Bureau of Narcotics strongly encouraged state governments to accept responsibility for control of the problem by adopting the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act, and thereby sealed the fate of the non-narcotic hemp plant. As difficult as passing drug laws can be, enforcing them effectively, consistently, and fairly has proven to be virtually impossible. Yet it is these incongruities that had the effect of making more inroads possible, as “wiggle room” around research and development specific to hemp started to unfold. By keeping the recreational and industrial sides of the same house separate, science was able to focus on the plant as a commodity and input for applications that can, at the very least, augment the current manufacturing of commercial goods, packaging, nutraceuticals, textiles, and biofuel. According to Marijuana Business Daily’s Annual Marijuana Business Factbook, U.S. medical and adult-use cannabis sales reached at least $15 billion in 2020, an almost 40% increase from 2019. It also predicts industry employment could reach almost 300,000 full- time jobs this year, a 50% increase from 2019. To put those figures in perspective, the number of jobs in the cannabis industry would be about the same as the beverage industry, an industry which has certainly sat up and taken notice of cannabis... as seen by the number of crossovers into the cannabis-beverage and edibles lines. This job creation is thankfully not all plant touching or dispensary operations. These jobs are in industries that will help determine the future of how cannabis is perceived, bought, and sold.
ONEWORD: PLASTICS There has been a lot more in the print and broadcast world recently about the efforts to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels, especially when they go toward the creation of single- use plastic. And if you thought that tracking down the global culprits would be a fool’s errand, it is easily discoverable that just 20 firms are responsible for more than 55% of the world’s single-use plastics. It’s the usual assortment of state-owned and multinational corporations dabbling in oil, gas, and chemicals. And this report, the first ever of its kind, from the Plastic Waste Makers Index also points out that Australia leads the list of countries generating the most single-use plastic waste on a per-capita basis, ahead of the United States, South Korea, and Britain. Single-use plastics are made almost exclusively from fossil fuels, driving the climate crisis... And because they’re some of the hardest items to recycle, they end up creating global waste mountains. Just 10% to 15% of single-use plastic is recycled globally each year. The same properties that make plastics so useful today, like durability and resistance to degradation, also make them nearly impossible for nature to completely break down. But across boardrooms and heard loud and clear in shareholder meetings, emphasis on SRI (socially responsible investing) and ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) is the driver of discussion. Much of that discourse puts particular emphasis on the Earth’s source of water. Our oceans undergo a daily onslaught of plastic pollution
American Consequences
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