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Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: Harmful Hits on December 23, 2012, 01:47 am

Title: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: Harmful Hits on December 23, 2012, 01:47 am
Marijuana is now legal in two states and more are on the way. Some big tobacco companies like the parent company of Philip Morris, Altria have expressed interested in entering the marijuana market. I am strongly against tobacco companies selling marijuana. I will never buy any marijuana from a tobacco company. Would you buy marijuana sold by a tobacco company?
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: niemtel on December 23, 2012, 02:19 am
I would, I smoke regular tobacco so it makes no never mind to me.
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: danknugsdun on December 23, 2012, 02:23 am
It comes as no surprise since growing and curing tobacco is about on par with growing and curing mj. Personally, I never want to see mary legalized in the UK.
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: pennyloaferz on December 23, 2012, 02:32 am
Well hypothetically I would love to support local growers and keep the big business fucks who create addictive toxins out of it.  But if tobacco companies took over the weed industry, you know damn well itd be their bitch.  Its in everyones best interest to keep them out, but if they ever got a hold of the industry, we would all be smoking their shit- sad but true.  It would be so accessible and Im sure theyd lobby to keep local competition and care centers down.  They have so much political power and are so flush with cash, it'd be ridiculous, for all our sakes they need to stay out of it. 

ALTHOUGH, with interest from big tobacco they certainly would use their money and power to make it legal a whole hell of a lot faster.  So pick your poison, if big tobacco wants it, they will get it done very very quickly, but on their rules to get your money.  Grassroots and more natural methods (you know like on paper democracy which may or may not exist) will take a lot longer, but i think will be best in the long run.  Eventually weed will be commercialized, no doubt in my mind.  If you saw the season finale of Weeds you've seen a glimpse of what it could be.  What will happen I have no idea, but commercial interests are going to be heavily involved for better or worse.  Weed=$$$$ and thats all that matters in the world of politics and corporations.  :(
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: nuyt on December 23, 2012, 02:48 am
Of course I wouldn't. Anytime I get a chance to support the little guy with my $$ I do just that. Cannabis is the perfect market to support the local grower, no way in hell I'd just blithely purchase my dank from any giant corporations.
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: 1defr4ng3 on December 23, 2012, 03:58 am
LMAO NO FUCKING WAY I WILL BUY FROM THEM! They spent millions to keep weed illegal and now the expect me to buy from them? I will continue to smoke what I grow or buy from the small guy who risked his freedom to provide for me.
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: CrazyBart on December 23, 2012, 04:05 am
If it is cheap and still gets me high, then why not. I also don't have a relationship with a grower.
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: kmfkewm on December 23, 2012, 04:40 am
I will buy from whoever sells joints at the local gas station, or whoever has the best product, or whoever is cheapest. Those three factors will determine who I buy my weed from.
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: Meatgrinder on December 23, 2012, 05:06 am
Depends how good the product is and how much it will cost.

If it's anything comparable of the cigarette prices here in Aus, it'd end up being fucking expensive weed!

But it'll never happen here. Lucky americans..
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: Gary Oak on December 23, 2012, 05:39 am
Fuck no man, I support my local growers and friends on the Silk Road!
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: outoftheblocks on December 23, 2012, 08:36 am
I have a different idea....
IF you are a cigarette smoker, Would you buy cigs with a small percentage of THC in them??
on the other hand
IF you are a MJ smoker, Would you buy joints which have nicotine in them?

Hell I would start buying those mixes if they were sold next to the rest of those packs.
Just trying to look at the active ingredients vs. the sensation of the product as a whole.
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: kingdedede on December 23, 2012, 11:51 am
I'm not sure how I feel about big tobacco companies selling weed. My guess is that they would try to mass produce it and no care would go into the plant... The best weed (imo) is when the grower takes time to take care of the plants and cure it properly... That would waste too much time (and we all know time = money) for these big companies.

I could see the tobacco industry selling a cheaper kind of commercial product, but at the same time you would have the local growers who actually invest their time into making their product the best. There is a market for both but, personally, I would go with the best product  ;D
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: gypsy on December 23, 2012, 01:36 pm
The big tobacco companies have wanted a piece of the cannabis pie since the Carter administration. I am totally conflicted about this because while I want their deep pockets in the legislative fight I do not want their additives and I do not want them putting other growers out of business.  It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.  The tobacco companies already have trademark protection, I will try to find some, apparently they are out there already (in wonder if Trainwreck is registered??)

http://www.samefacts.com/2012/10/drug-policy/the-tobacco-industrys-longstanding-desire-to-sell-marijuana-cigarettes/

October 30th, 2012
The Tobacco Industry’s Longstanding Desire to Sell Marijuana Cigarettes
by Keith Humphreys

In one of the last Newsweek magazine cover stories we will ever see, Tony Dukoupil offers a fascinating inside view of the business people who are making millions by selling quasi-legal marijuana. Exactly as predicted by yours truly, they are not long-haired hippies in tie-dye T-shirts but hard nosed, profit-focused, stylishly attired businessmen who make campaign contributions and try to squeeze out their smaller mom and pop business rivals.

Andrew Sullivan was one of many observers to pick up on the possibility that the tobacco industry will soon follow these early adopters into the pot business, bringing their ruthless, addiction-promoting tactics with them. Tony quotes my friend Dr. Peter Bourne as recalling tobacco industry executives discuss such things during the Carter Administration, but we needn’t rely on Peter’s memory when we have a smoking gun.

I dug through the internal documents that the government forced big tobacco to release and found evidence of the industry’s longstanding interest in selling pot. I gave one of the documents, a report commissioned in the 1970s by Brown and Williamson, to Mike Rosenwald of Washington Post, and here is how he wrote it up:

This is the dream tobacco companies have had since at least the 1970s, when consultants issued a secret report to Brown & Williamson touting a future product line in marijuana. “The use of marijuana today by 13 million Americans is socially the equivalent of the use of alcohol by some 100 million Americans,” said the report, found among millions of documents turned over to plaintiffs during the tobacco lawsuits of the 1990s. “It is the recreational drug; the choice of a significant minority of the population. The trend in liberalization of drug laws reflects the overall change in our value system. It also has important implications for the tobacco industry in terms of an alternative product line.”

The tobacco companies, the report concluded, “have the land to grow it, the machines to roll it and package it, the distribution to market it. In fact, some firms have registered trademarks, which are taken directly from marijuana street jargon. These trade names are used currently on little-known legal products, but could be switched if and when marijuana is legalized. Estimates indicate that the market in legalized marijuana might be as high as $10 billion annually.

The report was a long time ago, and no doubt the industry has more modern ideas for selling marijuana today. Maybe that’s why, during the run up to the 2010 election in which marijuana legalization was on the ballot in California, Altria took control of the web domain names AltriaMarijuana.com and AltriaCannabis.com. For those not in the know, Altria is the parent company of Phillip Morris, the manufacturer of Marlboro, Players, Benson & Hedges and many other popular brands of tobacco cigarettes.
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: Ballzinator on December 24, 2012, 01:23 am
What a load of bullshit. The weed industry will become like the booze industry. There will be huge commercial producers who provide decent product for a decent price and there will be small local producers who cater to the connoisseur.
Title: Re: Big tobacco companies express interest in selling legal marijuana
Post by: flyinghigh1660 on December 24, 2012, 01:53 am
What a load of bullshit. The weed industry will become like the booze industry. There will be huge commercial producers who provide decent product for a decent price and there will be small local producers who cater to the connoisseur.

^ This, I wouldn't buy off tobacco companies, because I wouldn't trust them to lace it with additives. But if it was legal then there would be an open market and companies will fill the different needs of the market.