Make marijuana great again!
The biggest week for cannabis so far in the USA. Prohibition gets trumped in 8 more states!
TRANSCRIPT
So, there were two important victories in the US elections on Tuesday - one’s considered by many to be toxic, dangerous, and extremely risky… and the other was marijuana.
Mary Jane won in a landslide this week, winning 8 of the 9 states which were voting to change their laws. It's hands-down the biggest win for cannabis to date. The 4 states who voted to repeal prohibition were Nevada, Massachusetts, Maine and the largest state in the USA, California. This means that 1 in 5 Americans will soon have access to recreational cannabis - that’s 67 million people! The other 4 states (Florida, Arkansas, North Dakota and Montana) approved medical marijuana schemes, making a total of 33 out of 50 states which have gone green.
Hi, I’m Charlie! Stick around if you want to know why this is important news to Australia and the rest of the world. The whole west coast of America now has recreational cannabis laws. And close to 60% of all Americans support full legalisation of recreational weed - not just medical marijuana. Recreational essentially means that adults can grow their own plants or buy it from dispensaries without a prescription, in the form of oil, edibles, or just the good old-fashioned flowers.
Recreational cannabis or medical cannabis - it’s exactly the same plant. It's a misconception to think they're two different things. ( but we'll save that chat for another time). Now, American legalisation is really important because they were a key reason why the rest of the world began prohibition in the first place.If they abandon ship, it's expected that many other countries may soon follow.
Australia especially tends to follow America on many issues - I guess you could say it’s peer pressure.
In America Cannabis is classed as a Schedule 1 ‘drug’ meaning it is ‘highly’ dangerous, and has no medical use. The more states which legalise cannabis, the more embarrassed their federal government will become for stubbornly keeping it as the most dangerous drug classification possible. They're still desperately clinging onto the claim that it has no medical benefits. Many people consider California and Florida to be the game changers, because together they have a population of almost 60 million people. Even Obama said last month that national prohibition is not tenable if states vote to legalise.
*Interview with Bill Mayer*
And the US have some great test cases in the states where cannabis is already legal to reassure them that everything will be ok. (guys its going to be ok) . Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon have all seen drops in crime rates, opioid drug use, arrests, teenage use and record lows in traffic fatalities since the introduction of cannabis laws, even though people said these would go up!
I’ll tell you what has gone up in a massive way… state revenue, funding for schools, jobs, investment, and happy, well people. The sky didn't fall in like the prohibitionists were saying. seriously guys its going to be ok
Forecasts by Arcview predict there will be an additional 20.6 billion US dollars in marijuana sales in the next 3 years, because of these new states alone. That’s more than what Americans spent on chocolate last year and nearly double what the US porn industry rakes in annually. That’s Uuuge! Believe me. Nobody knows chocolate better than I do. Believe me.
Did you notice I went the whole video without mentioning the Trump in the room? Well, he has said a number of times that he will let states decide and is open to rescheduling cannabis - being a Republican, he wants less regulation, but, as you know, nothing is guaranteed with Trump.
To our American friends, this is how Australia makes decisions about cannabis prohibition. If only! The reality is we're still struggling with the basics of cannabis education and patients accessing their medicine.
Thanks guys. Tell me what you think - if you liked this video and you want to see more, let me know by liking my facebook page.
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[ Informal setting video. No intro clips - include snippets of film while I’m talking of me in California, Colorado, Mexico ]
Hey everyone, remember me?! Yes, you haven't seen me for a while, but...I’m back!
So, there’s good reason why I’ve been away. Actually, a few good reasons! (#winter #soulsearching)
A few months back I took off on a trip to the States, and while I was there I was lucky enough to go to the Cannabis Cup in California. (snippet of film with voiceover) Call it a festival, trade show, flower competition; the Cannabis Cup is the world’s leading cannabis event...there’s business exhibitions, product demos, music, workshops, and the who’s who of weed - I was lucky enough to network with some of the pioneers in the American cannabis industry, (end snippet) which was a little scary for this starstruck woman ! It’s been running for more than 30 years, but this year it was the first Cannabis Cup since California voted to legalise ‘recreational cannabis’ in the elections last November.
Then I headed off to Colorado for the internationally recognised day to celebrate cannabis, called 420 ! (snippet of film with voiceover) Colorado, you probably already know, was the first State to legalise recreational cannabis in 2012, along with Washington. The energy on 420 was just inspiring! I visited some dispensaries and grows to learn more about how they treat cannabis, both as a business and from a consumer perspective. (end snippet)
I had an amazing time in the US; it was game changing to see how different the cannabis culture is over there. I experienced a real, face to face insight into how normal cannabis is treated, and how many people have a healthy and happy relationship to this all too often demonised plant.
I was lucky enough to then head down south for a sneaky detour into Mexico for a surfing and yoga retreat, keeping the conversations going and speaking to more people in my sleepy little surf town about how their country treats cannabis, and what people think about legalisation, and the future. (snippet of video) Even Mexico, with it’s messy relationship to narcotics, is seeing the cannabis landscape change and grow. Their president is a legalisation advocate! (end)
And what have I been getting up to back on home ground?
Well, I was at the Hemp Health and Innovation Expo in Sydney, now already in it’s second year! (start video snippet)
There were demonstrations, talks, and businesses showing their products and sharing their knowledge.
A whole weekend of local conversations about cannabis left me with all the good feels.
I spoke to so many visitors about their personal stories, thoughts and perspectives around cannabis, and collected hundreds of messages about what cannabis means to you, (end snippet) and I’m so excited to share these with you !
And ALSO! I’ve got some exciting new projects and brand new videos that I’ve been working on for the past few months, buuuttt…. I can’t give you any spoilers just yet…
just be sure to keep an eye out because I’ll be sharing these with you very soon.
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Get ready to see more of this mug on your screens !
For now I just wanted to let y’all know where I’m up to. Thanks so much to everyone who has subscribed, liked, left a comment, sent a message - it’s really been encouraging so thank you!
The support and change around cannabis legalisation is well and truly alive here in Australia, and it’s really exciting !
Chat soon k? ;)