Journal number 7 – Brian’s Franchise

Background of the case:

Brian is a well-off American who dropped out of college and is now living in Amsterdam. Previously, he owned a large franchise chain of small indoor farms specializing in growing marijuana in the United States. He developed this expertise by participating in research about developing new breeds and indoor farming. Due to the governments effort of eradicating marijuana in the US, he decided to sell his franchise and move to Amsterdam where selling the crop is legal.

Crux of the case:

We all know based on popular knowledge that marijuana is legal in Amsterdam, however, after watching the video that was presented in class; we were surprised to learn that indeed it is legal to sell but it is illegal to grow or produce beyond a certain limit, making it not commercially viable. Initially, it really made no sense to me. I was thinking whether the government was promoting marijuana or not because it seems like it’s contradicting itself. After researching, I found out that the reason behind this is sometime in the 1970s, the government was dealing with widespread use of marijuana, LSD, Speed, and other recreational drugs. The government then determined that this was just a phase in puberty which hopefully will disappear with maturity. Furthermore, the government argues that in the US, sometime in the early 20^th century, when they banned consumption of alcohol it lead for more problems as the youth craved alcohol more than before. They wanted to avoid this situation that is why they allowed the use or selling of the marijuana with strict regulation.        

Moving back again to Brian’s case, he was so brilliant that he was able to utilize a computer to grow marijuana indoors at a time when computers are not yet as popular as to day. He could have used that talent of his to improve farming technology around the world but instead he chose to produce marijuana which is only legal in very few places in the world.

Conclusion:

There are now recent studies done that proves marijuana despite of its addictiveness has medicinal values. However, as it remained to be addictive, I believe that for medical purposes it should be made legal but stringent regulation should be put in place first. I also believe that if we make the crop legal, people will later on start looking for something more. My sister’s fiancée told me that in Canada drinking is normal and it does not give the same amount of adrenaline as smoking pot. This is why I believe that legalizing it for commercial purposes should not be allowed as  it may turn to a better evil in the future.