Assembly passes medical marijuana oversight bill

Originally Posted by angryblackman

Local laws and regulation are a moot point I think. No matter what they come up with the Feds can still override it and fuck up the whole system. It always a bad thing for the children when mom and dad disagree. Mom says we can do it but dad doesn't. Mom thinks she has the authority and dad always has the final word.....

Then there's cousin Big Pharma..... Not even gonna go there. LOL

A guy I know who owns a chain of 20 head shop/discount tobacco stores just got back from a conference in North Carolina held by the tobacco industry. The topic was marijuana. He said that big tobacco is betting on it all being legal within 10 years as well as tobacco being taxed so heavily it's no longer affordable. He said they are preparing for a full conversion from tobacco to marijuana. They presented a strategy for taking over the MJ business entirely in California through these head shops/tobacco stores. He said they already had the political mechanisms in place to run everyone else out of the business. Considering how un-unified and disorganized medical marijuana is, I find that very believable. If an industry like that does decide to step in and take over, we are all fucked. Scary stuff.

I'd think big tobacco would have the money and clout to grease some palms and help make it legal....thats the bright side. The,obvious downside is, they'd be involved

Originally Posted by Dan Kone

A guy I know who owns a chain of 20 head shop/discount tobacco stores just got back from a conference in North Carolina held by the tobacco industry. The topic was marijuana. He said that big tobacco is betting on it all being legal within 10 years as well as tobacco being taxed so heavily it's no longer affordable. He said they are preparing for a full conversion from tobacco to marijuana. They presented a strategy for taking over the MJ business entirely in California through these head shops/tobacco stores. He said they already had the political mechanisms in place to run everyone else out of the business. Considering how un-unified and disorganized medical marijuana is, I find that very believable. If an industry like that does decide to step in and take over, we are all fucked. Scary stuff.

We may be dissorganized, but we are truly independantly owned and operated, enabling us to exercise quality control in a way Big Coorp cannot. If I was an outdoor grower depending on big harvests of B+ grade weed I would be scared. As an indoor grower of boutique meds I am not even concerned. Also keep in mind the massive size of Cali's underground weed economy, operating with ZERO regulations and/or oversight...the republican dream for successful business.

In the end it will depend on the average weed user. Will he/she accept lower quality for a huge price cut? Many will, but many won't. Big Tobacco can have the wills....I want the won'ts.

Too many people prefer QUALITY bud for the tobacco company to ever take over complete control. But yes there would be a lot of people that would just walk into the store and buy a pack of Marlboro Joints. Everyone should have expected the tabacco industry to have its sights on MJ for years. It's america's true cash crop. Then again the tabacco company has the money to build gigantic indoor warehouses and pay scientists and botanists to come up with ways to give their MJ extreme quality. The biggest issue would be all of the nasty shit they spray on their crops and the horrible ferts they would spray over all of there shit.

Either way you folks in the MMJ industry might have a few more years to really make as much as you can....and then say goodbye to the profit.

Originally Posted by Dan Kone

A guy I know who owns a chain of 20 head shop/discount tobacco stores just got back from a conference in North Carolina held by the tobacco industry. The topic was marijuana. He said that big tobacco is betting on it all being legal within 10 years as well as tobacco being taxed so heavily it's no longer affordable. He said they are preparing for a full conversion from tobacco to marijuana. They presented a strategy for taking over the MJ business entirely in California through these head shops/tobacco stores. He said they already had the political mechanisms in place to run everyone else out of the business. Considering how un-unified and disorganized medical marijuana is, I find that very believable. If an industry like that does decide to step in and take over, we are all fucked. Scary stuff.

there are sellouts out there, but its to easy to grow yourself, and a lot of people will scoff at thier offers in the end tobacco industry cannabis will be recreational not medical, if they want to have a chance. they cant be hypocrites. on top of that most would question the quality of their canibis, i know i stopped smoking pack cigarettes and started buying my own tobacco because of the additives and what not. its bad enough they use pesticide i dont need them adding anything else.

Originally Posted by collective gardener

We may be dissorganized, but we are truly independantly owned and operated, enabling us to exercise quality control in a way Big Coorp cannot. If I was an outdoor grower depending on big harvests of B+ grade weed I would be scared. As an indoor grower of boutique meds I am not even concerned. Also keep in mind the massive size of Cali's underground weed economy, operating with ZERO regulations and/or oversight...the republican dream for successful business.

In the end it will depend on the average weed user. Will he/she accept lower quality for a huge price cut? Many will, but many won't. Big Tobacco can have the wills....I want the won'ts.

You can talk about quality when it comes to bud, but it's pretty damn easy to make high quality extracts out of low grade bud. They could easily make blends out of concentrates that compete with indoor bud. Also it assumes they'll be growing bad bud. Well they could hire a small handful of the best growers in Cali to run the show. It'd be a multibillion dollar business for them, I think they'd take quality seriously.

Originally Posted by phishtank

Too many people prefer QUALITY bud for the tobacco company to ever take over complete control. But yes there would be a lot of people that would just walk into the store and buy a pack of Marlboro Joints.

You're assuming they are incapable of putting out a quality product. Anyone will hundreds of billions of dollars is capable of figuring out how to put out a quality product.

Originally Posted by polyarcturus

there are sellouts out there, but its to easy to grow yourself, and a lot of people will scoff at thier offers in the end tobacco industry cannabis will be recreational not medical, if they want to have a chance. they cant be hypocrites. on top of that most would question the quality of their canibis, i know i stopped smoking pack cigarettes and started buying my own tobacco because of the additives and what not. its bad enough they use pesticide i dont need them adding anything else.

Not many people grow their own tobacco and make their own additive blends. 9999 out of 10k people just buy cigarettes in a store.