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    CPD1981Anne Branigin
    3/12/19 3:23pm

    Here in Canada, many of the top legal weed firms have ex-senior cops and Conservative lawmakers either as major investors or on the board of directors. (And very few, if any, Black or indigenous people, even though that’s who disproportionately went to jail for weed under prohibition.) So, yeah, please do better than us, New York.

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      CPD1981CPD1981
      3/12/19 3:25pm

      In fact, Alefia executive Julian Fantino is both the former Toronto Chief of Police AND a former Conservative Member of Parliament. 

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      LolaFalanasLongAssLegsCPD1981
      3/12/19 8:14pm

      In the US the former Speaker of the House John Boehner who while in office was anti-legalization is now a major investor in an company in Ohio. :( It’s not legal in that state, so I’m hoping that this gets passed in NY to set the standard.

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    Old white guyAnne Branigin
    3/12/19 7:29pm

    According to the paper, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s current marijuana bill requires applicants for licenses to “already have the land, buildings and equipment needed for their businesses,”

    Huh? What is the point of this? Just to make sure the only people who get a license are existing farmers?

    And what keeps this from allowing big marijuana to come in and buy out those who have the facilities (or be their silent partner).

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      lumenatrixOld white guy
      3/13/19 3:33am

      That is exactly the plan. The big alcohol and tobacco companies (along with a few other already well established companies) are looking to swoop in and corner the growing market by making the restrictions so prohibitively expensive that no one else can make a start and even smaller existing farms won’t be able to make the grade and still turn a profit, thus keeping the millions of potential dollars all for themselves.

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      Weave StinwoodOld white guy
      3/13/19 11:14am

      NYS has basically created its own cartel re: medical. Lots of $$$ for *application* to open a dispensary. Lots of $$$ for doctors to get *certified* to prescribe. Oils and edibles only.  And Cuomo has the audacity to blather on about NYS “leading the way” on legalization. It’s a goddamn joke. Even if recreational is legalized, I predict that it will be very friendly to the corporations and very unfriendly to the consumers. I imagine I’ll be staying with the black market for the forseeable future.

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    JonsLegionAnne Branigin
    3/13/19 10:19am

    Any bill that doesn’t address the real hurdle to mom/pop legalized Cannabis stores is just a gimme to “Big Weed”.

    That hurdle being that, due to federal law, banks can’t hold money made from marijuana sales. Your great idea for a “Bob’s Burger and Joint” selling edibles for desert might be smoking hot, but you can’t get loans and you can’t keep your earnings from those sales in a bank etc... etc... etc...

    This means that only people with a lot of capital really have a decent shot.

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    send_in_the_dronesAnne Branigin
    3/12/19 8:05pm

    Not to give away the ending but the alcohol distillers and tobacco companies are going to wipe out anyone who moved onto their turf as soon as the Feds allow pot growers and sellers to deal with US banks. The fact is that farming and marketing is a very tough business and, except for scraping-by boutiques, the majority of the money will be taken by international agriculture corporations, sort of like it is now.

    The other part of this is that Federal regulation will be an integral part of allowing access to banks, particularly via the FDA, which will certainly pile on the medical regulations for medical use, regulations that are a much higher hurdle than proposed here.

    This experiment has been done before. When Prohibition ended communities did not generally explode with cash businesses producing alcohol just because alcohol was legal again, whether black or white.

    tl;dr Pot won’t rebuild any damaged communities. I expect the same results that malt liquor produces with less liver disease.

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    WiscoProudAnne Branigin
    3/12/19 3:48pm

    Are they going to provide low-interest loans or funds to get these businesses off the ground? The barrier to entry is start up capital. If you don’t have access to significant capital to rent and build out a facility, you can’t really open a grow company. 

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      Pen PirateWiscoProud
      3/14/19 10:00am

      I agree that low-interest loans should be made available. Ending the marijuana prohibition is not about righting a wrong it is about money. Money is the driving force to every change in the law. If someone isn’t making money it will fail. Now that marijuana stocks are trading and doing well, the ball will start rolling faster towards national legalization. Here in FL it was announced yesterday that flower will be allowed for medicinal use. Our governor wants legalization. We will see what happens. With so many old people in our state we need more tax revenue and this would help us get it. My fingers are crossed. 

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    Kullervo floats on airAnne Branigin
    3/12/19 4:09pm

    I live in NY and this is worth the wait, IMO. 

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