4 ms·

As of now, you can definitely get your daily supply of Cannabis if you want. There are a lot of little businesses that legally sell it. So these federal laws ar

As of now, you can definitely get your daily supply of Cannabis if you want. There are a lot of little businesses that legally sell it. So these federal laws are not preventing you from exercising your legal right to get high in e.g. NY state. 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?

kube-system 4y ago
All of those businesses that sell cannabis are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. They are, quite plainly, operating businesses that are illegal under federal law. The reason you don't see too many DEA raids (anymore) is that the feds don't have any money to enforce it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohrabacher%E2%80%93Farr_amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohrabacher%E2%80%93Farr_amend...
- trillic 4y ago
  The overton window has shifted. It is no longer popular for armies of feds to raid businesses acting entirely within state laws and only performing intrastate commerce. 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.
  - kube-system 4y ago
    > It is effectively legal federally 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.
    - trillic 4y ago
      Are you an pedantic absolutist with everything? Or just fun stuff? Nobody here is claiming you could do any of those things. 10 years ago if you told me I could purchase Cannabis in Mississippi of all places I'd laugh in your face. 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.
      - kube-system 4y ago
        I celebrate the progress, but I don't think it's pedantic at all to point out the gaps that still exist. Law is a pedantic realm.
    - jjulius 4y ago
      Yes, you absolutely can fly with it. TSA has gone on the record, at least in local newspapers, stating that they defer to local police if they find cannabis. If it's for personal use, local PD won't do anything other than suggest you throw it away or else risk punishment if you're flying somewhere legal. I've researched this extensively before flying out of specific airports in legal states up and down the west coast and the story is always the same. 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.
      - kube-system 4y ago
        Ah, fair enough. I guess that guidance has changed since the last time I looked it up.
trillic 4y ago
There are lots of really big businesses that sell it too. Cresco Labs, Verano Holdings, Curaleaf. Going to a Cresco run "Sunnyside" dispensary is like the Apple store of pot. It's kind of ridiculous.
- eternalban 4y ago
  > 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/ https://www.crescolabs.com/ & hey, there is one near me.
  - trillic 4y ago
    Sunnyside Wrigleyville, Chicago, IL Publicly traded corporation. Pays taxes. https://i.imgur.com/NUi8fL0.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NUi8fL0.jpg
    - BossingAround 4y ago
      Sorry, what are we looking at? Looks maybe like vaporizers? Is there cannabis in the picture? (low resolution, can't make it out)
      - trillic 4y ago
        That’s the store. Like the Apple Store they keep the good stuff locked up in the back.
33955985 4y ago
Coca-Cola would be an odd choice, since they don’t deal in this kind of market already. I think a better question would be, “What if Philip Morris got into the pot business?” 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.
BossingAround 4y ago
> 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.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
lazide 4y ago
Those businesses are not legal, since there are active law enforcement agencies active that could arrest them on sight. 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.

kube-system 4y ago

All of those businesses that sell cannabis are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. They are, quite plainly, operating businesses that are illegal under federal law. The reason you don't see too many DEA raids (anymore) is that the feds don't have any money to enforce it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohrabacher%E2%80%93Farr_amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohrabacher%E2%80%93Farr_amend...

trillic 4y ago
The overton window has shifted. It is no longer popular for armies of feds to raid businesses acting entirely within state laws and only performing intrastate commerce. 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.
- kube-system 4y ago
  > It is effectively legal federally 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.
  - trillic 4y ago
    Are you an pedantic absolutist with everything? Or just fun stuff? Nobody here is claiming you could do any of those things. 10 years ago if you told me I could purchase Cannabis in Mississippi of all places I'd laugh in your face. 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.
    - kube-system 4y ago
      I celebrate the progress, but I don't think it's pedantic at all to point out the gaps that still exist. Law is a pedantic realm.
  - jjulius 4y ago
    Yes, you absolutely can fly with it. TSA has gone on the record, at least in local newspapers, stating that they defer to local police if they find cannabis. If it's for personal use, local PD won't do anything other than suggest you throw it away or else risk punishment if you're flying somewhere legal. I've researched this extensively before flying out of specific airports in legal states up and down the west coast and the story is always the same. 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.
    - kube-system 4y ago
      Ah, fair enough. I guess that guidance has changed since the last time I looked it up.

trillic 4y ago

There are lots of really big businesses that sell it too. Cresco Labs, Verano Holdings, Curaleaf. Going to a Cresco run "Sunnyside" dispensary is like the Apple store of pot. It's kind of ridiculous.

eternalban 4y ago
> 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/ https://www.crescolabs.com/ & hey, there is one near me.
- trillic 4y ago
  Sunnyside Wrigleyville, Chicago, IL Publicly traded corporation. Pays taxes. https://i.imgur.com/NUi8fL0.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NUi8fL0.jpg
  - BossingAround 4y ago
    Sorry, what are we looking at? Looks maybe like vaporizers? Is there cannabis in the picture? (low resolution, can't make it out)
    - trillic 4y ago
      That’s the store. Like the Apple Store they keep the good stuff locked up in the back.

33955985 4y ago

Coca-Cola would be an odd choice, since they don’t deal in this kind of market already. I think a better question would be, “What if Philip Morris got into the pot business?” 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.

BossingAround 4y ago

> 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.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

lazide 4y ago

Those businesses are not legal, since there are active law enforcement agencies active that could arrest them on sight. 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.