cannabisnews.com: CEO Explains Why He’s Investing In MJ Industry function share_this(num) { tit=encodeURIComponent('CEO Explains Why He’s Investing In MJ Industry'); url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/28/thread28862.shtml'); site = new Array(5); site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit; site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit; window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500'); return false; } CEO Explains Why He’s Investing In MJ Industry Posted by CN Staff on July 08, 2016 at 10:59:02 PT By Sam Levine, Associate Politics Editor Source: Huffington Post USA -- The lawn care company Scotts Miracle-Gro is making a huge investment in the pot business. Jim Hagedorn, the company’s CEO, told Fobes in a recent interview that his company plans to invest “like, half a billion” in the industry. “It is the biggest thing I’ve ever seen in lawn and garden,” he said.Hagedorn has already invested more than $250 million and plans to spend an additional $150 million by the end of the year an amount bigger than any other single transaction in the history of Scotts Miracle-Gro, Forbes reported. The money has been invested in two California companies that sell fertilizers and soils to marijuana growers and a hydroponics company in Amsterdam, according to Forbes. Hagedorn made the decision to invest after the owner of a garden center in Washington state told him how much demand there was for hydroponics equipment in his store. After the chance meeting, Hagedorn decided his company was investing in marijuana and gave his board an ultimatum.“I came back, and I told everyone ‘We’re doing it,’” he told Forbes. “If you don’t like it, leave. We’re doing it. It’s beyond stopping. And we’re not getting into pot growing. We’re talking dirt, fertilizer, pesticides, growing systems, lights. You know it’s a multibillion-dollar business, and we’ve got no growth in our core. Are you guys stupid?”Even though 25 states have legalized marijuana for medical use and four, as well as the District of Columbia, allow recreational use the federal government still classifies the drug as a dangerous Schedule I substance, and possessing revenue derived from marijuana remains a federal crime.In Colorado, legal marijuana sales totaled nearly $1 billion last year, The Cannibist reported. The sale of recreational marijuana in the state began in 2014.Forbes reported that Scotts Miracle-Gro is working with different states to figure out which pesticides can be used on marijuana and is considering setting up laboratories in Israel, Canada and Jamaica to conduct marijuana research.Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the magazine to which Hagedorn gave an interview. It was Forbes magazine.Source: Huffington Post (NY)Author: Sam Levine, Associate Politics Editor, The Huffington PostPublished: July 7, 2016Copyright: 2016 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC Contact: scoop huffingtonpost.comWebsite: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/qPo1ZKuHCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #9 posted by SoupHerb on July 10, 2016 at 18:34:50 PT: It is a natural bug repelent I don't have any references or studies to show but it has been my long time understanding that Cannabis IS a bug repellent and any corporate influence would have no advantageous effect in any market...for the need of pesticides. This is ludicrous because details of caring for NOT YET EVEN LEGAL TO OWN, SMOKE, OR GROW cannabis is the cart before the horse manure... [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Sam Adams on July 09, 2016 at 17:47:20 PT his goals yuck!!!>>>Scotts Miracle-Gro is now working with state governments to secure federal registrations that will indicate which pesticides can be used safely on cannabis. The ultimate plan: roll out a line of branded pesticides specifically designed for pot.Hagedorn has not given up on growing his own marijuana, either. He is already looking into foreign markets like Israel, Canada and Jamaica, where Scotts might be able to legally set up labs to test its products and conduct cannabis research. HagedornÕs most eye-opening idea: someday expanding the companyÕs research on genetics into cannabis to create GMO marijuana [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by HempWorld on July 09, 2016 at 13:28:13 PT From the Forbes Interview: "In 1998 Scotts Miracle-Gro struck a $32 million deal to sell Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup and a $300 million agreement for pest-killer Ortho.Roundup brings in $70 million in net profit annually.The next year Hagedorn shelled out another $350 million to acquire lawn and garden companies in the United Kingdom and new markets like France, Germany and the Netherlands. By 2009 Scotts Miracle-Gro controlled more than half of the market in consumer pesticides, fertilizers, soils and grass seeds."http://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2016/07/06/cannabis-capitalist-scotts-miracle-gro-ceo-bets-big-on-pot-growers/#31cb657338cf Sorry Long Link! [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Hope on July 09, 2016 at 08:32:48 PT I like this. It just makes me smile."It is the biggest thing I've ever seen in lawn and garden".I bet they don't sell it in Texas. That stuff would, no doubt, get you, at the very least, a night in the county jail.A package of cigarillos will get you a cot in a cage for the night here. It's paraphenalia. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by John Tyler on July 09, 2016 at 07:43:36 PT business is booming Washington has passed the 1 billion dollar mark in cannabis retail sales. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on July 08, 2016 at 14:37:34 PT Home De Pot The Miracle Grow products are already at Home Depot! the brand name is Black Magichttps://www.blackmagic.com/products/potting-soil/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on July 08, 2016 at 14:31:23 PT Canadian survey Don't Want Canada's Legal Cannabis Market To Suck? Have Your Say Nowhttps://www.civilized.life/canada-legal-market-1910573224.htmlthe survey:http://surveys-sondages.hc-sc.gc.ca/s/Marijuana_Section1/?l=en>>Filling out government surveys? Bo-ring. But, unlike the tedious-but-important slog that is, say, the long-form census, the survey we're talking about actually deals with a compelling topic: namely, what the heck marijuana legalization is going to look like in Canada - whether minimizing harms of use, to the restrictions surrounding medical marijuana, to how, exactly, the distribution system should work. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on July 08, 2016 at 11:13:07 PT alternative btw, here is an easily affordable alternative to the nasty oil-produced blue stuff:http://www.espoma.com [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on July 08, 2016 at 11:11:24 PT Dominoes fall Bravo Scott's! People that want to use corporate, petroleum-derived chemie fertilizer to puff up their flowers will be thrilled! this is a huge development though. We are corporate nation USA. If the Scott's brand empire is behind us, it's all over. Won't be long before Home Depot is selling chemie-cannabis soil mix in the gardening aisle. they're probably still fire their employees for using it too! (never shop at HD) [ Post Comment ] Post Comment