https://hightimes.com/new .. ijuana-market/





For years, cannabis conspiracy theorists floated images of packs of Marlboro brand joints to illustrate the extent that corporations could conquer the marijuana industry once the drug was legalized. With Monday’s announcement by Reuters that Marlboro and Virginia Slims’ parent company Altria is discussing investment opportunities with Canadian cannabis firm Cronos Group, those alarmist tactics have become a reasonable approximation of the future of pot consumption.

“This is so meaningful because we just think this gets the ball rolling,” Michael Gorenstein, CEO and chairperson of Cronos Group, told CNN. While Cronos has copped to the fact that it is in talks with the tobacco giant’s corporation, it gave no indication that an Altria collaboration is a done deal. Nonetheless, its stock ended up rising 11 percent by Monday’s end.

Altria has not yet commented on its interest in Cronos.

But there is little mystery surrounding the reasons why it would be looking to expand into the Canadian cannabis market. The company’s shares have fallen 20 percent during 2018. This is largely due to a wide-spread drop in cigarette usage.

In the United States, recent studies suggest that adults are smoking fewer cigarettes than ever before—daily cigarette smokers have fallen by 15.5 percent since 2016 alone.

Cannabis is not the only savior to which the tobacco market is turning. Last week, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that Altria is also looking to acquire “a significant minority stake” in prosperous e-cigarette company Juul. Daily e-cigarette users are on the rise in the United States—2.8 percent of the total population, according to some studies.

Not all of Altria’s peers are convinced that pot is the way to go. Philip Morris CEO Andre Calantzopoulos cited his reluctance to diversify to the fact that his corporation operates in many markets where the drug is still prohibited. After all, what would Drug War-propagating Rodrigo Duterte think of such a move? “We know the positions of the president—and, you know, we have 70 percent market share in the Philippines,” Calantzopoulous told Bloomberg this week. “I can only imagine if we were called and asked, in a hypothetical case, ‘what are you people doing?’”

Altria seems ready to field those calls, and has some very profitable reasons to do so. Marijuana Business Daily estimates that there is currently a $52.5 billion demand for marijuana in the United States. Canada is the world’s largest national market for legal weed, and Cronos recently built a location there that can produce up to 40,000 kilograms of cannabis on an annual basis. The Canadian company has focused on bolstering its technological capacities to make a long-term market leader, and has even launched a project with Boston’s Ginkgo Bioworks to develop artificial cannabinoids

Marlboro’s parent company is far from the only large corporation that seems to be placing its bets on the green. Molson Coors, Walmart, Pepsi, and Coca Cola are all household names that have publicly flirted with the possibility of creating cannabis products. The message is clear: Corporate cannabis is no longer the stuff of supposition, but rather a rapidly encroaching reality

of couuse they r gonna find a way to make weed addictive

Yeah, if they legalize that whole thing
They doin' weed, next cocaine (cocaine)
n*ggas ain't gon' have no jobs
And Wall Street gon' run the dope game (woah)
What a n*gga gon' do? Huh? (n*gga gon' do, oh yeah)
You n*ggas gon' lose (you n*ggas gon' lose, woah-Lupe Fiasco

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Weed already has addictive properties. You go through mini withdrawals. I don't think that's the concern here though. There's already concern about the additives in so called medical weed. This is a can of worms smart people will avoid. Since we can grow our own...

see how this weed sh*t is back firing already? all the original small mom and pops in cali and co have basically been bought out by rich investors or big corps. just a matter of time until they monopolize and boost prices

sh*t in some states, the "dispensaries" are all government/state owned properties as well. and they only sell fu*kin hash oil. they want your a*s strung out and they want you paying them for your needs.
these slick bastards is at it again

BrooklynDamien said Weed already has addictive properties. You go through mini withdrawals. I don't think that's the concern here though. There's already concern about the additives in so called medical weed. This is a can of worms smart people will avoid. Since we can grow our own...

nah breh. im sorry the only weed wd symptoms are you not feelin as hungry and might take a bit longer to get to sleep. sh*t almost every legal medication has more side effects than that nevermind illegal sh*t

They do this it helps street weed dealers and growers once it goes fully legal. Give the power back to the people

Marijuana x Tobacco collaboration coming soon, at your nearest 7/11.

Killaboy said see how this weed sh*t is back firing already? all the original small mom and pops in cali and co have basically been bought out by rich investors or big corps. just a matter of time until they monopolize and boost prices sh*t in some states, the "dispensaries" are all government/state owned properties as well. and they only sell fu*kin hash oil. they want your a*s strung out and they want you paying them for your needs. these slick bastards is at it again

Ion know what you mean by backfire, legalizing it has had no setbacks. In DC aint nobody buying legally. I would never buy bud from the gov. I just dont want it to be a crime to smoke it on mg property and have it in my car.

Thats it.

Nothing new im not surprised by this

Sandyy said Ion know what you mean by backfire, legalizing it has had no setbacks. In DC aint nobody buying legally. I would never buy bud from the gov. I just dont want it to be a crime to smoke it on mg property and have it in my car. Thats it.

i meant the legalization portion is backfiring. being ruined by big business and monopoly like many other industries in this country. and like i said some states only got the harder sh*t now. a breh dont need all that just a little green bud you feel me.i got too much goin on even to fu*k with anythin besides a script. im just waitin for that next hike its comin.

but yeah if i was a young breh again out here i would just be hittin up my mans so i see why most people wouldnt care

Watch House of Lies series finales

Slap a “SUPREME” sticker on em, and you got the new generation. By the pus*y...

O1as said Yeah, if they legalize that whole thing They doin' weed, next cocaine (cocaine) n*ggas ain't gon' have no jobs And Wall Street gon' run the dope game (woah) What a n*gga gon' do? Huh? (n*gga gon' do, oh yeah) You n*ggas gon' lose (you n*ggas gon' lose, woah-Lupe Fiasco

Bars was hard song was trash

they have been prepping for this for over a decade, maybe even longer...when the first rumblings of weed legalization in states were happening...I guess there are enough states where weed is legal and they can now role out and profit...I knew someone who was a research scientist for the company years ago, and she told me about 8 years ago they were developing a weed "cigarette" (no tobacco purly herb) that would get you high for 10 minutes and than it would fade away gradually...the goal...hoping that people start chain smoking weed cigarettes like they did tobacco cigarettes

Sandyy said Ion know what you mean by backfire, legalizing it has had no setbacks. In DC aint nobody buying legally. I would never buy bud from the gov. I just dont want it to be a crime to smoke it on mg property and have it in my car. Thats it.

I dont want my job testing for it either. Muthafuka can go on a coke binge on the wknd and be straight. I smoke a lil a*s joint and 3 weeks later I'm still pissing hot.

My friend in Denver sent me a couple pics the other day. Im going in January. sh*t looks like Disney Land to me.

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This is how capitalism works.

If we don’t want their product then don’t buy the product. We need to keep these corporations out of everything. Tell everybody you know don’t buy anything connected to them at all. Make a campaign if needed. Spin it back on them . “Just say NO, to corporate Weed”.
Only buy from the small companies that were there from the start.

As long as they aren't allowed to cut it the way cigs are. Then there shouldn't be a problem.

This is what any investor is banking on. Tobacco companies buying up a*sets and shares.

Wonder what kind of additives they’ll put in it















fu*k that I’ll either grow my own sh*t or find a source I can trust.

Already quit cigs and feel a lot better now, not about to buy bud from a shady tobacco company.

Remember watching about it on YouTube

Oh it’s happening they just made medical legal in VA only a matter of time before they capitalized

Lil Wayne said My friend in Denver sent me a couple pics the other day. Im going in January. sh*t looks like Disney Land to me. [pic - click to view] [pic - click to view]

I was at Cannabis Cup a few years back, sh*t was cool, but I swea my plug in Newark gets better dank than what i was buying in the dispensary.

And that bullsh*t was over priced AF, typed in “bud” on Denver Craigslist, mad people came up, I ordered a 7 of some OG KUSH it was cool.

Bought a gram of some NYC Diesel $22.XX , it was good.


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Bought a 1/8 of Lake Tahoe $60.XX is was good, but the wasn’t the crack I thought it would’ve been.


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iTrap said I was at Cannabis Cup a few years back, sh*t was cool, but I swea my plug in Newark gets better dank than what i was buying in the dispensary. And that bullsh*t was over priced AF, typed in “bud” on Denver Craigslist, mad people came up, I ordered a 7 of some OG KUSH it was cool. Bought a gram of some NYC Diesel $22.XX , it was good. [pic - click to view] Bought a 1/8 of Lake Tahoe $60.XX is was good, but the wasn’t the crack I thought it would’ve been. [pic - click to view] [pic - click to view] [pic - click to view] [pic - click to view] [pic - click to view]

yup. craigs way to go. heard from a bird you dont even have to make the trip

they still got out of state limits in them shops?