As a well informed mother still in the first quarter of the 21st century, what I know both inspires me and makes me cringe when I think about the future. I know that a big part of the reason why hemp oil and other cannabis related products are not advancing faster is due to the pharmaceutical industry using its vast amounts of money to slow its progress. As one of the quintessential interest groups in the world, big pharma’s money gives it the leverage to influence lawmakers.
Drug Companies
You may be asking why the pharmaceutical industry would even care about something as simple as Hemp oil or any derivative of the hemp plant. While research is still ongoing to determine definitively whether there are any specific medical conditions pure CBD, full spectrum hemp products or medical marijuana can treat, many people have already come to the conclusion that they can. As more and more people turn to Hemp oil and opt-out of the OTC and prescription drugs they have been taking, the more and more money big pharma loses.
It is easy to say that a drug company can just start adding cannabis derived drugs to their inventory of products, and they have. Massive drug companies like Teva and Novartis have acquired cannabis companies for that exact reason. GW Pharmaceuticals has the first ever FDA approved cannabis derived drug. But, it is not easy. Like the rest of the cannabis industry, prohibition makes financial transactions especially difficult for publicly traded drug companies. While everyone waits for lawmakers to finalize rules for Hemp products and decide to end the federal prohibition of the cannabis plant, customers keep buying Hemp and medical cannabis from other companies hurting big pharma’s bottom line.
Cryptocurrency
I am not a cryptocurrency fan, but there is no denying that it is a financial disruptor. It has caused people to further question the legitimacy of the U.S. dollar and its value. For all intents and purposes the U.S. dollar has become a cryptocurrency, but it’s the one with the backing of the U.S. government. We should only have one currency for organizational simplicity, but the insecurity of a centralized banking system has opened the door for other digital currencies to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the U.S. dollar. In theory, the blockchains used to log and secure the transactions of these cryptocurrencies are more secure than the centralized systems. That is not to say that cryptos are secure by any means. The have been hacked into, manipulated and stolen.
What does that have to do with Hemp gummies and other Hemp edibles? While the growth of the crypto industry continues to expand, its progress towards universal acceptance is slow and I would even say, plateaued. It clings to anything it can to maintain its presence and continue the battle towards acceptance. Cannabis and Hemp are some of the industries it has clung to to stay alive. Due to the illegal status of cannabis, the companies involved in the industry need financial solutions, which crypto has tried to solve by working in a gray area outside of federal financial laws.
It is yet another reason why Hemp oil is a disruptor. Helping digital currencies stay alive is a giant pain to financial institutions around the world. Think about this. Some people make money by mining blockchains for digital currency transactions, but it is risky and can come with high costs. The computers they must use need to compute many transactions constantly. The processors in the units are working non-stop and producing a great deal of heat so that the units must be constantly cooled down. The energy expense often eats into their potential profits to not make it worth it, so many cannabis greenhouses bury the units under the plants to use the units’ heat to warm the green house. Crazy, I know.