I think alcohol is way more dangerous than marijuana—people can be mad at me for saying that, but I don’t care. I’ve seen a lot of people spiral down with alcohol, but I’ve never seen that happen with weed.”
Miley notes that those who smoke weed tend to be more laid-back, and said, “As long as it isn’t illegal, there are far more dangerous things. And it’s legal in the state of California. So I’m happy to live in California, a place where you can be whoever you want to be.” — Miley Cyrus
No Profit In Pot Start-Ups, Says Expert
From Forbes (6-15-2013):
However, once growing pot becomes legal, most of the profit will be let out of the bag. “Marijuana is a $35 billion a year industry at retail. But 99% of that value is the price of buying an illegal substance. Once pot becomes legal, it becomes a $350 million a year industry based on the estimated farmgate price — a commodity with thin margins that is akin to selling tea bags.”
If marijuana were legal, Kleiman’s colleague, Jonathan Caulkins, computed that simply producing the THC — an active ingredient in marijuana — consumed by Americans annually from pot would require only “35,000 acres on 35 farms in Iowa,” explained Kleiman.
Click here to continue reading this excellent article.
And in a related story from KOMO News (June 17, 2013) in Washington State: Businessman’s dream of ‘cannabis empire’ raises fears, hackles
“Developing a national brand in an industry in which it is illegal to move the core product across state lines presents some serious logistical challenges,” said Betty Aldworth, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association.
Click here to read this intriguing news story
How Big is the Marijuana Market? — In depth report with great links…
Google solves the pot DUI nano counting enigma… Seen on the street right in front of my house in San Francisco. The dog? He’s my service dog/co-pilot/navigator/designated driver…
Report: Obama Justice Department Has Spent Nearly $300 Million on Aggressive Medical Marijuana Enforcement
DOJ will spend more than $1 million to incarcerate Michigan patient who surrendered this week to serve 10-year sentence
June 13th, 2013
Washington, DC — Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) issued a report today, detailing the costs associated with the federal government’s years-long enforcement effort in states that have adopted medical marijuana laws. Notably, the report, which is entitled “What’s the Cost?” states that since 1996 nearly half a billion dollars ($500 million) has been spent by the Justice Department — over three presidential administrations — to investigate, raid, arrest, prosecute, and imprison hundreds of medical marijuana patients and their providers. The report is intended for Congressional legislators in an effort to lobby for federal policy reforms, and is part of the Peace for Patients campaign recently launched by ASA.
Far outspending all of his predecessors, the report reveals that President Obama has dedicated nearly $300 million to such enforcement efforts, despite his repeated pledges to not use Justice Department funds in this way. In 2011 and 2012, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) spent four percent of its budget on the medical marijuana crackdown. Having conducted at least 270 paramilitary-style raids during the past four years, Obama’s DEA spent approximately $8 million to carry them out. However, the amount of taxpayer dollars spent on raids was dwarfed by the amount spent on investigative efforts preceding raids, indictments, and lawsuits, which has totaled more than $200 million.
- See more at: http://americansforsafeaccess.org/report-obama-justice-department-has-spent-nearly-300-million-on-aggressive-medical-marijuana-enforcement#sthash.7wghj1G8.dpuf
Drug laws “censor science”, say researchers — Major report just out…
Effects of Schedule I drug laws on neuroscience research and treatment innovation
The outlawing of psychoactive drugs amounts to the worst case of scientific censorship in modern times, a group of leading scientists have argued.
Excerpt from the Press Release:
A paper published today in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience claims that the UN conventions on drugs in the 1960s and 1970s have not only compounded the harms of drugs but also produced the worst censorship of research for over 300 years. They have set back research in key areas such as consciousness by decades and effectively stopped the investigation of promising medical treatments, the researchers say.
The paper is written by Professor David Nutt of Imperial College London and Leslie King, both former government advisors, and Professor David Nichols of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The possession of cannabis, MDMA (ecstasy) and psychedelics are stringently regulated under national laws and international conventions dating back to the 1960s.
“The decision to outlaw these drugs was based on their perceived dangers, but in many cases the harms have been overstated and are actually less than many legal drugs such as alcohol,” said Professor Nutt, Edmond J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London…
Click here to go directly to source.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS Criminal Investigation Unit and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office helped with Tuesday’s actions.
“Marijuana dispensaries have posed significant challenges to the city of Long Beach,” Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement. “We always welcome the opportunity to partner with federal authorities in an effort to address these illegal operations that affect the quality of life in our community.
June 7, 2013 — Excerpt from: Chicago Reader — On Monday Illinois’s financial health deteriorated a little more. The Fitch Ratings agency downgraded the state’s bond rating, noting the ongoing “mismatch between spending and revenues”—that is, the state’s inability to pay its bills. Moody’s Investor Service soon followed suit.
Coincidentally, the ACLU made headlines that same day with a report on the astounding volume of marijuana busts nationwide. In 2010 police across the country made more than 784,000 arrests for pot possession—one every 37 seconds.
On first glance the issues may appear unrelated. But you don’t have to be smoking anything to see that they’re actually intertwined, for the simple reason that the crackdown on small-time marijuana users has become staggeringly expensive.
A little background. Two years ago my colleague Ben Joravsky and I began exploring the impact of local pot policies. We found that Chicago is divided by a grass gap: … Click here to read the rest of this great article.
Excerpt from Peakoil.com:
Industrial Hemp: The Answer for a Greener Future — More industrial hemp is exported to the U.S. than to any other country and American consumers are purchasing over $450 million in hemp products annually. Bringing It Home explores the question of why a crop with so many widespread benefits cannot be farmed in the U.S. by illustrating its history and current industries, and by talking to both opponents and proponents of the industrial hemp farming legalization effort.
Click here to read the entire article at peakoil.com.
