cannabis community’s own Q (who agreed to be quoted) sent a well constructed and professional list of solid points, in an email to 53rd district representative and bill sponsor Yousef Rahbi, and asked for a place in the Delta-8 conversation only to receive a standard boilerplate response and no follow up appointment. Her next move was to call Senator Jeff Irwin, who she credits for helping secure the 90-day window that pushes the new rules out until October. But in the opinion of this author, giving the true majority of Delta-8 stakeholders (who did not have a voice) three months before they officially have their stakeholder status removed by force of law and see it handed to a factual minority of entities that do not even deal in Delta-8 and yet somehow are included as stakeholders even before they benefit directly from the law by becoming the sole stakeholders, is hardly a victory.
The truth is victory was impossible in a battle that sprung into existence in April, was fueled by fear mongering news that exaggerated a handful of incidents among millions of users, fought behind invite only closed doors, and settled by July. The entire war was rigged from the onset by those who have no intention of losing, and have the money and political power to make damn sure they do not.
They are the clear winners here, the select few graced with stakeholder status, the MRA, and the scum politicians whose palms were greased to get the ball rolling. With their combined power not only can they eliminate competition in the market without competing, but actually go as far as stealing innovation in broad daylight while patting themselves on the back. Regulations are the tools of the oppressors, used to manipulate otherwise uncontrollable situations, like someone else making money off something you did not think of, or other people growing better cheaper weed than you.
Everyone on the street knows what these organized criminals have accomplished. Only those who will benefit financially from the new Delta-8 regulations say it is about safety, or pretend to think MRA regulations and testing are about anything other than controlling a market and who profits in it. These entities who were extorted for tens of thousands of dollars or more by the same government who attacked innocent pot smokers, in order to become ‘legal’, now feel they are owed the sole rights to profit from marijuana. No matter the acronym, no matter the party alignment, these captains of industry will cry to their government masters and take what they want for as long as the MRA exists. That is why it exists.
The proprietor of the Sunoco near our office, that sells Delta-8 and was also not considered a stakeholder by the MRA, summarized the whole thing perfectly, “They are playing games. It’s all about money.”
