as you said, california is going to be enacting its legalization laws january 1st. it s huge. california is the most populous state in america. but there s still a lot of problems it s facing. most recently the fires in northern california burned millions of dollars worth of marijuana. because marijuana remains a schedule i drug, there s no crop insurance for those farmers. so they re losing out on a lot of money. it s still very much a gamble to grow marijuana when you can t insure your crop. other thing is that of course marijuana being a federally illegal substance, it means that it can t be trafficked across state borders. all the marijuana grown in california should, according to state law, remain in california, which means there s potential for a flooding of the market and lowering prices overall. so legalization as a whole is not like a golden road. there s still a lot of problems with it. i think states are trying to figure that out as they go
via ballot initiatives. that really changes things because ballot initiatives are only available in about half of the states. new jersey being the first to push it through the legislature marks a new form of territory for these to take place. ba in maine there was a ballot initiative that passed in 2016 but the governor has vetoed it and has no interest in passing it. these laws are being pushed through on a state level. but there s still several roadblocks that might prevent them from being taken to full action. and is jeff sessions the unknown? he is. the power that jeff sessions has is that he doesn t have to do anything. even in states where marijuana is recreationally legal, that doesn t change its federal standing. it remains a schedule i drug. in doing so, there s still a lot of limitations against it.
kids works real miracles with people with epilepsy. but, you know that s about the same as a lot of other drugs that could applied to that. so these people are taking a real chance but a lot of them feel like it s the best chance they ve got. colorado is one of 22 states that as legalized marijuana, but the federal 23 p mel marijuana. you have colorado, washington state, oregon alaska and the d.c. have all theoretically legalized theoretical but the point is the federal government is not recognizing not legalizing. and the challenge for some of these businesses is that banks won t work with them. so a lot of them so eric holder comes out twice and says hey hey hey, no no, we re not going to bug you, because it s still a schedule i drug, don t forget we re not going to make you crazy. banks do business. they ll come in for two months and sake we really don t want
ground swell among veterans from iraq and afghanistan who are saying basically, i don t want opiates. i don t want to poison myself. i don t want bar witchwits. let me smoke a little weed please, smoke a little weed. this is natural, oregonic, as they would say, substance. isn t that maybe a better alternative from their perspective? the question they re asking, than the stuff you re telling me i ought to take. i wondfer there s incredulity about it that people say, if you were taking, you know prozac, then we would believe it s making you better but you re trying to get high. it doesn t make you better. without a doubt, there s still a gigantic stigma. this was made a schedule i drug years ago. probably never should have been made a schedule i drug. let me say as a person who doesn t use marijuana, i m not sitting here advocating. i m just sitting here watching this landscape.
it s a true american industry. andy williams and his sister sally, along with their brother pete, run the company. their high-tech grow facility produces 120 pounds of pot a week. how are you doing? welcome to medicine man, brother. thank you. we do more business out of this one location than anybody else. we re opening a second that s going to do more business than this location. and we are drinking from a fire hose. they re pioneers in the bewildering wilderness of legal weed. the federal government still views marijuana as a schedule i drug, so most banks won t come near it. can you bank yet? we have lost countless banks. a lot of banks. a bank kicked us out after we sent a check to the federal government for taxes. april 14th. they can t bank drug money, but the state can. colorado is on track to collect almost $50 million in taxes and fees this year. on sales that topped half a