My problem with this is that pot is still a Schedule 1 drug. This means that companies who want to explore industrial hemp possibilities are out of luck. Currently US companies have to import hemp, becasue across most of the country growing it is illegal. The 2018 Farm Bill passed int he Senate made industrial hemp legal; the House blocked it's passage, though.
Low ball estimates of the industrial hemp market in the US at around $688M a year. That's $688M without a single puff of a joint.
The War On Drugs has been going on since the Nixon administration. It hasn’t worked.
What are the unintended consequences of the WOD?
No Knock Raids that kill innocents every year.
Our WOD can have the formation of the Narcocracies of Mexico and several South American countries laid at its feet.
The outlawing of marijuana and other recreational drugs may have been the impetus of the creation of methamphetamine and other more dangerous designer drugs.
The unrestrained use of civil forfeiture laws that lets law enforcement take position of property or money without the filing of any charges or recourse to courts.
The expansion of the Federal law enforcement behemoth. DEA, FDA and on and on. Our civil liberties have taken a beating in the name of the WOD.
I am not a drug user but it doesn’t mean I am in favor of giving the Feds the power to stop others from using them. I don’t want the Feds to have one bit more power than is necessary to fulfill their constitutionally designated responsibilities.
The War on Drugs has not measurably improved the quality of life of US citizens and has done immeasurable harm.