Opening Insights: Federal Thinking About Addiction
Till 1933 alcohol was prohibited by law in the U.S. Today there is no question that alcoholism is rampant within the country. We can argue that access and social acceptance make excessive public use acceptable, and even normal (expected). However, what if people were not conditioned to used alcohol as a solution to stress and problems and they had to learn to deal with problems and discomfort in healthy ways?
If people had to learn to deal with problems and discomfort in healthy ways, would we really be having the "MARIJUANA DEBATE" or the "SEX ROBOT DEBATE" or the opioid crisis or the technology addiction crisis?
In October 2017, Sean Williams of The Motley Fool Website published an article that highlighted the realities of the current federal thinking and direction regarding marijuana manufacturing, distribution and use. Read more below...
Informational Insights: Marijuana is Okay?
Pardon the pun, but the marijuana industry has been growing like a weed for years -- and it has rapidly changing perceptions about the drug among the public to thank for it.
According to a CBS News poll conducted in July 1979, just 27% of those surveyed believed marijuana should be legal. Comparatively, 69% thought it shouldn't be legal. Fast-forward to April 2017, and CBS News' latest survey finds that an all-time record of 61% believe pot should be legal nationally, while just 33% now oppose the idea. This growing acceptance and favorability of marijuana has some pro-legalization enthusiasts and investors thinking that lawmakers on Capitol Hill may be coerced to change the drug's scheduling sooner rather than later.
The result of this shift in opinion on pot has dramatically boosted sales of the drug in the United States. A Marijuana Business Daily report released this year estimates that legal-cannabis sales could grow by around 30% in 2018, and by an aggregate of 300% between 2016 and 2021 to approximately $17 billion. It's this shifting opinion and rapid growth rate that have marijuana stock investors so excited about the industry's prospects.
Marijuana's huge speed bump in the road
But there's one catch, and it's a pretty big one: Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. As a Schedule I substance, it has no recognized medical benefits and is considered to be on par with heroin and LSD.
During the Obama administration, the Cole memo, named for President Obama's deputy attorney general, James Cole, acted as a guide for how the federal government and legalizing states would coexist. According to the memo, states would be allowed to legalize and expand cannabis programs as long as they held to strict regulations, including ensuring that no minors got their hands on cannabis, and that states set strict regulations for driving under the influence. It also meant states had to take extra precautions to ensure that marijuana wasn't trafficked interstate.
During the Obama presidency, federal regulators were generally hands-off when it came to the practices of individual states. Under the Trump administration, that may soon change.
In February, now-former White House press secretary Sean Spicer suggested that the Trump administration would take a more hands-on approach to regulating pot relative to the previous administration, though he failed to elaborate exactly what that might entail.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, on the other hand, leaves nothing to hide when it comes to his feelings about marijuana.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions strikes fear in the marijuana industry
For example, in May, Sessions sent a letter to congressional leaders asking them to repeal the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, which protects marijuana businesses in legal states from federal prosecution. In other words, Sessions has been looking for the OK from his peers from the get-go to go after medical-marijuana businesses. This action would build on previous comments he's made suggesting crime follows drug use, and that cannabis is anything but medicine.
Sessions recently doubled down on his anti-marijuana view by candidly responding to a reporter's question during a press conference in San Diego following a record-breaking narcotics seizure. According to Reuters, Sessions reminded everyone in the room that the federal law banning the sale of marijuana "remains in effect," and that "I've never felt that we should legalize marijuana." These 11 words are everything you need to know about the head of the Justice Department in regard to how he feels about weed.
The silver lining for pot businesses and marijuana stocks to this point has been the adherence to the Cole memo, as well as the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, which hasn't allowed federal funding to be used to prosecute cannabis companies. But the tide may be shifting, which could give Sessions the ammo he needs to shut down legal-weed operations....
Source: //www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/these-11-words-from-jeff-sessions-should-strike-fear-into-the-marijuana-industry-and-stocks/ar-AAsIvAv?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp
Possibilities for Consideration: Addiction Takes Many Forms
We are living in probably the most addicted time in history. We are all addicted to something in one way or another. Few of us are even aware or seeking resolution. We have come to accept our desire to feel better as normal, because we have been socially engineered to believe our feelings are FACTS. We justify the use and abuse of substances and things as a feel good right, when in reality our wants do little to server or benefit anyone other than our insidious need to find momentary pleasures.
- What if there is a way to learn that feelings are not FACT and we can take back our personal power and self-control?
- What if there is a way to gently awaken our minds, body and soul to the realities and challenges we individually and collectively face?
- What if there is a way to wake people and society up to the realities of addiction, so we can find answers and implement proven solutions?
- What if there is a way to reverse our social engineering and return to the productive, contributing mature people we have the potential to become?
Add Your Insight:
It's a good thing most people bleed on the inside or this would be a gory, blood-smeared earth.
BEATRICE SPARKS
