Analyst/Editor

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton spoke out against legalizing marijuana in a paid speech, hacked emails from her campaign show.

During an on-stage Q & A session with Xerox’s chairman and CEO in March 2014, Clinton used Wall Street terminology to express her opposition to ending cannabis prohibition “in all senses of the word”:

URSULA BURNS: So long means thumbs up, short means thumbs down; or long means I support, short means I don’t. I’m going to start with — I’m going to give you about ten long-shorts.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Even if you could make money on a short, you can’t answer short.

URSULA BURNS: You can answer short, but you got to be careful about letting anybody else know that. They will bet against you. So legalization of pot?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Short in all senses of the word.

The excerpt comes from an internal Clinton campaign memo highlighting potentially problematic passages from her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs, General Electric, Deutsche Bank and other major corporations.

Other excerpts from the 80-page document, published by Wikileaks after a hack on Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s email account, show the former U.S. secretary of state admitting she is “far removed” from the struggles of the middle class, arguing that politicians need to have separate positions on issues in public and in private and supporting “open trade and open borders.”

Over the course of the past year, the Clinton campaign forcefully refused calls to release the speech transcripts from her Democratic primary opponent, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who supports legalization and has introduced legislation to end federal marijuana prohibition.

That the campaign flagged the candidate’s opposition to legalization as a potential problem demonstrates a growing understanding by political operatives that marijuana law reform is now a mainstream issue, one which is supported by a majority of Americans and a supermajority of Democratic primary voters.

While Clinton has made no secret in public appearances that she isn’t ready to endorse full legalization, she has usually framed her position as taking a wait-and-see approach, wanting to give laws like those in Colorado and other states a chance to work before she makes up her mind about ending prohibition.

The leaked Xerox excerpt, in contrast, positions her as strongly opposed to legalization.

But the remarks were made two-and-a-half years ago, just two months after legal marijuana sales began in Colorado, so it is possible that Clinton’s personal view of legalization has legitimately softened in the interim.

During the course of her presidential campaign, Clinton has highlighted support for letting states set their own cannabis policies without federal interference and has pledged to reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act if elected.

But advocates have pushed the candidate to go even further by offering a personal endorsement for the policy of legalization, arguing that doing so could help Clinton win back support from wayward millennial voters who are supporting Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson or Jill Stein of the Green Party, both of whom have made support for ending cannabis prohibition centerpieces of their campaigns.

The newly-leaked documents showing Clinton’s strong opposition to legalization in a private appearance, combined with comments from the candidate’s daughter Chelsea last month implying that marijuana use can lead to death, could present an added sense of urgency for Clinton to evolve on the question of ending prohibition prior to Election Day.

Original Article BY TOM ANGELL ON OCTOBER 10TH, 2016 AT 11:18 AM | UPDATED: OCTOBER 10TH, 2016 AT 11:28 AM LAW & POLITICS, PEOPLE,

For a while now we have been excited about the legal Cannabis sector and the opportunities for investments seem endless.  Over a year ago, we started covering the marijuana sector at Invest In MJ and it has been interesting watching the politicians finally taking a serious look at their stance on marijuana.  

It wasn’t too long ago that marijuana was a taboo subject and that most politicians didn’t want to broach the subject let alone provide their stance or political views on it.   Most career politicians opposed the idea of marijuana legalization because it didn’t get them votes or the lobbyist were very successful in their efforts to keep  cannabis classified as a schedule I drug.  Without actually doing any real research on marijuana or seeking out the truth on its medicinal benefits, they still hold the notion that cannabis is a gateway drug and that it should remain illegal.  The ignorance in DC is astounding or its just plain criminal that they still want to maintain control over the masses by making a plant illegal.  However they are losing The War Against a Plant and the debate is about to heat up in 2015 and 2016.

In a recent article and poll posted on The Washington Post, we can clearly see that Weed is polling better than the entire field of candidates for the 2016 elections.  While Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush may be the leading candidates when it comes to favourability ratings, medical marijuana is clearly the leader and recreational marijuana still beats out these contenders.  With over 80% in favor of medical marijuana and just over 50% for recreational, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida have spoken and they are more in favor of marijuana than they are of the various candidates.  If this poll of the three key swing states is any indications of what people want, I am sure US citizens would vote in favour of medical marijuana over any politician… that is if Med MJ was on the ballet.  

While the dysfunctional US gov’t may never address the real issues and problems it creates (endless wars, highest incarceration rate in the world, being a bankrupt country and the flaws of central banking), it may have to address marijuana as a Schedule I drug.  Obama has opened up the doors towards legalization and he recently commuted the sentences of 22 drug offenders which marks the largest of such “pot pardons” since he took office.  Obama had issued 21 commutations and 64 pardons over the course of his presidency while his predecessor George Bush commuted only 11 sentences.  The question is… will the new candidates close the doors on marijuana legalization once they get into power or leave it open and allow the masses to walk through without being criminalized.  

While medical marijuana will never be on the 2016 ballet (even though it should be since it is what people want); it sure will become one of most talked about topics in the coming years.  We believe medical marijuana will be one of the hottest topics of debate for this up and coming election. However, if we truly lived in a democratic world, we should be voting on topics that matter and what the people really want.  Instead we are stuck having to select one political party or another, both of which seek power to advance their master’s agenda and not addressing the wishes of the masses.

Should marijuana be legalized and would you vote for it?  Let us know what you think.

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This is an exciting time to be an accredited investor in the medical marijuana / cannabis sector, the industry has become legalized in many countries around the world and that trend is only gaining momentum.  To be successful at investing, most sophisticated investors like to follow trends and get invested early while the trend is gaining momentum.  Once you have maximum participation from the retail investing crowd, we can be assured the trend for that sector had pretty much peaked and will soon reverse.

While the last year has been an extreme roller coaster ride for most investors in the cannabis market, we can feel confident that this trend is still at the early stages, well established and on an upward momentum.  The rise and fall in stock prices in the last year was a result of hot money coming in and out of the sector, illiquid markets and tight share structures.  But what we didn't see during that time is the participation from the institutional and professional money crowd. 

The following blog was written by Jeff Berwick and originally post at : http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/7/8/the-end-of-the-war-on-drugs.html

[Editor's Note: The following post is by TDV Editor-In-Chief, Jeff Berwick]

The War On Drugs is finally ending. It has been a heinous collectivist/statist invention. The world will be better off the more libertarian drug laws become (and eventually if there is no drug laws at all). Not only the US is moving towards more relaxed regulations of marijuana, but so are many countries. The War On Drugs has functioned as the leading vehicle of mass incarceration in the US. Billions are spent on the War and its produced the highest incarceration rate in the world with 2.2 million Americans in prison or jail. If Americans are ignorant that they are slaves, then The War On Drugs is the best argument thereagainst. People are beginning to realize this:

With the new regulations in place, there is an opportunity for doctors willing to prescribe medical marijuana to open clinics specialized in patient care based on the use of medical marijuana.  With a limited number of clinics available to patients, doctors can create a place that could service these patients and work with them to help them gain access in a way that is beneficial and non-judgmental.  A new patient care offering by doctors allows them to work with patients to relieve the symptoms they’re suffering from and help them improve their quality of life.