Big Budness
2/6/13 21:25![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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talkpoliticsApologies for the last post. I meant to flesh it out but RealLife™ and Agents of the Trilateral Commission kept interfering. So let's try something in line with this month's subject, which is political corruption.
We all know that Prohibition causes corruption, blah blah... If one thinks about it, there is probably a HELL of a lot of corruption by 'official-types' who look the other way, from truckloads of meth to asscracks of prison mules.
Here in neighboring DeKalb County the cops were stumbling all over their Oaths trying to get side gigs as Protectors for Distributors.
No one on up wants to talk about this, other than the standard platitudes. It's almost as if on script. What can save us from this very real danger to our collective way of life?
Well, Big Bidness, of course!
Shively tore a page right out of the Starbucks handbook on Thursday. At a press conference, the former Microsoft manager announced plans to open chain stores offering a uniform, high-end product that satisfies America’s craving for a mild buzz. Except not coffee—pot.So how will this work? First you get someone who knows how to legally organize a multi billion dollar network. Then you get yourself a respected Mexican to cheerlead; in this case, my all time favorite Mexican (after Santa Ana, that scoundrel!)
"Business investment” like Shively’s “will bring a solution to Mexico's huge crime problem," Fox told me. "Criminals won't be able to get the money because the money will be in the hands of people like Jamen.” Legal pot won’t eliminate the cartels, of course. But Fox’s point is that every dollar in pot sales that stays in the hands of a legal business doesn’t go to a violent gang across the border.
Back in the day, we used to say that only when big business embraces the concept, will cannabis be re-legalized. I still believe this. At worse, it will force Obama's hand on the issue (which I speculate he is delaying until after the 2014 election).
However, it could open up a completely new level of corruption, the kind we see only at the white collar level. Those in the black market will scramble to get a piece of the legal action. However, sometimes they don't take too kindly to competition. Takes the term 'hostile takeover' to a whole new level, eh? It will definitely cause a shift in power with the liquor distribution system, giving the guys on bottom a real option to the micro monopolies liquor distributors have over permitted bars and clubs.
What do you see happening in this scenario? Another Marc Emery or Peter McWilliams - martyrs of the drug wars? Or the tipping of the scales [pun intended]?
The big questions is: how will Big Black Market Entrepreneurs respond?
We all know that Prohibition causes corruption, blah blah... If one thinks about it, there is probably a HELL of a lot of corruption by 'official-types' who look the other way, from truckloads of meth to asscracks of prison mules.
Here in neighboring DeKalb County the cops were stumbling all over their Oaths trying to get side gigs as Protectors for Distributors.
No one on up wants to talk about this, other than the standard platitudes. It's almost as if on script. What can save us from this very real danger to our collective way of life?
Well, Big Bidness, of course!
Shively tore a page right out of the Starbucks handbook on Thursday. At a press conference, the former Microsoft manager announced plans to open chain stores offering a uniform, high-end product that satisfies America’s craving for a mild buzz. Except not coffee—pot.
"Yes, we are Big Marijuana," Shively, 45, brazenly told reporters, outlining his intent to bring in $100 million in investments to establish "the most recognized brand in an industry that does not exist yet.” Colorado and Washington, the two states that legalized marijuana for recreational use last fall, are slated to soon license pot growers, distributors, and retail outlets (and impose steep taxes and strict regulations). Shively says he and his partners plan about a dozen retail outlets in each state, followed by up to 100 in California, where sales of medical marijuana are legal according to state law.
"Business investment” like Shively’s “will bring a solution to Mexico's huge crime problem," Fox told me. "Criminals won't be able to get the money because the money will be in the hands of people like Jamen.” Legal pot won’t eliminate the cartels, of course. But Fox’s point is that every dollar in pot sales that stays in the hands of a legal business doesn’t go to a violent gang across the border.
Back in the day, we used to say that only when big business embraces the concept, will cannabis be re-legalized. I still believe this. At worse, it will force Obama's hand on the issue (which I speculate he is delaying until after the 2014 election).
However, it could open up a completely new level of corruption, the kind we see only at the white collar level. Those in the black market will scramble to get a piece of the legal action. However, sometimes they don't take too kindly to competition. Takes the term 'hostile takeover' to a whole new level, eh? It will definitely cause a shift in power with the liquor distribution system, giving the guys on bottom a real option to the micro monopolies liquor distributors have over permitted bars and clubs.
What do you see happening in this scenario? Another Marc Emery or Peter McWilliams - martyrs of the drug wars? Or the tipping of the scales [pun intended]?
The big questions is: how will Big Black Market Entrepreneurs respond?
(no subject)
Date: 3/6/13 02:25 (UTC)Also, I've met Marc Emery, interesting guy.
Good Times/Bad Times
Date: 3/6/13 02:51 (UTC)I met him too in Vancouver, listened to a talk by him in the basement of the dispensary on the budding medical market, and later that week at the Seattle Hempfest in the late 90's. I was a speaker. much respect for this martyr and all he has done for growers all across the Americas.
Well..more a sub woofer but I did get to boom about teh legalizing.. I got to smoke out with Woody H. that year too. Good Times
Peter McWilliams, OTOH, was a tragedy of a more horrible degree. I'll never forget him and the sacrifice he made in death. Not many more medical marijuana patients were prosecuted on the federal level after he downed on his own vomit, unable to keep his AIDS meds down. Bad Times.
(no subject)
Date: 3/6/13 05:11 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 3/6/13 21:35 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/6/13 16:26 (UTC)BTW, I know how pesky those Trilateralists can get.
(no subject)
Date: 3/6/13 21:36 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/6/13 21:58 (UTC)The big loser will be the banking industry, who thrives off 'cash handling fees'. This pot thing is a big ole house of cards.
(no subject)
Date: 4/6/13 19:01 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 6/6/13 05:05 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 6/6/13 14:17 (UTC)Legal like Tomatoes™
Ultimately, it would be like taxing and inspecting carrots. Too many, just too many to bother...
(no subject)
Date: 6/6/13 23:55 (UTC)I like well regulated sins. I think that we should be, largely, able to do what we want, but I appreciate that to make sure someone else's pleasure doesn't cause pain to someone else, we need to set limits on it.
(no subject)
Date: 3/6/13 23:35 (UTC)