{"id":3104,"date":"2015-04-12T02:46:24","date_gmt":"2015-04-12T02:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3104"},"modified":"2015-04-12T02:46:24","modified_gmt":"2015-04-12T02:46:24","slug":"usa-today-story-does-big-tobacco-desire-the-marijuana-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3104","title":{"rendered":"USA TODAY story: Does Big Tobacco desire the marijuana market?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"legalweed\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I wrote about this a few weeks ago<\/a>, but here is another article on the same subject from USA Today<\/a> — the fear that Big Tobacco will take over the legal marijuana business.<\/p>\n

Most legal marijuana businesses in Colorado, Washington and Oregon are small mom-and-pop operations. And they are heavily regulated as states are being careful how legal pot is being sold and distributed.<\/p>\n

However, it’s already obvious that it must be terribly tempting for Big Tobacco to jump into the burgeoning multi-billion-dollar industry. Its current product — tobacco — is seeing diminishing revenues, at least in the West, thanks to higher taxes, drastically\u00a0lower smoking\u00a0rates (from close to 30 percent about 20 years ago to about 18 percent today), the popularity of e-cigs, smoking bans and lots of other factors.<\/p>\n

Hah, OK, this quote from the USA Today article cracked me up:<\/p>\n

“I think there’s a ton of paranoia that they’re buying up warehouses and signing secret deals,” said Chris Walsh, the editor of Marijuana Business Daily<\/i>, an industry publication.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, noted anti-smoking crusader Stanton Glantz recently co-authored a paper that the tobacco industry has had an interest in the marijuana market since the 1970s. And USA Today was nice enough to provide a link to the paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the paper, published in Milbank Quarterly:<\/p>\n

“In many ways, the marijuana market of 2014 resembles the tobacco market before 1880, before cigarettes were mass produced using mechanization and marketed using national brands and modern mass media.\u00a0Legalizing marijuana opens the market to major corporations, including tobacco companies, which have the financial resources, product design technology to optimize puff-by-puff delivery of a psychoactive drug (nicotine), marketing muscle, and political clout to transform the marijuana market.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both Altria and RJ Reynolds deny they are looking to get involved in the marijuana business, but we we know the tobacco industry’s \"rainbow<\/a>track record for honesty, right? Hah! ——><\/p>\n

The head of a company that makes hydroponic equipment for marijuana growing\u00a0agrees that it appears inevitable that Big Tobacco, and possibly the alcohol industry, will try to muscle in on marijuana as more states legalize it.<\/p>\n

“We’re a mass-produced society, from the food we eat to the television we watch,” said\u00a0President and CEO Derek Peterson of Terra Tech, “ultimately, big alcohol or big tobacco is going to come into this space. I just can’t imagine that won’t happen.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And with the tobacco industry’s involvement, look for many of the same tricks tobacco used to market cigarettes to kids to market marijuana to underaged users<\/a>. (Yeah, I know, like marijuana really needs to be marketed to teenagers, but you get my drift. \"pot_frog\"<\/a>\u00a0E-cig companies have been incredibly — and I mean incredibly<\/em> — brazen in marketing e-cigs to kids<\/a>, look for Joe “Rasta” Camel to make a comeback if Big Tobacco gets involved in pot.).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote about this a few weeks ago, but here is another article on the same subject from USA Today — the fear that Big Tobacco will take over the legal marijuana business. Most legal marijuana businesses in Colorado, Washington and Oregon are small mom-and-pop operations. And they are heavily regulated as states are being … Continue reading USA TODAY story: Does Big Tobacco desire the marijuana market?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,486,38],"tags":[584,487],"class_list":["post-3104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big-tobacco","category-legal-marijuana","category-marijuana","tag-big-tobacco","tag-marijuana-legal-marijuana"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/legalweed.jpg?fit=660%2C371&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-O4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4210,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=4210","url_meta":{"origin":3104,"position":0},"title":"I toldja! Big Tobacco looks to get into the pot business","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"December 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Marlboro Head I toldja! I toldja! I knew this would happen. In fact, to be honest, I'm surprised it took this long. As marijuana becomes legal in more and more of the U.S., I knew sooner or later Big Tobacco would look to get into the game.\u00a0 Sure enough,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Altria"","block_context":{"text":"Altria","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MW-GP775_marlbo_ZH_20180910110206.jpg?fit=890%2C501&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MW-GP775_marlbo_ZH_20180910110206.jpg?fit=890%2C501&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MW-GP775_marlbo_ZH_20180910110206.jpg?fit=890%2C501&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MW-GP775_marlbo_ZH_20180910110206.jpg?fit=890%2C501&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2687,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2687","url_meta":{"origin":3104,"position":1},"title":"Could Big Tobacco evolve into Big Pot?","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"November 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm glad someone did an article on this (NBC News) because frankly, this is something I've been wondering about myself for the past couple of years. With a total of four states now with legal marijuana (Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska), might the day come when pot sales will be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Tobacco"","block_context":{"text":"Big Tobacco","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/marlboro-pot.jpg?fit=840%2C530&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/marlboro-pot.jpg?fit=840%2C530&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/marlboro-pot.jpg?fit=840%2C530&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/marlboro-pot.jpg?fit=840%2C530&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3706,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3706","url_meta":{"origin":3104,"position":2},"title":"California researchers fear legalization of pot could create the next Big Tobacco","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting story about a report put out by California State University, San Francisco (co-authored by anti-tobacco advocate Stanton Glantz) warning that legalized marijuana could become the next \"Big Tobacco\" because it would create a massive, wealthy and politically powerful economic behemoth. Here is a copy of the 66-page report.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Tobacco"","block_context":{"text":"Big Tobacco","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/california2016.jpg?fit=640%2C383&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/california2016.jpg?fit=640%2C383&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/california2016.jpg?fit=640%2C383&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":876,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=876","url_meta":{"origin":3104,"position":3},"title":"Pot smoking doesn’t cause lung disease: The lung cancer gene, part 1","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A study that came out last month determined that occasional post smoking doesn't cause near the damage to lungs as cigarette smoking. The study followed 5,115 regular pot smokers over the course of 20 years. This reminds me very much of a study done about 5 years ago showing that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lung cancer"","block_context":{"text":"Lung cancer","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"marijuana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/marijuana.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3576,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3576","url_meta":{"origin":3104,"position":4},"title":"Ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper: “Marijuana is infinitely more dangerous than tobacco”","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"October 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said a couple of weeks ago during the Canadian election campaign that he opposes legalizing marijuana, adding, \"marijuana is infinitely more dangerous than tobacco.\" Well, that one statement all by itself is a good example of how Harper was -- and I'm sure continues\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Canada"","block_context":{"text":"Canada","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=520"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/canada-buds-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C662&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/canada-buds-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C662&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/canada-buds-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C662&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/canada-buds-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C662&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2067,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2067","url_meta":{"origin":3104,"position":5},"title":"Study: Kids who smoke pot do better in school than kids who just smoke cigarettes","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"March 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"OK, NOT an endorsement for kids smoking dope, but an interesting study out of Canada. I think this study speaks more toward the attitudes toward dope and tobacco than the actual health effects of dope and tobacco. According to this study, kids who just smoke pot have better grades and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "marijuana"","block_context":{"text":"marijuana","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/pot-smoking.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/pot-smoking.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/pot-smoking.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3104"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3109,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104\/revisions\/3109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}