Big Pharma, Big Maria: News From The Business World
We all know Big Pharma – the nickname that has been given to the pharmaceutical industry, a label often used by those who want to criticize the power and the abuses of pharmaceutical corporations. It looks like soon we will all get used to the “Big Maria/Big Cannabis/Big Pot” labels as well. In fact, recent news from the the business world have confirmed companies have been moving fast to conquer a privileged spot in what many are now calling Big Pot: the marriage between Big Tobacco and the major cannabis producers. This can certainly become (and it probably already is) one of the saddest and, to a certain extent, worst byproducts of marijuana legalization.
Last year, in the United States, legalization has produced a market that touched the 2, 4 billions mark, even if marijuana was totally legal in only two states (Colorado and Washington). Basically, to give you a sense of the magnitude of the business, cannabis has already topped the numbers produced by the e-cigarettes, which are sold in each and every state across the US. If this wasn’t enough, legalization is now widely regarded as “the right path” to follow – the latest nationwide polls show that 70% of those born in and after the 1970s are now completely pro-legalization. Even older people seem to increasingly agree with their sons and daughters, thanks to the many studies that demonstrate the health benefits of the cannabis plant.
A huge consensus for a huge market, which could easily reach the 40 billions mark. Beyond the many initiatives, bills and researches, for-profit companies and corporations have already begun to follow the smell of money and Big Tobacco will probably become the king of the market. In fact, tobacco corporations already own the infrastructure and the technology (including vaporizers and e-joints), without considering their immense financial and marketing resources.
Many journalists believe Big Tobacco is waiting to make its definitive move, because of the many anti-tobacco campaigns that have recently hurt its reputation and also the fact that pot still lives in a gray area at a federal level. Still, things are moving fast and while we enjoy our wonderful plant (here is a link where you can find some good weed, by the way http://greenhouseseeds.nl/) and dream about a world where cannabis is legal, we should also remember the bad things “legal businesses” bring to the table.
It’s a complicate issue we need to follow closely.
