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What '60 Minutes' Didn't Tell You About Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on June 08, 2015 at 04:56:14 PT
By Debra Borchardt, Contributor
Source: Forbes
Colorado -- On Sunday night, ’60 Minutes’ revisited a story it had previously aired on the state of Colorado’s legalized marijuana industry, going back to the state in order to get an update. The story gave a great broad overview of the industry, but by trying to cover so many parts of this business, many things were missed.The ’60 Minutes’ piece, called ‘Colorado Pot,’ noted that it isn’t easy to make money in legalized marijuana, but then like most of these general stories, zoomed in on the giant safe full of cash. The public assumes that because these businesses are awash in cash that they are profitable. That isn’t necessarily the case. The story did touch on the seed-to-sale software, but didn’t note that for the huge warehouse full of plants featured in the story, the software company could be charging anywhere from $0.25 to $0.45 an RFID or bar-code. These bar-codes can’t be reused and a big warehouse like the one on the show that is growing thousands of plants is spending thousands for inventory tracking.
The show was accurate in describing the difficulty these business owners face in finding a bank. Most of the major banks will not service these customers and some of the state chartered banks that were stepping in are now pulling back. First, they are concerned about the new Attorney General Loretta Lynch who is not for legalization. Secondly, it’s expensive for the banks to handle these customers. The amount of employees required to fill out all the paperwork to keep the banks in compliance make these money losing customers. The banks have to fill out SARS paperwork or Suspicious Activity Reports on the accounts. This takes people and time and while these businesses may be swimming in cash, it doesn’t pay off for the smaller banks. The big banks have said they won’t allow this type of banking until marijuana is no longer illegal at the Federal level.The major credit card companies MasterCard MA +0.05% and Visa V +0.23% both say they will not work with cannabis customers, but the dispensaries have figured out ways around this. Some have installed ATM machines or vending kiosks that make a plastic card transaction easier. Many of the dispensaries advertise that they can accept MasterCard and Visa, they just tweak the transactions so that it looks as if the customer is just making a withdrawal and then the cash is turned back over to the business.Another issue for businesses is insurance. ’60 Minutes’ had probably prepared this story some time ago and maybe didn’t have a chance to update it with the latest snag on insurance. Lloyds of London on Friday told its affiliates to no longer issue or renew policies for cannabis companies in the U.S. It covers quite a few of these businesses here and as many as 2,000 owners could be left without insurance. Hannover Re a German insurer may be stepping in to pick up these policies, but like the banks that have stopped servicing these clients, the insurers may be scared off too.’60 Minutes’ did a good job of describing how legalized marijuana was helping the state financially. There’s even more to it than what the story told. Marijuana Business News determined that for every $1 dollar of legally sold marijuana, a minimum of an additional $2.60 of economic value enters the American economy. A study conducted by the University of Denver economics professor Jack Strauss determined that a pair of retail marijuana stores could generate $30 million and deliver 280 new jobs and also pay $390,000 in city taxes. All these new jobs create people that need housing. For example, Denver’s housing market is second only to San Francisco as being the hottest in the nation with prices rising 10% in March. You need people to build those houses and a cycle of prosperity begins.There is also tourism. Colorado is seeing visitors to the state just because they want to buy pot legally. Sales of marijuana jump during spring break. These tourists increase hotel and restaurant revenue. Families with sick children that don’t want to or can’t wait for their state to legalize medical marijuana are moving to Colorado for their children.The ’60 Minutes’ program did make it clear that the legality of what Colorado has done by legalizing marijuana is tenuous. The new Attorney General Loretta Lynch isn’t a fan of legalized marijuana and the program is correct in stating that some neighboring states are filing lawsuits asking for the legalization to be decided as unconstitutional. However, it seems as if the genie is already out of the bottle. 23 states have legalized marijuana and more are expected to join during the 2016 elections. Instead of fighting it, many states are salivating at the additional tax dollars and looking at how they can regulate the industry when it hits their state.Pharmaceutical companies like GW Pharmaceuticals are asking the FDA to approve its cannabis-based drug and if that happens, it will automatically change the classification of cannabis as a dangerous drug, rendering it as legal as the pain killer vicodin. This could happen as soon as year end, thus effectively ending the legalization discussion and turning it into a regulatory one.Newshawk: UniverserSource: Forbes Magazine (US)Author: Debra Borchardt, Contributor Published: June 7, 2015Copyright: 2015 Forbes Inc.Contact: readers forbes.comWebsite: http://www.forbes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/9g2CFWrxCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #12 posted by Hope on June 23, 2015 at 22:04:26 PT
Comment 10 Where would I stay?
Camp out? Afghan B & B? Private homes? Hostels? I don't know.Where did you stay? The school you taught at?
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Comment #11 posted by rchandar on June 23, 2015 at 12:24:23 PT:
Afghanistan
I meant gerontocracy. Be back soon.
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Comment #10 posted by rchandar on June 23, 2015 at 12:22:52 PT:
Afghanistan
All the praise goes to the Afghan army and their police - truly fearless men who are ready to die for their country. I applaud their bravery. Drugs of course are illegal, but Afghanistan is number one with cannabis. It's unlikely that Asia will ever sign on to MJ legalization, though, because of the gerontology that governs the country. Many of my students spoke out about it-unfair. Won't say that it's worth the trip - no hotels, where would you stay? But it's not difficult - and the cops don't usually bother you. They have much more pressing matters to deal with
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on June 21, 2015 at 18:33:04 PT
Afghanistan. Hunger. Terror.
I've not thought about it like that. You are, as is often the case, a very insightful person, rchandar.
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Comment #8 posted by rchandar on June 21, 2015 at 06:22:49 PT:
Afghanistan
Hope,I could tell you thousands of stories about Afghanistan, but most of it's simple. It's an extremely poor country, and many children - and adults - go hungry. I think it's that which in flames the hand of terrorism. India and China are classic examples of the principle. Because of the prosperity in these countries, the common man sees reason to support the government and avoid radicalism.
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on June 16, 2015 at 17:52:32 PT
rchandar
It's good to hear from you, gentle friend. I miss your regular comments.When did this Afghanistan stint happen? I'm certainly glad you made it home safely. I don't think of Afghanistan as a safe place... so I'm glad you're back.
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Comment #6 posted by rchandar on June 14, 2015 at 17:08:19 PT:
A Remark Someone Made
None of this is educational, but a reminder that few things go well in the blogging world.I was feeling good about the changes happening in this country. I had been to Amsterdam many times and thought I'd peruse Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory.There was an article on whether the mayor was willing to legalize pot growing for coffeeshops. I thought over the mostly negative changes happening in Europe and remembered that the government had considered outlawing hashish because it 'supported terrorism'. I pointed out that if legalization - a quite elusive dream - ever happened there, hashish would be banned.I understand that many Europeans are die-hard hash smokers. But I wanted to see if this dream of legalizing plants - would ever happen.A blogger wrote back--'just suck my d $#k real good.' I was horrified - the center of the free world! We couldn't even talk about it! It took me a long time to come to, to realize that few Europeans had ever been friendly and that changes in the USA made Amsterdam a less interesting place.I have been through enough things in my life. I worked as a professor in Afghanistan for three years. It is sad that Europeans resorted to cussing each other out - I guess that means it hasn't gone well for them.No chance I will write ACD again - not any point. They are in the habit of ganging up on people and trashing them to save a policy that is in serious trouble. I remain loyal to your cause, and support the very noticeable changes in American drug policy. I wish you continued success.Afghan hash is pretty good. My students would light up in the quad and laugh at me. I miss it.rchandar
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Comment #5 posted by The GCW on June 08, 2015 at 20:32:06 PT
Circus clown
Chris Christie would crack down on legalized marijuana as presidenthttps://www.yahoo.com/politics/christie-would-crack-down-on-legalized-marijuana-121023583856.htmlRepublican bottomless barrel trick pit toilet.
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Comment #4 posted by runruff on June 08, 2015 at 09:10:27 PT
As "Give 'em hell" Harry S. Truman once decl
"I don't give 'em hell' I just tell the truth and it sounds like hell!"
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on June 08, 2015 at 08:10:40 PT
Tenuous?
Look, cannabis prohibition is what's tenuous. Not the end of cannabis prohibition.The fed's have lost control. It's legalized. -They've never been "a fan of legalization." It's Done. They can stop certain parts of the regulations which have taken place but it's a done deal. It's legal. They can slow the positive, make hurdles bigger but the hurdles are being jumped.The nation wants to end cannabis prohibition and the nation is not waiting on the fed's or allowing them to stop progress any longer.We've taken this over. They kick their heels in the dirt but We're dragging them where We want to go.They've screwed the pooch long enough.-AND they're getting the message because they have NO choice.The low life bottom feeding vile, vulgar, ANTI-CHRISTIAN, devil-law loving cannabis prohibitionists is a piece of crap human being and if they push it, We'll verbally put them in their hole.Thanks, I feel better now.
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Comment #2 posted by runruff on June 08, 2015 at 06:38:51 PT
Yes I am wicked cruel to my enemies!
I have a gift.But when it comes to overweight problems with American's I am somewhat sympathetic. I was addicted to all sorts of corporate crap food substitutes. I literally craved the stuff. I am 6 foot tall, thin frame, got up to 200 lbs. I am supposed to weigh about 170 lbs. Today, after going cold turkey on crap food, I do not crave it anymore. I weigh in at 175 lbs. Have energy, great attitude and life. The only criticism I can have is that people need to take personal control over their diet and their lives.Remember, only you can prevent calorie overload!
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on June 08, 2015 at 05:46:54 PT
If god is up there watching
is he laughing, cursing or just clicking his tongue and rolling his eyes?
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