Meta Platforms Inc., once the widely recognized Facebook, has become a focal point in a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem. Today, it faces a barrage of criticisms ranging from its stance on cannabis and the Palestinian narrative to the pressing concern of youth mental health. In this piece, we delve deep into these contentious issues, painting a vivid picture of the challenges and questions that Meta now grapples with.

This week the MA Cannabis Control Commission continues to try to stay more relevant than Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift in a purple convertible by releasing a lengthy response to the MA Lawmakers’ request for oversight. They answered the Lawmakers’ questions... in their own way. You could definitely tell their feelings were hurt by the Lawmakers’ letter and I will just leave it at that. They did give us, however, insight into Chair Shannon O’Brien’s suspension and highlight the importance of Human Resources! I know guys, I was excited too.

I could say a lot about my opinions and thoughts on the CCC, but I think a story about what it was like to deal with them would be more beneficial for those reading. So did you know that to work in cannabis, you must first be Badged. Sounds fun, right?

Well, here’s what it entails for a candidate: multiple background checks that sometimes take weeks to complete delaying your start date, getting paperwork notarized usually at a bank that you have to schedule a time to go, getting your picture taken as a passport photo which costs $17 per photo, and no transparency about anything that happens to all of it after it is handed in to the CCC.

Understand that progress is rarely linear and that setbacks will happen. It's okay if you don't get it right the first time, or the second, or even the third. Success takes time and effort, and often involves a lot of trial and error. It's essential to not be overdramatic, remember that failure is not the end of the road. Even Drake released Tootsie Slide. Use your failure as fuel for growth and development. Examine them to the point that you feel ownership over that failure. Pick it apart. Know it better than anyone. Then adjust.

If you have ever cared for someone with End Stage Alcohol Addiction or Alcoholic Cirrhosis you can understand how frustrating it is for alcohol to be so widely accepted while Cannabis is stigmatized to the point that some of my friends can’t even like my Human Resources Company Linked In page out of fear of judgement and retribution because it is associated with the Cannabis Industry. So, I decided I will share what that is like for those who have been lucky enough to not experience it. Working as an ICU nurse for many years in a Trauma 1 Hospital that was the Liver Transplant Capital of the United States gave me a unique perspective about what alcohol really does to the human body. Hint: it destroys it in way that leaves a person highlighter yellow, weeping smelly fluid from their entire body, and forced to be on a medication called Lactulose that’s entire purpose is to make them shit uncontrollably to ease the hepatic encephalopathy.