Marijuana

SEC Warns of Marijuana Related Investments

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a strong warning today to prospective investors in marijuana based businesses, cautioning those investors against potential fraud.

The investor alert, available here, opens with a direct warning: "[t]he SEC has seen an increase in the number of investor complaints regarding marijuana-related investments" and the government's securities authority has "recently issued temporary trading suspensions for the common stock of five different companies that claim their operations relate to the marijuana industry".

Like any unregistered security, proceed with extreme caution. Despite everyone knowing that if something is too good to be true, it probably is, individuals continuously invest in fraudulent businesses with no likely investment potential. Always contact legal counsel when considering such an investment.

Oregon Moves Forward with Legalization Bills

Meanwhile, in Oregon, "a bill that would ask Oregon voters if they want to legalize marijuana while leaving the regulations up to the Legislature passed its first committee last Thursday.

Senate Bill 1556 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 3-2 vote, with all Democrats supporting it and all Republicans opposing, reports Jeff Mapes at The Oregonian. The bill now goes to the Senate Rules Committee." h/t Salem News

This isn't especially surprising given the progressive bent of Oregon residents and voters. Still, in the event that Oregon legislators do pass one of the two competing legalization bills, Oregon would be only the 3rd state, after Colorado and Washington, to legalize marijuana.

Onto the 2 bills in question:

"Initiative 21 would amend the Oregon Constitution, ending criminal penalties for cannabis and permitting adult recreational marijuana use, possession and cultivation. Initiative 22, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2014, creates a commission to regulate the cultivation, processing, and sale of marijuana, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for the Oregon General Fund, helping to pay for schools, roads, and social services." h/t Salem News

Between the two bills, Initiative 22 seems like the better choice in light of the federal government's seeming interest in a bona fide development plan rather than outright decriminalization. Having said that, as well-stated by David Sarasohn in a column over at the Oregonian, the federal government's marijuana policies and public statements on legalization (or even an updated drug classification) evidence a myriad of conflicting ideas.

New York Comptroller John Liu Report on Fiscal Upside to Legalization

Nice piece over at the Village Voice Blog by Tessa Stuart, in which Ms. Stuart writes that in light of the recent positive polling, it may be time to "unearth that report commissioned by former Comptroller John Liu back in August: "Regulating and Taxing Marijuana: the Fiscal Impact on New York."

Among the reasons is the following: "Liu's office estimated that allowing medical marijuana and legalizing personal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana could raise $431 million dollars total for New York City -- $400 million in excise and sales taxes and an additional $31 million saved in law enforcement and court costs." A link to Liu's report is on the 2nd page after the jump. h/t Village Voice and Ms. Tessa Stuart

New York Medical Marijuana Supported by Large Margin

Diving a bit deeper into new polling released on Monday:

"State voters favor legalizing medical marijuana by a huge margin - 88% to 9%, according to a Quinnipiac poll." h/t Daily News

Huge margin indeed. It would be interesting to see the response if polling outfits asked individuals whether they'd favor Cuomo's limited-scope proposal versus either Colorado or California's more expansive and business-friendly medical marijuana initiatives.