I would like to get the pulse of hn on this:
What do we think if e.g. the Coca-Cola Company got in the pot business? Is the fact that these Federal constraints are keeping big business out of the pot business good or bad?
That's one of the biggest fears of cannabis producers in states where it's currently legal, and it's actually a reason for some of the small business not supporting federal legalization. They don't want Amazon to invest billions of dollars, completely destroying current dispensaries.
I think the problem is that in the world of billion to trillion dollar corporations, like Amazon or Wallmart, the business can't be mediocre to survive. In the past, simply being "all right" got you by, but big corporations can do "all right" products. To survive nowadays, businesses must differentiate from the corporations to survive.
For the consumers, I think corporations taking over "all right" businesses is a good thing. For the society at large..? This probably shrinks the middle class throughout the world, and increases inequality in multiple ways, e.g. the inequality between the one CEO (and upper management) and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of employees. So I'd personally count that as a "probably pretty horrible" reality.
The President of the United States, head of Executive branch, directed with enforcement of Federal law has pardoned ALL federal marijuana convictions and doesn't plan to pursue more.
It is effectively legal federally, no matter how much that makes you clutch your pearls.
The current federal government has determined it to be an issue left to the states. Reducing the influence the federal government has in everyday American's lives, it's left the Republican party in quite an ironic situation.
It is not "effectively legal". You cannot do any of these while possessing and/or using marijuana:
* Pass federal employment drug tests
* ̶F̶l̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶n̶e̶
* Buy a gun
etc.
Don't let perfection get in the way of progress, you claim to be pro-legalization but any conversation regarding the progress of it you only bring up the negatives and letter-of-the-law exclusions.
News flash buddy, there's lots of shit you can't fly with. Lot's of other reasons to not be allowed to purchase a gun. As well as other legal substances that will prevent you from passing federal employment drug tests (Hemp-derived CBD, Kratom). That doesn't make those things any more illegal, just a side-effect of the federal governments involvement in your life.
I've even had a TSA agent rummage through my carry-on in Oakland airport, pull out prerolls and buds, dig further to find the half-full water bottle I forgot I'd had, tell me they have to throw it away, and return my cannabis to me. I've flown with it entirely too many times to count, never attempting to conceal it, and have never had a problem.
The only time you're likely to run into trouble flying out of a legal state is if it looks like you're traveling with the intent to distribute.
It is still illegal, and all it will take is someone plopping into the Exec seat and getting a hair, then it is back to square 1.
Legal exposure is kind of like HIV, herpes, or COVID. There is a big difference between "I don't have it", and "It's not an issue right now", wherein the exact state of affairs drastically effects how one moves forward.
Until it is off the books /repealed, nothing has changed in the grand scheme of things.
Because we've reached this point, you're not going to see someone come into the exec seat and target weed. It's just not going to happen. The cat's out of the bag and it's not going back in.
So yes, things have changed in the grand scheme of things. This is progress, even if it's a fucked up legal grey area.
It would be fascinating and good for consumers because they could be held accountable for regulating an industry that is badly in need of it.
That doesn’t change my opinion of Philip Morris (or parent company Altria). Evil sons of bitches through and through.
They are defacto legalized, because practically those agencies won’t. But that is not the same thing.
The Supreme Court ruled back in the Great Depression days that the feds can regulate local businesses, if the goods sold are similar to goods sold that could be sold in interstate commerce.
So the DEA is still a thing.
Cresco Labs, Verano Holdings, Curaleaf.
Going to a Cresco run "Sunnyside" dispensary is like the Apple store of pot. It's kind of ridiculous.
You were not kidding: https://www.crescolabs.com/ & hey, there is one near me.
Publicly traded corporation. Pays taxes.