Legalized Marijuana is Politicized Marijuana

Two striking stories this weekend about the growing pains of the nascent Marijuana Legalization movement.

Ohio Grapples with Marijuana Monopoly

 In the New York Times, Hawaii grapples with the issues of legal medical and recreational marijuana and the big business it is poised to become.

Willie Nelson seeks to stop big pot

In New York magazine, Willie Nelson, too, wants to stop corporate interests from dominating the marijuana industry.

Perhaps the most striking quote comes in the New York magazine piece.

By way of first principles, let us pause to establish that legalization is here. That fight is over; legal weed has arrived; all that remains is for the last chips to fall. Some form of marijuana has already been approved in 23 states, and roughly 80 percent of the American public currently favors medicinal use. Support for recreational pot has also been rising over the past decade, with more people in favor of full legalization than against it for the first time in 2011.

Of course we, here in Hawaii, are just on the precipice of a big change when eight dispensaries will open next year.  As Hawaii News Now wrote in May, before the law was passed,

HB321, CD1 would allow applications for licenses to be available in Hawaii starting in January 11, 2016. The Department of Health would select the licensees in March and the first dispensary could open as early as July 15, 2016. A $5,000 non-refundable fee would be required to apply for a license. An approved dispensary would pay a fee of $75,000 for a license, with a $50,000 annual renewal fee.

The measure requires all dispensary licensees and employees to be subject to a criminal and background check. It restricts medical marijuana dispensaries within 750 feet of a playground, public housing complex or school. The bill also authorizes licensed dispensaries to be subject to annual unannounced inspections of its operations by the DOH.

Reciprocity with patients from other states would start on January 1, 2018. Later that year, caregivers would no longer be able to cultivate for their registered patients unless they're on an island with no dispensary or they're cultivating for a minor.

Business lawyers, tax lawyers, real estate lawyers, we all need to be ready for this radical change in the business landscape. Marijuana is the fasted growing industry in the United States.