Ambrose Bennett
THE TRUTH of the matter is WE (the CNMI) has just missed millions AGAIN on the most important day of the year for marijuana users world-wide. 4/20 came & left AGAIN with the CNMI failing to have any activity or event to recognize this all-important day. 4/20 is recognized around the world by marijuana users but it seems the CNMI wants to keep the fact that WE have legalized marijuana a secret while still wanting to make money, which is why the CNMI is not making money from our Cannabis Tourism Industry. I told the Senate and the community when I was working for the Senate to construct the Marijuana Bill that “the CNMI must promote the Cannabis Tourism Industry because our population is not large enough to pay for the cost of the government to operate the industry unlike Colorado and other states that have millions of citizens.” This is the fourth year WE have missed out on the many 4/20 dollars! And cutting salaries of the Cannabis Commissioners is not going to fix the need for “reforming other laws and the entire industry.”
WE (the CNMI) are figuratively going “stir-crazy” over our need for new revenues, yet there haven’t been any real efforts to capitalize on the Cannabis Tourism Industry that was virtually founded by Ambrose M. Bennett. They (GOP you-know-whats) even created laws to prevent the industry from flourishing and to prevent me from being involved because I got in trouble over 50 years ago. But as it’s easy to see, their bigotry & scheming only served to put an industry on-the-books that is really costing much more to run than it is bringing in revenues because they changed the 89-page Bill I wrote trying to make Ambrose M. Bennett’s plan THEIR 29-page plan that obviously is NOT working. There is nothing Public and it even cost 2,000 just to have a gathering at your private residence. It’s pathetic and ridiculous when it should be free and the government should be sponsoring an event like it does with other events like the Flame Tree Festival.
Legalization was wanted by an overwhelming number of citizens, which the Senate could not deny but the problem was it was Ambrose M. Bennett’s plan for recreational usage, so WE (the CNMI) ended up with an industry that is NOT being promoted in any way, shape, form nor fashion because of me. The only people who are happy are the locals who can now go to the dispensary, but the local population is not enough to run the industry and 4/20-day was an opportunity for the CNMI to really capitalize on our Cannabis Tourism Industry through some kind of event. But instead, it is a matter of public record that trying to eliminate Ambrose M. Bennett and much of the input I made has caused the CNMI to go down a Dead-End-Road of bigotry & scheming causing the Commonwealth’s Cannabis Tourism to go no-where quick, fast and in-a-hurry!!! The present laws make sure there are no public Cannabis Tourism activities — ridiculous!!!
I know there is the perception that if the CNMI promotes Cannabis Tourism that some governments may be against their citizens coming here but that is another “marijuana falsehood,” as the generations of today are far more liberal and EDUCATED about the fact that marijuana is actually the safest and best “vice” when compared to cigarettes and alcohol. The world now knows marijuana is legal in America which has served to increase America’s tourism industry, as Colorado experienced a 1.6 billion dollars increase in their tourism industry directly attributed to marijuana being made legal. The CNMI can and should promote education on marijuana usage, which no one and no government can deny the facts of it being a healthier, safer vice than cigarettes and alcohol — stop being SCARED! We should be promoting our Cannabis Tourism Industry over the Internet, but we aren’t doing DILLY-SQUAT!
Instead of leading in the education and transformation of world societies when it comes to marijuana, we are literally trying to keep legalization “in-the-closet” — duh & HELLER! There is no-way the CNMI can ever prosper from our Cannabis Tourism if WE are afraid to promote the industry and conduct events. There should have been chartered flights arriving for 4/20-day, but no one seems to care and no one is doing the necessary work to MAKE things happen for the better. The Inos Park might be a great place for Cannabis Events, given there hasn’t been anything there since the naming. The CNMI missed potential millions in tourism dollars from 4/20-day AGAIN so, end the dichotomy of secrecy v promoting our Cannabis Tourism Industry. WHO can champion legalization and make it happen as an industry and WHEN will 4/20-day become the productive tourism day it should be given marijuana was made legal for locals to use and the explicit purpose of Cannabis Tourism! One People One Direction.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an Economist who minored in Sociology, a Political Scientist, a retired teacher & former CNMI Board of Education Member, a James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays & lifetime Humanities Scholar who resides in Kagman III.
