Greg James
Publisher
The recent news that the Nevada Gaming Commission opposes marijuana conventions at Las Vegas casinos wasn’t surprising. It’s yet another example of how some businesses and wealthy billionaires actually want to keep Americans poor and stupid, while simultaneously outlawing a substance that is far less dangerous than one they wholeheartedly support and push.
It’s also pretty easy to explain even if it calls for some less-than-delicate wording:
First of all, gambling is a stupid waste of money unless you view it strictly as entertainment, don’t mind losing and have plenty of cash to throw away.
The mega-casinos in Vegas didn’t get built by paying out more than they take in, and in the long run, the house always wins.
Second, many gamblers lose their life savings by being suckered into endless spending on a fool’s bet. Casinos have a fine-tuned system that is expertly rigged to give gullible people just enough positive feedback to keep them dreaming about the jackpot that probably will never happen. (And keep in mind, like any serious addiction, it’s the short “high” from a win that keeps gambling addicts coming back.)
Finally, if you’ve spent much time in Las Vegas, you know that casinos give you free booze as long as you’re playing blackjack, roulette, slot machines or any other table games. Just as they know that only addicts bet what they can’t afford to lose, they also know that plying those same people with booze makes them even more likely to act irresponsibly. In other words, the drunker the gamblers, the dumber and riskier the bets they make. It’s a cynical business in which suckers are liberated from their money by a few rich fat cats and plenty of free-flowing alcohol.
One of the richest casino owners is Sheldon Adelson, a huge Donald Trump supporter who owns The Venetian and Sands and has been a major contributor to the effort to keep cannabis illegal in Nevada. (He also owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a newspaper which he’s turned into a laughingstock à la Fox News and Breitbart.)
Adelson’s a self-promoting conservative turd who hates marijuana precisely because he knows the drug has the opposite effect of alcohol: While booze leads to loud, stupid, aggressive and reckless behavior, cannabis tends to make people mellow, quiet, introverted and thoughtful.
Adelson isn’t a stupid man. One reason he amassed a $30 billion fortune is by knowing how to take cash from suckers. His entire business is built on people behaving irresponsibly. And marijuana — which could threaten that stupid, risky, boozy behavior — is not something Adelson wants in or around his casinos. He wants dumb drunks willing to risk their family’s financial future — and possibly their children’s college fund — on a rigged system he and a few others control.
The Marijuana Business Conference in Las Vegas has been a big success for years, and cannabis industry events and conferences could have a bright future in the city, where the local economy is already getting a boost from legalized recreational cannabis.
I hope the regular folks in Las Vegas know a jackass when they see one — just as the people of New York knew Trump was a jackass and voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton — and that Nevada will continue to do the right thing by supporting legal, adult-use cannabis while rejecting the likes of Sheldon Adelson and their goal of keeping regular Americans drunk, poor and stupid.
Greg James
Publisher
This story was originally published in the November 2017 issue of Marijuana Venture, on sale now.
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