TreeOfLiberty
Well-Known Member
[h=1]Big Marijuana lobby fights legalization efforts[/h]
Pot legalization activists are running into an unexpected and ironic opponent in their efforts to make cannabis legal: Big Marijuana.
Medical marijuana is a billion-dollar industry legal in 18 states, including California, Nevada, Oregon and Maine and like any entrenched business, its fighting to keep what it has and shut competitors out. Dispensary owners, trade associations and groups representing the industry are deeply concerned and in some cases actively fighting ballot initiatives and legislation that could wreck their business model.
That pits them against full legalization advocates, who have been hoping to play off wins at the ballot box last fall in Colorado and Washington state that installed among the most permissive pot laws in the world. Activists are hoping to pass full legalization measures in six more states by 2016.
From the point of view of dispensary owners, legalization laws depending on how theyre written can have little immediate upside and offer plenty of reasons for concern. For one, their businesses still illegal under federal law benefit from exclusive monopolies on the right to sell legal pot, but state measures still dont end the risks of an FBI raid or Internal Revenue Service audit. Meanwhile, those same federal laws that prohibit growing, selling and using keeps pot prices high.
This spring, the Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine joined the usual coalition of anti-pot forces of active law-enforcement groups, social conservatives and public health advocates to oppose a state bill that would legalize possession of small quantities of the drug. The medical marijuana lobby argued that criminal organizations would start smuggling pot to neighboring states, and they complained that the bills tax plan was unworkable and unfair.
The main objections came from the fact that the bill was not built around Maines medical marijuana industry, Paul McCarrier, a lobbyist for the medical marijuana caregivers group, told POLITICO. Philosophically, were not opposed to the decriminalization of marijuana, but the devil is in the details.
Full legalization advocates, like the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, say its all about the money.
There are people who are benefiting financially and would prefer to see nothing change that, said Erik Altieri, communications director for NORMLs northeast chapter.
NORML believes the only way to truly ensure access for those patients who need cannabis for medical purposes is to legalize its use for all adults, he added. This will provide every adult safe and convenient access to quality cannabis, regardless of whether or not their state legislators think their specific condition qualifies.
There wasnt always a major divide in the cannabis camp. The two sides of the movement have long worked together on de-scheduling marijuana as a controlled substance and stopping federal raids on legal dispensaries.
Many owners of medical marijuana dispensaries got their start in the broader anti-drug war movement and are still on the same intellectual side of the issue working to de-criminalize pot.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/big-marijuana-lobby-fights-legalization-efforts-94816.html
The MMJ industry, the dispensary owners, the For-Profit MMJ growers and sellers know that full legalization will lower the selling price. They do not care about the masses getting locked up for "recreational use and growing". They only care about profits. It's going to bring a smile to my face when full legalization starts spreading and the MMJ dispensaries see primo bud drop to $50 an oz.
New Hampshire recently passed MMJ , but home growing is banned. This means the dispensaries can keep prices jacked up knowing that the public who has approval for MMJ, cannot save money by growing cheaply at home and thus has to pay the highway robbery prices in the dispensaries. Same thing applies with full legalization with recreational use. When any adult can pop seeds and grow their own legally , it knocks a major dent in the marijuana industry all across the board and prices plummet. I've been saying this the past few years about the MMJ industry being greedy and anti-TOTAL legalization.
Pot legalization activists are running into an unexpected and ironic opponent in their efforts to make cannabis legal: Big Marijuana.
Medical marijuana is a billion-dollar industry legal in 18 states, including California, Nevada, Oregon and Maine and like any entrenched business, its fighting to keep what it has and shut competitors out. Dispensary owners, trade associations and groups representing the industry are deeply concerned and in some cases actively fighting ballot initiatives and legislation that could wreck their business model.
That pits them against full legalization advocates, who have been hoping to play off wins at the ballot box last fall in Colorado and Washington state that installed among the most permissive pot laws in the world. Activists are hoping to pass full legalization measures in six more states by 2016.
From the point of view of dispensary owners, legalization laws depending on how theyre written can have little immediate upside and offer plenty of reasons for concern. For one, their businesses still illegal under federal law benefit from exclusive monopolies on the right to sell legal pot, but state measures still dont end the risks of an FBI raid or Internal Revenue Service audit. Meanwhile, those same federal laws that prohibit growing, selling and using keeps pot prices high.
This spring, the Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine joined the usual coalition of anti-pot forces of active law-enforcement groups, social conservatives and public health advocates to oppose a state bill that would legalize possession of small quantities of the drug. The medical marijuana lobby argued that criminal organizations would start smuggling pot to neighboring states, and they complained that the bills tax plan was unworkable and unfair.
The main objections came from the fact that the bill was not built around Maines medical marijuana industry, Paul McCarrier, a lobbyist for the medical marijuana caregivers group, told POLITICO. Philosophically, were not opposed to the decriminalization of marijuana, but the devil is in the details.
Full legalization advocates, like the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, say its all about the money.
There are people who are benefiting financially and would prefer to see nothing change that, said Erik Altieri, communications director for NORMLs northeast chapter.
NORML believes the only way to truly ensure access for those patients who need cannabis for medical purposes is to legalize its use for all adults, he added. This will provide every adult safe and convenient access to quality cannabis, regardless of whether or not their state legislators think their specific condition qualifies.
There wasnt always a major divide in the cannabis camp. The two sides of the movement have long worked together on de-scheduling marijuana as a controlled substance and stopping federal raids on legal dispensaries.
Many owners of medical marijuana dispensaries got their start in the broader anti-drug war movement and are still on the same intellectual side of the issue working to de-criminalize pot.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/big-marijuana-lobby-fights-legalization-efforts-94816.html
The MMJ industry, the dispensary owners, the For-Profit MMJ growers and sellers know that full legalization will lower the selling price. They do not care about the masses getting locked up for "recreational use and growing". They only care about profits. It's going to bring a smile to my face when full legalization starts spreading and the MMJ dispensaries see primo bud drop to $50 an oz.
New Hampshire recently passed MMJ , but home growing is banned. This means the dispensaries can keep prices jacked up knowing that the public who has approval for MMJ, cannot save money by growing cheaply at home and thus has to pay the highway robbery prices in the dispensaries. Same thing applies with full legalization with recreational use. When any adult can pop seeds and grow their own legally , it knocks a major dent in the marijuana industry all across the board and prices plummet. I've been saying this the past few years about the MMJ industry being greedy and anti-TOTAL legalization.
