Back At It

Yo, it's been way too long since my last post. Things have been crazy having this new baby on top of the usual chaos of life, but hey that's life and what it is. 

I still haven't hit the green since my little has gotten here, and honestly, I feel no different from when I was burnin everyday. If they would allow more legitimate scientific research on marijuana, I predict we learn the cannabinoids interact in each person differently, thus creating a more individualized experience and understanding of the herb. 

I guess really the point of all of this is that we collectively know little about marijuana and it's function in human existence. As a consequence, we ought to be investing resources aimed at understanding the plant, and using it in our overall well-being. Hell, the tax alone from recreational use is a strong enough reason to decriminalize marijuana. We should all be calling our elected officials, state and federal, urging their support of marijuana taxation and research. 

Make it legal for fun times, tax it, invest $ into research, maximize potential, create more private and governemt profit. 

More money and happiness all around. 

Pot Profits in Colorado - A Model to Multiply

Wow!!!!! 

Official estimates indicate that retail marijuana sales in Colorado will hit one billion dollars by the end of 2016. 

WOW!!

Is that right???

ONE billion dollars?!?!?!?

From ONE state?!?!?

In ONE year?!?!?

Yep, a whole lotta cash! 

Just imagine what a state could do with that kind money! 

Luckily, we don't need to push imagination too far:

Colorado counties are using millions to invest in helping the homeless, building infrastructure, public health efforts, education, law enforcement, drug rehabilitation, and job training programs. 

Northglenn, CO is even using marijuana profits to purchase water rights to improve access for residents. 

1 out of every 8 adults in Colorado identify as being marijuana users. Colorado has roughly 5.5 million residents. So that makes roughly 690,000 self-reporting marijuana users in the state. 

I get it that tourists probably generate a lot of revenue, but still, even if 10 million people generated one billion dollars in one year, that's great market contribution!!

I can't wait to see what California could do. And Pennsylvania has huge profit potentials!!

wOW^!!!!!!!!!!!

^I

Marijuana and the Attorney General: Implications for 2017, and Beyond

Wow! I am stunned to see that President-Elect Trump's leading candidate for U.S. Attorney General is Jeff Sessions, a congressman from Alabama. Sessions isn't a real Republican, no matter what his party label. He is a far right racist who thinks marijuana users are bad people (in tomorrows post I'll explain the Attorney General's role in enforcing the Controlled Substance Act (CSA), the law that federally criminalizes marijuana and a lot of other drugs. 

It bothers me that this man might be our Nation's highest lawyer, but doesn't like people who skoke weed?? Doesn't make much sense to me. And hell, if Seasions thinks marijuana users are bad people, I wonder what his take is on more serious drug users. I doubt he thinks addiction is disease; he probably thinks it's all a matter of choice. 

What we need to do is write the President-Elect letters, and send him tweets, telling him not to give the Attorney General position to a person who thinks Bob Marley was a bad person. See, the way I see it, we need a more complete and compassionate person as Attorney General, and the President-Elect can make that happen. #TrumpAccountability  

 

And hell, President-Elect Trump should want to explore options for federal marijuana taxation because we can make sooo much money!! 

I have a lot of ideas. Many, many, many more posts to come. We need to make this happen. If we do, and we tax marijuana on a federal level, we can create a very stable domestic marketplace that could expand tourism and create sustainable job growth. A marijuana marketplace would create

farm, factory, and retail jobs. We could mandate that all components of the process be domestically based, as an initiative to sponsor domestic economic prosperity. As research based numbers show, the average employee of a large scale grow operation could be $20/hr, with full benefits, and still make an exceptionally high profit. When I can get to my computer, and have the time to use it, I'll type up my writings that makes reference of the above stat, and will provide a breakdown of the profit potentials.

Daaammmn, it was a long week! Always good to write about the herb if I cant be smokin on it. When I saw Sessions was in contention, my first thought was,"fuuu******kk I need a dutch and my emergency stash of weed," but I calmed down and resisted. Miss the herb, but not addicted. Haven't smoked for a couple weeks now, and have experienced no signs of withdrawal, not even irritatability or lack of energy. Idk y'all, this plant isn't bad nor does it make bad people! I was off point. Resist Jeff Sessions! 

Done Stoned

good deeds done stoned
used to be some of the best deeds done sowed.
Seeds in the fountain soakin'
driftin'
an floatin'
away.

Good deeds done stoned,
better than no deed done so let's just take us
happiness all home.

Happy plant, happy plant, happy plant make me,
happy plant, happy plant, happy plant take me,
back to a place happy where through the fog I see.

Sometimes I find myself thinking that marijuana is illegal because for many people, consuming marijuana taps into a different stream of consciousness, and allows for a deeper sea for thinking. For many people I know, it took becoming a regular marijuana user to began questioning life in general. Some people use the herb for just fun, some use it for medicine, some for creativity, some for thinking, some for relaxing, some for sleeping, some for eating, some for reading, some for loving, some for feeling those happy feelings.

Sometimes I really miss smoking weed. Writing about it, for some unknown reason, actually makes me want to do it less though.  I guess I really want to show people that (1) marijuana doesn't effect character; and (2) non-marijuana users can still advocate for meaningful reform.

Rules - Marijuana on the CSA

Rules. Rules. Rules.
Regulations
and
Regulations, and laws.

One of my biggest issues with the American Legal System is the overly complex structure in which most law is based. Complexity tends to create unequal positions of power between people and people, and people and corporations.
Complexity also induces apathy.
Apathy inhibits participation.
We keep the status quo.

With regard to marijuana criminalization, it's not so much the complexity that stalls progress, I think it is the collective lack of focus on how the controlling laws can actually be used to create a taxable structure of legal marijuana distribution.

At the federal level, marijuana is illegal under the Controlled Substance Act (CSA). The biggest problem with the CSA is that it is very long, and at times is riddled in uncertainty and complexity. In my next post, I'll start breaking down the CSA, and will explore how international drug policy may have a bigger effect on marijuana criminalization than any domestic regulation.

Marijuana Research Bias

A major flaw in much of the medical research conducted on marijuana is that experiments focus on the user smoking marijuana and ignore other means of ingestion - eating, drinking, vaporizing. Many of the health risks associated with marijuana use can arguably be due to the general effects of smoking paired with whatever carcinogens the herbs emits. 

I get it, most marijuana users rely heavily on the smoke based route to highness, but if marijuana was reclassified under the Controlled Substance Act - or removed all together - then healthier consumption practices can become more economically feasible.  

Federal Taxation - The Real Issue of Marijuana Reform

Elementary capitalism understands that money runs the system, so when talking to a marijuana skeptic, focus the message on the economic benefits of federal marijuana legalization. Show people the numbers, then get into the cliche common-sense stuff - you know, the marijuana facts that scream legalization that almost every frequent or former frequent user knows.

So if you encounter some skeptics at dinner for the upcoming holidays, remember, money first! Show the skeptic the profit potential of federal marijuana taxation, and then get into the social comparisons with alcohol and tobacco, or whatever your go to point is. You can try to dispel the myth of the gateway drug, or try to explain the history of federal criminalization, but nothing better will crack a capitalist marijuana skeptic than fat stacks of cash!

I'm still working on putting all the numbers together. Once I get the data collected I will post for discussion.  I am taking my time because I want the numbers to be an accurate reflection of federal taxation potential.  My preliminary calculations suggest that federal marijuana legalization would generate over $8 billion in taxable revenue per month.  More to follow.

Marijuana 2016

The federal elections offered little excitement in terms of pro-marijuana candidates. I mean yeah, there are always long-shot third party platforms that offer practical reform, but third parties in our system are always set up for failure - especially at the federal level.  State politics tend to be a little more accommodating to third party opportunity because state politicians generally have a closer connection to their constituents.

Anyway, I’m getting off topic. The point of this post was simply to recap the 2016 U.S. Election as it pertained to marijuana policy. Here we go:

U.S. Congressional - Republicans keep control of the House and Senate; majority of congressional Republicans are against marijuana taxation. An analysis of member positions is underway. I’ll share my results when I have them.  

U.S. Presidential - Donald Trump shocked the world and defeated Hillary Clinton to become the 45th United States President.  Like many of President-Elect Trump’s policy positions, it is hard to tell what he really believes - he has been vocal on both sides of marijuana taxation. A huge indicator of where the President-Elect leans for the next four years will be who he selects for Attorney General.  More analysis of this position will be provided in a different submission.  Basically, the Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. The AG interprets our laws and makes sure those laws are enforced.  Specifically, the AG has a lot of responsibility in the execution of the Controlled Substance Act, and has the ability to act in certain ways that would push our country toward marijuana legalization and subsequent taxation.  More on this to come too.  

It is important we stay vigilant in our push for federal legalization, because the states are starting to take matters into their own hands, acting contrary to the Controlled Substance Act. The federal government needs to keep pace with the states because the federal side would likely like to develop a sound means for taxation, and a code for interstate commerce.

Speaking of state legalization, citizens in four states voted to legalize recreational marijuana use. California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada join a growing list of states that allow adults to smoke marijuana. However, the vote in Maine was really close, and it is likely a recount will occur.  Concerning medicinal marijuana, voters in Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota have elected to recognize marijuana as medicine.

The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election had many Americans in a political whirlwind, and the results left many Democrats and Republicans in a haze. No matter who you wanted to win, we have our next president, and hopefully we can come together and push for meaningful marijuana reform.