Everybody might as well get over it because none of this will ever be changed until its decriminalized federally,its not the businesses fault its the feds fault and its the way they want it,its one of their ways of fucking mj users.
It is still more profitable for the prison industrial complex to continue more and more privatization. There is so much more money with marijuana being illegal as opposed to legal. There is no way those affected would ever vote themselves out of a job.
It's frustrating to me when I hear the anti-mj or anti-mmj scream about no medical benefits and yet the government holds the patent on cannabinoids as treatment. What 'rights' the patent holder has I'm not sure. I'm thinking it could be a backdoor way to still prosecute those in the industry if legalization and/or decriminalization were to occur on a larger scale.
As long as mj remains a schedule 1 drug, there can't be testing or trials or studies done due to the language within the scheduling classification. Currently it has 'no medical value' and is highly addictive. It's going to be difficult to change those minds which would open the door to more and more studies of the medical benefits and potential risks of things like combustion of propylene glycol as a carcinogen or large scale clinical trials for sick kids with seizures. It's nice to think about but I do not think we will see full legalization.
Also:
Marijuana Opponents Using Racketeering Law to Fight Industry
excerpt, more at link:
A federal law crafted to fight the mob is giving marijuana opponents a new strategy in their battle to stop the expanding industry: racketeering lawsuits.
A Colorado pot shop recently closed after a Washington-based group opposed to legal marijuana sued not just the pot shop but a laundry list of firms doing business with it — from its landlord and accountant to the Iowa bonding company guaranteeing its tax payments. One by one, many of the defendants agreed to stop doing business with Medical Marijuana of the Rockies, until the mountain shop closed its doors and had to sell off its pot at fire-sale prices.
With another lawsuit pending in southern Colorado, the cases represent a new approach to fighting marijuana. If the federal government won't stop its expansion, pot opponents say, federal racketeering lawsuits could. Marijuana may be legal under state law, but federal drug law still considers any marijuana business organized crime.
"It is still illegal to cultivate, sell or possess marijuana under federal law," said Brian Barnes, lawyer for Safe Streets Alliance, a Washington-based anti-crime group that brought the lawsuits on behalf of neighbors of the two Colorado pot businesses.
Lawyers on both sides say the Colorado racketeering approach is novel.
"If our legal theory works, basically what it will mean is that folks who are participating in the marijuana industry in any capacity are exposing themselves to pretty significant liability," Barnes said.
The 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act sets up federal criminal penalties for activity that benefits a criminal enterprise. The RICO Act also provides for civil lawsuits by people hurt by such racketeering — in this case, neighbors of the two businesses who claim the pot businesses could hurt their property values. If successful, civil lawsuits under the RICO Act trigger triple penalties.
Filed in February, the Colorado lawsuits have yet to go before a judge. But one has already had the intended effect.
In April, three months after the RICO lawsuit was filed, Medical Marijuana of the Rockies closed. Owner Jerry Olson liquidated his inventory by selling marijuana for $120 an ounce, far below average retail prices.
"I am being buried in legal procedure," Olson wrote on a fundraising Web page he created to fight the lawsuit. The effort so far has brought in just $674.
The closure came after the pot shop's bank, Bank of the West, closed the shop's account and was dismissed as a plaintiff.
"Its policy is never to offer accounts to recreational marijuana businesses," the court order said.
And just last week, a bonding company in Des Moines, Iowa, paid $50,000 to get out of the lawsuit.
"We are out of the business of bonding marijuana businesses in Colorado and elsewhere until this is settled politically," said Therese Wielage, spokeswoman for Merchants Bonding Company Mutual.
The case of the mountain pot shop shows that racketeering lawsuits can affect the marijuana industry even if the lawsuits never make it to a hearing.
"This lawsuit is meant more to have a chilling effect on others than it is to benefit the plaintiffs," said Adam Wolf, Olson's lawyer.
In the other Colorado lawsuit, against a dispensary called Alternative Holistic Healing, the pot shop isn't going down so easily.
Almost forgot. Fatman christie could be swapped as needed based on the audience. I don't discriminate, I hate everyone.
