XZIBIT: Welcome to the first episode of the Lasagna Ganja Podcast!

Tammy: Yes, finally! It’s here! We’ve been waiting a long time for this.

XZIBIT: I’m excited. Listen, there are a lot of podcasts out there.

But I think cannabis, as it’s becoming less of a taboo and more of a thing everybody is getting into, I want people to know that they can come here for factual information and for the pulse of what’s happening in the industry and culture.

So this is the podcast I wanted to create, and I had to bring somebody on board that I trusted in this space.

Tammy, or Cannabis Cutie, she has a very in-depth view and relationship with the cannabis plant.

Tammy: I appreciate it. When you first brought the idea to me, I was saddened to know that there was no lasagna.

XZIBIT: Well we can Postmate some shit here!

This podcast is going to be an incredible journey. From seed to sale, this is going to be a journey through how cannabis is tied together through culture.

It’s amazing to see because I used to get arrested all the time, especially in Europe. Back then they called it chronic or stress. That was it. There were no other names for cannabis.

So now to see how everything has evolved into dispensaries, it’s crazy. I never thought you would be able to go into a store and walk out with some cannabis.

Tammy: And we also have to look at the legacy—how we got to where we are today. The old growers are kind of being regulated out of the industry, but we have to pay respect to that.

In this podcast, we are bringing all different types of perspectives. Some may be controversial, but we’re trying to understand issues from their perspective.

XZIBIT: This is going to be a more balanced platform, one that’s more informative and culture-based.

For our first show, we have Jerry Krecicki, Owner of Quickies Wraps, also known as Jerry K.

He does a lot of branding and marketing and has done it for a long time. But it’s something about the way he tells stories that’s great.

So I wanted him to kick this off with him because his vibe is ill. He’s one of my favorites in the cannabis industry.

Tammy: So who are you, Jerry?

Jerry: I’ve been a photographer for most of my life. Photography brought me into the industry through taking pictures of people at clubs.

I started smoking cannabis when I was 11 years old.

XZIBIT: Nice! How did that happen?

Jerry: Well, my dad was the head coach at the high school. I was from a divorced family. Me and my brother lived in an apartment complex where there happened to be a lot of high school kids.

And one of the kids, named Dicky, was a little older than me and my brother. And that’s how they introduced me to weed.

It was more than weed back then. It was more like ‘drugs.’

XZIBIT: Yeah, for sure.

Jerry: Weed was the first thing I smoked. And back then, every mother’s cabinet had Valium, quaaludes, you name it.

XZIBIT: What do you think of the transition from traditional cannabis, like when you were eleven, to now? With dispensaries and legalization.

Jerry: I wish it was illegal again. The industry that I grew up in was different.

Honestly, cannabis is what got me off of drugs. That was my choice. Out of three rehabs and the things I went through as a child, cannabis was the one thing I stuck to.

There used to be a code of honor in the cannabis industry.

As far as loyalty, that’s been lost in the cannabis industry. When I got into the industry, I got into it because it was something I love. I was just peddling bags.

The cannabis industry is all over the place now. The strains that I grew up with are lost. They’re watered down. They name it anything.

Tammy: I don’t even pay attention to the names. There’s about six or seven scents—a gelato, an earthy scent, citrus, and so on. There’s categories. And if you know how you react to each scent, you know what you’re getting.

XZIBIT: It’s all hype.

Jerry: That’s why I stick to OGs.

Tammy: Me too.

Jerry: There’s a lot of good cannabis out there, but the government is messing it up. They are laying cannabis out only for their benefit.

So when I was messing with weed and a pound of OG was 5500 dollars, there was a reason it was 5500 dollars.

But all those people who grew that weed have been pushed out by corporations. And we have a whole new industry we’re in.

The quality of the weed goes down. Regulations are unjustified and don’t make sense.

I used to know what the law was when I went from state to state, country to country. Now you don’t know. Everywhere is different. You could go to Dubai, they could test your blood.

XZIBIT: Or they could put you to death, which they really can do.

If you had to compare the way the cannabis industry is now compared to where we were at the end of Prohibition, where are we now? Are there similarities?

Jerry: It was easier for them to get out of the prohibition of alcohol than it is for them to get out of the prohibition of cannabis. There is so much money involved in it and they are trying to figure out how they can get money out of it.

Tammy: It’s an industry. They can’t make it legal. They have prisons that hire guards. Companies that provide uniforms for the guards and prisoners. Prisoners that provide basic labor. It’s a whole ecosystem.

It’s insane that we create victimless crimes and then profit off of the criminals.

Jerry: Once weed becomes legal, they are going to put a whole new set of laws out. The laws are going to be against the ones like me, a personal grower. Unless I have a big company buying my weed.

XZIBIT: Right now it’s legal to grow two plants in California, right?

Tammy: Depending on what county you live in.

Jerry: You don’t even know. It should be that if you live in America, you can grow your own medicine.

The reason they don’t like that is because we can barter and trade if we grow our own stuff.

Tammy: And then we cut into their profits. That’s literally why cannabis companies are lobbying to keep home growing illegal.

XZIBIT: They wanna put it in a pill so bad.

Jerry: You cannot put this in a pill.

Tammy: Exactly. There are hundreds of chemicals in that flower, but how pharmaceuticals work is one indicator, one molecule. You have a headache? We’ll give you this molecule. You have a stomach ache? We’ll give you this molecule.

They tried to make single THC pills but they had to scrap it. It’s like going to the orchestra and asking the tuba to hold it down. It just can’t.

XZIBIT: So what are you doing now?

Jerry: So in 2016, I started working with the backwood leaf. It’s a particular leaf, and like cannabis, it has its own strains.

It’s a thicker leaf. It takes a year and more to cure it. I have a machine designed to cut them just like a backwood when you unroll it.

So we created a brand called Quickies. That’s been a whole road of fuckery because someone tried to trademark my original name, Precut.

XZIBIT: That’s when it stops being fun. When it goes from producing something to just fighting people who know the paperwork better.

For people who don’t know, Jerry is a well respected member of the community, especially out here in California. And California sets the tone for the rest of the industry. I wanted you to be on our first podcast.

Jerry: I really appreciate it, man. I didn’t sleep at all last night! Cannabis brings us together in so many ways. Cannabis saved my life. I’m passionate about it. I listen to my body and I know what works for me.

The worst thing about the cannabis movement is getting caught by the people who want to take it away from you. So thank you.

XZIBIT and Tammy: Thank you for being on the first Lasagna Ganja Podcast!