5 Things Donald Trump Should Know Before He Shuts Down The Legal Marijuana Industry

Marijuana, like alcohol, can regulated, taxed and used in moderation by adults who choose it, like a glass of wine with dinner. The burgeoning legal cannabis industry wants Donald Trump to know five critical benefits to marijuana legalization.

1. Law and Order: Legalizing marijuana reduces the criminal activity of drug cartels and gangs, and reduces court, prison and police spending.

2. Public Health: Marijuana is safer in states where it has been legalized because it is tested, appropriately labeled, and packaged in child-proof containers.

3. Reduced Addiction: Marijuana is not a gateway to opiate use, it is an Off-ramp. Many prefer switching to marijuana for pain relief because it has fewer side effects than opioids and is not addictive. Marijuana is NOT a killer – it does not bind to respiratory cells, so an overdose does not stop a person from breathing. Opioids do bind to respiratory cells and overdoses do kill.

4. Fiscal Health: Taxing marijuana already produces hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.

5. Job Creation: More than 100,000 have been employed so far. In Washington State, cannabis is now the 3rd largest cash crop.

Entrepreneurs in the legal marijuana industry believe that the plant should be taken off the federal schedule 1 (most harmful) list of substances, or at least continue to leave the issue of legalization up to each state. Recent statements by the Trump administration indicate that will not happen. Here, executives in the industry share their experiences and advice for the President and his advisors:

Isaac Dietrich, CEO of MassRoots: Colorado is one of the only states in the nation that is seeing a decline in opioid deaths — that’s not a coincidence. Cannabis is a healthy alternative to pain pills and heroin, not a gateway to it.

Derek Peterson, CEO of Terra Tech: “We have hoped and still hope that the federal government will respect states’ rights in the same manner they have on several other issues. We hope the new administration really takes the time to understand that the money is either going into the states’ coffers or making its way to drug cartels.”

Danny Davis, Convectium, Managing Partner: Many of the states who helped elect President Trump just voted to also support recreational marijuana; it is hard to imagine that he would push an agenda with the support ratings where they are.”

Christie Strong, Marketing Communications Manager of Kiva Confections: “Over 60% of Americans supports cannabis legalization. It is one of the few bi-partisan issues that actually has the potential to unite us right now.”

Jeffrey Zucker, President of Green Lion Partners: “I hope that the administration takes the time to truly immerse and educate themselves on cannabis before making any destructive decisions. The incredibly positive medical, social, and economic impact cannabis legalization has had on regulated states is undeniable. The cannabis industry will fight any pressure from the federal government to set back the significant progress that’s been made thus far.

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Let's tell the President about this article. You can email him or send him a tweet or both. I wouldn't stop there. Also let your Congressperson and Senators know as well. The more of us they hear from the better.

One more push for Title II Net Neutrality

From Fight For The Future:

The first thing I read this morning gave me chills.

The New York Times ran a front page story about how enemies of net neutrality are on the retreat, and that tomorrow, we could see the biggest open Internet victory of our lives. [1]

Bottom line: together, we are on the cusp of an absolutely unbelievably epic victory for net neutrality. Do you want to savor it? Watch this video we made!

We whipped up this fun little video to mark the “final” moments of the Internet Countdown, and to look back on how we got here, together. It’s so mind blowing to think how all these online protests, real life camp-outs, calls, emails and epic stunts snowballed into what could be the biggest win of our lives. It could be even bigger than defeating SOPA. [2][3]

Keep an eye on the news tomorrow, and remember: activism works. When tons of people come together with a clear vision, nothing’s impossible. Really! Getting to where we are right now was supposed to be impossible!!

Can’t watch a video right now? Would you rather be scolding some politicians on the phone? Then click here to start making phone calls!

The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee just had a hearing today whose sole purpose was to kill net neutrality with partisan confusion. That’s what we’re up against now, and we need to smack it down hard if we want to defend any victory. Click here to call these committee members, and stay on the line for as long as you like; we’ll keep connecting you with more of them… until you hang up or your phone runs out of batteries :)

Thanks for everything you do,

Holmes Wilson, Tiffiniy Cheng, Evan Greer, Vasjen Katro, Jeff Lyons, Laila Murad, and the whole Fight for the Future team.

1. New York Times

2. Forbes

3. Wetmachine

Lois Lerner ducks a reporter's questions

Lois Lerner–the former IRS official at the heart of Tea Party targeting–is retired from the IRS. Despite being held in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify, she hasn’t been prosecuted. Yet after her long silence, her exclusive interview with Politico was anything but reticent and reserved. In it, Ms. Lerner said she did nothing wrong and considers herself the victim.

Ms. Lerner bristled at any suggestion she had anything to do with destroying emails, switching to texts, letting her own liberal views influence her treatment of Tea Party a_holes, crazies. etc. Yet in a curious turn of events, journalist and Crapitalism author Jason Mattera showed up in her nice Bethesda neighborhood to pepper her with questions. They included such zingers as “Do you feel bad about turning the government into a weapon to crush political dissent?”

This time, Ms. Lerner wasn’t flanked by lawyers and facing softball questions at Politico. And who can blame her for not wanting to answer these questions. So she scurried to a neighbor’s house and started knocking on the door, begging to be admitted. Ms. Lerner’s day got worse when her neighbors seemed to, well, ‘Take the Fifth’ about letting her in. She stood there on the porch, while Jason Mattera probes with barbs like, ‘it doesn’t feel good to be targeted does it?’

The husband came around front and Mattera said she was trying to get in to avoid answering questions. The husband didn’t want Ms. Lerner in the house either, so she heads for another neighbor’s. You can watch the video here, well, until the hard drive crashes:

OK, this may not be journalism’s finest hour, nor does it necessarily mean much that Ms. Lerner didn’t want to answer these questions. It may not even mean much that the neighbor has probably had enough, and didn’t want to be involved. That’s so no matter how much the neighbor may like Ms. Lerner, or her dogs for that matter.

I’m not saying that anyone wants to be hounded (excuse the pun), either. But being hounded and asked questions of this sort cannot be entirely unexpected and may not even be unfair, especially after Ms. Lerner’s exclusive interview with Politico. It all sounds a little like Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, based on the book by Judith Viorst. Just like Lois Lerner’s day, from the moment Alexander wakes up, everything goes wrong.

Gum in his hair, mishaps at breakfast, on the school bus, at school, and more. From lousy teachers that pick on Alexander, to no desert, a visit to the dentist, and getting punched by his brother, Alexander’s day is ruined. After school, the shoe store doesn’t have Alexander’s size in the cool sneakers, so naturally, Alexander’s mom buys horrible plain white ones, which Alexander refuses to wear. Stopping by his dad’s office, Alexander wrecks the xerox machine and the phone.

His dad even tells him not to pick him up at work anymore! At dinner, Alexander’s mom serves lima beans (ick), there’s kissing on TV , a bad bath, and railroad train pajamas Alexander hates. At each bad turn–and there are plenty–Alexander says he wants to move to Australia, presumably because it’s better there. The book ends when Alexander’s mother says everybody has bad days, even people in Australia.

So how is Alexander faring with critics? The New York Post says ‘Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’ is awfully mediocre. But we clearly all do have very bad days sometimes. Just think about these unexpected mishaps: There’s having your hard drive crash. Having your texts not saved. Having people question you when they have no right. There’s conservative a__holes and crazies voicing political speech that he Supreme Court bizarrely said was OK, but that really shouldn’t be. Just ask Eric Holder.

Want even more terrible, horrible, no good items? How about those rogue employees in Cincinnati doing things they shouldn’t. I’ll bet all those missing emails would prove once and for all that those confused rogue Cincinnatians did all the targeting non-biased and careful review with no help from the boss. Too bad the hard drive is gone destroyed buried not available despite best efforts. Maybe Alexander had something. Maybe moving to Australia wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all?

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Like he said she should be hounded. She should pay. What kind of penalty is she paying living in a house like that in a nice neighborhood like that. That's not a penalty that is a reward. Lerner doesn't belong in a nice house like that. She deserves to languish in prison as Big Marge's sex toy. How many conservative groups was she going to persecute. How many people was she going to send to prison via her inquisition squads? She didn't like being targeted. Poor baby,doesn't feel good does it? Don't like it don't do it. Once Holder is out of office that would be the perfect time to go after Lerner. With Holder gone that may loosen her tongue and she may start singing like a canary.