Comments

1
Blech. I've met Shively, and he's like Tim Eyman on 'roids.

As to his whole 'finest handmade marijuana' thing - it may succeed, but it's damn tacky. It's like a cross between a cheesy cigar magazine that bald union machinists read in their 'man caves' and some steampunk bullshit.
2
Ugh. I hope he fails miserably. What we need is a homegrown (pun fully intended) marijuana industry. These guys are just big heavy weights working to monopolize the budding (again, intended) marijuana marked and prevent it from having any local flavor, charm or control. It just reeks (... intended) of corporate sliminess and sterility. I predict the 1,000 jobs will be mostly low-wage with flimsy to non-existent benefits. Most of the money generated by their retail shops will leave the state to further fill the already full coffers of rich bankers and investors. I already feel like organizing a boycott of these assholes.
3
And, I bet if these guys are successful and control the market like they want to, they'll squeeze the producers and processors, pocketing the additional profits. A 'win-win'... for whom? Yea, a win for the investors, and a win for the executives. The rest of us, eh, not so much.
4
Dispensaries, under current California law, must be nonprofit. I'm sure he's been hard at work to change this—it's going to be an interesting battle.

It'll be interesting to see what sort of backlash, if any, the idea of "big marijuana" causes. The CA Supreme Court just upheld a ruling allowing municipalities to deny business permits to, or ban outright, 'clinics' as they see fit.
5
I like the deep pockets. We need somebody to lobby against prohibition for a change.
7
This should be enough to draw the unwanted attention of DC. Can I sell these guys my t-shirt design (pictured to the left)?
8
This guy has been working the backroom since the initiative was signed. His number one champion is Rep Chris Hurst, the very same guy who (coincidences abound) noisily sponsored an amendment to 502 that would have removed the cap on license fees, made them resellable on the freemarket, and forced the LCB to auction them to the highest bidders. Announcing the bill, Hurst said he had had people in his offices willing to pay a quarter-million for a pot selling license. He was talking about Shively.

Hmmm. Once again, the suits in the shiny building are out to screw their way to the top. Beware these fuckers. They'll be the first ones to introduce GMO pot, the leaders in the race to the bottom for employee wages, and the last to care if weed is getting re-sold to middle-schoolers.

Unless everybody sees through their cheap shean of mall-kiosk elegance.

Holcomb and everybody else associated with 502 has been saying from the beginning that keeping the market small, and composed of many players, none of whom have enough market power to run the show. And Diego its-pronounced-pay-see-ay Pilicieris exactly who they were warning us about.
9
We can have a Starbucks of weed as long as there is also the Micro-brew of weed. Direct Trade, organic, homegrown, non-toxic, green. The more the marier.
10
heh, don't drop the soap!
11
It's very odd that we haven't heard yet from the Feds on this, one way or the other. I can only imagine the arguments and power struggles going on between the Old Guard Prohibitionist set and those that see it as time for a major change. It will be great fun to watch right wing heads explode when the "Choom Gang" Obama administration decides to leave CO and WA alone.
12
Well, good luck with that in Colorado. Our law requires producers, distributors and sellers to be residents of the state.
13
This is pretty exciting! I think such a corporation would definitely help with the crime problem in Mexico - as well as help all us regular Amurkan stoners with our regular Amurkan stonage.

It's just such a wide-open brand new frontier, and there are FORTUNES to be made... It's like it's the 19th century again and a few far-sighted individuals are able to see that this 'iron horse' thing is a going to be a real winner...

Who will be the 21st century's Pot Carnegies and Weed Vanderbilts??????
14
if that man is 45 i'm a bucket of rock salt.
15
#14 - the man in the picture is former Mexican President Fox, not the Mr. Shively quoted in the article.
16
@13 Yes, there are fortunes to be made. Large fortunes to those that already have small ones. Did you note the $10 mil investment, with the goal of $100 mil total?

Fortunes, indeed.
17
@ 16 - I did, indeed, notice all those zeros. What speaks loudest in this country? The accumulated weight of all the zeros to the left of the decimal point... End this goddamned stupid prohibition on The Weed now.

I like what @5 & @9 have to say.....
18
I'm not a pot smoker so I don't really care. But I am laughing my ass off at this article. All of the Occupy stoners will now be beholden to Corporate Marijuana. LOL!!!!!
19
Ditto. The pot market needs to be like beer. Cheap shitty mass produced stuff for cheap, and also nice high-end microbrew as well.
20
So it turns out the "profiteers" in the 502 debate were dispensary owners who supported the initiative, not the opponents as Dom liked telling everyone.
21
Well until banks start loaning cash to those wanting to open herb stores guys like this will have to get the ball rolling.

He seems pretty sure California will legalize but there's so many greedy cunts pimping the med system there plus all the ignorant conservatives that I doubt they will legalize.
22
Wiki says Fox headed Coca Cola for all of Latin America for decades. The man knows from distrubution.
23
Seems like Washington would have an advantage over landlocked Colorado since you could ship bales of pot via cargo ships from Western Mexican ports to the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma and you would not have to cross the state lines of other non-legal states.

If small enough, maybe even current cruise lines could handle the loads if they are allowed to carry some freight.
24
this will be a clusterfuck. pass the doochie...
25
Here we go, once corporations, large investors & even the government get involved in the growing & selling , pot will be legalized. The little guy ALWAYS get screwed, as usual.
26
Sounds like I'll be buying pot on the black market for a long time. Oh well, better than nothing.
27
Unlike booze, Pot is extremely easy to produce at home. I'm not worried AT ALL about 'Big Marijuana' trying to dominate the market. That's a paranoid delusion. The only way people will shop there is if they get a better product for a lower price. What's wrong with that?
28
Corporate Weed!!!
Less THC,
Less TLC,
Bigger price!!!
29
CORPORATE WEED!!
Less THC.
Less TLC.
Bigger Price.
BUY NOW!
30
#23, try reading the entire story again, this time for comprehension.
31
The first $50 million will be used to purchase enough members of congress who will trip over one another to do their part to legalize marijuana on the Federal level.

One more example that shows how it’s never really about facts, truth, right, or wrong and always about dopamine. Nothing triggers dopamine better than expectations of making money because money can be converted into all of the most powerful dopamine triggers, including heroin, cocaine, grass, bets (for gamblers), votes (for politicians), food, sex, safety, power, acceptance, approval, esteem, status, and expectations of making more money.

DopamineProject.org

32
I just read that Colorado plans to put a total of 39% tax on marijuana. I believe this is a very bad idea. If these millionaires and states believe they are going to make a fortune think again. The country has a robust blackmarket for marijuana. If the price of legal marijuana is higher than the blackmarket marijuana I believe people will continue buying from the blackmarket. Remember that most marijuana users are criminals under the national law and have been using and buying blackmarkest marijuana for decades, so why pay huge taxes on something you can buy cheaper? Another thing is there has been talk of regulating the THC content of marijuana. Again, if the state believe they are going to sell poor quality, low potency marijuana to the public thank again. Ounce again, the greedy neoliberal government thugs are trying there best to make marijuana smokers pay for the inequities of a corrupt government that believe humans are commodities!
33
HEY PEEPS!
Go to:
mypotbroker.com
34
Well, I wonder when Monsanto will create a super-potent, and possibly detrimental to our health, GMO Franken-drug MJ? It seems that we are about to witness a war between heartless greedy corporations and vicious greedy criminals.

To make legalization effective as a means of undercutting the ultra-violent free-enterprise loving criminals who now control the illicit drug market, the stuff needs to be as widely available, as potent, and considerably less expensive, than it is now. Any taxation that results in raising the price to market-values as of now, for example, will result in a black-market and a price war between avaricious Machiavellian corporations and mad-dog criminals. This would also happen in the legal stuff is less potent than the illegal product.

Neither free=market loving parties would voluntarily keep the prices down and the quality up. For any social good to result, however, the mad-dogs need to be priced out of the competition. The corporations, however, will not want to sell the stuff for anything less than what they can get for it. They are after MAXIMUM profits and so we have a problem. Governments need to control the selling-price of the newly legal drugs if they want to put the criminals out of business. Best scenario: Government supplied quality product sold at pharmacies, over the counter, at price-points low enough to discourage a black market.
35
it is rare for a user to go out and write elected reps, gather signatures or in any way "work" towards legalizing pot so stop complaining that a company is willing to invest not only money but to "work" towards ending prohibition. talkers have had 40 years with next to nothing to show for it. if you don't like the brand grow your own or get it from another company but thank them for doing something to keep you out of jail.
36
@33
Completely agree, but they are still going to try.
Why? Because there are idiots out there who will fall for it, all they need to do is market it with a few half naked women and men, sit and watch people buy it for some stupid reason.
As for regulating THC, they really have no excuse to (but they will or at least try), not one person has died or OD'd from THC.
37
My Mexican girlfriend points out that Vicente Fox was something like Mexico's Dan Quayle - when he was president, each time he spoke to the public they had someone on hand to explain him "what the president was TRYING to say was..." - and she thinks his recent embrace of marijuana legalization could explain a lot about him.
38
Remember this. John Kennedy had ships loaded with whiskey sitting offshore waiting for prohibition to end. That money created a legacy of political power.... Nice model to follow if you know the change is coming.....
39
I met this guy at the public forums. He's totally full of shyte. He clearly doesn't understand the WA I-502 law. The retail stores will be handed out by lottery and this guy is not guaranteed that he will even get ONE establishment. The fact that he owns dispensaries makes ZERO difference. You also cannot be a Producer and a Retailer at the same time. Moreover, there is ZERO chance that you can import MJ from Mexico. ZERO. The Feds will NEVER EVER allow that. I-502 also explicitly states that any MJ in the I-502 established market must come from inside Washington State ONLY. I don't understand why the media is listening to this shyster.
40
The nail that sticks up gets hammered down. If the Feds decide to send a message that pot stores are not going to happen, this guy will be their biggest billboard.
41
Shively is an idiot. Of course he is comparing his business to Starsucks, Mexican weed sucks too so they can go hand in hand. Don't you think that nationally televising that you are going to take the pot business from drug kingpins probably isn't the wisest idea. The yuppie little microsoft boy won't last too long up against that, he may have $ but they have cartels & weapons. Typical arrogant, ignorant microsoft fool.
42
This will most definitely go viral and there will be Petitions to stop this greedy knucklehead. I mean SERIOUSLY Mr. Entrepreneur - stay in your OWN yard - play with your fellow billionaires - leave the rest of us ALONE. You have enough money - and your ego is obviously quite high. Just stay in your own world please.

Listen folks - there WILL be Petitions against this. Please sign and share them with everyone you know. We MUST STOP HIM before he even gets started.
43
I have had business dealings with Mr. Shiveley. I hope he fails miserably. His many business failing are chronicled an he is an opportunistic douchebag. The worst thing the cannabis industry could o is support this weasels concept.
44
" We MUST STOP HIM before he even gets started."

Why?

It is a good thing someone with the money it is going to take to do so is stepping up to open some herb shops. I wont be shopping at his stores but want him to succeed so others can follow his lead.

The more herb stores the better.
45
"Mexican weed sucks too"

Mexican could be great herb if it was grown and harvested properly. It doesn't matter though because they aren't going to be selling herb grown in Mexico. It will be some indoor grown high yielding commercial strains.
46
"The nail that sticks up gets hammered down. If the Feds decide to send a message that pot stores are not going to happen, this guy will be their biggest billboard."

Another reason I wish him luck and am glad hes got the balls to open some shops.
47
I haven't smoked any pot in a while. It's illegal here in Virginia and outrageously over priced when you buy street shit which is typically Mexican, which we all know is bullshit weed. Better just to chill or drink the legal poison they allow me. The tobacco farmers in my state, North Carolina, etc would grow some crazy good shid and profit heartily, which would definitely improve our economy here in the South. I really don't like the idea of BIG MARIJUANA COMPANIES. But when profits are to be made and big money gets in, that how the world changes now. I'm sure the'll outlaw growing your own. But try to stop us. I live in the county adjacent to Franklin. Still make shine there.
48
this is great news - not so great news for all of you stoners that thought you could somehow profit off the weed in some magical legalization fantasy that only applied to you
49
"not so great news for all of you stoners that thought you could somehow profit off the weed in some magical legalization fantasy that only applied to you"

What? So this guy is going to be growing it all himself, the only one who opens an herb shop, then is he going to be having robots work in them? Dont think so. There will be plenty of opportunity for others to get into this. Thats like saying because Heineken brews beer nobody else can make a living selling or making beer.
50
Old news, I sent this in as a Slog tip back in December but nobody picked it up!

Read this:
http://www.bellevuereporter.com/news/183…
51
Oh man, I saw a story about this guy awhile ago, sent it in to Slog tips back in December and nobody picked it up!

http://www.bellevuereporter.com/news/183…
52
This is awesome. He can take the legal heat and spend the money and small businesses can operate in the shadow.
53
If anybody ought to know about making big $$ from marijuana, it's a former Pres. of Mexico!
54
If anybody ought to know about making big $$ from marijuana, it's a former Pres. of Mexico!
55
. . . sorry . . .
56
Good plan. Send the rich white kid into the field to draw fire and find the legal landmines so the local shops can advance once the field's cleared and the enemy's ammo's spent.
57
There goes the only $20. an hour slave labour trade. You kids have seen your hay day! Now you gonna have to get a real job for $8. An hour ... Befor tips of course:)
58
HORSE POO …A BUNCH IF BS!…THE MEXICAN CARTEL DOES NOT SUPPLY CALIFORNIA WITH MARIJUANA ANYMORE….MAYBE SPEED, WHO AM I KIDDING THERES NO MAYBE ABOUT IT, ITS WELL KNOWN THAT THEY ARE SUPPLYING THAT POSION AND THAT IS WHERE THE DRUG CARTELS ARE MAKING THE MONEY. MARIJUANA HAS NOT BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR RICHLY LINNED POCKETS. I HAVNT SEEN ANY MEXI BRICK WEED IN 15 YEARS. ALL WE GOT IS LOCAL CHRONIC AND SO MUCH OF IT WE HAVE A HARD TIME FINDING ANY MARKET AT ALL. EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER IS GROWING IN NOR CAL. TRUST ME NOBODY IS BUYING ANY POT FROM MEXICAN CARTEL. THIS IS A BUNCH OF BS. THEY ARE TAKING OUR SMALL BUSSINESS AWAY AND LITTERALLY TAKING THE MONEY OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE HARD WORKING EX CONTRACTOR/TRADESMAN, YOU KNOW THE BLUE COLLAR WHITE FOLKS WHO CANT OWN HOMES ANYMORE, THE AVERAGE AMERRICAN FALLING INTO BANKRUPTCY, WITH OUT STEADY WORK, WE THAT STRUGGLE DESPERATLY TO MAKE A BUCK AND OUT OF THAT DESPERATION WE HAVE ALL TURN TO GROWING DOPE AND NOW THEY WANT TO TAKE THSAT AWAY TOO. F THIS. AND WHY WE PUTTING OUR MONEY INTO THE HANDS OF MEXICO? HAVN'T THEY STOLEN ENOUGH OF OUR JOBS CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY ALL UNDERMINED BY CHEAPER MEXICAN WAGES , ISN'T THAT ENOUGH, NOW THEY GOT TO TAKE THIS TOO. BEING WHITE IN AMERICA SURE DOES SUCK THESE DAYS. WE ARE THE MINORITY. WE GET NO AIDE OR SPECIAL PROGRAMS. WE WORK HARD WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE AND WE PAY TAXES OUT THE A…AND EVERYWHERE I LOOK THERE ARE "MINIORITIES" LIVING SO MUCH BETTER THAN ME. I MAKE TOO MUCH MONEY TO QUALIFY HOWEVER I DONT MAKE ENOUGH TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF WITH OUT THE LOCAL MMJ MARKET. NOW THEY GONNA TAKE IT AWAY GIVE THE MONEY TO BIG BUSSINESS BANKS AND THE 1% AND THEN THROW SOME AT MEXICO, MEANWHILE I MAKE LESS THAN A MEXICAN DAY LABOROR YOU'D FIND DOWN AT THE LUMBERYARD . IM READY TO START A REVOLUTION AND ROLL SOME HEADS. F.X#< THIS! ITS TIME TO ORGANIZE AND PROTEST.
59
this guy wants the money buts has now clue you stepped up to the plate to make this happen. kids from the 1990 started in cali to over grow the government. Free marc emery first from washington for selling seeds to over grow this shitty government we live in. I hope this shit back fires in there face. Support local farmers that are trying there hardest to grow there crop. Dont rip of the grower because they are the back bone to the industry. they have power bills,rent,water, grow store bills etc. They want t be the middle man and make the most by ripping the farmer off. THe black market is going to thrive for kids because we dont want to pay the tax on this shit. the older generation will pay the tax because they dont have anyway to get it maybe from there kid perhaps. Diego Pellicer have deep pockets and words but have no clue how this plant grows.

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