Will Big Tobacco become Big Marijuana?

[fizzgig]

DENVER — While federal law makes their entire industry illegal, many marijuana store owners, growers and retailers fear something completely different: Big Tobacco.

Today, most legal recreational marijuana operations are small, limited to a single state and barred from ever getting large by regulators who want to keep a close eye on the fast-growing industry. But those small operators struggle to get bank loans for expansion, often produce an inconsistent product and sometimes have no idea how to balance supply and demand for their crops.

And many fear that tobacco companies, with their deep pockets, longstanding experience dealing with heavy government regulation, and relationships with generations of farmers will jump into the burgeoning marijuana market. At marijuana business conventions and in private conversations, it sometimes seems like everyone has heard a rumor about Big Tobacco getting in.

"I think there's a ton of paranoia that they're buying up warehouses and signing secret deals," said Chris Walsh, the editor of Marijuana Business Daily, an industry publication.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/04/11/cigarettes-and-marijuana/70746772/

file it under "no shit" that big tobacco would want to get their fingers in this pie. however, living in colorado where microbreweries abound, i have no doubt that craft growers wouldn't pop up everywhere.

[99th_Monkey]

1. They'll have to arm-wrestle Big Pharma for that title. -nt-

[fizzgig]

4. oh yeah, they will definitely want a cut of that

[Agnosticsherbet]

2. Big tobacco Big Alchohol will fight over it.

[fizzgig]

5. hadn't considered big alcohol

[Agnosticsherbet]

7. It's real profit potential is as a recreational substance.

Big tobacco has the edge becuase the have enormous experience moving a similar product to market. Pot will eventually be marketed like wine or a good whisky.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Doubtful. I suspect as you say, it will be more like a boutique/craft industry.

[fizzgig]

6. i'm sure that they'd still offer mass-produced shit for those who don't know better

but i will say that i haven't been too impressed with anything i've gotten from the recreational shops here in town.

[Jesus Malverde]

13. I think a big difference is tobacco takes a special environment to grow.

Small cannabis gardens can produce pounds of cannabis.

Where big tobacco might have an advantage is taking over the market from the sinaloa cartel who market industrially grown weed to the poor communities by the ton. I get the feeling tho that brick weeds days are numbered, everyone wants chronic.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

8. I think it will end up depending on just how the laws treat growers.

If it ends up such that you can just go out and buy seeds at the local garden center and plant it yourself, then I don't see that big tobacco will end up with that much of a hold on things.

If there are all sorts of expensive licensing and red tape issues to hem in growers, then yeah, the conglomerates will end up with a tilted playing field.

[fizzgig]

9. the state leg is looking to crack down on medical caregivers

they want to limit the number of patients a caregiver can supply to.

i imagine there will be some places where you could walk into a nursery for seeds or clones, but i also imagine there will be plenty of "dry" counties and that big tobacco would target neighboring areas.

[Politicalboi]

10. They'll have to pry my bong from my cold dead hands

If I had money, I would look into Marijuana businesses to invest in. If big tobacco gets involved, they'll ruin pot even more than big pharm did. Kids today have no idea what they're missing.

[fizzgig]

11. the stuff in the rec shops here is pretty meh

and pricey, too boot. i may drink pbr on occasion, but i would never buy mass-produced herb.

[NightWatcher]

12. This guy I know just wants them to leave him alone and let him grow and sell to friends

Some of the friends have medical conditions and some of them are just blazers.