CBD vs Tobacco

Consider this: CBD- while legal, it's not as socially accepted as tobacco; which kills.

Hi all, my name is Patricc and I’m one of the Co-Founders of Slix. Brad and I have been discussing starting a blog, so here we are. 😊 

Our plan for the blog is to give and share insight on a variety of things, including, but not limited to: 

• Updates on the amazing things Last Prisoner Project (LPP is our 7% Promise giveback partner/recipient)  
• Stories on individuals who have been a victim of the War on Drugs 
• Shed light on some of the policies, regulations and bills that are being signed (or not signed) by our government 
• Information and studies on CBD to help us all learn more about this amazing plant 
• And periodically, a blurb from either Brad or I about whatever happens to be on our mind at the time (in full transparency, those will most likely be rants from me about some hurdle we’ve come across because we sell a “CBD product” (that is legal). I’ll do my best to keep my bitching to a minimum! 

Today, I wanted to write about some of the things we’ve learned since registering our CBD company in early January (possible the first rant?).  

So, you may or may not know that when the 2018 Farm Bill passed, it removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, paving the way for the legal cultivation, possession, sale, and distribution of the hemp plant. This made it Federally legal for businesses to sell hemp/CBD smokables (a product like Slix). Two years later and we’re discovering that the legalization didn’t do much to change the mindset of banks, CC processors, bar owners, and the many versions of Karen out there.  

Let me start by saying, I not trying to “shame” anyone or any business. As a business owner, I understand why their worry exists. No one wants the government to come in and shut your business down because you missed that paragraph on page 3,287 of the bill that you didn’t comply with (because you didn’t get that many pages in bill because you were too busy running your company). 

With that said, we’ve come across no shortage of establishments that have smoking sections, but do not allow the smoking of CBD products. And while  these places have banned smoking CBD, it’s accepted and allowed to smoke tobacco (& all the chemicals associated with it). The reason we hear is, “well, it smells just like marijuana/THC and we don’t want our “regulars” getting upset”. What’s next, are we going to outlaw powdered sugar donuts because it’s too difficult to distinguish between powdered sugar and cocaine?  

What frustrates me the most is how in 2021 we still have people who look down on a plant that has so many beneficial properties but are completely open and accepting of tobacco cigarettes. This even though tobacco kills more Americans each year than AIDS, drugs & alcohol, car accidents, and gun violence combined. Think about that for a second.... Not only do Karen’s Be Care’n too much, but there are also MANY people who be Care’n too much about what Karen Be Care’n about.  

In 10-20 years when CBD (& THC) is allowed but tobacco isn’t, I look forward to having those, “Which side of history were you on” conversations with people.  

 The image below is a cigarette ad from back in the day (I’ve added the red text). A part of their selling point (differentiator) was it contained LOW TAR, not NO tar, LOW TAR. And by the way, that product is still sold, and smoking it is accepted by the Karens & Darrens of the world. Wrap your head around that.  

Another layer to this is the advertising side of it. Like CBD, tobacco cannot be advertised (even though you do see CBD ads<-- loopholes). Can you imagine if tobacco companies could advertise, and a brand came out with their “LOW TAR” campaign? It seems to me that not being able to market through traditional advertising stifles innovation; hence why cigarettes have not progressed, and they are still as harmful as they were 40 years ago. Advertising would create more transparency and in theory more exposure about how harmful cigarettes are and I believe that would not benefit tobacco companies. So, I say we open the advertising gates for Big Tobacco! 

 As Slix’s grows, we plan to disrupt tobacco. Did you know that- 

  -70% of the 40 million adult cigarette smokers in the US say that want to quit. 

  - In 2018, 55% (21.5 million) of adult smokers said that they had made a quit attempt in the past year. 

  - In that same year, only 7.5% (2.9 million) were successful. 

This is why we are working on a program we are calling "Quit with Slix" that we plan to be able to rollout in Q4. We hope to help those who want to quit smoking tobacco, quit smoking tobacco. Break the tobacco handcuffs so you can be here longer for you family, friends, and more importantly, your kids. That’s right, Slix is for the Kids. Getting off tobacco helps ensure you’re around longer for your kids! 😊 

That’s about it for today! I hope you have learned something you didn’t know before you reading this. 😊 

-pr