Some people find the commercialisation of cannabis rather unsavoury but the industry in North America is fast becoming a phenomena industry and UK business enterprises may not catch up on the patents and brands currently establishing themselves stateside.
The cannabis industry is booming in America with retail sales reaching billions of dollars since legislation changes in Colorado and Washington D.C. This shows no signs of slowing down, daily news echoes from other U.S States showing the tide is turning in favour of medicinal AND recreational use, over things like alcohol and tobacco. Health focused and leisure brands will undoubtedly spawn from America and dominate the global market, leaving most of the competition in the dust. Early adaptors will be too busy racing to create the next big thing to be paying attention to naysayer governments elsewhere in the world.
Cannabis can be both enjoyable as a recreation and powerful as a treatment for hundreds (if not thousands) of ailments, diseases and psychological disorders. The diversity of cannabis means its hard to tie down and lock into one category, which isn’t something governments favour but like the rise of the internet it will have its haters and people who don’t see the potential.
Looking at Colorado or Washington’s D.C’s approach to drug policy shows how stagnant drug policies are in the UK. The positive socio-economic effects of ending the war on drugs shows that crime usually goes down while employment usually goes up, overall people are healthier and wealthier. Estimates say the industry will grow into the tens of billions of dollars in the next 5 years. This is the complete reversal of a 2013 report that headlined: Marijuana Prohibition Now Costs The Government $20 Billion A Year. The figures coming out of Colorado show local people are each over $1000 better off than before the end of prohibition there.
With a budding industry comes opportunity in the form of unforeseen inconveniences, desire to improve user experience and over-looked niches among other things. Future millionaire (or maybe even Billionaire) entrepreneurs will arise from the cannabis industry, capitalizing on the creation of solutions for customers, traders and manufacturers in reaching their end goals. There are also unrealised concepts that will be new avenues and monetary streams of their own. At one time (not too long ago) , before the Internet – Google, Youtube and Facebook didn’t exist, yet they are powerhouses of Industry today. All three of those companies came out of America – and that was with no prohibition on internet companies.
The U.K likes to think of itself as an epicentre of international banking and business, recently showing positive initiative by welcoming the relatively new Bitcoin Industry. Nurturing new industry – like Bitcoin entices the superstars of tomorrow to London instead of say Silicone Valley – Where smoking Cannabis isn’t really frowned upon, and is as socially acceptable as a cigarette in some circles. Some career residents in the Valley even report using cannabis to aide creative flair when programming.
Legal Cannabis businesses will use the internet like all businesses and will no doubt need help from creative tech centres. Its then inevitable that some of that money will spill into the valley because they will have people who use the cannabis industry already, using their experience and knowledge to better shape it’s future. Having a place where they can both thrive is a no-brainer.
Now you’d think all this would have UK bankers, investors and politicians lining up to proclaim – ‘WEED IS THE FUTURE’, but no, the official line is still this childish and stigmatizing approach to cannabis where everyone suffers because policy makers refuse to look at scientific evidence.
The argument holding all this up, is that cannabis “causes schizophrenia”. Cannabis DOES NOT cause mental health problems. It may accentuate a persons underlying problems, but may also relieve another’s’. If someone has a mental health problem they can CHOOSE not to buy alcohol – which is over 100 times more likely to cause harm to the self and others. You can’t ban alcohol though, Just like you can’t ban forks –
” I can take a fucking fork and shove it in my eye, should we make forks illegal ? ” – Joe Rogan.
Both Alcohol and forks are more dangerous than cannabis, but prohibition (because of a minority of bad experiences or potential dangers) is basically keeping adult humans in play pens. Global cannabis use has shot up from the 1950’s yet mental illness has not risen. The argument is null and void now and must be scrutinized at every opportunity.
