Recent strides when it comes to marijuana law reform in Canada are showing a clearly widening gap between the United States and our neighbors to the north when it comes to cannabis. Not only is the gap evident when it comes to the law, it is also becoming more evident when it comes to the industry.
The fact that Canada is farther along the road than the U. S. when it comes to completely ending marijuana prohibition has fostered an environment where investors can satisfy their desire to get into a fast-growing industry while avoiding the pitfalls of U.S. federal cannabis laws.
As you can imagine, some U.S. marijuana companies are not happy about the head start that their competition in Canada is enjoying. One of them – Terra Tech – has taken a novel approach to nudging marijuana law reform along in the U.S., getting ad space in a couple of places President Trump’s eyes are sure to land on, namely, The Wall Street Journal and Fox and Friends.
“America is rapidly losing its competitive advantage to Canada,” the print ad reads, in part. “The cannabis industry is legal in 31 states, yet most domestic companies do not have access to traditional banking or institutional financing.”
Not only are the ads where the President can see them, they also focus on an issue close to Trump’s heart: the competitive advantage of U.S. companies versus companies around the world. As money and jobs head north, Trump could see an opportunity to take credit for bringing them back.
But that can only happen if federal law in the U.S. is changed. Why would an investor want to sink big money into an uncertain U.S. market when a far more certain market is right next door?
Trump doesn’t care about cannabis. It’s not an issue that is ever going to animate him either way. But if he can be made to see that this is an economic issue that the Democrats can beat him to, it might alter his way of thinking, at least a little bit.
Of course, what happens November 6th will have a lot to do with what Trump and the GOP do moving forward. If Dems control the House of Representatives, Trump may feel pressure to sign on to some of the marijuana law reform bills they would hopefully bring forward. If they don’t, then hopefully pressure from other places will be enough to turn the tide and get some real cannabis legislation to the President’s desk, legislation he may sign.
There are a growing number of conservatives as well as Christians that are coming round on the many benefits of Cannabis, that is the medicinal and responsible recreational use.
Roger Stone has publicly stated his advice to our president, as a first step toward reform, is to reclassify from schedule 1 down to 2 or 3.