Cannabis Convention - Denver, CO April 02, 2010 from Cannabis Commerce on Vimeo.

Pro-pot, progressive-minded voters of NEO, are you envious of the tremendous legalization inroads made in pioneering states like Colorado? The ones Norm Roulet described on realNEO here and here? Well, with the benefit of a couple years worth of hindsight, you have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to actually improve upon legalization models developed by California and Colorado.

That’s right – disparaged, denigrated, and despoiled, Cleveland and NEO have a unique opportunity to shock the nation, transforming urban blight to urban bliss via cannabis commerce as Norm envisions with here and here.

But that can only happen if NEO pot proponents get it right from the start. I urge you to.

And I’m here to tell you exactly how you can.

First, let me explain how I know a little bit about poteconomics. 

By complete coincidence, in May of 2009, I moved to a once deteriorating Denver neighborhood now known far and wide as “Broadsterdam” (South Broadway + Amsterdam) or “dispensary row.” No one knew what a “dispensary” was. A mere 17 months later, I can walk to thirty of them and select from hundreds of High Times centerfold strains grown under optimum lab conditions. Here’s a closer look. {http://www.cannabis-commerce.com/2010/09/10/the-retail-explosion}. Talk about “thriving under the influence!”

Hog heaven, right?

Yes and no.

Yes, because this is something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime, every time I set foot in a MMC (medical marijuana carecenter) I’m a kid in a candy store, and I launched Cannabis Commerce to cover the cannagrowth exploding all around me.

No, since a terminal cancer patient living in the conservative corridor between liberal Denver and Boulder, in a dispensary-free burg like Broomfield, is forced to scramble for his meds.

Yep, in Colorado – as in California – it’s all about the “meds.”

Who gets them. Who doesn’t.

If 75% of the medical marijuana cardholders weren’t technically “fraudulent” – given recommendations by sympathetic doctors for maladies that fall somewhere south of being run over by a threshing machine – only a minute percentage of Coloradoans could transact at MMCs.

Compare that with Norm Roulet’s proposal to add recreational and industrial use, the full monty, to your referendum to legalize marijuana from the get-go.

Do you want to be another copycat state, which goes to incredible lengths to pass pot legislation intended solely for the chronically ill? I hope not. I don’t recall Thomas Jefferson, hemp grower, author of the phrase, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” limiting the allotment to the chronically ill.

So, your biggest choice is your biggest chance: do you want to be a medical marijuana state, like 14 others, or the first medical, recreational and industrial marijuana state from the outset?

The former choice insures things will stay exactly the way they are for 98% of you. The latter choice means the sky’s the limit. Up to you.

And while you’re drafting your referendum, don’t forget to etch it into your state constitution, meaning it’s there for perpetuity. Colorado’s the only state that’s got that one right so far.

The benefits of daring to be different

A lot of you read Norm’s account of his recent trip to Boulder CO, where I’ve spent most of my adult life. He was pretty ga-ga about the place, with good reason. And it’s not because they automatically assign you a Tesla for residing in the 80302 zip code.

The main reason Boulder’s so desirable, apart from the obvious scenic allure of the Flatirons, is that the city dared to do what no other city dared to do at a time it made a difference, that is, commit to buying all sorts of “open space” to build a buffer insulating itself from the encroaching ticky-tacky suburbia that sprang up everywhere else.

The city’s been buying farms and ranches to protect its borders for forty years. It’s still buying them today. And, oh by the way, yes you can ride your mountain bike or walk your dog on those lands.

That bold decision made for a healthy, less-polluted lifestyle, with a ton of visual impact. It guaranteed a huge upsurge in property values compared to surrounding areas.

But you don’t live in scenic Boulder, Colorado.

Perhaps you live in East Cleveland, a godforsaken toxic wasteland by the lake.

That’s actually a good thing! Why? It’s a fact of life you have to down to go up. You don’t jump high without bending your knees, and you don’t build eco-skyscrapers without digging foundations deep into bedrock.

So, the concept of metamorphosing a godforsaken wasteland into “an urban Eden” is more glorious than elevating less desecrated parcels of god’s green earth. The concept will attract even more press attention and contributions from environmental organizations. It intrigues tree huggers like me from 1,200 miles away.

So, when the time comes to cast your vote, and it’s coming a lot sooner than later, be daring: make sure that ballot includes recreational and industrial use!

That said, there’s no denying that it will take much more initial groundwork to implement the latter, heretofore unattempted model. There’s also no denying that groundwork will pay off exponentially over the long haul. So be prepared to dig in for a worthwhile cause.

What else can Ohio improve on?

The Cali and Colo legalization models: long, drawn-out affairs

Thirty dispensaries within a one-mile radius of my home didn’t happen overnight . . . although it seems like it did. After Colorado voters passed Amendment 20, Medical Use of Marijuana, in 2000, Denver’s dispensary scene germinated for the better part of a decade. California passed the Compassionate Use Act four years earlier, in 1996; it took time to simmer there, too. Legislators held up the parade of progress until around 2008 when the first MMCs (medical marijuana centers) made their appearance.

Unless you feel like living in a toxic wasteland for another decade, don’t word your referendum so that cannabis commerce takes 8-12 years to painstakingly progress from legalese on paper to brick and mortar on a street. Instead, plan to become “the brightest, greenest East Cleveland” right out of the gate!

Regulatory shocks after the fact

Medmar, as opposed to full-on legalization, invites endless wheel spinning on the city, county, and state levels. I don’t know about you, but I’m not in favor of paying my elected officials to erect a nanny state which controls what I can and can’t light up after a hard day’s work – much less to keep revising their bizarre innovations ad infinitum.

Medmar also gives regulators carte blanche to run amok after the industry begins finding its own equilibrium, the exact state of affairs free enterprise is designed to promote. Don’t allow regulatory boards to devise Big Brotherish innovations like video surveillance “from seed to sale,” as we saw this summer with Colorado HB 1284.

As described here, {http://www.cannabis-commerce.com/2010/08/24/smile-youre-on-cannabis-camera/} HB 1284 was set up as “an exercise of the police powers of the State for the protection of the economic and social welfare and the health, peace, and morals of the people of this state.” It’s a safe bet having their morals policed wasn’t what 150,000 and counting Colorado cardholders and industry players had in mind.

Don’t allow The Thought Police to go all authoritarian on you after the fact! Have your guidelines and regulations in effect before the party begins, not after. If you’re not strong about this . . .

Imagine pouring all your blood, sweat, and tears into starting up a successful cannabusiness. You jump through every hoop, comply with every existing regulation, only to lose your license because the Department of Revenue suddenly decides you’re located 999 feet from a daycare center instead of 1,000 feet!

That’s the favored harassment technique in Cali and Colo. Think about it: just how real is the problem of toddlers toddling out of daycare centers and into dispensaries to horsetrade milk money for hash oil? That sort of thinking is as contaminated as the Mittal superfund site.

Nip this in the bud! Don’t let cannabis commerce get off to an explosive start, as it did out west, only to find cannabusinesses eviscerated by regulatory larks after they’re already established.

Tax revenue: choke the golden goose or go for the gusto?

The amount of taxes that can be collected from medical marijuana, nothing more than a niche market, is minuscule compare with the megabucks that can be collected if marijuana isn’t saddled with an accompanying adjective. Why cripple the nation’s #1 commodity? Do you want an economic savior or an incidental tax source that can barely finance a community dog run?

Don’t mess around, go for the gusto! Be a model for every seemingly moribund hellhole on earth. Dream big about projects like Capstone, and don’t allow shallow-minded naysayers to drag you down.

Like everything else worth working for, there is a sacrifice

What about the people with debilitating diseases who need releaf NOW?

Won’t going for the whole enchilada instead of settling for the tortilla chip prolong their quest for the palliative releaf of legal cannabis therapy? Why, yes it will. That’s a big price to pay. Unfortunately, big changes with big payoffs come with big prices to pay.

It would be nice to have no pain for a lot of gain, but this is Planet Earth, not Planet Perfect. Easy for me to say since I don’t have a chronic illness, right?

What I’d say to that is that I’d expect friends and relatives to keep aiding the chronically ill by helping them obtain underground meds – for the moment.

Doesn’t that mean “caregivers” face arrest and imprisonment, according to whatever draconian laws are in place in Ohio, while referendums for full legalization are being drafted? I’m afraid so.

Here are the benefits of making that sacrifice:

• Everyone participates in the transformation, not just a few.

• Everyone’s environment becomes energized from free cannabis enterprise, not just the environment for the most debilitated.

• Money to care for debilitated persons and future debilitated persons becomes more available from tax proceeds generated by free cannabis enterprise.

• Friends and relatives who aid the chronically ill have more money to help them with cannabis jobs instead of unemployment checks.

• Cleveland becomes a model city, not another me-too city.

I’m not going to kid you. Passing a marijuana referendum instead of a medical marijuana referendum is the rockier road. However, fencesitters might be psychologically more inclined to vote “yes” if they know people with chronic illnesses would not receive legal meds unless the referendum, which includes provisions for recreational and industrial use, is passed.

What do you want?

So Ohioans, what’s it going to be?

Do you want it functional or dysfunctional?

Do you want to be a wishy-washy, confused, goofball state like New Jersey, which holds the “rights” to growing marijuana so close to the vest they only offered these rights to one university, Rutgers, to grow the entire states’ supply, choosing to eschew a cannabis economy altogether (which the university actually turned down)?  

Or do you want to be the first state or municipality voting to end prohibition from the get-go, getting people working again for decent wages in the new cannabis economy, adopting RealNEO’s vision of being a model green growing center and distribution hub for the world?

Your biggest choice is your biggest chance.

Chief Inspirational Officer Lory Kohn at the Cannabis Commerce launch.

This article is cross-posted at Cannabis Commerce at
Citizens of Ohio: Your Biggest Choice is Your Biggest Chance

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