Wow Frickin' Wow New Jersey Mayors Stand Up

Every business has big news days and snoozers. In the cannabis business, some days feel like it's going to start raining money any day now... and some feel like we're involved in a righteous calling.

Surely the financial stakes are high and everyone seems to enjoy the gladiator aspect of our nascent business trying to fight its way through the ARENA OF ENEMIES (Big Pharma, Big Alcohol, Big Cig, Big Paper...). Along with those big dollars are the potential for big tax revenues to ACCOMPLISH GOOD THINGS.

But the way we see it at the American Cannabis Report, the real stakes in our industry are no less than the soul of America. Every big decision, every policy choice, begs questions about who we want to be, and what should we stand for.

(Apologies to the grammar police).

We're immersed in a black market argument with the owner of a GIANT California dispensary. He's complaining that "black market operators are wrecking the legal market".

We fight back that Cally's legal market has gone off the rails because EVERYONE BELIEVED THE HYPE and now have dollar signs where their hearts and minds should be. It's so expensive and complicated to get licensed in California that many decent, honest, hard-working people CAN'T GET APPROVED.

And if you have a record, F. YOU. (Which is idiotic if you think about it - - who do they suppose knows how to grow the stuff, except for people who have been doing it already?)

But check out how some New Jersey mayors are showing us all how to lead with our hearts. (Hat tip to the Marijuana Retail Report for showing us the way to this important story).

In "N.J. Mayors Threaten to Ban Weed Dispensaries if Lawmakers Don’t Meet Their Demands", we learned,

"The mayors of New Jersey’s two biggest towns won’t allow marijuana dispensaries in their cities unless they are happy with how the legalization bill addresses previous weed convictions."

What's striking about this line-in-the-sand is that it's NOT about 'protecting the children' (outlawing legal dispensaries is the surest way NOT to protect them from street dealers and foreign black market weed). It's about protecting valuable citizens who have been treated unfairly, to give them a second chance. To put families back together. To help communities heal.

Stand up for your people, New Jersey mayors. We support you, and we salute you.