Just hours after the National Assembly approved a bill legalizing medical marijuana and hemp, Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado signed the bill into law....
A group of 22 medical experts convened by Johns Hopkins University and The Lancet have called this week for the decriminalization of all nonviolent drug use and possession. Citing a growing scientific consensus on the failures of the global war on drugs, the experts further encourage countries and U.S. states to "move gradually toward regulated drug markets and apply the scientific method to their assessment."
Clearwater County, Idaho, has a population of fewer than 10,000 people. It seems like overkill to keep an armored truck on hand for the purpose of "marijuana eradication." This is especially true when you consider that in recent years, the number of marijuana grow sites discovered in the entire state of Idaho can be counted on one hand.
In his article entitled “Big Tobacco’s future as Big Marijuana,” Leonid Bershidsky advises investors that, “Big Tobacco is poised to dominate” the legal cannabis market, and for that reason, “Big Tobacco may be one of the biggest opportunities of a lifetime.” But potential investors beware: As Warren Buffet has said, “never invest in a business you can’t understand.” And it appears that Mr. Bershidsky doesn’t understand the cannabis business.
Latin American countries have been slow to follow Uruguay's lead in legalizing pot. A 2014 survey in Costa Rica found that 53 percent of the population supported the use of medical marijuana.
More than 19 million people in the U.S. aged 12 and older reported using marijuana in 2012. If recreational marijuana is ever legalized beyond the four states where it's currently permitted, the tobacco companies will be perfectly positioned to capture this vast market.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – It's been something of a breakthrough year for marijuana, the once shunned intoxicant that is steadily gaining ground as a legal high in parts of the world.
