Cannabis Updates

I took a break from reading the latest and dipped into an old favorite, Murakami. He absorbs you into his writings like no writer I have ever read. The characters, the food, and the surroundings are all unique, and eventually, these stories weave into each other. Genius.

I am reading IQ84, a 1200-page tome, and I read this paragraph. A police officer says to herself, “I’d probably have to ask the Yamanashi Prefectural Police to send copies of the related materials in the mail. And for that I’d first have to fill out the materials request form and get my boss’s okay. Of course I’d have to give a good reason for the request. And we’re a government office, after all, so we’re getting paid to make things as complicated as possible”.

I read this and paused. This is the definition of government. I have so many theories, from how the laws have been set up to weird bedfellows to no understanding of how business and lives work, living in their echo chamber, to name a few.

Sitting on the sidelines and watching the state government build a brand new division to oversee a highly regulated product that is still not Federally legal and is a Schedule I drug is wild, frustrating, mind-boggling, and fascinating. Somehow, starting from scratch in a world where start-ups, and even Fortune 500 companies, have changed how business is run, but the government hasn’t. It is layers and layers of laws that are so layered that they don’t make any sense.

I can hardly wait for federal legalization, but after watching NY, I fear for the federal mess that is ahead. Someone at the top has to care about getting this right. Too many people will not succeed in this business, and I fear most will lose everything. That will not be a good look for anyone. Public officials will shake their heads, but the people will be screwed.