Is Marijuana Business A Coming Opportunity Or Another Indication Of The Decline In America Or Something Entirely Different?

URL and to post comments: http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/5/19/how-to-become-a-billionaire-drug-trafficker-all-legally.html Monday,May 19, 2014 [The following is an excerpt from Jeff Berwick's Alert sent to TDV Subscribers today] Massive paradigm shifts are when fortunes are made. Generational fortunes. And there has never been a confluence of massive changes happening all at once on a global scale like there is today. In the 1990s and 2000s the internet was the evolution in communications that has already created trillions of dollars in wealth and numerous billionaires. In 2000 those who realized The End Of The Monetary System As We Know It (TEOTSMAWKI) was coming and invested in gold and silver had done very well by 2009 (and will continue to do extremely well in the remainder of this decade). And, bitcoin, an evolution in money and banking, which we covered here at TDV since 2011 at $7 (currently $450) has seen substantial fortunes been made by those who recognized it early (and will also do very well into the future). Don’t feel bad if you missed out on the early stages on any or all of the above. The next big fortune maker is here and it is still early. It is cannabis… a.k.a marijuana. It's rare that the opportunity to get in on the proverbial ground floor of a new and important industry presents itself so obviously and promisingly as I will explain below. THE RISE OF LEGALIZED MARIJUANA At TDV we have been covering the budding (pun intended) marijuana market for more than a year. We even named our monthly newsletter targeted at those who wish to stay in the US (and not expatriate or defect), “TDV Homegrown”, with a marijuana leaf as its logo as we could see the trend towards legalization evolving. And, the TDV Golden Trader began talking about the medical marijuana space in January of this year. So, we have been relatively early in covering this space which only really began in January of this year when the first legal cannabis stores opened in Colorado. Interestingly, the legalization of marijuana in Colorado all began when a friend of TDV and past Anarchast guest, Joby Weeks, began soliciting for signatures to put decriminalization on the ballot (see interview with Joby here). That one action, by one person initially, ended up with countless states and countries around the world now legalizing or moving towards legalization of marijuana. The buzz about legal cannabis is growing louder, but there is still enough confusion and unknowns to keep the big money and your average investor away from it… creating an opportunity for those who see where this trend of legalization is going and be positioned before them. The main source of confusion is, as usual, government. "Legalization" means what governments say it means, and governments by and large aren't yet sure what they want to say… much like in the bitcoin space. They are still groping for a solution that (1) satisfies the public's desire to be free to consume what they choose to consume and (2) lets government regulate and tax the product. For investors, the map is hard to follow because at this point it's not even half plotted. Different countries – even different regions of the US and of some other countries – have very different approaches to legalizing marijuana for medicinal or recreational use. But to those paying attention to this space it is clear. Governments worldwide have decided that legalization is acceptable, perhaps even preferable. US states such as Colorado and Washington are reaping enormous tax revenue from a recreational business model that is outpacing the growth rates expected by even the more optimistic forecasters. Several states are debating proposals to emulate Colorado and Washington. Some are debating measures that are even more relaxed. Yet the investment landscape for US markets is still difficult to assess because of the Federal government's continued classification of cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I (most dangerous) substance. As more states move towards legalization it puts more pressure on the federal government to also do so. Even Obama has stated that "pot is less dangerous than alcohol." And the US Justice Department has recently given US banks a legal roadmap for offering accounts to pot businesses (Bloomberg Feb 14: "Pot Businesses Allowed to Open Accounts With U.S. Banks.)". Despite all the uncertainty about the details, one point is clear: legalized marijuana is here to stay and the trend is strongly toward greater permissibility. That trend isn't confined to just the US. Here are just a few recent headlines from around the world: CARIBBEAN TRADE BLOC: Washington Post – March 8, 2014 – Caricom Leaders to Debate Marijuana Legalization. Experts said the Caribbean already has a built-in competitive advantage with marijuana cultivation, noting that Jamaican researchers have launched a company that produces therapeutic and cosmetic products derived from the plants. "The region may wish therefore to explore any commercial benefit from a potential multi-billion industry including research and development and also the production of medical marijuana products," the report stated. MEXICO: Reuters – February 18, 2014 – Leftist Mexican Lawmakers Present Medical Marijuana Bill. Left-wing Mexican senators on Tuesday presented an initiative to legalize medical marijuana, saying a new approach was needed to speed up drug liberalization and help end a cycle of cartel violence that has killed tens of thousands. BRAZIL: Leaf Science – January 30, 2014 – Brazilian Judge Rules Marijuana Prohibition Unconstitutional. A federal judge deemed Brazil's ban on marijuana unconstitutional in a drug trafficking case, which some say could pave the way to reform. In a case involving a small-time marijuana dealer, Judge Ernesto Frederico Cardoso Maciel ruled that marijuana laws are unconstitutional because they violate principles of equality, reports Brazilian media. The judge, in his sentencing, claimed that the ban on marijuana was "the result of a backward culture and mistaken policy." CANADA: National Post – January 23, 2014 – Justin Trudeau Says Canada Should 'Draw on Best Practices' From Marijuana Legalization in Colorado, Washington. "I'm very interested in drawing on best practices and not repeating mistakes that other people might make." What matters now, Trudeau said, is ending a marijuana prohibition policy that he says costs law enforcement $500-million a year and has left 475,000 people with criminal records since the Conservatives took office in 2006. "The fact of the matter is our current approach on marijuana — the prohibition that Stephen Harper continues to defend — is failing in two primary ways. The first one is it is not protecting our kids from the negative impacts of marijuana on the developing brain," said Trudeau. "Secondly, we are funnelling millions upon millions of dollars each year into organized crime and criminal gangs. We do not need to be funding those organizations." URUGUAY: Bloomberg – December 11, 2013 – Uruguay Becomes World's First Nation to Legalize Marijuana. Uruguay, a nation of 3.3 million tucked between Argentina and Brazil, became the world's first nation to legalize the cultivation, sale and use of marijuana in a move aimed at curbing the cost of combating drug trafficking. ARGENTINA: Raw Story – December 24, 2013 – Uruguay's Neighbor Argentina Now Considering Marijuana Legalization. Argentina has given the first sign that Uruguay's groundbreaking cannabis reform just may have started a domino effect across Latin America. Following the momentous vote by its smaller neighbor's senate this month – making it the first nation in the world to completely legalize the soft drug – Argentina's anti-drug czar Juan Carlos Molina has called for a public discussion in his country about emulating the measure. "Argentina deserves a good debate about this," Molina told local radio. "We have the capacity to do it. We should not underestimate ourselves." SWITZERLAND: The Libertarian – October 4, 2013 – Another Sensible Drug Policy From Switzerland.Marijuana is now decriminalized in all of Switzerland. The new measure was passed last year and went into effect on the first of this month. Although cultivation and distribution remain illegal, anyone caught with 10 grams or less of the substance will now be free of any threat of criminal penalties, and will only be required to pay a fine of 100 Swiss francs (about £68 or $111). The decriminalization measure should result in significant savings for the criminal justice system, which will now be able to avoid processing an estimated 30,000 minor marijuana cases per year. This will also allow an estimated 500,000 current cannabis users in the country to avoid getting in legal trouble for a victimless crime. There are nearly countless similar events happening in countries around the world on an escalating basis. In a recent Pew Research Center poll, nationwide marijuana legalization seems inevitable to three-fourths of Americans, whether they support it or not. The telephone survey found that 75 percent of respondents — including majorities of both supporters and opponents of legal marijuana— think that the sale and use of pot eventually will be legal nationwide. It was the first time that question had been asked. Some 39 percent of respondents said pot should be legal for personal adult use. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said it should be legal only for medicinal use. Just 16 percent said it should not be legal at all. Marijuana today is similar to the end of the prohibition of alcohol (also replete with countless gangland murders and atrocities while it was prohibited). And not since the lifting of America's prohibition on alcohol has there been such potential for a multi-billion dollar a year industry to develop literally overnight. Vast fortunes were amassed by the Kennedy and Bronfman families, among others, from the demise of U.S. Prohibition in 1933. And that was a single-country event. Even greater fortunes will be built on the relaxing of the worldwide prohibition of cannabis. This is the market that is opening up and available right now and most people haven’t realized it yet. Therein lies the opportunity to invest in a potentially massive market before the rest of the world even realizes it exists. THE POTENTIAL MARIJUANA MARKET An analysis from San Francisco-based angel investor network ArcView Group forecasts a 64 percent surge in the legal US cannabis market to $2.34 billion by 2014. Additionally, according to ArcView, the five-year national market could grow to $10.2 billion. The numbers depend to some degree on how many states legalize pot, and how big the states are. If Alaska and Canada hold successful referendums, the market could expand considerably. The Associated Press has conducted a poll showing that "Nationwide marijuana legalization is inevitable" in the US. While the total size of the marijuana market will likely not surpass the alcohol market anytime soon it is interesting to look at the size of the alcohol market to make comparisons. The US beverage alcohol industry is a major contributor to the economy, responsible for over $400 billion in total US economic activity in 2010, generating nearly $90 billion in wages and over 3.9 million jobs for US workers. If/when marijuana becomes completely legalized in the US it isn’t too much of a stretch to think that it could be 10-20% the size of the alcohol market… meaning total revenues of $40-80 billion per year. The trend in marijuana usage has been on a major uptrend since the “War on Drugs” began: There is no need to go too much deeper into the potential size of this market. Based on this alone, especially imagined globally if legalized, the size of the potential market is absolutely massive. There aren’t too many markets you can invest in today that already have a worldwide brand and consumer basis, like marijuana, that is about to be opened up. In fact, nothing even comes close. THE END OF THE WAR ON DRUGS The “War on Drugs” was a heinous, ill conceived concept brought to the world by Richard Nixon in the same year in which he “temporarily” ended official conversion of the dollar for gold. To add insult to injury, of all people, one of the most public supporters of the War on Drugs was Elvis Presley who later died of a drug overdose after years of drug abuse. This “war” on plants results in hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions incarcerated for victimless crimes, billions in wasted expenditures and, as shown above, did absolutely nothing to stop the usage of these plants. Now, debt ridden governments worldwide are looking to these same “drugs” as a potential source of major revenue as they look to stay afloat. The Huffington Post recently reported that cannabis is not the only drug that may soon be legalized or decriminalized. There is a growing movement among scientific and political leaders to end the war on drugs entirely. A recent report, titled "Ending the Drug Wars" and put together by the London School of Economics' IDEAS center, looked at the high costs and unintended consequences of drug prohibitions on public health and safety, national security and law enforcement. The pursuit of a militarized and enforcement-led global 'war on drugs' strategy has produced enormous negative outcomes and collateral damage," says the 82-page report. "These include mass incarceration in the US, highly repressive policies in Asia, vast corruption and political destabilization in Afghanistan and West Africa, immense violence in Latin America, an HIV epidemic in Russia, an acute global shortage of pain medication and the propagation of systematic human rights abuses around the world." The report urges the world's governments to reframe their drug policies around treatment and harm reduction rather than prosecution and prison. It is also aimed at the United Nations General Assembly, which is preparing to convene a special session on drug policy in 2016. "The UN must recognize its role is to assist states as they pursue best-practice policies based on scientific evidence, not undermine or counteract them," said Danny Quah, a professor of economics at LSE and a contributor to the report. Of course, especially in regard to marijuana, these so called polices around “treatment and harm reduction” are completely unnecessary as marijuana is one of the most healthy substances on Earth. MARIJUANA’S HISTORY IN THE US AND THE PROPAGANDA You may have heard that Thomas Jefferson traded marijuana with George Washington and the other founding fathers. In fact, Both Washington and Jefferson tried growing hemp on their Virginia farms with varying degrees of success. Washington used some of what he grew to make hemp clothing. Despite not being so good, both kept at it. Jefferson even invented a better “hemp brake” to separate the fibers from the stalks, He thought this was so important agriculturally he did not patent it. Whether or not they smoked it is unknown. But there was no social stigma attached to smoking pot in the late 1700s and early 1800s. In his diary for August 7, 1765, Washington writes, "Began to separate the Male from the Female hemp … rather too late." Domestic production of hemp was encouraged at the start of the country. In the 17th century, American production of hemp was encouraged by the government, primarily for the production of rope, sails and clothing. It has historically been an important tool for humanity. The outlawing of hemp hurts any economy. In 1619 the Virginia Assembly passed legislation requiring every farmer to grow hemp, and hemp was allowed to be exchanged as legal tender in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland. Domestic production flourished until post-Civil War, when imports and other domestic materials replaced hemp for many purposes. In the late nineteenth century, marijuana became a popular ingredient in many medicinal products and was sold openly in public pharmacies. You can still see photos today of products that used hemp. As hashish became a fad in France in the nineteenth century, it did also to a smaller degree in the US. Until the 1930s, hash was smoked in private establishments regularly in places like New York. Things started to change in the twentieth century. The 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act required the labeling of any cannabis contained in over-the-counter remedies. During this time, between the 1900-1920s, Mexican immigrants introduced recreational use of marijuana to American culture. In the wake of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Mexican immigrants came to the US in droves, and the drug came to be associated with immigrants. Anti-drug campaigners began to warn against the "Marijuana Menace," and terrible crimes were attributed to marijuana and the Mexicans who used it such as the raping of white women. In the 1930s, although marijuana was used regularly by many people, a fear of it and immigrants set in. During the Great Depression, unemployment plagued the US and the rest of the west. The public in the US began to resent Mexican immigrants, and the government began to take note, turning its sights on marijuana. "Research" linked the use of marijuana to violence, crime and other socially deviant behaviors. Blacks and Mexicans were generally associated with this. By 1931, 29 states had outlawed marijuana. The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), created in 1930, saw Harry J Anslinger focus his effort as the first Commissioner on marijuana. The 1932 Uniform State Narcotic Act strongly encouraged states to accept responsibility for control of cannabis by adopting the Uniform State Narcotics Act. 1936's "Reefer Madness" is a famous propaganda film produced by French director, Louis Gasnier. At the time, The Motion Pictures Association of America, composed of the major Hollywood studios, had banned the showing of narcotics in films. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 came amidst a "lurid" propaganda campaign against the so-called "evil-weed." Marijuana was from-then-on criminalized, and the possession was restricted to those who paid an excise tax for certain authorized medical and industrial uses. However, in 1944 the La Guardia Report found marijuana to be less dangerous than the original hype made it out to be. In this report, issued by the New York Academy of Medicine, research from earlier was contradicted, and the report suggested marijuana did not induce violence, insanity or sex crimes, or lead to addiction or other drug use. World War II created demand for hemp products, and the US was forced to import them. Without hemp, marine cordage, parachutes, and other military necessities became hard to come by. The US Department of Agriculture launched its “hemp for victory” program, encouraging farmers to plant hemp by giving out seeds to farmers to plant and even granting draft deferments to those who stayed home and grew hemp. By 1943 American farmers registered in the program harvested 375,000 acres of hemp. From 1951-1956 stricter sentencing laws gripped the nation. The enactment of new federal laws such as the Boggs Act of 1952 and the Narcotics Control Act of 1956 set mandatory sentences for drug related offenses including marijuana. A minimum sentence for a first offense for marijuana carried a minimum sentence of 2-10 years with a fine of up to $20,000. The 1960s saw some things begin to change; that is until the 1980s. A changing political and cultural climate could be seen in the more laidback attitudes towards marijuana. Use of the drug became widespread in the middle class and reports commissioned by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson found marijuana to be safe. The 1970s saw the repeal of some mandatory sentences. Marijuana was soon thereafter differentiated from other drugs. 1973 saw the creation of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). In 1974 the well-known High Times was founded and in 1976 a so-called parent's movement against marijuana began This movement called for stricter regulations of marijuana so that teenagers did not use it. These groups were supported by the DEA and other NGOs and became instrumental in the 1980s War On Drugs. Mandatory sentences were re-introduced in 1984, and the new law raised federal penalties on the amount for marijuana. A later amendment to the Anti-Drug Abuse Act established a "three strikes and you're out" policy, requiring life sentences for repeat drug offenders, and providing for the death penalty for "drug kingpins." In 1989 George Bush declared a new War on Drugs. But by 1996 medical use had been legalized in California, starting the transition to today. The fact of the matter is that marijuana, compared to other products such as pharmaceuticals and alcohol is not only not as dangerous but far less dangerous. In fact, the number of medicinal uses for marijuana that have now been studied and proven is overwhelming. It seems rarely a day goes by where the use of marijuana or cannabis oil isn’t shown to cure one ailment or another including cancer. The amount of evidence and distribution of that evidence via the internet has made it impossible for governments to violently prohibit its use any longer. THE IMMEDIATE OPPORTUNITY And now, after the backstory on why I think this sector has massive potential I will reveal the investment opportunity that I consider possibly the best I have seen in over 20 years of being in the financial markets. At TDV, TDV Homegrown and TDV Golden Trader we will be covering the emerging market for marijuana on an ongoing basis in the immediate future but I have identified what I think will be one of the major players in this market and have gained access for subscribers to take part in a private placement round of financing. [Editor’s Note: The opportunity and full research report is available to TDV Subscribers only – TDV Basic is $15/month and you can subscribe here to gain access] CONCLUSION In conclusion I would like to comment on how quickly things are changing in today’s environment. I thought about this as I sat in a room with dozens of high net worth, mostly older, investors in the Cayman Islands. There we were, mostly affluent, older married couples discussing how this particular company could potentially be a world leader in marijuana production. It almost felt surreal as, even five years ago, that meeting would have been not only deemed to be a dangerous, underground meeting but also highly illegal. In the course of a few short years mom and pop investors are now eagerly seated around a table highly interested in investing in what was formerly called “drug trafficking”. It is beautiful to see the heinous “war on drugs” come to such an inglorious end and just goes to show that all of the problems government says it is there to save us from are all caused by governments themselves. With an awakening by the public pushing governments worldwide to end their prohibition the “drug trade” has gone from being a gangland, dangerous and criminal enterprise to a perfectly normal business… and one that may be looked back upon just a few short years from now as being a monumental time to invest early into what may become a multi-billion dollar business. Due to mostly propaganda and people’s inability to quickly adapt to change the great majority of the public and institutional funds will likely not feel comfortable investing in this sector until is well developed and commonplace. By the time it is in your parent’s mutual funds the value of this business will have risen exponentially. Whether or not this particular investment into our favorite horse in the race meets your requirements at this time we will continue to cover this emerging market heavily at TDV, TDV Homegrown and TDV Golden Trader. There will assuredly be lots more opportunities for profit but I doubt we will see one as potentially massively lucrative as this opportunity again as the markets begin to realize the enormous potential of this sector.

Anarcho-Capitalist.  Libertarian.  Freedom fighter against mankind’s two biggest enemies, the State and the Central Banks.  Jeff Berwick is the founder of The Dollar Vigilante, CEO of TDV Media & Services and host of the popular video podcast,Anarchast.  Jeff is a prominent speaker at many of the world’s freedom, investment and gold conferences as well as regularly in the media including CNBC, CNN and Fox Business