I think the majority of people get that pot is harmless, prohibition only leads to crime in this instance and that maybe there is some other reason why it is kept illegal and the punitive results are continuing.
Marijuana grower jailed for 9 months
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I think the majority of people get that pot is harmless, prohibition only leads to crime in this instance and that maybe there is some other reason why it is kept illegal and the punitive results are continuing.
Alcohol and pharmaceutical industries don't want competition from pot any more than the lumber, paper and canola industries want competition from hemp.
Wolf
Wolf
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I think you've got that backwards.
Pharmaceutical and Alcohol companies would love it. They would just invest in their own large scale pot farms. Sure maybe some people would grow plants on their patio..about as many as brew their own beer compared to buying it. It would be a huge cash cow.
Pharmaceutical and Alcohol companies would love it. They would just invest in their own large scale pot farms. Sure maybe some people would grow plants on their patio..about as many as brew their own beer compared to buying it. It would be a huge cash cow.
I doubt it...they're all about patents and since they cannot patent cannabis, they can only produce and sell, and the margins would be pretty low. They've had very little success with marinol either.
Perhaps the tobacco farming industry would be better geared to take it on since they have the infrastructure in place and a dying (literally and figuratively) market.
Muz
You can't patent beer either, nor can you patent many basic painkillers, you can still have a trademarked brand.
Remember, there is no such thing as a "Drug Company" or an "Alcohol Company", only a company who sells Drugs or Alcohol. Their primary goal is to make money, if that means they get into the furniture business they do.
Remember, there is no such thing as a "Drug Company" or an "Alcohol Company", only a company who sells Drugs or Alcohol. Their primary goal is to make money, if that means they get into the furniture business they do.
Kinda screws up the old R&D too since you have something that already does the job of hundreds of other drugs as effectively or better, there would be no way to reclaim monies invested in other projects.
But if you just ride it out a while, end the R&D in those areas and look for avenues in marijuana to develop, you get your investment back while setting up for the inevitable.
I doubt the drug companies are going to be interested until there is no stopping the call for change. Then I suppose you will see them telling you that they are leading the way to a healthier future through medication.
What do Glaxo-Smith-Kline, Bayer and Merck make but drugs?
What do wineries make but wine?
What does Molson make but beer?
Beer is a "branding" thing wrapped heavily in marketing. I suppose you could do the same with weed, but again, they have no infrastructure for producing, marketing, and delivering of the product.
It's not easy to just jump into a whole new paradigm...
To echo Unf's comment, they already have billions invested in many of the drugs pot would displace.
Can you imagine the plummeting Paxil sales when people realize they can take the "edge" off their borderline depression with a joint rather than popping pills that are addicting and have suicidal thoughts listed as a potential side-effect?
Muz
Well one of GSK's original companies made Baby Food, and got into pharmaceuticals for the money involved.
And Molson-Coors also owns shares in retail stores (admittandly its mostly the beer store) but if the money was right would be right at ease investing in other business. At one point it owned Beaver Lumber and one of the banks that merged with BMO (yes, there used to be a Molson Bank).
And Molson-Coors also owns shares in retail stores (admittandly its mostly the beer store) but if the money was right would be right at ease investing in other business. At one point it owned Beaver Lumber and one of the banks that merged with BMO (yes, there used to be a Molson Bank).
I wouldn't say it's impossible for them to do so, but it's far easier for them to simply take the easy route and lobby government for tougher drug laws. After all, they only have to discredit a bunch of "drug-crazed environmentalists", right?:roll:
Muz
Let's not forget that although marijuana is not considered a "hard" drug, marijuana grow ops are used to finace the hard drug scene. With a readily available and renewable source of capital, many organized crime groups and regular citizens use the profits of the sale of the home grown marijuana to purchase cocaine, meth, heroin and weapons.
Grow ops are in no way hamrless.
Grow ops are in no way hamrless.
That's correct, and actually is the point we're making. If grow-ops are only harmful through what the money is used for (as was booze during prohibition), the solution is to take the profit out of it.
Once legal, there's no black market, hence no commercial grow-ops springing up in residential areas.
During prohibition, the usual first sign of an illegal still was when it blew up, usually taking the whole block with it.
Muz
Once legal, there's no black market, hence no commercial grow-ops springing up in residential areas.
During prohibition, the usual first sign of an illegal still was when it blew up, usually taking the whole block with it.
Muz
Investors. These aren't private run companies where a cowboy CEO can just make that change unilaterally.
Tooling up....besides the fact that even legal big scale commercial growing would be tough to ramp up (unless they bought some tobacco farms and made the change, there's the rest of the costs of marketing, logistics, security, legals, etc to consider. They'll need to source out experts on growing the plant, find enough seeds or clones to get the first crop in.
They won't be doing this out of someone's basement...
Realistically speaking, a consortium of pharmo-tobacco companies could probable make it fly, but then there's those shareholders to consider.
Muz
Tooling up....besides the fact that even legal big scale commercial growing would be tough to ramp up (unless they bought some tobacco farms and made the change, there's the rest of the costs of marketing, logistics, security, legals, etc to consider. They'll need to source out experts on growing the plant, find enough seeds or clones to get the first crop in.
They won't be doing this out of someone's basement...
Realistically speaking, a consortium of pharmo-tobacco companies could probable make it fly, but then there's those shareholders to consider.
Muz
Ever notice how cyclical these threads get? I wonder if anyone reads them from the start, or if people just jump in from where they pick it up.