Several years ago, Admin advised upon the launch of TBP 2.0, “It is my intention to piss off everyone here.” I thought, “Hey, I can do that, too.” I have had many successes, and my fan base has shrunk to, well, me. Here’s my latest effort.
Way back on May 13, 2013, a liberal website, ThinkProgress.com, published an article on the dire financial hurdles that the owners of legalized pot businesses, both medical and recreational, faced. The main points noted were …..
—- Can’t open a bank account. Comment: this is still largely true, although a few state chartered banks will open accounts for pot-related businesses, at a nominal charge of $500-$5,000 per account per month. Heh. Therefore, pot businesses remain overwhelmingly cash only. Employees are mostly paid in cash or money orders.
—- Can’t take out a loan. This is STILL completely true.
—- Can’t open a credit card account. VISA, MasterCard, American Express and all other issuers of credit cards won’t touch pot businesses with a 10-foot pole. In fact, pot businesses are placed on a “merchant watch list,” and anyone related to the pot industry can’t even get a credit card for a totally unrelated purpose. Further, those intrepid investors in the pot industry are now thinking twice lest their credit suffers damage.
—- Can’t take ANY tax deductions on their federal tax return. Not one penny. Those meanies at the IRS aren’t budging, mainly because they are legally barred from doing so.
Well, as many of you who visit TBP already know, the pro-pot crowd NEVER gives up. So earlier this year, the latest effort was to form a pot bank in Colorado, the Fourth Corner Credit Union, which would cater to pot businesses and get them entry to the financial market and clear out the above obstacles. So far, the Fourth Corner has yet to open a single account because the Kansas City branch of the Federal Reserve said, in essence, “Your can’t take deposits and issue credit.” Hmmmm. What to do? What to do?
Well, let’s sue!!!! The lawyer for Fourth Corner found a VERY liberal and sympathetic federal judge, R. Brooke Jackson, an Obama appointee, to preside over the lawsuit hearing, and he stupidly argued that national marijuana legalization is inevitable, which is a decision for Congress and the President. Judge Jackson, who has openly supported in court solving the banking and financial barriers facing the pot industry, replied to the lawyer, “If I were in the Congress, I’d vote for (legalization of marijuana), but I’ve got to do the job of a federal judge here.” Even a liberal federal judge knows the limits of his power. Stay tuned.
Happy New Year from SSS to our former and current TBP potheads and marijuana legalization advocates. You’re going to lose. Decriminalization versus legalization!!!! Happy New Year to all.
SSS, prior to the legalization on CO I recall you making some kind of claim that the Mexican drug cartels were going to have some kind of negative impact on the MJ business there. Did that ever materialize?
I’m not flipping you shit here……..just curious what, if any effect the cartels have had on the CO MJ industry.
I’m going to do a little research on the industry here to satisfy my own curiosity but first I’m taking my wife out to lunch. BBL
SSS- I am old……I could go on to my great reward before you either present your evidence or admit you are slipping in some trumped up BS.
BUELLER…….BUELLER…….BUELLER……..yawn.
Tim says:
“This is a serious question, and not intended to troll:
Can someone please explain to me the difference between decriminalization and legalization?
Decriminalization reduces possession and use to something akin to a speeding ticket. Get caught, pay a fine and start with a clean slate. It’s still illegal but you don’t get arrested, go to prison, lose your job, have your kids taken away by authorities, lose your house or have to see your family go on welfare.
Legalization actually makes it legal to possess and use with no penalty. Authorities however get to impose all kinds of laws, regulations and set up a huge bureaucracy to impose fines taxes and fees. In other words they become complicit and profit from that which was formally illegal.
There are “degrees” to both. Possession and use may be decriminalized (subject to limits) but purchase, sale and production can still be illegal. Possession, use and production can be legal but only though state sanctioned locations.
Here in WA all black market activity remains illegal but possession and use are legal via state regulated shops. Growth is legal for regulated suppliers and those who possess medical MJ cards. Cardholders are subject to limits and can only produce for their own use. Possession and use includes derivatives like oil, wax and shatter plus edibles from state regulated shops.
Having worked in jobs dealing with the public, I can state that I’d rather deal with a room full of pot smokers, than one drunk.
Yes, pot makes you stupid… extremely stupid. And repeated use seems to make people paranoid, disorganized, and incapable of carrying a line of thought for more than 30 seconds. It screws up your sense of time and makes everything you’re looking at break up like a film dissolve. So I’m not a user, and really don’t much like being around them, but at least they don’t scare me to death.
Drunks are many levels worse. They easily become abusive and violent. They fall down. They throw up. They stink. And they will instantly work themselves into a state of flaming rage at a total stranger who isn’t doing a damn thing to bother them, over the person’s facial expression, or because of his hair color, or whatever.
I/S -He’s just pissed because he spent an entire second govt career as a spook fighting the TOTALLY GINNED UP war on drugs and now his beloved govt is throwing all that effort and money down the drain before his very eyes.
Yep…the jig is about up for the War on Pot and all those who profit from it , but while freedom rings, the nation will be a lot more stupid for it. So I guess we can say, the state regulated sales of the wacky weed will be just another tax on stupid.
http://naturalsociety.com/bill-protect-state-medical-marijuana-laws-research/
The $1.1 trillion spending bill passed recently by Congress sent the pro-medical marijuana movement a step forward by included several drug reform provisions.
The bill includes language that blocks the Justice Department (JD) and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) from dedicating resources to interfere with state medical marijuana laws or hemp research projects. [1]
The language originally came from an amendment written by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA), which was passed last year, but had to be renewed this year. The amendment was sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).
Proponents of medical marijuana praised the amendment.
“The renewal of this amendment should bring relief for medical marijuana patients and business owners,” said Michael Collins, deputy director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. “For decades Congress has been responsible for passing disastrous drug laws. It’s encouraging to see them starting to roll back the war on drugs by allowing states to set their own medical marijuana policies.”
“Patients who benefit from medical marijuana should not be treated like dangerous criminals, and the businesses that support them need to be protected from the old drug war mentality that still runs deep within the DEA,” said Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of criminal justice professionals seeking an end to the war on drugs. “It’s very encouraging to see such widespread support for protecting state’s rights and the rights of patients.” [2]