{"id":1819,"date":"2013-06-13T02:25:56","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T02:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/?p=21025"},"modified":"2013-06-13T02:25:56","modified_gmt":"2013-06-13T02:25:56","slug":"the-changing-politics-of-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/the-changing-politics-of-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changing Politics of Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/the-changing-politics-of-marijuana\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"264\" height=\"191\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/politics.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"politics\" title=\"politics\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-21028\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/news-and-articles\/the-changing-politics-of-marijuana\/attachment\/politics\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-21028\" title=\"politics\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/politics-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>The issue of civil rights and Federal overreach has been front and center lately. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/edward-snowden-nsa-can-target-anyone-2013-6\" target=\"_blank\">Whistleblower, \u00a0Eric Snowden<\/a> had exposed the details of Just how closely our government is watching us. \u00a0It appears every email, text, and phone call may be recorded.\u00a0 It is no surprise, that George Orwell&#8217;s classic &#8220;!984&#8221; has enjoyed an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\/2013\/06\/12\/orwell_1984_sales_rocket\/\" target=\"_blank\">almost 10,000% rise in sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The issue reminds us of just how much our civil liberties have eroded. \u00a0For marijuana activists, \u00a0the idea of restricting rights is always present. \u00a0What sick patients do to improve their quality of life need not be up to government officials. \u00a0The politics of marijuana had always been a dirty game, \u00a0complete with decades of lies and propaganda.<\/p>\n<p>It may finally be time for activists to fight back with politics. \u00a0Members of the marijuana industry ate now lobbying Congress to overhaul the tax code for dispensaries. \u00a0With overly inflated tax rates, \u00a0dispensaries are having a hard time keeping their doors open.\u00a0 Many dispensary owners are not looking for special treatment.\u00a0 They would like to pay their fair share of taxes, and take standard deductions that help many small businesses keep their doors open.\u00a0 One of the lobbyists, \u00a0Aaron Smith, \u00a0director of the <a href=\"http:\/\/thecannabisindustry.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">National Cannabis Industry Association <\/a>told Washington reporters &#8220;We are asking to be taxed. We are one of the only industries in this country coming to D.C. asking, &#8216;Tax us, but tax us fairly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the near future it is likely that over half of our states in America will permit the use of medical marijuana.\u00a0 The industry is clearly on the rise and could provide desperately needed economic growth.\u00a0 As Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said in a recent press conference, &#8220;Medical marijuana is now used by over a million people in the United States, and it&#8217;s critical for them&#8230; And while the states have expanded the legal economic opportunities, the federal drug, tax and banking laws continue to limit these emerging small businesses.&#8221;\u00a0 Unfortunately, the federal government seems to only use forward thinking when it comes to surveillance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"264\" height=\"191\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/politics.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"politics\" title=\"politics\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-21028\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/news-and-articles\/the-changing-politics-of-marijuana\/attachment\/politics\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-21028\" title=\"politics\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/politics-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>The issue of civil rights and Federal overreach has been front and center lately. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/edward-snowden-nsa-can-target-anyone-2013-6\" target=\"_blank\">Whistleblower, \u00a0Eric Snowden<\/a> had exposed the details of Just how closely our government is watching us. \u00a0It appears every email, text, and phone call may be recorded.\u00a0 It is no surprise, that George Orwell&#8217;s classic &#8220;!984&#8221; has enjoyed an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theregister.co.uk\/2013\/06\/12\/orwell_1984_sales_rocket\/\" target=\"_blank\">almost 10,000% rise in sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The issue reminds us of just how much our civil liberties have eroded. \u00a0For marijuana activists, \u00a0the idea of restricting rights is always present. \u00a0What sick patients do to improve their quality of life need not be up to government officials. \u00a0The politics of marijuana had always been a dirty game, \u00a0complete with decades of lies and propaganda.<\/p>\n<p>It may finally be time for activists to fight back with politics. \u00a0Members of the marijuana industry ate now lobbying Congress to overhaul the tax code for dispensaries. \u00a0With overly inflated tax rates, \u00a0dispensaries are having a hard time keeping their doors open.\u00a0 Many dispensary owners are not looking for special treatment.\u00a0 They would like to pay their fair share of taxes, and take standard deductions that help many small businesses keep their doors open.\u00a0 One of the lobbyists, \u00a0Aaron Smith, \u00a0director of the <a href=\"http:\/\/thecannabisindustry.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">National Cannabis Industry Association <\/a>told Washington reporters &#8220;We are asking to be taxed. We are one of the only industries in this country coming to D.C. asking, &#8216;Tax us, but tax us fairly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the near future it is likely that over half of our states in America will permit the use of medical marijuana.\u00a0 The industry is clearly on the rise and could provide desperately needed economic growth.\u00a0 As Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said in a recent press conference, &#8220;Medical marijuana is now used by over a million people in the United States, and it&#8217;s critical for them&#8230; And while the states have expanded the legal economic opportunities, the federal drug, tax and banking laws continue to limit these emerging small businesses.&#8221;\u00a0 Unfortunately, the federal government seems to only use forward thinking when it comes to surveillance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1820,52,1821,1822,65,1823,56,9,51,70,1,3,61],"tags":[4388,2632,4389,4390,2644,4391,2636,2631,5,6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}