Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years • Hacker News Board

Re: Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

#101

Post by njharman » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 6:06 PM UTC

hoodoof wrote: post #5

awakeasleep wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What scares me is that we've pursued this in such 'medical' terms. It really influences how people think. Remember when it seemed insane to see advertisments about how "8 out of 10 doctors recommend ___ brand cigarettes"? It doesn't seem crazy to me now that there is so much "health" based marketing around marijuana.

And how the tobacco companies are evil and terrible but hey! Wanna smoke pot? That's all GOOD! Marijuana should be legal but discouraged, not permitted to be advertised, put in plain packaging, kept behind counters and not turned into novelty products that appeal to teenagers like foods. Hard to see how it's much different to tobacco really.

It's a LOT less harmful than tobacco. It also is usable in many non-smoking forms. Tobacco chew and snuff still give you cancer. But, since USA has outlawed research there is ver limited data on how not bad cannabis is.

Re: Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

#102

Post by njharman » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 6:09 PM UTC

at-fates-hands wrote: post #80

Mark my words, now that states see the incredible tax revenues from this industry, they're going to tax the fuck out of it, and then regulate the hell out of it to discourage and limit new businesses popping up all over (which is already happening anyways). This has become a cash cow for state governments and I don't see this ending well for anybody wanting to use legally. The government track record on stuff like th…

yeah, in retrospect it's obvious. How do you get any "vice" legalized. You figure out how municipalities and states can tax the fuck out of it.

Re: Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

#103

Post by DanBC » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 6:17 PM UTC

hellofunk wrote: post #97

DanBC wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what physical dependence is. Note that cannabis is not listed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_dependence#Drugs_that...

I don't know the right term, but there are very real physical withdrawal symptoms that are due to the body no longer getting a chemical it was previously getting routinely. To me that seems like "dependence" but perhaps there is more academically correct term.

Ah, fair enough.

Re: Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

#104

Post by delbel » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 6:19 PM UTC

pakiko82 wrote: post #57

Has anyone figured out how one could get exposure to this in the stock market? Any other way to legally invest in this boom?

I am seeking small initial investment to scale from 1 to 16x its size current to-be licensed growers/producers operation. Please contact me.

Re: Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

#105

Post by chc » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 6:24 PM UTC

random_upvoter wrote: post #47

bcook wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generic classes/treatments/therapy on addiction already exist. Marijuana has not been proven to be physically addictive like alcohol & heroin. Psychological addiction can happen with anything, so that is why I mention generic addiction treatment. I think your point is valid though. We can always learn more, especially if it can help.

I've never been sure what the difference between physical and psychological addiction is supposed to mean anyway. What we call psychology is a complex of physiological processes. What matters is that marijuana accounts for 17% of rehab admission, more than any other drug with the exception of alcohol. Cute sophistries that we're also addicted to coffee or air will not change the fact that this "psychological" marijua…

The difference between physical and psychological addiction is that things that cause physical addiction are actually addictive themselves — that is, using them tends to create dependency as a matter of course — whereas psychological addiction depends on the user's state of mind, and people without that state of mind can use them safely. You can be psychologically addicted to virtually anything.

When people point out that marijuana isn't physically addictive, the point isn't that people's psychological addictions aren't serious. The point is that they don't appear to reflect a danger posed by marijuana.

Re: Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

#106

Post by dominotw » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 6:26 PM UTC

justsaysmthng wrote: post #37

Good. It's now time to explore the market for people who want to quit/detox from the weed. I'm not saying this in a sarcastic way - I've been smoking on and off for 20 years and I have great respect for the plant. But it has this "self-limiting" property - sometimes you want to be with it, sometimes you want to take a break. And taking a break is not trivial for some people. This is were the secondary market can take…

/r/leaves

Re: Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

#107

Post by chc » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 6:28 PM UTC

ridgeguy wrote: post #67

vidarh wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A way to "solve" this might be (and it'd be incredibly hard) to give a constitutional right for "uneven exercise of the law" or something of that sort to be a defence against most charges: If you could demonstrate that cases are selectively investigated or prosecuted other than by clear, published standards (e.g. based on amount of available evidence), the law in question should be considered null and void until the…

There is a "selective prosecution" defense [1]. In tax law, there is a "selective enforcement" defense [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_prosecution [2] http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1933943

Selective prosecution isn't much of a defense, as you'll see if you read the linked article.

Re: Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

#108

Post by SwellJoe » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 6:37 PM UTC

13of40 wrote: post #17

moistgorilla wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why you wouldn't think he was serious. I think you are ignoring that the vast majority of people that use pot smoke it. In that sense, it's probably worse because most people that smoke weed tend to hold the smoke in their lungs for protracted periods of time which increases the amount of tar that gets in their lungs.

I know this is completely anecdotal, but I think casual pot smokers do about two or three bong hits a night versus sneaking out for an entire cigarette twenty times a day.

To pile onto the anecdote wagon:

The heaviest pot smokers I know (and I know a lot, though I don't generally use, myself), will consume it as much as four or five times a day. As you note, one "usage" looks like a few hits off of a pipe, bong, or vape. It seems to be self-limiting, even in people with a history of addiction.

I'm not gonna suggest pot doesn't have negative consequences; the heaviest users I know also have motivation problems (but so do I, sometimes, and I don't do any drugs) which maybe contributes to them often having shitty jobs and a difficult hand-to-mouth existence. (But, that is correlation and not causation. Maybe the economy is shit, and young folks today have a hard time finding good work. Maybe smoking pot just makes it bearable.)

What's interesting to me is what happens when a pot smoker can't get pot. Among my friends, cigarette smoking goes way up, drinking goes up measurably, and use of other drugs goes up. I'd be willing to believe pot is a good tool for helping people quit more dangerous habits. People who need something help them get through stress/anxiety/pain (emotional or physical) will find something.

Re: Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

#109

Post by hellofunk » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 6:41 PM UTC

rdudek wrote: post #92

hellofunk wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are definitely physical dependencies that develop with THC, perhaps not "addiction" but the body does get used to it to the point that withdrawal is a real and physical problem if you've been using it a lot and at strong doses.

I'm not so sure if we can actually draw lines between physical and psychological since brain can control your needs and wants. People can get addicted to anything and withdrawals suck.

There are some things are genuinely physical. Here is an example: Marijuana is known to constrict the vessels of the brain. Over the long term, the brain compensates for this to return the vessels to a normal state. When you suddenly stop smoking cannabis routinely, the vessels expand because the THC is not maintaining their restriction. Expanded vessels in the brain are a common suspected cause of migraines, and severe headaches are a top reported symptom of cannabis withdrawal. Interestingly, this effect of cannabis on the brain's vascular system also makes it a highly-researched drug for migraine treatment. It would be like taking migraine medication every day for a long time, then suddenly stopping and getting a flood of headaches as the brain re-adjusts.

Now, I don't think this is "psychological."

Re: Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years

#110

Post by hellofunk » Mon, Mar 21, 2016, 6:45 PM UTC

vectorpush wrote: post #99

hellofunk wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There seems to be this reverse-stigma attached to marijuana that causes many to think there is no such thing as weed withdrawal or dependence, and some laugh at the mere notion of this. Hopefully as the drug is more widely used recreationally and legally, this notion will change and most people will be more aware of these things. It is a remarkable plant but it is certainly not all positive and it can be dangerously…

I think many people are aware of these risks, but the marijuana community is hesitant to concede them openly because of how overblown the risks have been portrayed in the past. I think you're right that this will change once the drug is more widely used, but more so when the community feels comfortable enough to relax the defensive posture that is primarily concerned with encouraging a mindset that favors legalizatio…

The community loves to tout all the medicinal virtues of the drug -- and those are legit -- but they often have a stance that these somehow trump any other reality associated with putting a strong chemical into your body on a regular basis.

I've read some studies recently that show that habitual marijuana users are at heightened risks for stroke and that THC does in fact cause accelerated brain cell death (and so does alcohol). Hopefully responsible users will understand that many things can be really great if only in moderation.