Regulators, business owners and experts are decrying that marijuana “could sell out in Washington within hours of days” due to “limited harvests by licensed growers and processors, or because they failed to clear regulatory hurdles to get their product to market.”
The Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB) has approved licensing for 80 growers out of 2,600 applicants. This is foundational causation to the pending scarcity that is being talked about by analysts.
Dominic Covra, executive director of the Center for the Study of Cannabis and Social Policy (CSCSP) explained: “Shoppers looking to get high on Tuesday could see a gram selling at $15-$30. Novelty-seekers and tourists might pay $25 or $30 per gram – roughly twice the current price at weakly regulated medical dispensaries. At those prices, heavy users will stick with neighborhood dispensaries or drug dealers.”
Cannabis edibles have not been approved for retail sales “because no processor has been cleared to operate a cannabis kitchen.”
Creating the perception of scarcity by only approving 3% applicants of marijuana growers and retailers may have ulterior motive – the pave the way for the need for genetically modified marijuana to be provided by the Bio Tech industry; specifically Monsanto.
In Colorado, the infiltration of genetically modified marijuana is being fostered by United Cannabis (UCANN) and dispensaries such as RiverRock .
Earnest Backmon, president and chairman of the board for UCANN is also the “owner and the master grower at RiverRock Colorado and is responsible for the production, processing, workflow management, JIT inventory control, security, staffing, training and recruiting.”
UCANN prides themselves on developing a “unique proprietary cannabinoid therapy program” who is currently partnered with “domestically and internationally with local businessmen, entrepreneurs, scientists, and government agencies for the purpose of promoting Best Practices in Planning, Procedures, Governance and Patient Care.”
On the board of directors for UCANN, sits John C. Hunter , consultant and special advisor to the executive board, who began his career into genetically modified organisms (GMOs) with Monsanto in 1969.
Hunter spent the next 30 years working toward boosting sales, engineering and managing the direction of Monsanto; as well as holding specialized positions as manager of various chemical divisions of Monsanto from 1989 to 2004.
During his acceptance as part of the executive team for UCANN, Hunter said: “I welcome the excitement and the challenges this nascent, albeit fast moving cannabis industry has to offer. I am thoroughly impressed with the executive team at United Cannabis. They are all reliable and notable experts in their field; passionate and dedicated to both the science and its patients. They were very helpful in addressing my initial concerns with the overall industry, and I believe the concerns of many in my generation, and have successfully illustrated the urgency and usefulness of Cannabis to public health.”
During his time with Solutia, Hunter was part of a lawsuit wherein $700 million was presented as compensation for illegal dumping of PCB and contamination by Solutia and Monsanto affecting more than 20,000 residents in Anniston, Alabama.
PCB is known to be an endocrine disruptor, a neurotoxin and carcinogenic; as well as having similar effects on the human body as Agent Orange (a chemical produced by Monsanto).
Chadwick Ruby, chief operations officer for CNAB said of Hunter: “With his decades of experience leading Fortune 500 companies, John’s insight will provide guidance to shape our company during this growth phase. He adds a unique perspective to our company that will make us a formidable player in our sector. He also understands how Cannabis has the potential to provide therapy to a wide range of people with chronic illnesses that have been underserved due to the lack of research in the field.”
A study by the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education and Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco and the University of Helsinki pointed out how “legalizing marijuana opens the market to major corporations, including tobacco companies, which have the financial resources, product design technology to optimize puff-by-puff delivery of a psychoactive drug (nicotine), marketing muscle, and political clout to transform the marijuana market.”
The authors of the study wrote: “In the current favorable political climate for marijuana decriminalization, policymakers and public health authorities should develop and implement policies that would prevent the tobacco industry … from becoming directly involved in the burgeoning marijuana market, in a way that would replicate the smoking epidemic, which kills 480,000 Americans each year.”
Documents from 1969 show that Philip Morris was in talks with the Department of Justice (DoJ) to “secretly secure marijuana from the government for marijuana research.”
It was stated 44 years ago that Philip Morris recognized marijuana as a “possible product” the corporation wanted to explore the potentials of to market to younger audiences.
In 1970, a Philip Morris official stated: [W]e regard it as an opportunity to learn something about this controversial product, whose usage has been increasing so rapidly among the young people.”
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