Cannabiz

I just finished reading John Geluardi's book Cannabiz: The Explosive Rise of the Medical Marijuana Industry. It is a good overview of the evolution of the medical marijuana business and highlights some important issues, such as the following:

• The total value of the marijuana business (medical and recreational) across the USA is anywhere from $35 to $120 billion annually, depending upon which data you accept. Of course, any estimates of a black market business will be wild guesses. 
• 15 states now allow sales of medical marijuana although Arizona just passed their Prop 203 and the rules are just now being worked out. 
• Oakland, California is at the vanguard of this new industry, working out regulations and taxes for patient IDs, dispensaries and is now working on industrial scale grow operations. The world's first "Cannabis College" was established in 2007 by Richard Lee in downtown Oakland and is called Oaksterdam University as an homage to Amsterdam and the decriminalization of soft drugs that the Dutch have pioneered. 
• Both the American College of Physicians and the American Medical Association are calling for more study and agree that marijuana should no longer be a Schedule 1 controlled substance which is defined as having no medical use whatsoever. 
• Statewide Insurance is now offering policies for the cannabis industry.
• With reference to Richard Nixon's Shafer Commission study in 1972, which recommended that marijuana be decriminalized but was ignored by Nixon as he upped the budget for the War On Drugs, Oakland Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan says that Nixon's handling of the Shafer Comission report is one of the greatest government injustices in American History. "I was only two years old when the Shafer Report came out, but I can see the result of Nixon ignoring it. You have millions of people in prison, huge racial disparities, huge social costs, and it's all based on lies," she said. "Another thing that is amazing is the cult of silence that surrounds the hypocrisy. Everybody in government knew the war on marijuana was unwarranted, but they kept silent while millions of lives were destroyed and families ruined. It's an outrageous example of an unethical and destructive government act." 

 I think that last comment by Rachel Kaplan is key to the whole debate about re-legalizing cannabis. The cult of silence has been an impediment to change for over 70 years. Politicians usually have nothing to gain by speaking out in favor of marijuana or industrial hemp but may have much to lose since so many voters are so misinformed of the history and uses of the cannabis plant. So they just say and do nothing when the subject comes up. Finally we can see this starting to change.

Recall that this blog is supposed to be focused on hemp and not on marijuana, but since the two are so tied together it is difficult to ignore marijuana on a hemp blog. Plus the only real progress that is happening these days is all around medical marijuana. Eventually industrial hemp will be legalized, but for now progress will come from the female plant.