by Miguel Pretel
“You’re just robbing the revenue,
And that’s the wrong thing to do”
- Thief a man , Gregory Isaacs
The relationship between the world’s population and marihuana (Cannabis sativa sp) has been and continues to be one of love & hate. Long associated with particular life styles, free “crazy” ways of thinking, medical conditions, an alternative source of raw material for industry etc, the plant is now living, I think, its major fame status in history: its legalization.
It would be naïve to think that this would be about civil rights or individual freedom when actually, it would be all about money.
I don’t want to advocate for its use or for it to be banned, burned or criminalized but soon the time will come when governments either local or federal, kingdoms or republics will look at the forbidden plant, in search for money through taxation. This is old news, this system is already in place and working in a few cities around the world. I believe that way of revenue will be adopted largely around the world.
This may raise a concern and it is that if these laws are in place they may ruin the whole ’naturalness’ of this ancient plant, the way it grows and the way its being used.
For example if the state of California vote “yes” to Proposition 19 this 2nd of November and marihuana becomes legal it is almost inevitable that some big fish will want a piece of the hash cake.
Let’s say for example a tobacco company which already has infrastructure, resources and most importantly a market of loyal addicted tobacco smokers to target would like to play in this market. It is true that is not as straight forward as it sounds but the general idea of positioning themselves is the core of the business.
We all know the power, influence and money that these companies have so is not difficult to see into the future and play with the idea of what they could do in the marihuana market, I reckon pretty much everything they want.
Use of fertilizers, transformation of natural land into farming land, indoor growing (that means large amounts of electricity consumption) in other words mass production or over production of marihuana in my opinion could be disastrous for the environment and for the people who choose to use it.
There would not be a question of is it good to smoke marihuana or not, it would be more a question of which marihuana should I consume? The one from the small farmer who had grown it for 3 decades, organically, probably talking to his/her “babies”, crossing them to develop strains which can be “mellow” or developed “frosted buds”. This very farmer who probably has been arrested, targeted or treated as second class citizen would become or be the equivalent of the almost extinct local vegetable farmer, trying to fight Tesco for survival.
Or should I buy my marihuana from the big company, the one that comes in twenties or tens in an over packed shining box, which does not make clear what is in the cigarettes (thanks to the laws, again) and over advertised? It’s cheaper, it’s everywhere, it’s “modern”, “fresh”, “it’s for you” and all that nonsense.
Well the answer is pretty obvious, I would choose the former choice, but as obvious as it sounds it seems that our human nature is one of self-destruction (that is why we keep smoking tobacco, buying plastic in supermarkets, I mean food, wasting everything, etc) and these companies know that.
This is my nightmare scenario, you can call it a mere conspiracy theory without any base, but we all have been in this world for a while now and we know how things are done in the corporate world, never mind the governmental world, soon we could end up with Weedboros or LuckyDopes.
Food for thought or better; smoke for thought.
