CNBC reports on the intersection of cannabis and capitalism
The story of marijuana’s growing acceptance in America begins in the Colorado Rockies where cannabis is meeting capitalism head on.
Once a month, at his downtown Denver restaurant, chef Scott Durrah teaches a cooking class. It’s well attended, mostly by retired and affluent boomers. It’s exactly the market Durrah and his wife and business partner Wanda James want to reach.
“What we're seeing, which is really interesting, are older people,” said James. “I would say over the age of 30, and definitely women. These women are your mom, your grandmother, women that you see at the post office, at the day care center."
It’s their new twist on classic cuisine that draws this crowd. The ingredients are common, except for one — a Colorado-grown herb. The secret ingredient is marijuana.
Pot has arrived in mainstream America. And entrepreneurs like Durrah and James are leading the way as one of Denver’s power couples, prominent in the local political and business scenes. He’s is a former marine. She’s is an ex-naval intelligence officer, a successful public relations executive and a top political fundraiser.
In most places in America, they would be considered dope dealers. In Colorado, they are savvy entrepreneurs in a fast-growing, state-sanctioned industry, branding and marketing medical marijuana under their label, “simply pure.”
It’s a new kind of company in an old industry, one that generates tens of billions of dollars a year in this country. Most of it illegally.
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5 comments:
The CIA lost control of the marijuana crop decades ago. That is why the government will eventually legalize the plant. They have totally lost the revenue it provides and must recoup it somehow
10:05 is that a true statement?
love me some weed butter
They can't stop it. The generation that grew up in the 60's and 70's KNOW the truth. And the truth is that marijuana is no big deal. Not addictive, no possibility WHATSOEVER of overdose, milder than a martini, and NOT a "gateway" drug (if there even IS such a thing). The real problem is that hundreds of thousand of police depend on the laws for their livelihood, entire branches of government (DEA, Customs, Coast Guard, etc) also depend on anti-drug operations to employ their minions, and our prison system would absolutely and unequivocally collapse if they couldn't continue to imprison MILLIONS of Americans for marijuana charges. And THAT doesn't include the thousands of judges, prosecutors, and clerks in the legal system who spend untold millions of man-hours dedicating themselves to stopping the crazy pot heads from toking on a joint. We learned exactly ZERO from Prohibition. And alcohol, with government permission and complicity, kills hundreds of thousands of Americans EVERY YEAR. Not a SINGLE person --- not one --- died from smoking pot in the last, oh, say 1000 years. Mostly they just eat more than necessary (MY GOD!!!) and fall asleep (OH NO!!!).
30,000 dollars in and 8 foot square space in 90 days is nothing to sneeze at in this economy
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