The 15 Ounce Pound: Big Pharma's Plan to Patent Pot

In the United States, cannabis is currently illegal, but this book investigates how big pharmaceutical companies are looking at an end-game of legality—controlled by them. It examines how the Amsterdam scene has been transformed; how home growers have been manipulated into using inferior techniques; and how companies, with help from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and “big pharma,” are patenting cannabis strains for control and profit. The leaders of the cannabis industry want to legalize marijuana with taxation and regulation, but the pharmaceutical industry cannot take over medical cannabis without first shutting down the scene today. This book looks at a situation where legalized production may be tightly controlled by major players, using the IRS and DEA as a means of removing other players. Regulation will also control the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in each marijuana cigarette, forcing stronger cannabis to be available to medical patients by prescription only. A black market will still exist, so people will still go to jail, and the drug war will go on. With history and explosive, behind-the-scenes looks at big pharma collusion, this book is both an expose and an in-depth look at the arc of legalization, including a corporate-controlled scheme of patenting marijuana strains.