jamaican girl there you know just keep up with the big split mama big believe we like huge and joan. who are you going to do that mom. thought so as cannabis is why you believe legalized china cashes in on an unprecedented boom oh yeah. yeah i'd love to you know they get a lot of good smoke and. red gum up it on the chinese wetware so here we have again listen to this very first words of this article describing china cashing in on yet another boom cashing in on get another boom trying to cashing in on the right now i think i just heard you say the same thing three times so whatever you put into that oatmeal this morning has got me completely wasted the communist country. yeah the communist country that's always cashing in right the communist country is well placed to exploit the burgeoning cannabis trade with more than half of the patents relating to or involving cannabis originating in china according to

the world intellectual property organization chinese firms have filed three hundred nine of the six hundred six patents relating to the drug so apparently one hundred forty seven million people they claim around the world do smoke marijuana that's about two point five percent of the world's population i'm sure it's much higher but here there there is not only demand for recreational use but there's a huge demand in medical terms which has gone unfilled because apparently americans prefer opium well i think this is interesting and that if china tries to claim copyright or trademark or patent protection the cannabis seeds that they are growing i mean this would be a very big reversal on what we've seen in the last twenty years what china is basically gauged in patent pilfering you know and they've been stealing patents and intellectual property and trademarks for decades down ali what's been fighting them and and the drug companies have been fighting that so it's interesting. now that

they're saying well we've got half the pounds or more on. cannabis and then we're going to exploit this sense electoral property monopoly and we're going to make sure that when everyone gets high in the world that they see a big frickin chinese flag that's going to be bioengineered into the gun is that whenever you smoke chinese dope you're going to see mousy dung over there with a big bald head smoking a spliff you know there's a thing called traditional chinese medicine and it's all herbal based or i think in the u.k. they say herbal but you know it's all in so it's their research and that and one of the things they specialize in in terms of the cannabis cannabinoids cannibal oids cannabis medical exam and we can share ability to articulate is severely impaired. one of them that they are really focusing on is constipation which americans might need some relief from god's face and if those munchies is not quite good for us all that process well no one understand why there was an urgency to buy twinkies you

know or twinkies and went bankrupt and they were bought by private equity fund twenty's of course the classic much you food post time once you food get a big you know box of twinkies and it does cause constipation so i guess they're going to try to both. going in and coming out market over there. peter reynolds who's the leader of the cannabis law reform here in the u.k. says quote that the chinese are smarter and they are on to all the good ideas the potential for cannabis as a medicine is monumental but you know we've missed out on that here and we've missed out on the u.k. a pair in the u.s. and apparently china has all the patents well i think out of playing boris johnson's trip recently when he was up in that helicopter flying over various chinese cities and what they did see in that photo was a big bag of ganja but she was obviously taking copious quantities up there in the helicopter while he's getting blasted during various chinese cities saying you know what we're going to have a big field back in number ten downing. crate of some of the finest dope possible

in the u.k. actually to smoke it recreationally in china is against the law you face very long prison sentences however they are the world's leader in industrial hemp so they grow that industrial a for traditional chinese medicine they've always used it medicinally which the u.s. has that's how they enter the markets in new york for example is allowing medicinal marijuana not recreational marijuana but this is the first move china you seem only confused about medicinal and what's not and was available in the pharmaceutical section of your supermarket i mean you have got fi agra and yet they still go after you know a rhino horn for a reptile dysfunction driving the rhino to extinction when all they get the little blue pill mr chinese man ok you don't need to go kill a rhino to you know get a spliff and get a little blue pill and you're set for the weekend don't go kill a rhino you don't need to be killed rhinos anymore could you do your thing and wake

up to the twenty first century so there you have a china will rule the world in terms of cannabis production and it's a great way because of course you know you smoke one spliff and you need another within half an hour oh my god i see the connection in chinese food well i'll be buying portland but i'm going long for buns but i wanted to neighboring state of wyoming there troopers already warned people not to drive into their state carrying cannabis that they bought legally in colorado so i wanted to turn to another story an interesting story out of wyoming that is a real tale for what the u.k. which is going to allow fracking what to look for here because of course they want to allow recreational use of marijuana but they'll allow fracking fracking wells abandoned bust cycle who will pay to cap them the company is that one.

operated the wells in wyoming have all but vanished into the prairie many seeking bankruptcy protection and able to pay the cost of reclaiming the land they leased recent estimates put the number of abandoned drilling operations in wyoming out more than twelve hundred and state officials said several thousand more might soon be orphaned by their operations so here is wyoming ground zero for fracking they were one of the first to introduce this because of course dick cheney was the former senator there he's from wyoming and from the photo here you can see fracking with those or abandoned fracking wells thousands of them across wyoming the companies who left them who abandon these wells have declared bankruptcy so they don't have to clean up the cost all the farmers are complaining because their land is being toxic is toxic and so the state the taxpayer is having to clean it up they reckon eight million dollars just for this twelve hundred abandoned wells there's thousands more to come right where this is a classic corporate predatory behavior they knew going into the whole industry that

they would be declaring bankruptcy once they frakt and they exist and they exhausted all the gas that they could through the fracking and they declare bankruptcy and therefore they're not responsible for the cleanup they know that going in and that's what they tell investors on the private memo that says look we're never going to ever clean up why don't we sign a contract saying we will clean up or we're going to declare bankruptcy well before we need to clean up we won't spend a penny cleaning up this is actually the unintended consequences of artificially low interest rates because the return to these investors when it all works out after tax and after cost they're making about a five percent return on investment and why do they even bother with a five percent return on investment because the federal reserve bank keeps rates at near zero the bank of england keeps rates near zero so let's flash forward to the ghost of christmas future here in the u.k. you've got the rates near zero you've got people with a lot of money thanks to artificially pumping it with money printing like chinese investors were looking to make five percent of their money because they can't get five percent of government bond like they would if the bank of england was art.

keeping rates low so they put money into a fracking rig and they sign bogus contracts that say yes we'll be doing the clean up they won't yes it's environmentally sound it isn't yes it's economically viable it's not and yes it will supply energy for x. number of years in the future that's a lie it's a pure twenty four to thirty six month scam to make five percent on money that was gifted to them from the corrupt marconi the bank of england to begin with and it will result in ecological all cost who cares more debt to the u.k. economy hole so what and other and consequences that will result in lifestyle being degraded more cancer you know a lot of cancer go along cancer u.k. because you're about to get a whole bunch of it because the fracking regs do low artificially interest rates yeah you love cancer your kids go look you know a lot of it don't you get your make and five percent what a bunch of losers well actually there's one u.k. medical marijuana company and they deal with

a drug for specifically designed for cancer so they could work hand in hand now these people that push still this toxic sort of fracking which has no economic sense is for example in wyoming this guy state senator john j. heinz a republican who represents mineral rights campbell and converse counties said it was vital for lawmakers to take up the issue swiftly because natural gas was so important to wyoming as economy he himself has forty abandoned rigs on his own property which the company went bankrupt patriot's resource company they went bankrupt and left these forty right so he's looking for state fun to clean up his toxic mess on his own but he's like hi he still doesn't see that as a problem he's like we need more of this right dick cheney is a socialist his daughter len i believe her name is she's run dropped out of the senate race in wyoming because she's got it out open up a socialist you know osh ramos is going to pray to the god. she clearly is inherent

to they don't work for a living they extract wealth why there is from the bank where they drain money freely. or from the earth using fracking and they don't pay for the fracking they don't pay for the rigs they don't pay for the land and they never pay for the cleanup they're just extracting the ecological resources to the point of economic suicide there's like chopping you know cheney and his daughter are they like having charles manson run your energy policy in your economy in your country of what they're suicide they're nightmarish. kleptocrats dressed up us politicians that are unfortunately the face of a neo liberal model that has driven american commerce to the point of only thing having left is smoking dope all day one thing just rename the country the united states of jamaica well i'm finally here you know all these cleanup costs that the government promises margaret thatcher speaking of neoliberalism brought in this nuclear energy promise that the cleanup cost would either be well the private

companies would do it but then the state took over and now the state is paying more more more sellafield cleanup costs reaches sixty seven point five billion pounds report that was earlier in the year it's now seventy billion already this is the taxpayer paying for the cleanup of nuclear waste with no sign of when the costs will stop rising according to the report you know in fukushima one hundred fifty billion so far they have nuclear gypsies that go in there and clean up is there certain to be dead soon well once again it's the economics of suicide brought to you by the leaders of japan u.k. and united states who all have the same economic policy of zero percent interest rates to fund the club doctor see and cancer provocation through fracking and the u.k. public in the japanese public and american public can't wait to get cancer that's their goal in life most will golf all right we got to go by who got into. states have a whole lot more. people

. a pleasure to have you with us today. imports came from illegal fishing. the european union is ironically taking fish

from some of the poorest nations on earth so this is a very serious and very urgent problem that needs immediate international action. but they are territorial waters they fish they load the fish into the ships and leave. the. illegal fishing just taking the bread out of our mouths.

i. told you my language as well but i will only react to situations i have read the reports. to know i will leave them to the state department to comment on your letter. to carry out a call that's all you're talking no. thank you no more weasel. when you veda direct question be prepared for

a change when you punch be ready for a. critical stage and let down the freedom to. welcome back to the kaiser report by max kaiser time now to go to colorado and speak with the don draper of pot mason to work the way actor of communications for the marijuana policy project would help pass the colorado's recent marijuana legislation welcome to the show. thanks remy all right mason tell us about colorado's new marijuana law what is actually allowed under the law well amendment

sixty four which about fifty five percent of voters adopted back in november two thousand and twelve allows adults twenty one and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants in their homes and also establish a state regulated system of. marijuana licensed marijuana businesses that cultivates distribute marijuana and produce products and test marijuana so essentially it's a system very similar to alcohol in which adults can legally purchase marijuana with a driver's license or other government issued id and not fear arrest all right so now there are already reports of shortages of marijuana and so prices rising to four hundred dollars an ounce where is supply coming from who is allowed to grow clearly there's a market inefficiency there or not to talk about that a little bit you know i don't think that there's necessarily a market efficiency quite yet you know

a limited number of these businesses have opened only about thirty five to thirty seven businesses around the state open we're expecting to see anywhere from one hundred fifty or up also a lot of people to him and over these businesses are yet so the competition is going to grow as more of these businesses open and more people are able to access more businesses in the competition sets in also a lot of these businesses are still covering the overhead costs associated with licensing fees and complying with all of these new rules and regulations so you know right now the prices are generally right around where they would be in the underground market a lot of states but most adults would prefer to buy marijuana in a legal safe place instead of in the underground market and i think that it's not going to be very long before we eliminate that underground market all right now mason only a decade ago two thirds of americans were against legalizing marijuana ten years

later the numbers are completely reversed largely due to your efforts how did you do it. well you know i think a big part of changing marijuana laws has been changing public attitudes and ultimately what that comes down to is getting people to understand that marijuana is just not as harmful as they were once i do believe you know our federal government and others have exaggerated the harms of marijuana for years to keep it illegal but the fact is marijuana subjectively less harmful than alcohol it's less toxic it's less addictive and it doesn't contribute to violence and aggressive behavior like alcohol does and as more and more people come to recognize that fact they simply don't think it's a good idea to prohibit it it's just as foolish as alcohol prohibition was right now let's talk about some of these other numbers here in colorado what is the tax rate on marijuana how much do you expect to sell in twenty fourteen and what sort of revenue does the state expect the tax rate was set by voters here in colorado

there's a fifteen percent excise tax on wholesale sales so that would be between a cultivation facility and a retail store for example the first forty million dollars from that each year goes towards the state's public school construction program there's also a ten percent special sales tax at the point of sale which is really there to ensure that enough money is being generated to cover the costs of them forcing the regulatory system and finding that that section of the department of revenue and then their standard state and local sales taxes and any other local taxes that might apply so for example in colorado you're socially paying about twenty percent at the register and the state has projected we will generate about seventy million dollars annually in the first year based on the sales that's in tax revenue loan we expect to see about four hundred million dollars and retail sales about six hundred or seven hundred million dollars overall including wholesale sales so it's going to be a big market it's going to generate a whole lot of

a lot of revenue now i do you have any idea how much of the cost savings there will be once. the middle inforce ment is no longer a requirement so that's another huge economic piece of the puzzle here the criminal and the enforcement on the criminal side is no longer required to some degree so what are the cost savings there according the karo center on law and policy which didn't analysis tryer to this initiative passing about twelve million dollars in savings would be accrued each year to me the most important thing is that law enforcement officials will be able to focus their time on you know more serious crimes as opposed to arresting adults and prosecuting them simply for possessing marijuana about anywhere from seven to ten thousand adults each year in colorado were being arrested simply for marijuana possession that number is completely dwindled almost to nothing so you know ultimately this is going to be a huge benefit simply the fact that we can redirect our law enforcement efforts

toward other things right and so the trend seems to be growing i just saw the new york is now talking about medicinal marijuana which seems to be kind of the gateway into more more of a legalized structure so is this now going to be going to other states i would imagine if colorado is going to be raising a lot of revenue here and saving money and law enforcement other states going to look at this quite enviously and this could be a way of going coast to coast when you think. oh absolutely and i think lawmakers and voters in states around the country are watching what's happening in colorado they're seeing that regulating marijuana works and scott a lot of benefits certainly preferable to alcohol prohibition and you know as you alluded to earlier in the program about fifty eight percent of americans now think marijuana should be legal so we expect to see a number of states pass these laws of the next few years several of which will be through ballot initiatives we also expect to start seeing some through state legislatures as a law makers increasingly recognize that this is not

a taboo subject it once was and that their constituents want to see these changes i mean it. interesting how this is going to play into i guess was called the culture wars in america you've got certainly on the right conservative side of the political spectrum a certain vested interest in keeping certain elements of this from getting more popular what what are we going to see going forward there is there going to be basically a triumph if you will of this type of thinking and disappearing of some of these entrenched culture warriors who have been very anti marijuana for years if that question makes sense i hope it does what do you think. you know i mean ultimately i think it comes out of this you know marijuana is something that's been used by people from all walks of life for years and years there are a lot of people who you know use marijuana who would follow and so the subculture

of marijuana enthusiasts come to mind when people many people think of the marijuana user but they're also millions and millions of people who don't for example are last three presidents that use marijuana one of our supreme court at least one of our supreme court justices used marijuana chalice countless successful people use marijuana there are conservatives there liberals kratz republicans it's really this is a substance that millions of people years both of which for the same reasons that people enjoy having a cocktail or a beer after work it's relaxing or it's just a matter of socializing with friends and of course for many it's a therapeutic thing right medicine the last three presidents using marijuana i think the first three presidents were also using marijuana i believe george washington cultivated this crop it at some point why are you in colorado do you only accept cass and i believe also bitcoin in some cases but why only cash. well unfortunately right now this is

a largely chashme is this because these marijuana businesses are not able to get financial services. a lot of banks are very concerned about the prospect of being prosecuted for gaging and money laundering because marijuana is still illegal this is an issue and it's one that fortunately started to be addressed by a federal government. earlier this past year in august and september the department of justice made it clear during a senate hearing that they are now talking to banking regulators and the treasury department to address this because whether or not you support marijuana being legal the fact is if it is legal we need to ensure that these businesses are not carrying around tens of thousands of dollars at a time they need to be able to pay their bills they need to be able to maintain public safety and that's really what this is about so we expect to see that issue get addressed administratively here in the near future fortunately some of these businesses are able to get banks but far too many of them are not right now so it's

really a that's one of the most pressing issues yeah just getting back to the the culture war aspect of this a little bit so i saw one comment recently from somebody in washington suggesting that wide scale use of marijuana would would would diminish america's competitiveness against the chinese you know that suggesting that somehow this was going to cut into america's ability to compete with china i think i've got my thoughts on that but what what are your thoughts i think it's completely unfounded again you know millions of americans have been using marijuana for years and years about fifty percent of all americans that's a conservative figure have tried marijuana and ultimately there's no actual evidence that it has any impact on people's motivation or ability to get their jobs done in fact there is a lot of evidence showing the lack of productivity that results from alcohol use obviously anyone who's showing up at work with a hangover does that they probably get a little bit less done in the day than had they not well marijuana doesn't cause

a over so there's one one specific area in which we're. not going to see any sort of loss of productivity but you know again marijuana is not new it's been used by people in the united states and around the world for a very very long time and there's absolutely no reason to expect things to change in that manner. on the and commercial side of things what about a company like philip morris or the major tobacco companies are we going to see a day when you walk into your local store and they'll be selling. marijuana cigarettes right alongside their other offerings that the big corporations going to get into this in a big way your thoughts. you know i think it's unlikely it will happen any time soon if at all you know suggesting that tobacco companies get into this would be no different than suggesting companies that grow oranges get into this i mean that's just not what they do they don't grow marijuana indoors or in greenhouses this is

not a product they're familiar with and this is also an interesting eight business right now i don't see a lot of interest among massive companies like that wanting to get it so there's also a lot of regulations in place that prohibit out of state businesses from from owning businesses here in colorado you can't transfer money from this industry or products across state lines so you know there's a lot of things that are prevent that were what we are going to see are some of the businesses and both growing much like we have seen companies grow for example in colorado we've got coors we've got new belgium which was a very prominent craft brewing company that is now finally after years expanded its reach out of the states and then we've got small craft breweries and brewpubs and they're all able to be successful we expect to see a similar type of situation with marijuana and quite frankly you know marijuana doesn't kill people so if tobacco companies did get into this it wouldn't be the

end of the world and probably be a net positive all right fair enough mason thanks so much for being on the kaiser. port thank you for having me and that's going to do it for this edition of the kaiser report with me max kaiser and stacy herbert i'd like to thank our guests mason tvert of the marijuana policy project if you'd like to get in touch tweet us at kaiser report until next time by. if you. got no opportunity. to start to construct your own. olympian bit gives don't want to be gangsters you don't want to be drug deals they don't want to blow with all the time a kid came be we can see. you just needs

a purpose i was like oh probably in the hood. thirty round clip. i said. i don't want to die i just really do not want to die young young. he survived atrocities. to make a final decision. has changed his life and the world around him. by giving. hope. and love to so many children. the lyrics. on the tape. you cannot

preemptively we stripped your freedom. because of the fear of what something or how something might be used everything that has ever been developed has been used for a bad purpose baseball bats which are fun for you know for baseball players to hit balls you know they've also been used to be people today i mean we just cannot restrict ourselves because something might be years in the in the wrong way. driver. stories others refuse to notice. faces changing the world. picture of today's. unger from around the globe.

freed captive's so many extremist groups in syria shocking details of their ordeal as the militants fighting under the black flags of al qaida emerge as the most radical power in the region feared even by anti assad forces meanwhile. you have faced is still eating the fight in syria america's middle east policy is raising eyebrows with washington's offer to help fight the same militant group in iraq brought together with iran. sale islands castles and historic sites go under the hammer in europe as cash strapped governments invent new ways to make their budgets plus.