If we take a closer look at the whole situation, corporations have really only one common goal: to make sure its shareholders are going to get their profit. It should not really surprise you that corporate America is focusing now on the very successful movement for legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes. Only in 2015 profits from its legal sale in the USA increased by 17% to 5,4 billion dollars and this year their increase is anticipated to be 25% - the expected income is therefore 6,7 billion dollars. And of course, corporations would like to get their share.
Many people feel it is not really a modern gold fever, but that there is a hidden agenda under it all – where only a few very rich individuals are pulling the strings.
The growing marijuana market
The numbers behind the legal sale of marijuana are almost unbelievable when we take into consideration that the first hemp stores in the American State of Colorado were opened only two years ago. And this is just the beginning.
According to ArcView Market Research, the amount of sales in the cannabis market can be estimated until 2020 to a staggering 21,8 billion dollars. To sum it all up, when the legalized hemp market reaches this point it will overcome even the value of the NFL, whose worth is estimated to be at 25 billion dollars in 2027.
"I think that in the year of 2016 we are going to see another wave of investors, businessmen and people who until this moment were rather observing the situation on marijuana market, who are going to participate in the rea actively in this market field."
Said ArcView CEO Tray Dayton.
Four states and the District of Columbia have to this day legalized marijuana for recreational purposes, which makes altogether 23 states, where the legal sale of marijuana is permitted. Other states are considering the legal sale of marijuana for recreational purposes after the presidential vote in autumn of 2016.
California is one of the states which is being viewed at with big expectations because of the significant in the industry that will be influenced by the sale of hemp for recreational purposes. If this state legalizes hemp for recreational purposes, (perhaps as soon as the November 2016) then the financial turnover from industry sales will know no boundaries. Once you add to it to the improvement in the hemp legislation for recreational and medical use in the states of Colorado, Oregon, and Washington – which enable investors within the USA to finance the legal hemp market – then there's no wonder that corporate wolves are on the watch.
But not everything is so nice as it seems, and there are also people who sense some hidden agenda behind the hemp scene that is being controlled by corporate interests or better said, just by a few rich individuals connected to biotechnical industry or Big Pharma.
Hidden motives for marijuana legalization
Even though, on the outside, it seems like a movement or initiative of ordinary people, the power behind the whole legalization process, be it hemp for recreational or medical purposes, is no other than George Soros himself. Together with his team of rich sponsors, Soros has invested at least 80 million dollars into hemp legalization.
Thanks to his Foundation to Promote an Open Society, he poured financial gifts into Drug Policy Alliance – a non-profit organization whose main goal is to „end the US war on drugs“. He also contributes every year to the American Civil Liberties Union – an organization financing every attempt for marijuana legalization and that also supports the Marijuana Policy Project which supports elections for marijuana legalization in particular states.
In official documents „The DEA's latest stance on marijuana“, points out that „several rich businessmen“ – and not just a broad spectrum of US citizens – started and constantly maintains the USA movement for legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes. Without their financial support and influence, the US legalization movement would end rather soon.
Moreover, Soros was also very helpful in Uruguay, which is the first state that legalized cultivation, sale, and consumption of hemp. He is the leader of the DPA (Drug Policy Alliance) – most influential organization for hemp legalization in the world. The DPA is not only extremely influential within the USA but also in Uruguay and other Latin-American countries.
George Soros seems to be a hero of the hemp legalization movement – he helps US states (and even whole countries) to approve legislation about hemp for recreational and medical use. At the same time, he has a very strong connection to the pharmaceutical industry and Monsanto, as one of its main shareholders – it is basically the same chemical corporation and company that has developed Agent Orange, Ddt, PCBs, toxic pesticides, rGBH, Roundup Ready and genetically modified Frankenfoods.
Meanwhile, a wide-spread rumor that Monsanto is developing a genetically modified hemp was not confirmed, but if you start to research this topic in more detail, you will find out that this corporation is secretly researching THC (Tetra Hydro Cannabidiol), which is to be found in hemp, with one aim only – to genetically modify this plant in the near future.
William Engdahl, author of the book „Seeds of Destruction: The hidden Agenda of genetic manipulation“
"David Watson from the Dutch company – Hortapharm created in 1990 the biggest collection of hemp seeds of all hemp varieties. In 1998, the British company GW Pharmaceuticals signed an agreement with Hortapharm, which enable GW Pharma to use hemp from the Hortapharm company for their further researches."
"In 2003, the German company Bayer AG signed a contract with GW Pharmaceuticals about to participate in the research of hemp extract. In 2007, Bayer AG agreed to a technology exchange with...Monsanto. […] That is why Monsanto has discreet access to work with hemp plants and their genetic modifications. In 2009 GW Pharmaceuticals announced that they successfully managed to modify hemp and patented a new hemp variety."
GMO hemp in the world
Engdahl believes one does not need a big imagination to figure out that Monsanto is creating the foundations for future control of patented hemp varieties, especially in Uruguay, where even president Mujica himself said, that he would like to create a unique code for hemp coming from his country in order to prevent a black market.
Monsanto could therefore very easily step in and fulfill the wish of president Mujica – moreover so if we connect the history of the company with a successfull genetic cultivation of corn and soya in Uruguay for several decades.
As for the USA, it is important to note that the criminalization of hemp for technical and medical use was very lucrative and beneficial for many branches of industry, such as the military, the US department of corrections with the banking system, fossil fuels, the building industry, cotton, and especially the pharmaceutical industry.
For clarification of the whole situation, Conrad Justice Kiczenski warns:
"The next level of control lies in the regulation, licensing and taxation for the cultivation and use of hemp via all practical mean within the corporate system and this lies in the genetic manipulation and subsequent patenting of the cannabis genome."
