Pot Brothers At Law "STFU Friday" - Marc Wass

SPEAKER_01 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian F. Mark Watts, one of the pot brothers. What's up, dude?

SPEAKER_00 0:28

How are you doing, man? And hey, that's Pop Brothers at Law. We do have to correct people because there are plenty of pot brothers out there, and we love them. But I think there's only two that are lawyers, and we like to distinguish that. Pop brothers at law.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

All right. Well, then I mean, we we clearly gotta we we clearly gotta do that over again and get it correct here. Mark Wass, one of the pot brothers at law. What's up, dude?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Hey man, I'm doing good. How are you? Great to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

It's great to have you here, man. And you and I had a chance to connect on Clubhouse where all the cool kids are hanging out as of late. Uh, I discovered you. Gosh, it's probably been a few years since your shut the fuck up Friday video came out, which uh I don't think I've showed it to anybody that has not cracked up and said, send that to me.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Thank you very much. Yeah, that was uh quite a quite a riot. We we actually jumped on social media January 22nd, 2015. Wow. And a date for us that will live in infamy because that that's when uh my brother's kid, my nephew, came to us and said, I have some friends who want to interview attorneys here in California about the laws that are changing going into adult use. And they trying to find attorneys who will come on their show, smoke, and talk. And they can't find anybody. I told them my uncle and my dad would do it. My brother, my older brother, more much more conservative than me, was like, no, we're we can't go online to let people know what's the state bar gonna say. I said, let where do we go? When do we go? And we had about a 10-15 minute discussion about the laws as they were back then in 2015 for medical patients. And if you have your physician's recommendation, you're allowed to toke up, especially if you're in a private place. So this happened to be Be Real TV Studios. It was a show on Be Real TV called Getting High With, a host called Adam Ill. And we ended up doing that show, live interview, live questions, probably went about two and a half hours. And that's when we created what was a joke from years and years ago. We're brothers, we smoked pot, ha, pot brothers at law, and we created an Instagram page because my nephew made us, having no idea what the fuck Instagram was, other than oh, cool, free advertising, maybe we'll get a few new clients out of it. And it just we just started doing what we've been doing our whole careers with people and clients and being ourselves and just put it out there and it caught fire.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

So so when you when you say things you've always done for for clients on here, you guys are obviously uh attorneys uh and and and you are clearly focused uh within the cannabis industry. And uh so what type of things were you working on prior to social media and how has that all changed since social media's come on the scene?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yeah, so I've been practicing since 1996, my brother's been at it since 1986, and when I started in 1996, that's actually when Prop 215 came out and gave cannabis patients their rights, and it was being badly misused, abused, patients were getting arrested. So I went right into criminal defense defending cannabis patients, and so I've been doing that my whole career. My brother on the other side was doing corporate counseling, mergers, acquisitions, and all that business stuff. And so now you fast forward to these times where cannabis is now business, but people are still getting arrested for it. So we handled everything that encompassed the cannabis space. And when I said we started doing on social media what we'd always been doing, which was telling clients, criminal defense, shut the fuck up, man, don't talk to the cops. And when we got on social media and started giving that information out as to what to do when you get pulled over, it really was just never consent to a search and shut the fuck up. And then we started getting questions. Well, what if the cop says this? What if the cop does that? What do we do here? What do we say there? And that's when we started to develop what's now known as the script. And in the beginning, it might have been 65 words, and we have a nice evolution of the script on the business cards we would make over the years because we slapped it right on the back. And after uh six to eight months, we felt we had the script. 25 words, simple, brief, to the point. Every phrase that we say is based on some sort of law, case law. And so it's not just we didn't pull words out of our ass. This is all legitimate, clean, clear legal information that helps you when you get pulled over to maintain all and all of your rights, remedies, and defenses if you get arrested and have to defend yourself, or if you have to bring a civil action in court. So with the with us jumping on social media, that's how we started utilizing it on Instagram by doing 15-second, it was only 15-second videos back then, and we did 15-second tip of the day. And we started with a series of tips on what to do when you get pulled over, and then it just kind of escalated from there. And really from 2015 to 2018, we had amassed about 120,000 followers, which by all accounts over three years is pretty good from what I had seen on other social media accounts. And then December 25th, 2018, another infamous day for us. That morning I woke up and my phone, I had my notifications set to go off for all social media accounts. Because while Instagram was our biggest one, I put us on all platforms and we were just sitting there just in case somebody had something or or whatever. You know, all it takes is one person for an attorney. Hey, you know, I just got arrested for murder and I need an attorney. So I had every notification set because we don't want to miss it, and my Facebook notification would go ding, just a ding. And we maybe had 300 people following us on that Facebook page at that time, and that ding was going ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. It just wouldn't stop. I'd never, I didn't, I thought my phone was broken. And I finally get on my computer and I'm just like, it's being shared, and this and likes and all. And I finally find the origination of this shut the fuck up Friday video that we did where we explained three people got caught in an ill a raid of an illegal shop. Two of them said, I volunteer here. And they got busted. One, our client, shut the fuck up, we got the case dismissed. And so that video then got reposted on a Facebook kit page called Respect My Region, which then got reposted by Roger Stone. And he with the caption, these should be my attorneys. He never shuts the fuck up. And so that repost then got picked up by everybody, from Snoop to P. Diddy to Rap Report to World Star to all these platforms I never even heard of. And to this day, that one video probably has over 800 million views. It led to us being interviewed by uh Tosh Point O on his show, ridiculousness, and MTV used our stuff, and then it just we just went into the stratosphere with that one repost, is really what kind of set it off.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

And you guys sat, well, hold on a second, we're on to something here, clearly, and you continue to just parlay more content on top of that and continue to build the brand out.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Yes, yeah. Once we saw what was happening, we just you know jumped all over it. I started doing more on all the different social media platforms, getting it out there. We're we now do uh our iHeartMedia podcast. We're partnered with iHeartMedia with Cannabis Talk 101. We go around the country. Now that things are opened up again, we're back around the country at expos and events doing our seminar, The Etiquette of Engaging Law Enforcement, How to Shut the Fuck Up When Cops Ask Questions. It's a really fun, engaging seminar we do. And then afterwards, we do something called the script challenge, which is something we do every Friday live on Instagram, where I'll bring in followers live, I'll be the cop, we'll run you through getting pulled over. If you do the script properly in order, you win a prize from one of our 10 different sponsors, some Cash App to you. And we took that and started doing it live on stage at these seminars. And it's just it's phenomenal. Been been amazing. We will be in Chicago next week, August 6th and 7th, for uh Canacon, and then again in New York in January and Vegas at the end of September for G4 Live. We're getting out there uh making some noise.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

I would think that you guys are like the pen and teller of the pot industry. It's like, hey, we're gonna have the pot brothers there. Who cares if they're giving a talk or not or teaching us anything? They're gonna be there for autographs, pictures, and to to to to see the bit in person. I I would assume you guys have really become personalities within the space, but you're not just a bunch of fuckheads running around talking about what's going on in there. You guys are actual attorneys that can help people in the event they get in trouble. Number one. Number two, you're you're educating people on what they don't know that they don't know in an effort to prevent unnecessary arrests taking place because of cannabis. Is that is that is that accurate?

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you know, it's it's kind of weird. You know, I mean, for us, uh, you know, now over the last I'd say like year, it's really gone way. Like I walk out of my house and go to the store. Hey, shut the fuck up, guy. You know, and I'm like, oh, hey, it's shut the freak up when I'm with my kid.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

You know, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

I went to Disneyland with my kid last week, and I, you know, hey, can we take a picture? And we, you know, and I do the same, and and we get that wherever we go, restaurants and at the conventions, it's almost like we're George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

You know, with just you know, and and it's interesting because when you see somebody go up to a celebrity for the most part, hey man, your autograph, oh, so cool. Wow. With us, a lot of times we just get thank you so much. People start crying because you gave me the courage to move from this state to another state to help my kid with epilepsy. You gave me the courage. I'm a doctor, I smoke pot and I'm showing people now. I mean, it's the reaction in terms of the celebrity part of it, is it's gratifying because we're we're seeing how we're touching so many people and affecting their lives because you know, you go down to the deep south and you've you got three ounces in your trunk, it's a felony, yeah, you know, and we get people, hey, I did it, I had a little bit in my trunk, and I shut the fuck up and they were on my way. So things could end much differently for people, and we're learning that. So it's it is very gratifying and nice. And uh the one thing I do when people come up and ask, Can I take a picture? I say, It's gonna cost you. And then I whip out my phone, I turn my phone on and go, What do you do when the cops ask questions? Nine times out of ten, they'll say, Shut the fuck up if they don't get too nervous. And then I'll say, now we can take a picture. I know I'm educating you. Let's let's go.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Yeah, so you're able to get some content from uh from the fan base too, all at the same time in exchange for a quick picture. So I'd be remiss not to ask what the script is, even though I'm sure I've heard it multiple times before.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

So the script, these are the only 25 words you ever use when the cops pull you over or you're otherwise engaged with law enforcement, and they simply are, why did you pull me over? I'm not discussing my day. Am I being detained or am I free to go? If detained, you say I invoke the fifth, and then you shut the fuck up. And that's it. It's quite simple.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

So, how do you get around the whole legal aspect? Speaking of, you know, the bar, like your brother said, Well, we can't be doing that when way back when when it was the initial idea. How does that all how how's that work with the with the bar and and with what you guys do as attorneys?

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Well, I'll knock on wood, because since 2015, nobody said anything to us. You know, the bar hasn't come to us and said anything. And it's interesting because, God, I think it was the state bar in New York just wrote an opinion that, hey, it's okay uh if attorneys, you know, help their clients with this cannabis stuff or even use it. You know, it's just, I'm like, why are they writing this opinion? I mean, I don't, I don't know. You know, for us, we felt, look, this is this is the way we medicate. And if somebody's got a problem with it, you know, well, let's let's talk about it and let's take it up. But we haven't had any issues, you know. I I go into court with my nug right here around my neck, and you know, we we are unapologetic.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

I thought you were gonna say with a lit joint. I'm like, well, those are some rhino balls right there, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Now, you know, what what I am thinking of doing is going around the country and sparking up joints in front of police stations.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

See what happens. And let me know how that goes.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

We might film it. I don't know. We'll see. I've got different ideas.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

How uh how received are you by the judges?

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Yeah, very well. It, you know, we haven't had any negative flat feet uh feedback or backlash or anything. It's you know, more often than not, we end up educating even the judges about cannabis. And you know, it's it's it's amazing when you when you put yourself out there for something that at the end of the day, all it is is is something that's good for people, even though everybody doesn't realize it, and we sure have a boatload of people who are against it, but to stand up and say, hey, this is okay, you know, and for me to go into court unapologetically with how I am, and you know, we have the masks that shut the fuck up and all that stuff. And you know, I go into court and a bailiff, what is that? I go, that that's that's so people don't talk to guys like you. That's what we teach them, you know, and then they start laughing and they get it, you know, for the most part, they get it. And we have a lot of followers and fans that are law enforcement. And you know, people get the wrong idea of us shut the fuck up when cops ask questions. We don't hate cops, we're not against cops. We don't like bad cops. We like, I like to call them constitutional cops, the good cops, the cops that understand the constitution, the cops that aren't gonna trample aren't trying to trample all over your rights. And the cop that when you get pulled over and you start this, the other thing it does is it flushes out what kind of cop you got. Because when you say, I'm not discussing my gay option, and you have that cop who isn't looking to just find something if he sees something, he's looking in your car, nothing going on. Ah, this guy knows his rights. Get out of here, because the next 10 people that come down the road, they're gonna yap their mouths off. So I'm not wasting my time with you. Or you get the cop who hates that you know your rights. I'm not discussing my day, officer. Oh, you can't tell me one simple thing. Have you had anything to drink? I'm trying to keep it. And they will go and do and say whatever they want. And they can. They can lie, they can make shit up, and it's intimidating and scary when they do that. And these are the tools we've given people to combat that and go back with that. And you just, it's your tone. You you remain calm. And at the end of the day, if something goes down, we will be able to have a much easier time showing it and proving that they violated your rights without having to go through any kind of bullshit because and and sifting around other language and words that you may have said versus shutting the fuck up. All we got to listen to is what the cop's saying, and then he violated your rights. So it makes it much easier.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

I gotta say, the funniest part of the script is I'm not discussing my day.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

It's so sad, and let me tell you, when we were coming up with this, you know, there's so many different things you could say, and we just ultimately felt I'm not discussing my day. For anything, any question, that cop ass, I'm not, and then when people get scared and people of color, we get it a lot too. If I say that, I'm gonna get my I'm gonna get my ass kicked. They're gonna think I'm being rude. They're gonna think uh, you know, and that is the cop's problem. If they think you're being rude because you're asserting your rights, don't worry about that. And people of color, if the cop's gonna rip you out of the car and beat your ass, it ain't because of that. It ain't because you could have said ice cream's melting across the street. Right. And that that cop is gonna beat your ass no matter what you do. Right when when you do what we say and the cops do that, they're not gonna get away with it. They're not gonna get away with it. And we're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Just into the bad cops that are out there.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

So it it's that's really the it's the preservation of those rights, remedies, and defenses that's most important.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

I mean, there's not a I mean, what number one, what an exciting time to be alive, but number two, none there's never been a more point in time to be able to do what you guys are doing right here based on what takes place in this country with bad cops. We've seen it unfold, unfortunately, um in in recent events over the past couple of years. So this is really relevant uh to that, this education, this learning curve, if you will, of teaching people what to actually do, regardless of background or situation that you're in. So a simple process of I'm not sharing my day.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Yeah, well, and and it's interesting because when we came online in 2015, as we as our popularity grew, we saw the bullshit with the cops. It started getting worse. And over, like you said, over the last four or five years, it's been escalating. And this type of information and this method is needed so you can walk away from a traffic stop. I mean, Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Well, man, I love what you guys are up to, but especially because you're making an impact and helping people understand what they don't know that they don't know about this world. Uh, it is an exciting and interesting time to be alive. Uh, I don't know that you guys would have had all this success 30 years ago. Because none of this was existent. And I think they used to refer to pot as uh dope, uh, or at least my grandfather did. Uh so love what you guys are up to. I wanted to encourage you to keep keep it up there. I look I'm glad to be connected with you guys. You're listening to this right now, you're like, I want to follow these guys, I want to watch this video, etc. All of uh Mark the Pop Rosa Law's content links and content information, contact information is gonna be available. So go and hit him up on Instagram, on Facebook, their website. It's all gonna be available in the show notes. That's the description of this podcast episode that you're listening to right now. Well, Mark, thanks for your time, brother. It's great to connect, man. I hope to see you again sometime soon. Uh maybe we'll meet in person one of these days if you make it to Miami. Uh look me up.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

I was just in Miami uh two weeks ago with someone. Oh man. My best friend lives in uh Coral Springs.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Okay, not too far, but about 40 minutes from me.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Yeah, and then I go there, and then my favorite restaurant is Prime 112.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Of course. Yeah, a Miami staple.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yeah, that I've been going. I mean, so my buddy, he's lived in Florida since 1998. We grew up, he'd known him since we're eight years old and all that good stuff. And so, yeah, that two weeks ago was my first time back, you know, to because I usually I'll go four or five times a year.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

To go hang out. And I was doing cannabis events out there and speaking and stuff the last couple years. Um, but yeah, it I'll be back out there again. I will definitely uh reach out, we'll hook up.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Maybe we'll find when we could pin Linny Lonnie the street lawyer down, fellow Miami, and get him down from DC.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Yes, we've uh we've interviewed him, uh, did a shut the fuck up Friday with him. Good guy. I love that guy.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Yeah, we we could shoot a music video or something with Lonnie and his whole entourage.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Absolutely. I'm down.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

We'll do it on the outside patio of Prime 112. I'm sure Miles will love that.

unknown 21:54

Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Hey, thanks again, Mark, ladies and gentlemen. Mark Watts, Pot Brothers Outlaw. Make sure you follow him and connect him. You gotta come back sometime soon, will you?

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Absolutely. And I'll drag my brother with too.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Do it. All right, until next time, friends.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

All right, take care, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. I'm sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you're so inclined, please leave us a review. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios, I'll talk to you about it.