Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Trump.

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Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Trump.

Postby seemslikeadream » Sun Nov 20, 2016 9:39 am

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DRUGS
3 Reasons Why Trump Might Hesitate to Go After Legal Pot

There's a lot of worry that the incoming president will try to reinstate Reefer Madness in states where it's already legal. Not likely, though.
By Phillip Smith / AlterNet November 19, 2016

The election of Donald Trump is sending chills down the spine of the nation's nascent marijuana industry. Could he and a Republican Congress try to roll back the clock and force federal pot prohibition down the throats of states that have, via the popular vote, gone down the path toward legalization?

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and Trump and the Congress could, in theory, try to put the genie back in the bottle. Undoing a Justice Department memorandum and failing to renew laws that ban the Justice Department from interfering in pot-legal states could open the door to a renewed, regressive federal offensive on reefer.

But is that actually going to happen? I don't think so, and here are three reasons why:

1. The feds can roll back legal marijuana regulation and taxation, but they can't roll back legal marijuana.

The federal government could make it impossible for states to tax and regulate the marijuana industry and could theoretically drive the industry back underground by reversing the Obama administration's Cole memorandum basically turning a blind federal eye to state-legal marijuana programs and by the Republican Congress refusing to extend laws that bar the use of federal funds to go after state-legal marijuana programs. But—and this is a huge but—the federal government cannot force the states to make marijuana illegal nor can it make them enforce federal marijuana prohibition.

Ponder what would happen if the feds clamped down on the states: The states could be enjoined or threatened into dismantling their marijuana regulation and taxation apparatuses, crippling marijuana businesses and hurting state coffers. But state laws allowing pot possession and personal cultivation would remain on the books. We would then have marijuana legalization without regulation or taxation, a real Wild West situation. And, of course, it would be up to the federal government to enforce federal marijuana laws in those states. The DEA doesn't have an army big enough to effectively do that. Barring popular votes to overturn initiatives—not presidential diktats or congressional interference—marijuana is going to remain legal in the states that have voted for it, even if the feds try to go after pot businesses. And given that doing so would result in marijuana legalization without regulation, it seems unlikely that even the most dedicated drug warrior is going to want to go down that path.

2. Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Trump.

Legalization has won in every state where's it been on the ballot, with the exception this year of Red State Arizona, where a multi-million dollar "no" campaign managed to barely defeat it. And it is an increasingly popular position nationwide, with public opinion polls in the last couple of years now consistently reporting majorities in favor. The latest Gallup poll, from October, has support at an all-time high of 60%, including 70% of independents, 67% of Democrats, and even 42% of Republicans. Trump supporters undoubtedly include people who support marijuana legalization.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, didn't win a majority of the popular vote, even though he won the electoral college. According to the latest counts, he got 47.0% of the popular vote, while Hillary Clinton got 47.8%. Does a new president favored by less than half the voters want to take on an issue favored by well over half of them? Trump can choose where he expends his political capital, and if he chooses wisely, going after legal marijuana won't be a fight he picks.

3. Trump himself has said leave it to the states.

Okay, Trump has said lots of things on the campaign trail, many of them contradictory. His positions are largely little more than sketches, and he's hard to predict. But he has made clear statements about his position on marijuana legalization:

"I think it certainly has to be... a state decision," he told WWJ Newsradio 950 last March. "There seems to be certain health problems with it, and that would be certainly bothersome. I do like it... from a medical standpoint—it does do pretty good things. But from the other standpoint, I think that should be up to the states. Certainly, from a medical standpoint, a lot of people are liking it."

That position is precisely in line with the Obama administration's approach and would keep the status quo intact.

Trump is a teetotaler who has no use for alcohol, cigarettes, or coffee, let alone marijuana, and he's shown an inclination to talk tough about drug dealers, but in the past—before he decided to run for president as a Republican—he also talked about how the war on drugs has failed and the only response is legalization. Don't expect Trump to emerge as the champion of drug legalization while in the White House, but do expect him to live up to his word on the campaign trail.

There has been much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments over the possibility that Trump will appoint a hard-line anti-marijuana conservative as attorney general, and that Attorney General Giuliani or Attorney General Sessions could unleash the hounds of federal pot prohibition on the legal states. But attorneys general serve at the whim of their bosses, in this case, Mr. Trump. If Trump is not down with trying to restore federal pot prohibition in states that don't want it, his attorney general is not likely go up against his boss.

This doesn't mean we should rest easy. There are gains to be defended and campaigns to be mounted to ensure that he doesn't try to interfere. Trump needs to know that he's in for a tough and futile battle if he goes after weed, but I suspect he knows that already, and he's got other battles to fight.



http://www.alternet.org/drugs/3-reasons ... -marijuana


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As More States Legalize Marijuana, Investors And Marketers Line Up
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/20/502577270 ... around-u-s



Marijuana Marketing Just Got Classier Thanks to This Cannabis Creative Agency
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016 AT 11:10 A.M. BY SHELBY HARTMAN
To Whom It May sells their organic bon bons and truffles — infused with THC coconut oil — in cherry cayenne, smoked almond butter, hazelnut brandy, and hazelnut butter.

This fall’s issue of The LA Fashion Magazine features a sleek advertisement of a woman in black short shorts, a glam leather jacket with studs, and heeled boots strutting across a bustling metropolitan street. It declares: “For Those Who Wear Their Passion On Their Sleeve.” It’s only with some investigation that the consumer might notice this is an ad for luxury cannabis chocolates. The company, To Whom It May, sells their organic bon bons and truffles — infused with THC coconut oil — in cherry cayenne, smoked almond butter, hazelnut brandy, and hazelnut butter. Every box is delivered with a poem.“We’re really trying to show that you can talk about cannabis and not just have pictures of bud and people getting high,” To Whom It May Founder Tomer Grassiany said.

As small Los Angeles-based cannabis companies prepare for life after Proposition 64 — which legalizes recreational marijuana use for all Californians over the age of 21 — to go into effect on January 1, 2018, they’re strategizing as to how they can distinguish themselves amid the rapidly growing competition. Many of these brands, inspired by stories of healing, see themselves as a part of a larger mission too. Their social media presence, packaging, and other marketing will determine whether they can establish themselves as a mainstay brand among cannabis users, and the messages they send out about their products will shape how cannabis is perceived in society-at-large.

Twyla Monti and Sari Gabbay launched L.A.-based cannabis creative agency Redefining Cannabis in August to help companies use their branding to lift the stigma from the cannabis industry as it opens up to a general market. It was an organic professional move for the close friends. Monti, with her bright orange hair, and Gabbay, with her cerulean blue locks, previously did marketing for more traditional companies, but they never cared much for convention.

“It’s our goal to redefine cannabis through our clients,” said Gabbay. “We work with companies in this industry who want to educate the public about the truth behind this plant and how it can help you.”
http://www.laweekly.com/arts/marijuana- ... cy-7625762


Marijuana Appears to Benefit Mental Health: Study
http://time.com/4573129/marijuana-canna ... al-health/
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby 82_28 » Sun Nov 20, 2016 12:13 pm

I will say this. Edibles scare the fuck out of me and I do not want any child near them. Here is what I said once unknowingly ingesting one:

This is what it feels like to lose your mind.

Edibles should be banned or whatever you do to make sure kids can't get to them like your childproof percocet bottle and shit like that.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby OP ED » Sun Nov 20, 2016 12:46 pm

I love em. Not like every day, of course.

And rural white people smoke dope too. Trump would cripple his reelection prospects.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby seemslikeadream » Sun Nov 20, 2016 12:54 pm

Your kid is way more likely to be poisoned by crayons than by marijuana
Beyond that, the raw numbers on marijuana exposure are extremely low. Marijuana accounts for only 2.3 of every 1,000 poison control cases for kids 10 and younger in Colorado, according to the JAMA study. At the national level, kids are much more likely to be poisoned by any number of common household products, like diaper cream, toothpaste, or energy drinks, than they are to be poisoned by marijuana.


Drug Poison control calls for kids 5 and under per 1 million adult users, 2014
Marijuana 9
Alcohol 9
Tobacco 134
Source: National Poison Data Center, National Survey on Drug Use and Health

(1,683 crayon-related poison control calls for kids in 2014, in case you were curious).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/won ... marijuana/





Child Poisoning Facts & Statistics
Child poisoning fact #1: Across the United States, around 800,000 kids are rushed to the emergency room each year because of accidental poisoning. Of these, around 30 children will die, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Child poisoning fact #2: Around 70% of non-fatal poisonings involve children ages 1 to 2.

Child poisoning fact #3: Overall, around 24 million people call poison control centers every year. Although most of these accidental poisonings do not turn out to be serious, it illustrates just how common accidental poisonings in kids actually are.

Child poisoning fact #4: 280,000 people called poison control centers in 2005 related to pain medications. Many of these occur when kids ingest their grandparent’s medications, which are often removed from their childproof containers and carried around in a purse or in daily pill dispensers.

Child poisoning fact #5: Around 100,000 children end up in the E.R. each year after ingesting medication belonging to grandparents, and such cases of exposure to medicine through grandparents account for as many as 10-20% of all accidental medication poisonings.

Child poisoning fact #6: Certain heart and pain medications are so potent that a single pill is capable of killing a small child.

Child poisoning fact #7: Newer medications such as painkillers that contain sustained release packets are especially dangerous, because they contain a much higher amount of medicine per pill. Children often bite into them, which releases all the medication at once.

Child poisoning fact #8: Every year around 12,000 kids under the age of five are treated in emergency rooms for exposure to household cleaning products. Of those injured, around 6% face a life-threatening situation or suffer long-term disabilities from their poisoning.

Child poisoning fact #9: About 90% of child poisonings occur in the home, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Child poisoning fact #10: Overall, accidental poisoning is the #2 cause of unintentional injury death in the United States, second behind car crashes, according to the CDC.

Child poisoning fact #11: Fatalities aren't the only risk. Many toxins can cause permanent damage to a child's organs and permanently alter their life, so the statistics on death do not do the danger justice. Children are also more sensitive to toxins, because of their smaller size and immature organs.

Child poisoning fact #12: Of the 2.4 million people who swallow or have contact with a poison each year, more than half are under age six.

Child poisoning fact #13: Around 5,700 children end up in the emergency room each year because caregivers accidentally give the child an overdose of over-the-counter medications.

Child poisoning fact #14: One in nine kids under the age of eighteen abuse prescription painkillers, according to Sandra Schneider of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Child poisoning fact #15: It's not all bad: Thanks in a large part to better pill caps and parental awareness, child poisoning deaths have fallen by 80% since their 1972 levels.
http://www.keepyourchildsafe.org/child- ... stics.html
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby NeonLX » Sun Nov 20, 2016 1:01 pm

OP ED » Sun Nov 20, 2016 11:46 am wrote:I love em. Not like every day, of course.

And rural white people smoke dope too. Trump would cripple his reelection prospects.


Assuming there will ever be an other election.

Personally, I hope people go on a rampage. But I've been wishing that for decades.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby Burnt Hill » Sun Nov 20, 2016 1:31 pm

82_28 » Sun Nov 20, 2016 12:13 pm wrote:I will say this. Edibles scare the fuck out of me and I do not want any child near them. Here is what I said once unknowingly ingesting one:

This is what it feels like to lose your mind.

Edibles should be banned or whatever you do to make sure kids can't get to them like your childproof percocet bottle and shit like that.


Marijuana isn't for everyone, especially not for anyone with a history of mental illness.
And recreational marijuana in any form is not for children.
Personally, I don't indulge much anymore - but when I do, I much prefer edibles.
If you know your chef, you can easily control your type and dosage.
You shouldn't play "russian roulette" with any drug.
And the "fear" of edibles plays in to the hands of the enemy.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby OP ED » Sun Nov 20, 2016 1:43 pm

I cook my own, usually out of ingredients that come entirely from places where I can see how they're grown. I like most things that I eat to be something that I can trace.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby Agent Orange Cooper » Sun Nov 20, 2016 2:10 pm

Trump already said outright he would let the states handle it. Not a federal issue.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:28 pm

just got the latest medical from the pharmacy ....brand name......White Album :P



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCeKHze ... freload=10


life goes on ....




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Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby brekin » Fri Jan 20, 2017 6:14 pm

Speculatin...perhaps all this marijuana legalization was to bring production and manufacturing to this side of the border.
Now that is happening we can play tough with Mexico. Perhaps cocaine is next.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby seemslikeadream » Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:39 pm

Washington state will resist federal crackdown on legal weed, AG Ferguson says
Originally published February 23, 2017 at 4:25 pm Updated February 23, 2017 at 5:06 pm

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson speaks in Seattle on Feb. 9 against President Donald Trump’s travel-ban executive order. (Elaine Thompson/The Associated Press)

Washington’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee have vowed to defend the state’s legal marijuana law against a federal crackdown suggested Thursday by the White House.

With White House press secretary Sean Spicer suggesting Thursday that the Trump administration would crack down on states that have legal recreational marijuana, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson vowed to defend Washington state’s legal pot law.

“I will resist any efforts by the Trump administration to undermine the will of the voters in Washington state,” Ferguson said in an interview.

Spicer said during a press briefing Thursday that the issue rests with the Justice Department. But he said, “I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement of it.”

Related
White House expects Justice crackdown on legalized marijuana

He added it’s “something that the Department of Justice I think will be further looking into.” No details were provided.

Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee sent a letter to U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions, dated Feb. 15 that laid out arguments for Washington’s state-regulated pot industry.

They said illegal dealing is being displaced by a tightly regulated industry that is projected to pay $272 million in taxes this fiscal year. That frees up law-enforcement officers to protect communities facing more pressing threats. They also noted that legal pot entrepreneurs must undergo criminal and financial background checks.

“Given the limited resources available for marijuana law enforcement, a return to ‘full’ prohibition’ is highly unlikely to end the illicit production, trafficking and consumption of marijuana,” wrote Ferguson and Inslee, who asked for a meeting with Sessions.

This is not a fight President Donald Trump and his administration should pick, Inslee said earlier this month. “They would be on the wrong side of history,” the governor said.

Ferguson said his lawyers are already “quite prepared” to argue against a federal crackdown but will begin reviewing strategies now that Spicer has sent the administration’s first signals about recreational marijuana.

“When he talks about ‘greater enforcement,’ I take that seriously,” said Ferguson, whose legal team twice prevailed over Trump’s lawyers in federal court decisions on the president’s travel ban.

With 56 percent of the voters approving, Washington legalized adult possession of small amounts of marijuana and state-regulated farming and sales of pot in November 2012.

Tension has existed ever since about the federal government’s ongoing prohibition of all forms of marijuana.

The Obama administration let Washington and Colorado, the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana, proceed with their experiments as long they adhered to the so-called Cole Memo of August 2013.

Authored by U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole, the memo told Washington and Colorado they could carry out the voters’ will as long as they followed eight Department of Justice priorities, such as preventing sales to minors and preventing legal pot revenue from going to criminals.

As a candidate, Trump said he supported medical marijuana. He said recreational marijuana “should be a state issue.”

Spicer’s comments come a day after the Trump administration rolled back an Obama-era directive on public-school bathroom requirements for transgender students, arguing it should be a state, not federal decision.

Ferguson said it was inconsistent for Trump and Republicans to support states’ rights and a crackdown on legal marijuana in states where voters have approved it.

A national poll by Quinnipiac University released Thursday showed that 71 percent of voters said the government should not enforce federal laws against states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana. All groups — Republicans, Democrats, Independents, young, old, men, women — agreed with this view, according to the poll.

The Justice Department has several options, including filing lawsuits on the grounds that state laws regulating pot are unconstitutional because they are pre-empted by federal law.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-new ... uson-says/
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby OP ED » Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:12 am

Political suicide. Awesome.
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby Elvis » Fri Feb 24, 2017 1:58 am

Here in WA legalization is working out really well. You know exactly what you're getting, the cost did not go up—went down a bit in fact—state revenues are in the hundreds of millions and people are no longer paranoid about the cops.

And the legal marijuana industry employs 150,000 people. All kinds of jobs are involved in the production, processing and sales. The big banks want in on this payroll action, merchant services, loans etc. but they won't deal with weed because of the lingering federal laws. For now, it's all cash.

I asked the owner of a nearby shop if there was worry about Sessions, renewed enforcement and potential shutdowns by the feds; he pushed his lips into a dismissive moue, shook his head and said one word: "Business."
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby SonicG » Fri Feb 24, 2017 2:42 am

Oh and we're back to War on Drugs lies...Yeaaaa! Let's avoid the real problems behind the opioid and meth crisis in the US...

WHITE HOUSE WARNS: FED CRACKDOWN ON RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA COMING

America is in the throes of an opiate overdose epidemic with no end in sight. So President Donald Trump’s administration, which has yet to make a single misstep in domestic or foreign policy, is set to launch a federal crackdown on marijuana legalization, the White House suggested on Thursday.

During his daily briefing session with reporters, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that the states enjoying tax revenue and job creation after legalizing cannabis will likely see “greater enforcement” of federal law banning marijuana in every shape and form.

Spicer also contradicted known science and medical research by tacitly pinning the blame for the country’s heroin problem on marijuana. Not pharmaceutical industry-driven overprescription of pain pills, or a faulty reliance on medication to solve pain—it’s marijuana that’s driving Americans to overdose on pain pills and then, when that supply or their health insurance runs out, turn to heroin, Spicer said.

Exactly what Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s Justice Department has planned, when it will begin, and where was left unsaid. But this is the first indication that Sessions, an early Trump supporter who wields great influence in the White House and whose staunch opposition to marijuana legalization is well known, meant what he said when he warned he would “enforce federal law” on cannabis.

“I do believe you’ll see greater enforcement of it,” said Spicer, who added that the Justice Department will be “further looking into” marijuana enforcement.

But on the other hand, Donald Trump is OK with medical marijuana.

Here’s POLITICO on the scene:

President Donald Trump “understands the pain and suffering that many people go through who are facing especially terminal diseases, and the comfort that some of these drugs, including medical marijuana, can bring to them,” he said, also noting previous action by Congress not to fund the Justice Department “go[ing] after those folks.”

As for “recreational marijuana, that’s a very, very different subject,” Spicer said.
If the Trump administration is serious and this isn’t a redux of vague and impossible promises to build a mythical and useless wall, this would be exactly the opposite of what most Americans want.

A federal crackdown on legal cannabis is opposed by 71 percent of Americans, according to a Quinnipiac University poll figure. That figure would include about 40 percent of the minority of citizens who voted for Donald Trump.

Trump’s latest approval ratings stand at a dismal 41 percent, with a majority of Americans finding the president “embarrassing.”

“If the administration is looking for ways to become less popular, cracking down on voter-approved marijuana laws would be a great way to do it,” said Tom Angell, chair of the Marijuana Majority, a national advocacy organization. “On the campaign trail, President Trump clearly and repeatedly pledged that he would leave decisions on cannabis policy to the states. With a clear and growing majority of the country now supporting legalization, reneging on his promises would be a political disaster and huge distraction from the rest of the president’s agenda.”

Spicer suggested that Jeff Sessions, Steve Bannon and President Trump opposes recreational marijuana use because, somehow, cannabis is to blame for the opiate epidemic, which began after prescriptions for opiate-based pain medications quadrupled.

“When you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people,” Spicer said.

Forget for a second that there is no credible link between marijuana use and a turn to heroin—and that recent research suggests the exact opposite. Bask instead in the irony that Donald Trump can thank the epidemic for his election.

Heroin’s emergence as a killer in downtrodden suburban and rural communities in America’s Farm and Rust Belts coincided with his rise to power. In fact, as NPR reported in December, the areas hit hardest by the heroin and prescription opiate epidemic were areas where Trump most outperformed Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican candidate for president.

Some 240 million opiate prescriptions were written in 2014 alone, according to the federal government, enough for every American to have their own supply of habit-forming pain pills. Far fewer Americans are given license to use weed. As many as two million Americans abuse prescription opiates, according to the Centers for Disease Control—not weed. And every day, the CDC reports, more than 1,000 people are admitted to emergency rooms for misusing prescription pills, a figure that does not include ER admissions for heroin overdoses.

In a year’s time in Colorado right after legalization, when dummies like New York Times columnists were gobbling whole medicated candy bars despite being told directly not to, several hundred people went to a hospital for using too much weed.

Nearly $7 billion in legal cannabis was sold in America last year. A crackdown on legal marijuana would hand that industry over to the black-market and could send Colorado into a recession.

“Trump seems insistent on throwing the marijuana market back into the hands of criminals, wiping out tax-paying jobs and eliminating billions of dollars in taxes,” said Ethan Nadelmann, the outgoing director of the Drug Policy Alliance, one of the drug-reform advocacy groups instrumental in the successful passage of state marijuana legalization initiatives.

“As for connecting marijuana to the legal opioid crisis, Spicer has it exactly backwards,” he added. “Greater access to marijuana has actually led to declines in opioid use, overdoses and other problems.”
http://hightimes.com/news/white-house-w ... na-coming/
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Re: Marijuana legalization is popular, more popular than Tru

Postby seemslikeadream » Wed Mar 15, 2017 3:51 pm

Trump and his attorney general are freaking out the $7 billion pot industry
Ylan Mui | @ylanmui
Tuesday, 14 Mar 2017 | 9:57 AM ET

The cannabis industry could be in for a serious buzz kill The cannabis industry could be in for a serious buzz kill
Tuesday, 14 Mar 2017 | 1:57 PM ET | 00:33
The cannabis industry could be in for a serious buzz kill.

Marijuana dispensaries and manufacturers are increasingly worried that the Trumpadministration will crack down on enforcement of federal laws that ban growing and selling marijuana — reversing the president's stance during his campaign and potentially upending what has become a $7 billion market. The anxiety was sparked by surprise comments from White House spokesman Sean Spicer last month that the government would likely step up its enforcement of drug laws.

Shortly afterward, Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a conference of state attorneys general that he is "dubious" about the benefits of pot. He reiterated those concerns in an interview with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt last week.

"Marijuana is against federal law, and that applies in states where they may have repealed their own anti-marijuana laws. So yes, we will enforce law in an appropriate way nationwide," Sessions said. "It's not possible for the federal government, of course, to take over everything the local police used to do in a state that's legalized it. And I'm not in favor of legalization of marijuana. I think it's a more dangerous drug than a lot of people realize."

"President Trump said he was going to allow this to be a state's rights issue. ... We took him at his word."
-Chuck Smith, co-founder, Dixie Brands
The comments have set off alarm bells for Chuck Smith, co-founder of Dixie Brands, a Denver-based company that manufactures tinctures, topicals and treats infused with THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. He founded the company in 2010 and now employs more than 100 people across Colorado, California, Nevada and Arizona, with plans to expand in Washington state and Maryland.

"My concern right now for both the company and industry is just uncertainty," Smith told CNBC. "It's hard to build an industry or a company when you don't have clarity."

The administration's remarks also took a toll on shares of Innovative Industrial Properties, which invests in marijuana-growing facilities and is one of the few publicly traded cannabis companies. Its stock price tumbled on the day of Spicer's press conference and are down more than 13 percent since then. But two other prominent pot stocks, GW Pharmaceuticals and Cara Therapeutics, have shrugged off the news.

States march onward to more legalization

Eight states now allow recreational use of marijuana, while more than half of states have legalized it for medicinal purposes. Twenty-one states have decriminalized the drug. A recent poll Quinnipiac Poll found 71 percent of voters believe the government should not enforce federal drug laws in states where pot is legal.

Growing acceptance has led to an explosion in the market for marijuana in North America, with sales skyrocketing 34 percent to nearly $7 billion in 2016, according to Arcview Market Research. By 2021, the industry is expected to reach close to $22 billion.

Companies like Dixie Brands are fueling that growth. The privately held company would not provide current figures, but it raised $8 million in 2014 and was valued at $40 million.

Smith said he expects Dixie Brands to double its revenue and its workforce over the next year. It sells products under three brands: Dixie Elixirs spans beverages, breath mints and chocolates. Aceso manufactures product with hemp and cannabinoids for the international market, while Therabis is a line of cannabis-derived pet supplements.

"It's hard for us to kind of go backwards," Smith said. "President Trump said he was going to allow this to be a state's rights issue. ... We took him at his word."

Legal marijuana advocates protest Trump inauguration Legal marijuana advocates pass out free weed at inauguration protest
Friday, 20 Jan 2017 | 8:30 AM ET | 02:08
Trump has delivered mixed messages on marijuana. In the 1990s, he called for legalizing and regulating all drugs. On the campaign trail, he emphasized his support for medical marijuana and his deference to states to pass their own laws regulations the substance. But Trump, a famous teetotaler, also warned during the election about the effects the drug could have on mental functioning.

The cannabis industry is fighting back by rallying a dozen lawmakers to send a letter to Sessions in support of legal marijuana. Under guidelines issued during the Obama administration, the agency agreed not to enforce federal laws in states where the drug is legal as long as they followed certain guidelines, such as not selling to minors and steering clear of drug cartels. The letter calls on Sessions to uphold that arrangement.

"It is essential that states that have implemented any type of practical, effective marijuana policy receive immediate assurance from the DOJ that it will respect the ability of states to enforce thoughtful, sensible drug policies in ways that do not threaten the public's health and safety," the letter states.

The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.

'A lot of cliches'

The issue has drawn rare bipartisan support, with signatories including Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. That could prove important as legislation that prevents the Justice Department from devoting funds to enforcement is set to expire next month. The so-called Rohrabacher-Farr amendment was passed as part of the broader resolution on the federal budget — and it could get tangled up once more in the upcoming fight over federal spending.

Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, said the group has focused recently on emphasizing its role in creating new jobs and building domestic manufacturing facilities. An analysis by New Frontier Data, a market research firm specializing in cannabis, forecast the industry would create more than 250,000 jobs by 2020.

"We have had a lot of success in changing the story around what the marijuana industry looks like," West said. "There are a lot of stereotypes and a lot of cliches. It's really important for policymakers in D.C. to understand who this industry really is."

WATCH: Weed entrepreneur brings in over $1 million a year running 'bud and breakfast' hotels
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/14/donald-t ... ustry.html
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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