The marijuana industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, and legalization offers the opportunity to make some people extremely rich. Most Americans feel that responsible adults should have the option to take drugs, especially drugs with medicinal benefits. Unfortunately, the belief in personal autonomy is commonly exploited by those seeking to profit. Those seeking to legalize marijuana have perfected their sales pitch to everyday Americans. They play on emotions, telling stories of persecution, stories of healing, and stories of cultural tradition that involve marijuana, while emphasizing the natural aspects of plants and potential tax revenue that will be generated. Yet they never mention side-effects and potential downfalls. Rather, they create excitement until the public approves legalization. But somehow, not a single U.S. state has yet shown that legalization turns out as promised.
According to The Market for Economic Impact of the Adult-Use Recreational Marijuana Industry in Michigan report, prepared by Michigan State University in March 2020, “The total economic impact is estimated to be $7.85 billion with a total impact on employment of 23,700. Total tax revenues are estimated to be $495.7 million of which $298.6 million is excise tax on marijuana and $197.1 million is sales tax revenue.” Politicians want a cut of the tax revenue this opportunity offers, and those who have traditionally dealt in the marijuana industry want the ability to continue to dominate without the threat of going to jail. Those seeking to profit have joined forces with politicians to change the perception of marijuana and the marijuana laws throughout the country.
The article Promise and reality of recreational cannabis provides insight about how cities have benefited from cannabis legalization with increased tax revenues from cannabis businesses, and gives a detailed summary of the Michigan history of getting cannabis legalized. According to the article, “10 percent in addition to the six percent state sales tax, to be levied on marijuana sales at retailers (dispensaries) and micro-businesses. Distribution of excise tax is mandated by the ballot proposal, including sending funds to the local county and municipal governments where the businesses are located, as well as to K-12 education and for road and bridge maintenance.”
In addition to potential tax generation, emotional arguments are being used to convince people to vote for legalization. Similar arguments are currently being used by those seeking to legalize entheogenic plants (psychedelic mushrooms and plants). During Entheofest 2021, several politicians and those seeking to profit from the legalization of entheogenic plants gave speeches to consumers of entheogens, urging them to get active in the political process by advocating for legalization and assisting those in favor of legalization in getting elected to office.
(4:04) Yousef Rabhi, Washtenaw County Commissioner for District 8 and former Michigan 53rd House District Representative, talked about using entheogenic substances as, “a crime that we have seen in this country for far too long, and that is the crime of criminalizing nature; that which grows in the ground.”
(7:45) Larry Norris, co-founder of Decriminalize Nature (DN) stated, “We obviously are rebuilding culture. A lot of this has been stripped away from many of our cultures. Our ancestor’s cultures for 1000’s of years; This isn’t just about the medical benefits, this isn’t just about health benefits. This is about personal and spiritual growth. This is about learning to be a human being on planet Earth.”
(19:57) Victoria Burton-Harris, Washtenaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor, “How many of us want safer communities? [] How many of you know, we’re not going to get there criminalizing nature?”
(29:00) Prosecuting Attorney for Washtenaw County Eli Savit, “Our policy is that we do not prosecute the youth for possession of entheogenic plants county wide.”
(49:00) Kat Ebert, recent Michigan State University graduate, and Board Member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, “This is a policy that is created to help protect healing.”
(53:00) Michigan State Senator Jeff Irwin, “I introduced this legislation recently, senate bill 631, and I did it because these entheogenic plants and fungi have tremendous promise for human beings, to provide medicinal benefit. I introduced this legislation because these plants and fungi have a long history that stretches back to the beginning of human civilization of religious significance; cultural and spiritual significance to people. [] I’m going to ask you to make this argument to your city council people, to your mayors, to your prosecutors and sheriffs, and to your state legislators.”
These arguments are persuasive because they resonate with the majority of Americans. The problem is that decriminalization coupled with legalization from a business perspective results in societal transformation through marketing, normalization, and genetic modification and selective breeding of the original substances. This Mom on Mushrooms interview with Jesse Waters provides another example of normalization.
In the article, Promise and reality of recreational cannabis Howard Luckoff, owner of New Standard, compares their business model to Starbucks, and New Standard COO Mary Turon, a cannabis expert who previously operated dispensaries in California and Illinois, says “It's a lifestyle. It's not just about smoking, it's about edibles, oils, topicals and tinctures, which you put under your tongue...”
Placing marijuana provisioning centers on every corner like Starbucks, is a far different vision than the one held by most Americans who voted for marijuana legalization. I know my personal expectation for it was the idea that people would be free to grow and use their own marijuana. With the Starbucks model, marketing, normalization, and genetically altered product, comes greater societal problems. It’s one thing to allow legalized access to these substances, but it is another to thing to encourage their use. Currently, there are people working behind the scenes in West Michigan to push the marijuana agenda forward. We must ask ourselves what do we really want for our local communities.