Lobbying as a Cottage Industry

When lobbying the government becomes a cottage industry we have a problem.  Bryan Callen explains one reason why marijuana is still (mostly) illegal.

Find out more about Bryan here and Joe Rogan here.

The "Prince of Pot" is Set Free

Mark Emery, "the Prince of Pot" at his wedding in 2006

Photograph by: Jason Payne, The Province

After spending more than 4 years in a Louisiana jail a Canadian man is back home.

Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot, plead guilty to selling marijuana plant seeds from his Vancouver, B.C. based mail-order house.  Unfortunately for Mr. Emery his customers were in the U.S.

Story from The Province

The Anti-Medical Marijuana Economy

Joe Rogan explains the anti-medical marijuana economy.

Hear more from Joe Rogan here.

The Thriving Marijuana Start-Up

Thanks to the U.S. DEA restrictions keeping the big guys (i.e. CVS, Walgreen) out of the marijuana business start-ups are thriving.  Kayvan Khalatbari is a marijuana plant producer in Colorado.

Bloomberg quotes him:

“We’re making money, we’re employing people, we’re being a beacon of light for this industry and showing it can be done professionally,”  

Should the U.S. restrictions continue marijuana start-ups will continue filling the market need of 1,400,000 legal marijuana users.  

Legal Drugs Can Kill Too

Thanks primarily to steps taken toward decriminalization and legalization of marijuana, the price of the plant has fallen dramatically.  Over the last five years alone the price decline has been 75% leading Mexican farmers to cease planting pot.

According to The Washington Post:

“It’s not worth it anymore,” said Rodrigo Silla, 50, a lifelong cannabis farmer who said he couldn’t remember the last time his family and others in their tiny hamlet gave up growing mota. “I wish the Americans would stop with this legalization.”

Even bigger beneficiaries than farmers of the plant were the drug cartels who grew strong over the past four decades because of the U.S. war on drugs.

Also, in regards to the massive boost in heroin demand by American drug users The Post notes:

Although prescription painkillers remain more widely abused and account for far more fatal overdoses, heroin has been “moving all over the country and popping up in areas you didn’t see before,” said Carl Pike, a senior official in the Special Operations Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Do you think there is any connection between mass state interference in the prescription drug trade and high rates of overdose?  In response to this health crisis could we see one city or county nullifying FDA statutes in the search for greater freedom and safety for their sick people?

A Vibrant Philly-area Gang

Risa Ferman is a powerful gang leader in Montgomery County, PA.  The results of a recent pillage by Ferman and other gang members can be seen in the picture below.

Ms. Ferman Shows Off Her Loot 

Seven members including Ferman admit to have pillaged the following items:

• a 2007 Toyota SUV
• a 2009 Acura SUV
• 8 cell phones
• a computer
• Cannabis plants (8 pounds)
• Coca plants (23 grams)
• $11,000 US
• 3 firearms
• bullets
• a scale
• plastic bags 

So who did they steal all this property from?  The primary victims are Timothy Brooks and Neil Scott.

In addition to the loot, Ferman and her gang have captured eight members of what they see as a rival gang including Brooks and Scott.      

Ferman claims that these two young men were exchanging plants for U.S. dollars with willing customers. 

Kudos to Maryland for Decriminalizing Marijuana

Let's give credit to the people calling themselves "State of Maryland".  Thankfully, they plan to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.  Mr. Martin O'Malley said in a statement:

 I now think that decriminalizing possession of marijuana is an acknowledgement of the low priority that our courts, our prosecutors, our police, and the vast majority of citizens already attach to this transgression of public order and public health.

This is a classic example of the politicians taking forever to catch up to the people.

It was 42 years ago that Milton Friedman wrote a column for Newsweek titled "Prohibition and Drugs".  In it Friedman said:

Whatever happens to the number of addicts, the individual addict would clearly be far better off if drugs were legal. Today, drugs are both incredibly expensive and highly uncertain in quality. Addicts are driven to associate with criminals to get the drugs, become criminals themselves to finance the habit, and risk constant danger of death and disease.

The same logic that Friedman applied here should be extended to the argument for the decriminalization of sex.  Individuals involved in the exchange for sex (like drugs) will be far safer and healthier if the act of simply doing business wasn't a crime.  

Pot with Your Pizza?

A Vancouver pizzeria is serving a market need, pizza with a special topping: marijuana infused oil.

From the CBC:

Risling is fairly certain that no one else is Canada is operating a pot-zzeria. He said the idea came from a trip to Cambodia, where a pizzeria called Happy Pizza used a similar process to add THC to the pies.