As Pot Becomes Legal, We've Got to Fight Against Corporate Control of Cannabis

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/pot-becomes-legal-weve-got-fight-against-corporate-control-cannabis



At the Willits, California Food Bank, a 31-year-old cannabis farmer we’ll call Mark was energetically ticking off the community service hours he’d earned for growing our nation’s number-one cash crop. I watched for a few minutes as he passed bags full of apples, cheese and surplus generic sponge cake to a Mendocino County mom. I asked Mark what he thought about the approaching end of federal cannabis prohibition. He acknowledged that it was imminent, but was deeply wary of it. “It’ll be the end of the small farmer,” he told me. “Foks’ll be buying packages of joints made by Coors or Marlboro.”

Why does Mark, like many if not most of today’s American black-market cannabis farmers, dread the aboveground acceptance of his industry? Why did the voters in the Emerald Triangle cannabis farming counties of Mendocino (by 6%) and Humboldt (8%) vote against California’s Proposition 19 in 2010, which would have legalized cannabis?

The answer has as much to do with simple accounting as the more common outsider assumption: that farmers fear the price drops that come when a prohibitionary economy dissolves (though this is certainly part of the story). When, in three generations of farming, your family has never had to pay taxes, record payroll or meet building code, let alone meet a customer (the Emerald Triangle has an entire caste of middlemen and women who broker wholesale deals, so the farmer doesn’t have to leave the farm), the prospect of coming aboveground -- and dealing with the same red tape every other industry does -- can be terrifying.

[eShirl]

1. I think it'll be more like beer than tobacco

sure we have the giant beer conglomerates, but we also have a very thriving small/craft brewery scene

[Democracyinkind]

6. I think your comparison is apt.

I guess we'll find out sooner or later.

[cbrer]

2. I promise you

As many people that are as cheap as I am, there'll be lots O gardens...

[Leslie Valley]

3. When pot becomes legal it will be precisely because

Government sees a new revenue stream and corporations envision profits.

It will be no different than alcohol and tobacco and unfortunately no amount of dreaming will change facts.

[green for victory]

4. already begun

Feds To Grant Exclusive Cannabinoid License To Pharma Firm

The U.S. federal government's Department of Health and Human Services seems about ready to award exclusive rights to apply marijuana as a medical therapeutic. You read that correctly: "exclusive rights."

Now, I don't think of myself as a conspiracy theorist. But when the federal government keeps taking actions that, even when considered separately but especially when viewed together, all seem to be part of a bigger plan to pave the way for the pharmaceutical industry to bulldoze the cottage medical marijuana industry, I start getting antsy.

"We find it hypocritical and incredible that on the one hand, the U.S. Department of Justice is persecuting cannabis patient associations, asserting that the federal government regards marijuana as having absolutely no medical value, despite overwhelming clinical evidence," said Union of Medical Marijuana Patients director James Shaw. "On the other hand, the Department of Health and Human Services is planning to grant patent rights with possible worldwide application to develop medicine based on cannabis."

"Though UMMP welcomes any potential new research that could come from KannaLife Sciences' federal endorsement, it is highly disconcerting that the contemplated grant is an exclusive one," the organization posted on its website.

http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/12/feds_to_grant_exclusive_cannabinoid_license_to_pha.php

Here's a smart attorney that gets it:

Oakland cites surprise medical pot backer
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Oakland-cites-surprise-medical-pot-backer-4113767.php

Cedric Chao, a lawyer for the city, cited a 2003 patent application by the U.S. government that said cannabis compounds are "useful in the treatment and prophylaxis (prevention) of a wide variety of oxidation-associated diseases," including certain types of strokes and immune-system disorders.

Chao quoted another patent application, by two government scientists in 2009, that referred to the "healing properties of Cannabis sativa," or marijuana, that have been "known throughout documented history."

"How can the government credibly deny the benefits of medical cannabis when the government itself is funding cutting-edge research proving the medical benefits of cannabis and seeking patents based on such research?" Chao wrote.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag filed suit in July seeking the closure of Harborside and the forfeiture of its offices at 1840 Embarcadero. She said the dispensary, which supplies marijuana to 108,000 patients, is violating federal drug laws.

Pot patent

winner of first use of pot patent: Kannalife

Guess you have to be an attorney to get how despicable this is

Meanwhile, the joke is on the American People. The Feds, under both D and R regimes, have managed to patent the main ingredient in pot, while spewing lie after lie about how it's not medicine.

Shame on the American People for not paying more attention.

[cleanhippie]

19. Damn! This is not good!

You should post an OP with that info.

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. There have been dozens, if not hundreds, of patents granted for cannabinoids.

The one mentioned above was for the use of THC in treating oxidating diseases.

Other patents are held by leading medical marijuana researchers.

We don't need to make a conspiracy theory out of this.

[thetruthhurtsforsome]

5. Flashback - Acapulco Gold Filters

[obxhead]

7. Another thing to consider is importation.

If pot were legalized and incorporated, which I seriously doubt we'll see anytime soon, where would corporations be allowed to get its product?

Would they be growing it here on massive farms or would they be importing it from South America?

Again, I doubt it will ever happen, but if it did that would be the more important issue. Corporations won't be stopped, so they need to be controlled.

[Recursion]

8. Unfortunately, that's the *only* way it will ever become legal

You're never, ever going to be able to legally buy pot somebody grew in their garden. It's going to be so highly regulated that the only people who can afford to meet those regulations are RJR and Brown & Williamson.

[green for victory]

9. alternately

enough people might just stumble on the truth about the herb and how the feds patented the use of it while they were sleeping or rooting for their stupor bowl team-

and decide to vote out those that would lie about it and demand the freedom that they were promised.

It's hard to have any faith in the public anymore, but I try.

Just look at all the people that ignore the evidence right in front of their eyes.

Edit: Add- See, in a rational world, if it was brought to peoples attention that the Fed has patented the use of an herb that they say "has no medical use" the people would revolt.

But this is an irrational world. Where the truth lies out in the open and few even notice it.

[Buzz Clik]

10. When pot becomes legal, people will buy it a their pharmacies because it's less than a mile away

That's when the big corporations will corner the market share.

It's the way we do business in the US.

And, the price will drop like a rock. Small farmers, like Mark, will have a hard time staying in business.

[SemperEadem]

11. I think alcohol producers and pharma

should be specifically barred from entering into the marijuana business.

[FarCenter]

12. Monsanto will produce some really great bud.

[Heather MC]

14. i bet they will add HFCS to their "natural" herb

[shanti]

23. or not!

i could see them adulterating it.

[Honeycombe8]

13. You can't fight it. It will happen. A few small farmers will be able to make it.

If other types of farming are any indication.

[Heather MC]

15. to bad they can't get together and form their own corporation

didn't anyone watch the last episode of weeds?

[Honeycombe8]

17. Called a co-op, I guess? I guess they could do that. I don't watch Weeds...don't get it, I think.

It used to be on a premium channel. I don't subscribe to premium channels. I think old episodes are on some other channel, but not sure.

[Heather MC]

21. i watch weeds and Dexter for free online

i would never pay for it yuck lol

[Honeycombe8]

22. Where online? nt

[mountain grammy]

16. Good discussion on this great gift from Mother Nature.

We were growing pot in our basement 28 years ago. We ordered seeds from Holland through "Rolling Stone." We were tired of paying our hard earned money for inferior, black market pot and we couldn't really afford the "good stuff," so we grew it. We only had 10 to 20 plants at any given time, including clones and seedlings, and we found a low odor strain and life was good. The biggest problem? Finding a de-humidifier in dry Denver, no internet in those days. We used the old coal bin for flowering plants and under the stairs for clones. Our 14 year old son was ok with it, and he had nothing to do with drugs because pot was like alcohol, forbidden to minors. Everything was clean and out of sight, well vented, and he could have friends over almost any time. He knew us as hard working parents who went to work every day, paid our bills and taxes, provided him with love and and attention, and most of all, were not criminals because we smoked and grew pot. His biggest problem with us was that we smoked cigarettes.

[Skidmore]

18. Well, duh.

Why do you think it has been illegal for so long? No one could find a way to profit from it within a corporate model or to regulate or tax it.

[Duer 157099]

24. I bet Costco will have good stuff

Just imagine the bulk packaging!!