SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mentor Capital, Inc. (OTCQB: MNTR) CEO Chet Billingsley sat down with California congressional candidate Marcus Musante to relay Mentor's Five Best Cannabis Resolutions for the U.S. Congress for 2016:
(1) Save 10,000 lives annually by legalizing cannabis use. There is a 24% substitution effect from riskier hard drugs to marijuana when it is legalized. Heroin, opiates and similar drugs relax the user by affecting the brain stem to slow breathing and heart rate. Too much heroin reduces the heart beat to zero which is a bad thing. There are almost no cannabis receptors in the brain stem and massive cannabis use results in massive sleep.
(2) Eliminate money laundering in cannabis by eliminating anonymous cash money. Federal agencies punish banks for depositing drug money. Smart boys, banks close all marijuana related accounts, driving the industry to cash and opening the back door to black market cash buys. In 2016 pass a money laundering safe harbor for banks that deal with companies that have an audit trail of the identity of all check or electronic business purchases and sales. Cash and pre-paid debit is accepted only with a recorded record of a government issued ID. Records kept, certified, but not reported.
(3) Restore some government credibility by ceasing to say, “Marijuana has no known medical uses.” When Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us on TV a little girl’s seizures stopped, we hear the government saying in the background, “What are you going to believe, your own eyes, or what we tell you?” Cannabis should be removed from Schedule 1 & 2 immediately.
(4) Allow cannabis entrepreneurs to deduct their business expenses. Improving on the catch of Al Capone for tax evasion, government does not allow drug lords to deduct their normal business expenses. That law also is applied to all legal cannabis dispensaries and businesses resulting in a horrendous tax bill. Illegal substance taxes and exhausting regulation push the legal price to 200% of the marijuana street price. This government driven price disparity keeps drug lords in operation over 40% of the marijuana market in otherwise wholly cannabis legal areas. Exempt legal cannabis businesses from the 280(e) full tax on otherwise legal expenses.
(5) Gradually introduce cannabis legal change by turning over all jurisdiction to the states. Improving disparate racial impact, overcrowded prisons, clogged courts and government resentment must be balanced against chaos. Rather than the uncertainty of mostly not enforcing federal law if cannabis is legal in a state, it would better to place 100% of the marijuana problem and opportunity into state hands, pacing change to regional norms.
About Mentor Capital: The Company seeks to come alongside and assist medical marijuana and cannabis companies and their founders in meeting their financial objectives, to add protection for investors and to help incubate private cannabis companies. Additional important information for investors is presented at: www.MentorCapital.com.
This press release is neither an offer to sell, nor a solicitation of offers to purchase, securities.
