Transcript of the above video: 

At the title of this video suggests, we are discussing what looks to be pretty significant moves in the United States regarding Cannabis, as it looks like Mr. Trump, the President of the United States, is poised to remove it from the schedule I of the Narcotics list and move it down to a schedule III. That would be a big move.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article on CNBC, that is cnbc.com, the article is titled: Trump expected to sign Executive Order to re-classified marijuana as soon as Monday, source tells CNBC: pot stocks surge. Quote: "Cannabis stocks jumped Friday as the White House prepared to significantly ease federal restrictions on marijuana. President Donald Trump is expected to issue an Executive Order as soon as Monday that would allow for a reclassification of marijuana, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. The person asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak about the White House's plans. Such a move would allow Cannabis companies to fall under different tax regulations and encourage investment. Cannabis stocks took a leg up in Friday's midday trading following CNBC's report. The Washington Post first reported Thursday that Trump was expected to use an Executive Order to instruct federal agencies to reclassify marijuana as a less regulated schedule III drug from a schedule I. Axios reported that the potential reclassification of marijuana - out of a group that includes heroin and into a lower tier of less dangerous drugs" - yeah, important to point out, there. Heretofore, and presuming that this actually goes through, will change but Cannabis has always been considered in the same category as heroin which is just ridiculous and Thailand came to my mind because I thought that was such a good policy by Thailand to just say “this isn't a narcotic, we're just done”, and they did. They just stopped doing that and now they deal with it a different way, and overall it has been good for the country, I think. A business standpoint I think it has been good that we don't see people going to jail for possessing a plant or plant flower, whatever. Again I think at the end of the day it has been a good thing. But it is important to point out what is happening here. If this goes through, Cannabis will no longer be on the same schedule as heroin. I mean it's kind of a, "yeah, duh" sort of thing but this is a big deal. I mean this has been the policy for decades and this is what has driven, in my opinion, fruitless, costly inefficient, corruption creating, sort of regime that was illegal Cannabis in America or considering Cannabis a narcotic and treating it as such; it just didn't work. At the end of the day it was bad policy. That said, quoting further: "Axios reported that the potential reclassification of marijuana - out of a group that includes heroin and into a lower tier of less dangerous drugs, such as steroids and Tylenol with codeine - would take place early next year." Yeah, Tylenol with codeine, that's about right. From a regulatory standpoint I think reasonable people could say, yeah at a federal level, that's how the Feds look at that. 

Now again, as we'll get to here in a moment, there are cases coming up with regard to how state interaction plays into all of this; it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out. That being said, quoting further: "Trump floated a change in marijuana's classification in August, quote: "Trump scheduling marijuana was not an if, in or assessment, but a when," Ed Groshans of Compass Point, a middle market investment bank, wrote to clients in a Friday note."  

FYI. I get into some of this stuff in our long-form content on our paid news service which we are converting into sort of a club thing at the beginning of the year which I'll get into further in other videos as time goes on. Long story short, and the thing to take away from this video is, what I'm talking about here is basically the paid new service, sorry - [email protected] if you want to get on the paid news service email list. Also, while I'm talking my game, my better half and I set up a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok, Pancake Palace, breakfast anytime as the name implies. But not only breakfast. We also have American Diner style food, put it on screen. We have got hamburgers, cheeseburgers, we've got buffalo wings, we've got all kinds of great stuff; Coke in glass bottles. If you're interested in that come on by, we'd love to see you, links are in the description below, Pancake Palace. I do get into the analysis though of this Cannabis stuff in a bit more deep dive in our paid news service. I also talk about sort of geopolitics, economics, what's going on in expat land: visas, immigration, tax, all of that good stuff, so if you're interested, again email us, [email protected].

That said, going back here under More Optimism, quoting further: "Groshans said the reported change would be "positive" for the Cannabis industry, allowing banks to serve the sector." Yeah, that has been one of the biggest issues with regard to this whole Cannabis thing in the United States has always been Banking. And for anybody at this point especially, who just sort of shrugs off banking things, Biometrics associated with banking, freezing accounts, capping the amount of money that can be transferred via Bank apps and things. Anybody who shrugs that stuff off, first off it is self-evident that that's bad, but secondly, look at the Cannabis industry in the United States if you want to see how bad a business can be strangled if it doesn't have banking facilities. It's really, yeah I mean, "the power to tax is the power to destroy, the power to debank is the power to put a business into a coma" is how I put it. That being said, quoting further: "He said he expects that if Trump orders Cannabis to be rescheduled, the Drug Enforcement Administration would finalize a proposed rule for the reclassification by the summer. Bill Kirk, senior research analyst at Roth, said he's also monitoring whether the Supreme Court decides next week to hear a case on state regulations and federal prohibition of Cannabis. A positive ruling for the industry in that case can speed up regulatory timelines." 

So it remains to be seen again how this is going to play out, especially, look from my mind, the states actually have more power on this. Now where you see somebody try to move a box of Cannabis across state lines, yeah, the Interstate Commerce Clause comes into effect. But that said, anybody that knows the history of jurisprudence with respect to the Interstate Commerce Clause knows that it's sort of like mission creep; it's the never-ending interpretation in favour of the federal government. That being said, Harold Renquist especially back when he was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, actually made a few rulings that started rolling stuff back with regard to interstate commerce. I'm very hopeful this Court, which seems to be pretty conservative and the majority tends to be in favour of more states' right, will defer more to the states on the matter of Cannabis. Frankly, I think at this point, if the Feds are saying it's not really a heavy narcotic, I think then at this point if the states want to regulate it, however, if the states want to regulate how you grow tulips, that's the state's prerogative compared to the Feds. I don't see where the Feds really have anything to say, especially about Cannabis that is grown and dispersed strictly within a given state's boundaries; I don't see what the feds have to do with that at all. That being said, it remains to be seen how this plays out, so we'll certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.