The marijuana movement has a rinse and repeat decriminalization process. People at the top (stakeholders – businesses, non-profits, and politicians interested in financial profits) tend to take advantage of the consumers of marijuana as pseudo foot soldiers to push their agenda. They use them to orchestrate signature collecting campaigns, and encourage them to pressure public officials to make legal changes. They repeat emotional arguments emphasizing medicinal benefits, referring to cultural heritage and tradition, while conveniently forgetting to disclose side effects and drawbacks. Everyday citizens rarely realize what is happening until their community has been transformed.
So, who is profiting from recreational marijuana legalization, and how has it transformed our communities?
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 Michigan recreational marijuana industry is estimated to be worth “$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. [] Constellation Brands, Molson Coors, and Heineken are investing in cannabis or THC-infused Beverages.”
Luke Niforatos, Executive Vice President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) based in Denver Colorado, points to big alcohol and big tobacco companies profiting from recreational marijuana legalization in the podcast How the legalization of Marijuana Has Negatively Impacted Our Youth, he explains,
(11:40) “Big tobacco and the corporate industrial complex has totally taken over marijuana, and that’s what this is about. [] Fourth largest tobacco company on the planet is invested in marijuana. Marlboro has invested over $2 billion dollars now in marijuana. [] It’s all big tobacco. These are the players who have jumped in; Juul, anybody remember Juul? They were hauled before congress just a few months ago; and they are acting just like big tobacco. They just got an exemption from the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act, so you can smoke a joint in certain hotels, restaurants and lounges now. [] Purdue Pharma, those evil guys, their former CEO, who wrote the playbook for OxyContin, is now selling marijuana. [] Big alcohol is obviously involved; Corona Light. [] It is these guys who are pushing legalization; pushing marijuana stores; these guys are making money. [] These guys are in Wallstreet, making money off the folks who are getting addicted to their drugs, their marijuana.”
Noforatos again spoke about those profiting from recreational marijuana legalization; (46:15) “Who is making money on it? It’s actually people you would be surprised. Former Speaker of the House John Boehner, he used to be totally against social justice reforms, criminal justice reform, etc [] and now he’s on the board of one of the biggest marijuana companies, and he will get a $20 million check if he gets legalization across the finish line in congress.”
Perhaps worse than the profit motive alone, according to Dr. Christian Thurstone, Professor at Denver Health/University of Colorado, in the podcast Marijuana and our Children: The Blunt Truth, the youth are being targeted through marketing. (18:55) “Tobacco companies, alcohol companies, they’ve known about this brain development process for decades, which is why both industries have gotten into big trouble in the past for very clearly, blatantly targeting young people with their advertising and marketing, and I believe in some cases, continue to do so. And it’s purely economics. [] We are disproportionately appealing to young people. We have Santa Claus who is advertising marijuana. We have cartoon characters that are advertising marijuana.”
These marketing campaigns targeting youth appear to be effective. According to Niforatos, (19:15) “We’re seeing massive increases in youth use in states that have legalized marijuana.” (26:55) “The normalization, the commercialization; We see billboards everywhere. ‘Don’t worry, be happy. Marijuana delivers.’ They are making it look cool again, just like Marlboro did back in the day with big tobacco. And marketing is not limited to billboards. Let’s be honest. Digital is where it’s at. [] Instagram is where it’s happening, and the reason why it’s happening there is because they’ve figured out a way around the security blocks that Facebook and Instagram have. Facebook and Instagram will block marijuana advertisements, but if somebody just posts a picture to Instagram of themselves smoking a joint, or eating a marijuana edible, it is much harder for Facebook and Instagram to block. [] In reality, the marijuana industry, perhaps a pot shop or other company, is paying that person to post that picture of their product, to push it to them [kids]. It’s very, very tricky and sneaky how they’re doing it.”
The increase in youth marijuana use is having a negative impact on both intelligence and psychiatric disorders. According to The Effect of State Marijuana Legalizations: 2021 Update, from The CATO Institute, “Madeline Meier and others analyzed a large sample of individuals tracked from birth to age 38 and found that those who smoked marijuana most heavily prior to age 18 lost an average of eight IQ points, a highly significant drop.” The Daily Caller, in the 2023 article, Massive Study Links Heavy Marijuana Use to Psychotic Symptoms, Bipolar, Disorder, and Depression reported, “Individuals with prior diagnoses of cannabis use disorder were up to four times as likely to be diagnosed later on with bipolar disorder and psychotic symptoms, the study found.”
Niforatos also commented on youth marijuana use. (11:00) “The US Surgeon General, [] issued a historic marijuana advisory saying basically, unprecedented levels of youth and pregnant women are using marijuana now. As a result of the more permissive climate. And they are saying that this marijuana is much more potent than it’s ever been because of legalization.”
One of the major issues is the genetic modification of marijuana that has happened since legalization began. Niforatos explained, (15:30) “What we’re seeing though, we were kind of pitched in Colorado, and this is happening across the country, oh, you know, marijuana is just a plant. It’s natural. God made it. God made poison ivy too. We shouldn’t smoke poison ivy. It’s natural plants, what we’re told. What we’re seeing after legalization is nothing even close to natural. This is stuff that’s cooked up in laboratories; in chemistry labs that’s being spliced and genetically modified. This is not being grown. This is being specifically bred to be much, much more potent. The potency that we’re seeing is astronomical. We went from an average of 3% potency [] to an average of 20% potency. [] We’re seeing some that are 90% potent. So this drug has radically changed [] We’re talking about Wallstreet Marijuana and it’s more potent and its more addictive than it’s ever been before.” He compared the difference in potency to the difference between 1 cola to 33 medium cappuccinos.
Dr. Christian Thurstone, talked about what he is seeing in practice. (32:05) “In the clinical world we see this all the time; very sad cases of adolescents using high potency marijuana and developing psychosis schizophrenia that is very hard to treat. [] This is my experience and the experience of all the colleagues that I have talked with that it is a different type of psychosis that is hard to treat; doesn’t seem to respond to medications the way different types of psychoses do. I’m attending on the inpatient unit now and I’m taking care of a young adolescent, 17 years old, from a great family, and a great upbringing, and smart, and athletic, and a heavy marijuana user in adolescence and now with the terrible, really hard to treat psychosis.”
Although government policies other than recreational marijuana legalization are a factor, it is interesting to look at the changes in big cities whose states led the way for recreational legalization. In Denver, Portland, Sacramento, and San Francisco, homelessness is out of control. Streets are lined with tents and human feces litters sidewalks. Colorado and Washington legalized recreational marijuana in 2012. According to the KMGH news clip Downtown Denver businesses report 40 percent decline in sales as homeless encampments engulf block, visitors to the downtown area are concerned about safety. They have to walk through trash-strewn sidewalks filled with homeless encampments, and the city has not taken enough action to ensure safety and cleanliness.
Another news report, Needles, Blood, Syringes & Tons of Garbage In Filthy, Rat Infested Homeless Camps, shows images of trash and homeless tents, and says the “homeless camps are drug infested and filled with angry hostile homeless people.” Residents blame government policies for creating the situation, but the State of Homelessness 2020 Report blamed the problem on “a lack of affordable housing and systemic racial inequities.” According to the news segment, the city planned to spend another $10 million that month to pay for hotels for the homeless.
Although it has taken roughly a decade for large cities across the country to reach this level, we must ask ourselves, where is Grand Haven heading? How far down this road do we want to go, and what can we do about it to steer a more desirable outcome? Seeing what is happening in cities around the country should serve as a wake-up call. We need to take the time to understand how recreational marijuana legalization has led to societal decline and had devastating effects on our youth. Only then, will we be able to recognize the warning signs and enable citizens to take back control and restore the dignity and splendor of our communities.