Colbert Report Tackles Ganjapreneurs, Green Rush and Bank Hypocrisy

Last Thursday’s Colbert Report had a solid ten minutes on the (just starting to boom) green rush. The first video bit covered Colorado’s booming recreational marijuana sales as the free market embraces it. The skits contain a few good-natured stoner cliches and stereotypes, but Steven Colbert continues to help shine a light on cannabis myths, hypocrisies and opportunities.

The second skit below “Bears & Balls – Ganjapreneurs” covers a few topics. It profiles some of the more successful first cannabusinesses, from commercial growers to cannatourism companies to edibles producers. Colbert helps give a sense of the opportunities and challenges in this “new gold rush.”

The segment got plenty of laughs out of me, particularly the bit on hypocritical banks; “Yes if bankers accept drug money, they might go to jail *laughter*… what am I saying… what am I saying? That has got to be a typo. I mean whoever wrote that line was high.”

We already know the major banks have no ethical qualms illegally laundering money for drug cartels, but god forbid the major banks provide services to legitimate U.S. businesses compliant with state laws that are not producing black market human suffering.

Colbert Report “Bears & Balls – Ganjapreneurs” Video Highlights

• “We’re on the precipice of a new gold rush” (0:40 mark)
• “They’re being called ganjapreneuers…. or a ‘toke-coon’ or a ‘captain of indo-weed’, a ‘Warren Puffit’, a ‘Willie Nelson Rockefeller'” (1:50 mark)
• “Besides selling smokables, there’s big money in other things full of pot… like Matthew McConaughey, like Woody Harrelson… the munchies made out of marijuana” 40% of all recreational sales are edibles (2:10 mark)
• Pot tourism, which tourists are paying good money for. Denver is now the most popular city online to search for travel deals and is becoming the new Amsterdam. (3:52 mark)
• “There is one problem every successful ganjaprenuer must now deal with mo’ money,  mo’ problems… Yes because once you’ve made your stash from your stash, where do you stash it?” (5:01 mark)
• “Well that’s it for tonight’s Bears & Balls, join us next time when we profile other people who have gotten filthy rich pushing drugs like Pfizer… like Major League Baseball… no no no I mean places outside of Colorado where pot use is booming, everywhere.”   (6:53 mark)