Report: Pot Industry More Stable than Journalism

All sorts of people are jumping ship from their traditional, often cushy, jobs to join the green rush or otherwise be a part of the brave new world of cannabis.

Recently a couple of Russian bankers joined the slew of entrepreneurs who are bailing out of the stuffy financial industry. Now, journalists are being lured in.

Last week, Westword reported a story that caught our eye.

Veteran journalist Peter Marcus, of the ColoradoPolitics.com website he helped launch, said recently that: “The cannabis industry is more lucrative and has more stability than journalism these days.”

The lucrative part we know is true, and we’re all keeping our fingers crossed for the stable part, despite the collection of troglodytes in and around the White House spewing marijuana myths.

Marcus is leaving journalism to become communications director for the cannabis company, Terrapin Care Station.

Like any other business, weed-related companies need communication specialists, as growth in all sectors of the industry can’t seem to stop.

Terapin Care Station, under Marcus, will create a content site that will also focus on research and some point-counterpoint journalism aimed at the the likes of the recent piece in USA Today entitled, “Marijuana devastated Colorado, don’t legalize it nationally.”

The vitriolic piece was roundly criticized for being long on myth, short on facts and full of incorrect innuendo that feeds into prohibitionist rhetoric.

USA Today published the piece shortly after Senator Corey Booker proposed an ambitious plan to legalize marijuana nationally, directly challenging Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has threatened to crack down on weed.

“There are others out there, and when we see columns that are filled with misinformation, we’re going to combat them,” said Marcus. “That’s where my journalism skills come in.”

So, yes, the weed industry needs advocates who can explain and disseminate actual facts. Prohibitionists and science deniers must be challenged when they propagate myths about marijuana.

After all, facts matter.