A New Industry is Upon Us

[OlderStoner]

I just hope they don't turn it into another "Cannabis Man" commercial with ads touting that if you smoke their brand, men will fear you and women will want you. Or that by smoking their brand you will be considerably more hip than someone who smokes another brand. Like I said in one of my earlier posts in this thread, we're not off to a good start when it comes to how childish and Madison Ave the mentalities appear to be at the center of this burgeoning industry.

 

[Auggie]

I know a real estate broker who practices in a Northern California county. She has it on good intel (she sleeps with the Tax Assessor on occasion - you know, pillow talk) that Phillip Morris purchased a little over 4000 acres in a very remote area with good water supply. It was purchased under a shell corp. It's been sitting there, waiting for over 6 years now. Think it was for tobacco? I don't.

A corporation "lives" forever. A corporation doesn't care if it is legalized this year, next year - or next century. They know that it will happen; and they are ready to take advantage as soon as it does. But, they need the federal ok before they jump in. It's just a matter of time.

That's when we go from mouth breathing potheads running the show to three piece suits. From one extreme to another. I don't know which is worse - but humans are creatures of extremes. It won't be small growers for much longer. The suits will test their "employees" to make sure they can maintain a "drug free workplace".

The same EXACT thing happened when the prohibition of alcohol ended. It went from mom n pop ten gallon stills in the basement to mega corporations. If you wanted a jug of corn squeezins, you had your favorite 'shiner who lived down the street at the edge of town ... just stop by and give him a five spot and he'd pass a jug, and prolly share a snort with you for the road. Government licensing enforced that. It will happen again. It took the "revenuers" a half century to do it, but moon-shining is almost non-existent now.

I, for one, will always grow illegally - even when it is legalized. I refuse to buy a permit, pay a tax or fee to grow a plant. I will go the way of Popcorn Sutton. I was born free in 1953 in Berkeley, California when the USA was a free country. I will die free wherever and whenever the good Lord decides. But, I'm going to do the whole trip as a freeman.

~ Auggie ~

 

[Auggie]

In my case at least, I don't think I will ever wax nostalgically for the days when the police could raid your home, employers could fire you, etc....

You don't think they can do that now? They can - and do. Frequently. Cops do whatever they want to do. I was in a collective when it was raided in Redding, CA about a year ago. This collective was legal under California law - the owners went to great lengths and expense to comply with the law. They were arrested and tried for multiple felonies including Possession for Sale, Money Laundering, Distribution of a Controlled Substance, Possession and Sale of Concentrated Marijuana. They were found NOT GUILTY of all charges. They spent over $200,000 to win, and now too broke to reopen. Not to mention that they have been unable to get their stolen property back - including almost $100,000 in cash.

When I refused to be interrogated the detective leaned in close and locked eyes with me and said, "You don't have to answer any of my questions. But, you do realize that I can go get a search warrant and kick in the door to your house at 3 am some morning and take all your shit, and take you and your wife off to jail. You know I can do that if I want to, right?" This is California - where MMJ is legal. Right. It was everything I could do to keep my mouth shut and not say what I was thinking in response to his threat. You see, it's legal for him to threaten ME, but I can't tell him that I will defend myself, family and home. That's a terrorist threat against a police officer. A serious charge.

Also, in California, an employer can fire you if they drug test you and find THC residual in your system. Maybe from a smoke you had two days ago. Yer fired.

Things haven't changed as much as you think it has.

~ Auggie ~

 

[OlderStoner]

... Also, in California, an employer can fire you if they drug test you and find THC residual in your system. Maybe from a smoke you had two days ago. Yer fired.

It does and should always remain an employer or employee's choice to have drug free environment. Now I'm not naive enough to believe that in companies that are alleged to be drug free workplaces, you're not going to find violations at any given time. It's only human nature. But if a group selectively chooses to have a zero tolerance policy then that's what freedom is about.

Now lets get to the real discussion on this. If you smoke grass with any consistency, and I'm afraid I qualify here, you're going to be putting certain parts of your life in jeopardy. No different than if you sky dive, or wrestle sharks, but I digress. Even if and when it becomes legal to grow and roll your own, or buy a pack of reefers at a dispensary, smoking weed will have a negative connotation to lots of people probably for all time. That's their right to feel that way and some of those people may be employers or even potential employers for you or someone you know. If they don't dig it, then it's up to the job seeker to find a place which is more suitable to one's life choices.

And just as important is the type of job we're talking about. If you're operating machinery, public transportation, cab driver, (yeah right) this becomes a delicate subject. Again, if you smoke with any frequency, THC will show up in your system for weeks, even months. The sticky part is if there's a problem, an accident possibly, even just a non-physical altercation between two workers. The lawyers and the insurance companies are all going to demand drug testing asap. And even if the operator was not under the influence at the time....you know the routine. The owners of the company do have legal obligations, translation, costs on their minds.

Let's do hope that after all these years of insane and archaic drug laws civilization is going to finally wake up and say hey, we're only human here! And remember, there are presently in excess of 22 million people who regularly use cannabis. Most of us have a good paying job in spite of all the hype.