FIRST it’s great and about time, as the deletion of marijuana testing was in the first draft of the Bill that I wrote for the 19th Senate. The Cannabis Commission, Director & Staff were also supposed to have been temporary just to get the industry started as an “Experiment to be re-evaluated in five years.”
In my original draft, the Cannabis Industry was supposed to have eventually been “self-driven” once the industry was up & running like all the other business operations like the Hotel Industry that’s united to promote their hotels and even events that will bring visitors.
So, for me, the Bill falls far short in addressing all the needs to augment or reform the Cannabis Tourism Industry. Presently, it is virtually a two-person operation with only a director & secretary which is far too insufficient to run an entire industry, which is why we are losing money. However, you will have to ask the Governor WHY he stopped me from reforming the Cannabis Industry.
There are also other laws that need to be deleted like the fee of 75.00 for people to grow their own marijuana is only making criminals given nearly half of our society is at or below the poverty level, as it should be FREE like it was in Oregon when I wrote the draft. Growers are also transporting large amounts to the dispensaries with no kind of legal standing to transport in the law. In fact, there are no laws covering the misuse of marijuana on the books for the AG to prosecute after nearly six years. The Local style of doing things “little by little” is not going to get us to Economic Prosperity because we need to make a giant leap to fix everything wrong with our Economic Engine that is not running.
But what gets me, I recently proved the CNMI can save the 300 plus thousand that is now being paid mostly to the Cannabis Commission, and how the CNMI could earn the 200 plus thousand that are being collected in licenses, fees, and taxes. It’s sad and even worse that not a single person in our Legislature said nor did anything to address what is clearly a .5 million swing from the red to the black with this industry for our budget when people are still suffering austerity, yet they swear they care. The bigotry of killing anything suggested from Ambrose only hurts the people, as ignoring a .5 million swing is why so many voters will often say they don’t like none of our leaders when none of them will speak up and really do something to help ease the burden on the people.
I just want to remind the People of the CNMI that we are still spending more to run the industry than it brings in revenues, as the CNMI must institute real REFORMS to cure our ailing economy. We even need to reform our Gaming Industry that only needs ONE Gaming Commission, not a Commission for every island. The Judiciary needs to be reformed to include “one unattached Judge to the CNMI” to avoid the never-ending need for Pro tempo judges. At least Mr. Torres at Corrections has gotten it that we need real reforms to fix many of the problems that have existed for years. Genuine reforms to fix our economy is the only cure that will be prescribed by any real Economist worth their title.
AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Kagman, Saipan
