The Wall Street Journal is reporting:
In an unlikely move for the head of a major company, Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. Chief Executive Jim Hagedorn said he is exploring targeting medical marijuana as well as other niches to help boost sales at his lawn and garden company.
“I want to target the pot market,” Mr. Hagedorn said in an interview. “There’s no good reason we haven’t.”
Sales at Scotts rose 5% last year to $2.9 billion. But the Marysville, Ohio, company relies on sales at three key retailers—Home Depot Inc., Lowe’s Cos. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.—for nearly two-thirds of its revenue. With consumers still cautious about spending, the retailers aren’t building new stores as quickly as they used to, making growth for suppliers like Scotts harder to come by. Against that backdrop, Mr. Hagedorn has pushed his regional sales presidents to look for smaller pockets of growth, such as the marijuana market, that together could produce a noticeable bump in sales.
NPR is reporting:
The medical marijuana market will reach $1.7 billion in sales this year, the story says. Scotts-Miracle Gro’s annual sales are $2.9 billion.
So on the face of it, marijuana growers can’t add much to the company’s revenues. Of course, there’s clearly a very large non-medical-marijuana industry in this country that the company could also sell into.
Get the fracking politicians out of the simplest of homegrown relaxation therapies.
Tax it. Regulate it – as little as possible. Let’s get on with the real world, please.
Awesome title is awesome. 🙂
Here’s how to PAY OFF THE NATIONAL DEBT: LEGALIZE POT AND TAX IT !!! Also empty out the prisons of pot “offenders” and save additional BILLIONS ON PRISON COSTS !!!
Well, better Scott’s than Mon$anto!
Now if they can genetically alter those Chia Pet plants to become smokable weed, they’d really have something. Failing that, they’ll have to market some kind of DIY MJ kit. Like a Topsy-Turvy MJ planter. Or just a regular right side up, MJ “Tree”.
Use and take yourself out of the productive brain trust.
Agree, get users and sellers out of jail.
I’m sure Monsanto already has some genetically modified weed that is resistant to Monsanto’s herbicides, and also will overgrow all existing strains.
Then, once it’s legalized, you’ll have to buy a license from Monsanto to grow it.
Ya know, I was just hearing how the Pakistani gov. had arrested people spying there for the US, to help kill off Bin Laden. And yet that very same government acted powerless to find Bin Laden itself. And the US gov. basically wusses out calling the Pakistani a terrorist haven or worse. They have to be so diplomatic all the damn time. Even though the Pakistanis apparently DON’T. And yet (here’s my point), this very same US gov. goes after little MJ growers like they’re the equal of international terrorists and their hosts. Now really. Is a little home grown weed, worth all that concern, compared to terrorists? And why are they so ready to toss people into prison for such a tiny offense? And yet they can’t bring themselves to call the Pakistanis, terrorist sympathizers. Owww, such language. Can’t do that. Put away some pot smokers instead. Forget they have any damn rights.
If you want nasty tasting bud use miracle gro. Otherwise use a quality hydroponic fert.
This week the author of “Last Call” a book on prohibition stated that prohibition was repealed due to the 30’s depression reducing federal taxes from the income tax.
Previous to the income tax the federal government was funded primarily thru excise taxes on alcohol.
The author predicts a similar tax on legal marijuana in the near future to fund the federal government.
Somebody better yank that male plant in the picture before their crop goes to seed.
Why the FUCK do you want to Tax it? Put the damned politicians on a budget and make them stop wasting our money on war and you wouldn’t need extra money to pay their debts and balance the budget. Pot should be free! Remember free, it’s the concept that started this nation. That and a little thing about Taxation without Representation.
I assure you that if you pay taxes you have no representation in our government.
I was promised the land of the free, not the land of Over Taxed and Over Regulated. Put a tax on bad government and balance the budget overnight.
#15 What kind of argument is that? If someone sales something tax it, not much harm in that. Are we over taxed, yes, but sale tax goes to the local gov not the Fed’s right? Tax it similar to alcohol and decriminalize. This will give the states more cash and cut back on crime.
grow your own
I have a 2×2 plot and have enough all year
the seed network is free once you meet the right people and I get my fret from old growers.
It’s amazing how many people are smoking now.
I think Micromike made a few good points, certain things should be free and the taxes are, especially considering what it’s being spent on, out of hand and just as corrupt as any welfare system.
Agree. Tax it and regulate it like beer and wine. Clear the prisons and courthouses costing countless billions.
Let the church sell it, tax it and send profits up the pyramid to the Vatican. That way, those fuckers will agree to it, tell their sheeple Jesus approved and everyones happy.
Micromike: 1st, “taxation without representation” has nothing to do with free, or even with having no taxes. It was about having representation in the government who decides on the taxation. The colonials (i.e. the U.S. founding fathers) didn’t have any representatives in the British government, which decided on what was taxed and how big the tax was for colonial America. That’s what they were fighting against.
2nd: The “free” they were talking about wasn’t free stuff, it was freedom of the people. Two very different things.
As for “I assure you that if you pay taxes you have no representation in our government.” That’s pure nonsense. If you are a citizen, you have the right to vote for your representatives to the government. That’s the house, senate, and president. All citizens are supposed to pay taxes to support the government, this includes corporate citizens like Google and Bank of America. Government has to have _some_ form of taxation in order to pay for government; the money has to come from somewhere. That congress doesn’t better represent us is at least partially our fault for not voting, and allowing big corporations to usurp our representatives through their lobbying.
Even if pot were legalized and taxed, it would cost more to police the tax collection than it would collect. Pot grows like a weed and everyone would soon have it growing next to their tomatoes in the back yard. (Then Scott’s could really market their products)
The prisons are NOT filled with pot possession convicts. Most drug convicts are in for chemical (coke, ecstasy, heroin, Oxycontin, Vicodin, Meth, etc) trafficking. Most involved firearms possession too. Suggesting releasing pot possession prisoners will reduce the prison population is just dreaming. Most pot possession cases are misdemeanors.
I would like to see more record expunging for drug arrests though. It is so wrong to have a drug record from years earlier stand between someone and a job. For example, who would the police refuse to hire; the dude who was arrested for drinking under age or the 17 y/o kid caught sharing a joint.
“Pot grows like a weed and everyone would soon have it growing next to their tomatoes in the back yard.”
Most people don’t feed themselves primarily out of the garden. Sure, you can… but it isn’t the usual case.
Buying finished products is easy. Could potheads be systematically less lazy then the total population? I wouldn’t bet on it.
#17,
You underestimate the number of people with gardens. Many people also grow a few houseplants inside. Trading a few geraniums for some pot wouldn’t be a big problem.
#18
People can make their own beer or wine, but generally don’t. It’s a question of time/effort and quality of the resulting product.
Also consider that there is a whole big world out there: lots of places for farms. The US is the holdout against a larger trend of decriminalization. Worldwide growers would still be shipping to the US, but at lower prices caused by lower danger.
I don’t see why gov’t couldn’t tax plants as well.